Country-Wide July 2020 by NZ Farmlife Media

BACKING FARMERS

JULY 2020

True

grit

Otagoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Johnny Bell gets a kidney after 13 years of farming while on dialysis p22

Special report Expert advice on rearing young stock

Freshwater Blanket regulations create concern

Country-Wide

July 2020

MSD_Nilvax_DPS_CW_297x460_02

They’ve got their father’s eyes and their mother’s immunity.

NILVAX®: The specialized pre-lamb vaccine. MADE FOR NEW ZEALAND. AVAILABLE ONLY UNDER VETERINARY AUTHORISATION. ACVM No’s A3832, A3977, A11311, A0934, A1011. Schering-Plough Animal Health Ltd. Phone: 0800 800 543. www.msd-animal-health.co.nz. NZ/NLX/0518/0003d Ref 1: Baron Audit Data. March 2020. NZ/NLX/0518/0003d. © 2020 Intervet International B.V. All Rights Reserved.

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July 2020

Nilvax ® is the unique pre-lamb vaccine that doesn’t just protect your ewes against clostridial disease, it also protects your lambs, via colostrum. Combining a powerful 5-in-1 with a powerful immune booster, Nilvax increases antibodies available to lambs for longer, allowing earlier vaccination of your ewes from 6 weeks pre-lamb, and longer protection for your lambs, up to 4 months. That’s why it’s the specialist pre-lamb 5-in-1. For almost 80 years, MSD have developed and made vaccines that New Zealand farmers trust. Vaccines that help protect against Pulpy Kidney, Tetanus, Toxoplasma, Salmonella and other disease. They are used and relied on by farmers. They are made for New Zealand. And what’s more New Zealand than passing things on to the children? To find out more about Nilvax, talk to your animal health retailer.

NZ’S LEADING 5-IN-1 VACCINE1

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July 2020

WITH BOOSTED CONVENIENCE OF VITAMIN B12

FOR IMMEDIATE TETANUS PROTECTION

ATE A NOMIN

ING M R A F ATE M

We’re offering 100 subscriptions to Country-Wide at mate’s rates – $0 Farming is a tough gig. We all know that. Some people cope better than others when the going gets tough. That’s life. We’re asking you to nominate a farming mate who’s had a tough time during recent months. It could be because of the drought, or the wheels have fallen off because of a family challenge, or they just haven’t been their usual self. Email us their name and address details, along with the reason why you’re nominating them. We’ll check they are not already a subscriber, and if they aren’t, we’ll set them up for the next year at no charge! Their first copy will include a letter from us saying a good mate thought they’d enjoy reading a copy of Country-Wide. Our hope is it helps them refresh their thinking and set new priorities. Finally, there are many deserving farmers and farming families out there who need support. Let’s make sure all 100 copies go to the right people.

To nominate a mate, email: subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz Phone: 0800 224 782 or 06 280 3161 www.nzfarmlife.co.nz 4

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July 2020

EDITOR’S NOTE

Courage needed

or 13 years Otago farmer Johnny Bell farmed during the day and underwent nine hours dialysis at home every second night. Finally he got his kidney transplant in August last year. It takes courage to do what he did and he wouldn’t have made it without the support of his wife Tanya. Tanya and their children gave him the courage to overcome the setbacks and the low moments. Courage to master the dialysis machine and his fear of needles. Johnny made dialysis fit around the family and farm. He was able to lead an almost normal life and watch his children grow up. Courage is needed by people in all sorts of situations. Courage to speak out against discrimination, no matter what the race or gender, to tell the truth regardless of the repercussions. Courage is needed by our political leaders now more than ever as New Zealand enters difficult times. For nearly three years there has been virtue signalling by this Government. Many politicians are more concerned about being seen to do the right thing, rather than doing the right thing. When there was an incident or perceived problem a “solution” would be announced. Rather than work with people at the heart of the problem, the Government takes a sledgehammer approach.

Tough freshwater regulations, climate change legislation and the firearms laws are good examples. Recently I read a book, Profiles in Courage, written by John F Kennedy before he became president of the United States. It examined a handful of American politicians who at crucial moments in history chose the good of the country at the expense of their political careers. One Northern senator went against the wishes of his state and party to support a compromise on slavery. It kept the southern states in the Union for another 10 years by which time the North’s industrial and military might was able to beat the South. It ended the senator’s career and his chance to become president, but he died with a clear conscience and the country was forever indebted to him. Let’s hope we have politicians after September 19 who, as JFK said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

Terry Brosnahan

Got any feedback? Contact the editor: terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz or call 03 471 5272

Living the dream

@CountryWideEd

James Bruce, near Martinborough, feeding baleage to Wairere Romney ewes which tailed 162% in 2019. Mid March, 2020.

Resilient Resourceful Rewarded

James and Janeen Bruce: “We were managing a farm in the north Wairarapa when the chance came up in 2009 to buy a farm in equity partnership. Over the past eleven years we’ve bought out the equity partner, done extensive fencing, fertiliser and lucerne development on the 410 effective hectares, and lifted sheep performance to a high level. Extra income from handling horses, Janeen’s co-ownership of three child care centres, and lease blocks have enabled us to survive, then thrive. I can solo farm 6,300 to 7,500 stock units on the home block plus 330 effective hectares leased, but often leave big drafting jobs to weekends when my two older daughters can help.” “Wairere genetics have played an important part in our success. We run an FE resilient flock for Wairere, tested at .55 sporidesmin this year, and a straight Romney flock. The Waireres cope well with the seasonal variability in this 770mm average rainfall climate. They bounce back, and are easycare. We also appreciate Wairere sponsoring the annual Martinborough bull ride that I organise. Coaching the Martinborough rugby team to win the Wairarapa championship was a thrill in 2019. We farm in a great community here, pulling together, succeeding together.”

Making your sheepfarming easier and more profitable www.wairererams.co.nz | 0800 WAIRERE (0800 924 7373)) Country-Wide

July 2020

Country-Wide is published by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740 General enquiries: Toll free 0800 2AG SUB (0800 224 782) www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

EDITOR: Terry Brosnahan | 03 471 5272 | 027 249 0200 terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz PUBLISHER: Tony Leggett | 06 280 3162 | 0274 746 093 tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz SUB EDITOR: Andy Maciver | 06 280 3166 andy.maciver@nzfarmlife.co.nz DESIGN AND PRODUCTION: Emily Rees | 06 280 3167 emily.rees@nzfarmlife.co.nz Jo Hannam jo.hannam@nzfarmlife.co.nz

RAPID GAINS ON RUN-DOWN FARM MORE p55

SOCIAL MEDIA: Charlie Pearson | 06 280 3169 WRITERS: Andrew Swallow 021 745 183 Anne Hardie 03 540 3635 Lynda Gray 03 448 6222 Robert Pattison 027 889 8444 Sandra Taylor 021 151 8685 Cheyenne Nicholson 021 044 1335 James Hoban 027 251 1986 Russell Priest 06 328 9852 Jo Cuttance 03 976 5599 Rebecca Harper 06 376 2884 PARTNERSHIP MANAGERS: Janine Aish | Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty 027 890 0015 | janine.aish@nzfarmlife.co.nz Tony Leggett | Lower North Island 027 474 6093 | tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz David Paterson | South Island 027 289 2326 | david.paterson@nzfarmlife.co.nz SUBSCRIPTIONS: nzfarmlife.co.nz/shop | 0800 224 782 subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz Printed by Ovato Print NZ Ltd, Riccarton, Christchurch ISSN 1179-9854 (Print) ISSN 2253-2307 (Online)

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Contents BOUNDARIES 8 9

HOME BLOCK 10 11 12 13 14

Gaye Coates reflects on good conversations Paul Burt has learnt a lot as husband of a farmer’s wife Micha Johansen acts on her plans coming out of lockdown Chris Biddles’ digger operator solves water problem David Walston weathers life stuck in the jet stream

BUSINESS 16 18 19 20 22 24

Economic Service turns 70 Book review – Stop The Clock

Agribusiness professionals on investing on and off farm Government needs to control spending Helping US farm families Having NZ team in China boosts market success Kidney patient has true grit Could dung beetles cut drench dependence?

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SPECIAL REPORT - REARING YOUNG STOCK 26 29 30 32 34 36 38 41 45 46 49 MAKING REARING STRESS-FREE MORE p46

Rearing orphan lambs Do your sums carefully Is rearing worth the risk Closed shop minimises losses Calf milk replacers – What’s in the bag? Animal Health – Speed reaction to illness Nutrition – Getting the rumen up and running Automating calf rearing Calf-rearing lessons from Covid-19 Making rearing stress-free Colostrum – Test for the best

LIVESTOCK 50 55 61 62 64

Diversification drives business Rapid gains on run-down farm Less on worms, more on feeding Getting your lambs off to a fast start Ewe scans down 20%

CROP AND FORAGE 66 Profitable piece of paradise 71 Summer fallow follows grass

ENVIRONMENT

DIVERSIFICATION DRIVES BUSINESS MORE p50

74 76 78 80 81

Blanket regulations concern farmers Progress with Healthy Waterways policies Carbon forestry – Price must rise eventually ETS reform rushed – B+LNZ Water from stones

YOUNG COUNTRY 82 Never too young to start farming

OUR COVER: For 13 years Johnny Bell had worked onfarm during the day with kidney dialysis every second night. Then in August last year they got a call saying a kidney was available. More p22. Photo: Chris Sullivan

COMMUNITY

84 Exploring untouched Zimbabwe 86 P fuels Northland’s crime 87 Problem? Consider Occam’s Razor

SOLUTIONS 88 Probiotics give growth boost

NEXT ISSUE: AUGUST 2020 • Wool: With so many beneficial properties why is it so hard to sell? • Deer: Despite a major setback with killing space caused by Covid-19, a couple are sticking to their five-year plan. • Benchmarking: Joining a farmer group has led to major changes in a bull beef operation.

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July 2020

89 Colostrum and immunity

TIME TO SHARE 90 Country-Wide readers’ photo competition entries

Carbon forestry – Price must rise eventually

MORE p78 7

BOUNDARIES | SUBSIDY HIKE WARNING - ABARES

The Economic Service has been gathering data through its sheep and beef farm survey since 1950.

Economic Service turns 70 BY: STAFF WRITERS

ittingly, Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Economic Service turns 70 in a year when agriculture is once again taking centre stage in the nation. While its governing bodies have undergone various iterations the Service has been a constant, gathering data through its sheep and beef farm survey since 1950. These data indicate the financial health of the industry; inform local, regional, and central government policy; underpin forecasts and trends in meat and wool production; and enable farmers to benchmark their businesses against others in their cohort. B+LNZ chief economist Andrew Burtt and four others in the Service are based in Wellington. Other staff are regionally based and visit survey farmers, collecting and collating information and insights. Andrew says the survey has grown in complexity over the years as sheep and beef farming businesses have become more complex. He acknowledges the generous support of more than 3000 past and present survey farmers who volunteer their time and information, knowing that confidences will be respected. Some farms have been in the survey for more than 50 years.

The way the data are collected means that the values used in informing policy, forecasts and trends are real data, not model or average farms. This, says Andrew, is a real strength because shows the diversity of sheep and beef farm businesses. Jeremy Baker, B+LNZ’s chief insights officer, describes the Service as a key contributor to the development and implementation of industry strategy. Data gathered over 70 years are a rich database of physical and financial trends at both industry and farm level. Future focuses will be on making the data available in multiple formats and linking it with other analytical tools such as Farmax and FarmIQ. “It will allow farmers to get a good handle on their own farm and industry, and use this information to drive quality decisions.” He says there is a growing range of information that farmers, the sector and government want to receive including the links between policy, productivity, and profitability and New Zealand's wellbeing. Interested in joining the survey? Surveys involve an annual farm visit of about two hours, and two postal surveys. All information from individual farms is confidential. Contact econ@beeflambnz.com for more information.

Covid-19 response measures threaten to increase agricultural support in OECD and emerging nations, warns the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES). It released a report in May showing that in the OECD only New Zealand has lower Government support of agriculture than Australia. As measured by the OECD, just over 2% of Australian farmer revenues in 2016-18 were derived from government support. Globally, Norway (61%), Iceland (59%), Switzerland (55%), Korea (52%) and Japan (46%) provide the highest levels of agricultural subsidies while taxes on agriculture or exports mean Argentina, India, Vietnam and Ukraine’s average agricultural support is negative (-15% in Argentina’s case). The report notes that among Australia’s major agricultural competitors, subsidies are higher in the United States (10%) and Canada (9%), but comparable in Brazil (3%) and Chile (2%). Average support in the European Union is 20%.

JOKE

A couple made a deal that whoever died first would come back and inform the other about the afterlife. Their biggest fear was that there was no afterlife. After a long life the husband was the first to go and, true to his word, he made contact. “Mary, Mary.” “Is that you, Fred?” “Yes, I’ve come back like we agreed.” “What’s it like?” “Well, I get up in the morning, I have sex, I have breakfast, go off to the golf course, I have sex, I bathe in the sun, and then I have sex twice. I have lunch, another romp around the golf course, then sex pretty much all afternoon. After supper, golf course again. Then have sex until late at night. The next day it starts again.” “Oh Fred, you surely must be in heaven!” “Not exactly Mary, I’m a sheep in Wales.”

