RESEARCH
Three ways to milking By Cheyenne Nicholson
New research underway on the South Island demonstration farm will look at the opportunities in the New Zealand farming system.
T
hree new farming systems are now being implemented to expand Lincoln University Dairy Farm’s (LUDF) focus and extend its outlook through to 2030. The research is on variable milking frequency; moving the forage base to include plantain and replacement rate reduction. Variable milking frequency The variable milking programme, which was implemented this season, involves moving from the traditional twice-a-day milking to a more flexible milking regime, with 10 milkings over seven days. The South Island Dairying Development Centre (SIDDC) demonstration manager Jeremey Savage says that the decision to opt for this over other milking frequencies was down to the science behind it.
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New research is underway on the Lincoln University Dairy Farm which will look at variable milking frequency, moving the forage base to include plantain and replacement rate reduction.
“DairyNZ have done some really good trials around variable milking,” Savage says. “We’ve learned that cows don’t drop as much production as you think they would. They’re only dropping around 5%, which is lower than on once-a-day.” A variable milking programme will not only improve cow welfare through less lameness, better overall health condition and enhanced vigour, Savage says they’re hoping this change to variable milking will also help improve their empty rates, which will have flow-on effects on their replacement rates. There are also opportunities to be had around the safety and wellbeing of staff, with kinder rosters, fewer early starts and more condensed workloads allowing for better work-life balance. “It’s a potential game-changer in terms
of how we showcase dairying as a career and entice people into the industry. Lincoln students have been helping out on LUDF this year, which we haven’t done before but the more flexible hours make this achievable for students,” he says. Increased use of plantain Starting in October, LUDF will plant at least 10% of the farm a year into plantain. “This is a forage that may significantly reduce nitrogen leaching. With cow intakes of 30% plantain or higher, we anticipate LUDF will achieve further improvements to its nitrogen leaching results,” he says. Plantain has been found to have several modes of action when it comes to decreasing nitrogen leaching. It acts as a diuretic making cows urinate little
DAIRY FARMER
October 2021
