RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE NUTRITION FORAGE AND ARABLE HORTICULTURE ANIMAL MANAGEMENT DAIRY MANAGEMENT
Plan 365 is a technical guide aimed at helping shareholders learn about best practice and the latest advancements in rural technology.
Farmers urged not to gamble with gorse control
Gorse is a perennial brushweed that was originally introduced to New Zealand as a hedge plant and marginal fodder crop for domestic stock. It is estimated to have spread over 900,000 hectares¹ of New Zealand farmland.
Being a legume gorse grows quickly and can out compete pasture for water, light and nutrients and thereby reduce grazing capacity. Gorse flowers twice each year, once in the autumn and again in the spring/summer – after which it will produce seeds that can remain in the soil for decades before germinating.² Seed populations of up to 6,000 seeds per square metre are not uncommon in the top soil and disturbance will trigger germination. In particular, heat from fire, will strongly promote germination.
Tordon Brushkiller XT TM reliably controls brushweeds thanks to its combination of three active ingredients. Uniquely, Tordon Brushkiller XT is the only brushweed herbicide to contain an extremely powerful active ingredient called aminopyralid.
Unlike other herbicides that simply burn off brushweed foliage, aminopyralid is systemic, which means that it moves throughout the treated plant –including down into the roots, thereby preventing regrowth of treated bushes. Aminopyralid residues remain active in the soil after application to prevent germination of new gorse seedlings and if applied to flowering gorse prior to seed maturity, Tordon Brushkiller XT will sterilise the seed and reduce the future weed burden. Only Tordon Brushkiller XT with aminopyralid offers this high level of control.
Because Tordon Brushkiller XT is grass friendly, pasture grazing potential is maximised after spraying and existing pasture grasses re-establish quickly to help prevent the germination of secondary invasive weeds, therefore full pasture productivity is restored more quickly.
Tordon Brushkiller XT is highly versatile and can be used to control gorse, broom, blackberry, woolly nightshade, wattles, tutus, lupin and many annual broadleaf weeds. Reliable and robust in both aerial and gun and hose applications, it is recommended that Tordon Brushkiller XT be applied with Boost™ penetrant for optimal results. After application, gorse may take 18-24 months to fully break down, so it is recommended that the treated area is monitored for any plants that may have escaped the initial treatment. These can then be targeted with a follow-up spray. Over-sow areas of previously dense infestations in order to rapidly re-establish grasses that will prevent infestation of invasive secondary weeds. Avoid pugging, cultivation or burning, as this will encourage germination of any remaining viable seed in the soil.
For further information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.
Article supplied by Dow AgroSciences.
¹ Sandrey, 1985.
² Gonzalez et al., 2010.
Beneficial insects in forage brassicas
Demonstration trials showing the use of beneficial insects in forage brassica crops to combat major pests have been met with enthusiasm by farmers looking to reduce applications of chemicals and maintain the yield and quality of their forage.
The demonstration trials conducted by Plant and Food Research, as part of a Ministry for Primary Industries Sustainable Farming Fund project, have run for 2 years and compare an integrated pest management strategy with a conventional insecticide programme.
Workshops held in-field with industry representatives received very positive feedback, with participants showing an appetite for understanding how to utilise integrated pest management strategies in forage brassicas. Farmer involvement also increased from the initial year.
The project is designed to examine if integrated pest management systems will improve the financial and environmental performance of the crops.
on both the beneficial insects as well as the pest species. This approach can lead to spikes in populations of unwanted insects.
Ultimately, it has been shown that the same level of control is possible in crops treated with a broad spectrum or selective insecticide.
Biological control agents such as lacewings, ladybirds and parasitic wasps are often naturally occurring in forage brassica fields and can play a part in controlling a range of pest species.
The demonstration trials, which were conducted across the Canterbury region, compared the farmer standard pest management practice with a programme that encouraged beneficial insects with the inclusion of selective
With the more recent introduction of products such as Exirel insecticide, which selectively targets a range of caterpillar pests, European leaf miner and grey cabbage aphid but importantly has minimal impact on key beneficial insects, an integrated pest management based programme is a realistic option.