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Experiences of aging BY: PAUL BURT After more than twenty titles Gordon McLauchlan has released his last book. Enjoying a long career as a print and TV journalist, writer, and researcher he died aged 89 in January this year, a month after “Stop The Clock” was published. I have read one or two of his previous books and always enjoyed his newspaper columns, one of which warned of the danger of opinion writers believing their own B.S. “Stop The Clock” deals with the experiences of aging from the point of view of an intelligent observant man who took notes as he lived through it. McLauchlan laments the increasing marginalisation of aging people and the under use of that vast store of wisdom and experience just because it has grey hair and is a little slower. Aging is a subject that requires McLauchlans’ skill with words and language to keep it from becoming boring or self indulgent. The book is all the more readable because it is littered with quotes and anecdotes from his celebrated friends, favorite poems, and prominent literature. McLauchlan examines what constitutes a fulfilling life and the effort required to make sure dignity remains as we age. He is irritated by the self-absorption and shallowness of modern communication and has no time for the cult of celebrity when the real efforts of ordinary people are undervalued. He ruminates on the power of love and family and friendship but questions the relevance of Gods at this point in time. Just the same, he makes his peace with religion. Gordon McLauchlan actively worked at his life in such a way that let him finish it and this last book with an inner contentment and his sense of humour intact, something we should all aspire to. RRP $25 paperback.

BUSMAN’S HOLIDAY ANYONE? It can be great to volunteer for a worthy cause, and it’s often said by volunteers that they get as much out of their activities as the recipients, albeit in different ways. That’s probably why over a thousand Americans have signed up with Mid-West US agricultural ambulance operation “Farm Rescue” – that and the opportunity to drive some seriously big kit. Founder and president Bill Gross says there’s no reason why volunteers, particularly those with farm skills, shouldn’t come from abroad, so when Covid-19 travel restrictions permit, how about busman’s holiday? Country-Wide would love to hear about it if you do volunteer! See p19 for more.

Apparently he was a meat eater

MACKENZIE MAULED AGAIN Who would be a farmer in the Mackenzie Basin? Yes, it’s an impressive landscape and, if you like hot summers and cold winters, the climate’s not bad either. But the farming’s hard: always has been and it’s only getting harder as the burden of bureaucracy builds on top of the area’s natural challenges. A 118-page Environmental Defence Society report released last month makes some good points but its call for a Drylands Protected Area on Crown land and a “Mackenzie Basin Heritage Landscape” to provide “an extra protective layer” over the rest of the Basin sound more like extra bureaucratic layers. The EDS report was funded by DoC and LINZ. Talk about asking the fox to report on the hen coop!

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July 2020

HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Left: The kids in the shed – Thomas, Euan and Emma.

Conversation on the Coast Gay Coates ruminates on a good season and the satisfaction of a face-to-face chat.

ill arrived on our doorstep this week. It’s an annual visit, motivated solely by a premium duck shooting pozzie on the farm. We are yet to transition him completely into the health and safety ethos of the modern world and so his knock on the door each year is unannounced. But we grant him some leniency based on the length of his teeth and his customary koha of home grown feijoas, and we settle for the fact that he has now accommodated our expectation of him checking in HAUPIRI and out. We’re quite keen to see him return home safe at the end of the day to tend his feijoa trees. No visit from Bill is complete without the transition into some blended social and philosophical conversation about farming, and we always welcome his diversely sourced (but somewhat

subjective) observations and his succinct view of how things are going “around the traps”. It seems this year farmers on the Coast are, in the main, doing all right. According to Bill, we “cow-cockies” are all a lot happier since Yili took over the reins of Westland Milk Products. Standing on the doorstep with Bill it was difficult to assign words that describe the deep sense of relief that comes with seeing some financial rewards for our work; of being able to move forward rather than simply holding on. “You’re not wrong there” seemed to sum up how we felt in a way that resonated with Bill. “It’s been a good season” said Bill, more of a statement than a question. Ever mindful that there were plenty of other doorsteps that Bill would be conversing on in the ensuing weeks, we confined our reply to a general comment that, indeed, the dairy season had gone

well and the cows had achieved a good average production for the district. Saying out loud that this has been a year when we feel incredibly proud of exceeding our targets and having the cows in great condition seemed not quite the right thing to put out as a public statement. Experience has taught us that achieving seasonal production successes can be as fickle as the weather, and it safeguards pride to wear some protective humility. “It’s good to see farmers spending a bit of money again. That’ll give a boost to our economy after this Covid thing”, Bill said with inquisitive intonation. Of course we knew Bill would have seen sunlight brightly reflecting off the new zincalume as he drove up the road to us. We passed the new calf shed off as a bit of long overdue R & M, the gentle prying not pricking any sense of guilt. We’d already done the internal and fiscal checking that justified some overdue capital spending. “Weather’s not been great though” lamented Bill as he bemoaned the poor growing season that reduced the number of feijoas on his trees, made his tomatoes late to fruit, and saw several packets of carrot seed produce only a handful of seedlings. We made a mental note to ruminate quietly on this climatic influence later. It might be that we could give up on the self-critiquing reflection we had been doing on the poor state of the oats and simply blame it on the weather – or the large number of ducks. “I take my hat off to you buggers,” said Bill, ending the conversation as he strode towards his Hilux. “You do a good job”. While the weeks of Covid-19 restrictions have seen our skills of virtual communication increase (although at no point done in my undies), nothing replaces the experience of that iconic “good yarn”, done up close and personal. There is something wholesome about using all of our senses to have a conversation that is spontaneous and without an agenda, one that allows us to choose to say little to some and a lot to those we know can listen. In this industry it is important we keep on talking and listening.

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July 2020

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Left: Couples shearing and woolhandling themselves to cut costs is hard work especially if people are coming for dinner and there are two GST returns to do that night.

Appreciating your most valuable asset Being the husband of a farmer’s wife has taught Paul Burt some valuable lessons.

hankfully, most people are happy with the gender they were assigned at conception. I know there is the odd new age man who, out of empathy, wants to experience childbirth but you won’t find many of them in the country. Life is easier if you are comfortable with the parts you’ve been allocated, and wishing otherwise in my case would transform me into a farmer’s wife – something I just couldn’t cope with. Even the title has a hint of old fashioned possession about it that wouldn’t do for a Chloe or Jacinda – in fact any woman wearing trousers. At least these days most wives are on an equal footing with their husbands, usually being full business partners

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July 2020

and co-owners. Imagine a man in previous generations putting up with being the equally hard working but passive (often non-financial) partner in the farm business. Male and female had their roles but the whys and wherefores were rarely challenged. I recall one old boy at the end of his career putting the farm on the market. The first his wife knew of the situation was when land agents brought prospective buyers through the family home. I’ve learnt a lot being the husband of a farmer’s wife – admittedly not the old fashioned, silent type. I’ve learnt that this farmer’s job would be immeasurably tougher if he didn’t have a capable farmer’s wife. Hard working, adaptable and multi- talented, they wear many hats and go about their business with good

humor and infinite patience. Another thing I’ve learned are the signs of these last two attributes wearing thin. We had a call from the wool buyer who was talking dag money for quality fleece, hence my decision to dispense with the gang and shear the hoggets ourselves. Of course I expected Louise to help but I can’t remember consulting her about the change in policy. A night pen went in for the following day’s work. With just Louise and I in the shed I got so excited about the money we were saving ($450/100) I forgot that Louise had people coming for dinner and two GST returns to complete. Hour after hour the wool was sorted and the catching pen was filled but the pressing was a bit slow as Louise is too light to easily crank down the press handle. I suggested wearing a diver’s weight belt but things went a bit quiet. At knockoff I staggered home worse for wear, showered and collapsed on the couch. Louise had washing to get in, a meal to prepare and the paperwork to file. I joked the IRD late penalty would come out of her wages if she MATATA didn’t get a move on. Again things went a bit quiet. So I shot outside to feed the dogs after suggesting Louise open a bottle of wine. I’m sure the wine helped but we didn’t get to discuss the day as I was asleep before she got to bed. After a long period out of love and jolted by a sharp dose of reality the public is once again saying farmers are the backbone of New Zealand’s economy. As men do, we bathe in the glory when in actual fact it’s the farmer’s wives who keep things together. Such faithful commitment should never be taken for granted, however, and it’s up to the farmer to set the mood and help where he can. The odd romantic gesture doesn’t go amiss either. To this end I left a little note on Louise’s pillow: “Thanks for today. I’ll help with the pressing tomorrow and don’t worry if the smoko is a few minutes late. Love, Me.“

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Left: Micha’s new obsession with harness racing has led to a 5% stake in Clyde, a future world champion.

Lockdown is over. Giddy-up! Coming out of Level 2 lockdown Micha Johansen buys a horse, walks barefoot, and plans to grow a crop of broad beans.

s I write this we are (hopefully) in the dying stages of Level 2 Coronavirus lockdown and heading into Level 1. It also, hopefully, means that the incessant advertising of “be kind” will sod off and we can be treated like the adults we are instead of kindergarteners, although my overreaction to said “be kind” advertising is quite like that of a stroppy kindergartener at times ... oh just SHUT UP. In my last column I mentioned a new obsession with harness racing, and I stated that I wasn’t looking to get a horse any time soon because I wasn’t that crazy. Well, it turns out I actually am, and I am now the proud 5% owner of a future champion. He arrived up to the trainer in Bulls from his breaker in Christchurch only at the end of May. We have been to see him once and he is full of energy and cheek and can pack a bit of a nip, so he has been gelded to make handling him a lot easier. In typical Micha fashion I have

totally overstepped my 5% ownership and gave him his paddock name, Clyde (after Clyde “the glide” Drexler, an NBA player from the 80s-90s). It uses the same first three letters of his race name “Clymenus”, which means “notorious”, involves names from Greek mythology, and is also one of the Argonauts. These things mean he will be super fast, of course. Giddy-up! Being in Level 4 lockdown was an absolute dream for me. I ventured off the farm only twice, which was two times too many. Now the garden is looking better than it ever has, the kitchen finally got painted, I got fatter from mountains of baking, I re-acquainted myself with the night sky, and I managed to (unintentionally) make hooch from my sourdough starter. I also found myself far, far down the YouTube rabbit hole where I discovered “Earthing” where you spend time each day barefoot in contact with the Earth, Wim Hof breathing, cold showers, permaculture gardening,

and a reignited interest in regenerative agriculture. I believe that all methods of farming offer something of value, so I try to be open minded, pick the bits that I view as having value, and give things a try. I also really like ecology and the environment, so if I can do something for the soil that is beneficial, doesn’t take away from anywhere else, and increases the biology on the farm, then heck, why wouldn’t I have a play. Plus I have always thought that if I were a cow I would far prefer the variety of a vegetation salad to ryegrass, all day, every day. Yawn! Knowing TJ as I do I realised bringing up regenerative ag in conversation would get me instantly dismissed as being a hippie, so I was very, very cunning. I rewatched “Greening the Desert” in his proximity so he, being a bit of a nosey bugger, would start to watch and be impressed. It worked! He was a bit blown away, and I now have permission to experiment in a 1ha paddock. My original paddock of choice was swiftly given the big NO due to its proximity to the roadside where it would become the talk of the district as to what poor TJ has been talked into by that crazy ‘wife’ of his now. I now have one paddock way up the back and out of sight. To get started I contacted EKETAHUNA Jono Frew, who is in the “regen ag biz”, to help me come up with some form of plan. In other words I ask annoying questions such as “can it be done on hills, I’ve only ever seen it done on flats?” Answer is yes, although I think it may kill me. And “Do cows even eat broad beans?”. “Yes”, he replies, “they love them”, to which I reply “Then why don’t they eat them when they break into my garden?” Jono assures me that they will eat broad beans, so I shall trust him, for now. There’s no harm in giving it a whirl. I mean, why would you want to own property if you can’t run a few experiments here and there? Whether I have the energy and drive to actually get it done properly is a question only the future can answer.

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Left: Duck shooting with Mark are his children, Pippa (11) Grace (9) and Josef (13).

The French Connection In the aftermath of lockdown Mark Chamberlain says ‘merci beaucoup’ for a welcome distraction.

onjour Nouvelle Zélande (more about the French later). This year is fast becoming a real dog-tucker one – a year that is testing the collective patience of the nation. Floods in the south, drought in the north and, at times, a famine of common sense in a certain area in the middle. To top it off, courtesy of our biggest trading partner, Covid-19. This gave us, rightly or wrongly, the lockdown and the loss of liberties. Not to mention Cindy’s daily Labour Party promotional press conferences with her furrowed brow and empathetic sighs, answering kindergarten-like questions from her fan club, aka the press. It is funny how, suddenly, agriculture was not only needed it was loved. The GORE likes of David Parker and his cohort slithered back into their holes… for now. As we emerge from the lockdown perhaps it is time to finally have a frank and meaningful discussion about New Zealand’s future. But the cynic

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in me cannot help but feel that we will be cast aside once more, much like my dog’s plaything. For our family, things went well. With some deep breaths and a few shrugs of the shoulders all seven of us coexisted successfully. It was tough going for our elder daughters, home from their universities, locked up with their aging mum and dad. Meanwhile the younger trio had a blast. They did their best to wear out the pony and motorbikes, with our youngest, Grace, yet to discover second gear. And of course near the end of May, a great family day for duck shooting. The end of May dry-off went spectacularly well. This can be a pressure point in the season when the show suddenly comes to a screaming halt over just a couple of days. Of course, if the weather plays its part, and it did, it is only half the work. Different mobs of cows coming and going, dealing with transports, meat processors, and graziers

may have you out of the routine but it is also kind of rewarding. June and July bring with them the opportunity for farm maintenance, a deep breath and, God forbid, right on cue, the unsatisfiable anti-farming brigade. The winter passes quickly, and you never seem to reach the end of your to-do list. Just before the lockdown one of our staff members was called up for his long-awaited hip replacement. To fill his spot we welcomed into our bubble a 20-something Frenchman, Antoine, who had been travelling the world. We did not know it at the time but he was to be a welcome distraction. Between milking rows of cows we would swap stories about our culture, food, and of course red wine. I now end the day’s work with a “merci beaucoup.” One of the things I have learned from Antoine is that when farmers in France are unhappy France knows about it. I have often admired the passion of the French and remember their agricultural version of the “resistance” when they blocked highways with their tractors and farm machinery to emphasise their displeasure. Our Prime Minister has frequently used the new catch cry “Go Hard” and perhaps New Zealand’s farming sector needs to take their own little blue pill and follow her advice. We need to advocate more strongly against the David Parkers of the world while remembering not to be smug – something like Foot and Mouth could quickly become our Covid-19. At times, I worry about our country. The cheerleading media have conditioned us into focusing on personalities rather than policies, nice hairdos rather than substance. Now more than ever we need to spend less time on the right-versusleft politics and refocus on what is right versus wrong for our country. We need to spare a thought for those in our communities who have been seriously impacted and for whom furrowed brows and empathetic sighs ain’t going to cut it. Perhaps we need to be more like the French. Au revoir.

