ON FARM: Steven & Maria Poole
NZ Dairy / Winter 2013
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Maria and Steven Poole in their 60-bail De Laval dairy shed, which was built in April last year. The shed is equipped with an AIPRO herd management system. The new shed is sited in a more central position on the 210-hectare farm near Manaia, in Taranaki. This has reduced walking time and distance for the Pooles’ 820 friesian and friesiancross cows.
Pair work way to bigger Poole Sue Russell Taranaki dairy farmer Steven Poole has always been a man of the land and though this year’s dry patch has thrown a fair share of challenges his way, he appreciates that farming is a good life with many rewards. Poole has worked his way up through the sharemilking system, beginning with a 20% partnership in the mid-1980s on a farm 16 kilometres from where he now runs 820 friesian/friesian-cross cows on 210 hectares near Manaia, in South Taranaki. Last season the herd produced 385,000 kilograms of milksolids. “I worked 10 years building cow numbers and buying and selling smaller blocks of land to get to a point where I could buy our current farm,” he says. I had always wanted to achieve sufficient scale to employ staff – to get to a place where I could get out of the shed.” Having farmed for so long around the mountain (Mt Taranaki), he knows the area has a unique pattern of micro-climates. “I grow most of the maize I feed out on the farm and at the 42ha run-off down the road, plus this year I’ve been buying in extra palm kernel. My cows have been pretty much on a total mixed ration, and the cost of that has been squeezing the margins.”
He says he has been having to “crunch the numbers”, with the priority of maintaining the best possible cow condition and achieving maximum days in milk. It has helped to talk to other farmers in the district who have been experiencing similar challenges.
quality of three herds in the family for 10 years, and this is Uhlenberg’s second season milking on it. He says it was reasonably well set up when bought by his parents. The only development the family has done has been the improvement of some of the races to reduce the distance the cows have to travel to the dairy shed. The property is on a swamp and holds on to moisture pretty well. Uhlenberg has still been stung by the drought, but says there are farms down the road that are a lot worse off than his. He dried off his heifers on March 14 to help retain their condition for next season. Culls were offloaded early this year as well. By April he was still milking 230 cows. For the past couple of years, the Uhlenberg family has been improving the quality of the herds on each of the three properties. Philip Uhlenberg says his herd was made up four years ago from a lot of budget cows, but he is now getting some good young stock coming into it. To assist with this, all three farms have wintermilked for the past two seasons. Uhlenberg says the quality of the herd has been his main focus for the past two seasons. “We’ve been building up the AB replacements so that we have plenty of heifers there for the coming years,” he says. “For the past couple of years we’ve been getting in some Ambreed semen from some bigger jersey cows. When my parents bought the property, the base of the herd was mainly large friesians. We’re
trying to tone them down a little bit so that they don’t do too much damage on the swamp.” His farm is supported by a 40ha run-off block right across the road, which the family has leased for four years.
“You talk about it – it’s a problem shared. It’s important to keep the whole team informed on the situation and possible outcomes. This includes banks, accountant and farm staff. Poole employs three full-time staff, and his wife, Maria, looks after the calves and business
Manager Steffen Sahin (right) and second-incommand Jarrico Murray...priority during the drought was to maintain the best possible cow condition and achieve maximum days in milk.
bookwork. Their five children – Isaac, Louis, Madeleine, Emily and William – are from 16 to seven. The two eldest are at Francis Douglas Memorial College, in New Plymouth, which has a working farm attached to it. In April last year, the Pooles built a new and more centralised De Laval 60-bail rotary shed, with a built-in AlPRO herd management that enables tracking of each cow’s performance. Outside the farm, Steven Poole is in his third year as an elected farmer director of Livestock Improvement Corporation. He finds the governance role interesting and rewarding work. He finds monthly meetings in Hamilton help him keep his finger on the pulse of new research. “It’s great being involved in LIC because the focus is all about improving the productivity and profitability of our shareholders and developing systems and technology that make it easier to farm. This obviously has a direct and positive impact on my own business, so it’s great to see the benefits flow right through.”
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