Dairy Farmer December 2020 by AgriHQ

DECEMBER 2020 | $8.95

The cheese factor Demand for buffalo cheese soars PLUS:

Life as a solo farmer ➜ Taranaki woman goes it alone ➜ An international voice for farmers ➜ Camping made glamourous

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CONTENTS NEWS 16 Milk Monitor Dairy market is ending the year on a high

DECEMBER 2020 | $8.95 GlobalHQ is a farming family owned business that donates 1% of all advertising revenue in Farmers Weekly and Dairy Farmer to farmer health and wellbeing initiatives. Thank you for your prompt payment.

17 Mycoplasma bovis M bovis found in South Island

ON FARM STORY 8 Demand through the roof Canterbury farmers Christo Keijzer and Lucy Appleton produce a range cheeses from their buffalo milk 20 Life as a solo farmer Taranaki farmer Maryanne Dudli happy milking on her own

FARMING CHAMPIONS 7 Guest column – Tim Mackle 28 Dairy champion – Andrew Hoggard 32 Women in agribusiness – Emily Hilhorst

FEATURE 54 Dairy careers

REGULAR FEATURES 36 Industry good 40 Technology

46 Research 50 Farmstrong

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DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

COVER STORY Demand for buffalo cheese soars

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GUEST COLUMN

Challenges and opportunities By Dr Tim Mackle

2020 has been a challenging year for the world, but Kiwi dairy farmers soldiered on through thick and thin.

s we reflect on 2020, I’m sure everyone can agree it’s been a year of challenges and opportunities. One thing does stand out, and that’s gratitude for living in such a great country. This year, farmers stepped up during the covid-19 lockdown as part of New Zealand’s essential services and, in true Kiwi fashion, adapted quickly to keep farming despite the constraints. At the heart of this response was a need to keep everyone safe, while producing food for Kiwis and our global customers, and much-needed export income for NZ. Industry organisations, including DairyNZ, helped make sure Moving Day could go ahead, advocating for visa extensions for migrant workers and providing information to ensure farmers could comply with new covid-19 rules. In June, DairyNZ also launched our GoDairy campaign, which offers Kiwis who have lost jobs due to covid-19 the opportunity to move into a dairy career. This is a positive step toward bridging the staffing gap on farms by drawing newcomers into our sector. Covid-19 has also shone a light on the important role the dairy sector plays in NZ. At a time when some of our major sectors have been adversely affected, dairy is playing an increasingly vital role as a source of income and employment. How the public views dairy was also a priority for DairyNZ, and we have been working to lift public perception and understanding of what we do. Our Vision is Clear campaign has been sharing stories of environmental change both on-farm and in our communities with a growing number of Kiwis over the past two years. This included reaching over 400,000 people through The Vision is Clear website, and an average of over 500,000 on social media this month alone.

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

These stories, and all the work being done in the sector, is helping shift how the community perceives dairy. Our most recent public perception survey found that 73% of people felt positively towards dairy farmers and 62% felt positively towards the dairy sector (up from 58% a year ago). We know some of this stems from the greater recognition of dairy farming through covid-19 disruption, but also from continued improvement in farm practices. Reducing our footprint is also a key part of our future – being the most sustainable producers of milk offers great opportunities. On-farm improvement is an ongoing challenge and we are investing in a wide range of research to help make it easier to develop practical solutions to reduce footprint, while maintaining profitability.

“These stories, and all the work being done in the sector, is helping shift how the community perceives dairy.” Some of this work includes trialling plantain to reduce farm nitrogen loss, and our low nitrogen livestock programme is looking to identify genetic traits as key contributors to nitrogen leaching and tools to breed cows with lower urinary nitrogen. Policy also plays a big part too. This was highlighted through the new freshwater policy, which many farmers and sector groups provided feedback to. DairyNZ alone developed a 240-page submission and submitted 27 technical papers to the Government last year. Some changes were made by the Government, and work continues in

DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle says covid-19 has shined a spotlight on the importance of dairy farming, with the industry gaining greater recognition.

this space, liaising with government, partners and local councils. We will also be working closely with farmers to support on-farm changes and continue advocating for practical regulations. Making environmental improvements while running a profitable business is where our Step Change programme comes in. This project will help farmers increase profitability while making progress towards environmental goals and adapting to future requirements. This year we have also made good progress towards the eradication of Mycoplasma bovis. As part of that, over 1000 farmers have used the free compensation service offered by DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb NZ. DairyNZ will continue to be actively involved in the M bovis programme at governance level and on the ground with farmers. As we look ahead to the rest of the season, DairyNZ will continue to work with you, and for you, to deliver a better future for all NZ dairy farmers. We have committed to three promises to achieve this: developing better solutions through science, shaping a better future for dairy farmers and supporting better farming. Now, with Christmas and New Year coming soon, I hope you and your team take the opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends, and recharge as we head into 2021. Ngā mihi nui. n

Lucy Appleton and Christo Keijzer make a range of cheeses from Buffalo milk farmed on their property at Glenroy. Photos: NatWick Photography

Demand through the roof Farming coupleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to milk buffalo has paid off

By Gerard Hutching

A Canterbury couple who make top quality buffalo cheese faced a tough time during the covid-19 lockdown but now that their market is back, it’s stronger than ever.

veryone has their covid-19 story, but that of Lucy Appleton and Christo Keijzer is arguably more dramatic than most. As the March lockdown hit, Lucy was still dealing with the aftermath of her mother’s recent death. But as well as mourning her mum, she was having to focus on the future of the couple’s buffalo dairy business, which largely hinged on supplying the restaurant trade with specialty cheeses such as mozzarella. The gravity of the situation only became apparent as she did the rounds of their regular clients in Christchurch in late March. “About 95% of our business was through restaurant trade throughout the South Island,” Lucy says.

“When I went into Christchurch to do deliveries, every chef was like ‘Ah, um, can you take some of it back?’ I said ‘Sure, how much?’. They said leave us a tenth.” As rapidly as the restaurant trade collapsed, online orders grew as they scrambled to rescue the business. Come Easter, a client’s brother who was a website designer and was “bored stupid” set about redesigning their website. A “clever friend” came up with the name Cheesentials for the products – cheesemaking being an essential business during covid. “People pay $89.90 and they get a selection with a 20% discount – and it went crazy. Most sales came from Auckland,” she says.

And just to top off the challenging year, a buffalo got its horns stuck in a gate, which was picked up, catapulting Christo into a pole and breaking his arm. The 40-hectare farm near Glenroy, Canterbury, is named Wairiri after the stream that runs through it and has been a 16-year labour of love for the couple who have only recently been able to devote their undivided attention to it. Lucy did bookkeeping and Christo

Continued page 10

FARM FACTS • Company: Wairiri Buffalo Ltd • Owners: Lucy Appleton and Christo Keijzer • Location: Glenroy, Canterbury • Farm size: 40ha • Herd: 60 • Milking herd: 16 • Production target: 68,352 litres total a year

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Wairiri Buffalo produces a wide range of cheeses – feta, halloumi, ricotta, smoked scamorza, stracciatella, camembert and celebrated mozzarella – which are sold to restaurants, online and at farmers markets.

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December 2020

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Wairiri Buffalo has a herd of 60 and milks 16 Buffalo twice-a-day, producing 68,352 litres a year.

has been a maintenance engineer at Christchurch Airport. Born in the Netherlands but disenchanted with the overcrowding in his native land, Christo arrived in New Zealand in 1992 with his eye on a job outdoors. He ended up working in tourism for 10 years before returning to his engineering roots. Christo’s engineering background has proved indispensable when it comes to maintaining the milking shed and the cheese factory.

“[There were] so many small things that it would have cost a small fortune to bring in a specialist, so I’ve done a lot of it myself,” he says. When they bought the property in the early 2000s, they had not settled on the use they would make of the land. In fact, it would take several years before their plans solidified. Having set up a small niche tourism business in the late 1980s called Flying Kiwi, Lucy was familiar with that size of operation. As the couple mused over the

possibilities, Lucy recalled the days when she ran the tourism business at Punakaiki and used to observe the water buffalo owned by pioneer Darcy Craze. “My grandad was a farm manager in the UK, they supplied food into London stores; my dad was a foodie and so am I,” she says. “I said I wanted land but not a massive lifestyle block; I want to work it and create something from it. “For Canterbury, there’s quite a high rainfall here (600mm a year) and we’ve

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DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

Daughter Chloe Keijzer has learnt the fine art of making cheese from her mum Lucy Appleton.

got soft soil, so I thought what animal is needed that suits this climate. That’s when we decided on buffalo.” Lucy explains that a buffalo’s cloven hoof spreads to the size of a small dinner plate, which leaves a small imprint and does not pierce and pug the ground like

cattle. As long as they can find wallows (or create them), they are content. The couple’s approach to setting up the farm differed to that of the other major buffalo operation, Clevedon Buffalo just south of Auckland, which imported a large number of buffalo

The labneh, which is a bit thicker than Greek yoghurt and almost like soft cream cheese, gets a stir.

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

from Australia in 2007 and now have over 200 head. She says that would have been too stressful considering they were still working full-time and raising two children. Frequently though, they would find themselves working late in to the night – “moving fence breaks at 11pm” – as they tried to juggle different roles of working off and on-farm. Starting gradually, they bought their first small herd from a Melbourne farmer who used Italian genetics, then invested heavily in a purebred bull. They initially bred from those two gene pools then started doing artificial insemination over the top – at any time during the year, according to need. “We started a couple of months after Clevedon Buffalo, but we were like the tortoise, which has been really good, because we’ve been able to look after the genetics. We breed everything up here and we hand-raise the calves. We got rid of all the ones that were wild,” she says. “We have bulls to look after the younger heifers because the young are quite difficult to artificially inseminate, so they go to the bull at age two. We’ve got only a couple of bulls, others are sold to

Continued page 12

Wairiri imports embryos and semen from Italy and is slowly building up their herd. Christo hopes to eventually milk 20.

people with lifestyle blocks.” Italian buffalo, known as the Mediterranean type, are believed to have been in that country for over a thousand years. Their milk is used for the famed Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, with most farms concentrated in the region south of Naples. While New Zealanders cannot import live cattle from Italy because of the threat of Mad Cow disease, they can bring in embryos and semen, which is what Wairiri has been doing for the past eight years. Gradually, they built up the herd before starting to milk them and venturing

into commercial cheesemaking in 2013. Christo wryly observes that “all good things take time.” “It’s very slow with buffalo because they don’t calve twins and have a longer gestation than cattle – 10 months – so we’re limited by how quickly we can breed good stock,” he says. Today the farm supports 60 animals, of which 16 are milkers. They are aiming for 20 milkers. Calving is year-round with no set time for when they are dried off. Some of them dry off after 9-10 months, Christo recalls one which took three years to dry off. The buffalo are milked twice-a-day,

ensuring a higher yield and a longer milking life than if they were milked once-a-day. Target weaning weight is about 120kg. The hand-raised calves are initially fed on lamb milk formula. They cannot be raised on cow’s milk. “It’s been a long journey, getting rid of everything that doesn’t give good milk and doesn’t have good temperament or other issues,” Lucy says. Despite milking only 16 animals, and the best yielding just 12 litres a day, they achieve much more productivity per cow than with cattle. Buffalo are capable of living off a fairly frugal diet having originated in mountainous regions where they were known as “the poor man’s cow.” Lucy and Christo inherited a property of largely ryegrass and clover and have introduced some plantain and sunflowers. But they do not have a regrassing programme because they are trying to avoid too much tilling. They do not feed the buffalo on grain or imported palm kernel. The farm has been organic from the start, although it is not certified because the effort is not worth the excessive paperwork. The buffalo are not given antibiotics and fertiliser is compost with the addition of lime. The couple are committed to looking after the environment. They have fenced off and planted along waterways and are adding to the existing native reserves. About half the farm will be grazing and half will eventually be trees. Christo says he does not know how he

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

“Do people want to eat mozzarella from an animal that’s constantly on antibiotics and grainfed, or would they like to enjoy fresh grassfed mozzarella?” Lucy Appleton

Lucy and Christo bought the 40-hectare property in the early 2000s, but it was several years before they decided to establish Wairiri Buffalo Farm.

could manage without the robot milking system which he had installed two years ago. “We bring the whole herd in at six in the morning, they’re usually waiting outside,” he says. “Then it’s a matter of pushing a button and milking and the machine cleans the teats. The computer knows how much milk to expect from each cow, and once the volume starts to go down the cups drop away automatically. Then when they’re finished, I push one button and it cleans the unit.” The milking takes between one-anda-half to two hours. Christo concedes a

manual herringbone system would be faster but at the cost of more work. Even if the herd were to grow, the robot would still be able to manage, except it would take longer to milk them. The robotic system is a handy way of keeping on top of health issues such as mastitis because it registers if there are any problems. It feeds information on milk production directly into a computer. Compared to cattle, the couple says buffalo have a lot of character. “They have a strong pecking order. If one lower down pushes in ahead of the others, she will get punished by those higher in the order. I have to stand at the

Christo in the milking shed housing the robot milking system he had installed two years ago. Milking can take up to two hours.

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

top, I have to be the boss,” he says. Buffalo produce A2 milk, which finds a ready-market in the Indian community, because it is what Indians grew up with. Besides drinking it, they use it to make paneer cheese, a staple of Indian cuisine. Swedish researchers Mikaela Ståhl Högberg and Ole Lind note that comparing buffalo to cow milk, buffalo contains significantly more total solids, higher levels of the important minerals like calcium and phosphorus, substantially less cholesterol, more of the natural antioxidant tocopherol and more vitamin A. Wairiri produces a wide range of cheeses – feta, halloumi, ricotta, smoked scamorza, stracciatella, camembert and the celebrated mozzarella; the word being derived from the Italian term “to stretch.” The silky textured milk makes it a favourite for using in coffee. Lucy has been the head cheesemaker for the past six years, but her 16-yearold daughter Chloe has learned to the point where she can handle a batch, and a young local man has also trained as a cheesemaker onsite. Overall, the business employs six people. In order to learn the intricacies of cheesemaking, Lucy contacted one of Italy’s largest buffalo farms near Salerno, just south of Naples, to ask if she could visit and learn onsite. Before departing New Zealand she learned conventional Italian, only to discover that region had a difficult to understand dialect. “I could still ask questions, I just couldn’t understand the answers,” she says. “The head cheesemaker was extremely proud of his work and had extremely high standards. He was very stern with me – kind but stern. The family farm was a huge organic operation using four milking robots and supported 60 staff. They wanted me to stay for six months but I could only stay two weeks.

Continued page 14

Christo Keijzer with his milking buffalo. He is originally from the Netherlands and has an engineering background.

