Volume 126 I October 10th, 2022 I email:agined@agrihq.co.nz I www.farmersweekly.co.nz/agined Are you a parent or teacher and want to receive AginED every week directly to your email inbox? Send us an email to sign up at agined@agrihq.co.nz
FROM IT TO MILKING COWS?
Jaspal Singh came to NZ to study IT but ended up falling in love with dairy farming and now he and his wife are both living their dream in Southland. With plans in place to keep taking steps up the rungs of the ladder to eventual farm ownership.
Fonterra UHT plant is trialing a new green battery. The new industrial-scale organic battery could help strengthen greater energy security and distribution of generated energy here in NZ. To find out more head to https://www. farmersweekly.co.nz/fonterras-uhtplant-trials-green-battery/ 1
Where was the battery first housed? Why was it moved to the Waitoa UHT site?
2 What is the battery made from? 3 Where was the battery developed? 4 Will this help Fonterra reduce its coal usage? Why or why not?
To read more about their journey head to https://www.farmersweekly.co.nz/ cows-trump-computers-for-winningsouth-canterbury-farmer/?utm _ source=GlobalHQ&utm _ campaign=3887e90e4bEMAIL _ CAMPAIGN _ 15 _ 08 _ 2022&utm _ medium=email&utm _ term=0 _ 4f497899e63887e90e4b-
1
What size is the property that Jaspal manages?
2 How many cows do they milk? 3 What award did Jaspal recently win?
STRETCH YOURSELF: 1
Where in NZ did Jaspal get his first taste of dairy farming?
2 Outline the infrastructure (ie irrigation, milking shed etc) of their current farm 3 Last season the herd produced 383,000kg of milk solids. Do some research, how does this stack up against average milk solid production for NZ cows in 2021? 4 Their milk solid production was slightly down on the season before. What does Jaspal attribute this to? Do you think the benefits of this outweigh the slight reduction in production? Why or why not? 5 Why have they chosen to introduce kiwi-cross semen to their herd? 6 Jaspal believes the time taken to do RMT tests is worthwhile. Can you outline his reasoning? (i.e. why he thinks this) 7 They are trying to improve their breeding and production with both sexed semen and CIDR. a) What is CIDR? b) How can these things improve production and breeding on dairy farms?
1
Looking at the breed category percentage of breed by region graph what is the most prevalent breed of dairy cow across NZ?
2 Where are Jersey most prolific? 3 In the South Island what are the most popular breeds? Are there attributes that make these cattle particularly suitable for South Island conditions? 4 What is the least prevalent breed on this graph?
IHEART - TALKING DAIRY. YOUNG FARM MANAGER’S WINNING APPROACH. Jimmy Cleaver won the regional trophy for Auckland/Hauraki Farm Manager of the Year as well as other awards including Dairy NZ People and Leadership Award. In this podcast Jimmy talks about where he grew up and how he got to where he is now. The benefits of good leadership, getting through tough times, making improvements across the sector and his goals for the future. As well as his advice to anyone weighing up a career in dairying.
Looking at the graph of the trends of inseminations for breed categories for the last 40 seasons.
Follow this link to listen: https://www.iheart. com/podcast/269-dairynz-podcasts-forfarme-77105527/episode/young-farm-managerswinning-approach-102029875/
1
Then answer the following questions:
1 Where did Jimmy grow up? 2 Where did he study?
STRETCH YOURSELF: 1 2
3
4 5
Who were his mentors? What did they teach him outside of practical skills? What made him want to enter the NZ Dairy industry awards? What did he take away from the process? What are some things he has in place to maintain good mental health on farm, both for himself and others he works with? What changes did he make on farm that helped reduce empty rates? What is his advice to anyone contemplating a career in dairy farming?
Which breed had consistently the most inseminations over the 40 seasons?
2 Through the 80’s and 90’s which breed was the second most popular?
STRETCH YOURSELF: 1
From the mid to late 2000’s Jersey inseminations declined. Can you think of three reasons that may have contributed to this?
2 Which breed has gained popularity since 2000? Can you think of reasons why these may have become more popular? 3 According to this graph inseminations pretty much plateaued or declined across the board from 2019/20 to 2020/21. Can you explain why this may have occurred?