Dairy Farmer October 2022

Make your submissions now!

Submissions close at 5 pm on October 16th.

All made possible with the support f rom:

Remember to include a photo and your 100-word story with your online submission before the deadline. Submissions should be uploaded to the Calf Club NZ website. We have plenty of spot prizes up for grabs, check out our Facebook page for details. Now

www.calfclubnz.co.nz

Why climate matters to New Zealand farmers

By Peter Wren-Hilton

The co-ordinator of the 2035 Oceania Summit held in Auckland this month provides an introduction to the summit and explains why it is important.

New Zealand farmers face an avalanche of regulation, rules and legislative time frames to improve on-farm sustainability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Why?

Nearly half of NZ’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. The main source of agriculture emissions is methane from livestock digestive systems. Yet there is a major irony. NZ dairy farms have the lowest carbon footprint in the world, as confirmed by the latest report from AgResearch.

The report, which was commissioned by DairyNZ, found that NZ’s carbon footprint is 70% lower than the global average and 46% lower than the 17 other countries involved in the study (including all major milk producers).

Regulations are not, however, going away anytime soon. He Waka Eke Noa has submitted recommendations to the government around a pricing mechanism and strategy as an acceptable alternative to joining the emissions trading scheme in 2025. The government will respond before the end of the year. Whatever the outcome, change is coming.

Let’s now flip the coin. Let’s check in with NZ’s global customer. In the past, “premium” was largely defined by taste and texture. Today, we can add “carbon footprint” to the mix. Getting a compelling NZ agriculture story locked in to promote our successes in achieving

You can learn more about the summit’s exceptional two-day programme at www.2035.ag

To support farmers and growers looking to attend the summit, AgriHQ is offering readers of this article a $200 discount on the 2035 Oceania Summit registration fee. Simply go to

our carbon footprint’s reduction is critical for the primary sector’s long-term future.

And this is where October’s 2035 Oceania Summit comes in.

This month’s summit has been designed to identify the technologies and the tools available to help farmers reduce those greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also looking at future growing systems that can assist farmers adapt to more extreme weather events. It’s no surprise that those “once in a hundred years” weather events are now cropping up every couple of years. They are just a foretaste of what’s to come.

On October 10-11, delegations from Australia, the Pacific Islands, the United States and Europe are descending on Auckland. They will hear from 45 local and global experts on how emerging technologies can assist farmers and growers to meet the increasing demands of both the government and those global consumers. We’ll be joined by six Pacific Island agricultural ministers. From the US, California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross will be leading a major delegation of US-based growers. They are not here just to speak to politicians and government officials. They collectively want to talk to NZ farmers and growers and learn more. It’s your opportunity to tell your story.

Over the past few months, the summit has been working with AgriHQ, the publishers of Dairy Farmer and Farmers Weekly, to encourage farmers and

www.2035.ag/registrations/ and enter the unique promotional code FW2035. You can then join hundreds of other delegates as we collectively explore the future of sustainable farming. For New Zealand’s primary sector, it’s the most significant climate-focused agriculture event of the year.

In the past, ‘premium’ was largely defined by the produce’s taste and texture. Today, says 2035 Oceania Summit co-ordinator Peter WrenHilton, we can add ‘carbon footprint’ to the mix.

growers to attend the summit to meet and engage with these international delegations. Sharing your story will go a long way to dismissing some of those offshore myths that we are all too often exposed to. And while you engage with other delegates at the summit, Peter Gordon, acclaimed NZ chef and author, will be curating two days of exceptional conference food focusing on some the best produce NZ has to offer. n

Who am I?

Peter Wren-Hilton was the founding executive director of Agritech New Zealand and today advises key global stakeholders on the technologies available to address the impacts of climate change on agrifood production and food security. He is coordinating the 2035 Oceania Summit.

Taking a chance

Naveen Thakur and Rimpy Kundu more or less stumbled into farming in New Zealand, but – after the odd hiccup – found a warm welcome in the industry.

Originally from India, Naveen Thakur came to New Zealand to study IT but has gone into farming and is now 2IC milking 950 cows on one of the Trinity Lands farms in South Waikato, where he works alongside his partner Rimpy Kundu. Naveen, Rimpy and the latest addition to their family, German Shepherd Astaad.

Photos: Stephen Barker

By Samantha Tennant

A young Indian followed the prospect the way Zealand farming,

AWaikato farmer who spent his first night in New Zealand sleeping at a bus stop after his arrival from India says it was probably a bit stupid to move to another country without knowing anyone or having a solid plan. But he has never been afraid to take a risk and it has paid off as he has found his passion in the dairy sector.

Naveen Thakur is 2IC milking 950 cows on one of the Trinity Lands farms

in South Waikato and he is madly in love with the animals and the lifestyle. His partner Rimpy Kundu, also from India, works alongside him.

Growing up in Chandigarh in the northern state of Punjab in India, he comes from a family that has minor roots in agriculture but not to the scale of NZ farms. Arriving in NZ in 2015, he hadn’t given farming a thought.

“I originally came to New Zealand as a student to study IT in Canterbury and

while working in various fast food places I met a dairy farmer through the local Indian community,” Naveen says.

“I started spending my days off visiting him on the farm and fell in love with the lifestyle.

“I guess I had that little bit in my blood already but back home we were involved in cropping mostly, and most dairying is two or three cows just to feed the

FARM FACTS

• Farm owners: Trinity Lands

• Sharemilkers: Scott and Charlotte Jones

• 2IC: Naveen Thakur

• Location: Tokoroa, South Waikato

• Farm size: 350 effective hectares

• Herd size: 950 cows at peak

• Production: 2021-2022: 500,270kgMS

• Production target: 2022-2023: 500,000kgMS

EFFLUENT PONDS

• Rolls up to 15m wide, therefore fewer joins which means less risk, faster installation and shorter good weather window required.

• Design assistance and volume calculations available.

• Material warranty from global company – Firestone Building Products.

For your nearest installation contractor call 021

• Nationwide Firestone trained and accredited installation contractors.

• Future proof – dependable performance, 50 year life expectancy even when exposed, 20 year Firestone material warranty.

• Over 120 million square metres installed worldwide.

• 30 years in the NZ lining business.

Authorised

a visa so looked to NZ because it was close by. He was more concerned with getting out of India than he was about his destination.

“I didn’t know anyone in New Zealand so I did a bit of research and at that time Christchurch was affected by the earthquake and they were trying to develop that part of the country.

“I didn’t have any physical contact with New Zealand but Google was telling me about the job opportunities because people were migrating out of Christchurch so I decided that’s where I would go.

“Working was my thing, I didn’t want to waste time while I was studying so I figured I’d go to Christchurch and get a job easily.”

family sort of thing, where here it’s such a different system.

“It was also very labour intensive because it is illegal to hunt in India so we were up throughout the night checking on crops to save them from wild animals, but the returns were low as well so it wasn’t a sustainable lifestyle and I knew I wanted to find something better.”

NZ was not his first choice. Originally he wanted to go to Australia where his friends were but he failed to secure

After his first night at the bus stop, he went into the local Countdown and spoke to an Indian guy. He explained he was new to the country, which was obvious by his two suitcases and backpack, and asked about finding accommodation. By sheer luck, the guy he spoke with had a vacancy in his flat ready for Naveen to move into.

After a couple of years in Christchurch,

Stop BVD in its tracks.

Naveen Thakur, Oliver Jones and Rimpy Kundu check the cows grazing in the fodder beet paddock.

he moved to the North Island and worked in retail in Taupō but he had an itch to get into farming. He asked friends how to find dairy farming jobs and was pointed to the Farm Source website. It was a gamble, being an immigrant without a dairying background, but he decided it would either be the best or

worst decision he could make so he gave it a shot.

“I applied for some roles and had an interview with a large farm who were peak milking 1100 cows in Napier.

“I was frank and told them I had no New Zealand dairying experience but I was willing to learn and they gave me a

chance so I moved over to Hawke’s Bay.”

He quickly realised how fast things moved and he was hungry to learn as much as he could. But he got frustrated as he felt they were not giving him the opportunities to absorb as much as he could.

“Looking back, I do understand you can’t give the brand new guy the important responsibilities but I think as a manager you should be able to pick up someone’s attitude quickly and if they are keen, help them learn.

“It’s a balance, though, trying to fit teaching in during the busy periods, but those are the only times some of those things happen, things like dealing with lameness can be anytime but you don’t get to calve a breach calf after calving is over and mastitis is mostly happening early in the season.

“I think managers need to guide their people and harness eagerness if they’ve got it.”

In those early days, he would head to milking during his days off. He knew he had a lot to learn and wanted to catch up as quickly as he could. He did not want to be responsible for holding the team up due to his inexperience.

Naveen Thakur is from Chandigarh in the northern state of Punjab in India and knew Rimpy’s brothers but had never met her. When he heard she was in New Zealand he tracked her down and they now work together.

Naveen Thakur is 2IC for sharemilkers Scott and Charlotte Jones on the Trinity Lands farm. The farm team – Scott Jones and son Oliver, Naveen Thakur and Rimpy Kundu – catch up for a chat.

He moved around a few different roles, but when he was applying for an updated visa he discovered he needed to find an opportunity to progress his career, as the visa was only available for people who were in positions such as herd manager, 2IC or manager.

“I wasn’t confident I was ready to be a manager yet, I had more confidence in finding a 2IC role so was looking for something around that level.”

There were a lot of immigrants who got into farming around the same time as Naveen. It was a popular option as it was relatively easy to get a visa. And he

did experience a few challenges being an immigrant and relatively new to the sector.

“I remember I was texting a guy about a position I applied for one day and he asked what nationality I was. When I said Indian he said they didn’t have a role for me.

“It was rough but I didn’t take it personally, I don’t know what the story behind it was, they might have had a bad experience, so I just kept looking.”

He found a position on a Trinity Lands farm at Tokoroa, which employed him as a herd manager initially for Avoli Group

of Farms. They had an arrangement with Naveen giving him a chance to see if he was ready to be a 2IC and if they were happy they would step him up. And that was what happened – when the current 2IC left they offered him the opportunity to progress.

He enjoys being based in Tokoroa and has immersed himself in the local community, with many friends nearby, and plays cricket for the local team through summer. He also met his partner, Rimpy Kundu, who now lives and works on the farm too.

Their families were neighbours back

Neither Naveen nor Rimpy had any dairy farming experience but have learnt quickly and are enjoying the dairying life.

in the same hometown in India but they did not know each other. Naveen was friends with her brothers and knew her family but she had not heard of him. They also studied through the same college in NZ, in different parts of the country. But it was a chance text from her brothers that connected them. Once he learnt she was in NZ he tracked her down.

“She was based in Whanganui at the time, working in town, but I got her to come to visit and spend some time on the farm and she decided it looked pretty cool, especially working with animals.

“I told her working with animals is way easier than working with humans,” he laughs.

She would visit on her days off but Naveen would still be working so she would tag along to milkings and the odd farm job. She had no experience with farming and never thought she would be up for it herself, knowing she felt funny at the sight of blood and thought cows were intimidating.

After losing her job in town, she moved to the farm and asked if she could start helping out. The pet cows lured her in first, proving they were easier to deal with than she thought, and it did not take her long to develop some useful skills.

“I didn’t have issues like I thought I would but mostly because Naveen was on my back,” Rimpy says.

“And that helped a lot because he was always there to fix it if I made a mistake.”

Now she is running the calf sheds, rearing all of the replacements and dealing with the bobby calves on her own.

“She’s an important part of the team and I’m happy she’s enjoying farming as much as I am,” Naveen says.

She had moved to NZ with the intention of gaining some life experience, continuing her studies and eventually heading back to India. A family member had been in NZ and shown her videos and photos of the scenery.

But when she arrived she decided she wanted to stay, and now that being connected to Naveen and the farm has sealed the deal, she knows this is where she wants to be. And they have their first “child”, a German Shepherd called Astaad who loves farm life too.

The two of them are working for Scott and Charlotte Jones, who sharemilk the Trinity Lands farm. They peak milk 950 spring calving cows and target 526 kilograms of milksolids per cow, which equates to 500,000kg MS for the season.

They operate a System 4, which

depends on the weather and how the season unfolds to determine how much the feed changes. Feeding is a big passion for Naveen, who enjoys making sure the animals are well fed and preventing health issues.

They save their grass for after calving. The cows are kept on the farm over winter and fed breaks of swedes with hay and palm kernel if they need a bit extra.

“We grow around 25 to 30 hectares of swedes every year,” he says.

“I like swedes as it’s a low-protein feed and we don’t seem to have many problems with milk fever.

“We will give them the odd break of pasture if they need a bit more fibre or to manage the pasture, but they are mostly on swedes till they calve.”

Heifers are bought home in June and fed kale as they grow 7-8ha. It takes a couple of days to transition them onto the kale so they are topped up with palm kernel or small breaks of grass for a few days then they stay on the kale till they calve.

“Managing feed is my thing, I really enjoy it.”

But he likes to keep it simple and knows the value of pasture and says it is the cheapest form of feed, so managing it is a priority.

They also grow around 10ha of fodder beet that they start feeding early in lactation. The crop paddocks are determined by pasture performance. The farm was converted from forestry so there are plenty of opportunities to continue to develop the pasture. There

Naveen Thakur and sharemilker Scott Jones compare notes in their calving notebooks.

“Sometimes you get easy days and some days when the weather isn’t flash and you’re dealing with calving cows and everything else that is going on, but that’s what it is and I like being challenged.”

Naveen Thakur

are still stump piles in some of the paddocks so they have been chipping away at removing the piles as the paddocks are used for crops.

To mitigate the summer dry, they also have chicory on the farm. Naveen likes how they can maintain production off it and they aim to put it in the effluentirrigated paddocks. If winter is wet like it has been this season, their effluent pond can store a lot, which is ready to be irrigated onto the chicory when it gets drier.

Before calving the herd is split according to calving dates, with the early calvers kept close to the shed and the late calvers going to the paddocks further away.

Calving kicks off around July 25 and when they are getting into the thick of it they start transitioning the herd to

pasture, particularly to make sure the cows are getting enough calcium and magnesium.

Calves are collected up to four times a day when the weather is bad, but otherwise twice a day. Calves are identified with a necklace in the paddock and Naveen likes that they collect calves regularly.

“Once the calf is removed the cow can relax a bit and eat properly, she doesn’t have to keep looking over at the calf, that’s my opinion anyway.”

The calf sheds open up to the paddocks and the calves are kept there until they are weaned and move to the support block at 100-130kg. They target around 230 replacements but have kept 250 heifer calves this season.

Hereford bull calves and the goodlooking red Hereford heifers are reared

and kept within the business, grazing at the support block owned by the Joneses.

Mating starts in the middle of October. They identify the best cows based on their performance and indices and mate them to a mix of daughter-proven Friesian and Kiwicross semen as they are targeting the F11-type cow. Cows they do not want to keep any replacements from are mated to Hereford semen.

“We are focused on a crossbreed herd. I like the small size, crossbreed cows that don’t eat heaps of feed but have high production, and I think the less feed an animal needs to maintain its body condition, the better,” he says.

At around week eight of mating, anything left to get in calf is mated to short-gestation beef semen.

Having plenty of replacements this season means they will be able to cull lower-producing cows and any with udder issues or other things they do not want to keep in the herd.

Naveen is across the farm business as much as he can. There are no doubts about his passion for farming. He loves working with animals and he thrives on learning.

“I really enjoy farming because it’s not easy or hard, not every day is the same.

“Sometimes you get easy days and some days when the weather isn’t flash and you’re dealing with calving cows and everything else that is going on, but that’s what it is and I like being challenged.”

He enjoys working in the bad weather, which he sees as another challenge to deal with and finds it rewarding combating the challenges farming throws at him.

His ambition is to own his own herd one day but he is in no hurry to climb the ranks. And some days he wishes he got into farming sooner, so he would have progressed further in his career by now but he has no regrets and knows this is the lifestyle for him long term.

He has come a long way from when he first arrived. He has completed Level 3 through Primary ITO and is keen to follow in his boss’s footsteps and partake in a workshop from DPS.

“I’ve seen Scott’s folders and there’s

Naveen Thakur spent his first night in New Zealand sleeping in a bus shelter before connecting with the Indian community. He came here to study IT and had never considered dairy farming until he met a farmer.

“I told her working with animals is way easier than working with humans.”

Naveen Thakur

some great learning in there, I think it would be really beneficial to do the course myself too.”

