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autumn calving has brought that we didn’t even think of. The way we manage pasture has changed. We can now graze grass at the optimum time rather than saving it up. Before autumn calving, we did a lot more summer cropping with chicory, but it put pressure on the system and put holes in the feed wedge by having to take paddocks out of rotation for cropping. Now we’re a lot more flexible and less pressured,” he says.
Previously, during summer, they would have to sit on a 30-day round and couldn’t fully feed the cows without a lot of supplements. Now they can push the rounds out to 40-45 days because they don’t have that pressure of a full milking herd. It’s helped with pasture survivability and been a really positive spin-off for the farm and cows.
The change has meant his designated calving paddocks have changed. Under a spring calving system, he would save the drier land for calving, which also happened to be his best-producing winter and spring land.
“Now we are able to calve on the wetter land, which means I can utilise the better paddocks. While I haven’t measured it properly, it seems to allow us to grow more feed,” he says.
The key to the success of the switch has been in the existing infrastructure. A 300-cow feedpad and large effluent storage capacity meant that milking over the winter was logistically and environmentally doable for them.
“I wouldn’t recommend doing autumn calving without that infrastructure in place. The biggest thing was knowing we had the effluent storage capacity to cope with winter milking. The last thing I wanted to do was create adverse environmental effects, so that was something I was very mindful of when we first made the decision,” he says.
With a small winter milk contract, financially, they get a bit more for their milk, but he says that was never a driving factor for the change. It’s always been about finding a way of working the farm that suited the land and the cows. Angus bulls are being used over the heifers to enable them to sell calves into the beef market and has found a buyer to take all their black AB bulls, a relationship he hopes will continue in future years.
A few years into autumn calving, they are thinking about implementing a OAD policy from December 1. With the bulk of the season’s production already in the bag by then, change to any loss of production should be minimal. It gives him and his team flexibility over the holiday period, it also takes the pressure off the cows through the heat of the summer.
Booth could talk about the pros of autumn calving for his farm till the cows come home – it’s been a brilliant fit for the farm and the cows – and while his transition was slightly unconventional, it worked in his favour. While the lameness issues from cows walking to shed in winter is an issue that weighs on him a bit, he has plans to revamp the laneways to make it easier on the cows and says that full-season OAD isn’t off the cards either.
“There haven’t been a lot of drawbacks to it for us. We have increased farm production with the same inputs and 40 less cows as we did in a spring calving system and have had all these added benefits. The infrastructure piece of the puzzle is huge though, and something I think farmers really need to think about before making the switch,” he says. n
AGRICULTURE IS OUR CULTURE
It’s the Pulse of the nation
Northland farmer Andrew Booth switched his farming system to autumn calving four years and ago and says it is the best thing he has done.
Jason Turner and a team member take feed out to the calves.
Feeding production
By Ross Nolly
A Waikato farmer found many benefits from autumn calving, but had to give it up. Given the chance, he would go back to the split-calving system.
To achieve optimum cow health and milk production, dairy farmers need to have a solid understanding of dairy cow nutrition, Waikato farmer Jason Turner says.
He and wife Rowan operate a 118-hectare family farm near Te Awamutu. He has been working on the farm since 1998 and they purchased it 12 years ago. The farm had been splitcalving but changed to seasonal four years ago after the 52ha support block was sold.
“It was nice to be running around your cows and calves in shorts rather than wet weather gear. We stopped winter milking after we sold the support block, but we’re actually doing better production without winter milking,” Jason says.
“I’d return to winter milking if I had a support block and was able to winter cows off the farm. The cowshed is still there and we’re here to make milk.”
The premium milk cheque provided a cashflow through the winter, but it wasn’t the only benefit. He found that by calving down his cows in autumn, they held onto 1.8-2 kilograms of milksolids through to Christmas.
“There are far fewer animal health issues too. Winter milking retains your good empty cows and summer calving practically eliminates any downed cows. Calves do better because they aren’t battling the cold environment,” he says.
They milk 345 cows and winter 405. For the past two years he has milked some of his good empty cows through winter once-a-day to allow them to get back in-calf. It gives him the opportunity to sell some in-calf and budget cows.
“This season we winter milked 30 cows, but we didn’t supply Fonterra, we sold the milk to an autumn bull calf rearer. He pays 15-20 cents per litre, but it’s not about the money, it’s about keeping those good cows,” he says.
