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ON FARM » Darrel & Amy Weston/Shaun & Kirsty Rose
NZ Dairy
Northern move chases production Kelly Deeks Taranaki dairy farmers Darrel and Amy Weston are heading for warmer climes next season when they shift to Northland to work on a new farm bought by their equity partnership. Darrel, a Taranaki local, and Amy, originally from Motueka, are looking forward to the move with their four children, Charlie, 11, Caleb, 10, Sam, 6, and Stella, 3. They are also looking forward to the challenges of swapping the developing Opunake farm they have worked on 11 years for a much more developed Kerikeri farm where the system will be all about chasing production. The new venture is a result of a strategic plan developed by the equity partnership, who went into partnership on the Opunake farm in 2007. “The equity partnership we’re in works really well as everyone has their own expertise to bring,” says Darrel Weston. ‘We’re good at implementing
The equity partnership we’re in works really well as everyone has their own expertise to bring. the systems needed to get maximum milk production from the cows.” The business, BMW Farms, owns 100 hectares at Opunake, leases another 100ha, and is milking 580 cows this season. The Westons have made production gains at the Opunake farm every year since 2007 – from 202,000 kilograms of milksolids to on target for 283,000kg this season. Continued on-farm development has contributed to the gains – 130ha of the 200ha has been regrassed during the past nine years, and an inshed feeding system was installed two years ago to
improve efficiency and reduce wastage. The Westons have increased their equity with the purchase of the Kerikeri farm – at Opunake they own a third of 100ha, at Kerikeri they will own a third of 275ha. The Kerikeri farm, which will carry 600 cows, comes as a going concern. It will also have be split calving, another new challenge for the Westons who have not winter-milked before. “We’re looking forward to the challenge, and to having to calve only 300 cows at a time,” says Darrel. “The workload will be spread more evenly across the year.” The farm infrastructure includes a large, covered feedpad, and an in-shed feeding system will be
installed soon after they arrive. “We’re moving from a developing farm to a chasing-production sort of system. Here we did a lot of capital development, which we won’t be doing there.” Instead, the immediate focus will be on condensing the calving pattern and getting to grips with the land and the climate, which will see the Westons growing about three tonnes less of dry matter per hectare than they do at Opunake. However, the amount of imported feed will be about the same, so what the Westons have learned about inputs over the past couple of years will be valuable.
On the move: Taranaki farmers Amy and Darrel Watson with children Caleb, Charlie, Stella and Sam.
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Karen Phelps Carterton based farmers Shaun and Kirsty Rose estimate they will save around $40,000 a year by doing their own contracting essentially halving this farm expense. The decision to buy a second-hand bale wrapper was made partly to help lower costs after the reduced payout, and the Roses estimate they will produce around 1300 bales of balage and 300 bales of hay a year. “It hs given us more control over timing, and we can make the bales when each row is at its optimum,: says Shaun Rose. “So, because of this flexibility, this season we’ve made more supplement than we would normally have.” The couple farm a 180-hectare (effective), 190ha (total) unit. Around 60ha of the farm is leased and they also have a 110ha lease block they
use as a run-off. They milk 520-530 predominantly crossbred cows through a 40-a-side herringbone shed. The herd is a real hodgepodge, but Rose says it works well. “We have no breeding plan as such and hybrid vigour is what we breed for. We breed by eye depending on the cow. It’s not all that scientific and it’s give us a very varied herd with all sorts of colours and sizes. But it seems to work as different breeds have different strengths and weaknesses. “For example, jerseys and ayrshires tend to eat out the paddocks better; ayrshires are hardy and rarely get health and feet issues, while jerseys and friesians tend to produce better.” The couple runs a low-costs system with total farm average working expenses of around $3.50$3.70 per kilogram of milksolids. Rose says this is beneficial in a low-payout year. They buy supplement only occasionally and aim for a self-contained system. All cows are wintered on the run-off. Yearlings go out to graze at a local grazer at nine months and return just before calving.