Dairy Farmer October 2020 by AgriHQ

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October 2020

Unexpected farmer Sparky on the farm Helping farmers meet environmental regulations

Supreme goats

An Auckland farm set up to showcase the dairy goat industry is the winner of the Regional Ballance Farm Environment Supreme Award

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

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COVER Auckland farmer Matthew Bolton runs 5500 goats on his award-winning farm. Cover photo: Frances Oliver

October 2020

Unexpected farmer Sparky on the farm Helping farmers meet environmental regulations

Supreme goats

An Auckland farm set up to showcase the dairy goat industry is the winner of the regional Ballance Farm Environment supreme award

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

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

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

Contents NEWS 17 Milk Monitor Fonterra is in the black after posting a profit 18 Dairy Industry Awards New Share Farmers of the Year winners announced 19 Voting open DairyNZ board candidates in three-way race

ON FARM STORY

8 Dairy goats Auckland farmers Matthew and Sarah Bolton own the largest goat milking farm in New Zealand

20 Top farmers Canterbury farmers Ralph and Fleur Tompsett are Canterbury/North Otago Share Farmers of the Year

FARMING CHAMPIONS

7 Guest column – Peter Wren-Hilton

28 Dairy champion – Melissa Slattery

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

FEATURE 48 Effluent 52 Supplementary feeding

REGULAR FEATURES 32 Women in agribusiness – Laura Mitchell 36 Industry good DairyNZ 38 Research 44 Innovations 46 Farmstrong

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GUEST COLUMN

Initiative for dairy sector Agritech founder Peter Wren-Hilton has been working with various agencies over the past 18 months to grow the agritech sector in NZ and is now eyeing international growth opportunities for Agritech New Zealand.

VER the past two to three years, I have seen firsthand the challenges faced by many farmers, particularly in the dairy

sector. Domestically, increased regulation, additional costs of compliance and frequent negative comments from politicians and media have made life tough for farmers. Throw in covid-19, the threat of increased global tensions and its potential impact on dairy exports, means that 2020 is a year that none of us will forget. As the founder of Agritech New Zealand, I have also witnessed the flipside. I’ve seen a number of very significant emerging technologies that are looking to address these ongoing challenges. These include some really exciting opportunities created by improved animal and plant genetics – the major advances in precision farming technologies and the significant increase of investment into innovations designed to improve both onfarm productivity and sustainability. However, perhaps the biggest single long-term opportunity to emerge in NZ, is the recently launched Agritech Industry Transformation Plan (ITP). For the past 18 months, I have been working with multiple government agencies to help put together a strategy to help grow the sector. This in itself is an unusual development. Securing crossagency collaboration on a major industry initiative is rare. In July, Ministers Damien O’Connor and Phil Twyford formally launched the Agritech ITP with $11.4 million of support funding. So, what exactly is the Agritech ITP and how will it help NZ’s dairy sector? To answer this, it helps to understand a little bit more about Agritech New Zealand. We are a non-profit, membership-based industry body that represents a broad cross section of major stakeholders. Our major co-operative

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

members include the likes of Fonterra, Farmlands, LIC, Zespri and Ballance. Other major corporate members include Gallagher, Spark, ANZ and BNZ. Plus many of our major research organisations, AgResearch, Plant & Food Research, Landcare, Lincoln Agritech, the Universities of Auckland, Massey, Waikato, Canterbury and Otago. With over 160 members from a diverse range of stakeholders, including government, Agritech NZ represents a formidable voice for the country’s agritech sector. Over these past 18 months, we have put that voice to good use. Across the country, we have organised industry workshops to identify some of the critical challenges facing the sector. Government representatives have attended these workshops to get a better understanding of what these challenges mean in practice. This dialogue has led to a fundamental reassessment of how the Government can support the industry’s long-term growth. Words are easy. Without action however, they mean nothing. So to build an effective structured ITP, we identified several key work streams and three major High Impact projects to build on. One of the three major High Impact projects with specific relevance to the dairy sector is the Farm2050 Nutrient initiative. This will see multiple field trials taking place across NZ over the next two to three years, featuring disruptive NZ and international nutrient solutions being benchmarked against strict criteria. These will include metrics such as improved plant yield and reduced negative environmental impact. Farm2050 represents some of the world’s largest agrifood investors, as well as some of the world’s largest agribusinesses. Think Bayer CropScience, Syngenta, Corteva, Nutrien, Mars, PepsiCo – these companies, together with a number of early stage disruptive startups, will be actively involved in these field trials.

Peter Wren-Hilton has stepped down as executive director of Agritech New Zealand and will now focus on growing the NZ agritech sector on a global scale.

Nail this (the effective application and management of nutrients) and one can only imagine the benefit to dairy farmers. Work on this initiative is currently under way with the core project team being assembled by the Factory in Palmerston North. Other key challenges identified in the workshops (I prefer to refer to them as opportunities) include: • Increasing New Zealand Agritech’s global impact • Improving the commercialisation of NZ Agri-based research • Attracting more inbound investment • Aligning data standards and regulation • Improving all of Government Agritech Support Each of these challenges have now become formal workstreams. Each workstream is supported by an Industry Reference Group to ensure ongoing industry input into the implementation and delivery of the Plan. The launch of the Agritech ITP is a hugely positive development. It provides a significant platform to align industry and government thinking. For NZ’s dairy sector at a time of ongoing uncertainty, this is critical. Building a collaborative framework for future engagement is the only way. n 7

Auckland goat farmer Matthew Bolton and his team were named the supreme award winners at this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ballance Farm Environment Awards. Photos by Frances Oliver 8

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October 2020

Kidding around on-farm An Auckland farmer has made the transition from milking cows to goats and has now established the largest goat farm in New Zealand. Gerald Piddock reports.

ATTHEW and Sarah Bolton established Oete Farm to showcase the dairy goat industry to New

Zealanders. Their success at this year’s Ballance Farm Environment Awards, where they won the supreme award along with four category awards for the Auckland region, validated the journey the business has undertaken since it was established six years ago. Matthew says the awards success reflected the hard work and team effort from his 30 full and part-time staff spread across the 273-hectare farm at Patumahoe, west of Pukekohe. “I haven’t won the Environmental Awards, we have won the awards – the staff, everybody – and I told them that they need to own this as well,” Matthew says. The business has two farms – Oete Farm and the neighbouring Oakdale Farm, which is in its first season of production. He also has a 10ha gold kiwifruit orchard adjacent to the farms, run as a separate operation.

Properly showcasing the farm means being as transparent as possible and setting an extremely high standard with what takes place inside the farm gate. The new 80-bail rotary shed on Oakdale, for example, will be equipped with cameras and Oete has an active page on Facebook. “I want the New Zealand goat industry to be a good story. We don’t want to be tarred with any sort of indication of dirty dairying or anything like that,” he says. “Our staff know that anybody should be able to walk onto this farm on any day and not see anything that they should not see.” “We don’t swear at goats, we don’t hit goats, we don’t do anything like that. We treat goats like we want to be treated.” Matthew has a huge debt of gratitude to his staff who he could not run the business without. “We really value our staff. They are what makes this place work and I’m very proud of them,” he says. Between the two farms, a combined 5500 dairy goats are milked twice-a-day through two dairy sheds, a 56-bale rotary and the new rotary on Oakdale. The Bolton’s milk is collected and

processed by NIG Nutritionals, who turn it into infant formula powders for the predominantly Chinese market from its factory at Paerata in South Auckland. Their journey to dairy goats was sparked by a conversation Matthew had seven years ago with a supermarket owner in his home region of Wairarapa. At the time, he was working as a dairy farmer on his family farm. He spent 16

FARM FACTS n Owners: Matthew and Sarah Bolton n Location: Patumahoe, Pukekohe, Auckland n Farm size: 273 hectares, two farms, Oete Farm and Oakdale Farm n Goats: 5500 n Breed: Saanen, Toggenburg, British Alpine and Anglo-Nubian n Sheds: Oete Farm 56-bail rotary, Oakdale 80-bail rotary

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Matthew Bolton and his wife established Oete Farm to showcase the dairy goat industry. They have added a second farm and are the largest milking goat farm in New Zealand.

years on the farm milking cows and still milks cows today, as well as running some sheep. Prior to that, he worked as a sheep and beef farmer. “I was a pretty staunch sheep and beef farmer and thought I would never become a dairy farmer but I had to, to be able to buy land.” He was told that goat milk products “flew off the shelf” whenever it was stocked. “People would come and fill up suitcases and send it to China,” he says. That conversation sparked his interest and he started researching the industry. He learned that China was about to make it a lot tougher for goat milk infant formula exporters to stop the mislabelling of products going into that market. He approached NIG Nutritionals with that in mind, and asked them if he could supply it with goat milk. “China needed the whole story of farm, factory and product,” he says. At the same time, he and wife Sarah reared around 2000 dairy goats for establishing the goat farm. They shifted to Patumahoe, west of Pukekohe in South Auckland and brought Oete Farm, which at the time was milking cows. It had a 25-bail rotary which was

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October 2020

retrofitted to be a 56-bale shed for goat milking. The goats were milked outdoors during their first year while they constructed the housing sheds.

I was a pretty staunch sheep and beef farmer and thought I would never become a dairy farmer but I had to, to be able to buy land. Goats are farmed indoors because their hair lacks lanolin, meaning the animals cannot repel water. This makes it susceptible to pneumonia and other health issues such as worms. Health issues aside, goats are one of the most rewarding animals to farm when you get it right, he says. Prior to Oakdale being established, the farm milked around 2800 goats, with that

farm now up and running this season, stock numbers have nearly doubled to 5500. The goats are predominantly Saanen, but there are also Toggenburg, British Alpine and Anglo-Nubian. They chose South Auckland because it was close to Sarah’s family and its proximity to NIG’s processing facility. While the farm’s cost of production is higher than a cow dairy farm, those costs are managed because of the higher returns the milk receives. Goats are also incredibly efficient at converting dry matter to milk. The animals also consume less water thanks to its desert heritage, “they don’t pee as much” he says. The goats spend the bulk of their time in the barns where feed is delivered to them via a cut-and-carry system. Feed quality is everything when it comes to milking goats, with Matthew describing the feed presentation as, “like a salad you would get in a restaurant”. The average pasture yield off the paddocks is around 17 tonnes of dry matter per hectare. The grass cannot be bruised when cut because it makes it sour and it is tested every fortnight for protein, carbohydrates and minerals. It is cut just above its maximum 11

Matthew Bolton says properly showcasing the farm means being as transparent as possible and setting an extremely high standard with what takes place inside the farm gate. Matthew in the milking shed.

Goats can only eat 3.5kg of feed a day so has to be of the highest quality possible.

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October 2020

growing point so it is not overgrazed, allowing it to regrow quickly. Based on those results, Matthew can feed the goats a consistent level of protein, ME and carbohydrates and any other minerals that are needed. Depending on the time of the season, he may add maize or canola or some of the straight clover, plantain or chicory grown, if protein levels are low. “We are constantly rebalancing the feed,” he says. “What it means is that we have some of the most consistent milk fat and protein going to the factory of any farm.” The goats are milked through the sheds twice-a-day, with each goat averaging around 4.5l a day at peak. It takes about four minutes to milk each goat and they then exit the shed and return to the barn. Each shed also has an in-shed feeding system. The goats are all fitted with RFID tags, allowing him to monitor the goat’s production, allowing staff to feed more in the shed to the higher producing goats. The emphasis on feed quality is because of a milking goat’s flat lactation curve. Once the goats hit peak lactation, the

Goats have to be kept indoors as their hair lacks lanolin, meaning the animals cannot repel water. Matthew feeds out to a mob of goats in the shed.

animals remain at that curve so long as the feed remains high quality. The entire farm is GPS mapped allowing Matthew to tell the tractor driver operating the cutter exactly how much of each crop to cut, creating a made-toorder feed mix. “You have to be a nutritionist the whole time. They get fed better than we do,” he says. Goats can only eat 3.5kg of feed a day and he had to ensure all of that was of the highest quality possible. Feed is constantly being offloaded in the sheds and he uses Lely robots to push it back towards the edges of the lane so it can be accessed by the goats. He also receives constant feedback

from NIG on the quality of the milk and factors that into the goat’s feed. The two farms combined are 273 hectares and sit adjacent to each other on the road. They are run as one operation. The main milking goats are divided into several mobs and he keeps the bucks and yearlings in separate pens. Kidding gets under way in mid-July. It is their busiest time of the year and they will have up to 380 kids born in a day. At that time, the staff work in shifts throughout the day and night. The kids are taken from the mother at birth, towel dried and are taken to their nursery and taught how to feed. Within the nursery, the kids are kept in old wooden kiwifruit boxes, with shavings

Mathew and his dad David Bolton in the covered goat shed. DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

The goats’ feet are trimmed thrice a year, and they are also vaccinated and blood tested. Staff check the goat’s feet.

on the bottom for warmth, while they are reared on milk. As they get bigger, they are transferred to a larger pen, transitioned onto grass before eventually going to one of the indoor sheds and are mated as yearlings. The farm is currently rearing around 2200 kids in the nursery. Oete also runs a programme with local schools that operates in a similar vein to calf clubs, where children purchase a kid and rear it at home until the local Ag day takes place where Oete staff judge the goats. The animal is then returned to the farm and the family is refunded the money. This year, 150 school children took part in the scheme, but pre covid-19 numbers were as high as 400. For Matthew, it means the farm gets hundreds of goats back that were raised as pets and are used to human interaction whenever visitors come onto the farm. “Another reason why we do this is to get children thinking that there are other opportunities out there other than just working in town,” he says. The goats are mated naturally with bucks and no AI is used, which means a lot less pressure on staff after kidding. One buck is used for every 35 female goats, any more risks the health of the buck, he says. Goat’s hormones do not drop as fast as a cow’s, meaning the goats do not always need to be pregnant every year. Some can be milked for two years and this along with a staggered mating helps him maintain supply over winter 14

and manage kidding. The main burst of kids takes place over July with a second smaller burst in late spring and another in autumn. Matthew has a staff member whose job it is to monitor the goat’s heath, while other staff keep an eye on the herd while in the barns. The goat’s feet are trimmed thrice a year, they are also vaccinated and blood tested. The barns are cleaned out four times a year and are continually topped up with dry shavings so the goats remain in a dry environment.

