Dairy Farmer March 4 2019

1

March 2019

Urban invasion Auckland farmers milking under the glare of city lights

THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME$8.95 THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME

Effluent & Cropping

Incl GST

Farming a family affair Searching for the perfect cow European farmers unhappy

Inside March 2019 Editor

SONITA CHANDAR 06 374 5544 / 027 446 6221 sonita.chandar@globalhq.co.nz

General Manager

WARREN MCDONALD warren.mcdonald@globalhq.co.nz

06 323 0143

Sub-editor

STEPHEN BELL editorial@globalhq.co.nz

06 323 0769

Contributors HUGH STRINGLEMAN hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz

09 432 8594

ALAN WILLIAMS alan.williams@globalhq.co.nz

03 359 3511

NEAL WALLACE neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz

03 474 9240

FRITHA TAGG frithatagg@xtra.co.nz

027 480 2507

BRITTANY PICKETT pickett.britt@gmail.com

027 649 3628

TIM FULTON

027 087 16027

timfulton050@gmail.com

Sales

STEVE McCLAREN - Auckland steve.mcclaren@globalhq.co.nz

027 444 3143

JODY ANDERSON - Waikato/BOP jody.anderson@globalhq.co.nz

027 474 6094

DONNA HIRST - Lower North Island donna.hirst@globalhq.co.nz

06 323 0739 027 474 6095

ALEISHA SERONG - South Island aleisha.serong@globalhq.co.nz

027 474 6091

SHIRLEY HOWARD - Real Estate shirley.howard@globalhq.co.nz

06 323 0760 027 474 6004

NIGEL RAMSDEN - Livestock livestock@globalhq.co.nz

06 323 0761 027 602 4925

DEBBIE BROWN - Classifieds/Employment classifieds@globalhq.co.nz ANDREA MANSFIELD Business Development Manager andrea.mansfield@globalhq.co.nz

Production

Lana Kieselbach Production Manager Advertising material

COVER Auckland farmers Chris and Sally Guy are the 2018 Auckland-Hauraki Share Farmers of the Year.

06 323 0765 027 446 6002

06 323 0735 / 027 739 4295 production@globalhq.co.nz adcopy@globalhq.co.nz 1 1

March 2019

THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME$8.95 THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME

Effluent & Cropping

Incl GST

15 18 28

Market outlook

The good, the bad and the make up your own mind

Dairy Women’s Network

Another first-rate conference planned

Dairy Industry Awards Regional finals under way

ON FARM STORY

Urban invasion Auckland farmers milking under the glare of city lights

Farming a family affair Searching for the perfect cow European farmers unhappy

www.farmersweekly.co.nz ISSN 2624-0939 (Print) ISSN 2624-0947 (Online)

2

NEWS

6 20

Big city farming

South Auckland farmers Chris and Sally Guy face interesting challenges farming near the big smoke

Siblings at work

Taranaki siblings Shane Cleaver and Natasha Hepburn make a good team on the family farm

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

20 THEME

49 56

Effluent

Autumn cropping and pasture renewal

REGULAR FEATURES

6 FARMING CHAMPIONS

30 38

Dairy champion Tracey Zimmerman

4 18 37 41 44

Guest opinion – Fiona Gower At the grassroots – Merryn Pugh Industry Good International news Research

GlobalHQ is a farming family owned business that donates 1% of advertising revenue to the Rural Support Trust. Thanks to our Farmers Weekly and Dairy Farmer advertisers last six months we have donated $37,026. Need help now? You can talk to someone who understands the pressures of farming by phoning your local Rural Support Trust on 0800 787 254.

Fast Five

Hazel Grainger-Allen

Our cows drink pure water Improved livestock health

Elimination of pathogens

For pure water on your farm visit microlenefarm.co.nz or call 0800 00 PUMP

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

LK0094968© LK0094967©

Improved production yield

3

GUEST COLUMN

Rural women need to be valued

R

Rural Women New Zealand president Fiona Gower says it is important to recognise the contribution women make to the industry.

URAL Women New Zealand has always played a vital role in rural industry and our communities and it is important to recognise its contributions.

As a member of RWNZ, or Nga Wahine Taiwhenua o Aotearoa (Women of the Land of NZ), I am immensely proud to be a woman of the land as are all the women I know who have ties to rural NZ. Women have been farmers in their own right, in partnerships and business for many years.

We often work in the administrative part of the business and make big financial decisions.

We also take part in the physical work of running rural enterprises while managing our homes, caring for our families and participating in communities through our involvement with schools, sports clubs and other organisations.

Women are the glue that holds our rural communities together, often doing unpaid, underpaid and undervalued work to ensure better outcomes for those communities.

Without the contributions of rural women, our rural communities would be poorer in many ways.

RWNZ began as the Women’s Division of Farmers’ Union in 1925. After nearly a century we still exist and still provide a voice for women and their families living rurally.

Access to services such as health and education are still concerns for us.

Isolation is still a big issue.

In 1925 it was more about the distances to travel, road conditions, access to a telephone and mail. Although roads and cars have improved over time it is now the lack of connectivity and access to technology that can lead to the isolation of rural women.

Sadly, our news regularly features stories of the stress, safety and the mental

4

Rural Women New Zealand president Fiona Gower says women play a vital role in farming that is often overlooked.

wellbeing of rural families.

We need to support our hardworking women in rural areas and help them realise they are valued and their contribution is important to the fabric of our rural communities and to the NZ economy.

As leaders, we need to lead from the front.

I often meet incredible rural women and hear them speak apologetically about what they do: “Oh, I’m just a farmer’s wife” or “I’m just a stay-at-home mum.”

The word just needs to come out of our vocabulary. We deserve to be proud of all our work including the unpaid, underpaid, undervalued roles we take on.

Rural women need to know that all the skills learnt in their many roles are valuable and transferable to other roles in the wider industry workforce and community.

Over the last few years we have seen incredible women accepting leadership roles in the industry and community.

Many of us started out at preschools,

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

schools, and community groups such as RWNZ. Given support, opportunities and training, women can develop their skills, gain confidence and take on these leadership roles.

Today, employment and farming have changed from the more traditional family business model to a more transient, corporate-operations approach and often roles in the corporate model take farming families away from their friends and family. The resulting isolation can be incredibly challenging, especially for women.

I am proud to be a rural woman, born and bred in the hills above Marton, spending time on the farm with ponies and dogs as my companions, spending the holidays working in woolsheds or at other local farms.

Choosing a career in rural was a nobrainer for me. A woman choosing a career in farming was reasonably rare then so I chose the rural service pathway, moving into rural retail and working with farmers.

Through my roles in the rural service industry and my community I discovered

the importance of relationship and partnership building to gain the best outcomes for all.

Trusting and knowing who you are working with is essential.

How many business relationships have been broken when the fertiliser

Women are the glue that holds our rural communities together.

Fiona Gower Rural Women

representative, banker and stock agent insist on talking only to the male farmer in the enterprise?

Often, we women are managing the books, being responsible for the wider farming operation and are the ones

making those key financial decisions. The key to better understanding your clients or partners is to value the whole team It is the same in RWNZ. We need to understand, value and support those living and working rurally and recognise how their needs might differ from their urban counterparts so we can work to improve conditions for all.

I am a woman of the land and I am proud of what I do.

The issues that affect others living rurally also affect me, my family and my community.

I have felt that isolation, the frustrations and the stress that come from living rurally.

I am incredibly grateful for the social support that RWNZ has offered me.

The friendship and network of like-minded women, the positive reinforcement and the opportunities to develop my skills have helped me reach where I am today.

Now, my role is to ensure we provide the same support, friendship and opportunities to other young women so they will become the next generation of leaders. n

The new milestone Il nuovo traguardo in milking nella mungitura Lely Astronaut A5 milking robot

Lely Astronaut A5: Explore the possibilities More than 25 years after the introduction of the first Astronaut, Lely continues to improve its technology in the field of automatic milking. The new Lely Astronaut A5 milking robot, built by listening to the experiences of thousands of users, offers even more advantages than previous versions. • Increased milk production, more user friendly and better reliability • Lower running, service, and management costs Bright Farming is yours by choice.

www.lely.com/nz

Lely Center in Canterbury, Ph.: 07 850 4050 Lely Center in Manawatu, Ph.: 027 541 0132 Lely Center in Southland, Ph.: 027 558 8770

Lely Center in Taranaki, Ph.: 022 325 0056 Lely Center in Waikato, Ph.: 07 850 4050

ON FARM STORY

Chris and Sally Guy are the 2018 Auckland/ Hauraki Share Farmers of the Year and were runners-up in the national competition. Sally, Chris and Hunter check on the herd.

Photos: Frances Oliver Photography

Farming in the city

I

When New Zealanders think of Auckland few think of farming. But a young Karaka dairying couple are combining their love of the city with their passion for the land. Luke Chivers reports.

T WAS Gypsy Day 2016.

Traditionally, it is the start of the dairying calendar when accounts are settled, stock is bought and sold or moved to a new farm and new careers are launched.

At least that was what Chris and Sally Guy hoped when their sharemilking agreement on a well-nurtured and developed inland slice of rural New Zealand kicked in.

The couple are 50:50 sharemilkers with his parents Allan and Wendy who own the 80ha Oakview Farm in South Auckland.

However, urban sprawl and skyrocketing land prices are throwing up challenges for the young couple.

Sally says one of the best things about farming at Karaka is the town’s proximity to central Auckland.

“We are only 35km to Auckland City.

“It’s really good for social events – you can pop into the city for the night and sometimes it can be only a 25-minute drive when there is little or no traffic.

“Plus, a lot of Chris’ family are within a 5km radius and we’re only about 20 minutes to Auckland Airport.”

Being from Australia, that is crucial for Sally.

“It is important for us to be in close proximity to an international airport to allow my family to visit us whenever they want,” Sally says.

The downside of being close to the urban sprawl is that it requires the couple to take even more care of the condition of their farm.

“I guess with the spotlight on dairy you’re more aware of what you’re doing,” Chris says.

“Public perceptions are quite a key issue in the dairy industry so we try to do our best to not give the public anything.

“We’ve got a lot of road frontage and about 30,000 cars go on that road every day.”

With such a large volume of traffic passing Chris makes extra effort to ensure he is maintaining health and safety to the highest standards – for himself, his animals and the sector.

“I always make sure I’m riding the quad responsibly and if the irrigator needs to go along the roadside I’ll only ever run it at night so it’s out of sight, out of mind,” he says.

“We’ve also put a lot of effort into

The Guys milk 200 Friesian and crossbred cows. This season they are targeting 85,000kg of milksolids.

pasture renovation on the farm in an attempt to harvest more grass.

“We do not want a negative spotlight shone on the dairy industry.

“It’s New Zealand’s number one export and important for this country and for everyone in it.”

Chris says that is among other farming challenges, especially in South Auckland.

“Despite us living on a farm there are 4500 homes being built opposite our farm in the next 10 years.”

The new precinct, Pareata Rise, will include a train station, a shopping centre and a primary school.

“This town used to be known for its milk supply and I think granddad made a lot of money doing that back in the day.”

Continued page 8

ON FARM STORY FARM FACTS n Owner: Wendy and Allan Guy n Sharemilkers: Chris and Sally Guy n Location: Karaka, South Auckland n Farm size: 80ha, 70ha effective n Cows: 200 Friesian, with some crossbred n Production: 2017-18: 69,000kg MS n Target: 2018-19: 85,000kg MS

Although Chris and Sally both come from rural backgrounds, farming and milking cows was not their initial plan.

At 18 Chris left the family farm to pursue a career outside the industry.

“Despite growing up on a dairy farm the idea of becoming a farmer never really crossed my mind,” Chris says.

“I wanted to gain skills in other areas.”

Chris started a building apprenticeship and shortly into it, the 2008 global

financial crisis hit. He knew he would soon be without a job.

With a little bit of money and a lot of eagerness Chris went travelling overseas for two years to burn off a bit of steam.

“I ventured around the United Kingdom and western Europe. On my return I thought I would briefly go via Australia for a wheat harvest and do building on the side.

“I absolutely loved it,” he says.

“I ended up staying in Australia for three harvests and became a qualified carpenter.”

It was during that time he met Sally.

After some smooth talking he managed to coax her into moving to New Zealand to give dairying a go.

“I always knew there was an opportunity to go farming on the family farm,” he says.

“I guess I didn’t want to regret never giving farming a go. Sally and I decided we would give it a crack for a year.

“Unfortunately for Sally we stayed.

“Nowadays, we are proud to be dairy farmers.

“Sure, it can be quite draining working

from sunrise to sunset but you’re out there doing your own thing in the fresh air and working with animals, which is fantastic.”

He says the great thing is Sally grew up on a farm that was very remote so their style of farming close to the city is quite attractive for her.

Sally, a secondary school visual arts teacher, grew up in a small town named Coonamble, seven hours northwest of Sydney.

The daughter of sheep and beef farmers, she was raised on a large-scale station – a 4000ha property an hour from the closest town and two hours to the closest hospital and large supermarket.

Anyone who knows the Guy family will know it is unusual for them to stay away from the farm for long, if at all. Dairy farming is in the Guy blood.

“We’re the sixth generation of dairy farmers to farm in Karaka,” he says.

Chris’ third great grandparents settled the farm in 1881. His father Allan and uncle Murray worked the land for more than 10 years.

In 1980, a nearby farm was bought

Chris, Sally and Hunter prepare to get the herd in for afternoon milking.

We run blackface beef animals, some that we sell as 15-month -olds and the others we finish off for the beef market.

Sally Guy

and Murray and his wife moved to the property, while Allan and Wendy continued to run the home farm until Chris and Sally moved into the sharemilking role.

“The beauty of that is Sally and I treat it as if we do own the land. We make every decision as if we were the farm owners.”

Continued page 10

Chris and Sally Guy with Hunter and baby Fletcher are 50-50 sharemilkers on his parents’ farm at Karaka in South Auckland.

THE NEW KING OF THE FARM The all new 2019 KingQuads are here and ready to work.

Power away on a new Suzuki KingQuad 400, 500 or 750 and pay 1/3 deposit, 1/3 in 2020 and a final 1/3 in 2021.

TALK TO US TODAY OR VISIT WWW.SUZUKI.CO.NZ FOR MORE DETAILS

1 ⁄3 1 ⁄3 1 ⁄3 IN 2020

DEPOSIT

SZM0439 PIC

KingQuad 750XPZL9 ls. shown with alloy whee

IN 2021

2.95% INTEREST

Promotion ends 30 April 2019 or while stocks last. Not available in conjunction with any other promotion. Prices include GST. Finance is at 2.95% interest. Payments include $300 documentation fee, and $10.35 PPSR. Normal lending and credit criteria apply.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

9

ON FARM STORY

We’ve got a lot of road frontage and about 30,000 cars go on that road every day.

We do not want a negative spotlight shone on the dairy industry.

Chris Guy

Two-year-old Hunter enjoys helping Chris on the farm but it is a long walk home when you are little.

While the couple in their early-to-mid30s are now in the driving seat, Chris’ parents still live and work on the property and provide much-needed support.

“We’re really fortunate to have them around as they help out a lot,” he says.

“Being on a family-run farm means we have the ability to have more input into decisions that are made about the land.”

Despite their limited hands-on experience, the young couple have certainly had a good start – good enough for them to be named Share Farmers of the Year at the 2018 Auckland/Hauraki Dairy Industry Awards and were named runners-up at the national awards.

The first-time entrants also won regional merit awards for their environmental efforts, pasture performance and dairy hygiene.

“The competition was a great opportunity to break down our business and have a good look at our strengths and weaknesses and get opinions from outsiders about our farming practices on how we can improve,” Sally says.

The farm, about 8km east of Papakura, is gentle rolling country that is typically summer dry.

It is home to 200 milking Friesian dairy cows with some crossbred throughout the herd.

The property, on one side of Karaka Road, includes five hectares of wetlands.

“Given the dry weather, we lease two neighbouring ex-dairy farms,” Chris says.

“We use the leased properties as support blocks for wintering cows and for the harvest bulk silage, which we bring home to the dairy platform to help protect us from the summer dry.”

In their first year they raised the

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Chris grew up on the family farm but never thought about going farming until he returned from overseas. Chris gets ready for afternoon milking. farm’s milk production from 68,500kg to 79,240kg milksolids and reared 175 weaners alone as sole operators – and they are on track to better that again.

“We’ve been reasonably lucky,” Chris says.

“In the season before us the dairy payout was only $3.90 and then in our first season it was forecast somewhere in the $4 mark but we ended up being paid $6.12.

“And ever since then the payout has been above $6 so we’ve benefited quite highly from coming into the industry when the payout was low.”

They also run replacement heifers on the blocks.

“We run blackface beef animals, some that we sell as 15-month -olds and the others we finish off for the beef market,” Sally says.

“Last season we brought 60 in-calf heifers into the herd and sold 30.”

Chris says their ability to rear extra stock on large lease blocks enables them to grow their equity faster.

“Knowing that my family also worked this land is pretty special,” he says.

“Although we realise this farm may not be farmed forever, hopefully we can pass on something for future generations.”

Chris and Sally have two sons – Hunter, 2, and Fletcher, four and a half months.

“Hunter is at an age where he can get involved on-farm,” Chris says.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Hunter, 2, loves getting out with Chris and Sally to do jobs around the farm including feeding the chooks and collecting their eggs.