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Left: Agriculture was always going to be a sacrificial lamb on the table of a terrible trade deal with the USA.

timing for wheat. Hopefully, the oilseed rape can still make use of a drink as well although the damage from cabbage stem flea beetle larvae has been horrific over the spring months. Our winter beans, which produced a record harvest in 2019, certainly won’t this year. For months I was wondering if we had bred a new super dwarf variety but they have now at least reached knee height! Agronomy decisions have been a tough balance of trying to maximise potential while not overdoing the spend during a drought. Luckily we performed a very useful trial last year looking at responses to T1 & T2 fungicides in wheat. Although the weather was very, very dry for weeks around those timings in 2019, they each returned 1t/ha yield increases on a variety with strong inherent disease resistance. Those results have made my life easier – now I don’t worry too much about should-I-shouldn’t-I use them, my concern is mainly on the precise spend I think is going to maximise our returns. Cambridgeshire, England farmer David Of course, without a crystal ball I’m Walston has one eye on the weather, the never going to get it right all the time and using a fungicide that is strong other on the USA trade deal. on Septoria was maybe not a great choice in such a dry year! On a wider scale, there has ell, where to start? flipped to the other extreme and been consternation among 2020 has been there has been almost no rain farmers over the last month as fairly eventful for a at all in the southern half our government has passed CAMBRIDGESHIRE, number of reasons. of the UK for over a month. a new Agricultural Bill in ENGLAND I guess that, being One incredible statistic is that the UK parliament but has not put a farmer, the easiest thing to talk about usually gets 436 hours of sunshine in the in any provisions to protect against food is the weather. I’m no meteorologist so I three months of March, April and May. being imported that does not meet the can’t do a great job of explaining but so The record, until this year, had been 555 UK’s production standards. This is hardly far this year we have been having a really hours – 2020 managed 626! a surprise as agriculture was always going tough time with the jet stream – it just We have actually been relatively lucky to be a sacrificial lamb on the table of keeps on getting stuck. on our farm. First, although it was a very a terrible trade deal with the USA – one The jet stream really governs the wet winter we did manage to get all our that the government feels it must achieve general type of weather we get, so crops drilled by early November. We then at almost any cost since they see it as a when it gets stuck in one place the picked up a few isolated rainstorms at the justification for a Brexit that has always weather doesn’t change. This explains end of April giving us a bonus 25mm. So, promised “cheaper food”. why we had an incredibly wet first even though it has hardly rained at all Watching farmers who were three months of the year, with many since May 1st (a whopping 1.3mm), the desperate for Brexit now realise parts of the country having terrible farm still looks pretty good today, June what it may actually mean – having flooding, compounding the wet autumn 4th. dismissed the warnings as hyperbole and winter that saw very few winter There is a little bit of rain forecast for for years – certainly gives a tiny sense crops sown on large proportions of UK the next week, which is really critical of schadenfreude, but mostly it’s just farmland. Unfortunately, this has now since we are now in the main grain-fill depressing. We didn’t have to do it!

UK weather tough

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Left: The result from digging for water in peat.

Water - thanks to lockdown and Gavin Thanks to lockdown and a frustrated digger operator, Chris Biddles’ farm now has enough water. But it hasn’t been easy!

ockdown and bubbles – I think most people have had it up to their ears reading about this. For we farmers of course there was very little change. In our case we just continued to spend half a day every day delivering feed to our animals that had nothing to eat other than what we delivered. As a result of the longer dry periods of the last few years we have invested in about 15 hay racks. These allow us to give our young stock several days’ feed at once, which is a good time saver. As with Covid-19, people have probably had enough of drought and the commentary on it. As I write mid June (about two days after the article’s deadline!) we are well out of our drought. I am writing from the very pleasant Wallis shack at Rotoiti, our family’s 98 year-old holiday home. With me are three Hawke’s Bay people. They are still in serious trouble and I feel for everyone in that area. Being the dickhead that I am, I was late in accepting that we would not have

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enough hay and balage to get through the drought. Once I did make the decision TE KOPURU that we needed to buy feed it was far from easy to find. The Rural Support Trust was great in locating hay and balage for us. We went as far as Marton to get our last lot of very good quality hay. It has cost us $50,000 in feed to get through and we will only just have enough for the winter. The worry is how many pregnancies we may have lost since our January scanning. We are fortunate to have pretty reliable water in our sand country but this year we became quite nervous about our supply. By lockdown all our water holes were dry as they had not been cleaned for years, mostly because our digger driver (Gavin) is a good mate and he tends to put us off when things are busy. I find it hard to complain as the lazy bugger sometimes has a Sunday off. Four days into lockdown Gavin, at age 72 and having worked six or seven days a week for the last 50 years, was not working and

not a happy chappy. He was nearly a cot case. This was my chance, so I emailed him a Fed Farmers essential worker letter. His son’s digger was next door so we had Gavin on farm very quickly. He was happy and so were we. Once cleaned, all our water holes had water. After two weeks his son took over. Our last job was to dig in some peat that normally holds water but was dry. This was to provide a supply with a back-up diesel pump to our water ram. We found water, as expected, but at a cost to Glen – his digger went down. By nightfall the water was up to his tracks, next morning it was through his cab. With two more diggers and eight hours of work we got a very dead digger extracted. Not the best for Glen but, thankfully, insurance came to the party and the digger has been written off. So the positive for us out of Covid-19 was that we got a digger on farm for a month and got a huge amount of work done that was years overdue. To finish this I guess a short update on my physical difficulties. I got my new knee in February and it all went well. Unfortunately things went a little south a couple of weeks later. I ended up with a blood disorder and generally the body did not seem to appreciate its sixth surgery in 12 months, which included 20 hours of anaesthetic. I got quite crook and had to really struggle to stay positive. For some reason four months in a wheelchair, and all the other drama of my accident 12 months before, was far easier to handle mentally than the discomfort after the new knee. I really have no idea why but it sure as hell was. The day the Prime Minister announced the lockdown I got away from home to my daughter and son-in-law in Mangawhai. The afternoon of lockdown Megan asked me my intentions for going home. I suggested (as a smart arse) I may stay with them till after midnight, which meant spending the month with them. Megan looked me closely in the eye and said, “I love you Dad but you will be in your truck and f…..g off home before midnight.” Why was I not surprised at this?

BUSINESS | INVESTING

CAREFULLY ANALYSE INVESTMENT FEES If the management of off-farm investments is being delegated to a professional then it is important to ensure the fees charged represent good value for money. Select the source of advice carefully. VALUE CASHFLOW Cashflow from farm businesses is typically either lumpy or low. Consider off-farm investments that generate more consistent cashflow to complement the farm business. DEBT IS POSITIVE, AS LONG AS IT IS WELL MANAGED While it can make sense to borrow money to invest off farm, the farm should not be put at risk. It is important to have a debtservicing and cash buffer.

Investment tips shared Country-Wide asked Andy Macfarlane and Richard Green, two well-known agribusiness professionals and experienced investors, to share their thoughts about investing off and on farm.

tart early, have discipline around saving, be patient, and learn from experienced investors. These are some of the principles that Andy Macfarlane suggests farmers consider when they are looking at growing their capital base through off- and on-farm investments. The Ashburton-based farm consultant and director has had many years’ experience in investing on and off farm, both personally and professionally, and offers the following advice. NEVER UNDER-ESTIMATE THE POWER OF COMPOUND INTEREST Start early, stay with it and be patient. Starting off-farm investments at 65 is a bit too late - instead farmers should start early and make incremental investments.

In a lifetime of farming there will be just a few opportunities to take lump sums of money off the farm. This money can be spent on on-farm development or off farm, depending on the family situation and relative returns. Off-farm investments are often preferable where the intent is to generate seed capital for non-farming family members and reduce the burden of succession for family members taking over the farm. SPREAD RISK Take measured risks - don’t punt the farm. While farms are a great capital base to leverage off, risks need to be measured and spread, not doubled. “You want to spread your risk, not increase it.”

DISCIPLINE IN SAVING IS KEY A small amount of money put away frequently is better than occasional large chunks. Ideally, parents should set up a savings account for their children from birth so the savings record for the first 20 years is already working in favour of the child before they start generating an income. CASH RESERVES AND BUFFERS Off-farm investment doesn’t necessarily mean investing outside of the industry. It could be investing alone or collectively with others in another farm, another farming type, or primary industry enterprise. FIRE BULLETS BEFORE CANNON BALLS Start with small investments and learn from experienced investors. Every investment needs a succession plan and this means experienced investors need young people coming in behind them. Learn from people with experience. DON’T BE AFRAID TO BUCK THE TREND Often the best investments are the ones that are not the most popular on the day. Investors need to be able to cashflow a counter-cycle investment until it proves its worth. INNOVATION IS CRITICAL Typically, farms have debt so off-farm investments need to be able to deliver more than the opportunity cost of the interest on that debt. This means innovation is critical to return more than the cost of capital.

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THE FLYWHEEL EFFECT “Keeping your shoulder to the wheel for a long time does eventually reward the hard work.” People are often at their most pessimistic 10-15 years into their career because they feel they have worked hard without seeing the benefits. Success is often seen after 25 years but this success is built on the hard yards done in the preceding years. Farm development can be the same. The benefits may not become apparent for some time but, once the momentum begins, it’s away. DON’T LET OVERCONFIDENCE MASK REALITY AND DON’T LET BAD LUCK DEPRESS YOU Particularly pertinent in today’s uncertain economic climate. Beware of becoming overwhelmed by unfortunate circumstances and of hubris based on several good calls. It’s a tight balance. UTILISE THE POWER OF COLLECTIVE INVESTMENT This enables individuals to achieve collectively what they could not do on their own. Co-operatives such as Fonterra are a great example, as are iwi such as Ngai Tahu. But there are plenty of examples of farmers who have joined together to collectively invest off farm. “I’m a great believer in the power of scale, shared risk and shared effort.” TAKE CARE WHEN INVESTING ON THE BACK OF GOVERNMENT POLICY Keep a close eye on the direction of government policy but remember policies can change. Tax policies are a good example of this.

SELECT THE SOURCE OF ADVICE CAREFULLY The best advice comes from people who have had first-hand experience in investing and growing capital. Look for the people who have actually done it, the ones with a level of credibility. “Look for people with a proven track record.” RECOMMENDED READING Author Jim Collins. His principles revolve around investing wisely through the cycles. His books include Good to Great, Great by Choice, How the Mighty Fall.

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WHAT I LEARNT ABOUT BUILDING WEALTH Richard Green started his career as an agricultural consultant, worked as a company manager in the pasture seed industry, and is now executive chairman across several of his own businesses including retirement villages/aged care, dairy farming, and honey production and marketing. He also is an Independent director on a range of other boards including farming advisory boards. 1. Power of Compounding Interest $50,000 invested per year for 30 years at 7.5% interest rate = $5.2 million $50,000 invested per year for 40 years at 7.5% interest rate = $11.35 million $50,000 invested per year for 30 years at 10% interest rate = $9.04 million $50,000 invested per year for 40 years at a 10% interest rate = $22.13 million

2. Driving your business to create surpluses for investment or re-investment is critical • Plan on making a profit in your business every year • Controlling expenditure is often more important than lifting income • Make sacrifices in your early years to save investment capital • Your most important years of business are ages 35-45 years.

3. Some of the greatest returns can come from reinvesting capital back into your core business to improve profitability. You don’t always have to look at investing in new opportunities.

4. Spreading your investments across different asset classes is smart for a passive investor who wants to reduce risk and who believes in compounding over the long term. To build wealth quickly, concentrate your investment across a limited number of asset classes with some form of control.

5. My experience is that investing in growing businesses gives the highest return for my efforts. You need to be focused on growing both the profitability and the valuation multiplier of the business. The business must be scalable. Don’t waste energy on “small opportunities.”

6. Have the right people around you. People are everything whether as co-investors, management within businesses or in your advisory team. Deal with people-problems immediately.