“My next goal will be to find a 200- to 300-cow farm where I can be in sole charge so I can experience everything throughout the season, starting from the feed to calving and milking the cows, and everything in between.

“I will make my own decisions and that would give me the extra boost to build my confidence that I can be a contract milker and sharemilking in the future.”

He appreciates the support he has in his current role but also knows it will be the support that holds him back eventually.

“Having Scott is great, he’s working on the farm too and I know whenever there is an issue I can give him a call.

“I will try to fix things myself first but if I don’t make progress I call him and I think in the future I will need to be in a position where I don’t have that lifeline to lean on because you only push to a certain extent before reaching out.”

He knows if he is by himself he will have no option but to resolve issues himself, which will give his confidence a

The System 4 farm grows swedes, kale and 10ha of fodder beet that is fed early in lactation.

boost as well as the experience to know what decisions to make. Plus he will have Rimpy for support.

He is conscious of taking incremental steps and not going too fast and ending up crashing backwards.

“I am not in a rush, I want to focus on one stage at a time and grow as I learn.

“Farming is my thing, it’s the only thing I can do now, I love learning and it will never end, I will keep learning right till the last day I am farming.” n

Beef Up Your Bottom Line

Short Gestation Belgian Blue is the #1 Dairy Beef Solution

With sought-after offspring, you gain valuable days in milk, easy calving, a tighter calving period, easy-to-rear calves and a second income stream from the offspring.

Scan the QR for more information on Belgian Blue

Time to enter

Entries are now open for the 2023 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards and organisers of the regional programmes have met in Rotorua for the annual conference to learn how to deliver more than 48 events and numerous judging days.

General manager Robin Congdon says the conference was an opportunity for the many volunteers from around the country to come together after a busy winter season.

“The conference was a busy few days, ensuring everyone knows what’s required to deliver the dynamic programme and bring them up to speed on this year’s changes made to the Share Farmer category judging process,” Congdon says.

“The Exec have reviewed extensive feedback on last year’s changes to the Dairy Manager and Dairy Trainee

categories, which was overwhelmingly positive,” he says.

They have made changes to streamline the judging process and to align the Share Farmer category into the same format for this season, which will make the process less daunting and timeconsuming for Share Farmer entrants to prepare for.

“The conference was also a chance for personal development and for committee members to meet other regional committee members and share ideas and information, and to finalise their regional launch events, which provide an opportunity for prospective entrants to find out more information about the awards and which category people are eligible to enter.”

Congdon says the regional launch events are typically a lot of fun and provide an opportunity to meet other

potential entrants, organisers and sponsors and to learn about the awards from past entrants.

“The functions are very social, with no charge, and are at a time that makes it easy for farmers to attend.” n

MORE:

More information on regional committees and launch events is available at www. dairyindustryawards.co.nz/regions, and on regional facebook pages.

Entries in the New Zealand Share Farmer of the Year, New Zealand Dairy Manager of the Year and New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year categories are being accepted online at www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz.

The New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards are supported by national sponsors DeLaval, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda, LIC, Meridian and Ravensdown, along with partners DairyNZ and MediaWorks.

THE BLUE DISPENSER WITH STAINLESS STEEL DROPPERS

Sunnier skies ahead

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.

Two positive auctions along with a strong annual result from Fonterra should keep farmers reasonably positive as winter gives way to spring.

Those two auctions, which saw prices lift by 4.9% in early September and 2% a few days before the annual result was released, should ease farmers’ nerves after Fonterra finally revised its forecast to $9.25/kg milk solids following months of mostly falls in prices.

NZX dairy insights manager Stu Davison says there are now expectations that the market is likely to track a similar path to this time last year.

“Demand in key markets remains ‘firm’, but I’m not convinced that the demand is ‘solid’,” he says.

Leaning on supply and demand fundamentals again as the Kiwi dairy season rolls on, if New Zealand milk supply doesn’t hit the marks expected of it at the current price points, then the market will likely keep shifting higher, Davison says.

Westpac senior agri economist Nathan Penny says the result comes against a backdrop of very weak global dairy supply.

NZ dairy production in July was down 5.5% over July 2021. And anecdotally, production has continued on this weak note over August and into September.

Fonterra also recently revised its milk collection forecast for the 2022-2023 season down from 1510 million kilograms of milk solids to 1495m kg MS.

Chief executive Miles Hurrell says there is a reduction in milk collections with weather conditions experienced in some parts of the country meaning a slow start to the season with flooding in the Far North and top part of the South Island.

Rabobank’s Global Dairy Quarterly report estimates production for this season will be up marginally, by 1.5% and 2%, but noted the risk that wet winter conditions may still set a weaker tone for the rest of the season.

Penny expects production to rebound this season, after the 4% drop over the 2021/22 season.

“But with this in mind, there are now clear downside risks to our production forecast,” he says.

“In contrast, the positive result firms up our 2022/23 milk price forecast of $9.25/ kg. If anything, the lift in prices has come earlier than we had anticipated.

“That, coupled with the deteriorating New Zealand production outlook and the very supportive level of the New Zealand dollar, does bring some upside risks to our forecast into play.”

Rabobank senior agricultural analyst Emma Higgins says she expects the other major milk producers to return to growth in the final quarter of the year, ending five consecutive year-on-year quarterly declines.

But that growth will be modest at best.

“High production costs, weather risks and emerging feed shortages will help keep the global milk supply in check.”

It is still extremely wet in many regions with the only positive being that warm soil temperatures have kept the grass growing. The rains should also have replenished a lot of the water tables that were depleted from last year’s drought.

With another La Niña weather pattern predicted for summer, there could be more rain and easterlies over spring and potentially another extremely hot and humid summer.

But this is unlikely to result in a significant lift in production above what is already forecast.

Input prices are staying high and that, along with ongoing labour challenges, means farmers will be unable to turn on the feed tap like they may have been able to do in the past.

Fonterra’s recent downgrade of its forecast to $9.25/kg MS means that the margin between profit and loss is coming under increasing pressure, especially with break-even prices sitting at $8.44-$8.50/kg MS.

It would affect milk production if farmers reduced their supplementary feed usage to try to peg costs.

Hurrell touched on it when announcing the co-operative’s annual result in late September.

Fonterra retained its $9.25/kg MS midpoint forecast and forecast a normalised earnings guidance of 45-60 cents per share.

It was a great set of results with a “fantastically high milk price”, he said, but while “that’s great for our farmer owners ... at the same time they are experiencing significant inflationary pressure on farm”.

“The longer-term outlook for dairy remains positive. And in the mediumterm, we expect to see an easing in some of the geopolitical events, namely the covid-19 lockdowns in China and the economic challenges in Sri Lanka.”

If he’s right and that forecast stays up, it should be another profitable season for farmers.

Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell was pleased with the co-operative’s performance when its annual financial results were released – though he also acknowledged the tough inflationary pressure farmers are facing.

A bit of

Cornish courage

A young couple from Cornwall had no idea of the rollercoaster they were climbing aboard when they came to New Zealand to start their dairying careers just five years ago.

Lauren and Ollie Badcock with their son Wilfred, 18 months, are variable order sharemilkers on a 280ha farm, milking 850 Kiwicross cows in Gore, Southland.

Photos: Natwick Photography

By Cheyenne Nicholson

Sometimes it takes looking back to appreciate how far you’ve come and when a Southland farming couple did that, they realised just how many challenges they have navigated during their journey from Cornwall to farming in Gore.

Ollie and Lauren Badcock are variable order sharemilkers on a 280ha farm milking 850 Kiwicross cows. But when they first came to New Zealand to start their Kiwi dairying careers, they had no idea of the rollercoaster that was ahead of them. Looking back, the couple said they’re a bit in awe of what they’ve achieved in just five years.

“I remember saying to Ollie a year ago that I didn’t feel like we were getting anywhere. But looking back, when we came here, we had nothing. Now that we’ve built a business, we have assets and are actively striving towards our farm ownership dreams. Sometimes it’s good to look back to appreciate where you are now,” Lauren says.

Hailing from Cornwall in the UK, Ollie and Lauren came from different backgrounds. Ollie grew up on the land and knew from just 16 years of age that dairy farming was the career for him. On the other hand, Lauren was a townie through and through and had aspirations of becoming a

top-notch lawyer after completing her law degree. But, tiring of the rat race, the couple decided they wanted to head in a different direction with their lives and found themselves heading to Australia on a money-making and travel adventure.

“I had a job at a solicitor, and Ollie was working on a dairy farm. We decided to head to Australia with the intention that Ollie would find a farming job and I’d work in town or something. The job we ended up getting was too far from town for me to work off the farm, so I started off as the nanny before stepping into the hands-on farming bit,” Lauren says.

This short jaunt down under was enough to give Lauren the farming bug too, and upon their return to Cornwall they found a contract milking job that suited them, and they started their farming career as a duo. Just five minutes from the beach on a dairy farm that produced its own ice cream, it was as good as farming gets for lifestyle.

“We started to think really seriously about our careers in farming. Progression in the industry in the UK tends to be very within the family, and the opportunities for outsiders to progress are limited. We’d learnt a lot about Australian and New Zealand dairy industries and saw much more opportunity, so we decided we’d

FARM FACTS

• Farm owners: Andrew and Heather Tripp

• Variable order sharemilkers: Ollie and Lauren Badcock

• Location: Gore, Southland

• Farm size: 280ha

• Cows: 850 Kiwi cross

• Production: 360,000kgs MS

give dairying a go in New Zealand,” Ollie says.

The couple initially landed in the Waikato hoping to start their journey, but due to visa limitations they often didn’t get a look-in from prospective employers. Not wanting to give up on their ambitions, they opened themselves up to opportunities from around the country, including the South Island.

“We applied for two jobs and ended up getting one purely because it was a long way out from town and no one really wanted it. It was a manager’s role in Clinton, and it ended up being a bit of a baptism by fire,” Ollie says.

Just a few weeks after the couple started the job Ollie had a quad bike accident which saw him shatter his tibia and fibula. He was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital and experienced a few complications that almost resulted in losing his leg. During this time, it was up to Lauren to keep things ticking along on the farm, surrounded by a bunch of people she’d just met, and with limited farming experience under her belt.

“One of the things we struggled with when we moved to our first farm was

Ollie and Lauren Badcock say they are a bit in awe of what they have achieved in just five years.

The 280ha dairy platform is part of a 1600ha sheep station. It was converted to dairy 15 years ago and is run as a System 3. The 850-cow herd produces 360,000kgs MS.

integrating into a very rural community. It was hard to meet people. We met the neighbours for the first time because of Ollie’s accident. The guy was on call with the local volunteer fire brigade,” Lauren says.

Ollie made a full recovery with the help of some metal to keep things together. The couple slowly started getting comfortable in their new farming life and gradually started to feel part of the rural community.

“One thing we will say for rural communities is that when the chips are down, you can always count on everyone to help,” Lauren says.

Adding even more complexity into the mix was their mob of reared calves. In their second season farming in New Zealand, they decided to rear some calves to build equity to reach their 50:50 sharemilking dreams. Due to the situation on the farm they were managing, they had to source alternative grazing, which they found about 20 minutes from the farm – but this brought logistical issues as well as extra costs to their business.

“We really wanted to get ahead but in

hindsight probably made a rod for our own back but at the time we didn’t have residency at that point so it was really our only option to grow something for ourselves,” Ollie says.

‘village’ of friends and neighbours for support. Like Ollie’s accident, it was another one of those times where we felt pushed to our limits, but this time we knew people, which made it easier,” Lauren says.

Earlier this year saw a turning point for the couple, who had by then worked their way into a contract milking position. A 50:50 sharemilking position came up that the couple almost took, but for all the wrong reasons.

“It didn’t really fit us in terms of our values. The efficiencies weren’t there, and it didn’t feel ‘right’. We would have hamstrung ourselves on the things that are important to us in a business and lifestyle. So we ended up selling our herd at a good price, which helped us into the variable order sharemilking job we took up in June.”

Eighteen months ago, they welcomed their son Wilfred into the family, but amid covid, stepping into their first contract milking job and going into a spring where they were understaffed, it was another challenging time.

“We couldn’t get family into the country, so we really had to rely on our

Selling the stock they had reared was a tough decision, especially from an equity point of view. However, they had hit a point where the herd either needed to be leased out or they needed somewhere to milk them.

Their new farm, so far, suits them down to the ground, and they found that their

Ollie and Lauren Badcock are focusing on the future –growing more equity is top of the list to set themselves up for a 50:50 sharemilking position within the next few years.

“I was once told that the best thing you can put on your farm is footprints, so we tend to do our farm walks on foot. Each staff member has a different part of the farm they measure.”

Ollie Badcock

values were well aligned with those of farm owners Andrew and Heather Tripp.

“They’ve been incredibly supportive of us and encourage us all the time. We genuinely feel like they want us to go far, which is really lovely to have that extra backing, particularly during those times when you’re lacking a bit of faith in yourself,” Lauren says.

The 280ha dairy platform is part of a 1600ha sheep station, which brings many benefits. The System 3 farm is peak milking 850 cows and a short drive to the township of Gore and perfectly situated in the hills for good rain patterns in the summer to keep grass production near steady year-round.

The dairy platform portion of the farm was converted 15 years ago to a high standard, which means in terms of infrastructure, Ollie and Lauren hit the jackpot.

“The infrastructure is certainly one of the biggest strengths of the farm. We have excellent laneways, calving pads, and a 400-cow feed pad. It’s all been set up with elevation in mind. We do catch

Ollie

snow and frosts here. Having a good flood wash, greenwash, and the feed pad gives us extra ability to carry on feeding the cows when it’s miserable weather and not ruin the pasture,” Ollie says.

The wintering and feed set-up is a perk of the dairy platform being part of a sheep station. Silage is grown and bought in from the sheep station for winter supplement each year, and nothing is wintered on the milking platform. Everything is wintered on the sheep station.

“We winter half our cows on silage and the other half are wintered on crops. Young stock are grazed on the station from weaning through to calving as R2s. The sheep station is basically a big hill with quite fertile flats on either side, so it’s quite good. The sheep station and the dairy platform are very complementary systems,” Ollie says.

A big part of their plan to squeeze extra efficiency out of the farm is to use grass better, which rolls into their fertiliser plan and grazing policy. Rather than relying on bulk feed coming in, they’re trying to make the most of every kilogram of dry matter produced.

With no crops grown on the platform, it’s generally a grass-to-grass regrassing policy with 15% of the farm regressed each year and priority given to the poorer performing paddocks. Given the age of the dairy platform, most pastures are fairly young, and from a fertiliser perspective, the focus tends to be on adding sulphur back into the soil.

Because of previous grass grub issues, most of the farm is sowed with diploid AR37 preventative grass grub endophyte. It’s a more expensive seed, but it grows grass for longer and is highly persistent.

“In previous years, they had big chunks of the platform out due to grass grub, so while it’s an increased cost, the longterm benefits outweigh the short-term fails,” Ollie says.

Summertime residual targets are aimed at 2650 pre-grazing and 1500 post grazing with a focus on maintaining quality at all times. If grass is starting to get ahead, round length will be sped up, or paddocks dropped out for surplus if needed. To keep on top of this the team do weekly pasture walks on foot.

keep everything running smoothly. Every team member is involved in grazing planning and management, with the expectation that they can all track and monitor residuals and make tweaks to the rounds if necessary.

“For fertiliser, the bulky will come in and do 70-100ha as the first round of ammonia sulphate and humate. Once this first round is done, we will follow the cows for five to six applications with 30kg of nitrogen as urea to give the grass a kick of nitrogen.”

The Kiwicross herd has been bred for efficiency and their focus will be on efficiency in the 1:1 liveweight for milksolids produced. Currently, the herd is sitting at 90% efficiency with production while the farm is sitting at about 80%, but with some focus on using grass better, they’re confident they can squeeze a bit extra out of the system.

“I was once told that the best thing you can put on your farm is footprints, so we tend to do our farm walks on foot. Each staff member has a different part of the farm they measure. This is great for consistency and because we want all our staff to have these skills to assess grass quality and understand where stock needs to go next.”

They draw up whiteboards that cover grazing plans, residuals, work lists and everything else that needs to be communicated to the whole team to

Planned start of calving is August 10. In previous years the herd has had some difficulties with down cows with substantial money and time going into trying to solve the issue. Calving 2021 saw the down cow trend going in a more positive direction, but this year with their springer policy and diet changes, they’ve only had to bag one cow so far this season out of the 400 that had calved at the time.

