Issuu

2020

Innovation for Future Profit PUBLISHED BY RURAL NEWS GROUP

ISSN: 1176-2012

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We keep you growing Our key reason for being in business is to help you grow. Both in respect to helping you improve the land you farm through technological and innovative techniques, also about helping you improve your bottom line and growing your business. This is done by our people, without the experience, training and skill of our nationwide team we would be nothing. Our biggest investment in our organisation is in ensuring our people are operating at the best they can be.

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FOREWORD

Rewarding careers, many opportunties on offer TIM MACKLE

NOT MANY PEOPLE realise that over 30,000 people work on dairy farms across New Zealand. The work that happens on New Zealand farms has real benefits for every Kiwi. The dairy sector earned New Zealand $18.1 billion in export revenue for the year to June 2019, and this income makes a significant contribution to our quality of life. It helps pay for services we use every day – like schools, health care, national parks and roads. I believe that we should all be proud of our farmers, who play such an important role in supporting our quality of life. Dairy is an ever-changing sector; we are continuing to see new technologies and trends affecting our work, as well as changing regulations. Our workforce is diverse and highly capable. Our biggest challenge is a long-term one: to ensure dairy farming has a sound future and that our customers continue to benefit from our highly nutritious dairy foods by looking after the land and continuing to build competitive and resilient businesses. New Zealand is already one of the lowest emission producers of dairy in the world. We are pleased that the Government has agreed to work with farmers and sector partners to develop an enduring farm-level emission reduction framework, and we are working to find practical solutions to reduce our emissions on-farm. On the ground, there are many challenges to be met: recruiting and upskilling farm staff, rostering and supporting everyone during busy

times such as calving. Building a business that will survive changes from year to year in milk prices is a long-term objective for farms. A key part of cost control is managing pasture well, to reduce the need to use more expensive imported feed. Sustainability is part of this goal and a focus for dairy farmers in recent years. Under the Sustainable Dairy: Water Accord dairy farmers have voluntarily: kk fenced off dairy cattle from 24,249km (98.3%) of significant dairy accord waterways. That’s the equivalent of nearly 12 road trips from Cape Reinga to Bluff. kk installed bridges and culverts on 100% of stock crossing points dairy cows use kk prepared 10,396 nutrient budgets – up from 6400 budgets in the first year of the Accord. Thousands of farms have also developed farm environment plans, carried out native planting and improved their effluent systems. There has been a huge amount of good work completed to date. We know that environmental regulations will continue to change at a regional and national level. DairyNZ continues to advocate for changes which are practical and achievable on farm. While many farms are located in remote areas, farmers are never alone. Often the best support comes from other farmers or from local communities. For example, there are 400 experienced farmers signed up to the DairyNZ Dairy Connect

service, who offer free advice to farmers on a range of topics. Change continues to come at our sector from a number of angles. With changing technology, regulations and consumer preferences all affecting our sector, our ability to keep adapting and learning is vital to our continued prosperity. Our sector has many jobs available and exciting opportunities for career progress. I hope you will enjoy reading this guide to getting the basics right and find it useful. DairyNZ also has a wide range of resources and information on good management practice, local events and sustainability, and I encourage you to see what’s available by visiting dairynz.co.nz. • Tim Mackle is DairyNZ chief executive

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CONTENTS 08 Sustainable Farming 50

The new buzzword

Pasture

Save pasture this summer

26 Maize

The role of maize silage

30 Soil

Impact of nutrient losses

36 Effluent & Water Management EDITOR Sudesh Kissun sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

The solution is clear

44 Mating Management

Improving BCS

48 Animal Health

PUBLISHER Brian Hight

Watch out for FE

PRODUCTION AND DESIGN Dave Ferguson davef@ruralnews.co.nz

60 Calving

PRINTED BY PMP

64 Milk Quality

PUBLISHED BY Rural News Group

Give calves the best start Pulling back on dry cow

82 Agribusiness

Top Floor, 29 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland 0622

Connect for free to get top advice

86 People

PO Box 331100, Takapuna Auckland 0740

Phone 09.307.0399 Fax 09.307.0122

Health and safety planning

Dairy Sheep/Goats

Breeding the modern ewe

95 Machinery

Itâ€™s all about transmission

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

8 // SUSTAINABLE FARMING

How can we be making buzzwords meaningful? PENNY CLARK-HALL

WHAT DOES THE word ‘sustainable’ mean to you? Chances are the meaning is very different for your neighbour, stakeholder or consumer. When a word gets adapted to reflect/represent a concept and culture it becomes a buzzword and right now ‘sustainable’ is in. Unfortunately, the popularity and broad meaning of the word is being used to help companies ‘greenwash’ and people are becoming increasingly wary of people who use it. They’re right to be sceptical of who’s using the term. The cycle illustrated on the right by Gartner shows what happens with a buzzword if you exchange ‘technology trigger’ for ‘buzzword conception’. At its peak, ‘sustainability’ united New Zealanders with a common goal to exist and do business without harming the environment or the economy and gave us hope that we were all on the same page and doing our bit. With varying interpretations and disingenuous use of the word, ‘sustainability’ is now sliding down the slope of disillusionment where we realise that not all sustainability claims are equal. Businesses claiming sustainability as a value, ie as a ‘why’, and trying to leverage off its popularity, are setting themselves up for a fall. The problem with sustainability as a value is it is too broad and sees people and businesses constantly making compromises and letting themselves down. Consistent behaviour builds trust, which sits at the core of your social licence, so it pays

Consistent behaviour builds trust, which sits at the core of your social licence, so it pays to set yourself up to succeed with true and meaningful values that are specific to your business. We’re all guilty of compromising our values in a moment of convenience, but with meaningful core values we always find our way back to them. to set yourself up to succeed with true and meaningful values that are specific to your business. We’re all guilty of compromising our values in a moment of convenience, but with meaningful core values we always find our way back to them. I’m not saying most New Zealanders and businesses don’t care about sustainability, but it is not everyone’s core value. This is a trap for businesses trying to leverage

off the buzzword flavour of the month -- otherwise known as ‘greenwashing’ -- because they will quickly be found out when they pick and choose their sustainability moments when it suits them. Your values are part of your why and should be things that come naturally to you. Values are what create authentic behaviour and earn you trust -- your social licence to operate. Of course, deciding on a business’s values and why is a

lot harder than for yourself, as you need to find something that everyone can buy into and bring themselves to the table. But once you have found that ‘holy grail’ you are flying. I experience the magic of a good why and values every day that I work at Ravensdown. There, people have a meaningful purpose they can get behind: ‘Enabling smarter farming for a better New Zealand’ (why). The core values that underpin that are ‘good sorts, driven and engaging experts’. All these make sense as a range of behaviours sit beneath that, which we can all resonate with so we can be our authentic selves. My why for my social licence consulting business is to ‘empower a business culture of humanisation’ with core values of empathy, authenticity and openness. I’m hoping these examples give you an idea of the power of being more specific. If my why was ‘to make New

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

10 // SUSTAINABLE FARMING

Zealand sustainable’ and my core values were, let’s say, being sustainable, I would be ripe for criticism in everything I did as soon as I got into my car or brushed my teeth. This is a pretty broad scope that could see me wander off on many tangents, with the potential to inflate expectations and under deliver. Let’s say sustainability is a real core value for you. How about taking that one step further and asking yourself why? Is it because you want the land or business to be healthy for generations to come? Is it because you have respect for the gifts that nature provides and don’t want to abuse the privilege of being a caretaker of the land? Or you respect the people that come to work for you every day and want to ensure there is a business for them to continue in for as long as they and any future employees wish to come? The risk of sticking with a generic buzzword as your why, or core value, is that it won’t last forever. When the buzzword starts to get met with

scepticism, or even cynicism as society’s understanding and expectations of the word aren’t met, you are vulnerable to such criticisms also being the perceptions of your brand. If you’re in it for the long haul, you should have a pretty good idea of your why, but if you’re unsure then it would pay to sit down and map out what ‘good looks like’ to you and where you see your business in 50 years. Thinking long term helps eradicate the noise around you right now and centres you in your core purpose. Most of the successful businesses I know have had a strong why and core values that have propelled them into success. Some have handled it well and some have suffered from the growing pains, struggling to hold onto their values and why as they grew. Again, if you look at the ‘hype cycle’ diagram I think it applies here. If a business grows in popularity

too fast, it can struggle to stay consistent with its ‘why’ and values. This causes confusion and disappointment among stakeholders, who thought their values were aligned but have started to see some inconsistencies, leading to a trough of disillusionment. Fonterra is a prime example of a business that suffered from growing pains and lost its way

trying to be everything to everyone. The good news though is that it appears the company has seen the light and is now consolidating back to its core purpose (why). Now that Fonterra is on the slope of enlightenment, I have every confidence we will see it continue to adapt and thrive again. • Penny Clark-Hall is a social licence consultant

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

12 // SUSTAINABLE FARMING

50 ways dairy farmers are showing their love for the land IT’S FAIR TO say that almost all dairy farmers care deeply for the natural world that surrounds them every day of their lives. And they are passionate about protecting and nurturing it for the generations to come. For dairy farmers, the focus in the past few years has been on improving waterways, enhancing biodiversity and controlling weed plants and killing animal pests such as possums, rats and stoats. They know some of their actions are also already helping to lower

greenhouse gas emissions, and more mitigations are being developed for them to implement in the future. The farmers around the country who are part of the Dairy Environment Leaders programme, set up six years ago to develop responsible dairying, are true kaitiaki (guardians). They not only roll up their sleeves on their land, but they are also inspiring other farmers. They are active in their communities, on boards and local committees and catchment groups, leading the way in

achieving good outcomes for the environment and farming. Check out this range of actions that are being embraced across thousands of dairy farms in New Zealand.

On the farm

1. Creating farm environment plans (FEPs) to recognise on-farm environmental risks and set out a programme to manage them. FEPs are unique to each farm and reflect the local climate and soils, the type of farming operation

3. 4.

and the goals and aspirations of the farmer. Fencing waterways to keep cows out – 24,249km of waterways are now fenced, comprising 98.3% of significant dairy waterways (more than 1m wide and 30cm deep). Bridging stock crossings, again to exclude animals from waterways. Doing extensive riparian planting every year to help sop up contaminants before they enter waterways. Constructing wetlands,

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

14 // SUSTAINABLE FARMING

again to remove key contaminants before they enter streams. 6. Protecting natural wetlands. 7. Installing modern contaminant removal systems called bioreactors that remove nitrogen from subsurface drainage water before it is discharged into surface water bodies. 8. Trialling new electronic virtual fencing technology that enables greater control of where cows need to be at certain times to reduce contaminant losses from critical source

areas.

9. Preparing nutrient budgets to allow careful planning of nutrient applications and to manage nutrient losses. 10. Providing important ‘native corridors’ through New Zealand’s pastoral landscape with riparian planting and protecting remnant bush areas on farms. 11. Growing premium pasture to allow New Zealand’s mostly grass-fed dairy cows to be the most emissions efficient producers of

milk: at 0.80kg CO2/kg of milksolids, our milk’s emissions are world leading and well under the global developed world average of 2.5kg CO2/kg MS. 12. Spending, literally, millions of dollars on installing and maintaining effluent management systems. 13. Using ‘green gold’, the natural fertiliser, cleverly and efficiently: effluent spreading on paddocks. There’s even an app many farmers have on their smartphones to instantly

tell them how much and when to spread. 14. Using recycled water to wash down cow sheds and feed pads. 15. Installing solar panels on cowsheds. 16. Some wind turbines too. 17. Recycling and upcycling. 18. Reducing plastic waste. 19. Growing supplementary feeds on-farm. 20. Using low-energy light bulbs. 21. Stablilising hillsides to reduce erosion and sediment entering waterways.

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BACK UP.

GOOD CALL. At FMG, we know that more than 10% of our milk claims are as a result of power loss. Itâ€™s this kind of specialised rural knowledge that allows us to pass on valuable advice to farmers to help manage risks. Like making sure you always have a back-up generator on a dairy farm. At the end of the day, if we can help you avoid loss, it reduces stress, lost production and downtime. So why not get in touch with FMG to see how we can help you make some good calls on your farm. Call us on 0800 366 466, or go to fmg.co.nz

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

16 // SUSTAINABLE FARMING

22. Retiring marginal land and protecting it with stockproof fencing. 23. Fencing off and protecting significant trees. 24. Tracking and trapping possums. 25. Strip-grazing to prevent unnecessary pugging of soil and mud. 26. Protecting native birds by fencing out dogs. 27. Keeping beehives and harvesting honey from their riparian manuka plantings. 28. Eradicating pest plants such as yellow bristle grass, which is a serious threat to pastures; and velvet leaf, a cropping pest plant found in fodder beet and maize. 29. Controlling pest insects like black beetle, clover root weevil and black field crickets. 30. Getting involved with the Dairy Environment Leaders’ programme to be a role model to other farmers. 31. Adopting technology that

helps to lower the footprint, including various smartphone apps, and sophisticated devices for water and fertiliser measurements and for irrigation. 32. Where they can, swapping vehicles using fossil fuels for EVs and hybrids – eg electric farm bikes. 33. Minimising paper and other products in their farm offices. 34. Hosting school pupils, their teachers and parents on their farms when they always discuss the environment and often involve them in planting native species. At home Farmers’ environmental effort carries over into their homes too. Often, they are: 35. Drinking milk produced on their farm. 36. Collecting rainwater for drinking and household use, rather than accessing mains

water supplies.

not only for fresh air and exercise, but to disconnect from technology and reconnect with nature and the farm animals.

37. Treating all wastewater on site, anything that goes down the kitchen sink, the handbasin and toilets. 38. Minimising plastics including plastic food storage bags and containers, and wrap. 39. Using multi-use, non-plastic bags for grocery shopping. 40. Growing their own fruit and vegetables. 41. When purchasing produce, aiming to buy local and in season, often supporting local growers and farmers’ markets. 42. Eating sustainably raised meat, often raised on their own farms. 43. Keeping their own poultry for eggs and meat, eg hens, ducks, etc. 44. Heating their homes with low emission wood burners fuelled by wood harvested from their own farms or the neighbours’. 45. Getting their kids outside,

In the community And into the communities that surround them by: 46. Joining local wildlife protection groups. 47. Getting involved with local councils to help ensure good outcomes for the community, including environmental clean ups and protection work. 48. Planting trees and native vegetation in local schools and parks for today, and for tomorrow’s generations – kowhai, manuka, flaxes, the forest giants. 49. Joining local catchment groups working to enhance biodiversity and restore rivers, lakes and wetlands. 50. Spearheading local pest control groups. • DairyNZ

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TEN BASIC FERTILISER FACTS YOU MUST KNOW AND

Ten BasicADOPT Fertiliser Facts You Must KnowWATER and Adopt to Ensure Your Right to Farm: TO MEET 2025 QUALITY LIMITS Fact 1. The overuse of soluble P fertiliser is by far the largest cause of P run-off and leaching, and therefore of the decline in quality Kiwi waterways. Fact 2. Once you have Olsen P levels that are more than a third of the P retention (ASC), application of additional soluble P is very prone to loss to the environment. Fact 3. If you want to build up your soil P in an environmentally-protective way, simply apply RPR. It does not get leached or lost directly in run-off, but releases P in a sustained fashion for plants. Fact 4. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. RPR-based fertilisers are even cheaper than super-based products as well! Added sulphur bentonite (sulphur 90) is far more efficient than the excess sulphate in super. Fact 5. Facts 1, 2, 3 and 4 have been known by the industry for many years, but ‘fudged’ by the scientists they fund, and even more so in the very biased OVERSEER®. I know this, I’ve done the course. Fact 6. To draw attention away from the facts, farmers and Regional Councils are fed a continuous stream of deliberate disinformation about expensive alternative mitigations, none of which come with any advice on their longer-term effectiveness and maintenance costs. Fact 7. Simple fenced-off 3-metre wide grass riparian strips are essentially as effective and vastly cheaper than more complex strips. Both reduce bacterial and sediment lost. Neither will have any significant long-term beneficial effect (on a whole-farm basis) on soluble P and nitrate-N loss. But grass strips can be harvested in summer to be fed out, which will improve P and N cycling. Fact 8. In a nutshell, for P maintenance any good RPR (not an RPR/Boucraa mix please!) can be used. Just check the Cd content. For low fertility situations or low rainfall, use a blend of RPR and high-analysis soluble P. Fact 9. For N, rather than granular urea, use prilled urea, and spray it immediately prior to, or during, the spreading with urease inhibitor. Use of N can be literally cut in half with very little additionally cost. Fact 10. Potash is more efficient, and must less likely to cause metabolic problems, if applied in small doses 4 times a year, adding up to 50-60% of the total annual amount you are using now. Easy to mix with your prilled urea. Anion leaching will be minimised as well. Formore moreinfo, info,email emailBert BertQuin Quinon on For bert.quin@quinfert.co.nz, phone bert.quin@quinfert.co.nz, or or phone 021021 427427 572 572, or visit www.quinfert.co.nz or visit www.quinfert.co.nz

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

18 // PASTURE

Saving pasture in summer KIERAN McCAHON

ADJUSTING ROTATION LENGTH now will set your farm

up for a smoother run when the summer dry arrives, says DairyNZ’s Kieran McCahon. Proactive and reactive management How you manage pasture during summer can affect your farm’s annual pasture production and utilisation, which influences milk production and profitability. That’s why it’s important to make decisions now (proactive management). By the time dry conditions start to affect pasture covers and you’ve identified a pending feed deficit, you’ll have few options for climbing out of a feed hole. Proactive decisions will determine your pasture supply before dry conditions hit, and

can prevent or delay the onset of other, more expensive, management decisions (e.g. culls and supplementary feed). However, it’s also important to think now about the reactive management decisions you’ll make if a feed deficit arrives later. Smart reactive decisions will limit the effect of a deficit on future pasture production and persistence. Ryegrass leaf stage Ryegrass tillers maintain only three live leaves, and about 40 to 50 percent of potential growth happens between the two- and three-leaf stages. So, time your grazing for between the 2.5-leaf to three-leaf stage to maximise growth and quality, while ensuring plants have replenished enough energy to re-grow. In dry conditions when soil moisture is limiting growth, ryegrass tillers require more time to grow three leaves. You’ll need to extend your rotation length (see below) to maximise

growth and ensure energy reserves are restored before grazing. What does good proactive management look like? 1. Increase your rotation length toward 30 days before dry conditions arrive. It can be difficult to extend the grazing rotation during a feed deficit as both pasture allowance and pasture covers decline. 2. Consider a tactical application of nitrogen (N) fertiliser (30kg N/ha) before soil moisture levels fall. This will: kk provide a greater response than to N applied in dry conditions kk increase pasture covers, making it easier to lengthen the rotation kk promote ryegrass tillering, potentially improving persistence. What does good reactive management look like? Good reactive decision-

making builds on the proactive decisions you’ve made in late spring/early summer. 1. You’ll need to graze between the 2.5-leaf and three-leaf stage and set your rotation accordingly. 2. Ensure your paddocks are grazed to the same grazing height achieved in the previous round (1500 to 1600kg DM/ha). Grazing below this height risks removing the tillers’ growing points located near the base of the plant. 3. Once target residuals have been met, and if supplementary feed is not being offered, consider standing cows off to limit over-grazing damage. Get more advice at dairynz. co.nz/summer-management Learn more about leaf stage and how to incorporate this into grazing management at dairynz. co.nz/leaf-stage • Kieran McCahon is DairyNZ animal and feed developer.