“He loves seeing me riding the motorbike or seeing me milking the cows.

He joins me while we’re feeding out and just doing general day-to-day tasks onfarm. He absolutely loves it.

“A quick run around the farm and Hunter often comes back feeling refreshed after some good outdoors time. You wouldn’t get that in any other job.”

But their farming career has not always been an easy ride.

When the couple became sharemilkers they saw a lot of opportunity to make their mark.

“We’ve been busy doing a lot of maintenance work,” Chris says.

“One big improvement we made was creating a larger milking platform.

“We took water from the home farm to areas of the run-off to create a better water supply, which gave us more paddocks to milk off. By doing this we added 7ha to our milking platform.

“We’re targeting 1000kg to 1100kg of milksolids per hectare.”

He also designed and installed a new effluent system for the farm that includes

Continued page 12 11

Sally and Chris enjoy farming but say urban sprawl is throwing up challenges.

We’d love to stay here and would love to expand but land prices just aren’t allowing for that. If we want to continue farming we need to change the way we do things here or accept that we can’t stay farming here and move somewhere else.

Chris Guy

12

a floating pontoon with a 7kW stirrer and a 25hp pump.

“We put a large pump on because we wanted a canon irrigator, which gives us a 30-metre radius.

“For a one-man operation it meant we’re covering a larger area and shifting the irrigator less. They’re also a lot easier and safer to tow behind a quad bike.”

In recent years the Guys have removed the old hinge-style gates from the dairy shed and replaced them with pendulum gates.

“This has created better cow flow. The new gates are easier for drafting and much safer.”

They milk twice a day until midFebruary and then shift to once-a-day milking.

“And that is basically to give myself and the cows a break,” Chris says.

There is good reason for that. Lame cows are a major issue for the farm.

“Blue stone races are a big reason why.

“Thankfully, it’s only a 1.2km walk to the furthest paddock so the cows aren’t walking too far from the shed.

“However, we did a lot of work last year with a product called StockRock.

“It’s a softer rock product that creates a surface the cows love to walk on. It shortened walking times, which, in turn, means more time in the paddock for cows to eat and rest.”

Last season 30% of the herd got lame but that has reduced significantly thanks to the product.

He also measures his grass growth by regularly doing farm walks and this season has used LIC Space.

Over the past year they sent several grass samples to check the metabolic energy (ME) and protein levels to enable them to get a better understanding of what their cows are eating and what they are potentially lacking at different times of the season.

“Our grass is constantly changing throughout the year and we wanted to get a better idea around this.

“We’ve had a real focus this season on trying to have quality feed down the throat. It seems to be going really well – our cows are producing well and looking to be in good condition for next calving.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

ON FARM STORY The couple always need to look and plan months ahead.

Because they feed a lot of bulk silage the focus this season has been on quality. “Last year when we tested the silage it was only 10ME, which is basically glorified hay that will give you little milk response. When you have 160 tonnes of it you have no choice but to feed it out. “Cutting 55ha of silage at once means it’s a real balancing act to try to get all of this area grazed and shut up at the same time. “We aim to shut up our paddocks for 30-40 days before harvest. In doing that, this year we produced quality silage of 11.7ME. The downside was we had less of it.�

By aiming for an early cut they got a later second cut, which tested 10ME and was put in a different stack to feed out last.

Chris has identified it is critical to feed his cows well post-calving, get the animals to peak high and hold the milk curve for as long as he can. “To do this in our system we need to feed supplement from calving through

to balance date, which is typically mid September. We choose to carry on using it until the end of mating no matter what grass growth is.�

He has also concentrated his efforts on mowing paddocks to try to keep on top of pasture quality. “This season was unreal for spring growth so a lot of mowing was done.�

They grow a 9ha summer crop of chicory on the effluent blocks as insurance against the summer drought. “At certain times of the year we’re finding that the cows walk themselves toward the milking shed as they are keen to graze the chicory. “It means we’re saving manpower by not sitting behind them. Plus, it means the cows can walk at their own pace, which takes the pressure off them.�

Their goals include increasing the herd size, possibly moving to a larger job, paying off debt, building equity and eventually farm ownership.

But the Auckland region’s growth is making it difficult for the couple and their farming goals. “We’d love to stay here and would love

to expand but land prices just aren’t allowing for that. “If we want to continue farming we need to change the way we do things here or accept that we can’t stay farming here and move somewhere else. “While we are considering our options – including the diversification of our current situation – the reality is dairy farming is slowly getting phased out in this area as the urban sprawl continues to grow around us. “To get those larger jobs you often need to go further south to Waikato or elsewhere in NZ. We’re open to that,� they say. n

>> Video link: bit.ly/OFSguy

COMMITTED TO RURAL NZ FOR OVER 30 YEARS EFFLUENT TESTING Hill Laboratories was established in 1984 to provide the best analytical testing for NZ’s agricultural sector.

34 years on, we’re still NZ’s only independently owned testing laboratory and still committed to supporting rural NZ. We invest hugely in innovation and offer a complete range of tests using the latest technology to support sustainable farming.

Hill Laboratories and agriculture - a logical partnership of innovative science and our primary sector.

%

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

MORE

FREEPHONE 0508 HILL LAB (44 555 22) www.hill-laboratories.com

13

Pulsar Herbicide

Got to PEE? There comes a time when every farmer needs to PEE (Post Emergent Execution), something that Pulsar makes easier.

Pulsar is a selective herbicide for use with a wide range of broadleaf weeds in new pasture, cereals, clover, and peas. The contact-only nature of Pulsar means there is no residual activity that could harm newly emerging desirable plants. Plus, with no need for pre-grazing, Pulsar requires less work and even less time until you need to PEE. Visit crop-solutions.basf.co.nz or your local store to learn how you can PEE early, and watch your clover, livestock, and profits grow.

ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW LABEL DIRECTIONS. © Copyright BASF 2018 ® Registered trademark of BASF. W216152 11.2018

®

MARKET OUTLOOK

All good on gains tax

I

STEPHEN BELL

’VE got some good news and some bad news and some ... well, you can make up your own mind.

The good news is that it’s steady as she goes on the economic climate front with the Reserve Bank confirming it expects no dramatic changes to interest and exchange rates this year so with commodity prices continuing to firm the prospects for farmers are good and, importantly, they can plan with some confidence in what they are doing.

The bad news is that there is still a great deal of uncertainty abroad with Brexit and the domino effect it might create and the United States-China stand-off continuing. However, there’s another twist to the Chinese end of this tale that might have longer-term effects on consumer demand there even if the two countries get chummy.

The twist is the Chinese authorities cracking down on spending fuelled by debt. They’ve realised many people, particularly the young, are borrowing to pay for consumer spending and it’s got them worried to the point they are now actively discouraging it.

The make up your own mind bit is the Reserve Bank’s suggestion that banks must hold a greater hoard of cash in reserve to get them through economic shocks, thus dampening their enthusiasm to lend to the likes of dairy farmers.

There’s also the report of the Tax Working Group that makes some recommendations farmers won’t like, a capital gains and more environmental taxes and strengthening the Emissions Trading Scheme. But no one should be surprised by the outcome. This Government has signalled clearly what it wants to do and this is the carrot and stick part of package to encourage some activities and discourage others.

However, the immediate future looks to be a time of steady improvement in returns.

ASB rural economist Nathan Penny, who is consistently the most optimistic of market commentators, thinks things are on the up.

“The conditions for the start of a new cycle have begun to emerge,” he says.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

ASB senior rural economist Nathan Penny believes next year’s farmgate milk price could push above $7/ kg MS and this year’s still has room to grow.

“Essentially those conditions boil down to supply growth increasingly lagging behind demand growth, with little prospect of catch-up in the short-term.”

But the risks of a slow-down in the Chinese economy spilling over into lower household demand for dairy remain a vulnerability to ongoing price growth, Penny says.

He reckons New Zealand milk supply next season could be a bit light relative to demand, boosting the farmgate milk price above $7/kg MS and even his $6.25/kg MS for this season still has room to grow.

So, that’s the immediate future taken care of.

Longer-term this year or next should give some certainty to what will happen at home in terms of economic conditions and environmental regulations and taxes.

Farmers won’t like all they hear about what the future holds for them but at least they are likely to know a lot more than they do now.

And while these changes might create difficulties for individual farmers, particularly older farmers, they could well be good in the longer term for farmers, the dairy industry generally and the whole economy.

The big elephant in the room is dairy debt. The Reserve Bank has for some time held concerns about the threat it poses.

We have already seen the disappearance of interest-only loans and the banks now have the prospect of holding more cash reserves to back up the money they lend.

That takes us straight to land prices.

Young farmers still say finding affordable land, particularly for dairy, is the biggest obstacle to farm ownership.

They attribute that to previous generations paying too much for land and banking on capital gains to give them a nest egg when they sell up.

Now older farmers holding out for higher prices are faced with the prospect of paying a capital gains tax in the near future. They need to get out their calculators and do some sums to see if meeting the market now is better than holding out and ending up having to pay the capital gains tax.

Real estate agents still talk about a price gap and the difficulty of selling second and third tier dairy farms, particularly those away from bigger urban centres.

If some of those older farmers get real and sell to dynamic youngsters ready and willing to meet the environmental challenges with innovative thinking and action that can only be good for farming and the economy.

And with the clampdown on sales to foreigners the young kiwis are the most likely buyers. They are the ones who will be farming most efficiently for productivity and profit as banks demand performance from those borrowing money.

So a capital gains tax might be the catalyst farming needs to put its focus squarely on operating profit rather than long-term land value gains. n

15

AT THE GRASSROOTS

Demand accountability

T

Until recently farm consultant Merryn Pugh was the AsureQuality surveillance manager for the Mycoplasma bovis response in Ashburton.

She shares some advice on what farmers can do to keep their herds safe

HE she’ll-be-right attitude is starting to change.

As a rural consultant specialising in on-farm biosecurity and Nait it has become apparent farmers are more aware of risks and taking action to mitigate them.

Accountability is non-negotiable.

Buying or receiving non-compliant cattle or deer is accepting liability.

It is not worth the risk.

It is hard enough to protect your farming enterprise when you have all the facts, without playing Russian roulette by receiving stock with questionable history.

Farmers need to understand we are reaching a tipping point where it is more cost-effective to become Nait compliant than to remain non-compliant.

Farmers must protect their asset (herds) by creating comprehensive and thorough biosecurity plans.

These plans are a chance to identify the processes and activities to mitigate onfarm risks and commit them to paper.

This is especially important for those farmers who continue to farm different classes of stock, which have different biosecurity and risk profiles.

It is advisable to clearly separate breeding herds and trading stock on separate Nait accounts but only if they are run as separate entities.

Use Nait to its full advantage.

Nait is an animal tracing system but it is also a very important tool to transparently identify on-farm and farm-to-farm, practices.

Trading stock have a much higher risk of being exposed to the likes of M bovis through multiple and complex

16

Consultant Merryn Pugh has been in the thick of keeping any eye on the Mycoplasma bovis response.

movements. Please ensure trading stock are not putting your high-value herd at risk.

Producers of cattle and deer must be accountable for the product they are producing and selling.

Receivers of stock must also demand accountability from their suppliers.

It is essential no stock leave a property of birth without being Nait tagged, the movement correctly recorded in Nait and they must be accompanied by an Animal Status Declaration. If these simple actions are completed New Zealand will be on a much clearer path than the one that we have just travelled.

Stock history must be understood before purchase or lease.

A pre-sale ASD is a recommended method to gather vital information that can be validated before money changes hands.

It is far better to make an informed decision before a movement occurring than the typical scenario of disappointment and regret when the stock arrive in the yards and they are not what you were expecting.

Many farmers now include other verification requirements in their pre-sale agreements. If a vendor is reluctant to provide a pre-sale ASD or any other presale information it must ring alarm bells.

Walk away.

It has become increasingly important to understand an animal’s history, ensuring

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

decisions can be made regarding the possible risk cattle might have been exposed to M bovis or other diseases.

The risk increases the more cattle move from their herd of origin, with each movement creating a chance to cross paths with diseased stock.

An astute buyer can use the ASD as a tool to evaluate risk.

Important on the ASD are questions 2.1 – are the stock owner-bred, and 6.8 – have stock from a lower TB status been introduced.

Ask more questions.

If not home-bred, ask to see the ASD that originally accompanied the stock to the property.

Remember, an ASD must be kept for six months after an animal leaves a property or for the entire time an animal is resident on that property. For this reason, an animal’s history should be accessible regardless of whether it was bred by the vendor.

Dairy farmers should be particularly vigilant about movement recording.

Many dairy farmers have never logged onto their Nait account because LIC is

engaged as their information provider.

That must change.

It is important for all farmers to familiarise themselves with their Nait account. It must be understood the person in charge of the stock is responsible for completing the activities prescribed by the Nait Act.

The easy option for Nait movement recording must stop.

The fact an information provider is engaged does not mitigate any liability.

The easy option for Nait movement recording must stop.

When stock are received ensure they are scanned onto the property.

Many farmers have got caught up with incorrect movement recording through not checking stock on arrival and simply ticking the box in Nait, confirming the

animals have been received, after the sending movement has been recorded.

Do you really know exactly what animals arrived?

Nait is an electronic identification scheme. To effectively manage stock with RFID devices fitted it is important to have suitable equipment capable of reading the tags. A correctly inserted RFID tag is near impossible to read manually without a crush.

Providing animal details to Nait based on a visual flag tag is often a risk because this method is totally reliant on tags being correctly inserted as pairs.

Visual reading of tags is also a risk because of errors in manually recording numbers. Farmers without electronic scanning devices should look for support from service providers, stock agents or OSPRI’s contact centre.

M bovis has been a wake-up call.

Let us all learn from the mistakes and oversights identified.

It is not difficult to become compliant and there is plenty of help available to farmers struggling to get their head around new technology and systems. n

FEED SYSTEMS SINCE 1962

Supreme quality stainless steel feed trays / Exceptional back-up support / Easy to use and maintain First class installations / Robust construction / Skiold Disc Mills Grain Holding Silos / Utility Augers / Mobile Auger

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

LK0080053©

DAIRY FEED SYSTEMS

17

NEWS

DWN a must-attend event

T

SONITA CHANDAR

HE Allflex DWN19 Invest in You is the must-attend event of the year.

“As always, we have another incredible conference planned,” chief executive Jules Benton says.

The conference is the Dairy Women’s Network’s biggest event on the annual dairy industry calendar.

This year’s theme is Invest in You and DWN has teamed up with many supporters including livestock management company Allflex.

“This conference and theme are built around what our members have told us they want,” she says.

“It is all about taking the time out and getting off the farm for a couple of days, hearing speakers they would not have heard from before and spending time with like-minded people while learning and socialising.

“Our members are involved in DWN courses and events quite often but our conference is a time when they can really connect with each other and be a part of something bigger.”

Several workshops have been designed around personal development and upskilling with practical on-farm learning.

DWN has once again secured a dynamic line-up of first-class speakers including Sue Stockdale from England who will talk about how to step out of your comfort zone and take risks.

Stockdale, the first UK woman to ski to the North Pole, knows how. With no crosscountry skiing or sledging experience she stepped up to the challenge.

She now works with women all over the world, helping them achieve more than they imagine possible and enables them to find their own North Pole.

“Sue is the most amazing person and to hear her speak will be a privilege,” Benton said.

Also speaking are clinical psychologist Professor Julia Rucklidge, lawyer Vicki

18

Dairy Women’s Network chief executive Jules Benton says DWN 19 has an amazing line-up of guest speakers.

Ammundsen, business owner Aimee Charteris, Allflex Australia research scientist Amanda Doughty and Dr Paul Wood.

“We believe the keynote speakers and workshops will stretch our minds,” she says.

“Our speakers are all amazing people and we can’t wait to have them share their personal journeys, wow attendees and share some special messages to get us thinking.”

Benton is also looking forward to the Fonterra Glitz and Glam gala dinner where the 2019 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year winner will be named.

This year will mark the eighth year for the prestigious award, which celebrates women who have made outstanding contributions to New Zealand’s dairy industry.

Benton says with 2019 her first as chief executive she is looking forward to celebrating the leadership and diversity of women in the dairy industry.

“As the year of our 20th anniversary comes to a close I’m excited to see the awards journey with fresh eyes and celebrate the exceptional leadership qualities dairy women contribute to the industry.

“If we’ve learnt anything over the past 20 years it’s that the role of dairy women has gone from being one of a silent force in the background to one where they

We believe the keynote speakers and workshops will stretch our minds.

Jules Benton

Dairy Women’s Network

are leaders, chief executives and board members in their own right.”

Benton says 2019’s recipient will be someone who is high-performing and recognised by her peers as a leader and demonstrates leadership and influence in her community and beyond.

“We very much see our Fonterra Dairy Women of the Year as wonderful ambassadors for the network, women who also share in our vision to enable transformational change through agribusiness and our purpose to empower farm businesses to thrive with knowledge and connections.”

The conference is on May 1-2 at the Christchurch Town Hall. n

MORE:

Go to www.dwn.co.nz/events

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

CYDECTIN POUR-ON WORKS HARDER ®

RECYCLABLE PACKAGING NEW ZEALAND'S NUMBER ONE CATTLE POUR-ON 1 Cydectin Pour-On is the brand you can trust.