“It wasn’t about reinventing the wheel on a new farm, and we haven’t done anything drastic,” Ollie says.

“We’ve tried to utilise the minerals better to ensure that each cow gets the correct amount. Previously minerals were spread on a self-feed silage stack, so it was hard to know how much each cow was getting. Now, we walk the cows through to the feedpad with the

Ollie and Lauren Badcock are originally from Cornwall in the UK and came to New Zealand to start their dairy careers. Ollie, his mum Julie who is visiting from the UK, and Lauren watch Wilfred as he is let loose in the paddock with the herd for the first time.

“I’ve been to a number of seminars that spoke on the importance of colostrum testing, so being quite a literal person, I went out and got everything I needed for that. It’s given us really great results over the years.”

Lauren Badcock

minerals. It’s a bit more accurate and allows us the opportunity to split off cows and calves in one movement, rather than chasing them around.”

The small change has been huge, and speaks to their philosophy when it comes to farming: to increase overall efficiencies.

“We want everything to be as efficient as possible, whether that’s grazed grass or staff management. If we can do an extra job on the way to getting the cows in, that tightens everything up,” Lauren says.

On the calf-rearing front, Lauren leads this part of the farm. With 250 heifers and 100 beefies lined up for rearing this year it’s a busy time. Luckily the calf-rearing sheds are set up perfectly with long bays that can accommodate 20 to a pen.

“I’m quite particular when it comes to calf rearing,” she says.

“I’ve been to a number of seminars that spoke on the importance of colostrum testing, so being quite a literal person, I went out and got everything I needed for that. It’s given us really great results over the years, so now every cow gets tested. Everything gets gold colostrum 22 on the refractometer and above.”

This year, the couple have been lucky enough to have another helper on the farm, Ollie’s mum Julie, who’s in New Zealand for four months from the UK.

“It’s been amazing having her here over calving to help with Wilfred. Being able to be rear the calves without a toddler in tow has been great. It also means I can focus completely on the calf rearing, plus that added support means I can get out on farm for other jobs when needed easily as well,” Lauren says.

They are both AB technicians and passionate about making gains in breeding and genetics. The herd’s six-

week in-calf rate sits around 76%, so the bar has been set quite high for them, but they are hoping that, with some tweaks, they can improve that and get the empty

rate down from 11% closer to 9%. The focus for this mating season will

Lauren grew up as a townie and completed a law degree but after a stint in Australia where the farm was too far for her to work in town, she decided to help on the farm and has been farming ever since.

be on using sexed semen for four weeks on the top tail of the herd to get their replacement stock. This will be followed by six weeks of the bull, with mating kicking off November 2.

“The policy in the past has been mating the top 50% of heifers to AB, which we will still do. But it’s also about reducing bobbies and waste in the system,” Ollie says.

“We want to utilise the genetics coming through in the heifer and get more consistency coming through by using the sexed semen. By tailing with beef bulls, we’re using Herefords; we hope to get some premiums there too.”

For selecting sires, they keep things simple, looking for good stature, averagesized animals that will achieve their 1:1 ratio goals for liveweight to milksolids. One of the things they pride themselves on is their bull management. They have a day team and a night team of bulls who don’t leave the paddock.

“They don’t go in the laneways with the cows. We do this so they’re not expending energy by fighting or walking further than they need to. It helps keep the cows calmer on the lanes as well.

The diverse farm team have daily toolbox meetings to discuss the upcoming day, and weekly sit-down meetings. From left, Prabath Dharmapriya, Megan Thomas, Lauren and Ollie Badcock, Matt Williams and Wilfred Badcock and Boss the dog.

It’s really just basic stock management skills,” Ollie says.

Animal health-wise, they approach this the same as everything else on farm – if they don’t measure it, they can’t manage it. The core of their animal health programme is ensuring cows are well fed, sitting at an appropriate body condition score for the time of year, and that they never have to chase big jumps in liveweight gain.

“We body-condition score each month, this just makes it easier to make tweaks to their diets if we notice a bit of slippage in weight. We’d rather deal with issues early,” he says.

They use apps like the DairyNZ foottrimming app to keep track of which cows have been trimmed and what type of lameness is popping up.

“You often forget that you’ve dealt with 20 whiteline lesions, so if you look at that data, you can start investigating causes and problem-solve it. With animal health as a whole, for us, it’s really about good stockmanship, which doesn’t have to be complicated.”

They work with the shepherds on the sheep station and hold monthly meetings with the farm owner and all the staff across the two farms to ensure everyone is across what’s happening in the farm business. It helps ensure that the two farms are running efficiently and cohesively.

“The farm owners want everyone involved in those monthly meetings as much as possible. They have a solid vision and set of values regarding how they run their business and it cultivates a lovely little community out here,” Ollie says.

With eight families living on the station, they’ve decided to set up a station market garden for everyone, with extras being offered to locals via an honesty box at the end of the road. They’re also planning some off-farm social events for everyone to further the team culture and bond.

For their dairy platform team, it’s been an exercise in upskilling for them as their team is the biggest they’ve ever had with five full-time staff over spring and 3.5 FTE the rest of the year.

Team experience and focus is varied, from one staff member who is very animal-focused to another who’s never had to look too closely at pasture management practices.

“We’ve done a lot of work to upskill ourselves because we knew this would be a pain point, so to speak. We’ve also been fortunate to have wonderful mentors, neighbours and others in

the industry to lean on for advice and support when it comes to managing a team,” Lauren says.

This year, they participated in the DairyNZ mark and measure course, which gave them some useful tips on growing the team’s capabilities and their own by being more strategic. They’ve also been introduced to the FarmTune programme, formally called the LEAN management programme, which got them thinking more critically about how they run things and where they can pick up efficiencies.

The team have daily toolbox meetings to discuss the upcoming day, and weekly sit-down meetings with an agenda that includes the opportunity for the team to give feedback to them on how they can improve.

“Because we have such a diverse team in terms of ethnicity and experience, it’s important to make sure everyone feels heard and valued. We want to give everyone the opportunity to come away from their time with us with a wellrounded skillset and the confidence to go into their next opportunity,” Lauren says.

While they are only in their formative months on their new farm, they are focusing on the future. Growing more equity is top of the list to set themselves up for a 50:50 sharemilking position within the next few years.

They say they’ve taken valuable knowledge and experience from each of their Kiwi dairying jobs, and, having entered into the industry fairly naïvely, are better off for it.

“In looking back at the past five years

and thinking about our measure of success, it’s really in celebrating the small wins and realising how far we have come.

It’s celebrating fewer down cows this year, letting calves out for the first time, and enjoying family time on and off farm. Our end goal of farm ownership will be where we set it, but we are enjoying the journey to get there.” n

Winner!

Congratulations to Sue Clayton from Maungaturoto, who is the winner of the luxury three-day Fresh Start women’s health retreat in the “Give your Boots a Rest” competition.

Sue works on a dairy farm and does volunteer work for local groups. She enjoys the great outdoors and helping friends and family.

The past two years have been challenging for Sue, between covid and lockdowns, having to paint their home to sell, a work accident and her boss having a couple of operations – and she is currently looking after her 81-year-old mum.

She says, “I haven’t had a holiday in forever and I’m so looking forward to treating myself. It will be all about me.”

Enjoy your well-earned rest, Sue, and thank you to Resolution Retreats for making this possible.

Ollie and Wilfred head back to the sheds after doing some stock work on the farm.

Animal magnetism

By Anne Boswell

Dairy farming is a natural fit for a city girl with a love of animals.

When Sophie Cookson was a young girl growing up in Auckland City, she never dreamed she would become a dairy farmer; in fact, no one ever told her that it was an option.

“It never occurred to me that someone from the city could be a farmer,” Cookson says.

“Being an animal lover, a career in veterinary nursing was the closest thing I could find. I hope it’s different now, and urban children are raised to understand the importance of farming in New Zealand, and that they can be a part of that if they want to.”

Today, Cookson and husband Donovan Croot, with children Estelle, 7, Penelope, 5, and Thomas 3, are 50:50 sharemilkers of a 190-cow herd at Manutahi, South Taranaki. They farm 61ha as Clovalley

Farms Ltd under the Taumaha Trust, owned by Neil and Helen Walker.

The farm is a “good little self-contained unit”, with plenty of support land in close proximity to the milking platform. They run a system 4-5 farm, which is new territory as sharemilkers, and have managed to push the herd to 118,481kg MS (620kgMS/cow). Their herd is in the top 1% nationally for BW & PW. The first herd test this season has seen the cows average 2.63, and the couple hope to peak a bit higher.

Despite the city upbringing, her love of animals has always been strong. She had a particular love of horses that her parents fostered by supporting her to attend riding school every Saturday. Her parents were also animal lovers: her mum bred Burmese cats her and her dad kept birds.

“It was like Christmas Day when there was a new litter of kittens, to see them and hold them,” she says.

“Mum showed them occasionally, too. It was because of the cats that I came to understand about bloodlines and pedigree, and I believe I developed a good eye. I have bred French bulldogs myself and have been part of Kennel Club and Puppy Social Club; this love for breeding sort of transferred to cows when I met Donovan.”

Croot had gone into farming at 22 when his uncle Colin Foley found him an opportunity as a dairy apprentice in Taranaki. He moved quickly through the ranks, herd managing a large corporate farm and working towards an agribusiness diploma by his fourth year in the industry.

After school, Cookson had completed

Sophie Cookson grew up in Auckland and although she loved animals, she never imagined she would become a dairy farmer. That changed after she met her husband.

a Certificate in Animal Clinical Care in Auckland before securing a job at Coastal Vets in Kaponga as a receptionist.

“They indicated that for the right person, it could lead into training in vet nursing,” Cookson says.

“Lead veterinarian Guy Oakley became like a father figure to me, and my role there set everything in motion.”

She completed a Diploma in Veterinary Nursing through Otago Polytechnic (School of Veterinary Nursing) while working as a vet nurse/receptionist for Coastal Vets.

During this time, Cookson and Croot were contract milking for Bruce and

Honey Grindlay. The Grindlays allowed them to rear their surplus heifers on farm, which they then leased out, helping to grow their equity.

Cookson continued to work off farm as a vet nurse until she and Croot moved from contract milking to sharemilking.

“Being self-employed and on farm with the children was ideal,” she says.

“I was mostly calf rearing, and we made sure we had lower herd numbers to ensure the business/family balance was manageable and sustainable.”

In 2018 she trained as a DIY artificial inseminator with CRV, and after inseminating her herd for a few years

went on to train with LIC. She was offered her own run as an apprentice due to her skillset.

“It’s something I can return to, but just doing our herd is enough for me at present, especially with our tailored breeding plan and also inseminating yearlings at the runoff,” she says.

Her love of animals and veterinary nursing skills meant she loved farming from the outset.

Her interest in pedigrees also came in handy; both she and Croot considered it a worthy investment to buy cows from

Sophie is a Calf Club NZ organiser and was previously a volunteer judge. This year, as her children have gotten a bit older, she has introduced them to the Calf Club. Sophie with Estelle, Thomas and Penelope.

Sophie and husband Donovan Croot are 50:50 sharemilkers of a 190-cow herd at Manutahi, South Taranaki.

established profile herds and then build on those bloodlines. In 2019 they bought 100-head of cattle from Jim and Sue Webster’s Waiau/Taramont Holstein Friesian herd, the former top BW and production herd in the country.

The couple had met the Websters while they were sharemilking in Tikorangi.

“Our runoff neighboured their farm and we developed a relationship through the local discussion group and mutual love for cows and breeding,” she says.

“Jim took Donovan under his wing and shared his passion. When they eventually sold us the herd in 2019, we not only purchased an exceptional herd but we made great friends in the Websters and still continue to share our cow genetics and family time together, often catching up for a good yarn and

was able to come along with me when I was a judge, which was brilliant.

“She absolutely loves meeting calves and new people, and to be able to foster that love and care with her, and celebrate other children as well, is very rewarding.”

As a Calf Club NZ organiser, Cookson has a varied role that includes talking to and helping applicants, screening potential judges, social media and facilitating judging schedules.

romp around the farms.

“We are forever grateful to them and consider them a part of our Clovalley Family.”

Cookson also cites Colin Foley as not only a great mentor for her and Croot, but an incredible support as well.

“Without him, we wouldn’t be here today, but he also continues to help out around the farm – even if it’s just checking a mob for us – and it means a lot,” she says.

“And Neil and Helen Walker have been so supportive; they are incredible.”

Now the kids are growing up a little, she has a little more time to look at what fulfils her off farm. This year she has taken on a new role as Calf Club NZ Organiser, after having been a Calf Club NZ volunteer judge in 2021.

“Estelle is really into it as well, and she

Sophie Cookson

“Michelle [Burgess, Calf Club NZ CoFounder] is great for steering me in the right direction.

“We are both passionate about Calf Club, and it’s fun for us. The three of us [Cookson, Burgess and Calf Club NZ Co-Founder Josh Herbes] are always throwing around ideas, so the event is always evolving. Michelle saw my passion as a volunteer judge, but it was a lovely surprise to be offered the role as organiser. It’s uplifting to be in that environment.”

Cookson is enjoying the role so much that Clovalley Farms has come on board as a silver sponsor of the annual event.

“We hope to share the passion of calf care and showing with children all over New Zealand,” she says.

She also has a new role with Senztag for Cow Manager, as an After Sales Training Specialist. She and Croot use the technology on farm and, following a Cow Manager roadshow held on their farm, the company expressed their wish to have her on the team.

She says having worked in the dairy industry in both farming and professional roles, she hopes to see a real shift in the industry by the time her own children are grown.

“I would like to see a greater appreciation of farmers and feel that we are supported and that people see what we do.

Sophie enjoys cow breeding and her love of animals led her to complete a Diploma in Veterinary Nursing through Otago Polytechnic (School of Veterinary Nursing).

“I would love to see a sense of pride in farming, and recognition for how much we do for the country and community, investing in cornerstones such as Milk for Schools, and Meat the Need.”

“I would love to see a sense of pride in farming, and recognition for how much we do for the country and community, investing in cornerstones such as Milk for Schools, and Meat the Need.”

Cookson says there is a misconception that farmers make positive change only under duress.

“We do things like regenerative planting because we want to, not because we have to.

“We know how important it is to the sustainability of farming in the future.

“I’d also like to see farming become a lifestyle that is a lot healthier. The mental health challenges farmers face are tough. It is easy for farmers to isolate themselves because they are so exhausted, but we need to get back to doing things together as a community.”

She is also a Peaceful Parenting Instructor, teaching people how to parent without conflict, which she hopes will increase the resilience of children as adults.

Cookson says she and Croot have some exciting goals for the future.

“We just bought our first bit of land from our incredible farm owners and are

building our dream home nearby. We are excited for the future,” she says.

“Our plan is to stay here and continue to farm and deepen our roots within our community, encouraging our children and others to succeed.

“Donovan has recently taken on a role as a tutor for Dairy Training Ltd and enjoys sharing his knowledge with others. We hope our roles outside of farming will help give us other perspectives and changes outside of our farming endeavours.”

Having worked so hard to keep their business moving forward, they are finally able to take a breath and take stock of how far they have come – and what the future might look like.

“Farm ownership is possible, but you need to be creative and adaptable,” Cookson says.

“If you stay true to your values you can use them as your compass. We are good kaitiaki of this land; that is a strong ethos for Clovalley. We are breeding cows to be more efficient converters of feed and produce less nitrogen, and we are 100% dedicated to that. Our philosophy is feed, breed, and succeed.” n

IS I T T I M E TO YOUR CLEANING RESULTS?

To keep your system, whoever made it, ready for the next milking, the best bang for your buck is probably delivered by our value range of detergents. To upgrade your milk-readiness, talk to your upgrade specialists.

Talk

Sophie, helping a down cow, is handson on the farm as well as juggling her job and Calf Club.

Milking it

Study finds milk substitutes have high costs and low natural nutritional benefits

Anew study carried out by Riddet Institute scientists from Massey University in Palmerston North has found that plantbased beverages are not only expensive, they provide only a small fraction of the nutritional goodness of cow’s milk.

The study, published in the Frontiers in Nutrition journal last month, assessed the nutritional profiles of a range of plant-based beverages, such as soy, oat, coconut, almond or rice drinks, and compared them to standard bovine milk. Researchers collected 103 plant-based products from supermarkets in Palmerston North.

