Plan 365 December 2017 by Farmlands

DECEMBER 2017

RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE

NUTRITION

FORAGE AND ARABLE

HORTICULTURE

ANIMAL MANAGEMENT

DAIRY MANAGEMENT

Plan 365 is a technical guide aimed at helping shareholders learn about best practice and the latest advancements in rural technology.

NUTRITION

Stocking fillers for the farm that has everything Thinking what to buy a loved one for Christmas can be difficult but fortunately Farmlands Nutrition has rethought a classic carol for those with partners who love farm animals. On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: One drum of fungicide to help control facial eczema fungi in the paddocks where the alpacas live. The fungicide can be applied with a sprayer fitted to a quad bike for greater flexibility and independence. Two bags of Meat Bird Crumble for the ducks – its high protein levels help support good weight gain. Three bags of Little Pig Tucker Pellets for the weaner pigs we bought to cultivate the bottom paddock before resowing in the autumn. Four bags of Low GI Sport to provide slow-release energy to my performance horse while competing over the summer. Five kilogram block of Horslyx Respiratory for my old horse to help alleviate his laboured breathing – it contains a powerful cocktail of ingredients that can really make a difference. Six bags of Peck’n’Lay to take advantage of the December offer. Seven milking goats for sale on the Farmlands noticeboard. From the milk I will make soft cheese for family and friends. The joy that learning a new craft and self-sufficiency bring lasts much longer than the Christmas festivities. Eight 50g sachets of Virkon so that my true love can give the

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place a good clean over the festive break – including the horse float that keeps going off to pony club.

planned start of mating as yearlings.

Nine bags of MultiNuts to help see the sheep and cattle through the summer if the threatened hot, dry spell materialises.

so well but can drop off quickly as

Ten kilograms of NRM Rabbit Pellets with cycostat for the new kits, which can be vulnerable to coccidiosis. Eleven bags of 16 percent protein calf feed for the late-born heifers that need help to reach target weights if they are going to start cycling before the

Twelve tonnes of pellets for the dairy herd that have been milking warmer weather hits pasture growth. For more ideas, take a wander through the feed section of your local Farmlands store and ask the team for ideas. *Farmlands Nutrition accepts no responsibility if anyone reacts badly to finding any of the above items under their Christmas tree and expect that over time they will come to appreciate the thought and insight that has gone into your decision. Dr. Rob Derrick, Farmlands Nutrition

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NUTRITION NUTRITION

Slow-growing game birds require tailored nutrition All animal species need a balanced diet for health, welfare and productivity but what constitutes a balanced diet changes as an animal grows, matures and goes through different physiological stages.

Grower and Peck‘n’Lay, can be combined or used individually with other sources of proteinrich raw materials such as meat and bone meal for a wide range of poultry or game birds.

Meat Bird Crumble provide a good

For example, egg-laying chicken breeds require high levels of protein and energy as chicks. As the pullet grows, the optimum amount of energy and protein in the diet decreases and then increases again once the hen starts to lay. Macro mineral requirements also vary with age and stage of production. Over or underfeeding of these key nutrients can affect bone integrity, shell quality and/or animal performance.

NRM Meat Bird Crumble is designed for young growing birds and is ideal for chickens, turkeys, ducks and pheasant. For small game birds such as quail, Meat Bird Crumble can be combined with meat and bone meal, which provides additional protein to help meet the high requirements of these birds. Offer both feeds as required until the birds have reached full adult weight. At that point their protein requirements reduce. NRM Pullet Grower is then ideal for the larger bird species as it provides essential nutrients but will not result in excessive weight gain. For small birds such as quail, Meat Bird Crumble can be offered in conjunction with rolled small grains. For non-breeding mature birds, NRM Pullet Grower is a suitable all-round maintenance feed.

nutrient requirements. In addition, offer

Although commercial breeds of chickens have been selected over many years for improved production, there has been less intensive selective breeding of game birds. These birds generally gain weight more slowly or produce fewer eggs than commercial poultry species. As a result, the optimum diets for game birds may be different to that of the high-producing breeds. The NRM Lifestyle range, which includes Meat Bird Crumble, Pullet