The cut-and-carry system means no pugged paddocks, which gives him peace of mind knowing that the goats are in good health. “It’s one of these farms where you can sleep easy. If it is raining at night you know everything’s nice and warm, they’re dry and fed well.” He expanded the farm after NIG approached him, wanting more milk. He had an agreement with the company that if they wanted more milk, they would come to the Boltons first. He had been leasing the neighbouring dairy farm for 20 years so built a new 80bale milking shed and barns. Being the only goat farmer in the region had its drawbacks during the resource consent process. Getting the necessary consents for Oete was a challenge for the then-Franklin District Council prior to the supercity amalgamation. It proved to be a challenge again for the Auckland City Council when he applied for a resource consent for Oakdale. “When we said we were setting up the second goat farm, they said it will be very straight forward – more of a copy and paste job – but it was anything but,” he says. The process was delayed for several weeks causing him to delay mating his does, which otherwise would have been kidding on the new farm. It created a temporary situation where Oakdale was not ready and for a short period he and his staff were working from 4.30am-1.30am the following day, training

The busiest time on the farm is kidding, which gets under way in mid-July. Up to 380 kids are born in a day and staff work in shifts throughout the day and night. DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

Feed is constantly offloaded in the shed. The goats are fed a consistent level of protein, ME and carbohydrates and any other minerals that are needed.

and milking goats as they had to care for the new farm’s goats as well as the existing stock on Oete. Oakdale is now up and running with minor work still to be completed in the milking shed, such as painting and finishing off an observation room above the dairy to allow visitors to see the goats being milked.

Prior to Oete’s conversion, the farm’s nitrogen leaching rate was 37kg N/ha. Currently, it is sitting around 7kg N/ha. Matthew says having such a low footprint also rubbed off on the staff. It made them feel good that they were working at a farm where things are done properly and correctly. “And having fun while doing it,” he says.

“Why we started with goats is that environmentally they are a lot more sustainable on land. I was looking for a change, but also something similar.” The staff all use electric vehicles to move around the farm and solar panels are used on the roof to reduce the power consumption in the milking sheds, providing most of the electricity required. The shavings from the barns are returned to the paddocks, increasing its organic matter, or are sold to local farmers as fertiliser. Over 100,000 native trees have also been planted on 5ha. The paddocks are irrigated using gun irrigators. Moisture probes are used in the soil to measure when it is time to irrigate and the system uses Halo software to let Matthew know when the gun should be used. “It makes the whole thing more efficient,” he says. Looking ahead, he just wants the farm to get better and better. “We just want something that we’re all extremely proud of and also because we have so many visitors to the farm, we just want to set a really high example of farming,” he says. n

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October 2020

14-04-2020 14:44

MILK MONITOR

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

HAT a difference a year has made for Fonterra. It’s back in the black annual result has gone a long way to pulling the co-operative out of the financial quagmire it found itself in last season, posting a $659 million profit and reducing its debt by $1 billion. It was able to do this on the back of the market disruptions caused by covid-19, as well as widespread drought throughout much of the North Island last summer and autumn. It’s a stark contrast to last year’s result where it made a $605m loss. The dairy co-operative kept its forecast for the current season at $5.90-$6.90/kg milksolids. Chairman John Monaghan says with the impact of covid-19 still being played out globally, supply and demand remained finely balanced as justification for the move. “There continues to be significant uncertainties, including how the global recession and new waves of covid-19 will impact demand globally, and what will happen to the price relativities between the products that determine our milk price and the rest of our product range,” Monaghan says. For farmers, the effects of this season’s La Nina weather pattern forecasted for this spring and early summer should be added to that. Confirmed by Niwa as a 57% chance of occurrence, the pattern will see aboveaverage air temperatures, north easterly winds, which caused rain to the North Island’s north east and drier conditions in the south and southeast of the South Island. Soil moisture conditions are also likely to be below normal in the South Island, normal in the east of the North Island and normal or below normal for all other regions. While it won’t affect the milk price, it could affect production, particularly in regions still recovering from last year’s drought and on farms affected by the disruption caused by contractors unable

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October 2020

Fonterra has kept its forecast for the current season at $5.90-$6.90/kg milksolids after posting good annual results.

to plant summer feed crops due to worker shortages. That’s one of the few clouds after a fairly positive month after the most recent GDT auction, where prices increased 3.6% and average prices made US$3,092. The result was the first time prices had increased since July. Whole milk powder (WMP) prices were up 3.2%, with an average price US$2,985/ Mt, and skim milk powder (SMP) prices lifted 8.4% (albeit on small volumes). Cheese prices also posted positive results, up 7.2% to sell for US$3,674. US-based RaboResearch dairy analyst Thomas Bailey says the results should support broader increases in prices around the world, boosting profitability for dairy farmers and eventually resulting in a bump in milk supplies. He says the result indicates a firming of global demand as buyers who have been sitting on their hands looking for market direction step up their purchases. SMP prices are now back to February price levels and at significant premiums to the international market. The latest increase puts this product 23% above US and EU levels, he says. The price gap between SMP and WMP had narrowed from a two-year average WMP premium over SMP of $600 to $90. Bailey cited several reasons behind the jump in SMP prices; the preference

for New Zealand products and a shift occurring in procurement strategies related to covid-19, as food security becomes a priority. “This shift means ingredient buyers are willing to hold more stocks to avoid any complications in trade challenges,” he says. “This appears to be particularly true for China, who does not manufacture its SMP due to an absent market for the milkfat by-product. “So the need to shore up New Zealand SMP seems to be at play.” He says the result should support broader increases in prices around the world, boosting profitability for dairy farmers, and eventually resulting in a bump in milk supplies. All this bodes well for NZ for the coming season. Westpac senior agri-economist Nathan Penny was cautiously optimistic about the outlook with the result consistent with its $6.50/kg MS forecast. “However, it’s still early days in the season, and the uncertainties around the covid impact through the full dairy season remain large,” he says. On this basis, we recommend that farmers approach the season with eyes wide open and continue to closely follow dairy market developments.” Sage advice considering all the factors currently at play. n 17

NEWS

NZDIA entry conditions updated

OLLOWING the independent review into the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards revocation of the national title and merit awards from Nick and Rosemarie Bertram, the title of 2020 NZ Share Farmer of the Year has been awarded to Waikato farmers Sarah and Aidan Stevenson. Runners-up are Samuel and Karen Bennett from Southland and the third placegetters are Simon and Natasha Wilkes from Taranaki. After being announced as 2020 Share Farmers of the Year in July, it became clear that Nick Bertram had published tweets in 2017 which were contrary to the standards expected by the NZ Dairy Industry Awards Trust. As a result, the couple were stripped of their title. The purpose of the review undertaken by Susan Hughes QC, was to understand more detail about what was known of the tweets, how that knowledge (of the tweets) was dealt with at the time, and how a similar situation could be avoided in the future. After speaking with all those directly involved, the report concluded: • At the time the tweets were made, there was no application by the writer of the tweets for an award. • At the time the tweets were published in 2017, contact was made with the writer of the tweets, by people associated with NZDIA, to express concern at their content and request that they be taken down. • The contact that was made was made in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the Trust.

• Those who made contact all believed they were doing so out of a sense of responsibility as alumni of the NZDIA and concern regarding the ill-advisability of the tweets in question. The general manager and trustees, including the chairperson, did not know of the tweets until after the winner had been announced. The tweets were still live in 2020. Hughes says it was clear that all those interviewed are passionate about the dairy industry. “All want the NZ dairy industry to be seen as world leading, all strive for excellence,” she says. “They all expressed sadness that such an event could have been avoided if the tweet was declared as part of the declaration or if the matter had been raised.” Hughes suggests it is important that “all involved in these awards recognise the dangers of social media and the need to remind all parties of this issue at repeated points along the application trajectory, so as to avoid a repetition of these events.” Moving forward, the Trust have updated Conditions of Entry and the entrant declaration and all finalists’ social media will be reviewed prior to awarding places. “The NZDIA Trust, executive and management remain committed to offering a 2021 Awards programme with more focus on social media in declaration and interviews, that will showcase best practice and allow entrants to benchmark and improve their own farming practices,” Trust chair Natasha Tere says. Entries are now open for the 2021 awards. n DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

NEWS

DairyNZ’s three-way race TIM FULTON

IGH-profile DairyNZ directors Jim van der Poel and Colin Glass are in an election contest with a “grassroots” contender calling for greater connection between farmers and the levy-funded organisation. DairyNZ’s board consists of five farmer-elected directors and three board-appointed directors. Glass and van der Poel are retiring by rotation and seeking the two board seats, as is a third candidate, Colin Groves. Glass is a 19-year chief executive of Dairy Holdings Ltd (DHL), one of the country’s largest dairy landowners and suppliers, with extensive operations in the South Island. He and his wife Paula, parents of two teenage girls, own a 670-cow dairy farm and two other irrigated properties rearing and finishing bull beef at Methven, MidCanterbury. Glass has been chairperson of Ashburton Lyndhurst Irrigation Limited for the past four years, and serves a number of other farming and community organisations. “I’ve been actively involved in various DairyNZ board roles as well as maintaining a strong presence at wider industry events for both DHL and our

Jim van der Poel DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

family business,” he says. “This enables me to remain close to the issues we all face as dairy farmers.” Van der Poel is the current DairyNZ chairperson and enters the ballot with a wealth of industry experience, including 12 years as a Fonterra director from 20022014.

My commitment is to continue in my role in DairyNZ and work in the best interests of farmers to help ensure regulations meet those objectives. Jim van der Poel

“My commitment is to continue in my role in DairyNZ and work in the best interests of farmers to help ensure regulations meet those objectives, and to also ensure farmers are supported in incorporating those targets into their future farming systems, whilst

Colin Glass

maintaining the viability of their farming operations,” he says. The lesser-known Groves is a former associate director of DairyNZ (2018) in a farm equity partnership in MidCanterbury. His current industry roles include board observer on Mid-Canterbury’s Mayfield Hinds Irrigation Ltd and chair of the National Mastitis Advisory Committee. He chaired Young Farmers from 2013-15, during six years as a director. Groves says having been an associate director of DairyNZ, he had a true understanding of what was required of a DairyNZ director. He was confident of being able to contribute at a governance level, while bringing his own grassroots experience. He says DairyNZ should focus on greater value and transparency of the farmer levy investment and to “cement and maintain stronger relationships with levy payers to increase the trust that DairyNZ will deliver on behalf of the industry going forward.” Farmers have until October 20 to cast their votes and the three candidates will learn their fate at DairyNZ’s annual general meeting in Ashburton on October 21. n

For information on the director candidates and voting, visit dairynz.co.nz/agm

Colin Groves 19

ON FARM

Ralph and Fleur Tompsett who milk 1120 cows at Hinds, are the 2020 Canterbury/North Otago Share Farmers of the Year. Photos: Tony Benny

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

From a desk to the paddocks Despite coming from farming backgrounds, the Canterbury/North Otago Share Farmer of the Year winners never expected to go into farming. Tony Benny reports.

HEN Ralph Tompsett took a month-long job milking cows on a MidCanterbury farm during his backpacking holiday, little did he realise it would lead to a new life on the opposite side of the world from his home in the UK, let alone think that 12 years later he and wife Fleur would be crowned the 2020 Canterbury/North Otago Share Farmers of the Year. Ralph grew up on a mixed farm in Wales and like Fleur, who grew up on a sheep and cropping farm in Lismore near Ashburton, he initially had no interest in a farming career. “My parents milked 60 cows and had 200 ewes and it didn’t appear to be an easy living. I was interested in technology, particularly computers, so I decided that I should become a computer programmer and go and work for Google or something like that,” he recalls. But as he finished his degree, Ralph

realised he didn’t much like living in the city, sitting at a desk in a dark room, and that while there were many graduates, there weren’t many jobs available. Instead, he drove tractors harvesting arable crops, then took a job with his brother-in-law installing poly-tunnels and irrigation systems. But then the travel bug bit and his first stop was New Zealand. “I did have grand designs to travel but as it happened, the first place I got to seemed pretty darn good and I think I saw farming through a different lens because it was on my own terms and the attitudes are quite different here to the traditional farming attitudes that I’d grown up around, particularly progression options and opportunities for new entrants,” he says. He got what he expected to be a shortterm job with sharemilkers Ben and MaryAnne Stock and still vividly remembers his first day with them. “I got off the Intercity bus in Hinds and Ben picked me up in his Nissan Navara,” Ralph recalls.

Fleur works off farm in rural banking. Ralph and Fleur check out the herd. DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

FARM FACTS n Owners: Craig and Susan Fleming, and Grant and Karen Fleming n Sharemilking equity partnership: Ralph and Fleur Tompsett and Ben and Mary-Anne Stock n Location: Hinds, South Canterbury n Farm size: 279ha n Cows: 1120 Friesians with some Jersey crossbreds n Production: 2019-20 564,245kg MS n Target: 2020-21 560,000kg MS

“He had irrigation sprinklers on the footwell of the car, which I was really interested in because I’d been working with irrigation and we talked about that. “On the way to the farm he told me about their progress in sharemilking. It was amazing hearing about what could be achieved in the dairy industry here and that really inspired me.” The month-long job turned into a year as Ralph thrived in conditions that were nothing like he was used to back home. “What I’d seen in the UK was people struggling to progress into, let’s say a succession scenario on the family farm, and they’d inherit it when they’re about 45 or 50 and their priorities have changed by then. The energy to progress things isn’t necessarily there,” he says. After a year in NZ, he returned to the UK thinking that’s where his future lay. Meanwhile, his future wife Fleur was pursuing her career in NZ before embarking on her OE. She studied law and the history of art at Otago University and initially thought she would have a career in family or 21

Ralph and one of his team members in the shed at afternoon milking.

I did have grand designs to travel but as it happened, the first place I got to seemed pretty darn good and I think I saw farming through a different lens because it was on my own terms and the attitudes are quite different here to the traditional farming attitudes that I’d grown up around. 22

employment law until one of her lecturers pointed out that might not suit her personality. “She was very kind and took me aside and said if you want to do those sorts of careers, you probably need to compartmentalise your life because it can be quite challenging. From what I’ve seen of you, you wear your heart on your sleeve. It’s one of your strengths that everything is together and that you’re very transparent but you would have to change that.” Hearing those wise words, Fleur opted for a career in the public service instead taking a graduate position with ACC working injury prevention, and after four years was a strategic project manager. “I really enjoyed it and they taught me a lot of skills but it was time to go overseas,” she says. She stayed away for three-and-a-half years working on super yachts, which meant she could work for six months and then travel for six months and spent time in Africa, Asia, America and the Caribbean, among other destinations. But then the call of home proved irresistible. “I realised family is pretty important and it was probably time to come home and because the majority of my family was in Canterbury, it was home, so I

jumped on a plane and came back to Ashburton,” she says. By then, Ralph was already back in NZ after a two-year stint working on an organic dairy farm in Somerset, UK, which ended when his previous employers in NZ caught up with him again. “Ben and Mary-Anne were travelling in Europe and Ben made the effort to get a train from London down to Taunton where I was working and we caught up and he said look do you want to come back and work for us?,” Ralph says. The position was back on the same farm he’d started on, but this time in an entry-level manager-type role. Ralph joined the local young farmers club and attended its 75th anniversary celebration where the recently-returned Fleur had been roped in to run the bar. Fleur found a job in Christchurch and they had tried the ‘long-distance’ thing for a while until she made the move south to Mid-Canterbury. “It kind of dawned on me that it wasn’t as if Ralph could dairy farm in Christchurch, so it was probably up to me to move,” she says. “For me, it was quite lucky because it was back to my home town and I’ve always loved Ashburton.”

