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Breeding & genetics

April 2019

Gypsy Day

Breeding top bulls for NZ Still going strong after 50 years Moving on and up

A place to call home A Northland couple’s speedy progress to farm ownership

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

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Inside April 2019 Editor

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Production

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COVER Don and Kirsten Watson have a place to call home after buying their first farm in Northland.

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Breeding & genetics

April 2019

Gypsy Day

15 16 35

Market outlook Prices stable but future murky

Biosecurity levy Farmers speak up on levy

Book release AgWomen book celebrates women in agriculture

ON FARM STORY Breeding top bulls for NZ Still going strong after 50 years Moving on and up

A place to call home A Northland couple’s speedy progress to farm ownership

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

www.farmersweekly.co.nz ISSN 2624-0939 (Print) ISSN 2624-0947 (Online)

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NEWS

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Progressing to farm ownership Northland farmers Don and Kirsten Watson have a place to call their own

Breeding desirable genetics Southland dairy farmers Robert and Annemarie Bruin breed bulls for breeding companies

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

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THEME

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Breeding and genetics

Gypsy Day

REGULAR FEATURES

6 FARMING CHAMPIONS

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Dairy champion Angus Haslett

Fast Five Paul Bakker

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Guest column – Karen Williams At the grassroots – Dylan Brunton Industry Good International news Research

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GUEST COLUMN

Diversity and tolerance – now is the time Federated Farmers arable sector chairwoman Karen Williams says it is time for bold leadership.

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ITH the traumatic events in Christchurch front of mind it has been hard to focus on topics worthy of commentary when so many of our daily tribulations seem comparatively insignificant.

This atrocity is beyond belief.

It has severely affected the Christchurch community, stunned and saddened New Zealand and sent shock waves around the globe.

Is there something we can take out of this that will at least in some small way add value to a grieving country?

I believe there is.

For me, the two key words are tolerance and diversity.

Last month I had the privilege of watching the movie Green Book. Not only was it a rare date night with my arable farmer husband during the harvesting season but it was an emotional reminder of the prejudice that exists in society and how we can overcome that with friendship, tolerance, dignity and compassion for each other and, in particular, each other’s differences.

The big take-home for me was that despite our beginnings, our education, our nationality, our religion, our sexuality, our skin colour or our career choices we can develop friendships that transcend these differences and have ultimately better outcomes for humanity.

The societal intolerance of others and what they do is becoming more prevalent in the agricultural world.

There is nothing new about criticism of all-things farming and maybe we will never convince the critics of our increasing commitment to environmental sustainability but we do need to listen to each other’s perspectives to learn, grow, evolve and make good decisions for the whole community.

Listening to other views, acceptance of difference and the ability to come up with collective solutions has the potential

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

Federated Farmers arable sector chairwoman Karen Williams says farmers should unite to form Team Ag to deal with challenges. to enable greater social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing.

We should remind ourselves that all of our agri industries have an environmental impact and we stand a much greater chance of mitigating our adverse effects, maintaining our social licence to operate, building strong communities and enduring and resilient businesses by doing it together.

One example of acknowledging our differences but working together is the Wairarapa Pukaha to Palliser Alliance that is bringing together an engaged Wairarapa community to achieve positive communityled outcomes.

The mission statement is “thriving biodiversity and connected communities where land, water and people flourish”.

The group includes mana whenua, farmers, urban care groups, rural catchment groups, lifestylers, Forest and Bird, Beef + Lamb, DairyNZ, the Conservation Department, Federated Farmers and local authorities. They are not an exclusive group and are open to other environmental groups being at the table and collectively developing solutions.

The Alliance is front-footing environmental challenges such as fresh water, soils, native biodiversity and climate change, however, it also recognises the significant contribution of rural communities to a prosperous future.

If this Alliance can achieve its goals then, to me, this is a blueprint for environmental improvement in our communities, which might reduce the scale of resources being soaked up in expensive planning processes and Environment Court proceedings.

I do wonder, however, if the agricultural community feels so targeted at times why we resist the team-ag approach to dealing with what are complex issues. Why is there a propensity to work alone to solve single agindustry issues when we could collectively work together to help each other?

The arable industry and support partners are investing in research into catch crops and environmental benefits of arable feeds that might one day greatly benefit the livestock industry. This type of collaborative investment in science and research is essential for the future sustainability of the whole agri industry.

I have also been contemplating how Pamu can play a greater role in addressing the challenges NZ agriculture faces. Is it possible for it to feed farming insights, resources and lessons back to privately owned farms through field days and other means? Could it act like a series of monitor farms that strive to provide the answers for other farmers to achieve environmental, economic, social and cultural wellbeing?

It is time for bold leadership.

It is time for a change in the way we approach challenges.

It is time to unite team-ag to confront the economic, environmental, social and cultural challenges we face for the future prosperity of all New Zealanders.

It is time to learn to work together, to be tolerant of diverse views, accept difference and we will generate more effective solutions because, quite simply, we have done it together. n

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ON FARM STORY

One thing leads to another Don and Kirsten Watson bought their first farm, where they milk 260 cows, on the Kaipara Harbour in 2017.

Photos: Frances Oliver 6

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

ON FARM STORY A Northland farming couple have completed their pathway of progression but still have plenty to do. Samantha Tennent reports.

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FARM journey for a Northland couple has been full of ups and downs but one event in particular led them to push themselves to not just move but to forge ahead and buy their own farm.

Don and Kirsten Watson farm on the picturesque Kaipara Harbour milking 260 cows on 112 hectares. They bought the farm in 2017 after spending a month snowbound and without power on their Central Plateau farm at Rangitaiki on the Napier-Taupo highway.

It has been a varied and at times challenging and scary journey but say they wouldn’t change a thing.

“Each thing we’ve done has led us to the next opportunity,” Kirsten says.

“We wouldn’t be where we are now if we hadn’t learnt along the way. Some of our best decisions have come from our most challenging times.”

Kirsten says that weather event at Rangitaiki was the catalyst for taking the step to farm ownership.

“It really pushed us to sell the cows and buy the farm.

“We will always be grateful for the support from the Rangitaiki and Central Plateau community during that difficult and testing time.”

They funded their purchase from the sale of 700 of the 1050 animals they owned as sharemilkers at Rangitaiki.

“We kept 20 of the very best cows, 100 top rising two year olds and 20 of the top calves. The rest were sold and we kept the

rejected animals and the old or unsound cows we didn’t put up for sale,” Don says.

“We knew the initial herd would be a balance between our very top animals and budget cows. It would give us the genetics to provide quality replacements and the future engine room of the herd.”

Their herd is 122BW and 176PW with a significant proportion of budget cows still to be replaced.

It really snowballed our equity growth rapidly because we could use our cashflow to buy stock and work our way up.

Don Watson

“We have pushed to rear a high replacement rate, 60%, to come into the herd in the next 18 months to fast-track our goal of having a highly productive, efficient herd in within three years,” he says.

By setting up the herd this way production took a hit on the new farm

but the goal was to have sufficient equity.

The couple recognise it is a big hurdle for sharemilkers to get into land ownership and they were able to do so only by selling their good cows.

However, buying the farm was not without its challenges and they were well aware of them when they signed up.

They felt a different system would be better suited to the soil type and climate.

They did not want to be stuck in a tractor feeding out all the time while managing the farm on their own.

Although the farm is consented for 320 cows they milk only 260 at peak. That allows them to manage on their own without the need for extra staff.

“We inherited a System 5 farm that supported big Friesian cows and it has taken us at least a year to transition it to where we want to be,” Don says.

Don, who manages the feed and grazing side of the business, says their goal is to operate a System 3 and they are slowly pulling feed out as they get a handle on pasture growth.

This season they switched to winter milking and split calving because they recognised they needed to match the supply and demand pasture growth curve of the farm.

The farm consists of low-lying marine clay and a small amount of sandy loam.

The environment is wet in winter and dry in summer and sits at sea level.

They say the farm has reasonably good growth rates in winter and the two times in the year when pasture growth is at

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April 2019

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ON FARM STORY The boys are typical rural kiwi children and love rugby, the farm, hunting and fishing. George, 10, Josh, 9, and Riley, 11 in the calf shed.

its lowest are when either the spring or autumn cows will be dry.

“We want to run a relatively low stocking rate profitably without requiring great amounts of imported feed. And winter milk will make it possible,” Don says.”

The winter pasture growth on the farm was recorded this season at 20-40kg DM/ ha/day depending on the paddock.

“We do believe winter milk is right for this farm and we may move our spring

FARM FACTS n Owners: Don and Kirsten Watson n Location: Kaipara Harbour, Northland n Farm size: 112ha, runoff 95ha leased n Cows: 260 crossbred n Target: 2018-19 115-120,000kg MS n Future target: 130,000kg MS n FWE target: $3/kg MS

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calving date as we want it to match with the increasing pasture growth in August.”

An uncovered feed pad is used to stand cows off pasture on stormy nights to minimise damage.

Their stocking rate is low compared to national averages but typical of many Northland farms and also helps minimise damage to pasture. The farm does not grow enough grass to support higher stocking rates on a System 3.

They plan to gradually increase their stocking rate as they progress with land development and pasture renewal that will allow them to grow more feed and will require more cows to harvest the spring flush. Next season’s peak will be 290 cows.

Moving from the Central Plateau to Northland also posed a risk with theileria.

Their cows were tested and had no immunity to it. They could not afford to sell the budget cows and buy cows from Northland that had already been exposed so there had to be a compromise.

“We had a plan and worked through it.

We dried off cows that became infected and nursed them through,” Kirsten says.

“They have to get exposed to it to develop immunity.”

There are plenty of challenging times in dairy farming and it is fortunate the Watsons have their vet experience to call on.

The couple are both qualified vets and Kirsten is still registered so keeps a close eye on animal health and welfare, which helps speed up treatment and keeps animal health costs down. She does not do any surgery but does all routine work such as calf debudding with analgesia.

They both grew up on sheep and beef farms, Don in Southland and Kirsten in Hawke’s Bay, and met while studying at Massey University.

Leaving university they worked as vets here and in Britain but when they returned home Don wanted to go farming. He left the vet industry to manage a 2000ha sheep and beef property in Hawke’s Bay but recognised dairy held more opportunities.

After taking another look at their career options they worked through a DairyNZ dairy career pathway and goal planning tool. They saw the opportunities that were available in dairying.

Neither had much experience with dairy farming until Don got a job as

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

ON FARM STORY a herd manager milking 1100 cows in Central Hawke’s Bay. Kirsten continued practising as a vet in between having their three sons, Riley, George, and Josh.

“I had to take a step backwards when I entered the dairy industry as I wasn’t going to get a job at the same level I had been with sheep and beef.

“But taking on a lower level job I developed a good grounding and learnt learn how to manage cows and grass.”

Kirsten gave up being a vet a year into their dairy career. She struggled with juggling the business, family and travelling for work. They lived a reasonable drive from her clinic and with three children under five it was too much to manage the on-call and after-hours workload.

“We had a goal to grow our own business to support the family and knew we needed to work hard to get there,” she says.

Since then they have been on a steep learning curve and have worked hard to achieve their goals.

They sold their property and invested in stock and implemented a policy of

Maize being harvested on the Watson farm. buying young, high BW carryovers.

“That was the money to start our business,” Don says.

“It really snowballed our equity growth rapidly because we could use our cashflow to buy stock and work our way up.”

They took on a lower order sharemilking position in King Country milking 1600 cows at Pureora between Taupo and Te Kuiti.

“It was a real sink or swim moment, very high risk but it was the best thing we’ve ever done,” Kirsten says.

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April 2019

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ON FARM STORY The Watsons inherited a System 5 when they bought the farm but are changing that to a System 3. Don feeds out to the herd.

There were several farms belonging to the same business and an operations manager oversaw them, proving a great support for the Watsons to work alongside and learn from.

Under their management the farm’s performance lifted significantly. They were also building a herd of their own and leasing their cows back to the farm owners.

Kirsten was responsible for the administration, they were managing 10

between 10 and 12 staff at any one time and she looked after the HR, pay and GST as well as their own stock.

Then came the shift to 50-50 sharemilking at Rangitaiki. By this time they owned 680 cows and bought 200 heifers plus cows to top up their herd.

In 2014, in just their first season on the farm, they entered the Dairy Industry Awards and won the Central Plateau Share Farmers of the Year. At the national finals they received two merit awards for

leadership and pasture management.

The shift to Northland is a realisation of their goal to own a farm by 2020 though their original goal was an 800-cow farm.

At the time of winning they said their vision was to achieve financial independence and personal fulfillment.

“Personal fulfillment means to us enjoying what we do and always remembering life is a journey and not the destination.”

The previous Friesian herd on the

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

ON FARM STORY

The Watsons are breeding towards a J12 type animal.

Northland farm consistently produced 130-135,000kgMS from 320 cows.

They have set a production target of 130,000kg MS from 300 cows within three to five years with farm working expenses at a low $3, which includes feeding two tonnes/ha of imported feed and 13t DM of pasture harvest a hectare.

“That’s a really profitable business for us and gives us options for the future,” Don says.

“We are on track to do 115-120,000kg

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

MS this season. I’m not sure how long it’ll take to get our business exactly where we want it to be but we will continue to improve each season.

“We are tweaking lots of things and are confident we’re on the right track.”

When they arrived in Northland their first priority was to support high per-cow production through growing high ME feed. There is 15ha planted with either a chicory-clover mix or a plantain-clover mix and in autumn they will broadcast an

Italian ryegrass over the crop paddocks.

One paddock has been planted in maize this year and they have tried a chicory mix with turnips and rape. The turnips and rape were to boost drymatter in the paddock for the first grazing then the spring cows would rotate on the chicory and red clover sward after the autumns are dried off.

“We wanted a bulk, high-energy feed available for December when we have peak numbers in milk,” Don says.

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ON FARM STORY Don did a simple cost analysis on this unordinary method and calculated the costs of planting versus the feed eaten were balanced. However, there were some challenges around management with spraying and the rape did not perform as well as it could have in the clay soil.

“It was a small example of how we are trying to balance supply and demand of feed without a lot of cost, half a kilo of turnip seed per hectare added approximately two tonnes of DM in the first grazing. December was a fantastic month for us being 60% ahead of the previous season’s December.”

The five poorest performing paddocks were identified and sprayed out last autumn with an Italian ryegrass and clover mix planted.

In the next five years the Watsons plan to renovate pastures across the farm, resulting in a mix of paddocks in ryegrass and clovers and fescue and clovers along with a proportion remaining in kikuyu/ Italian rye.

“The different grass types have their own strengths and weaknesses. Our goal is to have something growing well at all times of the year, for an average season,” he says.

There is no irrigation on the farm and the kikuyu still grew well through the dry summer months and provided protection of the new grass from overgrazing.

The paddocks are being developed through the summer cropping and Italian rye programme following into permanent pastures, when the paddock is seen as ready.

They are involved with Tiller Talk through DairyNZ, which is helping develop their pasture management skills further.

“We are lucky to work with an agronomist and have a group of farmers to discuss pasture management with four times throughout the year with the focus of the group around pasture growth and quality and ultimately pasture harvest,” Don says.

They have also been looking at becoming involved with Extension 350, which facilitates farmer-to-farmer learning in Northland. They like to benchmark their business and monitor progress and believe becoming involved with Extension 350 fits with their values.

They do 11 weeks of mating for both the spring and autumn herds with only four weeks of AI. Both herds have a 69% six-week in-calf rate and empty rates of 12-13%.

