Dairy Focus | September 2018

Dairy Focus SEPTEMBER 2018

THE EMOTIONAL

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Dairy Focus

2

Technology the new fashion

INSIDE

PAGE 4 TRANSPARENCY SAVES FONTERRA A ROASTING

PAGE 10 THE HIGH EMOTIONAL COST

PAGE 20 AMPING UP COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

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Dairy farmers are most likely to reach into their pocket the next five years for technology that automates everyday tasks or makes milking easier.

A series of three DairyNZ surveys held every five years of 500 farmers, including one this year, found automation technology hit the right buttons for them.

Over the past decade they have invested in technology that automates daily tasks and makes milking easier and more labour-efficient.

Some of the technology has become well-established, particularly in rotary dairies where nearly 90 per cent of them have either automatic cup removers, automatic drafting, or in-shed feeding.

Milking-related tasks account for more than 30 hours of farmers’ weekly work on average, while increased labour efficiency reduces hours of work which will help them attract and retain skilled people.

DairyNZ research engineer Brian Dela Rue said farmers were more likely to take on board technology when they could see its value, practicality

Tim Cronshaw

RURAL REPORTER

and people-benefits.

“Automated technology can save time, reduce repetitive tasks and can make activities like milking easier. On that basis farmers can see more clearly the value and it’s not necessarily the financial gain as it’s also about making the job easier for staff and getting them home maybe 20-30 minutes earlier is important to them. It’s difficult to put a dollar value on that.’’

Dela Rue said investment in information technologies such as milk meters, stock weighing and detection systems remained low.

“There was lower adoption of these and part of that may be because farmers either don’t have a clear understanding of how to use that data or are able

to easily measure the benefit.’’

Milk meters, stock weighing and detection systems were installed in less than 20 per cent of rotary milking sheds and less than five per cent of herringbone dairies.

The technology that worked best for farmers with herringbone dairies was cup removers, fully automated plant wash systems and teat spraying. For rotary operators, it was inshed feeding, drafting and cup removers.

Dela Rue said farmers could be expected to take up more technology over the next five years.

Useful technology would include automated pasture measurement systems as good pasture management was critical for farm profitability and time constraints were a common barrier for weekly farm walks, he said.

Technology is also on the rise for farm-wide data collection such as monitoring water tank and effluent levels and greater uptake will hinge on whether cost effective sensors are able to take the knocks of farming and data can be

integrated to support decision making.

Dela Rue said companies were looking at how their technology and software could help farmers make better use of data and improve their farm profitability and sustainability.

He said there would be more opportunities over the next few years for farmer-to-farmer learning by comparing key farm data such as pasture rotation lengths and weekly pasture growth rates with other farms in their area.

DairyNZ is developing an online tool to allow farmers to compare annual pasture and crop eaten data with other farmers in their area.

There’s a strong relationship between pasture eaten and profitability and this tool will allow farmers to calculate the gap between their farm performance and farmers operating in the top 10 per cent.

It’s estimated that every extra tonne of pasture eaten per hectare is worth an extra $300 per hectare per year in profit.

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3

High wages, bonuses queried Tim Cronshaw

RURAL REPORTER

Farmers are starting to point uneasily at the 6000 Fonterra workers earning at least $100,000 after the co-operative revealed a big financial loss for the 2017-18 season.

The remuneration to highest earning staff ranged from the six figure starting point to just over $8 million paid to former chief executive Theo Spierings in remuneration.

“

The underlying result and its impact on earnings, dividend and carrying value is totally unacceptable and one that our farming families will not want to see repeated

Fonterra’s annual result released on September 13 revealed under statutory information that 20 staff employed in domestic and global operations earned at least $1m and about 70 were on $500,000-plus.

Earnings included remuneration, incentives and other benefits such as superannuation and allowances. The numbers included staff who had retired

Former chief executive Theo Spierings has come in for flak about his high income and not fronting after Fonterra’s poor performance.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

or left the co-op.

Spierings’s high pay led Federated Farmers vice-president Andrew Hoggard to question on Twitter: How on earth does he justify a final bonus? They seriously need to review how these bonuses are calculated.’’

Farmers accept they have to pay the market value for senior management, but were probably unhappy learning about the big incomes spread across so many staff despite Fonterra revealing its first full-year loss

in the co-operative’s 17-year history of $196m.

After the result was released farmer suppliers began demanding its co-operative turn around the result even if a clean broom was applied to the business.

Details were not supplied of where the broom should be applied, but under-performing businesses and staffing are likely targets.

Federated Farmers Mid Canterbury dairy chairman

Chris Ford said farmers would give the board a chance to turn the business around, but they wanted staff on six and seven figure salaries to make the right decisions.

Fonterra’s Shareholders’ Council chairman Duncan Coull said farmers were unhappy with the co-op’s performance and this year’s results.

“The underlying result and its impact on earnings, dividend and carrying value is totally unacceptable and one

that our farming families will not want to see repeated.’’

Fonterra’s board announced it would re-evaluate all of its investments, major assets and partnerships, fix underperforming businesses and lift financial discipline.

In its financial statements Fonterra noted that the number of staff on more than $100,000 increased when the New Zealand dollar devalued against other currencies.

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Dairy Focus

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Transparency saves Fonterra a roasting The transparency of senior management admitting Fonterra’s performance was unacceptable took some of the steam out of Mid Canterbury farmers at a shareholder meeting in Ashburton.

Dairy farmers were upset last week to learn that the co-operative had made its first full-year loss of $196 million in its 17-year history.

The loss announced at Fonterra’s annual meeting compared with a $745m net profit last year resulted in the co-operative taking on more debt and delivering share earnings of 24c and a low dividend at 10c per share.

Had former chief executive Theo Spierings and chairman John Wilson attended the Ashburton meeting on September 18 farmer shareholders might have been less forgiving.

But the new guard of chief executive Miles Hurrell and chairman John Monaghan laid it on the table that another poor performance would not be tolerated and this seemed to appease farmers.

Federated Farmers Mid

Tim Cronshaw

RURAL REPORTER

Canterbury dairy chairman Chris Ford said the tone of the meeting had been quite positive because Fonterra leaders had been so transparent.

“They were honest and straightforward with the shareholders and everything was in black and white. John Monaghan and Miles Hurrell accepted there had been mistakes so let’s get the shovel out and have a cleanup and go through all the assets and put scrutiny on them.’’

Ford said he had no idea what the result of the review would be, but the last time this happened many staff were laid off.

Farmers did not want staff to lose their jobs, but they expected the performance of

Farmer reactions to Fonterra’s sub-performance might have been more volatile had former chairman John Wilson led the PHOTO SUPPLIED meeting.

the co-op to improve, he said.

“I don’t know what they will do, but [I expect they will] analyse all the investments and their senior positions.’’

Farmers were told that part of the review would result in one group merging.

Ford said farmers might have been more demanding with their questions if former management had led the meetings.

“I sort of wondered how the attitude of the meeting would have gone if Theo

Spierings and John Wilson were there.’’

Farmer questions were aimed at the performance of Fonterra’s farms in China and the $439m write down on the co-op’s Chinese investment Beingmate earlier this year.

They learned that selling milk in China required a commitment and the purpose of the Chinese farms was to provide a milk gateway into the large market.

Another farmer questioned if management had

considered writing off the dividend completely to reduce debt and return the balance sheet to better shape. The response was that this would not happen at this stage and the suggestion that farmer shareholders should buy up the rights of shares from unit holders found littler favour.

No farmer questions were aimed at high earning staff or the criticised hefty bonus of Spierings.

Meanwhile, farmers seem to be handling well the lowest milk price in the Global Dairy Trade auction since 2016.

Ford said the lower dollar against the United States currency was playing a large role in the declining milk price.

“It’s not all doom and gloom and you have to put it into perspective. In 2016 the dollar was at 73c and now it’s 65c so the milk price has dropped as much as the dollar.’’

The average milk price fell 1.3 per cent to $US2934 during the auction on September 18 with wholemilk powder back 1.8 per cent to $US2768.

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5

Performance ‘must improve’ Dairy giant Fonterra delivered a bitter pill to swallow for Mid Canterbury farmers after posting its first full-year loss of $196 million in its 17-year history.

The co-operative could find little way to sugar coat the less than flattering result at its annual meeting on September 13 and the after-tax loss compares with a $745m net profit last year.

Playing a part in the profit tumble was the $439m write down on Fonterra’s Chinese investment Beingmate earlier this year and the $232m it ended up paying Danone after the 2013 contamination scare.

On top of this were overly optimistic payout forecasts, rising costs and higher milk prices putting pressure on value added business The co-operative was left with little option, but to increase debt by 3.2 per cent with its debt to equity ratio now at 48.4 per cent, settle for share earnings of 24c and, as signalled last month, leave the dividend at 10c per share.

In the final wash up, Fonterra shaved another one

asualty

Tim Cronshaw

RURAL REPORTER

cent from the 2017-18 payout after last month reducing it by an earlier five cents to a final milk payment of $6.69 a kilogram of milksolids.

Gross profits of $902m were down 22 per cent and domestic milk collection was back 1 per cent, yet sales revenue was up 6 per cent at $20.4 billion.

Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell said the co-operative’s business performance must improve.

“There’s no two ways about it, these results don’t meet the standards we need to live up to. In FY18, we did not meet the promises we made to farmers and unitholders.’’

There were further reasons for the poor earnings performance in addition to

Fonterra is taking a change in direction to avoid another poor result. PHOTO SUPPLIED

the Danone payment and Beingmate write-down, he said.