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

This season’s replacement calves, which are weighed regularly to ensure they are meeting growth targets.

to achieve if we’d gone contract milking or Ralph was keen to progress his career something like that,” Ralph says. and was looking for a contract milking job But while it has been a successful but then Ben and Mary-Anne, who had partnership, it was tough for Ralph just bought a farm of their own, offered and Fleur at the beginning because it them the opportunity to buy into their coincided with the $3.90 payout that sharemilking business and they bought rocked Kiwi dairy farming. 500 of the 1200-cow herd in 2015. “We love spreadsheets and we’d done Ralph is also paid a salary to run the so much budgeting and we’d done lots of operation, now into its sixth season under sensitivity analysis, such as what happens the new structure. if the milk price does this or that, and we “It’s been pretty good really and I got it down to $4. I said it’ll never go lower guess the farm owners have benefitted than that, we’re set,” Fleur says. from the continuity. It’s provided us with HFS ad - Oct2019 - Dairy Farmer - 210x86mm-PRINT.pdf 1 15/09/19 7:24 PM “That first year wasn’t very flash probably more growth than I’d been able

because you haven’t got any of the retro milk payments coming through but that said, we focused a lot on cost control, we probably skimped on some things we shouldn’t have but we didn’t have the cash in the bank to do it,” she says. “We actually came through remarkably well, when all is said and done,” adds Ralph. Fleur’s salary from her job with the district council helped, as did Ralph’s farm manager’s salary but it was still a struggle. “We were so diligent,” recalls Fleur.

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One of the team members brings the herd in for milking.

“We’d look at our budget, both the business and our personal lives, and every two weeks it was how are we going to do this? Could we trim a bit off here? And it probably gave us more oversight.” Ralph had to give up some of his vices to balance the books.

“I used to be quite a professional smoker, but when we borrowed money for the cows and particularly faced a tight payout and we had ambitious plans to repay debt, that was one of the first things that went out the window and I don’t really regret that,” he says.

The Thomsetts are sharemilkers on a 279-hectare farm at Hinds where they milk 1120 cows. Their sharemilking business is a 50:50 equity partnership with another couple. 24

“I think adversity is where you build character and resilience and you can appreciate the good times when you’ve seen the contrast.” They kept in close contact with their bank manager through the tricky times and then he suggested Fleur could consider a career change – to banking. “Lots of my friends said going from the public sector to banking was opposite ends of the spectrum, but it really is all around helping people, problem-solving and relationships,” she says. Today Fleur works full-time off-farm. “I probably see it as this is Ralph’s career but it’s our business. I’m more involved in the business than the practicalities,” she says. “I did a season where I would do the calves on the weekends – if it got to $3.90 maybe I’d do it again – but it’s pretty tough to work a full-time job and then two days calf rearing, plus running a household.” They see their careers as complementing each other. “I used to spend a lot of time poring over what we should do with this loan or interest rates and I’m still very interested in the banking and financials but having Fleur involved, meeting other people in that network like the economists at ANZ

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

Ralph says there are greater opportunities for people to progress in dairying NZ than in the UK.

or reading reports about futures – all that stuff comes in a side door to our business here and then that adds value on the farm. It’s a bit of a cross-pollination, there are benefits for all of us,” Ralph says. On-farm, Ralph has overseen a steady increase in production, while coping with increasing regulation and environmental requirements. Last year, he dropped nitrogen application from 308kg/ha to 237kg/ha, yet managed to increase production by 12%. “That came as a result of more careful pasture management, tightening our reproductive performance and our calving spread so we could utilise more pasture early on in the season,” Ralph says. Fleur recalls the farm owner being surprised by the result. “They asked how did you do it? It was really interesting because Ralph came back and looked into it and it was a long list of little tweaks, continuous improvement to get that big result,” she says. The farm runs a System 4, with the cows wintered off-farm on an adjacent runoff owned by farm owners Craig and Susan, and Karen and Grant Fleming (two brothers and their families). The owners also grow much of the wheat and barley

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

fed to the herd in shoulders of the season and in the shed, where palm kernel is also fed. They peak milk 1120 cows on 297ha of heavy land near Hinds in MidCanterbury. Total production last season was 564,245kg MS (504kg MS/cow).

We have increased our supplement use modestly through that time – and we just try to put the cows first. “We’ve just gone through a period of incremental increases in productivity,” Ralph says. “We have increased our supplement use modestly through that time – and we just try to put the cows first. Rather than just feeding the grass we’ve got and hoping for the best, we’re trying to observe the cow, measure what we can

regarding feed quality, taking pasture samples, measuring it, balancing protein, fibre and other nutritional factors to hold the cows at their peak production for longer.” Since he’s been farming in NZ, Ralph has, like all dairy farmers in Canterbury, had to conform to new rules, especially since nitrogen baselines have been set and Overseer has become part of daily life. “Since then, the farm operation has become a different beast, it’s really interesting,” he says. “The farm infrastructure has been improved with things like irrigation development, laneways, some plantings and wet areas fenced off. We’ve got technology like moisture probes, we’ve got all the stuff that makes our lives easier. “But then we’ve taken that energy we used to spend trying to get the basics right and we’re putting it into more progressive stuff, like managing and monitoring our nitrogen use and looking at the supplements we’re putting in versus what we’re getting out, looking at what our footprints are doing, I suppose. “We’re trying to work on the efficiency of the system rather than simply growing grass, feeding cows and producing milk. “There’s nothing wrong with a simple 25

The farm is a System 4 and the herd is fed 700-800kg DM per cow bought in supplementary feed. Production is around 504kg MS/cow.

Ralph grew up on a mixed farm in Wales but never expected to go into farming and trained as a computer programmer. He came to New Zealand as part of his OE and realised there were lots of opportunities in dairying.

system but nowadays we are having to push for greater efficiencies where we can.” Reducing nitrogen application has been one of the steps taken, along with lots of little things like monitoring urea levels in milk because that is directly linked to excreted urea in urine. “We get a measure for milk urea from Fonterra every single day, so what I’m interested in is how we can use that information to find out when we’ve got surplus nitrogen in our grass and react to that and use our nitrogen that we’ve applied more efficiently,” Ralph says. “One of the tools we picked up on was 26

applying lower rates of nitrogen, then applying a longer rotation length to the grazing so the plants have more time to use the nitrogen that’s in the plant so, therefore, you should have a lesser surplus.” They’re also weighing their calves more often to make sure they’re achieving the desired growth rates. A check of the cowshed revealed some “stray voltage” from a poor earth, which they suspected might be affecting the cows. That’s been fixed. “I think we have a resistance of about 4000 ohms, whereas a cow has about 400 ohms so we might not be able to

feel electricity on a piece of metal like pipework in the shed but a cow will so we thought it might be affecting their relaxation and milk letdown,” he says. Another tweak was to change the way their in-shed feed bins, from which the cows eat wheat, barley or palm kernel, operate. The cows used to get a squirt of water on the nose to remind them to get off the platform but some of that water was getting into the bins and making the feed unpalatable, so now they get a puff of air instead, resulting in improved feed utilisation. To reduce the calving spread, they now use short gestation semen and now get more spring days in milk, better aligning feed demand with the natural growth curve. While they already had good staff retention, Ralph and Fleur have lifted the bar on what they expect of new recruits. “We’re putting a lot of effort into trying to hire the right person for the job, not recruiting under pressure when you’re desperate, which seldom seems to work, and then trying to make it work long-term with that person as well,” Ralph says. “I think the industry is maturing a lot, so I think the pool experience in the country is actually better than it was 10 years ago. “Building the team has been part of our development as well and getting everyone on board. Investing in the people has given dividends.” While it’s a large operation with 1120 cows being milked at peak, the Tompsetts try to create a family farm environment. “If (staff members) Graeme and Tisha’s kids have got hockey, for example, we

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

want to make it so that it’s culturally okay for them to say, ‘hey guys, I’ll do the first herd for you this morning because I’d really love to go and watch the kids play hockey’,” Ralph says. “You’ve got a co-operative team environment there, where people help each other out to achieve what they want to.” The staff set the roster themselves, reviewed and approved by Ralph, as a way to empower them. They enjoy being trusted, he says. Ralph and Fleur describe winning the Dairy Industry Award as Canterbury/ North Otago 2020 Share Farmers of the Year as a “phenomenal growth experience”. “The biggest thing for us was a really independent analysis of our whole business and what we’re doing,” Ralph says. “Farming’s now so vastly broad and there are just so many aspects to it from people management, veterinary stuff, environmental management, financial, business, it covers quite a big area.” When he arrived on his OE in late 2008, Ralph thought his time in NZ would be short, part of an adventure during which he’d see the world. And even though he liked Mid-Canterbury and the Hinds dairy farm immediately, it didn’t occur to him he’d end up back there, married to a Kiwi and 12 years later be recognised as a top farmer. Fleur didn’t anticipate a life on the farm either, and even though she has a full-time non-farming job, she’s an active participant in the business and like Ralph, she’s thriving there. n

Ralph and Fleur describe winning the Dairy Industry Award as Canterbury/North Otago 2020 Share Farmers of the Year as a “phenomenal growth experience”.

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DAIRY CHAMPION

Waikato farmer Melissa Slattery is the new chairperson of the Dairy Environment Leaders Forum, which works to help farmers meet their environmental requirements.

Get involved, stay informed As farmers face increasing environmental and freshwater rules and regulations, one Waikato farmer has stepped up to play a bigger role in helping farmers achieve their goals and meet the regulations. Gerald Piddock reports.

EW Dairy Environment Leaders Forum (DEL) chairperson Melissa Slattery wants to explore ways of getting its members to play more of an active role in the industry as tighter regulations come into force around freshwater management. This could see the DEL be more active at a regional level where farmers have more of a voice about the effects of these new rules on their businesses. This approach would allow farmers’ local knowledge to be better utilised when looking at the effects of these rules.

They could also be the ones to strike up conversations with community groups or organise events where award-winning farms are showcased, she says. As regional plans continued to be developed throughout the country, it was important that farmers have a voice during the process. “Get involved, stay informed, build awareness around what is happening around your local community in terms of, for instance water quality,” Slattery says. “The only other advice I would give are farm environment plans. If you haven’t done one, look to do them, they’re a good starting spot.”

DEL are farmers that are active in their communities at grassroots level, on boards and local committees. They come together for a forum every year to accelerate positive change for the sector. Increasingly, the focus is on building regional action to meet the wider Dairy Environment Leaders outcomes. She says she remains hopeful there will be a forum later this year, despite the risks around covid-19. DEL’s purpose is to foster kaitiakitanga – stewardship for the future and to support farmers to implement on-farm and catchment scale change to reduce their environmental footprint.

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

Formed in 2013 by DairyNZ, there are now over 300 DEL leaders throughout New Zealand. She was first invited to attend the DEL Forum in Wellington in 2017. “I was exposed to a lot of interesting information and met a lot of great people from around the country,” she says. Since then, she has attended three of the forums, describing the information she learned from the forum over the years as “mind boggling”, particularly around environmental monitoring and the policy process. When the chair position became vacant after Matamata dairy farmer Tracy Brown stepped down after three years, Melissa decided to apply for the role. “I really enjoyed attending the forum the information I got from it and learning and growing. I could see great potential for it to grow and develop for farmers as well,” she says. She says she was excited and humbled to secure the role. “I look forward to building on all the great work dairy farmers are doing throughout NZ to improve water quality, reduce climate change emissions and dairy’s environmental footprint while maintaining our profitable farm business,” she says. “DEL is about farmers supporting farmers – this has always been a key part of the culture in our sector. “Sustainability is a constantly evolving topic and Dairy Environment Leaders help us stay ahead of the sector’s needs and the wishes of New Zealanders.” DairyNZ strategy and investment leader for responsible dairy Dr David Burger says Melissa brought a wealth of dairy farming and business experience to the role and a deep appreciation of the importance of environmental sustainability. “Melissa is forward-looking and collaborative and we know she will make a significant contribution to the dairy sector’s commitment to environmental stewardship for future generations,” he says. DEL members are forward-looking and motivated to achieve positive outcomes using tools such as environment plans and leading through. Highlighting these tools would help shift the bottom tier of the industry to achieve better environmental and financial gains, she says. She puts those words into practice on the 106-hectare farm she owns with husband Justin near Te Aroha in Waikato. They bought the 300-cow farm three years

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

This season’s calves on the Slattery’s 106-hectare farm at Te Aroha.

ago, fulfilling their long-held ambition of being farm owners. Both are members of the Dairy Step Change Action Group for Waikato, which looks at options for farmers to reduce its environmental footprint while remaining profitable.

I look forward to building on all the great work dairy farmers are doing throughout New Zealand Melissa Slattery

“Having that knowledge and having it to achieve outcomes is important,” she says. Melissa is also former regional leader for both the Canterbury/North Otago Dairy Industry Awards and the North Canterbury Rural Business Network. Both are from farming backgrounds in Waikato with both of their parents owning farms in the Te Aroha area. She grew up on the family dairy farm but after leaving school in 2004, went to work in a chartered accountants office where she studied while working and qualified as a chartered accountant in

2012, and is currently an associate at Te Aroha-based firm Diprose Miller. Justin started out as a filter-welder before switching to dairying. The couple knew of each other from school but were introduced again by mutual friends in 2006. They married in 2011 and now have three children, sixyear-old Ryan, three-year-old Connor and one-year-old Tim. They relocated to Canterbury where they sharemilked for six years, firstly near Fairlie and then on a farm at Culverden, North Canterbury. In 2015, they won the national Sharemilker of the Year title and then relocated back to Waikato when they bought a 106ha, 300-cow farm near Te Aroha. “Our goal was to simply buy a farm,” Justin says. They had a handful of offers on farms in Canterbury, but this farm had the added attraction of allowing them to return to the district they had grown up in. Winning the national sharemilking title not only lifted their profile, providing opportunities they otherwise would not have got, it also gave Melissa her first experience being a leader in the dairy industry. “It’s the connections and people that you meet and learn and grow from,” she says. Justin says they still keep in touch with the regional winners from 2015 and had a reunion last January in Northland.

Continued page 30 29

Melissa Slattery with husband Justin and sons, Tim and Connor. The Slatterys had to do a lot of work on the water and effluent infrastructure when they bought the farm at Te Aroha three years ago.

The new Dairy Environment Leaders Forum chairperson Melissa Slattery says farmers should look at doing farm environment plans. 30

They operate a System 3 farm, calving in spring, buying in supplementary feed and grow fodder beet as a summer feed crop, growing 22t/ha last season. Justin says the farm needed a lot of work when they bought it to get its infrastructure including water lines, pasture and its effluent system up to standard. The system they inherited with the farm was a sump and pump at the end of the yard. Although managed well, it was high risk for non-compliance. Knowing that they needed a new effluent system, they set about doing it right. First up, working through the Dairy Effluent Storage Calculator (DESC). DESC is a software tool developed by Horizons Regional Council and Massey University to determine the effluent storage requirements of a farm. It works by taking into account a number of assumptions, including the square meterage of your yard, soil types, drainage, effluent application depth of irrigator, rainfall, cow numbers and wash water in the dairy. “Doing the calculation gave us a really good base of what we needed out of an effluent system,” Melissa says. “It’s a bit of an intense process so we worked with Karl Rossiter who is a sustainable dairy advisor from Fonterra to run the calculation and double checked that the assumptions were correct. It told us we needed 700m3 of storage for a covered storage system and 1200m3 for uncovered,” she explains.

