Whenua reports on what PKW Farms LP takes into consideration when dealing with climatic impacts.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE GRASS STOPS GROWING? During periods of little or no rain, grass growth often drops to below the required amount to feed cows well. This means milk production will drop in conjunction with the feeding levels. Feeding cows is basically energy in – energy out. When this happens the first course of action is to reduce how much grass is being eaten. Depending on the time of the season, you would reduce the number of cows in the herd by culling any animals that are not going to be in the herd next season. This season PKW Farms LP sold a lot of cattle early on while prices were high and, as a result, went into the summer not highly stocked.
Extra feed is needed to sustain them during this period until grass growth exceeds cows’ requirements again, sometime in September.
Chicory is a staple crop planted as feed on the dairy farms to ensure weight gain is still occurring with the stock.
By knowing how much feed is required during the winter, PKW Farms LP can work out how much the farms can afford to feed out during the summer-autumn period.
If conditions get drier and other options have been employed, oncea-day milking could be considered. This lowers a cow’s demands and also milk production but protects the cow’s condition, which is a basic farming requirement.
Pulling the bulls out of the heifers earlier so pregnancy testing can also occur earlier is another way to manage stock. Empty heifers can then be pulled off dairy support blocks and go out onto the beef blocks. Presently there are 11 dairy support and beef blocks in action.
Summer crops can help during this Less cows on farm means more grass period, but need to be planted in late October or early November, so per cow remaining. some forward planning is required, Cows need a certain amount of extra and depending on the milk price, feed during winter when grass growth supplements like concentrate can be is not sufficient to fully feed cows well. purchased.
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In periods of sustained dry when the above options have already been adopted, drying off some or all of the herd will be the final option, which has become the case for one of our dairy farms this year. Each time PKW applies one of these contingencies, this is an indication of the challenging times we are facing.