GREEN TO GOLD geNeTICs ThAT TUrN PAsTUre INTO PrOFIT
CrOssBreDs TICK eVery BOX P5 LyDNey PArK IN CONTrOL OF The BUsINess P7 IrIsh sUCCess sTOry IN NeW ZeALAND P17 VOLUme 9, NUmBer 1
Aaron Wallace, Editor
Kia ora and welcome to a new edition of Green to Gold from LIC I believe you will find a good range of articles within the covers, from around the dairying world relating to farmers who are bucking the trend (going against the grain). Thank you to everyone who has submitted an article, and the subject farmers for your time and openness. The information you allow us to use helps to make the Green to Gold more interesting and informative to its readers. A special thanks to Stephen Cooke from Dairy News Australia (www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au) for allowing us to publish his story about Tim Kennedy’s Crossbred herd in Northern Victoria.
CONTeNTs
3
Grass-based easy-care genetics with good components and high output
Invitation to submit
5 7
If you believe you have a story suitable to be shared with the Green to Gold audience, please contact me, the editor, or your local representative. You do not have to write the story, but certainly provide us with a outline of what the story could be about.
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Benefits and confidence in once-a-day milking
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New Zealand systems very profitable in the United Kingdom
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LIC genetics help fertility issues in Somerset
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Irish success story in New Zealand
survey I would like each and every farmer reader to tell us more about yourself and the operation you run. Go to http://www.licnz.com/customer_survey.cfm and fill out the short survey that will help us build a better picture of who you are and what you need from your genetics supplier. s Enjoy the read. Aaron Wallace Product Manager International
Crossbreds tick every box Lydney Park in control of the business
Cover photo: Tim Kennedy standing amongst his herd of crossbred cows. See story on page 5.
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editorial enquires Editor, Green to Gold LIC Private bag 3016, Hamilton New Zealand Phone: +64 7 856 3094 Email: licnz@lic.co.nz
grass-based eAsy-CAre geNeTICs with good components and high output Clare Bayly
In 2004, Pat and Pauline ryan won an accolade that confirmed they were on the right path with the home farm – and since then in partnership with John Condon they have been taking the same approach to other farms with their partners. The accolade was winning the inaugural Economic Breeding Index (EBI) Award in Ireland and Pat recalls it was due to recognition of the need to change from the pursuit of a high production Holstein-Friesian which was popular in Ireland in the 1990’s.
“The EBI win was achieved with a herd which was predominantly Friesian with a very small number of crossbreds because we wanted an easy-care cow which wouldn’t need much minding; a ‘middle of the road’ cow which would be fertile and capable of maintaining herself without high amounts of maintenance,” Pat recalls. The new breeding policy was to use the best EBI bulls available for the traits they valued – grass-based, easy-care genetics with good components and high output, and which would transmit strength, chest and rump width and fertility into the herd “without being minielephants.” That type came through crossbreeding. “We started using Jerseys over maiden heifers for a few years and found that they were satisfactory. We had to take a leap of faith and were
Back (l-r); Donal Dempsey, Andrew Claxton, Pat Ryan, John Condon, Michael Queally. Front: Sarah Claxton, Michael Lee, Brian Ronan.
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really only dabbling until the Jersey-cross heifers came into the herd; they were more easy-care and their overall performance confirmed we were on the right path but, looking back, it was a major leap in Ireland,” Pat says. “At that time we were still choosing beef type and breeding for big calves because we were blinkered by the value of the calves. “The decision to move to crossbred was, in part, in favour of the most income-producing system and that’s an animal with low bodyweight or, in other words, an animal with a high conversion factor of grazed grass into milk solids. “The reality is you can manage more cows which are labour efficient. At the end you get a similar result but it’s easier to manage a prosperous herd.”
Pat says “We continued to cross Jersey over Friesian until we came to a point where we questioned where we’d go from there and talked to LIC whose KiwiCross looked very good with the potential to increase production and fertility even more.” Today the Ryan home farm milks 340 cows, 80% of which are KiwiCross. Pat and Pauline Ryan own the land, and share ownership of the herd with John Condon under the trading name of Captal Farms. “Milk quotas in Ireland go in April 2015 so that allowed us to produce two milk quotas through the one milking parlour. The home farm is the dairy block with replacements raised on John’s farm. It makes it a very streamlined operation,” Pat says. “By 2010 we had a very fertile herd with more quality replacements than we needed at home. Fellow farmer, Brian Ronayne, was a silage contractor who owned 80 hectares which was, at that time, mostly in tillage. He expressed interest in dairying and John and I agreed to enter an equity partnership with him – Brian retained ownership of the land, and John and I provided and own a proportion of the herd. “The farm didn’t have a parlour so we built a 24-a-side herringbone. “Two years later, in 2012, another opportunity arose to enter a similar equity arrangement with Andrew Claxton who was a beef farmer with
80 hectares. As with Brian’s farm, Andrew’s property required development as a dairy farm with fencing, and the addition of another 24-a-side herringbone milking parlour. The three farms are now all of a similar size – around 100 hectares – and all located in the Waterford/Cork region in the South East of Ireland. Currently, a total of 850 cows are milked across all three properties, 80% of which are KiwiCross, and Pat admits more expansion would be on the cards were large blocks of land available. “The equity partnership arrangement we have works for us all, but it’s still unusual in Ireland. We thoroughly enjoy it; we knew each other before we entered into any formal agreement, have a high degree of respect for each other and are committed to making the arrangement work. “Our equity arrangement is paying dividends for each partner,” Pat says. “Milk quotas will be gone in the not too distant future and we believe that we are ideally positioned for growth over the next couple of years.” Pat believes that because of all that they have learned about partnership and start up dairy operations over the last 8 years that they have a lot of experience to bring to the table in ensuring the success of future dairy conversions. Pat says they are all family farms working in collaboration, “working for the next generation and putting more options on the plate for people. My son is in New Zealand at the current time serving his apprenticeship and Andrew’s daughter has just returned to the farm with both a psychology degree and a dairy student of the year qualification from agricultural college. She always wanted to go farming but the opportunities weren’t there before – but they are now.”