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

They also looked at ways they could potentially reduce their effluent storage requirements and optimise their dairy. Introducing a storm water diversion system made immediate sense, reducing the application rate with modifying their effluent irrigator and other small changes to their daily operation in the dairy to reduce water usage. “A lot of small changes can add up to quite a big saving of water,” she says. “We basically looked (it) up on the DairyNZ website, working through the smarter water use in the milking shed for things we could do and figured out what would realistically work for us and be practical to reduce our water usage, then we trained our team so we were all working towards the same goal,” Justin says. “It finally feels like we have turned it around and we’ve got it doing what it should. “We’re onto our fourth season on this property and it’s finally doing what it should have been doing when we got here.” The Slatterys also had to battle the elements. In their first year, 20% of the farm was

DairyNZ strategy and investment leader – responsible dairy Dr David Burger and Melissa Slattery are helping to build on the environmental work farmers are already doing.

flooded, the following year they had a wet spring that affected pasture growth and last year they were affected by drought. Despite those challenges, the farm produced 110,000kg milksolids off 100 effective hectares last season. Justin says they have managed to increase the farm’s production by

10,000kg milksolids every year since they have been there. This season has been kind so far, with the winter temperatures more like a late autumn than the hard, cold frosty weather that the region is used to. As a result, production is up 30% for the season so far, he says. n

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WOMEN IN AGRIBUSINESS

Tradie farmer living her dream A Waikato farmer is thriving on the challenge of a new dairying career alongside a successful lighting business. Cheyenne Nicholson reports.

KOROIRE dairy farmer Laura Mitchell is all about tackling a challenge. And, growing a successful business during a pandemic is definitely that. Throw in a new career path in dairying and raising her three-year-old daughter Amber, and you could say she has her hands full. The idea of being a farmer herself was never really on her radar despite always being drawn to the land and growing up on her parents dairy farm. At 16, she decided school wasn’t for her anymore and opted to leave and gain qualifications in a trade. “I knew I needed a qualification of some sort. I knew I wanted to work outdoors, that’s probably the farmer in me, so I looked at trades. Electrical work sparked, no pun intended, my interest, so I went for it,” she says. Ten years ago when Laura entered the industry, it was definitely a maledominated world, with only one or two women on work sites. Not long into her apprenticeship, she discovered a love for lighting and took up part-time study at Massey University in lighting design. “There’s more to it than people think. The art of lighting a room can be tricky and it’s so important to get right. It sets the tone and feel of the room,” she says. Four years ago, she decided to start her lighting design business Social Light, running it as a part-time hobby alongside contracting as an electrician. The business pulls together her skills as an electrician and lighting engineer to offer customers personalised lighting plans. Slowly but steadily, the business grew. “The first year or so was a slow start. I took on a lease of a building to start to

Laura Mitchell and daughter Amber, three, are thriving in their new home on the farm in Waikato, where Laura juggles the farm, her lighting business and family.

build a showroom, three months later I found out I was pregnant, but I chipped away at it. Slowly it morphed into a fulltime job,” she says. “You don’t have to invest tens of thousands when you first start. Starting small, growing organically and seeing if your idea is going to work is important. A lot of its trial and error as well.

“At the start, I spent a lot of money on ads through social media, magazines and Google – I don’t know that it ever paid off. What did was word of mouth.” A year ago, Laura made another big life change. Wanting her daughter to grow up rurally and have a support network around her as she navigated the tricky

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October 2020

Laura bought the herd on the family farm and is 50:50 sharemilking the 180-cow, 59-hectare farm in Waikato.

waters of business ownership, she decided to move back to the family farm. “It was a family decision, mum and dad needed to employ a sharemilker and I wanted a place for my daughter to grow up,” she says. “I’ve always been drawn to the farm, so the timing just seemed right. “We live on the farm, and my parents live on another block of land 700 metres up the road, which is awesome – I couldn’t do any of this without them.” Laura bought the herd and is 50:50 sharemilking the 180-cow, 59-hectare

farm with the help of a manager who runs the day-to-day things on the farm. Laura works on all the manager’s days off and deals with the business side of running the farm, along with calf rearing. Although she never took too much interest in the farm growing up, she was amazed by how much knowledge she had that came like second nature to her. “It’s surprising how much you know, without knowing you know it. I picked up on things really quickly,” she says.

I knew I wanted to work outdoors, that’s probably the farmer in me, so I looked at trades. Electrical work sparked, no pun intended.

Continued page 34

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Laura grew up on the family farm but learnt a trade instead. She is a qualified electrician and runs her business, as well as the farm.

Laura returned to the family farm to give her daughter Amber a rural upbringing. Amber helps feed the calves.

“I guess when you grow up on a farm, you can’t help but absorb information. Calf rearing is probably the main one, not everyone has that skill, and I didn’t know I had it until I did it.” The farm might be small compared to other farms in the Waikato, but it’s the perfect size for Laura. In her first season on the farm, they broke the farm production records with 77,000kg MS and are aiming at 80,000kg MS for this season. The plan to hit that target started this year with the planned start of calving bought forward five days and milking into May. “Historically, we’ve always gone once-aday in late January, but last year we dried off early which dented our production total,” she says. “This year I want to milk into May, but it’s all very dependent on the sort of summer and autumn we have.” When it comes to the transferable skills between electrical work and farming,

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October 2020

budgeting and being able to fix all the electrical things on the farm have made her first year farming a little bit smoother. Reflecting on her first year farming alongside Social Light, Laura says none of it would have been possible without the support and help of her family, neighbours and her top-notch staff on both sides of the farm gate. “Everyone’s just been so supportive. My sister and brother-in-law are farming as well, and they’ve been really great,” she says. “My neighbours are amazing as well. You need other farmers to talk to and get advice from. I’ve found the most helpful thing is going to the pub and having a yarn to the local farmers. Every time I go I learn something new.” The key to managing the various hats Laura wears comes down to planning and not trying to do justice to every job at the same time. “I always try to focus on one. If you’re trying to do little bits of all three jobs (Social Light, the farm and raising a child), then you’re not as effective,” she says. “I want to be present when I’m with my daughter, not thinking about everything

else. By having a dedicated day(s) to each job it helps with that.” With her confidence in the farming side of her career growing each day, she’s looking to the future and setting some big goals for both businesses.

Starting small, growing organically and seeing if your idea is going to work is important.

On the farm, Laura set her plan in motion to knock off her production target for the season and is setting up goals to make the farm the best it can be on all fronts, from environmental to animal welfare. She’s also hoping to lease the farm from her parents one day, but says a lot will depend on what happens over the next few years.

For Social Light, covid-19 put a halt to things for a while, but it didn’t stop things starting back at full force once lockdown restrictions were lifted. Currently, she is in the middle of moving her showroom to a bigger building and launching her new website. But the biggest goal which started years ago, was to design and make her own pendant lights. “It’s been a lot of figuring out. It’s taken a few years of developing the lights. It’s always been a dream of mine, and that’s now starting to come to fruition. We’re taking on another employee as well, so I’m hoping to continue to grow things,” she says. Laura says that behind the success and growth of her careers, there’s been plenty of hard bits along the way. It took time to figure out a way to juggle everything, and she says that some days she doesn’t do it well. But at the heart of everything is a want to create a happy, fulfilled life for her and her daughter. “To anyone wanting to start a business, just go for it. Trust yourself, and you’ll figure it out along the way,” she says. “No one knows how to run a business right off the bat. Keep talking and asking questions.” n

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INDUSTRY GOOD

Buying stock? Reduce the risk How can you minimise the risks of introducing new diseases or parasites when bringing stock into your farm bubble from another farm? DairyNZ’s technical policy advisor Nita Harding explains.

Nita Harding Technical policy advisor

OU can reduce this risk by reducing the number of animals you bring in, reducing the number of times you move new stock onto the farm, and most importantly, assessing the health and NAIT status of incoming stock. Taking a bit of time to ask a few questions before confirming a purchase or lease agreement could save you a lot of time and money later on. The key pieces of information you need to ask about are:

• the movement history of the animals • what vaccinations and other treatments the animals have had • their incidence of any diseases or conditions, such as lameness. Where you already have a management plan in place for a particular disease – for example, bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) or leptospirosis – find out if the new animals are of equivalent health status to your own animals. If not, and you still want to bring the animals on-farm, then plan for treatments, testing or vaccinations for the new animals, before mixing them with the herd. The questions to ask a vendor will depend on the age and class of stock, and what you intend to do with the animals. To help with this process, we’ve recently developed a checklist for pre-purchase enquiries online at dairynz.co.nz/prepurchase

with DairyNZ Also, remember that it’s important to check the animals are fit to be transported to the farm. If they’re travelling a long way, they need to be prepared for the journey. You can find out more about preparing stock for transport at dairynz.co.nz/ transporting-stock When the animals arrive on-farm, keep them separate from other stock for seven days, and keep a close eye on them for signs of illness. Animals coming onto your property, even if they’re your own animals returning, may introduce a new disease or parasite to your farm. If you have any concerns about their health, call your veterinarian. n

It is important to check that animals are fit to be transported to the farm. DairyNZ has advice on purchasing stock and preparing stock for transport online.

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October 2020

NEWS

Fonterra site fires up

T’S full steam ahead on wood pellets at Fonterra’s Te Awamutu site, with commissioning under way as the site takes the next step in its transition away from coal. The co-operative announced the Te Awamutu site’s move to renewable energy at the beginning of the year, with the site previously using a mix of coal, gas and electricity to process milk. Fonterra chief operating officer Fraser Whineray says sustainability is core to the co-operative’s long-term strategy and while covid-19 has presented some challenges, they’ve still managed to complete the decarbonisation project at Te Awamutu before the spring milk arrived. “We did have some delivery delays with certain offshore components, and I’m pleased with the outcome thanks to our team and suppliers,” he says. “It’s really important sustainability investments like this are maintained despite the pandemic challenges.” The move away from coal at Te Awamutu is part of Fonterra’s plans to have net zero emissions at its manufacturing sites by 2050. Once completed, the transition at Te Awamutu will reduce the co-operative’s national coal consumption by almost 10%, saving more than 84,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year – the same as taking 32,000 cars off the road. “It’s a positive step towards meeting our interim target of achieving a 30% reduction in emissions by 2030 and shows us what can be achieved by using wood biomass to decarbonise our manufacturing site,” he says. Whineray says partnering has been important in reaching this sustainability milestone. “We value our partnerships with Natures Flame and Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority (EECA) – they are integral to major projects like this,” he says. Natures Flame, who produce the wood pellets, say they are delighted to have partnered with Fonterra to make the

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October 2020

change to sustainable wood pellets as smooth as possible. “It’s a great environmental story on all fronts. Our pellets are made from renewable, plantation-based fibre residues from local sawmills in the form of sawdust and shavings,” Nature Flame operations manager John Goodwin says. “We use renewable geothermal energy to transform the residues into a premium and reliable fuel, which customers like Fonterra can then use to reduce their greenhouse emissions. “We welcome Fonterra as a customer and look forward to working together on this and other future opportunities.” EECA chief executive Andrew Caseley says industrial process heat makes up a little over a quarter of the country’s energy-related emissions. “There’s enormous potential in New Zealand to bring those emissions down significantly by moving away from coal, as Fonterra is doing,” he says. “This is the largest boiler conversion

Fonterra chief operating officer Fraser Whineray says sustainability is core to the co-operative’s long-term strategy.

project to biofuels to date, so our funding via the technology demonstration programme will help to derisk it. “It also has the added benefit of establishing a more viable and large-scale wood pellet supply chain.” n

Jonathan Milne and Kevin Liao check the wood pellets. 37

RESEARCH

The war on weeds Weeds are getting away from Kiwis and a coordinated national response is needed to win the war, says one scientist. Tony Benny reports.

EW Zealand is losing the war on weeds, challenging our position as a global leader in biosecurity, warns Lincoln University professor of plant biosecurity Philip Hulme. “Unfortunately, we have rather little to show for the vast amount of time and effort the Government and landowners invest in the management of weeds,” Hulme says. The professor reviewed all the available literature and reports about weed control in NZ for a series of public lectures around the country, which he was required to give when he won the Leonard Cockayne Award from the Royal Society of New Zealand. “I dug into the literature, the old reports, regional council information and DOC and MPI datasets to try to build the first comprehensive picture of the trends in weeds in NZ, the impacts they might be having and at the end of the day, how well are we actually responding to controlling them,” he says. Hulme says the information is publicly available, but you need to know where to find it. What he discovered is that for a variety of reasons, weeds seem to be winning the battle despite the millions of dollars being spent trying to control them. Hulme breaks the problem into two areas: weeds that pose a threat to agricultural production and those which are an environmental threat. He says two high-profile weeds which have arrived in the country relatively recently – blackgrass and velvetleaf – could affect agricultural exports. “Blackgrass is a really nasty weed because it has a propensity to outcompete the crop, but also it’s known to become herbicide resistant quite quickly, and if you’ve got an oversized competitor in your cropping system, it becomes much harder to manage that sustainably,” he says. Blackgrass has been detected coming into NZ often but worse than that, Hulme 38

Velvetleaf is a serious cropping pest and has been found in fodder beet and maize crops throughout New Zealand, particularly in Southland.

says, is that it has also been found in seed for export. “There’ve been two or three incursions and the most recent detection was in seeds for export, suggesting it’s been in the country for a while and produced seed in crops so that’s a worrying sign,” he says. “MPI have done a trace-back to try to figure out where the seeds might be coming from, then monitored those fields to figure out whether they can get rid of it. But there’ve been several occasions these seeds have been coming in over the past 10 years, which suggests it’s slipping through the border somehow,” he says. Velvetleaf is a serious cropping pest and has been found in fodder beet and maize crops throughout NZ, particularly in Southland. It appears to have come in imported pelletised seed.

