Dairy Exporter May 2022

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SPECIAL REPORT:

GHG Emissions

42 Solutions: What’s in the pipeline

47 Proving the theories

50 Magic methane inhibitor

52 Promise with red seaweed ignored

54 Breeding for climate friendliness

55 Making the commitment

ENVIRONMENT

58 Dung beetles: Beetling up the valley

63 Planning for wintering well STOCK

64 Focus on the breeding

68 Dairy Beef: MINDA Beef edition

69 App helps reduce toll on bobbies

70 Dairy Beef: The young ones

72 Study shows how to drop

GHG 22%

76 Vet Voice: Making the transition

78 Drawn to dairying

80 Wellmates: Overcoming isolation woes

WELLBEING

82 Suffering ‘Nearly there’ syndrome

RESEARCH WRAP

84 The Dry: Coping with drought

85 Microbes: Tiny workers keeping things green

DAIRY 101

86 Those four stomachs

SOLUTIONS

88 Halter expands availability

89 Probiotic supplement cuts methane

OUR STORY

90 50 years ago in the NZ Dairy Exporter

OUR COVER

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DAIRY DIARY

May 14 – The Dairy Industry Awards announces its overall winners at the National Awards Dinner in Christchurch. They include New Zealand Share Farmer of the Year, New Zealand Dairy Manager of the Year and the New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year. More? visit www. dairyindustryawards.co.nz

June 1 – A Quiet Leadership live webinar between 12.30pm and 1.30pm focuses on the brain-based rhythm and approach of quiet leadership, as well as the power of coaching in leadership. The webinar is run by Dairy Women’s Network with ASB. To register go to register.gotowebinar.com/ register/1984405602444783117

June 8 – The Extension 350 project in Northland is coming to an end after five years and is holding a field day to hear how farmers benefited from the project. The day runs between 10.30am and 1pm on the Giesbers’ farm at Okaihau. More? visit www.dairynz.co.nz/events/northland/ extension-350-public-field-day-june

June 8-9 – The South Island Dairy Event (SIDE) is being held in the Oamaru Opera House. Key speakers include founder and chief executive of Halter, Craig Piggott; doctor and entrepreneur Dr Tom Mulholland; co-founders of 42 Below, Geoff and Justine Ross. Rural commentator Sarah Perriam is MC. The event combines industry experts, networking sessions and practical

workshops in a revitalised format this year. To find out more and to register visit www.side.org.nz

June 8-10 – Ayrshire New Zealand is holding its annual conference in Napier. More? visit ayrshire.org.nz/annualconference

June 9 – The Southland Ballance Farm Environment Awards for 2022 are being held in Invercargill, with other regions following. Dates/locations: June 29, Greater Wellington; July 1, Bay of Plenty; July 6, Taranaki; July 7, Horizons; July 14, Canterbury. More? visit nzfeawards.org.nz

June 15 – Northland’s Future Farm Systems’ trial has a field day to review its first season. The project compares three farm systems that adapt to or mitigate climate change effects. More? visit www. dairynz.co.nz/events/northland/narfnddtfield-day-june

June 15 – The final online episode of DairyNZ’s Farmers’ Forum Series which looks at the bigger picture issues and challenges affecting dairy farming. To register visit www.dairynz.co.nz/ about-us/event-activity/farmersforum-series

June 16 – The Good to Great Primary Sector People and Team Leadership Programme holds its fifth Southland workshop. It provides tools and resources

to build your knowledge, skills and confidence to lead your people. More? visit www.dairyevents.co.nz/ media/2078/final-southland-good-togreat-2022.pdf

June 19-22 – Holstein Friesian New Zealand is holding its annual conference in Palmerston North. More? visit nzholstein.org.nz/event/holstein-friesiannew-zealand-conference-2022-manawatu

July 6-7 – The Primary Industries Summit and Awards is held in Auckland. It brings together representatives from across New Zealand’s primary industries to develop solutions to the multiple challenges they face. Among this year’s themes it will look at cross-industry collaboration, analysis of the evolving geopolitical and economic situation, emissions reductions in action, and safeguarding the future of the primary industries through developing young people. The awards held on July 6 honour the most successful and innovative primary industry producers and supporters. More? primaryindustries.co.nz.

July 7-9 – The FMG Young Farmer of the Year competition holds its grand final in Whangarei where finalists from around the country compete through a range of practical and theoretical challenges for the 2022 title. More? www.youngfarmers.co.nz

TALK TO THE EXPERTS FOR FARMING SUPPORT

HERBAL DIGESTIVE DRENCH

Herbal Digestive Drench is natural health tonic and nutritive, to support a healthy faecal egg count and to maintain a healthy animal. Suitable for calves, cows, lambs, sheep, goats, alpacas and horses.

Her philosophy is to help women create healthy, sustainable habits around moving and feeding their bodies and their families.

If women can prioritise their own health and fitness, they can inspire their partners, their children and their community around them, Sarah says (p82).

She is an inspirational woman creating a moment of lift for many women.

In this issue we take a look at the regenerative agri journey some NZ farmers are already on, and that the government has signalled they want others to join in on, in our Special Report.

The regen debate has divided the farming community in a big way - many scientists are affronted that NZ would need regenerative methods from overseas countries with highly degraded soils - would that then infer that our conventional methods were degenerative?

CLIMATE DREAD

They say the methods won't work, and that research has already shown that, and also our farmers are already following regenerative practices. Others say that the methods are not prescribed and each farmer can take out of it what they want. It has been called a social movement rather than a science and the claimed benefits of improved soil and stock health and building soil carbon through diverse species, use of biological fertilisers and laxer and less frequent grazing practices along with less nitrogen is something that resounds emotionally with many.

Ihave been reading about climate dread and eco-anxiety, and it’s pretty depressing. It’s prevalent in the younger generation of 16-25-year-olds and research shows it’s the uncertainty of the climate changing and the fear of what the actual change will cause that leads to the condition.

It has been easy to think in New Zealand about climate change as something that is happening to someone else, far away overseas, and that it won’t affect us.

palatable. Read about George’s journey in our special report on GHG emission reductions where we also cover all of the main mitigations coming down the pipeline. We also take a look at how one Canterbury farm has managed to lower emissions by reducing stocking rateachieving significant reductions in methane and nitrous oxide emissions, and nitrogen loss - while also meeting production targets.

We have taken a snapshot of thinking by scientists in MPI and DairyNZ (p46) and portrayed what farmers using the practices are finding, including ongoing coverage of the comparative trial work by Align Group in Canterbury

But then we saw the effects of a pretty rugged summer drought in Southland, and another 1-in-100-year West Coast flood - all in a year, and the news that the sea levels are rising twice as fast as previously thought in some parts of Aotearoa.

And so what if we don’t manage to constrain global warming to 1.5C? That’s a pretty small number - until you start to think about how that’s an average and at the fringes there are going to be some huge increases around the world - like the 47C+ heat waves parts of India are currently experiencing.

It’s here, it’s happening and it’s scary if you think through all the ramificationsstorms, droughts, wildfires, water shortages, global climate refugees.

While He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN) wends its way through the consultation and regulatory process, farmers need to start thinking about how cutting emissions on their farms will work.

The good news is that mitigations are getting closer and there are concrete things you can do in the meantime.

Deciding on a path and taking action is so much better for the planet and for your mental health than catastrophising about the future.

Every journey starts with the first stepMat and Catherine Korteweg started on a journey to 500kg milksolids (MS)/cow and took to a Facebook group in lockdown for support and guidance to reach their goal. (pg22)

A group of farmers investing in dung beetles in the Linkwater Valley in Marlborough are taking action too, with the aim of improving pasture production alongside the environmental benefits of the dung-burying and processing beetles.

Taking action is better than sitting around catastrophising - I’m off to buy an ebike and parking up the car! And I will have to put a lot more thought into what I eat, where I fly and how I shop.

philosophies and are enjoying the less intensive more resilient system they have moved to, along improved profitability.

There is more research to be done in the NZ system context, says MPI’s chief scientist John figure out what will and won’t work, but he farmers to engage and learn more, and to embrace regenerative as a verb - saying all farmers could be more regenerative, more resilient, lowering and building carbon storage.

If you are interested in getting into farm ownership getting out but retaining an interest, read about Moss’ innovative idea for a speed-dating weekend potential partners (p11). We think it could be

Sneak peek

JULY 2021 ISSUE

In the next issue:

June 2022

• Special Report: Farming/business investment – if you are starting out or bowing out.

• Wildlife onfarm

• Ahuwhenua winners

• Sheep milking conference coverage

• Labour-saving onfarm - what’s the latest tech to help farmers save labour and time?

• Deer milking at Pamu

• Getting closer to your consumers’ the local food movement.

WINNER

DairyNZ Climate Change

ambassador George Moss has been committed to the journey for the past five years, and it’s not been easy, nor always successful. (Pg55)

“The reality is that reducing a carbon footprint usually requires decisions that can impact on lifestyles and incomes,” George says, and that’s often not particularly

The lucky winner of the Suzuki DR200SE motorbike subscribers prize is Leanne Browne from Waipu.

ONLINE

New Zealand Dairy Exporter’s online presence is an added dimension to your magazine. Through digital media, we share a selection of stories and photographs from the magazine. Here we share a selection of just some of what you can enjoy. Read more at www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

IRRIGATION IMPROVEMENTS CREATING RESILIENCE

The Woodhouse family’s irrigation improvements are creating resilience. Good data and investment into spray irrigation that allows lower rates to be applied at shorter return intervals will help maintain pasture production levels as nutrient inputs reduce with regulation.

Take a look:

https://youtu.be/bivsGOWbM9Q

Canterbury farm manager Barry Flynn has 100% confidence in collar technology for picking cows on heat. It means he can get off the vet stand and focus on managing pasture, easing staffing pressure. The Trutest Datamars collars are giving him other key data on individual cows that’s helping in other ways too. Check out NZ Dairy Exporter’s special report on reviewing mating to read Barry’s story.

Take a look: https://youtu.be/jQOeNaMG4DA

-

Welcome to the ASB Rural Insights

- Succession Series podcast, where we’re talking about farm ownership transition from all sides. Thanks to the ASB Rural team for partnering NZ Farm Life Media on this four-part series. Each week Angus Kebbell will be profiling farming families, talking to experts from the advisory sector and investigating new opportunities for farmers thinking about diversifying their farming business. When it comes to ‘what’s next’ for the farm, there’s a lot to think about, so we aim to share success stories, provide useful tips and help you understand more about the many facets of succession planning in the food and fibre sector today.

To listen:

https://nzfarmlife.co.nz/podcasts-2/

CONNECT WITH US ONLINE:

www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

NZ Dairy Exporter @DairyExporterNZ

NZ Dairy Exporter @nzdairyexporter

Sign up to our weekly e-newsletter: www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

NZ Dairy Exporter is published by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740, Toll free 0800 224 782, www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

Editor

Jackie Harrigan P: 06 280 3165, M: 027 359 7781 jackie.harrigan@nzfarmlife.co.nz

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Sheryl Haitana M: 021 239 1633 sheryl.haitana@nzfarmlife.co.nz

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Reporters

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Design and production:

Lead designer: Jo Hannam P: 06 280 3168 jo.hannam@nzfarmlife.co.nz

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Angus Kebbell, South Island, Lower North Island, Livestock

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ISSN 2230-2697 (Print)

ISSN 2230-3057 (Online)

ASB RURAL INSIGHTS

Succession Series Podcast

scratch factor DEVELOPING THE

Any calf rearer worth their salt knows that to grow good calves, they need to be fed and cared for well in order to reach their full potential as adult animals. Good quality milk or milk replacer, fresh, clean water, a safe, draft-free, dry bed and a little something to help develop the rumen called “scratch factor”.

This can be supplied in the form of grain/ muesli and or hay or straw. The mechanics behind this and why it’s important is this. Scratching creates tiny abrasions to the papillae or lining of the rumen that stimulate it to develop. Introducing fibre also helps to strengthen the rumen muscles and establish the gut flora which will do most of the digestive work later in life. Without a little “scratching”, the rumen doesn’t develop as well and the animal’s ability to digest grass is delayed, hence resulting in a poorer quality animal.

We humans aren’t so different, however this isn’t in regards to our digestive tract. But more so, the “scratch factor”. In life, we are often delivered less-than-ideal situations which can be trying, annoying or downright scary. We have trials and tribulations which we would rather not go through, but in most cases don’t have a choice. In short, life is far from perfect.

have one) how we look at or perceive unpleasantness goes a long way towards our general wellbeing. If we look at a challenge through the lens of “I give up, turn the lights out, we’re all going to hell in a hand cart”, we are likely going to struggle a lot more to get through it. In contrast, if we perceive the challenge with “okay, I’ll play your little game, let’s dance, I’ll take the first step” we may find the challenge itself is fuel to help drive us to not only rise above it, but become stronger individuals. The “scratch factor” actually helps us to develop strength and that very overused term, resilience.

Of course, the other things that help grow out our little calves are also needed for us humans too. Comfort, good nourishment, safety, and care are all very much pillars which sustain our wellbeing too. These come from family and friends. It’s important we treat these factors like the common cold – when we bring it home, everyone catches it.

Imagine for a minute if it was. Initially you would think “that would be amazing!” However, if we never had anything to stress or challenge us, how would we know what good, or even great, looked like? Everything would be the same and I would wager after a while we would lose our ability to see joy in pretty much anything.

In my humble opinion (and everyone knows I certainly

The coming year will very likely be filled with more fertiliser price increases, Omicron, volatile commodity prices, staff shortages and goodness knows what else. We will get through this because we have no choice. How we get through it is up to us. We have one of the most nimble agribusiness sectors in the world. We are not misled by pseudo-market indicators caused by subsidies.

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Let’s dance.

The coming year will very likely be filled with more fertiliser price increases, Omicron, volatile commodity prices, staff shortages and goodness knows what else. We will get through this because we have no choice. How we get through it is up to us.

Without a little “scratching”, a calf’s rumen doesn’t develop well and the animal’s ability to digest grass is delayed, Suzanne Hanning writes.

The “scratch factor” helps us to develop strength and resilience.

Salmonellosis is over three times more prevalent than in 20131

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roller coaster TARANAKI

As the season in Taranaki draws to a close, cows and humans are looking forward to a break. It has been an odd season here in the ‘Naki. That’s probably indicative of the season all around New Zealand.

It’s been a roller coaster year. Things start to be going well and then something comes along to make you rethink, replan or change your approach. Yes this is grass growth, weather, fertiliser costs and staffing challenges.

I think it is also more than those onfarm curve balls. It is, should I be looking to grow my business? Should I be looking to diversify? What level will the country be at? Should I go to a meeting or off-farm event which may increase my risk of catching Covid? Should my kids go to school when 20 of the kids in their class are off isolating…

It has been the year of ups and downs. Constant decision making and we are tired. We, being our family, but, I suspect it is most farming and rural families around the place too.

So what next? How do we move back towards feeling like we’re progressing and achieving our goals? As I write this we are taking a few days off farm. This is our first break away and off farm together as a family since… actually I don’t know. One of us has generally had to stay behind on the farms because of one challenge or another.

We know life happens in cycles. There are good times, there are bad times and there are times when you have to draw on your friends, networks and specialists to help keep moving forward and we have been so lucky to have so many good friends and such a great network to rely on over the last few months.

So to all the people out there reading this who have supported someone this year, thanks to you. Thanks to the sector bodies and member organisations who keep planning events even though you don’t know if you can run them.

There are good times, there are bad times and there are times when you have to draw on your friends, networks and specialists to help keep moving forward and we have been so lucky to have so many good friends and such a great network to rely on over the last few months.

Thanks to the neighbours and friends who answer phone calls and be a listening ear. Thanks to the rural professionals who take phone calls at all hours of the day and evening and weekends!

For my own sanity and break off farm, I am lucky to have secured off-farm work as an Environmental Consultant with Landpro as well as doing some contracting work on one of my passions around improving rural waste outcomes and services for farmers.

It is also great to see Taranaki Catchment Communities have a number of events and really get their catchment group project moving at pace. These are the things that keep me excited about being a farmer and working in the primary food industry.

Most excitingly, I love being part of the Dairy Women’s Network tribe. Having been elected as chair of this fabulous organisation is such an important role.

It’s so important to have a voice in the sector for the women out there holding their families together, keeping the farm ticking along by milking, ensuring other work gets done, or trying to understand the regulatory change that is under way, while also trying to be a wife, mum and their own person too. It really is critical to our famers staying in farming. I hope everyone has some planned time off in the winter and if anyone has any other ideas on how to keep enjoying the roller coaster of farming, make contact and we could catch up over a coffee (or a wine!).

We’re all tired with the constant ups and downs as 2022 throws fresh challenges at everyone, Trish Rankin writes.

habit of repeating HISTORY HAS A

Having been feeling a bit reminiscent this week, I was remembering back to the AGM of a now nonexistent dairy co-op that I was at after a then record $8 payout.

The part we were talking about was the statement from the chief executive that dairy had now reached a new supply level with a price that it cannot fall below. I thought at the time, if this was a listed company I would sell all my shares there and then. The next year we had a $3.98 payout.

This living in the past was also brought about by running two Discussion Groups for DairyNZ on the West Coast. They are suffering staff shortages too.

It was 15 years ago when I last ran groups, and my writing on the whiteboard had not got any better but my belief as to what farmers wanted had changed slightly. There had been a long spell between groups with Covid and a lack of a local CO (extension partner), and coming out of a drought farmers were keen to catch up and decompress with a cuppa. Sometimes just seeing that you are all in the same boat is the value of the day. Rains had come and with good soil temperatures most farmers were feeling confident with the big unknown being getting culls to the works.

The icebreaker question was who had been farming for more than 30 years and therefore experienced inflation. We had one farmer. It is quite a mindset change to get into that things are rapidly getting more expensive and one that up until now, I have luckily avoided.

I have a friend from Zimbabwe that I used to do discussion groups with. My introduction was that he was not taught his 10 times tables but his 1000 times table at school so that he could keep up with inflation.

I then asked how many had not been farming before the 2007 GFC. There were a few hands that went up. These

farmers until now had not experienced interest rate rises. We are now over 7% mid range fixing.

Interest rates have risen 3% very quickly. Average debt per kg milksolids (MS) is about $20 so a 3% rise is a $0.60 increase in costs.

We had some money to fix the day after Lehman Brothers folded. I made the call to fix for two years at 9.9% as there was a high likelihood that banks were not going to lend money. This proved a costly mistake, the advantage of hindsight, and I can still say that I have never paid over 10%.

I have a friend from Zimbabwe that I used to do discussion groups with. My introduction was that he was not taught his 10 times tables but his 1000 times table at school so that he could keep up with inflation.

We also had two couples starting out as contract/lower order sharemilkers who were worrying about cost rises. I hope that with cost rises and labour issues all parties are realistic in their budgets.

After my stint going back to running discussion groups I don’t think I will be going back to the past but I will be holding on to a bit of history as to how farming can change so quickly and there is all likelihood that history will repeat at some time.

Richard Reynolds has gone back to the whiteboard to run a discussion group.

Richard Reynolds in younger times.

Richard Reynolds & Christina Houston: the strange times we live in.

it takes persistence NEW TECH:

After persisting with the installation of new technology onfarm, Hamish Hammond has finally got it right.

Gidday, with a good milk payout many farmers will be doing their best to reduce their looming tax bill by making improvements onfarm and investing in new technology. This is something we have recently done so I thought I’d write about our experience adopting and reaping the rewards of new technology.

Two winters ago, we installed automatic cupremovers (ACRs) with the goal of making our farm system more efficient and productive. The dream was that post-mating we would be able to milk with one worker until the end of the season. This would, in theory, free-up another worker to shift irrigation, load the silage wagon, or do another task while milking was completed.

Now, coming into our third season with the ACRs I can finally say we have achieved our dream situation but boy it took a while to get it ‘right’. You may be thinking, why did it take so long, surely the ACRs weren’t installed correctly?

Sadly no, everything technically was in order from the beginning. The trouble for us was that we were struggling to keep our existing cups on the cows, they were slipping, and

therefore retracting before they were milked out. At times we’d get 50 or more cows with cups slipping each milking. This made for some stressful milkings and a few curses directed at the ACRs.

Initially we thought it was just the cows getting used to the new gear - no worries, they should settle in a few weeks. A few weeks went by, no improvement was seen. Next we targeted the liner size – minor improvement. We lifted the vacuum. We also selectively culled cows with poor udders that would consistently have problems with the new set-up.

In the end, to milk the cows sufficiently, we would run the cups on ‘manual’ mode on ~50 troublesome cows so the ACRs wouldn’t automatically retract as intended. Coupled with this we had a second person at the shed, defeating the purpose of having the ACRs.

Finally, after a year struggling to keep the cups on and looking for solutions, we decided to trial a new set of clusters, the DeLaval Evansa. These modern clusters had an instant effect in reducing cup slippage on cows we previously battled with every milking. They milked out the cows faster and were significantly lighter than our original 30-year-old cups. After a week with no trouble on the trial clusters, the farm owner and I were sold. This meant forking out more coin, on top of what was already spent.

Today with 46 new sets of Evansa clusters in place the shed is running like a well-oiled machine and we have the confidence to trust the ACRs to milk the cows correctly. Our stress levels dropped overnight, we can milk with one person, reaping the intended benefits of adopting ACRs. Hallelujah!

Our experience adopting new technology isn’t unique, in fact I have read that it is normal for performance to drop after adopting a new technology.

The biggest risk is reverting to old practices and not reaping the rewards of improvement. This was our biggest realisation, and it took persistence to find the solution and extra coin to finally get it right. Here’s hoping money invested in technology this season on dairy farms will make for better farming next year and beyond.

Pimp our cowshed: getting the ACRs running smoothly

George Hammond out on the farm with Mac the dog.

More than just new gadgets

Pastoral dairy farmers in New Zealand and Ireland share distinct challenges with technology, which tends to be designed for confinement farming, Phil Edmonds writes.

Last month Agritech NZ hosted the New Zealand-Ireland Agritech Summit 2022, which recognised the similarities in focus that both nations have in advancing their respective agriculture sectors. It also offered a reminder of the unique challenges both face in requiring distinct technology solutions to progress their respective dairy industries based on pastoral rather than confinement systems.

Perhaps above the recognition of shared futures in sustaining pastoral dairy industries, it was an opportunity for those engaged to take stock of where NZ’s agritech sector is at, and what its focus is (and should be) compared to other dairy producing countries.

What emerged was a realisation that NZ farmers and the NZ Government want and need agritech to deliver on two different fronts, and that in order to keep making efficiency gains, farmers need to think about innovation and technology as being more than new gadgetry.

First, the summit clearly pointed to the exceptional place New Zealand and Ireland play in dairy production, and the resulting tech deficit they have to cope with as a result.

To date, many of the ‘shiny new things’ that have been developed internationally to enhance dairy production have been modelled for confinement farming. Due to this, uptake of technology in these systems has been both easier and more prevalent. It has also meant that there have been more opportunities for those who operate ‘off grass’, to invest in innovations focused on being more productive.

Speaking at the summit, Dairy Holdings chief executive Colin Glass said “Whether we recognise it or not, as pasture farmers, we are in a race with the rest of the world in dairy.

“Confinement systems, particularly with those based on corn production, are achieving 3.5% compound average gains per annum due to gains from new technologies, compared to pasture at about 0.2%.

“This means every 20 years, corn producing farmers are doubling their efficiencies while pasture farmers take significantly longer.”

New Zealand (and Ireland) then, are compelled to develop and adopt technologies that will increase productivity on pasture, as is the case for confinement farming, but also address the unique challenges that pasture farming faces both now, and into the future.

We’re all aware of the productivity gains NZ dairy farming has made in times with limited investment in technology, but Glass insisted we need to keep getting better every year and try to match other models of farming.

“What we are seeing now is that our ability to continue lifting production is being challenged on a whole host of fronts, including the need to address water quality and greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this we need to continue looking for efficiencies, and essentially do more with less.”

It goes without saying that NZ needs to keep

up to speed on productivity gains, but in terms of technology development the Government believes the sector has to focus on addressing the broader threats Glass mentioned, rather than helping to pump out more volume with fewer costs.

Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor spoke at the summit, and emphasised this point, issuing a reminder that to ensure a sustainable future for our agricultural practices we have to work on mitigating their impact on water quality, the climate and biodiversity.

But given the external nature of these challenges, there seems to be a necessary role for the Government to front up and help enable those technologies to emerge that will provide fixes.

AgritechNZ chief executive Brendan O’Connell agrees, and says agritech development would happen a lot slower in NZ without Government support.

Share the load

The need for the Government to play a role should be obvious, because some of the benefits that will accrue from implementing onfarm technology to solve these challenges are shared ‘downstream’. For example, O’Connell said “you can’t have costs incorporated onfarm and the benefits banked somewhere else”. NZ as a whole will benefit from meeting GHG commitments if onfarm emissions are reduced. So, the costs needing to be borne in the short term, for long-term benefits need to be shared.

What this raises, is the under-acknowledged prospect that the NZ pastoral agricultural sector could start entering an era where its operations start to be subsidised.

O’Connell says MPI is looking at different policy settings to incentivise technology developments that will tackle pastoral farming challenges, which will present a shift in how the sector identifies itself. Most NZ farmers have not operated in a culture of subsidies, but that could be what the future looks like. O’Connell says that “for the Government to get the results it wants, it will have

Damien O’Connor, Minister of Agriculture.

Mark Neal, DairyNZ’s associate strategy and investment leader.

to be creative about how that’s achieved. It can’t just regulate – it will have to incentivise.”

It’s worth comparing for a moment where Irish pasture dairy farmers are on this trajectory, given they face the same external challenges NZ farmers do.

Rather than being new to intervention, Irish farmers have benefited from years of government funding to develop technology solutions via the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy. They’re accustomed to operating under a wave of regulations on do’s and don’ts. As a result they have lucked-in with much stronger research focus on high productivity under those constraints.

At the Summit, Irish dairy farmer and consultant Paidi Kelly did note however that while its

government had heavily subsidised agritech in genetics and performance management, particularly since the 2008 financial crisis when the country was forced to diversify its economy, there was a now a significant fear that it could abandon farming because of its high greenhouse gas footprint. “We now need support from the Irish government more than ever in order to adapt and innovate.”

So where does that leave the focus for agritech development in NZ?

As mentioned earlier, there are essentially twin drivers in terms of demand for agritech in NZ – on the one hand internal (drive for onfarm productivity) and on the other external (industry’s social licence to operate, and meet market expectations).

Colin Glass, Dairy Holdings chief executive.

Brendan O’Connell, AgritechNZ chief executive.

Many of the ‘shiny new things’ that have been developed internationally to enhance dairy production have been modelled for confinement farming.

Nearly two years ago a strategy to grow NZ’s agritech sector was unveiled with the release of an Industry Transformation Plan (ITP).

At the time the focus was on both increasing NZ’s agritech exports and advancing our sustainable primary production, with the Government committed to supporting the commercialisation of new products and maximising local adoption of NZ agritech.

Since then, O’Connell said there has been a strong focus on developing ‘weightless’ agri exports in the form of technology rather than just shipping food from our shores. But there is also a greater need to now look at changes needed in the domestic primary sector.

With reference to the Transformation Plan, there has been progress on improving domestic adoption by improving digital access in many areas.

But O’Connell also recognised there are still a lot of individual solutions that don’t talk to each other. Some digital systems onfarm still require double entry.

These could be considered ‘maturity’ challenges which are part of the process of managing a growing industry. There’s likely to be a need for the Plan to evolve, to include better education and support services for farmers using these technologies.

Back to the summit, and Glass’s plea for technology to focus on pasture farming’s productivity gains; this could be helped by NZ farmers thinking more broadly about how their farm business management can help create efficiencies - as much as ‘shiny kit’ can.

It was a point made by DairyNZ’s associate

strategy and investment leader Mark Neal, who said adopting innovative business models should be considered as technological advances in this context.

He said later that DairyNZ is helping to create awareness of the efficiencies that can be made from business planning and development.

“Case studies of budgets and KPIs are provided on the DairyNZ website while targeted events provide advice on farm systems and options to lift profitability. DairyBase supports this with regional benchmarking to compare production and profitability.”

For Glass, he’s seen onfarm efficiencies typically come from the people who use farm systems, not the systems themselves.

“Farmers that have high production tend to be brilliant at everything else, including better herd health, lower lameness and better in-calf performance. Technology has helped identify who those people are by the increase in ability to measure performance.” In this instance, technology is being used as an input into a pasture farm management, rather than effectively ‘driving the bus’, as it might do on a large confinement farm.

There’s no doubt the Government will have an increasing role to play in ensuring agritech development in NZ works to address domestic challenges as much as it expands to reach its potential as an export earner of its own right. For NZ pasture farmers, productivity gains are unlikely to reach unseen heights by watching a machine do all the work as in some other farming models. Persisting with innovative thinking will be as important as ever.

“Farmers that have high production tend to be brilliant at everything else, including better herd health, lower lameness and better in-calf performance. Technology has helped identify who those people are by the increase in ability to measure performance.”

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT COPPER ― OR THE LACK OF IT. NZ’S COPPER DEFICIENCY IS COSTING NZ AND YOU.

Copper is vital for life and essential for growth, reproduction and immune function. Naturally occurring copper is low in New Zealand agricultural systems and it’s because of this that it’s vitally important to supplement copper in livestock. This is particularly important with your young cattle to ensure they enter the herd in peak condition with strong bones, a strong immune system and ready for a productive life.

Talk to your vet about everything you need to know about NZ’s copper deficiency and the best way to manage it for long term gains.

Dr. Abi Chase

Boehringer Ingelheim

Ukraine war a threat to UK dairy

protection costs and a liquid milk market controlled by supermarkets are keeping losses inevitable despite increased dairy prices. Labour is also in short supply with East Europeans no longer available to fill UK farming jobs, which are unpopular with the local population.

costs, National Farmers Union president Minette Batters said: “This is the most serious situation for food production since the Second World War and while we have legislation about tree planting - there’s not even a commitment on ensuring domestic food production.”

Milk prices are pushing beyond 40p/ litre but that’s not enough to cover higher costs. Dairy companies are also preparing shoppers for retail increases between 30 and 50% over the next 18 months. Traditionally, farmers receive only a fraction of any increase in supermarket prices.

“Something has to give and if the milk price doesn’t give, then the producers will,” Oxfordshire dairy farmer David Christensen said in a stark assessment of the peril the dairy industry is facing as soaring costs push farm finances into the red.

“Diesel prices have also gone through the roof. Last year I was paying 62p (NZ$1.2) or 63p ($1.25) for the diesel I use in the tractors; the last load I bought was £1.29 ($2.5),” Christensen said. “It’s come back a bit but notwithstanding that, it is a huge increase.”

David, whose family business runs a 1000-strong herd is a member of Arla, Britain’s largest dairy co-operative, which is itself alarmed that milk production has already dropped more than 4% this year.

The world is at war! Don’t think just because Ukraine is far away from New Zealand that the horrendous atrocity there will not affect you. It can and will.

War in Europe is massively disrupting world food and energy markets and threatening the viability of high-input farming systems –not least the United Kingdom dairy industry.

Based on a high-input fertiliser and concentrate feed model, requiring high yields to pay loans, rents, wages and mounting environmental costs, Britain’s dairy farms were already struggling to break even before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Fast-rising fertiliser prices (doubled), feed (up a third) and energy prices, (up 30%) coupled with high environmental

Add to the mix the aftershocks from the UK leaving the European Union - Brexit - including phasing out productionrelated subsidies, labour shortages, and the collapse of dairy exports to the EU and the scale of woes is all too apparent.

Tim Price

Future UK farm support will be in the form of payments for environmental enhancement. Delivered through the Environment Land Management Scheme, the new system will reward farmers for protecting wildlife. It does not support food production. However, it’s the attitude of a government fixated on net-zero emissions and seemingly impervious to food production and security which worries dairy farmers most. After failing to persuade the government to take action to avoid production cuts by stabilising input

Surprisingly perhaps, farm land continues to sell for record prices. With a limited supply of good farming land in Britain and little coming to market, there’s a continuing demand from farmers desperate to take on extra land. As a result, prices sit way beyond a level consistent with profitable returns. Grazing land averages NZ$32,549 to NZ$42,771 a hectare, up 10% in 2021, with far higher prices paid for desirable blocks to bulk up existing holdings.

Whether retail price rises will be enough to put herds back in the black remains to be seen. High gas prices look set for the long-term, making generous fertiliser use unviable. In this environment, the money’s on low-geared grass-fed systems with the New Zealand model well-placed for growth. In the short-term, Britain’s dairy farmers are working all-out to maximise grazing and silage crops using fertiliser bought before prices rocketed beyond $1250 a tonne.

Costs were already rising for UK farmers before Russia invaded Ukraine. Now they are rocketing.

By Tim Price.

Pasture & Forage News

Play it safe with transition

If anything is going to go wrong with your transition this year, it will most likely happen in the first week of changing animals from one diet to another.

Give yourself one less thing to worry about this spring!

Imagine starting spring with the confidence of knowing exactly which paddocks are going to be cropped, and even better, knowing they are all ready to deliver great yields of winter or summer feed.

No last-minute stress, or missed opportunities; just the reassurance of having a solid plan that gives you (and your animals) every chance of a successful outcome.

Is such a thing possible?

Sometimes, but not always! Details of the plan may have to change because the weather between now and then is – as always – a law unto itself. But you will come much closer to achieving this, simply by starting now. Even if you have to change some detail within your plan as the year progresses, you’ll still be better off than if you leave those paddock decisions until later.

Lime takes time

Lime is a great example of the kind of thing you might need to grow great crops on your selected paddocks. It takes months to work.

By putting it on now, if required, you know it will have time to do its job before the seed drill even gets near the soil.

Fall back option

Hopefully winter will be kind. If it’s not, however, your girls may need somewhere to stand off, take shelter and be fed.

Paddocks that you already know are destined to be cropped in spring can be useful for this, especially when it comes to protecting pastures and soils that might otherwise be damaged. So looking ahead can help your wintering plan, too.

Numbers don’t lie

You may already have a feel for which paddocks need to be cropped in spring. But the definitive answer lies in your paddock records. How many times was each one grazed during the year? You might be surprised at the difference!

Once you’ve got your short list, make sure you know why each paddock is under-performing, and take steps to correct any issues. We can help; book your free Pasture Health Check at www.barenbrug.co.nz today.

That is the time when most animal health issues – and sometimes deaths – occur, so there’s no such thing as being too careful when it comes to preparing for this. And that includes bringing the whole farm team on board, so everyone who needs to know about the risks is up to speed. The first step is to allow enough time for animals adapt to a different feed source. The rumen is a complex fermentation system, full of billions of microbes, and they do not like sudden changes. You can transition onto brassicas in a shorter time than fodder beet. But in both cases, a gradual introduction of the new feed is all-important.

Putting hungry animals onto any crop is very risky – they will eat too much, too fast, so they always need to something in their bellies first, whether it’s hay, silage or straw.

Watch them carefully – things can go wrong very quickly, and some animals just don’t do well on crop, meaning they will need to be removed and put back onto pasture.

Trade’s perfect storm

Have you seen the movie The Perfect Storm? It’s got a stellar cast, and they go fishing; a great premise for a movie. Now if you haven’t seen the movie, things turn to custard when they’re out fishing, and go from bad to worse: the boat sinks, and Mark Walhberg’s character watches the boat sink while in the punishing seas.

The captain thought everything was going to be golden, not accounting for how much risk he was actually sailing into. And at this point, you’re asking, how does this relate to dairy, Stu, or are you writing movie reviews on the side now? Well, the reason is, the last six-weeks in the dairy industry have been the perfect storm, a storm no one saw coming, and something that really turned into something bigger than expected.

This storm arrived in the form of three key dairy markets having their own issues, with demand issues arising from two of them, and geopolitical issues from the other.

China’s zero covid approach always had the ability to create harm to economies outside of their own, considering where China is placed in the web of world trade.

The lockdowns in Shanghai alone are having bigger impacts to the world than anyone ever expected or accounted for, and these impacts are being felt in the dairy world especially.

The Shanghai population is locked into their houses, not even allowed to leave to go to supermarkets, thus their consumption of every product has been stymied, and dairy is no different.

This lockdown created what can be seen as a rapid supply chain stall: nothing leaving shelves in a normal fashion, creating a logjam of products. This has seen Chinese dairy processors drying all the milk arriving at factories into whole

milk powder instead of into consumer goods such as yoghurt.

At the same time, some Chinese ports and logistics are in their own logjam, creating stranded product and ships unable to unload, creating issues for exporters to get product on to ships from origin regions. Long story short, a market that was traveling with some large momentum came to a sudden stop. And we all know that when things come to a sudden stop, they end up in a mess. This is where the Chinese market finds itself. In a mess, everyone is unsure how this situation will iron itself out. Will the Chinese government die on the hill of Covid zero or accept that biology is impossible to beat? These situations have different outcomes for the Chinese economy, which the New Zealand economy is so heavily tied to, and most importantly the NZ dairy industry.

The other interesting market dynamic is Sri-Lanka’s financial issues. Now, another long story short: Sri-Lanka took very brave steps to change their country, and they all backfired. These steps included banning all agri-chemicals, which halved their rice yields in one year, and plunged the country into a food security issue - woke politics at their finest.

Now their economy is on its knees, with the country defaulting on debt, which interestingly enough is mostly owned by Russia. This means Sri-Lanka doesn’t have the ability to buy any imported products, because they can’t pay for them. So, this creates a hole in demand in the South East Asian market for NZ dairy.

Sri-Lanka’s demand isn’t something to sneeze at – they aren’t massive buyers, but they take good regular volumes of our exports, and even at recent high

prices of dairy commodities, they were buying right up until their economy tanked, and everyone stepped back knowing they wouldn’t be paid.

The other part of this storm is the on-going war in Ukraine. I hope by the time you read this, the war has settled, but I doubt it.

The outbreak of the war has actually been bullish for the global dairy market, with the expected disruption to grain exports from Eastern Europe creating downwards pressure for milk production in the rest of Europe, due to higher costs of production. The impacts will whiplash into the future longer than most are measuring, and even though markets have been in flux following the outbreak, there is more to be measured yet.

Who would have expected that these three factors would occur all at the same time, and create the reaction that the industry has had to traverse over the last two months? No-one, it would seem, but some made a call to protect some of their own risk. The biggest day of trading for milk price futures was the day before GDT 306. Prior to this auction, expectations of a downfall were painted on the wall, with the above three factors outlined clearly by Fonterra. Following the GDT auction, milk price forecasts were slashed by 50 cents/kg milksolids (MS) for the coming season, while the cloud of uncertainty has returned to the dairy market.

Measuring risk in any market is a very hard thing, no one has a working crystal ball. But the last two months have painted the perfect picture of how quickly a commodity market can flip, and how important it is to have some risk management in place; even if that is having the paperwork completed with your broker.

Stuart Davison.

War, Covid and mis-guided policy have combined for a perfect picture of how quickly a commodity market can flip, writes Stuart Davison

Seeking

directions

what could be possible. They took him on as their farm advisor.

“Over the years we’ve had a strong focus on staff development and training, and we saw using a consultant as an opportunity to focus on and invest in ourselves.”

And the couple have cracked it – for the first time their cows are on target to produce 530kg MS/cow by season’s end in May.

During the first Covid-19 lockdown, Mat Korteweg and his wife Catherine started thinking about what they wanted to get out of discussion groups.

With contact with other dairy farms limited to phone calls and online, they went to social media and started a Facebook group: 500kgMS/cow – The Journey.

“We were about to go 50:50 sharemilking with 550 cows. We’d been on the farm in South Otago as lowerorder since 2014 and we were thinking about tools we could use to help us reach our goals,” Mat says.

“Before coming here we had worked on a dairy farm in Australia, in Gippsland, Victoria, and the owner there had beautiful cows, high input, and he was enjoying measuring the cows’ potential.

“We had a good idea of the direction we wanted to take the home farm. We grow a lot of grass here but we weren’t getting to where we wanted to be. I knew it was time to start reaching out to hear what other people were doing.”

The Facebook group caught the attention of interested farmers and after lockdown a discussion group was held on Caleb Holmes’ farm on the Taieri with DairyNZ, vets, nutritionists and other rural professionals including consultant Howard de Klerk.

“He gave a presentation about the potential of the New Zealand grazing system with the use of the right supplement at the right time.”

Afterwards, Howard showed Mat and Catherine ways to use the data they had been collecting for years on the Stirling farm on the banks of the Clutha River and

Since their first year on the farm, when they produced 420kg MS/cow, they have consistently increased per-cow production each season but reached a ceiling of 470kg MS/cow for the past two.

Supplementary feed inputs were also increasing, with the 470kg MS/cow production reached with in-shed inputs of 700kg to 800kg DM/cow/year.

“I just didn’t think we could do more production and still get the cows in calf. I wanted to get there but I thought there was no way,” Mat says.

“I’m really conservative with budgets and when we came up with this target of 500kg MS/cow I thought, oh yeah, whatever,” Catherine says. “I’ll believe it when it happens. But now I have the confidence.”

And that confidence is given by one thing they both say – sticking to the plan.

It starts with transitional feeding. With their calving data they worked out a spring rotation plan and instead of beginning transitional feeding four to five days before calving, they started 21 days beforehand giving the springer mob as much adlib hay and straw as they could eat on the calving pad and silage in the herd home to get the DCAD minerals into them.

Before heading into the herd home each day, the springers would go on the rotary platform to eat 1kg of their milking cow ration to start getting their rumen ready for their post calving diet.

It also allowed them to be teat sprayed daily which helped to reduce spring mastitis.

“With Protrack drafting and their inshed feeding programme which allows you to feed individual cows, it was easy to do and when the cows did come in for

A discussion group founded from interactions within a closed Facebook group during the first Covid lockdown has helped steer a significant boost in production. Photos and story by Karen Trebilcock.

milking they were used to being in the dairy and were super settled,” Mat says.

Making it easier too, they had installed Allflex collars for the herd, putting them on in the autumn so they were ready for the planned start of calving on August 10.

And it gave them new data to work with.

“If anyone is thinking about buying collars, I would tell them to go for it but only if you’re going to use the data. Don’t just use it for drafting cows for mating. They’re too expensive for that. Tail paint is cheap.

“But if you want to go to that next level and really understand what is happening with your cows then consider them.”

It was the rumination time the collars were showing that caught Mat and Catherine’s attention.

“After calving, we couldn’t get it over that magic 400 minutes a day. It was down at 300 minutes and at 200 minutes they’re crashing so we were really worried.

“This went on for two weeks after the start of calving. The cows were on grass and supplement in the dairy but they weren’t looking great and the collars were telling us they weren’t happy and then we had a light bulb moment.

“They had been on silage before calving and now they were on grass. We started feeding out balage on their allocated break based on the spring rotation planner and their rumination went up straight away to 400 minutes.

“Their rumen wasn’t used to fresh grass and it needed

time to adapt. Even though we were feeding out when we had a lot of spring grass, which seemed crazy, it worked.

“Transition feeding is all about getting the rumen ready.”

“It makes us cringe now,” Catherine says. “All these years we’ve been doing that to our poor cows and they couldn’t tell us what they needed.”

Their cows lost less body condition than usual after calving, metabolic issues stopped and suddenly they had time on their hands because they weren’t lifting downer cows. As each cow calved, its individual supplement (a mix of barley, palm kernel and DDG) was increased week by week from 1kg/day until at five weeks post calving it was at 4.5kg/day.

“The cows were still cleaning out the grass in the paddocks.

“Howard got us to work backwards from our daily production and we worked out they were eating, as well as the 4.5kg of supplement, 18.5kg DM of pasture which

‘Over the years we’ve had a strong focus on staff development and training, and we saw using a consultant as an opportunity to focus on and invest in ourselves.’

Mat and Catherine Korteweg with Leo (1) and Beau (5) on the farm by the Clutha River.

With Moving Day on the way, we are encouraging Farmers to do their bit to maintain the integrity of our biosecurity system.

1 Create a new NAIT location number.

2 Create a movement within 48 hours of moving.

3 Deactivate the old NAIT location number. Register any new grazing blocks you are in charge of and record movements in NAIT for any animals sold or sent away to grazing.

If you have followed all of the instructions to update your NAIT details and are still struggling, our Support Centre is geared up to assist you. Call 0800 482 463

Complete and sign a PICA change form at your current NAIT location and make sure you become the registered PICA if you are moving to another farm.

For more Moving Day information see OSPRI.co.nz

Moving with the herd?

Moving farm without the herd?

was exactly what we were measuring in the paddock as well. It all lined up with the spring rotation plan as well.

“The cows peaked at 2.55kg MS/day.

“This was real. There’s no bullshit. We worked all the figures and they all said the same thing.”

Body weight of the Friesian cross herd is about 500kg so they are on target to do more than the cow’s body weight in milk this season.

“By the start of November, at mating, the cows were pumping. The inshed feed bins were licked clean and the grass was always decked in the paddocks.”

The 10-week mating was AB for five and a half weeks with the bulls going out afterwards before a final week of short gestation semen to tighten the calving spread.

Their six-week incalf rate is 79% and their empties is 9%.

“The collars captured all the premating heats so we could target cows who needed help, instead of just doing a blanket synchro. We could spend the money where it was actually needed.

“And in the past the cows calving with metabolic issues always had trouble getting back in calf. With hardly any metabolic issues we didn’t have that problem.”

Usually the farm goes to three in two milkings mid-December, to give the staff, Mat, Catherine and their young family an easier summer, but with the cows still producing 2.2kg MS/cows, they had to delay it to mid-February.

In March, they were doing 2kg MS/cow and condition scores looked great.

“We dry off at a body condition score of five for the two- and three-year-olds and at 4.5 for the older cows.

“We want our covers at 2200kg DM/ha and then we can be assured we’ll be at 2300kg DM/ha at calving, unless there is a major flood or something.”

About 300 cows are wintered on silage in herd homes with the rest on fodder beet and balage at a neighbouring potato farmer’s block.

The Kortewegs own their own baling gear so any surpluses, however small, can be made into balage.

“We can control the quality of what we’re making too that way. We’re not waiting for the contractor to get here as we watch the quality go.”

Mat’s parents Stephen and Rhonda still live on the farm and although there have been a few raised eyebrows as feed trucks arrive every couple of weeks, they’re happy with how things are going.

“They wouldn’t be comfortable if what we were doing was on guesswork. But we’ve got the figures and we know it’s working. They trust Howard’s plan and our execution.”

Peak cows milked on the 175ha effective dairy platform had been 630 in the past when Mat’s

brother Blake ran the farm and was building numbers to go 50:50 sharemilking.

“Although those high numbers were a once-off, we can see that calving 550 cows is a better number for the farm,” Mat says.

“There is increased efficiency with less cows. It means increased profitability, less time needed to milk, we’re able to concentrate on individual cows and it’s better for the farm.

“We’ve really noticed how the paddocks have improved with less hooves on the ground.”

And with dairying coming under scrutiny for greenhouse gases, the system works there too.

A 500kg cow producing 500kg MS will eat about 6200kg DM per year. The same cow producing 400kg MS will eat 5550kg DM per year (including when they’re dry). Although the cow which eats more and produces more will produce more GHGs than the lower producing cow, on a per MS basis the GHG emissions will be about 10% less for the high producing cows.

“All cows have to eat to maintain themselves, so the more you can feed them to produce more, then the more efficient they become. It’s obvious.”

Catherine says they had titled their Facebook group ‘The Journey’ and it had certainly been one.

“You have to have the perspective of how one thing can affect the whole system,” she says. “It doesn’t just happen. This is something we planned to do and once we had the plan we had to follow it. We had to get so many things right.”

So far the private group has about 350 members from throughout New Zealand with a few in Australia.

“We use photos a lot on it of real data so there’s credibility and that’s what gets the discussions going,” Catherine says.

“At calving it goes a bit quiet then something will pop up and there is a discussion going again.”