The herd has a high breeding worth and 12

In 2016 Kirsten and Don won the Central Plateau Share Farmers of the Year title and have since been involved in the awards with Kirsten on the national executive.

is crossbred leaning towards Jersey. Their aim is to breed towards a J12 animal so they use a lot of Jersey semen during AI. This season they put Angus bulls over the herd to provide beef cross calves for grazing their runoff. There is a gap in the herd because they kept only 20 calves when they sold the sharemilking herd and do not have any heifers as replacements for their autumn herd. They are considering buying some animals to fill the gap until this season’s calves come into the herd. They have a no bobby calf policy and instead rear everything or foster them with budget cows.

“We keep all our young stock and dry

cows on the support block. They can walk across the road. It’s very handy,” Kirsten says.

Away from the farm they are kept busy with a number of things including the Dairy Industry Awards. Following their win they became involved with the local competition committee. Progression led Kirsten to the regional manager’s role for 12 months and for the past two and a half years she has sat on the national executive but is stepping down this year.

“I love the Awards but national level involves a bit of time off farm. It has become hard juggling the family and business on a new farm as well as in a

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

ON FARM STORY and grow their skills and knowledge.

“We aren’t afraid to innovate, to try new things and to step outside the square,” Kirsten says.

“We have learnt to budget, record, monitor, analyse, benchmark and review.

We ask for help and support if required and surround ourselves with fantastic people.”

They believe people are moulded by their experiences and having the right attitude is something they value in themselves.

“We have been very fortunate to have been able to align with people who have helped us through our faming journey,” she said. n

In 2016 Kirsten and Don won the Central The Watsons have made the Plateau Share Farmers of the Year title change to winter milking so now and have since been involved in the split calving. Riley, 11, helps awards with Kirsten on the national Kirsten feed their autumn calves. executive.

new district where we want to be involved in our community.”

Kirsten is involved with the children and their rugby, she is on the school board of trustees and feels a bit overcommitted.

“The boys are typical, kiwi rural

children. They are rugby mad, love the farm and love hunting and fishing so they keep us busy,” she says.

They believe their speedy progress to farm ownership is due to their strengths of shared vision, values and goals and their willingness to use resources to learn

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DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

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MARKET OUTLOOK

Future still murky STEPHEN BELL

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O, DAIRY prices seem to be stable with a steady rise and an outlook for next season putting the farmgate milk price upwards of $7/kg MS. There are even indications this season’s price still has room to get closer to $7 than to $6.

Everything must be rosy.

Sure, the economy has slowed down a little but not as much as feared commentators like Westpac’s economists say and experts expect GDP growth will increase again this year.

The Ministry for Primary Industries’ latest Situation and Outlook report suggests ag sector export growth of 6.9% in the next year with the dairy sector gaining 5.5% to $17.57 billion. That’s an extra billion bucks for the dairy industry.

But, hang on a minute mate. While prices are likely to remain good in the immediate future as demand stays ahead of supply big questions remain about the future and how New Zealand’s dairy industry will position itself to take advantage of the good times and weather the downturns.

No one knows what Fonterra is going to do. And let’s face it, what Fonterra does affects the entire industry, apart perhaps from Tatua.

Fonterra hasn’t given any idea about what it’s doing except selling off a few assets, including reviewing its disastrous Beingmate investment. But that’s a short term measure designed to cut debt.

Given the failures of its foreign adventures like San Lu, Beingmate, a still troubled Australian division and the incredible story of Inlaca farmers, especially those who want it to stick to its knitting, won’t be sorry they are being reviewed.

For anyone not up with the play Fonterra bought a half share of Inlaca from Nestle for $1. It sold it for $16 million. On the face of it that sounds good but somehow Fonterra managed to lose $126m on the deal along the way – a stunning achievement.

But really we don’t know what Fonterra is going to do. All we have so far are oft-

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

Fonterra’s chairman John Monaghan, left, and chief executive Miles Hurrell have big decisions ahead, not least of which is how to satisfy both farmers and unit shareholders. repeated platitudes about getting the best returns for farmers and not tinkering round the edges. But as for the structure and production activities of future Fonterra, well, have a guess.

However, among the rote responses Fonterra’s leadership keep making utterances about milk price priority and a return to co-operative principles. Could that suggest the outside investors are going to get the boot or be carved off into a separate vehicle.

The problem is Fonterra is sending messages to the investors that they don’t count because farmers are the number one priority. Farmers should have been the priority when the unit shareholders were recruited but weren’t. What Fonterra did when setting up the scheme was to create a two-headed monster with conflicting interests, leaving the staff the unenviable job of trying to serve two masters.

Unit holders might now lose confidence that Fonterra will do the right thing by them. After all, the milk price has been manipulated already at the expense of dividends. They could drag the farmer share price down with them, leaving farmers to take a big loss on what they paid.

And don’t forget all this is coming

under regulatory and political scrutiny as part of the Government’s Dairy Industry Restructuring Act review so whatever Fonterra’s leaders come up with for the future they better be pretty sure they will be allowed to do it.

Fonterra’s milk price is also coming under scrutiny from competitors who dispute the way Fonterra sets it and claim it’s too high. If they get their way Fonterra might be forced to revamp its milk price calculator to come up with a lower figure, thus cutting incomes for dairy farmers across the board and increasing the profit margins of the privately owned dairy companies.

No doubt the role those companies play will also be considered in the DIRA review and there will be some concern about the concentration in China of the foreign ownership.

Which brings us to the Westland sale to Yili. That must be in serious doubt.

It could be blocked by one or two big shareholders and Yili has an out if 10% of supply farmers defect.

So the big question is the future shape of the dairy sector.

Is the message from all this that while farmers like co-operatives they are not the best business model for making money from dairy? n

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NEWS

D

Support for levy

AIRYNZ has received 1794 submissions on the Biosecurity Response Levy with 61% supporting the organisation’s management of the levy and increasing the maximum rate to 3.9 cents a kilogram of milksolids a year.

Chairman Jim van der Poel says there is general support for the levy and many respondents want DairyNZ to have a seat at the table instead of a mandated biosecurity levy imposed under the Biosecurity Act. Farmers already pay too much and there needs to be greater understanding around the length of and cap on the levy agreement in principle but 3.9c is too much.

“There was some confusion about the maximum amount versus what would be implemented and for how long that was to be applied,” he said.

“The cap sets the maximum levy rate.

“The rationale is to pay back what we currently owe and then to match the levy with the same timeframe as costs are being incurred. By setting the maximum you are not agreeing to an ongoing levy at that rate. The rate will be communicated annually prior to implementation.”

Respondents asked how they would know the 3.9 cents levy would not go on forever.

“The beef and dairy split was raised a number of times at the farmer meetings.

The 94%-6% was recommended by an independent panel as dairy is most impacted by the clinical impacts of the disease and therefore the reduction in income from the disease.”

Beef + Lamb NZ has promised the beef levy will apply to only the beef sector, not dairy cull cows.

The dairy levy will be set on milksolids so the split between sharemilkers and owners will be the same as the milk cheque split.

“This is the fairest way to apportion the levy as this is a production/income-based disease. The bigger the herd the bigger impact on production and therefore income if your herd is found positive.

“Farmers expect strong fiscal accountability. We completely agree with this and are working with the Ministry

16

DairyNZ chairman Jim van der Poel says submissions on the Biosecurity Levy are mostly supportive.

“Farmers expect strong fiscal accountability. for Primary Industries to ensure that the books are open and that decisions continue to be made jointly.

“The move to a joined up programme rather than an ongoing response is one we welcome and we are currently working through the governance group to ensure this is overseen responsibly.”

Questions were also raised about farmers paying only what they absolutely had to and what the 3.9 cents along with the share from the other industries will be spent on.

“Attempted eradication is working and the levy is supported to continue this success,” he said.

A number of the negative responses came from a belief eradication and the way it is tracking are not worth pursuing.

Van der Poel said there is a lot of misinformation about the eradication process and the success to date.

“While it is extremely difficult for anyone involved and systems and process can be and are being improved – the actual results from the programme are more positive than even the Technical Advisory Group were expecting.”

Spring bulk milk testing, for example, confirmed the disease is not endemic and widespread throughout NZ and only three new properties were identified as positive for M bovis and a small number of low-risk farms are being put on further surveillance.

“This could have been much more widespread and we were expecting more properties to be identified through the testing programme.

“The testing is complex but the layering of tests gives a strong level of comfort that eradication is still possible.

“The loss to the sector of doing nothing far outweighs the costs expected from the response – $1.3b compared to $870m, of which dairy contributes $270m.”

DairyNZ will now prepare a recommendation to go to MPI based on the submissions feedback but will consult farmers beforehand to confirm the approach it will take. n

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

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April 2019

17

ON FARM STORY

Robert and Annemarie Bruin own Meander Holsteins in Southland and supply bulls to breeding programmes.

Photos: Natwick Photgraphy

18

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

Breeding the best A Southland couple take a great deal of pride in producing top bulls for breeding programmes. Brittney Pickett reports.

T

HE first time Robert and Annemarie Bruin saw their bulls in the LIC sireproving scheme it felt like their hard work had paid off.

“It’s like breeding a winning race horse, it gives you a kick,” Robert says.

The couple own Meander Holsteins, a dairy farm and bull breeding property near Otautau in Southland.

They farm 600 Holstein-Friesian cows with 170 rising one-year olds and 150 rising two-year olds. The 390-hectare farm is split into a 200ha milking platform, 90ha silage block and a 100ha young stock block.

Originally from The Netherlands, it was Robert who first made his way to New Zealand in 1983 after completing agricultural tertiary studies at home.

He found a job working on a farm in NZ before returning home but, as he puts it, “I liked it so much I decided to come back”.

“As a child I always wanted to be a

farmer.”

But before Robert made the journey back to NZ he met Annemarie.

She had also studied agriculture at a tertiary level in The Netherlands.

But she didn’t quite know where NZ was when Robert suggested moving but she was excited by the opportunity to actively build their way up to farm ownership.

The couple were both raised as townies and if they had stayed in their native country they wouldn’t have been able to get into farm ownership because they didn’t have a family connection to it.

So the young couple packed up and moved across the globe.

“I always thought if it didn’t work out we could go back,” Robert says.

They never did. Instead, they worked themselves up from the bottom of the dairy farming ladder and now own three dairy farms. And they have two children, Savannah, 26, and Derek, 19, who are off pursuing their own careers.

They arrived in 1989 and after a few months Robert found a job as a

manager at a dairy farm at Patea, South Taranaki, while Annemarie worked on a neighboring farm as a farmhand.

After a year the couple began 50:50 sharemilking.

Annemarie also took on training as an artificial breeding technician, a skill that came in handy in their future endeavors.

She is their farm’s AB technician.

After three years in Taranaki the Bruins couldn’t find any suitable jobs there so shifted their gaze south, way south.

They found a sharemilking position at Edendale in Southland, where they spent their next three years.

In 1993 they won the Southland Sharemilker of the Year award and their dreams of farm ownership came to fruition after that. They bought their first

Continued page 20

Robert check outs the herd.

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

19

ON FARM STORY

The Holstein Friesian herd is on track to produce 335,000kg MS.

FARM FACTS n Owners: Robert and Annemarie Bruin n Location: Otautau, Southland n Farm size: 390ha n Cows: 600 Holstein-Friesian n Production: 201718 320,000kg MS n Target: 2018-19 335,000kg MS

small farm at Orawia, in Southland, and began converting it from sheep to dairy. They kept building onto the property as neighboring farms went up for sale.

They weren’t seriously looking for another farm but then one in particular caught their interest.

“We were happy in Orawia and we weren’t looking to go anywhere else,” Annemarie says.

After going to see it Robert got home to tell Annemarie she was going to love it.

“This farm near Otautau was a beautiful

Robert and Annemarie are originally from the Netherlands but moved to New Zealand in the 1980s because they saw a better farming future here.

20

property, full of trees, historic buildings.

“We basically bought this farm on the looks but it has turned out to be a fantastic farm,” Annemarie says.

On the Otautau farm the couple milk in a 54-bail rotary, with automatic cup removers and employ two staff during the season. This season the herd is on track to produce 335,000kg of milksolids.

Each cow is fed a 3.5kg mix of wheat and barley pellets and dried distillers grain daily in the rotary. The rest of the diet is pasture with silage on the season’s shoulders.

All stock are wintered at home and fed silage on a large wintering pad big enough hold their 600 cows and 200 calves.

Unlike many dairy farmers in the south, the Bruins don’t plant any crops.

“In Holland a lot of farmers are very interested in breeding, in improving their herd,” Robert says.

He learnt about breeding as a part of his studies and many years later decided to really focus on creating better cows and, hopefully, one day supply bulls for AI. The way the couple look at it there are many benefits to being breeders: genetic improvement for their herd, financial gain and motivation to keep farming.

“Genetic improvement is worth $300 million annually for the NZ dairy industry and by breeding these bulls we are contributing a bit towards that,” Robert says.

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

Annemarie brings in a mob for drying off.

“All this keeps me interested in dairying. I wanted to develop a third stream of income – milk, meat and genetics,” he says.

It began in a simple way. Instead of using the bull of the day the couple used a lot of nominated sires instead.

“We started to do a few embryo transplants through Advanced Genetics in Oamaru using the MOET system (getting a super ovulation with the use of hormones) and it basically grew from there.”

The couple began to work more intensively with sire analysts at CRV Ambreed and LIC, to decide which semen goes to which cow.

About five years ago they began using in-vitro fertilisation where eggs are extracted from selected cows and fertilised in a lab. Around that time genomic testing became available.

Then came Meander FMI April, a gamechanging cow for the pair. She was the product of a suggested mating from LIC sire analyst Simon Worth.

“That’s when it really took off because she tested really well genomically and she’s a prolific producer of embryos,” Robert says.

Two of April’s firstborn sons – Meander Max Rematch at CRV Ambreed and Meander SB Wingman at LIC – have now graduated, meaning they have gone through the companies’ four-year sire

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

Robert sets up the effluent irrigator. proving programmes to find the best bulls for artificial breeding.

April is now the Holstein-Friesian cow with the most bull calves in waiting in NZ. “April is a special cow because she produces milk with very high components,” Robert says.

“Her fat percentage on average is 5.2 and her protein is 4.2%.”

Since April has been such a good producer of embryos the analysts have been selecting both her best bull and heifer calves for further embryo work.

Besides April there are numerous other yearlings and cows that are of interest to AI organisations.

Since they began breeding, technology has improved to aid in achieving breeding objectives, including DNA testing and genomics.

The Bruins embraced the technology straight away with all their contracted calves born on the home farm being genomically tested, with snippets of DNA being taken from the calves after birth.

They also started using genomically tested bulls as soon as they became available.

“Genomics are not always 100% accurate but they can tell with a reasonable accuracy how good a bull or a heifer calf is going to be.”

“You can have four daughters (from the same cow’s eggs), the genomic testing provides us with information that tells us which daughter is best and we can continue breeding with her,” Robert says.

The technology also aids the breeding

Continued page 22 21

ON FARM STORY

Annemarie gets up close with a friendly R1.

Our aim is to breed bulls that give cows that are efficient converters of feed into milksolids with minimal health problems and good conformation.

Robert Bruin

22

companies to pick the best bull and heifer calves to produce from.

“What really gives me a kick is that there is now semen from our bulls being sold in Europe and the United States,” Robert says.