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

20 // PASTURE

Two keys to successful grass grazing DEAN EDWARDS

TWO SAYINGS ARE very

important in successful grass grazing management: It takes grass to grow grass. If you look after your grass it will look after your cows, whereas if you look after your cows it doesn’t mean you are looking after your grass. The aim of grass management is to provide the highest quality grass to cows at all periods during the season and in doing so maximise the amount of pasture grown and utilised. Quality is defined as ‘maximum leaf, high digestibility (80 to 85%), high energy (10.5 to 12.5 JME) and minimum stem’. Understanding the Ryegrass Pasture A ryegrass dominant sward thrives under rotational grazing management, with both

It takes grass to grow grass.

rotation length and grazing residual influencing growth. Hard grazing in the spring will promote clover growth while lax grazing during this period will encourage non-ryegrass species. The rotation length chosen at each period during the season should match closely the growth characteristics of the ryegrass plant to ensure that all the grass grown is being utilised (see table below). There are several general issues pertaining to successful grazing management of grass pastures:

SEASON

kk Maximum grass growth

rates are achieved at pasture covers of 2200 to 2700 kg/ DM/ha but there has to be a compromise so that grass is maintained. By operating an average pasture cover of 1900 to 2000 kgDM/ha, pasture quality can be maintained and the potential growth rate is reduced by 10-15%. kk The pasture cover ‘window’ in which your cows should be pre-grazing is 2200-2400 kgDM/ha. kk The above window has an exception where cocksfoot and fescue dominant paddocks are involved, as

LEAVES FORM AT

LEAVES DIE AT

they should be grazed at 2000-2200 kgDM/ha when pasture quality is at its highest and to prevent the formation of high crown clumps. kk The residual left after each grazing should be 1400-1550 kgDM/ha and in fact is the most important key to successful grass grazing management. This should ensure adequate leaf area to help maximise regrowth while still limiting the formation of clumps in the pastures which the cows will not graze. kk Stocking rate should be

RECOMMENDED ROTATION LENGTH

Spring

6 to 8 days

25 days

<25 days

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30 to 45 days

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

PASTURE // 23

continually assessed to ensure that daily cow demand on a per hectare basis matches closely the feel supplied on a daily basis from grass growth per hectare and total supplements fed. kk There will always be one of three circumstances occurring: 1) pasture growth equals daily cow demand, 2) pasture growth exceeds daily cow demand (means that silage is often made and/ or paddocks are regrassed, and in general this is the most difficult for farmers to identify and react too), and 3) pasture growth is below daily cow demand (supplements are then fed and/or stocking rate is reduced). SPRING kk In the spring it is critical that

the first grazing rotation is slow (often 45-50 days from calving start) so that pasture is conserved and carried through until late September early October.

kk In the spring you are trying

to preserve the pasture cover you have on hand until spring growth comes away. It is critical that the minimum pasture cover that you reach in the spring is not below 1700 kgDM/ha. kk At this level the leaf area is such that pasture growth rates are lower than they would otherwise be had the cover been 1800 kgDM/ha or better, hence it takes much longer for the spring growth to come away (growth could be decreased as much as 30 to 50%). kk Silage paddocks should be out of the rotation for as little time as possible, as regrowth after cutting is significantly better for paddocks that are shut up for 35-40 days compared to 60 days. kk The shorter time to harvest is also producing a higher quality silage as the pasture is less mature (the ‘ideal’ is

that the grass cut for silage could in fact be grazed by the cows). kk In general fast rotations should be avoided as unless well monitored, the grass cover can decline very rapidly and hence they are often difficult to get out of quickly. kk Rotation lengths of 18 to 24 days are generally ideal. kk When topping it is important to realise that these paddocks will take 5-9 days longer to come back into the rotation for the next grazing, hence you have to be in a surplus grass situation to be able to top. kk If at any stage pastures are to be topped, then the cutting height of the mower should be at 2-4 cm to allow the bases of the clumps to be opened up. Timing is critical in all spring management decisions. SUMMER kk The aim is to operate with an

average pasture cover (over the area being grazed) of 1900 to 2050 kgDM/ha. kk Aim to be grazing when a minimum 1000 kgDM/ha is available. kk The stocking rate and/ or supplementary feeding should always be adjusted to achieve these two factors. kk Rotation lengths should be 18 to 24 days. kk If nitrogen is required then it will be best utilised if applied behind the milking herd. AUTUMN kk The aim is to ‘carry grass

forward’ into late March and April so there is sufficient pasture cover to milk into May. kk When monitoring the pasture cover, don’t be afraid to introduce silage as a supplement, even if it is only for 4-7 days to help maintain rotation length and/or pasture cover. In effect this is keeping the grazing residual

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

PASTURE // 25

at 1450-1550 kgDM/ha and reducing the risk of reducing growth rates from over grazing. An early decision invariably gives much more flexibility and reduces the risk of having to have a major change in management to rectify the situation. This is particularly true in the autumn, where the early decision allows pasture cover to be increased while growth rates are still close to the daily stocking rate feed requirements, hence pasture cover can be increased quickly, especially if coinciding with a strategic nitrogen application. kk In the autumn it is important to use nitrogen and supplements to generate a pasture cover which will then allow you to milk as long into the autumn as possible. kk Silage feeding gives the maximum return in the autumn as you get three responses: extra milk solids production, extra

lactation days and better cow condition. You are also likely to get better utilisation of all the feed and not waste grass as the stocking rate is high enough to get the correct utilisation. kk In the autumn rotation lengths can often be extended out to 30 to 45 days to help increase pasture cover to milk off in April and May. Provided grazing residuals throughout the season have been 1450-1550 kgDM/ha then the longer rotation will be achievable with no detriment to the pasture quality being grazed by the cows. kk The maximum pre-grazing cover will depend on your previous grazing residuals but should not exceed 3000 kgDM/ha. kk The ideal is not to have the average pasture cover go above 2200 kgDM/ha. • Dean Edwards is LIC FarmWise consultant

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

26 // MAIZE

The role of maize silage IAN WILLIAMS

2019 SAW FARMERS facing some significant challenges. The announcement of changes to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, the passing of the Zero Carbon Bill and the increasing pressure from banks on farmers to pay back debt has meant that the farming community has had to rethink the way business is done. It is clear that, in future, some of the practices which have been part and parcel with how

we farm will need to fall by the wayside and alternatives will need to be introduced. There is now a different set of basics â€“ some old and some new. These are as follows: 1. Grow and harvest as much feed as possible The relationship between home grown feed and profit has been well known for many years. The data shows that farmers who grow and harvest large amounts of feed are more

likely to make more money than those that produce less homegrown feed. Maize silage has become an integral part of many farms lifting the amount of feed grown and harvested. Historically, maize silage has been used as part of a regrassing program. In recent years, more farmers are using maize to remove excess nitrogen from effluent blocks (see Point X). The result is the sameâ€Śmore feed grown per hectare across the

whole farm. Just how much depends on the farm, but it can be quite significant. For example, a 100ha farm growing 14tDM pasture per hectare and cropping 15% in a maize silage, annual ryegrass rotation can lift overall drymatter production by around 1.5tDM/ha across the whole farm 2. Make sure the cows achieve their body condition score (BCS) targets The science behind the value

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

MAIZE // 27

of having mature cows achieve a BCS of 5 (5.5 for first and second calvers) is rock solid. However, many farmers still struggle to get achieve this target. Cows at BCS 5 vs BCS 4 will produce an additional 12 - 15 kgMS over the season and they will get in calf 8-10 days earlier. Feeding about 180 kgDM/ cow of maize silage over winter will lift cows by 1 BCS. The return from extra milk and more days in milk more than covers the cost of the extra maize silage required to put on the extra condition. It’s a no brainer. 3. Fill feed gaps with a costeffective supplement Some of the early research into feeding supplements to dairy cows in New Zealand was done about 20 years ago at the Waimate West Demonstration Farm in South Taranaki. The data showed using maize silage to fill feed deficits could

Table 1: Waimate West Demonstration Trial: Productivity and financial outcomes for the 1997-98 season1

CONTROL

MAIZE SILAGE FED IN THE: Spring

Summer

Stocking rate (cows/ha)

3.8

Maize silate (kgDM/cow)

300

293

290

Milksolids per cow (kgDM/cow)

285

332

309

337

Milksolids per hecrare (kgMS/ha)

1083

1262

1174

1281

Days in milk

228

268

256

259

EFS ($/ha calculated at a $3.50 payout)

1489

1824

1532

1904

Increase in EFS over control (%)

–

23%

28%

Milksolids response (gMS/kgDM maize silage fed)

–

157

179

generate high response rates (see Table 1). The trial showed an increase in net profit per hectare (EFS) of 23% and 28% from the spring and autumn fed herds when compared to the control. 4. Grow maize on effluent paddocks to increase environmental benefits and produce low-cost feed Farmers in many areas across

New Zealand are now being required to reduce their N and P loss. Maize silage is set to become a key tool in this process. Maize is a deep-rooted crop that can extract water and nutrients from depths two to three times greater than typical pasture species (e.g. ryegrass/ whiteclover). Because it has a high demand for nitrogen (12 kg N and 10 kg K for every

Autumn

1tDM removed), it can be used to remove excess N and K from effluent blocks. This reduces the risk of nutrient leaching and lowers the chance of milk fever caused by feeding high potassium pasture to springers. A two year on-farm study showed that maize silage crops grown on effluent paddocks with no additional fertiliser (no base, starter or side dress)

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

28 // MAIZE

Home grown feed can lead to more profits.

Table 2: Typical cost of maize silage DM1

Maize silage yield (†DM) in the stock

MAIZE SILAGE DRYMATTER COSTS †DM/ha

Low fertility paddock Maize silage cost per kgDM in the stock (c/ kgDM)

High fertility paddock

Maize silage cost per MJME (c/MJME)

Maize silage cost per kgDM in the stock (c/ kgDM)

Maize silage cost per MJME (c/MJME)

24.8

2.30

–

22.1

2.04

17.3

1.60

19.9

1.84

15.6

1.44

18.0

1.67

14.2

1.31

16.5

1.53

13.0

1.20

15.3

1.41

12.0

1.11

14.2

1.31

11.1

1.03

–

10.4

0.96

Note: High fertility paddock assumes no base, starter or sidedress fertiliser is need

yielded an average of 26.1 tDM/ha. Without the need for additional fertiliser, silage drymatter costs are significantly reduced. (Table 2). 5. Use maize to prevent the FEI from getting in the C and D regions. Last season many farmers had to watch their FEI quite closely once the summer dry kicked in. While farmers

were aware of the impact PKE could have on their FEI, they noticed feeds such as some brassicas and beet could also be a problem. Maize silage, on the other hand, seems to be having no impact on raising the FEI, so many farmers are now feeding maize silage and maize grain in place of the feeds which are proving to be problematic. It also appears that cows

which lose weight rapidly also are in danger of driving up the milk FEI. This was the case on some South Island dairy farms this spring post-calving, when cows lost a lot of weight coming off their winter fodder beet paddocks. Farmers who used maize silage as part of their transition diet didn’t seem to have the problem those who transitioned straight from beet to grass had.

6. Feeding maize silage to reduce cow urinary nitrogen levels. Pasture almost always contains excess crude protein (CP) relative to dairy cow requirements. A high proportion (typically 60 - 70%) of the excess protein (nitrogen) intake is excreted in the urine. In spring, this can be as high as 1000kgN/ha. This is well in excess of what pasture can take up and urinary nitrates can be relatively quickly leached beyond the reach of shallow-rooted pasture plants. Most cows require about 12-18% crude protein coming from their diet however pasture protein often exceeds 20% CP. At 7-8% CP, feeding maize silage dilutes dietary protein content, reduces nitrogen loss from the cow and therefore reduces the risk of N leaching. • Ian Williams is a Pioneer forage specialist.

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

30 // SOIL

Reducing nutrient losses MAINTAINING HEALTHY WATERWAYS is beneficial

for the dairy sector, its international reputation and for all current and future New Zealanders. What is driving the focus on nutrient management? Healthy and swimmable waterways are important to all New Zealanders, including dairy farmers, who share the same aspirations to protect our streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands. Nutrient management is an important part of this. Nitrogen loss Nitrogen (N) loss is how much of your nitrogen inputs are lost or leached to the environment. The diagram below shows the N cycle including where N is leached out the bottom. Most N leached in dairy systems comes from urine patches. The rate of N applied per ha in a urine patch can be equivalent to 500-1000 kg of N per hectare per year. Plants cannot always use all the N before it drains down the soil profile and leaches or is lost as a gas. Nitrate is mobile and highly soluble. It can be readily leached if there is too much available in the soil for the

plants to take up. Leaching is the downward movement of soluble nitrate through the soil with water (drainage). If this happens, during conditions favourable to leaching, nitrate may be lost below the plants root system, through the soil profile to groundwater. What is P loss? P loss refers to how much of your phosphorous (P) inputs are lost or leached to waterways. P tends to bind to soil particles (sediment). Dung and farm dairy effluent contain

high levels of P, therefore losses of P on dairy farms are closely linked to losses of sediment and faecal matter. How can I reduce P loss? You can reduce P loss by carefully managing P in fertiliser and effluent as well as managing sediment and faecal matter losses. Some practical practices are: kk Use riparian planting or long grass strips as a buffer between paddocks, races and the water. The plants act as a filter, slowing down runoff

and catching sediment and P kk Carefully select your

paddocks, grazing routines and crops to minimise disrupting the soil and runoff to waterways, particularly during winter months kk Maintain races and direct the water running off them away from waterways and into paddocks kk Regular soil testing helps to identify paddocks that are above or below the agronomic optimum. For paddocks that consistently test above the agronomic

Improve Soil Health Tunnelling and dung burial by dung beetles loads the soil with nutrients and carbon, improving soil health and soil biology including a 5-fold increase in earthworms. Common sense, backed up by the latest research, shows the effectiveness of Dung Beetles at completing the broken nutrient recycle process. Farmers ﬁnally have an affordable and effective tool to add to their arsenal.

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

32 // SOIL

optimum there is an opportunity to reduce P fertiliser rates or ‘mine’ the soil P for a few years kk Control slips and hillside erosion to prevent losing valuable topsoil and P to waterways kk Direct any effluent that collects on hard surfaces such as concreted races, bridges or culverts into your effluent system kk Use good management practices to apply your fertiliser and effluent to ensure they do not run off to waterways. Where are the hotspots for nutrient losses on a dairy farm? Fertiliser application Depending on the fertiliser, it could be N and/or P Pathway: Runoff or leaching if fertiliser is applied in inappropriate amounts, locations, or times. Signs: Applying fertiliser close

N fertiliser rates in summer and autumn while still maintaining milk production and profit.

to or in waterways; applying fertiliser to wet soils or very dry cracked soils. Practices to reduce N leaching: kk Avoid applying when pastures are not growing or to waterlogged soils kk Soil test to ensure other nutrients are not lacking kk Optimise your response rate and pasture utilisation kk Reduce N surplus if you are using high rates of nitrogen fertiliser. If you can reduce the N surplus by more efficient use of

Apply Gypsum Now

N fertiliser and imported feed, you will reduce loss of N to the environment (through leaching and nitrous oxide) kk There is a strong relationship between N surplus and N leaching, but more is lost on lighter soils. For example, on Canterbury benchmarking farms with high N fertiliser use there was no relationship between total N fertiliser applied and pasture eaten on farms. This means for some farms there is an opportunity to reduce

Wintering Pathway Runoff, leaching and direct deposition. Signs: Stock on paddocks during wet periods, ponding and overland flow, collections of dung in areas of a paddock prone to overland flow/ flooding, ruts from vehicle movements, slips or slumps, extensive pugging. Practices to reduce N leaching, P, faecal bacteria and sediment: kk Use off-paddock facilities to capture the N from dung and urine kk Grazing cows off-paddock in the autumn months before winter rains flush N downwards reduces N leaching. kk Grazing cows off farm in winter may help reduce N leached on your milking

The benefits of gypsum in soil treatment are well known, but its value goes well beyond this: • Helps mitigate the flow of nitrates and phosphorus in New Zealand waterways • Can be used to address the issue of sodium from applied effluent • Reduces surface run-off and drainage loss, reduces preferential flow of water run-off in soil • Can be applied by a number of different means to target risk zones • Assists with addressing high soil potassium levels for more about Natural Gypsum and soil stabilisation visit www.gypsum.co.nz Rates vary per farm and soil type. Applications can last for up to three years and can be used as a base layer in standoff (loafing) pads.

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

34 // SOIL

platform, but just transfers the leaching to another area. Stand-off Areas N, P and faecal bacteria Pathway: Runoff or leaching if effluent is not effectively captured Signs: Effluent running off pad, no effluent capture system Races, Bridges and culverts N, P, faecal bacteria and sediment Pathway: Runoff into water and direct deposition. Signs: Effluent, or water containing effluent, running off to water. Races in bad repair, with potholes and boggy patches. Water channels scoured into the race, particularly on steep slopes. Effluent, or water containing effluent, running off to surface water. Irrigation and Effluent irrigation N, P and faecal bacteria

Pathway: Runoff or leaching. Like rain, too much irrigation or effluent increases drainage which increases the risk of N leaching. Saturation of soils can also lead to pooling and runoff. This can occur for several reasons, for example, if infrastructure is not well maintained, or if effluent/ irrigation is applied at a rate or depth that is too high. Signs: Burst pipes, blocked nozzles, pumps failing, irrigation over or close to water, ponding, ponding of effluent in paddock. Practices to reduce N leaching: kk Measure effluent and irrigation application rates to ensure they are suitable for your soil type kk Ensure effluent storage is sufficient so you don’t have to irrigate during wet periods and busy times kk Have an effluent block that is a suitable size for your appli-

cation and makes efficient use of your nutrients. Crops N, P, faecal bacteria and sediment, depending on if the crop is grazed or harvested. Pathway: Runoff, leaching and erosion from stock, fertiliser applications, cultivation and harvesting activities. Signs: Soil running off into water following cultivation, during or after grazing of crops. Practices to reduce N and P loss in winter cropping: kk Paddock selection and avoid cultivating critical source areas (where run off to waterways occurs) kk Urine N leaching can be reduced through appropriate paddock selection, grazing time and grazing regime. kk The use of crop calculators to work out how much fertiliser the crop needs kk Winter fallow N leaching can be reduced through the use of a cover crop after the

feed crop, for example oats or annual ryegrass use up the nitrogen in the soil. kk Mineral N leaching can be reduced through the use of minimal tillage. Effluent ponds and related infrastructure N, P and faecal bacteria Pathway: Runoff or leaching. Signs: Overflow of sump or ponds, pond level lowering without discharge indicates it may be leaking; vegetation on the surface which may cause blockages and system failures. Yards with cracked concrete. Practices to reduce N leaching: kk Ensure storage ponds and tanks are lined to prevent leaching and big enough to avoid irrigation onto wet soils and during busy times kk Maintain your infrastructure regularly to avoid leakage, burst pipes, blocked nozzles and pump failure. • DairyNZ

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Choosing the Right Trough Valve There’s a reason farmers are turning to Hansen as their preferred trough valve. With up to 30% faster fills and a host of lower maintenance features, they’re fast becoming the choice of a new generation of users. Follow these steps to choose a suitable valve from the table below.