ABOVE: Looking great – these cows are doing more than their bodyweight in milksolids.

Embrace

........ the opportunities

Almost everything New Zealand grows is plant/grassbased compared to most countries using grains to raise animals, Elaine Fisher reports.

New Zealand farmers need not be afraid of ‘modern food’ or alternative proteins, but instead should embrace the opportunities they offer, says Scottie Chapman managing director of SLC Ocean Ltd and co-founder and executive director of Spring Sheep.

“New Zealand agri-business is far too defensive and worried about what is coming,” he told the Farmax Conference, ‘Advancing the New Zealand farm system of the future’ held online over two days in early March.

“Many consumers want to eat plant protein and we are in a good position because almost everything New Zealand grows is plant/grass based compared to most countries using grains to raise animals. New Zealand also has the supply chains and access to customers. We should embrace the opportunities which enable us to feed more of the globally growing population in an environmentally friendly manner.”

Scottie compared what was happening with food to the car industry. “Carmakers don’t necessarily want to produce electric and hydrogen vehicles. They have perfected the combustion engine, but consumers want electric and hydrogen so that is where the money, research and development and manufacturing is going.”

New Zealand cannot just rely on its image of being excellent in the production of high-quality foods. “We think everyone thinks New Zealand is great and dismiss

that our customers think some other countries are exceptional also.

“Sports teams don’t stop when they are good enough. We are a tier one provider of some of the best food in the world, but it is not enough to tell everyone we are already good enough. Standing still is going backwards.”

Consumers had more power and were becoming increasingly pragmatic in their demands including around the environmental, animal welfare and social sustainability performance of food producers. Due to increased scrutiny, farmers not in the top 25 per cent for performance in those areas should think hard about whether they had a long-term future in continuing to do what they do, Scottie said.

“Increased use of technology in the form of sensors and artificial intelligence means there will be transparency everywhere and nowhere to hide.

“The average consumer wants to research to find out for themselves if a company is authentic and has the science to support the claims it makes.”

Spring Sheep had 24 million data points about the sheep it milked but it talked to customers, not about the animals, but about what was in it for them in terms of superior nutrition, superior taste and environmental sustainability. “A lot of work has been done in the background and if we are challenged, we can explain it.”

Scottie said it was important to understand the modern consumer. “While those over 40 know where their meat and dairy products come from, the modern urban consumer, (and remember everyone under 41 years old is a Gen Z or Millennial), has a different attitude.”

The term ‘meat industry’ was not appealing to these consumers. Many of these consumers also had issues when they researched and believed that they were, “drinking a secretion from another animal which stopped its baby having its mother’s milk”. It was important to market dairy and meat products in ways that better appealed to those consumers.

Increasingly consumers were also seeking natural and whole foods. “With Spring

Sheep, we looked at infant formula and did a lot of research to find out what people wanted added to it. The answer was that consumers want ‘free-from’ and ‘purity’.”

The Covid pandemic had led to people taking more responsibility for their own health, along with an increased understanding of the importance of gut health and the gut’s relationship to overall wellbeing.

When it came to marketing New Zealand foods, Scottie said diversification was important, but for Spring Sheep and many other New Zealand producers, China remained a vital market.

“Spring Sheep started in three to four smaller markets before entering China. We have a lot of ambition and want to be a global industry. With infant nutrition you have to be in China.”

Free trade agreements negotiated by successive New Zealand governments in the past 20 years had been fantastic and exporters should look at how the FTAs

suited their businesses and ambitions.

Geopolitical risks should also be factored in. “There are lots of other markets. If you have a product which is holistic, then the western world is your market. If it’s more pragmatic, then head to Asia.

“In New Zealand we have so many options. Don’t put your head in the sand. Front foot it. Remember the fast eat the slow.”

Scottie, who describes himself as an “explorer of modern food; investor in the future”, has had a career taking Aotearoa New Zealand food products to the world both for corporates and his own entities.

“With Spring Sheep Milk Co I continue to do that and know Aotearoa New Zealand has a place as the premium producer of traditional food products.”

Spring Sheep is a joint venture between SLC Ventures and Pamu (Landcorp), New Zealand’s largest Government owned farming group.

“Now through SLC Ocean I am surrounding myself with more talented individuals who believe we have an obligation to create environmentally accretive modern food to compliment traditional food and sustainably feed the ever-growing number of people on the planet,” said Scottie.

The company’s aim is to; “make New Zealand a better country for the world by harmoniously utilising our ocean plants while increasing bio-diversity”.

Nothing

to fear from modern foods - says Scottie Chapman managing director of SLC Ocean Ltd and co-founder and executive director of Spring Sheep.

Spring Sheep has 24 million data points about the sheep it milks.

The cost of water is making it harder to justify dairying on the Waimea Plains near Nelson where the Waimea Community Dam build continues to blow its budgets.

Just three small dairy farms remain on the plains where horticulture returns have increasingly driven land use over the decades. Now the dam, which is integral for future production on the plains, will make it even harder for those farms to hold their ground.

The dam has been plagued by continual cost blowouts, but Waimea Irrigators Ltd (WIL) chairman Murray King says it is an intergenerational project that will enable horticulture to develop on the Waimea Plains.

King owns one of the three remaining dairy farms and has long been a proponent of the dam in the Lee Valley. Along with other proponents, he has worked on the project for 20 years and though the increasing cost of the dam is disappointing, he says the benefits will still be significant for the region.

When the project was first put to the public in 2017, it had a price tag of $75.9 million. By the time it was commissioned in 2019 it was $105m and since then the

WATER COSTS threaten dairy future

project has been assaulted with problems from geology to Covid. The latest increase takes the project to $185m and there is a risk it will go higher as the remaining 30% of the build is completed.

The biggest hurdle for the build and cause of increased costs was the discovery of highly fractured rock on the site, with multiple large shear zones (areas of ground rock and clay) bisecting the top of the spillway, plus weak rock under the plunge pool. Added to geology problems was the high inflation on the cost of materials and global supply chain disruptions, materials in short supply and the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on staff and productivity. The mechanical and electrical works alone is now expected to cost $19m more than the original 2018 budget.

The irrigators who bought shares in WIL own 49% of the dam, with some of the larger irrigators paying hundreds of thousands of dollars each to secure water for the future and buying surplus shares to

get the dam over the starting line. Tasman District Council owns 51% and will fund that percentage of the operating costs with just over half of those costs attributed to insurance, rates and consent compliance. The remaining costs cover ongoing dam operations, maintenance, engineering, staff and company costs.

The council needs the dam to service its existing communities and future residential and commercial growth. Waimea Water, which is the councilcontrolled organisation responsible for managing the construction, operation and maintenance of the dam, expects it to be completed by early spring which means it could begin filling and be commissioned by early 2023.

Initially, irrigators were looking at paying annual operating costs of about $500/hectare or just over, but that could double and King admits it is an unknown at this stage until extra funding is sorted and costs shared. Council has stated it proposes to use income from its enterprise activities to cover interest related to the irrigators’ share for 2022-23 as other funding options are investigated. A targeted rate on irrigators will not come into effect until the 2023-24 year.

Murray King.

A combination of geology and soaring costs is threatening the viability of dairying on Nelson’s Waimea Plains. By Anne Hardie.

The Kings have added value to their dairying enterprise by teaming up with the Raine family to produce Appleby Farms’ ice cream. However, King says that may still not be enough to compare with the returns from horticulture and the increasing cost of irrigation.

Along the road, Andrew Ford says the increasing costs associated with the dam will make it expensive water for pastoral farming. His family has been milking cows on the plains for 56 years and even before the dam costs soared, he knew he would likely be the last generation dairying on the 63ha farm. The Fords paid just over $5000/ha to buy shares in the dam and though they don’t have a final figure, the annual operating costs are expected to be beyond $1000/ha.

He still supports the dam but says the

annual operating costs will make dairying questionable once it is completed and they begin paying those costs. He expects the farm’s future is horticulture due to its land value as well as high irrigation costs.

As well as higher irrigation costs, irrigators on the plains face the uncertainty of the Government’s Three Waters Reform. If it goes ahead, the council’s interests and debt in the dam project are tipped to transfer to a proposed new entity.

While that may be beneficial for a council asking ratepayers to cover its share of the dam’s debt, King says there are concerns for irrigators under Three Waters’ management.

“We’ve got a partner and don’t know what it is and what the terms and conditions are going to be and how it will operate.”

Buying or refinancing a farm?

Despite the costs of the project and concerns about Three Waters, he says the dam is still the best long-term solution for the region’s urban and irrigator needs. About 3000ha of the Waimea Plains are subscribed to be irrigated by the dam and up to 5000ha of land has the contour to be potentially irrigated once there is available water.

‘We’ve got a partner and don’t know what it is and what the terms and conditions are going to be and how it will operate.’

The Waimea dam will irrigate the Waimea plains.

There’s never likely to be one silver bullet when it comes to getting top results from mating but a more colourful approach could help with hitting the targets.

Canterbury-based vet Chris Norton is a dairy reproductive consultant and through his work at Selwyn Rakaia Veterinary Services he’s developed a traffic light system to monitor a whole range of metrics that can have an impact on the all-important goal of getting cows in calf within a tight mating period.

He uses the system to monitor more than 35,000 cows in the Mid-Canterbury area and says it’s time to stop blaming things outside our control, such as weather, for poor reproductive results and take a good look at the things that can be controlled.

His traffic light spreadsheet acts as a visual alert – if the metric is highlighted green, it’s good or even ahead of the target.

If it’s orange it’s sitting about average –so room for improvement.

If it’s red that’s a warning sign and it needs attention.

“Back in the early days farmers would call me in and ask advice on what went wrong – but they were asking me in

Shining

a light on mating

February or March when they’d just got their pregnancy test results back.

“The things that went wrong, were likely to have gone wrong way back in the previous year, maybe right back in the previous seasons.

“It’s monitoring all of the things that impact on mating – monitoring them and then, most important of all, acting on the information, doing something about it.”

Frank Newman is farm manager at Wolff Farm near Dunsandel working for 50/50 sharemilkers Justin and Nicky Wolff on Athol and Bess Wolff’s family owned operation.

Reproductive performance has hovered just over the 70% six-week in-calf rate mark in recent years but this year the team has been rewarded with a 75% score after 10 weeks mating.

Empty rate after 10 weeks mating is 11.5%.

For Canterbury, where empty rates can sit well north of 15% in the large herds, Chris says the results put the farm above average.

Frank has been managing the farm for 10 years.

He’s originally from Staffordshire, England, and has dairying, and farming,

well and truly in his DNA, going back generations.

“He’s a great stockman – one because he observes the cows and has a good eye for picking up issues early and two because he acts on what he sees – he’s prepared to do something about it,” Chris says.

That doesn’t mean Chris is a frequent flyer at the farm – because Frank acts quickly he can often head off potential issues before they become serious.

The farm team of Frank, Justin and Nicky are pro-active rather than reactive.

“Looking at Wolff Farm’s indicators in the traffic light dashboard, everything is sitting in either orange or green – there are no reds.

“That’s great but this isn’t a matter of do it once and you’re set, it’s a constant work on.

“Every part of the season flows onto the next so it can take time to work your way up to the results you want.

“It’s going to be extremely hard to get good mating results if you’ve had a bad, drawn-out calving in the same season – realistically it’s going to take you till next mating to see improvements even if you take action immediately at calving.”

A vet’s traffic light system is monitoring tens of thousands of Canterbury cows for reproductive performance. By Anne Lee.

From March, Frank is already preparing for next mating. Scanning results are in so he knows which cows will be calving early and which are the later calvers.

He identifies any cows below a body condition score (BCS) 4 and they’re recorded as light.

“They go on to once-a-day (OAD) milking in March. I’ve found that’s long enough to get them up to a (BCS) 4.5 by the end of May.

“From the beginning of March we start up the OAD herd and then add to it as the weeks go on.

“It means we’re running three herds for a while but we’ll be looking at calving date and condition and we add in early calvers and then the three-year-olds and once it gets to about 300, we’ll go back to having two herds.

“The later calvers – the ones calving in September that are over (BCS) four will stay in the twice-a-day herd,” Frank says.

They have variable in-shed feeding where EID allows cows to be fed individualised quantities.

“We set it up so we don’t feed any barley

to the empties, or the late calving or fat cows through the autumn.

“The lighter cows and early calvers get 2kg barley and palm kernel,” he says.

Any cows still classed as light by the first week of May will be dried off.

Chris does a scan in mid-May looking for any cows that have slipped their calves and together he and Frank will touch base on cow condition.

Cows are wintered on a support block 5km away. They’re walked there once dried off at the end of May and are wintered on either fodder beet or kale.

They’re split into three mobs – late calvers go on to fodder beet, fat cows go on to kale and light cows also go on to fodder beet.

Heifers come on to the support block in mid-July from a neighbouring farm where they’ve been grazing.

Frank says they monitor the cows closely over winter with an eye on animal health and condition. The aim is to have all cows at BCS 5 at calving with heifers at 5.5 so it’s important to manage feed well to ensure those targets are met.

It’s about monitoring closely and being as specific as they can with each mob without over-complicating things, Frank says.

Heifers have been synchronised using a double progesterone shot and mated so their calving starts July 23 – a week before planned start of calving for the main herd.

It means they calve down quickly with more than half calved before August 1 giving the valuable heifers plenty of time to recover from their first calving before being mated again.

It also means they get about 60 heifer replacement calves from the heifers helping boost genetic gain.

Frank says the target average pasture cover at the start of calving is 2600-2800kg drymatter (DM)/ha. As cows calve they’re checked within 24 hours for retained membranes. Any with issues are marked up and monitored and are treated if they haven’t cleaned by themselves by the time they’re due to move out of the colostrum mob and join the milkers.

Chris comes in when about half the herd has calved in mid-August and metrichecks all calved cows, treating any as required. Frank uses the spring rotation planner to allocate feed over calving and will feed grain at up to 2kg/cow/day.

He puts a lot of focus on pasture management throughout the season ensuring cows are going into top quality pasture every time.

Monitoring, checking, acting early - Chris Norton, left and Frank Newman.

Act now for next season’s mating results

‘“IT’S GOING TO BE EXTREMELY HARD TO GET GOOD MATING RESULTS IF YOU’VE HAD A BAD, DRAWNOUT CALVING IN THE SAME SEASON –REALISTICALLY IT’S GOING TO TAKE YOU TILL NEXT MATING TO SEE IMPROVEMENTS EVEN IF YOU TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY AT CALVING.’

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Wolff Farm’s traffic light colours and metrics

Number of late calvers in the herd this season –7%, orange light. A key metric because late calvers will have less time to cycle before mating begins.

Percentage of older cows in the herd – 2%, green light. Older cows can be harder to get in calf. Frank culled a number of older cows last season. Good reproductive performance gives you more chance to selectively cull.

Percentage of heifers in the herd –26% green light. Heifers are statistically easier to get in calf.

Heifer calving – 52%, calved by August 1, green light. Earlier calving heifers will have more time to cycle before mating.

Total cows calved in first three weeks of calving – 65%, orange light. More cows calved early, greater chance of cycling and getting in calf early again.

Total cows calved in first six weeks of calving – 86%, orange light. Same as 5.

Peak milk - 2.2kg milksolids (MS)/cow/ day, orange light. If cows are peaking higher, at 2.3kg MS/cow/day or above Chris says it could create a challenge given a lot of energy is going into milk production. “Some would argue otherwise but when you’re getting up over an average of 2.5kg M/cow/day I think that’s really putting some pressure on them energy-wise.”

Synchrony use – 56 cows or 6% of the herd treated, orange light. Cows not cycling selected and treated pre-mating based on a range of criteria.

Cows cycling by start of mating –69%, orange. “That could be better, ideally for that to be a green light we’d want it over the mid 70’s mark.”

Cows cycled in the first three weeks of mating – 87%, orange. Anything below 84% will get a red light from Chris. “We really want to see all the herd cycling within that first three weeks. The later they start the less chance they have of getting in calf within the mating period.”

Short returns – 19%, green light. This can be an indication of how well cows were selected for mating so how many cows were actually on heat.

18-23 day non-return rate – 73%, green light. You want this number as high as possible.

Conception rate to first service - 54%, green light.

Six-week in-calf rate – 76%, green light

10 week empty rate - 11.5%, green light.

Mating length – 72 days (10 weeks), green light. Empty rate figures are almost meaningless without knowing mating length.

Heading into mating and throughout that period, it’s something that’s so important, he says.

But last year, just as the irrigation season was beginning, both pivots had problems that meant they were out of action for 10 crucial days.

“Our growth rates dropped – we do a weekly farm walk and where we’d normally be seeing growth rates of about 80kg DM/ha/day we were getting just 42kg. “We knew we needed to act fast so we upped the grain to 3kg/cow/day and bought in palm kernel and fed that at 2kg/ cow/day as well.”

Acting quickly was the key to make sure cows didn’t suffer any kind of feed pinch at such a crucial time.

“We can’t say there was a cause and effect from the diet on the improved six week in-calf rate but it didn’t have a negative effect,” Chris says.

Frank tail-paints cows for three weeks leading up to mating and anything that hasn’t been rubbed is checked.

Chris says there are a raft of factors they consider before the decision is made to use a synchrony programme on a cow.

“We look at her age, her calving date, her body condition, I’ll do an examination to check her ovaries and health of her reproductive tract and I’ll look at her BV (breeding value) for fertility.

Farm facts

• Wolff Farm

• Owners: Wolff Family

• 50/50 Sharemilkers: Justin and Nicky Wolff

• Manager: Frank Newman

• Area: 255ha

• Cows: 965 cows

• Stocking rate: 3.8cows/ha

• Supplement: 700kg/cow (1t/ cow 2021/22 season due to pivot breakdown)

• Production: 475,000kg MS, 490kgMS/cow, 1860kg MS/ha

“This last season we treated 56 cows - so 5.8% all up. “We used a typical programme treating some 10 days before the planned start of mating and then we went in again in November.

“It’s a tool that works well for those cows we think need it but generally we’re expecting to see cows cycling on their own if all the other things in the game plan are going well.”

Accurately identifying heats and putting

those cows up for AI is critical and Frank has a well-honed eye for the typical signs – such as cows standing to be ridden or mounting other cows, seeking out other cows rather than getting on with grazing and tail paint rubbings.

Monitoring short returns, cycling rates and submission rates is crucial to picking up any issues early during those first few weeks of mating so action can be taken quickly, Chris says.

“It’s a critical time, so much of the farm’s financial success comes down to this.

“It’s like game day – all the training has been building up to this but instead of one day or one game it goes on for 10 weeks so trying to stay fresh and enthused right to the end is important,” he says.

Cows are AI’d for 4.5 weeks using LIC semen and Hereford bulls used to follow up.

“And then before you know it, we’re through summer and back preparing for next mating.

“There’s nothing in particular we do that’s out of the ordinary – it’s just a matter of sticking to the plan and doing each aspect of it properly – staying focused.

“We’ll always be trying to improve –but I don’t think there’s a magic formula,” he says.

Left: Working through results with the plan ahead in mind - Chris Norton, left, Frank Newman and dairy assistant Damon Galbraith Right: Frank Newman, left and Chris Norton - by the time you get scanning results it’s already time to prepare for next season’s mating.

Sweet validation

There is now irrefutable proof that there is more money to be made in getting more milk from less cows, according to MilkMaP’s director Neville Prendergast.

When Neville and his team entered the New Zealand industry 15 years ago, they faced widespread skepticism for challenging NZ farmers to use strategic and fresh thinking.

“When we started off, our detractors thought we were only about high feed inputs and we would never last. I’m happy to report that they were wrong,” Neville said.

Dairy NZ’s Economic Farm Survey reported that on the 2019/20 season milk price, System 4-5 farms achieved almost $1100 more per hectare than the farms on System 1-2 feeding.

“There is so much more production capacity in our herds out there. I’m telling you right now: the figures coming out on this very subject for this current season will blow people’s minds when they see what can be achieved when you fully feed cows properly.

“The gap we are now seeing between Systems 3-5 versus Systems 1-2 in terms of the financial gain should send bankers and any other financial guys who say ‘don’t spend money on feed’ into a tailspin,” he said.

Neville says that no-one can now challenge that additional and mindful production per cow dilutes overhead costs, and drives profit.

“New Zealand used to be about putting more cows on instead of getting more out of the cows we had. It was inefficient, and that school of thought has now become an environmental issue.

“We’re not saying put feed in for the sake of it. You need to know what you’re feeding. But if cows are working close to, or at, their potential, it will lift production per hectare.

“That, in turn, means we can generate more milk from fewer cows, which creates a more efficient system.”

He says New Zealand’s grass is a big part of the solution, but it’s not the entire story.

“We’re so lucky in New Zealand to have this grass base, but it’s not consistent all year. If we want to get more production out of the cows, we’ve got to use other feeds with the right NDF to punch up their total energy intake – because the right supplements elevate – not substitute grass - and that flows through into a beautiful story.

“And, as soon as the industry understands what we’re trying to achieve, the better it will be. It needs to stop thinking of it as spending money on feed and start realising that it’s about fully feeding the cows, and using concentrates smarter.

“We’re all going to have to reduce our herd sizes, and everyone is scared that they don’t know how to get more milk from less cows. But, it is possible.

“We’ve been trying to educate people this whole time that you can fully feed cows and be very profitable doing it.”

Prendetgast’s five pillars:

• Fully fed cows (that are achieving optimal rumination).

• Grass is king (complemented by supplements at different times in the season).

• Neutral Detergent Fibre (NDF) influences intake (because different feedstuffs have different NDFs, which allow for different total dry matter intake).

• Yield dilutes fixed costs (something banks and accountants have been slow to understand).

• Strategic budgeting and proactive monitoring so there are no surprises at the season’s end.

Neville Prendergast.

How can you reduce your reliance on imported feed?

MAYBE THE ANSWER IS SIMPLY TO GROW A BIT

With the air of uncertainty around imported feeds in both the short and long term, now is a good time to explore alternatives. And you don’t have to look far. Planting an extra paddock in maize at home, or ordering more maize silage in, may be all that’s needed. Maize silage is the ideal supplement to pasture. The cows love the stuff, it helps you maintain high production and milk quality when your feed levels dip (and will keep for years if they don’t). To find out about adding more maize to your farm system, contact your local Pioneer representative, call 0800 PIONEER or visit pioneer.co.nz/maize-silage

Building resilience

A Northland farm was able to recover quickly from drought because there was some fat in the system.

Working with the farming team to model different scenarios and acting quickly to implement the best options saw Ashgrove Farm in Northland return to profit the year following the severe drought of 2020.

“It was the worst drought in my farming career. We did a lot of hard work and made hard decisions, but the result was we contained the losses in that financial year,”

By Elaine Fisher.

The farm has a long stream-fed valley with 30ha of flats and medium hill country. The remaining 70% of the property is some of Northland’s steepest hill country and normally receives on average 1800mm of rain per year.

Parsons, who is also chairman of AgFirst Northland, told the conference that being able to get through the drought came down to a number of factors including having resilience in the system, dedicated

EXTRA.

one of the farm’s owners James Parsons told the Farmax Conference, ‘Advancing the New Zealand farm system of the future’ held on-line over two days in early March.

“By June 30 (2020) pasture covers were 1850kg drymatter/ha rather than 1450 kg dm/ha and as a result, the next year we were $54,000 better off.”

Ashgrove is a 478-hectare sheep and beef property 55km west of Whangarei.

staff and the use of Farmax modelling to aid decision making. Ashgrove Farm was able to recover quickly because there was some fat in the system, Parsons said. Farm operations which were too lean were like a lightweight ewe which successfully raised lambs in a good season but struggled in a harsh one. In contrast a ewe with ‘more fat on her back’ would come through harder times more easily.

However, Parsons said it was also possible to have too much fat in a farming system. Those at risk included farmers with “a lazy balance sheet and farmers whose livestock looks fantastic but have a light stocking rate. They are not in the sweet spot”.

‘How good is your infrastructure –machinery, water system, fencing and tracks? Do you have cash available to draw on quickly to defer a sale, buy in feed or graze off in a drought, or employ extra labour?’