Lincoln University distinguished Prof of Plant Biosecurity Philip Hulme says the weeds are taking over despite millions of dollars spent on trying to control them. “They hadn’t really thought about other material that might be in those pellets. They came from Italy where velvetleaf is quite widespread,” he says “The seeds were harvested, there

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October 2020

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was no significant cleaning of the seeds before they were pelletised and the contaminants were encased in the pellets that were brought to New Zealand, and it’s still a problem.” Hulme says the biggest risk to the environment comes from seeds escaping from domestic gardens. “There are likely to be new weeds appearing over the next 10 to 20 years that we haven’t got records for in the country,” he says. “People might be growing more succulents because they want low-water gardens so there might be a whole heap of succulents that we don’t know from South Africa or other parts of the world that are a potential risk. “If they get shared or someone decides to throw them over the garden fence, there is a risk those species will become established in the wild.” In the wild, those plants could displace native species, much as is already happening with wilding pines in much of NZ. He says the main reason weeds are getting away from us, is the lack of a coordinated national strategy. “Regional councils are great because they have a regional focus and they can do things but for weeds, you need to have a national focus because if Marlborough aren’t controlling a particular weed but Canterbury is, it doesn’t make sense,” he says. “If they’ve got a weed but don’t see it as a priority but Canterbury does, no matter what Canterbury does, the weeds are going to come from Marlborough at some point.” Hulme says there’s not enough communication between the various agencies with responsibility for weed control. “MPI probably don’t liaise as well as they should with the regional councils,

Pre-mating blocking

Velvetleaf appears to have come from pelletised seed from Italy.

Regional councils are great because they have a regional focus and they can do things but for weeds, you need to have a national focus. Philip Hulme

regional councils don’t really talk that well to DOC (Department of Conservation), DOC and regional councils don’t talk to the city councils – and probably nobody talks to the landowners as much as they should,” he says. “You have this lack of communication

Blackgrass is a really nasty weed as it has a propensity to out-compete a crop and is known to become herbicide resistant quite quickly.

so the governance of the whole problem is flawed and so no one’s really working as a team, they’re all working in a piecemeal fashion and what happens is the resources we’re investing in controlling these weeds are being used ineffectively.” Hulme says NZ’s response to covid-19 shows that if there’s enough willpower and a clear message we can succeed but weeds are always low in the list of priorities. “People will always invest more on things like Mycoplasma bovis than they would in velvetleaf, but for a fraction of the money you spend on M bovis, you could have got rid of velvetleaf in the South Island and yet no-one sits down and weighs those things up,” he says. “It’s now less about what herbicide we use and the application rates, but much more about the governance issue, about how we manage these problems and how we work effectively as NZ Inc as opposed to individuals or separate parts of the Government.” n

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RESEARCH

For the research, 24 animals that have low-breeding values for milk urea were used to show they also have lower levels of nitrogen in their urine.

Breeding environment friendly cows Low milk urea nitrogen breeding values are a characteristic that could be bred into the herd resulting in environmentally friendly cows. Tony Benny reports.

ELECTING the right animals can lead to significant reductions in nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions, according to research at Lincoln University’s Pastoral Livestock Production Lab. The findings show that cows with lower amounts of urea in their milk have a correspondingly lower level of urea in their urine and that cows at the lower end of the scale leach up to 40kg/year less nitrate than cows at the top end of the scale. PhD student Cameron Marshall did the experiment as part of his thesis, using cows on Lincoln University’s Ashley Dene research and development station identified by CRV Ambreed 40

Research by Pablo Gregorini and Cameron Marshall of Lincoln University has found that cows with low milk urea nitrogen breeding values are more environmentally friendly.

as having low breeding values for milk urea, to test the hypothesis that these animals also have lower levels of

nitrogen in their urine. “Theoretically, they should have less urea in their urine, but previously it had only

been hypothesised and we were first to come along and prove that,” Marshall says. For the experiment, 24

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October 2020

Lincoln University PhD student Cameron Marshall studied how selecting the right animals can lead to significant reductions in emissions for his thesis. Pablo Gregorini and Cameron Marshall amongst the research cows.

breeding values, this characteristic could be bred into the herd. “There’s a massive environmental affect and one of the other things is less urea in the urine will result in less nitrous oxide being emitted, which is a really potent greenhouse gas, so on two fronts you’re breeding an animal that’s more environmentally friendly,” he says. And it turns out there’s a positive effect on production as well, with more protein in the milk of the low nitrogenpeeing cows. “Effectively, we can breed for an animal that is not only more environmentally friendly but also more productive so you can get paid more for a reduced environmental impact. To me it’s a no-brainer – then again, it’s my research, so I’m biased,” he says. The research project was conducted in Lincoln’s Pastoral Livestock Production Lab, part of the University’s

We were trying to make sure that these animals that have been assigned as low, do indeed have less urea in their urine and that’s what we found. Cameron Marshall DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

Faculty of Agricultural and Life Sciences, led by Professor Pablo Gregorini. Gregorini is from Argentina and has been in New Zealand for 13 years, and previously worked for Wageningen University in the Netherlands, the Department of Agriculture in the US and

the Institute of Grasslands and Environmental Research in the UK, as well as DairyNZ. He says Marshall’s findings are important because they show that something as simple as selecting the right animal for the job can pay enormous environmental dividends. n

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animals that were low for this breeding value and 24 that were high were compared, with urine samples being taken several times a day for analysis. “We were trying to make sure that these animals that have been assigned as low do indeed have less urea in their urine and that’s what we found. “From the lowest to highest, there was a 40kg/cow/year difference in the amount of nitrates leached based purely on genetics,” he says. “Nitrate leaching is the key environmental concern, so if you were to target and lower these values more for your entire herd, you can theoretically reduce your nitrate leaching by quite a lot.” A one unit decrease in the milk urea nitrogen breeding value would result in a 240 kg/ha/year reduction in the amount of urinary urea nitrogen deposited to pasture. By selecting animals with low milk urea nitrogen

CALF CLUB

Calves, kids strut their stuff ANNE BOSWELL

IGHT now, Kiwi kids in all regions eagerly await or have already had their time to shine as Calf Club NZ judges make their way around the country judging their Calf Club entries in person throughout the October school holidays. Submissions to the 2020 competition closed on September 1 and the 220 children who entered are gearing up to be assessed onfarm in three events: leading, rearing and conformation. This year, Calf Club NZ has added more regions to the competition to help make the judges’ travel more manageable and enable them to get around to as many farms as possible. The 2020 judging regions include upper Northland, mid Northland, lower Northland, South Auckland, Central Waikato, Hauraki Surrounds, Western Waikato, Eastern Waikato, South Waikato, Bay of Plenty, North Taranaki, South Taranaki, Manawatu, Tasman/ Marlborough and Canterbury/ Southland. And for those children who live in very isolated areas, the addition of a NZ Video Group means they will still be able to show off their hard work and get their calves judged via video submission to an allocated judge. Calf Club NZ judging coordinator Michelle Burgess says the leading category assesses the ability of the child to lead the calf around the edge of a ring, how well the child handles the calf, and how well they work together and communicate with each other.

Calf Club judges will be out about these school holidays judging kids and their calves. They will be looking at rearing, conformation and leading.

“The rearing category assesses the appearance and health of the calf, including grooming, cleanliness and general health,” she says. “And the conformation category looks at animal traits, dependent on whether they are a dairy type or a beef type. It is a more traditional class.” Michelle says they expect to see a mix of entrants as Calf Club caters for younger, more inexperienced children, as well as older, more serious competitors. “The entry-level kids can just enter a friend, whereas older children may be more discerning in the animal they choose, selecting a betterlooking animal,” she says. Once judging is complete, the points gained by entrants are calculated to place children into regional placement categories, and then into the national scoring category. “Because of the national scoring ability kids can

compete against a much larger group of kids than the traditional school competition,” Michelle says. Social Voting 2020 is also open until October 11. The public are encouraged to vote for their favourite three social entries, which are available to view at www. calfclubnz.co.nz/calf-club-

nz-entries. They should note down the ID number of their favourite three and vote at www.calfclubnz.co.nz/socialvoting. Calf Club NZ 2020 competition results will be published in the November issue of Dairy Farmers and all participants will receive a ribbon via post after judging

Make sure your calves are clean, hooves polished and give them a good brush before judging so they look their best.

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October 2020

The leading category assesses the ability of the child to lead the calf around the edge of a ring.

concludes, along with the possibility of spot prizes from competition sponsors DeLaval, Samen and CRV Ambreed. Kids also receive a memory book at the end of the competition, which features every entry nationwide. During the competition, they are able to submit up to four

memories – non-competition images of them caring for or training their calf. This is the third year in which Calf Club NZ has offered an online alternative to the traditional school calf club competition. It was formed in 2018 in response to the cancellation of traditional school calf club events due to

the biosecurity risks posed by M bovis. And while school events have been reinstated this year after a two-year hiatus, Calf Club NZ will continue to run as a separate competition, pleasing kids and parents alike. Pongakawa dairy farmer Nicky Gill, whose children Conrad and Lexi Gordon have been involved in calf club for several years, says the new format is really enjoyable to take part in. “I really enjoy the judges coming to the farm,” she says. “Not only is it easier for the calves not to travel, but the judge that came to us last year was excellent.” Calf Club NZ marketing manager Josh Herbes says in 2020, the club is more important than ever. “Children typically spend more time on devices these days, so we encourage them to get out and spend time

with their animals and use their device time to document those meaningful memories and experiences,” Josh says. “The idea behind Calf Club is for children to engage with their animals and care for them. “There are less people going into the farming industry, so we hope Calf Club might inspire more of these kids to get involved in farming when they’re older.” Nicky says Calf Club teaches the kids valuable animal husbandry skills. “Lexi will go and lock the cows away with no problems,” she says. “Calf Club gives them a lot of confidence to handle animals.” n

To keep up to date on latest Calf Club NZ information, photos and submissions, visit www.calfclubnz.co.nz or www. facebook.com/CalfClubNZ

Keeping Calf Clubs Alive BURGESS FARM

INNOVATIONS

FlashMate was created by a Hamilton-based company to stick to cow hair during the breeding period to interpret cow behaviour.

Kiwi innovation leads the way

AIRY is New Zealand’s top earner following the impact of covid-19 on tourism and education. Much now rests on the shoulders of busy farmers, some of whom are struggling to get their key staff back through NZ’s borders. Annual breeding is a pressure-point in the dairy calendar requiring skill. A Hamilton-based company is now attracting global attention and growing local sales for an imaginative solution to a perennial farming headache – Kiwi dairy farmers need to know exactly when to artificially inseminate cows. The FlashMate was created to stick to cow hair during the breeding period to interpret cow behaviour. The red light

turns on at just the right moment when the cow is on heat and the unit is easily removed after breeding without bothering cows. “Reading body language when you have as many as 1,200 cows isn’t easy,” cocreator Matt Yallop says. It’s a problem worth solving. Industry body DairyNZ puts an annual value of NZ$1.5 billion on lifting the

percentage of cows that are pregnant in the first six weeks of the annual mating period to 78% as the key industry target. Heat detection efficiency is a critical element in achieving this goal. NZ is renowned for its dairy prowess and the device has not gone unnoticed by farmers and experts worldwide. The device has reached far flung cows in remote Russia, Brazil, China, Chile and

It’s really exciting to see a New Zealand innovation unlocking valuable new insights into animals that have been farmed for millennia. Matt Yallop DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

the Baltic shores of Estonia – even the mountains of Japan. Dairy Industry bodies in Ireland, Japan and the USA are embracing FlashMate for its potential to lift productivity. In all three countries, clinical work has been completed to confirm the accuracy of the product. “We’ve been stunned by the strong interest outside NZ,” Yallop, who receives offshore enquiries from farmers and experts every other day, says. He suggests that with covid effectively

eliminating overseas travel, people are very open to doing international business online, which has allowed more energy and resources to go back into the local market again. “There’s a huge amount of positives. I can be here in NZ with the family more and be far more available to support local farmers,” he says. Peer-reviewed publications utilising the device are being accepted into the prestigious Journal of Dairy Science in the USA. “It’s really exciting to see a NZ innovation unlocking valuable new insights into animals that have been farmed for millennia,” he says. Once published, the science can be shared back to our industry via DairyNZ. Yallop says that many cultures find the concept deeply amusing, adding it’s a brilliant ice breaker. “People soon see the science and results behind the idea, realise it’s not a gimmick and are keen to see their own herds in the dark with flashing lights,” Yallop says. “Internationally, language can be challenging, while physically performing the actions can help convey the message, this can get awkward too. “Google translate has also handed us some hilarious moments.” The product has clinically demonstrated a 6.3% lift in six-week incalf rate on NZ farms, head-to-head with skilled farmers using tail paint. A number of farms have already attributed more than $100,000 in improvements over several years, freeing up labour and helping sustain their farming way of life, while improving onfarm efficiency. Because the device has a very low-skill requirement and makes life easier on the farm, it can help to save the day for farms affected by border closures, which may

The FlashMate red light turns when the cow is on heat so farmers know when she is ready to be inseminated.

explain an early surge in local demand for the seasonal product. Here at home most people don’t really know the full story, Yallop says, but word of mouth is growing. It has already been used on DairyNZ research farms and the product is building a strong reputation among artificial breeding technicians for alerting heats in cows that even highly-skilled farmers would otherwise miss. “Farmers are constantly being told to use technology, but aren’t always offered a realistic starting point,” he says. “Our approach is to keep it very simple, muck in with farms and support the real decisions farmers have to make.” He adds that everyone in NZ should look to support our hard working farmers in every way that they can while they lead our economic recovery. n

FARMSTRONG

Manage fatigue, avoid burnout

There are only so many hours in a day, so when life gets really busy on-farm, having a strategy to manage fatigue is vital.

URNOUT and fatigue are your body’s way of letting you know that it can no longer cope with the demands you are placing on it. When your body is under stress from being too busy or feeling pressured, it releases stress hormones that make it hard to relax, perform at your best or sleep well at night. The key is to treat yourself as your farm’s number one asset and build rest and recovery time into your work schedule. No one can go 110% on an ongoing basis without a break. It’s just not how we’re built. All top sports teams build in recovery time. That’s why downtime and microbreaks to recharge the batteries are essential even during peak season. Burnout doesn’t happen overnight, it creeps up like a slow leak on a tractor tyre. However, our body and mind give out warning signs so awareness is the key. If you often work very long hours

without a break and struggle to get offfarm, you might notice yourself getting irritated and frustrated over little things or having trouble making decisions or waking up at night worried about the next day. What can you do about it? Here are a few thoughts from farmers. Eat well, share the load Abbi Ayre and her husband Frikkie work on a 900-cow dairy farm in North Canterbury. “This year, I actually sat down and made a meal plan for the whole of calving, which is something I picked up from another lady at an event. It definitely made cooking meals a lot easier and if you eat well, you just have more energy,” she says. “The other thing is to share the load and remember that you are not alone. Get out and talk to somebody, whether it’s a dinner group or a BYO fish and chip night

Waikato dairy farmer Marc Gascoigne says it is important to have good systems and routines in place at busy times like calving, so everyone knows what’s happening.

with neighbours. We often just head to the Farm Source store to have a break and grab a coffee and chat with other people coming in for farm supplies.” Recognise the signs Hawke’s Bay farmer James Pharazyn says, “The first thing is to actually realise that you are fatigued and understand that everyone suffers from fatigue from time to time. If you’re coming home grumpy, identify that and tell yourself hey, maybe I just need to sit down and rest up a bit. “A lot of farmers will just keep going but sometimes your body just needs a rest. So, take a short break, play with the kids or go into town and watch the local footy team, but most of all just rest. Sometimes it is just sitting and watching the rugby on a Friday night.” Discuss it Angela and Steve Reed employ a

Waiau farmer Duncan Rutherford says breaks are essential to keep people fresh and on top of their game, which is important especially when operating heavy machinery.