“They have a strong pecking order. If one lower down pushes in ahead of the others, she will get punished by those higher in the order. I have to stand at the top, I have to be the boss.” Christo Keijzer

“It was extremely exhausting. Every night I would phone a friend who was fluent in both English and Italian, and he was able to help me translate terms.” As she was to learn, mozzarella cheesemaking on this particular Italian farm was different to the way she now makes it. For a start, they do not pasteurise the milk, whereas in NZ, legal requirements state milk has to be pasteurised. “They don’t pasteurise, they use a fresh culture, whereas we pasteurise and we

Benefits of buffalo milk Buffalo milk has a higher fat content about 7-8% more than cows at 3-4%, therefore is thicker than cow’s milk. It is heavier and takes time to digest, so keeps you fuller for a longer period of time. Buffalo milk contains all nine amino acids and contains 10-11% more protein than cow milk – around 8.5g of protein. This is excellent for building muscles and preventing muscles loss. Buffalo milk contains a low amount of cholesterol, which makes it an

excellent choice for people suffering from diseases like hypertension, kidney problems, and obesity. It has high amounts of calcium and is also a source of casein-derived peptides that may promote bone health and reduce your risk of osteoporosis. It is more heat resistant and the rich creamy texture is perfect for producing butter, cream and yoghurt. If you are looking for a good night’s sleep, drink buffalo milk as it is considered to be sleep-inducing.

don’t use a fresh culture, although we could, but it would be very difficult,” she says. “Every day they’re making cheese so they can keep their culture going, and if their culture fails, they can just go to the farm next door. We can’t. We have to use packet culture.” Lucy accepts Italian cheese is cheaper than Wairiri’s but points out there are good reasons for the price difference. For a start, Italian (and European in general) farmers are subsidised to the tune of up to 50%. And don’t get her started on the environmental and animal welfare comparisons. “In Italy they’re all inside. I had an Italian cheesemaker tell me we would not be able to make mozzarella from animals that eat grass and live outside because they need to eat grain to get the protein high. “Do people want to eat mozzarella from an animal that’s constantly on antibiotics and grain-fed, or would they like to enjoy fresh grass-fed mozzarella?” she asks. “Any chef who tries our cheeses won’t go near that [the imported product] anymore. “Now that we’re training up another cheesemaker to make the various

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

cheeses, I have more time to deal with the chefs. “While we lost some of the original tourist-based restaurant trade, we’ve gained a lot of others. The chefs like us because we do the traditional Italian cheeses like the stracciatella, but they use it untraditionally. “One chef put it with seaweed and wasabi, which was a fantastic dish. We had a Michelin chef helping me out on the farm and he cooked all the meals. It was incredible the way he served the mozzarella; one of my favourite dishes he made was with a warmed, mild salsa of fresh tomato and herbs, with the warmth gradually moving into the mozzarella,” she says. Besides selling into restaurants, which have gone “crazy” since the lifting of lockdown, and the online platform, the couple also take their wares to popular farmers’ markets in Lyttelton and Dean’s Bush. The most sought-after product is probably the mozzarella, although Lucy says they all sell well. n Video link: bit.ly/OFSwairiri

Yolanda de Ruiters and Chloe Keijer get stuck into making mozzarella.

Neil’s reaping the rewards STORY of mixing over separation

SUCCESS

Neil runs a 140ha dairy farm in New Plymouth milking approximately 380 cows.... Originally Neil’s effluent system used a weeping wall for solids separation, and he’d spread with his solids spreader when he had time... However the system wasn’t working out as he’d envisioned. He entrusted Nevada to design, supply and install a more efficient and effective effluent management system. This included a new 25m x 25m HDPE lined effluent pond, PC pump and EL9 shore mounted electric stirrer. “Lining the pond is important to make sure you’ll stay council compliant with no leaks. HDPE lining is recommended because it’s cost effective, reliable, and lasts a very long time. A PC pump and shore mounted stirrer are the way to go when you can get electricity running down to the pond. Not only is this the most efficient and cost effective way to get the job done, it’s also the safest in not having anyone need to venture out onto the pond for maintenance.” Lloyd Thomas, Nevada Nevada project managed the entire operation from contracting local company Excavat to dig the pond, through to installation of the pump and stirrer. With this new system set up, Neil simply spreads with an irrigator that he sets to run for two hours and

0800 464 393 nevadagroup.co.nz

then the pump switches off on a timer. As for the old solids spreader, it’s not quite retired yet, and neither is the weeping wall - the weeping wall was converted into a sandtrap, and the solids spreader is used to empty it when needed. “It’s [the new system] much easier than the old system. The pump is awesome. Makes things much easier with some storage. The stirrer’s great. Pivots from side to side and creates a good stirring action around the pond.” Neil Ryan

MILK MONITOR

Dairy market still going strong By Gerald Piddock

Each month the milk monitor delves into the dairy industry and gives us the low-down on the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between.

he New Zealand dairy market looks to be finishing the year on a positive note following a good result in the mid-November Global Dairy Trade (GDT). Prices lifted 1.8% at the auction with average prices sitting at US$3157/tonne. RaboResearch senior dairy analyst Emma Higgins called it an excellent result for NZ dairy farmers due to the large whole milk powder (WMP) volumes sold and buoyant global milk production. WMP prices remain largely dictated by robust Chinese demand, which has helped shift peak WMP GDT volumes for this sales season. The WMP volumes on offer at the GDT are now moving lower in line with production trends. Westpac were equally upbeat, with senior agricultural economist Nathan Penny saying the lift effectively erased the previous 2% fall in early November. If that is the case, then the GDT has been in positive territory since September 15. Penny says in Westpac’s fortnightly Dairy Update that the result was in line with market expectations. With two auctions left in December, what do economists say about the outlook for the rest of the year? Penny expects overall global dairy

demand will firm over 2021 and 2022, as countries gradually get on top of covid and the global economy rebounds. This trend has already started in China and East Asia where dairy demand has rebounded from its lows earlier in the year, with overall dairy prices regaining some lost ground, he says.

“However, we remain cautious about the outlook and the scope for dairy commodity prices to soften.” Susan Kilsby “Looking by product, the key change we expect at this horizon is that demand and prices for milk fat will begin to normalise. Currently, milk fat prices are soft as consumers eat less cream and other milk fat products in settings such as restaurants. “In particular, we expect that the rollout globally of covid vaccines will gradually allow more people to return to restaurants and other venues that milk fat consumption relies on,” he says. Penny also expects modest growth in

Whole milk powder prices have held up well thanks to demand from China.

supply from dairy exporters, which he cites as a reason why prices have held up well during the global covid recession. “Moreover, we see a low probability that global supply will deviate materially from these trends by enough to offset the impact on prices from rising demand,” he says. It was not without risk – a firming NZ dollar, the weather, the potential for dairy buyers running down stocks after having built them up during covid to protect against supply disruptions and uncertainty around global agricultural trade policy. The word resilient features strongly in ANZ and ASB’s description of dairy prices. ASB’s November Farmshed Economics says the sector has proved much more resilient than many had anticipated and has been another beneficiary of stillsturdy Chinese demand. “Demand in China still looks to be holding up well, but there are reports that the country has now built up a good stockpile, raising questions around how far that trend can continue,” economist Nat Keall wrote. ANZ ag economist Susan Kilsby recently told Farmers Weekly that global dairy commodity prices continue to defy expectations, consistently delivering good returns. “However, we remain cautious about the outlook and the scope for dairy commodity prices to soften,” she says. To that end, it raised its milk price forecast 20 cents to $6.70/kg MS. Westpac has kept its forecast at $7, the NZX milk price forecast has lifted 12 cents to $7.13/kg MS and ASB is at $6.75. Rabobank has kept its forecast at $6.35/kg MS, although that is due to be updated this month and barring any unforeseen circumstances over coming weeks, that forecast will be moving upwards. It all could mean an early Christmas present for farmers if Fonterra follows tradition and updates its forecast in early December. n

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

NEWS

New M bovis cases ‘not an outbreak’

he Mycoplasma Bovis Programme has advised of two new active confirmed properties in Canterbury, bringing the total to seven. One of the properties in MidCanterbury/Ashburton has been directly linked by animal movements to an infected property detected from the Programme’s August Bulk Tank Milk (BTM) screening. The second property, in Canterbury/ Selwyn district, was confirmed following a detect result from the September BTM screening. These newly confirmed properties demonstrate the Programme’s National Surveillance working as it should – detecting possible cases and showing us where to look to eliminate the infection. As a result of tracing, two Southland farms are undergoing testing for M bovis under movement restrictions, after some cattle have been connected to animal movements in Canterbury. The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) M bovis programme director Stuart Anderson says it’s important to note this is not an outbreak – the M bovis Programme is actively looking for those final pockets of infected properties and fully expected to find more over spring – it’s a time there are more samples to test, animals are under stress from calving and 2018 heifers are entering the milking platform for the first time.

2. Scrub

1. Hygiene gloves Hygiene is critical – wear clean or wash hands.

front Scrub the first teat end, usually left, until it is clean with medicated in wipes or a cotton wool ball soaked the 70% meths. Remove the cap from treatment tube.

4. Squeeze

3. Insert into Insert the tip of the tube gently mm) the teat canal. Partial insertion (3-4 is ideal. Do not touch anything else before inserting.

gently Squeeze the contents of the tube but into the teat canal. Hold teat firmly the avoid blocking the teat canal. Empty whole tube into the teat, then remove. up Antibiotic DCT can be massaged into the udder.

6. Spray

5. Repeat Repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 to administer the teat sealant, if giving combination next treatment. Then move on to the teat (e.g. front right). Do NOT massage

all Spray with normal teat spray once cows, teats treated. If still milking other mark her well. Release the cow.

Two farms in Canterbury have been confirmed as active properties after Mycoplasma bovis was found during routine bulk tank screening.

Nor does it appear widespread – no additional farms in the MidCanterbury/Ashburton district other than those three dairies originally detected in August were found in September or October BTM screening, giving confidence this is an isolated cluster connected by animal movements. This is why good NAIT records are so important for everyone. They help to trace infected animals faster and stop the spread of the disease to other herds and other farms. Incomplete NAIT records make tracing infected cattle a difficult job. The M bovis Programme’s surveillance tools like the BTM screening programme and beef sector surveillance have been

developed to not only help find any remaining infection faster, but to give us all confidence long-term that New Zealand is free from the disease. The Programme is working closely with all affected farmers, their staff and whānau to ensure things run as smoothly as possible, and that they are well-supported. M bovis was first detected on a Canterbury farm in 2017. The government had since undertaken an eradication programme. In August, it was announced that there were no M bovis active properties, or properties under a Notice of Direction, although the Ministry still expected to find some infected animals through tracing as has been the case. n

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NEWS

Bull semen gets charter jet treatment By Gerald Piddock

IC’s first-ever attempt to deliver fresh bull semen to South Island farmers via a chartered flight got off to a shaky start after the aircraft had a technical fault prior to take off at Hamilton Airport. It then became a race against time to get the semen to its destination within three days, after which it starts to lose its integrity. LIC responded by driving the 70,000 straws to Auckland Airport to catch an Air New Zealand domestic flight to Dunedin. However, that flight was cancelled, meaning it then had to fly to Christchurch, where it arrived in the city later that evening. LIC staff then drove the straws to Dunedin and other towns in the South Island for delivery to farms by 6am on Sunday. The flight was the first time LIC had chartered a plane to deliver fresh semen to South Island dairy farmers and set off from Auckland on October 31. The shipment is just one of many LIC will be making as its team works to impregnate four million cows over the coming months. The 12cm long straws are stored in secure chilly bins as cargo during the flight with care and speed of delivery critical to maintaining the semen’s integrity. Once on the ground, the delivery of straws will be quickly distributed by LIC’s artificial breeding logistics teams to artificial breeding technicians who will be on-farm within days to inseminate cows for dairy farmers as part of their mating plans. LIC’s general manager of NZ Markets Malcolm Ellis says the shipment marked an exciting milestone because it was the biggest individual consignment to date to the South Island by LIC. “We’re seeing strong demand across our AB product options this year. Our delivery of fresh semen via our powerful Premier Sires teams continues to be a

Fresh liquid bull semen straws being prepared for shipment to the South Island from LIC’s headquarters in Newstead, near Hamilton.

“Our delivery of fresh semen via our powerful Premier Sires teams continues to be a defining contributor of genetic merit to the national herd.” Malcolm Ellis defining contributor of genetic merit to the national herd,” he says. “This year, we are particularly experiencing phenomenal growth in the area of fresh sexed semen which delivers a 90% chance of producing a heifer calf, enabling farmers to target valuable heifer replacements from their most productive

cows, ensuring the rate of genetic gain within their dairy herds is optimised.” It’s exciting to see the scale of this delivery taking place and ensuring the continuation of our incredible national dairy herd supported by committed and passionate farmers.” The flight also supports other traditional air and land transport options the cooperative is currently using to transport fresh semen quickly. The process then starts again with LIC’s artificial breeding technicians’ inseminated over cows across the country, resulting in around $300 million in genetic gain. A similar volume of 2019 inseminations are expected for 2020, as cow efficiency and production increases/ but herd numbers remain stable. n

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

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ON FARM Maryanne Dudli leases an 84ha farm at Auroa, Taranaki, where she milks 175 Friesian and Friesian-cross cows on her own. Photos: Ross Nolly

Life as a solo farmer A South Taranaki farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s journey from sharemilker to going it on her own

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

By Ross Nolly

A Taranaki farmer is doing it alone and although life can get hectic at times, every day she pulls on her gumboots and happily heads off to milk her cows.

arming is hard work. But when you farm alone, there is no one to help when the work pressure mounts, and every decision falls squarely on your shoulders. Maryanne Dudli milks 175 cows on an 84-hectare leased farm at Auroa, in South Taranaki. She runs the farm on her own and takes pride in running an efficient farm, and owning a high production herd. Dudli grew up on the family dairy farm and has been absolutely passionate about cows as far back as she can remember. “My poor father couldn’t leave the house without me following him,” Dudli says. “Even in my preschool days he would get up at 4.30am, and as soon as I heard him, I’d rush outside and get on the tractor with him. “He made me a little box to sit in and I’d fall asleep in it. I’d then sit in the pit in the cowshed and pat the cows as they walked past. It was always where I felt most comfortable.” She has always loved the interaction

and feel of the animals, and would always hurry out onto the farm as soon as she arrived home from school. She appreciated the animal health side of farming, and initially dreamed of becoming a vet. As a teenager she undertook work experience with a local vet, however, she didn’t venture down that path because even though she loved helping animals, she always wanted to go home to her own animals. “I did reasonably well at school and many people told me that I shouldn’t be ‘just’ a farmer,” she says. “I was a very quiet, studious kid and did what I was told. So I went to university, even though I didn’t want to leave home – or the farm. “I studied Applied Science, majoring in Animal Science. It would’ve entailed eight years of study and culminated in a doctorate, which sounded lovely. “I got to uni and the first six months of three-hour science lab sessions just about finished me.” University life wasn’t a good fit for her and although she has always believed

A firm believer in employing a professional hoof trimmer to regularly attend to her cow’s feet rather than doing it herself, Maryanne helps Jeremy Connolly of Orahiri Hoof Care trimming her cow’s feet.

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FARM FACTS • Lease: Maryanne Dudli • Location: Auroa, Taranaki • Farm size: 84ha • Cows: 175 Friesian and Friesiancross cows, F12 J4 • Production: 2019-2020: 636kg MS per cow, 109,300kg • Production target: 2020-2021: 109,300kg MS

that you can never stop learning, the university format never felt right. “Things are different now. If something similar to the Primary ITO system had been around then it would’ve probably been a compromise I could’ve accepted. It’s awesome to see that pathway opened up,” she says. Her family farm was in the process of being sold, so she left university and returned home to help. She was at a loose end and just wanted to get away. She left for a two-year overseas break that stretched out to six years. Three of those years were spent working on an Oregon dairy farm, which opened her eyes to different dairy farming systems. “The Oregon farm was a reasonably high input operation with a total mix ration going in. The cows were housed but with some grazing too. Those cows achieved phenomenal production,” she says. “I came back to New Zealand a different person. Travel was very good for me and brought me out of my shell.

Continued page 22

Maryanne grew up on the family dairy farm and has been absolutely passionate about cows as far back as she can remember.

“I began work as a District Manager for LIC in the north Waikato and then for Semex as an area manager in Taranaki.” She spent four years in a 50:50 partnership before going out on her own.