7. Make sure you will be able to hold on to an asset during tough times. Never get caught and have to sell an asset on a down cycle. Have buffers and reserves i.e. liquid assets.

8. Investment in ongoing training of yourself is critical. Probably 15+ days per year required. My experience is that a $1 investment in training gives a $10 return.

9. Keep building your networks as this is where the best investment opportunities will come from.

10. Have some key principles that drive your investment decisions. Long term investment plans and modelling are critical to help guide your decision making.

11. Remember money is not the end game, it is just a way of keeping score. Life is about people and what you can give back, not what you can get. Family and health are more important than money.

BUSINESS | ECONOMICS

2030s without any tax increases. Plus it pays to note that, even at the predicted peak of 54%, the net debt-toGDP ratio will still be below pre-virus ratios in the United States, Europe, Japan, and the UK. Another reason for anticipating better economic conditions over 2021 is the arrival of money printing in New Zealand. Other countries engaged in this after the 2008-09 GFC and did not see their inflation rates rise. Instead, most of the money remained in bank accounts providing easy funding for banks. But some went into assets offering higher yields than bank deposits, including property and shares. It is highly likely – and the Reserve Bank has admitted this risk – that money printing will push up property prices in New Zealand including, eventually, farm land. The sharp rise in consumer trust of New Zealand’s food products offshore is boosting interest in farm assets, especially from investors looking at very low yields on other forms of property and facing new worries about tenants ability to pay and to remain in occupancy. With regard to interest rates, they were at record lows heading into this recession, have gone even lower, and are unlikely to go up to any appreciable degree for many years. This after all has been the experience of other countries following recovery from the GFC. At issue, however, as some investors

Government needs to control spending

New Zealand Government Debt to GDP Ratio

NZ Government Debt to GDP Ratio

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he world is facing its biggest recession since the 1930s Great Depression. Governments are undertaking huge spending increases, central banks are printing money, and global trade is badly interrupted. One could be forgiven for thinking that the next few years will be exceptionally bad, especially for a country like New Zealand where international tourism accounts for 5.5% of GDP versus 3% on average around the world. Yet the answer as to why the downturn is likely to be relatively short lived lies partly in the information above. Our Government is boosting spending equivalent to 20% of GDP. We have never seen such a surge and it will go a long way towards insulating the economy against the obvious effects of the Covid-19 virus. But will this surge in spending, which will push the government’s net debt-toGDP ratio to 54% in three years from 20% a few months ago, necessitate higher taxes to pay for it in future years? No. The ratio was 5% in 1972, hit 55% in 1992, then fell to only 8% ahead of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.

This decline to 8% was not achieved by raising taxes (Michael Cullen’s unnecessary 39% income tax rate notwithstanding) but by exercising good control over government spending. The same thing is likely to happen again, and it is unlikely the ratio will ever be taken back down to 6%. Treasury is projecting 40% in the mid-

BY: TONY ALEXANDER

Source: NZ Treasury

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BUSINESS | OVERSEAS

look to buy assets like property, is the availability of bank credit. For probably the remainder of this year banks will have very tight lending criteria. It is not just that they will suffer some big losses from the intensity of pressure this recession is imposing on the tourism and hospitality sectors in particular. Banks legally have to undertake responsible lending – not extending credit to borrowers they feel may have difficulties servicing or repaying a debt. Banks are struggling to model what the future looks like for the overall economy, let alone individual sectors. So they have raised minimum deposit requirements and, in many instances, have no interest in taking on board new business clients – especially those involved in property development. However, banks make their money from lending money and eventually will reopen their lending books. That probably won’t happen until next year for most sectors of the economy apart from housing, for which they may allow pass-through of the recent removal of Loan to Value Ratio rules (LVRs) before the end of the year. What about the world growth outlook? It is hard to know how exactly to write this but it increasingly looks like many countries have decided that if a second wave of virus outbreaks strikes they will not close their economies down again. For the moment they are continuing to work on boosting their healthcare sectors to handle as best they can a new outbreak should one come along. This doesn’t mean a global recovery is imminent but improving conditions over 2021 are likely, especially if a vaccine against Covid-19 is developed. For farmers this means that, over the next 12 months, risks for commodity prices probably lie on the downside. But with New Zealand’s reputation seemingly rising by the day our longterm primary sector outlook is actually better than it was four months ago – and that is the sort of thing investors will think about as they look at potential purchase of farming assets. • Tony Alexander is an independent economist who was the BNZ’s chief economist for 25 years.

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Helping farm families

any hands make light work. It’s an old saying, epitomised by the US tradition of barnraising where a rural community would work together for a day or weekend to build a new shed for a couple or family. Since 2006, not-for-profit organisation Farm Rescue has been invoking that spirit on a much wider scale to help farm families in the US recover from crisis be it illness, injury, or natural disaster. “In its first year we helped 10 farming families, just in North Dakota,” founder Bill Gross told Country-Wide. “Last year we helped out 127 families.” That was across six states of the upper Midwest (the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Montana) and this year its services will be available in Kansas too. Initially it offered just crop establishment, then harvesting was added, and now “haying”, livestock feeding, and disaster relief operations are regular activities for its team of volunteers and machinery pool. “We have about a thousand volunteers nationwide but we don’t use them all at once; we might use 200 in any one year.” Many are farmers or retired farmers but others come from all walks of life and from all over the country. They include doctors, tilers, attorneys, even a rocket scientist from NASA. Gross himself is a pilot though he grew up on a ranch. He says volunteers have the common aim of helping a farming family in its time of need. Most jobs are completed with Farm Rescue’s equipment, some of which is owned and some loaned by manufacturers or dealers as sponsorship. For example, John Deere is “a big supporter” and has provided four headers for the current harvest, Gross notes. “We know our equipment is well maintained with all the safety shields in place and is in good working order, so it will do a quality job.” It’s also big kit, so in as little as two or three days it can complete a seeding or harvest that might have taken the farmer two or three weeks. That’s despite

Farm Rescue founder Bill Gross.

typical family farms across the region being over 1000ha. “The vast majority would be 1500 to 4500 acres.” Many of those helped by Farm Rescue are “Mom and Pop” operations, either with no children, children too young to help, or who have long since left home. Where a farm’s own equipment is used it’s typically because paddock size or access is tight, but for safety reasons Farm Rescue will do that only if the farm’s equipment is modern and well maintained. Every year requests for help exceed what can be supplied so hard decisions have to be made by the organisation’s five staff and trustees. A key principle is that the farm will be viable in the future once the immediate crisis is addressed. Gross says Farm Rescue fills the gap between what insurance can cover and what neighbours can do to help each other which, with bigger farms and fewer people on them, is less than historically. Indeed, sometimes neighbours or other members of the community call Farm Rescue because they can see someone needs help but the individual or family are too proud and independent to call, he adds. As far as he’s aware there are no other organisations like it in the US so potentially it could operate nationwide one day. However, in the wake of Covid-19, donations and business sponsors are down so a contraction in services is likely short term.

›› Continues p20

BUSINESS | MARKETS

Having NZ team in China boosts success BY: HUNTER MCGREGOR

he growth of sales and reliance on the Chinese market for New Zealand food products has been well documented, but how exposed are our major industries to the market? It might surprise you that some industries are in a better position to manage the risks than others. One way to manage market risks is to have a good structure on the ground in China. For smaller companies or industries it is very difficult to afford to put people in China, and that’s where it is important to work with good partners. For larger companies, having New Zealand and Chinese staff in China is important for better understanding of the market. It is a big commitment to do this but it shows

that you are serious about doing business. By having people on the ground you are building first-hand market knowledge and the Chinese connections to assist you now and in the future. The NZ Wine industry understands this and has their Asian representative, who covers more than just China, based in Shanghai full time even though its exports to China in 2019 were $33.3m, only about 1.8% of total wine exports of $1.84b. Setting up an office in Hong Kong is like a Chinese company setting up one in Stewart Island or Tasmania and saying they have the NZ or Australian market covered. For some NZ companies their public relations statements on the importance of the Chinese market are not matched by their actions. We also hear a lot about the need to

“add value”, and to have any chance of doing this in any market we need to get closer to our consumers so we can understand them better. Sitting in New Zealand, sending emails, and reading market research reports is not going to cut it. Let's take a deeper look at a couple of important industries and products. The NZ Dairy industry exports around 36% of its dairy production to the Chinese market. Synlait, Tatua, and Fonterra have offices there and people on the ground, and Westland did also before it was sold to a Chinese dairy company. All of these companies have a good mix of NZ and Chinese employees in China. Given the importance of the Chinese market to the NZ Dairy industry it is good to see they also have a strong commitment to the

›› Continued from p19 “We’ll do as much as we can; not as many farms as last year but we do have some savings and reserves we can draw on while ensuring we have a viable operation for the future.”

NOTHING SO FORMAL IN NZ Rural Support Trust national council members David Hewson (South Canterbury) and Neil Bateup (Waikato) say they’re not aware of any equivalent to Farm Rescue in New Zealand and question whether such an organisation would work here given the greater diversity of enterprises. “Obviously there’s quite a lot of capital involved [in Farm Rescue],” said Bateup. Typically, Rural Support Trusts help by ensuring farms needing assistance have the right people in place to manage them through the crisis, and if need be they might organise local contractors for critical operations.

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The NZ Wine industry and Zespri have people on the ground in China.

market, which helps to reduce much of the market risk. Fonterra has a large investment in Beingmate and Chinese farms and they are doing some really interesting things in China. A good example is Fonterra’s cream and cream cheese mixture to put on top of tea drinks. It is a new category for dairy products but it is not my idea of a good cup of tea! They got involved with this new trend early, showing why it is important to have a good team on the ground to identify and develop new opportunities. The structural strength of the dairy industry in China is, unfortunately, not copied by the meat industry. In 2019, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the Chinese market accounted for around 39% ($2.734 billion) of total export sales ($6.945 billion). The Chinese market is also clearly very important to the meat industry. However, for the past five years I have been the only Kiwi full time in China selling NZ meat (my focus is venison). I am not aware of anyone working for B+LNZ based in China. Silver Fern Farms does have a marketing office in China with a number of Chinese staff. This is a positive step forward for them and it would be good to see this continue to grow. With the volume of meat sold into

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China I find it difficult to understand why companies do not see any value in having their own people in the market. Working with good Chinese partners is important but the larger the volume of product sold the bigger the risks and the more important it is to have your own marketing team. From a Chinese point of view the actions of the industry show they are happy merely to sell into China. This is a mistake long term and exposes the meat industry to many more risks of doing business in China. In the past Zespri had some public issues concerning dual invoicing with their Chinese importers. They have made changes and now have more control of their products. They have also built a very strong team in China, which has put them into a good position. The Zespri brand is one of the leading fruit brands in China. They have developed this through spending time developing the right relationships, understanding the different markets, and building knowledge of Chinese consumers. You only have to look at the success of their new season of fruit arriving during the early stages of Covid-19. During very challenging times they did not have any major issues of getting fruit into the market. Having a strong team on the ground has reduced their risks significantly. The importance of the Chinese market

Setting up an office in Hong Kong is like a Chinese company setting up one in Stewart Island and saying they have the NZ market covered.

to NZ agriculture is not going to change in the short term. We can never eliminate all the risks with international trade but there are things we can do to reduce them. Having a good structure within the market will reduce some of the risks while developing a better understanding. This is what I would call a “win-win” for New Zealand. • Hunter McGregor is a Chinese-speaking Kiwi based in Shanghai selling NZ meat into China.

BUSINESS | PLAN B

Kidney patient has true grit In part two of the series looking at back-up plans for unforeseen events, Terry Brosnahan encounters a farmer who has used more than one. Photos by Chris Sullivan.

ohnny Bell may not have had a plan B for when bad news came but he quickly developed one and, later, plans C and D. He and his wife Tanya own Shag Valley Station, inland from Palmerston. For 13 years Johnny had worked on the station during the day and undergone kidney dialysis every second night. Then in August last year they got a call saying a kidney was available from a deceased donor. Johnny had the transplant in Christchurch and his life changed again. After finishing school Johnny started training towards becoming a commercial pilot. However, a routine medical test picked up kidney issues he had been unaware of. This meant a change in career, and he headed to Lincoln College to do a Bachelor of Commerce degree. After graduation, his kidneys began to fail and the need for a transplant became inevitable. Following nine months of dialysis in Christchurch he was lucky enough to get a kidney from his mother, Louise. Farming became plan B. For 17 years the kidney worked well until he was 39-years-old and a regular blood test

showed a rise in the creatinine levels. There was acute rejection and it quickly failed. “We were cruising along with a young family and it was a great shock.” Johnny had to go back on dialysis. After the first transplant his body created antibodies, which made finding the next kidney for transplant more difficult. People are encouraged to consider donating their organs after they die. By doing so their actions could have lifesaving benefits for a number of recipients. “At least there is plan B for kidney failure and that’s dialysis,” Tanya says. Dialysis required a major adjustment but Johnny wasn’t going to let it rule his life or his family. For him the biggest challenge was his mindset. The transplant had failed but dialysis was going to keep him alive. He had a lot to live for with a wife and young family. His attitude was that it was just a machine and he was going to learn how to use it. He says the Dunedin Hospital dialysis unit was fantastic. From the outset they told him the key to success was having good support and working as a team.