It’s also particularly exciting for the Bruins to have semen sold in their native country, with 2000 straws of semen sold in The Netherlands last year. Robert says farmers there and in the rest of Europe are looking more at so-called grazing bulls – efficient converters from grass into milk.

CRV Ambreed has five Meander bulls available: Meander SB Quantico, Meander Amplifier, Meander Max Rematch, Meander TOP Amoret and Meander TOP Farnham. LIC has Meander MH Antic, Meander Rocketman, Meander

SB Wingman, Meander Asset, Meander ML Rampant, Meander SB Arrow and Meander Apollo P. “In the last three years our stud has supplied 10% of the total number of Friesian bull calves taken in nationwide

by CRV and LIC for the sire-proving schemes,” Robert says.

But breeding takes time and its extra work on top of everyday dairy farming.

“It’s been a long road. Only in the last few years have we suddenly had a breakthrough,” Annemarie says.

Breeding also costs more money on top of regular dairy farming. Robert estimates some years it could be $5000 extra and others it could be $20,000 or more.

The focus on breeding has been hard for Annemarie at times because it took a lot of work before she saw results.

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

“Robert never seems to lose focus but I do. He sees the finish line. The milk production was there but I’m not so production driven,” she says.

It wasn’t until she got to see their Meander bulls at the LIC facility in Hamilton that it hit her – all their hard work was finally paying off.

For the last six years the Bruins have participated in the Discovery Project.

It is a co-operation between LIC and the Holstein-Friesian Association, where selected high BW yearling heifers undergo IVF at Animal Breeding Services in Hamilton. ABS also goes on-farm to perform IVF on the mature cows.

“If we have 80 embryos to be implanted we need to have 100 cows ready as there

DAIRY FARMER

Continued page 24 April 2019

Robert and Annemarie worked their way up the dairy farming ladder and now own three dairy farms.

23

ON FARM STORY

Annemarie did not know where New Zealand was when Robert suggested they move here. They have made Southland their home. are always some cows rejected as being unsuitable recipients” Robert says.

Cows are synchronised for implants with a progesterone (PG) shot.

All yearlings are inseminated with easycalving, genomically tested Friesian bulls.

Contracted yearlings are given a second chance if the first insemination fails.

After that they are run with a Jersey bull. The Bruins do not use controlled internal drug releasing devices (CIDRS) in their cows.

By the time calving comes around it’s all hands on deck.

Mismothering is something Robert tries to keep under control so has a nearconstant eye on his cows. Annemarie says he’s often out in the paddock every two hours to check on the calving mob.

“You’ve got so many cows calving. If there are 15 calves born at least three or four of those are contract calves,” Robert says.

“I need to know exactly which ones are the bull calves under contract otherwise valuable calves end up on the bobby calf truck or we have to rear extra calves and sort out the mess through DNA testing.”

Last spring they had 150 pregnancies 24

under contract to LIC and CRV Ambreed so they reared 80 bull calves and after genomic testing 16 were chosen to go into the progeny testing programme. All bull calves taken are sold on a royalty basis.

It’s been a long road. Only in the last few years have we suddenly had a breakthrough.

Annemarie Bruin

After four or five weeks the calving slows down and by that time all the contract calves are born. Contract calves have to be born before September 15 otherwise the bull calves don’t mature in time for the following year’s AB season.

Once the calves are taken from their

mothers they’re taken to the calving shed where Annemarie rears them.

This year the couple reared 270 heifer calves. The bottom third of them are sold.

“We always rear more than many other dairy farms. That adds a lot of pressure,” Annemarie says.

Meanwhile, the contract calves are DNA and genomic tested. Eventually, the heifer and bull calves are drafted off from one another into two mobs while the Bruins wait for the genomic testing results.

Bulls chosen for sire programmes leave the farm in January/February and the rest are sold to a local beef farmer.

“We have invested a lot of money in our breeding programme and now we are seeing the returns from the increased milk production of our herd and the sale of semen,” she says.

“Our aim is to breed bulls that give cows that are efficient converters of feed into milksolids with minimal health problems and good conformation,” he says.

“The ability of dairy cows to convert feed efficiently into milksolids starts with genetics.”

As their breeding business grows the

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

The herd comes in for afternoon milking.

Bruins want to keep growing with it.

“As a breeder you have to look to the future. What do you want in 5-10 years’ time?” Robert says.

Now farmers are looking for A2 milk and to reduce their cows’ nitrogen excretion to minimise their environmental impact, he says.

The Bruins see the future of breeding as part of alleviating problems farmers are facing, especially when it comes to the environment.

Breeding will have to focus more on reducing methane and nitrogen outputs in cows as well as making sure cows are efficient at converting feed to milk, he says.

When they do get some time away from the farm the couple like to keep active and play a role in their community.

Annemarie is a qualified yoga teacher, while Robert enjoys mountain biking and both enjoy playing tennis.

Annemarie is the chairwoman of the Western Southland Vet Club and Robert is the chairman of Otautau Community Health.

Looking ahead to the future Robert says he just wants to keep improving on what he has – more bulls and an even better herd.

“The possibilities in breeding continue to expand,” he says.

“I just want to keep going. I really enjoy what I’m doing.” n

AT THE GRASSROOTS

Dylan Brunton joined Central Taranaki Young Farmers when he arrived in the region four years ago. He was elected club chairman in November 2018.

Growing and having fun Taranaki dairy farmer Dylan Brunton knew few people there when he moved to the area but that quickly changed thanks to Young Farmers.

I

GIVE full credit to Young Farmers for helping me grow my skills, build confidence in myself and my career and provide me with the experience of the FMG Young Farmer of the Year competitions.

When I arrived in Taranaki from Massey University three years ago I hardly knew anyone so I joined Central Taranaki Young Farmers to meet other like-minded people. It’s a great way to make friends.

Some of my best friends are people I have met through the club.

When I joined the club it had only a handful of members. That core group was determined to grow the club so it could provide more opportunities for young people to socialise.

We went from about eight people to 40 in the space of 12 months.

The club was just fortunate to have attracted so many people willing to step into committee roles and help drive it.

We became quite well known from

26

holding big events such as our comedy quiz night and heaviest calf competition, which helped attract not only members but our sponsor CMK chartered accountants, which offers great support.

A big reason members stay is for the social aspect, which we try to provide plenty of. From potlucks to pub nights to our annual Christmas bus trip it’s important for us to have a bit of fun.

In 2018 I was appointed chairman. It has been a great experience being in a leadership role.

The biggest gain personally has been my confidence in leadership and public speaking, which is something I have never been fond of. I now find myself more willing to speak in a crowd and deliver speeches. If you had known me growing up, you’d be very surprised to hear that.

The club’s membership hit 50 people in 2017 and it was named the country’s best club. It was also named best club in the Taranaki-Manawatu region in 2018.

We have a meeting on the first Tuesday of every month at the Toko Tavern but active members can see each other quite frequently. The great thing about Young Farmers is you get out what you put in.

We have recently released a nude calendar with all Taranaki clubs to help raise funds and we held the Eltham Cheese Ball in March.

These events are all made possible by club members putting in time and effort to make it happen.

At the end of the day you are raising money for the club, which is being spent on things like new club shirts, social events, subsidising/funding trips away so people are happy to help out.

Last year I competed in a Young Farmer of the Year qualifying event which was an amazing experience. One of the aims of the contest is for members from around the country to showcase their skills and personalities and to represent the foodproducing sector.

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

It was my first time making it to a regional final and I will definitely be competing to get through again. We were competing right in the heart of the city, which was amazing and it was a real buzz to have people from town interested in what we do.

The organisation has a network of almost 80 clubs across the country and you don’t have to be a farmer to join.

There are five young farmers clubs in Taranaki as well as a number of TeenAg and AgriKids clubs that operate in schools. I have been a mentor to the TeenAg club at Stratford High School.

Although all clubs in Taranaki like to compete with one another we all have a friendly relationship and are always willing to help each other out.

Succession planning is a big part of our club. We encourage younger members to take on small roles so when older members age out they can step up and replace them.

Next season I am heading home to contract milk 300 cows on my grandparents farm just out of Woodville.

Although it will be hard to leave the backdrop of Mt Taranaki after four years

Dylan says competing in the FMG Young Farmer of the Year events is great experience and tests your skills and knowledge. of living here I can leave knowing the club has an excellent committee and a lot of keen members and solid succession heading into the future.

I really encourage anyone under the age of 31 to give Young Farmers a go.

The best place to check us out is by heading along to our monthly meetings.

You can sit in and see what’s coming up and get among it. Afterwards, we all stick around for a drink and a catch-up.

It’s great fun and you will make lots of friends. n

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Dylan Brunton grew up on a dairy farm at Dannevirke in Tararua District.

He is in his second season as a herd manager on a 500-cow farm at Cardiff near Stratford.

MORE: If you have a burning issue you want to discuss or draw attention to or would like to share your experience on a subject and would like to contribute to this page, drop us a line at sonita.chandar@globalhq.co.nz

FAST FIVE The Dairy Farmer team is always out and about looking for dairy industry workers going about their business. Keep an eye out, you just never know when one of our team might tap you on the shoulder. This month we catch up with Paul Bakker from Waikato Farm Work.

1. Why did you start your business, what does it entail – what attracted you to the profession?

Our farm is basically a one-person operation after mating so the extra income was a bonus and I like to keep busy. Also, knowing that people need a reliable, safe, relief-milking service is important as time off for farmers is hard to come by and it’s important to know they can have peace of mind when away from the farm.

2. What do you enjoy the most the most about your job and why? Worst thing?

The freedom to choose my days off and plan in advance with bookings, meeting new people and picking up different ideas from working in other dairy sheds has been a big advantage for me. Worst thing is probably the travelling. It can be quite tiring at times.

3. What is the busiest time of the year for you and what are some of the biggest challenges you have faced or face this season?

December to April is busy for me and this year was a challenge with the weather and uncertainty with rainfall, which, for some, leads to once-a-day or 16-hour milkings, which can result in less demand, therefore less work and income.

Paul Bakker PAUL Bakker was born and raised in Rangitikei and has been dairy farming since 2014. He tried the city life for a while, working in a factory and in the food industry but found it was not for him because he did not like being stuck inside and doing the same thing every day. Next season he is going contract milking at Walton, milking 360 cows and is selfemployed with Waikato farm work.

He began his business Waikato Farm Work in 2016 offering sole-charge relief milking, tractor work and general farm

4. Future goals?

work from December to May in the Morrinsville/Piako area.

Paul and his partner Kristin Townsend have an 11-month-old son, Matthew, and say dairy farming is their future and a great lifestyle. Matthew is his greatest driver in his motivation to succeed and provide a good lifestyle for his family. His grandparents are his role models and he says they instilled a good work ethic and the desire to do the right thing. He believes strongly in doing as much as he can to help others and keeping his word.

This season we are going contract milking and hiring a staff member for the first time and I am looking at going 50-50 in the next six years and eventually farm ownership if all goes to plan.

5. If you weren’t doing what you do what would you be doing?

I always wanted to be a military pilot flying jets but my less-than-perfect hearing ruled that out. Other than that I can’t complain as dairy farming is a great lifestyle. It’s not just a job and every day is different. I wouldn’t trade it for anything now.

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Thank you to all our farmers who took the time to enter our Bobby calf v Beef calf debate. Congratulations to farm owner Julianne Bainbridge from Waiharahara in Northland and family farm manager Peter Kane from Tapanui in West Otago who have each won a pack of Dairy Farmer calf covers from GlobalHQ.

BEEF CALVES V BOBBY CALVES Julianne Bainbridge WHEN we bought the farm in the Far North we made the decision to implement a no bobby calf policy. We sold our mixed breed cows, kept our Friesians and bought the existing Friesian herd that was on the farm so we could capitalise on calf value.

Aaron does all the AI on farm and we use short gestation Hereford over the tail end of the herd and Angus over our heifers so every calf born on the farm is a valuable animal.

Our farm is a full autumn calving system so calves born at that time of the year fetch better prices too. Our calves are highly sought after and we have the same buyers come year after year. Another bonus is our calves don’t have to travel for hours to reach the freezing works.

want to be part of this debate?

Peter Kane THE family farm consists of three businesses – a dairy platform, sheep and beef and a Hereford and Angus stud but we all work together and buy and sell between the two.

The dairy unit uses purebred Hereford or Angus bulls from the stud over the herd, which adds value to the calves. There are so many great opportunities available in calf rearing and sending calves off on the bobby truck is not really the thing to do. So, as a rule, our policy is not to have any bobby calves.

We rear pretty much everything and bull calves and beef cross calves are sold later. Mating with proven registered beef bulls over the dairy cows and heifers works especially well. By using a proven low-birth-weight and calving-ease bull you will have a live cow, live calf and happy farmer.

Each month Pull The Udder One invites farmers to express their views on topics chosen by the Dairy Farmer team with every entry published being awarded a prize kindly donated by GlobalHQ clients.

Showcase your products alongside your debate of choice and show your support of our rural communities.

contact your partnership manager today farmersweekly.co.nz

MAY Debate:

SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

LIVESTOCKEYE

HUNTING vs FISHING

2-YEAR STEER TRADITIONAL

The submission deadline is April 17, 2019 Enter now at farmersweekly.co.nz/pull-the-udder-one

2-YEAR BULL FRIESIAN

425 - 515KG

1-YEAR STEER TRADITIONAL

440 - 485KG

3.49

1-YEAR STEER HERE/FR

280 - 335KG

3.15

260 - 270KG

3.45

3.13

VIEWPOINT

BULL -AUG

The winners will receive a 12 month subscription to one of our Livestock reports.

Weaner 12

Steer Heifer Bull Cow Total

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25

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427

5

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Cond.

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4

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6

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21

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47

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64

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11

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10

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9

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4

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8.35

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LAMB

$/KG 200kg

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0.66

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LOCAL TRADE 300kg

400kg Heifers

500kg

8.40 600kg

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Much like last week there was kg, but the 440-485kg Friesian bulls enough cattle through all sections eased by 5-10c/kg to $3.13-$3.20/kg. to keep the cattle rostrum busy with Competition on the one-year steers potential bidders throughout the day, was just as intense as it was for their and this wasn't at the expense of quality older brothers. Per kilo rates don't look either. If anything there were even less that impressive vs. other weeks, but this off-types than last week, just the odd was due to the clear preference for the crossbred dairy pen here and there. heaviest pens. Various 280-335kg lines, Stock were sold into the usual including some Devon-Hereford's, locations, mainly locally and Taihape, all claimed $3.96-$4.03/kg, whereas but a few were shifted into the Taranaki 260-280kg were mainly $3.49-$3.60/ kg. Hereford-Friesians, 205-300kg, and Wairarapa.

A token selection of 460-580kg were similar or a little weaker than the three-year steers were sold at $3.10- previous sale at $3.36-$3.50/kg. $3.23/kg, but buyers interest picked Buyer numbers were getting slim up significantly for the two-year steers by the time the yearling heifers rolled that followed. There was definitely zero around. Hereford-Friesians dominated slow-down from last week as 385-565kg this section, and the 250-295kg of these traditional steers, numbering nearly eased 10c/kg to $3.04-$3.19/kg on 200 head, basically all went for $3.32- average. Straight-beef heifers were hit $3.52/kg. and miss, but 310-345kg lines did quite Two-year heifers and bulls well at $3.39-$3.64/kg, $1085-$1245. numbered just half-a-dozen pens One-year bulls were bought to per between them, with neither really head budgets, with the only consistency firing, likely because of the limited being 265-305kg Friesians at $790-$900 options. Some 465kg Hereford-Friesian and 225-240kg beef-Friesians which P2 STEER $/KG heifers showed there's at leastM2 solid BULL were $590-$690.