#

1 MADE IN NEW ZEALAND Using Zoetis global quality control standards.

Less environmental waste.

PROVEN INCREASE IN PRODUCTION Increases milk solid production by an average of 4.2Kg MS per cow2.

NIL

4.2kgs 

35 DAYS PROTECTION

WITHHOLDING PERIODS Greater flexibility with NIL meat, milk and bobby calf withholding periods.

Broad spectrum control for longer against roundworms, including Ostertagia ostertagi for 35 days.

16596DF

CALCULATE YOUR POTENTIAL RETURNS USING CYDECTIN POUR-ON AT WWW.CYDECTIN.CO.NZ 1. September 2018 Baron data on File. 2. Murphy, A. The effect of treatment with moxidectin, a long acting endectocide, on milk production in lactating dairy cows World Buiatrics Congress, 1998.

Zoetis New Zealand Limited. Tel: 0800 650 277; www.zoetis.co.nz. CYDECTIN is a registered trademark of Zoetis. ACVM No. A6203.

ON FARM

Shane Cleaver and his sister Tash Hepburn are contract milkers on the family farm in Taranaki.

Photos: Ross Nolly

Family affair proves to be a winning combo

T

There is plenty of room on a Taranaki farm for the whole family to work side-by-side. Ross Nolly reports.

HE dream of many farmers is to have a family member return to work on and maybe even take over the family farm.

For farmers Deidre and Vernon Cleaver that dream has come to fruition with son Shane, 31, and daughter Natasha (Tash) Hepburn, 37, now running their Tokaora farm near Hawera as contract milkers.

The farm was originally a 40ha sheep unit bought by Vernon’s grandfather.

Over the years it has been added to, developed and is now an award-winning 290ha dairy farm.

Cleaver Farms won two categories in the 2018 Dairy Business of the Year Awards – Best Taranaki Farm Performance and the Business Resilience Award, which the family says was a big achievement for them. It is a sure sign their management practices are on-point and garnering them well-deserved success.

DBOY judges said as winners of the Business Resilience Award, Cleaver Farms had the lowest cost of production at $3.09/kg MS and the highest operating profit margin at 48.6% in the category so was a clear winner.

HFS quarter pg horizontal ad 210mmx86mm.pdf 1 “An impressive pasture harvest of 15.9 tonnes of DM/ha and pasture represented

87.7% of all feed consumed. Running a tight ship with excellent cost control ensure their win in this category,” judges said.

Winning the Best Taranaki Farm award was down to a very strong performance and excellent cost control achieving 397kg MS/cow on an 88% pasture system. That resulted in an excellent operating surplus in an improved payout season.

The awards used farm data from the 2016-17 season as are the farms KPIs. Tash and Shane run a similar system to what their parents did. They have explored other methods but have decided their parents’ methods still best suit the farm and there’s no point reinventing the wheel, especially after their win.

Good communication is the key ingredient in making the Cleavers’ farm run in an efficient manner and help ease any potential succession issues. The farm is set up as a company and Tash and Shane are also directors. The family has regular meetings to discuss budgets and other farm management topics.

“It would be fair to say that Tash and Shane do all the day-to-day work and make those decisions. We may talk about things but if they think something needs 18/02/19 1:41 PM to be done they go and do it. We’re acutely aware of busy and stressful times so we

try to kick in there to help out,” Vernon says.

“The big thing to us is that the kids have wanted to be involved.

“The transition has to happen so they can pick up the mantle and it’s nice to see them involved.”

Both Tash and Shane took unconventional routes to farming.

Tash went to Massey to study agriculture and Shane to Lincoln but both decided it wasn’t for them.

Continued page 22

FARM FACTS n Owner: Deidre and Vernon Cleaver n Contract milkers: Shane Cleaver and Natasha Hepburn n Location: Tokaora, Hawera, Taranaki n Farm size: 256ha effective, 290ha total, 7ha runoff n Cows: 810-820 Kiwicross n Production target: 420kg MS/cow n Target 2018-19: 335,000kg MS

TALK TO THE EXPERTS FOR SUPPORT OF YOUR FARMING LIVESTOCK FOR FE NOSODE (SPORE INFECTED GRASSES)

HOMEOPATHIC FARM SERVICES

e info

Remember to continue with your monthly drenching programme, we have this product available.

p 07 858 4233

wf

The siblings make a good team and say good communication is key in the smooth running of Cleaver Farms.

In this day and age dairy farming is quite an intense job and anyone who still thinks dairy farming is a basic occupation doesn’t understand the complexity of the job. Most dairy farms are multi-million dollar businesses, sometimes being run by one person.

Shane Cleaver

22

“I enjoy practical work and learning and after six months I’d had enough of university. I wanted to be more hands-on.

I learn better doing hands-on work than from theory,” Tash says.

“I helped out on the farm during spring, which was pretty hectic and just never left.

Tash says when she started working on the farm nine years ago she was just another staff member on the roster.

“I learnt a lot from mum and dad although, looking back, they were probably pretty full-on on the farm,” she says.

“Leaving university so early to start farming may have affected my social life a little but I still enjoy farming and love what I’m doing.”

Shane always wanted to return to the farm one day.

He, too, left university six months into the course after receiving a contract to play rugby in Taranaki. He also played Super Rugby and had a six-year professional career.

However, repeated head injuries forced him into retirement and he returned to the farm to work with Tash four years ago.

“To me farming was an opportunity.

It’s quite a big business for those wanting to make a go of it. That was always a drawcard. It was a lifestyle that I’d grown up with and was keen on,” Shane says.

There can often be issues when family members work together on the farm or when succession takes place. But the Cleavers have managed a seamless transition.

There is no sibling rivalry here though as Shane and Tash have their own roles in the business. Tash is responsible for the cowshed and animal health management.

Shane looks after the day-to-day operations and feeding systems. Deidre is busy in the office, raises the calves with Tash and she and Vernon help out wherever needed on the farm.

“We never went in with a plan. We just gravitated to doing what Shane and I are best at. I really enjoy the livestock and cow management and Shane is really good at the feeding,” Tash says.

They also employ two full-time staff members, a spring assistant and a reliever.

And of course Vernon and Deidre are always on hand when needed.

“It’s really handy having mum and dad here to help out during our busy times.

Continued page 24 DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

ON FARM

35

Australia By Private Aircraft

c

of

y ears

ex

travel to timeless lands in no time at all

e

r ating o eb

r ve

ce l

The Cleavers milk about 820 Kiwicross cows on the 290ha System 2 farm.

c e ll e n

Great Australian Aircruise

Gulf to Gulf Aircruise

free trans tasman airfare package*

free trans tasman airfare package*

12 Days | 6 - 17 Aug 2019

11 Days | 10 - 20 Jun 2019 | 18 - 28 Aug 2019

NZD$17,750pp twin share | Single Supplement NZD$1,950

NZD$15,500pp twin share | Single Supplement NZD$1,100

Sydney | Longreach | Katherine | Kakadu | Darwin | The Kimberley | Buccaneer Archipelago | Broome | Alice Springs | Kata Tjuta | Uluru | Birdsville | Sydney

Adelaide | Innamincka | Birdsville | Mount Isa | Adels Grove | Riversleigh Fossil & Mammal Field | Groote Eylandt | Tennant Creek | Alice Springs | Coober Pedy | Wilpena Pound | Adelaide

*Conditions Apply: Complimentary return airfares from AKL, WLG or CHC to Sydney (in the case of the Great Australian Aircruise) and Adelaide (in the case of the Gulf to Gulf Aircruise). In addition, 1 night pre tour accommodation, breakfast and return Australian airport transfers also included. Flights are secured on the best available fares at time of full payment; they are non-refundable, non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash. Offer cannot be taken in conjunction with any other offer. Valid on new bookings only. Must book and pay in full by 31st March, 2019.

www.billpeachjourneys.com.au

Call 0800 445 700

www.facebook.com/BillPeachJourneys

Bill Peach Journeys Pty Ltd. ABN 11 054 959 152. Travel Agents licence Number 2TA 003 547

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

23

ON FARM

There are two milking herds – one made up of younger two and three-year-old cows and the other of older cows. Shane and Tash check on the herd.

CLEAVER FARMS’ KPIS Location: Taranaki Cows: 840 Effective area: 243.50ha Milk prod: 3976kg MS/cow, 1369kg MS/ha Return on capital: 5% Operating profit margin: 46.8% Operating profit/ha: $4514 Cost of production/kg MS: $3.09 Operating expenses/kg MS: $3.75 Pasture harvest tDM/ha: 15.9 Pasture % of feed: 87.7% Core per cow costs: $541 Labour efficiency cows/FTE: 219 Environ score out of 15: 7 HR Scout out of 15: 9.1

During calving they probably add up to one full-time labour unit,” Tash says.

There are two milking herds – one made up of younger two and three-yearold cows and the other of older cows.

They target 420kg MS/cow and about 320,000kg MS each season. This season it looks like they might reach 335,000kg MS but that depends on the weather.

“We had a good spring and early summer but now it has turned really hot and dry.”

Shane and Tash milk a Kiwicross herd.

They feel the Kiwicross is a good all-round dairy cow. With production emphasis now turning to fat they feel the crossbred cow still gives them some fat dominance.

“Crossbreds aren’t big cows and have

The Cleaver family, Vernon, Deidre, Tash and Shane were named as the 2018 Dairy Business of the Year Best Taranaki Farm Performance winners. They also won the Business Resilience Award.

24

better reproduction and lameness history than the Holstein-Friesian. It’s easy to chase trends but crossbreds have a better resale value than a solely Jersey herd for example,” Shane says.

Having the younger cows in a separate herd eliminates the bullying by the dominant older cows and the competition with them for the available feed. Two herds is also an attempt to improve mating by having the younger cows in better condition because of less competition “After splitting them by age we were surprised at just how much grass the old girls ate compared to the young ones. The younger cows were in better condition and easier to manage,” Tash says.

The farm is System2 but at one stage used up to 200t of palm kernel a year.

Over the years that has been reduced and only a small amount is now fed to the calves or to the young herd as supplementary feed during mating.

But the family are now wondering whether palm kernel is providing an adequate return and will probably move away from it and rely on what they can grow on-farm.

“Dad began making maize silage about seven or eight years ago and it’s worked really well. This year, for the first time, we’re trialling a 2ha paddock of fodder beet. There are conflicting reports on it and while some farmers rave about it, others hate it so we will see how we go,” Shane says.

“Feeding out maize is a lot of work so we thought we’d trial fodder beet as a way to cut down the workload. We’ll put the young herd on it just to see if

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

We never went in with a plan. We just gravitated to doing what Shane and I are best at. I really enjoy the livestock and cow management and Shane is really good at the feeding.

Tash Hepburn

it’s something we may want to continue using.”

A 21ha maize crop is grown across the milking platform and run-off – 7ha on the run-off and 14ha on the farm. Maize helps them keep control over costs and not be at the mercy of the palm kernel market.

The lack of a feed pad necessitates feeding out in the paddocks and palm kernel doesn’t work well in that system.

On average the Cleavers make about 80ha of silage. This season, with the extreme grass growth, they were looking to make around 120-150ha. Last season they were able to make only 45ha because of the weather.

“We use our grass surpluses for silage and have an agreement with a farmer to buy his standing hay, which yields about 250 bales for winter feed and calving cows,” Shane says.

“Our biggest farming issue is the summer dry.

“We’re close to the coast and the farm can burn off badly. That’s why we try to create surpluses of grass, silage and maize. It’s insurance for the dry weather.

However, for the last couple of years the wet has been challenging. They’ve been the wettest years we’ve ever seen.”

Extra silage is a drought-proofing solution for the farm and every kilogram of silage is like money in the bank. About 100kg nitrogen/ha is used to create a grass surplus for pit silage during peak growth.

That is then cut back to 70kg N/ha.

The Cleavers chase the first period of good grass for pit silage in October, which eliminates the need to buy extra feed. If the farm burns off and there’s a lack of

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Tash, mixing zinc, left home and went to Massey University to study agriculture but found it wasn’t for her so went home to work in the holidays and never left.

grass they must keep roughly half the cows’ diet as protein so need that grass silage to mix with the maize.

“Last season we were very short of grass in December due to the drought. But after Christmas we had a lot of rain so didn’t have a bad year in the end. We pregnancy tested early and the empties were culled, however, the wet spring had a big impact on the season. Luckily, we finished pretty strong,” Shane says.

“Our cows didn’t peak at all due to the wet spring. It was our hardest year. This year has been a nice change after a couple of tough springs. We usually hit our targets unless we have a bad drought.”

The heifers are usually grazed on-farm but this year, the first time for many years, the Cleavers found off-farm grazing for

100 calves with 140 being grazed on-farm.

With more than 800 cows to calve, spring is very hectic.

Tash and Deidre raise 240 replacement calves. They rear that number because the reproduction percentages are not quite as good as they’d like them to be. All empty cows are culled.

“We usually have about 11% empties but last season it was 13% due to the hard spring. It’s been a bit higher over the last couple of years but that seems to be a pretty general situation,” Tash says.

Tash enjoys raising calves. But by the end of the season and after over 800 calves have passed through the sheds it has become pretty tiring. But she finds

Continued page 26 25

On a clear day the view of Mount Taranaki from the cowshed is spectacular.

it tremendously satisfying to know that once again she has been responsible for raising so many healthy calves.

Tash runs five mobs of 48 calves and aims to get them outside as early as possible to prevent any illnesses. If they stay in the sheds too long illnesses can become a problem because of the high number of calves.

“The calves are collected twice a day.

I start in the shed at about 4.35am and it takes about 2.5 hours to feed the keepers and the bobbies,” she says.

“We give each calf two litres of new colostrum when they first come in, which works very well. We don’t get many sick calves. They do really well on the grass, especially if you get good weather,” Tash says.

AI is used for the entire herd. No bulls are used to tail off the herd but they do use Jersey bulls for the grazing heifers.

Milking times depend on the time of 26

the year. When production drops back a little in mid December the cups go on at 5am and when AB is completed the milking of both herds is finished by 7.30am.

“Evening cups go on at 2.30pm and we’re finished by about 4.45pm. Tash and I don’t spend as much time in the shed now. The two-man, 60-bail rotary cowshed makes things easier,” Shane says.

“We have a system where one worker brings in one herd and the other will milk them. They then swap over so one worker isn’t always standing there milking all of those cows on their own. It’s quite hard on the arms when the rotary is going fast.”

Having reliable trustworthy staff is a key component that allows Tash and Shane to get some off-farm time.

“We’re fortunate to have reliable staff but having two people in the business helps too. Usually either Tash or I are

always around and mum and dad are here if we ever need them,” Shane says.

“It’s helpful having people with some skin in the game always on-farm. This farm is now so well set up that once we get to mid December and calving and mating are over things become a bit easier,” When Tash and Shane began working on the farm they needed to learn how the job was done before adopting and trying different methods. Vernon and Deidre have upgraded plant and equipment to make the farm operation run more efficiently and are considering future upgrades.

“We’ve spent quite a bit of capital on infrastructure but the industry has just come through a downturn so, like everyone else, we’re holding the cards a bit tighter at the moment. I’m sure the industry will turn as we’ve been through these situations before. The last downturn

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

ON FARM

Tash looks after the cowshed and animal health management and Shane looks after the day-to-day operations and feeding systems.

knocked a lot of us around and it will take a while to get back on track again,” Vernon says.

A new effluent system has recently been installed after their resource consent expired. The old settling pond didn’t require lining. It only needed blocking up to be used as storage pond that could be pumped from.

The Cleavers say dairy farming is not a simple occupation. It requires a good knowledge of maths, science, record keeping, staff management and many other functions. And that’s before taking all the variables like weather and animal husbandry into account.

It’s also an unpredictable business environment with many variables that need to be foreseen. Weather conditions, animal health, global trends, government regulations, local and global financial conditions are all factors in the efficient running of a dairy farming business.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

“On a beautiful, sunny day you couldn’t get a better life. You’re always learning things, it’s not just milking cows. Yet some people think it’s a case of putting cups on cows and ask what we do for the rest of the day,” Tash says.

“There’s always something to do and it’s always rewarding to see something that you have put into practice come to fruition.”

Shane has no interest in sitting in an office. He enjoys working outside.

However, getting up at 4am in the spring when there’s a howling southerly blowing he sometimes thinks an office job wouldn’t be a bad gig.

“In this day and age dairy farming is quite an intense job and anyone who still thinks dairy farming is a basic occupation doesn’t understand the complexity of the job. Most dairy farms are multi-million dollar businesses, sometimes being run by one person,” Shane says.

“When you go through summer and the workload drops you get a better lifestyle.

You can set the operation up so that you can get away fishing every now and then.”

Tash plays social touch and netball as a way to get off the farm and wind down.

She enjoys going to the gym and waterskiing on Lake Rotorangi.

Shane takes any chance to go fishing and diving. During summer the beach is his go-to spot for a relaxing time. Most days he tries to do some form of exercise and finds a gym workout to be a good release after a big day on the farm.

The Cleavers’ farm has been in the

I’m sure the industry will turn as we’ve been through these situations before.

The last downturn knocked a lot of us around and it will take a while to get back on track again.

Vernon Cleaver

family for a long time. Vernon and Deidre say they are fortunate to see another generation return to the farm.