“They were right.” He spent a month in Dunedin hospital and quickly learned how to use the machine. It pumps blood through a filter that removes impurities and water. Johnny didn’t like needles, and still doesn’t, but had to learn how to insert them into his arm. Dialysis required strong self discipline and he started with a positive attitude. Dialysis was carried out every second night over nine hours while he slept the best he could. “It does take it out of you but I did get some sleep.” The longer dialysis time meant the pump speed was slower and gentler on the body than if it was over a shorter five-hour session. Dialysis at night allowed him to work and participate in family activities. He even coached local rugby teams for 12 years. He could do a full day’s work but had to be careful and protect his lifeline - the fistula in his arm. A fistula is a blood vessel widened by surgery for high blood flow, which a needle goes into for dialysis. In Johnny’s case it was a vein taken from his

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Opposite page: Johnny Bell looks out over Shag Valley Station, he has farmed for 13 years without a functioning kidney. Top left: The historic Shag Valley Station homestead. Top right: Life is good for Tanya and Johnny Bell. Above: The Bell family have been farming Shag Valley Station, inland from Palmerston, for 157 years.

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leg and joined up to an artery in his arm. If he had got a cut there it would have bled out. His vascular surgeon put it on the inside of his arm so it would not be damaged drafting sheep. When he started on dialysis Johnny simplified farm operations by just selling stores. The Bells had a full-time worker and good neighbours to help. Once he was on top of the dialysis, farm operations returned to normal, improving performance and finishing stock. During dialysis he made sure Tanya could manage Cashmanager and the accounts, and knew about the running of the station. They now do the administration together. The station runs 9800 stock units on 4500ha with 30% cattle and 70% sheep - Romney and Romneycross ewes and Angus cows. They finish lambs on crops and lucerne and sell weaner calves. Johnny is the fifth generation to farm the station. It is likely one or more of their three children will become the sixth. Lucy (22) graduated with first class honours degree in agricultural science from Lincoln University and works for Ravensdown

in its graduate programme. Henry (20) studies environmental management at Otago University, and George (18) is in his first year at Lincoln studying valuation. Mentally, Johnny never felt low when he was at home. The hardest moments were when he was stuck in a hospital ward and things weren’t going well, but being stuck in hospital made him grateful for having a problem that could be treated. He found focusing on the positive helped his mindset and health. Tanya says Johnny was determined and disciplined. They worked as a team to get through. Johnny says they are fortunate to own a farm with great staff because it could still generate income even if he couldn’t work. Owning such an asset meant if they were forced into plan D, the family could sell the farm. Today few things bother Johnny. If things go wrong on or off the farm it is not a major problem. “It’s a bit of a cliche, but don’t sweat the small stuff.”

BUSINESS | SCIENCE

Could dung beetles cut drench dependence? BY: ANDREW SWALLOW

otential environmental and soil fertility benefits of dung beetles have been widely reported but were you aware they could also slash internal parasite contamination of pasture? During a recent webinar series, Landcare Research’s Dr Simon Fowler explained how the beetles’ chewing action destroys most of the eggs of internal parasites shed in dung.

DRENCHES AND BEETLES Dung from recently drenched livestock can be toxic to dung beetles, particularly a week or so after treatment, so Forgie says avoid putting recently drenched stock in paddocks with newly established dung beetle colonies. Once beetle numbers have built up and spread across the farm then drenching is less of a problem as beetles will repopulate from other areas. That’s expected to take 5-6 years in most situations but some farms have seen much more rapid establishment, he notes.

He said the beetles also break up pats causing them to dry out faster. While initially that may boost egg hatch, overall the effect appears to be beneficial as fewer L1 and L2 larvae survive long enough to mature into the hardier, infective L3 stage. Fowler also down-played the sometimes raised concern that burial of dung by beetles can increase worm challenge due to a so-called “time-bomb” effect, where buried eggs hatch en masse after rain, and subsequently surface as L3 larvae. Far fewer eggs and larvae present in the buried dung than would have been had the beetles not been present. Also the beetles usually bury their brood-balls of dung much deeper than the 10cm or so from which L3 larvae are able to migrate to the surface. “They can migrate further in sandy soil but in heavy clay, not so far.” Speaking to Country-Wide after the webinar, he said in trials where L3 larvae had emerged from much deeper than 10cm it was probably because they had migrated up the side of soil core containers (lysimeters) rather than through the soil itself. “The existing data suggests dung beetles are highly beneficial [for internal parasite reduction] but there are gaps in our knowledge.” One researcher seeking to address some

of those gaps with a study sponsored by the Miss E L Hellaby Indigenous Grasslands Research Trust is Emma Curtin, a postgraduate student at Otago University. Her PhD focuses on benefits of dung beetles that were outlined in ERMA’s 2011 decision report approving their release. Do they provide the same soil structure and composition benefits to indigenous grasslands and lowland pastures on Otago farms as seen overseas? Does that reduce nutrient leaching and runoff? Do introduced dung beetles affect the biomass and abundance of earthworms? Can dung beetles effectively break the life cycle of intestinal worms? Dr Shaun Forgie of Dung Beetle Innovations is convinced they can. Besides at least a dozen overseas articles showing that dung beetles reduce worm challenge, in trials on three soils near Auckland he and Fowler, with several co-authors*, found a mean 71% reduction in infective nematode (ie intestinal worm) larvae on pasture surrounding dung beetle infested cow pats compared to those without beetles. The mean was despite little difference in nematode numbers between treatments on sandy loam soil. There were more substantial differences between treatments on clay loam and compacted clay soils resulting in the net 71% reduction across all three soil types. However, Agresearch’s Dr Dave Leathwick cautions against pinning too much hope on dung beetles to reduce livestock worm burdens in New Zealand. Much of the overseas research has been in hot, often dry, countries and of the few NZ studies, several have shown no benefit or a small increase in larval numbers associated with dung beetles. He said unless dung beetles turn out to be phenomenally effective at destroying worm eggs and larvae in New Zealand conditions, and are active for eight or nine months of the year, they’re unlikely to reduce the challenge to livestock sufficiently to make a difference. “My view is the jury is still out. The evidence to date is not compelling.” Effects are also likely to be dung beetle species specific, and dependent on high densities of the right species of beetles being present at the same time as livestock are shedding high numbers of eggs. *Forgie et al, Journal of Ecological Entomology, 2018.

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Reduce clostridial loss Clostridial disease is complex, protecting stock doesn’t need to be Farms across NZ lose stock to clostridial disease. Some lose a few, some a few more than they would like. A couple of lambs or calves, an inlamb ewe or two, or maybe even some cattle. Reducing clostridial loss starts with protection.

Clostridial protection for New Zealand Disease

Present in NZ

Clostridium tetani Clostridium chauvoei Clostridium septicum Clostridium novyi Type B Clostridium perfringens Type A Clostridium perfringens Type B1 Clostridium perfringens Type C2 Clostridium perfringens Type D

      * 

5in1 protection

Coglavax8 protection

   

       



*C.perfringens Type C is present in NZ but is yet to be confirmed as the cause of sudden death as it is overseas.

Coglavax8 8in1 vaccine, protection against more clostridial diseases For best results adhere to a vaccination protocol and use the best product for the job.

ONLY AVAILABLE AT YOUR VET Ceva Animal Health (NZ) Limited. P: 09 972 2853 E: info.nz@ceva.com Coglavax8 ACVM No. 7528 1. JS Munday,H Bentall,D Aberdein,M Navarro,FA Uzal &S Brown, Death of a neonatal lamb due to Clostridium perfringens type B in New Zealand, New Zealand Veterinary Journal 2020. 2. West, Dave M., Bruere, A. Neil and Ridley, Anne L. The Sheep, Health, Disease and Production. Auckland: Massey University Press, 4 th ed., 2018. Print.

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SPECIAL REPORT | RAISING YOUNG STOCK

Rearing orphan lambs Higher returns for lamb plus animal welfare concerns have led to increased interest in orphan lamb rearing systems. Sandra Taylor spoke to three sheep farmers, who are also experienced lamb rearers, about their management practices.

implicity is the key to the Dawkins family’s indoor lamb rearing system. The family farms in Blenheim and runs an indoor triplet-ewe lambing and orphan lamb rearing system to help maximise lambing percentages in their high-performance ewe flock. They rear between 30 and 50 lambs every year, most being sold by the end of January at a minimum of 42kg. After four years as Beef + Lamb New Zealand Innovation Farmers focusing on the indoor triplet-ewe lambing, they have refined both this and their orphan lamb rearing systems. Richard Dawkins says they found that when their lamb rearing system got too labour intensive it became costly and time-consuming with no obvious benefits. He admits that they have both the infrastructure (a large, sunny, well-ventilated shed) and the climate to allow their system to work so well and this might not be the case on farms in other regions.

Simplicity is the key to successful lamb rearing.

What they say works for them: • Maximising the amount of sunlight into the orphan pen to provide warmth and kill germs. • Ventilation is also important. We obviously don't want a cold draught blowing through but a wet and stagnant environment is a breeding ground for bacteria. A light breeze during the day provides important air flow. We have roller doors that we close at night.

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Get indoor lambs outside as soon as possible. Allow ad lib access to outdoor areas so lambs can play, get a dose of vitamin D and exercise. • Clean straw for bedding. • Five feeds per day for lamb health and growth rates. This is very labour intensive so invest in an automatic feeder or build your own gravity feeder. Ours cost about $200 and cut labour costs significantly. • Feeding cow’s colostrum has worked very well giving growth rates between 250 300g/day and no bloat – a cheap option but not available to everyone. • Ensure newborn lambs have sufficient ewe colostrum prior to training them on to a feeder. We tend to bottle feed for two to three days so lambs are fit and strong before being in the main pen. • Keep a watchful eye on any lambs falling behind. These may require bottle feeding or being placed under a heat lamp. • Introduce good quality roughage from day one to assist in rumen development and therefore early weaning. We use lucerne hay because they are weaned after six weeks at 16-20kg onto lucerne in the paddock. • Ensure clean water is available at all times and give the lambs access to a pen outside as well.

KERRY AND PAUL HARMER, CASTLERIDGE STATION, ASHBURTON GORGE The Harmers farm Castleridge Station in the Ashburton Gorge. The climate can be extreme and the couple was concerned about the economic loss associated with lamb wastage as well as the animal welfare implications. Determined to address the issue, they have set up a lamb rearing system that includes automatic feeders to minimise lamb losses. This generates a profit of around $50/head – including labour. Unusually for high country farmers, Kerry and Paul actively shepherd their 12,000 Merino ewes at lambing and so are well positioned to gather up orphaned lambs. They used to hand rear them but eight years ago invested in an automatic lamb feeder and have not looked back. They now have three automatic feeders, two De Laval and one Lely. What they say works for them: • Spray iodine liberally on to the naval as soon as possible, preferably out in the paddock, before transporting and moving into an artificial environment irrespective of how clean that is. Spray

Richard Dawkins: When their lamb rearing system got too labour intensive it became costly and time-consuming with no obvious benefits.

enough to form a drip on the end of the naval. • Ensure lamb pens are dry and draught free. • Feed very weak lambs or floppy lambs with glucose before heating. This is important as lambs will use the last of their brown fat trying to survive so need to have glucose immediately. This is given in the form of 20% warm dextrose – Kerry buys 40% dextrose and dilutes it by 50%. She gives lambs 10ml/ kg and always has a large syringe and warm water on hand to do the mix and administration, ideally injected straight into the abdomen or fed through a feeding tube. She recommends keeping a pack of dextrose and a thermos of warm water for dilution in the farm truck or on the motorbike, and keeping the dextrose mix warm using a heater or body heat – stuff it down your shirt. • Heat orphaned lambs with a lamp. • Colostrum is vital but not all colostrum is equal. Kerry uses powdered colostrum because of the number of lambs they rear. Lambs need 15% of their bodyweight in colostrum in the first 24 hours – 750mls for a 5kg lamb. Read the label: the colostrum needs to contain 100-120gms of immunoglobulin (IgG). Some powdered colostrums have a lower concentration of IgG, and so increase the label recommendation. • Hygiene is critical. Pens and surfaces are sprayed with liquid Virkon before

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bedding is placed down. After the initial Virkon treatment the dry disinfectant Stalosan-f is used liberally and frequently. It absorbs moisture and disinfects, so is sprinkled over the top of bedding. It is also sprinkled amongst layers of bedding. Teats are sprayed with Virkon regularly. • The shed is cleaned out completely once or twice over the lamb rearing season once the lambs are big enough to be outside. • All lambs need a separate source of clean, fresh water from day one. This is particularly important as lambs get bigger and are at greater risk of developing bloat. Lambs must not be allowed to substitute milk for water – milk is food, water is for thirst. • Lambs need access to fibre from day one to aid rumen development. Kerry and Paul initially use hay nets filled with pea vine (NOT pea straw), which is similar in feed value to lucerne hay. Good quality hay of any description can be used. • From days four to five they introduce the lambs to a lamb starter mix. This is fed in troughs fashioned from spouting. Start with small amounts and change frequently to keep fresh. • Get indoor lambs outside as soon as possible. Allow ad lib access to outdoor areas so lambs can play, get a dose of vitamin D, and exercise. Lambs will take themselves back inside when they are cold and/or hungry. • Warm whole milk is ideal for young lambs for the first two weeks. After a few weeks bloat becomes more of a risk so Kerry transitions to whey. Yoghurtised milk will also work. After two weeks the temperature of the milk can be reduced so that by three weeks the lambs are drinking cold milk. • Watery mouth is caused by an E coli infection. This can be treated by applying white penicillin directly over the tongue. • Kerry and Paul use a scabby mouth scratch at 10 days. • Hand-reared lambs need a clostridial vaccine at around 10 days because they may not have received antibodies through their mother’s colostrum. • Some rearers use an appropriate vaccine at tailing to ensure protection against tetanus. • Lambs are weaned at a minimum of 16kg if they are eating a decent amount of grass.