Pat summarises the challenge in Ireland by saying, “500kg full grown KiwiCross cows have the capacity to provide more profit than any other type of animal in a grassbased system. They are highly fertile, highly efficient converters of grass into milk and it’s been this hardiness which is helping the growth we’ve enjoyed since 2006.” s
Discussion group at Captal Farm.
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CrOssBreDs TICK eVery BOX Curiosity saw him “dabble in it” and he soon came to the conclusion they were the best cows he was breeding. “I thought, we better get some more.” Tim Kennedy and his wife Leah now milk 750 crossbred cows on the Northern Victorian property at Torrumbarry, they share-farm with New Zealand farmers James and Donna Wilkins. They came to the 1,300 hectare farm 10 years ago, managing it for five years. They then purchased the herd and machinery and moved to a share-farming arrangement, trading as Avonleigh Heights. They employ all staff as part of the arrangement. When they first came to the property 10 years ago, they were milking up to 1,700 cows but the northern Victorian drought saw this drastically reduced to 300 by 2007/08. They have slowly built numbers since. The Wilkins converted the former dryland sheep and cropping property to dairying 20 years ago. Having trouble sourcing Crossbred cows, they purchased mainly Friesians, some crossbred and some Jerseys. They
then used a mix of Friesian, Jersey and some Crossbred semen to create a crossbred herd. “The herd was tending too much towards the Jersey side and getting too small and we wanted more of a crossbred, so we moved to LIC Crossbred semen,” Tim Kennedy said. The LIC Crossbred bulls are all Jersey-Friesian Cross but contain varying amount of either.
“Apart from the hybrid vigour, we find they require less maintenance, have less lameness, are easier to get back in calf and have less mastitis issues,” Tim Kennedy said. “They also produce more milk solids than a purebred.” He simply chooses from the highest ranked bulls from the catalogue each year to add to the herd. “We are constantly seeing improvement in the cattle,” he said.
Standing amongst his herd of Crossbred cows, it seems funny to hear Tim Kennedy say: “I wouldn’t touch the crossbred semen when I heard about it 10 years ago.”
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LIC also appeals to Tim Kennedy as he operates a grass-based system, like most of New Zealand, where LIC has its breeding programme.
“We only feed half a ton of grain per cow during winter and we find the LIC cows do better, particularly in tough times. We’ve bought cattle in that aren’t NZ genetics and they stand out like a sore thumb.” The grass-based production system is underpinned by an extensive irrigation system. The farm contains 15km of channels and there are two automated pumps in the Murray River to maintain them at a constant level. 650ha of the farm is irrigated, with each linear irrigator covering 80ha. They have 220ha of annual pasture and 120ha of cereal crops, enough for their own needs, and share crop a further 350ha of canola and wheat. “Since the drought, we realised we needed to be self-sufficient. We can produce cereal for $80-$90/t, which is a third of the current price.” Every paddock is the same size and shape (6.6 hectares) and the 60-head rotary dairy is located exactly in the middle of the farm, which makes for easy management, according to Tim Kennedy. The extensive system of lane ways and channels makes it easy to grow the exact amount of pasture required and to move the herd quickly when the desired amount has been eaten. “We put 70 to 80kg of urea on the day before every grazing. We also divide paddocks with strip fences if necessary. “We alter rotation length to growth rate. Pasture is measured every 10 days with a rising plate meter and we allocate pasture as needed and adjust the rotation length to maximise our growth.” They have switched to a 100% annual pasture base now they are entirely autumn calving and graze each paddock down to 1,4001,500kg dry matter before moving the herd on. They can fine tune this because of their irrigation system, utilising lateral irrigators to maintain the correct level of moisture, and optimising pasture growth with a constant trickle of nitrogen. The cows are run at the stocking rate of 3.2cows/ha, producing 1,300kg
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milk solids/ha. It is all autumn calving from March 10 for 10 weeks. They stop feeding grain in mid-August and resume when cows are due to calve again. Leah Kennedy is responsible for calf raising. They raise and keep as many as they can to continue building numbers. They see 20-30 calves a day during this 10-week period as easy compared to the 60-70 they had to deal with when running 1,700 cows. Tim Kennedy attributes LIC genetics to his empty cow rate of 10-12% after the 10-week joining period. Those that don’t get back in calf are sold. Their calving system also enables them to capitalise on the premium milk price in the winter months (it was more than 60c a litre in July) when cow supply is peaking. Tim Kennedy aims to fine-tune the operation further by investing in moisture monitoring equipment. “We do weekly pasture measurements and annual soil tests but if we could nail the exact amount of moisture in the soil, rather than guess work, we could grow more pasture. “That’s the next step in the progression. We have been looking at moisture monitoring systems over the last 12 months and they have come a long way from where they were 10 years ago. “They are at a stage now when it would be beneficial and cost effective to do it. “There are permanent moisture probes now that can talk to your phone all the time and that takes the guess work out of it.”
Despite the size of the operation, Tim Kennedy said their mantra is a simple and sustainable system. Their 10-week calving enables them to take February off, when cows are run on dryland. There is no irrigation from late December through to the end of February. “We are very systems based and train our staff to follow systems,” Tim Kennedy said. “We run 200 cows per man because of the system, where the Australian average is 90 cows/man.” s By Stephen Cooke – Dairy News Australia. www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au
LyDNey PArK in control of the business
As if moving a 400-strong, all-year-round housed, high yielding dairy to a 690-strong block calving, grass based, low input system, by breeding in their own grazing type cows, in five years, wasn’t enough – the team at Lydney Park, gloucestershire in the United Kingdom, are moving one step further. Spring 2014 will see all cows at the privately owned estate, on the banks of the River Severn, on a once-a-day milking system (OAD). British dairy farmers were given a chance to hear about the latest developments at Lydney Park from Gavin Green, Farms Manager, and Keith Davis, Dairy Manager, at an LIC Open Day at the beginning of October.