At harvest the yields between the conventional areas and the integrated pest management areas were virtually
Predators such as lacewings and ladybirds were active at all sites and were important in reducing aphid numbers, however, parasitic wasps had the biggest impact on reducing diamondback moth.
For further information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.
Article supplied by DuPont.
| The golden brown spheres are in fact aphids that have been mummified by parasitic wasps. Also present but difficult to see are damsel bugs feeding on the remaining live aphids.
Plan B
Arriving at one goal with Christmas fast approaching, is the starting point to another goal.
Whether it be a goal of relaxing over the Christmas period with your weaners being easier heading to 6 months old, or a time to reflect the season you have come out of and the hot, dry months ahead. Keeping quality feed up to heifers (young stock in general) comes down to grazing management. At the end of each season, make notes of anything that can be changed or improved upon for the following year –especially when the previous year had long summer droughts. Do you need to reduce numbers to ensure you will be able to grow out a high quality dairy animal every year? Particularly if the previous year had drought challenging your animals. Do you need to have options like having another form of grazing available or graziers sorted before the pinch of feed comes on?
Having a plan “A” is important but more importantly, a plan “B” is a must. As the pasture quality starts drying off, suddenly you need extra to feed the young stock. Unfortunately it’s the same time as everyone else, hence a plan “B” must have been thought of
already. Do the weaners need to be fed extra supplement feed, i.e. 16% pellets, baleage, palm kernel or something else to keep them performing good daily weight gains? From February to April can be the hardest time to put weight on, so better daily weight gains before Christmas and straight after will set the heifers up well to get through the lower weight gain times.
Keeping up with weighing is also important, as is giving selenised B12 and mineralised oral drench each month. Remembering a vaccine programme – has it been followed through? Minerals are hugely important to young, fast growing animals. We have a health programme set in place that is followed strictly.
Young weaned animals get the first pick of the best feed then you can tidy up your paddocks with the older stock or mowing behind them. Getting a performance out of our heifers is number one on any plan put in place. In my experience a young animal must always be moving forward, forcing them to back graze too early has some negative effects, as well as increasing the worm burden by eating too close to the ground and eating soiled pastures.
Checking heifers or moving them almost daily is the best requirement for better performance. If their coats are shiny, you know they’re healthy and doing well, the weaners will tell you if they haven’t got enough feed. Be careful when holding them back as feed becomes tight, the weaner then resigns to the fact that they are only allowed a certain amount, so will give up telling you they are hungry. Remember we are all creatures of habit, so it’s important to keep routines the same each day – a full tummy in the morning will prepare the weaner for anything that will be thrown at it during the day, like yard time.
I have enjoyed writing and sharing my thoughts and years of experience with you, this will be the last in my series. But my passion for the young stock still rolls on! What you do today can improve all of your tomorrows.
For further information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.
Article supplied by Karen Fraser, Young Stock Manager.
Starch in the ruminant diet
Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for rumen microorganisms and consequently are also indirectly the main source of energy for the host ruminant animal. Starch is one of the three types of carbohydrates, along with sugar and fibre. It is classed as ‘nonstructural’ and similarly to sugar is readily fermented in the rumen by microorganisms.
Starch is produced daily by most green plants as an energy store and is found in high levels in grains such as wheat, barley and maize, as well as in potatoes and rice. Starch is a more ‘slow release’ form of energy compared to sugar, which means that starch can provide energy to the rumen microorganisms over a longer period of time, as it does not disappear from the rumen as rapidly as sugar.
Compared to fibre, starch is much more readily fermented by rumen microorganisms and therefore does not require long rumen retention times as higher fibre feeds do. Pasture is typically very low in starch, with only 2-4 percent of the ‘soluble sugars and
starch’ (SSS) present in pasture actually coming from starch.
Feeding grains and starch based compounds can be an effective way of increasing the energy density of the diet, therefore increasing the amount of energy that can be partitioned to milk production or condition gain. This is because starchy feeds, such as grains, are higher in energy per kilogram of dry matter compared to higher fibre forage, therefore less grain has to be consumed to deliver the same amount of energy as forage would.