JAMES AND MARIA HOBAN, WAIPARA, NORTH CANTERBURY The Hobans farm on coastal hill country near Waipara. Maria rears orphan lambs and has invested in an automatic feeder. She admits she has learnt from Kerry Harmer and they share similar management practices. What Maria says works for them: • I use whey powder. I only had one bloated lamb last year as opposed to previous years (without the feeder) when we fed ordinary milk replacer and lost many to bloat. • The De Laval feeder is calibrated to make only a small amount of milk available initially when there are only a few lambs. This is because any milk not drunk is left to go cold. The amount of milk mixed is increased when lamb numbers increase. • The shed is set up in three parts: young lambs/learner drinkers, experts/greedy guts, and the hospital pen. • Hygiene is most important. All navels are iodine sprayed. Shed is regularly Virkoned (antimicrobial spray). Fresh straw or bedding is spread out often. Any sick or scouring lambs are separated into the hospital pen. • Have a very clear order of what happens when lambs are dropped at the shed door – lambs are iodine sprayed, fed colostrum (powdered and mixed if newborn), bottle fed initially to get them going, then introduced to the feeder. • Patience is key when transitioning lambs from bottle to machine. Some catch on quickly, others take a lot of time.

James Hoban: All lambs have access to meal in their pens.

• I tag lambs on arrival and write a number on their tag. I record on a spreadsheet/whiteboard their date of arrival, how many colostrum feeds they have received, and what paddock they came from just to get an idea of any trend that might be occurring. Any other treatments etc are also recorded. • Lambs have continuous access to good grass/clover as soon as they have expert drinking status. • All lambs have access to meal in their pens. I spend a lot of time popping it in their mouths after they’ve had milk just to get them used to it. This is good for their rumen development and reduces the amount of milk drunk in later weeks.

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SPECIAL REPORT | FINANCIALS

Do your sums carefully BY: CHRIS LEWIS

here are several reasons motivating farmers to rear a few extra calves this spring: the milk price is down, dairy beef calves might be in demand, the live export of heifers is generating some good coin, and it would be nice to reduce the bobby calf kill. For those not experienced in calf rearing, caution is urged. There are a few golden rules: • Put your toes in the water first. Developing an efficient and profitable calf rearing system requires time and experience. • Verify your market. Don’t rear calves without an end game. • Value your time. Very dangerous to think all the staff are already paid, or family can work for free. • Know the true total cost of calf rearing. • Make sure you have NAIT obligations sorted. Any doubt on the source of the calves in this M. bovis sensitive world is a problem. • These golden rules are best appreciated by those who have been burnt in the calf rearing business.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE DAIRY BEEF MARKET? Farmers will be looking to re-stock after the drought but places like the Hawke’s Bay may be slower and more circumspect. The high value prime beef and premium lamb markets might struggle. Lamb supply could come under pressure making dairy beef options more attractive. BakerAg does not have a crystal ball with regard to sale prices, so the numbers used in this article are for example purposes

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Table: Sensitivity of milk price and labour cost on calf rearing cost COST TO REAR A CALF

MILK PRICE - CENTS PER LITRE

Cost of labour/calf

44 ($5.40/kg MS)

50 ($6.15/kg MS)

56 ($6.90/kg MS)

$20

$279

$302

$325

$30

$289

$312

$335

$50

$309

$332

$355

ASSUMPTIONS: A 20kg bag of calf milk replacer (CMR), mixed at 125g costing $85/bag = 53 cents per litre of calf milk replacer. If you use wholemilk at $6.15kg MS and 8.16% milksolids test = 50 cents per litre Guideline for labour is 0.75 of an hour per calf reared, BakerAg used 1.0 hours per calf.

SELL AT FOUR DAYS OF AGE For this market having pre-arranged buyers is very helpful and both parties have responsibilities. The calves must get colostrum within the first 24 hours and be trained to drink. The buyer must be uplifting regularly. Pushing the pickup a few days later is not a fair deal. Typically, the four-day market will pay 100% of the manufacturing beef price, so an early born 30kg calf at the $5.50 schedule price will generate $165 per head.

SELL AS WEANERS A prior arrangement with buyers is again very helpful. Don’t get caught with animals the market doesn’t want or get pushed into the tail of the market where profit is lost. Rear early, sell early. Again, the market tends towards 100% of schedule pricing, so a 100kg calf and a $5.50 schedule = $550 per weaner.

REARING AND SELLING SPRING BORN R1YR IN AUTUMN This is the “be careful” market. Often farmers caught with beef cross weaners that they are unable to sell will look to hold onto them with a view to selling them in autumn. The cost of grazing is rarely retrieved. This market typically delivers at 65% of schedule price, so a 200kg yearling

at $5.50 x 0.65 = $715 per head - $165 above the weaner price but the holding cost will be around $200.

KNOW YOUR COST OF PRODUCTION: This table shows that the difference between controlling and not controlling key variables can be $75 per calf reared. If you were selling weaned calves then you would add the four-day-old sale value. That’s $150 from above, making the total cost of a weaner $462. Sell it for $550 and you make $88 per head. If you miss the peak of the market with some of your extra calves and they sell for $480, you make $18/head. Your cost of production only needs to rise $20/head and you are losing money! References: www.ezicalve.co.nz/calf-rearing-calculator • Chris Lewis is a farm consultant with BakerAg.

Use the Calf Milk Replacer calculator www.nzagbiz.co.nz/ CalculateNow# to work out the cost of using whole milk out of the vat versus buying milk calf powder.

SPECIAL REPORT | FINANCIALS

Left: Farm consultant and farmer Kerry Dwyer will be rearing calves again but is wary of the market and spring grass growth.

WHAT DOES THE MARKET WANT?

Is rearing worth the risk? BY: KERRY DWYER

e have been rearing calves in North Otago since the mid 1990’s. Results have fluctuated over that time, with the past season being one of the tougher years. After taking a pasting on last year’s production many calf rearers are contemplating not continuing this coming spring. It has been possible to buy weaned dairy-sourced calves at below rearing cost for much of the past six months, due to the combination of drought and the downstream effects of killing space shortage, then being compounded by Covid-19. At the May 21 Temuka store sale, the first after restrictions eased, Friesian bull calves reached $400 for 175kg animals. They

bottomed out at $240 for 140kg calves. Beef cross steers weren’t much better at $2/ kg liveweight while the beef cross heifers were maybe $1.50/kg liveweight. The average rearing cost to professional calf rearers this past spring was about $350/head, so there hasn’t been much profit in those calves sold at Temuka. Rearing costs will vary a bit depending on calf price and whether you are using whole milk or milk replacer (powder). The costs for the coming spring are looking similar to last year (see table below). There were some contracts available last spring for 100kg calves at about $450/ head. After that the market dropped away sharply and plenty of rearers were left carrying too many calves with no home to go to. After losing money this last season calf rearers have to consider whether they want the risk of losing more in the coming season.

The market is farmers who buy calves at over 100kg liveweight and take them through to slaughter or for store sale at a heavier liveweight. Pure beef calves consistently sell at a premium to dairy-cross calves, of at least 50c/kg liveweight. But calf rearers source calves out of the dairy industry so that cuts that premium option. It would be great if dairy farmers could implant pure beef calves into surplus dairy cows, but that isn’t likely given the costs involved. So, we are stuck with either 50% or 100% dairy genetics in the calves we rear. Friesian bull calves are the staple for calf rearing, ending up in the manufacturing beef trade at slaughter. Jersey-Friesian bulls grow and finish well, but the store market discounts them considerably. Contracts for 100kg Friesian bull calves discount later spring delivery. The buyers want the early calves that can get to the best weight before next winter. By December there are few contracts available, because the “best” calves are gone and the market is flooded with uncontracted bull calves. We find we need bull calves born in August to get them to November delivery at 100kg, after that it gets tough even in a good year. Rearing bull calves without a contract has been a loser more times than a winner. Beef-dairy cross calves are easier to sell, since they can head towards prime export beef, local trade or manufacturing markets. I would love to get all Charolais cross calves, but dairy farmers are wary of the calving problems involved so I struggle to get any interested. The staple cross is Hereford bulls used as chasers after AI is finished. The white-faced black bull progeny are well sought after at all stages of their lives. Unfortunately, we get a lot of red calves coming out of crossbred dairy cows. They are heavily discounted in-store market because of the risk of “yellow fat”

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Table 1: Potential costs and profit for calf rearing Calf rearing costs

Per calf

Calf price

$100

Cartage

$20

Calf milk replacer

$84

1 bag @ 20kg

Meal – 20% protein

$22.50

25kg @ $900/t

Meal – 16% protein

$37.50

50kg @ $750/t

Animal health

$10.00

Dehorning

$6.00

Bedding

$6.00

Housing

$6.00

Straw – feed

$8.00

Grazing

$25.00

Power & fuel & machinery

$10.00

Interest

$4.50

Overdraft of $200/calf for 120 days

Losses @ 3%

$15.00

3% of $450 calf

Total

$354.50

Contract sale price

$427.50

Net profit

$78.20

100kg DM @ 25c/kg DM

$450/calf contract less 5% commission

and slower growth rates. My experience is that the red Hereford cross calves grow at least as well as the black ones and finish the same or better, but I don’t set the market. Putting the red ones to auction normally hurts. Dairy farmers like the Hereford cross calves because it is a no brainer deciding who the father was. I prefer buying Angus cross calves, because they are all black regardless of the mother’s genetics and they grow better. Beef cross heifers are worth 50c/kg liveweight less than their brothers. I have buyers who do very well taking beef-cross heifers to slaughter, but I warn them that selling on the store market will hurt, so avoid that if at all possible. Maybe buyers just want the cheapest. That does not fit with a calf rearing business; it could be an expensive hobby.

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THE FOUR-DAY-OLD CALF PRICE? Last spring we paid just over $100 for four-day-old beef cross calves, with Friesian bull calves being below $100. That is in North Otago, which may be one of the cheaper priced areas in NZ. Some North Island rearers pay twice that or more for beef cross calves, it doesn’t work for us here. The four-day-old price was once set at about twice the bobby slaughter value, nowadays that doesn’t seem to be the case. We work on the basis that we want good calves, well-fed and nurtured before we get them. We certainly don’t want MPI chasing us for Mycoplasma bovis. We have been dealing with our dairy farm suppliers for a number of years and that is all worth a premium to us. Over the past season some calves would have been too expensive to rear even if they were priced at zero. Without buying the calf, it takes about $250/hd to get them to 100kg liveweight. There have been a huge number of calves sold for that or less in the past six months. We pay a steady price throughout spring for the calves we get, but early calves are generally traded at a premium and later calves struggle to find a home. We don’t get all the calves to hit target weight at the same time, and the profit is not in the first calves sold. I am hearing that a lot of dairy farmers reared additional calves last spring, rather than bobby them. The logic being that the calf didn’t cost them anything and what sale price they got was an extra. Most of them were poorly paid for their time and effort, and seeing calves flood the auction market doesn’t help my marketplace.

WHOLE MILK VS CALF MILK REPLACER I have used the price, $84/20kg bag of milk powder in the calculations. Using some lower spec powders will lower this a bit, maybe saving up to $15/calf. I mix my calf milk at about 12.5% strength, so getting 160 litres of final mix per bag of powder, priced at 52.5c/litre. Using whole milk will require at least the same litres per calf, maybe slightly more because it will have less solids per litre. At a milk solids price of $6/kg MS, whole milk works out to be about 55c/litre which is not much different to the milk powder value. Dairy farmers will typically say they have surplus milk at calving, being

colostrum and “red milk”, so they value this at less than whole milk that could be sold from the vat. That is well and good until they run out of the surplus and have to take from the vat. The other downsides of whole milk are the antibiotics entering the food chain, and the possible risk of M. bovis transmitting into the calf herd. These may not be such a risk for dairy farmers but certainly are for professional calf rearers. We use milk powder because we get consistent warm milk each day without waste, and I don’t want to own a milk tanker. It is possible to rear a lot of calves in a small area, until they need grass. Every year I hear of someone who has reared 100 calves on two hectares, and then has to meet the market because they are out of feed. Or the dairy farmers (and staff) who rear a few extra calves which is great until they start eating milking feed. If you can’t get the calves gone on time then the holding cost can become a business killer. We know we need enough slack to cover delays in delivery and holding the last calves longer. If you don’t have that scope you will experience some pain.

THOUGHTS FOR THE COMING CALF REARING Most businesses are about relationships. Our calf rearing is based on dealing with the same people over many years, at all stages of the process. Marketing is more a 12-month process while selling is taking the calves to an auction and hoping. We can not make a living from selling at the lowest price. Over the past 25 years there have been some spectacular disasters in calf rearing. The punt is whether the spring grass grows well enough. If it doesn’t then the store markets will not recover sufficiently to make calf rearing profitable. • Kerry Dwyer is a North Otago farm consultant and farmer.