“He made me a little box to sit in and I’d fall asleep in it. I’d then sit in the pit in the cowshed and pat the cows as they walked past. It was always where I felt most comfortable.” Maryanne Dudli

Nine years ago she took on a 50:50 job, completing two seasons before the farm was put up for sale. Even though she was offered a third year on the farm, she was told that if she could find another farm

the owners would sell their farm. “I was then offered a 50:50 job milking 160 cows at Ohangai, which was exactly what I wanted,” she says. “I wasn’t at the point of taking on staff, I just wanted to do it by myself. I love the simplicity and it suits me.” When you farm on your own everything falls on your shoulders, which is a positive and a negative. Dudli is the sort of person that likes to be able to make decisive decisions. But there are times when it can become stressful. “I often wonder whether I’ve made right decisions and if not, I tend to kick myself a wee bit. I have wonderful friends who are hugely supportive and give me tremendous guidance, but I tend to be quite independent,” she says. “I feel that because I made the decision to farm on my own, they shouldn’t have me continually telling them my farming problems. I should be able to deal with them myself. At the end of the day, the buck stops with me.” She feels that farmers often need to take a step back and look at what they’ve

achieved rather than always looking at what needs to be done. It’s an aspect she is focusing on but it’s not something that comes naturally to her or most farmers. “Farm work never stops. You look out the window and there always seems to be something that needs to be dealt with. That’s part and parcel of living and working in the same environment. It’s not a 9-5 job where you can just switch off,” she says. This is her third season on this farm milking 175 Friesian and Friesian-cross cows. The breed mix is F12 J4, which is what she has been aiming for. The herd is run in two mobs, the second of which is two rows and consists mostly of older cows that fare better in the second herd. “They’re good cows that have worked hard for me for 10 years and I need to make their lives a bit easier and try to get a couple more calves out of them. There’s always a cow that needs special care or is recovering from an issue and just needs some time to come right,” she says. Each day she carefully considers her

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December 2020

work plan and strives to be as efficient as possible when completing tasks and their location on the farm. She often completes jobs while waiting for the cows to walk to the cowshed. She keeps chipping away at her jobs to get on top of them because she finds that it’s the little jobs that come back to bite you. When the farm is exceptionally busy during calving, it’s tempting to leave things until the next day but she finds that if she does so, then she usually ends up playing catch-up and the problem snowballs. “I feel better if I feel organised. If something needs doing I can’t just say ‘I’ve done enough, I’m going home,’ have tea and go to bed. It’s frustrating at times as I’m the sort of person that keeps going until it’s done. My mind doesn’t relax until it’s done,” she says. Last season the herd produced 636kg milksolids per cow, 109,300kg MS, and is tracking to achieve the same this season. “If the payout is a touch lower, I’ll make some decisions in the second half of the season depending on the weather,” she says. “If it’s not economic to push for that sort of production, I won’t.” The herd is twice-a-day, but she may look at 16-hour milking in late summer/ autumn, depending on the payout and climate. The herd doesn’t perform on once-a-day (OAD) at the end of the season. “I like cows that persist in production. My cows peak at 2.85kgs MS, which is a relatively high initial, but by the end of April they’re still at 2kgs MS. So OAD is not really an option,” she says. Her cows are fed well, as she feels that if she’s wintering and calving a cow through the hardest part of the season,

Some cows in the herd have genetics that goes back to Maryanne’s grandparents’ herd, so she is meticulous about keeping the herd records.

HFS - Dairy Farmer Dec 2020 - 210x86mm 5mm bleed - PRINT.pdf

Continued page 24

17/11/20

12:25 AM

Maryanne installs a new filter sock and sets up the shed for afternoon milking.

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Only 30 replacement calves are needed so most of the herd is put to a Hereford bull and some Speckle Park. The calves are initially ad-lib fed stored colostrum then vat milk and weaned based on age and maturity. Maryanne feeds the calves.

then she wants to gain maximum production without pushing her too hard. “It also comes down to the sort of cow you have and personal preferences. The more you push for production, the more you open yourself up to other issues. It’s an interesting balancing act,” she says. The farm runs a System 4 and most of the hay used is bought in due to the increasingly frequent dry summers. She likes to have plenty of hay on hand for winter and makes as much silage as possible – 20ha is presently shut up. She won’t cut her cows back to make silage, but will buy it if needed. Maize silage was bought in for the first time in March – a last minute decision due to the weather becoming very dry. “There wasn’t a great deal of feed around and the silage that was available was costing around $150 per bale. When you buy wrapped silage you’re never sure of the quality because you’re scrounging whatever is available,” she says. “I’d thought about drying-off, but it was mentioned that I should look at buying maize silage. It worked out cheaper than the silage I’d been looking at. Friends loaned me a tractor and feedout wagon so I could feed it. I may even go with the maize silage each year.” The in-shed feed consists of 35-40% PK, 20% DDG, soy hull, tapioca and at the moment, some high-starch wheat pellets. The feed is designed to balance the grass and the mix will

change throughout the year to provide a balanced diet. The farm has a 10-week calving period with 85-90% calving in the first six weeks, including the incoming heifers. This timeframe suits her as it’s more than enough work to be done at one time for one person. “You want your herd calving quickly, but you also want the feed coming along nicely,” she says. “Your workload must be at a level where at the end of that six-week period you’re still mentally functional enough to be making correct management decisions. If you’ve absolutely shattered yourself you’re probably not going to be in a state to make those decisions.” The calves are initially ad-lib fed stored colostrum, then vat milk and weaned based on age and maturity. “Some may say that it’s inefficient and not cost effective to ad-lib feed vat milk to calves. But it results in good calves and is a simple way to feed them. I give them the milk first thing in the morning and take it away at night,” she says. “Mixing milk powder is timeconsuming when you’re on your own. If you grow good calves you send off good yearlings to graze. “On May 1 good two-year olds come home that fit into your herd, get in calf again and produce well.” Downed cows are one of the most morale sapping occurrences on a farm. She checks her cows as often as

“I don’t think of myself as a female farmer, farming isn’t really a gender thing anymore. Females are commonplace in the dairy industry, and have been for quite some time.” Maryanne Dudli

Continued page 26

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

One of Maryanne’s many friendly cows can’t wait for dinner so goes in for a chew of her clothing.

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December 2020

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Last season the 175-cow herd produced 636kg milksolids per cow and 109,300kg MS and is tracking to achieve the same this season.

possible during calving season through to midnight. Fixing a problem early is better than facing a bigger problem in the morning when the cows need to be milked and calves fed.

lower figures due to their older genetics, but I’m not looking at that. I’m looking at the fact that the cow has lasted in my herd for a number of years and has proven to suit my system.”

in a solo farming operation. “I’ve had to learn that there is only me here to do the work. I have finite energy and there are only so many hours in the day. I have to determine how to get the

She only needs 30 replacement calves, so 40% of her herd go to Hereford (and some Speckle Park) bulls. This results in some very good cows going to beef bulls. The surplus calves are easy to sell and helps reduce the number of bobby calves. In the past she was a pedigree Holstein breeder, starting her stud as a 12-year-old with help from a local breeder. She still has descendants of those cows in her herd. She was also a qualified TOP (Traits Other Than Production) inspector and classifier with NZ Animal Evaluation and is a firm believer in the importance of cow structure. She didn’t recertify due to the difficulty getting away from the farm. “I used to be a cattle judge, but have stopped in recent years for the same reason; when you’re farming on your own, especially in a 50:50 position, your focus has to be primarily on the farm,” she says. In her mind she has an image of what a good cow should look like and doesn’t care what colour it is as long as it has good structure, width and a balanced body. She doesn’t want extremes, she wants a cow that will have longevity in her herd. “I have quite a low replacement rate and only rear about 30 heifer calves a year. I don’t like turning over cows. I like cows that will last up to 12 or 14 years in my herd and I want offspring from those cows,” she says. “If you’re an index-based farmer then potentially some of those cows will have

It doesn’t just come down to cost, she also seeks efficiency as she doesn’t want to be turning over her herd every few years. Some cows in the herd have genetics that go back to her grandparents’ herd. She has an attachment to them and they have proven that they suit her system. “Herd longevity saves me time and money. I want as few heifers to break-in as possible,” she says. “Breaking them in is just part of the job, but why break-in 50 when I can break-in 30? That’s especially important

most out of what I do.” Bull selection is crucial but it’s what she is passionate about, so it’s not an onerous process. This season the herd had a 95% in-calf rate and 100% of the two-year olds got in-calf again for their second lactation. AI is used over the entire herd for the first six weeks of mating. During that period, approximately 40% are mated to Hereford or Speckle Park. During the second three-week period she is quite strict because those calves will be born a little later. Only the cows that she would

Because she works on her own, Maryanne plans her day carefully and often does jobs while waiting for the herd to walk to the shed.

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December 2020

“Herd longevity saves me time and money. I want as few heifers to break-in as possible.” Maryanne Dudli be thrilled to get a heifer calf from go to a dairy bull, everything else goes to beef. “I may be a little old fashioned but there are some cows that each year seem to come on when the bulls go in at the end of mating. Short gestation is a wonderful tool at the end of mating,” she says. She has found her beef calves are more saleable if they’re born between August 20 and September 10, after that they become more difficult to sell. Jersey bulls are used over the heifers for calving ease. “The late calves can become quite big, which is hard on the cows. Those calves can go overdue, especially with Herefords. I want those cows to calve with no issues,” she says. A smaller herd allows her the luxury of daily handpicking the bulls for each cow. She uses four or five Friesian (AI) bulls. “A tall, lanky cow needs capacity. So I’ll use a bull with capacity over her to try and create a balanced animal. A big, milky Friesian sometimes needs more components so I’ll use a cross over her,” she says. “I want volume, but I also want components. A lot of thought goes into it during milking. But it’s what I enjoy and it enthuses me.”

Maryanne’s number one priority is breeding for capacity, but the problem with that is only 12 cows can fit in each side of the 20-a-side herringbone and milking takes four hours from cups-on to the finish of wash-down.

Some crossbred bulls are used on some good, old cows that she feels using a Friesian bull may be a bit too hard on them. The herd is milked through a 20-a-side herringbone, but only about 12 of her capacious cows can fit in each side. “Breeding for capacity is my number one goal but capacious cows don’t squash up, so milking takes four hours from cups-on to the finish of wash-down. I love milking and I love my cows, but it’s a long time in the shed,” she says.

The farm is a System 4 and as much silage as possible is made. About 20ha was harvested in early November.

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December 2020

“I do a lot of business texting while milking to be as efficient as possible. When the cows hit their peak it takes a reasonable amount of time for them to empty out.” She loves her animals, the outdoors, the land and the freedom. She sets her day and schedule, and has the freedom to make her own decisions. Farm ownership has always been her end goal and she relishes the thought of the stability it would provide. “You put a lot into a farm and you want to be there long-term to grow and develop it. I’d like a farm a bit larger than this one where it would be economic to employ an assistant and either milk some more cows or be able to keep my heifers home,” she says. “I don’t think of myself as a female farmer, farming isn’t really a gender thing anymore. Females are commonplace in the dairy industry, and have been for quite some time.” She hopes there will be a future for smaller farms within the industry as an important step on the journey towards farm ownership. “Cows are amazing animals, and what they do for us is incredible. I don’t like sending cows to the works. I have cows here that will never leave the farm,” she says. “Cows have always been a relaxation for me. They give me a lot of peace. Whenever I’ve been stressed, I’ve always gone out to the cows. It’s still my happy place.” n

DAIRY CHAMPION

A voice at the global table By Gerald Piddock

While most New Zealanders sleep, the Federated Farmers president is working round the clock to ensure Kiwi farmers have a voice on the international stage.

ndrew Hoggard has gone from representing just Kiwi farmers to farmers across the globe after being elected to the board of the International Dairy Federation (IDF). The Federated Farmers president is the IDF board’s sole farmer representative on which it develops robust, science and evidence-based international standards for dairy products. It also uses its global network to expand industry and undertakes research on issues important to the sector. All the different groups involved in all the things in getting milk from a cow to a dairy product was represented in the organisation, Hoggard says. It will mean the Manawatu dairy farmer has to get up in the early hours of the morning to attend online meetings with his mostly northern hemisphere colleagues.

“My aim is to make sure the farmer voice and knowledge base is heard loud and clear among the other voices.” “It’s not like I was doing anything at midnight apart from sleeping,” he jokes. “In terms of an organisation it covers everything from farming through to the product ending up in the consumers’ hands.” Hoggard is not new to the IDF, having served on the animal health, farm management and environment standing committees, and has just

finished his second two-year stint on the IDF’s scientific programme coordination committee. This is the body that decides which scores of potential work streams – covering everything from research to nutrition, processing, marketing and more – should be the priority for IDF resources. The standard-setting takes up much of the IDF’s work. The work is vital because it lays the groundwork for future trade negotiations between countries. “When you work through and think that we are very reliant on trade and without standards, trade doesn’t work very well,” he says. “It’s about laying the framework for where trade can occur. The arguments are over things other than science.” Once established, groups such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) can then use the standards as a guideline if trade disputes between countries arise. “The simplest way to put it is that a lot of these standards are about enabling trade globally and without these, it would be pretty hard to do trade,” he says. “While a lot of it seems technical to the average farmer, when we export 95% of what we produce, actually having these robust standards across the globe is vitally important to us.” He says the discussions and decisions around the board table are collaborative largely because trade issues are parked at the door. “At the start of every meeting they read out an anti-trust statement, so we’re not allowed to talk about trade and dividing up markets between us,” he says. “It’s not the sorts of things that

promote competition. It’s about everyone collaborating on stuff that’s for the greater good.” The main organisations the IDF works closely with are the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, which is part of the United Nations (UN). Hoggard says he’ll be pushing the same principle he’s used to argue on behalf of farmers across the sectors in New Zealand: that policies, regulations and proposals need to pass the SPA test: is it sensible, it is practical, is it affordable? “An emerging opportunity for the IDF is the UN food systems dialogue. It’s a focus of non-governmental organisations

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December 2020

Andrew has been milking on the family farm since 1998.

Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard will be representing Kiwi farmers on the International Dairy Federation (IDF) board.

(NGOs) and other bodies and individuals all around the world, not just in NZ, to try and describe what a sustainable food system looks like,” he says. “This dialogue is the opportunity to move beyond the sometimes emotive views gaining traction on how we should farm, and what we should produce, to ensure it is grounded in science, is practical and rational in terms of the global challenge to ensure nutritionally adequate diets, while also maintaining sufficient food production for future generations. “My aim is to make sure the farmer voice and knowledge base is heard loud and clear among the other voices.” The IDF has also done a lot of work looking at dairy nutrition, which has been prompted by the emergence of plantbased dairy alternatives and its claims

around having a lower greenhouse gases footprint. He says that work broke down the protein of these plant-based products and compared them to milk. It found that cow dairy had a better emissions footprint than some plant-based milks. “The amount of nutrients it’s providing is far greater, so the actual footprint per gram is much better,” he says The organisation has also looked at the impact on the industry these alternative milks have when they leverage their products off cow’s milk in the retail space. IDF research also showed that claims by plant-based milk companies that using the term milk or meat was done so on a generic basis and had no

Continued page 30

As well as serving as president of the Feds, Andrew also looks after various portfolios, including climate change, local government, firearms, science and innovation, and several others.

influence on consumers was not the case. “There’s a vast amount of people … that showed that actually they did think this was real milk flavoured with almonds and for all the claims made that consumers understand, they didn’t understand,” he says. “That’s why they want to keep using the descriptions of our products so they can basically get a free ride on our brand.”

There had also been discussions looking at the effect diseases such as bovine viral diarrhoea and Johne’s have on animal emissions. Initial work shows those emissions are reduced if those diseases are eliminated. This was an example of an aspect where the IDF role complemented his position at Federated Farmers, and where some of the discussions added knowledge and value to NZ farmers. “What I find with a lot of these things

that I go to, is that there are little threads that tie everything together and useful titbits from one that I can apply to another that helps it all come together in terms of providing good outcomes to farmers,” he says. Kiwi dairy farmers bring a lot of expertise to the IDF because NZ has a lot of good, knowledgeable people in the industry thanks to agriculture being so important to the economy. It was also generally a very

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard, past president Katie Milne and chief executive Terry Copeland at 2020 AGM held earlier this year when Andrew was voted to the top job.