Starchy feeds tend to be lower in protein than high quality pasture, so can help to lower the total protein percentage of a diet at times when it may be high relative to animal requirements and leading to high excretion of nitrogen in urine. Too much fibre in the diet can limit dry matter intake, so feeding some starch in the diet can help to optimise dry matter intake by lowering the fibre percentage of the total diet. Feeding starchbased feeds can also help to minimise condition loss post-calving, which is linked to improved fertility.
protein ingredients – especially if pasture protein levels fall as grass goes to seed.
Young ruminants benefit from a source of starch in the diet, as starch stimulates development of the rumen and sets them up for weaning. The better the rumen is developed at weaning, the better the young animal will do and a young ruminant with a well-developed rumen will avoid a growth check at weaning. Starchy feeds can be quite low in protein relative to the needs of growing animals, so it can be important to ensure they are balanced with higher
Caution needs to be practiced when feeding supplements high in starch and ruminants must be transitioned onto starchy feeds slowly when initially offered them. If too much starch is fed too soon, the pH of the rumen will drop and acidosis could develop. If transitioned onto starchy feeds more slowly, the rumen microorganisms will have time to adapt to the changing diet and no health issues should arise.
For further information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.
Article supplied by Stacey Cosnett, Assistant Nutritionist, Farmlands Nutrition.
Act early for effective prevention of facial eczema
The damp, humid weather experienced across New Zealand in the first few months of 2016 provided ideal conditions for the proliferation of the fungal toxins responsible for facial eczema and the summer of 2016 is generally recognised as one of the worst for facial eczema in the past 2 decades.
While the weather is unpredictable, forecasts for the start of 2017 suggest that warm, humid conditions are likely to prevail over the summer months, bringing with it once again elevated spore counts and increased risk of facial eczema. With concerns around global warming, New Zealand researchers have predicted that the regions of New Zealand likely to be affected by facial eczema in the future are increasing (Figure 1).
Despite considerable research, our current understanding of the association between factors that support toxin production are not sufficient to allow for accurate prediction of a challenge. It is clear however, that given the right conditions the levels of toxins present in pasture can rapidly reach dangerous levels. Proactively planning and implementing effective control measures before spore counts start to increase is therefore key to minimising the negative effects of high spore counts on animal production.
Monitoring pasture spore counts is one tool that can be used to assess risk of facial eczema. However, it is important to recognise that because of variation from paddock to paddock and the
rapid proliferation of spores under ideal conditions, simply monitoring pastures does not remove the risk of facial eczema but helps provide better information to support effective control strategies.
When assessing risk based on pasture spore counts, it is important to consider that pasture swards with a greater proportion of dead material or pastures that are intensively grazed or with low residual are likely to present a higher risk, due to the greater concentration of spores at the base of the pasture sward. At the same time, prolonged low level ingestion can be as toxic as a single high level dose and consequently the length of time over and so it is important to consider both prior exposure as well as the duration of exposure to any given level spore count.
Early implementation of effective control strategies is essential if liver damage and the subsequent production losses are to be minimised, as significant damage to the liver
occurs prior to the observation of typical skin lesions. Being proactive is particularly important if using a fungicide to suppress the toxin as these must be applied when pasture is green and growing and where spore counts are low. Similarly, planning ahead is important if your strategy is to either avoid or dilute the toxin present through pasture management (pre- and post-grazing residuals), feeding low risk crops or supplements or increasing the supply of concentrates.
Protection can also be achieved by supplementing affected animals with high levels of zinc, in drinking water or feed or by drenching. Regardless of the method of supplementation used, knowing the liveweight of the herd when calculating the expected dose rate is vital, as the recommended daily intake of elemental zinc is 2g per 100kg of liveweight. When done well, supplementing stock with zinc added to feed can be both easy and effective, as the intake of supplementary feed is often more consistent and easier to manage than water intake. NRM offers a range of solutions for producers looking to supplement zinc through the feed. Zinc oxide can also be included as an additive in any of the NRM Dairy Feeds or custom blends.
For further information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.
Article supplied by NRM.