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DAIRY CHAMPION

Ambreed managing director Angus Haslett attributes the company’s success to its strong team culture and high-quality data.

Farming genetics: It’s in our nature The success of a business lies in the staff and their passion. Luke Chivers reports.

C

RV Ambreed managing director Angus Haslett says good weather and a little bit of luck at times can be crucial in the farming business but strong team culture to act and deliver and highquality data are becoming some of the most important crops an agribusiness can reap.

“No company in the world today that runs a cattle breeding programme can survive without these,” he believes.

“They’ve played a large part in our success to date and will be increasingly important for survival in the future.”

CRV Ambreed, the New Zealand offshoot of Dutch farmer owned co-operative CRV, employs 115 full-time and up to 300 part-time staff.

Over the years the company has achieved several market firsts

30

including being the first to market sexed semen from NZ bulls in NZ, being the first to take environmental genetics to market with LowN sires and being the first to launch a genetic solution to facial eczema.

Every accomplishment is because CRV Ambreed is made up of some very special people, he says.

“Our staff have a unique spirit. When people join us they are carried along by the passion and enthusiasm of others. Our culture is infectious and enduring and accounts for the many people who have been part of our team for more than 20 years.

“We’re all able to maintain that passion and determination because we get huge enjoyment out of playing a part in helping farmers achieve their breeding goals.”

The team is focused on sustainability and Haslett believes one

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

For a Quote Free Phone burgeoning opportunity is in the use of artificial intelligence to deliver precision agriculture.

“If we can leverage what’s happening globally in artificial intelligence for agriculture, NZ farmers will see a powerful opportunity.

“Using the best of artificial intelligence technologies will transform the future for both our company and for our farmers’ businesses.

“It will allow us to be more profitable, more sustainable, more productive as an industry,” he says.

However, access to data must be improved.

In recent years the company has implemented several strategies to build a foothold in herd recording and herd testing.

“It has been a big challenge for us but we’ve got to a reasonable position. To advance we need to improve data access for all in NZ. “Over time we’ve developed a service that’s adding value and we’re just about to announce a further stage in our development but we need effective reviews and changes within our Herd Improvement Act (part of DIRA) for the full potential of NZ’s dairy farms to be realised.”

The strategy CRV Ambreed has embarked on is seeing a huge increase in genotypic data and Haslett says that, combined with phenotypic data, will offer critical insights for farmers.

“Internationally, we can now use science and new technologies to predict how a calf will perform in its lifetime, thereby making breeding decisions and helping farmers make decisions on whether or not to retain certain animals.

“A further benefit that we are already starting to see is traditionally we need four years to prove a bull, which is a large cost in terms of time and money to get it to a stage where we can comfortably sell it in a state where we know its traits will reliably be passed on.

“Under genomics, however, that can start as early as 11 months.

“So, we’re turning a product lifecycle, if you like, from four years to 11 months – and that’s having a massive impact on our business as well as the genetic gain of our farmers.

“It’s unbelievably exciting to think the turnaround time for developing desirable genetic traits as well as seeing those we don’t want bred out of our dairy herd has the potential to occur in such an improved time frame.”

Haslett says Ambreed is focused on traditional traits around fertility, fat and protein but looks for what it calls novel traits – where it can use technology to breed for lower environmental impacts with, for example, LowN sires.

“Where we have high genomic reliability around particular traits we’re able to select the animals that represent those so we are starting already but there is still a way to go. So, after genotyping a calf we can bring specific animals into our breeding programme knowing how we will end up.”

The company partners with breeders across the country and Haslett says those relationships are invaluable.

“CRV Ambreed’s innovative nature looks to attract innovative breeders. They are insightful people who are extremely skilled and whom we highly value. We look to them to partner with us so the progress they make on-farm with genetic solutions sets us apart.”

CRV values its relationship with its farmer customers too.

DAIRY FARMER

Continued page 32 April 2019

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DAIRY CHAMPION “We’ve always had a very loyal core customer base and we have a healthy respect for each other.

“We take a long-term view to our operations.”

And it appears to be working. CRV celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Over the past five decades the company has helped thousands of farmers breed dairy cows they are proud to have in their herds. Running a local breeding programme for 50 years has allowed CRV to breed the type of animal that suits the unique NZ farming s ystems.

Haslett says the key to the company’s long-term success has been its culture of passion and a desire for continued improvement.

“CRV Ambreed is recognised as a strong, innovative, artificial breeding company here in NZ. “Our steadfastness has served to lift the strength and competitiveness of NZ’s dairy industry. I confidently believe our founding shareholders’ original vision of giving farmers access to quality genetics has been and continues to be realised.”

The company’s ownership has changed several times over the years. The original company, Ambreed NZ, was bought by Animal Enterprises, one of NZ’s largest livestock exporting firms, in 1983 and in 1989 by the Dairy Board.

However, when the company was sold to global artificial insemination leader CRV Delta in 2003 it set the company up for a new era of competitiveness in the local market.

“CRV gave us access to world-leading, new technologies we could deliver to our NZ farmers. It was a new chapter for the

company and we grabbed the opportunity with both hands – all for the benefit of NZ dairy farmers,” he says.

“Those who know us well know our team always want to be better, be first and stand apart because we know when we keep pushing ourselves to lead in the areas where we can that the whole industry – particularly NZ dairy farmers – benefits.

The company is a good fit for him as he was interested in agriculture from a young age. Although he grew up in rural Auckland he has family members who are farmers.

“We lived on lifestyle blocks of 10-12ha and spent every school holidays on or around a farm. From about the age of 10 I knew that I wanted to be involved in agriculture in some way.”

He graduated from Massey University in 1983 with an agriculture degree.

During his studies he worked on several types of farms including two large dairy farms on the outskirts of Auckland. After graduating, he decided to head south after having spent a few months earlier on a high country station.

“I enjoyed being out mustering with a team of dogs so did that for about year then a colleague and I ran a fencing contracting business.

“Along the way we decided that if we were going to go farming it would be a good idea to get some land but then the Labour Party came in and turned agriculture upside down. I believe it was David Lange who said farming was a sunset industry.”

His dad and a family friend convinced him not to buy land then and suggested he try to get some experience in agribusiness.

It will allow us to be more profitable, more sustainable, more productive as an industry.

Angus has been at the helm of CRV Ambreed for nearly 10 years.

DAIRY CHAMPION

Away from the corporate world, Angus enjoys sailing and being out on the water.

Haslett went to work for a fertiliser company, which was a turning point for him.

“I spent a lot of time out on farms with farmers and although I enjoyed agribusiness I realised farming was in my blood and that I actually enjoyed being out on the farm more.”

In 2007 he and a colleague had an idea of linking meters with milk clusters in dairy sheds, which was the early stage of milk recording automation technology in cowsheds.

“We went into business together but when my business partner passed away in 2009 I couldn’t carry on the business.

“One of the overseas companies we had been dealing with mentioned there was a job going at CRV and said I should go interview for it so I did.”

Based in Auckland he will mark 10 years at the helm of the NZ division in August. When he joined CRV was just one company but now has three including Engender. He also oversees the business in the United States and the Australian distribution business.

Away from the corporate world he enjoys being out and about.

“My family and I enjoy a lot of outdoor pursuits but, in particular, I love sailing and being out on the water.

“Sailing is strong in my family but, unfortunately, the talent skipped me and went to both of my children who have had quite bit of success both nationally and internationally. As a result we have a number of opportunities to travel around the world supporting them.” n

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NEWS

Celebrating women in agriculture

W

SONITA CHANDAR

ORDS spoken during a panel discussion at the Women of Influence Forum in 2016 struck a chord with Chelsea Millar from Grass Roots Media.

The panel consisting of several highprofile women from various sectors was discussing how women don’t get enough recognition for their work, whether it be equality, pay parity or so on.

“It struck me that this was true in the agriculture sector,” Millar says.

“The great job women do is rarely highlighted and we don’t highlight it ourselves as we just get on and do the job. In agriculture some women share their story but most do not.”

Talk about how women should influence the next generation by telling their stories really got her thinking and while discussions continued her mind began ticking over with ideas.

“I thought it would be great to do something that featured women in the primary industries.

“I told my team that we could find and write stories on women from around the world and put them up on-line and social media so it had a global reach and they were all on board.”

The idea was to do a daily blog, post on Instagram and Facebook and profile one woman a day for 365 days.

“We just really wanted to crush this tall poppy syndrome we’re so used to bowing down to and start telling our stories, our women’s stories from around the world.”

Months of planning and organising followed and though they didn’t quite reach their target of one woman day, they did complete it.

“She was a big goal. Which we nearly achieved.

“While we were publishing the stories one of our team went on maternity leave and there were factors including long periods of travel and changes within the Grass Roots

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

The team behind 365 Global AgWomen is, from left, Chelsea Millar, Jessie Waite, Trista Burn and Anna Bailey from Grass Roots Media.

Media team which threw the schedule a bit.”

A month after the last blog and posts on social media were published they launched into producing the book, which was funded in part through two Givealittle campaigns.

Every blog was turned into a story but the book features more than 365 women because in some cases relatives are featured.

“We have three generations featured in the book – sisters, cousins, individuals who are all ambassadors for women in agriculture.

“And they all come from different professions from dairy farmers to a chocolatier to fly farmer, agribusiness professionals and lecturers.

“We have stories from the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, South America, the United States and, of course, New Zealand.”

The book was launched last month in Palmerston North and the initial print of 500 is selling fast.

“I can’t say how tremendous the support from everyone has been,” she says.

“I cannot thank the team enough who’ve

helped turn my idea into reality. Everyone involved gave their time and expertise voluntarily and without them or Stella Rackham from Rabobank, which is our major sponsor, neither the blog nor book would have happened.

“We have had many late nights, many emails, phone calls and grammar checks with our new favourite tool, Grammarly, but the end result is something we are all immensely proud of.”

The women featured in 365 Global AgWomen were nominated or known to the team. Few stood a chance of turning them down.

“I was pretty full on and said do not come to me and tell me you don’t have a story to tell because you do.

“We have to stop this tall poppy syndrome and stop being humble and tell our stories because they are incredible.”

Millar says they received so many nominations they have at least another 365 names of women they never made contact with so there is every possibility of continuing and publishing part two. n

35

INDUSTRY GOOD

Good grazing management can reduce the impact of a wet spell on crops and pasture.

Mitigating mud this winter Nick Tait Project leader

A

T ONE time or another most of us have lost a gumboot in the mud.

No matter how well you manage your crop or pasture, if it’s a wet winter its inevitable there’s going to be some mud.

But there are a number of simple things you can do to help keep mud to a minimum, protect your paddocks and keep your cows comfortable.

Many of you are doing a great job to ensure this happens but we believe it’s an area we need to continue improving to ensure we’re leading the way in animal care and doing our best for the environment.

So, what should we be focusing on?

One of the easiest ways you can reduce the impact of a wet spell or heavy rain 36

on your paddocks and cows is through focusing your efforts on good grazing management.

This includes back fencing, using portable troughs, staying out of critical source areas (CSAs), adjusting your mob size to the paddock and grazing paddocks that tend to get wetter or have heavier soils when the conditions are more suitable.

These small changes can make a big impact.

A trial at Telford Research Farm found protection of CSAs and strategic grazing management reduced soil and phosphorous loss by a whopping 80-90%.

Offering thin, long-faced breaks rather than blocks is also good practice. This ensures all cows can access crop and limits the amount of damage to soils and increases crop use.

When determining how you will breakfeed your paddocks keep in mind that cows find grazing downhill more difficult as the slope interrupts their natural grazing position.

If you decide to graze your cows downhill, check use levels, provide cows more time to eat and expect a little more wastage.

with DairyNZ It’s also important your cows can lie down for at least eight hours a day so, in the event of a wet spell, make sure you have options to ensure they have a suitable surface to lie down. Options include paddocks that have been identified for regrassing, drier paddocks or stand-off pads.

As you all know, wintering cows on crop is complex.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach as each of you will have your own set of challenges depending on your region, climate, soil type, topography and shelter.

While the weather is out of our hands, if you prepare and follow good management practice you’ll be in a better position to face whatever this winter has in store. n

MORE:

On how to manage paddocks and mitigate mud this winter at dairynz.co.nz/wintering Nick Tait is the project leader for DairyNZ’s southern wintering project

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

YEARS

OF PROVEN

PERFORMANCE

“Longevity is what makes money because a cow produces most of its milk between four and nine years of age. By then, you also know what types of daughters she produces.”

Don Shaw, Retired Field Consultant, Ohaupo

TRACTA61814_DF

Don has always had a real passion and interest in breeding. His focus when he was a consultant wasn’t on just selling semen or getting a cow in calf; it was always about helping farmers achieve success through high performing, productive and long-lasting cows.

That’s what we mean by ‘Better cows, better life’.

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

CRV4ALL.CO.NZ

37

TECHNOLOGY

Northland’s aerospace challenge

N

ORTHLAND’S agritech innovators are to boldly go where no one has gone before The organisers of Northland’s Aerospace Challenge hope the region’s agri-tech innovators will use space technology to help us live long and prosper.

The challenge, now in its second year, invites innovators to create sustainable agriculture through the use of space data and emerging technology.

But regional economic development agency Northland Inc’s growth adviser and innovation specialist Jiveen MacGillivray says even the tiniest cog in the greater tech machine will be welcome.

“This competition is about finding the future trends of food production and that could be about the science of how we grow and produce food to the technology we use to do that and everything in between.”

The challenge is for anyone working in business, science, research, technology, innovation or education with an interest in ag-tech and sustainability.

It is being run in association with ChristchurchNZ, Airbus, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Centre for Space Science Technology, the University of Canterbury, Blinc Innovation and Space Base, a social enterprise founded by three Edmund Hillary Fellows.

“The SpaceBase organisers recognise that one of the biggest challenges facing the agricultural sector is sustainability,” MacGillivray said.

“This kind of challenge is a no-brainer for us here in Northland as we are massively connected to the environment.

We live, work and play in nature. We understand it, especially its challenges.”

Last year, Northland had the highest number of entries in the competition.

Whangarei-based engineering consultancy Engin came third in the northern regionals of the Space Challenge last year. The team used its experience

38

Northland Inc’s growth adviser and innovation specialist Jiveen MacGillivray says this year’s challenge focuses on agritech and no idea is too small. of working in the aftermath of New Zealand’s most recent earthquakes to develop an idea for a navigation and a data system to facilitate life in space.

Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom one of the Challenge founders said SpaceBase is excited to bring the Aerospace Challenge to catalyse innovation to Northland.

“Building on last year’s enthusiastic participation from the region we expect to have even more interest and applications this year.

“The challenge is about supporting sustainable agriculture using space and drone technologies, with support from Airbus and key partners. We look forward to the solutions and potential business opportunities that can be supported.”

Emeline will be joined by other experts and international guests Robyn Krock, Chris Pederson, Eric Dahlstrom and Ashna Khan for a number of engaging agri-tech events running across the region from March 26, as part of the 2019 Techweek Northland launch, with details available on the Northland Inc website.

The Challenge includes a chance for

up to 20 top applicants nationwide to be invited into a business incubator programme.