“That’s why they want to keep using the descriptions of our products so they can basically get a free ride on our brand.” collaborative sector with groups such as Massey and Lincoln universities, and AgResearch working together. Retired Fonterra research technologist Keith Johnston, for example, has won two IDF prizes for excellence. NZ also has a history of being appointed to positions on the IDF with Fonterra chief science and technology officer Jeremy Hill being the group’s former president. Apart from a handful of staff, the IDF positions are largely voluntary and are secondary to the participant’s main job, which in his case is a dairy farmer and Federated Farmers president. Andrew and wife Audra have two daughters aged 11 and nine. He never expected to end up running the farm, nor did he think he would be in a national Federated Farmers role. Instead, he thought he would be sitting behind a desk analysing policies or managing a bank. Leaving school, he enrolled at Massey University where he studied economics. His brother Chad and sister Kimberly both completed agricultural degrees. Ironically, Chad ended up as a bank manager and Kimberly a policy manager,

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

which made for some interesting debates around the dinner table. After graduating in 1996, he went to Canada where he spent a year farming in the snow. Returning home, he went 50:50 sharemilking on the family farm at Kaitoke. In 1998, the family moved to Manawatu after buying the 300ha farm at Kiwitea farm north of Fielding. He spent several years 50:50 sharemilking on the property, initially milking 440 cows. During this time the family bought the block across the road and increased the herd to 560 cows. In 2008, the farming operation was expanded and the structure changed to a company. In that same year, he was the runner-up in the Manawatu Sharemilker of the Year. At the time, his family had four different companies owning several different blocks of land. A decision was made to put in an underpass and merge the companies into one. He joined Young Farmers early on and went on to become the district and regional chair. In 2003, he got into the grand final of the Young Farmer of the Year competition. Chairing Young Farmers meant he used to go along to the federation’s provincial meetings. “From there, I just migrated across to roles in Feds when I hit the ripe old age of 31 and got booted out of young farmers for being too old. The rest is history,” he says. n

Rethink cups on If you could cut cupping times by 1-2 seconds per cow, how much time would you save during milking? For Waikato dairy farmer Dries Verrycken who’s milking 500 cows, he can now save around 16 minutes at cups-on alone thanks to the new iCR+ with EasyStart simple lift or pull vacuum activation. That’s over 30 minutes a day and over 3.5 hours a week in this 50-bail iFLOW rotary. Meaning his cows can be back out to pasture quicker, and he can get on with other jobs. Time to rethink how you put the cups on? We can help. gea.com/new-zealand Driving dairy efficiencies? We can help.

WOMEN IN AGRIBUSINESS

Farming with style By Anne Boswell

A Taupo dairy farmer has her hands full with family, farming and a part-time job but that didn’t stop her from setting up a glamping business on the family farm.

n a lovingly restored building, nestled behind a stand of eucalypts on a farm in rural Taupo, a woman is multitasking furiously. Emily Hilhorst is making a bed with luxury linens, stopping periodically to answer the odd text message, while recounting the story of how she and her husband Dylan became the owners of a glamping business, The Telephone Exchange Glamping Huts, on their family dairy farm. “We spied this derelict 1950s telephone exchange building on our neighbour’s farm, and we pinched it,” Emily laughs. “We initially intended to turn it into a family room, but after staying at a glamp the idea was born to put it on the farm as accommodation for income.” The couple spent a couple of years renovating the exchange as a bedroom and building a replica kitchen/bathroom hut to match the original building, chipping away at it at night after their children were asleep. “It was an awesome project to work on together,” she says. “The whole project combined Dylan’s building expertise with my creativity and interest in styling and interiors. “It’s our own piece of paradise. I call it our first home.” The Telephone Exchange Glamping Huts is located on one of the two farms that Dylan’s family owns. Emily worked in marketing and Dylan as a builder when they met in London, moving back to New Zealand to dairy farm in 2012. They had their first child, Louie, eight, that year, followed by Gabe, five, and Anabella, three. They ran Wolfshaar Farm for six years milking 360 cows before moving onto the larger farm this season to milk 700 cows. Emily says having at least one

Emily Hilhorst thrives on her busy lifestyle as a mum, wife, dairy farmer, marketing specialist and managing the glamping business which she and her husband established on their dairy farm at Taupo.

alternative income stream while dairy farming has become increasingly important. “The payout changes constantly, minimum wage has gone up, and so has the price of living,” she says. “The dairy industry is just so uncertain with the current political climate that I feel it’s beneficial not to have all your eggs in the one basket.” The glamp has proven to be a successful venture. It opened two years ago, and she has been astounded at its popularity, especially this year. “It has been a great season so far,” she says. “You wouldn’t believe we have just come out of a pandemic, the Exchange has been so busy. “The occupancy rate is around 80%.” Emily says she has met a lot of

interesting people through the glamp, people with whom her path would not normally have crossed. “We love having people stay on-farm. We are very social people and are always up for a chinwag,” she says. “Every guest is different; some want the full farm and host experience, and some want a private romantic weekend. “The most rewarding aspect is when people arrive from the city, wound up from work and traffic and by the time they leave they are so relaxed they just want to hang out and talk.” On top of the demands of the glamp and working as a relief milker on-farm, Emily also works part-time for a real estate agent as a marketing specialist. “It’s perfect for me,” she says. “It’s only nine hours a week but I love going into an office, having the

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Emily juggles her family life, the glamp, working on the dairy farm and her parttime job as a marketing specialist. The Hilhorst family – Louie, Gabe, Dylan, Anabella and Emily – outside their glamp.

“There is such a strong focus now on men’s mental health in the farming community, which is great, but I think we need to stop and reflect on the lifestyles and responsibilities women are taking on and how that might affect them.” opportunity to dress up a little and using the marketing skills in which I’m trained. “It might sound busy now, but precovid was busier. “I was also doing the farm’s accounts and working 20 hours a week, while trying to run the glamp and to be honest, it was too much.” Despite admitting that some days she doesn’t know how she is going to get everything done, do the pros of a multifaceted and busy lifestyle outweigh the cons? “Absolutely,” she laughs. Because interestingly, it isn’t busy women that she worries about, in fact it’s the opposite. She has witnessed her contemporaries – independent and professional women

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with varied business backgrounds, marry dairy farmers and move to remote areas, swapping their professional identities for the more traditional roles of wives and mothers – with varied results. “It’s a definite change of pace, and it’s hard,” she says. “For a large part of the year, particularly through calving and mating, women are essentially solo parents because their husbands are out on-farm at all hours of the day and night. “I don’t think women are given enough credit for the different roles they have to fulfil, or the hardships they encounter. “There is such a strong focus now on men’s mental health in the farming community, which is great, but I think we need to stop and reflect on the lifestyles and responsibilities women are taking on and how that might affect them. “It can be a two-way street for both men and women in the industry, and we need to really start mitigating against these struggles that lead to mental health problems.” The Hilhorsts are passionate about supporting mental health in the farming sector, donating 10% of their profits from The Telephone Exchange to mental health charity FarmStrong. Emily says many of their urban friends simply don’t understand the hours a dairy farming

Continued page 34

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Emily Hilhorst says creating a glamp on their Taupo dairy farm allowed her creativity to flourish and wants to encourage dairy farming women to create their own opportunities for work and hobbies.

Emily and Louie Hilhorst get about amongst the herd.

family puts into the land, and therefore their inability to socialise for many months of the year. “So, it makes sense that they also don’t understand the nature of the role that many women experience as partners of farmers,” she says. Emily has tackled her own feelings of isolation by creating projects and work opportunities for herself to keep her motivated. “I can’t overstate the importance of keeping yourself mentally stimulated,” she says. “Even if it’s just doing an agribusiness course. Farming is such a science, so I believe in investing as much into it as possible. “I would suggest to women to find your passion and find a way to integrate that into your farming business, if at all possible.” On the other side of the coin, she says there is a new generation of women coming through farming and taking on roles of responsibility on-farm, including

Dylan’s parents’ farm manager Alexandra Lond. “We are so proud to see females taking on traditionally masculine roles,” she says. “It’s just wonderful to see her thriving; I love seeing women become successful.” Emily says although women are bound by the responsibility of children to a degree, they still enjoy feeling useful on-farm. “Women’s roles have diversified so much in the last 20 years.” She says organisations such as Dairy Women’s Network is a great support for women in dairy farming, offering them education, friendship and opportunities to socialise. “I kind of wish they had the equivalent for men,” she says. Suddenly, she stops short and asks, “Actually, what is the time?” Her reply, upon being told that it is 2.45pm, is typical of parents everywhere, bracing themselves for their peace to be shattered. “Crap,” she says and races off. n

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NEWS

Dairy industry making AMR progress

airyNZ data indicating a reduction in dry-cow antibiotic therapy shows New Zealand is making progress in addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR is considered a global threat to human and animal health. It occurs when antimicrobial medicines, including antibiotics, become less effective at treating infections. The data showed a decline in blanket dry-cow antibiotic therapy (DCAT) from 2015-2018 of just over 70% to about 49% and an increase in part-herd (selective) DCAT of 25-45% over the same period. DCAT involves the treatment of cows at the end of lactation with a long acting antibiotic preparation to prevent intramammary infection. New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) chief veterinary officer Dr Helen Beattie says the figures showed NZ is moving away from blanket use of DCAT, which is when every cow in a herd is treated with antibiotics, whether or not there is any indication of infection. “Any use of antibiotics can contribute to increased antimicrobial resistance, which means farmers and veterinarians, and all of NZ, need to focus on infection prevention and control, so we can all reduce the need for antibiotic use. “Considering the significant and growing threat of antibiotic resistance to human and animal health, it is encouraging to see we are making real progress when it comes to reducing antibiotic use in dairy cattle.” Beattie says the NZVA provides

guidance and advice for veterinarians and farmers who want to further reduce antibiotic use on-farm, while maintaining high standards of animal welfare. These materials include prudent use guidelines that outline broad principles of appropriate antibiotic use and guidance on the appropriate use of specific antibiotics in different species.

“With the right advice, and by working together, veterinarians and their farmer clients can do our bit to use antibiotics only when needed and contribute to the national effort to take action on antimicrobial resistance.” Dr Helen Beattie “With the right advice, and by working together, veterinarians and their farmer clients can do our bit to use antibiotics only when needed and contribute to the national effort to take action on AMR,” she says. The NZVA has set a goal of antibiotics not being required to maintain animal health and welfare by the year 2030. “We will need to maintain our momentum if we are to achieve this target,” she says. n

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Data shows Kiwi farmers are moving away from the blanket use of dry-cow therapy.

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

Driving dairy efficiencies? We can help.

INDUSTRY GOOD

Growing a family legacy

hat started with planting some acacia trees 25 years ago, has become a multigenerational passion for the Hunt family in Te Awamutu. “Grandpa was against it at the time, grandma claims she suggested it,” Sophia Hunt, whose grandparents were the original owners of Orakau Dairy in Te Awamutu, Waikato, says. Sophia now helps farm Orakau – a 350-cow operation split into two herds – alongside her parents Rose and Vernon, and sister Margie. What grandma and grandpa were disputing was Rose and Vernon shutting up a 1.5ha paddock with some mature acacias about 25 years ago, allowing the self-seeded acacias to grow, instead of being nibbled off each time cows grazed the paddock. The farm had a few stands of mature macrocarpas at the time, planted for timber and used by cows for shade and shelter. But the macrocarpas needed to be milled, and there was concern about the trees causing slips. So, Rose and Vernon decided to close the acacia paddock and create a new shade and shelter area. “The paddock was closed to stock for about seven years,” Rose says. “We’d intended to shut it for only five years, but the young trees needed a little longer to establish.” By shutting the paddock, the seedlings were able to grow into tall trees, creating a shady glade. Family tree Rose and Vernon also planted pin oaks, meaning there are now plenty of trees along races, including ongoing new plantings of pin oaks, kahikatea, blue gum and walnut. It’s fitting that trees are so prominent in their approach because the name of the area, Orakau, means place of trees. “But you can’t do it all at once,” Rose says. “So we’re fortunate this farm has been in the family this long. And even if we don’t reap the benefits, the next generation will.” Sophia is continuing the tradition. “I buy a bunch of trees and think,

Under the watchful eye of Jack, Sophia Hunt prepares oak seedlings for planting on the farm that’s been in her family for more than 100 years.

with DairyNZ ‘Where am I going to plant them?’ We’re lucky to have soil that doesn’t allow trees to blow over when it’s windy. We still need more trees, but I’m mindful of gateways, and getting in and out, as well as where roots could potentially block drains,” she says. Her latest tree endeavour is to bag up little seedlings growing under the mature oaks, and she’ll plant them elsewhere on the farm in a couple of years’ time. She hopes starting with seedlings that haven’t had the taproot cut, and protecting them as they grow, will produce better shade trees than purchasing large saplings.

Well and watered These are just some of the many initiatives taken at Orakau to keep their cows cool as part of their commitment to animal care on-farm. “Our motivation is animal wellbeing, for the most part,” Sophia says. “We use the acacias on hot days for the second herd because it’s on their way to the dairy. “We try to keep the cows close to the shed during the day and use the far paddocks at night, so cows aren’t using up too much energy during the hotter time of the day. “It’s uncomfortable for us to see them panting. The flow-on effects of planting trees are happier cows that move a little easier, as they can manage the heat.” The Hunts allow their cows to move at a glacial pace and to take as long as

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“So we’re fortunate this farm has been in the family this long. And even if we don’t reap the benefits, the next generation will.”

they need drinking before leaving the paddock. There is a trough at the exit from the dairy, and four big troughs on the races, so cows typically have access to at least two troughs on the way to and from milking. This ensures the animals’ water intake is optimum. “We all know cows can bully each other in the paddock, so this gives them all a chance to drink,” says Sophia. All troughs are cleaned every two years. There have been sprinklers over the yard for 27 years to mitigate heat. “They are very effective. I’m not sure if all the cows like them, but we leave enough space so they can avoid the sprinklers if they want to,” Sophia says. She would like to make changes to the milking routine in the summer, but cannot just yet for staffing reasons. “I would like to try milking earlier in the morning, with the second milking at midday, and put a shade cloth on the feedpad and the back of the yard,” she says. “I’m very aware of the heat radiating from the concrete onto the cows.” n

The Hunts are taking the long view on shade planting and sustainability. They describe their acacia glade as a “triple whammy” that provides shade, feeds the bees and fixes nitrogen.

Facial Eczema Prevention

Made in Hamilton

Sophia’s hot tips for cool cows • Make water available in the race and allow the cows time to drink before leaving the paddock – don’t rush them. • Manage paddock selection to avoid long walks in the heat of the day. • Misting fans make a huge difference for the cows, as well as helping with flies and making cups easier to clean. • Try to plant a few trees every year. When planted in the right place at the right time of year, and fenced for protection, you should have a good strike rate.

Made, tested & proven in New Zealand.

SCAN FOR MORE

INFORMATION

More information on planting is available at dairynz.co.nz/trees

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

The Time Capsule® is registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997, Nos A6275, A7600, A7763, A7931, A9006, and A10875.

CALF CLUB

Calf Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest Thank you to all the children and their calves who have taken part in Calf Club NZ this year, you have done a great job and congratulations to our national winners. Thanks to the wonderful organisers of Calf Club NZ, sponsors and judges and everyone else that pitched in. You have once again stepped up to help keep this grassroots annual tradition alive, and given children the experience and opportunity to compete on a regional and national level. The Dairy Farmer team has been proud to be a part of this initiative and hope to see you all again next year. Social League â&#x20AC;&#x201C; online votes 1st Oliver Selby 2nd Lexi Linnell 3rd Jack Dawkins 4th. Robbie Parkes 5th Lily Murray

Sonita

Beef Type 1st Katie Templeman, Tasman/Marlborough 2nd Arjan Pedersen, Lower Northland/Auckland 3rd Amber Cleaver, Bay of Plenty 4th Alexi Buchanan, East Waikato 5th Blayke Murray, South Waikato

Leading 1st Katie Templeman, Tasman/Marlborough 2nd Alexia Gordon, Bay of Plenty 3rd Jack Anderson, East Waikato 4th Tayler Gibbs, Hauraki 5th Ashlynne Wise, Western Waikato Rearing 1st Drew McDermott, Mid-Northland 2nd Katie Templeman, Tasman/Marlborough 3rd Thomas Henderson-Greig, video submission 4th Jack Anderson, East Waikato 5th Jamie Spiers, Western Waikato Dairy Type 1st Danika Beardshell, Mid-Northland 2nd Alexia Gordon, Bay of Plenty 3rd Adelle Johnson, Hauraki 4th Jamie Spiers, Western Waikato 5th Alyssa Bishop, Mid-Northland

Congratulations to Oliver Selby and Jane from Manawatu who are the winners of the Social competition. Oliver and calf Jane received the most votes during the online voting.