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

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

Farmstrong Ambassador Sam Whitelock says you can stay fresh and alert by taking a mini-break, even if you’re only stepping away from the job you are doing for five minutes.

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight, it creeps up like a slow leak on a tractor tyre.

team of four on their 830-cow farm near Darfield. “It’s important to ask people how they’re feeling, to look out for signs of fatigue and help them understand that it’s ok to talk about these things,” Angela says. “Everyone has times when they feel overwhelmed. It’s nothing to feel afraid of. The important thing is to ask for help, if you need it. We’ve started having those conversations and people are being far more open.” Plan and prioritise Cambridge dairy farmer Marc Gascoigne says planning is key. “It’s important to have good systems and routines in place at busy times like calving so everyone knows what’s happening,” Marc says. Adding delegating and trusting stuff is a big one too. “Make use of people like farm advisors. It’s such a cooperative industry. A lot of people are only too happy to share their experience,” he says.

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

North Canterbury farmer Abbie Ayre finds doing a meal plan makes things a lot easier and ensures you are eating well during the busy calving period.

Marc says he used to get stressed at calving time, which ultimately affected his sleep “My mind would be churning (at calving time),” he says. “Now, I keep a piece of paper and a pen by the bed, write down the jobs I need to do and tell my brain to deal with it in the morning. That helps me get to sleep. “The main thing I’ve learnt about staying well on the farm is before you can look after your family, your farm and your animals, you’ve got to look after yourself. “If you’re feeling fatigued and not in the right headspace, you won’t be able to look after what’s really important.” Prevent injury Waiau dairy farmer Duncan Rutherford says it’s definitely unsafe for people to be operating gear when they are fatigued. “We monitor our staff closely to see what tasks they can perform and how tired they are,” he says. “Breaks are essential to keep people fresh and on top of their game. We’re lucky because we’re large enough to have a decent staff roster so people can get their breaks. “But it’s also about running an efficient farming system so people aren’t out there working all hours of the day.” Staff also get a chance to unwind. “We always have drinks on a Friday night and encourage people to get offfarm and play a sport. We don’t see it as downtime, we encourage these guys to get out there and have other interests,” he says.

Invest in Yourself Former sharemilker of the year Siobhan O’Malley, says, “I think farmers are classic at looking after their pasture and their buildings and machinery, but they just work themselves into the ground. Burnout is a real thing, so in order to be sustainable as a business you actually have to look after yourself.” Time to Think “Sport has really taught me the value of mini-breaks to stay alert and fresh. “It can be as simple as taking that five or 10 minutes each day to step away from what I’m doing so that when I get back into things, I’m making good decisions, not feeling fatigued and making poor ones,” says Farmstrong ambassador Sam Whitelock. “Achieving that can be hard, but one of the things I’m doing now is to plan a 10-minute slot into each day and say ‘this is my time’. “I know it sounds funny taking time out when you’re busy to make your day more efficient, but it definitely does help you to think more clearly.” n

Farmstrong is a rural wellbeing programme that aims to help farmers and farming families live well to farm well. To find out what works for you and “lock it in”, check out our farmer-to-farmer videos, stories and tips on www.farmstrong.co.nz

EFFLUENT Kennedy Bay, one of two access points to Lake Rotoehu. The Taumanu Lands Trust farm sits just to the south of the lake. Photos: Anne Boswell

Effluent management key to kaitiakitanga A Bay of Plenty farm in a high-risk area has implemented environmental initiatives to mitigate their footprint. Anne Boswell reports.

REATING a positive example of kaitiakitanga, or guardianship, is a major motivation behind the environmental initiatives undertaken by the Taumanu Lands Trust dairy farm – which include a state-of-the-art nutrient containment system and cow barn. With the farm situated south of Lake Rotoehu in the Bay of Plenty, farm staff and trustees have worked with their farm consultant and local council to create a strategic plan to minimise nitrogen (N) leaching into the nearby lake. The 230-hectare farm is governed by the Taumanu Lands Trust, and its appointed trustees – Sam Emery, Fred Whata, Eniz White and Wiremu Keepa – oversee the farm for the benefit of the Maori shareholders, members of the Ngati Pikiao tribe. Three generations of the Wright family have sharemilked and run the day-to-day operation of the farm for almost 30 years. Today, Phil Wright is the overseer of the farm and his daughter Samantha and her brother Karl are farm manager and 2IC respectively. Their 560-strong herd is outstanding: it has a PW of 262, the fifth highest of 11,000 national herds, and a BW of 230, the eighth highest in herds of 500 or more cows. With the sensitive catchment of Lake Rotoehu lying at the northern end of the farm, the Trust has always known the importance of paying particular attention to environmental issues. Rotoehu, which translates to muddy water, is prone to thermal stratification, where lake waters divide into different layers of density due to differing temperatures, causing multiple algal blooms every year. With this natural process and a lack of outlet already contributing to a reduction in water quality in the lake, Taumanu Lands Trust and a neighbouring agricultural operation

completed nutrient reduction agreements with the council. With the guidance of their farm consultant Mark Macintosh, the Trust applied to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council for a funding grant that would allow the stock to be off the pasture daily – one of the key methods they saw to reduce N leaching. From that, the barn concept was born and construction was completed in 2017. In terms of nutrient containment the dairy shed has a fairly standard system; wash water is diverted directly to the effluent pond, which is applied to around 37ha with a travelling irrigator. But the barn is “where the magic happens” according to Mark and is a further commitment to mitigating leaching.

The Taumanu Lands Trust cow barn is a key tool to mitigating nitrogen leaching. DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

“February to May is a critical nitrogen loss time,” he says. “The more the stock is on the pasture, the more nitrogen is built up and stored in the soil and flushed out by winter rains. “With the barn, cows are taken off the pasture over the summer-autumn period in particular, thereby reducing the nitrogen content in the soil and consequent leaching to the lake.” The barn is 5322m², designed to hold a maximum of 550 cows at 5m² per cow, plus 450m of feed bins. The barn is not high usage, but it is used strategically. The herd is split into two – one herd moves to once-a-day milking by Christmas, and the second herd moves to once-a-day in around February. Both herds are fed in the barn for one-and-a-half hours prior to milking. The once-a-day herd in the morning, and the twice-a-day herd in the afternoon. The nutrient containment system underneath the barn incorporates a concrete internal structure lined with a full effluent pond liner, with a layer of sand and pumice underneath the wood chip surface. The key benefit of the system is its enormous N leaching mitigation capability. The wood chips soak up almost 100% of the effluent, and it is cultivated every day with a rototiller to keep it aerated. The 9.5m apex has ventilation to ensure adequate airflow, while the roof pitch ensures minimal condensation in the barn, critical for the composting process. The litter is recycled annually with the used wood chips applied to new grass pastures in the autumn. This provides a slow-release form of N. Over the past four years, staff has fine-tuned a number of operational features as required. “There’s no rule book,” Phil says. “In the first two seasons, we cleaned out the litter every year, but for the past two seasons we have brought new (wood) chips in as required and let it pile up. It is still free flowing and looks and smells great. “There is a large cost to pulling it out so we are saving money by not doing that every year,” he says.

Mark Macintosh, Samantha Wright, Sam Emery and Phil Wright in the cow barn.

“The only part of the barn that is scraped is the concrete apron outside, straight into the effluent trap.” They have also piled the calf chip at the end of the barn to easily push inside as required, instead of carting it from a stack beside the barn. The team has found the barn has benefits over and above its excellent N leaching mitigation – it doubles as a feed pad, used

Continued page 50

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Farm manager Samantha Wright holds the litter from the cow barn which is recycled annually with the used wood chips applied to new grass pastures in the autumn. This provides a slow-release form of N.

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Intergrain NZ LTD DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

The wood chips in the barn soak up almost 100% of the effluent, and it is cultivated every day with a rototiller to keep it aerated.

as a management tool to avoid feed wastage, and is outstanding for both calving and calf rearing. This spring, they calved 565 cows and had no stock losses. “The litter is extremely comfortable for cows to calve on,” Samantha says. “We can flick on the light in the middle of the night and keep an eye on everything. Stock recording is effortless, and we can set up the calf pens so they are close to the cows. It is very peaceful.” Staff also enjoy calving inside, especially on a cold and windy night. The Trust has also reduced cow numbers over the past few years as part of the strategy to lower its environmental footprint. It went from 720 cows to 570, then 560, and it plans to further reduce numbers by 50 cows. By fully feeding fewer cows, they expect to maintain milk production. Trust chairperson Sam Emery says the commitment of the Wright family to do the best for the land resonates with the culture of the Trust. “We have a great team on the ground,” he says. “It is important for us to model this to other trusts to demonstrate what they can achieve. “The combined work of the Trust team, the Wright team and the AgFirst consultant has taken marginal land and turned it into profitable land.” The Trust hopes its work will help bring Lake Rotoehu back to an historic level of trophic level index (TLI), which indicates the health of a lake based on its degree of nutrient enrichment. “The barn has given us real confidence going forward,” Phil says. “The Trust has a real desire to improve the lake.” n

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DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

EFFLUENT

Best practice for effluent spreading LLOYD THOMAS

OUNCIL compliance is one of the key factors when deciding on effluent spreading equipment – after all, we all want to be doing it

right. Each council in New Zealand may have slightly different rules, but generally the main issues for compliance are keeping waterways effluent-free, making sure effluent is kept within your boundary and staying within the limits for nitrogen application. Below are best practices for effluent spreading to help you remain council compliant: Don’t spread too often Yes, we say this a lot – but it’s important for having an efficient and councilcompliant dairy effluent management system, so make sure you have the right amount of effluent storage to suit the needs of your farm. How does this relate to spreading? Having the correct size storage means you’re not having to spread too often. If your storage is too small, you’ll need to be spreading to prevent the pond/tank from overflowing. Spreading in conditions where the ground is not primed for soaking up the effluent nutrients – for example, when the ground is already saturated from wet

weather – is likely to cause ponding/runoff, which is a bit of a compliance no-no. How much storage is the right amount? There are a lot of variables to calculate the ideal storage size, including the type of storage, weather conditions for your area, number of cows, whether you intend to expand in the near future and the other parts to your effluent management set up. If you’re unsure, talk to an effluent management specialist. Stay in control When choosing a method of spreading effluent, look for machinery/systems that allow you to have control over your application. The ideal effluent spreader can be adjusted to suit the conditions, and also provide a consistent/even spread for more control over how far and where the effluent is going. For example, in winter there is not much evaporation, giving the soil a very small deficit. With saturated soil, only a very small amount of effluent can be applied, so it is recommended to spread only a very light application while travelling 5-6km/h. What kind of effluent spreader is recommended? This really depends on your effluent management system set up – there are a lot of different scenarios where different solutions may be appropriate. For general situations where a dairy farmer is storing effluent and spreading

when appropriate, a slurry tanker with RainWave spreader is a popular choice because a slurry tanker will allow you to spread over the whole farm – no need to worry about if there’s enough hose/pipe to reach pasture further away from where effluent is stored. A RainWave spreader can also be adjusted to suit the spreading conditions. It also produces larger droplets, which means there is very little wind drift, allowing for more control over where the effluent is being spread (council won’t get any complaints from neighbours with effluent on their clean washing). Spread over a bigger area Best practice is to spread over a larger area than the bare minimum recommended by most councils. Why? Because councils typically work out the recommended amount based on nitrogen (N) per hectare, per annum. However, this often will result in potassium (K) levels becoming too high. Spreading over a bigger area than recommended will help to resolve this issue. Spreading smarter With laws evolving that restrict the amount of N applied to pasture, dairy farmers are needing a smarter way to spread effluent. We recommend adding a natural supplement to the effluent before applying. n

Lloyd Thomas is a member of the Customer Solutions Team at Nevada Ltd.

The ideal effluent spreader can be adjusted to suit the conditions and provide a consistent/even spread for more control over how far and where the effluent is going.

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING

Fully-fed cows pay off A Waikato couple who farm organically, ensure their herd is always fully fed with the help of supplementary feeds. Anne Boswell reports.

COMPREHENSIVE supplementary feed system is crucial in supporting Peter and Mandy Paterson’s philosophy of fully feeding their cows every single day of the year. It’s a move that’s paid off. Two seasons ago, their 180-cow herd produced 600kg MS/cow and after a rough season last year, they are back on track to produce 550-600kg MS again this season. What’s more, the Patersons’ farm is certified organic. Located at Patetonga on the Hauraki Plains, Udderly Organic is an 80-hectare milking platform the Paterson family have farmed for 40 years. In 2015, they started their transition to becoming certified organic and this season is their second season as a certified organic farm. “We had been farming biologically for 15 years previously, so it seemed like a natural step to go organic,” Mandy says. “At first, navigating organic regulations and formalities was like being in a maze but now that we’re here, it’s wonderful. “We know that the milk that goes out that gate is high-quality and free of nasties.” The farm also transitioned from spring calving in 2016 to autumn calving in 2018, with cows milking right through 2017. The farm is System 3.5 and while they aim to give the cows most of what they need from pasture, supplementary feed plays an important role in ensuring the herd is fully fed year-round. 52

Peter and Mandy Paterson say their Herd Home is the control centre of their farming operation, as it allows them to let the pasture reach its full potential. Photos: Anne Boswell

“We’ve calculated the cows need about 18-19kg feed per day,” she says. “We use a CDAX pasture meter, so we know exactly what is in the paddock and we fill those gaps completely.” They grow around 200 tonnes of maize silage on-farm, yielding around 19-22t/ha thanks to the effluent fertiliser collected from bunkers under the Herd Home. They also buy in 50t of maize grain. They harvest 500 bales of grass silage on-farm, purchasing an additional 200 organic bales from Hawke’s Bay. They also buy 18t of soy meal, which lifts protein when the grass is lacking protein in the winter. It also aids better utilisation of high-starch maize silage. The herd is also fed 5000l of molasses, organic minerals as needed as per hair testing of stock, and free choice minerals year-round of kelp, salt and humates. With the exception of the maize grain, which is fed through an inline feeding dispenser in the shed, supplementary feed is fed via a mixer wagon in the covered Herd Home. The Patersons built the Herd Home 10 years ago and it has become an

integral part of their supplementary feed programme. Cows come in only to feed, although the Herd Home is a much-appreciated source of shade in the height of summer with the internal temperature around 10 degrees cooler than outside. “Having had a Herd Home for so long, we would struggle to farm without one,” she says. “You just have to go down there to see that there is absolutely no feed wastage. “Everything is fed close to the shed so there’s no carting, no tractors driving through the paddocks, and no cows trampling the feed into the grass. “You can control everything on your farm with a Herd Home. When we want the grass to grow we feed more at the Herd Home.” The mixer wagon is used from midJanuary as the stock is starting to dry off until the end of September when the grass is humming. Cows are fed straw when they are dry to keep their stomachs stretched. The Patersons’ feed programme has resulted in consistent, high milk

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

DAIRY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

ON-FARM FIELD DAYS

They want to urge farmers to rethink the rules around feeding stock. “There is a traditional way of thinking amongst farmers that they should cut right back on feed at certain times of the year,” Peter says. “Most farmers don’t realise they need to fully feed their cows for 12 months of the year. Many cows live in a form of controlled starvation.” Mandy believes a lot of the hesitation with fully feeding comes from the cost involved, but she says the returns are worth it – especially if farmers look at their system as a whole.