Step 1 - Kn ow yo ur tr ou gh ’s en tr y style

Hint: Grab a pen and circle the items relevant to your trough

9L/min @ 29 psi

he ck S te p 2 - C ’s in le t gh yo ur tr ou . ze si ad th re

S te p 3 - Ch oo se th e ar m le ng th th at su it s yo ur tr ou gh .

34L/min @ 29 psi

• Suits confined spaces

• Compact design

• Hansen Ezi-Clamp arm makes level adjustment a breeze

• Reliable in low and high pressure applications

• Ability to attach a diffuser hose

• Durable long life valve seat

C h o o se S te p 4 b a ll f lo a t st e rg th e la our it f in to y th a t w ill tr o u g h .

188L/min @ 29 psi

S te p 5 - T he n w ith st oc k nu m be rs in m in d, ch oo se a Ha ns en V al ve th at su its .

570L/min @ 29 psi

• High performance cost effective trough valve

• Delivers high volumes of water quickly with unrestricted full flow

• Patented slipper fit piston helps eliminate stuck valves

• Stock proof bendable arm • Self Cleaning for clean/dirty water

Pressure Range 0 to 12 Bar / 0 to 174 psi

Pressure Range 0.2 to 12 Bar / 2.9 to 174 psi

Top only

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Arm Options

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Stock Type & Total Volume

Calves, Horses, Pigs, Goats, Chickens

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115mm or 140mm

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Stock volumes based on each valve’s flow rate at 29 psi (2bar). Flow rates will vary from farm to farm due to pipe size and system design. More information is available from Hansen Products’ website (www.hansenproducts.co.nz) or by contacting a Hansen Products Water System Specialist, phone 0800 420 349

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

36 // EFFLUENT & WATER MANAGEMENT

Samples of effluent show how suspended solids precipitate out under influence of a special coagulant.

The solution is now clear REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

is the environmental mantra now possible for farm dairy effluent (FDE). In response to farmer requests to help them improve their effluent management system and reduce their risk exposure, Ravensdown and Lincoln University have developed an award winning effluent treatment system ClearTech that reduces the volume of effluent needed to be irrigated or stored, reduces the risk of river, lake and groundwater contamination from effluent irrigation, and recycles water to wash the farmyard. The system uses a coagulant similar to drinking water treatments across the world to bind effluent colloidal particles together in order to settle them out from the water. This clarifying process reduces

freshwater use, helps existing effluent storage go further and reduces the environmental and safety risk linked with farm dairy effluent (FDE). With no significant difference between pasture dry matter yield following land application of treated effluent compared to the untreated FDE, the research indicates ClearTech’s environmental benefits can be achieved without sacrificing current pasture production potential. The technology is ideal for dairy farmers who want to save on effluent pond storage and take back control of their capacity and compliance. The sector has been crying out for this: cost effective solutions to their nutrient and bacterial impacts on waterways, but also allowing them to demonstrate good farming practice to the Government, regional councils

and their community. In regard to compliance costs, the business risk is real with penalties up to $600,000 under the RMA for a company in breach of its effluent consent ($300,000 for an individual), plus $10,000 a day for any continuing offence. How it works The average New Zealand dairy farm (400 cows) produces about 28,000 litres of FDE per day (70 L per cow per day) and, over a typical 270-day milking season, this amounts to more than 7.5 million litres of effluent produced per year. ClearTech can reduce that by 50%, and possibly up to two thirds, which equates to about 3.8 to 5 million litres saving of storage capacity a year or about 14,000 to 18,000 litres a day. An early adopter of the

“We’re in a sensitive environmental area here that is also quite densely populated. So we were looking for the next level on environmental mitigation. ClearTech has significantly increased our effluent storage capacity.”

MAKING EVERY DROP COUNT Zimmatic® Precision VRI is the world’s most environmentally savvy precision irrigation system. It’s an efficient method for saving water because you apply exactly the right amount of water needed to specific areas of your land. You can target irrigation for certain soil types, avoid watering unproductive land such as waterways and wetlands, and water around obstacles underneath your pivot like buildings, tracks, drains and roads. With Zimmatic® Precision VRI, you will make a positive contribution to the world’s food bowl, while saving New Zealand’s vital natural resources. Find your local Zimmatic® dealer at www.ZimmaticANZ.com

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

38 // EFFLUENT & WATER MANAGEMENT

These environmental and safety benefits are important, but commercially the system also makes sense and not just for farmers. ClearTech is also being used by Frews Transport, Darfield, to help them handle their effluent from truck washdown.

technology, Tom Mason, of Green Park Dairies, surrounded by urban sprawl, says the freshwater conservation that ClearTech offers has been a gamechanger for his business. “We’re using recycled water to wash the cow yard each day and that’s at least 30,000 litres of water per milking that we’re no longer using. When we’re milking twice a day, we’re saving up to 60,000 litres of freshwater a day. That’s three times the capacity, which means there are fewer days we have to spread effluent.” With many lifestyle blocks in the area, and heightened concerns about effluent runoff and odour, Mason sees ClearTech as being an investment in his ongoing environmental and social licence to farm. “We’re in a sensitive environmental area here that is also quite densely populated. So we were looking for the next level on environmental mitigation. ClearTech has significantly increased our effluent storage capacity. “We’re maintaining our right to keep dairy farming here. There are real pressures on this area, with subdivision into

Conceptual diagram of the ClearTech® system installed on typical dairy farm.

lifestyle blocks, so we need to be doing the right thing. ClearTech is an important tool helping us to do that.” One of the pressures is E. coli concentrations in normal farm dairy effluent and this can be significantly reduced in ClearTech’s clarified water by up to 99.9%. This occurs because the coagulant kills the bacteria by breaking the cellular membrane around the microorganism. E. coli numbers in the treated effluent at the bottom of the tank were also reduced by up to 91%. This makes the treated effluent much safer to irrigate because it is less likely

to cause leaching of microorganisms into rivers, lakes and groundwater. Critically, the average concentration of E. coli in the clarified water was 83%, lower than the Government’s limit for recreational water for swimming. ClearTech product manager Carl Ahlfeld says the innovative, award-winning system also reduces the odour from effluent irrigation. “Lincoln University has published data from field lysimeter studies that have shown significant reductions in leaching losses of E. coli and phosphate from the clarified

water. Stripping out the E. coli and other bacteria in farm dairy effluent means cleaner and safer water to wash down the dairy yard or irrigate on to paddocks.” The lysimeter studies also discovered that there were significant reductions in the numbers of E. coli leached from pasture soil that received the x treated effluent, compared to the leaching loss from pasture soil that received untreated effluent. Indeed, the E. coli losses from the freshly treated effluent lysimeters were not significantly different from the losses from lysimeters that

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

EFFLUENT & WATER MANAGEMENT // 39

received freshwater irrigation. Lower phosphate contamination risk The lysimeter trials also showed the total P leaching loss was significantly reduced from an average of 0.93 kg P/ha from the untreated effluent down to 0.18 kg P/ha from the clarified water (which was not significantly different from the freshwater irrigation treatment).The amount of dissolved reactive phosphate (DRP) leached was also significantly reduced from an average of 0.085 kg P/ha from the untreated effluent down to 0.01 kg P/ha from the clarified water. This is important because recent research has found that effluent areas can be major sources of phosphate loss from farms. These direct measurements of leaching loss indicate that there could be a considerable reduction in risk of P leaching from effluent areas if the

effluent was treated with this new process, whilst the pasture trial showed that there was no significant difference in plant P concentration or P uptake. This is important because the reduction in DRP concentration, which will reduce the risk of P transfer from soil into water, can be done without reducing P availability and uptake by plants, or plant dry matter production. Beyond farming benefits These environmental and safety benefits are important, but commercially the system also makes sense and not just for farmers. ClearTech is also being used by Frews Transport, Darfield, to help them handle their effluent from truck washdown. The system shows great promise for helping reduce the transport industry’s issues with effluent management from truck washdown. The unit is proving to

be exceptional with a 95% reduction in water use. Frews were using 18,000 L/day of fresh water that they not only needed to pay for but were also well over their water allocation. A study was taken over 2.5 days in which they normally would use 45,000 L of fresh water for truck washing, which was reduced to less than 1000L as a result of the ClearTech recycling of the truck wash effluent. This also resulted in significantly less cost and time associated with the reduced amount of treated effluent having to be managed and disposed of. “Green Park Dairies and Frews Transport are great examples of how Ravensdown is enabling smarter farming for a better New Zealand,” said Ahlfeld. “We are focused on finding better solutions for our farmers that help them show leadership in sustainability and ClearTech is definitely delivering on those values.”

IN SUMMARY ClearTech’s opportunities/ benefits are: 1. Increased number of days of storage in existing pond. This could reduce the risk of a consent breach, improve timing of effluent application to reduce environmental impacts, and could help meet FEP audit requirements for effluent storage. 2. Reduced time shifting the effluent irrigator. This could mean fewer runs of the irrigator and thus free up staff time for other duties. 3. Reduced risk of E. coli and phosphate pollution of water. This could help meet New Zealand dairy industry strategy of ‘leading efforts to improve the health of our rivers and streams’, could help meet Government strategy for freshwater, and could help improve public perception of the New Zealand dairy industry. 4. Reduced water use at the farm dairy through recycling water to wash the yard. This could save water and cost.

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40 // EFFLUENT & WATER MANAGEMENT

Water use over hot, dry months WATER SUPPLY IS a vital

component of your farm. Based on research on over 100 farms, DairyNZ environmental change specialist Caleb Higham estimates that 26% of stock drinking water is lost as leakage. “This wastes water often carrying valuable minerals, causes areas of mud and flooding and incurs extra pumping costs.” As the demand on water resources in New Zealand grows, efficient practices in water use are essential. Over summer this can become more

challenging, but there are smart ways to save water, money and time. Start by reviewing your water use and making sure your systems are working properly, preferably before summer arrives. Having leak detection systems and procedures for dealing with leaks is also important over the holidays, when farm managers or owners may be away. All staff should know how to manage leaks and how to shut off the water if necessary. On non-irrigated farms, summer is the best time to

focus on fixing leaks. Higham says fast leaks are usually noticed immediately and fixed quickly, but slow, low-rate leaks are often not detected for a long time because the water system can cope with the leak. “They are generally only detected when they become a major leak, or in summer when green patches are noticed in brown paddocks. While they are slow leaks, the volume of water adds up.” One of the best ways to detect slow leaks and monitor water use is to have a water meter. This will help to track seasonal

and annual consumption, detect where water can be saved, and identify water efficiency options on-farm. A water meter is a valuable feature of any farm striving for sustainable water use. Detailed information about using water meters is available

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

EFFLUENT & WATER MANAGEMENT // 41

When Reliability Matters. When Reliability Matters.

on the DairyNZ website. Increased competition for water means the whole community is looking at how irrigators use water. Good irrigation not only benefits the wider community, but individual farms too, where it helps pasture grow better, providing more feed for animals. Whatever the chosen system, it should maximise the amount of pasture grown while using water as efficiently as possible. On irrigated farms, once the irrigation season begins, it is important to keep an eye on soil moisture readings and weather forecasts. The biggest opportunity to improve how efficiently water is used is by irrigation scheduling, especially during the shoulders of the season. If you can stop irrigating for a day when rain is predicted, you will make significant water savings. Applying the right amount of water at the right time to get maximum growth from pasture is crucial. Put on too much water and it drains away below the pasture, leaches out some of your expensive nutrients and slows pasture growth. Leave it too late, and the plants may stress, which reduces growth rates. Watering tracks and other non-productive areas also wastes water. Maintaining and managing your irrigation system will minimise wastage and leaks.

Leaks can reduce the operating pressure so that the system doesn’t apply water evenly, leading to patchy growth of pasture. “Doing a ‘bucket test’ is the easiest way to work out on-farm the application depth, rate and how uniformly water is being applied during an irrigation event,” said Higham. “The ‘bucket test’ method is based on collecting irrigation water in strategically placed buckets and measuring what water is collected over a certain time.” The Check It Bucket Test app, used with a bucket test kit, can be downloaded free at www.irrigationz.co.nz, or from the App store or Google Play. Check that water flow rates are suitable to supply enough water to stock in the peak of summer. Providing enough water to stock is essential for high milk production. You can download Farmfact 5-19, about the management of stock drinking water at www.dairynz.co.nz/waterquality You can also find out how water use on your farm compares to others in your region and throughout New Zealand by using DairyNZ’s online Water Use Calculator at dairynz.co.nz/water-use-calc • More information about saving water in the milking shed is online at dairynz.co.nz/wateruse-shed.

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42 // EFFLUENT & WATER MANAGEMENT

Education, right advice helps m SAMANTHA BULL

CLIMATE CONDITIONS, CONTOUR of the land, cow

numbers, soil composition and farm management practice are just some of the points to consider when designing a new effluent system. All vary from property to property, which is why it’s important to customise each effluent system to match the unique conditions of a dairy farm. That was the case when our company designed three separate effluent systems for Tainui Group Holdings (TGH) in Waikato in 2019. Each property had unique

conditions and we had to consider design, construction, location, operation, storage and maintenance of the effluent system. For example, at TGH’s Hukanui Dairy, improvements there included relocating and upgrading the pump and stirrer system, installing a new stone trap and extending the area which can be irrigated, using a new irrigator. Not far away at TGH’s Punawai Dairy, we had to come up with a new plan for effluent storage. The farm there is on rolling country so we opted for a storage pond, cut into the side of a hill below the milking shed. The neighbouring Tainui Rd Dairy had different geographical conditions too and

Storage tank at Punawai Dairy, Waikato.

REVERSE THE EFFECTS OF SOIL DAMAGE MADE BY COWS WITH 100% NATURAL GYPSUM A soil’s ability to produce pasture can be seriously inhibited by the damage made by cattle traffic.

Ag Research* found that treading damage resulted in up to a 14% reduction in pasture yield and further research quantified a reduction in pasture production between 22% and 40% in the subsequent 3 months. This reduction outstrips the positive effects of annual application of base fertilisers (P, K and S).

Additional applications of gypsum across the entire farm aerates, conditions and improves soil structure promoting an optimum environment for pasture growth, reducing pugging. Gypsum also helps mitigate the flow of nitrates and phosphorus in New Zealand waterways. Visit your local agricultural fertiliser supplier for 100% natural gypsum.

* NZ Journal of AG Research 1994, Vol. 37: 559-567. NZ Journal of AG Research 2001, Vol. 44: 181-190

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

EFFLUENT & WATER MANAGEMENT // 43

s manage effluent systems requires more management of the system, doing it that way.

there we upgraded with a new sump and stone trap, new pump and stirrer with a new, large, lined effluent pond. Farm management Farm management regimes can also have an impact on the type of effluent system needed. You have to look at how the farm dairy is managed. Some farmers may stand cows on a feedpad, other farmers may have stormwater diversion systems they can use. Reducing or recycling water can also be a way to reduce effluent storage requirements. Some farmers are a bit surprised when you show them how much water they are using, and how big their storage needs to be to accommodate their water use. Farms in high rainfall areas will need more storage but this is where farmers can use stormwater diversion. That will reduce the amount of storage required. You can use stormwater diversion when the cows are dried off or some farmers use it throughout the season. It just

Storage pressure One of the pressure points in dairy effluent management is storage. Farmers should double check to make sure their current storage is sufficient to manage the amount of effluent their cows are producing. Or it should be set up to future proof the farm, to account for projected herd increases. It’s also important to make sure effluent storage meets compliance rules. Upgrading or retrofitting existing dairies with new effluent solutions will need careful planning. There are many factors to consider but the most crucial is how the landscape and climate affect effluent management. Soil types This leads on to the need to understand the types of soils on the farm. It’ll provide a picture of the soil moisture deficits, soil drainage characteristics and infiltration rates along with the type of land contours on farm. This is one of the most important elements in upgrading an effluent system. Soils that are classified as high risk will increase storage requirements as there are fewer days available to irrigate. Application of dairy effluent can only take place when a soil water deficit exists. This is compared to low risk soils where the application of dairy effluent can generally occur 24 hours post saturation, therefore there will be more days available for irrigation in any one year. Options and regulations Recently we took part in the Effluent and Environment Expo at Mystery Creek near Hamilton. It’s a great chance for farmers

to get some expert advice from people working in the industry but I also understand how it can be confusing for some. There are many options, a lot of machinery to look at and comprehend, and many system configurations confronting you when you walk around the expo hall. Ask For Advice The best way to ensure you’re investing in the right system for your farm is to get advice from the experts. Farmers should contact their regional council if they’re unsure what their dairy effluent systems need to be compliant. People can also speak to DairyNZ; there are discussion groups they can join to find out

more. You may find there are many other farmers in the same situation. Farmers can also talk to specialist staff, like our team at Waikato Milking Systems, who have Farm Dair Effluent System Design Accreditation. It means we can visit farms and design a system that takes into account the rules and regulations set out by regional councils. The reports that I produce, when designing a new effluent system, can be used as part of the application to regional councils for resource consents to operate a dairy effluent system. • Samantha Bull is a dairy effluent specialist working for Waikato Milking Systems.

Specialising in the design and refining of better ways to deal with dairy farm effluent. Benefits of the system: Small foot print No storage ponds Fully automated Low running costs 0.25mm application/24 hrs Low man hours to maintain 60% fresh water savings Fully patented system

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

44 // MATING MANAGEMENT

Improving body condition scores requires careful planning from today SAMANTHA TENNENT

NOW’S A GOOD time to be

thinking about improving the reproductive performance of your herd next season. Body condition score (BCS) measures a cow’s level of fat (energy reserves). There’s a strong link between body condition score and reproductive performance. Cows that calve too thin (less than BCS 5.0 for mature cows, and less than 5.5 for first and second calvers) generally take longer to start cycling after calving. This can reduce submission and conception rates, and result in lower 6-week in-calf rates. Cows that hit their calving BCS targets also calve with fewer issues and have higher milk production. Research shows us cows that calve at BCS 5.0 produce 5.2kgMS more than a cow that calves at 4.5 BCS. The recommendation is to aim to have less than 15% of your herd above target, and less than 15% below. To meet targets at calving, consider each cow’s BCS and calving date when you’re determining her management through late lactation and dry-off date. Once-a-day milking and preferential feeding can help increase BCS gain in late lactation; however, the most effective way to gain BCS is to dry off cows and feed them appropriately. Start thinking about BCS in early summer Many farmers dry-off cows on a set date. This can reduce their ability to hit calving

BCS targets – especially when dealing with skinny cows which are below BCS 4. If you plan your BCS strategy in early summer this will reduce the number of skinny cows you have and give them a better opportunity of reaching their calving BCS target. Picking a cow’s dry-off date depends on the amount of BCS she must gain to achieve target at calving; her predicted calving date; the amount and type of feed she’ll be offered during the dry period; and for some cows, her milk volume and quality and her contribution to the bulk

tank somatic cell count. Avoid chasing the small volumes being produced late in this lactation at the expense of next lactation’s performance. Remember to consider what feed is available, including pasture cover and the quantity and quality of crops and supplements. Also consider the amount and type of feed a dry cow can eat each day, and the amount of BCS she can gain each month (a sensible amount is usually 0.5 BCS unit per month). Cows often gain no BCS in the first seven to 10 days of the dry

period and gain very little in the month prior to calving. That means there are about 30 to 40 days during the dry period where cows gain no BCS. You can make calculations to decide dry-off dates using DairyNZ’s dry-off-date calculator (online at dairynz. co.nz/bcs-strategies). For the mammary gland to ‘reset’ itself, all cows, even if they’re at target BCS, should have a dry period of at least 42 days. Thinking about improving your herd’s BCS to improve reproductive performance isn’t just something to consider

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

MATING MANAGEMENT // 45

“Cows that hit their calving BCS targets calve with fewer issues and have higher milk production.”

over summer. As you head into autumn there’s a range of things you can also do: kk Monitor individual BCS, and set dry-off rules based on BCS and calving dates kk Give your cows enough time to reach BCS targets kk Factor in a maximum gain of 0.5 BCS/month plus one month of minimal gain. Do this after dry-off and a month before calving kk Target mixed age cows having a BCS of 5.0, first and second calvers having a BCS

of 5.5 Little can be done in the first few weeks post-calving to alter BCS loss. BCS at mating is set largely by BCS at calving, so it’s important to achieve BCS targets at calving. What happens after calving After calving, a cow’s energy demands for lactation, maintenance and activity are greater than her energy intake. To fill this energy deficit, she mobilises body tissue (fat and muscle) and uses this to generate energy. When a cow is in this state, she’s said to be in negative energy balance (NEB) and will lose body condition. All cows enter a state of NEB for six to eight weeks after they’ve calved, but it’s important they’ve stopped losing condition and are in positive energy balance before the planning start of mating date. There’s little that can be done

Samantha Tennent, DairyNZ, in discussion with a farmer.

