NZ Dairy
DAIRY PEOPLE » Barry & David Knowles
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The new 50-baIl rotary shed on Barry and Susan Knowles’ Taranaki farm has reduced milking time and labour costs.
Bad timing, good results with new shed Russell Fredric Investing in a $1.2 million rotary milking shed made good business sense to Taranaki dairy farmer Barry Knowles last year when Fonterra’s was forecasting a farmgate milk price of more than $8 per kilogram of milksolid. Although he has no regrets, Barry Knowles relates how he committed to the project and a large mortgage, seemingly at the worst possible time, with a mix of stoicism and light-hearted resignation in the light of this year’s plummeting payout. “I just hoped (the payout) would stop dropping – they were talking about $3. We thought, “The banks can’t sell up everybody. We had already committed to the construction, so we had to go through with it.’’ Barry’s son, David, is a 50:50 sharemilker on the 158-hectare (138ha effective) family farm,
having worked his way from contract milking before eventually buying the farm’s herd outright three years ago. The new 50-bail rotary shed, completed in April after the build started October last year, replaced the farm’s aging and inadequate 28-a-side herringbone shed, originally built to milk about 200 cows when Barry and his wife, Susan, bought the property 38 years ago. However, with the Midhirst farm’s herd now around 360, milking was taking too long: “We had two people milking, taking two to two-and-a-half hours; now we’ve got the new cowshed, it takes us one hour 20 with one person milking,’’ says Barry.. Despite the unfortunate timing, he agrees that delaying building a new shed would have resulted in a higher capital cost, while wage savings of $40,000 to $50,000 annually will be achieved with the reduction in staff. The new shed also seems to have the stamp
of approval from the Knowles’ herd: “The cows adapted really quickly,” says Barry. “We put a feed system for feeding meal in to the cowshed. After about four milkings, the cows were just about fighting to get on.’’ Additionally, the cows are now standing for considerably less time as they wait to get on to the milking platform. Because they are released more quickly, the number of lame cows has dropped. “They are far more relaxed, I think – they are not getting pushed around as much.’’ It has been difficult to determine if there are any benefits to the farm’s bottom line since the cows started milking in the new shed, but with milk production on par with last year despite a wet winter and calving period. and some surrounding farms’ production 15 per cent lower than usual, early signs are encouraging. Because the rotary shed provided for increased milking capacity, there are also opportunities to
range from the south
After about four milkings, the cows were just about fighting to get in.
expand the farm, which lies on a rolling contour between Inglewood and Stratford on the eastern side of Mt Taranaki. Because of the low payout, this year rates as one of the most challenging since the Knowleses bought the farm during a drought in 1977. Production is derived largely from a pasturebased system producing around 150,000kg milksolids a year from the herd of one-third jersey/ friesian cross and two-thirds friesian.
B U I L D E R S LT D Proud to b e supp or ting David Knowles Ph: 027 2300 075 w w w.qob.co.nz
Retro Organics’s cheeses include camembert, brie, feta, haloumi, cheddars and gruyere.. No thickeners are added. Rather, the yoghurt is drained naturally to produce the thick texture. The result is a creamy, smooth product based on wholemilk. He is a firm believer in the benefits of healthy soil and pasture, seeing this as fundamental to solving many potential, animal-health problems. Fields are nourished with fish oils, natural rock fertilisers… and dung beetles. “We were the first in the South Island to release dung beetles and we don’t use acid fertiliser or chemicals. We try to keep the soil biologically alive rather than killing it.
“Having herbs in the pasture is also very important. Deep-rooted plants bring up nutrients and trace elements from down deep.” The gourmet pasture selection includes heirloom rye, chicory and plantain herbs, clover and sweet timothy. The couple’s approach to farming marks a return to an older style of farming focused on working with nature to make handcrafted boutique dairy products. They have cherry picked all they need to know about how to farm successfully organically, while rejecting industrialised farming practices they deem to be harmful.
ITKEN
TRANSPORT (1994) LTD
Aitken Transport (1994) Ltd Toko Specialists in: Livestock • Wool • Hay Cartage
TOKO
Proud to Support
David Knowles
Phone / Fax: (06) 762 2728 (24 hours) East Road, R.D. 22, Stratford