Having resilience in the system not only enabled quicker recovery from adverse events, but it also reduced mental and emotional stress for farm owners and farm workers. “If you can reduce the frequency and severity of adversity, you are not under as much pressure.”

To build resilience, Parsons suggested farmers score the reserves within key components of their farm system; infrastructure, finances, team, animals, feed and markets, from one to 10. “A 10 is a lazy balance sheet, a five or less is too lean. Eight is a good level.”

James Parsons.

“How good is your infrastructure –machinery, water system, fencing and tracks? Do you have cash available to draw on quickly to defer a sale, buy in feed or graze off in a drought, or employ extra labour?

“Are you tapped out running at 100% all the time just to keep the business running? Chasing your tail, fighting fires and with little time to think and act strategically?

“Are you stocked up to the limit with little contingency or pressure valves to reduce feed demand or increase supply quickly? Is soil fertility at good levels?

“Is your stock policy profitable, fine tuned but adaptable enough should the market suffer a shock? Is it overly complex or simple?”

Parsons quoted respected agribusiness accountant Pita Alexander who has said “minimising your loss in a poor year is just as important as maximising your profit in a good year”.

To achieve that required risk management. The team at Ashgrove Farm used ‘war games’ to test and debate different scenarios, asking questions such as; “have we got enough cash to get through? What happens if we can’t sell

stock and income drops by half? What impact would interest rate rises have on the business? What block of land could we sell off?”

As well as the economic risks, Parsons said it was becoming increasingly important to think about other risks. “We have a number of forestry blocks bounding our property which pose a potential fire risk.”

When it came to addressing the issues identified as needing attention, Parsons’s advice is; “follow the 80/20 rule and focus on the low hanging fruit first.

“Twenty per cent of the effort will give you 80 percent of the result. Eighty percent of the effort will achieve the last 20 percent – or perfection.”

• To find out more about how Ashgrove Farm got through the 2020 drought go to: beeflambnz.com/sites/default/files/ news-docs/BLNZ-Northland-DroughtManagement-Case-Study.pdf

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What’s in the pipeline

Researchers are busy seeking a wide range of solutions for reducing or eliminating methane and other Greenhouse Gas emissions from agriculture. Anne Lee reports.

With farmers set to start paying for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2025 the race is on to find viable ways to materially cut methane and nitrous oxide emissions without cutting milk or meat production.

Research in New Zealand and around the globe has been going on for decades but to date there are no silver bullets offering significant reductions available for use in NZ’s dairy herds in a pastoral grazing situation.

Nitrous oxide reductions are limited but are available – the problem is they don’t give the major hit needed to substantially cut total emissions.

Don’t despair though, some hopefuls are emerging from a myriad of possibles. They’re edging closer to achieving “adoptable” status but still have hurdles to get over if they’re to be deemed farm system fit, efficacious and economic – to name but a few of the criteria to allow them to be included in farmers’ GHG inventory calculations. Scientists are investigating numerous methane mitigations but for our pastoral grazing systems one of the biggest hurdles is getting enough of any “treatment” into the rumen for long enough so it’s timed with feed ingestion. In farm systems where cows are fed indoors on total mixed rations (TMR), treatments can be mixed with the feed and therefore present in every mouthful.

Bovaer, (3-NOP), is already being used in the Netherlands on 200 dairy farms in a pilot trial with dairy co-op FrieslandCampina. (See story page 50)

Asparagopsis seaweed is also getting closer to commercial availability and while, like Bovaer, it shows significant methane reductions in a TMR diet, work is underway to find out how it can be incorporated into our farm systems. (See story page 52)

Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium (PGgRc) general manager Mark Aspin says a recent review of where research into mitigations is at, as depicted in figure one, shows just how many options have been under investigation and how close they are to then leaping the fence, making it past the criteria for implementation.

A multi-million dollar research programme has successfully found enough genetic variation and heritability in sheep for a low methane emissions breeding value to be developed.

Similar work is underway with dairy cattle. (story page 54)Other mitigations close to leaping the fence include grain and concentrates, known to help lower methane emissions, but they’re not the key feed input into NZ dairy systems.

Likewise, covering effluent ponds and putting in anaerobic digesters can also capture methane losses but these losses make up a relatively small percentage of the whole farm’s methane loss. PGgRc’s two major research projects showing promise of significant reductions, but yet to make it to pilot farm scale studies, are the development of methane inhibitors and a vaccine.

PGgRc Inhibitors

The PGgRc methane inhibitor programme, based at AgResearch, has been running for 10 years and while it’s looking promising it’s likely any commercially available inhibitor will be at least five to seven years away, Mark says.

The programme’s aim is to find inhibitors that can effectively reduce the amount of methane produced by grazing animals by 30% while ensuring the inhibitor causes no animal welfare issues, doesn’t limit productivity, is food safe so the animals and their products such as milk can be used for human consumption and is cost effective.

Mark says any mitigations must support NZ’s export markets and international regulations. The inhibitor study is a huge scientific undertaking, using world class science, and NZ’s efforts are also part of global collaborations to find solutions for ruminants farmed and wild. It’s targeted two ways of limiting methane production. 1. Finding a way to break down the cell walls or interrupt critical cell functions of the methanogens thereby attacking them directly.

2. Finding compounds that interfere with the process of methanogenesis itself.

Working on the pipeline

The Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium (PGgRc) is a joint venture that has managed much of the funding for agricultural GHG research in New Zealand.

It includes eight sector partners and works in collaboration with the government.

Its eight partners include DairyNZ, Fonterra, AgResearch, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, DEEResearch, Fertiliser Association of New Zealand, Landcorp Farming (Pamu) and PGG Wrightson.

Its government associate members are the Ministry for Primary Industries, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and NIWA along with the NZ Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC).

The NZAGRC has nine member organisations including AgResearch, DairyNZ, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Massey University, Lincoln University, NIWA, PGgRc, Plant and Food Research and Scion.

PGgRc and NZAGRC have worked in partnership since 2009 and have been the main players in advancing opportunities for NZ farmers to reduce agricultural GHG emissions.

Lipids, essential oils and blends

Research through PGgRc has reported higher dietary lipid concentrations in cattle can reduce methane emissions by up to 5% for each 1% increase in lipid content. Grasses such as ryegrass typically contain 2-4%.

Protozoa, phage or virus, bacterial inhibitors

Protozoa are one of the many groups of organisms present in the rumen. They feed on other organisms and produce hydrogen as part of that process. It was thought that if protozoa numbers were reduced there would be less hydrogen available for the methanogens and this in turn would cut the amount of methane produced. While it was achieved experimentally, the difficulty, cost and challenge of “defaunation” or removing the protozoa means it’s extremely difficult to do and maintain.

Phages or viruses were also investigated as a means to kill off methanogens but again it has been difficult to harness them for use.

It was a similar story for using rumen bacteria – some could kill off methanogens, but it is difficult to do at scale.

Biochar

Australian studies have shown biochar can decrease enteric methane emissions in in-vitro, simulated rumen experiments but it hasn’t been taken further to pilot studies using animals. It has also been shown in laboratory studies to reduce nitrous oxide emissions when mixed into soils.

Cattle will tolerate lipid concentrations in their diet of up to 7% so there could be an opportunity to lower methane emissions by about 20% by adding lipids (fats/ oils) into the diet. However, milk taint and cost are both considerations.

Mootral is an agritech company based in the UK and Switzerland. It has developed a feed additive from a specialised garlic and citrus blend and carried out studies that claim a 30% reduction in methane emissions from cows supplemented with the additive fed in a pelletised form.

No changes to milk taste or texture have been detected. Based on a preliminary short term, in vitro study published in 2021 in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, addition of the Mootral product resulted in methane gas reductions and a drop in methanogen populations.

www.mootral.com

It’s involved learning more about the methanogens and being part of a global effort to sequence the genomes involved.

Much of the research has focussed on identifying the enzymes within the methanogens that are part of the process of methanogenesis – turning hydrogen and carbon dioxide into methane. Turns out there are about 125 enzymes and 200 genes involved in methanogenesis and from there scientists have identified 25 key enzyme proteins. Knock out any one of the

proteins and the methanogenesis process stops. The research has involved “in-silico” screening – the use of powerful computers to analyse millions of different compounds and combinations as potential enzyme busting candidates.

About 140,000 have been further screened producing thousands of “hits” as to possible compounds and from there the researchers have then applied further criteria and in-vitro (in the lab) chemical tests to whittle it down further.

Four-day, in-vivo (in the animal), respiration chamber trials on sheep have then been used and have identified five leading compounds that can inhibit methane production by 30% without impacting the rumen’s other processes. Further tests involving 16-day animal trials on sheep have led to the identification of two classes of inhibitors. Having two classes will help ensure the effects last in the rumen and the compounds remain efficacious.

Compounds also have to have the right chemistry for delivery and low residues.

Slow-release bolus capsules could be a practical method of delivering inhibitors into the rumen but so too are pelletised formulations fed during milking or available out in the paddock.

Getting formulations and dose rates correct, trialling various methods of delivery and carrying out field-scale studies will all be part of continuing research.

Mark says the work so far has involved

Animal wearables

A novel idea not being pursued in NZ by the PGgRc but works by putting a halter on the cow with a device that sits above the nose.

The concept involves the device capturing a proportion of the methane as it’s burped up by the cow before it escapes into the atmosphere.

Typically, methane is burned or flared off if it’s captured with the aim of destroying it but that’s not likely to be practical – dragon cows probably wouldn’t be a goer.

However, there are companies developing technology which can deal with the methane in a more practical way. Zelp is a United Kingdom-based company which uses technology housed on a harness worn by cows which captures the methane and oxidises it.

The oxidation products are water vapour, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and energy.

The amount of CO₂ produced has less warming potential than the methane and the energy released in the process is captured and recycled to help power the technology.

The wearable harnesses include sensors that capture data that can then be used to monitor animal health and welfare information such as rumination and heat detection as well as methane production.

Funding for the devices is supported by companies and governments’ environmental initiatives. www.zelp.co

Condensed tannins

High tannin levels in plants such as Lotus corniculatus (Birdsfoot trefoil) have been shown to reduce methane production in animals consuming them –usually in the range of 10-15%.

The problem is most of the plants with high tannin levels are difficult to maintain in a pasture. Even if they are grown and grazed separately it’s not easy to set up a grazing system around them and for some, they aren’t present in a growing state throughout the year. They may be useful in genetic modification breeding programmes but that’s not currently possible in NZ.

Forages

Plantain and fodder beet have been shown to help reduce methane production but they need to make up more than 70% of the diet. More work into their effects on methane is underway as part of studies into their known abilities to reduce urinary nitrogen concentrations and help lower nitrous oxide emissions. That’s why they sit in the proof of concept area for methane reduction but pilot studies for nitrous oxide. High sugar ryegrass varieties have been linked with lower methane emissions but similar methane reductions have also been associated with some tetraploid ryegrass cultivars and to date no published research has been able to show the definitive cause and effect of high water soluble carbohydrate levels and reduced methane emissions from animals grazing on them.

Effluent pond methane reductions

Lincoln University scientists in conjunction with Ravensdown have developed effluent treatment systems using iron sulphate which can cut methane emissions from effluent ponds by about 99%.

Typically effluent ponds make up about 5% of a farm’s total methane emissions profile. Presence of iron sulphate in effluent boosts levels of specific naturally occurring bacteria which happen to limit methanogen populations.

The additive also keeps the redox potential (the measure of how easily a molecule accepts electrons) at a level where the methanogenesis reaction won’t occur.

Nitrification inhibitors

Nitrification inhibitors stop or limit the natural process in the nitrogen cycle that see ammonia and ammonium oxidised to nitrite and nitrate. That leaves less nitrite to be denitrified to the very potent GHG, nitrous oxide.

Ravensdown’s nitrification inhibitor, Eco-n which used the compound DCD, was successful at lowering nitrous oxide emissions but because the active ingredient was detected in milk and is not included in the international Codex for food products, it was withdrawn from the market. Other nitrification inhibitors are being investigated by scientists at Lincoln University and through a NZAGC study. Because nitrous oxide is a potent GHG it’s CO₂e are high and any mitigations stand to give farmers good total farm reductions.

some very deep science but discussions with commercial partners are underway, concurrently with further research.

At the same time PGgRc and its industry partners (including DairyNZ) are working with government to establish a regulatory pathway so the products can be registered as safe to use and so that methane reductions can be included in NZ’s and farmers’ GHG inventory.

Vaccine

Studies to find a vaccine that targets methanogens have been underway in NZ since 2007 through the PGgRc with AgResearch leading the science.

The theory is that a vaccine containing antigens - likely a protein related to the methanogens or whole methanogens - would be used to create an immune response. Once vaccinated with the protein antigen the animal would produce antibodies in the blood, mucous membranes and saliva.

The animal would swallow the saliva –cows produce up to 60 litres of saliva a day –flushing the antibodies into the rumen where they can then target the methanogens. Mark says scientists have been successful in finding antigens that set up an immune response in the animal with antibodies created that specifically target methanogens.

They’ve also been successful at finding those antibodies in the saliva in large numbers and they’ve found antibodies in rumen fluid. But to date they haven’t found that’s translated to vaccinated animals producing significantly less methane.

“The positive thing is researchers haven’t found a reason it can’t work so that science is ongoing,” he says.

One of the positives to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic could be lessons for the development of a methane vaccine.

Mark says while scientists don’t believe the mRNA vaccine technology itself will be useful, there are lessons from the huge focus on the Covid vaccination development programme that may help speed the methane vaccine programme.

At this stage though a vaccine is likely at least 10 years away.

“If we did manage to find antigens that give us the response we need though, getting the vaccine out to farmers as a product would only take about three or four years because the regulatory process for vaccines is already there.”

Proving the theories

Pareka farm has gone through a significant change in farm system this season with the aim of cutting nitrogen losses and methane emissions, paving the way and creating learning opportunities for others. Anne Lee found out how they got on.

It sounds easy – at least to the critics and some who write the rules – cut cow numbers and all will be well.

You will lighten the load on the planet and your reduced costs and improved per-cow performance will help hold up your profit.

That’s the theory, and as others such as Lincoln University Dairy Farm have shown it can be done but it’s not necessarily easy.

Southern Pastures’ Pareka farm is coming to the end of its first season putting the theory into practice.

For experienced dairy farmers but first year contract milking Pareka farm, Stu and Amy Vanderweg, it’s been a year of learning not only the new farm but the system and all during a season that’s created its own challenges.

A reduced stocking rate has helped them stay closer to budgeted production than many others in the region and importantly they’ve been able to manage the changes so that significant reductions in both methane emissions, nitrous oxide emissions and nitrogen loss have been achieved.

The 286-hectare property at Te Pirita near Hororata, Canterbury, is a relatively new conversion, moving from partially irrigated sheep and beef country to fully irrigated dairy in 2016 with the advent of Central Plains Water (CPW).

For the previous four seasons it’s operated with about 1040 cows, feeding close to a tonne of boughtin supplement per cow and producing 1710-1810kg milksolids (MS)/ha or 480-495kg MS/cow with a cost structure of about $4.75/kg MS.

Southern Pastures Canterbury regional manager James Booker says Pareka farm sits in the Selwyn Waihora water management zone.

While its nutrient loss budget comes under the immediate auspices of CPW, as part of the irrigation scheme’s nutrient discharge consent requirements and regional council regulations Pareka was facing a 30% reduction in nitrogen loss from baseline losses by 2022 – this year.

Left: James Booker, left Amy and Stu Vanderweg - managing a start stop season at lower stocking rates one of the challenges. Photos by Holly Lee.

GHG EMISSIONS

James says that while that created an imperative to make changes, the farm had been set up and run very much within Southern Pastures’ ethos of sustainable dairying.

Two of the farm’s six centre pivots have variable rate irrigation, soil moisture probes are installed and used for scheduling irrigation, effluent storage capacity is beyond what’s required and effluent is spread on 70% of the farm area through the pivot irrigators.

Pareka’s need to reduce nitrogen loss was taken as an opportunity rather than a burden.

“We wanted an example for our own farms within the group of how we can make a systems change, lowering stocking rate and farming with less inputs.

“We can take what we’ve learned and share it with our other farm teams.”

James says the farm was set up to milk 1050 cows but even though it was just six years ago the pace of change means it’s operating in a different environment now to what it was then. “We were focused on limiting nitrogen loss but there was no synthetic nitrogen cap then and there’s also a much stronger backdrop of greenhouse gas emissions now.”

The Agribusiness Group modelled farm system change scenarios developed by the Southern Pastures team.

The changes had been developed using feed budgets with the aim of creating a low nitrogen production system.

But coupled with nitrogen reductions came reductions in greenhouse gases – methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide.

Stu and Amy have been farming together for 11 years,

Key modelled changes to the farm system

• Cow numbers dropped from 1042 to 934

• Stocking rate dropped from 3.58 to 3.2

• Total production budgeted 10% down

• Per cow production maintained at about 500kg MS/cow

• Fodder beet crop used for winter transition taken out adding 2.4ha of pasture back in.

• Imported supplements reduced from 1.2t drymatter (DM)/cow to 780kg DM/cow

• Synthetic nitrogen rates cut to 170kg N/ha/year.

starting their farming career under Amy’s father where they gained large herd experience – up to 3500 cows through two farm dairies.

They’ve also been equity managers on a 500-cow farm and still retain their shares in that farm.

Because this is their first season on the farm, they came in with a contract based on the current stock numbers and farm system.

With more farmers lowering stocking rates the issue of renegotiating contracts with contract milkers and sharemilkers is a consideration, James says.

In retrospect the past season has been one of the more difficult pasture growth seasons in several years with many farmers across the district reporting drops in production of 5-7% due to poorer grass growth.

“We had a false start to the spring – growth started well then it stopped then it started and stopped again.

“We had multiple periods right through into January where grass was trying to run to seed head,” Amy says.

“Managing surpluses and keeping quality was probably the most difficult thing we faced in this lower stocked system,” Stu says.

The couple say although the lower stocking rate gave them more square meters of pasture per cow it tended to magnify rather than ease the impact of the stop-start growing conditions.

“We reacted quite aggressively in shutting up the surpluses

Stu Vanderweg, left and James Booker - maize silage part of the supplement mix

in spring but then we couldn’t get contractors here because they were facing labour shortages due to Covid and also battling with the weather.

Notes

“Then when they came the weather cooled down again and we fell into a feed pinch,” Amy says.

That timed with mating and the six-week in-calf rate suffered.

“I think next year we’ll call in the contractor earlier for smaller areas – waiting and taking out larger areas is riskier and harder to recover from if something goes wrong,” she says.

James says data from across the farms shows pasture production is likely to be down by about 0.5-0.7t DM/ha this season across the district.

Lower nitrogen rates will have had some effect too although hard to quantify amid the seasonal effects.

Predictions are they will come in just under the 15t DM/ha harvested figure they were aiming for and they’ve managed to keep bought-in supplements very close to budget.

They use 260kg/cow of barley over the season and use maize silage as well as pasture silage.

The maize has a positive environmental impact and helps cow condition through autumn.

It’s also more difficult to source grass silage at guaranteed quality specifications than it is for maize.

Stu and Amy say by early May they had put on 140kg N/ ha as fertiliser so would come in well within the 170kg N/ha budgeted.

Less nitrogen was applied on the fronts of paddocks –equating to about 10% or 1ha of each paddock, with fertility maintained by the cows through nutrient transfer given they spend more time in that area.

The large effluent ponds were cleaned right out with the heavier, more solid effluent spread by a contractor using an umbilical cord and injectors.

Tests showed those effluent applications were equivalent to 70kgN.

On the paddocks where it had been spread, they were able to skip two rounds of urea.

Taking out fodder beet, which had previously been grown to transition cows ready for wintering, reduced nitrogen loss numbers in the Overseer budget.

To manage that change, earlier calving cows will be dried off sooner so they can transition onto fodder beet at the wintering block.

“There is an element of feeling like you’re just transferring the issue but we’ve used methods like sowing oats and an annual into those areas on the milking platforms to try and limit losses but it’s very dependent on weather and soil conditions as to getting it in,” James says.

“It does mean we start spring with 100% of our effective area in the rotation if we’re not growing crop here,” Amy says.

Like so many other farmers they’ve also had to deal with extra mouths on the farm with culls staying into May.

Fertiliser, feed, fuel and labour costs have all risen dramatically this year squeezing the margin although the record payout will help soften the squeeze little.

“Profit is our focus but we’re all vulnerable to compliance and regulation risk. Now we’ve worked through this season we can see what we’ve been able to achieve in terms of our environmental goals – and that’s been significant.

“We can also see how managing the change has looked for us – we have information now and experiences we can share with others,” Amy says.

“It’s been a tough season to implement something like this and make comparisons with previous years because it’s been quite different.

“We’re happy with what we’ve achieved, though – an 11% drop in methane and coming in, meeting the nitrogen loss requirement, it is a significant achievement.

“What will be interesting is how this looks next season with the learning everyone’s done bedded in, ” James says.

Figure 13: 2020-21 Operating profit for Canterbury farms from DairyBase against Methane emissions Pareka 2020-21 result indicated by the red star.

The other major GHG that farmers can influence in nitrous oxide (N 2O). The main driver of N₂O is N surplus and N intake, hence N fertiliser and N in supplement are important factors.

2020-21 Operating profit for Canterbury farms from DairyBase against Methane emissions Pareka 2020-21 result indicated by the red star.

3-NOPThe magic methane inhibitor

other compounds important for the animal’s growth, health and production are not limited.

Dairy farmers in Europe and South America are already feeding Bovaer (3-NOP) feed additive to their beef and dairy cattle and will be able to claim methane emission reductions of about 30%.

That’s going to see New Zealand dairy farmers fall behind their overseas counterparts when it comes to claims of being the most efficient producers of milk from a methane emissions perspective.

But work is underway here to find ways to formulate it for our pasture grazing systems and to set up the regulatory process so it can be approved for use.

Bovaer has been developed over the past 10 years and is marketed by Dutch company DSM.

It is about to be fed to cows on 200 Dutch dairy farms in a large-scale collaboration with FrieslandCampina.

Another 10,000 cows in Denmark, Sweden and Germany are set to join in another collaboration with dairy company Arla. Farmers in Brazil and Australia are also using the product and working with DSM.

Bovaer’s active ingredient is 3-NOP, or 3-nitrooxypropanol.

It works as an inhibitor by targeting a key enzyme (methylcoenzyme M reductase) in the last step of methanogenesis.

By inactivating this enzymatic step, methanogenesis cannot take place at the same rate so methane production drops.

Importantly, studies have found 3-NOP doesn’t interfere with other rumen microbes so the volatile fatty acids and

DSM Bovaer programme director Mark van Nieuwland says in its current form Bovaer is a free-flowing powder making it ideal to be mixed into a total mixed ration diet (TMR) diet so the additive is ingested into the rumen along with every bite of feed.

In its powder form, it could be used in high-input farms here - systems 5 and maybe 4 - where cows are fed a higher percentage of their diet as supplement and fed in the farm dairy or feed pad.

“It is anticipated that a (methane) reduction of 15-20% would be feasible under those conditions compared with the 30% + we typically see in intensive-fed systems,” Mark says.

The important wins though will come if the product can be administered to cows in more typical, lower-supplement use systems and still have the active ingredient present in the required concentrations in the rumen during grazing, when the bulk of methane production takes place.

AgResearch, DairyNZ and Fonterra have carried out studies with Bovaer.

Like Arla and FrieslandCampina the ability to offer milk products and ingredients that carry a low emissions claim will be vital. The most promising formulation for New Zealand systems is a slow-release pellet which could be fed at milking, Mark says.

In that form, the aim is to have the 3-NOP active ingredient being released over a six to eight hour period and in first proof of concept studies it appears that is possible.

Transferring that to production-scale research and then testing it on farm is yet to be done.

Researchers are seeking to adapt a methaneinhibiting feed additive used in confined systems to suit New Zealand pastoral farming. By Anne Lee

Far left: Mark van Nieuwland: work underway on a slow-release pellet. Let: David Pacheco – more studies needed to show methane reductions in a grazing situation from a pelletised formulation.