“First, forecasting is never easy but ours proved to be too optimistic. Second, butter prices didn’t come down as we anticipated, which impacted our sales volumes and margins. Third, the increase in the forecast farmgate milk price late in the season, while good for farmers, put pressure on our margins. And fourth, operating expenses were up

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in some parts of the business and, while this was planned, it was also based on delivering higher earnings than we achieved.’’

Farmers are prepared to give Fonterra a chance to turn the business around, but they want staff on six and seven figure salaries to make the right decisions.

Federated Farmers national dairy chairman Chris Lewis said Fonterra needed to tighten the business, get “match-fit’’ and under promise and over deliver to get on the right side of farmers again.

Without a massive improvement more farmers would take their milk elsewhere, he said.

“They have to put predictions out there but not put a big comms spin on it.

Farmers rely on these figures and put them in their budget … and it makes it very hard if the numbers go bad.’’

To turn around the performance the co-op’s plan is to re-evaluate all of its investments, major assets and partnerships starting with a review of the Beingmate

investment, fixing businesses which are not performing and lifting financial discipline.

More realistic forecasts will also be introduced so farmers and unitholders know where they stand.

For the 2018-19 season Fonterra has held the milk payment price at the $6.75/ kg announced at the end of August and its forecasted share earnings at 25-35 cents. Fonterra chairman John Monaghan said the cooperative was being clear with farmers and unitholders on what it would take to achieve the forecast earnings guidance.

“For the first time we are sharing some business unit specific forecasts.

Among others, these see the ingredients and consumer and foodservice businesses achieving an EBIT of between $850m and $950m, and between $540m and $590m, respectively.”

He said Fonterra was taking a close look at its portfolio and direction to see where change was needed to reduce costs and deliver higher returns on capital investments.

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Dairy Focus

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EDITORIAL COMMENT It’s not until you talk to someone with mycoplasma bovis that the full gravitas of farmers dealing with the cattle disease sinks home.

Some farmers such as Frank Peters featured in this issue have been brave enough to tell of their experiences.

It’s perfectly understandable that other farmers want to remain private and their wishes are respected.

That said, the efforts of a few farmers like Peters, to go public have done immeasurable good.

It’s hard enough to bare your

Tim Cronshaw

RURAL REPORTER

soul to your family let alone perfect strangers. Nor is it easy to be so open about carrying the disease because of the stigma attached.

Peters is presumably a private

person yet has chosen to tell the public, both rural and urban, of his own difficulties, the emotional toil it has taken and the weaknesses in the system that need to be fixed.

The Ashburton farmer does this without venting his anger or lobbing a metaphoric grenade in the direction of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) or its people. Peters views the system as being flawed in areas, but quite the opposite, has kind words for the MPI officers he is dealing with and has shown a great deal of

patience in accepting delays for tests and compensation because of the deep complexity of the disease response.

He could have completely bagged the decision by the Government to go ahead with eradication as he would have preferred the management route.

Instead, he takes the view that someone had to make the tough call and has chosen to get on with the job of explaining to ministry officers the plight of farmers and the need for practical, farmer-based

solutions.

When he reveals the Government compensation for him alone is likely to be $3 million it’s realistic to expect that the sympathy of many people might dry up. That’s because they will never see that amount of money in their lifetime.

The Peters family have never asked for more than the compensation promised them by the Government. The reality is they will lose money for something that is no fault of their own.

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How you say something is just as important as what you’re saying, and sometimes it can even be more important.

Your tone and the words you use frame the narrative, subtly bringing the reader to your point of view even as you maintain you’re just impartially relaying the facts.

If you’ve read a major newspaper recently you could be forgiven for thinking New Zealand farmers have a drug problem: we’re addicted to palm kernel, we’re addicted to phosphate and we’re addicted to nitrogen.

Addicted. It’s a nasty little word that conjures up images of no selfcontrol and utter reliance.

It’s funny because when I was feeding maize silage as a supplement I wasn’t addicted to corn as pasture makes up 90 per cent of my cows’ annual diet and I’m not addicted to grass and when I graze my cows on oats during winter I’m not addicted to porridge.

A little less than 5 per cent of my cows’ diet is made up of vegetable waste, because that’s what palm kernel is, and I use it for a variety of reasons: it’s significantly cheaper than other supplements by about 5 cents per kilogram, it’s energy dense and provides a greater milksolids response than silage and there’s almost no waste when I feed it out.

Give me a comparable feed,

Craig Hickman

ELBOW DEEP @dairymanNZ

preferably one where I don’t have to closely monitor intakes, and I’ll ditch PK in a heartbeat. That’s how addicted I am.

And why is palm kernel so readily available to me? Because the world is addicted to palm oil: almost every product you use from shampoo to infant formula, from soap to perfume contains palm oil.

Next time you’re at the supermarket check the ingredients label, there’s a secret code for palm oil: vegetable oil. That’s right, there’s no requirement for manufacturers to disclose the use of palm oil in their products, which makes it far simpler to yell at farmers who don’t hide behind the euphemism of “vegetable waste”.

Omission is another trick to sway the reader; you’ll hardly ever see the world’s appetite for palm oil mentioned in an article deriding PK. A classic example of omission some months back was a story on

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our waterways with this frightening sentence: “If every stretch of river in the country deemed unsafe for swimming was linked into one long chain, it would be 14,000 kilometres long”. While that may be true, the author omitted to mention we have over 175,000km of rivers, but 92 per cent unpolluted doesn’t have quite the same dramatic ring.

I’m not for a minute suggesting these issues shouldn’t be discussed and our shortcomings held up for inspection, we need to reflect on our practices and sunlight is a great disinfectant.

However when I read several hundred words in a major paper about nitrate levels in Hinds, Mid Canterbury, and see the author has interviewed only Dr Mike Joy and a recreational fisherman I do begin to wonder.

And when I read further and see no mention of ECan, no mention of farm environment plans or nitrogen baselines I begin to get suspicious.

And when I reach the end of the article and see the author seems unaware of the Hinds Managed Aquifer Recharge Scheme, the scheme that reduced groundwater nitrate levels by 75 per cent in six months, I have to conclude that his bias is showing.

As the saying goes, it’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.

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Fertigation appreciation from US trip In mid-September I was lucky enough to lead a study tour of irrigators and irrigation scheme and service industry representatives to Nebraska.

We received an extremely warm welcome and had the opportunity to visit the Rocky Mountains, cheer for the Cornhuskers College football team in a stadium of 90,000 fans and also visit the Husker Harvest Days – the world’s largest irrigated farm show – which was a real highlight.

We visited leading irrigators and several natural resource districts responsible for managing water. We also looked at the use of irrigation and fertigation at research sites and trial farms.

Nebraska has had a problem with high nitrate levels in groundwater but these are now reducing thanks to a number of actions. One of these is their recent adoption of fertigation.

Fertigation is now commonly used with centre pivot and linear move systems in Colorado and Nebraska.

It can deliver small amounts of nutrient to a crop on an

Andrew Curtis

WATER WORKS

‘as-and-when’ basis. Trials by the Irrigation Research Centre in Yuma, Colorado, and the University of Nebraska have shown that fertigation reduces the total amount of nitrogen that needs to be applied, while also providing a more consistent yield.

Environmentally, losses to the air through volatilisation (greenhouse gases) or through the soil (leaching and run-off) were also reduced. However, further research is needed to quantify the extent of these.

Exciting recent developments in fertigation include the release of new control technologies which allow for different fertiliser rates to be applied to a paddock through variable rate irrigation systems.

The spreading of fertiliser via centre pivots is expected to PHOTO ASHBURTON GUARDIAN reduce nitrate losses.

For fertigation to be successful the farmers, agronomists and researchers we met with all spoke about a mindset change being required from viewing equipment as irrigation systems to seeing it as an application system for applying water and nutrients.

So, what’s been holding NZ back from adopting fertigation techniques?

Firstly, there’s an urbanmyth that fertigation doesn’t apply nutrients evenly. This depends on the irrigation system’s distribution

uniformity. If the distribution uniformity is above 80 per cent then nutrients as well as water will be spread evenly. So systems need to be checked to ensure they are operating well before fertigation.

If fertigation is to become widespread in New Zealand we need to set standards to minimise environmental risks. Backflow prevention is a must. Fertigation pumps must also be interlocked with the irrigation pump to ensure they cut out if it unexpectedly stops. Installation equipment

also needs to be checked every couple of years to ensure it is operating correctly.

We also need a consistent supply of quality soluble or liquid fertiliser which fertiliser companies would need to take the lead on.

Lastly, we need support for farmers venturing into the fertigation field. This includes ‘101’ knowledge workshops and expert technical and agronomic support to help with troubleshooting and provide advice on the timing of nutrient applications.

Earlier this year, IrrigationNZ hosted a workshop on fertigation which drew attendees from across New Zealand and further afield. We are now developing a fertigation guide which will be released shortly, so we are already making progress.

None of the issues I have mentioned are particularly difficult to address if there is a will to look at how fertigation can be used to help improve environmental outcomes.

Andrew Curtis is chief executive officer of IrrigationNZ

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Dairy Focus

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Soil deficient in M. bovis infections The strongest evidence yet that mycoplasma bovis does not flourish in well-balanced soil conditions has been confirmed at farms that first tested positive for the cattle disease.

Farms belonging to the Van Leeuwen Dairy Group with 15,000 cows on a 4133 hectare milking platform in South Canterbury, first tested positive for M. bovis in July 2017, resulting in the culling of about 4000 cows.

The group was given the go-ahead to restock the affected farms after the compulsory stand-down period of 60 days but was warned by me the disease could reoccur if the conditions in which it thrived were not rectified.

I was originally called in to correct the pH in the van Leeuwen effluent ponds and suggested the soil should also be examined and any deficiencies found corrected to balance the whole farm system.