Drew McDermott from Mid-Northland and his calf took the top spot in the rearing section.

Danika Beardshell from MidNorthland and her calf Tracy are the Dairy Type winners.

Katie Templeman from Tasman/Marlborough and her calf Gus won the Leading and Beef Type categories in the national competition.

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

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TECHNOLOGY Sensors feed soil and climate data into the cloud to help manage 18,000 hectares, giving farmers advice on when to irrigate. They can even be used in greenhouses for plants.

Data is the new oil By Tony Benny

In the fast moving world of technology, changes and advancement are continually happening in the agritech space, which is helping farmers in ways their ancestors couldn’t have imagined.

he Internet of Things (IoT) is facilitating enormous change in agriculture, even though most farmers barely know what it is or how it can affect their operation by increasing efficiencies and, in turn, boost their bottom line. New Zealand company Regen, established 10 years ago, uses a network of on-farm sensors that feed soil and climate data into the cloud to help manage 18,000ha, giving farmers advice on when to irrigate, but chief executive Bridgit Hawkins says most clients don’t realise IoT is at the heart of the platform. “Although IoT is incredibly important for us and our customers, they still don’t actually know what it means, so it’s really important we don’t talk about having an IoT solution, because they’re not 100% sure what it is,” she says. “As a result, they’re pretty certain they don’t need one of those.” But IoT is actually already part of many farmers’ businesses, Hawkins says. One of Regen’s customers, a Canterbury-based dairy farm, has 18 separate sensors, or data sources, on

Regen chief executive Bridgit Hawkins, with farm worker Rahui Save, says the Internet of Things is a big part of farmers’ businesses.

the farm, as well as using two external sources, to inform decisions about irrigation. “So for that single farm, that’s over

2000 data points every single day that is brought together through IoT connectivity, our platform and the algorithms that underpin it to give to

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December 2020

them what appears to be something really simple, enabling them to actually use that data,” she says. Add to that the data collected in dairy sheds covering animal health, milk quality and milk temperature, and from farm machinery recording activities like fertiliser application, that’s an enormous amount of information being uploaded to the cloud. Companies like Regen, recently acquired by Israeli-based soil sensing and data analytics company CropX, specialise in unscrambling that data and turning it into something useful for farmers. “If a guy’s got cows to milk, breaks to move, fertiliser to apply and staff to manage, wading through tens of thousands of data points himself to work out what to do and how these different activities interlink, is not something they’re ever going to do so for us in the industry; being able to actually pull these things together and create the insights that are meaningful is what’s required to enable the power of the technology,” she says. Hawkins was among the speakers at a recent online webinar hosted by AgritechNZ together with Amazon Web Services, the leading provider of technology and software to companies working in the IoT world. “The world is changing, this is true not only for agriculture, but for any industry as we spend more time at home nowadays with technology, and leverage ways to get things done more efficiently with technology,” AWS head of IoT for agriculture Rachel Bradshaw says. She says farming has changed more in the past 120 years than in the previous 10,000 years, and that’s being accelerated by IoT. “If you took a farmer from 425BC and that farmer visited a farm in the 1900s, he would still see tools he recognised and have the capability and the skillset to use those tools, but if you took that same farmer and put him on a farm of today, he would probably think he’d landed on a completely different planet and that’s because there have been so many changes,” she says. The changes over the past century or so include the introduction of selective breeding of livestock, the use of fertiliser, mechanisation and the use of irrigation. Alone, those changes have transformed agriculture but even bigger change is imminent, says Bradshaw. “You’ve probably heard the saying, or you soon will, that data is the new oil, which means that it is so valuable

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December 2020

“It helps farmers understand how to better produce their crops, how to improve soil and how to have happier livestock which in turn increases yields.” Rachel Bradshaw

Amazon Web Services head of IoT for agriculture Rachel Bradshaw says the collection of data and using it to create efficiencies and profits is already happening with 75 million online devices in use.

to companies because it helps them understand their business better, what customers are interested in, and what they like and don’t like,” she says. “It helps farmers understand how to better produce their crops, how to improve soil and how to have happier livestock which, in turn, increases yields. “There’s all this information that can come from data and we’re seeing deeper focus on data.” Bradshaw says with the world needing to produce 70% more food by 2050 to feed an expanding population in the

Folium monitors temperature, humidity, CO2, barometric pressure and radiation in greenhouses, down to individual plant level.

face of challenges, including diminishing arable land, climate change, a depletion of natural resources and a declining workforce, innovative technology has become imperative. Already IoT is being harnessed by companies like New Zealand-based Halter to monitor cow health and enable stock to be herded remotely; Teralytic, who make probes to monitor soil moisture and nutrient levels, and Autogrow Systems, which recently introduced a new product called Folium for use in greenhouses. “When I first got into IoT the common question was, ‘Can we do it, is it technically possible?’ But, over the past seven or eight years this has become significantly easier,” says Autogrow chief technology officer Jonathan Morgan. Folium monitors temperature, humidity, CO2, barometric pressure and radiation in greenhouses, down to individual plant level. “I was talking to one of our consultants the other day, and he said 20 years ago a microclimate was your farm and then we started getting more into a controlled environment and a microclimate became your greenhouse and now microclimate is your plant,” Morgan says. Bradshaw says the collection of data and using it to create efficiencies and profits is already happening and the trend is bound to accelerate. She says there are already 75 million online devices in people’s hands around the world, and that is predicted to rise to 225m by 2025, “or even jump into the billions.” “For us that means having a fullyintegrated, collaborative system,” she says. “It means you’re able to meet the changing demands and conditions within your operation, within your supply network, and meet your customer needs. “This allows you to have control of your data to enable your business and employees to make data-driven decisions.” n

TECHNOLOGY

Challenge ends as real work begins

Dr Chandra Ghimire from AgResearch at Lincoln won the New Zealand Research Stream sponsored by Zespri.

ulling water from thin air and artificial intelligence could be two answers to support water sustainability. Water is essential to all facets of agriculture and food production and we need innovation and collaboration to ensure quality and availability into the future. The Water Challenge was launched in February by Australian-based Bridge Hub, which is an agrifood tech innovation hub, and has attracted over 150 researchers and entrepreneurs from Australia, New Zealand and Israel. The 2020 winners were recently announced. “Our aim was to uncover the best and brightest research, the most innovative ideas, and the best start-ups that positively impact water quality and availability across our agrisystem,” Bridge Hub co-chief executive Craig Shapiro says. “Winning solutions as diverse as creating water from air, measuring water with acoustics and sludge-free waste recycling for remote communities, highlights that the Water Challenge has been successful in its aim of uncovering some of the leading cutting-edge

solutions currently being developed.” The winning teams receive recognition and prize money but more importantly, connections and the ability to collaborate across the globe with other like-minded communities who share Bridge Hub’s passion for solving global water-related problems are developed. He says the quality of not only the winning solutions but of all the applicants highlights that we have the capacity to achieve anything if we turn our minds to the task at hand. Adding our ability to solve problems across the entire agrifood supply chain is only limited by our imagination, as long as we have the right frameworks in place. In announcing the winners, he says, “While today marks the end of the Water Challenge, it is just the beginning of a bigger journey of working with a global community of like-minded organisations and individuals to transform many of the big ideas and solutions submitted into impactful and successful outcomes.” The Water Challenge wraps up at a time when agrifood research bodies are increasing their focus on both commercialisation and adoption of

The winning technology from Dr Chandra Ghimire works by bouncing soundwaves off the paddock surface to detect surface water.

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December 2020

research, climate change continues to present global challenges and Australian agriculture considers how it achieves its goal of becoming a $100 billion industry. Significant funding is being allocated by many governments to help underpin the future growth of the agriculture and food sectors with many positive initiatives underway. Many of these include a focus on drought resilience and water quality. Shapiro believes there will be an increasing pool of capital available to be allocated to investment opportunities in the agrifood tech sector. Including capital from a growing pool of global impact investors, who require normal financial returns but also want their investments to have a positive and sustainable impact on the environment or society. “Ultimately, we need the private sector, research and government working together to increase investment which will underwrite the successful and sustainable future for agriculture and food production,” he says. “The establishment of industry-led agrifood tech bodies such as AgritechNZ and Ausagritech, will also help to drive

investment towards the rapidly growing agrifood tech sector. “We are extremely optimistic about the direction we’re heading and particularly how the ideas unlocked from the Bridge Hub 2020 Water Challenge can play a role in that sustainable future.” Bridge Hub 2020 Water Challenge winners • Australian Research Stream sponsored by CSIRO Advanced Capture of Water from the Atmosphere (ACWA) – Professor Chiara Neto, The University of Sydney for groundbreaking research that is working on a new water solution that aims to capture water from the air. • New Zealand Research Stream sponsored by Zespri Real-time control of irrigation through acoustic sensing to prevent runoff and pollution. (Acoustic sensing for Irrigation) – Dr Chandra Ghimire, AgResearch Ltd. Lincoln New Zealand for research that is using acoustic technology to help irrigators to be smarter with their water efficiency.

• Australian Startup Stream sponsored by Commonwealth Bank Streamwise DI – Paul Hatten, of Clayton, Victoria, for a waste water solution that improves environmental outcomes and operating efficiencies of food manufacturers through the use of artificial intelligence. • New Zealand Startup Stream Sponsored by Wharf42 RiverWatch – James Muir, Matarangi, for a water quality solution that provides real time monitoring and decision-making for our rivers and waterways. • Israel Startup Stream LagunaTech –Clive Lipchin, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Kibbutz Ktura, for decentralised wastewater treatment solution that assists remote and off-grid communities to create new water sources.

For more information about the Challenge, visit waterchallenge.co

“Ultimately, we need the private sector, research, and government working together to increase investment which will underwrite the successful and sustainable future for agriculture and food production.” Craig Shapiro

Dr Chandra Ghimire developed a real-time control of irrigation through acoustic sensing to prevent runoff and pollution.

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December 2020

TECHNOLOGY

‘Third eye’ to save time and money By Tony Benny

Agriculture technology is being developed at pace, and now Big Brother can identify lameness in herds and send a message directly to a cellphone.

ew technology will allow dairy farmers to keep an eye out for lame cows simply by looking at their smartphone, thanks to a camera mounted at the entrance or exit of their shed that feeds the pictures to the cloud and uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to analyse the animals’ gait. UK startup CattleEye has developed the system using computer vision, a rapidly growing technological area increasingly being harnessed to identify, count and sort anything, including farm animals and horticultural produce. Amazon Web Services (AWS) worldwide head of solutions architecture for the agriculture industry Karen Hildebrand told attendees at a recent webinar hosted by Agritech New Zealand that computer vision takes the collection of data to another level. “Agriculture is a data-rich industry, but we all know that vision really makes a difference in understanding what you would do differently. What we talk about is how do we scale vision, how do we see things that the human eye could see but we can’t necessarily scale to a number of humans to be in all locations where we want to see something,” Hildebrand says. “We ask, ‘what could you do if you could scale your eyesight? What are the problems that you could solve if the constraint of being able to actually physically go there and see with your own eyes is no longer a blocker?’” CattleEye is just one of hundreds of applications being developed, both in agriculture and other industries. “They can look from above as the cow moves down an alleyway and detect what the lameness score would be for early interventions,” she says. “By doing that they can keep the dairy herd more productive because they don’t

A new device developed by a UK startup will help farmers identify any lameness in their herd.

have lameness, but they’re also able to share that all the way through to the end consumer who wants to be able to feel the animals were raised in a happy and healthy way.” AWS provides the technology and support for developers with a range of “out of the box solutions” for industry. And for more complex applications, Wellington-based Amazon principal solutions architect Steffen Merten demonstrated how easily a programme could be taught to recognise and count kiwifruit, as well as identifying different varieties. “Computer vision is one of those things like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data and the Internet of Things (IoT), where it can seem pretty complicated and difficult to understand.

When you lift the bonnet on these technologies there is a lot going on but when it comes down to it, the concepts are relatively simple,” Merten says. Computer vision, along with the IoT and robotics, is at the heart of a revolutionary way of beekeeping, called BeeWise. Instead of traditional beehives, up to 40 colonies can be housed in one structure where climate and humidity, pest control, swarm prevention and even harvesting are done automatically, with all the information fed back to a smartphone. “We are not changing how beekeeping is done, we are simply applying it in real-time, with a robotic arm vs a human one,” BeeWise’s website states. “It’s as if every bee had her own beekeeper 24/7, rain or shine.” n

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

Does your NAIT tag match your NAIT location?

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From December 14, there are new rules for managing NAIT tags...

6 – 15

NAIT tags are only usable ...

... the NAIT location they were purchased for.

Before tagging, make sure the tags’ NAIT number matches your location’s NAIT number. www.ospri.co.nz/managemytags

Remember to register your animals after tagging. Failure to comply with NAIT obligations may result in fines or prosecution issued by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

NAIT is an OSPRI programme

ospri.co.nz

RESEARCH AgResearch’s Dr Mallory Crookenden is the recipient of the 2020 Cooper Award, which recognises excellence in research.

Improving dairy cows’ health, fertility

gResearch’s Dr Mallory Crookenden has received the 2020 Cooper Award, which is the Royal Society Te Apārangi Early Career Research Excellence Award for Technology, Applied Science and Engineering, for key advancements in the use of pragmatic solutions that support immune function around calving to improve animal health on New Zealand dairy farms. Mallory’s work is focused on using applied methods to influence inflammation and immunological health, with the aim of reducing the risk of disease and improving fertility in NZ dairy cattle. She uses her expertise in disciplines, such as biochemistry, immunology and molecular biology, to understand critical issues that affect livestock on NZ dairy farms and then provide practical solutions which can be readily applied on-farm. Her PhD research was the first to describe seasonal changes in immune function in low-to-moderate yielding grazing animals, which had previously only been reported in highyielding animals in confinement systems. This research created the opportunity to use applied technology to improve the dampening of harmful inflammatory immune reactions around calving,

thereby improving animal health in NZ dairy systems. It is estimated that $1.5 billion of revenue is lost annually in NZ as a result of health problems and mortality during the calving period. Mallory’s research has investigated immune function and modulation during this time to better understand the mechanisms behind this increased risk of disease. For context, roughly 90% of metabolic disease and 75% of infectious disease occurs during the calving period, with a three to six-fold greater risk of death. This is, therefore, a critical period for potential intervention to improve cow health and welfare. Mallory’s research post-PhD has continued to focus on methods to improve the health and welfare of NZ dairy cows by improving immune function around calving. One such study involves the investigation of a feed additive, sodium aluminosilicate, more commonly known as Zeolite, to treat low blood calcium concentration (hypocalcaemia) in cows during the early post-partum period. Hypocalcaemia is the most prevalent metabolic disorder at calving, due to the sudden increase in calcium requirements as lactation begins. An estimated 4065% of dairy cows undergo a state of subclinical hypocalcaemia at calving,

while an additional 3-10% will experience clinical hypocalcaemia. Feeding Zeolite results in a negative calcium balance that activates homeostatic regulatory mechanisms. The result is an increased efficiency of intestinal absorption of calcium and an acceleration of homeostatic mechanisms to mobilise stored calcium from bone, at which point zeolite is removed from the diet. From a health perspective, this short-term management intervention reduces the risk of clinical and subclinical hypocalcaemia, with blood calcium concentrations remaining normal in cows that receive Zeolite. Her research confirmed the effect of Zeolite on plasma calcium concentrations and focused on downstream immune-modulating effects, showing a reduction in harmful inflammation. This work has led to a subsequent, large-scale trial in over 1,000 animals (in progress). Based at AgResearch’s Hopkirk Institute in Palmerston North, Mallory graduated with her PhD from Massey University in 2018. Her thesis was placed on Massey University’s Dean’s List of Exceptional Doctoral Theses Award. A prolific author, from her first publication in 2015, she is now an author on 24 peer-reviewed articles, with eight as first-author. n

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

RESEARCH

Focus on food sustainability Several organisations are coming together to collaborate on the challenges of food transitions.

new postgraduate school focusing on food sustainability is to be opened in Canterbury. The school’s aim is to support the transition to more future-focused, sustainable food systems and preparation in New Zealand, and is a joint project between the University of Canterbury (UC), Lincoln University (LU), Plant & Food Research, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research and AgResearch. The theme of the school is Food Transitions 2050. A new, official name will be gifted to the school at a later stage. A collaboration at postgraduate and research level, the school will focus on creating solutions to complement existing food innovation initiatives in NZ. It will have particular emphasis on zero carbon futures, water, international transportation, plant-based diets, rural economies, artificial intelligence and technical transitions. Foundational students are already applying to the school, attracted by the transdisciplinary and Matauranga Māori research (co-designed with mana whenua) spanning food and future landscapes, food for a carbon-zero future, food consumer transitions and food governance. Plant & Food Research chief executive officer David Hughes says that by bringing together all of these organisations it was creating a new platform for integrative research that will create impact for many years to come. “We are really excited to be part of collaboration involving two universities and three crown research institutes that will enhance the opportunities for postgraduate scholars to tackle food transitions – one of the most important challenges of our time,” Hughes says. “Science that is looking hard at our future food systems is essential to protect the future wellbeing of our species and the environment that we depend on.” AgResearch chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose says they were thrilled to be part of this new postgraduate school concept.