The key will be to formulate the pellet so it pays out the active ingredient at a rate that results in high enough concentrations being delivered into the rumen right through to eight hours or more after ingestion.

Mark is optimistic and says the pellet formulations are being refined, particularly from a manufacturing perspective.

He’s hopeful that a commercial product could be available by 2024/25. Dr David Pacheco is a science objective leader for climate change adaptation and mitigation at AgResearch.

He’s been involved in the studies on 3-NOP and says experiments looking at different formulations to deliver the active ingredient show promise.

“3-NOP is one of the most extensively tested inhibitors and we know it is very effective (at reducing methane) when eaten in every mouthful,” David says.

“We know from the studies we’ve done where we’ve fed it mixed with grass that it’s effective.

“So, there’s nothing about grass in itself that means 3-NOP won’t work with it,” David says.

Experiments carried out in conjunction with the University of Otago, animal health innovation company Argenta, the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium (PGgRc) and DSM to compare different pellet formulations found some reduction in methane out beyond six hours.

“If we manage to extend the duration of release of 3-NOP to 6-8 hours, as some of the promising formulations suggested, then the hypothesis is we could have an effective method of mitigating methane.

“Our initial study was about screening many formulations.

“Now we would want to do more work comparing the most promising formulations against a control group for extended periods of time before we could say what the effectiveness is and the level of methane reduction in a typical grazing situation.”

DairyNZ has been carrying out separate trials into inpaddock supplementary feed systems that use electronic identification of individual cows so they can get access to products such as an inhibitor mixed with feed through the grazing period. The ability to identify the animal and allow access accordingly means individual cows can be tracked and allocations of the feed timed for each cow.

If she’s already had her allocation for the time period the reader won’t allow her access to more.

Practicalities and costs are considerations for both the product formulation and the method of delivery.

In another option for the inhibitor technology, AgResearch has been working with DSM and Fonterra to find out if feeding calves Bovaer early in life will have development effects on their rumens that could mean longer-term methane reductions are possible even after they’re no longer receiving the inhibitor.

Some longer-term reductions have been found in studies overseas but to date methane reductions in calves in the NZ studies have been variable. David says in the NZ studies the calves have been fed Bovaer in both the meal and in milk but in very young calves milk will bypass the rumen. In some of the overseas studies 3-NOP was delivered into the rumen of calves directly or included in meal.

David says more work needs to be done to understand what happens to rumen development under different feeding systems.

“We are looking at carrying out some fundamental research not on 3-NOP but on the rumen development itself to see what effects other factors have on microbe populations such as the feeding of different amounts of colostrum - which contains many bioactive compoundsand managing the ratio of energy from milk versus solid feeds.

“We want to have a closer look at what the systems are in rumen development and how they can affect methane production and any effects on nitrogen as well.”

David says a better understanding of the rumen could pave the way for the development of other novel tools and improve understanding so inhibitors such as 3-NOP could be used effectively in our systems.

‘If we manage to extend the duration of release of 3-NOP to 6-8 hours, as some of the promising formulations suggested, then the hypothesis is we could have an effective method of mitigating methane.’

Promise with red seaweed ignored

Story

t’s easy to hear the frustration in Nigel Little’s voice. Aotearoa establishes four asparagopsis pilot farms in the Marlborough Sounds and Tasman Bay,

Sure asparagopsis, the red seaweed, has been proven to reduce methane production by cows by up to 90% but so far it’s not required to be fed by any New Zealand dairy or And with no incentives or cost savings, he says it’s understandable farmers are not that interested. “When they hear about it everyone gets excited, but the reality is there is a lot of talk about reducing methane but no action,” the CH4 Aotearoa general manager says.

“We’ve got a product that can stop climate change right when we’re at the tipping point and the government doesn’t want to know us.

“In fact, MPI is proposing to reclassify it as a vet medicine when cows have been eating seaweed for as long as they’ve been grazing coastal

Trial work required if the reclassification happened would take years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars before the product would finally get to where it is needed – into the mouths of New Zealand’s dairy cows,

With the four pilot seaweed farms up and running, there will be enough asparagopsis available to address cattle in NZ feedlots by the end of the year and by mid next year it could be introduced to in-shed feeding on

“We’re also working with DairyNZ and AgResearch on pasture-fed dairy trials, but these are still in their early

With cows on pasture diets producing more methane than cows on grain, the gains will only be fully seen then.

“Cattle need as little as 50g a day for it to be effective and we’re targeting a gross cost to the farmer of $2/cow/ day but farmers shouldn’t have to bear this cost.

“Processors should be incentivising farmers to feed it to their cattle so that it is a neutral cost to the farmer, but everyone is waiting for what the government is going to do and what sort of greenhouse gas scheme there’s going to be for agriculture.

“This is either going to be the biggest aquaculture export story for New Zealand, because the rest of the world does want it, or the best way to reduce our own methane emissions.”

Asparagopsis (featured on TVNZ’s Country Calendar in April) contains higher levels of bromoform than other seaweeds, which is thought to be the main mechanism,

Seaweed farmers looking to help support livestock methane reduction targets say they are missing out on industry and government support.

by Karen Trebilcock.

within a bromine system, driving reductions in methane emissions.

“Through our collaboration with world-class independent research institutions including NIWA and the University of Otago here in New Zealand, and CSIRO in Australia, we have proved that asparagopsis feedlot supplements work in dramatically cutting agricultural methane emissions.”

It works by interfering with the production of methane by methanogens which are the methane making bacteria found in the rumen.

Any google search will show bromoform is toxic and a probable human carcinogenic but we’re exposed to bromoform daily as it’s found in most drinking water worldwide plus it’s in the sea.

At the low levels needed for reducing methane in a cow’s rumen, research so far is showing it’s not a problem.

Waikato University senior research fellow Marie Magnusson, lead writer of a scientific paper published this year, “Benefits and risks of including the bromoform containing seaweed Asparagopsis in feed for the reduction of methane production from ruminants” said when used as a methane inhibitor in ruminants, elevated levels of bromoform hadn’t been found either in cows or their milk.

She and two others of the paper’s nine authors are co-inventors on patents relating to the use of asparagopsis for methane mitigation.

The paper said for bromoform to be a health problem, it would have to somehow enter the animal’s bloodstream. When used as a feed additive, it is instead broken down in the rumen as part of the process of lowering the cow’s methane emissions.

Research in Europe has been more sceptical claiming bromoform was found

in the milk and urine of cattle following feeding and it’s also been linked to abnormalities in the rumen wall of sheep.

“The research conducted in the Netherlands appeared to be designed to fail,” Nigel says. “For instance, similar levels of bromoform were found in some of the control animals and the cattle were fed much more than the recommended dosage as a percentage of their feed intake.”

As to what happens in the rumen to what would have been made into methane, no one completely knows.

Instead of forming CH4 (methane), the hydrogen atoms bind into H2 and what occurs to it from then on is still to be figured out but the potential is there for a feed gain or a feed loss.

The Waikato University research paper concluded more study was required. In New Zealand, CH4 Aotearoa is attracting big investors such as Sir Stephen Tindall, founder of the Warehouse Group.

CH4 Aotearoa is part of CH4 Global, which was founded in NZ at the end of

2018. There are offices in Auckland as well as Australia and the United States. Its projected worth in five years is more than USD$200 million, according to its website.

CH4 Global estimates 20 hectares of marine space growing asparagopsis will produce enough product for 10,000 cattle.

With the learnings over the last year from seeding, growing and harvesting of the seaweed at CH4 Aotearoa’s research farm in Stewart Island’s Big Glory Bay, the push is now on for the operations in the Marlborough Sounds and Tasman Bay.

“Stewart Island’s remoteness, weather conditions and limited water space made us decide to shift the focus to the top of the south,” Nigel says.

The harvested seaweed is currently freeze dried into a powdered material and distributed in a chilled supply chain, but ambient shelf-life trials are underway.

“We’re also working with DairyNZ and AgResearch on pasture-fed dairy trials, but these are still in their early stages.”

Red seaweed, asparagopsis, growing in a pilot farm in the Marlborough Sounds.

Nigel Little, CH4 Aotearoa general manager.

emen from methane-efficient bulls may be available by 2026 to give farmers another tool to reduce their farm

By then, greenhouse gases (GHG) may be incorporated into an animal’s breeding worth (BW) and farmers will be able to make choices for breeding a more climate-friendly cow that

Research to identify a possible genetic link between a bulls’ genetics and the amount of methane they produce is being undertaken by artificial breeding companies LIC and CRV with funding from the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre. It has been running for two years and now involves 300 young bulls housed in a barn so their feed intake can be measured, followed by methane measured through a machine attached to a feeding station. That shows how much methane is emitted from each young bull per kilogram of drymatter eaten. LIC chief scientist Richard Spelman says the breeding value for methane is now being calculated for each bull which will identify which bulls are most efficient when it comes to methane emissions and those that are least efficient.

The next step is making sure the results from growing young bulls holds up in a lactating cow. To do that, the research will use semen from the 10 most methane-efficient bulls and the 10 least-efficient bulls in cows on a dairy farm. Female progeny from that breeding will be farmed in the same environment to get comparable figures and at 12 months of age will be measured for methane emissions. A subset will then be measured the following year when they are lactating.

That will show whether the genetic approach of using a young bull for methane efficiency is genetically correlated to cows and if it is, farmers will potentially be able to use methane-efficient semen.

Dr Spelman says they know from the sheep industry that the heritability for methane efficiency is about 25-30% which is high when you consider the heritability for fertility is less than 5%. If dairy cattle have a similar heritability for methane efficiency as sheep, he says, they would have a sizeable

Breeding for climatefriendliness

amount of genetic control over methane. The question at this stage is whether they are measuring it in the right gender and that will be revealed as they begin measuring females. It is also a balancing act with other genetic traits such as milk production and fertility. Farmers are interested in the research as a way to add another practical option for them to reduce their farm emissions. He stresses it is a long-term solution for the industry though, even if it is available in 2026.

“We are making it very clear it is an option that won’t deliver for 2030. It’s more what could eventuate for 2050.”

The research programme has had to work around Covid-19 in the past couple of years, including the logistics of getting special pellets from Australia. Plus, Dr Spelman says some aspects of the research haven’t been as straightforward as expected. While the machinery from the United States has worked well capturing the breath of the bulls to measure their methane emissions, there is a degree of error measuring the feed intake.

Bulls in the research help themselves to feeds through the day of lucerne hay cubes in feed bins which measures how much each bull eats. The bulls are then enticed by a small feed of pellets at the Greenfeed machine which measures their methane emissions. The pellets keep them at the machine for three to five minutes which is enough time to get a methane measurement as a ruminant animal burps every minute or two. While their feed and environment is quite different to the average New Zealand dairy farm, Dr Spelman says they think it is a good proxy for pasture-fed animals.

Similar research is being undertaken overseas including Ireland which is measuring methane emissions in a similar fashion on dairy-beef animals. Australian and Canadian researchers are also carrying out research and Dr Spelman says they are all sharing data to find solutions.

LIC chief scientist Richard Spelman.

George Moss: “An individual’s and a nations carbon footprint is strongly correlated to their wealth, both as a nation and as farmers we are privileged, and as such we have a responsibility to do our share. However it seems, all agree that something needs to be done, but we all think the other guy should do it”.

Making the commitment

George Moss is wearing the standard black attire of any New Zealand farmer; black jandals, black shorts, and a black tee shirt when we meet on an early autumn afternoon at one of the two Tokoroa dairy operations farmed in partnership with his wife Sharon on Old Taupo Road.

The black tee shirt was given to him by Dairy NZ as George is a ‘Dairy NZ Climate Change Ambassador’ and what differentiates him from perhaps the average or even high-performing farmer is his willingness to look at climate change mitigation, both personally and professionally, a journey he feels he has committed to for the past five years. Climate change is real for George onfarm and he fully believes humans impact and accelerate climate change. He has real concern for

humanity’s future on the planet.

‘“An individual’s and a nation’s carbon footprint is strongly correlated to their wealth, both as a nation and as farmers we are privileged, and as such we have a responsibility to do our share. However it seems, all agree that something needs to be done, but we all think the other guy should do it”.

“The reality is that reducing a carbon footprint usually requires decisions that can impact on lifestyles and incomes.”

Some may take umbrage with equating wealth with responsibility, and George is aware that when he comments on the fiscal nature of the climate equation, it can ruffle feathers.

“The whole GreenHouse Gas footprint as related back to the individual and their choices is quite complex. While we can solve other issues such as nitrogen and phosphorus at a catchment scale (although not easily), the GHG problem is far more complex in that NZ Inc makes up 0.17% of the global footprint and as individuals our contributions are miniscule.”

“But that does not diminish our collective responsibility to the next generations - hence the benefits of doing the right thing are not measurable or transparent.”

George feels He Wake Eke Noa (HWEN) is a far more nuanced system than the ETS, and hopes it will be effective at maximising NZ Inc’s opportunities of various gas pools.

Long-time dairy farmer and Dairy NZ Climate Change Ambassador George Moss believes it is up to the individual and the choices made as farmers as to how GreenHouse Gas reduction targets are met. By Claire Ashton.

“Being a collaborative effort between primary industries, iwi groups and government, there are trade-offs and perfection is hard to achieve but it will create a mechanism that will see GHGs reduced to the best effect. But the government, if not convinced, has the power to still decline HWEN and put agriculture into the ETS.”

“A good way to look at these emissions is to consider them as part of a pool; we have a pool of methane, we have a pool of nitrous oxide and we have a pool of carbon and on a national basis we must make reductions across all of them and use the remaining to best effect,” he says.

Methane is a very potent short-lived gas, and despite its shorter longevity, it has a significant impact, and as such it is treated differently to nitrous oxide and carbon - a significant win for ruminant farmers.

A good analogy George uses is that if you think of a kitchen with an old Aga and you also have a gas cooker, and you’re cooking away, and someone comes in and says, ‘woah this is way too hot,’ the quickest way to reduce that temperature is to turn the gas cooker off or down.

Even if you stop putting the coal or wood into the Aga, it is going to carry on for a long time and the only way to drop the temperature is to put cold pots of water on it. So think of the Aga as carbon and nitrous oxide, your gas cooker as methane.

Onfarm George has measured methane on Overseer for the 20/21 year as producing around 68% of their total GHG footprint, nitrous oxide 21% and CO2 10%.

“Methane is the achilles heel of ruminant farmers globally and current potential mitigations will be hard to implement in our pastoral context.”

New Zealand farmers need to reduce methane by 10% by 2030, and George thinks it would be preferable to chip

away at that percentage, using the time available to best effect, rather than wait until the last few years to tackle it. As for the 24-46% reduction of methane by 2050 George says all Kiwi farmers are hoping some innovative science comes around to help maintain production.

Modelling reduction mitigations

Five GHG mitigation options have been modelled on George’s Tokoroa Pasture farm on Overseer. These included removing all imported supplements from the farm system, reducing N fertiliser and removing imported supplements, rearing fewer replacements and planting sidelings in pine trees. Results are shown in Table 1. The only model that reduced GHG emissions and remained profitable was to rear fewer replacements.

Currently the farm rears 32% replacements of which 22% enter the herd and 10% are sold. This scenario is based on 15% heifers reared and both reduced N loss and emissions and increased profitability.

To make the heifer model work George says he has to lift reproductive performance by getting more heifers in calf, have less wastage in the form of empties and a tighter calving spread.

Where he would like to be operating is at a high production level with a short lactation window, ending up with a herd very efficient at converting grass to milksolids.

Certain breeding programmes and farmer preferences have focused on a variety of breeding traits which in the long term have led farmers away from that top performing cow who is an efficient convertor, he says.

“We need to implement a longer-term 10-year strategy that will make the farm more efficient in reducing GHG

Table 1. Modelling GHG reduction mitigations

Change from current system Nil imported feed Less N fertiliser

Less N Fertiliser & Nil Imported Feed

Rear less replacements Plant sidelings in pine trees

or resource use. Breeding and herd improvement will be a big part of it, with the goal being to create high levels of production within a shorter lactation period, because we are having drier autumns.

“While we would like to not import feed, that is affected by the weather and dry periods derail us. We are also planting more trees, in the hope that carbon sequestered in smaller woodlots will be able to be counted under HWEN; we are reducing N and managing our applications better, and thinking about lowering our stocking rate, and concentrating on longer living cows doing higher per cow production.”

George considers genetics are the most powerful tool the industry has, to sire daughters that emit less methane and the advantage of genetics is that any gains made are permanent and incremental.

Science, education and willingness are key, with the first thing being accepting responsibility and shifting your mindset, he says.

“The climate is changing faster than we are adapting our systems.”

In international trading, which is primarily where our production goes, George says there is a wider expectation in the marketplace that we do our bit for reducing GHG emissions per kilo of milksolids. It is his belief that by 2030 every food product will have a GHG footprint attached to it.

“As a sector the challenge for New Zealand farmers is that we need to make absolute reductions but at the same time we need to keep our footprint per unit of product low and improving. ”

The Only One

When a cow has an infection the body draws blood away from areas such as the ear to fight off the infection.

CowManager is the only monitoring system that measures ear temperature, a critical piece of information used to detect infections early.

“By watching and following the researchers and science, it would actually help destress what is a challenging problemrather than letting the anarchy of emotion rule us.”

George is astute at looking at the big picture of agriculture in NZ, both globally and throughout history - and not just with regards to farming - but that is another conversation.

As dusk brings with it the chilly Autumn air, George remains in jandals, shorts and T-shirt. He hasn’t donned anything warmer - preparedness for global warming, or just a fully acclimatised farmer?

• Trees – shade, nut, fruit & native

• Accelerated herd improvement

• Sexed semen / Wagyu contract

• Reducing N applications

• Better management & placement of N

• Consideration of herd reduction for coming season

• Trying, but failing to reduce imported feeds, (drought)

• Trying to lift average age of herd

‘We need to implement a 10-year strategy that will hopefully make the farm more efficient while reducing GHG and resource use.’

Mitigations currently being implemented at Tokoroa Pastoral

and put them under and put it back on. For others you just sit them on top. We released the paua beetles (Geotrupes spiniger) on a warm day and they flew straight up and came down to another cow pat.”

One pack of beetles is recommended for a herd of 300 cows which is about the size of each of the farms in the Linkwater catchment. If they put just one pack of beetles on each farm, they expected to see results in five to seven years, whereas two packs for the size of their herds is expected to speed it up to between three and five years. Hence two packs each to increase the beetle population in the valley faster.

The first batches, each containing several hundred beetles, arrived in November, with further batches released in January, February and the last one in March.

Beetling up the

Karen Morrison and four of her neighbours have worked together to release dung beetles in the past few months in a bid to boost numbers faster and make a difference on their farms and the catchment.

She farms at Linkwater, a tiny community just five minutes from Pelorus Sound on one side and Queen Charlotte Sound in the other direction. Several dairy farmers farm the valley floor that runs between those two sounds. It is a spectacularly picturesque part of the country and because of its location, also environmentally sensitive.

Each farmer decided to buy two farm packs of the beetles and all have released them at the same times and worked together on the project. Each farm pack contained four different species of dung beetles recommended for the Linkwater climate, soils and type of farm. Beetles ranged in size, seasonal activity, even day versus night activity and dung preference.

“You open up a cow pat for some species

“We got as many people as possible on board from the start to spread the beetles throughout the valley,” Karen says. “We’re enclosed in a little valley, so they’re not going to go out of the valley and it’s beneficial to everyone.”

The group went around each farm as the first of the beetles were released and the GPS coordinates of the sites are all on file with Dung Beetle Innovations that bred them as well as the Marlborough District Council.

The council is working with the farmers as part of the Te Horiere/Pelorous Catchment Restoration Project which the Ministry for the Environment has identified as an exemplar catchment. The project has been mapping streams on all properties throughout the catchment and measuring them for clarity, nutrients, sediment and E.coli. That has created a baseline that can be used for a monitoring and evaluation programme, with improvements made where they are needed.

As part of that process to make improvements, the project is providing a subsidy to farmers purchasing dung beetles. Each pack usually costs $6000, but that

A scheme covering an environmentally sensitive valley in the Marlborough Sounds is using dung beetles to reduce the emissions impact of cow dung. By Anne Hardie.

Left: The metallic blue-purple colour of the paua dung beetle (Geotrupes spiniger). Right: Karen in the wetland that is open to the public.

was reduced to $5000 for Karen and her group of farmers because they ordered 10 packs. The Te Horiere/Pelorous Catchment Restoration Project then provided a $2000 subsidy for each pack, which meant each farmer paid $3000 for each pack of beetles.

Because they are working with the council, Karen and her neighbours had their packs of beetles couriered overnight to the council’s offices in Blenheim to

avoid the extra travel time for rural delivery. She collected the first batch from Blenheim and the council delivered the next batch to her which she then distributed to her neighbours. It was one of the many advantages of working as a group and also a good working relationship with the council.

“You have the same questions and we wanted to talk about dung beetles, so we got someone to talk to us and the council has put meetings together to answer our questions.”

Karen has high hopes about the dung beetles’ ability to improve pasture on the farm as well as the environmental benefits. Beetles tunnel into the soil, taking dung with them, which has a flow-on effect. Their tunnelling aerates the soil and allows water to penetrate better, which combined with dung increases grass root growth and biological activity. All going well, she expects the paddocks where the dung beetles have been released should have about 20% more pasture in four years,

simply by having enough beetles to replace dung patches with grass.

“It will also mean we will put more dung into the ground rather than being washed off into the waterways. And because it has been put back into the soil, you shouldn’t have to use as much nitrogen in your paddocks or other fertiliser.”

She acknowledges they have yet to achieve those results, but she’s positive the beetles will have a beneficial effect on the farm and the environment. She has already found signs of the beetles in the paddocks beyond the release sites.

Karen and her family’s environmental work on the farm goes back much further than dung beetles and riparian plantings became the norm. She is the thirdgeneration dairy farming on the Linkwater farm that today covers 115 hectares on the valley floor and edging up the sides of the steep surrounding hills. Taking out the rougher terrain and a bit of forestry, the family milks their Friesian herd on 84ha. A 15ha support block down the road winters

‘You open up a cow pat for some species and put them under and put it back on. For others you just sit them on top. We released the paua beetles (Geotrupes spiniger) on a warm day and they flew straight up and came down to another cow pat.’

• Owners: Morrison family

• Location: Linkwater, Top of the South

• Milking platform: 84ha

• Support block: 15ha

• Herd: 220 Friesian cows on OAD milking

• Onfarm supplements: silage, hay, summer crop of Hunter brassica

• Bought-in supplements: 1kg palm kernel per cow per day throughout the season

• Production: About 1000kg MS/ha

the cows for 42 days and produces a cut of pit silage followed by a cut of hay. Young stock are sent away to graziers.

The support block flows down a gentle slope to the valley floor where it borders the road and the lower edge has the added challenge of natural springs. Combined with an annual rainfall of about 1.6 metres, the area “just made mud”. It prompted the Morrisons to fence 0.6ha of land for a wetland.

Another reason for establishing the wetland with a mix of native plants was to add to the corridor of native plantings in the area for native birds to follow. Other farmers in the area are doing similar plantings to build up that corridor.

“We used to have lots of tuis and wood pigeons around and they disappeared. Then a few years ago we planted shelterbelts for the cows and that brought more birds back. Since then we’ve looked at what else we can do to make things

better like getting back eels in the creeks and freshwater crays.”

So far they have planted 0.4ha of it in a mix of plants from kahikatea and rimu through to flaxes and carex. Tastier species of their initial plantings were savaged by wild deer that came down out of the bush and forestry. They went back and erected deer fencing, with the Te Horiere/ Pelorus project providing up to $10/m for materials.

A gate opens from the road to the wetland so that the public can walk into it and hopefully one day enjoy the plantings and birds. A walkway alongside the road is used by trampers to link parts of the Te Araroa Trail that travels the length of the country and Karen says a local craftsman has built a macrocarpa seat to place among the plantings.

They fenced waterways through the farm 13 years ago and more recently have been planting them with natives. Karen

Karen Morrison has been examining dung closely for signs of dung beetles.

says preparing sites and putting plants in the ground is a breeze – the hard part is managing them after planting.