“We’re lucky that they’re interested in working on the farm because it enables a smooth transition and it also gives us some direction because where do you go otherwise? You just keep trucking along until you put up the white flag,” Vernon says.

“Having family involved gives more security around the farming operation and, of course, now we can also have the occasional day off. They make a good job of it and really look after the farm.” n 27

NEWS

Big crowd for field days

M

ORE than 26,000 people are expected to flock to Manfeild in Feilding this month for New Zealand’s largest regional agricultural event, the Central Districts Field Days.

The 2019 event, the 26th, has plenty to offer people from farmers and foodies to tech heads and townies.

“We’re really excited about this year’s event,” sponsorship director David Blackwell says.

“There are a record number of exhibitors and we have some great new areas and activities that are sure to make this year’s Central Districts Field Days a community event to remember.”

Showcasing everything from international innovators to local growers, the organisers have rejigged the layout at Manfeild to make way for 600-plus exhibitors.

Highlights include Mission Aviation Fellowship’s ZK-MAF aircraft that will be landing on site and local innovations like the cloud-based automatic Zeddy feeder and the futuristic Halter stock control system that uses a network of advanced technology to revolutionise herd management.

“With a heap of special deals exclusive to the event plus the chance to have a yarn with sellers and exhibitors it’s a great time to stock up and stay on top of

The Central Districts Field Days are back at Manfield this month and are bigger than ever.

the latest trends and developments in farming and agriculture,” Blackwell says.

The National Excavator Competition returns to crown New Zealand’s 25th Operator of the Year along with the ever-popular Central Districts fencing competition.

Kiwi Freestyle Motocross (FMX) favourites Franklin Farms are also bringing their daredevil show to Manfeild for the first time.

“We are practising our supermans, tsunami flips and a special jump that

Organisers expect another great turnout of people wanting to see the latest and greatest in agricultural innovations.

28

takes us 23m from ramp to landing,” team director Nick Franklin says.

Organisers and Talent Central are putting on an Amazing Race styled competition for years 11-13 students.

Designed to showcase the range of employment opportunities in the sector, more than 500 lower-North Island students are expected to participate.

“This is a valuable chance for employers to reach students in a fun, interactive way,” Talent Central AgriQuest co-ordinator Sonia Griffin says.

The field days is hosting the final for the AgTech Hackathon on the Saturday. Now in its third year, the Hackathon brings together teams of tech talent to create solutions primary industries.

“The Hackathon offers a glimpse into what sort of innovations could transform the agricultural industry and a chance to meet the minds that will make it happen,” Blackwell says.

A new digital event guide will help visitors sort out their itinerary and keep on top of what’s going on. Visitors can even pin where they parked their car on the map and enter competitions for a share of $20,000 worth of prizes.

The CD field days are on from Thursday March 14 to Saturday March 16, 9am4.30pm and till 4pm on Sunday. n

MORE:

cdfielddays.co.nz

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Jurjen Groenveld and Tracey Zimmerman, with Hollie, 4, are 50-50 sharemilkers on the Zimmerman family farm in Taranaki and are both trained aAa analysers.

Finding perfect form and function in cows

T

A Taranaki couple trained in the aAa animal analysis system are seeing positive results in their herd. Ross Nolly reports.

ARANAKI dairy farmer Tracey Zimmerman has always had a passion for dairy cow breeding.

However, after trying conventional breeding methods for six or seven years she was beginning to think the results were somewhat underwhelming for the amount of effort she had

to put in.

Tracey and her partner Jurjen Groenveld are 50-50 sharemilkers on the 78ha Zimmerman family farm at Huinga, milking 130-140 cows.

“I was using Traits Other than Production (TOP) indexes and pedigree information to make mating decisions but my results were running along the bell-curve.

30

“Some cows were a little bit better and some were a bit worse.

“I became frustrated with the unpredictability.

“I thought that I was the only person in New Zealand who was experiencing these frustrations.

“Farmers talk about the dairy payout, the rugby or the weather but we don’t have many conversations about cows even though they’re an important part of our business. I decided at that point you either learn to live with the frustration or you do some research.”

While researching she came across the aAa animal analysis system. It resonated with her and she wanted to have her cows analysed. No one in NZ was qualified to do it so she decided to go to the Netherlands and learn.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

DAIRY CHAMPION The analysis system is a dairy cattle breeding guide created in 1950 by Vermont Holstein breeder and classifier William A Weeks, based on his detailed study of the form and function of dairy cows and bulls.

Weeks identified naturally occurring patterns in the way animals’ body parts are formed and function together. He designed the aAa system to include six numbers. Each describes a desirable form that affects overall functionality.

Analysers study the relationship of parts in a cow’s physical form and ask what causes a cow’s problems, what qualities she brings to a mating and what qualities the bull needs to bring to produce a daughter as good as or better than her dam.

The process is what makes aAa different from any other dairy cattle breeding guide.

During that first trip to the Netherlands she visited herds using the system. She noticed fewer extremes in the herds that had been analysed for a number of years. The cows were healthier and living longer with fewer feet and udder problems.

“Taking into account that there’s always a big management component in breeding outcomes, the cows on the farms new to analysis were beginning to demonstrate some extreme forms.

This was usually the reason farmers would call an analyser,” Tracey says.

Farmers talk about the dairy payout, the rugby or the weather but we don’t have many conversations about cows.

Tracey Zimmerman

“Ever since I was a child I have had a vision in my mind about the kind of cow I was wanting.

“But the cows I had bred to date were moving further away from the vision in my mind. Yet, in the Dutch herds that had been using the aAa system for a longer period and for the first time, I saw the type of cow I was looking for.”

It was during her second trip to the Netherlands in 2016 that she met Jurjen, a qualified aAa analyser. He eventually moved to NZ and they went 50-50 sharemilking on the family farm this season.

“We decided that there wasn’t much point in us both working as approved analysers. I’m more the farmer and Jurjen finds the travel more straightforward than I do so it seemed logical for Jurjen to continue analysing while I concentrated on the farm,” Tracey says.

“It was an easy transition because Jurjen and I had visited many of the farms together. The bulk of analysing is done just prior to mating, which is a very critical time here on the farm so for the time being it’s the best option.”

Jurjen believes modern breeding has become a one-size-fits-all system. The practice of matching a good cow with high figures to a bull with high figures usually results in a calf with high figures too. However, physiological factors often aren’t taken into account and farmers still need to consider how each cow is put together.

“If you use all the available tools you end up with a better outcome. We want to keep the good traits and make the most of the available technologies.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

FREE on phone

consultation, stay compliant with Dairychill

0800 324 455

Call now for

cooling down Simple Fast Pre-Cooling Ice Banks Chilled Water Glycol Vat Chillers Service Plans Guaranteed Results

SERVICE - RE PAIRS - MAINTENANCE

dairychill.co.nz

0800 324 455

This Holstein-Milking Shorthorn is 14 years old, in her 13th lactation and has an estimated lifetime production of more than 105,000 litres. She has low somatic cell count and never needs hoof trimming, calving help, fertility intervention or antibiotics.

“I don’t ever want to become overly nostalgic and believe that everything was better 20 or 30 years ago because the modernday cow has some very good qualities but we must add to this foundation to improve in the future. If you don’t, it is always possible to find yourself moving backwards,” Tracey says.

“What I liked about the aAa system was that it was like a recipe and you could make more sense of the other information if you knew the foundation of the recipe.

32

“It provided a foundation for mating a cow correctively then you use evaluation methods such as index, genomics, pedigree and TOP to pick the good bulls.”

Jurjen began analysing in 2008. He started his practice in the Netherlands and built up a business throughout Europe. The European cows are very different to NZ cows but they, too, are being culled early from herds, albeit for different reasons.

“European and North American cattle are more likely to fall to pieces in the frame and some cows have become too frail and narrow in their front end and the thurl position is set further back so they tend to break down in the loin,” Jurjen says.

“NZ cows are becoming increasingly small and light-boned with pelvic structures that don’t allow enough room for the udder.

The combination of small bones and closed rear-end structures are causing pin and tail setting to become higher and hooves that are poorly formed and prone to lameness.

“You can measure how much milk a cow can make but that doesn’t tell you anything about the way she makes that milk.

“It’s complex and there are many biological processes that must be taken into account. If an animal has a good form she can easily do the job and the things we measure improve as the quality of the cow improves,” Tracey says.

There is a burgeoning interest in the system from NZ farmers and AI companies. The bull analysis process takes place every two years in NZ and Australia but plans are being made to make it annual.

Tracey believes that to get the best results when having cows analysed for the first time it is important for farmers to be ready to use the system.

“When a herd of cows is analysed for the first time a specific pattern is found in the types of bulls needed. This is logical because we are all creatures of habit when it comes to culling and bull selection.

“If a farmer wants to continue using bulls that are the opposite of what is needed then maybe that particular farmer is not quite ready to use aAa. Once a farmer is comfortable with the system and adapts their bull selection to include bulls with needed qualities that meet their breeding goals the process is really simple.”

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Jurjen and Tracey milk 20 Jersey cows among their Holstein herd. This two-year-old Jersey is the result of an aAa mating and she milks well, keeps herself healthy and has no problems competing with the Holstein-Friesians.

When Jurjen analyses a herd he gives each cow three aAa numbers listed in the order of what she needs the most.

Each number represents one of the six aAa qualities.

A cow analysed 423 needs a bull analysed 423.

“LIC, CRV, Samen, World Wide Sires, Semex and most other AI companies have bulls analysed so farmers have a lot of choice when selecting bulls.

“Analysers are independent so we don’t recommend specific bulls. It is important that we remain unbiased and show no favouritism towards specific AI companies so farmers are free to choose the best bulls for their farm. If farmers select four or five good bulls that meet their farm’s breeding criteria it should work well,” Tracey says.

“Breeding is part of overall management and it is important not to exaggerate its importance.

“Breeding will never be a compensate for poor management but we are seeing positive changes in our herd.

“In the past we started seeing an increase in the number of failing two- year-olds and we simply don’t have that problem any more. The first thing we actually noticed with aAa was that the bull calves were a lot better, they really looked like bulls.

“In the past they were getting increasingly fine boned. Now they have power and we receive premium prices for them at feeder calf sales,” Tracey says.

Their goal is to improve the age structure of their herd.

It costs just as much money and work to raise a calf that will be in a herd for two years as it does for 10 years.

There is also the added saving of not needing to rear as many replacements because the cows stay in the herd longer.

And, of course, a healthier cow needs less veterinary attention.

The aAa system is in its infancy in NZ and they are excited to see how the cows that are the result of the breeding system age in their herd. However, herds that have been analysed for up to 10 years are demonstrating positive improvements. n

SERIOUS ABOUT EFFLUENT STORAGE We have the solution for you

Paul: 027 413 0072 Dean: 027 531 6624 www.tanksandsilos.co.nz

LK0095003©

Innovative glass fused to steel above ground storage tanks.

■ Highly corrosion resistant ■ Does not require liners or cathodic protection ■ Rapid installation, low maintenance costs ■ Sizes range from 100,000ltrs to 20,000,000ltrs – heights from 1.4 to 10mtrs ■ Structurally designed concrete floor

NEWS

Awards judging almost over SONITA CHANDAR

J

UDGING is almost complete in the 2019 Dairy Industry Awards with the first finalists to be announced this month.

Entries the Share Farmer of the Year, Dairy Manager of the Year and Dairy Trainee of the Year competitions are up on last year.

A total of 393 entries has been received – 106 in the Share Farmer category, 166 in the Dairy Manager category and 121 in the Dairy Trainee category.

Entrants will first take part in one of 11 regional programmes being held throughout the country in February and March with the winners of those programmes progressing to the national finals in May. The Fonterra Responsible Dairying Award, introduced last year, will also be up for grabs but time is running out to get nominations in.

The award is a national one recognising dairy farmers who demonstrate leadership in their approach to sustainable dairying and who are ambassadors for the industry.

The award was introduced to recognise dairy farmers respected by their farming peers and their community for their attitude and role in sustainable dairying.

Entries are only by nomination via dairyindustryawards.co.nz.

The winning farmer could come from any of New Zealand’s milk suppliers and any farmer or farming partnership demonstrating a high calibre of performance and leadership in the areas of responsible and sustainable care of people, animals, ecosystems and communities are eligible for nomination.

Awards executive chairwoman Rachel Baker says farmers are being encouraged to share stories of how they are farming responsibly, both environmentally and socially, and to showcase excellence.

“Many of our winners and entrants from our Dairy Trainee, Dairy Manager and Share Farmer awards programmes do just this and progress to leadership 34

Matamata farmers Wynn and Tracy Brown, who are considered leaders in the dairy industry, last year won the inaugural Dairy Industry Awards Fonterra Responsible Dairying Award.

Many of our winners and entrants ... progress to leadership roles within the industry and their communities.

Rachel Baker Dairy Industry Awards

roles within the industry and their communities.

“This award gives us the opportunity to recognise farmers who have progressed to ownership, demonstrate leadership in their farming practices and are role models for our younger farmers coming through,” she says.

The inaugural Responsible Dairying Award winners were Matamata farmers Wynn and Tracy Brown, who are considered leaders in the dairy industry, in all areas of sustainability, business and farm management, as well as in the way they give back to the industry and community.

The couple believe they are only caretakers of the land for future generations and want to leave it in better condition than when they took it on.

“We want to leave a legacy,” they say.

“Sustainable farming is about walking the walk not just talking the talk. It’s about what you do when no-one is looking,” the Browns say.

“It’s also about not just living for the here and now but about thinking for the future and those who will come after you.”

Nomination forms are available at dairyindustryawards.co.nz with entries closing on March 20. Three finalists will be selected and interviewed by judges on Friday May 10 and the winner announced in Wellington on May 11. n

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Investing is a journey, at PMG it looks a lot like this

D UN T F S ICE ERE F OF INT T C UR E O R DI ER Y G PM GIST RE

PMG Direct Office Fund is considering the acquisition of two quality office properties to its portfolio and is expecting to launch an offer to the public soon.

No money is currently being sought and units in the Fund cannot currently be applied for or acquired under the intended offer. If the offer is made, it will be made in accordance with the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. No indication of interest will involve an obligation or a commitment to acquire the financial products.

Contact us to register your interest

www.propertymgr.co.nz P: 0800 219 476 E: investor.services@propertymgr.co.nz

HOT OFF THE PRESS Request your copy now

The highly anticipated PMG Thinkbook will be released at the end of February.

With expert contributors from the property, financial, technology and advisory sectors, PMG’s latest edition of Thinkbook promises to be thought-provoking and insightful. This is a must-read for those interested in new trends, technologies, the economic outlook for 2019 and key movements in the NZ property market.

LASTS AT LEAST 20 WEEKS.

THAT’S GOT THE TEATSEAL OF APPROVAL. Only Teatseal is proven to last for at least 20 weeks – meaning you can be sure you’re covered and doing the right thing. But getting that confidence takes time, effort and extreme care around hygiene. That’s why we’re working tirelessly with farmers, vets and the dairy industry to ensure best practice in the shed. With training material, videos and all the gear you need to make it easy. Talk to your vet today about using Teatseal.

Preparation is key, contact your vet or learn more at teatseal.co.nz *Zoetis Study No.A131R-NZ-14-251 (A3251). Zoetis New Zealand Limited. Tel: 0800 963 847; www.zoetis.co.nz. TEATSEAL is a registered trade mark of Zoetis. ACVM No. A7294. RVM; Available only under Veterinary Authorisation. ZOE0051

INDUSTRY GOOD

Trucking cows – the least we can do Jacqueline McGowan

DairyNZ developer

T

RAVELLING can be tiring but I find it’s often the little things that make me feel better on a road trip or flight, like staying hydrated and having snacks on hand.

It’s exactly the same when it comes to transporting our cows, whether they are travelling down the road to graze or on their final journey.

We know from speaking to many of you that you are doing a great job of assessing that your cows are fit for transport – with a body condition score of three or more and in good health.

At DairyNZ we make a commitment that New Zealand will continue to be a world leader in animal care and our research and science has helped look at more ways we can support our cows to travel well.

Firstly, it’s ideal if you can dry off your cows before transporting them. It makes them less prone to going down during transport. But we understand it isn’t always possible.

If you can’t dry off of your cows one of the best things you can do is give them

WHAT TO DO • 2 to 24 hours before travel: • Ensure access to water at all times • Stand-off green feed for at least four but no more than 12 hours and continue to feed hay/balage • Supplement calcium and magnesium • Liaise with your transport company to send cows to a nearby processing plant

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Cows being transported should ideally be dried off but if they are in milk, then magnesium and calicium should be administered on the day of travel. magnesium and calcium on the day they are to be moved.

We know many of you are aware of the benefits of feeding magnesium but calcium is equally important.

Constant muscle movement during transport can use up the cow’s normal supply of calcium, especially if she is still lactating or being trucked a long way.

Calcium deficiency can affect a cow’s muscles to the point where they can no longer contract properly, which increases the risk of them going down.

To prevent that it’s recommended each cow is given 100g of limeflour and 12-20g of magnesium as an oral drench. Double the amounts if administering as a slurry with hay.

I know this should go without saying but I’m never one to assume anything so make sure your cows always have access to water until they are loaded.

They’ll thank you for it because they won’t get another chance until they arrive at their destination.