The drinks were found to have much lower quantities of the 20 nutrients measured, such as calcium and protein, and were significantly more costly than cow’s milk.

One of the study’s authors, Riddet Institute Professor of Nutritional Sciences Warren McNabb, says plantbased beverages are often marketed as alternatives to ruminant milks such as cow’s milk, and consumers may believe they are nutritionally interchangeable.

He says the new research demonstrated they are not the same and in fact it is “nutritionally risky” for consumers with high nutrient demands – like pregnant women and young children – to replace cow’s milk with plant-based products.

“Milk as a food supplies 49% of the world’s calcium,” McNabb says.

“It’s one of the most important things about milk.”

The independent study first surveyed the prices and nutrition labels of the products and then nutritional content was analysed in

an external accredited laboratory. Selected almond, coconut, oat, rice and soy products were tested for their macronutrient and mineral content.

“One of the researchers noticed that on storage you get a really thick layer of semi-

solids on the bottom and then a watery layer on the top. He wondered what happened to the distribution of nutrients with sedimentation.”

Further tests were done before and after shaking the products, and it was found that many nutrients, like protein and calcium, remain in the sediment in the plantbased beverages if you do not shake the product before consuming. This was not the case for cow’s milk.

The protein content of cow’s milk is in the range of 3.3g-3.9g per 100g and McNabb says only the soy drink had a comparable content to cow’s milk, with all other plant-based beverages containing less than 1.1g protein per 100 ml on average.

Warren McNabb

Most plant products were ultra-processed and fortified with calcium and minerals with additives like sugar, fats, hydrogenated oils,

The study conducted by Riddet Institute scientists shows that plant-based milk substitutes are not only expensive, they have just a fraction of the nutritional value of bovine milk.

“They are completely different foods. If you want to use alternatives, do so, but do not consume them with the belief that they are nutritionally similar substitutes for cow’s milk.”

Rob, Emersyn & Kirstie, Kirbin Farming, Ashburton.

hydrolysed proteins, flavours or thickeners. Oat and almond beverages contained as little as the equivalent of half a cup of oats or six almonds in 250g of product.

The plant-based beverages were often promoted as having no added sugar, but McNabb says milk also does not have added sugar.

“Lactose (in milk) is also poorly converted to glucose in the body which means milk is quite low in what we commonly call ‘sugar’.”

He says plant-based beverages have plant equivalents to “sugar” that do convert to glucose in the body.

“And that is why plantbased beverages often have a natural sweetness and don’t need added sugar. But they cannot be considered low in sugar.”

McNabb says the argument for the alternatives being more environmentally sustainable also do not stack up when considered in the light of how much product would need to be consumed to achieve the same nutritional benefits as conventional milk. With some plant-based beverages you would need to have 18 serves

to get the same amount of protein, for example, as a single serve of milk. This comes at a much higher cost to the environment – and the wallet.

But it was not all bad news for the alternatives. McNabb says plant-based beverages do supply some nutrients that milk does not, such as fibre.

“Our final conclusion was the plant-based beverages and bovine milk were not nutritionally similar in any way. They are completely different foods. If you want to use alternatives, do so, but do not consume them with the belief that they are nutritionally similar substitutes for cow’s milk.”

This was the first study to analyse the actual content of the plant-based milks available in New Zealand.

The study, titled “Nutritional assessment of plant-based beverages in comparison to bovine milk” was published in Frontiers in Nutrition on August 8 2022. n

MORE:

The Riddet Institute is a Centre of Research Excellence, hosted by Massey University, which focuses on fundamental and advanced food research.

like Sarah Smar t to

Partnering with farmers like the Hornblows to be proactive with herd health.

clinical mastitis for seven years and were treating 20 percent of the herd annually Not only was it was costing them in treatments and time, they also had the constant risk of penicillin grades.

Dairy farmers, like the Hornblows, know that being proactive with herd health is paramount for achieving results and gaining efficiencies.

With FIL and Farm Medix’s suppor t, they were able to dig deep, find out which pathogens they were dealing with and implement a prevention plan Today, Hillbrook Dairies are on top of mastitis with more knowledge and better practice – and the herd’s somatic cell count is the lowest it has ever been.

Kirstie and Rob encountered challenges with E.coli and black mastitis, and high somatic cell count during their first season contract milking 1,200 cows.

That’s what we call a good partnership. Ask us how we can help improve your farm’s profitability.

They set out with a clear vision that implementing best-practice udder health procedures during calving would be best for the long-term health of the herd, the team and their young family.

Get in touch with your local area manager on 0508 434 569 or visit FIL co nz

Now into their third season, they’ve lowered their SCC to 125,000 and mastitis to 8%. They’ve also reduced their antibiotic resistance and eliminated the need for any red drugs.

That’s what we call a good partnership. Find out how the Hornblows have reduced mastitis on their farm. Scan the QR code or go to FIL.co.nz.

Riddet Institute Professor of Nutritional Sciences Warren McNabb has been part of a team researching the nutritional properties of plant-based milk substitutes. Their study has been published in the Frontiers in Nutrition journal.

Nurturing the land

The most comprehensive study of pastoral farming undertaken in New Zealand to date was announced recently by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. Led by Massey University, with research partners AgResearch, Lincoln University and Dairy Trust Taranaki, the $26.12 million Whenua Haumanu programme will start in 2022 and continue for seven years. The government is a key partner through its Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund, which is administered by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

The research team will investigate multiple aspects of pastoral farming –from field to fork, or pasture to plate. It stretches across the farm system, exploring from below the ground, through to animal product quality and food characteristics. Below-ground measurements will include investigations of soil biodiversity and microbial DNA, nutrient levels and losses, plant root growth, carbon cycling and storage, soil physical structure, earthworms and moisture levels.

Above-ground areas include plant growth, quality and fermentation characteristics, persistence and health, greenhouse gas losses, animal production, reproduction and welfare, and the quality of animal products including meat, wool, milk and milk products.

Professor Danny Donaghy from Massey’s School of Agriculture and Environment and DairyNZ said: “This is the most comprehensive study that has been undertaken of pastoral systems, both conventional and incorporating regenerative farming practices. It will provide a robust evidence base to explore regenerative farming practices alongside conventional pastoral practices in both dairy and sheep systems.”

The research will be collaborative and focus on monitoring a variety of pastoral farming systems to intensively investigate multiple aspects including regenerative farming practices. A key aim of the programme is to investigate potential benefits of diverse pastures for grazing animals, as well as regenerative farming practices, as these have yet to be thoroughly studied, especially in an Aotearoa New Zealand context.

A comprehensive seven-year research project will soon be underway on three farms to explore various aspects of pastoral farming. From left, Professor Danny Donaghy from Massey’s School of Agriculture and Environment and DairyNZ, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and Massey Dairy 1 farm manager Jolanda Amoore at the launch of the study.

The understanding and results gained from the programme will be incorporated into models and tested across a wide range of sites across the country, to inform the international marketing of our agricultural products.

Local iwi involvement is planned, and the programme already has the support of the Massey University Manawatū campus local iwi, Rangitāne, who gifted the name Whenua Haumanu. The team are also engaging with iwi groups in Taranaki.

Northland Dairy Development Trust, the Fertiliser Association of NZ, Ravensdown Fertiliser Cooperative, Ballance AgriNutrients, Livestock Improvement Corporation, PGG Wrightson Seeds, Agricom, Barenbrug, On-Farm Research, AgFirst, and Quorum Sense.

Alongside the research team, other research partners include scientists from Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research and the Riddet Institute, along with industry partners including Fonterra, Beef + Lamb NZ, DairyNZ, Pāmu,

The initial work within the programme is to establish the research farms with diverse pasture mixes. Adjoining and within paddocks, native browsable shrubs will be planted as shade and shelter options for grazing animals. There are three main research sites for the programme: Massey University’s Dairy 1 farm grazed by dairy cows, and the Pasture and Crop Research Unit grazed by sheep, and Lincoln University’s Field Research Centre grazed by sheep. Other collaborating sites include Dairy Trust Taranaki’s Waimate West farm, On-Farm Research’s project underway at the Poukawa Research Farm, and Northland Dairy Development Trust’s project underway at the Northland Agricultural Research Farm.

The programme will allow all the farms to share results, research methods, and measurements.

“This is the most comprehensive study that has been undertaken of pastoral systems.”

Prof. Danny Donaghy

Keeping connections going

In late September mental health awareness week focused on reconnection, after years of covid-related disruption. Staying in touch with mates and neighbours is a big part of keeping Farmstrong, says Farmstrong ambassador Sam Whitelock.

The science of wellbeing tells us that people with strong social connections are happier, healthier and live longer. Simply put, spending time with mates, talking things out and being there for others makes us feel stronger and more supported.

So, even when you’re busy, try to make it a priority to stay in touch with others. It may be just a phone call, a text or a chat at the farm gate, but it can make all the difference to how someone feels.

I know from my background in rugby that just talking can be a huge help to someone who is feeling “under the pump”. Whenever there’s a challenging time, I know myself it’s nice to talk about

it. So, if you’re worrying about things all the time and can’t sleep, getting frustrated and losing your rag or feeling isolated, don’t bottle it up, and make it a priority this month to reconnect with friends and neighbours. Sharing the load really helps manage pressure.

What I like about Farmstrong is that it’s based on the experience of farmers who know what it takes to build resilience and keep well. Here’s what other farmers have to say about the power of connection.

Cambridge dairy farmer Mark Gascoigne

“I help run the Te Awamutu cycle club, which ticks a lot of boxes and

definitely helps me stay connected. We’ve got 350 members and run 40-plus races every year on road and velodrome. When you’re mixing with people like that it energises you and makes a real difference to your own wellness. A big part of keeping well on farm is connecting with your mates and checking in on people. People often just need to offload about something that’s happened to them.”

Pongakawa dairy farme Paul Walker

“As farmers we need to use everything at our disposal to look after each other. One of the easiest resources we have is a set of ears. A few years ago, I spoke

Farmstrong ambassador Sam Whitelock says spending time with family and friends, talking with others and being there for others when they need us makes us stronger and better supported.

to a lot of farmers at Fieldays as part of the Farmstrong team and you could just see when people walked away that their backpack didn’t feel quite so heavy. There’s no doubt that having a friendly ear to turn to is much better than having none. Connections count.”

Former dairy farm manager/rural professional Cheyenne Wilson

“It’s easy to become isolated in farming and withdraw. I noticed that happening to myself a couple of times. My advice is surround yourself with a network of people you can reach out to. It can be as simple as having a conversation in the pub.”

Maegan Legg, sharemilker, Manawatu.

“People are social creatures, we’re meant to be in herds, just like our cows. So if you’re moving to a community where you don’t know anyone at all, my advice would be to join what’s on offer, find local networks. For example, we have young children, so it’s about getting involved with the local play centre and schools. All the other farmers’ kids are there too.

“The dairy industry also has amazing local networks. Dairy NZ discussion groups are great. They’re fun, they’re social and there’s no opinion that’s not valued. Everyone is welcomed. You don’t need to be a talker or extrovert, you can just turn up and catch up with other people facing the same things as you. It’s as social as it is farming. I’d also encourage people to explore what else is on offer in their local community. Check out your local fish and chip shop, RSA or sports club.”

North Canterbury contract milker Abbi Ayre

“I do a lot for the Dairy Women’s Network. I’m a regional leader and help to organise events around the area, which keep people connected. Having that sort of support is just the biggest thing. I get to see a group of women on their one night off farm and we don’t talk

about cows and grass. Being in a room full of women like that is special. It’s a great boost.

“I’ve learnt that every season is different and every season has its challenges. If you’re feeling under the pump, it’s great to share the load. Get out and talk to somebody, whether it’s a dinner group or a BYO fish and chip night with neighbours and friends.”

Whitelock says find out what works for you and “Lock It In”.

Farming, like professional rugby, is a job with a lot of challenges. The reality is farm work’s never done and the pressure of work and the isolation can really build up. Staying connected to your community, doing things off farm and talking to others helps you keep perspective.

No one can just go “hammer-down” the whole time. We all need time to reset physically and mentally, even if it’s just for a short while. Anything that boosts your mood and energy levels is going

Kelly Morrison, dairy farmer, Northland

“It’s vital when you work alone that you know you can connect with others if you need to. It’s great just to get more involved with your community, especially with the way the world is now. We need to know our neighbours better and be supporting each other.”

to help you and your team get through busier periods.

So, make a point this month of reconnecting with people you haven’t seen for a while. It will do everyone a power of good. n

Geoff Spark, dairy farmer, Canterbury

“It’s about taking that time to catch up with people, whether it’s your team or your neighbours. And it doesn’t take much, does it? A few minutes here or there. Sometimes I think we underestimate just how valuable it is to that person, showing that we care and want to have a yarn to see how they’re doing. It is important to take the lead and keep those connections going.”

Under the pump

Sam Whitelock Farmstrong Ambassador

“Whenever there’s a challenging time, I know myself it’s nice to talk about it.”

Sam Whitelock

The Alltech ONE conference held in Kentucky in the US earlier this year covered everything from dairying to agribusiness, agritech, sustainability, climate change and more. Samantha Tennent reports on some of the key insights shared at the event.

Dairy gone digital

From cow cams to automated calf feeding, technology for use on dairy farms has grown increasingly sophisticated.

Our daily lives have been transformed by technology, including through our smartphones, smart cars and smart homes. The dairy industry is no exception, with innovative technologies changing the way we milk cows and track data. Dr Marcia Endres, a professor at the University of Minnesota, has been monitoring technology in the dairy industry and how it might be influencing sustainability.

“Nearly everyone has a smartphone now but 15 years ago when the first iPhone was released, it was a different

story. We can no longer live without gadgets,” Endres said at Alltech’s international conference, ONE, held in Kentucky earlier this year.

“And for the cow, we are able to know what is happening to her now more than ever.”

Endres spoke about the trends and impacts of dairy technology and sustainability.

She highlighted the value in having proactive information, like rumination data, to flag animals to farmers so they can check them and mitigate any issues that could be brewing.

“Rumination is a good way to know if a cow is feeling good. When rumination changes it might be because an animal is sick, so the

University of Minnesota Professor Marcia Endres has been monitoring technology in the dairy industry and how it might be influencing sustainability.

Collars fitted around cows’ necks give farmers a range of information that can help them with animal health, calving and mating.

farmer now has a helpful tool and they can give her whatever she needs so she doesn’t get severely ill and doesn’t die, which is very important for sustainability,” Endres said.

“A dead cow isn’t very productive.”

She talked of sustainability and its direct relation to economics but she also highlighted how the health of an animal is important for environmental sustainability too, as healthy animals are more efficient. And it also relates to animal welfare and social sustainability.

“We’re seeing more technology beyond wearables on dairy farms now too, such as cameras being installed in barns to monitor cow behaviour, which tells us if she’s resting enough and we know if she’s eating, drinking and so on,” Endres said.

And the same technology can monitor the feed bunker and access to feed, which has a direct relation to feed

waste, something Endres stressed as a very important aspect of sustainability.

Improving access to feed with automation technology reduces feed waste on farms and improves sustainability. And innovations such as feed pushers are helping improve access to feed in housed systems.

“In one study looking at the connection between feed wastage and productivity on robotic farms there were 11 pounds [4.9kg] of milk difference between farms that had feed pushers and farms that didn’t,” Endres said.

“And on conventional farms, we’re seeing a 2-3 pound [0.9kg] increase just because cows have better access to feed.

“A more productive cow is a more efficient cow, which is important for sustainability.”

Extensive automation options are available for farms now too, with systems like automated total mixed ration feeding also helping reduce feed wastage by efficiently feeding multiple times throughout the day.

And automated milk feeders for calves allow calves to feed in a more natural manner and drink more milk than they would in a traditional twice-a-day system, which improves their health and welfare and allows

a more gradual weaning process.

Automation has also reached fans, with smart sensors measuring temperature and humidity. Some are even connected to sensors on the cows so if some show changes in behaviour, indicating heat stress, the fans will turn on.

But she explained that technology is a partnership

Marcia Endres

with humans. The equipment still need maintenance and cows still need managing.

“Automation doesn’t remove labour requirements altogether; it changes the labour,” Endres said.

“Humans still need to pay attention and make sure everything is calibrated and working properly, but labour is one of the biggest challenges of the dairy

Adoption of technology has grown substantially on dairy farms in the past 10 years.

A variety of technology is used on dairy farms, including cameras in barns to monitor cow behaviour such as resting, eating and drinking.

industry and technology is relieving some of the pressure.