In the farm operation, they are relatively low stocked and for the past 14 years have milked their 220-cow Friesian herd oncea-day (OAD). A summer crop gets the herd through summer on the unirrigated farm, with each cow getting 1kg palm kernel per day throughout the season. The result is about 1000kg milksolids (MS) per hectare.

The family moved to OAD milking by necessity because they were also running a contracting business back then and needed to free up time on the farm to do both. The Friesian herd was established by Karen’s grandfather, Michael, back in the 50s, so the family were keen to retain those genetics. It was made up of smaller-framed Friesians which helped in the transition to OAD and today the cows average between 500kg and 550kg liveweight.

Karen came back to the farm nine years ago to help out and has stayed. It follows a career in hospitality, including a three-year

stint at Milford Sound and also working as a chef. She loved the social side and still does some casual waitressing in nearby Havelock.

Her semi-retired parents, Nigel and Christine, still help on the farm and the family employs one full-time staff plus a relief milker. It makes the farm somewhat overstaffed and means it is not the low-cost operation it would be without the higher wage. But it works for the family. Even with higher staff and OAD milking, they still milk 5am every day so they can get all the other jobs done and finish around 3pm.

They learnt a few tricks in their days contracting and one was growing a crop of Hunter brassica for summer feed. The hybrid is a cross between a turnip and Asiatic leaf vegetable which produces a leafy turnip usually grown for sheep.

“It was put in here by mistake one year when we had the contracting business and it was the best mistake we made. We can get two to three grazings off it through summer on dryland and we’ve been doing

Gable Sheds

Karen Morrison has worked with neighbouring farmers to build the dung beetle population in the catchment.

that for about nine years now.”

Every three years they soil test every paddock on the farm and that has enabled them to target specific fertiliser applications to each paddock.

“We used to do the odd paddock, but one paddock would be great and the other would be rubbish, so testing every paddock shows us what they need. It’s a worthwhile cost. Instead of blanketing the farm with x amount, we can vary what goes on to each paddock and some paddocks don’t need anything.”

Karen says they have never used a lot of nitrogen and tend to apply it little and often, adding up to 100kg N/ha/year or less.

Into the cropped paddocks they sow a mix of species including One50 perennial ryegrass which they have found the best choice for their dryland farm. To that, they add plantain, chicory and white clover for the cows’ diet and to cover the paddock well. While the ryegrass is sown down the tines, the clover, plantain and chicory seed is blown out the front with an air drill to fill any gaps between seed rows.

It provides a mix that caters for a climate that delivers relatively high rainfall, but also dry summers. The farm averages 1.6m of rain a year and that’s the reason the

family installed an above-ground, covered effluent tank. The 1.5 million litre tank is about half a million litres more than the herd needs but provides for the possibility of twice-a-day milking in the future if circumstances change.

This year, relentless rain fell on the Top of the South through late winter and early spring. It took its toll on the cows and instead of calving with the usual condition score of 4.7 or better, they had dropped to about 4. The cows were still building up condition going into mating and Karen gave them molasses for extra energy. Though the cows had a really good submission rate at mating, their empty rates were higher than they would have liked.

Silage is fed out when pasture is insufficient. In the past they grew maize for silage, but for the past three years they have cut grass silage and Karen says they have decided they need the maize. This year they are buying maize silage from a contractor to feed out in April and May to build the cows up for winter. She says the cost of buying it from a contractor or making it themselves works out about the same, but it is less work to buy it.

The cows are usually dried off about May 25 and head to the support block

in the first week of June. They stay there 42 days, then head back to the milking platform to begin calving from July 20. It is an early start to the season, but milking OAD means they need the extra milkings to clear colostrum before putting the milk in the vat. Plus, they need the minimum 400l in the vat for the tanker to pick their milk up, so it means calving a bit earlier to get the minimum milk by the beginning of August.

By milking OAD, their first round takes them through to the second week of September and by then those first paddocks are starting to grow again well. The calves from artificial insemination (AI) are straight Friesian bred for fertility and OAD milking capability. Friesian bull calves find a ready market, as do the Angus-cross calves that result from Angus bulls following AI. The farm buys two new Angus bulls each year from a neighbour and keeps them through to three years old. They also buy a Jersey bull each year from nearby Rai Valley to go over first calvers and the bull calves from those cows are the only calves that go on the bobby truck. Their environmental focus now is planting more wetland areas and watching the dung beetles expand in numbers to do their job.

The herd of smaller Friesians has been milked OAD for the past 14 years.

Words by: Dawn Dalley

Wintering practices have been a focus for southern farmers in recent years.

We’ve seen significant changes in wintering in Southland and South Otago, with greater recognition that farmers are making strong progress to improve environmental outcomes and animal care.

But getting wintering practices right is important on all farms because every year, in almost every region, there’s the potential for ongoing wet weather over winter. Caring for your cows in these conditions is a top priority.

Planning for wintering well

Winter weather differs between regions, but most farms experience sodden paddocks and mud at some stage.

Cows need to lie for more than eight hours a day to stay healthy and comfortable. Research at the Southern Dairy Hub shows that during, and on the day after heavy rain, some animals don’t lie down for up to 24 hours when soils become saturated.

It’s important to consistently monitor paddocks, the weather and your animals’ behaviour throughout winter. If wet conditions persist and cows aren’t getting enough rest, it’s time to take action to make them comfortable.

Having a written contingency plan will help improve animal care. If you don’t already have a wintering plan, sit down with your team to get options on paper.

Developing and actioning a wintering plan

Your plan should include options to get cows to a drier, preferably sheltered, area with feed. It should also cover when to implement contingency plans. No two farms will have the same threshold for implementing their contingency plan, so make sure everyone on your team knows when to act on your farm.

As a team, plan how you can carry out checks of the paddock conditions and

A farming team that has got your back

Our rural consultants and agri-business advisors are proficient in driving on-farm profit. Our expertise in on-farm management, linked with our deep knowledge of the financial and technical aspects of running a farming business, will help support you and your aspirations.

Have a yarn with one of the team if you’re keen to understand what we can do for your farming business.

mobs at various times of the day. Sharing what you’re seeing with each other will help with decision-making.

Assessing conditions across each paddock will make it easier to predict what the paddocks might look like in the next few days, and what your options are. Consider whether conditions will improve, get worse or stay the same. To get an idea of what your cows are up to, look for ‘lying bowl’ marks left by cows in the soft crumbly soil. If you can’t see lying bowls or your cows have a lot of wet mud on their flanks, this indicates they haven’t been lying or they’ve been on a sodden, muddy surface, and you should provide them alternatives.

Taking note of how your animals are behaving is useful – are they calm and content, or restless? You and your team know your farm and cows better than anyone, so you’ll know the best options for managing your animals in wet weather.

DairyNZ has online resources to make wintering easier for everyone:

• dairynz.co.nz/winter-plans

• dairynz.co.nz/contingency-plan

We can’t predict the weather, but with good planning and implementation you and your team can provide the best conditions possible to successfully winter your cows.

• Dawn Dalley is a DairyNZ senior scientist.

F CUS

on the breeding

Te Awamutu farmers Jamey Cross and Lisa Hazelton like to do a 360 review of their breeding programme, from insemination through to growing that calf into a heifer. The couple talked to Claire Ashton about how technology is helping them breed better cows. Photos by Emma McCarthy.

The owner-operator farming couple share complementary skills making them a dynamic duo on the farm they have owned for five years south of Te Awamutu. They run 290 cows on 119 hectares of rolling land with rocky outcrops. They have performed various roles in the industry from farm assistants, farm managers, contract milkers, and did a one-year sharemilking stint, before stepping into farm ownership.

Breeding cows has always been a passion and these farmers have been part of the Progeny Test Programme with CRV prior to joining the CRV Partner Herd-Data Programme in 2021.

Lisa describes the Data programme as “being like the Progeny Programme on steroids.” This programme meant having their whole herd DNA profiled which enabled the herd they’d amalgamated from different sources to be all clearly identified.

They now have a complete DNA profile of all the dams - and there were a couple of surprises as some of the cows’ identities didn’t match the DNA profile of the cow they believed they had actually bought.

DNA testing confirms parentage

The farmers consider they are on the right track now and as part of the programme, CRV genotype the calves. CRV use a merit index (similar to breeding worth).

Jamey wants to focus on desirable traits, such as breeding for good udders with strong ligaments, so if a sire isn’t producing that trait then he is gone from their breeding plan.

The three key traits they are looking for in sires are capacity, conformation, liveweight and fertility. He also likes to connect the dots and do a complete 360; the insemination, calving, growing the calf, and then seeing that calf grow into a heifer.

When Lisa records the pregnancy with the myHerd programme she feels that “Yes!” moment - there is always a thrill that the cow is successfully in calf.

With the Partner Herd-Data Programme, “CRV can get our data early and accurately to put back into their breeding programme to decide which bulls to keep.”

Lisa recommends keeping up data entry regularly, as for the programme to be of benefit to both the farmers and CRV, it is vital to have good, accurate data.

FARM FACTS

• Owners: Lisa Hazelton and Jamey Cross

• Location: Te Awamutu, Wharepapa South

• Area: 119ha/111ha effective

• Cows: 290-300 Jersey and Jersey-Cross

• Production:130,000kg MS

• Farm dairy: 32-aside herringbone

• Supplement: 3kg meal per cow in shed (meal includes canola, BDG, PK, minerals)

Originally, they were nominating sires, with a percentage of Semex and CRV bulls as Jamey was after a certain calf body type. Semex, with slightly bigger bulls was used to get more size and capacity.

CRV will do an inbreeding report, and they can decide which five bull traits will

Left: The primarily Jersey herd with Friesian, and Kiwi Cross. Above: The Hazelton sign.

be the best option for that cow. In the past, they had used the catalogue system to choose bull traits and from there had moved to genomic bulls.

Length is important in liveweight because most cows, even if on the smaller side, can gain girth, but length also leads to more girth. At the end of the day though, the couple admit it can come down to what your personal preference is in an animal.

The ultimate goal is to get the 440kg Jersey animal as of December 1 and they are increasing their average herd liveweight yearly, so they want to match that liveweight in milksolids. Proof of this is that the farmers are up 50kg MS from the prior season.

“With a group of bulls to choose from, taking into account your figures and breeding, the programme can advance a lot quicker because you are using one-yearold bulls, and supposedly every year the bulls are better and thus produce faster genetic gain through that,” Jamey says.

“We have quite a well-bred herd as far as CRV genetics go so now we look for an outcross, perhaps a ‘wild card’ bull because we now have a number of cows who we need to carefully watch inbreeding of family lines. We use overseas outcross bulls offered through the CRV Progeny Test programme and Semex overseas bulls. “

The couple thinks that perhaps if they have a stellar cow they may nominate to try and breed that spectacular calf.

They know which maternal lines they want in the herd so they use bulls to improve specific traits.

“We do know what our dams are capable of so we look at what we may be lacking and pick the top five traits we want to breed for and they supply the sires for the most suitable match to improve those traits.”

Jamey believes there is incredibly good but under-utilised genetics in New Zealand, and that BW (breeding worth) hasn’t taken into account a lot of really good traits. This means you may have a high-producing cow but she may not last long in the herd. The compromise with the BW system favouring high-producing cows is you may have lost longevity traits such as good udders, strong legs, and conformation at the expense of production. Alongside that is the lack of focus on ToP scoring. Jamey and Lisa’s heifers are ToP scored every year. Another part of the programme is weighing, which is new to them and aids the ability to see what traits are coming through from sire choice into the herd. A strong cow immunity is something they are also now focused on.

The farmers input all of the cow health information as well, and then CRV can utilise that information in developing breeding value predictions from linking onfarm data with animal genotypes.

Feeding capacity

Jamey and Lisa have kept two bull calves for a few reasons. One being that Jamey can tell potential from their grazing habits, a skill he picked up when he worked for a farmer in the Wairarapa. That farmer would go to the sales with a tape measure and take the muzzle, girth, and length measurements, and purchase based on the quality of those measurements.

Electronic data can be collected on cow bites and the cows with wider muzzles and bigger mouths can fit more grass in - even if they take the same number of bites. Jamey believes those cows have an aggressive genetic code for feeding capacity. Simply put, they are ‘born hungry’.

One of the young bulls is an aggressive grazer who could grow into the type of bull they would like to breed from (though he couldn’t be put over all the heifers) and has been flagged by CRV for their screening process.

“We know what we want in the frame of animal we want to breed. So if we can breed a good, strong, healthy calf then it is a good start for heifer replacements and makes the bull calves more desirable.”

“It is confirming onfarm that the traits I am selecting are showing up in that bull-

‘With a group of bulls to choose from, taking into account your figures and breeding, the programme can advance a lot quicker because you are using one-year-old bulls, and supposedly every year the bulls are better and thus produce faster genetic gain through that.’

Jamey and Lisa want to keep their cows in herd as long as possible.

like nature of grazing, and if that bull was a heifer it would be a good one, so I am sort of connecting the dots,” says Jamey, who is learning more about the bull selection process.

“We want a good, solid, healthy, wellgrown, easy to feed animal on-farm. It’s just like a good scone mix, if you get it right, it rises perfectly.”

Fertility, capacity and liveweight

“To address liveweight we do have to admit that we have a couple of smaller cows in the herd,” Jamey says, acknowledging they don’t have a herd of perfectly idealised cows.

“‘Midgey’ is actually an aggressive grazer and doesn’t care that she is smaller than the others. We will always have the outsiders, there will always be a bottom cow and a top cow you will never get rid of that - they are all individuals.”

They joke about the naming of the cows, as their farmworker particularly has a penchant for naming them. With a cow such as Midgey, they explain that she would have been bred to a Semex bull, to get more structure in the calf, and thus increase liveweight. The genetic pool is quite small within NZ and they reckon that there is a feeling in the industry that the next big thing may come from international genetics crossed with good NZ genetics.

Mating schedule

The first three weeks of the mating schedule are Jersey, and they follow that with one and a half weeks of Friesian. They want to stay Jersey-based and breed natural, high fertility cows, so in the first three weeks cows that are naturally fertile are identified, as there is no intervention in this period. They utilise AI with a good conception rate.

A lot of that is hereditary, if the dams are naturally fertile the offspring generally are

as well, and it is a priority to maintain that block of animals in their herd. That way they always have fertility built into the herd. They inseminate with Jersey semen for three weeks, after three weeks they move to the Friesian which produces a very strong quick-growing calf that catches up to the Jersey weights by weaning time when the Jersey calves hit 100kg.

At 4.5 weeks they finish with polled Angus for a month, which makes the calves easily identifiable as a natural mating - they are easy calving and there is still a market for the crossbred progeny.

Jamey believes it is the simplicity of the programme and achieving consistent calf weights that are important.

“When Angus cross calves come through you know your AI calving is finished. If we hit 80 replacements we don’t need the crossbred calves which are incredibly marketable and saleable. So if we did lose a couple of calves in that first (Jersey) period then we still have good quality stock coming through,” Lisa says.

Essentially they are looking at the twoyear period from the time the calf is born to a two-year-old entering the herd as a calving cow, when the focus is on growing.

“We’ve grown them to the best of our ability in that two-year window. During which time they have to hold a pregnancy, have a calf, and produce milk. They need to battle their way into a different herd or a different environment, find their place, and cows, as a rule, are generally honest.”

“We do breed very good cows here, and they are very good at making milk.”

If they have had some growing challenges such as drought, they may come in 20-30 kilos lighter and still have to grow, get in calf, and produce milk. What gives in that cycle is usually reproduction.

It is really important to hit that twoyear liveweight for the whole system to be successful. Lisa hopes that every animal they breed and bring into the herd does

Rolling contoured land runs down to the cowshed on Jamey and Lisa’s farm.

14-15 years and the only reason they cull is due to an animal health issue - they haven’t had to cull a cow on the basis of her production as yet.

Starting out as owner-operators, they did try sexed semen through a CIDRS programme but the results weren’t as good and conception rates were quite low.

“The process is very time-sensitive; there is a four-hour window to get that semen into the cow when she is on heat, or actually just when she is coming off heat is the optimum time to get the sexed semen in. It is quite a finicky sort of programme,” Jamey says.

Diet before mating

Jamey tries to keep the feed regime exactly the same prior to mating all the way through so there are no changes to upset them.

“To get the cow in calf in those first three weeks you need a balanced rumen and consistent feeding, and we don’t shut up or make silage during that period and only do so after the mating is finished. Due to the focus on providing good pasture quality during the October spring flush, and making sure the cows are well-fed, Jamey has to come in and do a bit of topping later on.

“There’s always a curveball in farming,” Jamey says. The latest was palm kernel being delivered in pelletised form, rather than loose, which meant it didn’t all fit in the silo. Lisa was hunting down a tarpaulin to cover the excess sitting on the trailers.

They never know what the day will bring, but these farmers certainly seem up for the challenge. To get in that much needed time off-farm, Jamey and Lisa enjoy taking their nieces fishing over in Whitianga, and Jamey also relishes his hunting expeditions down south - a Himalayan bull thar trophy has pride of place in their dining room.

MINDA Beef edition

the balance of their cows to these elite beef sires.”

Most dairy beef calves born in New Zealand are recorded in MINDA as a mating and a birth event but LIC is wanting the information gathering to not end there.

With the pressure on dairy farmers to reduce bobby calves and also calves euthanised onfarm, the spotlight is now on dairy beef.

However, with a strong beef industry already supplying weaner calves to growers and finishers, dairy beef must stack up, LIC NZ Markets general manager Malcolm Ellis says.

“We’re primarily focusing on short gestation and ease of calving for dairy farmers with our selected beef sires, but the best thing we can do is to lift the performance of these animals with their growth rates so beef farmers also want them.

“There is a natural tension there but focused breeding programmes can lead to multiple trait supremacy.”

LIC teamed up with Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetics in 2020 for its dairy beef progeny test scheme with 15 breeds from Angus to Stabilizer involved.

“It was a good idea in 2020. It’s an even better idea in 2022,” Malcolm says.

With environmental pressures coming on beef herds, with beef cows only producing a calf a year, dairy beef will become more important.

“That’s what’s driving this. There is nowhere in the face of increased environmental and regulatory consideration to hide anymore so we must produce elite beef sires and we must have the two industry organisations working together.

“The increased use of sexed semen enables dairy farmers to put their best cows to dairy semen for their replacements and

LIC is using its Beef Selection Index (BSI) which compares sires across all beef breeds, similar to how NZAEL compares Friesian, Jersey and crossbred dairy animals.

Last mating season LIC inseminated more than 650,000 straws of non-dairy semen and Malcolm believes the figure will only continue to grow.

The key to it, he says, is continuing recording a dairy beef animal in MINDA after it leaves the dairy farm.

“We’ve got decades and multiple generations of information now on dairying recorded through MINDA and although it’s always been dairying’s guide to births, deaths and marriages, there is also a whole lot more that we get out of it.

“We want to do the same for dairy beef and feed that information back into the breeding and selecting of beef sires that we’re using for AB on dairy farms.

“We can then use those insights to drive

gain – the amount of feed a bull’s progeny will consume to produce one kilogram of weight gain.

As with dairy sires, the beef sires’ environmental impacts have also been modelled for methane and nitrogen.

LIC workshops with dairy farmers early this year and scheduled with beef farmers later this year are targeted to learn more about what a “MINDA Beef” solution might look like.

genetic gain just as we have been doing for dairying for all of these years.”

A dairy beef animal could potentially have four owners – the dairy farmer, the rearer through to weaning, the grower and the finishing farmer.

Some 91% of dairy farmers use MINDA and, as a NAIT provider, it could be used to provide an easy transition from one owner to the next owner for animal recording and traceability.

Traits sought by beef growers include intramuscular fat, eye muscle area which is an indicator of carcase yield, and feed

“We’re trying to add to the beef industry, not duplicate what is already there.”

LIC is also investing in dedicated bull handling facilities for semen collection from the beef breeds.

“Our dairy bulls arrive at LIC from breeders’ commercial farms at four to five months of age and we effectively begin their training from that point which sets them up well for semen collection at maturity.

“With the beef breeds they’ve come off the hills at 12 to 18 months old so we intend to develop specific facilities.”

Words by: Karen Trebilcock

Malcolm Ellis.

‘There is nowhere in the face of increased environmental and regulatory consideration to hide anymore so we must produce elite beef sires and we must have the two industry organisations working together.’

App reduces toll on bobbies

Dunedin Airport 50:50

sharemilker Hamish Jenkins is “pretty impressed” with the Silver Fern Farms Calf Booking app.

Before it was a phone call or a text to make sure animals were collected each day during calving, but the app makes it much simpler, he says.

On his phone, the app reminds him to book in animals and records how many animals have been collected.

“It can be on my phone or the calf rearer’s phone, it doesn’t matter. Just whoever is doing the job that season.”

Milking 550 cows, he’s used it for the past season and wouldn’t now want to do it any other way. Silver Fern Farms lower South Island store stock manager Garth “Tussock” Mitchell says calves can be booked four days in advance, when they’re born, and confirmed closer to pickup which gives the processing sites notice of what to expect. Or they can be booked the morning of pickup.

For Hamish, who farms smack in the middle between Silver Fern Farm plants at Waitane, near Gore, and Pareora, near Timaru, trucks don’t have to double back for missed animals and the trip for calves is quicker.

As well, the time from the last feed to arrival at the plant is recorded with a greater emphasis on animal welfare.

One of three finalists in the technology section of the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Awards, with the winner due to be announced in September, the app was first used in 2021 in the south proving

its worth in Covid lockdowns. Now it’s nationwide with about 95% of South Island Silver Fern Farm calf suppliers and 28% of North Island calf suppliers using it last spring. In 2022 it will be the primary booking tool for both islands.

“As part of our overall transformation and technology journey, our internal digital team worked with our partners Datacom through the last few months of 2020 to map, scope and design it,” Silver Fern Farm’s chief supply chain officer Dan Boulton says.

In the past, North Island farmers put out a flag at their gate to show they had animals for collection.

“While the app may provide some cost savings in reduced road miles for transporters as they no longer have to drive around looking for flags, the real benefits will come in ways that can’t be measured in dollars.

“It has greatly reduced risk around animal welfare, missed bookings and plant issues caused by poor visibility on processing numbers.

“The brief was to make the app very simple so it could be used by anyone in the farm team, including those for whom English is a second language.”

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Words and photos by: Karen Trebilcock

The young ones

Raising young dairy beef animals to be processed before their first winter provides an outlet for bobby calves.

By Jackie Harrigan.

Four years ago Massey University researchers piloted the New Generation beef project, with dairy beef cross cattle reared and processed at 8, 10, and 12 months of age with the vision to utilise surplus dairy calves for a young beef product.

The concept was proven as a beef product that is tender and of excellent meat quality and has potential in terms of processability.

It has defined an outlet for bobby calves, providing a worthwhile value chain for them and minimising wastage of the resource.

Masters students working with meat quality researcher Nicola Schreurs

investigated meat quality aspects of the carcases and researched how the class of stock might fit into beef farm systems.

“We found it was a very good meat product; with the different ages we were looking at in a pasture-based system the meat produced was still a red beef colour, it was very tender when measured in the lab and had good eating quality, and by aiming at processing before one year of age the stock could be turned over before the next crop of calves were coming through,” Schreurs said.

The next step was to look at how the calves would fit into current farm systems, and investigate what might be the factors that would drive beef finishers to pull

those calves from the dairy industry and incorporate them into their systems.

Enter Ethiopian PhD student Addisu Addis who has spent three years at Massey developing a base model of how the systems look now and at the bobby calf pool and incorporating the other stakeholders - the beef cattle rearers, finishers and processors - into a model that will be able to be used to test different aspects of a production system.

“The aim is essentially to see how New Generation Beef can fit into the existing beef production systems,” Addisu said.

Using an optimisation model, Addisu has found that finishers could easily feed the cattle, grow them efficiently (the earlier research measured daily weight gains of 0.8kg/day) and process the cattle before the first winter or to carry them through to 14-15 months to take care of the spring growth flush.

“Addition of supplementary crops can extend finishing to November.”