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December 2020

Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research chief executive Dr Richard Gordon, AgResearch chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose and Plant & Food Research chief executive David Hughes watch Lincoln University acting vice-chancellor Professor Bruce McKenzie and University of Canterbury vice-chancellor Professor Cheryl de la Rey sign a new collaboration agreement to establish a new school focusing on food sustainability.

“We’re fortunate at AgResearch to have highly experienced scientists who are experts in their fields, and through this new virtual community, our scientists will be able to mentor and help develop a host of talented researchers of the future,” she says. LU acting vice-chancellor Professor Bruce McKenzie says the school will be instrumental in attracting and growing talent in the land-based sector. “We are effectively enhancing postgraduate research volume and quality and encouraging more people to study and work in the land-based sector to meet industry demands for skills and capability, increased productivity and tackle future technical changes,” McKenzie says. Collaborating with the other institutes allowed them to make the most of their collective expertise in how food is produced in Canterbury and beyond,

Manaaki Whenua chief executive Dr Richard Gordon says. UC vice-chancellor Professor Cheryl de la Rey echoed that sentiment. “Our new postgraduate school highlights this partnership’s bold vision of working toward securing the future of food, and the joint contribution our researchers can make in the areas of food equity, food intelligence and food innovation,” she says. LU assistant vice-chancellor of Māori and Pasifika Dr Dione Payne says the inclusion of Vision Mātauranga, a key component of the project and PhD proposal process, was a great step forward. “Although we are at the beginning of our journey, it is clear there is a commitment to ensuring authentic engagement with Māori and that Mātauraka Māori is valued amongst all the partners,” Payne says. n

RESEARCH

New tech to manage giant buttercup By Gerard Hutching

Giant buttercup is a weed that is well established on New Zealand dairy farms, costing farmers millions of dollars in lost milksolids.

airy farmers have been handed two new hi-tech tools in the fight against the invasive giant buttercup, which is estimated to cost the industry about $200 million a year in lost milksolids production. The buttercup is a weed with potential to make a serious dent in farm profits. For farmers with 12% of the ground cover being in giant buttercups, it could reduce their farm’s profit by $1,040/ ha. Researchers have developed a new tool that could deliver considerable productivity and economic gains. A native of Europe, the giant buttercup successfully established itself in New Zealand at the beginning of pastoral farming and is now widespread on dairy farms in South Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Southland, Taranaki, Wairarapa, West Coast and Tasman District. The plant is particularly aggravating in Golden Bay, where AgResearch principal scientist Dr Graeme Bourdôt and colleagues have worked closely with farmers to develop the two tools as the components of a science-based decision support system. The system enables better informed decisions on controlling the weed with herbicides and managing herbicide resistance. Downloaded onto a smartphone, the first of the two tools, the Grassland Cover Estimator (GCE) app, enables a farmer to figure out how much giant buttercup there is in a paddock. “To determine if a giant buttercup infestation is worthwhile controlling, the farmer must first know how much of his paddock is covered by the buttercup. Is there enough to make it worthwhile controlling?” Bourdôt asks.

AgResearch principal scientist Dr Graeme Bourdôt with the giant buttercup plants being used in a study on the genetics of herbicide resistance in the weed.

“To estimate the percentage of a paddock that is covered by the weed, the GCE app uses a method plant ecologists have used for years called point analysis. The app works by the user walking across a paddock and observing whether the weed is present or absent at the tip of their boot. The observations are recorded as present or absent by swiping one way or another, and the app uses these observations to calculate the percentage of the paddock covered by the weed.”

He describes it as a simple generic tool that is much better than guesswork for estimating the coverage of a plant in a pasture. While a farmer could stand on a fence post on the corner of the paddock and estimate buttercup cover, he would likely not be quite wrong. “Unsurprisingly, to get a good estimate of the cover of the weed in a paddock, you need to make observations over a good proportion of the paddock. The advice is to cover as much of the paddock as possible. Every time you

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

Scientists are researching giant buttercup in a bid to get rid of it from our dairy pastures.

swipe the app as present or absent it does a running calculation of the percent cover, and you can see that as you’re walking,” he says. The app also stores all observations and their geographic coordinates and this data can be exported from the phone to a PC for more detailed analysis and mapping if required. Once the percentage cover has been established, the next step is to go to the second tool, the Giant Buttercup Decision Support Tool web app for a four-step process. First the percentage of buttercup is inputted, followed by the second step of inserting various values related to productivity of the paddock (dry matter grown and eaten, pasture conversion rate, pasture utilisation). At this step, the milksolids payout price expected over the three years following the intended herbicide control programme is also inserted. The third step offers a menu of herbicide treatment options including all 49 herbicide products currently on the market in NZ with a label claim for use against giant buttercup in pasture. Depending on which options are chosen, the app shows the current price of the products in dollars per hectare and the cost of application. The user can go ahead with these default values or replace them with other values. The final step shows the range in net benefit (in $/ha) that can be expected for each of the herbicide products that have been selected for comparison. “Based on all the information you’ve

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December 2020

put in, it works out how many kilograms of extra milksolids you could expect from the paddock if you control the buttercup with a particular herbicide,” he says. “In calculating the net benefit for a particular proposed herbicide treatment, the app uses the cost of N fertiliser to account for the loss in fixed N resulting from the herbicide’s damage to clovers. Some herbicides can bowl out the clovers for a long time.

“To determine if a giant buttercup infestation is worthwhile controlling, the farmer must first know how much of his paddock is covered by the buttercup.” Dr Graeme Bourdôt “Others have less effect, and some have no effect.” Bourdôt says that underpinning the Giant Buttercup Decision Support (DS) Tool is a unique peer-reviewed and published data set from a three-year scientific experiment in 18 different dairy pastures in Golden Bay. The experiment compared all herbicide active ingredients currently on the NZ market for their effect on giant buttercup and on other pasture plants including the N-fixing clovers. It showed that the herbicides differ substantially

in their effect on the weed and damage to clovers. These differences, along with variability in efficacy within each of the herbicides, are accounted for in the DS Tool, which calculates the expected range in net benefit for each herbicide in a selected comparison. In the same experiment, other control methods were also investigated. One was to use a common fungus, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum that kills the giant buttercup in dairy pastures, turning the plants into a slimy, rotting mess. Another method compared was to mow the pasture before grazing. Mowing neutralises the toxicity in the buttercup – its scientific name is Ranunculus acris, referring to the acrid tasting chemical in the plant which can become toxic and cause blistering of the lips and tongue, intestinal disorders, and potentially fatal ventricular fibrillation and respiratory failure. “When you mow, the bitter chemical comes out of the mown giant buttercup foliage as a gas. The wilted foliage is no longer bitter or toxic and is readily eaten without harm to the cow,” Bourdôt says. Because the giant buttercup has evolved resistance to some herbicides, pre-graze mowing is potentially an effective alternative option, even if it is more labour intensive. Mowing is currently not included as an option in the DS Tool. The AgResearch study has been funded through the Sustainable Farming Fund, with support from the Ministry for Primary Industries, DairyNZ, and Ravensdown. n

FARMSTRONG

Speak up for yourself, others

Consistent performers know they can’t solve every challenge by themselves. That’s why seeking advice to help deal with the pressures that farming brings is important.

armstrong ambassador Sam Whitelock comes from a farming background and plans to head back to farming when he hangs up his boots. He says rugby and farming are very similar in terms of the pressures people face during peak season. “Sport has taught me that everyone needs support when things get pressured, whether it’s catching up with mates at the local or chatting to neighbours over the fence or by phone. “If you notice someone has dropped off the radar, give them a ring or send them a message of support,” he says. “If you think someone is having a tough time, don’t be afraid to ask how they are. Even if they don’t want to talk,

it’s good for them to know that you are there. “If they do want to talk, be openminded, non-judgmental and listen. You don’t need to have the answers, just listening can really help someone who is feeling stressed. “And if you’re leading a team, work some informal chats into the day. It could be a quick meeting at breakfast or after morning milking. “Ask how people are getting on, if they need anything, share a joke or reflect on positives and challenges from the last few days. “A few minutes talking like that makes a big difference to people’s day.” Here’s what other farmers have shared

“Sport has taught me that everyone needs support when things get pressured, whether it’s catching up with mates at the local or chatting to neighbours over the fence or by phone.” Sam Whitelock

with Farmstrong about the importance of talking it out when you’re under the pump. n

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December 2020

A problem halved Bex Howell and her partner Steve are 50:50 sharemilkers in Pahiatua. “I often think that when you’re stressed you don’t think about the most obvious thing, and it only takes someone to say something before you think ‘oh, why didn’t I think of that?’” she says. “In farming, a problem shared is definitely a problem halved. “It’s tempting to just put your head down a bit more and work, but if you haven’t heard from a friend for a while, then give them a ring and have a yarn.” Whitelock sums it up saying, “There will always be times when things get us down and it’s normal for this to happen. But what I’ve found is many of those around us have been through similar challenges and are more than willing to help. Asking for and receiving help will get you back on top of things sooner.”

Start a conversation Kane Brisco is into his seventh year 50:50 sharemilking at Ohangai near Hawera, in South Taranaki. He’s started his own social media page to get farmers talking. “One of the things I’ve noticed with farmers under pressure is that they withdraw into themselves. I’ve done it myself. So, I think that as a farming community we need to be much more open to discussing the pressures we’re dealing with,” he says. “That’s why I started my own social media page Farm Fit NZ. I want to start that conversation among farmers. “Since then, I’ve had people messaging me and telling me how they are and what their challenges are because they feel comfortable to do that with someone who is putting himself out there. It’s helping more people in our local community to start those convos that are a bit harder to have. “I reckon there’s a 100% correlation between doing these things and how well you perform on-farm. “It’s black-and-white to me. It’s part of becoming a better farmer. Let’s talk about this stuff.”

A banter over a beer Paul and Pip Walker run a 300-cow, 90-hectare dairy farm in Pongakawa, just south of Te Puke, Bay of Plenty. Two years ago Paul formed Benaud’s Backyard Bumpkins (after legendary cricketer Richie Benaud), a social cricket team comprised of local farmers and growers. Every summer, spanning over 16 weeks, they get together once a week to “recharge their batteries,” get some exercise and, more importantly, have a “banter over a beer.” “I find talking to others really helps relieve stress. When you live where you work, you definitely need an excuse to get away,” he says. “It might be just one night a week, but the cricket makes you get off the farm and allows you to let off steam with other guys who can relate to your situation. “They’re doing long hours like me. They know how stressful farming can be. They get it.”

Under the pump? For tips and ideas, visit farmstrong.co.nz

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

ANIMAL HEALTH

Tales from the farm By Ross Nolly

A retired Taranaki veterinarian has been entertaining farmers with her latest book full of her adventures while working as a vet, as well as offering practical advice and information.

aranaki veterinarian Cathy Thompson has always enjoyed teaching. After retiring in 2017 she wrote her first book, the Practical Guide for Cattle Veterinarians. The book took two years to write and another year to finish, design and publish. Although written for the vet industry, the book’s emphasis on practicality came to be greatly appreciated by farmers. This inspired her to completely rewrite the book and create a book specifically designed for farmers. The resulting Veterinary Book for Cattle Farmers took a year to write. The hard cover, 365-page book features more than 800 colour photographs and has been sponsored and sold by Shoof Direct. Shoof Direct have put a tongue-incheek warning in their website book description. “WARNING: This is the real world of veterinary procedures. Definitely not suitable material for children or townies. Not suitable for the coffee table, but essential for the real dairy or beef farmer to have on hand,” its website states. A warning like that for a book guarantees that it’s going to be the real deal. The new book is also more first aidoriented. “I showed the vet book to many farmers and they all wanted one. It wasn’t really intended for farmers, so I thought I’d better get stuck in and write one specifically designed for them,” Cathy says.

Taranaki retired vet Cathy Thompson with the book she wrote specifically for farmers, which is full of cattle health information and advice.

She initially thought that she would only need to change a few words and photos, but actually needed to rewrite the entire book. She wrote it in “farmer language” to make it more farmerfriendly, understandable, relatable and applicable to their needs. “You have to know what’s normal before you realise something is abnormal,” she says. “I couldn’t make the book too simple because most farmers are very wellschooled on animal health issues and want to know why you do things, not just what to do.” Modern farmers can perform a wide range of health-related treatments such as calving. “Years ago, if you had a 100-cow herd a farmer might only have one calving to attend to if they were unlucky, and consequently didn’t get the practice. Now, with larger herds and more staff, you often find that one worker will be better at performing calving, whereas another might be good at finding veins, so they tend to specialise,” she says. Her book is not just a “how-to,” its practical information is interspersed

with stories from her own on-farm experiences. “Farmers love stories. They know what

Over the years, Cathy has amassed a large collection of bones, skulls and preserved specimens in her garage as well as a range of preserved calves.

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December 2020

“I couldn’t make the book too simple because most farmers are very well-schooled on animal health issues and want to know why you do things, not just what to do.”

you do on their farm, but don’t realise the things you get up to on other farms. Especially some of the strange things you end up doing like climbing down cliffs and wells, and being chased by cows,’ she says. “When I was working as a vet I’d sometimes be at a property for quite some time and you usually end up telling stories of the jobs and the situations you’ve encountered. The farmers always seemed fascinated, so I thought they’d probably enjoy reading about some of the weird and wonderful experiences I’ve had on farms.” She feels that the stories help make the books relatable. Many vets told her that they went through her first vet book and read the stories first. Animal welfare codes have been included in the book, but she has included a disclaimer that farmers should check with their vet practice

Cathy who recently retired, was a large animal vet in Taranaki for more than 30 years.

to ensure there have been no recent changes. “I haven’t included subjects like treatments for non-cycling cows because medical advances change quickly and clinics advocate a variety of programmes and products. I focused more on diseases and first aid,” she says. “Many farmers don’t know where their farm sits in relation to mastitis. Cell counts don’t tend to be a subject that farmers discuss freely between themselves so I’ve included graphs

The cow and the well One of Cathy’s most memorable experiences happened during her second year out of vet school when a farmer rang and casually mentioned he had a Jersey cow stuck approximately 4.5 metres down a well. “When I arrived the farmer had a couple of tractors, some rope and was ready for action,” she says. “They didn’t know how to tie a rope to the cow without strangling it, and I decided the chances of teaching them how to tie a bowline were zero, so they lowered me down the well.” “I tied the rope around the splashing cow and they lifted me out of the well. As they started lifting her out the rope broke and she dropped to the bottom. So they lowered me back down again. This happened three times.