WATCH Feeding milk in the paddocks www.youtube.com/ watch?v=QFxf-ZcO1OE Feeding nuts and grass in the paddock www.youtube.com/ watch?v=w3n0JXP2a94

SPECIAL REPORT | CASE STUDY

Closed shop minimises losses BY: ANDREW SWALLOW

o matter how good your calf rearing system and technique, with some bought-in animals you are doomed to fail judging by the experience of a Mid Canterbury farmer who has reared more calves than most. Until a few years ago Chrissie Wright, of Tamar Farm, Mid Canterbury, reared up to 1800 calves/year. Average death rate was just 3% but they realised the mortality of mobs from some suppliers could be up to 1 in 3. Needless to say those suppliers were dropped because, despite their assurances, something was clearly going wrong in the calves’ first few hours of life – they were not getting an adequate feed of colostrum and so were permanently immunocompromised. “The biggest thing in calf rearing is those first few hours: colostrum is the key,” Wright stressed to a Beef + Lamb New Zealand field day earlier this year.

That shouldn’t be news to any farmer, but what can you do as a rearer when those first few hours are out of your control? Wright says quiz suppliers about their systems, in particular about calf collection frequency and the first feed after pickup. “It’s surprising how many people say they don’t feed them until the following day because then they’re really hungry.” By that time, if a calf hasn’t had a good feed of colostrum, it’s too late because a calf’s ability to absorb antibodies declines to virtually zero over its first 24-hours of life. Blood testing for IgG immunoglobulin can be used to check antibody levels. Wright also suggests asking calf suppliers about their colostrum collection practices and whether they test its quality. “You could even ask them if you can test it yourself. “Navel sprays are important too. They should be done twice – before pick up in the paddock and again on arrival at the shed – using an iodine tincture, not the iodine used for animal supplements.”

These days such protocols are more within Wright’s control because they operate a “closed shop” with the calves reared on their beef unit coming only from their three dairy farms. That’s still 860 calves/year made up of all the beef cross calves off the dairy farms plus the Friesian and Jersey bulls. However, she knows they’ve all had a good feed of high quality, first-milking colostrum that is collected in test buckets rather than through the main milk lines on their dairy

KEY POINTS • Tamar Farms’ calf rearing • Closed shop so colostrum history is known • High shed hygiene, especially drinking water • Outside after two weeks • Calfeteria not crammed to capacity • Home-made meal, always fresh • Mortality <0.5% last year

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HIGH HYGIENE

Left: End result: some of this year’s ”beefies” at Tamar Farm in March. Right: Chrissie Wright with some of her calves. Below: Sheltered paddocks: mobs of fifty are turned out after a fortnight.

farms to avoid mixing. The quality of each colostrum collection is tested with a refractometer. “IgG levels should be 20% or above: the thickest, goldenest colostrum doesn’t necessarily test the highest,” she warns. At four days old the non-replacement calves are collected from the dairy farms in a covered trailer. “If you don’t use a covered trailer they’ll get pneumonia.” In the shed on the beef farm they’re fed twice a day with three litres/calf/feed of waste milk from the dairies. Feeding is monitored to identify slow sucklers. After two weeks on that twice-a-day regime they’re moved to paddocks with shelters in mobs of 50 and switched to once-a-day feeds of four litres delivered through a calfeteria with 60 teats to ensure all calves get on a teat quickly. Meal is offered ad lib from day one on the beef unit, and by weaning average

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consumption is 1.5kg/head/day. In general, weaning is by weight: 63kg for “beefies” and Friesian bulls, 60kg for Jersey bulls, but there’s some flexibility to allow for age and different weights on arrival. “We get some giants I won’t wean because I know they are too young,” Wright noted at the field day. However, most are weaned after about six weeks on the beef farm, or 45-50 days old. “A lot of people say we wean too early but we don’t see a weaning check at all. Basically it’s the Poukawa system of early weaning which has been shown to be the most efficient and cost effective because meal’s so much cheaper than milk.” The meal is a home-brew of wheat, barley, soy, minerals including salt, and a coccidiostat. Protein content for the first fortnight is 20%, then that’s stepped back to 18% when they move outside and down to 16% by weaning.

Tamar Farms’ calf rearing shed is sprayed weekly with Virkon disinfectant during the rearing season and hydrated lime is used between seasons. Feeding equipment is given a high pressure wash every day and hot wash at least once a week. Chrissie Wright says they’re diligent about ensuring calves’ drinking water is clean and meal troughs aren’t contaminated. “The meal is always fresh too because we make it every day.” But while good hygiene is important, she says, it’s impossible to keep every surface spotless or stop calves licking and chewing things, which is why that foundation of high quality colostrum (see main story) is so important. “We’ve still had every bug under the sun: rotavirus, coronavirus – not the one that’s in the news though – you name it,” she commented to the field day. Linseed straw is used for bedding. Wright says they favour it because it’s warm, and top it up regularly to keep it clean. More palatable barley straw is also always available from racks. Last year they lost just four calves – less than half a per cent of the 860 reared. Two of those were misadventures – one twisted stomach, one broken leg. “We are very fortunate to have a closed shop… it makes our job a whole lot easier.”

“Once they are on pasture they scour if the meal protein is too high.” Meal is supplied at 1.5kg/head/day for a month post weaning, then cut to 1kg/ head and finally 0.5kg/head over fortnight. By that stage nearly all calves are 100kg or above but any notably small calves are “pulled to one side” and kept on meal for a few more weeks. Calves get a seven-in-one clostridial vaccine and pour-on drench at weaning. “We use the pour-on to clear up any lice as well as protect against worms, then the follow-up drench is an oral.”

SPECIAL REPORT | ANALYSIS

What’s in the bag? Calf rearing researcher Paul Muir takes a look inside the bag of calf milk replacers and explains what to look for.

olostrum and whole milk are always the best feeds to offer young calves. However, if milk feeding is not possible there is a large array of substitute powders available to the rearer. They are not dried milk powders, so using “milk powder” as a name would likely contravene the Fair Trading Act. Instead they are called calf milk replacers (CMRs) and are made up of a range of products blended to meet minimum protein and fat specifications. They can contain a wide range of ingredients, and the lack of clear specifications on the bag means it is almost impossible for rearers to make an informed decision. In calves up to three weeks of age the digestive system is poorly developed and

the calf can digest only a limited range of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Curding appears to be necessary to enable full utilisation of complex proteins. When calves are fed whole milk, its casein proteins curd in the abomasum where they break down gradually (over eight hours) and the products of digestion are released slowly into the small intestine where absorption occurs. The abomasum has a low pH that is not conducive to bacterial growth, but in the small intestine pH is neutral and bacteria can grow. If a milk replacer doesn’t curd in the abomasum then the undigested material is released much faster into the small intestine (1.5 hours). This excess substrate can cause potential issues in young calves if bacteria such as E. coli or

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salmonella are present. Generally (but not always) calf milk replacers will curd if they contain casein proteins. If CMRs don’t curd it is often because the casein in whole milk or skim milk has been excessively heat treated and

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Unfortunately, New Zealand calf milk replacers have neither a curd test result nor a detailed ingredient list so it is down to the individual rearer to do a curd test.

CURD TEST: Make up 500ml of milk replacer as per the instructions on the bag. Keep it at 39C (set the oven and use a thermometer) and add 5ml of rennet. A good curd should be formed within 20 minutes. Do exactly the same with some blue top milk so you can see what a really good curd looks like, although even a good quality milk replacer is likely to have a poorer curd than blue top milk. Unfortunately, most people do not do a curd test until concerns over calf health become apparent in the shed. It is very hard to argue your case after you have paid for the milk replacer and used half the product. It is much easier to do the curd test before you start using the milk replacer.

the casein proteins denatured. Another reason is that the whole milk and skim milk powders make up only a small proportion of the ingredients. In the last 20 years we have seen the advent of cheaper whey-based powders, principally from Europe. They are mainly used in the vealer industry where calves are typically fed 350-380kg of CMR to 120kg CW at 28 weeks. Production of whey powders in Europe is on a huge scale – the Netherlands has 1.2 million vealer calves and produces around 700,000 tonnes of CMR annually. By comparison, New Zealand uses less than 20,000 tonnes of CMR annually. There are some fundamental differences between the rearing systems in Europe and New Zealand. In Europe, calves are a minimum of 7-10 days old (and often much older) before they are transferred from the dairy farm to a vealer operation. Contrast that with the four days of age that is the New Zealand requirement. Even though European calves are older and more robust when they are on-sold into vealer operations they are initially fed on a curding-casein based CMR. In New Zealand CMRs are expensive, yet the labelling on bags is poor – often there is a minimum fat and minimum protein content and a long list of ingredients that may or may not be

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present in the bag. The labelling is such that it is almost impossible for purchasers to make an informed decision. It is interesting to contrast what is available in NZ with what occurs overseas. In some European countries where the labeling requirements are stricter, more detailed information is required on the amount of and type of ingredients in the product. One of the arguments used by New Zealand manufacturers is that their bags are pre-printed and ingredients change. However, in Europe, labels are sewn onto the bags prior to dispatch meaning bags do not have to have pre-printed ingredient lists. Our recommendation has always been that products fed to young calves should curd. The time to feed non-curding milk replacers is when calves are older than 3 weeks. Unfortunately, New Zealand calf milk replacers have neither a curd test result nor a detailed ingredient list so it is down to the individual rearer to do a curd test. This can be done simply at home. • Dr Paul Muir is Managing Director of OnFarm Research in Hawke’s Bay. He has been involved in calf rearing research, principally focusing on systems for rearers of bull calves, since 1996.

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SPECIAL REPORT | ANIMAL HEALTH

Speedy reaction to illness BY: KAREN TREBILCOCK

ust like us, young calves need social distancing in their bubble too. Balclutha-based vet Olivia Hickman of Clutha Vets says that to stop the spread of diseases in calf sheds, groups of young calves should not be in contact with other groups. Having an “all in all out” policy helps reduce the risk of spreading disease through the different age groups. That means using solid barriers such as plywood instead of the usual netting, especially the sick-calf pen. The list of symptoms calves display when they are ill is short and easy to spot. Unwell calves will at first not want to feed, or will feed less than normal. “They may also have a cold nose and can look a bit mopey. “Scours (diarrhoea), which can be white or yellow or watery and may contain blood, usually follows.” Dehydration was the main concern following scours. “Scours will progress to unwillingness to stand and then they will eventually lie flat.

“You don’t want them to get to that stage, so acting fast is best. “From not wanting to drink to lying flat and unresponsive can occur in a few hours. That’s how fast it happens.” Olivia says calves that aren’t feeding and are scouring should be isolated from others and given electrolytes as soon as possible. “Sometimes you will see a calf that’s off its feed in the morning and fine in the afternoon, but if it’s still not feeding in the afternoon and isn’t looking right you should act.” Having the same person feeding the calves every day makes it more likely these unwell calves will be spotted. It is easy to tell if a calf is dehydrated. “The eyes look sunken and if you pinch the skin on its body it doesn’t go back down. Over the neck tends to be the easiest place to assess this. “The more dehydrated it is, the higher the peak. If you’re not sure, do the same on a well calf and you will see the difference. “Also if you put your finger in its mouth the gums will be dry and the saliva will feel tacky.

Balclutha-based vet Olivia Hickman of Clutha Vets.

“If a calf won’t suck, give the electrolytes through a tube, and make sure you know how to do this before you have to. “You should have the electrolyte mixes and the equipment to tube feed a calf on hand ready at the start of calving. “If you can, give it electrolytes morning and night and a milk feed in the middle of the day so it’s getting some nourishment.” The reasons calves get sick are more complicated than the symptoms.

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Iodine spray for calf navels.

Electrolyte mixes and feeders.

It could be from a virus such as a rotavirus or a coronavirus or from bugs such as cryptosporidia and coccidia. The only treatment for the viruses is isolation to stop the spread of the disease, and rehydration. Cryptosporidiosis and coccidiosis have treatments, so if your calves are affected by either bug talk to your vet. “With viruses, prevention is always best. So if you know you have a problem make sure your cows are vaccinated and ensure your calves are getting two to four litres of gold quality colostrum in their first 12 hours.” Gold colostrum comes from the first milking. “Also keep everything clean – milk feeders, water and hard feed containers and the bedding in your calf pens.” If it is not a virus it is most likely bacteria such as E.coli or salmonella. Antibiotics will be needed in these cases. “It can be difficult to tell whether it’s a bacterial infection or a virus by looking at the calf, so if your animals aren’t responding to electrolytes then it is time to call the vet.

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“We can test faecal samples quickly and find out what’s wrong.” The second symptom is an inflamed navel. “Navel ill is when a calf gets a bacterial infection through the navel so it’s important to spray the navel with an iodine and alcohol mix when it’s born and for the next few days until the navel is dry. “If the navel is infected, the infection can pass up into the body and get into the liver. Sometimes the calf will keep drinking until it is quite ill so you have to keep an eye on the navel to make sure everything is as it should be. “An infected navel will feel thickened. It can look like a hernia and will feel hot. “It will need to be lanced and flushed to clear the infection and the calf will need a course of antibiotics, so again you may need to call your vet.” Calves overseas kept in confined sheds were more likely to get pneumonia than calves here but Olivia says it is still something to watch for. Pneumonia is a bacterial infection in the lungs, which can be treated with antibiotics. In young calves it is caused by dampness and poor ventilation. Symptoms are nasal discharge, coughing, difficulty breathing, a high temperature (a warm, dry nose) and not wanting to feed. Olivia says most farmers get through calving with no deaths or very few. “If you are getting a high number of deaths you need to look at your systems – check calves are getting colostrum, pens are disinfected regularly, and the milk they are getting is clean. “Also make sure calves are born in a sheltered, dry area. The best start you can give them helps them to stay healthy.” Ill calves should be assessed and euthanised if they are not responding to treatment. She says when things go wrong it can happen very quickly. “One day there is just a few not feeding and then the next day there could be a lot very sick. It can become a nightmare very easily. “Ask for help.”