More than 100 soil tests were carried out across all van Leeuwen farms by Don

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David Law

Hart of Top Soils, and my hypothesis was confirmed.

We found increasing evidence that the farms that had tested positive for M. bovis all had the same characteristic – a low-pH soil, which is typically an imbalanced, minerallydepleted soil.

In contrast, the soil tests taken on the farms clear of the disease showed a healthy pH of 6.3 – soil conditions M. bovis doesn’t like.

This demonstrated a correlation between M. bovis being present in imbalanced soils, and absent in healthy soils.

The disease doesn’t live in the soil per se and we know it is spread from animal to animal through close contact

and bodily fluids, but, as an anaerobic bacterium, it generally only thrives in lowpH farm conditions.

As a result, the van Leeuwens have carried out short- and long-term plans to rebalance the conditions on the affected farms to reduce the likelihood of M. bovis returning.

In the short-term, they are rebalancing the cows’ rumens by fixing the mineral content of feed caused by imbalanced

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soil conditions. In the longer term, they are undertaking a soil re-balancing programme to lift the pH in the soil, creating an environment that prevents M. bovis from flourishing - a process estimated to take about six to 12 months.

For me it’s disappointing that I have gone to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) with these findings, but it has chosen not to recognise them.

MPI views M. bovis solely as a contagious disease and not a symptom of immune system deficiency or collapse prompted by a nutritional imbalance that can be remedied without the present trauma to farmers and animals.

Aad van Leeuwen agrees with me that it would be better if we were more openminded about the solution for farmers. Many thousands of cows that weren’t sick and which may have tested positive for the organism, but not necessarily the disease could have been saved.

So, we are still available to speak at discussion groups, where we can look at scenarios causing farmers’ anxiety, such as grazing young stock offfarm.

There are things that farmers can do right now to greatly reduce the risk of M. bovis flourishing on their farms and we are confident we can help.

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Health history more important Ministry officers are rejecting advice that farmers should avoid buying Canterbury cattle to reduce the risk of catching mycoplasma bovis.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said farmers should not worry about which area they bought cattle from and would be better to concentrate on the health history of animals.

This was after Dargaville Vets manager Brian Lowe told NZ Herald that truck and trailer loads of cattle were being brought from Canterbury to sell in Northland, because they were cheap to buy.

He said this should not be allowed as Canterbury had the largest number of infections for a region in the country.

The first confirmed case of M. bovis found in Northland earlier this month was revealed to be a beef property with the disease coming from young cattle originating from Canterbury after arriving via Waikato.

MPI said it was more important that farmers were satisfied about the health

Tim Cronshaw

RURAL REPORTER

history and origin farm when deciding whether to buy cattle, rather than worrying about the region where they were born or raised.

Buying cattle from an area with infected properties did not put farmers at higher risk of infecting their own property, MPI said in a statement.

“It’s important to remember that farmers whose properties are infected with or are suspected of being infected by M. bovis are in this position through no fault of their own.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, it is the result of historic animal movements many months before we even knew that M. bovis was in New Zealand, despite farmers having taken every possible

Cattle buyers are recommended to check the history of animals rather than being fixated by their regional source.

precaution.’’

Federated Farmers Mid Canterbury dairy chairman Chris Ford said singling out regions such as Canterbury and blocking animals at a border would provide no guarantees of avoiding the disease.

He said every farmer in the country needed to do their due diligence when buying stock and that included checking

PHOTO SUPPLIED

the property where animals were born in Animal Status Declaration (ASD) forms.

“The reason stock go up there [Northland] is because there is a shortage. It’s not a matter of stopping this, but doing your due diligence to do everything you can to check the health of the animals you are buying.’’

ASD forms provide buyers with information including

animal history and their birth of origin, feeding and vaccination details and their bovine tuberculosis status.

MPI said farmers affected by the outbreak were going through a difficult time and should reach out to their support networks.

Four new Canterbury farmers were confirmed last week with the disease, including a Mid Canterbury dry stock farm with about 750 cattle.

MPI said the increase was because the ministry was catching up on historic animal movements rather than the disease was spreading.

So far 71 properties have been confirmed infected with 34 of them since cleared.

Canterbury has 19 actively infected farms from its 35 confirmed properties.

So far $22.2 million has been paid out in compensation for farmers with 126 of 345 claims either completed or part payments made. About 37,500 cattle have been culled as part of the response to eradicate M. bovis.

10

Dairy Focus

www.guardianonline.co.nz

The high emotional cost of living wit Ashburton farmer Frank Peters knows all about the emotional strain of dealing with a dairy farm infected by mycoplasma bovis, writes Tim Cronshaw.

Frank Peters is used to dealing with the daily stress of farming.

Dairy farming comes with many challenges and the Ashburton farmer is no different from other farmers who develop a resilience to get through them.

But this ability to bend to farming’s many twists and turns never prepared him for the emotional stress of learning that his prized herd had been infected with mycoplasma bovis and then dealing with the heart breaking consequences.

Levelands Ltd, owned by Frank and wife Dianne and managed by their son and daughter-in-law, was tested for the cattle disease on March 29. About a fortnight later the results showed the single cow that sent them “to the wall’’ had the disease.

By the time the property is completely “depopulated’’ all 2000 of their cows and young stock will have been put to their death. The tragedy is that so far only a few more animals have been found with the disease.

Leading up to that first shock Peters was thinking of reducing his dairying workload and spending more time fishing. Mycoplasma bovis put paid to that.

For him one of the hardest aspects of dealing with the trauma was trying to help his family when he was struggling emotionally as much as them.

“I have never been as stressed. It’s not the financial stress because we have lived with that every day and it’s not daily stress because we deal with the weather and many other challenges. It’s the emotional stress.

“Emotional stress is losing a herd and your whole life’s work. You can’t put a value on that and money can’t fix it.

Consequently, you just have to live with it for the rest of your life.

“Money you can bank on, the weather will come right, but emotionally you can’t fix it. Hopefully time will heal it but it can never bring back a herd of 55 years in the making.’’

His father started the herd in 1964 and decades of breeding had refined it to a high performing operation.

The big holstein friesian cows had United States and Dutch bloodlines and the winter

Tim Cronshaw

RURAL REPORTER

milkers averaged 550-600 kilograms of milk solids a year and the spring calving cows 520-540kg under a high input feeding system.

That was lost when the main herd and young stock was despatched to the freezing works with the winter milkers to suffer the same fate.

Everyone deals with stress differently and anger, anxiety, black humour and talking to friends and family are some of the many coping mechanisms.

For Peters, curiously, the best relief for him has been talking about his plight, and the position of other farmers, through the media.

City folks probably first got an insight of the pain that farmers were feeling when he broke down in tears on national television. Watching his calves going on a oneway trip to the works, as television cameras rolled, was devastating.

But it was also therapeutic for the 58-year-old.

“For me the best outlet has been working with the press. I can articulate my feelings and I can try to help other people and that’s where I get pleasure - so I can try to make it better or not so bad for other people.

I don’t go to Wellington for me – I do it for everybody else so we can move forward.’’

Peters is among a group of about a dozen farmers that travels to the capital to meet with Ministry of Primary Industries leaders and officers to provide disease feedback.

He hopes the family will not be out of pocket from Government compensation for farmers hit by mycoplasma bovis but so many grey areas have him worried.

So far the Peters have received about $820,000 in mid-July for 720 cows from the spring-calving herd which were sent off the farm in May. They also received $380,000 for the meat value of them from meat processing companies among other compensation paid out. The

$100,000 killing charges of $100 to $200 per cow which was removed from their cheque by meat processing companies has also been reimbursed.

In addition, they are owed about $450,000 for young stock, including 180 calves and 200 rising two-year-olds.

While that sounds a lot, the new herd of 700 cows they bought cost them $1.75m plus another $300,000 was spent for another 160 cows to replace the 920 cows which were to be milked this spring.

Furthermore, the Peters have yet to claim for their winter milking herd or their many response costs.

By the time the full cost is tallied the compensation is likely to reach $3m.

Peters and his family appreciate this money comes from taxpayers. They only

want the promised “like-forlike’’ payment so they are neither worse or better off than before.

“Put it this way we won’t be over-compensated. We just want what’s fair.’’

There is no amount of money that can compensate farmers for the emotional strain they have gone through, he says.

His winter milking herd will be “depopulated’’ at Christmas.

Response costs will include moving feed, transporting cows and the cost of dividing the property into two farms, such as putting in new fencing and gates and installing yards at the run-off block they lease.

The winter herd has been enclosed at their 180ha Buckleys Road farm at Pendarves which has a 50 bale rotary milking shed and is still an infected property.

When the herd is culled there will be a 60-day stand-down period and the property will have to be disinfected.

Alongside it is the ChertseyKyle Road farm which is no longer infected and the Peters have already bought a herd for this property. A run-off block at Hakataramea Huts is leased and should come off a restricted property category later this month.

Peters will probably end up having one of the lowest response costs for an infected farm.

That’s because they avoided compensation for lost milk earnings as they have two milking sheds and can split their operation into two farms. Their spring herd was dried off before it was culled so there was no loss of earnings and they plan to do the same with their winter

www.guardianonline.co.nz

11

th an M. bovis infected farm

PHOTO ASHBURTON GUARDIAN

“

milking herd.

He is unlikely to be fully compensated for the loss of his genetics. Other grey areas include having to buy younger cows producing fewer milk solids, delayed GST payments and the breeding value of their former herd not being fully recognised.

Some of the grey areas are unlikely to be resolved until a season has passed, he says.