“Profit lies at the heart of all the decisions we’ve made here at Lydney,” said Keith Davis. “And in fact we’re a living example of the lack of a relationship between production and profitability in the industry.”
Discussion Group at Lydney Park discuss the importance of track formation and utilisation.
“In 2007 we were a high input Holstein-Friesian herd, with an average yield of 9,200kg/cow, milking three times a day, housed full time, and with up to five hours a day spent on feeding and bedding up. We battled with fertility (our calving interval was 430 days) and health issues, from heat stress to lameness. We were feeding 3,726kg of conc/ cow, producing milk at 20ppl and selling it at 20.66ppl. We were getting small returns for what was a large investment and a huge amount of effort. “That year we visited some good grassland-based operations in the United Kingdom and sat down and did the budgets with a great amount of help from Mike Bailey at LIC. They looked good and that autumn we planted 250 acres of grass, put in 30 water troughs, several kilometres of tracks and erected 18 kilometres of electric fence. In the February of 2008 the youngstock went out to grass, the heifers followed a few weeks later and by the beginning of April all the stock was out,” said Keith. Finding the right cow was key to the system change but as few New Zealand type crossbreds were available in the United Kingdom at the time Keith knew they would have to breed their own stock. “We were obviously looking for a grazing type cow and fertility had been a real problem to us, with a 30% conception rate when cows were housed all year round.”
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“We used both LIC New Zealand Friesian and Jersey sires on the herd, in order to help with the problem, and in order to benefit from high bred vigour,” explained Keith. “At this point we were a liquid contract so milksoilds were not that important to us.” For the five years since the move from a high input system, Herd Managers Tim Thompson (l-r): Jenny Eno (LIC, Cornwall), Rusty Hopkins (farm staff, Lydney Park), Gavin Green (Farm Manager), Keith and Pawel Wegelewski have run an autumn Davis (Dairy Manager) and Alicia Newport (LIC consultant). and a spring calving herd at Lydney. This increasingly important. In the 2013 season the TAD herd gave on helped enormously with the system change in the early days as it average 4.5% fat and 3.4% protein, and the OAD gave 4.8% fat and allowed cows who didn’t get back in-calf to slip round once. This 3.7% protein. reduced the fertility losses associated with conversion. “When this is calculated against our milk price at the moment the TAD The first year that both herds at Lydney Park spring calved was 2013. litre is worth 36p and OAD litre is worth 38p. The OAD cow gives us Keith continued, “As herd numbers have increased, we were looking at 85% of the income of a TAD cows but the costs are lower,” said Keith. milking 700 cows through a 32 point rotary parlour twice a day. In a Fertility also seems to be better in the OAD herd, with empty rates at situation where an investment was not going to be made in a new 8% compared to the 13% in the TAD. The team also noticed the OAD parlour we needed to look at something different.” herd is in better condition, as the cows do not have to walk so far in a So for the 2013 season the herd was split into a 460-strong twice-a24-hour period. day milking (TAD) herd and a 230-strong once-a-day milking herd. The “There is no denying the grazing can be harder to manage with the herds are managed completely separately, they graze separate OAD herd. The 24-hour allocation can be a bit trickier, but this year platforms and costings are all kept separate. we’ve found the key is keeping residuals at the front of our minds at all Since November 2011 Lydney Park Farm has supplied their milk to times, and manipulating that fence if you need too. Wyke Farms, a cheesemaker, meaning that constituents have become
Alicia Newport and Keith Davis talk about the breeding of the herd.
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Observing the herd and discussing grazing management.
Farm Facts “Dedication to the cause is also important! The herd manager will come out at 8pm to check and move the fence, and if he feels the cows have another two hours of grass he’ll turn round and come back out again at 10pm!” Keith was keen to stress that the decision to change all cows to OAD milking is mainly based on costs, not on the milk contract. He has worked with Alicia Newport from LIC on an ongoing basis looking at options for the herds. “The system makes money here at Lydney. We have been able to drive so many costs out of the system. The OAD herd are being fed 500 kg of conc/cow/year, 1 tonne DM grass silage/cow/year and 1.5 tonnes DM of other feed per year. By keeping control of these costs I know we’re the ones in control of the business.” As far as future plans go, Keith talks about increasing cow numbers towards 1,000. “As just one of the enterprises on the estate, we have to justify the usage of every hectare of land on profitability. There is further land we could utilise, on the other side of a busy road, and the fact that we are looking at getting access to that area is a sign of the potential of this kind of dairy farming.
Lydney Park is a privately owned 1,214 ha (3,000 acre) estate, of which 567 ha (1,400 acres) is farmed with a combination of dairy and arable enterprises. Production
2013 TAD
2013 OAD
Dairy Cows
460
230
2,507,000
874,000
5450
3800
436
323
9285
6723
Total milk produced Litres/cow Milk solids/cow Litres/ha Milksoilds/ha (milking platform)
1604
1126
Stocking rate on milking area kgs Lwt/ha
2024
1917
700
500
Diet kg conc/cow Tonnes Dm grass silage/cow/year Tonnes DM other feed/cow/year
1
1
1.5
1.5
“But there is no way we would have developed so far in five years without the commitment of the team here at Lydney. Their focus and enthusiasm has been crucial for the evolution of the business,” Keith concluded. s VOLUME 9, NUMBER 1
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Benefits and confidence in once-a-day milking
“We always try to dry the cows off the Wednesday before the last of the Autumn rugby Internationals, then we go down to Cardiff for the weekend to watch the game,” jokes Welsh dairy farmer David Williams, who at 52 still plays for his local club’s social team. But there is no doubt that profitability lay at the root of decisions when David and his partner Carol Jones, who milk 280 cows at Clawdd Offa, near Mold in Flintshire, took their previously TMR fed Holstein-Friesian herd first crossbred and then to once-a-day milking (OAD). “I’m a second generation tenant farmer here and historically the herd was on a high input system,” David explains. “I spent a year milking at Manaia in Taranaki in 1980, and got my first taste of grassland-based farming there, but all the advice we got upon my return was to continue down the high input system.” But the reality was the system simply wasn’t making money. David was one of the founders of the Grazing Gogs discussion group in April 1999 and in the following year decided to go both Spring block
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calving and crossbred for the 2001 season. [Gog’s is a shortened version of Gogledd Cymru which means North Wales or a nickname for North Walian people.] “Carol Gibson from New Zealand was our consultant then and she showed me an article on crossbreeding from New Zealand talking about research done in the early 1990s.”