They will get support throughout the challenge, such as access to data, tech platforms and industry advice.

Ten finalists will be chosen in a final demo in Christchurch later this year, with the winners being announced in October at the national demo and pitch event.

The winners will get $30,000, Airbus vouchers for satellite data, heaps of support to commercialise the innovation and at least six months of free access to co-working space in Christchurch.

Second and third places will get $5000 each.

The criteria judges will look for are use of space and unmanned aircraft technology, technical feasibility, safety and rigour, innovation, market viability, environmental impact and practical demonstration of a prototype. n

MORE: To enter email Jiveen MacGillivray at northland@techweek.co.nz or visit https://nzaerospacechallenge.com DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

Coffee saves dairy farm

W

HILE many farmers perceive milk price volatility as a growing threat to their business Lancashire entrepreneur Joe Towers saw it as an chance to save his family’s struggling dairy farm.

When the dairy crisis hit in 2015, with global supply going into overload, it rocked the family’s direct milk supply business, Lune Valley Dairy.

The farm was also hit hard because it was selling 10-15,000 litres a week on the spot market for 13.5p/litre.

But an opportunity came along via a pop-up coffee business, which asked him to supply barista milk to artisan coffee houses in London.

Towers, who had worked for a coffee exporter during his placement year, jumped at the chance.

“I was really wondering if we were in a position to carry on farming and was considering moving to a lower-cost production system,” Towers, who at that time had only recently returned home to farm alongside his parents John and April and brother Edward, who has worked on farms in several countries including New Zealand and who uses a hoverboard in the milking shed, at Brades Farm, North Lancashire, says.

By chance he was contacted by coffee guru Shaun Young, who ran Noble Espresso, a pop-up coffee shop business.

He wanted to fill a niche gap in the market by supplying Britain’s first-ever barista milk for artisan London coffee houses.

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Edward, left, and Joe Towers embraced volatility to spur them to action to save their family dairy farm.

“Shaun had already spent a few months trying to get farmers to engage with his concept but no one thought it was a good idea because he had no existing sales,” Towers says.

“My gut feeling was that it could work.

I worked out we would need to sell 7000 litres in the first week and we would have to do that from day one.”

So he decided to take a gamble.

Research showed protein had to consistently hit 3.6% to make it perfect for frothing but the herd of 330 Holstein Friesians averaged only 3.1%.

As a result, the family decided to invest in a completely new herd and bought 70 in-calf Jerseys from Denmark and all the cows from one herd dispersal.

“We have been absolutely blown away by the demand for this product. We have had 350 inquiries from outside London and inside London we are at capacity.

We are having to turn away coffee shop owners on a daily basis.”

They now supply 35,000 litres of milk a week into London coffee houses and also sell a further 22,000 litres direct from the farm through their own branded milk business, Lune Valley Dairy.

The Jersey herd has since expanded to 150 and is run separately to the farm’s existing herd of 330 Holstein Friesians to enable Edward to better control milk quality.

All cows are housed year-round on sand in cubicles.

However, the farm is building a bridge across a small river to give cows free access to pasture from next spring.

“A gate will be left open and the cows

My gut feeling was that it could work.

Joe Towers

will then have the freedom to choose if they wish to go outside and graze.

“The freedom to choose is absolutely critical to the brand in the long term,” Towers says One of the biggest selling points is traceability to his farm. He believes innovation is key to the survival. However, first the industry must try to change the way its customers value milk.

“The dairy industry is stuck in a rut thinking that milk is a commodity and you can’t add value. If you don’t view your product as anything but a commodity, you’re never going to add value.

“Perhaps we should also change the way we look at volatility and the way we look at crisis. I have taken the decision to perceive volatility as a good thing. For us it created opportunities.

“The people throughout the industry who survive in the long run will be the ones who learn to look at volatility in a different way, even embrace it.” n UK Farmers Weekly

MORE:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/ magazine-40160271/how-this-family-farmwas-saved-by-a-latte 39

RESEARCH

The climate change conference will bring together scientists, government policy advisors, farmers and industry leaders to discuss the theme of meeting the challenges of climate change with respect to farming.

Events show need to be ready for climate change

T

HIS year’s Tasman fires and last year’s Cyclone Gita are giving people a taste of what could be coming as the climate changes.

That is part of the message Victoria University’s Climate Change Research Institute senior fellow Dr Judy Lawrence will give to the Agricultural Climate Change Conference in Palmerston North on April 8-9.

New Zealand’s most important agricultural conference on climate change for two years will bring together scientists, government policy advisers, farmers and industry leaders to discuss the theme of meeting the challenges of climate change with respect to farming.

Lawrence was the co-chair of the climate change adaptation technical working group that reported to the government in December 2017 and May 2018 with a stock-take of adaptation action and recommendations on adapting to climate change.

Events like the Tasman fires and Cyclone Gita are a possible indication of things to come, she says.

“In 2017 the south of NZ experienced a very heavy rainfall event that stretched our resources. Coastal properties in low-lying roads have been flooded in Hawke’s Bay,

40

These events will become more intense and, as the seas keep rising, flooding will be permanent in some areas.

Dr Judy Laurence says recent weather events will have given people a taste of what is coming with climatic changes.

Wellington and the West Coast.

“In Bay of Plenty and the Coromandel, estuary margins are increasingly being flooded. These events will become more intense and, as the seas keep rising, flooding will be permanent in some areas and occur also on sunny days.”

Lawrence says those events underline it is essential to get organised to deal with the changing climate risk profile that confronts the nation.

She will outline several actions that can be taken to adapt to the challenges ahead, on the second day of the conference.

The conference is being organised by the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre in partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium.

Attendance is free but registration is required. n

MORE:

nzagrc.org.nz/conference

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

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RESEARCH

Fishy research needed A fishing supremo is pressing the Government to stump up for research into liquid fish fertiliser. Tim Fulton reports.

K

YPROS Kotzikas is the driving force behind Bio Marinus, a liquid fertiliser using offal from his fish processing factory.

United Fisheries is equipped to produce up to 20,000 litres of the fertiliser daily at its Christchurch plant but it’s running at 75% capacity, using threequarters of its available offal.

It is a waste to turn the surplus offal into fishmeal because by-products like fish fertiliser can be worth more than raw fish, Kotzikas said.

Fish offal, usually dumped or turned into fishmeal, amounts to about a million tonnes of untapped product.

Blue mussels, a nuisance for the green mussel industry, can also be hydrolysed.

The liquid fish or liquid mussels can then be used as a fertiliser or a silage for animal or aquaculture farm feed.

“As the demand for liquid fish fertiliser increases each year we estimate that within two or three years we will have to start looking to buy offal to meet the demand for liquid fish fertiliser or liquid fish silage,” Kotzikas said.

He is convinced that by feeding soil biology and adding the hydrolysed liquid fish with urea, dairy farmers can reduce their use of synthetic nitrogen by 80%.

But a lack of independent research into hydrolysed liquid fish is holding back sales, he said.

To turn the tide United Fisheries has asked state-owned Landcare Research to 42

study the effects of hydrolysed liquid fish fertiliser on forage quantity, quality and environmental benefits for grassland.

The proposed research is priced at $800,000 over three years or less than $1.4m over five years.

The Government will be asked to fund the research because it benefits the whole country, Kotzikas said.

The study already has support from Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel, who met Kotzikas to discuss it late last year. In a February 19 letter Dalziel said it seems to have enormous potential benefit to our region and to NZ Inc as well.

“I can say that nitrates are a real concern to both our city and region and a proposal such as this signals an opportunity to utilise the waste of one industry to support another industry while minimising nitrogen losses,” she said.

The proposal ought to be supported regionally and nationally.

“It is my intention to refer this matter to the Canterbury Mayoral Forum for their follow-up and consideration as I am sure they will be very interested in what is proposed,” Dalziel said.

Landcare Research hopes to work with Canterbury grassland soils that are representative of recent, widespread conversion from dryland farming to irrigated dairying.

Its proposal said DairyNZ’s recommended applications of urea to irrigated grassland are 100-150kg N/ha over five to 10 applications through the

year, with higher amounts in spring when seasonal growing conditions are most favourable.

“It is important to note that the recommended commercial use of hydrolysed liquid fish fertiliser is not intended to replace an equivalent amount of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser applied conventionally as urea,” it said.

The research would examine how much enzymatically hydrolysed liquid fish feeds soil biology, stimulates plant growth and improves nitrogen-use efficiency.

Using four test plots it would measure responses to nitrogen supplied as urea and hydrolysed liquid fish fertiliser.

There would be a variety of nitrogen treatments: 200kg N/ha/year as urea with no hydrolysed liquid fish fertiliser; 120 litres of hydrolysed liquid fish fertiliser with no urea, 120kg N/ha/year with 70 litres of hydrolysed liquid fish fertiliser applied at intervals and 60kg N/ha/year as urea with 70 litres of hydrolysed liquid

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

Greek Kiwi and fishing supremo Kypros Kotzikas is pressing the Government to even the playing field for research into alternative fertilisers.

As the demand for liquid fish fertiliser increases each year we estimate that within two or three years we will have to start looking to buy offal to meet the demand. fish fertiliser applied at intervals.

The study would compare aboveground biomass, nitrogen-use efficiency,

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

feed quality and availability of soil nitrogen as well as extractable soil carbon and soil carbon availability. The work would also gather new data on vertical profiles of rooting depth, waterholding capacity, soil hydrology and microbiological activity.

United Fisheries chief scientist Smitha James said it developed Bio Marinus after finding the right combination of enzymes to effectively break down raw fish protein like peptides and amino acids.

The product’s essential ingredients are stabilised in a dormant, steady state at the end of manufacturing, ready to be sold to farmers and home gardeners in either 10000 tanks or 200l, 20l and 5l drums.

The main customers are dairy and crop farmers, orchardists, vineyards and horticulturists. Most customers are biological farmers, including some organic-certified producers.

Lincoln University dairy nutrition expert Jim Gibbs said he worked with

Kotzikas and Bio Marinus from the outset, studying its value as a ruminant animal feed for methane-reduction. It workes that way but he couldn’t vouch for it as a soil conditioner or a nitrogen supplement, he said.

Research by Land Research Services in 2012 showed a significant response for the nitrogen-alone and the combined Bio Marinus and nitrogen treatments compared to the control.

The study showed Bio Marinus works best in conjunction with urea and allows a lower rate of nitrogen to be applied for the same or better response over the higher rates of nitrogen alone.

Pasture quality for the Bio Marinus and nitrogen treatments is as high or higher than the nitrogen-only treatments.

In the combined Bio Marinus and nitrogen treatment results calcium levels and magnesium content were 10% higher than the nitrogen-only treatments, the study found. n 43

BREEDING & GENETICS

Dairy farming continues to have family at its heart. Over the past 50 years CRV Ambreed staff have seen generation after generation take over the family business and continue breeding the best cows for the livelihood of their families. Don Shaw is a third-generation farm owner and former staff member who shares his passion and knowledge of breeding the CRV Ambreed way with his granddaughter.

D

ON Shaw has milked a few Jerseys in his lifetime. He’s brought a few cows into the world too.

Raised on the Anchor Jerseys stud in Ohaupo, Don, 80, is a third-generation dairy farmer and a passionate Jersey breeder.

His grandparents established the family farm in 1926 when they moved from Putaruru. It was sold to Don’s father in 1951 and Don and Lynne bought it in 1975. They sold the farm to their son Mark who died in 2011.

Today, Don’s daughter-in-law Judy owns Anchor Jerseys and his granddaughter Aleasha manages the herd.

Don Shaw is a CRV Ambreed AI technician and has been on the job for 64 years.

44

Don first used Ambreed semen on the farm in 1973. The following year he took on a regional sales role with the company and started juggling full-time dairy farming with family life.

In his first year selling semen for CRV Ambreed he sold 275 straws. By 2014, the year he retired, he was ordering 30,000 straws and was one of CRV Ambreed’s top ranking sales consultants.

“When I retired at 74 I was still meeting my straw budget and my market share in my region was bigger than the company’s average national market share,” he says.

“As a farmer myself I always told my clients I had ethics and I wouldn’t sell them anything that I wouldn’t use myself.”

Don always had a real passion and interest in breeding and his focus as a consultant wasn’t on just selling semen or getting a cow in calf. It was always about helping farmers achieve success through high performing, productive, long-lasting cows.

“That’s what we mean by better cows, better life.

“Longevity is what makes money because a cow produces most of its milk between four and nine years of age.

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

Better cows, better life

As a farmer myself I always told my clients I had ethics and I wouldn’t sell them anything that I wouldn’t use myself.

Don Shaw CRV Ambreed

The Shaw family has been using CRV Ambreed semen on the family farm for more than 40 years.

“By then, you also know what types of daughters she produces,” he said.

Don trained as an AI technician early in his career and, remarkably, still manages an AB run for CRV Ambreed today. This year will be his 64th year as a technician.

He also trained as a goat AI technician.

From 1991 to 1997 Don and Lynne ran annual four-day development seminars for younger and newer farmers in conjunction with Jersey NZ. Ambreed was a key sponsor and Don says without their support it wouldn’t have been possible.

Don and Lynne also started the Jersey NZ Scholarship in 1992, which helps young members get technical knowledge, expertise and leadership qualities through formal tertiary training in the agricultural sector.

In 1993 they were awarded the Jersey NZ Singer Scroll for promotion of Jerseys and in 1996 were made Jersey NZ honorary life members, something Don says he is incredibly proud of.

By nature Don gets on with everyone and the relationships he has built with

clients and colleagues over the years as a farmer, consultant and AI technician have made his work incredibly rewarding.

“Clients quickly became friends and I still see some of them for a cup of tea today.”

Along with his AB run, he still does TOP (traits other than production) inspections for Jersey NZ and offers the odd bit of freelance breeding advice to Aleasha and a couple of other local farmers.

“It keeps me out of Lynne’s hair and I’ll keep it up until my health tells me I can’t any more” he said. n Don Shaw’s story is part of a series of client and staff stories celebrating CRV Ambreed’s 50th year of proven performance in New Zealand. More stories at www.crv4all.co.nz.

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BREEDING & GENETICS

New gene-mapping service

DNA verification leaves no room for error when deciding on the best direction for the herd.

D

NA parentage testing has become more accessible to dairy farmers with the launch of CRV Ambreed’s revitalised DNA parentage testing service this month.

The gene-mapping service uses progressive technology to identify the ancestry of individual stock.

DNA samples are collected by taking a small piece of tissue from an animal’s ear.

Allflex tissue-sampling ear tags are either applied to calves at birth or as buttons on mature animals.

Tissue samples are then sent to CRV’s approved, affiliated DNA genotyping laboratory, GenomNZ, where DNA is extracted for parentage and single gene analysis.

CRV Ambreed product development team leader Erin O’Connor says the industry will be excited to hear about this service because DNA verification leaves no room for error when deciding on the best direction for the herd.

Herd records will exactly show the animal’s sire and dam through specific genetic markers.

46

“The farmer will then understand which cows in the herd are the best and which sires they can be mated to,” she says.

Samples analysed also identify the A2/ A2 beta casein status of an individual animal and other defect genes.

CRV Ambreed did a trial last year where 4991 animals were DNA tested over nine farms.

Only 41% of the animals tested were recorded with the correct sire.

“The animals with incorrect parentage information also had inaccurate BW, PW

Tissue sampling ear tags are applied to calves at birth.

and BV information,” O’Connor said.