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

46 // MATING MANAGEMENT

in the first four to five weeks after calving to prevent BCS loss, and the biggest driver of BCS loss after calving is BCS and feed management pre-calving. Keeping control Cows that lose more than a full body condition score (BCS) in early lactation take longer to get back in calf and are more likely to be empty. Cows at BCS target of 4.0 (4.5 for two- and three-year-olds) at planned start of mating have a 4-5% higher 6-week in-calf rate than cows at BCS 3.0. Put simply, cows below target BCS at mating have lower pregnancy rates. The key is to maintain

adequate intakes of goodquality feed through early lactation. Cows grazing highquality pasture during the period from calving to balance date and achieving residuals of 1500 to 1600 kilograms of dry matter per hectare, or 3.5 to 4.0 centimetres compressed height, should meet BCS targets. It’s important to identify cows or heifers below target BCS before the planned start of mating date, and implement management strategies to help them meet targets. It’s difficult to lift BCS in an early-lactating cow, but milking once daily for several weeks, while meeting energy demands, will help to improve energy balance and can lift BCS.

Even if you keep milking twice daily, separate younger, thinner cows from the herd and feed them high-quality pasture and supplements, if necessary. This eliminates competition from more dominant cows and improves the skinnier cows’ energy status and BCS. Using supplements If cow BCS and pasture residuals are on target, adding supplements to the diet won’t improve reproduction. However, if you need supplements, use good-quality supplements that are free from spoilage. There’s no reproductive benefit of feeding high-starch supplements, such as grains,

compared with high-fibre feeds (e.g. palm kernel expeller or pasture silage). Therefore, your decisions on supplement type should be based on the costs and benefits of the predicted milksolids response. Learn more at dairynz.co.nz/ reproduction Top tip Use DairyNZ’s Spring Rotation Planner during this period to guide pasture allocation and ensure correct rotation length. This maintains high pasture quality and helps to prevent future pasture deficits. • Samantha Tennent is DairyNZ feed & animal developer.

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

48 // ANIMAL HEALTH

Watch out for FE PETER BURKE

AS THE WARM weather kicks in over the summer months, it’s that time of the year when dairy farmers have to be on the lookout for a disease that can cause problems including loss of production on farm. That disease is facial eczema (FE). DairyNZ has been busy putting out information well in advance of the time when it can strike. There are updates and lots of tips on how to mitigate the problem on their website. The key factor is monitoring and DairyNZ says the trigger point is when the spore counts (the spores look like tiny hand grenades) start trending to upwards of 20,000. Chris Glassey, a farm systems specialist at DairyNZ says traditionally FE has been a ‘North Island’ problem but it is now spreading into many parts of the South Island. He says FE is a hard disease for farmers to control because on an individual farm some paddocks may be more susceptible to it than others. “There is a lot of material on the DairyNZ web site on how farmers can prevent the disease. We have funded a veterinarian to do some research for us and her findings are on the web site,” he says. But personally Glassey says he’d like to see more emphasis on breeding cows that are tolerant to FE. He says to date the uptake in this area is low. “In my opinion if we had started breeding for FE tolerance 30 years ago we wouldn’t be having days like this. My wish is that we get a good breeding programme and farmers take it up so that the next generation of farmers have an FE tolerant herd.” It’s estimated that a very bad case of FE in a cow can cost up to $113 per cow in lost

production. Glassey says it’s a disease that farmers have to prevent and he says the initiative taken by local farmers in Manawatu to prepare for onset of FE in the new year is wise. FE has been a problem in the area for some time so the dairy farmers asked DairyNZ to organise a special discussion group on the subject and about 30 farmers turned up to hear from Chris Glassey and a local vet Ryan Carr on the subject. The meeting was held on Graeme Richfields farm near Tokomaru, south of Palmerson North. He milks 220 Jersey cows on his 85ha block and is one of a number of farmers who has taken a proactive approach to FE. As soon as there is a hint that FE may be around he switches into monitor mode. He started doing this six years ago and collects samples off a range of paddocks to ensure no FE hotspots are missed. These are taken to his local vet where the spore counts are done and the results quickly sent back to him. Graeme Richfield is also one of Totally Vets monitor farms for the region. “We started regular monitoring six years ago. Generally this is around February March, but this depends on weather conditions. Sometimes we start in January. We put zinc in the water and this seems to control it as we don’t have too many clinical cases,” he says. Richfield says spore counts vary from farm to farm and even from paddock to paddock. He says shaded areas, behind

Chris Glassey

trees for example, can be a problem. Local vet Ryan Carr says FE has been a consistent problem in the area every year and he says he’s noticed spore counts appear to be rising every year. He says the counts used to be about 100,000, now he says they are about 500,000. Totally Vets, who Carr works for, have a series of monitor farms in the region and they take samples from them every week from when FE is likely to appear. This gives farmers a general warning, but he says farmers have to look at their own farms closely to see how these may be affected. “The first obvious sign of FE on a farm is when cows

show signs of being irritated and start seeking shade. It will then progress to obvious signs with the skin looking horribly sunburnt. I have seen black Angus cows before and they are

obviously uncomfortable and losing weight but you can’t see anything on their skin. It’s only when you look inside their mouth that you can see their tongue is burnt and their nose is burnt. Before these signs there will be a noticeable drop in milk production,” he says. But Carr says by this time the damage to the cows’ liver is done and all that can be done is make the cow comfortable by providing her with shade or giving her some anti inflammatories to ease her discomfort. So the message to farmers is to be on the alert for FE from now on. Climatic conditions vary so much and general awareness and early monitoring will pay dividends.

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50 // ANIMAL HEALTH

Kick out lameness with good hoof-trimming FRED HOEKSTRA

LAMENESS, AS ONE of the top three animal health issues, has become a serious problem on our dairy farms. If you have had to face this issue on your farm you will know it puts a significant strain on the finances and bottom line. Apart from the financial side of it, we have animal welfare issues, and public opinion and perception issues to deal with. All of these effects should be great motivators to do something about lameness. What we are doing now is obviously not working. We have to do something different if we want different results. Our goals, as an industry, and on our individual farms, need to be to minimise lameness where possible and to provide the best quality, most effective treatment when it does occur. We achieve these goals by good management and high-quality hoof trimming practices.

Good Management Lameness is a result of intensification. Intensification doesn’t have to be a problem as long as we keep one key principle in mind. That key principle is that the environment we put our cows in needs to be cow friendly in order for the cow to function properly. Another way of saying that is that the basic needs of a cow need to be met in order to get the most out of our cows. Meeting those needs on a daily basis requires good management of your cows and farm. The more successful we are in meeting those needs the

better the productivity, the lower the health issues and the better the profitability. Six Basic Needs The six basic needs that a cow has are water, food, shelter, air, light and space. In our pasture-based systems, the air, light and space needs are not usually difficult to meet. While water supply should not be an issue, there is often a lack of clean drinking places available. This makes it a big issue on the majority of our farms. Adequate water Water is the most important nutrient. It is also the cheapest nutrient and the most overlooked nutrient all at the same time. Palatability of the water and access for less dominant cows are important factors to consider. Water troughs are cheap compared to the long term cost of not having enough of them. They really need to be scattered all over the farm. There should be a few in the exit race and along

the tracks. If the cows hold up the cow flow near a water trough this indicates that the cows need the water. This is because water is not adequately available. The answer to the cow flow problem is not to take the water trough away but to make more water troughs available. Keeping the troughs clean and the water mineral-free to keep it palatable are parts of that strategy. Adequate Food Food and shelter are the two most challenging needs that we struggle with. It is difficult to fully feed your cows and get residuals down enough to keep grass quality. Even when residuals are at 1800kg we may still be underfeeding our cows as they simply do not get enough time in the paddock to do the eating. On a large farm cows spend a long time out of the paddock walking to and from the milking shed and waiting in the yard to get milked.

Adequate Shelter The shelter need is an issue that is almost impossible to get right. We need open areas to grow as much grass as we can. Here in Canterbury the trees get removed because they are often in the way of irrigators. The result is that cows can’t find shelter from the sun, the wind and the rain. And the result of that is that cows spend far too much time standing when they should be lying down resting. Adequate Rest That same problem is very evident in the winter too when cows are on fodder beet or other winter crops. It’s not necessarily wrong to feed those crops but the way we do it often restricts the basic needs that the cow has. A little bit of rain and cows have to lie down in the mud due to the lack of comfortable dry laying places. The laying time becomes reduced because of it and therefore the cow is lacking rest. Do not underestimate the

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ANIMAL HEALTH // 51

importance of rest. You know for yourself how unproductive you become if you starve yourself of sleep. A top athlete will also tell you that resting is as important as training. Cows change their demeanour when they are getting milked every 16 hours or once a day instead of twice a day. That is an indication that rest is also crucial for cows.

Hoof trimming is actually a very specialised job. Just like learning to play the piano, you will need proper training and lots of practice to get high-quality results.

Effective Treatment While management to avoid lameness is ideal, there will always be times when lameness occurs and effective treatment becomes necessary. There are lots of people who have opinions on how to trim cow’s feet and people seem to believe that if you have trimmed cow’s feet for a long time you automatically become good at it. No. Many cows end up at the works because they have been wrongly trimmed. The fact that many cows heal up after they have been badly trimmed says

more about the resilience of the cow than the quality of the trim. Maybe I come across a little harsh here but a lot of science has gone into hoof trimming. Specialised Treatment Hoof trimming is actually a very specialised job. Just like learning to play the piano, you will need proper training and lots of practice to get highquality results. The aim of hoof trimming is not just to get the cow to come right again. The aim is to get the cow to come right as fast as possible. A lot of cows will come right faster if they are left in a close-by paddock than if they are being trimmed using inferior or

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021-440 444 (Natasha Maguire) www.farmmedix.com info@farmmedix.com 1 Melody Lane, Waikato Innovation Park, Hamilton 3216

wrong trimming techniques. Prioritising good quality training is an investment which will pay off for your farm. Dutch Method of Trimming When it comes to trimming it is very important to take a holistic approach rather than just concentrating on the lesion. At the Dairy Hoofcare Institute, we teach the Dutch method of hoof trimming. The trimming is done in five steps. The first three steps are to shape the hoof to the correct shape and steps four and five are to deal with the lameness. It is important to shape the hoof first as this will deal with

incorrect weight distributions between the claws and within one claw. Once that is done more weight can be taken off the sore claw so that it gets rest, allowing it to recover more easily. Better Outcomes Lameness does not need to cause financial impact, animal welfare issues or public perception problems on our farms. By managing our cows well we can minimise lameness within our herds. By ensuring that those who treat our cows’ hooves have high-quality training and excellent trimming techniques we can minimise the impact when lameness does occur. If you are keen to learn more, contact the Dairy Hoofcare Institute. There are different courses in available. • Fred Hoekstra is a qualified hoof trimming instructor and director of VeeHof Dairy Services

Nourishing calves with NAIT

Genna Harris and her family raise calves as one part of family farming business on the southern edge of the South Island. Genna and her husband BJ farm between the Mataura River and the beach in Southland, and raise calves in tandem with BJ’s parents on the neighbouring home farm. “It’s a family affair. My husband, my parents-in-law, my kids – Hunter is 11 and Jessica is five – we all work together. It wouldn’t work without all of us.” It’s an enterprise that has evolved over a decade when traceability has become the bedrock of the farming sector and New Zealand’s biosecurity has been tested by the arrival of unwanted diseases such as Mycoplasma bovis.

In early spring Genna’s four-day old calves arrived from dairy farms in the area, NAIT tags in their ears and their movements all recorded. “We’ve got good systems in place and it’s really working well. We have all our movements recorded by the time they come through our farm gate,” Genna says. “When NAIT first came out we were rearing 1400–1600 calves and we wondered how we were going to cope! Getting the relationship with the dairy farmers right and making sure calves were tagged and registered. Because it’s such a busy time of year for everyone, quite honestly farmers

“Even before NAIT we used colour tagging in case we got rotavirus or any other disease. If we did get a disease on the farm, straight away we could stop picking up calves, alert the suppliers, and contain any virus until it was treated.” Genna is demonstrating how good processes and NAIT traceability protect the health of her calves and her farming business. “We’re really clear about the NAIT process and the biosecurity implications of moving stock.”

working seven days a week were finding the whole NAIT process a chore that sometimes it just didn’t get done.” The calves arrive to a comfortable life of eating and sleeping. “There are never more than 12 to a shed – you risk getting disease if you overcrowd

NAIT is an OSPRI programme

them – and of course no one enters our sheds from another farm, so disease risk is low.” “Fresh bedding is a big part of our system. They get warm, dry bedding of woodchips that BJ makes on-farm in his chipper. And we recycle the old chips by spreading them on the paddocks.” To make sure they know where each calf has come from Genna has always used a secondary colour tag. “We have a colourful crop of bobbies – everyone has their favourite colours – so we’ve got a whole lot of blue and green tags running round the property.” The dairy farms that supply us keep the calves penned separately before they’re picked up, and we’ve always double-tagged. “That’s to double-safe ourselves. It goes in the left ear and every supplier we pick up from has a different colour. So even if an animal loses a NAIT tag, we still know where it’s from. “Even before NAIT we used colour tagging in case we got rotavirus or any other disease. If we did get

a disease on the farm, straight away we could stop picking up calves, alert the suppliers, and contain any virus until it was treated.” The movement recording system has evolved too, Genna says. “Last season we were getting the dairy farmers to transfer the calves through to us, but this year we got the Tru-Test Data Link app and it’s really easy to do – the wand reads the tag, the data is Bluetoothed through the phone and onto the Tru-Test app, then we hit the NAIT button and the data is automatically sent to NAIT. It has been a godsend.” “It means we can drive home with a clear conscience. And with Mycoplasma bovis about, you need that clear conscience – having them in the system and traceable is reassuring,” she says. Genna Harris’ story is also available in video, watch here: www.facebook.com/ OSPRINewZealand/ videos/1025954787745680

ospri.co.nz

0800 482 463

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

54 // ANIMAL HEALTH

NAIT â€“ the most powerful tool in M. bovis battle GEOFF GWYN

THE ARRIVAL OF

Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis) into New Zealand has been one of the greatest biosecurity challenges that government and industry have ever faced. Achieving eradication will be a world first for a disease which is endemic in cattle-raising countries around the world. If we allowed it to go unchecked it would cause $1.3 billion in productivity losses in the first ten years. It would also increase our use of antibiotics in cattle, cause animal welfare issues, and challenge our open approach to farming, which is based on extensive movement of cattle. M. bovis first arrived in New Zealand in late 2015 / early

2016. It is not widespread, spreads relatively slowly, and infected animals often show no obvious symptoms. It is spread primarily by prolonged contact with infected animals, or by calves drinking milk from infected cows. The decision to attempt to eradicate was made in May 2018 by Cabinet and industry bodies DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand, with wide support from industry groups like Federated Farmers, and companies like Fonterra. A Government Industry Agreement (GIA) Programme was established, jointly funded, governed and delivered by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), DairyNZ, and

Beef + Lamb New Zealand. The estimated budget for the ten year Programme is $870 million, with 68 percent provided by tax payers through MPI, and 32 percent provided by farmer levies. We expect that the majority of infected farms will have been found by late 2020, after which there will be a long-term surveillance effort to ensure that we have found all infected animals. To date, 4% of New Zealandâ€™s 24,000 farms have been under restrictions and required testing due to possible exposure to M. bovis. As this article was submitted for print there have been 211 farms found to be infected, with 190 of those

depopulated, cleaned and disinfected, and being supported back to farming free from the disease. It is very important to note that 90% of farms that are put under a Notice of Direction (NOD) are found to be clear of infection, and get back to farming. For farms that have a detect result through Bulk Tank Milk Surveillance, only 3.5% are found to be infected, and the number of farms with detect results is currently decreasing. The Programme has paid out over $124 million in compensation to affected farmers (compensation is also funded through MPI and industry levies), and completed more than 1 million tests in our

KINGST_858_GTBR_A

Enhance calf immunity. Double survival rates*

*Bates et al. (2019) Veterinary Record. Registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997, No.A9374 Â© Virbac 2019

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

56 // ANIMAL HEALTH

labs. We have rolled out a new information management tool to give us better insights about what’s happening in the field, and we’ve increased our management and leadership in the regions, getting decisions made locally, and quickly. We are also working on an overhaul of the Biosecurity Act. The Act provides the legal framework for MPI and other organisations to help keep harmful organisms out of New Zealand. It also provides the framework for how we respond, and manage organisms, if any make it into the country. The Act is now 26 years old. We’re operating in a different world than we were in 1993. Tourism, imports and the rise of online shopping have meant a corresponding increase in biosecurity risk. And as the climate warms we face a greater threat from exotic insects and pests to our primary industries There are still challenges ahead in the battle against bovis, and farmers need to be aware that the risk of getting infected with M. bovis, while

very low, is still very real. Therefore farmers should ensure best practice biosecurity measures remain a priority. While the number of those who are updating their NAIT records is increasing, we can still do better. NAIT is our most powerful tool in the battle against M. bovis so it is vital records are kept updated and managed appropriately. So, along with getting your NAIT up-to-date, what can farmers do to have best practice biosecurity on farm, and protect their animals and businesses from M. bovis, and other pests and diseases? NAIT The first, second and third priority for all cattle farmers needs to be having accurate NAIT records for their farms, and all NAIT animals. The Programme appreciates the efforts farmers have made to improve traceability by registering and updating their NAIT records and we know some people do not find the system user-friendly. However, compliance with

GENERAL BIOSECURITY TIPS To reduce the risk of M. bovis: Remove dead animals as soon as possible, and if cattle or deer, record them as dead in NAIT. Have older stock follow younger stock in your rotations. Older stock are both more disease resistant, and are also more likely to have disease carriers in the mob. Check the health status of stock before purchasing, e.g. the results of TB or Johne’s disease tests and farm of origin history. Only buy livestock from suppliers who can provide information about veterinary treatments and the health status of their animals. As a minimum, hold new stock in quarantine (isolation in separate pens) for 24 hours to ensure they have had time to empty out prior to release from the yards, remembering to provide clean drinking water. Quarantine paddocks or pens should be as near as possible to the farm entrance and well away from other stock. As a minimum, a double fenced 3 metre gap should be provided between newly arrived animals and resident stock. Regularly inspect for fencing faults such as gaps, loose wires or washouts and swiftly maintain adequate boundary fences Avoid grazing boundary paddocks when neighbour’s cows are grazing the adjacent paddock - or create double fencing or outrigger fences. Provide facilities (e.g. hoses, disinfectant, brushes etc.) in ‘permitted access areas’ for farm contractors and visitors to clean boots and equipment on arrival and before departure. Provide a wash down pad and a high pressure hose for contracting equipment. Do not share injecting and dosing/drenching equipment with other farms. Only share vehicles and equipment with other properties if you all agree to clean and/or disinfect them before and after use.