“It showed that crossbred cows lasted on average a lactation more than their pure bred parents, with increased fertility, and it just seemed the obvious route to go down.” David said. David and Carol have used LIC semen from 2000, using Homestead Ernest almost exclusively for the first two years, in order to ensure they bred a good all-round animal with excellent udders. “It was early days for crossbreeding in the United Kingdom so we were floundering around in the dark a bit. There was quite a bit of learning on the job and we had to breed all our own replacements as unlike now it was impossible to buy them in. We’ve run a closed herd ever since and in fact it’s given us the chance to develop the right kind of cow for our system,” David explains.
“We’ve used LIC semen to breed all our replacements and, as they’ve come through the herd in good numbers, we’ve made serious progress both technically and in terms of profitability.” Carol continues, “We don’t do problems here! We’re looking for the cow that fits into our system with the least bother and expense. If she doesn’t fit she goes. If a calf doesn’t thrive she will not thrive as a heifer, and probably won’t last more than two lactations. The one message we have learnt is that yield and profitability comes from having cows doing three, four, five and six lactations and so it is simply not worth bringing those problems into the herd.” David and Carol heard about OAD milking from The herd in the parlour. NZ and in 2009 discussed it at length with their discussion group and Bryony Fitzgerald who worked with the Gogs at the time. OAD looked increasingly like fitting in with the system and it’s restraints at Clawdd Offa. The cows are milked on an 80-hectare grazing platform with a further 40-hectare run-off three miles away from the farm, used for silage and young stock. But the milking platform is dissected by a busy main road which means it’s nearly impossible to cross the cows between 7 and 9.30am, and again between 3.30 and 7 in the afternoon. This meant there was only six hours between milkings during the day and the cows weren’t left over the road at night. “With OAD milking the cows are brought from across the road to the parlour before 7am and then cross the road again only once after milking at about 9.30am, allowing us to move to 24-hour grazing,” explains David. The decision was made to go to OAD in 2010 for the 2011 season and Carol and David prepared well, by upping cow numbers and talking to the bank manager. “We knew we needed to take our bank manager along with us as we were expecting, and had budgeted for, a 20 to 25% fall in yield,” David says. “In fact, we only saw a 10% fall in volume in 2011 and a 3% drop in milksolids. The 2012 yield per cow of 3,915 litres was only about 200 litres below the average yield in our last twice-a-day year, and 2012 solids were a respectable 355kg per head.”
“I think there were several reasons why we never experienced the drop in output associated with going OAD. The percentage of heifers entering the herd was low that first year of OAD and I do think the maturity of the cows in the herd was important as there were less than 38% first- and secondlactation animals in the herd.”
“We had also upgraded the water supply across the road,” he explained. Herd numbers had been increasing rapidly in previous years and Carol and David felt they had kept too many poorer cows. Many of those were culled early in 2010, the last year TAD, reducing days in milk and removing some of the lower yielding cattle from the herd.
OAD adds about half an hour to milking time at peak yield, but the whole team at the farm has seen the benefits. “Several cows that had been nervous on twice-a-day milking showed an improvement in temperament,” says David. “This may well be to do with less teat end damage amongst the cows which we’ve really noticed.” There was a dramatic reduction in lameness which may be due to the reduced distances the cows are walking and the improved tracks put in. Cows are in much better condition leading to higher cull values and no need to dry off early. “Far fewer cows are put up for the vet as non-cyclers,” says Carol. “We only had 6 in 2012 (2% of the herd) and in future we will simply not bother to investigate these cows, and they’ll be leaving the herd. These aren’t the type of cows we want here. “We did cull 21 cows during our first season on OAD as they weren’t the right cow for the system, they became too fat, dried themselves off or simply took too long to milk,” she adds. David continues, “Previously seasonality has cost us about 1.5ppl across all months but with OAD milking this has reduced to about 1.1ppl because the cows seem to peak lower (when seasonality is at its worst) and the rest of the lactation curve seems to keep strong throughout the season.” This year the team aim to calve down 285 cows. AI (which is mainly done by Sue Pope, Carol’s sister) is used for six weeks, now primarily with KiwiCrosses, this year Obsidian and Solaris, all replacements will VOLUME 9, NUMBER 1
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(l-r): Carol Jones, David Williams, Vicky Williams and Sue Pope.
be kept from these. Friesian is then used for a further two weeks, this year it will be Whistler, in order to give a larger more black and white calf for the market, and then the Jersey bulls go in to mop up the stragglers. “Towards the end of the season we use short-gestation bulls in order to keep our tight calving pattern. Heifers are run with Jersey bulls for six weeks and if not in calf they are sold on. We’re aiming to weed out fertility problems at this stage,” David says. Cows are given free access to palm kernal for the couple of hours that some of the cows stand around waiting to cross the road after milking. “We can be flexible with how much we offer them, depending on grass availability, and usage works out at about 2kg/cow/day. We keep a very close eye on costings and know that it pays to feed the cows,” says Carol. Carol manages all the grassland allocation, and cows will be moved after 12 hours if conditions and availability dictates it. It was her careful management of the grass and the excellent tracks which meant the cows were able to graze throughout the incredibly wet summer of 2012. David and Carol’s daughter Vicky, after completing a degree in criminology, changed her mind about joining the police, and has recently returned to work full time on the farm. She worked in Southland, New Zealand, from August to December 2013 on a 1,000 cow unit, and she plans to take on the tenancy of the farm when her parents retire.