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In breeding birds, calcium requirements increase significantly due to the production of shells for eggs. A combination of Peck‘n’Lay mash and

balance between the calcium and protein requirements of these birds. These can be offered separately, allowing the birds to select the appropriate combination to meet their free access to shell grit at all times. All the poultry feeds in the NRM Lifestyle range contain added macro and trace minerals and vitamins to ensure that the requirements of the bird for these essential nutrients are met. In addition, our feeds are formulated to provide the fundamental “building blocks” of protein (known as amino acids) in the appropriate ratios to support muscle growth and egg production. The amount of protein relative to the amount of energy supplied by nutrients such as carbohydrates and fats is carefully controlled so birds do not become too skinny or too fat. For more information, contact your NRM Nutrition Specialist or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store. Article supplied by NRM.

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NUTRITION

Sweet tooth sets rider on winning career path Grand Prix dressage rider Vanessa Way first tasted national success in eventing, riding her horse Kungfu Boy to win the Young Rider title and the Swarbrick Trophy at the 1993 New Zealand Three Day Eventing Championships. For Vanessa, the highlights of her career include winning New Zealand Horse of the Year twice at Grand Prix level, winning the New Zealand National Grand Prix once, and winning every other title at Horse of the Year and Nationals on her various horses. Last year she won the Horse of the Year Trophy for gaining the highest points of any rider throughout the show. Vanessa’s association with equine feed company NRM came about while she was working as an Air New Zealand flight attendant around the year 2000. On one of her routes she met a representative of NRM, a meeting that eventually led to the company agreeing to become a sponsor. For Vanessa though, an association with the company’s products goes back much further, and like her riding career is indirectly the result of her sweet tooth. “The opportunity to learn to ride, train and compete on ponies was offered to me by the neighbourhood pony breeder,” recalls Vanessa, who is from Taranaki. “After she caught me several times sharing my lollies with her ponies, she offered me an apprenticeship of sorts, on the understanding that I promise to refrain from sharing my treats. “As I assumed that she was only

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referring to my own sweets, I felt no guilt having the occasional sample of the molasses, and also decided very early on that NRM’s sweet feed was quite tasty. Hence, the start of an enduring relationship.” When Vanessa was 17 she attended the Stratford thoroughbred sales, where she bought her first horse, former racehorse Kungfu Boy. “With now precisely measured helpings of NRM feeds, along with zoodles of hard work, fun and love, I turned him from a rough-coated, scabby-nosed has-been into a sleekly copper-coated, white-blazed champion,” she says. “Together we won numerous eventing competitions, most notably the 1994 Under 21 Bell Tea Young Rider Horse Trials. “I continued as an event rider until enduring two rather traumatic incidents in 1998. At the Bell Tea event that year, my then horse partner Roman Abbey fell at the 13th jump (water hazard), breaking his neck and dying instantly, leaving me with three cracks in my spine. “Very soon after, my next horse suffered an aneurysm while we were out hacking, rearing up, throwing me to the ground, and again dying on the spot, centimetres short of crushing me. It was time to redirect my career to the area of my greatest talent and passion, the discipline of dressage,” she says. Vanessa is a member of the New Zealand Dressage High Performance Squad on her Grand Prix mount NRM Arvan. Article supplied by NRM and Vanessa Way.

| Vanessa and her Grand Prix horse NRM Arvan.

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NUTRITION

Complex factors at work in growing youngstock Liveweight targets for replacement heifers are well known and well researched: 30, 60 and 90 percent of mature liveweight at 6 months, 15 months and 22 months. It is also widely accepted that for economics and efficiency, replacement heifers must calve at 2 years of age and to do so, heifers need to be at optimum fertility in time for first breeding at 15 months. What may be less well known is that fertility increases up to the third oestrus cycle after the onset of puberty; therefore heifers should ideally have reached puberty and be cycling at least 6 weeks prior to first mating for optimum early breeding success. Research studies also show that smaller heifers at calving produce less milk in their first lactation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but this is dependent on when the reduction in growth takes place. It is the heifers that are bigger at calving because they grew faster post-mating that produce more milk during their first lactation (about 0.25kgMS/kg liveweight) than smaller herd mates. The onset of puberty in heifers is related to liveweight, not age. Bigger heifers reach sexual maturity sooner â&#x20AC;&#x201C; so why not push heifers as fast as possible from day 1? If only life were that simple. Fatty Udder Syndrome The mammary gland undergoes three distinct stages of development during heifer growth. In early life (up to 4 months or so) and from puberty throughout the first pregnancy, the mammary tissue develops faster than