Compared with the previous output of 520 to 600kg per cow, the single replacement herd of 700 3-4-year-old cows they bought will be pushed to do 450kg. Each replacement cow cost $400 more and that will be another conversation with MPI. Peters did not want to buy small lines of 100 “left-over’’ cows and increase the risk of getting the disease again and put a deposit down in April for

a large herd but then ran into more bad luck.

“I tried to buy a like-for-like herd and thought I had done it perfectly but then that went bovis on me and we found we couldn’t buy it in June.

Finding another herd like that is like pulling teeth so we had to settle for the 700 which were totally different sized cows.’’

Market changes complicate the compensation process and heifer calf prices have increased to $1100 from the $850 value of his calves in June. The Peters will seek compensation for the difference.

They lost 180 calves during the culling, and have only bought 100 replacements so far.

After buying the 700 cows they got their hand slapped for breaching a 24 hour timeframe

to send the herd profile details to Nait staff for their records.

They explained the delay was because 29 animals were without approved animal identification tags and 180 of them had tags that didn’t manage the correct number.

The explanation was accepted, but the rules are unchanged.

Peters says ministry officers are doing their best, but there remains “big barbs’’ and some systems need good farmerpractical solutions.

It’s taken longer to get test results than before as more properties become infected.

Delays as long as 12-13 weeks are a reality for some farmers.

Working through the compensation process is the biggest headache for Peters. Farmers need a deep understanding of the system to do this, but the system and rules are ever-changing.

Peters has stepped up biosecurity on his farm to protect himself from further incursions and put a lot more thought into their operation.

In hindsight, he can see that some good has come from bad even if the balance is heavily weighted to the bad.

Today, he would not accept a fertiliser truck on his property that had come from farms without it being washed.

When a truck goes between their infected Buckleys Road farm to Chertsey-Kyle Road farm in accordance with rules its tyres and wheel arches are sprayed at entry and departure points and other vehicles receive the same treatment.

Peters says this takes little effort and removes a lot of risk.

Instead of re-infecting the clean Chertsey farm they have two tractors and two feed

Emotional stress is losing a herd and your whole life’s work.

You can’t put a value on that and money can’t fix it.

wagons at each operation. This has come at more expense, but they will be compensated by the Government as part of the disease response.

They have become more cautious farmers. The calves have been shifted to another block where their other son is based at Bankside. If they become spooked by noise or the wind dragging paper across a paddock there is no risk of them running through a fence to an infected area.

“Everything is a mind challenge at the moment and you are constantly working through scenarios in your head all the time. When Chertsey got revoked that was a bloody relief because it meant no more bloody permits.’’

That was a milestone because when farmers are on a notice of direction or restricted place notice they have to get a permit for any stock movement or any person or vehicle such as a fertiliser spreader entering the farm.

The extra paperwork is time consuming with each permit initially taking 10 to 14 days to process.

Nearly six months will pass before the Buckleys Road farm is declassified.

The winter herd will stay there until mid-December and after it is culled there will be a 60-day stand-down which includes the month-long cleaning and disinfecting of machinery and the dairy shed.

They’ve already bought a new winter milking herd of 400 cows from Taranaki and they are due to arrive on the run-off block in January before going to Buckleys Road farm in mid to late February to start calving on March 10-15. They will be joined by some “carry-over’’ empty cows from the Chertsey farm which will be milked through before getting back in calf.

Continued over page

12

Dairy Focus

www.guardianonline.co.nz from page 11

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While this might sound risky, Peters takes the view that they know the farm is clean and it’s not as hazardous as buying outside cows.

After the struggle of buying a younger herd of lower production the Peters are pleased the new herd matches their previous cows in milk output at about 550kg per cow.

“I managed to get like-forlike and they will perform for us like the others. There’s not a whole lot of winter herds in New Zealand so we are pleased it’s worked out.’’

Peters has yet to see a clinical case of an animal with the disease, but has seen overseas photographs and the sight is not pleasant.

He didn’t totally agree with the Government’s call to eradicate the disease, but accepts a decision had to be made one way or the other.

He believes the expected 10 per cent loss of milk production could have been reduced if the disease had been managed, based on overseas trends.

After decades of breeding Peters has decided to leave rebuilding the herd to his son

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and daughter-in-law.

Before the disease was confirmed the Peters had 2000 cows and young stock freely moving between the Buckleys Road and Chertsey-Kyle Road blocks and run-off block.

They calved twice a year with animals swapping from winter to spring calving and vice versa. Mycoplasma bovis put a stop to this and it will take a few years before they can truly return to that cycle.

At least he can see the end is in sight when they can return the farm to a single herd and run both blocks together.

When the disease was first discovered on their property he would talk to the MPI incident manager daily and see him twice a week. Now he only sees him once a week.

That said, they will likely still be dealing with him through to next March.

After learning his herd had tested positive for the disease Peters informed every farmer who received stock from him and only one neighbour was upset. Their reaction was supportive and there was no “blame game’’ despite half of them having their herds depopulated and the rest waiting for their test results.

MPI has yet to confirm the source of the infection on the

13

Peters’ farm even though they have operated a closed herd with no outside bloodlines the past three years.

Peters could be forgiven for bearing a grudge on the person who introduced the disease to New Zealand.

“Who do I bear a grudge to and why would I? If they did it knowingly and that has yet to be found out I wouldn’t be particularly happy, but there is still several ways it could have arrived. We have our suspicions, but until we can verify it there is no point saying it, at least publicly.’’

Living with mycoplasma bovis is not for the fainthearted. In reality there is no silver lining except for knowing that there is life after the disease.

“I think we will have a celebration when it’s all over and with us will be some of the AsureQuality and MPI people because over time you do strike a relationship with people.’’

Top right (from left) Andrew Falloon, Frank Peters, Nathan Guy. Bottom right (from left) Frank Peters, Angela Cushnie.

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M. bovis ends long show run Tim Cronshaw

RURAL REPORTER

The Gilbert family is leaning towards not showing their jersey and holstein cattle at Canterbury’s A&P show for the first time in about 50 years because of the threat of mycoplasma bovis.

Rather than putting 100plus years of jersey bloodlines at risk from the cattle disease, the Mid Canterbury family is considering giving cattle showing a miss.

Their final decision might come down to how many dairy breeders commit to cattle exhibiting.

“We love showing and it’s sort of our passion, but at the end of the day if you don’t have any cows because you have to kill them then we can’t show them,’’ said Nick Gilbert, who runs the family’s Snowfed Farm. “We might be best to leave it for a year or two but we hope it doesn’t stop cattle showing.’’

Other dairy cattle breeders have decided to pull out of showing because of the risk of losing their herd – culling cattle is part of the Government’s decision to eradicate the disease.

Organisers of the Christchurch event, rebranded New Zealand Agricultural Show and to be held in November, have decided to continue cattle showing as school calf days and other events fold to the threat of the cattle disease. The cattle showing section will be cancelled at the Ashburton A&P Show and South Island and Hawke’s Bay cattle were

The Gilberts have yet to commit to showing their jersey and holstein cows at Canterbury’s A&P show.

barred at the New Zealand Dairy Event (NZDE) at Feilding last January.

Only calves will be banned from the Christchurch show, otherwise cattle entries are being accepted.

The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has approved systems put in place by organisers to reduce disease risks inside and outside of the show ring. The bacterial disease needs lengthy exposure between animals to spread.

Gilbert said his great, great grandfather had started the jersey stud in 1900 and the family still had cow family

members originating from the bloodlines.

He said there was “no amount’’ of compensation which could recover their loss and there was little point in showing if there were only a few breeders exhibiting cattle.

Snowfed had tested negative for the disease and he wanted to keep it that way, he said.

His parents Peter and Anne own Snowfed farm, which he runs at Winchmore, and Glenalla at Rakaia, run by his brother Michael. Brother Luke also works at the farms.

Event director Geoff Bone said a lot of effort had been

put in by the cattle committee, exhibitors and MPI to introduce updated biosecurity protocols.

“We are confident that our newly updated processes will allow for an added layer of security, whilst not impacting on the experience and workload of our exhibitors too heavily.’’

Although calves are banned, junior exhibitors will be able to show yearlings.

In the show ring exhibitors will have two metres separating them from other cattle. Staff numbers will increase to monitor cattle

PHOTO ASHBURTON GUARDIAN

arrivals and their paperwork and on top of daily cleaning of the cattle pavilion. Empty pens will separate different breeds.

Cows in the dairy section will be accommodated in portable horse boxes.

A MPI spokesman said MPI had worked with the Canterbury A&P Association to develop processes to assist in the safe and successful running of the event.

The Royal A&P Show, hosted by Hawkes Bay, has also made the decision to continue with its cattle section.

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16

Dairy Focus

www.guardianonline.co.nz

MATING FEATURE

Demand for A2 dairy sires Farmer demand for A2 dairy bulls for the upcoming mating season is at record levels according to the marketing arm of the largest dairy farmer-owned AB company in the world.

Craig Roberson, genetics product manager for World Wide Sires NZ, said the company markets genetics from US farmer owned cooperative Select Sires.

“Select Sires is, by volume of semen sold, the largest AB company in the world with more than 20 million straws sold each year to every dairy nation around the globe.

“Until this year – and Fonterra’s announcement encouraging farmers to consider breeding their herds to A2 – we had a moderate and growing demand for elite sires which were A2, in addition to the traits farmers want (fertility, easy calving, high components and moderate size).

“However, after Fonterra’s incentive to change, demand has increased to record levels.”

Craig Robertson said the World Wide Sires’ A2 team

is believed to be one of the largest in the world with 311 A2 sires across all breeds (but predominantly Holstein Friesian and Jersey) available to New Zealand farmers.

“It means we can cater to

PREGNANCIES AND FERTILITY DRIVE PROFITABILITY ON FARM.

whatever farmers want to focus on – bulls strong across all traits or with emphasis on a few; there are simply no tradeoffs for going A2.”