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“The move to OAD milking has certainly influenced my decision to make my career in the dairy industry,” explains Vicky. “I’m not chained to the farm in the same way that you are with twice-a-day milking. I can have other interests and activities both inside and outside farming. It’s so much easier to maintain my enthusiasm and enjoyment for milking cows under this system. “But crucially I can also see it makes financial sense for this business and I’ve got real confidence in the system here and its future.” In fact, successful succession planning is key to David and Carol’s next step as they look to what the future brings. One can’t help thinking that rugby, maybe more watching than playing if Carol has her way, might figure heavily in their plans! s By David Williams
NeW ZeALAND sysTems Very PrOFITABLe IN The UNITeD KINgDOm We might believe we are at the forefront of the world dairy industry farming in New Zealand but there is a dedicated group in the United Kingdom also laying claim to that tag or at least be a part of it. Livestock Improvement Farm Wise consultant Mike Bailey has recently returned from the United Kingdom after a 6½ year stint consulting to dairy farmers. Of the approximate 11,500 dairy farmers in the United Kingdom there may be close to 700 who have adopted what they genuinely describe as the New Zealand system. The vast majority of dairy farmers, however, strive to get maximum yield from enormous Holstein-Friesian cows, from all-year-round calving systems supplying the domestic liquid milk market with little obvious focus on profitability. The notion that there is a very poor co-relation between cow yield and profitability can be difficult to get through to most. There are many high producing well run systems yielding between 9 and 10,000 litres but with a cost of production close to the milk price, there is very little room to move especially where reinvestment in plant and machinery is concerned. DairyCo, the industry levy body, does a farmer intention survey each year and reported that roughly 21 milk producers are set to leave the industry each week in the United Kingdom. A strong sense of uncertainty is reflected in the fact that 35% of responders to the survey this year had no long term plans for the continuity of their businesses. This was up from 25% last year. You might think that with that many farmers leaving the industry, a vibrant group of young entrepreneurs would be following in their wake. However, those exiting simply change
Richard Bowers’ Stafford herd heading to milking.
land use from dairying to cropping. Lease the farm and continue to collect the single farm payment (a subsidy based on land held). This single farm payment is around £79 per acre. There is no vacuum created.
Despite the challenges their dairy industry faces, the group thriving within that peculiar system are those running the New Zealand grass-based system. The characteristic of the grass-based farmer in the United Kingdom would be educated, well-travelled, and as business savvy as those farmers that you would expect to be operating in the top 10% in the United Kingdom. These farmers have bucked the trend in their homeland and sought a better and essentially more profitable route to achieving their aims and goals. The cornerstone to this has been focusing on grass, a seasonal calving system and New Zealand cows. Those three things to the New Zealand farmer go without saying, but in the United Kingdom there are some fundamental barriers to getting there. The typical dairy farm in the United Kingdom calves all year round and provides liquid milk to the local market. Most milk processors demand a level supply and penalise farmers in various forms to try and encourage this. These herds are generally housed with very little grazing especially for freshly calved cows. Dry cows or stale cows at the end of lactation may end up doing some form of clean-up depending on the time of year. The farm is shut up in the autumn and may only get grazed by sheep over the winter before getting two or three cuts of silage before VOLUME 9, NUMBER 1
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cows go near it. Cows are brought inside to prepare for calving and put on a ration to prepare for lactation. Grass in the form of silage becomes the carrier to all sorts of concentrated feeds via a mixer wagon, and in some cases fresh grass is cut and bought to the cows. Grain will be fed in the milking parlour based on individual cow yield, or a TMR (total mixed ration) system presented to the cows . These farmers may not be doing anything wrong but it’s certainly not simple.
The small group that have adopted ‘our’ system are focused on good pasture management, spring or autumn block calving, paddocks, tracks and the New Zealand cow, which more often than not is from an LIC bull. The reason this sector are very good at what they do is the steep learning curve they have had to climb to become successful. A whole host of New Zealand consultants have beaten the well-worn path to the northern hemisphere over the years and have been well received. In the late 1990s, however the early adopters tried to spring calve and graze with the traditional Holstein which didn’t work at all, with high losses and frightening empty rates. Lessons were learned and the New Zealand cow proven on grass came to the rescue. With limited trading of herds and certainly no New Zealand type herds available, farmers have had to breed from existing stock or buy surplus young stock from other early adopters, and create herds of heifers sourced from all around the country. They have also had to roll cows round from all-year calving to a seasonal block. This means either a long lactation or long dry spell; either way there is significant cost to changing the system. This has generally been done by having a spring and autumn block before eventually going all-spring or all-autumn. The transition from all-year-round to grazing takes about six years, so is a serious commitment. Alternatively, some have taken the plunge and sold complete herds of Holsteins which are valuable in the United Kingdom market and sourced New Zealand bred heifers from around the country and even Ireland. A healthy trade in rising one-year bulling heifers has resulted in this demand for New Zealand stock. These New Zealand stock have proven to be more fertile, have better solids and
better legs and feet than the Holstein counterpart. If you want to graze cows in the United Kingdom you need to be using New Zealand genetics, or at least genetics proven on grass. Production is anywhere from 330 to around 460 milksolids with anywhere from nothing to 800kg of concentrate/grain pellets being used. Weaning them off this has proven to be impossible, but with a grass first policy this has proven to be unnecessary.