“If farmers reduced their stocking numbers by 50-60 cows, and fully-fed the herd, they could do the same production,” she says. “They would also have fewer issues with animal health, and likely see an improvement in fertility; we have an average empty rate of 8%.” Peter says they aim to prove that the impossible can be done – not once, but repeatedly. “We will keep doing this system properly for the next few years to prove to others that you can fully feed your cows, while remaining profitable,” he says. n

Mandy Paterson and her husband milk 180 cows at Patetonga. Their philosophy is to fully feed the herd year-round.

DBOY is proud to host a series of Regional Optimisation Days during November 2020. Held on the DBOY 2020 Regional Winners’ farms, these field day events are a great day out and an excellent opportunity to hear and learn from some of New Zealand’s most resilient, sustainable and innovative dairy farmers.

n Thursday 5 November LOWER NORTH ISLAND n Tuesday 10 November NORTHLAND n Wednesday 18 November CANTERBURY n Tuesday 24 November WAIKATO

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production throughout the season. Cows calve in March and are producing 2kg MS/cow in autumn, dropping slightly to 1.8kg MS by May 18, where they remain until Christmas. With the upheaval of transition behind them, milk production is now 16% ahead of last season. As autumn calvers, the Patersons receive a premium for their winter milk, most of which goes toward buying supplementary feed. Sourcing supplementary feed for an organic farm is harder than a conventional farm, but not impossible. They have spent a great deal of time and effort building strong relationships with suppliers. “Spending time with people face-toface is a great way not only to secure certified organic feed consistently, but to show appreciation for people who go above and beyond to support organic farmers,” she says. They also send their calves to an organic grazier when they are six months old. “Finding a support block can be difficult when you’re organic, so to have found a fantastic grazier who is only 20 minutes away is great,” she says. “We are able to check on the stock frequently.” All supplementary feed, as with fertiliser and medicine, must be on the approved organic list before it can be used. If it’s not, she says they have to apply to use it which can take two to four weeks to be approved. “Because of this, we are always thinking several steps ahead,” she says. “The sheer amount of paperwork that comes with organics is overwhelming to start with, but once you get into the swing of things you learn to file everything and have it to hand.”

SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING

When to supplement pasture

N MOST pasture-based farm systems, supplementary feed should only be used to fill feed deficits so that cows maintain energy intake and production. There is no advantage to replacing good quality pasture with an alternative feed source or balancing pasture, therefore supplements should only be used to provide energy when there is insufficient pasture available. There is no evidence that supplementing pasture improves mating performance when there is sufficient pasture supply. If feeding supplements results in high grazing residuals, this is wasted feed and the reductions in future pasture growth and quality should be considered. When supplements are required in a deficit situation they can help to optimise the area grazed each day, the rotation length and the pasture residual.

When there is enough pasture, pasture is enough The profitability of feeding supplements varies depending on the situation, namely: • The cost of the supplement. • Wastage in storage and method of feeding out. • The associated costs of supplement – these costs associated with feeding supplement can be 50% more than the cost of purchasing the feed, associated costs include capital, fuel/energy, labour, repairs and maintenance and depreciation. • The degree of pasture substitution, which governs the response rate to supplement. Supplement is more likely to be profitable where post grazing residuals are consistently under 1500kg DM/ha (7-8 clicks on RPM) without the supplement and do not exceed 1,500kg DM/ha with supplement. If feeding supplements results in high grazing residuals, this represents wasted feed. It will reduce the immediate profitability of feeding and have ongoing effects through reductions in future pasture growth and quality, which must be considered. Spring supplement use Cows should be grazing to a residual of 1500-1600kg DM/ha. 54

Supplementary feed should only be fed if pasture is in short supply.

Cows that are grazing to 1500-1600kg DM/ha are likely to be able to produce more milk if additional feed is added to the system – either as pasture or supplement. Striking a balance In spring, striking the balance between the needs of the cow and pasture will optimise the amount of high-quality pasture grown and eaten throughout the whole season. This means attempting to maximise short-term cow intakes ignores the longer term impact on pasture and production. Maximising intakes to maximise production will result in more pasture being left behind in the paddock. The difference between the feed offered and eaten goes to increasing the residual, signalling a waste in pasture and compromising quality at future grazing events. Any lift in residuals above the targeted 1500-1600 kg DM/ha means that the strategy is unlikely to be profitable. Management interventions, such as harvesting silage or topping to waste, can maintain residuals at the desired level but both incur a cost above the cow grazing pasture. The cost/benefit of the additional feed allowance needs to be carefully evaluated. Achieving reproduction targets is often cited as a reason for supplementary

feeding over spring. Research tells us that high-quality ryegrass meets the nutritional requirements of the dairy cow, provided there is enough of it. If there is adequate feed (pasture residuals of 1500-1600kg DM/ha with good pasture utilisation) there are no reproductive benefits from feeding additional supplement. Autumn and winter supplement for BCS Feeding supplement in autumn to milking cows is of limited use for achieving calving body condition score (BCS) targets unless cows were to lose BCS if not supplemented (i.e. insufficient pasture). Cows selected for high milk production preferentially partition nutrients to milk production and not BCS gain. The fastest way to achieve BCS gains is to dry cows off. The timing of dry off depends on your system, BCS gain required and length of the dry period. If infrastructure exists to achieve high supplement utilisation when feeding dry cows during the winter, this can be a strategy to maximise lactation length while achieving BCS targets. The viability of this strategy depends on supplement cost (including associated cost), BCS gain required and time available for BCS gain. n Source: DairyNZ

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING

Homegrown maize feed cuts costs The equity partnership of Noldy and Bev Rust and Bernard and Jo Kelly use maize as their supplementary feed as they can grow lots of it cheaply.

SMALL farm on the banks of the Waipa River has proven it can be sustainable. Bernard and Jo Kelly, along with their equity partners Noldy and Bev Rust, farm 52ha milking 180 cows at Te Pahu, west Waikato. The Kellys and the Rusts began their equity partnership at the start of the 202021 season. Prior to that, the farm had been farmed by the Rusts since 1996. The farm is small by modern day standards but despite its size, the farm

The farms has a policy of growing and harvesting as much home-grown feed as possible.

is able to generate a reasonable income which supports the two families. “Because of its size, to generate an acceptable income, we need every part of the business operating at its best,” Bernard says. The best production for the farm, 91,500 kilograms of milksolids (1,780kg MS/ha), was achieved in the 2014-15 season, when Bernard was farm manager. He was quick to point out that was in a high payout year with significant supplementary feed input. In the extreme dry of last season, the farm produced around 84,400kg MS (1,620kg MS/ha). The Rusts had a policy of growing and harvesting as much homegrown feed as they could. After the last bad drought in 2009, they began a programme of growing maize silage and regrassing to establish new, more resilient pastures on the farm. The aim was to lift the amount of homegrown feed. Paddocks that needed regrassing were identified in the autumn, sprayed out and drilled with annual ryegrass. They were planted in Pioneer maize in the spring and the silage crop was harvested early March. The area was then resprayed to kill any weeds, fertilised and planted back into permanent pasture. “The advantage of using maize to

The advantage of using maize to regrass the farm is that you can grow a lot of dry matter very cheaply. Noldy Rust

regrass the farm is that you can grow a lot of dry matter very cheaply.” Noldy says. “When you precede a maize crop with an annual ryegrass crop, you can deal to many of the hard-to-kill weeds and insects”. Noldy estimates that using maize lifted homegrown feed by about 1tDM/ha across the farm. The farm has now been fully regrassed and rather than ripping up good paddocks, maize is now grown on a dedicated cropping block within the farm. We can grow a lot of feed on a small area” says Noldy, “and by using effluent, we can grow it sustainably at a cost of 1516c/kg DM”. n

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s e m i t e m So IT TAKES

THOUGHT FOR FOOD. Farm Source Technical Sales Representive Jarno Sammet is so invested in delivering the best results on the Deuschle’s Waikato farm, he’s earned himself a place at their kitchen table. Miriam and Friedmann Deuschle meet when Miriam, an 18-year-old at the time, was on an overseas trip to Germany. Friedmann followed her back to New Zealand and they have now been married for 15 years and have four kids. Both familiar with working on the land – with Miriam experiencing farming before going to university and Friedmann working in landscaping in Germany – the pair decided farming was their next adventure. It also made Friedmann’s language barrier easier as his English was, in his words, “so horrifically bad that I only could communicate with the cows”. Starting as a farmhand, Friedmann worked his way up into management and eventually, he and Miriam had their own herd in Tokoroa. After eight years, they moved to Mount Pirongia and for the last 6 years have been sharemilking – calving 440 cows on an exposed 165-hectare (ha) farm. That exposure, combined with the high rainfall in this particular part of the Waikato which of most is during Winter, gives them between 2500 and 3000 mm of rain per year. There’s also wind to deal with, which Friedmann says they have 95 percent of the time and can be tough on the animals. “They can handle a little bit, but it’s just constant. The farm owners have helped us put infrastructures in place – wintering barns and covered feedpads

and these have made a massive difference.” Creating warm and dry conditions for the cows in Winter and Spring has reduced metabolic issues and makes calving easier to manage. Prior to the Deuschle family arriving, the farm was used for sheep and beef, and with that, a lot of the old pasture was still in place. The family had issues with open paddocks, a lot of native grass species and Nui. To resolve this, they turned to their Farm Source Technical Sales Representative, Jarno. Miriam and Friedmann say Jarno’s opinion is highly valued in their household thanks to his extensive knowledge of the region. “A farm consultant could work here, there and everywhere, but the TSR who works here, from this region, knows it best,” Friedmann says. “I put a lot of value into Jarno’s opinion because the regional knowledge is a big factor in making decisions.” With Jarno’s help, they put together a solid longterm plan to renew pasture with some annuals and Italian ryegrasses to boost short term and perennial grasses for long term growth, the results of which they are now seeing. Friedmann says a major contributor has been a good fertiliser programme and doing a minimum of 10 percent pasture renewal every year.

“It’s a massive programme and it’s hard work, but it pays off in a big way,” he says. Throughout the journey, Friedmann has been working closely with Jarno and taking his recommendations on summer cropping, grasses and the different species that will work for the farm’s soil type and climate conditions.Together they do trials to figure out what works best with Jarno monitoring results and checking the crops and grass. “When Jarno gives his recommendations, they are always bang on,” Friedmann says. Miriam sees the partnership between Friedmann and Jarno as highly valuable as Friedmann is receptive to his new ideas. “Friedmann is not a traditional farmer – he hasn’t been taught farming from previous generations. As a result, when Jarno sees value in a new species of summer crop, Friedmann is all for giving it a go.” In the first summer season, the Deuschle family planted six ha of turnips but despite it returning good yield, it wasn’t enough. Working with Jarno, they realised they needed more protein and metabolisable energy (ME). With Jarno’s input, they trialed Raphno a hybrid between kale and radish. It is a multi-grazing crop which achieved 26 percent protein and 13 MJME last season.

K E

S T O

F EED, & P A S T U RIEN G CROPP PL AN S

But they aren’t resting on their laurels yet. Friedmann and Jarno are continually sampling to see where there are gaps, because what works one year might not work the next. By fine-tuning the cropping system, they are expanding their knowledge together. That attention to detail on the ground matches the attention the Deuschle’s give to the feeding plan, with everything detailed to the gram so they know what they are feeding to their cows. Friedmann describes the plan as pasture-based, saying they fill any gaps of cow’s need with supplements. The detail also includes weighing the cows, measuring the grass and Jarno visiting to do pasture samples. Whatever is missing in the grass or the crops is supplemented through the feedpad or the in-shed feed system. Feed has been a big consideration of the Deuschle’s since they arrived on the farm. Starting with 500 cows, they decided to go down the feed less cows but feed them better path, firmly believing if you look after your animals, you will reap the rewards.

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C O U R

They dropped the number of cows to 440 because with fewer animals, they can afford to feed and condition them well. They have already seen an improvement in condition, and when combined with all the work done to improve the quality of pasture, the Deuschles have seen a big jump in milk solids. “When we started the first season, we got 320 kgMS/cow. Next season was 330 kgMS/cow, which is average for up here. In the 18/19 season we did 380kgMS/cow, and this year we’ve done 480kgMS/cow,” Friedmann says. “We are tracking up.” Also tracking up is their calving. “Our empty rate when we started was shocking – it was 24 percent. We brought that down to nine percent last year. Everything is heading in the right direction.” And that momentum hasn’t seen the Deuschles and Jarno lose motivation to keep improving, as Friedmann says they are continuing to get better and are now fine-tuning the system.

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“For me, it’s about looking after the individual animal. Feed them well and you will reap the rewards. We’ve done 50,000kgMS more than last year so that speaks for itself.”

Reflecting on the farm’s progress to date, Friedmann is grateful for Jarno’s advice, saying the farm wouldn’t have achieved what it has as quickly if it wasn’t for his input. “You can always do your own research online or go to other farm advisors, but why would you when you have a Farm Source TSR here that does it all for you? I see the TSRs as insurance brokers of sorts. You get the best information about all brands and products so you can spread the risk by not focusing on one. Then, you can pick the best for the job.” Because of this, it’s no surprise Friedmann is an advocate of dairy farmers working closely with their local TSRs. “I know a lot of other TSRs besides Jarno and they are all great. It is a good thing to have them out there.”

WE KNOW WHAT IT TAKES

SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING Owl Farms heifers will not be grazing pasture during summer, reducing the risk facial eczema exposure.

TB leads to heifer grazing rethink A Waikato demonstration farm has had to keep its heifers on-farm, which has led to a change in their grazing and supplementary feeding system. Gerald Piddock reports.