“Because we can monitor our cows better, we can actually get the work done which is important as it’s getting harder to find employees.”

There has been a huge increase in robotic milking across the United States and Endres believes that relates to labour as larger dairies are struggling to find people who want to milk cows, and wages are increasing.

She spoke about the extensive research into robotic milking, both voluntary milking systems where cows go to a box by themselves to be milked as well as completely automated rotary parlours. She highlighted advantages such as a consistent routine, no training requirements and how reliable a robot is because it comes to work every day, which is important for sustainability.

“Automation for various tasks on farms and technologies that can monitor cows and calves are definitely helping our dairies to be even more sustainable and more viable into the future.

“Adoption of technology has grown substantially in the past 10 years. Not all farms will have it but it will continue to grow into the future.” n

“Humans still need to pay attention and make sure everything is calibrated and working properly, but labour is one of the biggest challenges of the dairy industry and technology is relieving some of the pressure.”

Share the story

By Samantha Tennent

Farmers feed the global population but need to tell their story better so consumers understand how the food they eat is produced.

Farmers work day in, day out to put food on consumers’ tables, but it is work that is mostly done behind the farmgate. And these days more and more people are removed from farming and have little or no knowledge of where their food actually comes from or how it is produced.

And, despite the appetite of the general public for dairy, there is a clear struggle to tell the agricultural story without it being drowned out by the vocal minorities who decry farmers on social media. It is a global problem and a clear message at the 2022 ONE

event, hosted by Alltech in Kentucky.

Speakers on a panel shared their views on the issue and related simple success stories.

“Initiatives like the open farm Sunday in the UK, where farms open to the public, they are so popular the farmers can’t deal with the crowds of people who want to come and learn more about their story,” said Neil Keane, commercial director for the Alltech rumen function platform.

“We need to be mindful that, unfortunately, a lot of countries are two, three generations removed from primary production so there

are a lot of people don’t know what actually happens on a farm,” he said.

“We do have an audience who want to learn more, but sometimes we’re living in our own bubbles and we think they don’t want to know this story, that it’s not of interest, but we see repeatedly when media initiatives are undertaken that there is a huge appetite for that.”

Keane also spoke about finding a middle ground and being careful in managing the narrative from the dairy sector.

“If we’re not careful it could be a black swan moment for our industry,” Keane said.

“Rather than having a polarised industry with strong opinions about how to farm, things like whether organic is the way or large scale or smaller scale dairy, we need to find the middle ground where we’re communicating the right messages out to the people who buy our products.”

Philip Halhead, a farmer from the United Kingdom, shared an example of a social media figure who has found a way to share his farming story through his Instagram page. The farmer, Tom Pemberton, showcases real-life issues and problems on the farm and has just released a book.

A panel of farmers at the ONE conference in Kentucky discussed how farmers around the world can tell their stories better in order to connect with consumers.

Food produced by the dairy industry is done behind the farmgate and with more and more people having little knowledge of where their food comes from, the industry needs better voices to convey their story.

“He hasn’t got the most pretty farm or the best agricultural story but he’s found his voice and he’s found a voice for every one of

us,” Halhead said.

“That’s what we need. It’s not every farmer, and it’s not every agriculturalist that can tell the story so let’s

find the people who can and engage right through the supply chain, at higher levels in government and with the people who can

Philip Halhead

tell that sustainability piece right down to children of four or five and six, who literally want to be a farmer. That’s an exciting opportunity.” n

“Mastatest has taken the guess work out of mastitis for us. We’re getting higher and faster cure rates and our cell count is down 100,000 compared to last year”

Paul Mahony, 650 cows, Waikato farmer

“It’s not every farmer and it’s not every agriculturalist that can tell the story, so let’s find the people who can and engage right through the supply chain ... right down to children of four or five and six who literally want to be a farmer.”

Challenges and potential

By Samantha Tennent

Data collection on farms is outpacing efforts to glean insights from all the numbers gathered, the ONE conference in Kentucky heard.

More and more data is available for farmers but there is a disconnect between the amount of data and the insights into what that data is showing. There is an opportunity for the sector to move away from just collecting data to layering data points with insights to ensure farmers are getting the full value of their information.

Data was one of the topics discussed during a panel on sustainability at the Alltech ONE conference in Kentucky earlier this year. The panel highlighted the abundance of data available on farms but the challenges around its use and whether farms are seeing or feeling the value.

Luke Miller, a dairy technical support specialist at

Alltech, shared results from a question posed to a group of farmers about whether they saw enough value in the wearable technology on their herds to validate the cost.

“About 60% of respondents agreed they could see and feel the value from the technology that they were paying for themselves,” Miller said.

“The other 40% agreed they were valuable but unsure if the value warranted the price tag.”

The panel speakers promoted the value of benchmarking for any of these types of technology. Showing data from other farms and what can be done really drives other farmers to figure out what they can get out of their technology. It plays on curiosity and the competitive urge.

But they talked about how the amount of data collection is more than most farms are prepared to deal with on a daily basis.

“Farmers choose to select things that they’re going to do very well, like mating, rumination, something they’re going to focus on and get value out of.

“Businesses revolve around the interpretation of data, what can we see happening on the farm, but this is where benchmarking is really powerful.”

Building on data and the sustainability story, another

trend the panel discussed was social acceptance and consumers.

They highlighted a gap that there are missed opportunities through the young consumer and that dairy needs to be made popular again.

“There are lots of people who never drink milk in school and they’re never going to drink milk,” Miller said.

“Education isn’t just about what you are told, it’s learning through experiences and connecting the understanding.” n

Alltech dairy technical support specialist Luke Miller spoke at the ONE conference in Kentucky in the US, saying businesses revolve around the interpretation of data available on farms.

Taking care of your team

Guy Mitchell

Iwas pleased to see a Southland dairy farming couple recognised at the Primary Industries Good Employer Awards recently.

Annalize and Stefan du Plessis are 50:50 sharemilkers on a property milking 700 cows, and they contract milk 600 cows on another local farm.

The Du Plessis do lots of good things to create a great workplace, including being flexible about working hours and leave.

Annalize and Stefan ensure their team have plenty of time off during quieter periods. Staff also have input into when they work, as they’re part of developing the roster.

Farm teams are now recovering from calving, with some having worked particularly hard due to staff shortages. Taking time off is important for us all to stay well – mentally and physically –especially after stressful periods.

“three in two” reduces labour time and improves body condition score (BCS), reproduction and lameness. It does result in a small decrease in milk production.

Three in two milking can also be a good option if you’re down a staff member, or want to improve cow BCS in summer or autumn. I’ve also seen some farms use flexible milking to provide staff with time off over Christmas and New Year.

Supporting a great workplace can also involve some simple gestures.

with DairyNZ

Tips to help farm staff feel valued

DairyNZ research shows that farm staff value:

Regular one-on-one catch-ups and team meetings

Being able to share their views and ideas

Annalize and Stefan also say it’s important to have good systems and routines in place to reduce inefficiency. This includes having the right machinery and equipment so jobs can be done faster, helping to create a good work environment with greater flexibility for staff.

Another option to keep working hours manageable for a lot of farms is flexible milking.

DairyNZ research indicates that shifting from twice-a-day milking to

Annalize and Stefan recognise staff birthdays with a day off, a present and a cake, and even warm meals. The Du Plessis have an open-door policy and encourage their team to come and chat to them about any concerns.

They also work hard to help new staff settle in, encouraging them to join a local sports club or get involved in community activities like Young Farmers.

With calving behind us, now is a great time to catch up with your farm team to find out how they’re feeling, and ask if there’s anything more you can do to continue supporting them. n

• Rosters that provide enough time off to avoid burnout, especially at busy times

Health, safety and wellbeing being a priority

• Being regularly told they are doing a good job

Having warm and comfortable accommodation

• Having a clear set of expectations

• Competitive pay

Opportunities for upskilling or training

MORE:

For more information on managing people visit www.dairynz.co.nz/people

Southland/ South Otago regional leader

Annalize and Stefan du Plessis are flexible about working hours and ensure their team has plenty of time off. Back from left are Stefan Burger, Arun Aravind, Zander Ferreira, Kara Toimata, Armand Fourie, Stefan du Plessis, Carlo School. Front, from left, are Zackery Ferreira, Lee Louw and Annalize du Plessis. Absent from photo: Jancke Burger.

“The Du Plessis do lots of good things to create a great workplace, including being flexible about working hours and leave.”

Animal wellbeing essential

By Ash Keown

Around the world people are becoming more curious about the quality of life experienced by the animals supplying their food. Fonterra’s own research has identified “care of animals” as a key interest for customers and consumers across our major markets.

Historically we’ve been able to rely on the high standards of animal care displayed by our farmers and the “naturalness” of our farming systems to prove that our animals have a good quality of life. But as science reveals more about what animals need in order to have positive experiences, the people who buy our products want to see evidence that the various needs of our New Zealand dairy cows and calves are met.

The way we farm in NZ naturally provides lots of positive experiences for our animals, and we want to celebrate this. To help our farmers, the wider primary sector, our customers and consumers feel proud to talk about the ways we care for our dairy cattle, Fonterra is now using the term “animal wellbeing”.

Animal wellbeing is important in all of the markets where we operate, but not always for the same reasons.

Some customers and consumers are interested in how animals are treated and cared for while others focus on the human benefits, with the theory that contented cows produce healthy, or healthier, milk.

Regardless of the reasons, the way we farm and care for our animals represents a huge opportunity. The NZ brand is strong, and we know that customers and consumers value our sustainability and provenance credentials, with many prepared to pay a premium for the products we make.

In Europe and the United Kingdom, people love their dairy. They are discerning consumers who are more and more interested in animal wellbeing. A recent animal wellbeing labelling study showed that 50% of EU consumers wanted to know more about animal wellbeing for the product they are buying, while in the UK at least a third of people are willing to pay more for

products that have verified animal wellbeing credentials.

While the recent free trade agreement with the European Union didn’t deliver as much as NZ exporters were hoping for, the earlier deal struck with the UK contained a very interesting feature – a whole chapter dedicated to animal welfare.

Having animal wellbeing specifically discussed in trade negotiations provides a huge opportunity for NZ to showcase our great standards of animal care to an international audience, standards that are endorsed by independent organisations. Giving evidence to Westminster’s International Agreements Committee recently, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals stated: “New Zealand is the only country with whom the UK is negotiating a free trade agreement where there is broad equivalence on animal welfare standards. In some areas, New Zealand’s farm standards are above the UK’s.”

So how else do we prove to customers and consumers that animal wellbeing is at the forefront of what we produce?

Part of it is educating people about our farming system and how it naturally supports good animal wellbeing. We have a great climate, meaning our cows spend nearly all their time out

on pasture, and we don’t rely on grain feeding. Our cows can choose where and what they eat, are free to roam, and have plenty of opportunity to interact with each other and form social bonds.

We use the Five Domains model as a framework to help us measure and understand animal wellbeing. The Five Domains recognise that both positive and negative experiences in each of the four physical domains (nutrition, environment, health, behaviour) contribute to the overall experience each animal has – the fifth domain called “mental state”.

We’re doing our best to engage with vets, farmers, and our own people within Fonterra to talk about how we can create, recognise, and celebrate positive outcomes across all the Five Domains to achieve good wellbeing for all our animals.

The Co-operative Difference is one mechanism we’ve got to do this – by asking farmers to work closely with their vet to develop and implement an Animal Wellbeing Plan that addresses all four physical domains and strives to create an overall state of wellbeing for our cows. n

Who am I?

Ash Keown is a Fonterra Vet technical manager

Fonterra Vet technical manager Ash Keown says animal wellbeing is important to consumers around the world who want to know if the animals who produce their food enjoy a good quality of life.

Help your vet help you

By Samantha Tennent

The veterinary sector has been under the pump since long before the pandemic took hold, but now the pressure is mounting. There are high levels of under-resourcing nationwide, with the New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) estimating a deficit of about 123 veterinarians.

The sector relies heavily on overseas vets working here but since the pandemic there have been fewer coming to New Zealand,. There has been a slow increase since the borders reopened, however, and recent changes to immigration rules should help make the process easier.

Though there are a number of actions being taken to alleviate some of the pressure, the problem will be around for a while. So what can you do to help reduce the impacts being felt in your farming business?

Be proactive

Preventative healthcare is a good investment. It often leads to better productivity and easier management. But it also means the vet clinic can utilise its wider team as much of the preventative care can be performed by technicians.

And using a proactive system, such as WelFarm, allows your vet to cater the support your farm needs uniquely to you. If they can identify where your opportunities are and work with you in a

targeted fashion it is more efficient and helps drive better outcomes.

It’s also a great experience for both you and your vet team, to deal with healthy animals and keep them healthy rather than needing the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.

But if you do need the ambulance, contact the vet clinic early, give them warning and allow them time to triage and prioritise accordingly.

Be organised for appointments and accept unexpected delays but also try not to create them yourself by adding extra things while they are on farm. Always ring in advance if you have more than you originally booked the visit for. It helps reduce the flow-on effect across the rest of their day.

Be open

Supply chain disruptions are being felt everywhere and products you are familiar with may be harder to access. Trust your vet if they recommend a different product and be open to giving it a go.

And just as farmers often find it hard to fit in meal breaks, vets will often go from visit to visit without managing to fuel themselves. Offering a cuppa at the shed can be a helpful gesture and if you can offer to help them clean their gear while they are finishing, sometimes it will make a big difference to their day.

They have a lot going on in their head and often the mental to-do list can get hazy. Sometimes you may need to give

A shortage of vets nationwide is adding pressure to the sector but there are steps farmers can take to ensure animal welfare is at a high standard to help alleviate this.

them a gentle reminder of something they have forgotten, but do appreciate how stretched their time can be.

The pinch is being felt everywhere but there are opportunities to help each other and try to prevent the bottleneck. The key is communication. Ask your vet what you can do to help them help you and look after that relationship for better outcomes all round. n

Who am I?

Samantha Tennent is the general manager of WelFarm.

Naturally effective

By Anne Boswell

Farmers using natural plant-based treatments on their herds are getting good results.

Waikato dairy farmer Bruce Bayes is the first to admit that if something’s not broken, he’s hesitant to change it.

However, his use of a range of scientifically researched, plant-based products to treat a number of animal health problems is proof that change can mean significant improvement.

“We’ve been milking cows for 30 years and we were sceptical as hell at the start,” Bayes says.

“But once we saw the effect on the first cows we gave the boluses to we thought, my God, this actually works.”

Bayes and his team of three milk 500 cows south of Cambridge and started using an AHV (Animal Health Vision) mastitis treatment product, Udder Health, in January 2022.

As someone who had followed the traditional process of stripping colostrum cows, performing Rapid Mastitis Tests and treating any “gluggy” cows with antibiotics, Bayes wanted something different – a process that was easier on the herd.

Today, under the AHV system mastitis identification remains the same for Bayes, but once he identifies a gluggy cow he treats her with AHV Udder Health boluses. As the product is 100% natural, there is no milk- or meat-withholding period required.

In mid-September, he had treated 14 cows and three heifers with Udder Health boluses and, with only 26 cows left to calve, no cows had been culled due to mastitis.

“It has been a particularly bad season for mastitis around the country due to the wet weather, but we have had no ongoing problems,” he says.

With a post-calving bulk SCC of 70,000-90,000, Bayes says they take a lot of pride in their low cell count.

“If a product wasn’t working, we wouldn’t use it,” he says.

“We have used a number of AHV products with huge success; some with

immediate effect, where we can see results straight away.”

AHV, which was founded in 2014 by Dutch veterinarian Gertjan Streefland, uses the science of quorum sensing –when bacteria choreograph their actions as a group using complex chemical conversations to communicate – to develop animal health solutions.

By using plant-based supplements to interfere with the way bacteria communicate, AHV has created the next generation of health solutions for animals and people – leaving antibiotics as a last resort.

AHV NZ managing director Janneke Van Wagtendonk says unfavourable bacteria are like “hooligans waiting for the police to weaken”.

In an initial infection, bacteria invade the host and form a biofilm, which is a survival strategy for bacteria. The biofilm protects the bacteria inside as it is impenetrable to antibiotics and immune cells.

When the number of bacteria inside the biofilm is high enough, in combination with “sensing” immune suppression of the cow from external stressors, the bacteria break out of the biofilm and infections re-occur.

AHV products work to disrupt the quorum sensing process between bacteria. Through its research, AHV has been able to block bacterial communication and influence their behaviour, such as breaking down the biofilm structure.