An optimisation model and an Agent Based Model (ABM) showed increasing profit and pasture utilisation by finishing more of the younger animals per hectare, but the current payment system was a challenge.

Starting with a long term average manufacturing beef price of $4.50/kg limits the uptake of finishing the young beef animals in the modelled system, not a surprising finding, Schreurs said.

“At a manufacturing price for this beef it is pretty obvious that other options of production would be more lucrative, but it does suggest the model is working well and reflecting the real-life situation. To be competitive we would need a portion of the cuts to be sold at premium prices to lift the average price across the whole carcase.”

Addisu used ABM, a modelling system new to animal science but more common in social science, to look at the system from the viewpoint of different agents - different

Left: Addisu Addis has spent three years of his PhD computer modelling aspects of a young beef production system.

stakeholders - like the dairy farmers, calf rearers, finishers and processors.

ABM takes into account the interactions and behaviours between the agents with the model able to track the results of changes in interactions - like availability of calves, changes to feed supplies, breed composition, growth rates, and product prices for example.

Addisu said there are lots of other alternatives to explore and to tweak but time constraints for completing his PhD have meant he can’t run every simulation he would wish to.

“We have stopped at the processorassuming the market exists.”

But Schreurs admits there is a lot of work to be done there - marketing a young beef product, looking at potential markets and setting price points.

Addisu has been mentored by Schreurs, and Professors Hugh Blair, Steve Morris, Paul Kenyon and Dorian Garrick. He is at the point of writing up his thesis but has already made substantial inroads into understanding how a young beef production system life New Generation Beef could work. He has a wife and three children back in Ethiopia - who he hasn’t seen for three years - but once he has submitted his PhD he is committed to carrying on investigating the integration

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of young beef animals into NZ and international farm systems.

He is also keen to spend a few months pulling on his gumboots and working on a New Zealand sheep and beef farm, to match the theory and modelling with practical on-the-ground farming.

At the end of the project Schreurs said they hope to be able to to understand the trigger points involved in all parts of the value chain and to be able to take calves from the dairy industry, to put them into a finishing systems and pre-empt any hurdles that may arise in the production system.

An early stage production system is being established in the South Island to test the market for young beef. Pasture Pearl has attracted Agmardt funding through its Aotearoa Food and Fibres Challenge and is producing ethically produced grass and milk-fed ‘pearl’ veal, processed at 10/12 months and marketed to high-end NZ restaurants.

VALUE CHAIN

INNOVATION

Programme Facilitator, Prof. Hamish Gow.

Applications for the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme close 14 November, 2021.

Step up in 2022 as an agri-sector leader of change. Register now at ruralleaders.co.nz/kellogg/

Applications for September’s programme close 10 July. To register your interest visit ruralleaders.co.nz/value-chain/

RURAL LEADERS

“The

will allow participants to lift the lid on New Zealand’s leading value chains, exploring their working components and how they create value.”

‘We found it was a very good meat product; with the different ages we were looking at in a pasture-based system the meat produced was still a red beef colour, it was very tender when measured in the lab and had good eating quality.’

Study shows how to drop GHG 22%

Farmers who aren’t fans of dairyorigin cattle to grow for beef might consider a rethink.

A novel life cycle analysis study has shown that replacing a beef cow and calf system with bought-in dairy beef animals can cut greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of meat sold by 22%.

This is because the maintenance

REDUCE THE RISK OF HUMAN ERROR

emissions of a dairy cow is shared between the milk and meat (her calf sold), while a beef cow has her annual emissions all loaded on to her beef calf meat.

A new era of counting and paying for GHGs is approaching. This will put a new and increasingly significant economic driver into a beef system.

Stewart Ledgard, AgResearch, who was

A new era of counting and paying for greenhouse gases is approaching and dairy beef animals offer a way through the maze, Joanna Grigg writes.

Bought-in dairy beef stock for beef cows can cut GHG emissions per kg of meat sold by 22%.

involved with running the numbers, says now a price is going on carbon, farmers need to look at their farm system emissions and what the numbers are showing.

“Emissions are driven by cattle days on the farm.”

In collaboration with three other scientists around the world and funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, Ledgard created a model of the NZ cattle population and computed the GHG emissions per kg. It was done for suckler-beef and dairy beef systems.

The model showed replacing 100% of the beef herd with dairysourced calves cuts meat GHG emissions by 22% (21.3 to 16.7kg C02 equivalent/kilogram of carcase weight).

Already the dairy industry contributes 40% of the beef sold (cull cows and slaughtered surplus calves). About 900,000 dairy calves go into beef production but about 1.7 million dairy calves are slaughtered from four-days old.

Ledgard sees an opportunity here, as well as improved industry image for dairy systems.

“We should also remember that grass-fed beef produces less carbon dioxide than a grain-fed system because there is less use of finite fossil fuels and this produces carbon dioxide that stays in the atmosphere longer than other greenhouse gases, including methane.”

Ledgard has a distinguished career in life cycle analysis and most recently, has focused on energy, water and GHG in farm systems.

As a dairy farming lad from South Westland, he sees the practical implications of cross-breeding surplus dairy cows or heifers with beef genetics like Angus and Hereford for use on hills.

“This research is hypothetical and of course, farmers need to consider the practicalities in terms of grazing hill country.

“Beef cows also improve pasture quality for sheep and growing cattle, making them grow faster and therefore more efficiently in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.”

But the message is also clear – there is a lineal relationship between replacing beef cows by bought-in dairy-based animals and a decrease in GHG emissions per kilogram of meat grown.

OSPRI is the lead biosecurity agency for New Zealand’s animal industries, jointly owned by DairyNZ, Beef+Lamb NZ and Deer Industry NZ. Currently, OSPRI’s operations include managing the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) and TBfree programmes, which are jointly funded by OSPRI’s owners and the Ministry for Primary Industries.

OSPRI is seeking an additional Director, to broaden and deepen the Board’s skills and experience. Applicants should bring:

As a primary attribute:

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• Relevant and up-to-date knowledge of the regulatory environment related to biosecurity

• Strategic understanding and leadership relevant to organisation change, people and performance management and culture change

• Technology and innovation awareness, relevant to biosecurity and information systems

• Understanding of te ao Maori and Maori organisations relevant to animal biosecurity operations.

The appointment will take effect from the Annual Meeting in November 2022, for an initial term of 3 years.

The OSPRI Shareholders’ Council is responsible for recommending Board appointees to shareholders.

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E james@innovationstrategy.co.nz

T 021 678318

Applications should be submitted by 8 June 2022.

‘We should also remember that grassfed beef produces less carbon dioxide than a grain-fed system because there is less use of finite fossil fuels and this produces carbon dioxide that stays in the atmosphere longer than other greenhouse gases, including methane.’

More dairy-sourced calves on beef farms to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) footprint

• Beef sector has nine percent share of NZ’s GHG emissions

• Replacing 100% of beef herd with dairy-sourced calves cuts meat GHG emissions by 22% (21.3 to 16.7 kg CO2e/kg carcaseweight)

• About 900,000 dairy calves go into beef production but 1.4 million dairy calves slaughtered from 4-days

• Dairy beef little difference in meat quality if grown under similar conditions to beef

• Option to inseminate dairy cattle with beef semen (especially Jersey cows)

• If farmers paying GHG levy, switching some beef cows to dairy-origin cattle would reduce these costs. Switching 50% of existing herd would drop GHG by around 11% in total (22% if switch all).

The research involved apportioning dairy farm emissions to either milk production, or to growing a calf and maintaining the cow. About 85% of emissions are allocated to producing milk. This is based on energy used.

“We also took into account extra milk powder and grain to grow out a four-day old dairy calf on a beef farm.”

In the model the diet of all animals was fresh pasture (10.2 MJME and 18.5% crude protein) with only a small proportion of intake via supplements. This is in the range used in the NZ GHG Inventory based on surveys. Beef cows can eat poorer quality pasture and this affects productivity which can increase the GHG emissions per kg feed eaten.

Lower ME concentration means slower growth or higher calculated emissions per kg dry matter eaten but it wouldn’t change the conclusions, he said.

Another tool in the toolbox to reduce greenhouse gas emissions per cow is to improve weaning rate from 86% and calf growth rates.

This spreads the maintenance energy costs over more sale meat.

Ledgard adds that research indicates methane inhibitors (e.g. a bolus or vaccines) as holding the biggest potential for reducing emissions.

“At the whole farm level, the methane from rumen breakdown of feed is about eighty percent of total GHG emissions.

“If inhibitors can reduce this loss by 30% it would hold by far the biggest potential, and may help growth rates by channelling lost energy into growth.”

A win:win.

• First published in Country-Wide Beef 2022.

Global Bulls

More milk from less feed

Did you know that CRV records 4 million feed intakes per year? This makes CRV a world leader in breeding cows for feed efficiency.

NZ’S FIRST LOW VOLUME, NIL-MILK CATTLE INJECTION JOINS THE EPRISURE FAMILY

FASTER. HIGHER. STRONGER.

Nil milk withholding for dairy cattle coverage during lactation

Shorter meat withholding of only 14 days

1ml/100kg dosing for faster treatment and less site leakage

Making the transition

With the end of the season upon us, it is time to prepare for the important job of drying off.

This is such an important process – capping off a season of hard work producing high quality milk should be a priority to get right.

Drying off is a key stage in whether the upcoming spring transition will be a problem for mastitis or not. By doing a good job to end the current lactation, you will reap the rewards at calving time.

At the end of lactation, the udder needs to transition from making milk to being dormant. During this process, the residual milk left in the gland is gradually broken down and absorbed. While there are still traces of milk in the udder, there is the perfect growth medium present for bacteria, and mastitis will be a risk.

Involution is the term used to describe the process of the udder transitioning from lactating to dry. In most cows, this process will be completed in about three weeks. Therefore the first three weeks of the dry period is when dry cow mastitis risk is highest.

Preventing mastitis-causing bacteria such as Staph aureus, E.coli and Strep uberis from getting into the udder during involution is critical, and this is where internal teat sealants have a role. Internal teat sealants reduce the risk of mastitis by providing a physical barrier to mastitis-causing pathogens entering the teat canal.

At the same time, the process of applying internal teat sealants into cows is also an effective way to inoculate the udder with mastitis-causing bacteria if the job is not completed to a high standard. You and your vet need to work together to make

sure that anyone who is part of the dry-off team is trained up to standard. Plan the day in advance, and make sure you have enough people on hand to get the job done in a reasonable time frame. Consider splitting larger herds into smaller groups so they don’t all have to wait in the yard for hours until it is their turn to be done.

The herd should begin to be wound down in production a few days before drying off is planned. Cows should not be underfed in order to wind their production back. Instead, aim for a reduction in the energy and protein content of the feed offered. Achieve this by swapping out a couple of kilos of pasture and/or energy rich supplement for hay. Ensuring cows wind down production with a full stomach will reduce stress on the cows’ immune system, and keep the cows content on the day of drying off.

Following the day of drying off, keep the cows away from the shed to reduce the drive to let down milk, but make sure you physically run your eye over the herd every

Lisa Whitfield

Words by: Lisa Whitfield

day. This is critical with regards to mastitis, for the three weeks following dry-off. The best time to spot a sick cow is to watch the herd when they are getting a new break. Look out for cows not eating, cows lying down when everyone else is feeding, and obviously swollen quarters.

If you find a sick cow – pull her out of the herd as soon as possible, check her rectal temperature and if mastitis is suspected, strip the quarter and take a milk sample for culture.

Bacteria such as E.coli and Staph aureus are more likely to cause a cow to be noticeably unwell, as these often trigger the development of a high fever. Knowing the bacteria which is causing mastitis will help you to direct treatment

more effectively – an E.coli mastitis cow is highly likely to need fluid therapy support. A Staph aureus cow will likely need a longer course of antibiotics. A Strep uberis cow is likely to only need a standard lactating cow mastitis treatment.

Drying off is a key process to end lactation and sets a cow up for the following season. Preparing the cow to be dried off, applying internal teat sealants to a high standard, and monitoring the cow closely for at least three weeks afterwards, are all important steps in preserving udder health over the dry period and into the next lactation.

• Lisa Whitfield, is a Manawatu production animal veterinarian.

Ensuring cows wind down production with a full stomach will reduce stress on the cows’ immune system, and keep the cows content on the day of drying off.

Left: Using transition feed for drying off. Above: Feeding out the hay.

DRAWN TO DAIRYING

Growing up with a menagerie on the family smallholding, it wasn’t a great leap for a young Southlander to transition to life on a dairy farm.

Although Aidan Roe didn’t grow up on a farm, throughout his young life he got nudged towards dairying.

He now milks within sight of the lifestyle block he grew up on at Springhills near Winton in Southland and also has in his sights a future of sharemilking and farm ownership.

“My dad is a vet and we had a zoo when I was young – sheep, two cows, a donkey, I could keep going,” Aidan says.

“We would get taken along with him on the weekends and after school. He made sure my sisters and I all fell in love with animals.”

Aidan went to a country primary school at Browns and then was a boarder at Southland Boys High School in Invercargill.

“Most of the boys in the hostel were off farms and there was a strong agricultural course at the school.

“Almost everyone had older brothers or

sisters who were working on farms.”

So it wasn’t a giant leap for him to choose Lincoln University and its fouryear Agricultural Science degree.

Helping him to make the decision was winning a DairyNZ scholarship and meeting its organiser Susan Stokes who was to mentor him for the next four years and onwards.

“I spent two summers working on sheep farms as part of the degree which I really enjoyed, but Susan made sure I went dairying.

“Sheep farmers are tired because they’re working really full-on days during summer drafting and weaning. Dairy farmers are just tired because they get up at 4am every morning.”

Finishing his degree in the midst of Covid-19, when most of the graduate employment programmes were shut down and many agricultural businesses switched to a no-hiring policy, he found himself after exams in November 2020 back on the

dairy farm he’d worked on through school and university.

“I could have had a crack at a few more jobs but after four years of sitting in lectures or facing a laptop, I was pretty keen to get outside again.”

And now he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I know I could have gone straight into a job milking here without going to university but I wouldn’t have missed Lincoln for the world.

“I went with quite a large group from high school but we met a whole new group of people there. They’re mates for life.”

In his fourth year he got to work alongside DairyNZ research scientists which opened his eyes.

“It’s amazing to see just how full-on their research is.”

As part of the scholarship, he went back to talk to students at Southland Boys about dairying and Lincoln.

Photos and story by Karen Trebilcock

Aidan Roe with Ted his dog at the farmhouse supplied through his job.

“It was good to go back, to have that opportunity. I’d like to think I inspired some of them.”

And as well, as part of the scholarship, he got to meet dairy farmers and industry leaders who continually gave him ideas and a pathway forward.

“I know the university fees just go on your student loan but I don’t think enough people realise how important it is to have them paid for through the DairyNZ Scholarship.

“Over four years it’s a lot of money. And the mentorship and meeting so many people has been invaluable.”

He’s a farm assistant for sharemilkers Michael and Kathryn Farmer who milk 560 Friesian cross cows on 200ha effective with the farm owners living just down the road.

Aidan’s up at 4am with cups on in the 40-aside herringbone at 5am.

“We run the cows in two herds and the second herd usually has a way to walk. It’s worth it to see the sun rise.”

Cups are back on at 2.45 in the afternoon and he’s usually home at 4.45, the day finished.

In-between milking he’ll shift effluent pods, top, feed out if needed and shift break fences plus once a week he does the farm walk with a platemeter.

“For the past few months I’ve been in charge of the red herd, the antibiotic herd, so that’s been fun. My own wee herd to look after.

“And it’s good helping to meet the targets on the farm – somatic cell counts and milk solids.”

Michael and Kathryn are moving to an 800-cow farm as equity partners about half an hour away between Otautau and Drummond this coming season and Aidan is going with them, looking forward to milking in a rotary dairy.

“I want to step up into a manager’s role eventually and then go sharemilking and farm ownership in some form.

“It’s been good watching Michael and Kathryn do it. It shows it’s possible.

“Michael started out in banking and then went dairying but I think working on a dairy farm gives you a head start. You’re learning so much all the time.

“And the pay is better on farm than in many grad roles plus you get a house

as part of the package so all your savings are going towards that end goal of going farming, not on rent or trying to buy a house.”

He was thinking of investing in a rental property but the 20% deposit banks rules have killed it.

“I would like to go overseas. It’s just fitting it in with everything else.”

Even though he spent most of the first semester of his last year at Lincoln in lockdown due to Covid, he said he’s been luckier than others.

“I came down here and milked on this farm during lockdown, earned some money which was good, and then we all went back for exams at the end of the semester.

“We got graduation in and all the garden parties. I feel sorry for the people since who haven’t got to do all of that.”

After continuing seeing the Dairy Industry Awards trainee competition popping up on his Facebook feed, he finally decided to enter and won the Southland/Otago final.

“The skills day was a lot of fun. We got to meet a lot of people who were past winners in the manager or sharefarmer competition.

“They were running each module and that was the best part of it – getting to talk to them.”

Skills tested included changing a quad bike tyre, fencing and naming parts of the dairy.

With Te Anau and Fiordland on his doorstep, he’s done a fair bit of tramping plus does trail rides on his motorbike.

“One of my mates has a place in Te Anau so we’ve been there a bit this summer water-skiing on the lake. And the Remarkables are only a couple of hours away for skiing in the winter. You don’t even have to drive through Queenstown.”

His parents have supported his choice to go farming and both enjoy getting out on the farm with Aidan, especially as it brings them back to where they used to live.

“Dad’s a vet in Clydevale now and he thinks it’s pretty cool that I’m dairying back here.”

“Dad made sure we all fell in love with animals.”

WellMates:

OVERCOMING ISOLATION WOES

Words by: Delwyn Dickey

Isolation often goes hand-in-hand with farming. For young workers, going to town to hang-out with their mates can be an hour’s drive away or longer, or the roster means they’re often working when you’re not. Add too much alcohol, perhaps a relationship breakup, and life can get very tough.

Reducing rural suicide by giving students the skills they need to look after their own mental health and recognise when others are struggling, is behind the WellMates programme developed at Lincoln University. Lincoln and Massey Universities are joining forces and with nearly $130,000 from the Massey – Lincoln and Agricultural Industry Trust Capability Development and Research Fund (MLAIT CDR) plan to extend the programme to Massey University agricultural students, with research to determine how effective it is at both universities.

If it is shown to be effective at reducing suicide among young farmers it could be included as a compulsory part of agricultural programmes on their campuses. When the global dairy crisis hit in the 2015/2016 season, an economic downturn in the dairy farming industry saw real concerns over the mental health of farmers with a possible increase in suicides.

Surprisingly, little was known about suicide connected to farmers, so suicide expert Dr Annette Beautrais, University of Canterbury, looked into it.

While the research outcomes were always going to be grim, there were some unexpected and worrying results.

Financial pressure made a negligible contribution to suicide risk, and it was young farmhands who were struggling the most, rather than farm owners and

managers. Half of the dairy farm suicides were men – farm hands - under 30 years old. Even more alarming, half of these young men were teenagers straight out of home and just getting into the workforce.

These findings have been backed up by recent research in farming communities in Queensland, Australia.

Agricultural lecturers at Lincoln University had heard accounts over several years of some of their students from the one-year Agricultural Diploma, heading back on to farms and taking their own lives. They got in touch with the welbeing department at Lincoln and asked for a programme to get something out to students.

“They were concerned they were teaching students all this agricultural stuff but they weren’t learning how to look after themselves when they got back out, particularly on to isolated farms,” says Lincoln University wellbeing counsellor Louise Winder.

“Most of the help and support out in rural areas is aimed at older farmers as they’re seen to be the ones carrying the load for climate change and prices. But not a lot is aimed at the young farm workers who are most likely to suicide,” Louise says.

“It made sense that tertiary institutes, that work in agriculture, are the places to get that.”

Last year the first two-hour WellMates, a resilience and positive mental health workshop ran as part of the Agricultural Diploma. While not compulsory, with 5% of their final mark connected to the quiz at the end of the workshop, it was well patronised with 100 students taking part.

Rural mental health group Farmstrong is helping with resources along with masters student Katherine Wright at Otago Polytechnic whose work looking at young

rural men and suicide will also feed into the programme.

Run more as a conversation by other students who have been trained up, with role play and case studies, the aim is to talk about suicide, mental health and not feeling okay in a normal conversationwithout there being any shame attached to it, Louise says.

By normalising it, the hope is students will take that back to their communities and make them safer. Not just for these students, but by them getting involved when they see someone is struggling. This could also see them become more supportive of co-workers and employees as they progress in their careers.

The incidence of suicidal thinking is the same in urban and rural communities, Louise says, but easy access to guns on farms makes them a huge problem for young men. There are five times the number of gun suicides in rural areas than in other communities.

This is one reason normalising talk around feeling down is important, Louise says.

They may spot behaviour in a mate –they’re feeling low, suicidal perhaps, and being comfortable talking to them about it. Keeping up with them more, perhaps suggesting taking the gun for a couple of weeks until they’re feeling better - just helping each other.

Wellness courses are open to criticism as there is often no follow up to see if they actually work, says Dr Nicky Stanley-Clarke from Massey’s School of Social Work who is involved with the project.

If data from surveys and interviews with this programme show it is effective, that will strengthen the case for it to be rolled out to all agricultural students, she says.

Lincoln wellbeing counsellor Dr Louise Winder.

Suffering syndrome?

By

nearly there’

We hear stories about people falling asleep behind the wheel and having an accident just as they are nearly home. They were ‘nearly there’ and how could this happen when they have been driving for so long? The truth is, it does happen and it happens more than it should.

I was lucky enough recently to connect with the lovely Jane Fowles from Dairy Holdings Limited who had a chat with me about health and safety but also about the month of May and how many of you may be feeling you are nearly there.

Nearly there with drying off, nearly there with finishing packing before you move farms, nearly there before you get a much deserved break from milking.

Jane first started in health and safety about 15 years ago, moving into agriculture about eight years ago.

It is her happy space and I could feel her passion as she spoke to me.

Jane said that she loves working with agri and farmers because they are genuine people doing a good job of what they love.

She also sees, like me, health and safety differently to the box-ticking exercise so many people limit it to.

Jane believes health and safety is about connecting with people and enjoys the challenge of getting people to engage in making it part of their everyday lives.

“You should go home in a better state than what you started the day in,” she said.

Now that is something to reflect on and she is so right!

If you have spent your day learning new things, connecting with people, being part of nature, then ideally your mental and physical state should be satisfied at the end of the day.

Can you say this is the case for you?

If the answer is no, then stop and have a good think about what you are doing in your day and how you can pivot to make these changes in your everyday life.

It’s May, and you are nearly at the end of the season but how do you get to the end without falling asleep at the wheel?

Jane talked to me about how fatigue will be setting in for a lot of you but she also distinguishes the difference between physical fatigue and mental fatigue.

Physical fatigue happens generally around calving and mating time and right now what you may be suffering from is mental fatigue - reinforcing the fact that no good decision is made after 3pm.

Jane has some questions you and your colleagues can ask every morning before you start work to help address this:

• What are we doing today?

• What can go wrong?

• How am I feeling today?

• What am I going to do about those things?

Stopping to ask these questions and have these conversations is life-saving - it will, figuratively speaking, stop you from falling asleep behind the wheel.

Jane has given me her three top tips on how to keep the injury rate down on your farm:

1. Talk about health and safety. Make it something that is part of everyday conversations as well as discussions in

We’re getting near the end of the milking season, so it’s time for a reminder about the risks of the season and your health and safety.

Harriet Bremner.

more formal settings. It should be part of everyday business.

2. Monday - have a toolbox meeting that is structured and disciplined. Make health and safety something that doesn’t get left for a rainy day or if you happen to have an extra five minutes. Make it a regular part of your team’s conversations. Making time for it means that it is important. You can do this by:

• Reflect on last week. What were the hazards that people came across - share everyone’s thoughts. If something went wrong, why did it go wrong and how can this be avoided in the future?

• Focus on the week ahead. Identify hazards - what are the things that could hurt us, what could go wrong based on what you have planned this week?

• Vehicle Checks. Is my vehicle safe to drive?

