Good management key to increased performance

Hapuawhenua dairy farm is very much the odd one out in a district where sheep and beef stations are the norm, the climate is either cold, or wet, or both, and pasture management takes skill and knowledge.

But Farm Manager John Lynch loves a challenge. He has embraced this 400-hectare farm, which sits at 620m above sea level, making improvements and increasing production since his arrival with wife Val four years ago.

“The infrastructure of the farm is something we have really concentrated on from the start, to get the best out of it, which in turn has enabled us to get the best we can out of the herd at any given time,” he says.

“We returned a farm record of 252,000 MS/kg last year, but I’ve got a personal goal to get it to 300,000 MS/kg because I think it can do that once we’ve got everything working how it should.”

One area John has concentrated on is upgrading all the farm tracks, which has made a significant improvement to the welfare of the cows.

“Hapuawhenua is a long, narrow farm, which meant the herd were spending a lot of time walking – the furthest paddock away from the shed is 5km, which is a long way for a dairy cow,” says John.

“Because the laneways weren’t in optimum condition, we were seeing a lot of lameness – 240 cows in the first year I was here, which is a lot. Now we are down to maybe 20 a year, and we are working to reduce that still further.”

Other measures introduced to help the issue are that the back 90 hectares are no longer used to graze the herd, and instead are used for young and carry-over stock. This has reduced the maximum distance to the shed down to 3km. The herd also alternates from grazing close to the shed to paddocks further away between milkings, and the younger cows walk the least, as their hooves are softer and more prone to damage.

Above image: Farm infrastructure has been a continued focus, enabling the farm to get the best out of the herd.

“Reducing the distances the cows walk also means they use less energy, and they spend more time on the grass, which all means more in the vat,” explains John. “The cows also get meal in the shed, ½ tonne per cow per year, which helps counteract the effort they have to put into walking.”

Increasing the access to water has also made paddock management easier, with the installation of an extra 32 troughs and 5km of water lines, and John plans to add more to enable larger paddocks to be divided.

But nothing can increase grass growth during the long, cold winters, or prevent damage to the paddocks in the wet springs, so the herd go off to Tohunga station next door, to enjoy winter crops such as kale until the pasture can safely support them again.

Increasing the quality of the herd has also been a key focus, using sexed semen and artificial breeding to produce more heifer calves to become herd replacements. A culling programme is also bringing results.

“By breeding our own replacements, we are getting the best genetics we can, and by not buying in replacements we are protecting the herd from disease,” says John. “This approach does take time, but long term it will really pay off.”

Siwan Shaw, Ātihau-Whanganui Inc. business manager farming, says the knowledge and expertise John has brought to the management of the farm shouldn’t be underestimated, from increasing milk production, improving herd quality, and upgrading the infrastructure.

“The future of Hapuawhenua is an exciting one thanks to John’s input, and we are looking forward to all the hard mahi paying off when it comes to the bottom line,” she says. “Dairy farming is a real challenge in this area, but we are confident that the farm will continue to perform well going forward.”

The last year has been tough for John, with high rainfall making pasture management almost impossible and reduced staff numbers meaning the herd had to go to milking once a day, but he is looking forward to the future, to making more improvements and reaching that goal of 300,000 MS/ kg.

“I’m not one for sitting around,” he says. “There’s always a job to be done.”

Above image: Below: Hapuawhenua farm manager John Lynch (left), with 3IC/experienced farm assistant Andrew Banfield (right).