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ANIMAL HEALTH // 57

the system contributes to the ongoing efforts to stop M. bovis spreading further and all farmers owe it to those who have gone through the difficult process of depopulating their farm to ensure they are doing their part. It is disappointing when we see high levels of non-compliance, sometimes with even the most basic aspects of NAIT, and MPI is moving from education and warnings towards issuing infringement notices and, for the most serious offending, prosecutions remain an option. More changes to NAIT are coming, including increased fines for non-compliance – so now is the time for every farmer to get their NAIT sorted. Here’s what you need to do: kk Make sure you’re registered as a Person In Charge of Animals, and that your property is registered in the system. kk Tag every NAIT animal born

on your farm, AND register that tag against that animal in NAIT. While the tags autoregister to you when you buy them, they do no automatically register to an animal – you must complete this step in order to be compliant, and this is the primary focus for our NAIT Compliance Officers around the country. kk If an animals loses a tag make sure you replace it as soon as possible, and definitely before they leave your farm. kk Record every movement off your farm – and don’t just grab random NAIT numbers out of your system – you need to record the movement of the correct individual animals. kk Record every movement on to your farm – and if you buy animals and they turn up without tags, send them back. Being able to quickly track down cattle that have moved off a property with M. bovis is the most important step in

achieving eradication, and getting the national herds records right is everyone’s responsibility. Get your business down on paper If your farm is put under a Notice of Direction, then you need to be prepared for what’s coming next. And the most important thing you can is to have your business down on paper. In order to farm through restrictions, and to put in accurate compensation claims that can be paid quickly, we’re going to need information about what business as usual looks like on your farm. The days of the handshake deal are over – you need to have at least a basic written agreement with your suppliers and contractors. Link up with your support Being exposed to a biosecurity risk, either M. bovis or any other, is naturally a stressful

and challenging time. There is a high level of uncertainty while you wait for sampling to be done and test results to come back, and it can feel that you’ve lost some measure of control over your farm and your destiny. Talk to your vet, your neighbours, mentors, Rural Support Trusts, and anyone else that can give you advice, support, and listen to your frustrations. It is entirely normal to have an emotional response to a stressful situation – but you can manage and reduce that impact by reaching out for and accepting support. Farmers that go under restrictions have done nothing wrong – they’ve been dealt a tough hand, and they need and deserve everyone’s support. Stand by them and help them out where you can. All the best for 2020. • Geoff Gwyn is Mycoplasma bovis Programme Director at Ministry of Primary Industries.

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58 // ANIMAL HEALTH

Cows enjoy using brushes in the same way we enjoy a massage.

Getting a fix on how cows see the world HELEN THODAY

EVER WONDERED WHAT

your cows are thinking as they watch you open the gate, and line up ready to walk down the race? When you’re spending a lot of time on a farm working closely with a few other people, understanding how they think usually makes it easier to get along. Many farmers also see their herd as part of their team, and being able to see the world from a cow’s point of view allows us work with them more easily. In the last decade, new research on cows has appeared thick and fast. But we have known for a long time about some of the basics about cow senses of sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Cows have a much wider

field of vision than we do, because their eyes are located on the side of their heads, which is vital for a prey animal. However, this also leads to poor depth perception. A shaded race can appear like a black hole to a cow, so they need time to check it out before walking over it. Cows may also see a danger that isn’t threatening to a predator species like humans, but could be scary to a prey animal, like a flapping bag on a fence. Cows are sensitive to smells we can’t detect. They can smell signals from scent when stressed cows urinate. This can happen during stressful interactions like vaccinations or poor handling. Recent New Zealand research shows cows are quick

to smell and taste when a water trough has been contaminated with bird or cow poo and they will either stop drinking or drink less. This is something to keep an eye on over summer so cows don’t become dehydrated. Humans enjoy massage and, interestingly, cows will also seek out cow brushes for a scratch. The use of automated cow brushes is becoming much more common in Europe. In paddocks that don’t have objects cows can scratch against, they are a good option. With a bit of Kiwi ingenuity they can even be made on farm. Research shows that cows share the same brain physiology as humans and experience pain

similar to us. However, as a prey animal, they don’t show it. We have seen changes to practices on farm which reflect this new understanding. For example, regulations banning tail shortening and requiring the use of local anaesthetic for disbudding have been introduced. Positively, we are also seeing a greater use of pain relief for conditions such as lameness and down cows. We’ve come a long way in improving our understanding of cows. As the research grows, we will keep improving our on-farm practices to ensure New Zealand continues to be world leading in animal care. • Helen Thoday is DairyNZ animal care team manager.

Getting MINDA® LIVE reports out in the field is a great tool. And we're on hand for a few pointers.

For Tom Buckley and his staff at Owl Farm having access to accurate reports and the ability to log events is critical to their job. As a demonstration dairy farm, their data is used to improve performance and it’s shared with New Zealand farmers far and wide. Tom explains; “All my staff have access to the MINDA Apps. They can look up a cow as they’re following them down the race or out in the springers paddock they can load a calving. So, from lame cows, to mastitis or health issues, it can all be loaded into our phones and then run straight to MINDA LIVE which then feeds into our reporting, which is just a great tool.” Getting accurate data is essential to achieving lifts in performance as Owl Farm is clearly demonstrating by producing 417 kgms per cow. This can only be achieved by knowing your numbers which is Tom’s number one rule. “Know what the truth is about where your business is today, because you can’t move forward unless you know where you’re starting from…”

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

60 // CALVING

Give calves the best start KATHERINE DEWITT

I’VE SEEN FIRST-HAND the level

of care farmers take of their calves, doing all they can to give them the best possible start to life. I know that many farmers will be planning to review their systems to see what went well last year and what areas can be improved. And there are some huge wins from doing this. Planning and preparing with your team not only helps reduce stress levels, but ensures things run smoothly as everyone knows what’s expected and they’re able to hit the ground running when things start to get busy. Colostrum, liquid gold When looking at what really helps give calves the best start in life, I can’t speak highly enough of colostrum, or as some like to call it -- ‘liquid gold’. Recent New Zealand studies have shown that two-thirds of calves are getting the perfect liquid gold to start them out well. That means that about a third of calves don’t get enough good

quality colostrum. This can be due to feeding too little, too late, too low a quality, and/or by bacteria contamination. A quick rule to ensure calves are getting what they need from their colostrum, is using the three Qs: quality, quantity and quickness. Quality Colostrum quality is measured by the amount of protective antibodies it contains. You can test the quality of your colostrum by using a small tool called a brix refractometer. High quality colostrum measures 22% or more on the brix. It’s ideal if you can feed colostrum fresh, but if you need to keep it for a long time (even if it’s just a few hours), it’s important to ensure the quality does not decrease. Colostrum should be stored in a lidded drum or vat and stirred regularly. If possible, refrigerate your colostrum to preserve antibodies and prevent bacteria growth. If refrigeration or freezing aren’t possible,

WORLD LEADING COLOSTRUM MANAGEMENT: kk Feed calves 4 litres (or more

for heavier calves) of gold colostrum within the first 12 hours of life. kk Test the quality of colostrum

from individual cows and only feed newborn calves colostrum with brix readings over 22%. kk Store colostrum in a

lidded drum or vat and stir regularly. Colostrum should be refrigerated (at 4°C) or preserved using a chemical preservative such as potassium sorbate.

adding potassium sorbate is a good option. Quickly Feed your calves as soon as you can as they can only absorb antibodies within the first 24 hours of birth. Remember, every hour counts when it comes to colostrum. Quantity Calves should be fed 4-6 litres of colostrum

within the first 12 hours after they’re born. However, a calf can only take about 1.5-2 litres of liquid into the abomasum (their fourth stomach), so it’s best to aim for two feeds within the first 12 hours of life. To check if your calves are getting enough high-quality colostrum, you can get your vet to take blood samples for lab analysis from 12 healthy calves between one and seven-daysold. Doing this at the beginning and peak of calving will give you the best insight. There is no better feeling than seeing your calves grow strong and healthy, and giving them the right quality and quantity of colostrum within the first 24 hours will do just that. It will also help your heifer replacements reach target weights more easily and see them go on to be the pride of your herd. For more information on caring for calves, visit dairynz. co.nz/calving. • Katherine DeWitt is a DairyNZ animal care and biosecurity developer

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Looking after yourself during calving MAITLAND MANNING

CALVING CAN BE one of the

most challenging times of the year. It’s wet and cold, and farmers can be sleep-deprived as they look after their pregnant cows throughout the day and night. Yet it’s also a positive time: the season has begun, there is the arrival of new calves (your future herd) and milk is beginning to flow. During these busy calving times with sleep-deprived nights and other stressors

chipping away at your resilience, your wellbeing can take a hit. On this I speak from personal experience. Not long ago my own wellbeing was challenged when stressors became too much. The Christchurch earthquakes, my daughter born with health issues, and a busy job wore away at my wellbeing until my unaddressed stress levels developed into anxiety, which began to affect my ability to

support my family. Luckily, I sought help and learnt what to do to maintain my wellbeing and continue to do so. I keep in regular contact with friends and family, exercise regularly and thoroughly enjoy getting out into the hills to take a break from work and other responsibilities. We all talk about wellbeing, but what is it? I describe wellbeing as ‘living in a way that

is good for you and others, and having the ability to respond to challenges.’ Here at DairyNZ I have been involved in our farmer wellbeing project. I also sit on the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand as a dairy representative. Dairy farmers understand that they need to sustain their wellbeing during calving and some have shared some simple tips.

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CALVING // 63

Not long ago my own wellbeing was challenged when stressors became too much. The Christchurch earthquakes, my daughter born with health issues, and a busy job wore away at my wellbeing until my unaddressed stress levels developed into anxiety, which began to affect my ability to support my family. Plan for calving Having a plan is key. It’s not too early to start thinking about a plan now, and to take advantage of any quiet times over the next few months to prepare a plan. For starters you could ask the team for their ideas on what could be improved from last year and then share your draft with the team. Once you’ve finalised the

KNOW SOMEONE BURNING OUT OR DEPRESSED? kk be on their side, let them talk kk show understanding and sympathy kk don’t judge them kk avoid offering advice kk avoid making comparisons kk don’t minimise their pain or act like it’s not a big deal. kk Worried someone is depressed? kk Encourage them to: kk talk to their health practitioner or local GP

CONTACT: • ‘Need to talk?’ Text or free call 1737 anytime • Rural Support Trust - 0800 787 254 • Depression helpline - 0800 111 757 For more information, visit dairynz.co.nz/wellbeing

plan, then make sure its visible to all your team by putting it somewhere everyone can see it. A good plan can include: kk· a pre-calving checklist kka well-stocked calving kit kka freezer full of slow-cooker meals kkteam agreement on who is doing what and when. Talk Regular team meetings can be difficult during calving, but it is possible to catch up with everyone every few days, whether it’s a quick chat at breakfast or after morning milking in the staffroom. A few minutes here and there can make a big difference. Eat Nutrition is important but healthy, nutritious meals can be a challenge. One farmer

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pre-stocks the freezer with homemade frozen dinners, and provides muesli bars and fruit in the staffroom, which doesn’t cost much yet boost workers’ energy and enthusiasm. Sleep Sleep deprivation has been proven to have a negative impact on our ability to concentrate, make decisions, and communicate clearly. Sleep is crucial. Take breaks An eight-hour day isn’t realistic for most farmers during calving. But you can aim to keep everyone’s day under twelve hours and roster everyone some time off farm once a fortnight to do something non-farming related as a chance to recharge. kk Wellbeing checklist

If you notice a number of the following symptoms appearing at once, be especially aware. Signs of poor wellbeing in yourself and in others might include: kkcontinually tired and run down kkoften sick with colds, flus, tummy bugs, frequent headaches or minor ills kkconstantly irritable kkquick and noticeable weight loss or weight gain kkdependent on caffeine to get through the day (more than four caffeine drinks every day can be a sign) kkfrequent arguing with friends, family and work colleagues kk making self-degrading comments, e.g. “I’m useless, I’m going nowhere, I can’t do anything right.” kk sudden change in mood, personality or behaviour which lasts for several weeks kk lack of appetite kk prolonged disinterest in jobs or things which were previously engaging and satisfying. Remember, little things make a big difference to team morale. Simply saying ‘good job’ or ‘thank you’, or making a joke, can go a long way to motivate others and make them feel valued and appreciated. For more tips on communicating and managing people during the busy calving season, visit dairynz.co.nz/ people. • Maitland Manning is a DairyNZ feed and farm systems developer.

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

64 // MILK QUALITY

Failing to change liners responsible for BMCC A DAIRY FARMER’S first and best defence against mastitis and teat-end damage comes down to one decision. Industrial chemist Hamish Hunt says blow-outs in bulk milk cell count (BMCC) are most heavily impacted by how often producers change their milk liners. Industry best practice is to change liners every 2500 milkings. Pushing that deadline out – even marginally – to 3000 milkings, will have a 7% negative impact on milk quality and production. And, in addition to the production losses and rising BMCC comes the veterinary and/or drug costs, the indirect impact on herd fertility, and the frustration, extra work and worry for the producer. Liners the heartbeat of successful dairies The liner, less than 2mm thick in the barrel, spends its entire life under tension and is expected to handle 2500 milkings (or 1.5 million closures). It is also exposed every day to environmental challenges. “What we often forget is that the liner is the centrepiece of the single most complicated piece of equipment from a food-harvesting point of view,” Hunt said. “The liner is also the sole direct point of contact on a cow’s teats, so it plays a big role in controlling mastitis and teat-end damage. “As the liner ages, its surface becomes like sandpaper. So using overly aged liners causes abrasion on the surface of the teat end. This promotes hyperkeratosis and mastitis issues.”

Hidden wear Skellerup’s national sales manager, Mark England, agrees, saying that by the time the

“Once we hit that 2500-milking mark, if we don’t change the liners it will only be a matter of days and we’ll start seeing split liners. “It’s just not worth it. We’re better off staying ahead of the problem.” As a result, Larundel Dairy’s BMCC average sits comfortably between 180,000 and 220,000. Small changes for big results And in Waikato, Graham and Rebecca Barlow have been equally proactive on their 350-cow autumn-calving herd at Gordonton. They engaged PureMilk consultant and vet Adrian Joe to refine their BMCC, which was close to industry averages at 190,000 to 200,000 in their 40-a-side herringbone dairy. By making some small changes, including moving to manual teat spraying (instead of the existing walkover system), switching milk liners and replacing those liners every 2500 milkings, they dramatically improved teat-end health and dropped their BMCC to a comfortable 130,000 to 180,000. triggers to change milk liners become obvious, it is often like trying to close the stable door after the horse has bolted. “Liners are hidden inside the cups, so you can’t see what happens to them when they wear out,” England said. “The first thing you might instead notice is a cow kicking the cluster off, damaged teat ends or a surprisingly high BMCC on the milk docket. “Our customers, who change their milking liners at the recommended 2500 milkings, routinely report an immediate reduction in teat-end damage, cup slip, a lower BMCC, and faster milk-out times. “It also helps save power, labour and animal health costs and it can increase milk solid

yields, while minimising the risk of penalty grades.” Proof in the pudding Several New Zealand farmers proactive about changing their liners say the documented science matches their experience. Ben McKerchar is operations manager for the 1600-cow Larundel Dairy Partnership, at Rangiora, North Canterbury. Larundel Dairy changes liners in its 70-stand rotary dairy every two months, because small issues such as split or worn liners quickly escalate into herd-health challenges. “For us, it wouldn’t be just half a dozen cows with mastitis,” he said. “It would be 20, or 30, or more.

Spending to profit Milking speed and financial gain was the positive spin-off of addressing liner life for Bruce and Carol Collinson-Smith. They sharemilk two properties at Otorohanga. The businesses are run as one: the first milks 1100 cows through a 44-bail rotary dairy (in partnership with Bruce’s father), and the second, a 50-a-side herringbone (in a 50/50 equity partnership). With the help of their local Skellerup representative, and PureMilk consultant and vet Steve Cranefield, they have turned around a history of mastitis and a BMCC that peaked at around 290,000. Visit www.2500change.co.nz

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

66 // MILK QUALITY

Jane Lacy-Hulbert

Pulling back on dry cow THE DAIRY INDUSTRY will

see a pull back from blanket or whole herd dry cow therapy over the next three years, as a precaution in the battle to slow antibiotic resistance, says DairyNZ senior scientist Jane Lacy-Hulbert. A change to the way antibiotics are used is now seen globally across the health spectrum from humans to animals. “But currently we are not seeing big changes in resistance to antibiotics used in New Zealand dairy,” said LacyHulbert. “We see pockets where sometimes it becomes a problem. Pulling back on whole herd dry cow is one of the main courses of action currently.” In a large herd study, DairyNZ found only on average 1-2% of cows across the whole herd had major pathogen infections at drying off, she told a SMASH field day near Wellsford. “That is a really low number. And only about 8-10% of cows were affected with any pathogen, that is low.