You can also try to limit the length of the journey by keeping wherever they are

with DairyNZ going as short a ride as possible.

It’s common knowledge that cows should be kept off green feed for at least four hours but no longer than 12 hours before transport to prevent effluent spilling onto roads but it’s important to remember that doesn’t include hay or balage.

So make sure they have access to roughage right up until they are loaded.

If you have tall cows let your transport company know in advance so it can avoid back rubs by sending a suitably configured truck.

These things are the very least we can do to show our kindness and care to our cows. n

MORE:

Visit dairynz.co.nz/transporting-stock Jacqueline McGowan is a DairyNZ developer in the animal care team.

37

FAST FIVE The Dairy Farmer team is always out and about looking for dairy industry workers going about their business. Keep an eye out, you just never know when one of our team might tap you on the shoulder.

This month we catch up with CRV Ambreed Reporoa, Taupo and Western Bays field consultant Hazel Grainger-Allen.

1. What motivates or drives you?

On a personal front, my number one motivation is my family. I want to ensure they have the opportunities and family time they deserve. As a CRV Ambreed field consultant I thrive on helping my clients achieve their goals and being part of improving their business.

2. What philosophy do you live by?

Success can come in all forms, big or small, so recognise and enjoy those moments. If you make a mistake, own it, learn from it and move on. Mistakes are a valuable experience of life to learn from.

3. What do you enjoy the most about your job and why?

Seeing my clients achieve success. I like to ensure farmers are fully informed and have everything they need to make the best breeding decisions for their business. Every business has its challenges and sometimes these are out of our control but we always try to make the best from those situations.

4. How do you see the state of the industry and future of dairying?

Dairying is ever-evolving. We are moving on from traditional farming practices to looking at alternative options. This is great to see. We all want to live in a clean, green NZ. Dairy farmers are no different. Working together and being open to different ideas will help the sustainability of dairying in the future.

5. What is the busiest time of the year for you and what are some of the challenges you face this season?

Hazel Grainger-Allen

HAZEL Grainger-Allen is originally from south Gloucestershire in Britain where she grew up on the family dairy farm.

Twenty years ago she won the C Alma Baker Young Farmers Scholarship enabling her to travel to New Zealand to work on the sheep and beef station at Limestone Downs, Port Waikato.

Returning home she and husband Colin found they missed NZ so returned.

They started their dairying career in Tokoroa as farm assistants then moved to Te Puke where they managed 300 cows and progressed to 50-50. Then they were offered a 50-50 position sharemilking 750 cows on two farms at Ngakuru, South of Rotorua. She says it was a fantastic opportunity.

Mating is the busiest time of year for me. My role switches from a focus on sales to service – managing my fantastic team of AI technicians, helping with heat detection advice and ensuring all my clients’ requirements are met in a specific timeframe. This is sometimes a challenge when changes occur but a time of year I thoroughly enjoy. This year Mycoplasma bovis added an additional challenge. CRV Ambreed already had a strong focus on biosecurity and protocols but we needed to take into consideration our clients’ individual policies and requests to ensure we protected everyone.

In 2015 they sold their herd and bought a drystock block at Ngakuru. Their goal was to work in the dairy industry and have careers they love.

Hazel is a field consultant for CRV Ambreed and Colin is a DairyNZ consulting officer for Central Plateau.

Proven Product. Best Spread.

Thank you to all our farmers who took the time to enter our debate, effluent, what to do with it – use it as fertiliser or remove from the farm? Congratulations to contract milker Lance Jensen from Hawera and sharemilker Angela Pritchard from Northland who have each won an AgHatMax helmet courtesy of Forbes and Davies.

USE IT VS LOSE IT Lance Jensen Why would you get rid of it, especially at this time of year when it is hot and dry and the grass is brown? I need all the blades of grass I can get at the moment. It is free fertiliser and makes the grass and crops grow like crazy.

We grow about five hectares of turnips and with irrigation the yield is increased so we are winning there.

We irrigate our farm with a travelling irrigator pumped from our effluent pond whenever the weather allows.

We have a quite a bit of storage so that is not an issue but we still try to spread onto paddocks as often as possible.

Angela Pritchard We spread it through K-Line irrigation using it as fertiliser on the main farm. However, we are interested in having it removed from the farm altogether. We spread it once a week but are limited by how much we can pump onto the paddocks so, when it’s time to irrigate, there’s not a lot of scope to empty it completely. By removing it we would be able to clean out the pond completely. But for now, we use it on the paddocks or crops so at least it is useful on the farm.

In fact, at the moment, it is so hot and dry the only green patch on the farm is where the effluent has been spread.

APRIL Debate:

Beef Calves Vs Bobby Calves Do you naturally mate with a beef breed over your herd to get saleable animals from your tail-enders or put them to easy-calving Friesian or Jersey bulls just to get them in-calf?

Tell us what you use and why and be in to win one of two packs of Dairy Farmer calf covers. Individual entries will be accepted as well as those from a warring duo.

The submission deadline is March 15, 2019 Enter now at farmersweekly.co.nz/pull-the-udder-one

Terms and conditions apply.

One of two packs of Dairy Farmer calf covers.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Farmers bail up soccer team

F

ARMERS and shepherds on the Italian island of Sardinia have been dumping their milk in the streets to protest against low prices.

They say they would rather pour their milk away than sell it for almost nothing.

According to Euronews the farmgate price of sheep milk has plunged more than 25% to ¤0.60/litre following a drop in the price of cheese.

Local farmers’ milk is used for about half the island’s cheese production.

The farmers are demanding ¤0.70/ litre as well as better protection from cheap imported milk and protected denomination of origin of milk.

One shepherd said “Every shepherd feeds 11 people. We don’t get any help yet we are helping others.”

On Sunday February 10 the protesting Sardinian farmers blocked Highway 131 in Terralba, displaying a banner that said “Sardinian shepherds are nobody’s slaves.”

Sardinian farmers are tipping milk onto roads rather than accepting low prices.

They dropped thousands of litres of milk from urns from an overpass on to oncoming cars and lorries below.

The previous day the farmers’ protests caused the Cagliari football team to miss a flight for their game against AC Milan.

But the Cagliari players were later allowed to leave their training ground after they expressed support for farmers.

One of Sardinia’s biggest cheeseproducing factories, the CAO Formaggi factory in Oristano, suspended production and distribution in solidarity with farmers.

Italy’s Agriculture Minister Gian Marco Centinaio met farmers and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has promised a solution after holding a meeting with shepherds.

Farmers and Sardinian dairy farmers took part in a protest staged by Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti in downtown Rome on February 12.

Sardinian farmers have threatened to block polling stations on the island in the regional elections if no solution can be found to the milk price crisis. n UK Farmers Weekly

Muller to cut £100m costs BRITISH dairy giant Muller says it needs to find £100m of savings from within the business to address profitability issues.

Muller’s United Kingdom operation launched its margin improvement programme, named Project Darwin, after citing significant changes in the dairy market environment alongside notable global dairy market volatility.

The processor said the 12-month project will simplify the business and include a comprehensive review of the milk buyer’s manufacturing, logistics, back office, people organisation, products and procurement.

Project Darwin came just a fortnight after Muller cut its March milk price for its non-aligned producers by 1.25p/ litre, spurring its producer board to

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

release its first-ever public statement.

The Muller Milk Group (MMG), a panel of elected Muller dairy farmers, warned next month’s price of 26.25p/ litre will make milk production financially unviable.

MMG estimated the price cut will leave Muller’s 650 non-aligned suppliers £46.4m a year worse off than their supermarket-aligned counterparts.

Tough decisions and a great deal of change will need to be made, according to Muller Milk and Ingredients chief executive Patrick Muller.

“The market environment has changed significantly due to global dairy market volatility, decline in consumption and changes in retailing.

“We need to adapt and return to sustainable levels of profitability so that

fresh milk can continue to be part of the fabric of British life.

“When Project Darwin succeeds, consumers, customers, employees and farmers will benefit and we can again look forward to a vibrant and progressive future.”

Muller said the processor had the best-invested network in the industry and retained ambitions to be the leading fresh milk processor in the country for years to come.

Last October Muller announced an operating loss of £132m for the year ending December 31 2017.

At the time, a spokesperson cited challenges of trading in the UK liquid milk market, adding that the business’ focus was on identifying cost reduction activities in the supply chain.

41

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Organic farming takes firm hold in Germany

S

Increasing numbers of German farmers are switching to organic production to tap into strong consumer demand and higher subsidies.

Tony Benny had a first-hand look.

HOPPERS in Berlin enjoy some of the lowest food prices in the developed world thanks to strong competition between retailers and the generous European Union subsidies paid to producers.

For shoppers looking for organic products, it’s easy, with several organiconly supermarket chains operating in the city.

While fewer than 8% of German farmers are organic, the government aims to lift that to 20% by 2030 and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development extra subsidies are available to encourage that.

A former collective farm in what was East Germany, an hour or so outside Berlin, is one of the more than 27,000 organic farms in Germany and exclusively supplies organic consumers in the capital city.

With the reunification of Germany in 1990 private land that had been taken and combined into state-run collectives under

communist rule was offered back to the original owners.

The 70-80 owners of the land around the village of Brodowin decided to combine their holdings into a 1400ha organic, mixed farming operation.

“The basic idea was to create jobs for the region after reunification, which was rather difficult, and to have an integrated organic farm because another fundamental perspective of people living here, even before reunification, was environmental so the decision was taken to open an organic farm,” farm administrator Susanne Poinke says.

Today the farm is run under strict biodynamic principals, fully organic and attuned to other cosmic influences.

“We were unique at start, especially because after reunification there were many farmers or investors coming from the west taking over co-operatives and renting land but here the local landowners decided to collectively farm organically.

“There are models in East Germany that have more conventional approaches.

More and more farmers in Germany are turning to organics.

A worker in the organic cheese factory in Berlin.

Photos: Tony Benny 42

The co-operative way was unique.”

One of the principals of the business is that it provides maximum job opportunities so while the actual farming operation employs about 15 full-time staff, 100 more people are included in the wider business that has an organic shop on-farm and a distribution business.

The farm includes a 220-cow indoor dairy unit and dairy factory that has grown to the point where extra milk is bought from other producers.

Brodowin also produces grain and vegetables.

In the beginning its products were sold through distributors but customers now order online and produce is delivered to 2000 points in Berlin each week, supplying between 3000 and 4000 customers.

While the ownership of Brodowin Ecovillage is different from most other farms, the adherence to organic principals is similar and reflects the strength of the organic market.

Organic farms produce less than their conventional counterparts – Poinke says

Brodowin is a 220-cow indoor dairy unit with a dairy factory that has grown to the point where extra milk is sourced from outside.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

January’s Green Week in Berlin is an enormous annual celebration of agriculture that has been running since the 1920s and attracts 400,000 visitors.

We won’t stay well fed with a partial exit from agricultural production.

Julia Klockner Agriculture Minister, Germany

Brodowin’s yields are about a third less than if they farmed conventionally but countering that is higher prices.

Even so, a significant part of the farm’s income comes from EU subsidies of about ¤300/ha (NZ$496), topped up by an extra allowance for being organic.

Like New Zealand farmers, German producers face increasingly skeptical urban consumers who rail against industrial farming, for example calling

Under the theme “We’re fed up” protesters took to the streets of Berlin.

for an end to the use of glysophate and pesticides.

During January’s Green Week in Berlin, an enormous annual celebration of agriculture that has been running since the 1920s and attracts 400,000 visitors, 1700 exhibitors from around the world and 100,000 products, an estimated 35,000 people joined a protest against conventional farming practices.

Under the theme “We’re fed up”, protesters who included young and older people as well as family groups, gathered in front of Brandenburg Gate then marched through city streets.

“More and more people are frustrated by the agriculture system in Germany,” a Government political adviser says.

“They criticise intensive livestock farming, they have environmental and climate change concerns and want to see an end to the use of pesticides and glysophate.”

The protest, on a fine but very cold winter’s day, was good-natured and controlled but there was no mistaking the

passion of the participants who delivered a message to German Agriculture Minister Julia Klockner, declaring they’d had a bellyful of industrial farming.

Farming, they say, has to change in the face of climate change and species depletion.

Klockner was reported as warning protesters they were making generalisations about how to feed the world’s growing population.

“We won’t stay well fed with a partial exit from agricultural production,” she said.

Klockner was supported by a smaller, counter-protest by conventional farmers whose slogan was, “We feed you”.

But with the sale of organic foodstuffs in Germany growing at an almost doubledigit rate there seems no doubt increasing numbers of farmers will go organic. n

Tony Benny and 19 other international journalists and farming professionals were guests of the German government at International Green Week 2019 in Berlin.

Beat the seasons!

“Protection for your valuable pasture and stock - until the cows come home”

CALF SHELTERS

FEEDPAD SHELTERS FREE RANGE LOAFING BARNS

FREE PH 0508 733 728 www.redpath.co.nz Email: sales@redpath.co.nz

LK0096552©

RESEARCH

Quakes change water’s ways TIM FULTON

T

HE Canterbury and Kaikoura earthquakes made it harder for some farmers to pump groundwater while others struggled to contain it.

Immediately after the 2010 and 2011 quakes in central Canterbury farmers reported limited damage to wells, except for bent and cracked pipes and pumps near fault lines.

Research led by Aqualinc Research senior hydro-geologist Helen Rutter now shows groundwater levels changed dramatically in parts of the Canterbury Plains, ranging from shortages to surplus.

Some farmers find it more difficult to abstract water.

A report Rutter wrote with Tim Ezzy at Environment Canterbury found bores, particularly artesian wells near the coast, showed a reduction in flow with some even ceasing to be artesian.

The changes often resulted in the wells no longer meeting the demand on them, with some bores supplying a quarter of their pre-quake amounts.

In other cases groundwater levels rose and it was difficult to throttle back the pumps sufficiently to remain within consented rates of take.

ur hoof Bring yo r a free knives fo n sharpe

Aqualinc researcher Helen Rutter and Iain Haycock from McMillan Drilling have been studying changes in the groundwater level.

Photo: Tim Fulton

In a long-running study of the 7.1 Darfield quake in September 2010, Rutter found draw-down, the lowering of the water level in a bore when pumped, increased by up to twice the pre-quake amounts.

“The theory is that compaction or

silting of sediments close to the bores made it harder for pumps in some areas to pull water to the surface at a certain flow rate – a relationship known as yield draw-down,” she said.

“When a bore became less efficient, increased wear and tear on pumping

Call in to see us at Central District Fieldays site ENT-4.

Have a look at the Ekochute for the Dairy Farmer, and see the latest Ten Nepal Pro for the professional trimmer.

There’s also a range of the newest hoofcare products to discuss.

Stuart Rogers T: 021 278 8278 E: waikatohooftrimming@gmail.com

equipment and/or increased costs of pumping forced some farmers to redevelop their bores.”

Increased drawdown is likely to become a problem when groundwater levels reduce from their present highs.

At the same time there was evidence in some cases of greater connection between aquifer layers thought to be caused by vertical fractures in the sediment sequence.

Previous work suggested the fractures healed relatively rapidly. However, data collected and analysed from the

Canterbury earthquakes suggested quake fractures had not healed in the next few years.

Rutter asked for observations from industry contacts including McMillan Drilling’s Iain Haycock, whose team has a range of rural work around Canterbury.

Rutter said Haycock’s field observations dovetailed with hers.

Changes to groundwater levels were widespread and consistent across the northwestern (upper) side of the Canterbury Plains toward the western end of the Greendale fault, near Darfield. The most noticeable changes were in wells deeper than 40m.

The groundwater level rose in many areas by 1-10 metres after the Darfield quake and by up to 40m in extreme cases.

Immediately post-earthquake some bores began to flow artesian. Of the bores that showed a water level rise, some gradually returned to pre-quake levels while others continued to follow their pre-quake trend, at a higher level, and still remain higher than would be predicted based on climate and abstraction.

Rutter said it is possible water is moving differently through the aquifer

South Island earthquakes changed not just they way the ground looks but also the way water under it behaves.

network since the quakes.

In some cases springs on farms have emerged or disappeared, including in coastal Kaikoura after the quake in November 2016.

Some of the damage might be the result of damage to a sub-surface confining layer during shaking and/or liquefaction that allowed water to rise to the surface. Other emerging springs might have been old artesian wells that were sealed and in some cases then built on.

Earthquakes might have reactivated the wells though complicating factors were the possibility of a rise in groundwater levels in the area or cracked pipes beneath the surface.

Groundwater levels in some areas of the Canterbury Plains are now relatively high because of recent high rainfall but the underlying changes to the aquifer remain.

“Increased draw-down is likely to become a problem when groundwater levels reduce from their present highs. It is therefore important that any changes in yield draw-down are identified now,” Rutter said. n

RESEARCH

Meeting a sustainable future TONY BENNY

C

ANTERBURY dairy farmers will need to consider fundamental changes to their farming systems if they’re to comply with tightening nitrate leaching rules, DairyNZ new systems and competitiveness general manager David McCall says.

The rules, brought in to reverse declining water quality in parts of Canterbury, look, at first sight, to be pretty hefty, McCall told farmers at the launch of a new DairyNZ project to help them comply.

“We are fundamentally going to have to look at our farming systems.