World Wide Sires General Manager Hank Lina and Genetic Products Manager Craig Robertson. Big decisions are made easier out in the paddock looking at cows and grass.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

Advertising feature

World Wide Sires recognizes the importance of Sire Conception Rate (SCR) and the impact it can have on our customers’ breeding programs.

We deliver industry-leading fertility with the highest average SCR; and more active sires over +1.0, +2.0 and +3.0 SCR than any other global AI company.

What are the Sire Conception Rates for the sires you are using this spring?

Sire Conception Rate (SCR) measures the fertility of all bulls, foreign and domestic, who have been used on the U.S. dairy cattle population. It utilizes pregnancy data confirmed by veterinarians and is independently analyzed by CDCB, the same organization that creates the U.S. sire summaries.

www.guardianonline.co.nz

MATING FEATURE

Dairy beef on the rise

Changing the way we farm

Dairy Beef is a growing part of the dairy industry.

With pressure on farmers to reduce bobbie calf numbers and increase efficiency in their farming, many dairy farmers are turning to Dairy Beef to make better use of every calf.

It is no secret, the way we are farming is rapidly evolving. The ability to effectively and accurately monitor our herds 24/7 is giving us the ability to ensure we minimise down time as well as increase efficiency in areas such as conception rates.

So what do these systems look like and what experiences are farmers having using these systems?

Earlier this year Abe de Wolde installed the CowManager system into 1700 cows.

CowManager uses a non-invasive ear sensor that monitors the cows temperature, movement and eating patterns. The system then relays the information to the farmer’s smart phone via a series of routers and alerts farmers to any irregularities and issues.

De Wolde says that “So far the biggest benefit has been to spot health problems early.

“Last autumn we had some problems introducing a herd onto fodder beet and CowManager alerted us before we saw big problems ourselves (Acidosis)”. de Wolde also notes that the system is continuing to notify them to health issues prior to visible signs: “this week we had a cow that was not eating enough, we

Dairy Beef being a large portion of the New Zealand prime beef sector, it is essential to focus on the grower as well as the benefits for the beef farmer.

As one of the leading genetics companies, Samen NZ aims to provide a range of breeds that focus on aspects important to all those contributing, an easy care, economic and high-quality end product.

Selecting for traits such as calving ease, birthweight, colour marking but also ease of care, growth rates and high value meat.

Samen NZ has introduced Pure Black Hereford that is homozygous polled, guaranteed to throw a black whiteface calf from crossbreed, Ayrshire and red factor cows.

This removes the lower value red calves otherwise produced from the cows.

Belgian Blue is the preferred breed of European Dairy farmers, selected

for its colour marking and through decades of selection it is now one of the shortest gestation beef breeds in the world.

Samen NZ offers low birthweight, easy calving bulls with proven 270274 days gestation.

Samen NZ, StockCo, Alliance and PGW as a joint venture are providing contracts for guaranteed market and high returns for Red Wagyu calves.

Red Wagyu has been selected as it is a more suited strain of Wagyu for New Zealand pasture systems.

Better birthweights, easy rearing (reaching target weaning weights quicker than the Black Wagyu).

Earlier maturing contributes to an earlier onset of marbling on pasture.

Advertising feature

inspected her and found out that she has a displaced abomasum.” De Wolde says the issue was not visible and without CowManager they wouldn’t have picked it up till the cow was skinny and off milk.

So far de Wolde is very happy with the system and believes the biggest benefits will come with the improvements in the mating results this mating season, (de Wolde’s first mating season with the system).

Abe de Wolde is convinced that the majority of herds will have systems like CowManager in place within five years.

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17

Contact Jared to find out about our Seeing is Believing Trial, and have CowManager installed for just $3000, t’s & c’s apply

Jared Bekhuis

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www.guardianonline.co.nz

MATING FEATURE

19

Taking the guesswork out of mating When Nigel Hicks purchased the Heatime Pro+ monitoring system by Allflex, he was looking to improve his heat detection accuracy. After having the system in place for 12 months, Nigel sees the real value of the system in overall cow health monitoring.

“To see the health information of an individual cow and overall herd monitoring – that’s what drives everything else. So if you can get that right, mating is just a by-product of that, he explains.

Nigel is 50:50 sharemilking on his parents dairy farm in the Waikite Valley in the Bay of Plenty. He currently milks 540 cows and is focused on reducing debt and the liability on the herd.

His strategy is simple; improving cow health should lead to higher pregnancy rates, increased production, more efficient feed utilisation and essentially, more money dropping out the bottom.

“Healthy cows drive everything, so we should see most things increase.”

Nigel admits that understanding the technology itself was pretty simple, but the software side of the system is pretty complex.

“I’ve had a number of trainings with Meg (Centre for Dairy Excellence) and she is only a phone call away.

It will do everything MINDA can do and more as far as groups go, it’s just a matter of getting your head around it,” he explains.

The main emphasis at the moment is transition feeding going into calving. It’s the big driver for Nigel this season and Heatime Pro+ allows him to monitor rumination routines for individual cows and as a complete herd.

“We are trying to start different feed groups,” he explains, “a bit of maize will be going in and we can tell if it’s going in too fast. We used to go from nothing to about 6kg in a week and think ‘that’ll be right’ but it’s not even close. Now we wait up to three weeks before going to full maize feeding. It’ll be a benefit to the cow and for us in the long run.”

Before the system was in place, Nigel used the scales on the wagon and observation to monitor nutrition and ration changes.

He quickly established that this is essentially a ‘guess in the dark’ compared to Heatime Pro+ data, and half a kilo of maize either way can make a lot of difference to their rumination graph.

Mating was the main focus

in year one with the collars.

Nigel had the best submission percentage he’d ever had with 97 per cent.

However, he soon realised how valuable the Heatime Pro+ system was when his empty rate was also very high.

“The technology and collars did their job, they provided me with the insight to understand why the empty rate was so bad and combined with my knowledge of the feed rates

“

believes he’s in a more costeffective position.

The farm’s previous mating process consisted of two rounds of KAMAR heat detectors and a final follow up of tail paint if required.

Now, the system provides a daily heat graph and the whole process is run by data from each individual cow.

“The time we used to spend drafting cows and putting new KAMARS on is gone. It has

graphs.

“We had a bit of ketosis and sub-clinical stuff last season, the collars made it easier to identify and sort out quickly.

“We’ve also put the theory up this year around colostrum cows; they need to be back up to 80 per cent rumination post-calving to enter the main herd.

“It’ll be interesting to see the difference from the

For me cow health is where the real value is. It makes decisions easier and it’s black and white – there is no grey

and seasonal challenges, I could see from the dates that a feed pinch and weather conditions caused a number of losses in mid-pregnancy.”

Nigel admits he couldn’t have done such detailed analysis before the system was in place, and it has also enabled him to remove bulls from mating this year.

He has made the move to full AI and got true conception rates with PD dates.

“We’ve nailed it a bit better, we are getting better data out of the whole PD side of things.”

He hasn’t run the numbers on the straws yet as the full move to AI would bring these costs up anyway, but without the need for a bull, Nigel

made mating a non-event.

We just milk and they turn up in the pen for us, it’s not an issue. I used to get sick of picking cows after 10 days and by week five you’d just had a complete gutsful of it.

But this year we did nine and a half weeks of mating and it felt like nothing.”

This simplicity is also the case for cow wellness and disease. It was originally a pure observation process, if cows started to show signs of illness then there would be intervention.

With Heatime Pro+ Nigel is able to identify issues much earlier and monitor whether the treatment is actually working, based on data provided on rumination

standard four-day rule.”

When doing his initial research, Nigel looked at competitor systems as well.

He found that Heatime Pro+ was going to give him the most information out of the collars themselves and work in with his Protrack automatic gates.

“For me cow health is where the real value is. It makes decisions easier and it’s black and white – there is no grey.

For example, during mating it was ‘she could be on, could be not’ now it is a straight heat or not, easy as that.”

Supplied by Allflex Livestock Intelligence www.allflex.co.nz Advertising feature

Nigel Hicks and his dairy herd, wearing Allflex Heatime Pro+ monitoring collars.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

20

Dairy Focus

www.guardianonline.co.nz

Amping up competitive advantage Fonterra is about to tap into some of its best brains by letting workers spend up to a third of their time on projects outside their day jobs.

The co-operative’s new ‘amp’, short for amplify, initiative uses a gig-economy type approach with employees encouraged to work on internal projects outside their normal role, based on their individual skills or areas of interest.

Velocity and innovation chief operating officer Judith Swales said the amp initiative would support the career development of Fonterra’s people and give the co-operative a competitive advantage by harnessing the “enormous breadth’’ of skills across its workforce.

“It’s about amplifying the potential of our co-op through the talent of our people,’’ she said. “With amp, our people have the chance to upskill and work on something completely different to their day jobs across areas where they either have a special interest or a particular skill.”

In a gig economy companies

Employees use the web-based app ‘amp’ to find internal projects matching their skills, interest or experience, which they can then work on outside their day jobs.

usually contract outside workers and temporary positions are common. In Fonterra’s case its employees will do the work.

The co-operative’s employees can build a profile

on a web-based app and match their experience and expertise to listings of internal projects.

Similar programmes run internationally by companies such as Google and 3M improved careers and led to

new innovations with 3M’s programme developing the Post-it note.

“As far as we know, Fonterra is the only organisation in New Zealand actively exploring this unique and

innovative approach to driving employee satisfaction,” said Swales.

In a pilot programme, amp was used for projects such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, virtual bakery stores in Asia and sustainability initiatives. Amp is now available to all 22,000 employees across the globe.