“On average, we don’t have a lot of infections at drying off so why do we treat 90% of the herd to treat perhaps the 10% of cows that may actually be infected? “So we are pulling back from that.” DairyNZ interviews about 500 farmers each year to find out about the animal husbandry approaches commonly used. This includes questions about the use of dry cow antibiotics and internal teat sealants. Over the last few years the number of farmers doing whole herd dry cow treatment has reduced from about 70% to 48%. “We are starting to see more and more farmers use a selective or targeted approach in the way that they use dry cow antibiotics. And every year, there is a handful of people that use no antibiotics at all.” Vets will always have whole herd dry cow antibiotics as an option for situations that genuinely need it. But your herd will have to “jump through a few hoops” to get to it. “Get your records in order for this coming dry period. If

DRYING OFF CONSIDERATIONS 1) Book a meeting with the vet; review herd information; agree on herd approach. 2) Targeting cows for dry cow therapy Herd test within 80 days of dry off; decide SCC cut point – 150, 200 or 250 are acceptable; include cows with a history of mastitis; include cows with sore or damaged teat ends. 3) Plan for drying off. Choose the day wisely; allow 5 minutes per cow per person; review skills.

you are doing whole herd dry cow, think about how you can pull back. If you have been doing selective or targeted approaches, that is fine.” An increase in the use of internal teat sealants has also been noted, with a lift in the number of low cell count cows receiving it. About 20 to 25% of farmers are still doing the old SAMM plan approach, which dates back to the 1990s and early 2000s. This involved using dry

cow antibiotics for the high cell count cows, and leaving the rest of the herd unprotected at dry off. “In terms of dry cow antibiotic use, they were at the back of the pack and now they are leading the pack. More and more farmers are moving towards using dry cow antibiotics for the higher somatic cell count cows, and then using teat sealants across the whole herd.” Lacy-Hulbert, who has been doing mastitis research for 20 years, says there’s some benchmarks for mastitis which aren’t often talked about. She shared some at the SMASH field day. Normal mastitis rates should be less than 8% of cows with clinical mastitis and less than 16% in heifers in the first 14 days of calving. If it is higher, that is a trigger for action. Other triggers are an average of more than 15 cases per 100 cows throughout the season, one case per 100 cows per month during lactation and one case per 100 cows in the dry period. Eighty percent of clinical mastitis cows should be cured

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with treatment and about 1-2% of the total herd should be culled each year. The rule of thumb on whether to treat or not is to do three strips to black: if all of those have clots then treat it. If it is one clot, ignore it. In the past some farms were overtreating. With culling you don’t want too much but you want some, says Lacy-Hulbert. The benchmark of about 1-2% of your total cows culled for mastitis should be observed. “Some people go crazy and cull their way out of a situation and that gets a bit wasteful and others are perhaps are not culling quite enough.” About an 80-90% success rate should be expected when treating clinicals. “You need to look out for that, whether you are getting a decent cure or whether you are getting the same cows coming back and back. Expect about 20% to come back.” Ideally you should take a sample from every clinical and get them analysed. “It is a good routine to get into, it gets you focused.” Antibiotics shift the cure rate from about 40-50% to about 80%. In this country a lot of mastitis cases are caused by streps (streptococcus) and staphs (staphylococcus) which respond to antibiotics but overseas they are dealing with other pathogens for which antibiotics are less effective. “So they do a bit of watch and wait. Some will go antiinflammatory and some will go antibiotics. “We are not there yet. Maybe it’s where we have to go next if we want to pull back on clinical treatments. But for now I am saying ‘let’s just pull back on dry cow and we will think about clinical treatment further down the track’.” Each herd has a certain rate at which cows develop new cases of subclinical mastitis, as indicated by a high cell count. This might be 2%, 4% or even 6% of cows gain a new high somatic cell count each month, all the way through lactation.

“What we find is that this figure in a herd is pretty consistent through the year. “What changes is the numbers of cows that self-cure, that drop their somatic cell count during the season. This rate declines which means you slowly increase the number of cows that have a higher cell count as the season progresses.” A Milking Time Test is useful if you are getting too much mastitis or too many high somatic cell count cows in lactation. When a system falls over, often they find changing liners can be the one action that is forgotten. Brands have their recommendations but, for instance, if it is every 2500 milkings you need to do the maths as to when that will occur. Teat spray is your friend during lactation, Lacy-Hulbert says. Whatever method is used it needs to be applied within the first 2 to 5 minutes after cows finish milking. Correct mixing and coverage are two key aspects to watch. A Taranaki study showed only about 12% of farms were mixing and applying teat spray correctly. One indicator to look out for is the presence of C. bovis, a minor mastitis pathogen, in the herd. It is very susceptible to teat spraying so if your method is correct you shouldn’t see any at all when getting milk cultures done. The RMT (rapid mastitis test) is your earlier alert system. “Don’t act on it, just watch it. Think ‘this is a watcher, I’m going to monitor her, I’m going to look really hard for clinical’. “At the next milking only treat on clinical, don’t treat on RMT. It is your magnifying glass, but you should still wait for it to go clinical before reaching for the antibiotics.” Intra-mammary application of antibiotics uses less drugs per cow than injectables. It is hard for an injectable to get to the udder where the infections are. “An intra-mammary is a way of using less antibiotics per cow and it stays there in the udder and works on the bugs down there.”

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Time management for cows GREG JARRATT

LIKE US HUMANS, the cow only has 24 hours within her day and has a pretty hectic schedule to meet the demands of milk production. For most days of her productive life she needs to ingest 2 – 3 x her fixed maintenance costs in feed to meet the additional energy demands associated with milk production. This requirement for nutrients has been likened to the demands of a human endurance athlete running a marathon every day! Because of this, what would seem a simple task of feeding herself is no mean feat and places cows under significant time pressure collecting and processing the predominately bulky forage based diets on offer. In a typical 24-hour period, a kiwi cow will need approximately 8 – 9 hours to graze

and ingest the volume of feed required and drink sufficient additional water to support lactation. ‘Processing’ of this feed including rumination happens while she rests and this rest itself is also critical where cows need approximately 9 – 11 hours a day devoted to lying down. If we perform some basic maths, it is easy to see that only somewhere between 4 – 7 hours remain within the 24-hour period to walk to the shed, get milked and walk back to the paddock, which in most cases is twice daily. If milking time is prolonged, both grazing and resting time will be affected, with research mounting that rest will be compromised before grazing.. This is because milking times and to a lesser extent grazing times are ‘non-negotiable’ so any time delays with these two activities will obviously encroach on important resting time. So, why is rest important? Interestingly even while resting the cow is keeping herself busy

and the amount of time a cow sleeps during this period is actually minimal. During this period, it has been shown that most cows sleep for around 30 minutes a day. The majority of this resting time is devoted to processing food as cows tend to do the majority of their rumination while resting, also blood flow to the udder significantly increases (20 – 30%) delivering the vital nutrients required to produce milk. Another very obvious benefit of resting is allowing sufficient time to allow her hooves to rest and recover from baring weight during the grazing and milking times. Backing up these facts, there have been numerous studies that have shown the strong positive relationship between rest and production where higher producers tend to rest for longer periods. Both clinical and subclinical lameness issues have also been shown to worsen in herds where rest periods are restricted. This is something worth remembering and

considering when considering lameness management in your farm Animal Health Plan. The most obvious way to improve a cow’s time budget is to be conscious of the time taken during milking (from leaving the paddock before milking to re-entering after milking). It is also important to be aware of other not so obvious factors that may reduce a cow’s ability to rest. One such example which is very relevant in the hotter months is heat stress itself. Heat stressed cows will seek cooler areas under trees or in breezy areas and simply do not want to sit down (even if there is no shade or breeze). In a herd situation, many cows will seek the same area which increases stocking density in one spot which also stops cows wanting to lay down amongst other cows standing simply from a behavioural perspective – she doesn’t want to get trod on! This behavioural trait can also become an issue pre-calving when springer cows are kept tight (25 square meters per cow) and can lead to big headaches in terms of metabolic disease and foot problems in fresh calved cows. The take home message is – cow comfort is very important. Allowing cows to rest according to their requirements has positive effects on both welfare and production. By being aware of her requirements and implementing steps to provide her the opportunity to meet these requirements is a win, win scenario. If you are interested in making further improvements through management on farm, I encourage you to engage with your Veterinarian and Farm Advisor to explore options. • Greg Jarratt is a vet and director of Matamata Veterinary Services. This article is brought to you by

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Control mastitis before it controls you NATASHA MAGUIRE

ONE OF THE things we are

often asked is ‘what the most effective treatment for mastitis’ or ‘how can I reduce my somatic cell count (SCC)?’ There’s an appetite for a drug that will cure all -- a silver bullet as it were, the next thing that will cure mastitis. Unfortunately, this is a complex issue and has many facets to consider: firstly and critically the pathogen itself is important, next the age of the cow, the stage of lactation, and even the front or rear quarter. As guardians of their cows, farmers aim to clean up 100% of mastitis. One of the most upsetting things for farmers

is losing cows because of this disease, many of them will ‘well up’ when they talk of episodes of mastitis where cows are systemically ill and need to be put down. I hear of people relaying events where despite testing cases of mastitis and selecting a drug based on sensitivity testing, that treatment still failed. Here’s where I think we are getting it all horribly wrong. Cows get mastitis because of flaws in our farming procedures. Then, in most cases we react. When things go wrong there is a real economic impact -- lost milk, drug costs, stress

on staff. Hours of extra work are often unaccounted for, and of course, you act, rather than wait. This action takes all kinds of forms, eg having staff strip cows, changing procedures, etc. Everything is done all at once, meaning once the episode is over you have little idea of what caused it or what fixed it. Many farmers are obsessed with keeping their bulk tank somatic cell count (SCC) low, some by milking all their cows into it, others by keeping many of their cows out of the vat. Whilst SCC of the herd is an indicator of the milk quality and animal health, my point is that looking at the SCC of a farm can

be misleading as often there are many things still going wrong. To my mind, the best treatment for mastitis is prevention. Stop it happening in the first place. Sure, there will always be things beyond our control, but most problems can be solved relatively simply. That’s good news. Be honest with yourself. Assess how many cases of mastitis you have had this season. There will always be some, but plot where you are at: firstly, keep records, and secondly, look at your records over time. If you have two cases per month and you suddenly get 30, don’t

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Cows get mastitis because of flaws in our farming procedures. Then, in most cases we react. When things go wrong there is a real economic impact – lost milk, drug costs, stress on staff. Hours of extra work are often unaccounted for, and of course, you act, rather than wait.

25K

assume it will ‘come right’. Our The sub-clinical problems feed advice is to get help as soon as into the clinical cases, so it is you can. important we consider both. Next, you need to know The reward is that by working what is causing your problem with the sub-clinical picture -- which type of bacteria. I you are actually being proactive can’t emphasise enough how -- you can have a dramatic important this is. Without impact in reducing animal this knowledge you have no health costs and improving idea who the enemy is (the milk quality. appearance of the milk is not To get a starting point, a reliable in determining the Snapshot test can reveal what is pathogen involved). Herd level mastitis is generally considered in two parts: clinical mastitis (obviously abnormal milk) and sub-clinical mastitis (no obvious abnormality, but cows have high SCC). Like an iceberg, much subclinical mastitis bubbles below the surface. This is important as it can lead to very high bulk tank SCC Yeast isolated from a dairy farm in Southland without clinical cases with an outbreak. -- a frustrating place to be.

hidden in your herd. This is a very important perspective, as this picture is significantly bigger than the clinical cases. From here, we can understand how you can make small changes to reduce these issues as well as reduce the number of clinical cases. You will always have to intervene if cows are very unwell, but this only happens occasionally, and since several types of bacteria can make a cow really sick you still need a sample of her milk before you treat her. Intervening and treating a cow with mastitis can lead to big problems: in doing so you have no understanding of the cause of her illness for vital information to prevent new cases, nor the most ideal treatment.

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Tools such as Check-Up can help you do this right on farm with remote support. If you can’t do it, your local vet will normally be able to help. You need to know more than ‘staph or strep’ remember. We want to know about this cow for treatment, but cases are evidence of what we need to change, leading us to prevention strategies and becoming more proactive. Your vet will help guide you with a treatment plan. This should be more than just one product. If you are identifying pathogens you can target treatment. This means more treatments work. Take care to discuss with your vet at your annual consultation if you will transition to 16

Tahuna farmer Jamie Corcoran.

or 18 hourly milking, or if you will reduce milking to once a day. This will mean your milk withholding times may change, and importantly if you are drafting cows to be treated automatically based on a 12 or a 24-hour period some treatments can be missed, meaning your cure rates can plummet. This consultation is really important to your animal health. Giving the vet your intentions will help them guide you with mastitis treatment so you have the best possible result. If everything is under control, even the best operators will tell you how quickly things can escalate, so active surveillance is the key to understanding the subclinical mastitis challenges

in the herd. This is best accomplished by testing all mastitis cases, and routine Snapshot bulk tank testing. Blanket dry cow therapy is no longer considered best practice. Latest research shows that, for our farming system, internal teat sealants are very critical, and that for many herds selective dry cow treatment is achievable. For some herds blanket treatment will be necessary, but for all herds strategies need to be adapted to ensure that whatever dry-off procedure is recommended by your vet, that it is done with good results. For most farmers, it will be what you are already doing. The big mistakes we see is not having good teat condition prior

to drying cows off (which will lead to endless problems even if you use blanket treatment) and failing to use clean technique to administer the treatment and sealants. The level of hygiene required to use teat seal or administer an antibiotic is the same -- it must be very thorough. Your vet will give you guidance and many vets offer services to train staff or even undertake this process for you, which is a great option if you aren’t sure. Our thinking to date has been reactive to mastitis. But the key to taking back control of mastitis on your farm is being proactive, then you are truly in control. • Natasha Maguire is a director of Farm Medix Ltd

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Dr Steve Cranefield

Mastitis prevention and milking efficiency go hand in glove UDDER HEALTH AND milk

quality are important to farm productivity and profitability. There’s a strong link between milking efficiency and preventing mastitis, while improving milking times will also improve milk quality, says mastitis expert and AgriHealth vet Dr Steve Cranefield. Mastitis in New Zealand dairy cattle is our sector’s most common (and costly) disease. “Cows with healthy udders have less mastitis, produce more and are easier to milk,” Cranefield said. “Minimising the risk of bacteria getting on to the

teats and into the udder is a key part of maintaining good teat skin condition in cows. However, adopting good milking routines will also help reduce any potential risk of teat end damage caused by overmilking.” MaxT a possible solution MaxT (maximum milking time) is a strategy which defers residual milk to the next milking, where it can be harvested more efficiently. Cows are milked to a pre-determined end-point – either to a fixed time point, or to a set milk flow rate threshold. Using the

fixed time point, the idea is to estimate when about 80% of cows would have completed milking and remove the cup clusters from the remaining 20%. Research shows the implementation of MaxT can increase the number of cows milked each hour in many New Zealand dairies, with no loss of milk yield and no increase in mastitis or somatic cell count (SCC). MaxT’s principles are based on harnessing basic cow physiology. How the udder works Milk is held in two compart-

ments of the udder: the cistern (a bag above the teat) holds around 20% of the milk, and the alveoli (the udder tissue cells where the milk is made) holds the remaining 80%. When clusters are attached, the milk harvested in the first few minutes is from the cistern; then the milk ejection or let-down reflex is triggered. This causes the remaining milk to move from the alveoli into the cistern, where the machine can harvest it. Cows whose clusters are removed early show a greater milk flow rate during the first few minutes of the next

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milking compared with fully milked-out cows. So, there’s more milk being held in the cistern from the previous milking (residual milk) which can be harvested immediately and more efficiently at the next milking, without waiting for milk let-down. There is no net loss in milk production nor any increase in SCC. Milking routines important “The latest research shows getting the cups off early reduces mastitis,” said Cranefield. “Therefore, if the milk in the bowl is down to a dribble, the cups should come off. This can be achieved by setting automatic cup removes (ACRs) to do this. If your ACRs are unable to apply a maximum milking time, try adjusting the low-flow threshold – usually from a default of 0.2 kilograms per minute (kg/minute) or equivalent – to 0.4 kg/minute, to achieve a similar result to the fixed time end-point. In most cases, milkers don’t need to

out about three-quarters of the way round without rushing staff. Once cows reach the exit, out they go.” Cranefield says what matters is efficiency, not cutting corners. “Effective teat spraying is critical for mastitis control, so make sure you have a good set-up.”

wait for slow-milking cows to ‘milk out’. “For manual cup removal, it’s essential to get good milking routines in place instead, so cups can be removed as quickly as possible to avoid milking the residual flow.” Herringbone vs rotary In a herringbone dairy, the most important thing is cow movement and flow. Get the cups onto cows at the front gate and change cups and teat-spray as you go (using a ‘leapfrog’ routine if there is more than one person milking). Open the

gate early so cows leave the shed while you’re changing the last few cups over. If your routine is shorter than the milking time of the slowest cow, you will be idle or waiting (often the case in dairies with a low cluster-to-operator ratio or around peak lactation times). “A great tip is to look down the row. If the bowls are all dry, then the cows are being overmilked. “In rotary sheds without cup removers, don’t let cows go around twice. The platform speed should be as fast as practical, so cows get milked

Things to do with the herd kk Detect mastitis early by stripping the herd once a week. kk Score teat skin and teat ends once a month. kk Things to do in the dairy kk Effective teat spraying is critical, killing bugs and keeping teat skin smooth and supple. kk Cleaning teats makes teat spray more effective. kk Focus on efficient milking routines to save on staff labour, increase paddock time for the cows and reduce the mastitis risk. For information on MaxT, visit dairynz.co.nz/maxt-herringbone or dairynz.co.nz/maxt-rotary

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Kim Robinson, AgFirst

OAD milking needs careful p PAM TIPA

ONCEA-DAY

MILKING CAN be used either strategically long-term as an overall farming system, or tactically as a short-term response to adverse seasonal conditions, says Northland AgFirst consultant Kim Robinson. Many farmers use once-a-day (OAD) milking after Christmas as a means of boosting body condition score towards the end of lactation. But an increasing number are now looking at the system for the entire season, Robinson says. Careful planning is required to minimise the drop in production particularly during the first few years. Robinson shared some insights at a Smaller Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH) field day near Wellsford, from working as a consultant with multiple clients on full season OAD.

A number of factors can lend themselves to OAD, including staff retention and stock health. Every farm is different. The stock health benefit can be considerable on a big farm that is challenged in that area but almost zero on a smaller farm that is already performing well. Improved fertility is a perceived benefit, but Robinson says to some degree you could also fix that on a twice-a-day (TAD) system. But once-a-day is more forgiving and so you don’t have to focus management as much on reproduction. Shed size can be a major factor if you are spending a lot of time milking. Farm layout can also be a factor, depending on walking distance to the shed. You may be able to use paddocks at the back of the farm which are not feasible on TAD. OAD may also allow you to use relief workers who have

to fit working hours around families such as school buses. Financial changes “The costs and benefits of full season OAD are unique to every farm,” said Robinson. “A full analysis of the reasons and likely change in profit should be undertaken. A drop in profit may be acceptable depending on the financial situation of the business and the non-financial benefits OAD brings.” For farms on 300 to 350kgMS/cow which would find it hard to get higher than that, OAD is very feasible. “Above about 330 to 350kgMS/cow it is still possible but it’s harder to achieve that same per cow production on OAD. “My best OAD farmer is doing 360kgMS/cow. That has a very tight focus on genetics. Most of my OAD farms sit around 300 to 340kgMS/cow.