“This information is vital when making on-farm decisions and it would have resulted in misguided mating and culling decisions.

“We updated the sire information for 46% of the animals tested, which completely changed the rankings for BW and PW across the herd.

“Those farmers can now use that information when making decisions around mating and culling.”

Parentage results are sent by CRV Ambreed to Animal Evaluation, which uses the data to identify the most efficient converters of feed to milk.

“Inaccurate parental data is not just an issue dealt with on-farm, it impacts the wider industry too because accurate ancestry information substantiates breeding values and breeding indexes,” O’Connor says.

“Future Animal Evaluation runs that estimate genetic breeding values and indices used in New Zealand will be a lot more accurate.”

DNA-verified animals might get higher prices in the future at stockyards and could influence farmers’ buying and selling decisions, she says. n

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

47

BREEDING & GENETICS

Semen centre upgraded

L

IC’s semen new processing centre in Manawatu is open after injection of more than $1 million to upgrade the facilities.

The refurbishment enables the dairy farmer-owned co-operative to enhance its export capabilities and provides a back-up to its main facilities in Hamilton.

The state-of-the-art, purpose-built facility includes an upgraded laboratory, office spaces, meeting rooms, building exterior and an additional new laboratory for the production of sexed semen.

The centre, set up in 1960 at Awahuri, near Feilding, was converted in 2008 to a seasonal semen production facility with the sole purpose of collecting and processing bull semen for export to the European Union.

Last year it produced 400,000 semen straws for the EU. Chief executive Wayne McNee said the more than $1 million investment demonstrates the co-op’s continued focus on increasing its export business to deliver value for its farmer shareholders in New Zealand.

“Many farmers in our key export markets, such as the UK and Ireland, farm their cows on pasture, just like we do in New Zealand.

“As a leader in breeding dairy cows for grazing systems LIC is proud to provide these farmers with world-class genetics that enable them to breed the best cows for their farming systems.”

And demand for high-quality, pasturebased genetics in international markets is growing.

Senior lab technician Sy So checks straws in LIC’s upgraded semen processing facility at Awahuri in Manawatu.

These improvements mean LIC is well placed to meet the growing international demand as well as critical EU audit requirements.

LIC’s international semen sales exceeded a million straws for the first time in 2018.

“These improvements mean LIC is well placed to meet the growing international

demand as well as critical EU audit requirements.”

The upgrades also make the facility a suitable back-up to LIC’s main operations centre.

“This upgrade strengthens our business continuity plans and ensures we are wellpositioned to continue to deliver vital services to our NZ farmers in the event of a crisis.

“This upgrade will allow us to quickly move operations to Awahuri if we needed, which is critical in spring when we’re inseminating more than 100,000 cows a day at peak time,” McNee said.

LIC, a herd improvement and agritech co-operative, is the country’s largest supplier of artificial breeding (AB) services and dairy genetics. n

MORE:

www.lic.co.nz

THE CENTRE • 130ha farm with up to 260 bulls • Used mainly for semen exports to Europe • Meets strict European Union standards • Operates November to May for international semen production • About 400,000 straws are processed for the EU • Last year LIC exported more than 1 million straws to international markets

Lab technician Leran Fishlar prepares the freezing chambers.

48

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

BREEDING & GENETICS

Fonterra signs A2 farms

L

IC, the country’s largest supplier of artificial breeding (AB) services, has welcomed Fonterra’s recent announcement it will sign farms to supply milk for The a2 Milk Company.

The farmer-owned co-operative, which breeds up to 80% of the national dairy herd, says the increase in supply matches the demand it has experienced for its A2 genetics and testing services.

Last year it introduced dedicated A2 bull teams and extended its test offering in anticipation of Fonterra’s move with The a2 Milk Company.

LIC’s general manager of New Zealand markets Malcolm Ellis, who is also a Fonterra shareholder and farm owner, said “The uptake has been overwhelmingly positive.

“LIC has been offering A2 bulls since 2002 but the demand for the new teams in their debut season is the biggest shift we have seen in AB trends.

“More than 440,000 straws of

LIC general manager of New Zealand markets Malcolm Ellis says the demand for A2 genetics is growing.

fresh semen from the A2 teams were inseminated into NZ dairy cows through the spring mating period last year.

“This accounted for around 10%

of our total AB activity and reflects a significant shift in farmer behaviour, which was largely in response to the initial announcement that Fonterra was partnering with The a2 Milk Company.”

Farmers are investing in A2 genetics and testing to position their herd asset to benefit financially from the growth and momentum of A2.

“We also extended our test offering to meet this demand to include the option to test for the A1 and A2 genes via a milk sample as well as DNA. “Fonterra’s announcement is very Waikato-based but the effect of this will be felt much further afield and spark interest from farmers nationwide.

“There is more at play here than ambitions to produce A2 milk, with opportunities to also breed surplus A2 livestock to sell.

“We really saw farmers demonstrate their ambition to be involved in the A2 space last year. The announcement will certainly be the catalyst for that momentum to continue.” n

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49

BREEDING & GENETICS

For the love of Jerseys ROSS NOLLY

T

HE love of a dairy cow breed is often something that continues through generations of a family.

Paul and Christine Vanner are no exception.

Their passion for Jerseys has not only led them to farm the breed but to also set up two studs and succeed in the dairy cattle show ring.

The couple run the 180-cow, 60-hectare farm with the help of their children Mitchell and Kelsey. They also operate Loch Raven and Tasman Jersey studs.

Paul was raised on the family farm and is the second generation to work it. He is also president of the Taranaki Purebred Jersey Club.

Their Jersey NZ cows are in the Tasman Stud and their Purebred Jersey Breed Society (NZ) cows are in the Loch Raven Stud. The main difference between the two associations is the Purebred animals’ lineage must be traceable back to the Jersey Isle in Britain.

Recently, there have been discussions about getting the two associations back together and it’s an ideal Paul strongly believes in.

He feels the genetics of both associations will work well together because of their strong family bloodlines.

Collectively, he feels they can produce some very fine animals.

“Both associations are doing a very good job but it would be nice to get back under one umbrella again.

“We’ve moved in that direction already by crossing a few of our purebred cows with other genetics. Sure, we lose that purity but we still have the dam to go back to. The purebred society has recently opened a register under the new category.”

In recent times there’s been a burgeoning focus in fat content and grass-fed animals which has generated a resurgence of interest in Jersey cattle.

They feel Jerseys allow flexible stocking rates and are better at feed utilisation.

“Jerseys fit the scale of our farm.

“They don’t pug the ground as much in wet weather as the heavier breeds. They also fit into our cowshed better,” Christine says.

50

Taranaki farmers Christine and Paul Vanner have a passion for breeding and showing Jersey animals.

Their dream is to breed the ultimate Jersey cow that produces 450kg MS and has excellent body type.

“We have some very nice cows in the herd that may not be quite doing the business and we want to turn that around. The challenge is to breed for production and for type,” Paul says.

“You can have a good type and conformation but, in an ideal world, it would be nice to have the production behind that and return to the high production of yesteryear. That may mean using overseas genetics or a cross of both breed associations’ genetics.”

Globally, Jersey numbers are rising steadily yet statistics show the NZ Jersey

population has the slowest global growth.

Paul believes that has probably been caused by the direction of the NZ payout system.

Their perfect Jersey cow would be classified as an EX95 or 96 doing 500kg MS. She would complement herself in having a good temperament, be able to breed and remain in a herd for eight or nine lactations.

Type-wise, their ultimate cow would be an EX96 or 97 but they would love to see a herd with a consistent line of 95 or 96 then match them with a bull with the traits that could be bred-on and maintain a high level of type and production.

They believe the perfect Jersey bull

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

We must make Jerseys attractive to the regular commercial farmer and target that market.

Paul Vanner Loch Raven and Tasman Studs

must be strong, have good type and conformation and the ability to raise those traits in any offspring. It must also pass on a balance of protein and fat and a good temperament.

“Dad once used a bull that had a good jaw but threw off animals with very weak jaws. Multiple heifers came through with that fault and it took time to get rid of them,” he says.

They have used purebred Jersey bulls from the Beledene and Hasty River lines as well as their own along with overseas genetics.

“AI bulls have the advantage of having quite a few daughters on the ground and their information is readily available. The process of raising your own bulls is a lot slower because they haven’t got those credentials. They may have the breeding but what do they breed like?” Paul says.

“It’s extremely satisfying to breed your own bulls and see the resulting offspring.

Sometimes you do take a step back which is frustrating. But it’s a long game and nothing happens in a hurry.”

The Vanner family milks 180 cows on the family farm where they also operate two Jersey studs – Loch Raven and Tasman.

They use five or six bulls a season; 80% AI and the rest their own bulls. They select bulls that are strong in the individual cow’s weaker traits. BW doesn’t come into their decision at all. They just want a good all-round cow.

Production is now their main focus but that must be coupled with type, conformation and temperament. They feel they have some nice cows coming through and production levels are increasing.

“We stepped away from selecting our own sires for a few years and used bull of the day. Type-wise, I think our cows went back a little. We lost some udder conformation and weren’t producing the type of animal we desired. So we returned to identifying the bulls we needed to use,” Paul says.

He believes breeders must be open to

The goal is to breed the ultimate Jersey cow that produces 450kg MS and has excellent body type.

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

suggestions. It’s easy to become blind to a fault and it’s helpful to have a fresh pair of eyes look over your stock.

The family began showing cattle 11 years ago and it has become an important part of their life.

They have a good family support team and usually show about eight cows each year.

“Showing is very rewarding and I’d like to think that we’ve achieved a few top honours.

“Hasty River Hi Radium has won a number of supreme champion placings and one of her daughters has also won a supreme champion too. One cow from the Tasman stud was upgraded and won supreme champion at Hawera,” Paul says.

The established breeders in Taranaki always welcome new and aspiring breeders. Many have been showing cattle for many decades and are only too happy to pass on their vast wealth of knowledge.

“It’s been an honour to have been in the same ring as those breeders.

“We compete against one another but there’s always the common thread of camaraderie binding it all together,” Paul says.

“I’d like to think things will turn around and the Jersey cow will once more become the focus.

“The conformation of the Friesian has improved so much over the last 10-15-years and I’d like to think we could do the same with the Jersey. We must make Jerseys attractive to the regular commercial farmer and target that market.

“We still have the genetics out there to do that.” n

51

EFFLUENT

Using an accredited effluent system design company will ensure the job is done right.

Get fluent on effluent Logan Bowler

H

OW much storage do you need in effluent ponds?

Having the right infrastructure in place is essential to managing on-farm effluent. Key factors will help you work out how much effluent storage you need for your farm.

I’m a firm believer you can’t do a good job if you don’t have the right equipment and the same applies to managing effluent on-farm.

No matter how well you manage your effluent storage pond, if it’s too small you’re going to struggle.

So, just how much storage do you need?

Everyone’s requirements are different depending on their farm. Just because your neighbor has a certain size pond doesn’t mean that’s the right fit for you.

If you’re considering installing or upgrading your effluent system there are a number of factors to take into account to determine how much storage your farm needs. They include shed water use, herd size, season length and application depths – which we’ll look at in more detail in the next column.

But the biggest factor to take into

52

consideration is your soil type.

If you have high-risk soils your storage needs will be significantly more, five to six times more, than those with low risk because you won’t be able to irrigate as frequently.

High-risk soils are those exhibiting surface run-off or preferential flow while low risk are well or moderately welldrained soils on slopes less than seven degrees.

If you’re not sure if your soils are high or low risk there’s a pocket guide available on the DairyNZ website to help you identify the soil risk for effluent irrigation on your farm.

Soils and future-proofing are key factors for farmers.

Soils were a key factor Waikato dairy farmer Ian Taylor took into account when determining what size pond to install on his farm.

Ian, who farms 440-cows on consolidated peat soils at Puketaha, decided to put in a pond with a plastic liner that exceeded his needs.

“I thought I’d err on the side of caution and go bigger. I went for a pond twice the size that I needed, at 2100 cubic metres.

“I didn’t want to end up building a pond that was too small so I built one as big as I could to future-proof any changes that might come in later or down the track.”

Ian did a lot of research before deciding on what size and type of pond he would install to determine what system was best for his farm and team.

He chose a relatively simple system because he wanted to reduce the chance of operator error.

with DairyNZ He recommends farmers consider all their options and use soil experts to determine whether they have any low-risk soils.

“There can be a three to fivefold difference in the size of the pond depending on whether you have high or low-risk soils.”

Ian says having the right infrastructure in place makes effluent management less stressful.

“I can now relax knowing in wet weather we can pump into the pond.”

If you’re considering installing or upgrading your effluent system and you’re not sure where to start there’s some great information on the DairyNZ website.

There’s also the free dairy effluent storage calculator to help you get a better idea of how much effluent storage you need.

Last, but certainly not least, I highly recommend using an accredited effluent system design company.

After-all, it’s a big investment so you want to make sure it’s done right. n

MORE:

For more information to help you make the right decision when installing or upgrading your effluent system or for a list of accredited effluent system design companies visit dairynz.co.nz/effluent.

Logan Bowler is a DairyNZ environmental extension specialist and effluent management expert. Check out the May issue for the third instalment of Bowler’s series on effluent.

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

GYPSY DAY

Managing farm changeovers

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HANGING farms this May and June requires extra special precautions because of Mycoplasma bovis.

The disease is spread by the movement of infected animals and incoming infected cattle including calves, heifers, bulls, beef cattle as well as milking cows can bring the disease onto a farm even if they show no signs of having it. Once in a herd the disease is spread by close animal-to-animal contact.

While M bovis is relatively new in New Zealand, if it becomes endemic it can be managed, much like TB, leptospirosis, BVD and Johne’s disease.

Dairy farms all over the country have been tested via bulk milk testing of individual herds and cows from the sick mob for the presence of the organism.

Individual farmers should know the results two weeks after the final milk sample has been collected.

A not detected result can give farmers an indication a herd is free of disease and help with farm management decisions.

This result is not, however, an absolute guarantee a property is free from the disease.

The tests will pick up if any cows were shedding M bovis at the time of sampling but it is possible for infected cows to be present in a herd but not shedding at the time of sample collection.

Those who use the sharemilking and contract milking business model are particularly vulnerable to financial shocks

®

should a disease like M bovis get onto the farm.

If at all possible, stay on the current farm with the same herd.

Or if you are a farm-owner, keep the current sharemilker with the current herd.

However, that might not be possible or desired.

There are some simple precautions sharemilkers, contract milkers and farm owners can take to minimise the risk of it getting onto a farm. If everyone is clear about the level of risk being faced, decisions can be made – it’s all about communication.

If you are a farm owner looking to bring on a new contract milker or sharemilker: 1. Ask where new stock are coming from; 2. Ask for bulk milk M bovis test results of the source herd(s) if available; 3. Ask if the stock have been mingling with other cattle – can you get any information about these other herds, such as bulk milk testing results?; 4. Ask about the health of the incoming stock including calf health, mastitis, pneumonia, ear infections and swollen joints; 5. Ask if the NAIT recordings have been completed for all cow, calf, cattle movements; 6. Set aside land where new animals can be kept, separate to stock already on a farm, for seven days for quarantine purposes; 7. Check all equipment coming on farm is clean and dry and;

8. Inform the incoming sharemilker or contract milker about any M bovis tracing by MPI that has been done on the farm and any instructions given by MPI that might affect how the herd is managed.