Fonterra found that worker participation lifted during the pilot and innovative ideas were brought on by bringing diverse groups together. In return workers have developed new career paths.

“It doesn’t matter where you work, how you work or what level you’re at – amp is about giving every employee the flexibility to expand their careers,’’ said Swales. “It might be a few hours, days or weeks spent on a project outside of their current role, which helps to develop their skills and network.”

Last year, the co-op won a Deloitte award for its other internal programme Disrupt, which allows employees to pitch new business ideas to the chief executive.

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21

Seven stand for DairyNZ board A position on DairyNZ’s board of directors has attracted seven dairy farmer candidates.

Levy-paying farmers will vote from October 1 for their preferred candidate to represent dairying’s industrygood organisation.

“

We encourage levy paying dairy farmers to look out for the vote pack in the mail from early October, and to take the time to learn more about the candidates and cast their vote.

The successful candidate will play a key role in supporting the governance and leadership of DairyNZ. Electionz.com returning officer Anthony Morton said farmers would have until October 30 to cast their vote.

“This election provides dairy farmers with a chance to vote for the candidates they feel will provide the leadership and direction they’d like to see on the DairyNZ board.

“So we encourage levy paying dairy farmers to look out for the vote pack in the mail from early October, and to take the time to learn more about the candidates and cast their vote.”

The director candidates are Steve Atkinson from Wardville, Tim Barrett New Plymouth, Tracy Brown

Among the seven dairy farmer candidates is Jacqueline Rowarth.

Matamata, Greg Mitchell, Napier, Mike Montgomerie Cambridge, Andrew Robb Greymouth and Jacqueline Rowarth of Tirau.

Robb is the sole South Islander to stand for the board.

Rowarth stood down from her role as chief scientist of the Environmental Protection Authority in February to take up an education role and was formerly a professor of agribusiness at the University of Waikato.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

DairyNZ’s board consists of five farmer-elected directors and three board-appointed directors. This year’s farmerelected director role is vacant.

The second election was for DairyNZ’s Directors’ Remuneration Committee and

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only one nomination has been received for this position, so no election will be held.

The successful candidates for the board and remuneration committee will be announced at the annual meeting in Invercargill on October 31.

22

Dairy Focus

www.guardianonline.co.nz

PASTURE MANAGEMENT FEATURE

Nutrient management using a cow-centred approach

Emily House (BEarthSc Hon) Nutrient Management Advisor Canterbury.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

Nutrient leaching targets can be seen as onerous and limiting to production, however they often come with unrealised benefits to animal health.

Considering animal requirements first can positively impact nutrient management on your farm.

The perfect example is phosphorus. Excessive pasture phosphorus levels (>0.4 per cent DM) increase milk fever risk.

To manage this risk, you can measure and control the herbage phosphorus levels through your fertiliser policy.

This allows you to maintain soil P levels within a range that is optimal for both pasture growth and animal health.

An added benefit is that you reduce P leaching and run-off risk.

Let’s take a look at sulphur.

Excessive sulphur in your pastures will reduce palatability and herd intakes (affecting production) and can induce copper deficiency.

Sulphur is commonly added as fertiliser in the sulphate form (via

superphosphate) at higher rates than are necessary.

Sulphate sulphur is immediately available to the plant from soil solution, with luxury uptake shortly after application.

From the perspective of the plant this is great, but we know there are animal health risks.

Once again, if we match sulphur inputs to meet plant AND animal requirements, we will reduce animal health risk and save money on fertiliser.

We need to pay more attention.

If we consider animal needs from the start, we end up with a more sustainable system.

We take care of animal health and welfare, the plants and soils that feed them, and by extension, the environment they are farmed in.

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www.guardianonline.co.nz

PASTURE MANAGEMENT FEATURE

23

Focus on nutritional products Chengeta Crop Care is a New Zealand owned business whose members have been involved in agriculture, farming and commercial trading in both the animal feed and fertiliser areas for several generations.

Agriculture is changing rapidly, and Chengeta Crop Care continues to focus on nutritional products that bring efficiency and innovation into crop cultivation with the awareness of the effects fertilisers are having on health and the environment.

Chengeta’s product ranges provide a comprehensive range of predominately liquid fertilisers formulated with key additives providing balanced nutrients for improved pasture and animal production.

Chengeta’s fertilisation philosophy encompasses a balanced approach, utilising the combined application of liquid and dry products which is more likely to give a better

result than either method on their own. Chengeta’s products are predominantly liquid formulations facilitating foliar applications.

The little and often approach, using the right products when soils are cold, leads to better efficiency, utilisation with the aim to minimise leaching and in turn damage to the environment.

Chengeta provides a comprehensive range of liquid nitrogen fertilizers and our Multi Element NPK Fertilisers, the Reaction Range, providing a range of specially formulated NPK mixes for pastures, containing all the key trace elements for plant and animal health.

Chengeta’s research has focused on demonstrating the efficiency of the Reaction Range Liquid Nitrogen Fertilisers. Being UAN based, containing two forms of N (Urea and Ammonium Nitrate) provides rapid and sustained uptake.

The key issue in pasture production is reducing N or achieving more production per unit of N and the cost

effectiveness per ton of dry matter.

Independent research done

by Ag Research has proven that Chengeta’s nitrogen products have superior efficiency characteristics.

For example, Rapid N (27 per cent N + P, Zn, seaweed, regulator) was proven to be four times more efficient than urea per unit of N and having a superior uptake in the first grazing after application, whilst providing grass with equivalent or better quality characteristics then urea fed grass.

Compared to urea, the use of our Fertigate N gave 49 per cent more production, at a 38 per cent reduction in cost with the dry matter increase per unit of N being over 1000 per cent.

These benefits are continued through the remainder of our Reaction Range, Seaweed N, Gibb N, Rapid NPS to name but a few.

Specific products have been designed and developed, such as Super Sulphur to provide this key macro element, and Super Seaweed, Omnigibb,

K-Humate and Nutri-Kelp to provide Biostimulants in the form of seaweed, gibberellic acid, humate and kelp respectfully. These play a key role in efficient plant nutrition whilst considering the environmental impact.

Chengeta’s Nutri- Range complements the Reaction Range by providing a full spectrum of chelated and nonchelated trace elements, ideal for all forms of crop, tree and pasture farming.

This ensures that there are tools available to compile and deliver a complete balanced nutritional crop programme.

For handling the all important crop requirement for boron, Chengeta also supplies GreenBor™ a granular calcium/magnesium borate that facilitates a continuous boron release into the soil.

Not forgetting animal health, Chengeta has formulated Qualigrass a pasture applied foliar application designed to provide nitrogen for spring growth, thus assisting with pre-calving difficulties, by lifting copper, selenium and iodine levels in pasture

REACTION

Advertising feature

RAPID NPS

32-0-0+(S)W/V

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More than just Liquid N.

Reaction Rapid NPS is Nitrogen Phosphate and Sulphur combined in the most available forms to overcome cold soils and poor uptake in early summer.

Efficient low volume application of Nitrogen

Effects of Cold Soil Temperatures:

• Added Sulphur

It’s well known that Nitrogen conversion and Phosphate availability are reduced in cold soil conditions. At current temperatures only 14% of Nitrogen from Urea will be available in 2 weeks. There will be similar effects on Phosphate.

• Two forms of N: instant release and slower release (for better plant stimulation) • Safener added to reduce the possibility of burn while using low volume application rates.

Foliar Apply for Immediate Uptake:

Trials show foliar applied UAN can be 4 times more efficient than soil applied N. Foliar applied P can be up to 20 times more efficient than soil applied.

• Ideal for ground and aerial applications at low volume

Long term mean monthly soil temperature (in ˚C at 10cm depth)

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Fertigate N Trail Dry Matter (Kg/ha)

GROUND APPLICATION:

Control

Horrie 021 663 872 George 021 0219 8323 Kristin 027 560 1443

REACTION

FERTIGATE N

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resulting in increased magnesium levels (implicated as the main culprit causing grass staggers) and providing higher quality grass.

Being rich in anionic salts, results in improved DCAD ratio of the pasture which helps the cow mobilise bone calcium with the objective of reducing the risk of milk fever.

Tracemol and TopTrace Dairy, are livestock supplements formulated to provide a range of minerals and vitamins essential for healthy growth and optimum production.

Both contain a unique formulation of minerals, trace elements, electrolytes, protein, carbohydrates and vitamins blended into a rich palatable seaweed base.

For additional information please visit www.chengeta. co.nz alternatively contact our agents to discuss your requirements in person.

2920

Urea

4365

Fertigate N:

10 - 25 L/Ha

AERIAL APPLICATION: FERTIGATE N

Horrie Burgess: 021 663 872 George Freeman: 021 021 98323 Kristin Perrie: 027 560 1443

12 - 15 Fertigate N: 10 - 35 Water 1 Safener: Tot. Application: 25 - 50

L/Ha L/Ha L/Ha L/Ha

Molesworth Lincoln Winchmore Adair Palmerston Gore Winton

Apr

7.2 10.1 10.1 10.3 9.4 9.5 9.2

APPLICATION RATES:

May

Rapid NPS: 12 - 20 L/Ha Water: 200 L/Ha

CARE IN ALL WE DO

3.4 7.5 6.4 6.9 6.0 6.2 6.3

Jun 0.8 4.6 3.6 4.0 3.1 3.4 3.6

Jul

-0.1 3.9 2.8 3.2 2.9 3.3 3.1

Aug 1.0 5.1 3.9 4.4 4.0 3.6 4.1

Sep 3.6 7.5 6.7 7.1 6.4 6.1 6.2

Oct

7.6 10.7 10.2 10.4 9.3 8.1 8.6

% Nitrification of Fertilizer NH4-N to NO3-N Soil Temp.