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| Research shows smaller heifers at calving produce less milk in their first lactation.

other body tissues (allometric growth). But in between these two periods (5-11 months of age) the mammary tissue develops at the same rate as all other body tissues (isometric growth). This second period is the key stage. Heifers that grow too fast during this phase are thought to lay down more fatty tissue in the udder at the expense of milk synthetic tissue. Frame, not fat About 75 to 80 percent of frame size is put on before 12 months of age (DairyCo, UK data). The most critical time for frame growth is between weaning and puberty. Heifer growth in grams per day during this period should be the same as the average mature liveweight of the herd in kilograms. If the average mature weight of the herd is 450kg, grow your heifers at 450g/ day; if the mature average liveweight is 600kg, grow your heifers at 600g/day. How can Crystalyx Forage Plus help? Numerous studies have confirmed

that heifers gain weight faster when supplemented with Crystalyx at grass, but they are also leaner (lower BCS) than control heifers on grass alone. A study by Agresearch with 319 R2 dairy heifers split into four mobs (two control and two fed Crystalyx Forage Plus) also confirmed significantly higher pregnancy rates in the Crystalyx-fed heifers over the controls (95 percent average pregnancy rate in the control mobs; 100 percent in both Crystalyxfed mobs). The Crystalyx-fed mobs on average were also 4 days further in-calf than the control mobs at the time of pregnancy diagnosis, suggesting an earlier and stronger oestrus cycle when the bulls were turned in. Crystalyx intakes averaged 133g/heifer/day throughout the trial. For more information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store. Article supplied by Crystalyx.

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FORAGE AND ARABLE

Many risks in relying on water to trap ammonia Urea has the highest nitrogen content of all solid nitrogenous fertilisers in common use but when it is applied to soil, urease enzymes convert it to an acid that quickly breaks down into carbon dioxide and ammonia. The ammonia will escape into the atmosphere unless it reacts with water to form ammonium. Post-application rainfall or irrigation – 5mm to 10mm within eight hours of application – is the most significant factor in ensuring the ammonia does not escape. Other factors influencing volatilisation including soil pH, whether soil is moist from dew or rain before application, or whether the urea is broadcast or knifed in. “Most irrigators are easily capable of applying enough water,” Ballance Science Extension Officer Aimee Dawson says. “Pivots are usually set up to deliver 10 to 15mm every 2 to 3 days and Roto Rainers around 40 to 50mm every 8 to 14 days.” As Aimee points out, though, there are some variables in irrigation. “For example, if a warm wind arrives, can you be certain of how much water you are losing through evapotranspiration? “Also, if you want to apply nitrogen after grazing, you’ll have to line up grazing, urea application and irrigation application.” As a remedy, Ballance has developed SustaiN, which has been shown to halve nitrogen losses to air from ammonia volatilisation compared with urea. It works by protecting the urea with an Agrotain™ coating that slows the action of urease

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| Rain or irrigation helps ensure ammonia does not escape to the atmosphere.

enzymes, extending the window for rain or irrigation to arrive. “As the cost difference between urea and SustaiN is fairly minimal, you need to weigh up whether it is worth the risk to stick with urea,” Aimee says. Another point to consider is whether there are any other nutrient deficiencies limiting the potential of your applied nitrogen. Urea can be tricky to blend but SustaiN has been incorporated into several products to conveniently deliver two or more

PhaSedN, PhaSedN Quick Start and SustaiN Ammo combine SustaiN with sulphur and perform well compared with traditional alternatives such as SOA. “With SOA you get minimal volatilisation losses but it contains much less nitrogen than SustaiN Ammo or products in the PhaSedN range.” There is no one-size-fits-all solution. “Ultimately, the decision needs to be made in the context of your farm, your infrastructure, your budget and your management needs,” Aimee says.

of nitrogen and potassium to hay

To learn more about Ballance’s Smart Nitrogen products visit sustaingain.co.nz or contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.

and silage paddocks after harvest.