The grass-based farmers are well read, well travelled and well informed, most having either been or worked in New Zealand and love the simplicity of the New Zealand system. Almost every United Kingdom grass-based dairy farmer has a plate meter, measures their grass, feed budgets, and plans the season with cover targets not dissimilar to here. The numbers changing from the traditional dairy system is small but United Kingdom wide, with United Kingdom grazing advocates certainly raising the eyebrows of the ‘conventional’ dairy farmer. Sure they feed their fair share of concentrate in the shed, but if they can avoid using buildings for housing cows they will, and even if they have housing they are more inclined to out winter on fodder beet or kale. Most have sold their mixer wagons, and generally it’s been for scrap a long time ago. Annual growth ranges from 14-16 tonne in the south and areas influenced by the gulf stream, to 9-12 tonne in the midlands and areas further east with lower rainfall. There is minimal irrigation, and for a country that we assume rains all the time, has its fair share of green droughts. The growing season is February to November. Cows don’t graze grass in the winter as there is no growth, meaning a winter rotation just doesn’t work. Snow is less common than you would think, with England free of snow in the main dairying areas three out of the last six years. The spring rotation planner is used liberally early on with 20-25 day rounds the norm through the bulk of the season. In fact young Kiwi dairy farmers travelling to the United Kingdom for their OE have no trouble adapting, and are sought after for their expertise. The areas where the United Kingdom have perhaps led the way, and where we in New Zealand are headed, is in terms of traceability, and
(l-r): Richard Green , Guy Chandler (obscured), Caroline Spencer, Mat Boley and Andy Roberts looking at Richard Smith’s cows in Dorset.
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compliance in terms of environment through the use of fertiliser and effluent or slurry management. Compliance costs to each business is significant but seen as essential. Each animal has a passport that remains with that animal from birth to death. Farms within the NVZ area (nitrate vulnerable zones) must have 90 days effluent storage and must not apply slurry between the winter months of October and January. This requirement for costly slurry storage has forced some tenant farmers out of dairying, as some tenant agreements have no provision for the landlords to contribute to any capital expenditure, and many don’t have a clause allowing for compensation at termination. Tenure of land is varied with some older type arrangements a generational tenancy which lasts three generations. Newer arrangements may be on a farm business tenancy which A typical traditional village farm in Wiltshire. can be anywhere from three to 15 years. worth £300 to £500, so very few cows get sold as empty. The fact that Land is rented anywhere from £100 to £200 per acre. most conventional dairy farms calve all year round means simply Herd fertility is generally pretty good across the New Zealand systems getting a cow in calf that may fall outside of your calving pattern, is still with the best at 5-7%, and the majority hovering around 12-15%. very marketable to the all-year-round calvers. This can turn a £400 cull During periods of change MT rates can be around 25%. These figures, into a £1,000 asset. while not great, are much better than the typical Holstein herd which The cost of production last season for the farmers on a New Zealand may only have a conception rate of 35% to first service. system was around 22p per litre, with a milk price around 32p per litre. The practice of inducing, while not illegal, is frowned upon and rarely A 300-cow herd doing 380 milksolids or 4,270 litres per cow would seen. The use of CIDRs is also seen by grass-based farmers as a generate a surplus of £128,000. The single farm payment in this case contributor to poor fertility and avoided where possible. A strong would be around £20,000 and is added to the £128,000. The cost of emphasis is placed on condition score targets over the course of the production for the high yielders was closer to 30p per litre leaving a year and recently, as in New Zealand, the six week in-calf rate. very poor margin. (Comparative Farm Profit discussion group data.) Most farm workers do not live on-farm as the planning laws have made Our counterparts in the United Kingdom running the New Zealand it just about impossible to build additional premises. This seems system are focused on generating cash, as many rent their farms so unusual, but with a population of about 60 million, there are a lot of have no asset to sell in the end apart from their cows. Machinery rusts villages and a lot of houses generally in close proximity. A farm owner and depreciates and eventually needs replacing. The low-cost New has the right to sell off any block of land of any size, but the purchaser Zealand system by its very nature, works hard at avoiding much of the will not be able to do anything except visit it and farm it. Again, the costs associated with that. planning laws make it just about impossible to own and live on your Those adopting the New Zealand model in the United Kingdom are not own piece of land. leaving the industry, but are similar to the high flyers over here, looking It is not uncommon to find farm workers who have been employed by for and taking opportunities converting land with re-grassing the same family for their entire career, people just don’t move. People programmes, building tracks, creating paddocks and building New in the United Kingdom have a much closer bond to community and Zealand-style milking sheds. family ties – perhaps stronger than we typically see in New Zealand. Of interest, the milking sheds of choice have been built by crews of The poor state of the industry in general is reflected in the lack of New Zealanders. opportunity for progression of young people. A farm worker may progress to herdsmen, and in some cases farm manager, which in terms of responsibility is similar to a sharemilker without any financial stake in the business. An improvement in the last six or so years has been the so it may not be the most popular form of development of contract farming arrangements. A number of dairying in the United Kingdom but for those established grass-based dairy farmers are setting these up with pioneers that have adopted the New Zealand enthusiastic individuals. Best described as a cross between equity system, there will now be no other way of partnerships and sharemilking, these arrangements are a positive step farming. s forward. But banks won’t take the value of cows as security so getting started is difficult. By Mike Bailey, Livestock Improvement Farm Wise consultant New Zealand-type cows are worth £900 to £1300. Culled cows are VOLUME 9, NUMBER 1
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LIC geNeTICs heLP FerTILITy IssUes IN sOmerseT A large zero grazing herd in somerset is selectively using LIC semen to help address issues with fertility. “We’re using New Zealand proven 60/70% Holstein bulls to help us tweak fertility problems in some of our cows, and help bring daughters of some of our framier animals into line with the herd average,” explains Neil Christensen. Neil milks 550 cows three times a day through two side-by-side parlours, with an average yield of 10,500 litres, at Steanbow Farm, near Shepton Mallett, Somerset. Steanbow Prizewinner daughter – 12,309 kg avg, 345 day avg calving interval – now in her 4th lactation.