1 Di Menna et al., 2010. A history of facial eczema (pithomycotoxicosis) research. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 52: 345 – 376.
FIGURE 1 | Areas of New Zealand affected by facial eczema outbreaks in 2010 (left) and areas predicted to be affected by facial eczema with a 3 degree increase in temperature under climate warming (right).1
Emily jumps to join top equine brand
Ten kilometres south of Te Awamutu is Huntaway Farm, home of young showjumper Emily Hayward-Morgan and her family. Emily has been jumping and competing at national level since she was 6 years old.
Last season, at the tender age of 16, Emily surpassed all expectations by taking out three New Zealand National Series titles, something that no one has accomplished before. The first at Junior Level (under 18), the second at Young Rider Level (under 21), and the third at Grand Prix Level (open).
During a trip to the South Island 4 years ago to compete at the National Showjumping Championships, Emily tried her horses on McMillan Equine feeds. “The horses loved it so much we decided to try the whole team on it,” she says.
“We love the fact that McMillan Equine makes it so easy. It’s so
accessible, being available in Farmlands stores nationwide.
“This season I am competing a team of five horses that have varying temperaments and energy levels. The range of McMillan Equine feed enables me to choose feeds that match the natural energy level of each horse.
We love the fact that McMillan Equine makes it so easy. It’s so accessible, being available in Farmlands stores nationwide. “
“We love everything about McMillan Equine feeds – from season to season we’ve found the feeds to be highly palatable, even to the fussiest of eaters! It seems more and more the trend to add supplements and
additives to your horse’s feed and the array of supplements available is somewhat mind boggling. We take a very minimalistic approach to our supplements and additives as we feel they aren’t required.
“Very regularly we are asked, ‘how is it that your whole team looks so well and is in such fabulous condition?’” she says.
McMillan Equine has developed several partnerships with competitive riders that have been carefully selected to represent the brand in the field.
Emily partnered with McMillan Equine earlier this year and has already proven herself as a fabulous ambassador for the McMillan brand.
“I am so very grateful and honoured to be partnered with McMillan Equine,” Emily says.
Article supplied by McMillan Equine.
|
Emily Hayward-Morgan.
Keep your farm flowing
Adequate amounts of water are needed to maintain good levels of production and stock health. Limiting water intake reduces animal performance quicker and more drastically than any other nutrient deficiency. Understanding your stock’s optimal water requirements, the components that make up a reticulated water system and where to go for advice are key to developing, upgrading or maintaining an efficient stock water system.
Ensuring adequate water is consistently available to meet the stock’s daily water requirements is essential. As stock do not drink evenly over a 24 hour period, storage typically needs to be built in to systems to cope with peak demand. Likewise, pipe diameters need to be able to handle this greater water volume, or the reticulation network becomes a system bottleneck, not allowing adequate supply to the troughs.
System water intake is determined by the water source location and topography of the farm. Systems
System components include:
• Source – springs, streams or bores.
• Intake – powered by gravity or mechanical/electric means.
• Storage – tanks and dams.
• Reticulation – pipe and fittings.
• Outlet – troughs and trough valves.
vary from a complete gravity system, to pumped gravity (up the hill with a pressure main and back down from storage tanks with a gravity main), to completely pumped pressure systems. Size, shape and number of troughs per paddock are an outcome of type of stock and stock numbers. Stock type also decides trough size and height. An appropriate shape should also be chosen to suit location, i.e. oblong troughs through a fence line to provide water to two paddocks, or round for best stock access in the middle of a paddock. Diameter is determined by the required number of stock able to access a trough at any one time, which also influences the decision as to the number of troughs per paddock.
Water storage shouldn’t be a determinant as to trough size – at the end of the day it’s a drinking vessel, so the delivery of adequate fresh, clean water is an outcome of a correctly designed reticulation system. Trough
valve selection is governed by the pressure and flow requirements – also an outcome of the reticulation design.
Seeking professional advice is important. The teams at Farmlands and Iplex Pipelines can assist in this regard, using the latest surveying technology and their many years of experience, they can specify the correct system components and network layout to provide a stock water system designed to meet your requirements.