“We tailed some cows in August and received good money for them in September because farmers weren’t selling cows due to calving.”
The herd is crossbred with an emphasis on F12 cows. Last season it produced 177,000kg MS and 198,000 kg MS during the previous season. He expects to achieve 175,000kg MS this season.
They grow 26ha of maize for silage and last season made 600 silage bales. He buys eight tonnes of tapioca bulk per month to go in the mixer wagon with maize silage. The herd is fed a feed blend throughout the season.
“We have our own contracting equipment and purchase standing grass from lifestyle blocks and 4ha from a neighbour. If you do a bit here and there you end up with quite a few extra bales. I pay a good rate for the grass because I don’t have to pay a contractor,” he says.
Through fewer cows and better feeding, production has increased but it has not been at the expense of animal health. Conversely, they’ve achieved this and improved herd health.
Six years ago he began using Ruminate on the farm. Prior to using Ruminate, the herd was averaging 130,000159,000kg MS (winter milking), but after introducing the product, it produced 175,000-179,000 (spring calving).
“I like to try something different. If you continue doing what you’ve always done, you always achieve the same result. I tried it because of the aspects they aimed to achieve with their products.
I thought it’d be pretty cool to achieve similar results from my cows,” he says.
He immediately noticed that his cows were healthier and there were fewer sick cows and fatalities. The cows seemed happier, more content and more settled.
“We run a high starch diet. That’s why we use a lot of carbohydrates – maize silage, tapioca and the kibbled maize – in the silo blend. This gives the cows high energy, keeps their weight on, helps them cycle well and gives us better incalf rates,” he says.
They use Ruminate to balance the cows’ diet throughout the year, improve animal health and increase production. The herd now has 25 fewer cows but produces similar quantities of MS to previous seasons.
“This season we calved 71% of our herd in three weeks and 82% in six weeks. A couple of years ago we piled the feed into the cows. It wasn’t overly profitable, but we produced 198,00kg MS,” he says.
“We fed them whatever we wanted and didn’t really stick to the budget, which the bank wasn’t overly happy about. We still made a profit, but are now making better profits due to that year of feeding. We’ve fine-tuned things over the last two seasons. That year of feeding really compacted our calving period.”
The following year they calved 69% in three weeks. An added bonus was that those cows had extra cycles before mating. The past two seasons have had very similar mating results.
The herd has an 89.5% in-calf rate from a nine week mating period. There are 24 days of AI before Hereford bulls are used.
“Last year we raised 120 replacements and sold 40 to China. They took some crossbreds but they mostly wanted Friesians. We only sold the low BW calves,” he says.
“I’ve reared calves for a long time and I’m a bit over it, but it helped me purchase the farm. I reared calves on leased blocks and also reared a few dairy heifer calves to join the herd.”
This season they raised 78 replacements and 100 Friesian and Hereford cross bull and heifer calves. He’s been selling to the same buyer for four years. For the past two years his buyer hasn’t even seen the calves, he’s just sent them off to his Hawke’s Bay farmer who is always happy with them.
The calves are fed meal from day one and twice a day until they’re 22 days old before going onto once-a-day feeding. Colostrum and whole milk is fed to the dairy replacements. They use Queen of Calves and they are weaned at 90kg.
The feed regime allows him to wean his calves earlier. Target information from vets and MINDA has shown him that at 10-12 weeks old, his calves are approximately 20kg heavier than the average.
He says mineral supplements are important no matter what season you calve and feels that the most important requirement is to put the right food into your cows at the correct time. He’s found that it’s not ideal to feed a lot of protein when grass protein is high.
“They need the energy from starch. If a cow’s milk urea is too high it can affect their conception rate. During spring, many feed their cows DDG, molasses and maybe kibbled maize. The high milk urea levels (due to the high protein spring grass) can severely impact in-calf rates,” he says.
“It’s taken us a while to get to where we are, but the last two years have been really good. The biggest gain for us from using Ruminate is that it’s increased our profitability and decreased animal losses. A cow can only eat so much. But if they can better digest and utilise their feed, you get more production from the same animal.” n
Six years ago the Turners began using Ruminate on the farm and found production increased.
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Winter milk returns boosts interest
By Sonita Chandar
There are pros and cons to making the switch to autumn calving from spring and farmers should do their homework to ensure it will be a good fit for their farm.
The need for autumn calving herds to supply fresh milk for daily consumption has always existed and will always be needed for New Zealand consumers and export markets that require milk “out of season”.