If you are a sharemilker or contract milker shifting onto a new farm: 1. Buy animals from as few different farms as possible. Ask for the bulk milk M bovis test results of the 2017-18 herd if available; 2. Supply the farm owner with any M bovis test results you have; 3. Ask if the herd has been mixed with any other animals in the past 12 months, including at wintering. Ask if it is possible to get the bulk milk M bovis test results of that herd; 4. Ask about the health of the cows and calves on the farm during the 2017-18 season – including calf health, mastitis, pneumonia, ear infections and swollen joints; 5. Complete all Nait movement recordings; 6. When taking new animals onto a farm, keep them separate from others for seven days and check them for signs of ill health; 7. Clean and dry all incoming machinery and equipment and; 8. Ask if the farm has been subject to any tracing from MPI for M bovis.

Reduce the risk of M bovis by managing dairy farm changeovers in May or June. n

GYPSY DAY

Preparation key for Moving Day Katherine DeWitt

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T’S hard to believe we’re already in April and that means Moving Day is fast approaching.

I’m sure many of you are busy preparing to move yourself, your family, belongings and/or stock

to new farms for the 2019-20 season.

I can only imagine how challenging this must be. I found it hard enough when my partner and I moved last season to a farm 20 minutes down the road and that didn’t involve shifting pets, kids or hundreds of cows.

Some of you are probably veterans by now and have moving down to a fine art. But for others, particularly those with children, moving can be extremely stressful. It’s never easy uprooting your life and starting from scratch in a new town or region.

So, what can make the shift easier?

I know from talking to many of you the main thing that can help make the move go as smoothly as possible is being prepared. But I’m sure this is easier said than done when juggling work, family and other commitments. So, I asked a farming couple who have been there, done that for their advice.

Canterbury herd-owning sharemilkers Hamish and Katie Flett are no strangers to Moving Day. The couple, like many others, have moved to new farms as they’ve progressed through the sector. Their last trip, four years ago, was the most significant, when

Better Bulls, Better Calves Talk to us now for our May 2019 feature.

To find out more, contact Nigel Ramsden on 06 323 0761,027 602 4925 or email livestock@globalhq.co.nz.

farmersweekly.co.nz

2642DF

Assist farmers to make the right purchasing decisions for their herd.

Planning ahead will ensure a smoother journey for stock.

they shifted their young family, 600 cows and machinery from Waikato.

Hamish says they were fortunate to have close friends offer to help them move, which took a huge weight off their shoulders.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help. And if you’ve got friends offering to help, take them up on it. We had really good friends who helped us move and it made it so much easier. A friend came around and measured everything we were going to move to make sure it was going to fit in the container.

“Little things like that make a big difference,” he says.

The couple also called on their family to support them during the move and take care of their children for a few days to help take the pressure off and allow them to focus on what needed to be done.

Hamish says they found packing up the house relatively easy. The real challenge was shifting the cows.

“As farmers we’re always trying to do the best by our stock so getting the cows dried-off, prepared and the Nait records up to date required a lot of planning.”

Hamish says farmers now need to be extra vigilant when moving cows given Mycoplasma bovis.

He recommends they make sure

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

they’re familiar with all regulations and communicate with neighbouring farms if moving cows on the road.

He recommends farmers don’t leave things to the last minute.

“It’s never too early to start planning,” he says.

Hamish also recommends people clarify with the farm owners or operations manager what they are required to do

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. before leaving the property.

“If people’s expectations are different, that’s where conflict can happen.

“If you’re unsure about anything ask so you’re clear what the objective is.

“As sharemilkers our reputation is the most important thing we’ve got so it’s important to leave on good terms.”

Katie says employers can help staff feel welcome and settle in to their new community by providing a list of key services, such as local GP and schools and cooked dinners for the first few days.

For those shifting cows it’s important to

keep biosecurity front of mind to reduce the risk of exposure to M bovis and other diseases, weeds and pests.

First and foremost it’s crucial Nait records are kept up to date to track all animal movements.

M bovis is spread mainly through close physical contact between cows so the best way to keep them safe is to ensure stock don’t come into contact with other herds. This will hinge on having clear communication between your grazier, transport company and neighbours.

Machinery and equipment also pose a biosecurity risk because they can carry pests and weeds so it’s important to ensure they are as clean as possible before moving onto a new farm.

To avoid overlooking anything I recommend using the Biosecurity WOF, a useful step-by-step checklist that outlines ways you can reduce the risk of diseases, weeds or pests entering, spreading or leaving your farm. It is available on the DairyNZ website. n

MORE:

Visit dairynz.co.nz/transportingstock Katherine DeWitt is a DairyNZ animal care and biosecurity developer

55

GYPSY DAY The Woodward family are on the move after buying their first farm in Waikato. Jack, Susie, John, Kylie, Michael and Charlie have a big journey ahead of them.

Everything but the kitchen sink The work involved in shifting between farms is not for the faint-hearted. Sonita Chandar reports.

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HERE is plenty to do and lots to think about such as organising packing boxes, a moving truck and chaos usually abounds when moving house.

But when you are a sharemilker moving to a new farm there are so many more things to think about.

Come May Canterbury farmers Michael and Susie Woodward will be among many herd-owning sharemilkers moving and

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for them the journey north to Waikato involves a lot more than packing up their home.

Over the course of the next few weeks they will begin the long process of shifting 410 cows, 50 Angora goats, a vast array of farm machinery including quad bikes, two big tractors, trailers and mower, tools, calf feeders, four dogs, six chickens, four children, a household of furniture and two personal vehicles.

So, what exactly is involved when

shifting all of that from their farm at Dunsandel in the South Island to Otorohanga in the North Island?

“An awful lot,” Susie says.

“We have a massive to-do list. And on top of all of that we own our house here in Canterbury so we have to sell it.”

The couple who sharemilk 1000 cows for Theland Farm Group-Purata Farms will sell the bulk of their cattle so there is that to think about too.

They want to take A2 cows because they

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

will be supplying A2 milk to Synlait in Waikato. Their herd has been DNA tested for the A2 gene and results show 40-60% have that gene. From those, they will take 250 mixed age animals, 100 in-calf heifers and 60 empty cows as replacements.

“We will pick out some good cows to keep but we are not necessarily taking the top 25% of the herd,” Michael says.

“We are only taking A2 cows so we will end up having a nice herd of 550 mixedaged cows to sell.

“We are choosing not to take any of the calves as the cows we take will give us a bigger gain in production than they will in the first year or so,” Susie says.

“Besides, picking 60 calves out of 300 will be too difficult. Selling them as one mob will be a lot easier.”

The cows will begin their long journey north as close to May 31 as possible.

They will travel more than 900 kilometres including the three-and-half-hour ferry ride across the Cook Strait.

“They will be offloaded at a stock yard either near Picton or just north of Wellington overnight. All up the girls will be on the road and ferry for about 15 hours and it will be about 24 hours from the time they leave here until they get to their new home.”

Surprisingly, there is not a massive amount of paperwork required, which is a stark contrast to last year when M. bovis was prevalent and strict controls around stock movement were in place.

“We still have paperwork to do as it is all about accountability.

“The herd will have all the necessary documents and will go through all the health and security checks they need,” Michael says.

“Susie is meticulous about record keeping and we will be checking every animal as they get on the truck and then again at the other end to make sure what went on, comes off.”

Before the herd arrives they plan to have all their farm machinery on site as well as themselves and they have a shipping container and two trucks and trailers booked for their move.

“We want to make sure that we can feed the herd as soon as they come off the truck,” Michael says.

They estimate the cost of transporting their stock at $100/head so $40,000, the machinery about $12,000 and household at about $8000.

So why transport everything rather than buying locally?

They reckon they will be better off with what they have and know.

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

Michael and Susie supply Synlait and will continue to supply the dairy company with A2 milk at their Waikato farm.

“We could potentially buy cows up there but we have been diligently keeping records on the herd and they have all been DNA tested so we know the records are accurate,” Susie says.

“It makes more sense to take what we know and especially being A2 cows, which is what we need to be milking. As well as that we know they will produce for us.”

We have learnt a lot along the way but one of the big things is that money is not a big driver.

Michael Woodward

Michael says taking what they know is also true for their machinery.

“We know the service history of our machinery and the condition and that it works for us. If we bought equipment up there we could potentially buy someone else’s problems.”

The Waikato farm is not another sharemilking job – they have stepped up to farm ownership, buying their first farm

two years before their set goal.

They had ruled out large-scale farm ownership in Canterbury where land can fetch up to $50,000 a hectare as being out of their reach.

“We didn’t want to go into buying a farm with a heap of debt,” Michael says.

“Susie and I were quite conservative in our approach so we didn’t find ourselves stretched to the limit.”

The couple started from scratch in 2005 and by 2016 had $1 million in equity through sharemilking and managing several properties at once and trading livestock.

Along the way they have won several awards including the 2016 CanterburyNorth Otago Share Farmer of the Year title and were named runners-up in the national awards.

After their win they described themselves as farm orphans as neither had a family farm to fall back on. They were determined to work hard so they could realise their dream of farm ownership.

“Our ultimate goal was to own a farm so our children would have one in the future,” Michael said.

Michael comes from a family of Angora goat farmers near Pukekohe and Susie is the daughter of dairy farmers in upstate New York. But with six siblings there was little possibility of her running the family farm.

They met at Synlait’s Robindale farm where they were working,

57

GYPSY DAY

Susie, Jack, Kylie, John, Michael and Charlie are sad to be leaving the Canterbury farm they call home but are excited to start a new phase in farming.

eventually moving up to managers then sharemilkers.

Although they still have one year left on their sharemilking contract the opportunity to buy their own slice of paradise was too good to pass up.

“Susie and I feel it is the right time for us to shift,” Michael says.

“We have learnt a lot along the way but one of the big things is that money is not a big driver. For us it has never been about making the most money. It is more about challenging ourselves.”

“We are lucky that we are in this position to step up to farm ownership – we have enough cash to pay off debt and move forward and realise our dream,” Michael says.

“And it is a chance to create a home for our family,” Susie says.

Their plan has always been to buy in Waikato as Michael has family nearby.

It was during a visit to family in July last year they saw an ad for a farm near his grandparents in Tirau.

“It got us thinking of what we wanted in a farm and the answer was not wall58

to-wall cows and being self-contained appealed,” he says.

“We started crunching numbers and thinking about what we could afford and after that we began to keep an eye out for a farm.”

They did find one that appealed and was affordable but were unsuccessful. But on Boxing Day another property caught their eye.

“We went and looked at it and we knew Synlait was in Waikato so checked with them about supplying as we couldn’t afford the capital to buy shares in Fonterra and everything fell into place.

“And with Synlait we are Lead with Pride accredited so that was another reason to stick with them,” Susie says.

They did their due diligence around compliance consents and signed on the dotted line for the 170 hectare property milking 340 cows on a once-a-day system.

They are looking forward to milking OAD so they can spend quality time with their children, Kylie, 9, John, 7, Jack, 5, and Charlie, 2.

“The OAD system is a cushy one for the

cows and will be for us too,” Michael says.

“We are taking a holistic approach and looking at why we are farming. As long as we are paying the bills and the bank we don’t need to push it out to twice-a-day milking.”

They will winter all stock on-farm, which is fully self-contained, eliminating any risks.”

As well as the herd they will run 300 Angora goats, which is also a business risk mitigation move. A shearing shed is already on the property but both admit their skills at shearing are not the best.

“We can catch a goat but there are some skills including shearing that are on our to-learn list,” Susie says.

But in the meantime there are a lot of logistics to work out including driving their two cars, four dogs and four children north and keeping everyone happy and entertained.

“We will probably divide the dogs and the children between the two vehicles – that will be fun.” Susie says.

But no word on who gets to transport the chickens. n

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

GYPSY DAY

Nait under scrutiny

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ARMERS and Nait users who choose not to record or confirm livestock movements can expect greater scrutiny of their accounts.

While farmers seeking help to get their accounts up to date are on the increase more work is needed to reconcile accounts where movements have not been completed.

There is no silver bullet to fix outstanding or unresolved livestock movements in the Nait system but Ospri is patiently working through those historical issues with farmers where movement records are incomplete.

Compliance and enforcement are jointly managed by Nait and the Nait compliance team at the Ministry for Primary Industries as prescribed in the Nait Act. Farmers and people in charge of animals (Picas) showing poor

engagement records with Nait are first issued with a notice to remind them of any unrecorded or unconfirmed movements in the system.

Ospri’s priority is to ensure farmers understand their Nait obligations and, if necessary, provide guidance and support to help them update their accounts.

The Nait team monitors their response and actions to see if they are making any changes. If they aren’t, Nait will escalate the situation with MPI and inspectors will be alerted.

MPI has 30 Nait officers in the field to assist with compliance activities, including visits to sale yards and meat processing plants.

While the Mycoplasma bovis response and assisting MPI has been the primary focus, Nait is making progress with longstanding issues related to incomplete movement records.

Ospri acknowledges there are inconsistencies going back several

Proven Product. Best Spread.

Any stock movement must be recorded otherwise farmers can expect on a knock on their door from the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Nait compliance team.

years but they account for about 2% of incomplete movements a year.

More than 51 million movements are recorded in the Nait database and 3.6m were recorded in January.

Nait is also cleaning up its information system with a recent system upgrade, which involves farmers and Picas having to update their existing user account details and declare all their Nait locations using Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) land parcel identification numbers.

Ospri is giving farmers and Nait users every chance to get their accounts sorted.

It has also rolled out an extension and education campaign to support all Nait users and Nait workshops are planned in the provinces in the coming months to help and advise farmers.

Farmers who choose not to engage with Nait will be identified and referred to the MPI compliance team for follow-up. n

SPECIAL REPORT Mid Canterbury farmer Duncan Barr has been fighting MPI over M. bovis since May 2018. He says in general, MPI has handled the disease outbreak badly.

Photo: Tim Fulton

M bovis – a farmer’s experience A farmer culling hundreds of Mycoplasma bovis-infected drystock says many of his animals could have been saved if authorities had moved faster on testing and movement control declarations. Tim Fulton reports.

T

WENTY years ago Duncan Barr wrangled with the Ministry of Education over the closure of schools in rural Taranaki.

The fight with bureaucracy tore apart communities and Barr vowed that if there was a next time he would record his experience and hold authorities to account.

Mycoplasma bovis is that next time.

In April last year, farming in Mid Canterbury, Barr found out calves he picked up from another farmer in 2017 were positive for the disease.

He kept a six-month diary of his dealings with the Ministry for Primary Industries and its agents over the disease and started the M bovis Affected Farmers Facebook page. He recently stepped down as group chairman.

Barr farms three properties for Barrhill Farms at Ealing near the north bank of Rangitata River. The farm has reared

60

rising two-year heifers on its lease block for the past two years and routinely rears up to 1500 calves a year on its own runoff in Brogdens Rd. The calves are generally brought on through August and September then sold

by December. Cows are also normally wintered on the runoff.

The only infected M bovis stock are on Brogdens Rd and the lease. Neither property has sent or received animals to the dairy farm, which is several kilometres away and free of infection.

Barr’s first contact with MPI’s M bovis response team was in early May 2018 when the Brogdens Rd runoff was put into voluntary lockdown.

His first diary entry says the farm decided to halt all movements because he believed that was the right thing to do to help prevent any possible spread of M bovis even though there was no legal requirement to do so.