Head to the Farmlands website –www.farmlands.co.nz/water – and fill in your details to get started. You will be contacted by a member of the team to see how they can be of assistance. Your stock water reticulation system is too valuable an asset and productivity tool to second guess what will and won’t work.
For further information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.
Article supplied by Iplex Pipelines.
The simple solution to potable farm water
Dairy farmers Andy and Liz Hayes milk 1,000 cows on their farm in the Hakataramea Valley near Timaru.
Water to the farm is spring fed. A member of the Lower Waitaki South Coastal Canterbury zone committee, Andy is constantly involved in looking at strategies to improve water for the community.
He’s looked at several different solutions but considered every one of them way too expensive for treating just his milking plant water source, which tested positive for E. coli, making him non-compliant.
The reasons behind MPI demanding (farm) water that meets Farm Dairy Water Standards is driven from food safety perspectives. Water may fail because of E. coli (which often comes from bacteria in animal faeces), clarity or turbidity (haze, sediment or cloudiness in the water) or colour (could be from leaves and dirt in streams or iron in water).
From a dairy processor’s perspective, it’s important that water used to clean the milking plant meets MPI’s standard as it could come into contact with milk, affecting quality.
Having non-compliant water, Andy was treating his water manually with chlorine and paying $100 a month in penalties. It was GEA | FIL Area Manager Kirk Falconer who introduced Andy to the concept of the Farm Chlor Chlorinator. “I noticed the big red sticker on Andy’s hot water cylinder and recommended he try the Chlorinator to make the water potable. He took one look at the very
simple design, ordered it immediately and then installed it himself.”
Andy had been on temporary water exclusion for 3 years before installing
GEA | FIL’s Farm Chlor Chlorinator and within a week of installation, he got the all-clear from his Farm Dairy Assessor –the water was potable.
The Farm Chlor Chlorinator provides farmers with a simple, affordable solution to quality water.
It’s a water disinfection system installed into the main water line between the water pump and water tanks. The water passes through the Chlorinator and is treated with a pre-set amount of chlorine before being stored or dispensed. Based on where you install the Chlorinator, you can treat the entire farm including stock drinking water or just the dairy. The system treats water to approved drinking water standards, suitable for human consumption.
GEA | FIL Chlorinator rods, used in the Chlorinator, are the only dry chlorine approved by MPI for use in dairy sheds.
For Andy, the Farm Chlor Chlorinator was the most practical option he’d seen. “There are no other products on the market like it,” he says. “It’s relatively cheap to buy, simple to install and cheap to run.
“When we installed the Chlorinator, we also cleaned the tank. A week later we were off exclusion. An added bonus was that Fonterra refunded me $1,200 for fixing the water issues, so effectively a third of the cost was gone.”
Pleased with the performance of his Farm Chlor Chlorinator, Andy is now
an advocate for the system. “It’s the cheapest solution to potable water. We go through about 5,000 litres of water a day for the shed and plant, the chlorine rods will only cost us about $250 a year.”
For further information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.
Article supplied by GEA | FIL.
| Dairy farmer, Andy Hayes.
Facial eczema could be costing your farm money
You may be unaware that some (or all) animals are affected. Skin peeling is the symptom most farmers associate with facial eczema but that is only half the story.
If a small proportion of the animals develop skin lesions (which appear about 4-6 weeks after the ingestion of spores), there will be a higher number of animals suffering liver damage that have not yet exhibited skin damage. The cost of facial eczema to the agricultural industry is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions/year*.
National economy is one thing – how about the physical cost to your sheep or cattle and your business?
Challenges for farms unaware of facial eczema
Distressing as it is to the cow and to us, the skin damage is the least of its problems – irreparable liver damage is of greater concern, as cattle need a functional liver for a whole range of reasons.
Some examples of the liver functions that are challenged during facial eczema season:
Prevention is not just better than a cure – prevention is the cure
Once facial eczema has affected livestock, there is nothing a farmer can do to repair the damage. Farmers who are serious about preventing facial eczema must first monitor facial eczema spore numbers on the farm and then implement a robust prevention plan – and check it is working and understood by all staff.