Previously called Town Milk, the industry was deregulated in the early 1990s, removing the NZ Milk Board’s control of the milk price setting, and shifted it to individual processors.
As a result, winter milk contracts were offered with lower premiums but even today, for those autumn calving farms, the winter milk premium on offer provides a boost to farm revenue to compensate for additional costs.
Massey University Masters graduate Jake Jarman studied autumn calving for his thesis and says “recent changes to the winter milk premium payment structure has increased farmer interest in changing to an autumn-calving system”.
“Increasing local and international demand for fresh dairy products, like ultra-heat-treated milk and cream in China for example, has led to processors requiring greater quantities of fresh milk during the traditionally minimal winter supply period.”
Climate change, the winter milk premium, as well as potentially other factors may be the reason a farmer decides to change spring calving to autumn.
For example, matching feed supply to demand can be a challenge for spring calving farmers in some regions where hot dry summer conditions lead to pasture growth stalling and for some regions winter pasture growth becoming more reliable than summer pasture growth.
In an autumn calving system, the herd is dry during the hot dry summer months and the demand for feed is not as high.
However, despite the benefits of calving cows in warm sunshine with less mud, less mastitis and on firmer ground, the quality of autumn pasture is often lower than spring pasture and supplementary feed may need to be used early lactation.
“In many cases, autumn-calving systems may require supplementary feed during early lactation to fill feed deficits as a result of declining pasture growth rates,” Jarman says.
“In contrast, spring-calving systems may require supplementary feed in late lactation to fill feed deficits.
Jarman’s studies found the greater need for supplementary feed can increase the cost of production and the success of changing to autumn calving can be influenced by what existing supplementary feeding infrastructure the farmer has. For example, feed pads can reduce wastage or in-shed feeding can reduce wastage. If capital has already been invested in this infrastructure it helps with the change.
DairyNZ farm systems specialist Chris Glassey says one potential advantage of autumn calving for drier summer areas highlighted by the work at Dairy Trust Taranaki’s Kavanagh farm, is that it means that autumn herds will have better quality pasture to eat in late lactation compared with spring calving herds in dry summers and this leads to better daily milk production and more days in milk.
Glassey says there are three common approaches to transitioning to autumn calving we are aware of farmers taking. These are:
Massey University Master graduate Jake Jarman studies autumn calving for his thesis and says there are several factors that influence farmer’s decisions to switch. Jake with Dairy Trust Taranaki operations manager, Debbie McCallum.
1. Selling the spring-calving herd and buying an autumn-calving herd 2. Gradually transitioning cows to autumn-calving over a number of seasons. In essence the farm is operated like a split-calving farm for a number of seasons 3. Complete a whole herd transition across two seasons.
For options 2 and 3, extended lactations occur.
From a farm management perspective, achieving any of the three approaches above requires three main on-farm decisions to be made to initiate the change: 1. Decide to sell the current herd, and decide when to sell them and when to receive the new herd 2. For the replacement heifers decide either mate them earlier than normal or delay their mating 3. For the current milking herd decide either mate them earlier than normal or delay their mating
Each farm is different and farmers are choosing to adopt different combinations of the six options above.
There also needs to be careful financial planning and forecasting undertaken as the transition cost to autumn calving can be significant. These costs can include lost income from reduced milk production and increased feed costs and the potential extra cost of purchasing autumn calving cows.
There also needs to be a detailed examination of the farm’s suitability to produce winter milk. This includes looking at issues like the local climatic conditions and soil suitability for winter milking.
“Changing calving season from spring to autumn represents a significant systems-level change to a farm, which impacts on its’ biophysical and economic performance,” Jarman says.
“It also represents an investment that has potential short-term net costs that must be offset by potential long-term net gains. Farmers utilising an extended lactation to change calving season must understand how the transition period will impact on their farm business in both the short and long term, what factors, benefits, and challenges they need to be aware of, and how their unique farm attributes may, or may not, influence these.” n DairyNZ farm systems specialist, Chris Glassey, says there are three common approaches to transitioning to autumn calving of which two are extended lactation.
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Split pressure
By Samantha Tennent
Switching from a spring calving farm to one that has a splitcalving system, was not a walk in the park for one Waikato farming couple but over time they have come to appreciate what it has to offer.
When first-time sharemilkers Glenn and Georgie van Heuven moved onto a splitcalving farm, they did not realise some of the challenges they would have to face calving and mating twice a year.