“We’re not going to have to move completely away from the philosophies that we’ve all grown up with and we hold dear in terms of what is unique about New Zealand but we are going to have to dig deeper than just a few small tweaks,” McCall says.

DairyNZ’s Meeting a Sustainable Future project will help farmers in two Canterbury catchments find ways to meet new environmental limits while keeping their businesses profitable.

Under the Canterbury Water Management Strategy, the region is split into 10 zones, each aligned to a different catchment and environmental limits have been or are in the process of being set for each one.

Farmers in the Selwyn Waihora zone must reduce nitrogen losses by 30% by 2022 and in the Hinds zone further south by 15% by 2025, 25 percent by 2030 and 36% by 2035.

“How are we going to farm in the future

46

in Canterbury, how are we going to meet those limits, how are farmers going to get confidence that they know how they’re going to farm on their farm?” are basic questions farmers need to find answers to, McCall says.

DairyNZ is taking a different approach with this project from its normal mass communication method, project leader Virginia Serra says.

“We are working with farmers one-onone, which is usually not the approach that we take but it is very important in this instance that we do work with farmers on their particular situation because the solutions for this issue are farm-specific.”

The project was launched at a field day on Tony Coltman’s and Dana Carver’s Canlac Holdings’ farm near Dunsandel.

The farm is in the top 5% of Canterbury farms for operating profit and has already achieved a more than 30% reduction in nitrogen leaching from its baseline.

“We want to provide a bunch of examples that other farmers can come along to and listen to at days like this and decide ‘This is how I’m going to do it’,” McCall says.

“Tony’s the first farmer to go on this journey and he really understands this stuff deeply. We believe someone like Tony will be able to explain this better to other farmers than we can.

“We’re calling it Clearing the Fog so that at least you can see some examples, get some understanding from farmers and then you can make a decision which is the biggest part of getting on this journey.”

Coltman says his methods won’t work for everyone.

“This is just one way of skinning the

cat. It’s not for everybody. It’s the way we’ve adopted,” he says.

Coltman was involved in the Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching (FRNL) project with DairyNZ and other industry bodies testing, among other things, plantain on the farm “It can’t all be done by people like me.

You’ve all got to get involved. That’s the reason I got involved in this project – I didn’t know much about it and I thought I can’t just go and throw stones and be critical of it if don’t get involved and try to find the solution.”

We are fundamentally going to have to look at our farming systems.

David McCall DairyNZ

His basic farming philosophy is to focus on income rather than on cutting costs and that means maximising milk production.

“People say ‘You’re a high input farmer’ and that gets my goat because we’re a high-profit farm and profit is what we’re after and so I looked at everything to do that. I’d rather say that we’re a high-profit farm than a high-input farm and we get a return from what we do.”

That means attention to detail and Coltman says one of the most important

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

A large number of farmers attended a field day to help them find ways to meet environmental limits.

changes he’s made has been increasing the frequency of farm walks on the recommendation of DairyNZ scientist Paul Edwards, with whom he worked on the FRNL project.

“We were doing our farm walks about every 10 or 12 days and I thought that was pretty good and then Paul challenged me and we agreed to do it every week,” he says.

“To me, that’s been one of the biggest things I’ve done and it’s pretty simple actually.

“I do it regularly and the reality is, it works.

“That’s how we got the income by maximising the pasture harvest every year – year in, year out.”

Another change was to increase the income from stock sales, achieved by using beef bulls as part of the mating programme. That also means there are fewer bobby calves to dispose of.

“We’ve used it on our heifers, which is a risk we’ve been prepared to take. I’m not saying I advocate it. We do have some issues associated with that but I believe the investment outweighs the risk and we’ve been able to manage it with the good team that we’ve got.”

Stock income has improved from about 30 cents/kg MS to 79 cents/kg MS. Coltman has also slowed the grazing round from 18 to 21 days to an average of 31 days through the year, peaking at 24-25 days in maximum growth periods, reasoning the shorter round just didn’t give pasture long enough to grow.

“To me, going round in 18 days, you’re missing a huge amount of grass you’re not growing. There’s basic science around the two leaf, two and a half and three leaf stages and I couldn’t see that when I was

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

looking at it at 18 or 21 days,” he says.

Between the regular farm walks and staff keeping an eye on pasture when they’re bringing in cows, a close eye is kept on grass growth and, if need be, the system can be tweaked.

“We do a little bit of pre-mowing when it gets out of control. We speed up at certain times of the year and we might go into paddocks earlier than we would normally to achieve top quality but we’ve been able to give the grass longer to grow and then we’ve been able to harvest it.”

Along the way, a 35% reduction in nitrogen loss has been achieved, something Coltman puts down to driving efficiencies in everything that’s done on the farm.

There’s also been capital expenditure including a feed pad to get stock off pasture when it’s too wet and replacing Roto-rainers with a centre pivot for greater irrigation efficiency.

DairyNZ business developer Phillipa Hedley says farmers have to understand nitrogen comes from four basic sources – fertiliser, feed, irrigation water and clover and that cows don’t actually produce any themselves.

“They eat it and it has to go somewhere so a bit goes out in milk, as little as 25%, a small bit goes into liveweight gain and mostly it’s excreted in urine or dung,” Hedley says.

“As a farmer, what can you control?

“You can control the amount the

cow is eating so that’s the key thing, the inputs, and then through your efficient management you influence how much milk comes out of it so you need to think about in terms like that.”

Hedley admits that as a young farm consultant she was an enthusiastic promoter of nitrogen to boost pasture growth and her nickname then became Mrs N. “We put on 30 or 40kg of nitrogen in spring and wow, we just couldn’t believe it and we tried a little bit more and we probably got up to 100kg of nitrogen,” she says, adding that she’s long since realised that is not sustainable.

“The first way to maintain your profit and reduce your leaching is being able to reduce your nitrogen fertiliser and still achieve the same pasture growth.

“You need to be brave because it’s easy to put nitrogen on after every round and the next minute you’ve clocked up 300kg so the real challenge is to reduce your nitrogen fertiliser but not your pastures and you’ll get a fantastic benefit to your profit and the environment’s going to love you for it.”

Over the next two years DairyNZ will work with 50 farmers in the Selwyn Waihora and Hinds zones, searching for the best way each one can cut nitrogen losses while remaining profitable and it’s hoped farming neighbours and friends will learn from their experience and find their own solutions. n

DairyNZ’s Meeting a Sustainable Future project was launched on Tony Coltman’s and Dana Carver’s farm in Canterbury. Coltman presents farm data to the group.

47

EFFLUENT

Council gets tough on high-risk farms

W

AIKATO Regional Council monitoring of high-risk farms has revealed the dire state of dairy effluent infrastructure with some farms having just a thousandth of the storage needed.

The council initiated a strategic, riskbased approach to farm monitoring earlier this year, investigations manager Patrick Lynch says.

It involves prioritising farms with less than seven days’ effluent storage, those likely to irrigate onto saturated soils and any with a history of non-compliance.

“What we’ve found is of real concern.

“Unfortunately, the state of dairy effluent infrastructure on many farms is probably worse than we had expected with some farms having only onethousandth of the storage they need.”

The council adopted the risk-based approach this year so it can direct resources where they are most needed.

“There are a large number of Waikato dairy farmers who are doing the right thing and have invested in improving their infrastructure.

“So, instead of blanket monitoring all farms we have focused on monitoring

A poor example – a very small sump of less than 1000 litres servicing a herd of just under 200 cows.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

A good example – a lined storage pond holding a million litres services a herd of 176 cows. high-risk farms – the results of that monitoring show there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Farming services team leader Stuart Stone said his team has done 239 inspections of high-risk farms since July.

“Thirty-one percent or just over 70 of these farms are what we would term significantly non-compliant.

“Many of them are now being formally investigated with a strong possibility that some will result in prosecution.”

But there are also some really good examples of best practice infrastructure on farms in the region, Stone said.

“Good systems have the dual benefit of preventing effluent polluting the environment while also providing an excellent source of fertiliser for the farmer.

“It is great to see those in place.

“However, we are also seeing a high number farms that have inadequate infrastructure with barely any capacity to prevent effluent going into the

environment and ultimately impacting on water quality.

“Some systems are only providing a couple of thousand litres of storage, at best, and servicing large herds. These are the systems that we would say are only one-thousandth of what they should be.

“This means wet weather or other pressures on the farm can lead to these farms unlawfully discharging effluent into the environment,” Stone said.

Lynch said that over the last five years the council has taken four or five prosecutions relating to dairy effluent each year.

“Already this year we have commenced nine prosecutions and are formally investigating a further 16.

“We feel that all stakeholders in the dairy industry still have a very long way to go in pulling the poor performers up to the required standard.

“We will continue to monitor high-risk farms and continue to make our findings known to the community,” Lynch said. n

A poor example – a very small sump of less than 2000 litres servicing a herd of more than 300 cows.

49

EFFLUENT

Greener with bigger returns

Loss of water and nutrients presents financial and ethical risks, Larundel contract milker Ben McKerchar says.

Sloppiness is a dirty word for a farm showing the way in effluent management. Tim Fulton checks out the dairy footprint of the Canterbury farm where he grew up and where his parents remain part owners.

V

ISITORS to Larundel can see clever technology but individual kit is much less important than proof of responsible management.

There’s a lot of quality-assurance on the 600ha property near Christchurch.

Larundel, on Tram Rd, Swannanoa, has three long-time family owners and is a regular stopping point for industry open days and private tours.

Nearing 20 years since it converted from mixed sheep and cropping, Larundel Dairy Partnership is literally sensitive to the unpredictable forces of wind, rain, heat and animal effluent.

The dairy shed has several new tools including hardware such as an expanded concreted apron, concreted wedge, concrete pond and a solids press effluent separator. The effluent is fed into a tank set up several seasons ago, providing storage for 20 days.

A concrete bunker with a weeping wall allows any remaining liquid to drain into a storage pond that holds the effluent before it enters the separator. The next 50

step is to test the effluent, analyse soil test results and decide how best to apply it, based on fertiliser demand and overall use of nitrogen.

The upgraded effluent system cost about $300,000 but the upside of it is lower application rates for effluent through pivots, contract milker Ben McKerchar says.

The effluent monitoring is linked to Regen, a complete farm monitoring system that gathers all a farmer’s data from a weather station then collates it to give advice on irrigation, effluent applications and the like.

Larundel has a weather station on it as part of a NIWA monitoring study and the farmer-owned Waimakariri Irrigation holds operating consents for its shareholders requiring them to use the Regen system as part of its proof of good management practice.

Regen was installed more than a year ago and is used constantly to check whether soil moisture is optimum for an application of effluent – and how much storage he has left in the effluent tank.

The data, delivered by text message and

KEY POINTS • Larundel Dairy Partnership • Contract milkers: Ben and Tracy McKerchar • Farm size: 625ha • Milking area: 360ha • Cows: 1320 • Operating profit $4513/ha DairyBase 2016-17 study • Irrigation: Nine pivots, one gun and 30ha of laterals

accessible on mobile app and computer, enables them to make the most of the average 600mm annual rain and the same amount of irrigation. The aim, besides growing great feed, is minimising drainage of excess, nutrient-laden water into surface and groundwater.

The dairy partnership’s board considered loss of water and nutrients a financial risk and also an ethical one, McKerchar says.

The farm, managed by Ben with support from wife Tracy, is bordered by a growing number of lifestyle blocks.

Tram Rd is a busy route for commuters

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Separated solids in the bunkers.

to Christchurch and nearby towns like Rangiora and Kaiapoi.

Basically, everyone’s watching the width and depth of Larundel’s environmental footprint. The farm’s board and staff are conscious of the eyeballs but try to embrace the scrutiny by equipping the property with technology to handle it.

Three pivots irrigate 300ha of the 360ha being milked. Originally Larundel and its adjacent lease blocks also had a mix of Rotorainers, K-Lines and large guns but age and inefficiency finally caught up with those units in the past couple of years. Additional pivots now supply water to 180ha of the 235ha support blocks.

The improvements also helped Larundel respond to the arrival of Mycoplasma bovis on farms around the wider district in the past couple of years.

Importantly for biosecurity, the farm could feed itself without the need to shift stock to nearby grazing. Fodder beet grown at home supported winter stock, for example, and the property rears all its youngstock and cuts silage.

Biosecurity gains aside, the tech improvements ended up growing more feed for less money.

The accounts showed a budget trim for the farm of 44c/kg milksolids against forecast annual production of 650,000kg MS. As a feed generator, irrigation provided the essentials for 2.5t DM/ha annually.

By a fairly conservative measure Larundel produced an extra five tonnes of pasture per hectare under the new irrigation.

In the past couple of seasons the farm cut its herd from 1600 cows to 1350, partly to reduce grazing pressure but also because better dairy genetics made it possible to maintain production with fewer stock.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Irrigators working in the distance at Larundel.

Biosecurity gains aside, the tech improvements ended up growing more feed for less money.

McKerchar says it was great to see the overall productivity gains in the business but they were keenly aware of the need to eke every bit of data out of the monitoring system supporting it. Larundel recently added three soil moisture monitors, taking the tally to seven.

He also says that they had to be mindful

that the farm operates in region-wide catchment rules and environmental limits for water and nutrients. Failing to live up to the expectations of the regional council and the industry could endanger a farm’s operating consents so there was plenty of reason to sort out systems.

Larundel wants to do more than comply, though.

The McKerchars are well settled in the community with their three primary school children so they had plenty of motivation to put Larundel on the dairy industry map for the right reasons.

Through farming excellence the couple also had a further goal – for their processor Fonterra to soon start paying farmers like themselves a premium for being careful custodians.

When it comes to carrot and stick the McKerchars prefer vegetables any day of the week. n

The effluent storage area planted up with natives and irrigated with wastewater after it has gone through the separator.

51

EFFLUENT

Effluent ponds should be lowered before autumn and winter to ensure there is plenty of storage should it turn too wet.

Get ’em low – focus on emptying effluent ponds Managing effluent is a year-round activity on farms. This series with DairyNZ effluent expert Logan Bowler takes a look at some of the key things dairy farmers can do to ensure they remain compliant every single day.

Logan Bowler

D

ON’T leave it too late in the season to empty your effluent storage ponds.

With most things on farms good management is extremely important and the same applies to your effluent pond to ensure you always have adequate storage available when you need it most, in winter and spring.

Most of you are doing a great job at keeping on top of this but remember, it’s a task that requires constant attention.

Now is a good time to pump your effluent pond down as often as possible while the warm weather ensures soil conditions are dry enough to mitigate the risk of run-off or leaching into waterways.

The added bonus with irrigating your effluent this time of year is that it will 52

help with pasture growth and reduce the amount of fertiliser you need to apply.

Just continue to keep a close eye to ensure you are doing this in accordance with your region’s rules and consent.

You really should be aiming to irrigate every day when weather and soil conditions are suitable to get your levels down before autumn and winter.

I’m sure most of you have been doing this already over the last two months and this comes as simply a reminder.

However, for those of you who perhaps

You can see how the situation can quickly escalate.

haven’t had a chance to grasp every opportunity to empty your effluent pond over the last few months I recommend making this a priority over the rest of

Now is a good time to pump out effluent ponds.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Meet DairyNZ’s effluent expert

with DairyNZ summer before wet weather limits your chance to do it.

After all, we never know what autumn has in store for us. If it’s a wet one and you haven’t kept on top of emptying your effluent pond you’ll be on the back foot heading into winter and I don’t want to see anyone in that situation.

Some of you might be thinking you’ve got heaps of time so what’s the rush?

Let me give you an example to really put in perspective why it’s important to start the process early.

A farmer with a 400-cow farm, with average effluent pump rates, needs about 30 days to empty a two million litre effluent pond (40m x 40m). That’s not too bad right?

Remember, this doesn’t include effluent continuing to be generated in the milking shed. If we factor that in, that’s another 1.2m litres, which requires 42 days.

Build in rainfall at, let’s say, 100mm over six weeks, preventing irrigation and adding another 0.25m litres to the effluent

DAIRYNZ environmental extension specialist Logan Bowler is an expert in helping dairy farmers manage effluent.

A dairy farmer himself, he understands the challenges first-hand.

He and his partner Kathy Craw have a 230-cow farm at Marton, near Palmerston North.

Before joining DairyNZ in 2010 Logan was a compliance officer for Horizons, the Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council, a role that also

pond and we’re up to 48 days.

You can see how the situation can quickly escalate.

If that farmer left it until early March to start emptying the effluent pond the process would take until mid April and that’s only with the right weather conditions.

If they waited until the beginning of April the chances of getting their effluent pond empty before late autumn rain hits is extremely remote.

gave him valuable insight into the regulations facing farmers.

He felt compelled to write this series following issues with effluent noncompliance in Waikato.

While most dairy farmers are going a great job managing on-farm effluent, others still have a way to go and need to step up.

He hopes these columns provide some useful tips for farmers looking to improve their effluent management.

So, make emptying your pond a priority this summer so you’re prepared for whatever winter throws at you. n

MORE:

Visit dairynz.co.nz/effluent Logan Bowler is a DairyNZ environmental extension specialist and effluent management expert.

n Check the April issue for the second installment of Bowler’s series on effluent.