2 wks

4 wks

8 wks

5˚C 10˚C 15˚C

6 14 51

12 27 100

25 55 100

Chengeta Crop Care

www.chengeta.co.nz

Not all lime is created equal Lime quality can vary by up to 30% from one supplier to another, creating unnecessary expense for less results.

It is essential that you know the quality of the lime going onto your ground, and you need to trust the information you are being given. If you’re keen to know about the lime you are using, get on the phone to your Aglime supplier and ask to see recent results from a New Zealand IANZ accredited independent lab. If you get given a test or advice suggesting over 100% LE on an as delivered basis (or even near 100%) we would strongly recommend you seek some advice before taking that as gospel. Why? Quite simply, if the results show a percentage that high, the testing methodology has failed, it is being incorrectly reported or the results are fabricated.

We’ve been in the lime industry for a very long time and we pride ourselves on producing a consistent, high quality product and we use independent IANZ accredited labs that specialize in fertilizer testing to regularly test our products.

Reporting our quality honestly is key, as it’s this information that a customer can use to understand how much lime they need to apply and when the pH change will be achieved.

As you would expect, we know a lot about the science behind lime and the ways in which its quality can be tested, and recent claims by competitors have, quite simply, got us shaking our heads!

For comparison, here is our test results Wet LE

H2O

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0.8%

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41.7%

To see the results for yourself, get in touch today for a quote: 0800 303 980 • www.vlime.co.nz

The benefits of Victory AgLime: • Stimulates soil biology • Maximizes crop yields • Minimizes the use of costly fertilizers • Is a consistent, proven, high quality product • Quality tested by IANZ accredited labs • A range of different quantities available.

For further information, copies of test results, or to enquire about our products, get in touch with our friendly team today.

www.guardianonline.co.nz

PASTURE MANAGEMENT FEATURE

25

New fodder beet herbicide range Canterbury/West Coast territory manager for Orion AgriScience, Nick George is pleased to introduce their latest offer to New Zealand farmers.

The latest offer is a robust herbicide range for fodder beet weed control centred around four key products of which three are new to Orion AgriScience this spring, including Beetron® PM which is completely to the FB new Range Ad-2_15x18cm-print.pdf 1 New Zealand market.

Nick explains that this fodder beet herbicide range aims to provide end users with the ability to better tailor the grower. One example illustrating the benefit of recommendations to specific this strategy is if annual situations while maintaining grasses are a significant target the option of using weed; our range provides standard programmes and the ability to simply adapt recommendations if required. the ethofumesate rate to To achieve this we have specifically target certain kept ethofumesate out of our grass species and population formulations and retained it densities. as a standalone product called We have also chosen to Claw™. run with liquid formulations By setting up our portfolio this way we have more control for their superior mixing, measuring and performance over the recommendation abilities in the field. which has the potential to Using the principles provide better results and above we have developed the better economic returns for

14/9/18

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when mixed with Claw™ it is following formulations to comparative to Beetrix®. complete our range: Beetall™ PD 5L & 10L Mighty® 10L (700g/L (160g/L phenmedipham metamitron) – a superior and 160g/L desmedipham) suspension concentrate which – this is a modern suspois user friendly and was emulsion formulation and was proven in the field during the successfully trialled during the 2017 season. A comparative 2017 season. product is Goltix® Flo. A comparative product is Beetron® PM 10L Rifle® or Betanal® Forte.

(100g/L phenmedipham and When mixed with Claw™ and 300g/L metamitron) - this Mighty® it is comparative to is a suspension concentrate successfully trialled during the Betanal® Quattro.

Claw™ 20L (500g/L 2017 season. ethofumesate) – this is a This is a unique product in Range Ad-2_15x18cm-print.pdf 1 14/9/18 11:01 AM suspension concentrate the NewFBZealand market and

and has been in the market place for many years now.

Ethofumesate is the base herbicide for pre/post emergent weed control and enhances the activity of metamitron, phenmedipham and desmedipham (key actives in the chemicals above).

Orion AgriScience also offer Ambush® (pirimiphos methyl and permethrin) and Chlor P™ (chlorpyrofos) which are key insecticides that can be added to the herbicides above.

For further information please see our website www.orionagriscience.co.nz or phone 0800 674 6627. ™ Claw, Beetall, Chlor-P are trademarks of Orion AgriSciene Ltd. ®Mighty, Beetron, Ambush are registered trademarks of Orion AgriSciene Ltd. ®Goltix, Rifle are registered trademarks of an ADAMA Group of Company ®Beetrix is a Registered trademark of Lonza NZ Limited ®Betanal is a registered trademark of the Bayer Group

New Fodder Beet Herbicide Range

FB Range Ad-2_15x18cm-print.pdf

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For more information contact Orion AgriScience Ltd. Freephone: 0800 674 6627

26

Dairy Focus

www.guardianonline.co.nz

Getting to root cause of lameness Fred Hoekstra

VEEHOF DAIRY SERVICES

I have come across the comment a few times that people are confused about the advice they are getting regarding lameness.

There are contradicting messages going around from professionals about the causes of lameness, especially when it comes to tracks. It has come to my attention that people hear me saying that I don’t believe that tracks cause lameness, and I thought it was important to clarify my position.

I know that tracks are an important factor to consider in minimising lameness and I don’t believe that stones have much to do with lameness they are only an issue when they get stuck between the claws.

To say that stones haven’t got much to do with lameness is quite different from saying that tracks haven’t got much to do with lameness.

It is not the stones on tracks that are the culprit but more the stress factors that are caused by tracks with issues like slippery surfaces and extended time spent on tracks, and therefore out of the paddock.

Physical force is certainly an issue for cows, but only if the hooves are unhealthy. If the hooves are unhealthy it is not the stones that cause the problem but a constantly overloaded outer claw. So, the key to minimising lameness is to get to the root of the problem and make sure the hooves are kept as healthy as possible.

Look at it this way: Imagine you own a tractor and the engine gets regularly overheated. Your way to solve the problem is by ensuring that you don’t use the tractor for long periods at a time and you also only half fill your feed-out wagon to make lighter work for your tractor.

Farmers need to keep their cows’ hooves healthy on and off the farm track.

You have done this now for years and because of it you have managed to not damage the engine and your tractor is still going as strong as the day you bought it. If you think about this scenario, what is your thought process?

Would you just accept the fact that overheating is normal, and we just need to make life easy for your tractor even though the tractor has plenty of horse-power or would you expect that there was something wrong with

the tractor?

If the cooling fluid is low and you fill that up to the required level, then your tractor can do the work it is made for easily and you can use the tractor all-day long.

In the same sort of way cows, hooves are made for the job they are doing. I have not been shown any reason to believe that the hooves are too weak for the job, even when we farm our cows in an unnatural environment.

Hooves adapt to changes in

PHOTO SUPPLIED

their environment and you can see that clearly when hooves grow thick, the result of it is the height difference between the inner and outer claw.

So, if cows go lame then I need to look at what is going wrong for the cow. Why can’t she handle the environment?

There will be things that are causing problems for the cow such as diet and stress.

So, for me, stones are not a consideration but tracks certainly are when considering causes of lameness.

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www.guardianonline.co.nz

27

You can’t control the weather.

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Bad weather, busy schedules and other unforeseen issues can delay spraying. And in farming, delays are always stressful.

Alleviate the pressure with Adama’s fodder beet programme. Designed to be as flexible as it is safe, it offers a range of solutions for a wide spectrum of weeds, growth stage and weed pressure.

Thanks to GOLTIX®, GOLTIX UNO, ETHOSAT® and RIFLE® you’ll be able to adjust your approach as and when you need to, staying on top of weeds regardless of what else is going on.

Take control! Specify Adama when purchasing your fodder beet products.

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29

Mozzarella puts Timaru on world map

Mozzarella cheese production is on the rise at Calndeboye.

Timaru is fast becoming the pizza capital of New Zealand at least in the cheese department as the Southern Hemisphere’s largest producer of natural mozzarella cheese.

Fonterra’s Clandeboye site fired up its third new mozzarella line on September 4 and now produces enough of the cheese to top more than half a billion pizzas a year.

The cheese is made in hours rather than the months it takes for traditional mozzarella to be made.

Mozzarella, made with a secret recipe, goes on top of pizzas around the world. The co-operative’s cheese can be found on about 50 per cent of pizzas in China which is one of the fastest growing pizza markets in the world.

Fonterra global operations chief operating officer Robert Spurway said the new plant was a good example of the co-operative’s ambition to move more milk into value add products.

“We’re focused on getting more value from every drop

of our farmers’ milk. With the opening of this new mozzarella plant and recent expansion of our Darfield site, we’re able to produce even higher returning products.’’

The new plant will double the site’s production of mozzarella. Fonterra

“

We’re focused on getting more value from every drop of our farmers’ milk

sees growth in the pizza ingredient as more people globally dine out rather than eat at home.

The global foodservice market is predicted to be worth $US3 trillion by 2021.

The co-operative’s foodservice business, Anchor Food Professionals, is experiencing strong growth and the expanded site was expected to support the growth. Research company Euromonitor said demand for

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Western food in China helped pizza sales more than double from $US1.5 billion in 2010 to $US3.5 billion in 2015.

Meanwhile, Kiwis were able to buy Anchor Protein+ flavoured milk for the first time when it hit New Zealand shelves this month.

Unlike most flavoured milk

drinks, the beverage contains no added sugar.

Fonterra’s technologists spent two years developing the product which comes in vanilla, chocolate and mixed berry flavours.

It is the third in a string of beverages released by Fonterra recently with a focus on sugar reduction.