While it was a shock to the system, they have settled into split-calving well and enjoy the perks, and after four seasons they feel they have a better handle on what is going on and they appreciate the challenges that come from having two calving periods.
“We definitely underestimated how hard it was going to be when we first started,” Glenn says.
“We were sharemilking for the first time on a new farm and went straight into a mating period, we didn’t have time to get our bearings.
“But it’s been getting easier every
The van Heuvens have been autumn calving for the past four seasons but when they first moved to a split-calving farm, they had little idea of the challenges they would face. Glenn on the farm at Matamata. The farm is growing more grass in winter than in summer and split-calving is helping match feed demand with supply. They are using supplements as winter feed for production.
season and we have had great support from the farm owners Sid and Dellas Anderton and we talked to the previous sharemilker a lot in the early days.”
The Van Heuvens had been contract milking on Glenn’s family farm near Matamata. The System 3 farm was spring calving, but the new farm was a complete change being split-calving, operating as a System 5 with a feedpad.
“As much as we like to keep it simple, there’s no hiding from the intensity of System 5 farming, the cows are on the feedpad every day of the year,” he says.
The farm is flat with good soil and highly stocked at 4.2 cows a hectare. They feed maize, palm kernel and silage throughout the season and if the payout drops they will not consider dropping feed out.
“We know we can’t stop feeding the cows; we see it pretty quick if we make the wrong decision,” Georgie says.
“But we have focused on paying off debt and we know what our big costs are so we know we’ve got room if we need help.”
They are starting to see a trend with more grass growth in winter than summer, so split calving is helping match feed demand with supply and using winter feed for production additional to dry cow maintenance.
And of course, there are profit benefits, having a winter milk premium and strong cash flow throughout the season as their production curve is flatter.
The basis of the 420-cow herd came from the previous sharemilkers autumn and early calving cows who already knew the system. They also had 130 cows they had collected while they were contract milking and they topped up numbers from a few clearing sales.
Lifting the performance and value of the herd has been a big focus.
“As sharemilkers we are trying to improve our herd rapidly and by having the second herd we are able to retain good empty cows that would’ve
otherwise dropped out of the system,” Glenn says.
“Split-calving has been allowing us to fast-track our genetic gain.
“In spring we run two herds; one is made up of the bottom 20% of the spring cows as well as the autumn cows and we just run beef bulls with them, and the other herd is our best cows that we mate to AI.”
They are using Friesian and crossbreed semen and Hereford and Angus for the natural mating bulls.
They are taking advantage of the beef market, trying to reduce bobby calves and using Angus over heifers which typically have higher prices in autumn.
They also AI their heifers to help increase their rate of genetic gain.
They get about 30 replacements from the autumn herd each season and carry over the best of the empty spring cows to get a bit more production from them.
“The meat schedule in the winter months is usually really good and the winter milk premium is a bonus, so we can take full advantage because the autumn herd is still going,” he says.
They have worked with their vets around feeding and have been fortunate to have good people in their team. And this year they are investing in a farm consultant to help fine-tune the system. But they cannot emphasise enough the importance of good communication with split-calving.
“We need to be clear on the priorities and make sure everyone understands the values and what we’re trying to achieve,” Georgie says.
“We are fortunate to have a good combination of experience and young and fresh interest within our team.”
They meet regularly and keep the discussion open around what is working well, seeing if there are any niggles and making sure everyone feels involved in the business.
“We admit we haven’t nailed the rosters yet, but we do keep across what the team wants and needs, but it does have to be a balance to make it work for everyone,” she says.
“We want to make sure we keep our business attractive for future staff.”
They recognise the advice and support they leaned on when they first started out, connecting with other split-calving farmers and they find value in the DairyNZ autumn calving discussion group.
“The first year was an eye-opener on how to feed cows, but we look back each season, re-evaluate and do it better the next time,” Glenn says.
“We enjoy connecting with the other farmers in the discussion group too; all the farms are different and everyone does things differently, but that gives you good opportunities to learn and get ideas.”
They find real value in connecting with experienced people and know they need to keep on their toes with all the challenges split-calving brings.
“Time is short, you just finish mating then you’re putting things in place for the next calving, but we enjoy it and can’t wait to own our own farm one day,” he says. n
Glenn van Heuven
Waikato sharemilkers Glenn and Georgie van Hueven say moving to a split-calving system an eye-opening experience.
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