AHV offers Udder Health, Energy and Metabolism, Transition, Uterine Health and Calves products, which are administered as boluses in the rumen or a paste in the mouth. The plant extracts enter the bloodstream and reach the site of the infection.

And when animals are healthy, they are expending their energy in milk production rather than fighting infection – meaning increased milk production, for longer.

Bruce Bayes milks 500 cows on his Waikato farm and uses a range of scientifically researched, plant-based products to treat a number of animal health problems in his herd, including mastitis.

Maungatautari farmer James Dallinger, milking 550 cows, is also finding success with AHV products.

Dallinger first came across AHV products in a United States dairy journal, but at that stage they were not available in New Zealand.

His wife had found great success with natural products to treat a skin condition and, after further reading into soil health, quorum sensing and biofilm, Dallinger decided he wanted to try something different with the herd.

He started using AHV products in March 2022 and treated several cows with Udder Health boluses, with success.

“It is a very simple, easy product to use, with no milk-withholding period,” Dallinger says. “When a cow is found to be showing the typical signs of mastitis she now very simply just receives the AHV boluses. Then, once she is clear on the RMT, we are not restricted with milk-withholding days on returning her to the vat. As dairy farmers, I believe in the future we will be scrutinised for our antibiotic use, so see it wise to trial alternative solutions now to help reduce our reliance.”

Dallinger, who has used all of the products in the AHV range, has carried out a couple of product demonstrations on farm with promising results.

“Prior to dryoff we had given cows with medium-range cell count AHV Udder Health boluses instead of using dry

cow antibiotic therapy, and so far early indications are looking good,” he says.

“I plan to continue to use these products in the future. I feel as farmers we’re all trying to do our best with the tools and information we have, and this ‘tool’ could be a real game changer.” n

After Janneke van Wagtendonk, Managing Director for AHV NZ, explained how the AHV udder support solutions work, I bought a bucket of Quick, Extra and Aspi boluses each and used them on cows with deviating milk values. AHV also analyzed my herd test data and we looked at the history of each cow and prioritized what cows to support first.’

I am very happy with the results and that cows can remain in the milking herd after the boluses, which means less hassle and no risk of mistakes to be made by me or my staff.

The AHV Udder Health Program supports your animal’s natural resistance for production, longevity and development of the herd. NEW WAY TO KEEP ANIMALS HEALTHY’’ 0800 424 869

James Dallinger, Dairy farmer from Maungatautari

AHV was founded in 2014 by a Dutch veterinarian and uses plant-based supplements. Pictured NZ managing director Janneke van Wagtendonk.

Fly away

By Ross Nolly

Annoying flies hanging around the sheds and animals are being dealt with in an environmentally friendly way.

FLIES are annoying not just to humans, but cattle as well. People can use their hands to swat them away, but cows can usually only flick their ears and tails to get rid of them, so a form of fly control is needed.

Flies can transmit diseases such as pinkeye and can cause decreased production potential for the herd and lead to stress when there are many flies. Fly and problem insect control has always been something that farmers have had to contend with, but with increased health and safety and environmental awareness, many farmers also want to use a product that is kinder on themselves and the environment.

This is definitely the case for dairy farmer David Child, who manages Murray Jameson’s 100ha Temple View, Hamilton farm. It’s a System 5 operation milking 500 cows.

Child hails from Lancashire and completed a UK National Diploma of Agriculture. Little did he know that it would lead him to a farming career on the other side of the world in New Zealand. He has now spent more of his life here than in the UK.

The farm practises autumn calving to capitalise on Open Country Dairy’s winter milk premium.

“In the UK they mostly practise yearround calving. It’s much easier here because you deal with calving at one time of the year and get it out of the way. Autumn is a nice time to calve cows. The weather is warm, and we have very few downed cows,” Child says.

One downside to autumn calving is the number of flies that are still lingering about. Farm owner Jameson likes to try new things and, knowing they had a fly problem during calving, he decided to trial a new fly control product in the market.

Key Industries and its sister company Renovo Technologies had set out to formulate a fly and problem insect control product that was efficacious but

eliminated any “nasties” for both the animal and the applicator.

The result was Redact, which was developed to control flies on cattle and horses, lice and ticks on cattle, and ants, cockroaches, fleas, flies, mosquitoes and spiders in domestic, industrial and public health areas.

“Redact was developed to bring innovation to a traditional product group and to also look at the products from a more sustainable standpoint,” Key Industries general manager Andre Visser says.

Redact is a new-generation waterbased microemulsion formulation containing 200g/L Cypermethrin in the form of an emulsion. Unlike other available Cypermethrin products, the

product contains no Xylene and is nonflammable, reducing the risk to users and animals when handling the product. It may be applied through spray races or by hand-spraying.

Made in NZ, it helps NZ businesses reduce their carbon footprint. The container is fully recyclable through Agrecovery.

“Redact differs from other products in the delivery of its chemistry. We’ve gone away from using solvent-based products to administer that chemistry. Redact is a water-concentrate product utilising modern chemistry,” Key Industries key account manager and technical sales representative-ag/hort Warren Wright says.

“It’s kinder on the environment and

Hamilton farmer David Child is the manager on a autumn calving 100ha farm milking 500 cows.

is a naturally derived polymer that encapsulates the product and bonds it to the surface. The product utilizes Zeta particle technology, which has a very minute, micron-sized particle. This gives the product more individual contacts per square metre. The particle is half the usual size, but gives you twice the amount of contact points.”

The polymer is designed to hold the active ingredient and give it residual action and repellence. Wright’s analogy for the differences between using solvent-based products and polymerbased is that it would be similar to going from solvent-based paint to water-based paint.

“Climate change is making flies more prevalent. The soil temperature here in Waikato at the moment is 14°C, and those temperatures seem to be rising. Insects are activated by temperature and they’re becoming an issue earlier in the season and for a longer period,” Wright says.

“Some farmers are also noticing that their traditionally used products are becoming less effective due to a build-up in resistance.”

Warren Wright

Key Industries’ mission statement is “Protecting people, crops and native species”. It aims to accomplish this with products that are eco-friendly to the environment, animals and humans.

Redact is most often used for fly control around animal facilities such as the cowshed, calf shed, feed pad, in-shed feeding systems, stables and horse trailers etcetera. It’s safe to spray over animals and keeps flies away from animals and prevents them from being bothered by them.

Child applied the product with a knapsack sprayer to cows and also to the walls and roof in areas where flies tended to congregate, for example the feeder wagon and in the barn where the calves are fed.

“It was also used on the cowshed walls and ceilings, which stopped the cows kicking cups off due to the annoying biting flies which make a home on the rafters and drop onto cows as they come into milk. This led to much smoother and faster milkings,” Child says.

“We use a mister/blower to apply it on the feed pads, which blew it through the entire building. There was a massive reduction of flies in the first 3-4 days and the spray was reapplied after 2-3 weeks.” n

Remove flies from the conversation

Safer for YOU kinder on your stock

Redact has been formulated to be extremely efficacious in the control of flies, lice and ticks on cattle and horses.

The WC formulation, with Zeta sized particles for more contact and faster uptake, achieves up to 40% less spray drift than comparable EC formulations.

Redact contains no Xylene has a lower odour profile and is kinder on equipment and surfaces – making it much safer for not only the treated animals but the applicator and environment as well.

Distributed by Key Industries Limited

15 D Paul Matthews Road, Rosedale, Auckland 0632

Phone 0800 539 463 (office hours) keyindustries.co.nz sales@keyindustries.co.nz

The herd and buildings have been sprayed with Redact, which has been developed to be more environmentally friendly to both the animals and user.

“Climate change is making flies more prevalent. Insects are activated by temperature and they’re becoming an issue earlier in the season and for a longer period.”

Phosphate breakthrough

By Tony Benny

A collaboration to reduce emissions on farms has resulted in technology that will be a game-changer for farmers.

Lincoln University scientists have found a way to reduce the amount of phosphate leached from dairy farm effluent to negligible levels as well as reducing methane emissions by up to 99% and virtually eliminating E coli bacteria.

The breakthrough, which should go a long way to improving water quality in streams and lakes in New Zealand by arresting eutrophication caused by phosphate from farms, involves adding small quantities of iron sulphate to untreated effluent.

“We were absolutely amazed about how effective treating effluent with iron sulphate could be, these were stunning results,” says Professor Keith Cameron, head of soil and environmental research at Lincoln.

The discovery was made when Cameron and fellow Professor Hong

Di were conducting research to ensure there were no unintended consequences from the ClearTech technology they developed earlier in collaboration with Ravensdown to recycle water from farm dairy effluent to wash the yard.

They compared how much phosphate from treated effluent found its way down through the soil profile when spread on pasture to the amount from untreated effluent.

Results from deep lysimeters on Lincoln’s dairy farm have recently been confirmed from simulated tile-drain systems, conducted by PhD student Xueying Che, supervised by the two Lincoln professors. They set up simulated tile-drain experimental plots and found that whereas 3.5kg/ha of phosphate was lost from untreated effluent applied to pasture soil, only 0.24kg/ha was lost from the treated effluent, the same as that

from the control where no effluent was applied.

The scientists set up experimental plots and found that whereas 3.5kg/ha of phosphate was lost from untreated effluent, only 0.24kg/ha was lost from the treated effluent.

While 3.5kg/ha of phosphate is insignificant to a farmer, it’s enough to cause major problems in waterways, especially as it can be delivered quickly from pasture to stream via the drainage pipes beneath many paddocks on New Zealand farms – particularly those on heavy clay soils.

“The drainage networks are extensive and some of them have been there for 100 years or more,” says Cameron.

“Normally those drains have a Novaflo pipe, or previously tile drains, and because it’s got a gravel backfill to allow easy drainage, they actually act as a short

Professors studying the new effluent system at Lincoln University dairy farm have made a breakthrough discovery in the war against emissions and phosphate leaching. Professor Keith Cameron, Professor Hong Di and Ravensdown product manager Carl Ahlfeld.

circuit through the soil. The effluent goes on the top and the drain allows the effluent to dribble through, which then contaminates waterways.”

“That 3.5kg is actually quite a high amount,” adds Di.

That phosphorus economically is not worth a lot of money but once it gets into the surface water, a minute amount causes surface water eutrophication.

“We usually say, ‘Economically insignificant but ecologically very significant’.”

“What the iron sulphate does is to help reduce the solubility of the phosphate so that it sticks to the soil and then a plant can use it rather than it leaching out the bottom of a drain. It’s still there but it’s stuck to the soil now for plants to use later,” Cameron says.

Not only does the system stop phosphate, which is contained mostly in cow dung, from leaching from soil, it also is remarkably effective in eliminating both E coli and methane emissions from effluent.

“It reduces the ability of microorganisms called methanogens to produce methane. The sulphate stimulates another group of bacteria, called sulphate-reducing bacteria, and essentially they eat all the carbon for their growth and starve the methanogens of any carbon and then they don’t produce methane.”

The iron in the additive interacts with the “shell” of the E coli bacteria and effectively destroys it, aided by acidic nature of iron sulphate, reducing E coli by 99.9%. Di says this is good news for small towns where councils are concerned that E coli from farm could enter water supplies.

next year,” says Ravensdown product manager Cal Ahlfeld.

“It will be plug and play. Ravensdown are a fertiliser company so we’ll have suppliers and they all have units on the shelf so they can pretty much go out and connect them up and it will be very simple.”

Ahlfeld expects the units to sell for about $45,000, including installation, and annual operating costs for a 400-cow herd milking for 270-280 days will be between $10,000 and $12,000 at current international prices for iron sulphate. Prices are very volatile at present and could easily come down.

A prototype EcoPond, as the new technology has been branded, has been in action on Lincoln University’s research dairy farm and another has been put on a farm near Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, close to the university, to test it under normal farming conditions. EcoPond systems are being installed on other commercial farms as part of the early adoption development work to design and install units that can be easily retrofitted into most effluent systems.

“We’re working on Version 2 plans now, which is a fabricated stainless steel unit, and we’re getting ready for commercialisation midway or late

“We bring in liquid at the moment but that’s not cost effective so we’re looking at bringing powder in and mixing it ourselves. It’s readily available because it’s used by councils for water purification.”

Ahlfeld says Ravensdown are proactive in working on smarter farming especially environmental impacts and sustainability.

“This technology that we have managed to develop with Lincoln is probably seen as the pinnacle for Ravensdown now. It’s fantastic. It’s come about because 50% of New Zealand dairy farmers use Ravensdown products and are co-operative members so it’s about creating technology for the future success of our customers.” n

The EcoPond equipment takes in untreated effluent from the dairy shed and adds precisely measured amounts of iron sulphate and sends the effluent on to the pond. It will eventually be spread on pasture when the conditions are right.

“The drainage networks are extensive and some of them have been there for 100 years or more.”

Keith Cameron

Solving the poo problem

By Samantha Tennent

Effluent is an issue on all dairy farms but one company has developed a natural product to help farmers deal with the challenges of cow poo.

Knowing his brother was having to spend heaps of money and effort every few years cleaning out the effluent pond on the family farm, Murray McCallum was keen to find a better solution.

“Effluent needs to be addressed almost every day on farms, but it creates so many challenges, particularly the smell and solids in ponds,” McCallum says.

He is now the national sales manager for MicroBio Solutions, who have developed a natural bacterial effluent solution, Effluex.

“We found Effluex helps with all of those effluent challenges.

“It uses a combination of anaerobic and aerobic bacteria that work on the effluent when it’s in the pond, eliminating the smell first then breaking

down the crust and continually cleaning the pond.

“And what’s left is a brown, nutrientrich water without the slurry, meaning farmers are pushing out water instead of solids which is easier on gear and reduces the environmental risks on the paddocks.”

They tried the product on the family farm in Maungaturoto, Northland, and were really impressed with the results.

“Our current effluent consent, which allows us to discharge to water, is going to run out soon, so we set out to find the best solution for our farm,” McCallum says.

“The consent is monitored very carefully by the regional council but farms like ours will need to upgrade systems to be able to hold sufficient storage and be able to irrigate and get it

back onto the land safely.”

In the three-pond system they currently operate, the first pond captures the solids and sludge from the cow shed, and the water runs off the top into the second pond then onto the third and onto the environment. Most farms will have a two-pond system and irrigation to disperse the effluent.

McCallum and his brother Grant, along with their parents Ron and Pam, converted the farm 29 years ago before there was so much scrutiny on how farmers farmed.

“When I was on the farm 30-odd years ago, it wasn’t anyone’s business how we got the milk into the vat, but nowadays the consumer is driving so much.

“Customers have a lot of choice and data available and it’s really important we’re using the most efficient solutions

After being treated with Effluex, the effluent pond on the McCallum farm is now full of nutrient-rich water.

Before being treated with Effluex, the effluent pond on the McCallum farm had a crust on the surface and had to be continually cleaned.

to help solve the challenges we face on farm.

“Effluex is a tool to help solve the effluent dilemma.”

With all the new regulations to store and manage effluent and such a variety of products on the market, it can be challenging to know which system will work the best. And dealing with slurry can be challenging and create problems in both lined and compacted clay ponds.

Murray McCallum

The McCallum family have been impressed with the results from Effluex, as it eliminates many of those challenges in a simple manner.

MicroBio Solutions has recently formed an exclusive partnership with Farm Source, after they became interested in the effectiveness of the product and conducted their own trials.

“Farm Source wanted to test the bacteria’s safety as part of their process so farmers could use it confidently, and like us they were impressed with the results,” McCallum says.

When farmers sign up to Effluex they receive the product monthly on a subscription basis and it starts with a four-month minimum period.

“We find having the package turn up monthly reminds people to apply it to the pond, rather than buying a big

drum of something, using it once then forgetting about it,” McCallum says.

“This way, it’s a good reminder and it’s a simple five-minute job once a month that de-risks the whole operation, and four months gives them enough time to start seeing some results before deciding if they want to continue using it.

“People are keen to give it a go because if it does what we say it does, it saves farmers a lot of money by working with existing effluent systems and solves a lot of problems they have been experiencing.

“And we don’t have many farms drop

off because the product really does the talking, it’s really proving to be an easy solution to help manage effluent.”

The team has spent a lot of time determining the correct application rate, which is all based on cow numbers. So all a farmer has to do is select a pack relative to their herd size.

“It took a lot of trial and testing but we wanted to make it really simple for farmers,” McCallum says.