“On the fourth attempt she had her feet over the edge and was nearly out when the rope frayed on the concrete, and down she went again. “So down I went too, but this time with a wire rope they’d found, and we finally got her out. “Just as I was wondering what I needed to do for a cow that had been down a well for half an hour, she wandered over to the hedge and started eating. “I became quite famous for getting her out” “I really enjoy that type of job, it’s stressful but fun, because you have to make it up as you go along. “The farmer usually asks ‘How are you going to do this?’ and I usually reply ‘I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out’.”

demonstrating the good and bad mastitis farms. Farmers can use those graphs to determine where their farm sits.” She has enjoyed writing the books which are aimed towards helping farmers learn more about what they’re doing on the farm, how to do it, and look for things that need attention sooner rather than later. Both books were self-published. She gathered quotes from printers and organised a graphic designer who in her words, “Made it go from a Word document to a proper book.” She spent countless hours trying to source sponsorship for the vet book and eventually Boehringer Ingelheim signed on. It was distributed and sold through the NZ Veterinary Association. “We haven’t had a great deal of feedback about the farmer book because the launch was affected by covid. However, I did hear back from the clinic the other day that a lady bought a copy for her husband for Father’s Day. She had bought it because she wanted it, and Father’s Day was just an excuse.” Cathy says. “She came back a few days later and the staff asked her whether she liked the book. She replied ‘I haven’t read it yet, my husband and father are still reading it’. “I thought that was pretty good feedback, knowing how knowledgeable those particular farmers are” The covid-19 lockdowns may have been a marketing nightmare, but the book will retain its informative value throughout the years. n

DAIRY CAREERS

Unexpected farmer Covid-19 saw New Zealand go into lockdown and our borders closed to international tourists, meaning many in the tourism industry lost their jobs.

Thomas Lundman worked in the tourism industry at Te Anau but when covid-19 locked down the country and the tourists stopped visiting, he went dairy farming.

By Anne Boswell

he warmth and support of a Bay of Plenty farming community has helped Te Anau man Thomas Lundman navigate a dramatic career and lifestyle change due to covid-19. Plummeting tourist numbers saw him obliged to leave a five-year career at tourism company Real Journeys earlier this year, and his move from the deep south to the sunny north to take on a farm assistant position for Whakatane sharemilkers Chris and Rosie Mexted is not for the faint-hearted. Although he had grown up on a dairy farm at Winton, his family moved off the farm when he was 12. Throughout high school, he deliberated between a career in tourism or farming. “Given the popularity of Te Anau as a tourist destination, I decided to choose the industry that was thriving most in the region,” he says. He took on a position at the Te Anau Glow Worm Caves and witnessed the company go from strength to strength during the years he was there. “Our team had grown and grown, from 22 to 30 in its peak. We were working from 7am until midnight every day, and that was just at the caves,” he says. “So when covid hit and the team was reduced to five people, it was a really weird feeling. Once lockdown had finished, the team was lucky to do one tour on the weekend.” Lundman says they knew back in midJanuary 2020 that the tourism industry was at risk. “We knew bleak times were approaching as soon as the Chinese market dropped off, with the closure of the border to Chinese nationals,” he says. He finished up at Real Journeys in early April, and his thoughts turned to what he and his fiancé Alice Brogden would do next. “Alice’s family lives in Whakatane, so it was always going to be our destination,” he says. “We intended to work in tourism, or potentially dairy farming, but in the end covid made that decision for me.” He heard about the farm assistant

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December 2020

grazing management side of things – with emphasis on slowly,” he laughs. Although he hadn’t been on a dairy farm since he was a child, he says his memory banks still held a lot of farming information. “Weirdly enough, a lot came back to me. There was obviously a lot stored in the back of my head,” he says.

“I’m exhausted at the end of the day but it’s refreshing; you feel like you’ve done something with your day.”

Thomas Lundman is relishing working as a farm assistant for Whakatane sharemilkers Chris and Rosie Mexted, milking 560 cows.

position by word-of-mouth when Alice received a message from sharemilker Chris Mexted saying, “I hear your partner is looking for a job.” “The interview process was held over the phone and via Facebook. It was laid back and at times a bit of fun, which was really refreshing,” he says. “Chris ended up offering me the job, so

Thomas Lundman lived on a dairy farm until the age of 12 and was always interested in farming but decided on a career in tourism, and was surprised at how much he remembered when he began working as a farm assistant.

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December 2020

we packed up and moved to Whakatane. I started on June 1.” He has adjusted to life on the Mexted’s 140ha farm with little difficulty, milking 560 cows through a 48-bail rotary shed. He undertakes a variety of tasks onfarm, including milking, moving cows, fencing and feeding out. “I’m slowly getting the hang of the

He is enjoying many aspects of dairy farming, including working with animals and feeling as though he has accomplished a satisfying day’s work. “It’s really nice to work with your hands,” he says. “I’m exhausted at the end of the day but it’s refreshing; you feel like you’ve done something with your day. He is also enjoying the change of pace that farming affords. “I’m quite a people person, but I am really enjoying the solitude on-farm,” he says. “Ironically, the biggest thing I miss about tourism is interacting with people.” Lundman says he would like dairy farming to be a part of his professional life in the long-term, although perhaps not as his first focus. “I’d like to look at doing a dairy apprenticeship, but more so dairy farming becomes a trade I can fall back on. “I’d actually really like to become a police officer. I’m sure there are some transferable skills in there somewhere.” He says both the transition from tourism to farming and successfully finding a job have been easier than he expected, thanks in part to the support he has received from his family, the farm staff and the wider community. “The transition has been made easier by having Chris as a supportive boss, as well as Patrick, the other worker on the farm,” he says. “The community has been great as well. It is very different moving from one end of the country to the other, but the community has been very accepting. It has been a good opportunity to meet people.” n

DAIRY CAREERS

Helping hand for Kiwis

anterbury’s agricultural training provider Agri Training is providing a rural retrain foundation programme in the wake of covid-19. The programme is specifically designed to fast-track people into rural jobs as industries feel the impact of the pandemic and more people look to retrain. Project manager Trina Moore sees the need from both ends of the employment spectrum. “We have local businesses desperately needing staff and a programme that is attracting trainees from diverse backgrounds and ages,” Moore says. One thing all the trainees have in common is their transferable skills. “We have had a seismic oil vessel captain, aviation technician, ex-police officer and cafe owner, and these people are not just local Cantabrians. They come from as far north as Auckland and as far south as Invercargill,” she says. Three rural retrain programmes have been held so far, which she says were “overwhelmingly successful.” “From our first cohort, 91% went into permanent full-time employment with one person moving into further education and another taking on a part-time position, while from our second cohort we already have 60% in full-time employment and the remaining participants working with our

recruitment partners Agstaff and New Zealand Dairy Careers on opportunities,” she says. “We provide more than just training. We provide ongoing pastoral support and we work with industry recruitment partners to help the transition from trainee to work. For most trainees, such as Loriaan Meyer, it is a big change in lifestyle. Meyer shifted her whole family south after getting a dairying job following the training. “I relocated my husband and three children from the North Island for work,” she says. This also meant work for her husband, using his trade skills. “But the biggest thing I got is the ability to stand up and say ‘I can do this,’ it gave me confidence”, she says. Graduate trainee Amy Luckhurst returned from England to covid-hit New Zealand and no job. With a degree in biological sciences, numerous job applications going unanswered and no thought of going into the primary industries, she registered for the online training. “I landed a dairying job on the last day of training. I never thought it would work out so well,” she says. While dairying has provided a high percentage of work for the trainees, the training provides a whole insight into the primary industries.

Trainee Nathan Eggleton saw new avenues in which to build his current skills on. “There are so many more layers to this than I anticipated. I can look at something like sales through seed and crop. It’s like covid shut one door and opened another,” he says. The rural retrain programme begins with a free four-day online webinar where trainees gain an understanding of what it is to work in the primary industries. From engaging industry speakers and practical take home tasks to soft skills like CV writing and interview techniques. For those eligible, the webinar is paired with a free 13-day live in rural retrain programme, designed to give trainees both practical hands-on learning, supported with some classroom learning. “We get the trainees together to promote teamwork and early starts. We train on everything from health and safety and mental health in the rural sectors to calf-rearing, working in a woolshed to riding quad bikes, pasture management and opportunities in the primary industries that are not on-farm,” Moore says. n

The next online webinar starts on January 25, 2021, followed closely by the rural retrain programme on February 15, which is held at Agri Training’s training facility in Winchmore.

An Agri Training tutor shows a group of trainees the ropes in the milking shed.

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

DAIRY CAREERS

Farming wants you

ith New Zealand borders closed to many skilled agricultural workers who are unable to enter the country due to covid-19, the shortage of labour across the board in agriculture is worsening. The shortage of staff has been the catalyst for the establishment of a Rural Careers Day as an extension of the Ford Ranger New Zealand Rural Games being held in Palmerston North next year. NZ Rural Games Trust chairperson Margaret Kouvelis MNZM says the unprecedented demand for people to take on jobs and careers in the rural sector across Aotearoa is what has spurred the trust to set up and run the NZ Rural Careers Day. “Before covid-19, there was a lot of demand for staff across rural NZ. Today, that situation is exacerbated, causing wages across the sector to rise,” Kouvelis says. “We have a once in a generation chance to encourage our young people into careers in rural areas, which in turn will help bring vibrancy back to the small towns and settlements across our country.” Kouvelis says the day would have a heavy focus on industry bodies – the people who work with people working in the fields, sheds, gardens, orchards and forests. “They know first-hand the opportunities that are there and the amazingly rewarding lifestyle that you get from living in rural NZ,” she says.

Careers Day will be held during the New Zealand Rural Games next year, to entice more people into agriculture. The Forestry Industry will be one of many organisations showcasing their sector. “We’ve seen wages across the rural sector rising faster than we’ve seen in decades and many young people are simply not aware of the opportunities available.” The Games founder Steve Hollander says he is “super excited to bring the Careers Day to the New Zealand Rural Games stable of events.” “We are proudly rural and supportive of closing the urban-rural gap, and this event will help us achieve that,” Hollander says. “Rural New Zealand is on the rise again, and we’re focused on ensuring young people from urban areas get to understand the opportunities and the unbeatable lifestyle that you can afford in our towns and settlements across the country.” The event will run alongside the Clash of the Colleges – teams from 15 secondary schools across the mid and lower North Island compete in rural tasks

to take home bragging rights in the juniors’ and seniors’ sections. Alongside that is the STIHL Timbersports® Ladies and Rookie Championships and the NZ Rural Games Golf Cup. The Careers Day will be held on Friday, March 12, 2021. That night is the Norwood NZ Rural Sports Awards, and on the Saturday and Sunday is the Ford Ranger NZ Rural Games. The day will host the following organisations: NZ Arborist Association; Fencing Contractors Association of NZ; NZ Shearing Association; UCOL; Beef + Lamb NZ; DairyNZ; HortNZ; Southern North Island Forestry Association; Talent Central and ACG Training.

The Careers Day will be held on March, 12, 2021 in The Square, Palmerston North. Registrations of interest close on December 4. Email: info@ruralgames.co.nz for further information or to register.

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production is not jeopardised. “We need food so other sectors need to do better. “This is a breath of someone to finally fresh air for say Rankin says while that.” reports have been previous scathing of farming, this one is less so. “I felt like this report has helped us turn a corner, that affected by climate farmers are change but we The Intergovernme also really need them.” on Climate Change ntal Panel The report found (IPCC) report global food is being welcomed systems account by New for a quarter of Zealand farming greenhouse gas leaders as an emissions and endorsement of agricultural emissions of nitrous our low impact systems and the oxide and methane importance of are increasing. maintaining food But land also has production. a role as a The IPCC says carbon sink, absorbing land on which 30% of the we rely for food, planet’s greenhouse water, gas emissions health and wellbeing energy, between 2008 and 2017. is already under pressure Crop production and climate is being change will exacerbate affected by higher temperatures, through desertification that changing rain patterns degradation potentially and land frequency of extreme and greater affecting events. food security. The report warns consumption The report’s advocacy patterns, land management and balanced diet including of a population growth will determine animal protein sourced the planet’s future from resilient, in a changing sustainable, low climate. greenhouse systems is an endorsement gas “Pathways with higher demand for NZ, for food, Beef + Lamb chief feed, and water, insight officer more ON-FARM training Jeremy Baker says. resource-inten courses have an sive consumption important role to “This is the NZ She said there should and production play red and more limited always future, Feilding High in agriculture’s be an opportunity production system. meat technological improvements Reesby said the to role that form Meaghan Reesby School student training because do practical of training plays “It is definitely in agriculture yields, says. trained in increasing the not saying that The year 13 pupil result in a better understanding staff have skills of people in we all need to higher risks from of how their agriculture should become vegetarian agri-commerce at plans study water scarcity workplaces, such not be overlooked Massey University or vegan.” in drylands, land as farms, function, and any future next year but said degradation and which is good for changes in how not everyone employers and It is an opportunity food insecurity.” training course are interested in agriculture employees. delivered needs to ramp wants to go up promotion to remember that. Report contributor to university. of the Taste Pure Feilding High School The daughter of Associate Himatangi dairy Nature brand, Professor Anita Some people prefer can build their practicalpupils farmers, Meaghan’s to tell Wreford, of farming global meat eaters 40 million on approach, whether a more handsLincoln University’s experience while on the family farm, brother works about NZ’s lowthat is through at school by Agribusiness complementing a cadetship or beginning carbon footprint, and Economic taking courses offered what he learns at he says. Research Unit, work with building their knowledge a job and Gateway, a programme through DairyNZ climate says it shows the practical courses, through change importance of for young while her sister courses offered people in their last ambassador Trish also is also full time not implementing by workplace year of school Rankin is on contradictory the farm, training that allows them providers such as fitting her Massey heartened the policies. to Primary report says some course work ITO. training made up complete around that. sectors need to “The report is of theory and reduce their highly practical unit standards. emissions faster for NZ as we grapple relevant to ensure food MORE: trade-offs involved with the greenhouse gas P3 emissions, with reducing adapting to the change, managing impacts of climate the areas we value and maintaining supporting our communities and and societies in this process. Neal Wallace

neal.wallace@glo balhq.co.nz

HE red meat industry hopes to ramp up its Taste Pure Nature brand campaign on the back of international climate the latest change report.

DAIRY FARMER

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A place to belong By Sonita Chandar

Covid-19 spelt the end of an OE for one young woman who returned to New Zealand only to be rejected for dozens of jobs before finding her place in dairy farming.

my Luckhurst was enjoying the OE of a lifetime. She had been in the UK since June 2019, had seen the sights, taken a tour and was ready to start work at a rollercoaster park in England. She had just completed her training when her dad got in touch. “Dad said, ‘this covid thing is getting bad and you need to come home now.’ He bought me a ticket and I was out of there,” Luckhurst says. Up until that phone call, she had little idea of just how serious things were becoming. “The media in England wasn’t reporting covid correctly and were saying it was nothing more than a bad cold. “I had no idea of the danger I was actually in.” She had been in Stoke on Trent in West Midlands – the area was to become the first place in England to experience an outbreak. “It was a hotspot and I had no idea.