Article supplied by Ballance Agri-Nutrients.

nutrients in one application. Pasturemag is a maintenance fertiliser with the added advantage of SustaiN. SustaiN K is ideal for providing a boost

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FORAGE AND ARABLE

Trials demonstrate yield benefits in fodder beet Growing a successful fodder beet is a challenging prospect. Attention to detail from paddock preparation, crop establishment, nutrient management and weed control is critical to achieving a high-yielding crop. Foliar diseases including rust, powdery mildew and cercospora leaf spot have become increasingly prevalent in fodder beet crops over the past few years. Apart from being unsightly, foliar diseases reduce leaf retention and their palatability and affect yield. From last season, Bayer Crop Science’s fungicide Escolta® has been available as an option for controlling foliar diseases in fodder beet crops. During the development trials, the disease control and crop greening

effects from fungicide treatments in fodder beet were readily obvious. However, it was still not clear if this brought yield benefits to farmers.

the leaf and bulb measurements in

To answer this question, Bayer Crop Science last season put down farmer block trials with its beet fungicide, Escolta. Some 18 block trials were completed in commercially grown farmer beet crops from the lower North Island through to Southland. All the trial blocks received standard farmer management except for Escolta treatments – strips were left untreated or received two applications of Escolta. The trials were yield assessed by independent crop assessment companies using industry standard methods. Yields were assessed as a combination of

in increased yields in fodder beet

tonnes of dry matter per hectare. From the trial assessments, the Escolta treatments clearly resulted crops. In many of the trials the Escolta treatments were visually obvious, with less disease present, increased greening and heavier crops. Over the 18 trials, the two applications of Escolta demonstrated outstanding yield benefits of 15 percent, which equated to an average yield increase of 3 tonnes of dry matter per hectare. Using a value of 20c per kilogram of dry matter, this returns a $600 per hectare advantage over the untreated. For more information on these trials go to www.hardtobeet.co.nz Escolta treatments should commence after the crop has covered in. Crops should be regularly monitored for the first sign of disease. The first application should be made immediately first disease infections are seen in the crop, with a second application 3-4 weeks later. Best results are seen if Escolta is used protectively, so don’t wait for significant disease to be present before applying the first Escolta application. The Escolta rate is 350ml/ha and can be ground or aerially applied. Escolta is available in a 5-litre pack. For more information on foliar diseases in beet crops, contact your local Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store. Escolta® is a registered trademark of the Bayer Group. Article supplied by Bayer Crop Science.

| In this trial, the strip on the left was untreated and that on the right received two applications of Escolta.

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FORAGE AND ARABLE

Watch for outbreaks of pests in forage brassica Insect pests cause damage that may significantly reduce the potential of your forage brassica crop. These pests can affect yield by reducing plant population or damaging leaf tissue and growing points, which restricts plant development and provides infection sites for disease or transmission of virus. Forage quality and palatability may also be affected. Forage brassicas are most vulnerable during the establishment phase, but continue to be at risk throughout the growing season. Pest populations and subsequent damage can develop rapidly in forage brassicas – the decline from a great crop to a replant can be just 3-4 days. Crops should be walked regularly during establishment to ensure issues are identified as soon as possible. Key things to observe include any damage to seedlings and the presence of both insect pests and their natural enemies.

| Walk forage brassica crops regularly to identify pest outbreaks such as cabbage grey aphid.

Sparta and Transform have excellent environmental and toxicology profiles, providing a high level of safety for both ground and aerial-based applicators. Only minimal protective equipment is required when applying. Use of a face shield or goggles is recommended when measuring and mixing.

The key insect pests of brassicas in New Zealand are springtail, diamondback moth, white butterfly and aphids. Other notables include leaf miner, Nysius and cutworm. The AgPest website (www.agpest.co.nz) is a great resource for familiarising yourself with these pests and their impact. Ideally your crop will host a population of beneficial insects such as ladybirds, hoverfly, lacewings and parasitic wasps. These are worth protecting by adopting an integrated pest management (IPM) approach and using insecticides with minimal impact on beneficial insects, such as Sparta™ and Transform™ from Dow AgroSciences.