“We didn’t want them to try to measure ponds and work out how many cubic litres they have, we just wanted an easy method and basing it on cow numbers takes the hassle out.” n

Microbio national sales manager Murray McCallum – with his son Cameron on the family farm –helped his family find a solution to the continual cleaning of their effluent pond.

“Our current effluent consent, which allows us to discharge to water, is going to run out soon, so we set out to find the best solution for our farm”

Reducing water use in the dairy shed

By Logan Bowler

I’ve written a few articles in the past regarding measures to reduce effluent storage volumes. Other than finding low-risk soils, reducing water use in and around the dairy shed and having low FDE irrigation application depths are the best mitigations to take to reduce storage requirements.

The two main problems with lowdepth irrigation are that as depths decrease the irrigator must travel faster, therefore completing runs quicker. If we halve application depths, we need to do double the number of runs to apply the same volume of effluent. This all adds up to an increased workload.

The advantage of low water use is that every litre not used in the shed is a litre not needing to be stored in an effluent pond or irrigated to land. Reduced FDE irrigation equals reduced labour and reduced costs.

There are many areas in and around the shed where water can be saved. Having efficient hosing procedures, hand scraping, water reducing nozzles

(hydrofan nozzle), and of course green water yard washing, all produce less effluent.

Rotary sheds in particular can have multiple stationary jets/sprays (D-gate, cows-off jet, skirt washers, wall washer etcetera) squirting water onto the platform to keep equipment clean, and to chase the cows off the platform. The total daily water use through all these jets/sprays in the shed can be huge.

Below is an example showing real data collected from two sheds on adjoining properties under the same ownership. Both sheds’ platforms operate for approximately six hours per day

Among other stationary jets/sprays, each shed had a D-gate spray and a cows-off jet. The D-gate spray at shed 1 (see figure 1) was flowing at 19.2l per minute (6900 litres per day) and, over a 300-day season, using more than 2 million litres of water. If they irrigated via a travelling irrigator with a standard pump rate of five litres per second, they needed to run the irrigator for 115 hours per season just to irrigate the D-gate’s water.

The D-gate spray at shed 2 (see figure 2) was flowing at 4.25 litres per minute giving an annual water use of 459,000 litres, which translates to 25.5 hours of irrigation per year – a 78% reduction in water use and irrigation time. Both D-gates were achieving the same result – keeping the cups damp, preventing a build-up of muck on them.

“The advantage of low water use is that every litre not used in the shed is a litre not needing to be stored in an effluent pond or irrigated to land. Reduced FDE irrigation equals reduced labour and reduced costs.”

Logan Bowler of Agblution Solutions says there are many areas in and around the shed that water can be saved. Having efficient hosing procedures, hand scraping, water reducing nozzles and green water yard washing, all produce less effluent.

Likewise, each shed had a cows-off jet. Shed 1’s cows-off jet (see figure 3) was flowing at 18.42 litres per minute (6630 litres per day or 1.99 million litres per year). Shed 2’s cows-off jet (see figure 4) was flowing at 7.8 litres per minute (2808 litres per day or 840,000 litres per year). Both sheds’ cows-off jets worked effectively, but one used nearly 250% more water than the other.

It just so happened that sheds had one efficient jet/spray, and one inefficient jet/ spray each. If one of the sheds had the high water use D-gate and high water use cows-off jet it would have created a huge volume of effluent.

As discussed above, to irrigate the 2.073 million litres per year solely from the D-gate in figure 1 will take over 115 hours for a normal travelling irrigator to spread it to land. If a run 300m long takes five hours, that’s 23 irrigator shifts each year just to deal with the water generated from the D gate sprayer, and another 22 irrigator shifts each year for the water used in the cows-off jet.

Measuring your platform’s water use is easy. Grab a bucket and use the stopwatch on your phone. Measure the volume collected in the bucket and divide this by how many seconds the bucket was under the flow to calculate the flow in litres per second. Now multiply this out for how long the jet/spray is used each day. Complete this for all the jets/sprays and add them all together to get an informed understanding of the volume of water used, and consequently, the volume of FDE created from these nozzles/sprays.

Often when new, the spray nozzles produce a fine mist, but over time the nozzles rust or wear out and what was once a mist is now a torrent. Can you achieve the same result with a fine mist? Can you get away with using the wall and skirt sprays for one round at the start of milking to make the surface damp, and then for one round at the end of milking to help wash the muck off? Will a jet of compressed air instead of a jet of water make the cows back off the platform?

If we think of the end destination of the water, and the cost of labour, pumping, irrigating etcetera of every litre we use in the shed, regardless of whether it’s a rotary or a herringbone, then maybe we will implement much more efficient water use.

Who am I?

Logan Bowler is the owner of Agblution Solutions, offering common sense, independent advice on effluent systems

Figure 1: D gate, 19.2 litres per minute (1152 litres per hour and over 2 million litres per year)

Figure 2: D gate, 4.25 litres per minute (255 litres per hour and 0.459 million litres per year)

Figure 3: Cows off jet, 18.42 litres per minute (1105 litres per hour, 6630 litres per six-hour day, approx. 1.99 million litres per year)

Figure 4: Cows off jet, 7.8 litres per minute (468 litres per hour, 2808 litres per six-hour day, approx. 0.842 million litres per year)

Resistant farmers

By Gerald Piddock

A stubborn minority of Waikato dairy farmers are refusing to make efforts to change their farming practices to become fully compliant around effluent management.

Of the 789 farms inspected by the Waikato Regional Council for the 202122 season, 54, or 7%, were significantly non-compliant.

That percentage is unchanged from the previous season, Waikato Regional Council regional compliance manager Patrick Lynch said.

Many of these farms would have had previous visits from council inspectors, he said.

However, full compliance rates had lifted from 37% to 49%, with 379 farms being fully compliant.

“We’re finding the bad stuff at the same rate. However, at the other end of the spectrum, there are more people improving,” Lynch said.

Those fully compliant farmers know the rules and are following them. But at the bottom end, a minority of

farmers are resistant to change, he said.

“It feels like for us, that when we find the bad stuff, these are people who simply don’t want to change.

“They have had all of the warnings and guidance from their own industry – supply companies, DairyNZ, the wider community and us as the regulator and yet there is this realm of around that 7% and we’re having to engage with them one at a time and use our harsher regulatory tools to get them to change.”

Though 7% may seem like a small component of the industry, the scale of the dairy industry in the Waikato means there are as many as 300 dairy farms with inadequate infrastructure, posing a threat to the environment, he said.

“The good farmers are doing the right thing and there are more people trending towards doing the right thing, but the real issue is what appears to be this core of poor performers who are absolutely resistant to change.” n

Is your existing effluent storage okay?

By Nick Calow

At the heart of any welldesigned effluent management system is the effluent pond/storage, and with tightening council rules and regulations we’re frequently getting asked to assess whether existing storage is “okay” to use. As accredited farm dairy effluent designers, we’re always happy to help and advise on your situation, but if you’re wanting to do it yourself here’s some advice.

Council Compliance

For a start you’ll want to look at the basic requirements of being council compliant:

• Is your pond more than 45m from the cow shed? This is a must.

Is your pond/storage large enough to hold all your effluent during times when irrigating is not possible?

Online storage calculators can help provide a general guide for effluent storage requirements; however, we recommend having more than the minimum.

Does it leak? Having a leaking effluent pond is a no-no. Not all leaks are going to be obvious, so check around your pond for any mushy areas. If in doubt, best to get it lined – this isn’t just for council compliance, but keep in mind if your pond is at ground-water level, not only will the effluent leak into the water, but groundwater will leak into your pond, filling it up and reducing capacity. So it’s in your best interests to ensure there are no leaks.

Efficiency

Not only do council rules and regulations change, but so do farms. Your cow numbers may have increased, you may have acquired the farm next door, built a new cow shed, no longer have discharge consent ... there are a lot of ways a farm can evolve over time, and this can all have an impact on the viability of your existing effluent storage. Efficiency plays a big part in the

suitability of your existing effluent storage because an inefficient system will cost you over the long term – time, labour, added expenses. Here are some of the things to consider in terms of efficiency:

• Is your effluent pond/storage in a suitable location? Ideally it should be central to the farm and in a place that doesn’t cost too much to run power to for pumping/stirring.

• Does the effluent flow into the pond via gravity? While this isn’t always possible, it is the best set-up to have. This way you are not reliant on power and don’t have the extra expense of having to use it.

Are you having to get a contractor in to empty the pond? Some farms that have discharge consent can get away with getting a contractor in once a year to empty the pond, However, without

discharge consent you may find the need to have a contractor in three or four times a year. In this case it can be more cost effective to increase your storage capacity.

Making Adjustments

If you’re thinking your effluent storage is going to need some adjustments, or a bit of an overhaul, there are lots of costeffective options:

Effluent ponds can be dug out for more capacity – councils do deem this as a new installation, so the pond will require lining after a re-size.

Secondary/emergency storage can be installed for when it is needed – for example a bladder tank or second pond.

Old ponds or sumps can be repurposed if a new pond is needed in a different location.

• If an old oxidation pond has been well designed this can often be re-purposed for use as an effluent storage pond.

Every situation is different, so seek advice on the best outcome for your effluent management system. n

Who am I?

Nick Calow is a Nevada effluent management specialist.

Effluent storage ponds must be large enough to hold effluent during times when irrigating is not possible.

“Having a leaking effluent pond is a nono. Not all leaks are going to be obvious, so check around your pond for any mushy areas.”

Unintended opportunities

By Samantha Tennent

Continuing our Road to Dairying series, we catch up with a Scottish lass who has found a home on a Kiwi farm.

Aboy, cows and progression opportunities lured Scottish lass Zoe Bryson to stay longer in New Zealand than she originally intended. She hit NZ shores three years ago on an OE after finishing university. She spent the first six weeks travelling before settling into a farm assistant role in Reporoa.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I finished studying, so I hopped on a plane and it was through a friend of a friend that I found my first dairying job here,” Bryson says.

“Now I only wish Scotland and New Zealand were closer together so I could visit my family more often, because I am pretty keen to stay here.”

That farm assistant role evolved rapidly and she has just started her first season 50:50 sharemilking after purchasing 230 cows with her Kiwi partner Connor Steens.

“It’s been a quick turnaround but I’m loving it and can’t wait to own our own farm one day,” Bryson says.

She has applied for residency but in the meantime she is operating on a working visa that requires her to stay employed. Fortunately, she landed a managing role on the farm next to their sharemilking gig and both farms are once-a-day all season, which helps keep things simple.

“There probably isn’t enough work for both of us on the sharemilking farm anyway and it’s been great to have some income while we had nothing coming from the business,” Bryson says.

She loves the opportunities in the NZ dairy sector. The ability to be selfemployed and have a clear career progression pathway appeals to her.

“Back home the only real way to get into farming is to be born into it, there aren’t the opportunities New Zealand has,” Bryson says.

And there are stark differences in farming methods, too. In Scotland the herds are housed for at least seven months of the year. They are high input as well as high output, with big Holstein

Friesian cows that are milked three times a day. Bryson enjoys the change of pace with the NZ system.

Her mentors, Tom and Traze Earls, have played a big part in her journey to date and she is thankful to have them. She started with them as a farm assistant and moved into a 2IC role when they bought their own farm. She was sad to leave but her hunger to climb the ranks meant she needed to take other opportunities.

“My mentors are where I want to be in a few years. They progressed through contract milking to sharemilking to buying a farm,” Bryson says.

“And I’m lucky to have their support. I talk to them all the time, they always push me to do better and have been key to my fast progress.”

Steens was from a farming background but he had been a diesel mechanic for a number of years after finishing school, making it more impressive they are sharemilking so early in their farming careers.

With Bryson being Scottish and Steens half-Dutch, they found it easy to save furiously to help them buy their herd. And Steens had a property he bought when he was 18, which helped – along

with the 20 in-calf heifers Bryson already had.

The couple met through New Zealand Young Farmers. Bryson had taken herself along to meet other young people and they hit it off. They have both also been involved in the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, with Steens being a finalist in the Central Plateau Trainee category two years ago and Bryson winning the regional title and placing third at nationals last year.

“The awards were another way to meet people. You never know where your next opportunity is going to come from,” said Bryson.

“This year I am on the committee helping with the trainees, and once we have settled into our business we will definitely enter again.

“It’ll be great to get to know our business and benchmark it against others so we can work out where to improve.”

With her eyes firmly on her goals, Bryson looks forward to continuing her dairying journey. And the most useful advice she can give anyone is to find a good boss or mentor who will be there for support.

Scottish lass Zoe Bryson came to New Zealand for her OE and ended up staying and taking on a role in dairying.

Maize – a useful tool

There are many benefits of feeding maize silage to herds, though the reasons for feeding and growing maize can be vastly varied. But what many farmers may not realise is that maize silage can also benefit other aspects of the farm system outside of how they have traditionally used it.

A low-cost feed

Maize produces high yields relative to pasture production during the cropping cycle, meaning plenty of extra feed can be produced at low cost. When growing maize on farm, it is not uncommon to achieve a 20tDM/ha yield. Typically, this results in the cost of extra feed produced being 25 to 30c/kgDM depending on the base fertility of your paddock. By comparison, the bought-in PKE price landed on farm is currently 45 to 50c/ kgDM (dependant on carting distance).

Improved pasture management

Many farmers use maize silage as part of their pasture renovation programme and to manage their pastures better. Taking maize crop area out of the grazing round in spring reduces the size of the spring pasture surplus and supplies a bulk of stored feed that can be used during feed deficit periods. Feeding maize silage creates pasture substitution, which can be beneficial during feed deficits to optimise grazing intervals (rotation) and pasture production. Maize silage also enables cows to be stood off paddocks and fed when there is a danger of either pugging or overgrazing.

Improved cow condition

Maize silage is proven to be one of the best cow conditioners farmers have available, being 20% more efficient than autumn pasture to achieve condition score gain. Feeding maize silage at the end of lactation means more days in milk, better cow condition at calving, better production, improved reproductive performance and a tighter calving spread the following season.

Feed on hand when you need it

Changing climatic conditions are making feed shortages more variable and unpredictable. Having maize silage

on hand for when the season doesn’t go as expected makes sense. It allows you to start and stop feeding at the optimum time for animal and pasture production. In contrast, grazed crops must be fed when they are ready regardless of whether you need the extra feed or not. Provided it is well compacted and sealed, maize silage can be stored on farm for several seasons without a deterioration in quality, and fed when required.

PKE per/cow/day. Maize silage is a good option to supply additional feed without triggering any further negative FEI response.

Environmentally sustainable

Among the most significant reasons to grow maize is its ability to reduce nitrogen leaching. Maize, with its deeprooting structure, removes excessive soil nutrients that have dropped below the root zone of shallow-rooted pasture

Farm-grown feed

In June 1 2021 Fonterra introduced some new milk payment parameters under its Co-operative Difference programme. One of these is a premium for farmers who feed more than 80% “farm-grown feed” to their cows. Maize silage, either grown or purchased in, is classified as a farm-grown feed – a great way to increase total feed supply while remaining inside the Co-operative Difference threshold.

Mitigate fat evaluation index (FEI) penalty

Fonterra’s FEI indicates the suitability of milk fat for processing to meet customer requirements, and a threshold has been set for farmers to operate below. PKE has been considered the key culprit for a high FEI and farmers have been advised to feed no more than 3kg

species. This can be particularly useful in effluent paddocks, as high-yielding maize crops require a large amount of nutrient, especially nitrogen and potassium. Let your maize crop mine excess soil nutrients and reduce the risk of increasing soil potassium levels or nitrogen leaching.

Feeding maize silage to pasture-fed cows also reduces urinary nitrogen levels, reducing the risk of nitrogen loss into the ground water. For most of the year the protein content of pasture is higher than cow requirements. Surplus dietary protein is excreted in the urine and is a major source of nitrogen in our waterways. Feeding maize decreases the amount of nitrogen in cow urine by more than 70%. n

Maize silage can be used as part of a farmer’s pasture renovation programme and to manage pastures better.

Article supplied by Genetic Technologies Limited – Pioneer

Farmer demand for canola meal strong but ordering ahead is key

GrainCorp Feeds is urging farmers to get their summer canola meal orders locked in now as shipping delays create challenges for the availability of some feed products.

The company’s general manager, Daniel Calcinai, says a deficit in pasture protein levels last summer combined with a good payout saw strong dairy farmer demand for quality, cost-effective protein-rich supplements.