Within three months, after repeated

attempts to obtain test results and to determine the farm’s official M bovis status, Barr was exasperated with MPI. His July 23 diary entry damns the ministry for “an amazingly incompetent display of leadership” over its general handling of the disease outbreak.

It isn’t credible for MPI to say M bovis caught it off guard when a lot of its deficiencies are not M bovis specific.

Given the lack of biosecurity outbreak procedures, it appears MPI is making up everything as it goes along It is a national disgrace, he wrote.

At the end of December MPI declared hundreds of Barrhill Farms’ drystock would have to be slaughtered.

Barr said right from the outset everything about the trace history of the farm’s cattle suggested they would need to be culled. In the absence of early official declarations about the status of his stock, hundreds of animals were unnecessarily exposed to infection because of

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

movements between the two runoffs.

The first cull started in January 2019 with 50 infected calves sent to slaughter for pet food. Around that time Barr was still trying to find out from his M bovis case manager whether his property was officially an Infected Property or a Restricted Property.

“I was told that ‘yes’ I was an IP. No paperwork, correspondence or notification was given.”

Barr’s diary starts plainly on May 18, 2018 “While away overseas I was contacted (by MPI) regarding three trace animals (calves). They were interested in testing as they had come from an M bovis positive farm.”

Late May: “The decision was made not to take any of the dairy herd down to Brogdens Rd (Barrhill Farms’ own runoff) because of the biosecurity risk.”

After sorting out winter-feed requirements for the contained stock, Barr looked on as tests started on all the Brogdens Rd stock, comprising about 250 blood samples and 100 nasal swabs. On June 25, Barr took a call from his incident control point (ICP) officer, who arranged a visit that afternoon to serve a Notice of Direction on the dairy farm and the lease block and runoff.

Barr said it was made clear the reason for the NoD was the three trace animals of interest, which were recorded as having been bought in September 2017.

He said he told his ICP officer it was totally unnecessary to include the dairy farm and lease block because all the calves Barrhill Farms bought the previous year had gone only to Brogdens Rd, except for the previous year’s calves that were moved to the lease block August 2017. Those animals had no contact with the 2017-born calves on Brogdens Rd. The exchange with his ICP soon became confrontational.

“At this time, it was made clear that all (of my) properties were on movement

Calves bought from another farmer tested positive for the disease and have been condemned to slaughter. control and failure to comply would result in jeopardising any potential compensation claims and or fines up to $50,000 and possibly terms of imprisonment up to three months. I took these potential terms very seriously and immediately implemented procedures to fully comply with the directions given to me.”

No paperwork, correspondence or notification was given.

They included stopping all tractor movements on roads to access feed and other management plans, all of which immediately put a strain on how I was operating our business.

Barr said there was no mention of testing any animals on the dairy farm or lease block. Nor was there any mention of the need for movement permits for

anyone entering either farm “only that I needed to establish a clean zone and a dirty zone so people entering the farm could leave their vehicles in the clean zone while they did their jobs as their vehicles were not allowed to enter the farm.”

Barr said he operated the farm that way from the moment the NoD was issued.

In a postscript to his diary, Barr said culling the first calves felt horrendous.

“To send off one year’s breeding to just go to dog tucker. I know animals (go) off to slaughter but this just feels so bloody wrong. This is where the huge untold cost is in this response, the human cost.

“The whole journey so far has just been an emotional roller coaster and now I have the next stressful part of the journey to start, the compensation process.”

Barr said he set up the M bvovis Affected Farmers Facebook page partly to ensure men’s mental health was recognised and that men need to know that it’s okay to feel shitty/annoyed/ stressed through this process and that it’s okay to ask for help.” n

Hundreds of cows and calves are due to be slaughtered despite never coming into contact with infected calves.

Photo: Tim Fulton

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

61

ANIMAL HEALTH

Project manager Dr Carolyn Gates of Massey University says BVD affects every beef and dairy farmer in New Zealand.

Options for BVD

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NATIONAL campaign to help fight bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) is encouraging farmers and veterinarians to engage by offering cash prizes to those who participate.

The BVD Free Challenge 2019 is part of an initiative launched last July, led by Massey University and the National BVD Steering Committee. It aims to engage with beef and dairy farmers to develop frameworks for controlling BVD at the farm and industry levels.

Project manager Dr Carolyn Gates of Massey University says “This disease affects every beef and dairy farmer in New Zealand, whether they have BVD or not.

“It’s an expensive disease from the production losses it causes in infected cattle to the ongoing costs of testing and vaccination to keep cleared herds BVD-free.”

“With an estimated annual cost to the industry of $150 million and about 37,000 commercial cattle farms this works out to roughly $4000 per farm per year on average.

“We’re challenging NZ farmers to find out how much of a difference BVD control can make for their herds.”

Farmers and veterinarians can earn 62

entries in the prize draw by participating in different research and extension activities over the coming year.

There are separate cash prize draws for farmers and veterinarians with a first-place prize of $4000.

Challenges will be run at different times throughout the year with each challenge gaining participants a different number of entries into the prize draw depending on what’s involved.

It can be as easy completing a 10-minute survey on managing BVD, spending an hour with your veterinarian to build a BVD management plan for the 2019-20 season, testing beef calves at weaning to receive a free herd screening test or exploring the impacts of national BVD control through new, interactive online tools.

Gates says the challenges are a way of getting more farmers directly involved in designing a strategy that will have the biggest long-term benefits.

“Two of the key research questions we have been tackling over the past year are understanding what impact BVD is currently has cattle herds and what the future could look like under different possible national control scenarios.

“Many farmers and veterinarians are

already doing great work in managing BVD in their herds.

“We want to acknowledge that and use their experience to help develop resources that will make it easier for industry to have a bigger long-term impact on BVD.” The costs of BVD are primarily associated with reproductive issues, reduced growth rates and decreased milk production.

Infected animals are also much more likely to fall ill from other significant diseases and spread them in and between herds.

Cattle farmers can register on the project website, which includes interactive tools that make it easy for farmers to work in partnership with their veterinarian to develop a new BVD management plan tailored to their unique herd situation and confidentially share what they are doing to manage BVD in their herds.

The information will then be used by the research team to build computer simulation models to predict what the future of BVD in NZ might look like if the voluntary approach is continued versus adopting more coordinated national control efforts.

The results from the computer simulation models will be presented to farmers and the industry in July, allowing them to choose a strategy with the biggest long-term benefits. n

DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

ANIMAL HEALTH

Tool cuts bovis risk

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NEW, cost-effective tool for dairy farmers aims to help eradicate the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis.

The Dairy Risk Assessment Tool is an online questionnaire that helps farmers get an accurate understanding of the M bovis risk on their farms.

Used with a veterinarian, the tool can help farmers make informed decisions about managing M bovis risks and reduce possible spread of the disease on or off a farm.

Veterinary Association chief veterinary officer Helen Beattie says dairy farmers should talk soon to their veterinarian about using the tool.

“It’s a critical stage in the season when farmers may be considering buying or selling herds, sharemilkers may be considering moving to new contracts and contract milkers and managers are considering next season’s job,” Beattie says.

“Other than feeding raw milk the main risk factor in M bovis spread is stock movement.

“Farmers should talk to their veterinarian about a dairy risk assessment consultation before making decisions about buying a herd or moving cattle on or off their farm.”

During a consultation, farm management practices known to be a biosecurity risk are discussed with the farmer and recorded in the Dairy Risk Assessment tool by the veterinarian.

The tool calculates the M bovis risk assessment score and generates a risk rating of low, moderate or high.

The result is available immediately and can be shared by the veterinarian with the farmer, along with recommendations to reduce risk.

Developed by XLVets and distributed by the association, the tool has had almost a year of testing across the country and has been refined as understanding of the disease has developed.

It uses known transmission risks, including findings from reports released by the Ministry for Primary Industries about the epidemiology and risk of M bovis spreading.

“As a dairy farmer’s trusted on-farm biosecurity adviser, a veterinarian is the right person for a farmer to seek reassurance that their stock, moving on or off farm, will

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April 2019

The Veterinary Association’s chief veterinary officer Helen Beattie says a new tool will play a vital role in eradicating Mycoplasma bovis.

not be exposed to greater risk,” she says.

“Veterinarians have an in-depth understanding of farm systems and animal diseases.

Other than feeding raw milk the main risk factor in M bovis spread is stock movement.

“An understanding of both is required to make informed recommendations on changes that can be made to the farm system that are practical and will have a real impact on reducing disease risk onfarm.

“The DRA is informative, affordable and

it’s also faster and safer to carry out than surface-swabbing individual animals, which is required for laboratory testing. Individual negative or not detected test results are of limited value in understanding a herd’s true M bovis infection status.

“A risk assessment is a snapshot in time and should be conducted any time farm management practices change, for example, stock is moved or raw milk is purchased or M bovis test results are received. Inclusion of a risk assessment is suggested as part of an annual biosecurity review consultation.

“We know that the impact on a farming operation of unwittingly introducing M bovis, leading to testing and potential culling, is huge.

“Using a simple tool like this will hopefully mean the spread of disease is reduced and as few farmers as possible have to endure such stress.

“We hope the dairy risk assessment tool will be a valuable asset to individual farmers and to the wider dairy industry as it seeks to eradicate M bovis,” Beattie says. n 63

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Do you want top quality Murray Grey sired calves without the hassle of having to deal with a bull?

Introducing... PARADISE VALLEY LIEUTENANT A moderate birth weight bull with real growth and power!

Semen for sale @ $8 + GST per straw.

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CONTACT: Mike Phillips

M: 027 404 5943 E: pvmg95cl@gmail.com DAIRY FARMER

April 2019

SUPPLEMENTARY FEED

THE QUADBAR - PROVEN BEYOND DOUBT! For the last five years we have surveyed owners $ of 595 479 QUADBIKES fitted with Quadbars.

Barley, Wheat, Maize & Soybean Meal (forward contracts available).

+ GST deliv ered

Call Susanna at Intergrain NZ 0800 244 744

100% Lifetime Guarantee

Intergrain NZ LTD

LK0096650©

We think the Quadbar has done just what it was designed to do - PREVENT farm injuries and death.

We could not be happier with the results and Worksafe NZ is fully aware of this survey.

Call Stuart Davidson - Owner of Quadbar NZ - Orewa 021 182 8115 • email:sales@quadbar.co.nz • www.quadbar.co.nz

To join our Palm Kernel Pricing Text Service.

Please text your name and area to 027 214 9761 Palm Kernel Pricing Text Service

LK0096585©

There were: • 61 rollovers • 0 deaths • 5 injuries - NONE from the Quadbar itself

• Palm Kernel & Blends • DDG • Tapioca

Hard wearing seat protection

MAD TO F E IT

LK0095896©

PROTECT YOUR QUAD, ATV, EXCAVATOR, OR TRACTOR FROM WEAR & TEAR. WATERPROOF, DURABLE, HARD WEARING ORDER NOW: WWW.RUGGEDVALLEY.CO.NZ | 0800 478 443

Phone Neil 0274 747 775 www.nzcowshedgroovers.co.nz

0800 278 677

May’s themes

Dairy Sheds/ Automation/ Robotics

See u Mystery C s at reek Fiel 12-15 Jun days e Site D104

LK0095139©

LK0096920©

Watch out for May’s Bull Feature Better Bulls Better Calves

DAIRY FARMER

farmersweekly.co.nz

April 2019

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On March 15 a gunman walked into the Masjid Al Noor then the Linwood Islamic Centre and murdered 50 innocent men, women and children and injured dozens. In the space of just a few minutes he shattered hundreds of lives and our peaceful way of living. This is not who we are and not the New Zealand we want to be. Our thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones.

Some of the messages of support from our nation’s dairy farmers surround the heart.

Sonita

Dair y Diar y

Proudly brought to you by Farmside

April 2019 Monday 1 April 2

Tuesday 2

Wednesday 3

Thursday 4

DairyNZ – Combined Edendale, Woodlands and Gorge Road, Mokotua, eastern Southland high profit field day It’s one thing to grow 18t DM/ha and another to enable between 15-16t DM/ha to be harvested for milk production but that’s what the Clarke’s have managed for the past four seasons.

Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz

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April 3-4 9 Training, Taranaki 10 11 DairyNZ – FeedRight Aimed at rural professionals who offer or plan to offer feed management and nutrition advice. Followed by workshop days.

Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz

April 3 DairyNZ – Northland Dairy Development Trust annual conference Agricultural leaders to speak at 2019 Northland Dairy annual conference. 17 15Development Trust16 18 Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz and www.nddt.nz.

April 4 SMASH – Progression, planning and developing – Awakeri Info at www.smallerherds.co.nz April 9, 17 Dairy Women’s Network – Shed Hygiene: keep it clean – various 22locations. Register23 24 25 at https://www.dwn.co.nz/events/shedhygiene-keep-it-clean/ April 9 Dairy Women’s Network Kaipara – Business by Numbers, day 1 During this two-day practical workshop you will be provided with techniques for managing cashflow and improving profitability as well as developing a cashflow budget for the 2019-20 season.

29April 9, 10, 11

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Tech Alliance – Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Join AgriTechNZ, BIOTechNZ and the NZ IoT Alliance at the Tech Alliance 2019 event series. Experts from each sector will discuss connected capital and how it can support the scale-up of NZ companies in the primary sector. Registration essential and more info at AgriTechNZ for dates, locations and costs

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

5 6 7 April 10 Dairy Women’s Network – Gain control of infectious diseases on farm – various locations Future-proof your farm with improved understanding and control measures for diseases.

April 11 SMASH – Mini Mark and Measure – Mangatainoka Info at www.smallerherds.co.nz

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April 17 Dairy NZ – DairyNZ Farmers’ Forum 2019, Timaru Be part of what the future holds for New Zealand’s dairy sector.

Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz Dairy Women’s Network Farm tools with a difference at various dates and locations.

FarmIQ19 is proud to bring members workshop that 20 a three-in-one21 can provide knowledge and tools with a difference for busy farm operations.

Farm accommodation, various dates and locations Become knowledgeable on the Residential Tenancy Act, Healthy Homes Guarantee Act and what your requirements, rights and responsibilities are in regards to on-farm accommodation.

Info at www.dwn.co.nz/events

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DairyNZ Smart wintering farmer field day, various dates and locations Come along to a smart wintering event to ensure you and your team have the skills you need for a successful winter on crops and pasture.

Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz Dairy Industry Awards Dairy Industry Awards field days, various dates and locations Come and hear the winners of the Dairy Trainee of the Year, Dairy Manager of the Year and Share Farmer of the Year talk about their careers and goals, plus gain an insight into why they won.

We know rural because we are rural www.farmside.co.nz

The Connollys are aiming for 100% accuracy.

But 96% is a good start.

LIC has worked with the Connollys for over 5 years to improve herd recording accuracy and make faster genetic gains.

When Deb and Reuben Connolly started sharemilking on the 110ha dairy farm in Otorohanga, there were a few unknowns. Literally.

The 300-odd herd had big gaps in the recorded ancestry. The only way to make improvements was to breed out the half-recorded cows and ensure replacements were fully recorded with no uncertain sires.

By using MINDA® they built up all the herd detail with ancestry, herd testing, health and production, weights and SCC. And by installing Protrack®, they can now log every cow movement and event, and drafting is so much easier.

Deb and Reuben now have all the information needed to make better herd decisions.

We think 100% RA accuracy is very achievable. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

At LIC results like this just raise the bar, because there’s always room for improvement.

Learn more at lic.co.nz/alwaysimproving

There’s always room for improvement