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Sparta works by contact and ingestion to provide “best in class” control of key pests in forage brassicas including springtail, leaf miner, diamondback moth, white butterfly and looper caterpillars. Translaminar activity ensures good control of insects feeding on the underside of leaves. Transform is a systemic insecticide that provides fast knockdown and residual control of both green peach aphid and cabbage grey aphid. Transform can

be applied as a stand-alone product if aphids are the only pest needing treatment, or included as a tank partner with Sparta if leaf miner and caterpillar pests are also present. No IPM-compatible option is available for forage brassicas exposed to high pressure from Nysius or cutworm. Cutworm can be controlled using Cobalt™ Advanced, a latex microencapsulated formulation that reduces operator exposure particularly to the odour related to this older chemistry. For reliable control of high populations of Nysius, apply Lorsban™ 50EC. For more information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store. Article supplied by Dow AgroSciences.

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FORAGE AND ARABLE

Benefits of IPM proved in forage brassica trials A 3-year Sustainable Farming Fund project has proven the benefit of pest control programmes that use beneficial insects in conjunction with targeted chemistry. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programmes involve monitoring pest and beneficial insect populations to inform pest management decisions. If insecticides are required, the ones that are the least disruptive to the beneficial populations are used. The project was led by Abie Horrocks of Plant & Food Research and compared conventional insecticide practices with an IPM programme that monitored pest and beneficial insect populations. It was demonstrated that by looking through crops for both pests and beneficial insects and making insecticide decisions

based on those findings, there was a drop in insecticide use and cost. Savings of up to $35 per hectare were achieved, with less chemical use in the IPM side of the trial compared with the conventional paddocks. Yields from both sides of the paddock were consistent across trials in spite of the extra insecticide applied in some conventional areas. Feedback from farmers who participated in the project was very positive, with many seeing the benefits of the IPM approach. One of the farmers said, “I have learned how to identify more beneficial insects than I could before. I have been showing pretty much anyone else who is interested. This has given me confidence to not apply insecticides in situations where, in the

past, I would have applied a spray.” Another farmer commented, “I found the monitoring very useful to help make a decision on which insecticides to use. Prior to this trial my decisions were more focused on what pest insects were in the crop and what the cheapest effective control method was. Now I am looking in reverse to this with regards to what can I ‘save’ to help with control, for example ladybirds.” Both farmers said they would not go back to assessing pest pressure without considering biological control agents and that selectivity of the insecticides was now an important consideration. Chemistry used on the IPM side of the trials included Exirel® insecticide, which was used to target the key caterpillar pests cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae), diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) and European leaf miner (Scaptomyza flava). It targets the pests and is nondisruptive to key beneficial insects. The IPM strategy development and demonstration for forage and seed brassicas was funded through the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Farming Fund, Forage Innovations Ltd, DuPont (New Zealand) Ltd and the Foundation for Arable Research, with support from Plant & Food Research, farmers, industry advisers and DairyNZ. For more information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store. Article supplied by FMC.

| This photo, courtesy of Plant & Food Research, shows a parasitic wasp (left) and hoverfly larvae parasitising and feeding on aphids.

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ANIMAL MANAGEMENT

Flavouring helps ensure cows drink enough water A lack of water in a cow’s diet can result in reduced milk yield, loss of body condition, loss of appetite and in extreme cases death of the cow. Water is an essential component of the animal’s diet, affecting growth and development. There is a direct correlation between water intake and the production of milk and meat. To give you an idea of the importance of adequate, accessible, palatable drinking water, grazing animals drink two to three times the volume of food they eat each day. Conversely, sick animals tend to eat less and drink more in order to compensate for dehydration, elevated body temperature or stress. Summer can be a particularly stressful time for animals, especially dairy cows. With increased ambient temperatures, stress associated with walking, standing in the shed waiting to be milked and the demands from lactation, water becomes an essential input the cow will hunt down in order to prevent dehydration.

| Grazing animals drink two to three times the volume of food they eat each day.

water troughs as the delivery vehicle. Unpalatable water can easily be fixed through use of an inline dispenser by adding masking and flavouring agents.