QUALITY DAIRY EFFLUENT LINER INSTALLATIONS We provide HDPE Geomembranes for Effluent, Wastewater, Storage and Containment Ponds

LK0096513©

• HDPE Liners meet all current standards and are proven in the harsh New Zealand environment • We use the latest equipment available • Pond Design Service available • Quality workmanship guarantee and 20 year Material Warranty

0800 1 LINER (0800 154 637) www.enviroline.co.nz

CALF CLUB

Story and photo winners Lorna O’Donnell, 10, Primary/ Intermediate, Marlborough Dairy Early - formal judging Calf details: Gum Drop, heifer, Kiwicross, DOB 22/8/18 Lorna’s story: My pet calf this year is named Gumdrop. She is brown and white and very cute. I chose Gumdrop to be my pet because her mum, cow 112 or Alice, was my pet two years ago. Gumdrop is quiet and friendly, just like her mum.

Gumdrop loves to run around with me in the paddock and she likes it when I read to her when she is sitting down.

CONGRATULATIONS to our Calf Club New Zealand photo and story competition winners.

You will each receive a cool Dairy Farmer calf cover for your calf next season.

Well done to everyone who took part in the Calf Club NZ 2018. You have all done an amazing job of caring for and training your calves.

Winning photos

Charlotte Hunt, 9, Primary/Intermediate, Southland Beef Late – formal judging Calf details: Buddy, bull, Hereford-cross, DOB 07/09/18, Charlotte’s story: My name is Charlotte. I love animals, especially horses. I chose Buddy because he is a curious calf. He is very playful and energetic.

I love Buddy because he is friendly and fun. I like having a pet calf because they’re fun to play with and it gives me a challenge.

Courtney Prictor, 12, Primary/Intermediate, Northland Dairy Late - social judging Calf details: Snow, heifer, Ayrshire, DOB 06/08/18 Courtney’s story: Hi my name is Courtney Prictor and I am 12 years old and this is a story about me and my calf Snow. She is an Ayrshire number 6 and her mother is 109, an Ayrshire cow in the herd that was inseminated with an LIC pedigree Ayrshire bull. I feed her night and morning with two litres of milk from the vat. At night, after feeding her, I walk her up and down the tanker track and when finished I brush her down and give her clean, fresh water and meal and clean her wood chips.

Winning stories

Thomas Jeyes, 12, Primary/Intermediate, Waikato Dairy early formal judging Calf details: Vision, heifer, Jersey, DOB 04/07/18 Thomas’ story: My calf’s name is Manor Airtime Vision. She is a pedigree Jersey calf sired by Upland Park Oi Airtime. I chose Vision because she has good dairy conformation and type. I enjoy grooming and training Vision to make her the best she can be and improve my handling skills. I work hard to form a good bond with Vision as she needs to trust me so I can show her well. Thank you for organising calf club.

54

Tayla Hansen, 14, High School, Waikato Beef Late – formal judging Calf details: Yogi, bull, Speckle ParkShorthorn, DOB 3/8/18 Tayla’s story: Yogi’s sire is a bull called Kidmans Cove.

He is receiving 2L of milk powder each day. Each year I compete in a national competition called Future Beef Hoof and Hook so I will rear Yogi till R2 and take him through the competition. I regularly participate in shows and was devastated to hear of the cancellation of most shows this season. I usually get a calf at the beginning of June so I am rather sad because my calves are always much bigger and on a lot more milk but due to Mycoplasma bovis I have been unable to source fresh milk.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Winning stories Hannah White, 15, High School, Marlborough Beef Early - formal judging Calf details: Sparky, heifer, Angus-Holstein, DOB 20/7/18 Hannah’s story: Hi there, my name is Hannah White and I am a year 11 student attending Marlborough Girls College. I was gifted with a gorgeous AngusHolstein heifer, Sparky. Sparky was born on July 20 at around midday. I have found it very easy taking care of Sparky compared to other calves from past years and every month I track her weight. I am amazed by how she has grown and how she has been easy and co-operative to train and easy to feed. Sparky loves her food. She has been a great pet with a kind, caring heart.

Jessica Hunter, 3, Preschool, Waikato Dairy Early - social judging Calf details: Tiny, heifer, Jersey, DOB 25/07/18 Jessica’s story: My name is Jessie and I have a calf called Tiny. My calf is so cute. My calf licks me. She runs and stuff when I lead her.

We have so much fun. I can lead her by myself. She is a good girl. I like feeding my calf. She pokes her tongue at me. I love my calf forever.

Jacoba Gread, 12, Primary/Intermediate, Waikato Dairy Early - formal judging Calf details: Chloe, heifer, Friesian, DOB 26/07/18 Jacoba’s story: Hi, my name is Jacoba and this my calf Chloe. Chloe is a Holstein-Friesian with the lineback coat pattern. This makes her very special as there are very few like her in New Zealand. Her sire is an overseas bull named Murphy who is also a lineback. Her dam is a Friesian cow in our herd named Cassie. Chloe is special to me because of her wacky personality. She loves attention and is the diva of the calf shed. We spend lots of time together and have lots of fun. I love my Chloe baby.

Sinea Aldridge, 2, Preschool, Taranaki Dairy Early – social judging Calf details: Lazy Bones, heifer, Kiwicross, DOB 29/07/18 Sinea’s story: My daughter’s name is Sinea. She is two. Her calf’s name is Lazy Bones. She loves watching her sister do her school calf so I decided to help her do her own as we all go as a family to the farm. Lazy Bones has a gentle and kind nature and loves to follow Sinea around. I am very proud of Sinea. She is always excited to go and play with and brush her.

She loves to take her for a walk with the other kids and their calves. Sinea has shown a lot of commitment. I’m very proud.

Cameron Pedersen, 9, Primary/Intermediate, Manawatu-Whanganui Beef Late - formal judging Calf details: Bob, Bull, Belgium Blue-Friesian, DOB 03/08/18 Cameron’s story: Bob is the first calf born from my pet day calf from 2016. Her name is Frosty. She is also a Belgium Blue-Friesian. I would go out checking her every night and was really excited when she became a mum and Bob was born. Bob is white all over and has a pink nose and pink ears. He’s also really quiet and enjoys being brushed. I am proud of my calf.

EFFLUENT PONDS 8000m3

• Nationwide Firestone trained and accredited installation contractors.

• Future proof – dependable performance, 50 year life expectancy even when exposed, 20 year Firestone material warranty.

• Over 120 million square metres installed worldwide.

• 30 years in the NZ lining business.

LK0096510©

• Rolls up to 15m wide, therefore fewer joins which means less risk, faster installation and shorter good weather window required.

• Design assistance and volume calculations available.

• Material warranty from global company – Firestone Building Products.

For your nearest installation contractor call

0800 109 093 or 021 280 7266

7400m3

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTOR

Authorised importer and distributor of Firestone Building Products

Email: vaughan@cosio.co.nz www.cosio.co.nz

55

CROPPING

Getting autumn pasture right with DairyNZ

T

HE focus in autumn is reaching average pasture cover and cow condition targets ready for spring.

Where practical and economic that should include keeping cows in milk when body condition is adequate.

Key actions • Focus on leaving consistent postgrazing residuals.

• Body condition score the herd for proactive feed management.

• Complete an autumn feed budget to identify feed shortages.

• Ensure any pasture renewal is a quality job, target autumn pests where possible.

• Build APC by increasing rotation length.

Pasture management (March to May) Good grazing management through early autumn is maximising the pasture you grow and use, balanced with allowing pastures to recover following any dry periods in summer.

The secret to achieving good grazing management is leaving consistent postgrazing residuals and grazing pastures at the right time (2.5-3 leaves). Grazing ryegrass pastures too early reduces autumn growth and too late reduces quality.

Good management: improved persistence Graze at the 2.5 to 3-leaf stage. In May the rotation length may be extended beyond this to start building feed for winter.

Prevent grazing below seven clicks/1500kg DM/ha. If residuals are less than seven clicks/1500kg DM/ha, feed supplement to maintain herd intake and protect pasture.

If there is no supplement available then 56

stand cows off pasture once they reach the target residual.

Poor management: reduced persistence Avoid allocating too much pasture area (fast rotation) immediately after rain.

Frequent intense grazing before plants reach the three-leaf stage reduces recovery of tiller numbers during autumn.

It is important to determine the leaf stage of your pastures. Leaf appearance rates mainly depend on temperature and water availability with leaves taking longer to appear in colder temperatures or where water is limited.

If farm cover is below where it should be (to meet target cover at calving) nitrogen fertiliser can be a great circuitbreaker to get growth back on track. Use a large part of the farm for best effect.

Autumn pasture renewal If you are planning to renew poor performing pastures firstly identify the poor-performing paddocks for renewal and address the underlying problems behind pasture deterioration. Consider soil fertility and pH, over-grazing, pugging, drainage, soil compaction, weeds and pests.

For areas north of Taupo the recommended renewal date is March 31 and for the lower North Island around March 20. If permanent pasture is following crop consider the time for full crop use and the renewal process.

Buy quality seed and select the right pasture species and/or cultivar for your farm. Sowing a small area well is less risky than sowing a large area poorly.

Consolidate your seed bed. Take-care sowing clover, which should be sown at a shallower depth than ryegrass. Pay attention to weed control, contouring and levelling if avoiding cultivation after forage crops.

After sowing and first grazing New pastures should first be grazed when the plants break off rather than pulled out when plucked by hand. Use the pluck test to test when to graze. The

New pastures should first be grazed when the plants break off rather than pulled out when plucked by hand.

first grazing should be a quick nip off (top 2-3cm) with young stock or 2-3 hours grazing with cows.

New grass often becomes nitrogen deficient 2-3 months after sowing, particularity after a wet spell. Look out for yellow leaf tips, the most obvious symptom of this occurring. Small applications of nitrogen (20-30kg N/ha) from 6-8 weeks after sowing will increase seedling size before summer. Before first grazing it might pay to test a sample for nitrate toxicity. Nitrate poisoning is not uncommon when grazing resown pastures, especially annuals.

Weed control spray new pastures.

Monitor your new pasture for weeds, seedlings. Weeds can be sprayed before or after first grazing. Spraying should be delayed if there is more than 50% bare ground. Waiting for all clover plants to be big enough to spray means weeds are often too advanced to control. n

MORE:

Visit dairynz.co.nz DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

CROPPING

Make up for lost ground MILTON MUNRO

I

T HASN’T been the greatest of seasons.

In fact, in many parts of the country it’s been a right proper ugly season for farming – we’ve had more than our fair share of floods, storms, heat waves and wind.

It’s a small wonder that our crops have even managed to poke their heads out of the ground.

Still, that’s farming for you – she giveth and she taketh.

What is important now is trying your best to make up for lost ground and to push your yield in the late summer and autumn.

To realise this goal I’d like you all to focus on some key strategies to help maximise your yield into the autumn.

Measure and monitor because it’s hard to plan for the future if we don’t know what base we are starting from.

Get out into your crops and pasture and get a feel for where things are at.

If there is going to be a shortfall in crops or pasture it’s better to know early in the piece than to find out when you really need the feed.

Protect what you have because every kilogram of dry matter grown so far is sacred – it’s a kilo you won’t need to source from somewhere else so it makes sense to do what you can to protect what’s yours.

That means keeping an eye out for insects in your crops and pastures and if they do invade then taking steps to get rid of them.

It means taking out the weeds in autumn-sown crops and grasses. Don’t

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Get out into your crops and pasture and get a feel for where things are at.

PGG Wrightson technical team manager Milton Munro says there are key strategies farmers can use to maximise yields in autumn.

let the weeds steal the limited resources in your paddock, save them for the things you plant.

Maximising your growth potential is all about finding opportunities to push production in the later parts of the season.

There are a number of strategies that will work.

Nitrogen can be your friend. Used strategically it can give you a nice yield boost in both crops and pasture. Just remember the best responses will come when the plants are actively growing – if it gets too cold then your response will be reduced.

Another strategy could be the use of

short-term crops like oats or even an annual ryegrass.

They can be planted in the early autumn and will give a good boost to production as well as having potential for a bit of extra winter green feed.

Seek help and support because you are not alone in this. The agricultural community is at its finest when things are at their toughest.

It might have been a rough spring and you might be looking at a feed deficit going into the autumn but it’s not over yet.

There will be plenty of options and lots of solutions to drive production even late into the season. So pick up the phone and call your local rep and start putting together a plan. Just don’t wait too long to crack into it. The earlier you get started on a plan, the more options you will have.

So, follow these simple strategies and you will give yourself the best chance of recovery over the autumn.

Of course, it’s always a little more complicated than handful of quick notes. So, if do have any questions get in touch with me and the rest of the PGG Wrightson technical team. n

Milton Munro is the PGG Wrightson retail and water technical team manager.

57

CROPPING

System turns back on fert conventions TIM FULTON

A

FTER tending soil by the textbook Don Hart had a moment midway through his farming career when he no longer saw the sense in being conventional.

The Canterbury arable farmer and founder of an aerial topdressing business has built a soil consultancy based on the principles of regenerative agriculture.

Hart has studied regenerative agriculture principles for 25 years after becoming convinced over-use of synthetic fertilisers and chemicals is unsustainable.

His method includes the controversial Kinsey-Albrecht approach, a world away from when he started farming on his own account at age 21.

Back then he ran a high-production, high-cost system considered standard in every way – and probably best practice.

“I didn’t intentionally decide to operate this way but was seduced by what synthetic nitrogen and chemicals could do,” Hart says.

“I was producing a lot of product but we weren’t consistently profitable or resilient.

“I felt we were locked into a highcost system with chemicals, chasing production and a big percentage of the financial return going elsewhere and not coming back to the farm.”

Over the past 60 years farm science and research have been very good at production – quadrupling yields in some cases – but agriculture has lost a huge amount of soil nutrients in the process.

Trading as Top Soils on the 330ha Springfield Estate near Methven, Hart backs the Kinsey-Albrecht proposition that soil needs a prescribed percentage of water, minerals and organic matter.

Quoting the Kinsey-Albrecht textbook, he told a recent field day at his property soil should ideally comprise 45% 58

Don Hart says regenerative agriculture is about giving the soil the fertility it needs and the economics of achieving maxiumum production.

I was producing a lot of product but we weren’t consistently profitable or resilient. minerals, 5% humus, 25% water and 25% air.

The big question for farmers is how to achieve that, he says.

About four years ago, after initially working with a company called Healthy Soils, Hart started selling a range of agricultural inputs including natural mined soil nutrients.

“We had to remineralise for a start-off but that was only half of it.

“The rest of it is about the ecology and getting the biology working.”

Top Soils advises farmers of all types to optimise photosynthesis, feed the soil microbes, balance soil nutrients and have a clover-based, multi-species pasture.

Hart says farmers wanting to bring the physical structure of a soil into alignment should first adjust the base saturation percentages of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and sodium to match the correct percentages needed for the total exchange capacity (TEC) of a particular soil type.

On Springfield Estate he aims for 68% calcium, 12% magnesium, 5% potassium and 1-3% sodium.

Hart says Kinsey-Albrecht is not a single programme or approach to soil fertility.

It’s based on what programme is required for correcting fertility, built on the actual needs of each soil and the

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

economics required to achieve maximum production.

Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur are still the drivers of production.

“Neil Kinsey and the Albrecht system provided the rules, instructions and formulas on how we can take any soil and build it up to what we believe is ideal.”

Debate about Kinsey-Albrecht saturation percentages tends to inflame argument about the method but Hart, who describes himself as a biological farming and soil fertility consultant, is undeterred.

A Top Soils flyer says “Does the percent base saturation of calcium and magnesium make a difference? Yes. In all aspects, the physical, chemical and biological aspects of a soil, using the Albrecht system, the results were of significant difference.” Hart says that is a quote from research in an ongoing trial at Missouri University by Professor Tim Reinbott, who is reviewing the Albrecht system.

The regenerative agriculture method is based on maximising photosynthesis, adding carbon to soil and nurturing disease-suppressive soils, Hart says.

“Get the biology going and the microbes going and the multi-species crops, legumes and pastures – they will help take care of that.”

Regenerative agriculture also pays for itself, he says.

Don Hart is an arable farmer and has built a business around soil consultancy.

Don talks to a group of farmers attending a field day.

Springfield Estate is applying about half the amount of nitrogen it used to for the same yield and is applying much less fertiliser and chemicals overall, again without losing productivity.

One of his grass-seed paddocks had a total 80kg of nitrogen on it, whereas the usual advice from Foundation for Arable Research would be for 176-180kg

Don Hart adopted the Albrecht system, a regenerative method based on maximising photosynthesis, adding carbon to soil and nurturing diseasesuppressive soils.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

for traditional fertiliser practices.

“There used to be some information that you required about 25-27 kilograms of nitrogen to grow a tonne of wheat. The soil produced 60-80kg of it and then you applied the balance by purchasing and applying.

“What we’ve found out now is that all the rules have changed and we only need to purchase 40-50% less quantities because of our farming practices” As a supporter of natural fertilisers Hart is reassured by a long-awaited worldwide increase in legume yield, which has been falling for the past 40 years. Farmers are seeing the benefit of regenerating soil without chemical additives, he says.

“One of the reasons is they’re not using synthetic fertilisers and they’re doing a whole lot of things to get these disease-suppressing soils by improving the biology rather than impacting the biology.”

Similarly, Hart says he is anti seed treatments because they suppress natural biological processes.

