NZ Dairy
DAIRY SERVICES » Jane & Craig Sanford
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Herd homes a winner year round Richard Loader Jane and Craig Sanford say that the use of herd homes on their Ruawai farm takes the volatility out of dry summers and wet winters ensuring minimal effect from adverse conditions. ‘When we purchased the farm in 2009 it had two large herd homes with plenty of surrounding supplement feed area and a maize and palm kernel bunker, so we didn’t have large capital costs,’ says Craig. The herd homes suit the farm as Ruawai has very fertile soils but is known to be wet during the winter. The herd homes meant that stock could be taken off the paddocks to prevent pasture damage and fed supplements in the herd homes. At 3am each morning, electronic gates (Batt-Latches) open and the cows walk up the raceway from their paddock to the herd home, which already has supplements fed out. Morning milking begins at 5.30am. Nutritionist Trish Lewis prepares the feed budgets and helps to monitor cow production making changes as necessary, which are fed by iCloud through the mixer wagon. This creates efficient use of supplements with no wastage. “The cows dung is also analysed to make sure the correct amounts of supplements are being used. The mixer wagon says how much of each ingredient to put in which makes on farm use easy,” says Craig. Jane adds that without Trish’s help the couple would not have achieved as much success as they have. This season, 360 tonnes of palm kernel, 42 tonnes of molasses and 220 round bales of hay will be used. “We use an iKeenan mixer wagon which calculates how much PKE, molasses, maize, silage and water is needed per cow,” says Jane. The couple decided to grow 21 hectares of maize, plus make 70 percent of their silage on farm, resulting in a significant cost saving. “Our maize once harvested and in the stack costs 12.7 cents per kg/dm,” says Craig.
Jane and Craig Sanford say that the use of herd homes on their Ruawai farm takes the volatility out of dry summers and wet winters.
The two herd homes get cleaned out around twice a year and the effluent is spread on the maize paddocks before they are planted so the fertiliser cost is minimal. “Each herd home contains around $24,000 of fertiliser so it is worthwhile to put in on the maize paddocks and any remainder on the farm,” says Jane. “This season we are targeting production of
At NZ Farmers Livestock, we define ourselves on the strength of our expertise and commitment to working with farmers for farmers. With more than 90 years experience in livestock, we are continually leading the way in the industry. As valued clients of agent Donald McKenzie, NZ Farmers Livestock are proud of the recent achievements of Craig and Jane Sanford and we would like to formally congratulate them on their success.
Proud to be associated with Craig & Jane Sanford
180,000 ms from 340 cows. This is 530 ms per cow. “With the 21 hectares of maize out of the grazing round this is 1836 ms per hectare. Comparing this to last season we produced 147,620 ms from 320 cows. This was 461 m/s per cow,” says Craig. Jane and Craig say that their goal is to continue to keep the farm producing 180,000
ms per year. Craig’s in charge of the day-to-day running of the farm, while Jane manages the office work using Cash Manager online. A full time trained worker is employed and is crucial to the success of the business. “We plan to travel with our three school aged boys once the dairy payout improves considerably,” says Jane.
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