The effect of zinc is instantaneous but it is only effective if used before and during danger periods. It cannot be used (to treat) after the danger period, when stock have already been affected. There are many factors associated with a sound facial eczema management programme:
• Measure the spore challenge on your own farm, either by pasture spore count or faecal spore count.
• Plan for effective prevention
Sporidesmin, the toxin that causes facial eczema, eventually compromises liver function:
• Liver concentrates sporidesmin into bile (ready for excretion).
• Sporidesmin causes localised damage to the bile ducts (“the drainage system”).
• The bile ducts fill with debris and block.
• Bile excretion slows/stops within 14 days.
• Reduced/no bile leaving liver means the liver is damaged. It loses functional ability, including getting rid of breakdown products of chlorophyll = photosensitisation.
by learning about the many preventative options available and adopt one or more that will suit the farm operation.
• Check the accuracy of measuring equipment and the zinc dose rate for the required number of animals to be protected.
• Check the chosen prevention option is working by collecting blood samples from a representative number of cows (or sheep) and check the GGT levels for signs of liver damage.
The cost of facial eczema is too huge a risk to leave to chance.
Article supplied by NZ Agritrade Ltd.
*Bruce Faull; Facial Eczema: Disease Prediction and Surveillance; Proc 3rd Annual Seminar, Society of Dairy Cattle Veterinarians NZVA, 1986 © VetLearn® Foundation (NZ) 2003.
| A = Normal liver. B = Facial eczema damaged liver.
A B
Spores release toxin into rumen
Animal ingests spores
Sporidesmin in blood arrives at liver
And here is where the problem starts...
Facial eczema spores
Lice treatments in works lambs and ewes
In this season where lamb numbers are high, it makes sense that we need the flexibility to get lambs away to the works as soon as possible. Many studies have shown that shearing lambs will increase growth rates, so what do we do about lice/ fly treatments in lambs for the summer months?
Insect growth regulators kill immature insects by interfering with moulting. Immature lice are killed as insect growth regulators affect their moulting process. Adult lice are not affected and die of ‘old age’ over about 14 weeks. However, after a few weeks, adult female lice appear unable to produce viable offspring. Insect growth regulators pose little risk to humans or animals and are not classified as acutely toxic.
Magnum® is the only pour-on insect growth regulator on the market in New Zealand that has a nil meat withholding period. This gives you the ability to treat all lambs and cull ewes immediately off-shears and it offers up to 20 weeks control for lice and up to 12 weeks protection for fly. In most cases, this will mean one treatment only and the flexibility of destocking as required. Why use a product and then wait for a month after treatment before slaughter?
Pour-on treatments are all designed for use off-shears and this means within 24 hours of shearing, not 3 weeks later. This is because the lanolin grease layer on a sheep after shearing assists with movement of the chemical around the animal. Likewise, saturation dips such as a shower or jetting
race usually require 2-4 weeks wool growth after shearing, to allow some wool to be present for the chemical to ‘stick to’. Magnum is also rainfast – and its performance on sheep will be unaffected by up to 25mm of rain before, during or after application. Long wool pour-on treatments should be considered an emergency treatment only and never part of a routine lice control programme.
All products need to be applied correctly to ensure good lice control, as poor application and under dosing increase the risk of resistance developing. When applying Magnum, use a suitable T-Bar and start from the poll (between the ears) pouring on down the middle of the backline all the way to the tail. Do not deviate from the spine. Starting at the shoulder misses the critical neck and head areas and lice simply move to and camp in these ‘safe’ areas until the chemical in the treated areas runs out.
Magnum’s water based formulation provides users a more environmentally sound and people-friendly product, while still achieving excellent results against both lice and fly. This has proven to be a real winner for many farmers who feel more comfortable with insect growth regulators for health and environmental reasons and wish to avoid using solvent based products that can be less safe and unpleasant to use. The water based formulation is simple to use, the paste-like compound sticks where it’s needed and at cleanup time, water and detergent are all that is required.
For further information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.
Article supplied by Coopers Animal Health. ACVM No: A7704 ® Registered trademark. ScheringPlough Animal Health Ltd.