“Fertility is a challenge, as it is on most modern dairy units,” Neil says. “And we were looking for a way to improve fertility while maintaining the production system we have here. We are not reliant on grazed grass, but utilising forage is still key to the system. “Uniformity is also important as it means we can manage cows well as a group and ensure their utmost comfort in the cow housing. By using LIC semen on some of our large framed cows, we’re helping to produce daughters nearer the herd average for size,” he adds. Since 1993 Neil has worked with independent breeding advisor Kevin Lane, from The Cattle Breeding Consultancy, to increase cow numbers and production, and to help correct feet and leg issues. From this time they began to use Holstein genetics on what was a predominantly Friesian herd. They used bulls with high milk values but not at the expense of conformation. Kevin admits to being a stickler for conformation, particularly the rump. “I feel strongly that the rump affects the way the udder hangs as well as influencing the legs and feet,” he says. “I think many legs and feet problems can actually be traced back to the rump structure of the cow and the effect it has on the set of the legs, and ultimately, locomotion. “At Steanbow Farm we have also used bloodlines close together to help drive that uniformity within the herd.” Neil continues: “We’re breeding for maturity in the herd. I don’t like heifers to over extend themselves. We’re aiming for a strong cow that will achieve her maximum production in the third or fourth lactation. By this time she’s paid for the cost of rearing and her body has the capacity to eat the forage we want her to.” The heifers are looked after extremely well, in a fairly unique group, and have an average yield of 8,500 litres. Kevin continues: “Fertility in the modern dairy cow is a concern
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and the national average has slipped back. Fertility is something that we need to keep an eye on and Holsteins do seem to have a fertility problem worldwide.
“however, it doesn’t seem to be such an issue in New Zealand, where the holsteins have had to prove themselves in a system that soon weeds out fertility problems.” “After I’d had some experience with lower yielding herds in the 1990s, we looked at selectively using New Zealand-proven bulls at Steanbow. We’ve been using 60-70% Holstein Dutch and American bulls such as Prizewinner, Director and Sweetdream, that have been trialed under New Zealand conditions.” Kevin continues: “Although the sample is relatively low, the figures show that these daughters consistently get in calf quicker than the herd average, and bear in mind we have also been using LIC bulls on some of the larger cows that may have more fertility problems anyway. “Of the 550 cows in the herd, perhaps only 40 to 50 have been bred using LIC semen, but the figures are showing a trend. In the third calvers the average yield is 9,600 litres and the days to calving are 384, nearly two weeks earlier than the herd average.
“I’m seeing the same trends in other highyielding herds where we are selectively using LIC semen to help address specific fertility problems,” concludes Kevin.“s
Irish success story in New Zealand From Windgap in south Kilkenny, enda hawe grew up on a dairy farm milking 30 cows. sarah, his wife, is a Kiwi from Christchurch. Together, the couple are dairy farmers milking 800 cows in New Zealand’s south Island. Enda came to New Zealand 13 years ago where he got his first taste of Kiwi style farming, and today he and Sarah have risen through dairy farming ranks to become 50/50 sharemilkers on a 220-hectare conversion near Oxford in Canterbury, something he said he could never achieve in Ireland. The couple, along with their two daughters, Niamh and Kayleigh, were back in Ireland in July 2013, and I got the opportunity to catch up with them to discuss their progression in the New Zealand dairy industry, including their success in winning the prestigious New Zealand Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year competition in 2012. Enda completed his secondary education in Ireland in 1997 and spent four years at University College Dublin (UCD) studying Agricultural Science, specialising in Animal and Crop Production. As part of his degree, Enda had the opportunity to spend six months on work placement in New Zealand. In 2000, Enda packed his bags and headed off to the other side of the world. He started in Palmerston North in the North Island, working there for two months before moving to Canterbury in the South Island
for a further four months. It was during this six months that sparked Enda’s love of the Kiwi lifestyle, and he could see the excellent opportunities that were available to young, enthusiastic, ambitious farmers. He went back home to Ireland for his brother’s wedding and to complete his degree at UCD. After graduating, Enda was back to New Zealand. He spent 4½ years working for Canterbury Grasslands which, today, milks 6,800 cows in eight different parlours. Back then, there was just one milking parlour on this massive track of land along with other farming enterprises. Enda was responsible for a 1,200 acre block carrying sheep and beef. During his time at Grasslands, he met Alistair and Sharon Rayne who gave him an excellent education in the principles of low-cost, grassbased farming.
Dairying stepping stone In 2004, Enda, with Sarah, began dairy farming with Ray Seebeck as a herd assistant manager, and spent two years learning the ropes. Enda speaks very highly of the Kiwis who have helped him and Sarah along the way, and how important building those business relationships were as they provided the stepping stones for their success today. “Ray was very open and honest with us from day one. He showed us all the financials of the business. Everything was very transparent,” Enda said. After two years in that position, Enda and Sarah moved to a different farm to become self employed as lower-order sharemilkers with the support of Ray, who acted as guarantor on their first loan to get them up and running. From 2006 to 2009, they milked 620 crossbred cows, and were responsible for the day-to-day running of the business.
Enda, Sarah and family.