So if you are there on TAD you could probably argue you’d have no production loss. “None of my full season OAD are doing less production than they used to. They are all doing the same if not more on OAD than they were doing on TAD.” If a herd has a high somatic cell count (SCC), this needs to be addressed prior to moving to OAD. Bulk milk SCC needs to be below 180,000 on TAD. In the past Fonterra herds on OAD have lower cell count than TAD, says Robinson. “It’s because people focus on it with OAD and the cell count drops. This is the same with reproduction.” With OAD you can access more land. “You can milk off the back of the farm off the runoff and obviously that is a production gain.” Milk cooling can be an issue with OAD. “If you’re a bit marginal on TAD you will probably have to

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l planning spend some money. You’ve got a much higher volume of milk going into the cold milk in the vat.” Cow lameness and reproduction are significantly improved on OAD. Retention and quantity of labour is another big potential saving with full season OAD. If a farmer has a sharemilker or a contract milker some of the pluses and minuses can be a bit lopsided, Robinson says. Many of the savings are sharemilker related such as labour and cowshed costs. A discussion about the contract may be needed if everyone wants to go OAD. Transition Getting the right cows for your system is important, says Robinson. Some cows well suited to TAD may not suit OAD. “Unfortunately you don’t know which they are until you

change. But there are some things you can do to give a pretty good indication.” It can take about two years to figure out which cows suit the system. But one of many benefits from a staged rather than sudden transition is high performance cows which don’t suit OAD can be sold for good money before culling is required. There is a huge variation between cows even within the same breed as to OAD suitability. Breed matters less than picking the right cow within the breed. “The way to find out which ones are suited is to put them on OAD and see which ones dry off. To mitigate your risk you do that at Christmas not in August.” Transition will vary from farm to farm but generally takes two years. A herd suited to OAD may only take one year. Planning to go full season OAD

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needs to start two to three seasons prior to changing. In year 2 before transition assess the bulk SCC. It needs to be 180,000 or below during the second half of the season. If it’s above 180,000 in late lactation, cull older high SCC cows and use dry cow therapy on younger ones. Move the whole herd to OAD from Christmas. Herd test to find out which cows are producing poorly. Cull these cows if possible. Try to keep more replacement calves to allow for high culling Consider using bulls suited to OAD when doing AI and check udder conformation traits. LIC has helped by identi-

fying bulls they think are more suited to OAD. Robinson says they are not “magic” bulls. They have changed the economic weighting on traits which are more important for OAD milking. You can buy from the OAD team or pick you own bulls. If you move to OAD after Christmas, unsuitable cows will show up through repeat mastitis, cell count or they dry themselves off after January. You can change your herd quite quickly. The amount you lose with full transition will be much lower if you have been doing OAD from Christmas for a few years. Cows that dry themselves off in January have probably already

been culled. In the year before full transition, a strong focus on reducing SCC is needed. Move to OAD after Christmas again to remove poor producers. Again retain higher numbers of replacements in calf and use AI bulls suited to OAD. In transition year calve 5-10% more cows to allow for potential cow dropouts and drop in production. Make sure the feeding system can fully feed all cows. Mating is likely to go very well so consider starting AB a few days later. Ensure mastitis is detected and treated early and ensure cows are milked out well. Spring production will be

lower but autumn production should be higher with longer lactations Have a good plan for highquality summer feed to support production through summer and autumn. Herd test and cull low producers and high SCC cows. A lower empty rate will help this. Split calving OAD is a good way for taking the pressure off people and animals in a split calving system and improve staff retention, says Robinson. Some split calving systems put the autumn herd on OAD and the spring herd on TAD from calving until Christmas. “It is a really good system for taking the pressure off over winter. The autumn herd tends to be the one that is more prone to lameness and is harder to get into calf so it puts the benefit into the right herd. “It’s really improved reproduction and lameness in that autumn herd without a full season production loss. It also gives the staff a break from the long winter of TAD milking when there is often considerable time required feeding and moving stock mobs.” Full season OAD is a sustainable farming system with less pressure on people and animals. If you are farming for production per cow it probably won’t suit you. But if you are farming for profit in a long-term sustainable system it is definitely worth considering.

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Milk vat monitoring system set for upgrade FONTERRA IS BEGINNING to

install new milk vat monitoring systems over the next couple of years to support their farmers’ production of high-quality milk and make the co-op’s milk collection more efficient. Richard Allen, group director of Farm Source, says the new milk vat monitoring systems are part of Fonterra’s commitment to help make farming easier. “We’re always looking for the latest technology and tools that can help our farmers, and through The Cooperative Difference we are committed to

supporting them in producing high-quality milk in a sustainable way. “Whether they’re in the milking shed or out in the paddock, this new technology will enable our farmers to monitor their vat from the palm of their hand,” says Allen. Farmers will be able to choose the type of monitoring solution that best suits their farm. The co-op will cover the cost of the base model and farmers can choose to upgrade and pay their chosen solution provider directly for any extra

features. HALO, Levno, and DTS have been approved as milk vat monitoring system providers. Fonterra is also working with other providers to understand whether their solutions are compatible. The new milk vat monitoring systems will be rolled out on farms region by region, with installations already well underway in Canterbury, Tasman and Marlborough, and installations soon to begin in Otago and Southland. Taranaki will be final region to get the

systems, currently scheduled for installation in May 2021. Benefits on farm and for co-op Fonterra undertook a pilot programme last season with about 80 farms in the Waikato and Canterbury. The feedback received helped to validate assumptions about the benefits that could be realised by both farmers and the co-op. Farmers who participated in the pilot say it helped them make more informed decisions and address issues quickly.

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

80 // MILK QUALITY

“I have been farming for 34 years and this makes life easier for both workers and relief milkers. Especially the notifications when the vat chiller has been left off,” says Tirau farmer Adam Wainman. Winton farmer Peter Hancox says he’d definitely recommend the system to others and Geoff Stevenson, who farms just outside of Christchurch, says the technology was easy to use. “Really good system, good for watching temps. I’m not a computer buff but easy enough to access,” Geoff says. Richard Allen says there will be benefits for both farmers and the wider co-op. “The technology will help farmers make more informed decisions and address issues, quickly helping them to avoid lost milk or grades. By avoiding grades, farmers will also be a step closer to achieving recognition, including Farm Source Reward Dollars, under The Cooperative Difference. “For Fonterra, the milk vat monitoring systems will help

improve collection efficiency as it will provide more precise information about available volume and milking time. This will also save farmers time as they will no longer need to manually update their milking time window throughout the season.” One month after installation on-farm, milking time windows will begin to be calculated using a rolling monthly average determined by the milk vat monitoring system. Farmers will no longer have to manually update their milking times and Fonterra’s collections will be more efficient. Fonterra needs a certain level of volume accuracy in order to deliver the collection efficiencies. Many existing systems do not have volume or at the level of accuracy needed. On-going collection efficiencies will result in savings that will fully cover the cost of this new technology. There will also be benefits of improved

milk quality and flexibility in consistently being able to make products that meet customer specifications. Allen says this kind of support and innovation is another benefit of supplying the cooperative. “Our co-op sets out to deliver the highest sustainable return to our farmers every day. If we can help our farmer-owners produce the best quality milk, and then transport and process it in the most efficient way, it all adds up to the return we deliver to our farmers and their co-op at the end of the day.” In addition to the volume and milking time information, Fonterra will also receive a Milk Quality Indicator (MQIfarms will also receive this). The MQI is an estimate of the bacterial level in a vat based on the milking time and temperature data. The MQI is determined by a theoretical model using the volume, agitation, and temperature profile. Fonterra says the MQI will inform their discus-

sions with farmers to improve milk cooling systems and milk quality where necessary. Starting September 2021, once all farms have a base model installed and have had time to review their MQI, Fonterra will use the MQI to inform testing. At first this could lead to more grading and demerits as farmers adjust and improve their systems to meet the standard Terms of Supply. The application of milk cooling grades will continue to be based on the tanker temperature at time of collection but will be based on the more precise milking times. For example, if the tanker arrives to collect the milk and the temperature as assessed by the tanker is not at the appropriate temperature, the farm may receive a grade as per the current terms of supply. The co-op is offering up Smart Finance, a new financial tool that provides low-interest loans in support of improving milk cooling on-farm, until 31 March 2020.

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Storage overnight (and between milkings where required), this reduces peak power demand during milking as the refrigeration plant does not need to operate = reduced operating costs. Your existing Vat Refrigeration Plant in many cases can be used for both the Ice Bank as well as for the vat (this depends on capacity and condition of your existing plant).

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

82 // AGRIBUSINESS

Free service connects farmers with great practical advice KIRSTY DICKINS

AS A CONSULTING officer for DairyNZ, I get asked a wide variety of questions by farmers every day. DairyNZ has a wealth of information on many different topics. I’m lucky to have access to these resources and to have the opportunity to share my knowledge with farmers. However, I get lots of questions from farmers which only another farmer can answer. For example, I’ve had farmers ask how other farmers found the process of shifting to once a day milking, and what they found the personal benefits and disadvantages were of making this change. For questions like this, I’m able to refer farmers to Dairy Connect - a free service DairyNZ runs, which connects farmers who are seeking advice with experienced farmers who can share their knowledge. Nationally, we have about 400 farmers who have experience in a wide range of areas who can offer fellow farmers free support and advice. Some common topics people ask about include shifting to different milking frequencies, and career progression for sharemilkers or contract milkers. The service can also offer advice on staff management, how to resolve different expectations between farmers and sharemilkers or contract milkers, and many other topics. Kate Haultain manages DairyNZ’s Dairy Connect

service. “What is neat about Dairy Connect and my job is connecting farmers all around New Zealand and then hearing the results of how it went, and what they got out of it personally and professionally for their farm business,” Kate said. “The farming community is very open and supportive with each other and it is great to hear friendships forming and farmers staying in touch with each other long after they have used the service.” “The Dairy Connect service works well with our consulting officer service. For example,

new farmers or sharemilkers can use Dairy Connect to get information on budgeting from another farmer. Once they’ve heard how another farmer is successfully managing their budget, a local consulting officer can help them prepare their first budget. “What I like about the Dairy Connect service is that it allows farmers, who are usually time poor, to get the specific advice they need from another farmer who really knows their stuff. One Kaipara couple who’ve used Dairy Connect summed up its value by saying, ‘There’s nothing as valuable as the advice of another farmer’.

“I think everyone working in the dairy industry should feel proud of Dairy Connect. Dairy farming isn’t a 9 to 5 job, it can involve long hours and hard work. It’s fantastic that we have 400 farmers who have signed up to offer their insights and expertise to other farmers, so that as a sector we can all continue to get better at what we do.” To find out more about, or register for, Dairy Connect, visit dairynz.co.nz/dairy-connect, or contact Kate Haultain on 027 487 7160 or kate.haultain@ dairynz.co.nz • Kirsty Dickins is Dairy NZ Consulting Officer, Waikato

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

AGRIBUSINESS // 83

Making the most of the forecast milk price Keep an eye on expenditure and make sure it fits in the budget. Pasture management skills and discipline are key to holding feed costs at or below budgeted levels.

DEBBIE KINDER

THERE ARE MANY pressures on farmers from all angles at present. Remember to keep things simple and to control the controllable. It’s time to review the budget for the season and ensure it stays on track. It is also time to start thinking about next year. What improvements can we make in our farming system? Are there efficiencies in the operation that will improve profit? The milk price this season

is looking very positive at $7 – 7.60/kgMS, and at this stage is looking good for next season. The opportunity is there to make financial progress on farm. The forecast has the potential to provide discretionary cash. Right now monitoring the season plan and forecast budget and cashflow is key. Plan for a profit. Don’t wait till the end of the season to see what’s left, it may not be the result you had hoped for.

TO ALL FARMERS. FOR ALL FARMERS. www.ruralnewsgroup.co.nz

To be in business, your cashflow needs to be strong enough to generate discretionary cash in the good years in order to build a stronger business for the years when the milk price is lower. Cash equals choices. No cash equals no choices. One thing that doesn’t change with the cycle of milk price is that the strength of your cashflow is critical to your business. Key points about your budget: kk A realistic budget aids good

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• 6 week-in-calf-rate – achieving above national targets • Empty rate – achieving below national targets • Grazing practises

• Staff – welfare, retention and relationships

• Achieving consistent cell counts below 150,000

• Rosters

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• Lean thinking – time management and efficiency

• Controlling lameness

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

84 // AGRIBUSINESS

management. Too optimistic and you may lose sight of costs to achieve production; too pessimistic and you may miss opportunities. kk To know what is achievable, benchmark your costs against industry information for your area. Check out DairyNZ budget case studies or contact your local farm consultant or accountant. kk Farm working expenses (FWE): The average FWE for the 2017-18 season was $4.20/kgMS. FWE for the top 25% of farms was $3.80/kg MS. These costs are forecast to be higher for the 2019-20 season as pressure on input prices rises. This provides an even greater reason to review the efficiency of your system. What are your FWE/kgMS? Where can you make an improvement? kk Breakeven milk price (BEMP). If your BEMP is not where you want it to be then make changes now. If you

2017-18 SEASON Farm working expenses

4.20

Plus interest and rent

1.31

Plus tax

0.26

Plus drawings

.65

Total Cash Expenses

6.41

Less livestock and other dairy cash income

0.54

Break-even milk price

5.87

Table 1: New Zealand break-even milk price ($ per kg MS) source: DairyNZ Economic Survey 2017-18

have a high BEMP it would be worthwhile reviewing your current system. If high debt levels are also a factor, make sure you are communicating regularly with your trusted advisors such as your bank, accountant, farm consultant and mentors. Given the above scenario with a forecast $6.55-7.55/ kg MS milk price, discretionary cash available for debt repayment or capital expenditure would be 0.68 to $1.68c/kg MS. The key is to allocate this cash wisely. Debt repayment is a good option: if debt is low there may be an opportunity to invest.

The Rabobank difference

Where does your BEMP sit? Are you happy with this? Are you able to repay debt or consider investment this season? Mid -Season Review The busy stage of the season is starting to slow down. The first half of the season is where many big-ticket items such as fertiliser, animal health, cropping/regrassing and mating costs all rush in together. Like excellent grazing and stock management, financial management needs daily attention. At this time of the year the

key is being aware of what is budgeted for over the coming months. Keep an eye on expenditure and make sure it fits in the budget. Pasture management skills and discipline are key to holding feed costs at or below budgeted levels. Constantly review the average pasture cover: is this on target? Are grazing residuals on target to provide quality feed to hold production next round? It’s very easy to trickle in additional feed over the coming months, especially if an in-shed feeder is in place. For example, milking 700 cows and feeding 1kg grain/cow/day for ‘cow flow’ or to ‘top up’ the cows can quickly cost $300/day -- $9000/ month. It is also time to think about next season. Review spring management, mating management and staffing from the perspective of what can we do better? Note these down and in the early new year start to draw up your forecast

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

AGRIBUSINESS // 85

budget for next season. Are there any changes that can be implemented over the next few months to improve results for next season. Building a budget for next season When putting together the budget for next season consider the following: kk Review the current season: what can we do better? kk Seek input from your trusted advisors: consultant, bank, accountant. When you are busy in the business a fresh set of eyes from the outside can be helpful. kk Keep the system simple: a simple system allows for time out for everyone. kk Use budgeting tools, Cash Manager, Figured, etc. These can provide a variance report. Use this monthly. What has been spent to date compared to budget? If you’re over budget in one area, where is this overrun going to come from to ensure the end of

year result is achieved? kk A strong cashflow is a living

document monitored at least monthly at a minimum and revised quarterly. kk ·Know your BEMP. kk Do you have targets/ KPIs for inputs and outputs? For example, targets for pasture management, production, operating profit, staff time,

years of global agricultural history

etc. Profit and a strong cashflow provide time and choices. Every area of expenditure can be analysed in relation to the goals and direction of the business so there are no surprises. Try not to be tempted to chase marginal return unless it fits in with your business plan. Always ask the question, “If I

spend $1 am I making $2?” Is the added cost generating a direct return? All decisions need to be based on the long term goal. Do not spend on additional resources unless you are making the most of what you have now. This includes land, stock, staff, water, feed, machinery, etc. For some the changes will be small, if at all, while for others it may be a big mindset shift. A strong cashflow takes planning and involves asking the hard questions of your current operation. Look outside the farm for benchmarking and ideas for improvement. Plan for a profit and free cash while sticking to the plan. Take the opportunity this season to drive the business, keep a close hand on expenses and generate free cash to build a stronger business for next season. • Debbie Kinder is LIC FarmWise consultant in Canterbury

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Rabobank supports clients from farm to fork in

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

86 // PEOPLE

Building health and safety into planning for the farm year AL McCONE

BUILDING HEALTH AND

safety into planning for the year is one of the ways farmers can help make it part and parcel of their farm business. The risks change with the seasons and with different jobs. Making a note on your yearplanner or in your diary to sit down at the start of the month and take a few minutes to think about what the changing risks are will help make your farm a safer place. Many farmers are now identifying the risks on their farms and having plans in place to manage them. That might include drawing up a hazard map of the farm you can share with staff and contractors. Plan ahead for the job you are about to do. It doesn’t have to be time-consuming or formal. It’s just thinking about what the risks are likely to be, whether it’s an agitated animal,

a slippery paddock, obstacles, incoming bad weather or the tools or machinery you’ll be using. The number one thing you can do to promote safety is to create a farm culture where everyone feels free to speak up about how things can be done better. Many brains thinking about problems are better than just the boss’s brain doing all the thinking. Other people see things differently and that different perspective could be the difference between a good business and a great one. It could also be the difference between a person coming home and a funeral. Agriculture scores lowest of all sectors in New Zealand when it comes to workplace cultures where everyone feels free to speak up about health and safety. The only way to

For many farmers, quads are the only vehicle for light jobs, however, in some circumstances it’s best to use another vehicle. A ute or a tractor are better for carrying loads. improve that is for the boss to lead the way. Talk with other people who are doing jobs with you or for you. Ask about and discuss what the risks might be and the best way to approach them. Having those chats will encourage your

workers to think and plan that way too. Vehicles are the number one critical risk for farmers, but there is a lot of misinformation and myths about vehicle safety in farming communities. We hear a lot of suggestions that using vehicles on farms is inherently dangerous and that ‘accidents happen’. Vehicles are essential to farming, however combined with the impacts of weather, challenging terrain, animals and machinery, they can present significant risks. There is almost always a vehicle involved when someone dies as a result of a farm incident, but that doesn’t mean vehicle fatalities have to happen. The secret isn’t in any paperwork, it’s in good planning and communication. Have a good vehicle maintenance programme to ensure your

Boost your profits and improve water quality Common sense, backed up by the latest research, shows the effectiveness of Dung Beetles at completing the broken nutrient recycle process. Farmers finally have an affordable and effective tool to add to their arsenal. Hear what farmers have to say: “I would seriously recommend other farmers invest in dung beetles. It’s a short term cost with a long term benefit.” – Kurt Portas, award winning farmer at Palliser Ridge Farm “Dung beetles are able to aerate soil, improve the nutrient cycle and help manage water absorption and dispersion ... the potential benefits are amazing!” – Scotty Macdonald, Wairarapa farmer Contact us today about purchasing your underground army.