Thank goodness I had dad looking out for me.” She is one of the lucky ones arriving home the day before NZ went into lockdown and a few days before mandatory quarantine kicked in. But being back home with no job and income was not easy, so she began applying for jobs. At one point she was completing 50 applications per day. She felt the four years she spent at university completing a Bachelor in Science majoring in botany and minoring in physical geography was worthless. “I felt like somehow I had been irresponsible about everything I had done, even though I had basically followed the playbook the Government sets out. It was really disheartening to think the system doesn’t work,” she says. Although a Bachelor of Science is a useful tool in agriculture, she had never considered farming. “It wasn’t even on my radar, it was so far away from what I saw myself doing.”

But an advert on television caught her attention and she found Agri Training on the internet. “I was like, you know what, maybe that might be an idea. I love plants, so maybe I could get into growing or harvesting. And I like driving and I’ve got heavy machinery experience because I did rollercoaster operating when I was in the UK.” She took the punt and registered her interest and received information about an upcoming webinar event. The webinars ran over two days and it was a crash course introducing agriculture, talking about the lifestyle, what was on offer and covering basic health and safety. There were 300 people that registered interest for the webinar and 30 were selected for a practical training course that ran over two weeks. “I was one of those 30; it was really heartening after all the rejection,” she says. Launching straight into practical skill

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

planned start date. It was an incredible feeling. Especially to happen so quickly after so much waiting to hear back from all the job applications I had submitted,” she said. She started in the middle of calving but the team eased her into it, exposing her to different elements of the farm system and working out what she was good at and what she needed to work on. “I was chucked in the deep end, but I was high on life. It was such a good feeling having something to do and being useful,” she says. My first stint was seven days in a row, then I had three days off and I struggled to sleep in because I was so keen and happy.” She is loving the lifestyle; the farm is 363 hectares and milks 1430 cows through a 70-bail rotary. There is a lot of technology on the farm and she enjoys learning all aspects of the job. “We’ve got the perfect amount of cows

for the perfect amount of grass and the irrigation system seems to have the right amount of water – and we’ve got the right consents for it all,” she says. “It’s really incredible how complicated it all is, but I’m loving all the learning.” Prior to starting work on the farm, she had known how important farming is and how much we rely on it, but had no idea how much work goes on behind the farm gate. “I was ignorant; I was very green orientated before I started working on a farm. I used to believe a lot of the bad propaganda you see in the media, but once you work on a farm you realise it’s only certain people that are ruining it for the rest,” she says. And overall, they actually do a really good job and are environmentally aware.” She has begun a farming apprenticeship through Primary ITO and does not imagine leaving farming any time soon, she is very thankful to have found her place. n

Trainees on the Agri Training programme were taught everything from sheep and beef to fencing to planting trees. Amy gets a taste of sheep farming.

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training, on the second day the trainees were taught how to ride a motorbike. “I was terrified, I’d only ridden one once and had crashed into a tree stump. But you wouldn’t know now. In fact, my boss has warned me to slow down when I’m out on the quad on the farm.” Trainees have since learnt to drive tractors, fencing, studied stockyards and drafting systems, visited a sheep milking farm, talk to sharemilkers and plant trees. “There was a huge variety of agriculturally-related experiences jammed into the two weeks,” she says. “It wasn’t just showing us the nice parts of farming, we literally dug holes and built part of a fence on one of the trainer’s farms and that was really cool.” Health and safety was covered, so the trainees learnt the potential risks and were taught basic first aid skills. “They basically gave us a toolkit to start working on a farm, but because every farm is different, they couldn’t give us a book of exactly what we needed to do. They gave us a vague introduction to almost everything, I really enjoyed it,” she says. Many of her class have landed jobs across the sector. A former ship captain became involved in health and safety and now helps train others on the course. Others have landed roles on orchards, sheep and beef farms and several secured positions on high country stations. Before the practical training, Luckhurst told her tutor she would be interested in anything but dairy. But the course changed her mind and before the end of the two weeks she was offered a position on a dairy farm 10 minutes out of Leeston with Tony and Eleanor Williams. “They took us for interviews on some dairy farms that were looking for staff. I walked away with a job offer and a

DAIRY CAREERS

Hanzon Jobs managing director Richard Houston had been working with local contractors to bring in seasonal workers from overseas, but due to border restrictions, he is having to look closer to home.

It takes a village By Anne Boswell

Border controls are keeping skilled operators out so the search for people to fill contracting jobs has gone local.

hen Richard Houston’s concerns around agricultural worker shortages fell on deaf ears, he took matters into his own hands – with encouraging results. As managing director of Hanzon Jobs, an agricultural contracting personnel agency based in Golden Bay, Houston says he started lobbying the Government in May to open the borders to workers crucial to the success of the contracting season. “With border restrictions already in full effect, I could see what was going to happen when the season started in September,” he says. “Covid-19 has thrown a spanner in the works for contractors who would usually rely on overseas machinery operators to get through a very busy season.” For the past 12 years, Hanzon has

worked with around 160 small-tomedium size contracting businesses nationwide to secure around 80 seasonal staff from Ireland and the United Kingdom every year. Large contractors take care of themselves and bring in around 15-20 operators each. Houston, who did a lot of his own training in Australia and England, says he tried to explain the financial and moral implications of worker shortages, but to no avail. “Border restrictions have resulted in a serious shortage of skilled and experienced machinery operators – up to 2000 people – and agricultural contractors are under serious pressure to get harvesting and cultivation jobs done without the usual team,” he says. “If we lose 15% of predicted dry matter production through crops not going in, poor quality silage and so on, the New

Zealand dairy herd will be short 4.2 million tonnes of dry matter – equating to 93 ships, each carrying 45,000 tonnes of palm kernel. “That’s not an inconsiderable amount,” he says. In September, the Government announced it would grant border exceptions for up to 210 agricultural and horticultural machinery operators. However, this number is only around half of what is required, and only 58 workers were admitted to the country in the first intake with the rest arriving in February. Unable to stand by and do nothing, Houston joined forces with fellow human resources company Global Career HQ (GCHQ). They decided to stick to their core business of helping people find jobs – but focusing internally, rather than externally. “As international travel could be

DAIRY FARMER

December 2020

“As international travel could be interrupted for a long time, we shifted the focus from helping people find jobs overseas, to helping people find work locally.” Richard Houston interrupted for a long time, we shifted the focus from helping people find jobs overseas, to helping people find work locally,” he says. “Part of that is helping people from industries most affected by covid-19, by identifying transferable skills and building retraining into our business.” To help contractors get trainees up to speed, Hanzon Jobs, with support from the Government, provides a free training mentoring programme to support new people starting a career in agricultural contracting. And a key part of the mentoring programme is a new app My Hanzon. “There was definitely a gap where people new to contracting had no way of validating the hours they were putting in,” he says. “My Hanzon not only helps operators from other industries who are transferring their skill base, but also young people who have grown up driving agricultural machinery and already have a sound knowledge of the industry, but no formal training.” With My Hanzon, each day is divided into four units. “If it’s raining the operator could spend the first unit doing workshop tasks, they could be mowing for the second and third units, and they could be raking for the fourth unit,” he says.

A shortage of agricultural workers has thrown a spanner in the works for contractors who usually rely on overseas machinery operators.

The app also records details of the terrain and conditions the operators are working to, as well as non-technical competencies such as turning up on time and professionalism. “If a contractor has seen potential in someone and has taken them under their wing, this can be a great way to assess the training they receive and how they put it into action,” he says. “Contractors naturally do a lot of training with employees during the season as it’s a very hands-on, practical training process.” Houston says he hopes the app will also attract more school-aged young people to the industry. “There are kids who don’t enjoy the academic side of school very much, but excel at more hands-on subjects, who

Agricultural contractors are under serious pressure to get harvesting and cultivation jobs done without the usual team many of whom are stuck overseas.

would be ideal candidates for a future in contracting,” he says. “There are also kids who have been driving tractors every weekend from the age of 10, who, with the app, are now able to report and validate their experience, allowing them to start a professional job on a good salary instead of starting at the bottom of the pile.” He says they are trying to fix the current worker shortage situation the best they can, as well as focusing on the future. “The collaboration between Hanzon and GCHQ is the start of an enduring business relationship, and we’re hoping it will secure existing jobs for now and create more jobs for others in our community in the future,” he says. n

DAIRY CAREERS

Bringing home the bacon

fter six years of gruelling study in Dunedin, Jamie Rohan was planning to become a lawyer. In need of quick cash after university finished, he took up a job at a wood manufacturing plant. On his way there, he’d drive past the Fonterra Edendale plant so he decided to apply for an apprenticeship at Fonterra and got accepted, throwing in the towel on being a lawyer and diving into dairy. “Law is quite frivolous and adversarial, and I decided it wasn’t really something I wanted to do. I feel like I have more of a life now than I would if I went into law – I have balance,” he says. Rohan is loving how much variety is in the role; in a few weeks’ time, he’ll be learning about cheese. “Milk comes in, it gets spun out into cream and skim milk and then we process it, taking out the stuff we don’t want and removing all the water, before it gets sent off to confectionary companies and restaurants,” he says. “It’s pretty amazing how much goes into producing these products like milk powder and cheese. “I’ve only been in the role since April and I’m already learning so much; I am so glad I made the change.” Going from studying law to manufacturing wood to processing milk, he admits it’s all a bit strange. But his advice to others thinking about getting into the primary sector is simple. “You get out what you want to put into it. You’ve got people who want to drive a

Jamie Rohan spent six years studying law but after he graduated, decided it wasn’t for him, so went to work at Fonterra Edendale where he learned about manufacturing the various products.

forklift and you’ve also got all this scope to move up if you want to with internal training programs – opportunities are there if you want them, there’s so much variety,” he says. Opportunity Grows Here is helping to attract 10,000 New Zealanders into primary sector jobs over the next four years, by providing information about careers, jobs, and training. Opportunities are spread across animal farming, fisheries, forestry, horticulture

Looking for the complete package? We’ve got you covered with digital and print options.

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and winegrowing, and require a wide variety of skills and backgrounds, including machinery operation, administration, management and animal care. n

The Ministry for Primary Industries has worked with sector groups and training establishments to provide information about the kind of jobs and training available at opportunitygrowshere.nz

DAIRY CAREERS

A rewarding career By Anne Boswell

sk anyone who works in dairy farming whether it is a rewarding career, and the answer is usually a resounding yes. Much of the knowledge and experience acquired by a dairy farmer is amassed on the job, but there is much to be said for gaining formal qualifications as you move along the dairy farming ladder. Not only do formal qualifications ensure that there are no gaps in your knowledge of farm tasks – aptitude in a wide range of duties is desirable – but they are also clarification of your experience and competence in a particular role. Something much appreciated and sought-after by potential employers. And even once you have reached a high level of proficiency in the job, with years of experience under your belt, the learning doesn’t stop. Workshops and

short courses are beneficial to refresh your knowledge, learn new skills and overcome any challenges you may be facing as your business grows. Dairy Training Ltd delivers the off-job component of Primary ITO courses for NZQA qualifications levels 2-6, offering a range of courses for dairy employees, farmers and rural professionals throughout the industry. Since its inception in 2002, Dairy Training has provided a range of courses, from full programmes for formal qualifications to short courses and workshops, suitable for staff at all levels of dairy farming – from farm assistants to farm managers, contract milkers, sharemilkers and farm owners. Nineteen courses are offered to farm workers and rural professionals throughout four categories – business, environment, people and seasonal. Business courses comprise skills that support the day-to-day running

of the farm business, such as business planning, benchmarking, and financial planning and budgeting. The environmental course on offer is centred on resource management, including making the most of farm resources, being aware of best practice, and knowing the compliance and regulatory rules a dairy farmer must abide by. Courses under the seasonal category covers pasture management, milk harvesting, mating, calving and health, and summer management of pasture and crops. And finally, people courses cover progression management, health and safety, leadership, human resources, presentation skills and vehicle skills. n

For more information contact admin@ dairytraining.co.nz, visit www.dairytraining. co.nz or phone 0800 467768.

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December 2020

Dairy Diary December 2020 December 1 – Dairy Women’s Network Allflex, IDEXX and MSD Animal Health are proud to deliver this practical on-farm workshop focused on how technology is a game changer and the importance of the BVD dairy framework. This three-hour workshop in Kaipara is suited to farmers and vets wanting to understand the importance of technology and eradicating BVD on your farm. Info at www.dwn.co.nz/events December 1-3 – DairyNZ MilkSmart Far North, Northland and Lower Northland. MilkSmart is all about increasing milking efficiency on the farm, resulting in benefits for farm staff and the cows. Josh Wheeler has been one of the key drivers behind MilkSmart and has vast experience in optimising milking routine and milking machine set up to improve milking performance. Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz December 2 and 4 – Dairy Women’s Network Sharpen up your writing and feel more confident with Shelly Davies Roadshow writing workshop Truth, Power Inspire dinner event in Dunsandel and Invercargill. Join us for dinner and let Shelly Davies rock your world as she shows up in a way that’s uniquely hers and pretty irresistible: with vulnerability and authenticity. There is a cost for both of these events. Info at www.dwn.co.nz/events December 2 – DairyNZ Southland Biz Start progression group 2020-21- Module 2 Budgeting is an introduction to the principles of personal and farm business budgeting; this session will equip you to develop and update personal budgets and understand the building blocks for farm business budgeting. Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz December 2 – DairyNZ Resilience during adversity field day Canterbury/North Otago. Resilience is key and there are systems that can be put in place to help overcome adversity. Come along to this special edition field day at John O’Connell’s farm in Eiffelton to hear him and others talk about their experiences and how you can be prepared for adversity. Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz December 3 – Lincoln Agritech Lincoln Agritech and Plant & Food scientists will discuss current research results, issues and benefits around catch crop establishment including crop type, cultivation and soil management methods from the last three years at Southland’s Catch Crop field day. Participating farmers will discuss the costsavings and economics of including a catch crop in a winter forage rotation. Info at www.lincolnagritech.co.nz/ December 4 – SMASH Milk Price Fixing - The Fundamentals online event. Nigel McWilliam, of MBS Advisors, chats with farmer Gaynor Tierney, about her experiences with milk price fixing this season, and Satwant Singh, Commodity Risk and Trading, Fonterra. Info at www.smallerherds.co.nz

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December 8 – SMASH Spotlight on the System – Pukehina, Bay of Plenty. Host Frankie Stevens is contract milking on Stu Roberts’ farm. They will outline how they have set up a solid contract milking arrangement that works for them, particularly since they have made a conscious decision to decrease intensity. Info at www.smallerherds.co.nz December 8 – DairyNZ Coastal Taranaki High Altitude December Group/Social. Come see some innovative environmental advances on-farm and enjoy a catch-up before Christmas and the holidays. Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz December 9 – Extension 350 Leroy and Kirsty have recently finished their third season participating with the Extension 350 project. If you’re a farmer or rural professional, this is your chance to find out about Northland’s Extension 350 Project at one of 10 public field days being held across the region. Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz December 10 and 11 - DairyNZ FeedRight Workshop, Lincoln. There is a cost involved and registration essential Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz December 11 – SMASH Spotlight on the System Pakotai. Graeme Edwards is innovating on his farm, with the goal of achieving sustainable profitability. Come along to gain an insight into his operation. Info at www.smallerherds.co.nz December 15 – DairyNZ Succeed In Business 2020-21. Succeed in Business Group a forum for like-minded farmers, developed for those who want to enhance their skills and career options. A series of five events (October-March) covering goal setting, contracts, running an efficient office, budgets and cashflows, compliance and selfemployment. Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz December 15 – DairyNZ Taranaki Organics Group. This farm system is renowned as innovative and constantly pushing the boundaries. Come and check out what is happening. Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz January 20 – DairyNZ Tiller Talk Manawatu. This group is a small group of like-minded farmers who meet 7-8 times over 12 months, supported by partner agronomists to provide technical expertise. Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz

BURGESS FARM

Ashlynne Wise Cassandra Wise and Blossom

The most amazing calf club community in the world. www.calfclubnz.co.nz

and Coconut

Dairy Farmer December 2020

Articles inside

Dairy careers

Technology

Research

Farmstrong

Milk Monitor

Life as a solo farmer

Demand through the roof

Industry good

Guest column – Tim Mackle