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Fertility performance enda began using LIC genetics and learnt about the genetic gain that could be made through using elite LIC sires, and in particular the increasingly popular KiwiCross™ sires. In 2009, Enda and Sarah took on a bigger farm, milking 900 cows 30km up the road in Canterbury. They spent three years on this farm taking it from 900 cows to 1,400 cows with excellent performance, both in terms of production and fertility. They moved production per cow from 397kgs of solids to 464kgs of solids in their first season, and had an empty rate of 1% after a 13-week breeding season. In 2012, a rare opportunity to take on a 50/50 sharemilking position became available in Canterbury. Only three positions like this were available in the region that year and 79 people applied for them. After several searching interviews, Enda and Sarah came out on top and got the position. They set about purchasing 680 crossbred cows from a number of farms in the North Island. They purchased from three different herds and bought based on Breeding Worth (BW) and the supporting records. Enda has a lot of confidence in BW and is striving to improve the genetic merit of his herd. “I’m aiming to be in the top 5% of herds in the country in terms of BW within five years. I’m breeding for a chocolate coloured crossbred cow that is approximately 2/3 Friesian and 1/3 Jersey (F10J6). The ideal cow for me has an average liveweight of approximately 475kgs and produces close to 500kgs of solids,” he said. To achieve this, his breeding policy is to mate any cows with greater than 50% Friesian to KiwiCross™ and anything less than 50% is bred to Friesian. Last season, his herd produced 1.08kgs of solids for every kilogram of liveweight, which means he has a highly efficient herd of cows. One of Enda’s life goals is to breed bulls suitable for LIC’s breeding programme. To achieve this, he is using the highest BW bulls available in both LIC’s Premier Sires team and Alpha nominated sires.
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The breeding performance Enda has achieved to date is truly outstanding. Last season, out of 680 cows, only four cows were empty after a 13-week breeding season. He used the top BW sires for seven weeks, then two weeks of Short Gestation Friesian sires and four weeks of beef stock bulls to clean up. 93% of the 680 cows were in-calf to the first seven weeks of AI. Future replacements for the herd will be kept from the resulting heifer calves (from the first seven weeks of AI). The heifer calves from the Short Gestation sires are sold at weaning (100kgs) for the Chinese market. Last year, the heifers were bred for three days and the remaining animals were given a shot of prostaglandin to bring them into heat. He had 84% conception rate to first service for his heifers. This year, Enda and Sarah are calving down 830 cows. The plan is to grow the herd organically to 1,400 cows over the next few years.
Breeding Worth and fertility There has been some debate regarding the weighting of fertility in the BW system. Enda is a firm believer that fertility is more about management than it is about genetics. While he acknowledges the importance of genetics for improving fertility, farm management is even more important. “You have to look after your cows if you want them to perform to their potential,” he explains. He stresses the importance of having cows at the correct body condition score at calving and at mating. This is very much down to management. “There’s no point putting cows into a paddock with no grass and expect miracles.” Enda is at the very top of his game when it comes to fertility management. He gives the example of the sharemilking position they took over in 2009. “When we took on that position, the herd had a 13% empty rate the previous season. In our first year, we managed to reduce that to 1% meaning 98 more cows in-calf than the previous season. In the second season we had 2.4% empty in 12 weeks breeding.” The genetic merit for fertility of the herd didn’t change dramatically over those years, but through great attention
to detail, Enda managed to significantly improve the empty rate at the end of breeding.
Irish perspective Enda is a big fan of the progression ladder available in the New Zealand dairy industry, and believes something similar could be implemented in Ireland, saying incentivised farm manager roles will be important going forward. “You need to incorporate your staff into the business and make them aware of what exactly is happening on the farm. They should beware of things such as production per cow, SCC, grass cover, grass growth rates etc. Be open and honest with your employees and incentivise the staff based on the key performance indicators of the farm.” He gives the example of staff getting a bonus for every kilogram of solids over 400kgs per cow produced. It gets employees to ‘buy in’ to the business. Enda also recommends young farmers should look at buying their way into the family farm business early rather than just getting a hand-me-down later in life.
Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year 2012 It was third time lucky for Enda and Sarah when they won the New Zealand Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year. The competition is very prestigious with a total prize fund of around NZ$150,000. Firstly, you have to qualify in the regional rounds and then, if successful, you move on to the national finals. For Enda and Sarah, they had three two-hour on-farm interviews by a three-person interview panel. There are several different aspects to the judging criteria, including livestock management, pasture management, human resources, farm environment, financial performance, health and safety, and family and community interests. After they were announced national winners of 2012, they were in high demand for interviews on national television in New Zealand along with a number of Irish radio stations. In July 2013, Enda was invited to speak about his experiences of creating a pathway to a career in dairying at the Teagasc Moorepark Open Day forum. Winning the title has opened many doors for Enda and Sarah, something they are very appreciative of.
Challenges for New Zealand dairy farmers Availability and access to water is the major issue according to Enda. New Zealand suffered a severe drought early 2013 that restricted milk production at the end of the season. While Enda and Sarah’s farm is 95% irrigated, they experienced seven weeks without access to water. Enda was proactive when the drought began to take hold, changing to a 50-day round and supplementing with outside feed to keep the cows milking until 29 May, while many other dairy farmers had to dry off much earlier. The drought highlighted the huge dependence New Zealand dairy farming has on water and how important it is for their grass-based system. Water flow meters are now compulsory for irrigation and farmers must get environmental consents to access water. Storage lakes are being built in several locations in the Canterbury region at a huge cost to allow farmers to build up reservoirs. While the 2013 drought didn’t affect Enda and Sarah as much as others, it did focus their attention on the future issues surrounding access to water. Enda says that getting good staff hasn’t been a problem in New Zealand. “If you treat your staff right and incentivise them, they will stay with you.”
In conclusion, enda has three pieces of advice for young aspiring Irish dairy farmers: “education, network and benchmark. Never claim to know it all, network with people and benchmark yourself against the best,” he advises. Wise words from a terrific Irish-Kiwi success story in the land of Aotearoa (New Zealand), the “land of the long white cloud”. s By Niall O’Regan, Breeding Adviser, LIC Ireland
“you need to incorporate your staff into the business and make them aware of what exactly is happening on the farm.” VOLUME 9, NUMBER 1
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