Owl Farm demonstration manager Jo Sheridan says the loss of their heifer grazing this season has led to an increased demand for feed, labour and infrastructure. 58

WL Farm were forced to rethink its heifer management strategy this season, after the Bovine TB outbreak in Hawke’s Bay saw it lose its off-farm grazing access. The farm’s grazier lost access to grazing for more than 1000 heifers, including 90 calves from the Cambridge demonstration farm. Finding alternative grazing offfarm proved challenging, with fierce competition from other operations in the same situation. In the end, the decision was made to keep the heifers on-farm. Owl Farm demonstration manager Jo Sheridan says fundamental to their strategy was to make sure the milking herd was not impacted. “We didn’t want to reduce our herd numbers or their feed allocation. So, it was a matter of investigating how we could provide the extra 3kg DM/ha/day the calves would add to our daily demand over the summer months,” she says. “Aside from the extra feed demand, we also had to factor in the extra demands on

labour and infrastructure, and in summer the calves will need feed that contains more energy and protein than our pasture can provide.” Owl Farm manager Tom Buckley says the benefits of having them at home outweighed any drawbacks. “We have a support block adjoining the milking platform that is not ideal for the milking herd – it is further away from the shed and we find we don’t get good pasture utilisation when the cows graze there, it will suit the heifers better,” he says. “We were going to use it for silage, so we bought silage instead to free the land up. “It will also give us the chance to use the heifers to graze our new grass in autumn, which went really well last season, and we can carry out an analysis of calf growth rates on a summer crop to share with the industry. Buckley says he is excited about tackling the challenge as they will be able to keep a close eye on their heifers, weighing them regularly and checking they are on track to meet LIC’s MINDA targets, carrying out vet checks, and intervening with farm feed or bought-in feed if the summer is dry again.

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

Sheridan says it also gave St Peter’s School students a new learning opportunity. Some of the students adopted a calf in spring, now they will be able to follow them through the whole season, and be involved in regular activities, such as weighing. Other alternatives included buying in feed – silage and PKE, and/or planting a specialist crop that would fill the summer gap – either chicory or a brassica crop, such as forage rape or the new forage brassica, pallaton raphno, developed by PGG Wrightson Seeds. The managers ran the different scenarios with help from PGG Wrightson Seeds’ Kyle Gardyne through Farmax and decided to plant Puna II chicory. “They could have gone with a grass system, but while it would be low cost, they would take feed away from the milking herd,” he says. Gardyne says the neighbouring lease block was around 4ha and being such a large area, it lent itself to chicory.

“They can set the heifers up in a rotational grazing system on chicory, supplemented with 20-30% silage,” he says. This will create a complete diet for growing young animals, as chicory is such a high quality, high protein feed. “Chicory will give an exceptionally good growth rate over the summer, whereas a grass-only diet may not deliver a desirable liveweight gain,” he says. “Also, the heifers won’t be grazing pasture in the summer, so their exposure to facial eczema is greatly reduced. “In terms of negatives, it is more of an intensive system, there is more to do, break fencing every day or two. There is the feed cost too, they do need adequate fresh water and silage every day.” The switch to on-farm grazing is seen as a short-term fix. Over the longer term, the intention is to continue grazing the heifers off. However, successfully grazing them at home will broaden their options, and give them additional flexibility to shift with changing circumstances in future seasons. n

Owl Farm has planted a chicory crop to help fill the summer gap.

Chicory will give an exceptionally good growth rate over the summer, whereas a grassonly diet may not deliver a desirable liveweight gain.

Owl Farm manager Tom Buckley says the benefits of having the heifers at home outweighed any drawbacks as they had an area that was better suited to grazing the heifers.

Kyle Gardyne

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

neal.wallace@glo balhq.co.nz

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

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ANIMAL HEALTH

Powerful probiotics a game changer DIANNA MALCOLM

AIKATO dairy farmer Cole Townsend is so confident in the high-strength probiotics he is using, he has stopped vaccinating his cows against rotavirus. Townsend and wife Josephine sharemilk about 200 cows on 60 hectares at Wardville near Matamata. Townsend is big on tracking numbers and has the perfect herd size to note how his decisions impact on his cow and calf health. They are getting a return on investment of $2400 for every $800 spent on the operation (calculated on a $6/kilogram of milksolids). But more than that, he says he has never been in such a “sweet spot” when it comes to being on top of animal health in an impactful and natural way. And while he is happy the numbers add up, he says there is a much bigger story in play here. He believes these probiotics have contributed to him recording his highest production through the drought, while making his day-to-day workload a revelation. His decision to turn his back vaccinating for rotaviruses was one some wouldn’t have made. His rationale included that a mammal’s lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract drives 70-80% of its immunity. So he knew if he was going to choose probiotics to bolster immunity, he needed them to be strong enough to reach the lower GI tract so his animals could fight infections on their own. He first discovered Probiotic Revolution in 2018, while trawling for solutions online after a salmonella outbreak. He added the probiotic supplement Calf Xtreme to his calf milk during the crisis because the calves had struggled with the vaccination. The results encouraged him to take the next step and replace his milking herd’s in-feed antibiotic buffer with Bio Rumen DFM, a probiotic rumen stimulant, which 60

Cole Townsend with the next generation of his calves.

supports and promotes immunity. In 2019, he also included a new lead feed, Super Start, for his dry cows two weeks out from calving, to set them up for their next season. The daily supplement was fed in the water trough. Townsend credits the three decisions with setting him up for the best results of his career. The crossbred herd was averaging more than 26 litres per cow in September, with 2.5kg MS/day – with protein running higher than last season at 4.0%. Of the 177 cows to calve this season, he assisted just three, and four weeks out from mating he was noting four to five cows in season every day. Adding Calf Xtreme to the calves’ daily milk was initiated because of the salmonella – but Townsend continued with it because he was so impressed. “To give you some perspective, our cow’s average weight in the herd is 475kg. We look to wean calves at an average of 110-115kg – generally aged around 12 weeks. This year at that age, some were pushing 135kg,” he says. Townsend says it was easy to note the change of health and energy in his calf shed.

“Generally, the calves now have a greater will to forage and they do it much younger,” he says. “Every year, we are pushing the boundaries a little bit more. We are now feeding up to seven litres once-a-day (OAD) from the time they are 10 days old. We are able to do that safely because of Calf Xtreme.” He says the decision to skip vaccinating the herd for rotaviruses before calving has been – so far – the right choice. “The vets thought I was crazy. And to be fair, everyone’s circumstances are different, I understand that. But I put my money into probiotics,” he says. “Instead of spending $2000 on a vaccine, I spent $1500 on probiotics and I got so much more value than just the savings on the product. “I also got better, happier calves and faster weight-gain. “It’s everything really. I even feed Calf Xtreme to the bobby calves, because that way I just don’t have sick calves.” The herd is fed nearly one tonne of meal/cow/year, which averages out at 3kg for 300 days of the year. The Townsends say using Bio Rumen DFM through the dairy adds up.

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October 2020

Animals on the Wardville farm, including this season’s calves, have not been vaccinated for the rotavirus on account of probiotics.

“Being 50:50 sharemilkers, (when I could do it) really came down to the price,” Townsend says. “I probably introduced it at the wrong time of the year at the start of 2020 through the drought. The cows were still doing 2kg MS and they held that right through January, they started dropping in February because we were struggling a bit for feed, and I dropped them back to OAD milking at that point. “I had been using the Bio Rumen DFM throughout, but I dropped it in March. They immediately dropped 0.2kg MS, their manure changed to a bad consistency and their temperament also wasn’t as good in the shed. So, I decided to put it back in for the finish of the season. “You could definitely tell the difference, even though we were still struggling a bit for feed at that time, it definitely helped with feed conversion. “When they were on OAD without the Bio Rumen, they dropped and were as low as 1.1kg to 1.2kg. When we added it back in, combined with some green grass in late March, we were able to put them back to twice-a-day (TAD) milking and lifted production back to 1.5kg MS/day.” The Townsends finished last season with 87,000kg MS off 173 cows, just over 507kg MS/cow – their best season to date. They fed up to 4kg of meal/cow/day and supported the herd with 20 tonnes of maize silage when it was needed. They also have 15% of the farm planted in chicory. “I’ve never achieved that production before and it was a tough year. I don’t think the cows would have held at 2kg MS in January without Bio Rumen. They are usually doing 1.8-1.9kg MS at that stage,” he says. “They also held their condition. I got

DAIRY FARMER

October 2020

plenty of comments from the farm owner, neighbours and even my mates that the cows were in fantastic condition. That’s why I didn’t worry about putting them back to TAD. “From what I heard in our area, I was doing 0.2kg-0.3kg more than everyone else on similar feeding systems.” With the cows responding to the Bio Rumen, Townsend decided to focus on his lead feed, Super Start. He assisted three calvings out of 177 this season, with three calf deaths. He usually milks the colostrum cows OAD until they get into stride. “This year, they bounced back so quickly from calving that I just put them straight to TAD,” he says. “They just seemed to hit the ground running. I found on day five or six after calving, they were almost ready to go to peak. “I only had one case of mastitis this year and I’d usually get around eight by this stage. I had two or three cows that dried off with dry cow treatment because they had high somatic cell counts of four to six million with repeated clinical cases of mastitis. “This season, those cows calved and the mastitis was completely gone. I haven’t treated them. I honestly expected that I’d only be able to use their milk for the calves this year. “In general, the cows’ udders are softer and the SCC has been halved from about 120,000 last year to 60,000-70,000 this season.” Milk flow is up 850 litres/day, the kilograms of MS are up 76kg, fat has so far peaked at 4.8% (4.6% last season) and protein is travelling at 4.0% (3.9% last season). Allan Hain, the Australian pioneer of the probiotic conversation, sources high-

spec ingredients for Probiotic Revolution from Austria, Germany and North America. He says the results all come down to having billions of colony forming units per gram (strength), viability (shelf life) and micro-encapsulation (protection), so they reach the lower GI tract where probiotics do their best work. “Most people usually focus on singlestrain yeasts. However, the probiotics and enzymes also have a synchronistic action in the rumen, and when they are formulated in the right combinations at the right strengths, they make an extremely powerful product which is what we’re seeing here,” Hain says. Townsend says the savings on antibiotics, along with the knowledge that his animals can fight most infections themselves has been empowering. “I’m not constantly worrying about mastitis and if it does appear, most of the time she’ll push through it herself without antibiotics because she is healthy enough in herself to fight the infection,” he says. “And, I think that will be important for our industry going forward as vets get more stringent on dry cow antibiotics. “From a cost perspective, our production so far this season is up 10% with the same amount of cows, the same amount of feed, and nothing else done differently outside of really putting the work in on the lead feed this year. “And, we have another year under our belt building the entire herd’s immune systems.” n

Dianna Malcolm has returned to New Zealand after 20 years in Australia as the former co-owner of profile show herd, Bluechip Genetics and co-owner/editor of all breeds magazine CrazyCow In Print. She now operates her public relations business, Mud Media, in Canterbury.

ANIMAL HEALTH

Spotlight on vet shortage

HILE the primary sector has been hailed as a saviour of the New Zealand economy during covid restrictions, a critical shortage of veterinarians and its impact on the primary sector just doesn’t seem to be viewed as important or sexy enough to see border restrictions streamlined. “We’re led to the conclusion that veterinarians are just not viewed as important, or as sexy as other parts of the economy such as film making, which have seen wholesale exemptions created,” New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) chief executive Kevin Bryant says. “This is surprising given veterinarians’ essential worker status during lockdown. “We also understand that exemptions have been granted to build golf courses, build or repair racetracks and for shearers. Surely, veterinarians are at least as important in supporting the economic functioning of the country. “As an example, if animal welfare, food safety and biosecurity are compromised because there are insufficient vets to support the primary sector, the economic impact on NZ would be catastrophic. “We also need to consider the vital role that veterinarians play in keeping pets healthy and the positive influence this has on family wellbeing, especially during periods of lockdown.” NZVA’s chief veterinary officer Dr Helen Beattie says the repercussions of these shortages are far-reaching and, in many cases, have long-term consequences including poor veterinary mental health

and wellbeing, burnout and veterinarians leaving the profession. “We are concerned that poor farmer health and wellbeing will result when farmers are unable to get the support for their animals they need, and there’ll be compromised animal welfare, food safety and biosecurity surveillance, as well as a negative impact on production,” she says. “Immediate concerns were and are held for resourcing for seasonal requirements – we reached out for help early, foreseeing gaps for spring calving, equine reproductive procedures, mating and scanning and calf disbudding – including training farmers to do this.” The NZVA has been talking to ministers and officials in an effort to help streamline processes to enable veterinarians to enter the country and alleviate the critical veterinary shortage exacerbated by border restrictions imposed due to covid-19. So far, this doesn’t seem to have worked with more applications being declined each day, despite laborious hours spent submitting applications. We are calling on the Government to take urgent steps to alleviate this situation by elevating veterinarians to critical worker status and streamlining and speeding up the application and approval process. A survey of NZVA members indicated that out of 124 practices, there was a shortfall of 224 veterinarians. Most respondents were seeking veterinarians on a full-time, permanent basis. Veterinarians were being sought across all types of practices, including large animal, mixed, companion, equine and specialist fields. n

New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) chief executive Kevin Bryant says border restrictions have contributed to a shortage of veterinarians.

We are concerned that poor farmer health and wellbeing will result when farmers are unable to get the support for their animals they need. Dr Helen Beattie

Veterinarians were being sought across all types of practices including large animal, mixed, companion, equine and specialist fields. 62

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October 2020

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ANIMAL HEALTH

Move to improve animal welfare New animal welfare regulations relate to a wide variety of animals.

IFTING the standard of animal welfare in New Zealand is the aim of the new regulations recently brought in by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI). But the vast majority will come into force on May 9 to allow time for people to understand their new obligations under the regulations. “It’s another tool in the kit to ensure we are maintaining the high standards New Zealand already displays in regard to animal welfare,” chief veterinary officer of the New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) Helen Beattie says. The regulations were delayed due to the covid-19 pandemic. They were intended to come into force in May this year, however by postponing there was time for an adequate consultation period. “The delay also allowed more time to pull things apart and look deeper at where we will need to provide support and training, because it’s not just about understanding what the regulations mean, it’s also for farmers to understand what to do if things aren’t going to plan,” she says. “Most farmers want to do the right

thing, but we will need to be clear what the expectations are and be sure whoever is authorised to use drugs onfarm is competent and does have that understanding.” The new regulations relate to a wide variety of animals and procedures and clarify who can perform significant surgical procedures on animals and in what circumstances. “The majority of the regulations reflect current practice, but some raise the standards under which procedures can be performed,” explains MPI veterinarian and director for animal health and welfare Dr Chris Rodwell. “For example, some regulations, such as freeze branding dogs, require that pain relief be provided to the animal throughout the procedure.” Most of the regulations have prosecutable offences which could result in fines and criminal convictions. Others are infringement offences with a penalty fee attached. “In all cases where there is a severe impact on an animal, a prosecution would be taken directly under the Animal Welfare Act, which has heftier penalties,” Rodwell says.

MPI veterinarian and director for animal health and welfare Dr Chris Rodwell says the majority of the regulations reflect current practice, but some raise the standards under which procedures can be performed.

The regulations amend the Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations 2018 by creating regulations for carrying out surgical and painful procedures in animals, including significant procedures and amending regulations on using electric prodders. They also establish an infringement fee for non-compliance. Establishing regulations and setting expectations encourages consistency across the sector and NZ, and helps safeguard against problems into the future. n

Looking for the complete package? We’ve got you covered with digital and print options. Contact Clint Dunstan phone 06 323 0760 email clint.dunstan@globalhq.co.nz

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October 2020