“Canola meal has become a popular addition to dairy farmers’ feed plans over the past year. Even now, demand for canola meal continues to remain strong as they look for a cost-effective proteinrich supplement to lift milk production and maintain cows’ body condition postcalving.

“However, at the moment, with the volatility in global logistics, including the trans-Tasman route, shipping canola meal from Australia to New Zealand is creating some challenges.

“While the situation has improved, the possibility of ongoing logistics challenges means we’re encouraging farmers lock in their orders well in advance of summer to ensure they get the product they need in time. The more time we have to plan shipments, the more confident we can be in meeting local demand.”

GrainCorp Feeds started importing high quality non-GM canola meal from Australia in October last year. It is globally recognised as a high-quality source of protein for dairy cows.

Calcinai says supplementing a cow’s diet with a quality protein source can provide significant animal health and

Canola meal is a high-quality source of protein for dairy cows, and demand is growing.

“Farmers have reported excellent results from the use of canola meal when used regularly as part of a feed plan.”

Daniel Calcinai

economic benefits in terms of lifting milk production and maintaining body condition.

“Farmers have reported excellent results from the use of canola meal when used regularly as part of a feed plan. The cost per unit of protein also makes this feed exceptional value for money.”

He also says the GrainCorp Feeds team has seen canola meal being used across a range of feeding systems. From bulk on a feed pad to being blended with other proteins and fed in bins, or added to in-shed customised blends, farmers are tailoring its use to help meet the nutrient levels required to achieve production targets.

“Weaned calves have also been shown to perform effectively in reaching target weight at mating when canola meal is used as a protein supplement.

“We offer feed planning tools, along with diet reviews, so we can help develop a summer feed plan, including indicative supplement requirements, to meet production targets. This enables farmers to make proactive feed plans and forward contract decisions.

“Depending on the nutritional needs of the herd, canola meal can also be added to blended feeds to form part

of a nutritionally balanced diet, to help complement pasture and other on farm feeds.” n

Driving production &

Working alongside to

GrainCorp general manager Daniel Calcinai says delays in shipping may create availability issues so farmers should be locking in their orders for canola meal now.

Focus turns to summer feed following calving

By Gerald Piddock

A Te Poi sharemilker doesn’t import any feed onto the farm, which means as winter ends his attention turns to growing grass and preparing the ground for the maize, turnips and chicory he grows for his 400-strong herd.

As calving winds down and the days are getting warmer and longer, Matthew Zonderop’s attention has switched to summer feed management on the 140ha farm he sharemilks at Te Poi in Waikato.

Winter is over and any late-calving cows are no longer a concern for him.

Instead, his focus is on growing grass and getting the crop ground ready for sowing, he told a Small Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH) webinar.

Zonderop 50:50 sharemilks 395-400 cross-bred cows on a System 1 farm, growing maize, turnips and chicory as summer feed crops. Zonderop grows it all himself and does not import any feed onto the farm.

Pasture management is also critical

with his farming system because of his use of low inputs and the constant movement of livestock.

In late August, the farm has a pasture cover of about 2000kg of dry matter a hectare, with the cows entering paddocks of between 2600-2700kg DM.

He is pleased with the condition of the cows, given the tough, dry autumn conditions. Production at the time of the webinar was level with 12 months ago.

“We’re not far on farm before we can really start reaping the benefits of the hard work we have put in over the late winter time.”

The calves stay on the farm from JulyMay 1, at which time the heifers return to the farm from the grazier.

“To be able to run this system, we have to monitor our pastures very closely,” he says.

The warmer weather had pushed soil temperatures over late August to 1415degC.

“It’s starting to move and we’re starting to see that on the grass as well. It’s turning, but I’m a big fan of the spring rotation planner and with our system, we

Waikato farmer Matthew Zonderop’s low-input system requires careful monitoring of his pasture and soil temperatures.

“Because we are getting such good yields from our crop, it’s bringing our costs down.”

Matthew Zonderop

don’t have the luxury of being able to pull the cord with supplements.”

He also has 58 silage bales available and with so few reserves, he follows that planner.

He grows maize, turnips and chicory on 13% of the farm area. The turnips and maize are fed over summer and he also cuts pastures for grass silage.

He runs the cows into two mobs at 2.2ha a mob when feeding them turnips. Each of the turnip paddocks lasts for about 42 days.

During that time, they get turnips in the day and grass silage at night. This slows the round down and allows him to maintain his pasture covers heading into autumn.

His maize is harvested at the end of February-March and fed out straight away at around 4.5kg/cow/day. That will keep the herd going until it is time for dryoff.

“We do keep going usually through to May, but once we have dried off, we have built enough cover and we can go all grass right through to now [late August].”

There is then a final push just before balance date when more maize silage –which is held over from autumn – is fed out to the cows.

Once the maize is harvested, the paddock is direct-drilled into an annual grass that is used as a crop over winter.

“The cows are on there now and twothirds of their diet is perennial and one third is the annual grass,” he said.

Zonderop’s advice is to listen to the reps when it comes to decisions around sowing, spraying and maintaining those crops.

“We follow that every year without fail and that’s how we get the yields. We

spray for White Butterfly, we don’t take that chance not to spray.”

He also sprays his turnip crop for weeds and sticks to his fertiliser regimes.

He also closely monitors his soil temperature, which dictates when his maize is sown. Those dates are usually late October when he knows the temperatures will be high and help to establish the crop faster.

The later sowing date also means he is able to squeeze in another round on his annual grass prior to it being sown into maize.

“I’ve really utilised the bulk pasture,” he said.

He follows a similar policy with his turnips, which are harvested around January 10. He is into his third season using chicory, which is utilised on the calves in late December early January.

Last season, the calves received about 6kg a day on the first round and 4kg on

the second, as well as some silage.

On the last round, he supplemented their diet with calf meal and maize as the crop was almost gone.

To keep costs down, he tries to do as much of the work as he can and does all of his own spraying. Asked about the financial costs of cropping he said:

“If I don’t do it, what am I going to fill that void with? Yes, I can pull out these crops, but then I have to fill it with something else. It’s quite hard to fill that void unless I reduce my stocking rate.”

If he does that, it makes it extremely difficult to properly manage his pastures.

“Because we are getting such good yields from our crop, it’s bringing our costs down.”

Similarly, with the calves, if he left them on pasture, he would have to grow another 15 tonnes of drymatter to feed them. n

Turnips, maize and chicory are grown on 13% of the farm area. Each of the turnip paddocks lasts for about 42 days during which the herd gets turnips in the day and grass silage at night. File photo

Rising costs an incentive to use soil nitrogen

By Heather Chalmers

The rapidly rising cost of nitrogen, a key input in maize growing, provides an incentive for farmers to better understand and measure the free nitrogen they most likely already have in their soil, says the Foundation for Arable Research’s David Densley.

“By more accurately matching existing and applied nitrogen (N) inputs to crop requirements, farmers are not only saving money but also making environmental gains,” says Densley,

FAR’s senior researcher maize.

Rising costs mean fertiliser is calculated to make up 51% of the cost of producing 22 tonnes of drymatter maize forage crop grown in the 2022-23 season, compared with 38% in 2020-21. Nitrogen now makes up 47% of nutrient costs.

Fertiliser prices have been rising rapidly, with a popular N product more than doubling from $650 a tonne in spring 2020 to $1400/t in spring 2022.

Modern maize hybrids use more N after flowering than older ones, with two

studies showing a 28% and 41% higher requirement.

“Most growers are not doing N soil sampling, but should be,” Densley says.

“Tools are already available to assist growers with calculating their N fertiliser application rates, which take into account N already available in the soil. AmaizeN Lite is an online calculator, available on the FAR website, which provides a simple and reliable method of forecasting fertiliser N applications based on silage and grain yield potential and

Farmers could save money on their fertiliser bill by testing their soils and applying only what is needed.

Studies show that modern maize hybrids use more nitrogen after flowering than older ones.

plant available soil N, while minimising soil N at the end of the season.”

Upgrades to AmaizeN Lite are planned for spring, including the ability for farmers to enter their own yield forecast.

Densley also recommends that growers carry out deep N testing, to accurately measure and utilise the N already in the soil. He describes deep N testing as “money for jam” with savings in nitrogen costs more than making up for the cost of sampling.

A pre-side-dress deep N sample measures plant-available soil N levels to a depth of 60cm. It is best to undertake sampling as close to N application as is practically possible, with the data determining N application rates prior to the side-dressing.

In a FAR trial on a Te Awamutu paddock, deep N samples were collected in spring at the V3 growth stage before any N was applied. This showed fertiliser savings of $200-$280/ha in 2020-21 at an N price of $650/t and $430-$600/ha at an N price of $1400/t. Emissions reductions were calculated at 5000kg to 7500kg CO2e across a 17ha paddock. The cost

of the deep N testing was $85 a sample, made up of $65 for the sample and $20 for labour.

Lower fertiliser application rates not only save money, they reduce carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions from the field, with growers in future having to pay a greenhouse gas emissions tax, based on fertiliser use.

Growers wanting to base their fertiliser and lime input decision-making on more information need to consider undertaking more than one soil fertility sample for the paddock. Examples from maize growers show that pH levels, one of the key drivers of maize yield potential, can vary from 5.5 to 6.1 within the same paddock.

While blanket fertiliser applications over a paddock remain the industry standard in maize production, some growers are taking technology a step further and adopting precision agriculture to divide paddocks into different production or management zones.

In one example, a grower applied variable-rate N across a paddock, with the lowest rate 125kg/ha and the highest 380kg/ha. Cost savings in N fertiliser were about $235/ha, with sampling costing $27/ha and some labour. The 16% reduction of 352kg/ha CO2e from the lower total fertiliser application was equivalent to eight return flights from Auckland to Chicago.

A 10% buffer was added to the zone N application rate recommendation to cover variability within each zone. Soil texture, soil topography and soil organic matter influence deep N results.

“More contractors are providing variable-rate fertiliser spreading as demand from farmers increases,” Densley says.

FAR’s senior researcher maize David Densley says the rising cost of nitrogen is a good reason for farmers to carry out soil sampling and use the nitrogen already in the ground.

An online calculator is available on the FAR website to forecast fertiliser N applications, and upgrades to the tool will enable farmers to enter their own yield forecast.

“Most growers are not doing N soil sampling, but should be.”

David Densley

One last word …

It’s been good news for farmers in recent weeks. The GDT has seen prices heading in the right the direction and Fonterra announced a record payout of $9.50 for the 20212022 season. The $9.50 comprises a farmgate milk price of $9.30 per kilogram of milksolids and a total dividend of 20 cents per share to fully shared-up farmers.

Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell says that, despite the challenges including increased costs associated with supply chain volatility, 2021-22 was a good year for the co-op.

“These results demonstrate that our decisions relating to product mix, market diversification, quality products and resilient supply chain mean the co-op is able to deliver both a strong milk price and robust financial performance in a tough global operating environment.”

Fonterra’s revenue was $23.4 billion, up 11%; reported profit after tax $583 million, down 3%;and normalised profit after tax up 1% to $591m. While the co-op’s debt has increased by $1b, its strategy to sell offshore business such as its Chilean and/ or Chinese interests could net it a tidy sum.

A year ago the co-op announced its strategy to return $1b to shareholders and unitholders from the anticipated divestments of Soprole and Fonterra’s stake in its Australian business, but after scrutiny of the Australian business, it

has decided not to sell it.

Farmers can look forward to what could be another record payout for this season with the announcement of the 2022-23 farmgate milk price range of $8.50-$10.00 per kg MS, with a midpoint of $9.25 per kg MS.

Hurrell says the future of the co-op is “exciting”.

“The longer-term outlook for dairy remains positive. And in the medium term, we expect to see an easing in some of the geopolitical events, namely the covid-19 lockdowns in China and the economic challenges in Sri Lanka. This has been reflected in our earnings guidance and forecast farmgate milk price for the 2022-23 season.”

Congratulations this month to Dairy Farmer contributor Tony Benny who won the TUANZ New Zealand Rural Connectivity Award at the New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators awards evening.

Sponsored by TUANZ, the association for the users of digital technology and connectivity, the award recognises the importance of connectivity to rural communities and agri-businesses in rural areas. It celebrates journalism that helps raise awareness about the issues and benefits of rural connectivity

Tony entered two stories about rural connectivity. One dealt with what’s in place and what’s being done with it, such as Fonterra’s nationwide milk vat

monitoring system, which could save the co-op nearly $5m a year in transport costs through greater efficiencies with the space in its tankers. He also touched on what is still needed so Internet of Things (IoT) can really get going in remote areas.

He wrote about who is involved on the ground, as well as providers such as Elon Musk’s Starlink, which already has 1500 low-orbit satellites circling the earth and is targeting a whopping 42,000 satellites to improve connectivity.

The second story was about a report from multinational satellite business Inmarsat saying IoT is being hampered globally by unreliable connectivity, The report, “Industrial IoT in the time of covid-19” said 72% of agricultural organisations globally experience connectivity challenges when trialling IoT projects.

Good connectivity has been sadly lacking in many parts of the country, hampering some farmers from progressing or even doing simple things such as reporting figures. The problem needs to be addressed and solutions found and implanted – fast. n

Sonita

Like us: farmersweekly.co.nz

Follow us: @DairyFarmer15

Read us anywhere: farmersweekly.co.nz

Proudly to

DAIRY DIARY

October 2022

October 4 – DairyNZ

Effluent Resource Consents Application & Design field day, Bay of Plenty

Renewing your resource consent. Where to start...

The expiry date on effluent resource consents is fast approaching and it’s highly likely that some modifications will be required to your existing system for it to be compliant.

Come along for an informative discussion with farmers who have either already made a start on upgrading their effluent management system, or successfully completed their resource consent application and upgraded their system.

Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz

October – 13 DairyNZ

Pasture management field day, Manawatū

Refresh your spring pasture management. With the winter conditions being so tough on farm and supplement costs rising, now is the time to make sure we are on point with our pasture management. Hosted on the Stewart DairyLands farm, this will be a great chance to refresh those spring management skills.

Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz

October 13 – Southern Dairy Hub

Southern Dairy Hub field day

Come and join the team at the October Field Day at SDH. From demonstration to research: How five years of SDH research has helped shape the future of farming in the south. Future-proofing paddock-based wintering under proposed new wintering rules – changes SDH has made for better wintering outcomes. Twenty research projects completed in five years – what have we learnt so far?

Info at www.southerndairyhub.co.nz

October 19 – DairyNZ

Waikato autumn calving group

Mating has passed, look to the future – setting up for calving with possibly another dry summer.

Join Andrew Allen and Dianne Storey as we review mating performance, and look at how a no-AI system fits their business. We will also be discussing how people are setting up for calving under the threat of a third La Niña in a row and another potentially dry summer.

Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz

October 19 – DairyNZ

Pasture Summit spring field day, Southland. Hosted by farmers for farmers, with input from dairy sector specialists, sharing ideas and developments on achieving profitable food production from pasture.

The range of topics will be tailored to the host farm and encompass relevant regional considerations. Attendees will look inside the farmgate of Daniel & Emily Woolsey to find out what makes these dairy businesses consistently profitable, and how they are adapting to change.

Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz

October 19 – Dairy Women’s Network

Surviving against overwhelming odds, live webinar Surviving burns to 65% of her body during an ultramarathon, Turia Pitt is living proof that with the right mindset, anything is possible. A bestselling author, twotime Ironman, surfer, adventure-seeker and mum of two, she spends her time making (and doing) cool things that help people get happier and more confident.

Join us at 12.30pm NZST (10.30am AEST) to hear from Turia as she shares her story about overcoming adversity and tips that have helped her through.

Brought to you by Dairy Women’s Network, The a2 Milk Company and NSW Women in Dairy.

Info at www.dwn.co.nz/events

October 26 – DairyNZ

Wearable cow tech field day, North Taranaki

Exploring the potential for Taranaki farmers to adopt wearable cow technology on their farms. A field day for farmers thinking about investing in wearable technology for their herd. Halter technology will be present on farm to view.

Info at www.dairyevents.co.nz

October 29 – Dairy Women’s Network

She loves golf 6’s – Eastern Bay of Plenty

Fun, fast, and social, bubbles and bash. Whether you’re new to the game or a shorter format is more your style, grab your friends and join us on the golf course. This day is about having fun and socialising while playing a round of six holes with the “It’s Okay” rules. We will finish with a glass of bubbles and light refreshments.

Info at www.dwn.co.nz/events