The new Primo and Mammoth flavoured milks both contain 40 per cent less added sugar.

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Dairy Focus

Employee housing Where a farm worker lives has a huge impact on how happy and secure they feel.

Industry good organisation DairyNZ says warm, safe and dry homes help keep an employee and their family in good health.

Plenty of space, good quality fittings and fixtures, appliances that work and aesthetically appealing houses make a good home.

Farm owners are advised to walk through the accommodation and consider what needs improving or replacing to ensure it is warm, safe and dry. The accommodation must be at a standard in line with the Residential Tenancy Act and the Health and Safety Act. Improvements might include paint, a deck, a new oven or a place to put wet weather gear, budget-permitting.

When a new employee moves in he or she and the owners should sign a tenancy agreement which may be in the employment agreement. This process should include you both detailing and agreeing the condition of each room of the house and the grounds to prevent dispute later.

Take note of any improvements to the property they suggest and see if you are able to complete them. It is likely you will be repaid by a more motivated employee.

Remember to ensure the accommodation is in a good state and ready for a new employee.

Complete regular reviews of the state of the house and clearly outline from the start what maintenance of the property is required, such as lawns mown every two weeks.

Accommodation owners must give notice 48 hours before entering the property unless there are extenuating circumstances.

Accommodation is often

incorporated into the Total Package Value or total earnings for staff as part of the terms and conditions of employment.

To fulfil IRD requirements employers can either: • Take the rent out of the person’s wages after tax has been paid. Note that the provision of accommodation is a taxable benefit so it is liable for PAYE. • Pay an accommodation allowance (which covers the value of the accommodation) within an employee’s wages and then deduct the rent back from the employee once tax has

www.guardianonline.co.nz

BUILDING AND ON-FARM STORAGE FEATURE

31

g needs to be warm, safe and dry

•

been paid on the total earnings or wages.

Pay Fringe Benefit Tax on the value of the accommodation.

The first two options are essentially the same, except there is more paperwork for the second option. The third option is the only method

which can be considered free rental.

The amount of rent paid for accommodation must be clearly written into the

Let the team at Insideout take care of all your painting and property maintenance

employment agreement and the employee must agree in writing to the deduction of rent from their wages. If they do not agree then no

deduction can occur.

Employees must be paid their wages in money, and cannot be paid through other non-cash benefits except deductions from their wages agreed by the employees for accommodation or other goods or services.

So both employers and employees may agree that the employer will provide accommodation to an employee, and also that the cost of that accommodation will be deducted from the employee’s wages.

This then allows an employer to use an employees’ wages including the rent portion when reviewing employees’ hours to assess that they have been paid at least the minimum wage for every hour worked.

More lately, insulation is now required to be a term detailed in a tenancy agreement. Ceiling and underfloor insulation will be compulsory in all rental homes from July 1 next year where it can be installed.

This information was supplied

by DairyNZ.

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BUILDING AND ON-FARM STORAGE FEATURE

33

Compliance for on-farm fuel storage With recent changes to legislation around on-farm fuel storage, now is the time to make sure all your storage vessels and tanks meet the prescribed requirements. Worksafe NZ are auditing farms to ensure these new requirements are being met, ensuring a safe environment for all concerned.

Health and safety legislation puts the onus fair and square on the PCBU (person conducting business or undertaking) to make sure their property and equipment is compliant and do not pose a risk to staff, contractors or visitors.

If you are the main farmer/ contractor/business owner, it is your responsibility to have your yard/equipment safe and compliant for all users and site visitors, from users who are filling vehicles to those who are filling your tanks.

Ed Harrison, managing director of Sebco Fuel Storage Systems Ltd is often asked questions regarding compliance for fuel storage. Safe separation distances is a common topic that often needs clarification.

Other common questions include bunding requirements,

data plates and safe filling practices for fuel tanks. Sebco have a free fuel compliance guide available.

You can contact Ed on 0800 473 226 for your free copy. He will be able to assist you to make sure you are doing all you can to meet the compliance laws.

Sebco also has compliance information on their website

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tanks for diesel, waste oil and AdBlue®.

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Sebco are experts in fuel storage, based in Ashburton, they manufacture fuel tanks for farming and industry all over New Zealand.

Their tanks are fully compliant and are even featured on the front of Worksafe NZ’s Above Ground Fuel Storage on Farms – Good Practices Guidelines. See their website www.sebco.co.nz for more details.

Sebco specialise in the manufacture and supply of

design can be found all over New Zealand, in a wide range of farming and industrial settings.

Sebco’s products tick a lot of boxes - easier, safer, more secure, cleaner, compliant, ease of fuel monitoring and recording just to name a few.

After more than 10 years, Sebco continue to be New Zealand’s leaders in the fuel storage market.

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34

Dairy Focus

BUILDING AND ON-FARM STORAGE FEATURE

www.guardianonline.co.nz

A covered pad means happy cows

Ponds we got it covered

A belief in a job well done is what gets us out of bed in the morning.

This belief is shared by Canterbry Dairy Farm Owner Graeme Wall and his farm manager Richard Ellison in their vision for better pasture, reduced waste and healthy cows.

Mid Canterbury dairy farmers Graeme Wall and Shelly Singer have hit their stride on their second farm – a 200ha conversion at Lismore, near Mayfield, where they’re peak milking 780 cows.

They looked hard at infrastructure options, primarily they wanted to look after cows and calves and get them off wet, muddy, or even snowblanketed paddocks during calving, save paddocks from damage to make sure pasture production and utilisation were also protected at any time of the year, and importantly cut supplement wastage.

Cow comfort and animal health were a priority. The pad lets them achieve what they wanted to in terms of cows and feed and the roof protected the pad, extending its life.

Protecting what matters.

Building a covered pad is a bigticket investment, but the covered standoff pad at GSB Farms in mid

Since forming in 2007, Aspect Environmental Lining (AEL) has become a leading supplier within the New Zealand geomembrane installation field. Directors Craig McMillan and Greg Terrill have collectively over 30 years’ experience in the lining industry, and have been involved in installations throughout New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific region.

AEL staff are full time geomembrane installers, and have experience with the installation of all recognised geosynthetic lining materials.

From our North and South Island bases AEL can supply and install pond linings for any agricultural, horticultural, industrial or residential application, no matter the size or location.

The most commonly used lining material is HDPE which has been used successfully in lining projects in New Zealand since 1982.

HDPE liners are recognised as one of the best options for applications that require UV, ozone or chemical resistance.

As independent installers with vast industry experience you can

Canterbry is working just as its owners and manager envisaged – getting cows off wet ground to save pasture and reduce pugging damage to soil.

It’s also dramatically cutting supplement wastage and keeping cows happy and healthy.

From his 20.0m x 141.0m Smartshelters feedpad covering, Graeme has seen less supplement wastage and the extra milk income thanks to the fact they can much more cost-effectively milk later, calving cows longer.

Helpful too when it comes to cutting nitrogen leaching.

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have confidence that the specification and installation provided to you will be the best solution available.

AEL stands by its linings with comprehensive installation and material warranty.

What we offer

• Independent design and specification assistance backed by industry experience.

• Internationally recognised best practice installation and testing techniques.

• Detailed Quality Assurance documentation specific to your project.

• Comprehensive warranty covering installation and materials

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POND AND DAM LINERS THE SMART CHOICE FOR COVERING YOUR

STANDOFF PAD “In wet, muddy conditions you’ll lose up to 50% of supplement you feed out on the paddock, Now it’s realistically about 10%” Graeme Wall, Canterbry Dairy Farm Owner

smartshelters.co.nz MAKE A SMART CALL 0508 743 583

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www.guardianonline.co.nz

BUILDING AND ON-FARM STORAGE FEATURE

35

Covered feed pad brings benefits Recognised as one of the top performing dairy farms in New Zealand, a valued Alpine Buildings client needed to invest to meet new effluent compliance standards whilst increasing the protection his cattle had from the elements.

The West Otago farmer had also identified that significant wastage was occurring during feed-out, and that centralising the feeding area would substantially increase efficiencies.

Built in 2015, the solution for this client was a 30.5m wide by 135m long covered feed pad using the Alpine Buildings steel rafter system.

The aesthetically pleasing yet practical design of three adjoining lean-tos with overhangs on the sides gave ample protection from the elements while allowing room for a feed-out channel in the centre of the shed.

The farm was looking to save costs while ensuring quality and durability of build.

Because Alpine Building solutions are available as easyto-install kitsets, the client chose to build this in-house,

Alpine Buildings supply top quality farm buildings throughout New Zealand.

saving around $70,000 to $80,000 in installation costs.

The timber poles used with the Alpine Buildings steel rafter design also eliminates the possibility of rust, which is important in areas of high stock effluent.

The bird-free rafter system means that birds do not roost or perch which reduces bird poop on the ground, in turn reducing health hazards in the feed pad environment.

This innovative farmer says he has already seen numerous benefits since installing the new feed pad.

The most profitable change has been an increased output of four litres of milk per cow, per day.

The happy cows are also burning less energy than when they were on the paddock, resulting in less feed usage, as well as minimising feed wastage during feed-out.

There is less pasture damage in wet weather due to the increased time the cows are spending under cover.

Ideal for any dairy farming operation, structures from Alpine Buildings are a costeffective way to maximise efficiencies while trimming running expenses.

Alpineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s simple but effective designs are designed to help you reach your profit goals, with the added benefit of

PHOTO SUPPLIED

being fast and easy to install to meet tight deadlines and minimise disruption to your daily operations.

Call the team at Alpine on 0800 428 453 for expert advice on your next farm shed or building, or visit our blog at www.alpinebuildings.co.nz to read up on design tips and tricks.

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