RURAL NEWS // JUNE 3, 2014
NZ NATIONAL FIELDAYS 65
In-shed feeding draws interested crowd TO N Y H O P K I NSO N
SIX FARMERS a week are said to be visiting a Taupo dairy farm where a PPP Industries in-shed feeding system is keeping cows better fed. In an effort to feed their cows better all year round ago the John Sar-
Feed is not bulky but full of nutrition, Sargent says.
gent farm ten years ago installed a PPP Industries in-place feeding system in their 50-aside herringbone dairy. The farm is at Marotiri on the Taupo western access road 11km south of the Whakamaru Dam. This thriving dairy farm has grown to a milking
platform of 340ha with an adjoining run-off of 65ha and another run-off of 120ha, 4km from the home property. “Firstly we were looking for ease of management and we did not want to invest in feed pads, tractors and machinery and the like and we wanted a system that was easy to manage and operate,” Sargent says. Their aim was to feed the stock so they would peak higher and be able to fully feed the cows up to mating. The result is higher peaks and empty rates as low as 5%. They initially fed seasonal propriety blends. In December 2012 they approached PPP Indus-
tries and had them install a Skiold disc mill to process their barley. Where formerly feed blends were delivered to a storage silo and then augured to the feeding stations with the PPP additions the barley is dropped into a delivery bin and augured to a 38t storage silo. From here the barley passes through the disc mill to a 16t holding silo and then augured to the feed stations in the sheds. “To keep it fresh we only process enough for our immediate needs and the secret is to be able to get the barley cracked/ broken so the cow’s rumen can process it without making it too fine when
it can lodge in the augers or go straight through the cows.” With the PPP feeders quickly adjusted they feed between 0.5kg and 4kg per day during the season and Sargent says that not being bulky but full of nutrition it still allows room in the cows rumen to fill with grass/hay or silage. This season they have added a PPP molasses dispenser which places variable amounts of molasses into the troughs with the barley. It has seasonally added minerals. “With the high payout it is worthwhile to do everything we can to maximise production.” The results: coming
Michael Sargent says barley is ensured to a 38+ storage silo before passing through a disc mill to the 16+ holding silo in the background.
to the end of the 2013-14 season they are heading to a record 510kgMS/cow and a record 454,000kgMS up from 404,000kgMS in the previous season. A side benefit Sargent
reports is that the heifers because they are feeding in the shed are more contented and get into the milking routine and settle quicker. www.pppindustries.co.nz