Water maintains four key bodily functions. Two of these are to help eliminate waste products of digestion and metabolism and to regulate blood osmotic pressure. Experience shows the addition of trace elements to drinking water can have an immediate and marked beneficial effect on stock wellbeing and productivity.

It is imperative for the farmer to put a plan in place to address the bitter taste of naturally present contaminants such as iron and manganese, along with water hardness, that turn cows off water. So too with additives such as magnesium, zinc or bloat oil – all of these can reduce animals’ water intake. Therefore it is important to have an overall plan when installing an inline system.

Inline water dispensers such as the Dosatron can be easily installed and operated on most farms. They provide a mechanism for farmers to correct deficiencies and animal health issues through harnessing the drinking

On top of the summer stressors mentioned, many parts of the country are now dosing zinc sulphate to assist with the control of facial eczema. Cows dislike the bitter taste of zinc and often their water intake is reduced

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unless a product such as Caramillo is added to the drinking water. Caramillo provides a two-pronged approach – it is both a masking and flavouring agent that disguises the smell as well as the taste of unpleasant water. It encourages cows to drink and therefore maintain an intake level of water for survival, health and production. Products such as Caramillo cannot and will not address fundamental issues of contamination so if there are issues that affect animal health or production, the quality of the water should be investigated and tested. For more information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store. Article supplied by Bell-Booth.

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HORTICULTURE

Help at hand to boost dry matter, lift colour A few final hurdles always pop up in the final stages of growing horticulture crops such as kiwifruit and pipfruit. Some of these relate to crop presentation (i.e. colour), crop taste and crop storability. Now that dry matter plays a significant role in how much a grower gets paid for their kiwifruit, it is important to consider foliar applications of potassium. It is widely known that a relationship exists between applications of foliar potassium and dry matter content. A combination of soil-applied and foliar potassium is now standard among many kiwifruit growers for increasing dry matter of fruit. Growers should not underestimate the importance of supplementary foliar potassium throughout the growing period and in the final pre-harvest stages of kiwifruit. Biolchim NZ has developed some specific tools for kiwifruit and pipfruit growers to assist through these stages. K-Bomber Kiwi formulation is designed for the New Zealand kiwifruit industry. The formulation contains a high concentration of potassium and when applied at the right phenological stage, it can assist with dry matter, brix and colouration of fruit. K-Bomber Kiwi is fully soluble and ready for nutrient assimilation into the plant despite its high concentration of potassium. Quick penetration into the leaf is ensured by the action of the potassium citrate and EDTA it contains. Another key product developed by Biolchim is SunRed®, which is specifically designed to increase final crop yields in apples and other pipfruit. During the final phase of

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| The difference in colour of these two rows of Jazz apple trees is because those on the top were sprayed with SunRed.

maturing in crops such as citrus,

fruit without affecting shelf-life.

apples and cherries, colouring of fruit

SunRed differs from common ethylenereleasing ripening enhancers because it is based on natural ingredients. Applying the product at the right time is therefore important to obtain optimal results. SunRed improves coloration and ripening of all fruits on the plant, including those less exposed to sunlight. This increases uniformity of maturation, thereby reducing the number of picks. It also enhances fruit skin coloration and sugar content, or brix, without altering fruit storability because, unlike hormone-based products, it does not affect flesh firmness.

can be an issue and can negatively affect harvest yields and packouts. SunRed assists the colouring phase of fruit, thereby lifting yields generally by 5-15 percent. Fruit that is struggling to achieve that final burst of colour can instead make the cut and go into an export box. Farmlands’ Whakatu pipfruit technical advisers observed positive fruit colour responses to SunRed last season, particularly on later-season varieties. SunRed is a bio-enhancer of fruit ripening and colouring. It increases the coloured area on the fruit skin

number of pickings at harvest; and

For more information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.

it increases the sugar content of the

Article supplied by Biolchim.

and intensifies coloration; it evens out ripening, thus reducing the