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

PEOPLE // 87

vehicles are in the best possible shape. Before doing a job, think or talk about what the best and safest vehicle for that job will be, for the terrain and the conditions – even if it means making a bit of a diversion back to the yard or shed to switch from the quad to the tractor or two-wheeler. For many farmers, quads are the only vehicle for light jobs, however, in some circumstances it’s best to use another vehicle. A ute or a tractor are better for carrying loads. A side by side or ute is better for passengers. A two-wheeler may be better for steeper country. WorkSafe New Zealand strongly recommends the use of crush protection devices (CPDs) on the back of quads. Crush protection devices can be fitted to a quad to provide a survival space should a rider be pinned underneath it. There’s also a misconception that not wearing a seatbelt will

enable farmers to jump clear quickly if a side-by-side or tractor rolls. Seat belts, used with roll over protection, can help prevent crushing injuries. If you are not wearing a seatbelt in a side by side, ute or tractor, you may be thrown around inside the cab or thrown out and crushed by the vehicle or equipment it is towing. Many of the recent side by side and tractor fatalities in New Zealand could have been prevented by the driver wearing a seatbelt. A helmet is another good practical measure farmers can take to reduce risk in vehicles. “For example, side by sides are pretty exposed and have an exposed metal frame which sits close to the driver’s head. They can cause damage to the head in unexpectedly rough ground or during rollover. In the case of an incident where more than one person is in the vehicle, the closeness of

the seats can lead to the driver and passenger banging heads together. The violence of a rollover can cause a severe head injury if two heads clash. Drivers should be competent to handle vehicles in the conditions: if a hill is slippery or a river swollen, then stop, take stock and plan a safe course of action. Be aware of the potential impacts of complacency and fatigue. Many fatalities happen during routine jobs, often later in the day when farmers are trying to finish. During the summer months, in particular, it’s natural for farmers to want the kids and grandkids to be involved on the farm, but farmers are responsible for ensuring other people, including children, are not put at risk. “Children lack the judgement, body weight and strength to handle full-sized farm vehicles like quads. If they are riding a smaller model farm

bike, they need adult supervision and must be wearing an approved helmet and closed-in shoes. Children should not ride on tractors if there is no seat for them, on quads or on the back of utes as passengers. Young people don’t always make good decisions, and the younger the child, the less they are able to properly understand the risks they face. Remove keys from vehicles and never leave vehicles unattended with the motor running. If you have children with you, it’s a good idea to ensure they’re always in a spot where you can see them before you move the vehicle. What’s really important is leading by example and communicating clearly to everyone that safety is the number one priority on your farm, so if they have to turn off the ignition and change tack for a while, that’s okay by you. • Al McCone is sector lead for agriculture for WorkSafe New Zealand

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

88 // PEOPLE

It all comes back to clear communication REGAN McCORQUINDALE

THE NEW ZEALAND dairy industry employs 35,00040,000 people on farm annually. With this in mind a few key questions need to be answered: What do we all want in a farming team? kk Positive and enjoyable work environment kk Safety consciousness kk Progression opportunities kk Leisure time kk Competitive remuneration kk Education kk How can we achieve this? kk Setting clear objectives for the farming business and team. kk Allocating tasks and responsibilities to individuals that suit and challenge their skills. kk Understanding what the team members want to achieve annually and how the team can collaborate to succeed with this. kk Working smarter not harder, fresh and motivated employees will deliver far more value than an overworked one. What do we need to do to ensure each of our employees and employers are set up to ensure we all have an enjoyable, safe and progressive work environment? The answer is communication and transparency. Communication and transparency I believe are the two key foundations for any business that employs a working team, whether this be on the farm or beyond the tanker track. We all know that staff turnover is a bugbear of any business so we need to determine what we can do as an industry to attract and

retain the best people for our operation. There are many positions involved in a farming business including farm assistant, 2IC, herd manager, farm manager, contract

milker, share milker, equity partner, operations manager and farm owner/s. When working on farms with multiple team members it is always important that each individual knows what their daily tasks are and who they are reporting to. This can be easily overlooked and a phrase often heard is “he/ she told me to do it that way, but they actually didn’t have the authority to advise me on that”. This is crucially important when it comes to animal health, pasture management and any other activity that can have immediate repercussions. This all comes back to communication. It is not always easy on a

farm when dealing with stock. Having a sense of urgency is good but ultimately no one likes to be yelled at or feel like they’ve let someone down. The bigger the team becomes, the more you will have to

utilise your people management skills. I know what you’re thinking: 1) All of this takes more time and effort 2) People didn’t use to care about this My counter to you is, what takes longer? Treating people how they want to be treated from the beginning and keeping them for many seasons, or advertising for new staff, contacting referees, sorting out new contracts and having to reteach someone new to the business? I’ll let you ponder that. Having the right people involved with your business will allow you all to farm efficiently,

profitably and sustainably. Tasks will be done in a timely manner and everyone will be home at a reasonable hour safely. Cows and pasture will also be looked after to the best standards because they are refreshed from their time off and being taught the correct techniques, meaning the team should actually enjoy working with each other and not looking forward to getting away from each other. The old 28:3 and 18:3 rosters are also becoming very dated. Many of you would have grown up with these rosters. How is this roster appealing to an 18-year-old leaving high school who wants to pursue a career in the dairy industry while still maintaining a social life with his or her friends? Depending on whether you want to look at the glass half full or half empty, there are two takes on this: Half empty This is a cost to my system. I can’t afford to have a relief milker in every second weekend, they can just milk. Half full: I’m investing in a relief milker every second weekend so my team member comes back refreshed and ready to go again. How does having transparency in a farming business benefit everyone? It creates a common goal. If we as a team are all on the same page, completing tasks on the farm becomes a lot easier knowing what we are working towards. This could be going out to plate meter the farm because we

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

90 // PEOPLE

Having the right people involved with your business will allow you all to farm efficiently, profitably and sustainably. Tasks will be done in a timely manner and everyone will be home at a reasonable hour safely. are trying to improve pasture utilisation, selecting cows for mating because last year we didn’t have a successful repro or doing some riparian planting because the environment comes before profit and production.

A few alternative sayings you could try are:

TRY

INSTEAD OF

WHY?

Is there any particular reason you did it that way?

Often there are multiple ways of achieving the Won on earth did you do it same result – you may have never thought about like that? doing it that way and it could be better

I’m not sure that’s a good idea

That’s a bad/dumb idea

Conves the same message in a more positive tone

I think you’re mistaken, or have another think on that one

YOU’RE WRONG

This gives people a chance to think about what they’ve done and correct their actions, instead of being shut down automatically

I’m not quite satisfied with this job

Your work is not good

Has the team member ever been shown the correct way of doing the task or was it an assumption?

Can you give me a minute on that This should be easy – which would you rather Go away, I’m not ready yet one? hear?

This helps prioritise tasks and means that team members can take responsibility over certain aspects of the farming operations and call it their own. Another key characteristic of a good teacher on farm, especially with new staff, is not only explaining how to complete a task, but also why we do it and how important that task is to the operations of the farm. A lot of farm assistants and 2IC’s know how to do everything on the farm but if they

were asked why it needs to be done and how important it is, how many would be able to answer that? This helps with career progression too, as they can learn why we spread effluent every spreadable day, the importance of the nutrients being reapplied, or the reason why our mating practices have to be top notch to ensure we have a condensed calving spread. At your next team meeting, when you’ve finished discussing the farm’s to do list, ask your

team or manager how they think the team dynamic is going, whether there is anything that could be done differently, what is working well and what isn’t. You might be surprised by what some of them say or suggest. Who doesn’t want to be known in the area as the best employer or employee? The best opportunities are generally presented to those who deserve it. • Regan McCorquindale is a FarmWise consultant

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

DAIRY GOATS / SHEEP // 91

Consumers want lower environmental footprint ANDY GEISSMANN & GARY FEENEY

THE DAIRY LANDSCAPE in

New Zealand is changing, as it is around the world. People are becoming more aware of the environmental impact dairy farming has on the land. And as a result, consumers are looking for dairy products made using farming practices with a lower environmental footprint. Sheep dairy and goat dairy are emerging as two industries which have potential to meet those expectations. Nutritional benefits, an awareness of lactose sensitivity, a change in consumers’ taste for dairy food and the expanding global middle-class are some of the drivers pushing up demand for sheep and goat dairy products. Farming sheep and goats is a lot more gentle on the environment, there’s less nitrogen loading required, a lot less water needed and a smaller area needed to farm the animals. The sheep and goat industries are starting to gather momentum. This is what we discovered at Fieldays 2019, when we recorded keen interest from farmers looking for more information on small ruminants. New Zealand is in a good position to explore opportunities to expand in the sheep and goat markets. We’re seen as a clean, green producer. We have a positive image in environmental care. And as a result, milk products from cows, sheep and goats are becoming much sought after by global consumers. Learning from sheep Spring Sheep in Waikato and

Maui Milk near Taupo are two companies working on developing systems and practices in the sheep dairy industry over the past five years. Both held open days in November to show farmers and those working in the industry how they operate and what they’ve learned so far. We attended Spring Sheep’s Open Day at its demonstration farm in Matangi, just south of Hamilton. Spring Sheep shared some of their experiences and on-farm practices, during a Q&A session. The feedback can be held up as a guide for other farmers looking to become Spring Sheep suppliers, to consider. Key conversations were on animal health, lambing, shearing, stock rates and fencing. When the Matangi farm was converted from cows to sheep, Spring Sheep upgraded its fences and added more wires. Spring Sheep has found that managing sheep is very similar to managing cows on pasture. This can be done with a break fence, with two or three wires instead of one. The sheep are milked twice a day on a seasonal milk curve (August through to April). Unlike other New Zealand sheep, Spring Sheep ewes come to the shed often and staff can identify and manage the health and performance of the flock. Three farm management strategies were discussed following farmer questions regarding facial eczema, heat stress in the summer and wet conditions in the winter. Foot health is also an important area to monitor. Spring Sheep have found that

the ewes perform exceptionally well in Waikato conditions. Farmers asked about mastitis, and Spring Sheep were able to report extremely low incidence. Spring Sheep rear all lambs born. This is done by the farm teams, as well as external rearers to help with the spring influx of lambs. The Matangi farm, with good grass feed, uses a stock rate of 17-18 ewes per hectare. Spring Sheep Milk Company is a joint venture between stateowned enterprise Pamu and marketing firm SLC Group. It also operates two more sheep dairy farms, one near Cambridge and the other near Reporoa. All three are pilot farms, working as models for others to follow, creating opportunities for New Zealanders to become sheep dairy farmers and suppliers. Spring Sheep took on their first supplier farmer this year, and has limited spots available to bring on farmer suppliers in Waikato region for the coming year. Behaviour difference On best practice, it’s important to understand that the behaviour and physiology of sheep and goats are very different. Goats are always on the go; they are inquisitive animals that like to investigate things. They like being up high, don’t like to lay around much and don’t like getting their feet wet. Sheep are followers, need eye contact with each other and don’t like to be separated. All of these traits need to be taken into account if you’re planning to convert your

milking parlour from cows, to goats or sheep. As underlined by Spring Sheep, animal welfare, whether for sheep, goats or cows, is paramount to farmers. The more care we put into looking after our animals, the better the animals will provide for us. The animals are happier, farmers are happier. Public perception of dairy farming has prompted changes to many things but overall; animal health is right up there at the top for in every farmer’s mind. Sheep and Goat Project The Sheep and Goat Dairy Project is an initiative supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, from January 2019 until March 2020. It is a good place for farmers looking to enter the small ruminant market to gather information and advice. The project aims to transform the sector from an emergent one with regional pockets of success to a nationwide sector that’s innovative and thriving. It will ensure New Zealand farmers, manufacturers and marketers are well placed to meet the global demand for nutritious, environmentally sustainable, premium milk products. The project will identify markets where New Zealand companies can compete, focusing on high value, consumer-ready products such as yoghurt, liquid milk and cheese. • Website: sheepandgoatmilk.nz • Andy Geissmann and Gary Feeney are the small ruminant specialists at Waikato Milking Systems.

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92 // DAIRY GOATS / SHEEP

Breeding a modern dairy ewe THOSE OF US with a little experience in sheep dairy look with envy at the knowledge base in the bovine industry. Interestingly, what we have learned is that sheep dairy has a lot in common with cow dairy. In particular, the fundamentals seem to be very closely aligned. Genetic merit is determined by your choice of sires Dairy farmers are often heard to say that production is due to “10% breeding, 90% feeding”. This may have some validity when the genetic merit across herds is roughly even, but as shown in the strain trial, over time, genetic gain is hugely important. As the late Professor Colin Holmes said, “we couldn’t farm today with the cows we used to have”. This is why we have gone to great lengths to scour the world

looking for the best dairy sheep genetics. It didn’t take long to identify that the only large scale, truly scientific programme is run by a French farmer cooperative focussed on the Lacaune breed. The French programme makes full use of technology including genomics, and their breeding goal is a close match with ours – milk production, milk quality, udder conformation, feet and legs. Since 2017, we have already imported many thousands of straws of frozen semen from 65 different progeny tested sires from a wide range of bloodlines, and more are soon to arrive. We have also brought in East Friesian embryos from the UK, but they represent only a few bloodlines from a single commercial herd.

If you were trying to establish a bovine dairy industry from scratch, and you could get some semen and embryos from just one New Zealand herd, or take your pick from the entire catalogues of LIC and Ambreed, it would be an easy decision. The additional advantage is the opportunity to crossbreed. We are fans of the KiwiCross cow because we appreciate the genetic diversity and hybrid vigour. For the same reasons we have taken a multi-breed approach to creating our Southern Cross dairy sheep breed which uses genes from the northern hemisphere to breed a sheep for seasonal pastural farming in the southern temperate latitudes. Until last year, virtually every ewe milked in New Zealand traced back to a tiny group of

It simply takes time, but with the short generation interval and multiple births, and with rams able to cover 100 ewes, access to genetics is no longer a limiting factor in the growth of milk supply.

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94 // DAIRY GOATS / SHEEP

Feeding in the final few weeks of pregnancy is particularly important to lamb birth weight and lamb survival. If lambs are left on mum for ‘natural rearing’ as is standard practice in France, they will benefit enormously. If, alternatively, the lambs are taken off with a belly full of colostrum to be artificially reared, they will still benefit and so will the milk vat.

East Friesians imported in 1992 to improve milk and fecundity in our meat and wool breeds. No matter how many were bred, the size of the gene pool was inadequate to support an entire sheep milking industry. Breeding a modern dairy ewe was impossible. Today it is the easiest part of the conversion process. It simply takes time, but with the short generation interval and multiple births, and with rams able to cover 100 ewes, access to genetics is no longer a limiting factor in the growth of milk supply.

Milking sheep offers the prospect of improved profitability, stable payout, and the ability to farm under new environmental regulations. There are hundreds of farms in Waikato that can be converted at low cost to take advantage of existing infrastructure. Grow your young stock to genetic potential As we used to say in the cow business, “feed them big, don’t breed them big”. We aim to get our hoggets

close to 50kg by seven months of age. The gestation length is five months, so these animals are expected to milk as yearlings. Good mating weights result in less genetic wastage (hoggets that are not mated), better conception rate, higher lambing percentage, and bigger and stronger lambs. Lamb at optimal body condition score We have seen the difference this makes. Ewes need the ability to mobilise body fat in early lactation.

Feed to create a strong peak in early lactation Our objective is to build an industry on a seasonal pastoral system. This is for the same reasons that it made sense in cow dairy. It is the most efficient system, and it is what the affluent, educated and well-travelled consumer wants. Free-range and grass-fed are important concepts at the high end of the market for infant formula. In New Zealand we are blessed with the opportunity to graze our animals yearround, and the quality of our grazing can be very high. The protein-rich diet is balanced by high-energy in-shed feeds such as pellets or whole grain maize. This encourages the ewes to the shed and onto the platform, gets them to concentrate on eating while they relax and let their milk down, and of course they also get the benefit of a balanced diet. Our observation is that the lactation peaks at 40-50 days, so even if lambs are reared on mum for 30 days or so (as in France), there is still time to further lift production. Whatever the shape of the lactation curve, the benefits of a high peak continue for the rest of the season (which for dairy sheep is likely to run for 200-240 days). Summary As they used to say in Latin… “nihil sub sõle novum”. “There is nothing new under the sun”. • Article supplied by Maui Milk

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

MACHINERY // 95

Transmission – it’s all a matter of choice MARK DANIEL

OVER THE YEARS agriculture

has become more mechanised, no more so, in the area of the prime mover, the farm tractor. While many of us will have served time on things like Massey TE20’s and 135’s, other will have operated those from the blue camp labelled Fordson Major or Ford 4000. Over the years, the shape has remained the same, but innovation has introduced us to new terms like dry clutch, wet clutch, power shuttle, powershift and CVT. So perhaps, as we take a break over the New

Year, it’s a good time to sit down and understand what all these terms really mean? Dry clutch tractors date back to those already mentioned, relying on a simple, clutch plate, engaged via the clutch pedal, to disengage drive between the engine and transmission to move from forward to reverse or change gear. Consisting of a pressure plate, the simple design is quite reliable, particularly in modern tractors, where a 12 or 13-inch diameter means a long service life, if the clutch pedal doesn’t find favour as a

footrest. If the clutch plate does need replacing, the good news is, its cheap and can usually be carried out in a day. Interestingly, over the last decade or so, we’ve seen the arrival of “wet-clutch” tractors, to the point where today, very few tractors of 100hp or more are sold without this specification. In this configuration, the traditional dry clutch is replaced by a clutch pack containing friction discs that are clamped or released using hydraulic or spring pressure respectively. Delivering the

same key function as the older designs, the key benefits sees the operator being able to move seamlessly from forward to reverse, usually by moving a shuttle-lever mounted next to the steering wheel-the Power Shuttle. Of course, the days of a sore knee from repeatedly pressing the clutch pedal for forward to reverse movements is a thing of the past. Along with Power Shuttles, we have also seen the inclusion of Power Shifts, that take things a stage further by allowing the operator to “shift” through

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96 // MACHINERY

speeds with each selected range, again without needing to use the clutch pedal. The technology uses a clutch pack for each of these speeds, typically with a 15% increase between one another, with a valve clamping or releasing the correct the correct pack to engage the relevant speed gear

that sits on the central main shaft. The technology has also evolved a stage further with both semi-powershift and full powershift transmissions. In the case of the former, speeds within ranges can be changed without the need to use the clutch pedal, although it is still

required for a range change. This is fine for operations where there is little rolling resistance, such as road or trailer work, but will see the tractor come to a stop if a range change is required during cultivation work. A full powershift takes care of speed and range changes, removing the need to

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use the clutch pedal altogether, where indeed, the left-hand pedal is only really used for “inching” duties. In general, the alternative layouts usually allow a choice of four ranges with four powershift steps, but depending on the model or indeed, the brand, might run out to six or eight power-shift steps, that can also be used with a creeper gear set to offer up to 60 forward and reverse speeds. The more recent transmission option, that has become increasingly popular over recent years, is that of the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). CVT’s allows stepless control of a tractor’s speed from zero to the maximum kph, making they ideal for precision work or matching speed to crop conditions such as baling. Embracing the “no clutch required” philosophy of the power shuttle/ power shift tractors, the CVT’s use a combination

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GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT 2020

98 // MACHINERY

of mechanical and hydraulic components to keep the tractor moving. In most cases, the initial drive is delivered by a hydraulic pump, but as speed increases, that drive is transferred to the mechanical side of the transmission for more efficiency and reduced power loss. This is further improved, by the inclusion of two or four mechanical range gears to allow matching of operating speeds to engine speed setting, allowing lower revs and improved fuel efficiency. So, comparing todays modern transmissions, what are the Pros and Cons of each? In the case of power-shifts, they usually cost less are easy to maintain, are very efficient due to the mechanical drive line and are said to pull better with heavy loads on the road. On the negative front, the lose momentum during range changes, so compromise

operating efficiency, while some say their complicated drive line has a shorter lifespan than a CVT. For the CVT, they are generally more frugal on fuel use, as they can match operating speeds to the lowest possible engine revs. They also help overall productivity by automatically

taking control of settings, allow the matching of precise speeds to individual tasks and currently appear to have higher resale values. ON the minus front, they usually have a greater capital

FORCE OF NATURE

cost and generally, need more specialised technicians to maintain or repair. Over the last 15 years, powershifts became the “go-to” choice for most operators, who say big gains over the older synchromesh/ dry clutch layouts. This has changed dramatically over the last few years, with CVT technology moving from its original high horsepower sector down to tractors as low as 80hpa move driven by the fact that manufacturers claim productivity gains of up to 25% against powershifts. There are some however, who claim that if a tractor spends most of its time on haulage work, the powershift with near-100% mechanical efficacy is still a better choice. As the saying goes, “you pay your money and takes your choice.”

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Getting The Basics Right 2020