“Seed treatments and other neonicotinoids that are in there, they kill the very biology that’s in the soil, that nature put there to protect the plant from pathogens and diseases in the first place.”

While some opponents of KinseyAlbrecht don’t fully understand the science behind it there’s much to show it works, Hart says. n 59

CROPPING

Feed the key to success SAM TENNENT

C

The 177ha farm at Morrinsville is a System 3 and all surplus grass is harvested and ensiled in the pit.

ROPPING and pasture innovation have been more intensive on the Rogers farm over the past six years.

“The aim is to renew the pasture and grow more feed,” Tim Rogers, who manages the 177ha System 3 farm at Morrinsville for parents Dennis and Chrissy milking 440 cows, says.

The Rogers family bought an 85ha block 29 years ago and since then two neighbouring farms have been added.

About 40ha is flats, which are a sediment soil from an old lake bed, 40ha is steep hill country and the balance is rolling.

The farm gets damp in winter as 90% is clay with varying thickness.

“It became clear not all grass would work on our soil types. We knew we needed to refresh the pasture,” he said.

Parts of the farm aren’t suitable for a tractor but of the pasture that can be renewed he estimates they have done 60%.

The Rogers work with Ravensdown for their cropping and grassing decisions.

Initially, they planted the 150 species of grass but more recently have been using Matrix, a ryegrass-fescue hybrid.

“It seems to stand up to the wet quite well.”

Historically, they cropped about 5ha a season but now do 20-22ha.

The bulk of their crops is maize with about 16ha grown each season. It is made

Better Bulls, Better Calves Talk to us now for our May 2019 feature.

To find out more, contact Nigel Ramsden on 06 323 0761,027 602 4925 or email livestock@globalhq.co.nz.

farmersweekly.co.nz

2642DF

Assist farmers to make the right purchasing decisions for their herd.

into silage with some fed in autumn and the rest held over until August, depending on the weather.

Last season they had maize left over from the previous season that was fed out from late February to October to keep the girls in good condition.

“We’ve always got a lot of feed on hand.

It’s better than getting caught short.

“There have been times when we have been caught short of feed and it takes years to recover.

We’ve always got a lot of feed on hand. It’s better than getting caught short.

Tim Rogers

“I don’t want to deal with that again so try and be prepared for every eventuality.

“If the weather is good and the grass is growing we don’t need to feed silage but it’s good to know it is there if we need it.”

They usually plant a 6ha crop of turnips but this season experimented with chicory, which under-performed.

“Unfortunately, the chicory didn’t seem to cope with our soil type,” Rogers says.

“The type of summer we have has a major influence on it. We are going back to turnips next season but it was a good experiment.”

He likes to look at different options and find ways to improve the system.

Any surplus grass gets turned into silage and he has had good yields the past few seasons.

They have 160 tonnes of grass silage on hand as they did not need to feed any last summer.

At least 2kg palm kernel and a protein pellet are fed through in-shed feeding throughout the season to ensure the cows get all their minerals and at this time of the year it drops to 0.3kg.

The cows are wintered on-farm and the heifers return from grazing on May 1 with calving starting in early July.

Their target of 160,000kg MS is usually reached but they rear 300 beef calves, which takes a large amount of milk out the vat.

“I’ve looked at numbers and I believe if we fed them milk powder we’d lose out.

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

The Rogers family grows 16ha of maize, harvested and stored as silage to feed through autumn.

I also suspect they don’t grow as well on powder as opposed to whole milk.”

Rogers enjoys the diversity rearing beef calves offers their system.

They spring calve about 440 crossbred cows with a leaning towards the Frisian breed.

All Friesian bulls and Hereford calves are reared and sold at 100kg.

They keep and rear 80 replacement heifers, which are sent to a grazier at the beginning of November.

Since Rogers returned to the farm for the second time he has taken the role of farm manager to keep things simple but he thinks they will look to change the business set-up soon.

When he finished high school he spent 18 months working as a labourer for a builder in Hamilton before going home to work on the farm. But after a few years he wanted to try something different.

He moved to Australia and worked for a recruitment agency in Perth for six months but the call of the farm lured him home.

“I didn’t have a plan. I just needed a break from farming. It didn’t take me long to get sick of it and come home.”

His dad Dennis and their herd manager Labu Rai, who has been with them for six seasons, share the workload.

A flexible roster allows them to plan work around life rather than life around work and they try to have everyone home by 5pm every day.

“Simple is key. You’ve got to enjoy what you do and not over-complicate it.”

Away from the farm he gets out on the golf course when time allows and he says he is too involved with Young Farmers but enjoys helping his local club.

“I still haven’t had any luck landing a wife though.” n

61

ENTRIES CLOSE 31ST MARCH

DAIRY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

2018 Supreme Winners, MOBH Farm, Gore, Southland

ENTRIES ARE OPEN NOW

We have entered DBOY three times now as the data gained via the Farm Performance Report is invaluable in assisting us make evidence-based decisions for our business.

DBOY allows us to benchmark ourselves with other top-end businesses and provides an accurate “warts and all” critique of our business. The report also helps us set KPIs that ensure relevance for our goals. We now have a comprehensive set of data that we use to not only assess performance, but also assist with planning/modelling future strategies.

To find out more about DBOY and our comprehensive Farm Business Performance Report, please visit our website www.dboy.co.nz, call 0800 73 55 88 or email team@dboy.co.nz

LK0094316©

Dairy Business of the Year (DBOY) provides farmers with the opportunity to undertake a highlevel analysis of the KPIs within their business that drive profitability, resilience and sustainability, whilst benchmarking themselves against their counterparts. In addition, there is the opportunity to win great prizes, plus the added benefits that come with being engaged with other leading dairy farmers through networking and organised DBOY events.

2480RE86X210

ANIMAL HEALTH

Easy trace elements tests

D

ESPITE New Zealand’s relatively benign climate lending itself so well to pastoral farming its soils can hide some chronic mineral deficiencies that can undo the efforts of the best farm managers as they try to get the most out of their stock.

So Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health’s NZ technical veterinarian Richard Sides urges farmers to look harder at what might be holding their stock’s performance back and says the answer might be easier to find than they think.

“It could be easy to spend five seasons and a lot of money chasing the wrong solution to the problem you see in your stock when spending just a few hundred dollars on some advice and blood tests could reveal a simple trace element deficiency.”

Typically, in NZ selenium and cobalt can be the two most commonly deficient minerals, thanks to this country’s relatively young, ash-type soils predominating.

Both these trace elements play a crucial role in animal health and production performance.

Selenium is responsible for maintaining a healthy immune system, fertility and muscular development and about 30% of NZ’s grassland area provides insufficient selenium.

Cobalt is critical for the synthesis of vitamin B12 and important for energy and protein metabolism and therefore healthy growth rates. A deficiency in cobalt is

Looking for the complete package?

We’ve got you covered with digital and print options.

Contact Shirley Howard phone 06 323 0760, email shirley.howard@globalhq.co.nz

farmersweekly.co.nz/realestate

Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health’s New Zealand technical veterinarian Richard Sides urges farmers to look harder at what might be holding their stock’s performance back. typified by poor growth rates, a loss of appetite and higher death rates in lambs.

The volcanic plateau has the greatest natural deficiencies in these vital trace elements and the bush sickness that afflicted sheep in the first half of the 20th century prompted the mass planting of pine trees as an option to pastoral farming. While this area is famed for deficiency, many other pockets of NZ are almost as low.

Testing for deficiencies can be as simple as taking blood tests to detect levels of both minerals or, going one step further, liver biopsy from several live animals can provide an even more accurate indicator of selenium levels.

“The results in a mob are very consistent for selenium so you need only about four animals in your sample for an accurate indicator.”

Sides says the outcomes from the relatively simple tests can also be surprising.

“We have had cases where one year the copper levels were low and selenium was high and the following year they had completely reversed. Had my client assumed this year was the same as last he would have not only wasted money on the copper treatment but missed out with lower production thanks to the compromised selenium levels.

“It is worth testing each year to see where your stock are at and to build up something of a history to learn from and see where your money is best spent.”

The link between trace element deficiencies and parasites is also better understood now and failing to address one can put stock on a slippery health slope to be afflicted by the other.

“Selenium plays a key role in helping maintain the animal’s immune system and if it is deficient in it then it is more vulnerable to worms’ effects. In turn, the gut becomes inflamed by parasites, reducing its ability to absorb trace elements and so it becomes a vicious cycle of infection and deficiency.”

Doing blood and liver tests with faecal egg counts (FEC) to get a handle on the level of worm infections will integrate the two big challenges of worms and minerals, ensuring one is working with the other rather than expecting one to deal with the symptoms of the other. n

SUPPLEMENTARY FEED

See you there

• Palm Kernel & Blends • DDG • Tapioca Barley, Wheat, Maize & Soybean Meal

CENTRAL DISTRICT FIELD DAYS FIND US AT SITE #K8

(forward contracts available).

To join our Palm Kernel Pricing Text Service.

Please text your name and area to 027 214 9761 Palm Kernel Pricing Text Service

HARD WEARING NZ MADE SEAT PROTECTION SANDGRABBA FLOORMATS | 0800 478 443

Call Susanna at Intergrain NZ 0800 244 744 LK0095489©

Intergrain NZ LTD April’s themes

Breeding & Genetics

– Spring Mating Planning

LK0095139©

Plus Preparing for Gypsy Day

farmersweekly.co.nz

100% NZ Merino Clothing for infants, babies and children up to 5 years old Sourced from the very finest Merino wool

LK0095675©

www.nurturedbynature.co.nz Email: info@nurturedbynature.co.nz 64

DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

THE QUADBAR - PROVEN BEYOND DOUBT! For the last five years we have surveyed owners $ of 595 479 QUADBIKES fitted with Quadbars.

Tour 1: Molesworth Station, St James and Rainbow Stations Dates 2019 Oct 21-24, Dec 30-Jan 2 2020 Dates 2020 Feb 22-25, March 1-4, March 15-18, April 5-8

There were: • 61 rollovers • 0 deaths • 5 injuries - NONE from the Quadbar itself

Tour 2: D’Urville Island and Marlborough High Country Dates 2020 March 22-26 Other dates available for either tour for groups on request.

Ph: 03 314 7220 Mob: 0274 351 955 Email info@molesworthtours.co.nz www.molesworthtours.co.nz

LK0096589©

Dates 2019 May 4-8, Dec 1-5

+ GST deliv ered

We think the Quadbar has done just what it was designed to do - PREVENT farm injuries and death.

We could not be happier with the results and Worksafe NZ is fully aware of this survey.

Call Stuart Davidson - Owner of Quadbar NZ - Orewa 021 182 8115 • email:sales@quadbar.co.nz • www.quadbar.co.nz

LK0096585©

4X4 TAGALONG TOURS Bring your own 4x4 on a guided tour to discover more of the South Island.

LK0095367©

0800 278 677

www.cattlestops.co.nz QUALITY DAIRY EFFLUENT LINER INSTALLATIONS We provide HDPE Geomembranes for Effluent, Wastewater, Storage and Containment Ponds HDPE Liners meet all current standards and are proven in the harsh New Zealand environment

•

We use the latest equipment available

•

Pond Design Service available

•

Quality workmanship guarantee and 20 year Material Warranty LK0096514©

•

0800 1 LINER (0800 154 637) • www.enviroline.co.nz DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

65

One last word …

T

HIS month a tip of the hat goes to all the amazing people in Nelson who have stepped up to help in the last few weeks during the blaze that has been described as one of the largest fires in decades and the largest aerial firefight on record.

The Pigeon Valley fire in Tasman District started burning on February 5 and ripped through more than 2300 hectares. At the height of the blaze, which, at the time of going to print, was still going to some degree, 22 helicopters were ferrying monsoon buckets of water, countless firefighters were struggling to battle the fires and countless more were tackling the wildfire that caused 3000 people to evacuate their homes and destroyed one house.

To all the firefighters who worked day and night to save homes and lives, the helicopter pilots who worked tirelessly in difficult flying conditions, to the

66

SPCA officers, MPI and others who went in to help and save trapped animals and beloved pets and to all of those wonderful residents and businesses who pitched in and donated food and water, supplied meals and everyone who gave their support to those on the front line, a big thank you.

You have all done an outstanding job.

You are a credit to your chosen profession and New Zealand – you are all true heroes.

A tip of the hat also goes to the wonderful organisers of Calf Club NZ, stepping up to create an online calf club so our children didn’t miss out on.

The site was launched in July as a way to continue the tradition of calf club, which is designed to encourage children to take an active interest in the welfare and presentation of a calf.

To Joshua Herbes of Own Real Experience who donated his time, knowledge and expertise to create and run the site along with Waikato

dairy farmer Michelle Burgess, to all the sponsors for supporting this great venture and the volunteers who got out on-farm and judged children with their calves and everyone else that pitched in, thank you all.

Without this support this initiative would not have got off the ground and it has been fantastic to see the industry come together to ensure this iconic event did not disappear.

But most of all, thank you to all the children that took part – you all did a great job.

The team at Dairy Farmer has been proud to be the media partner in this initiative and bring you stories and photos over the past few months and we look forward to seeing you all take part again next season.

Sonita

Like us: farmersweekly.co.nz Follow us: @DairyFarmer15 Read us anywhere: farmersweekly.co.nz DAIRY FARMER

March 2019

Dairy Diary

Proudly brought to you by Farmside

March 2019 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

Friday 1

Saturday 2

Sunday 3

March 5 and 6

March 14

Dairy Women’s Network – Gain control of infectious diseases on-farm, Central Otago, Taranaki and Western Southland.

Future-proof your farm with improved understanding and control measures for diseases. Info at www.dwn.co.nz/events

Central Districts Field Days Manfield, Feilding The largest Central Districts Field Days ever celebrates the latest and greatest in agriculture. Info at cdfielddays.co.nz

March 6, 7, 13 and 15

March 15

DairyNZ – Body condition scoring assessment at various 4 locations. Registrations 5 are now open. 6Info at www.dairyevents.

7 co.nz March 6 and 7 DairyNZ – DNZ/LIC cow liveweight field day, Taranaki. Several farmers have recently weighed their whole herds. Come along to hear from them, LIC and DairyNZ on how they did it and what value has been to their business. Various locations. Info at www. dairyevents.co.nz

11March 9

12

13

14

DairyNZ – Effluent systems open days, Te Awamutu. Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz 8 9 10 March 19

SMASH – Mating and breeding, Waikato east. www.smallerherds.co.nz March 19, 20 and 21 DairyNZ – Dry cow therapy meeting, Hurunui, Oamaru and Gore.

It’s time to think about drying off and the use of antibiotics and teat sealants.

15 16 17 www.dariyevent.co.nz

Owl Farm – Owl Farm open day, Cambridge. A day on the farm with lots of activities for you to experience. Meet the herd and some friendly calves, explore the ways we are working to protect the environment and see cows being milked. Info at http://www.owlfarm.nz/owlfarm/events

March 27

March 12 and 13

March 27-29

Dairy Women’s Network – Farm tools with a difference , south 18Waikato and King Country.

19 20members a three-21 FarmIQ brings in-one workshop that can provide knowledge and tools with a difference for busy farm operations. Info at www.dwn.co.nz/ events March 12 and 14 SMASH – Setting up for autumn and beyond, Waikato west, Waikato east and Te Puke. Feed planning from now to spring, calibrating BCS eye and good mating results start now. Info at 25www.smallerherds.co.nz 26 27 28

Owl Farm – Owl Farm focus day, greenhouse gases and climate change. Owl Farm in Cambridge is hosting the March focus day with a highlight topic of greenhouse gases and climate change.

Info at http://www.owlfarm.nz/owlfarm/events South Island Agricultural Field Day 22 23 24 Kirwee One of the oldest and largest agricultural events in the South Island. Info at www.siafd.co.nz Dairy Women’s Network Payroll, all you need to know – various locations and dates.

There are some big changes to PAYE filing obligations coming on April 1 so it’s a good time for a refresher. Together with DairyNZ and PaySauce, we want to help ensure you get this stuff right.

29 30 31 It’s people solving payroll. Info at www.dwn.co.nz/events

March 13, 26 and 27

DairyNZ

Dairy Women’s Network – Farm accommodation, various locations. Become knowledgeable on the Residential Tenancy Act, Healthy Homes Guarantee Act and what your requirements, rights and responsibilities are in regards to on-farm accommodation. Info at www.dwn.co.nz/events

Safety Sorted workshop, various dates and locations FMG and DairyNZ want to help you get your safety sorted – we want you and your staff safe home every day. Attend this workshop to develop practical solutions for real farm situations.

Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz

We know rural because we are rural www.farmside.co.nz

Wairarapa Moana has increased their six week in-calf rate from 59% to 72%.

That’s building nicely.

For over five years LIC has worked as a team with Wairarapa Moana to improve herd records, in-calf rates and their bottom line.

A key question was how could they move from a six week in-calf rate of 59% and head towards the industry target of 78%? The Wairarapa team, vets and LIC worked seamlessly together to improve herd record keeping, heat detection, young stock management and body condition score at key times of the season. The result?

A 72% six week in-calf rate across 9 dairy farms. They also became self-sufficient in breeding replacements and even had surplus young stock to sell.

It’s a massive turn around, but there’s always room for improvement.

KingSt_486_DF_E

Learn more at lic.co.nz/alwaysimproving

There’s always room for improvement