3. Talk to each other and call each other out in a productive way. You don’t need to wait until the next toolbox meeting to say somethingaddress it at that moment as that person might be fatigued themselves and not aware that what they are doing is dangerous.

No ticking boxes

What motivates Jane to stay passionate about health and safety in Agri.

“When you have spent time with a farmer and they get it, that’s what motivates me.” Jane speaks about the puzzled look on someone’s face when they see a ‘health and safety’ person without a clipboard or a page full of boxes to tick.

When they realise that’s not what health and safety is about, that’s what’s satisfying for Jane.

Jane shared a story about a farmer who she spoke to about staying safe while burning off paddocks. He told her he didn’t need to do anything different because nothing had ever gone wrong before. Sounds a bit like the ‘she’ll be right’ theory to me!

Jane suggested they have a water tanker there just in case the worst-case scenario were to happen.

Later, the farmer rang Jane to tell her that when he was recently burning a paddock off, the wind changed and embers ended up in the cottage garden, sparking the pea straw in the garden to catch fire.

Luckily, the farmer had a water tanker on hand for the first time ever and put out the fire. He told Jane they would have lost the house if they hadn’t been prepared.

He then declared that although it may never go wrong again, he will never, ever burn off paddocks without water nearby just in case.

He did what Jane said and it saved him a house.

Using Jane’s questions can be cottage saving, life-saving and essentially, stop us from falling asleep behind that wheel.

So ask yourself… what could go wrong and adjust accordingly. Be safe out there!

Jane Fowlers: H&S is not about box ticking.

Jane Fowles - team talk: Talk about health and safety.

THE DRY: Coping with drought

Southern Dairy Hub’s planned wintering barn trials have been delayed a year. Story and photos by Karen Trebilcock.

The day of the first field day of the year at the Southern Dairy Hub was also the day the Government finally declared a drought in Southland.

Farm general manager Louise Cook said she “had been in tears several times” due to autumn’s dry conditions.

Although cows were in good condition, farm covers were low with balage fed out since the start of March and cows on oncea-day milking since March 27. The round was 40 days plus.

Sprinklers in the dairy yard for the cows waiting to be milked had helped to reduce heat stress.

“Balage is very hard to get hold of. We will get to the point when we’re done. We’ll have to stop milking because we have run out of feed,” she said.

Their saving grace was 59 culls had been sold as “in-milk” cows at the end of February. Getting culls into the works had proved close to impossible due to labour issues on chains.

No financials were included in the field day handout and there was no farm walk as usual.

“We’re trying to ignore the payout at the moment and focus on the future and our longterm viability,” she said.

With the three-year research on fodder beet vs kale wintering

finishing in May, a much-talked-about multi-system wintering barn, which was to be used for the first time this winter, has now been delayed until next year.

Pre-Covid, DairyNZ staff travelled to North America and Ireland to investigate possible barn systems for the hub.

DairyNZ senior scientist Dawn Dalley said the infrastructure would provide a range of options to reduce the negative impacts of wintering on water quality, greenhouse gas emissions, animal welfare and public perceptions.

Two designs are proposed. The first is an enclosed barn with a wintering area, calving pad and a feed pad for milkers.

It will have a wood chip bedding for the loafing areas and a different surface for feed areas.

The second is an uncovered, all-weather surface with shelter from the prevailing wind. It will use greenwash for cleaning and will combine loafing and feeding areas.

The operating costs of the two designs will be compared as well as animal welfare, especially lying times.

Dawn said the next steps for building the infrastructure was convening a small group of farmers to finalise the design as well as testing the surface to be used in the uncovered system.

A location on the farm still needed to be decided, final plans drawn and costed before applying for consents.

The off-paddock infrastructure will be part of a comparison study with the farm’s cows split into four.

The infrastructure will be for 230 cows and another 230 cows will be wintered on fodder beet and balage in the paddock. The stocking rate of both of these herds will be three cows per hectare with 150 to 180kg of N/ha/year applied on the milking platform.

The rest of the cows will be stocked at 2.5 cows per hectare with 50 to 60kg N/ha applied. Some of the cows will be wintered on fodder beet and balage and the rest on grass and balage.

Animal performance and welfare, forage production and utilisation, profit, greenhouse gas emissions and water quality would be evaluated.

Questions will be asked on whether off paddock wintering has a lower environmental footprint, was better for animal welfare and for water quality.

Also, whether wintering on grass and balage only was more profitable than wintering on crop.

With the new trial not starting until June 2023, cows would be wintered this year on a mix of swedes, kale and fodder beet at the hub with smaller research topics investigated, Dawn said.

Cows at the Southern Dairy Hub near Invercargill on balage.

Tiny workers keeping things green

liquid product. As a scientist, marketing teaches you a lot.”

Farmers need to be cautious when considering using microbes, especially as they are unregulated, he says.

The future is promising for the smallest but hardest working guys on the farm – microbes.

While the cost of fuel pushes up prices for everything from fertiliser to drench, microbes could soon replace them, especially as they can be made with the simplest of manufacturing systems.

“A bit like Speight’s Brewery, that’s all it takes,” Dr Craig Bunt says.

The inaugural professor of Agricultural Innovation at the University of Otago, Craig is a big fan of microbes and of farming and sees them as a way of keeping it greener and using less chemicals.

As a senior research scientist at AgResearch before coming to Otago, he helped develop BioShield to control grass grub as well as strains of fungi for thistles and giant buttercup. BioShield contains the naturally occurring soil bacteria Serratia entomophila which, when in the gut of the grass grub, causes it to die.

“That’s what is great about microbes, they’re naturally found. We’re not making them. There are no worries with GMOs, they’re not genetically modified.

“All we’re doing is topping up the good microbes so they can do their job better.”

But keeping them alive and in useful numbers is the challenge.

“With BioShield we started it out as a liquid and then people were mixing it with chlorinated tap water and doing other things which killed the microbes.

“There were a lot of failures. Then they made it into a drillable product that was shelf-stable. Now, knowing how to treat the microbes, they’ve gone back to the

“There are a few red flags that you often see. If it says on the label the amount of live, viable microbes in the product at the time of manufacture, but not at the time of application, then you should be wary.

“The species should also be named and maybe even the strain and they have got to be alive. Otherwise you might as well be buying tap water.”

Farmers should look for independent research on a product, not anecdotal advice that it worked as it claimed to do.

If it was made overseas, then there has to be information on testing done in New Zealand on the amount of live microbes in the product. So far there are two areas of research on what microbes can do on the farm – young animal health and soil health.

“A young calf’s gut is very similar to a human’s so a lot of our knowledge is transferable.

“However, a developed rumen is completely different. There’s a lot going on. It’s very complex. We’re still talking black magic with the rumen.”

But adding microbes, also known as probiotics, to calf feed is proving its worth.

“There was research done on three dairy farms in South Otago by the Clutha Agriculture Development Board in 2012 with a total of 296 calves in the study.

“On one farm using Biobrew, the probiotic did nothing but on the other two, the calves which were given it compared with the ones which hadn’t, had less scours, had a higher rate of survival and gained weight faster.

“What we think happened, was on the farm that saw no difference, it was because

there was more shelter, so the calves were not compromised. “So, using probiotics for calves is like taking out insurance.

“And on all three farms four years later, those calves which were given the probiotic had higher production and a better retention rate in the herd compared with the calves that hadn’t been given it.”

The other area of research was seed coatings containing microbes such as Trichoderma fungi for ryegrass.

The microbes in the fungi can increase nitrogen use efficiency and solubilise phosphate as well as protecting the plant from disease during pasture establishment.

“There is definitely a future there but the challenge is getting enough viable microbes on the seed.

“Also at the moment seed companies tend to use heat drying for seed coatings which is a quicker process but it kills the microbes.

“Microbes are incredibly fragile but at the same time really robust. You can compress them into a tablet and freeze dry them and they’ll be fine.

“If you have them as a liquid in the back of a ute in a Canterbury nor-wester then they probably won’t be.”

Making the microbes in the soil work harder accessing nutrients so they are readily available to grasses and clovers is the real challenge.

“Then we would need cows just to manage the grass growth.”

Microbes have potential to make a real difference to the way we farm. Photo and story by Karen Trebilcock.

Inaugural professor of Agricultural Innovation at the University of Otago, Dr Craig Bunt

Those four stomachs

So, we all know that cows don’t digest their food the same way we do, right?

It’s crucial for dairy farming and should have been a focus a long time ago but with the widespread use of collars and other tech which shows cows’ ruminating times, it’s finally in the spotlight where it belongs.

Cows, along with other ruminants such as sheep, goats, deer and even giraffes and camels, have four stomachs.

Note that list doesn’t include horses – talk to a horse owner and you’ll start to understand the many problems of feeding horses because they eat basically the same stuff as cows but are not ruminants.

A cow’s four stomachs, in the order in which the grass (but not milk – more on that later) passes through them are the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum and finally the abomasum.

It’s the first one, the rumen, which is the most important one to understand but even scientists are still getting to

grips with it. They can’t reproduce all that it does yet in the lab.

However, some of its secrets may one day help farmers lower greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen losses as well as making more milk from less feed.

But we should start at the beginning. Cattle eat grass by wrapping their tongues around the stuff and tearing it from the plant and pulling it into their mouths. They chew it first with the lower jaw incisors and then with their back molars.

This chewing stimulates saliva production. The saliva contains enzymes that start breaking down the fats and starches in the feed and helps keep the pH level of the rumen and reticulum at a nice and healthy neutral. Cows can swallow up to 100 litres a day of saliva depending on how much time they spend chewing (one of the reasons why they need lots of water to drink).

The pH of the rumen is vital because there are things living in there. Lots of things. If the rumen is too acidic these

things die which is not good.

The things can be divided into four main groups but about half of them are bacteria and different rumen bacteria do different things. Some break down carbohydrates to simple sugars, others ferment the sugars into fatty acids, carbon dioxide and yep, methane.

Then there are those that break down proteins and a group that change the unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids so they can be absorbed in the small intestine later.

The bacteria use the feed the cows are eating to make more of themselves. So if the cow is not eating, no rumen bacteria. And rumen bacteria don’t just happen overnight. It takes weeks to increase their numbers.

But the rumen bacteria die when they are washed into the last two stomachs where the higher pH kills them and they are absorbed into the cow as protein.

So, the cow is not only feeding itself, it’s feeding the rumen bacteria, which then feeds the cow.

The four stomachs of cows - and other ruminants - digest grass on the way to making milk. Story and photos by Karen Trebilcock.

The other three groups of things living in the rumen are protozoa, fungi and bacteriophages which also help to break down what the cow is eating. They’re all anaerobic – they don’t need oxygen to live.

And they are all constantly mixed up by the rumen which is contracting up to three times a minute. Plus, the cow regurgitates it all for further chewing to break down the grass into smaller pieces – what you see when the cows are lazing about but their jaws are moving from side to side. This is what the smart collars and ear tags are measuring as rumination time.

Some of the rumen organisms love foods high in carbs, others are keen on protein, and they are particular about which types of carbs and proteins. They’re incredibly fussy. So even changing your cow’s diet from grass to silage, which is still grass, will mean there may not be enough rumen organisms to convert it to stuff the cow can utilise.

This is why “transitional feeding” are the buzz words for dairy nutritionists and consultants.

Changing the cow’s diet by adding grain or feeding them brassicas will need an increase of some rumen microbes and a decrease in others which can take weeks. If you don’t do it slowly enough, it won’t go well.

Even changes in spring pasture can cause problems. Spring’s fluctuating temperatures change the protein/ carbohydrate composition of the grass,

meaning the rumen bacteria population don’t know what to expect from the cow’s next mouthful.

And then when it starts raining after an autumn dry – they’ll be yelling out “What happened here!”

Which is why feeding grain works so well. While the composition of grass is ever changing, grain stays mostly the same so there can be a steady population of grain-loving rumen organisms doing their thing.

But didn’t cows evolve eating grass?

Why does the changing nature of grass affect them so much?

Because back when they roamed the savannahs, they could take their pick of what they wanted. Today we fence them into paddocks.

So, after the rumen, the partly brokendown feed passes into the much smaller reticulum which is also pH neutral and has lots of microbes. You may hear the name of this stomach when your vet tells you your cow has “hardware disease”. It’s the stomach that collects anything the cow has eaten which it shouldn’t have – nails and pieces of wire.

Next is the omasum which is lined with large folds of tissue that resemble the pages of a book. These folds absorb

water and nutrients. Finally is the abomasum, which is the stomach most like our own. It has an acidic pH and digestive enzymes which break down the last of the feed and the microbes from the rumen. It is the abomasum which is the only fully developed stomach when a calf is born because it is the one which digests milk.

If you only feed a calf milk, the other three stomachs won’t develop because they are not being used and there will be no rumen microbes which is why it’s so important to get calves eating hay, grass and grain in their first few weeks.

What is known as “weaning shock” has nothing to do with no longer feeding milk. It’s because there are not enough rumen microbes to break down the grass the calf is now eating and depending upon to stay alive.

Because milk goes straight into the abomasum, never, ever, ever put drench in your calf milk to drench your calves.

Parasite drenches are made to be slowly absorbed in the rumen. By putting it in the milk, it goes straight into the abomasum speeding up absorption causing toxicity and most likely causing death.

Remember four stomachs are good and you need to look after them all.

Some of the rumen organisms love foods high in carbs, others are keen on protein, and they are particular about which types of carbs and proteins.

Halter expands around the country

Halter will help combat the country’s acute labour shortage when it expands into Taranaki, Southland, Otago and the Central Plateau next month. The company’s rapid growth is in response to significant demand from the industry, and comes off the back of its launch into Canterbury late last year. Despite eased border restrictions and changes to the class exception scheme, demand for workers continues. In January, the industry predicted it would be short of between 4000 and 6000 workers this year alone.

Smart solutions like Halter, which can save farmers up to 20-40 hours a week, will relieve some of the unrelenting pressure to recruit. It means owner-operators can effectively, and sustainably run small farms single-handedly, and on bigger stations, it offers farmers the opportunity to operate at a higher level. Steve Crowhurst says Halter’s been a massive stress reliever, especially during the red setting of the Covid-19 Protection Framework.

“We’ve been able to support farmers to run 750-cow, three-mob farms with just two people, and still manage to maintain

normal output and sustainable hours. Halter not only enables farmers to reduce their workload profoundly, but it also gives them the confidence to keep calm and carry on, regardless of the challenges thrown at them.”

Jo Sheridan, the demonstration manager at Owl Farm - a 160-hectare dairy farm, a joint venture between St Peter’s School Cambridge and Lincoln University, says Halter has given them greater workplace flexibility.

“Halter has not only enabled us to reduce hours but it’s also empowered all team members to make informed decisions using the data provided. Through Halter, the entire team can see everything that’s happening on the farm. By no longer needing two people milking and getting cows in we have more options to carry out other work on farm and offer flexible, sustainable time off.”

On larger farms like Canterbury’s Craigmore Group, one of the largest corporate farming operations in the country, Halter means they can offer farmers an improved work-life balance without compromising production. The

Power of fresh probiotics

Spring of 2012 was the start of what was to become a landmark study on the effects of a fresh probiotic formulation, CalfBrew®, on the performance of dairy calves. 296 calves on three farms were included in this MPI Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF L12-083) and DairyNZ funded study undertaken by the Clutha Agriculture Development Board.

Early results showed the use of the fresh, intact probiotic increased the rate of calf growth by up to 10%.

As adults, the treated calves produced significantly more milk solids and were also less likely to die and more likely to remain in the herd. The Director of Otago University’s Agricultural Innovation programme, Professor Craig Bunt (an independent scientist who has not been paid or employed by BioBrew Ltd)

comments:

“Long-term research across multiple farms has helped to identify not only the immediate potential but the longerterm financial payback of agricultural probiotics. Innovative products such as probiotics have perhaps been held back by an over-reliance on anecdotes.

“The research into CalfBrew took anecdotal comments to help develop sound and robust research.”

How best to use probiotics without excessive marketing promises becomes the next challenge. It’s questions such as this that the Agricultural Innovation programme at the University of Otago aims

current industry benchmark states one full-time worker is required for every 173 cows. But with Halter, Craigmore is able to manage 260 cows per full-time worker, with sustainable hours.

Matt Redmond is the Farm Business Manager on a 147ha, 520-cow Craigmore farm in the Culverden Basin, North Canterbury. He says the company adopted Halter because they’re passionate about sustainability and worker welfare.

“The human benefits are one thing, but Halter benefits the cows too - you can see it when they walk to the milking shed. They are so much calmer without having the noise and pressure of a motorbike and dogs behind them. It’s a whole new world.”

Halter is deploying onto new farms weekly. The system is currently on farms across the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Canterbury however farmers across New Zealand can prebook their deployment of the system. Halter collars are leased under a per-cow subscription model - based on the features farmers want to be enabled. Halter retains ownership of the collars and therefore takes responsibility for their maintenance.

to provide students with the tools and skills to tackle. Bunt has collaborated with BioBrew Ltd over many years to deliver high quality and better understanding of exactly what a probiotic is (and isn’t).

“Innovation has never been solely limited to the laboratory but there is a perception that agriculture isn’t an innovative industry. To sustainably produce the world’s food, agriculture continues to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing society, such as climate change and antibiotic resistance.

“It will be products such as probiotics that will help to produce food not only better and more sustainably, but with fewer inputs such as anti-biotics.”

Ultimately, the benefits associated with CalfBrew® equated to a 14 to 1 return on investment.

Craig Bunt , Otago University.

Probiotic supplement cuts methane

Astudy conducted at the Victorian Government’s Ellinbank SmartFarm has found a biological feed supplement for livestock reduces methane emissions in dairy cattle.

The feed supplement, Mylo®, was already scientifically-proven to lift weight gain and improve health in calves, and it has been shown to increase milk productivity, and reduce somatic cell count in cows.

But Terragen managing director and chief executive Jim Cooper said this new study, based at Australia’s pre-eminent dairy research facility Ellinbank SmartFarm, showed the product also reduced methane emissions from cows.

“In the study, the cows not on Mylo® emitted 7.5% more methane per litre of milk,” Cooper said.

“The average Australian dairy farm –which has 350 cows - whose cows are being fed Mylo® and emitting less methane would be producing the equivalent of 100 tonnes less carbon dioxide per year.”

“This is a reduction in CO2 emissions of almost 300kg per cow, per year.”

Cooper said cows that received the baseline dose of 10ml of Mylo® per day gained 21% more weight than the control cows over a five-week period, a finding which has benefits for the broader cattle industry. More research at Ellinbank SmartFarm is planned to determine if higher doses of Mylo® will reduce methane emissions further. Mylo® has been available in Australia since 2018 and is now part of the diet of 60,000 dairy cows each day, and

around 80,000 calves each year.

Terragen Chief Scientist Dr Martin Soust said Mylo® had already achieved significant results, with cows on the feed supplement eating less while producing 3% more milk, and calves putting on about 8% more weight and weaning up to 10 days earlier.

“Earlier research conducted at the University of Queensland showed our products work,” Dr Soust said.

“The study at the Ellinbank SmartFarm shows that Mylo® can reduce methane emitted by a cow, increase milk production, and improve feed conversion efficiency.” Dr Soust added.

Mylo® is in use across 125 dairy farms Australia-wide.

• Mylo® is ready right now – it has been sold in the Australian market for four years and is now being sold in New Zealand

• One in 23 Australian dairy cows take Mylo® daily

• Mylo® improves productivity and cow health (including a reduction in somatic cell count)

• Using Mylo® is cost effective for the farmer and has a high return on investment of at least 5:1

• Production of Mylo® can be scaled easily to meet growing demand

• Mylo® is a certified organic input in Australia and NZ

• Mylo® is a livestock feed supplement that is approved for use in Australia and NZ

The study was conducted at Agriculture Victoria Research, Ellinbank SmartFarm, Victoria, in October and November 2021.

The Ellinbank SmartFarm is owned by the Victorian Government and it is one the world’s most highly respected dairy research farms. Forty lactating, HolsteinFriesian cows were used in the study. Two separate treatments, being a control treatment and a Mylo® treatment, were allocated to cows at random (20 cows per treatment). The cows in the Mylo® treatment group received 10mL/day of Mylo®. The study ran for 40 days (five days baseline without the experimental diet, 30 days adaptation with the experimental diet and five days of methane measurements with the experimental diet). The modified sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) tracer technique was used to estimate methane emissions from individual cows.

Milk production from individual cows was measured at each milking. Liveweight of each individual cow was recorded twice daily. Terragen [pronounced “Te-rrajn”] develops and markets probiotics for agricultural applications. Each product uses a combination of naturally occurring live microbe strains selected to help boost the productivity, welfare and resilience of farm production animals and address soil health.

Terragen’s aim is to increase farm productivity through the use of these products, while providing improved environmental sustainability that will be attractive to consumers and farmers. Terragen has two products on the market in Australia and NZ: a microbial feed supplement for animals known as Mylo®, and a soil conditioner called Great Land Plus®.

50 years ago in the Dairy Exporter May

As NZ Dairy Exporter counts down to its centenary in 2025, we look back at the issues of earlier decades. 50 Years Ago – May 1972.

TURNSTYLE SHEDS WIN B.O.P. CONVERTS

The turnstyle design of rotary milking shed has won many supporters in the Bay of Plenty following a fact-finding tour of the North Island by a group of 11 dairyfarmers from the area. Most of them came back convinced of the merits of the turnstyle system and, apart from spreading the word enthusiastically, some are already moving to build sheds of this type.

Before the tour, most of the farmers were fairly strongly in favour of having the operators on the inside of the circle. Almost without exception they returned home with their ideas radically changed on this point.

They had been inclined to prefer the inside arrangement for ease of access and in the belief that there was an advantage in any operator being able to see all the cows in the shed at once.

But, after watching the turnstyle method of operation, they were impressed by the way the cows loaded unattended, their calmness on the platform, and the fact that no set of cups were kicked off or cows mucked on the bail.

RECORD $360M IN EXPORTS

Export exchange earnings for this season would reach a record total of about $360 million, said the Chairman of the Dairy Board, Mr F. L. Onion, in his annual address to ward conferences this month.

This would be about $106 million above the preceding trading year and, “far and away” above any previous level.

The addition of dairy meats would take the industry’s foreign exchange earnings to $440 million. It had been a good year for production. Dry weather, which threatened a third summer drought, had been relieved by widespread rains, and it was estimated that milkfat production for the season would be three per cent up on last season, though still well short of the record level of 1968-69.

MORE FARMERS SOUGHT TO PROVE AB BULLS

More farmers are wanted to participate in the Dairy Board’s sire proving scheme this season. Participating farmers use semen from specially selected, but unproven, young bulls, and then herd test their daughters.

In return, those farmers get free AB service and, depending on which herd improvement association they are in, either $14 or $15 for each of the bulls’ daughters that is tested.

The farmers are also expected to appraise their feet, udders, jaws, temperament, ease of milking and susceptibility to bloat or mastitis. Highly rated bulls have been excluded from the Dairy Board’s AB team of proven bulls because of adverse comment on any one of these points.

As a result, all AB users have benefitted from this proving scheme which came into effect in 1961.

The scheme is one of the largest in the world for progeny-testing Friesian and Jersey bulls.

FARMHOUSE ACCOUNTING

A farmer’s wife can be of considerable help in farm management by looking after some of the accounting work, says Mr W. G. Payne, research officer in the farm management department at Massey University.

Her duties can include:

• Running a number 2 account for the household. This account can be funded through regular transfers from the main farm account.

• Keeping an orderly filing system. This could be used to separate paid and unpaid bills, give ready access to information and provide a means of keeping control of payments to be made on scheduled dates.

• Running a petty cash book to record all the small items bought for the farm but paid “out of pocket”.

• Keeping a simple, analysed cash book on farm operations.

• Importantly, it will ensure that the farmer’s papers will be clear and in order for the accountant.

• Thanks to the Hocken Library, Dunedin.

Cover photo: Cheese tins being filled and lids seamed before entering the steriliser at the Kingston plant of Dairy Industries (Jamaica) Ltd, in which the New Zealand Dairy Board is a shareholder.

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