WATCH Scouring www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2BRpXmR6xfQ

GOOD SIGNS: • Clean noses: clear of discharges, moist and cool • Alert and responsive ears • Shiny, supple coats • Waggling tail when feeding: a sign of health and enthusiasm. EARLY WARNING SIGNS Anything out of the ordinary: • Poor appetite: a sure sign that something is wrong. • Panting: a higher breathing rate than normal can indicate a high temperature caused by an infection. What is “normal” varies with age; at 4 days normal is 56 breaths/ minute; 14 days – 50 b/m; 35 days – 37 b/m. • Raised rectal temperature check: above 39.7C indicates an infection. • Coughing: could be a sign of high ammonia levels in bedding, which predispose housed calves to pneumonia. Easily fixed by improving ventilation and adding fresh layers of bedding material every 3-4 days from week 3 onwards. • Wet tails and dirty hocks: an indicator of scours • Unusual posture or behaviour: indicates discomfort, possibly navel infection, gut problems, physical damage. • Calves which are ‘surviving, not thriving’ - likely grouped as ‘slow feeders’, ‘fussy feeders’, ‘lazy’, slow to walk to feeder. • If a calf’s pinched skin is slow to return to normal it may be dehydrated and need electrolytes • Run your hands over calves as they feed to detect any thin calves early and be proactive in trying to determine what is wrong mild infections, mouth ulcers, or lameness which could easily go undetected.

SPECIAL REPORT | NUTRITION

Getting the rumen up and running BY: SHERYL HAITANA

alves should be offered meal and have free access to clean water from their first day in the pens, says Natalie Hughes, SealesWinslow’s nutrition and quality manager. Natalie hosted four webinars on calf rearing for the Dairy Women’s Network in June. The webinars topics were milk and colostrum; housing and pen design; feeding and meal; and heifers reaching liveweight targets. Water can often get overlooked in the first few weeks but it’s

necessary for aiding the breakdown of feed within the rumen and supporting rumen bug growth, Natalie says. “The longer we restrict calves from water the greater the negative impact on calves’ ability to digest feed.” Calves are born with almost no immune system or bacteria in the rumen. They need to develop their rumen and those bugs to digest pasture and meal. “We need water to create an environment for bugs and bacteria to grow in the rumen.” Offering a small amount of meal from day one will also increase calves’ intake

faster, she says. “Calves are like kids, you’ve got to introduce it so they think it’s normal.” She says calves are so inquisitive they will lick, smell and play with it. If it’s got molasses in it, it will get stuck on their nose and they’ll lick it off and start getting a taste for it. Introducing meal early helps to develop the rumen so calves have the capacity to digest pasture earlier. On a whole milk system there is little rumen development. On a milk and hay diet the muscle integrity in the rumen changes because it’s got to build more

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muscle to move that hay around. On a diet that includes starches and sugars the rumen gets more blood supply and it develops the rumen capillaries, which increases the surface area of the rumen to absorb nutrients better. “If we can get the rumen up and running, once they’re outside eating grass their rumen is at the capacity to start breaking down grass effectively. “You get less of a growth check.” There are many different types of meal and feed on the market. A lot of the decision drivers can come down to price/ tonne but Natalie says there are other considerations farmers need to factor in:

PALATABILITY If they’re not going to eat it, what’s the point? We are going to spend a lot of money and the calves are not going to grow if they’re not going to eat it. To preserve palatability, farmers need to store calf meal well and remove plastic shrink wrap from around bagged calf meal – it’s not waterproof and it makes the meal sweat. You want the last bag to be as palatable and fresh as the first.

a new calf diet the feed should be 13ME. The energy should be coming from good quality grains. Watch out for high fat fillers. We want it to be high energy and energy dense.

HIGH QUALITY PROTEIN When it comes to calf feed, a good vegetable protein is important to give calves the right amino acids. Proteins such as soybean, sunflower, peas, canola etc can be broken down and rebuilt by the bugs in the rumen into the right structures that help a calf grow.

NO LOW-QUALITY FILLERS A calf’s stomach is small so the feed shouldn’t be bulked out with a cheap, low-quality filler if it’s adding no value. To develop rumen papillae calves need starches and sugars. NRC recommends a 35-40% starch concentration. Palm kernel only has about 4% starch, so while it can be feed to animals, aim for over 100kg liveweight before it is added into the diet. It is not beneficial to use in a calf feed for younger calves to develop their rumens.

LOW IN FAT

ENERGY A calf’s rumen is so small that the amount they do eat needs to have the maximum amount of impact. The National Research Council (NRC) recommends for

Calves struggle with fat from a palatability point of view. The fat can also coat the feed in the rumen and the bugs can’t break it down. Aim for less than 4% fat.

VITAMINS AND MINERALS Calves cannot generate their own B vitamins until their rumen is fully up and running. Ensure that the calf meal contains these essential components.

COCCIDIOSIS Make sure to feed the right amount for the size of the calf. You can still get coccidiosis if you’re not feeding enough. For example, a 65kg calf should be eating 1kg of meal to be getting the right volume of coccidiostats in their diet. This can vary from one calf feed to another so best ask your supplier what volumes you should be aiming for.

CRUDE PROTEIN 16% VS 20% When making the decision between feeds with 20% and 16% crude protein, work out how much a calf has to eat to achieve the weight gain you want, thus working out the true cost. A trial on AgResearch’s Pukawa Station looked at weaning calves off milk at 65kg within six weeks. One mob was fed 20% crude protein pellets and the other mob 16%. Of the mob fed 20%, 47% got to 65kg in six weeks; only 21% of the calves fed 16% got to 65kg in that time. • To sign up to hear more from Natalie in her DWN webinars visit www.dwn.org.nz

WATCH Natalie Hughes, SealesWinslow Nutrition and Quality Manager.

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Encouraging Hard Feed Intake www.youtube.com/ watch?v=mLhmQKU4MpA

FOR BEST RESULTS, CHOOSE A QUALITY MILK REPLACER At AgriVantage, we believe that good rearing practice with the best nutrition is crucial for growing a highly productive dairy cow. The key factors in selecting a quality milk replacer are: Solubility

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Consistency of ingredients

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SPECIAL REPORT | AUTOMATION

Automating calf feeding BY: TIM MCVEAGH

utomation of livestock feeding, while requiring considerable capital investment, should need less labour and be a more efficient and more productive means of getting tucker down the throats of animals. But does automatic feeding stack up for calves? They can be fickle with slow drinkers and crookies. Rearing young calves requires patience and empathy - attributes that women are often regarded as having more of than men but that machines are not renowned for. If automatic calf feeding is a goer, what does a good system consist of? What will it do, and how well? And what’s available to dairy farmers and calf rearers? Automatic calf feeders range from the basic to quite complex systems. The basic models provide mixed calf milk replacer (CMR) or milk on an ad-lib basis to a pen full of calves. The most sophisticated systems have individual calf feed mix and ration programs, and monitor feeding and weight gain. And of course cost varies significantly, even between installations of the same system under different conditions.

WHY AUTOMATIC CALF FEEDING? A successful automated calf feeder will: Save on labour by freeing up staff at a busy time and possibly avoid the need to employ casual staff. Rear a more even line of better, quieter calves; and quicker. These are claims made by advocates including users, though may draw on comparisons with a manual system that was inefficient and problematic. Better means heavier and healthier; quieter because there is less bullying and speed drinking; and “quicker” means reaching weaning weights earlier. The key to this is that an allocated ration of milk is fed little and often so every calf has the chance to get its daily allocation. The quick drinkers do not get more than

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Automatic calf feeders range from the basic to quite complex systems.

their fair share at the expense of the slow ones. It also reduces scouring. Provide a safer and easier workplace with less heavy lifting, hot water handling, and vehicles. Allow ration size, blend recipe, and feeding frequency to be programmed and changed with age, even on an individual calf basis. And it can also monitor consumption, drinking rate, liveweight, and absenteeism with alerts to any problems, which often go undetected in a manual system until calves are really sick. David Reid of Reid Systems said that the company had two calf sheds connected by WiFi to one controller. “Fifteen single feeders in one shed, six in the other, with approximately 35 calves per feeder. Some pens had three feeders in them. The second shed had a viewing computer with a 24” monitor to show the status of the calves. “At the peak of the season they would have had around 700 calves in the sheds. They were our early single stalls, which we have redesigned and made them a double unit. Both teats have their own pump so both can feed at the same time”.

WHAT’S STOPPING YOU? • Cost. Automatic calf feeders on the New Zealand market start at around $8500. Costs have not been documented in this article. Comparisons would be irrelevant

as systems’ capabilities vary so much as do installation details. Maintenance costs include a scheduled annual check for some models. • Breakdowns. Machinery or power failures mean that a manual feeding system may need to be redeployed until the fault is found and fixed.

MECHANICS AND OPTIONS: A typical automated calf feeder will consist of five parts: • Storage: Milk and colostrum will typically be drawn from the farm calf milk and colostrum vats. CMR will be dumped into a hopper. Other liquid and powder additives may be drawn from containers in the main mixing/ dispensing unit. • Mixing/dispensing unit. This allows the feeding regime to be programmed feeds per day, litres per feed - on a mass, group, or individual basis. It carries out the mixing of CMR and blending with milk, colostrum, or any additives, and dispenses it. It can record individual calf feed consumption, drinking speed, absenteeism, and weight. It controls the cleaning system. Programming, and viewing calf records, may be done either at the unit and/or remotely. • Delivery system: This is essentially tubing from the mixing/dispensing unit to the feeding stalls. While some

›› Continues p44 41

Table 1: Specifications for calf feeders on the New Zealand market, as provided by their suppliers. MODEL

De Laval CF 150 X

De Laval CF1000S

rEID Feeder

Made In

Norway

Germany

Timaru

Supplied By

De Laval

Reid Systems Ltd

Max Stalls per unit

Up to 21, at least.

Max calves per stall

Suggested 35

Max recommended calves per unit

100 – 120

Have had over 700.

Teat Withdrawal

Optional

Number of calves fed simultaneously

1 per teat.

Max distance from unit to stall

Unit and stall are combined

Clear line of sight wifi connection. Have used 5 single feeders 500m away from controller with another 15 in the shed with the controller.

Whole milk, CMR, Milk/CMR blend

Yes, and concentrated CMR

Whole Milk, CMR

Supply

Whole milk and CMR are added to a tank for mixing.

Milk from the farm’s calf milk vat. CMR from a 30kg or 50kg hopper.

Milk from the farm’s calf milk vat.

Mixing

Manually added to a separate tank and mixed.

Weighed and mixed on demand. Auto calibration of milk and powder.

Manual.

CONFIGURATION, CAPACITY

FEEDS

PROGRAMMABLE PARAMETERS Type

99 feed plans

Litres per feed

Yes

Feeds per day

Yes

Calf Individualised

Same mix for synchronised feeding. Individual through priority feeding.

Yes

Reduced consumption

Yes

Slow Drinking

Yes

Absenteeism

Through use of exception port.

Yes

Checking and maintaining milk supply. Monitoring calves via the processor.

Checking milk supply, adding powder. Monitoring calves by handheld or App

Power Requirement

Single Phase

Single or three phase

Single Phase

Water Requirement

Cold water

Cold. Hot for a hot wash.

Concrete Pad with Drainage

Yes

Preferable

Manual, estimated 10 minutes. Additional cleaning of milk tank.

Automatic, 3 times per day. Weekly circulation clean. Additional cleaning of milk tank and delivery lines.

Manual

Low; replace milk pump hose.

General maintenance, (tubing). Annual service available.

Considering a yearly fee.

Combination meal / pellet / muesli and milk feeding system.

Teat sliders to withdraw teats. Liquid or powder additive dispensers. Calf Manager Programme. Calf Cloud App (suppliers app)

www.delaval.com/en-nz/

CALF ALERTS

CALF MONITORING Weight LABOUR Labour Requirement per day; (hrs)

SERVICES

CLEANING

MAINTENANCE

EXTRAS AVAILABLE

See

David Reid; 027 2218 516 djreid@outlook.co.nz

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MODEL

H & L 100, (Holm and Laue)

Lely Calm

PPP Urban U40

Robot Auto Calf Feeder

Made In

Germany

New Zealand

Supplied By

Bell Booth

Lely

PPP Industries

Technipharm

Max Stalls per unit

Max calves per stall

20 – 25

Max recommended calves per unit

150

100 – 140

120

125 – 150

Teat Withdrawal

“Anti-pirate” milk valve.

Optional

As a cleaning option.

Number of calves fed simultaneously

Milk Powder and whole milk.

CONFIGURATION, CAPACITY

Max distance from unit to stall

FEEDS Whole milk, CMR, Milk/CMR blend

Milk. CMR, colostrum; and liquid and powder additives.

Yes, and concentrated CMR

Supply

Milk from the farm’s calf milk vat. CMR into a 50kg hopper.

Milk from the farm’s calf milk vat. CMR from a 30kg or 50kg hopper.

Whole milk or colostrum from the farm calf milk vat. CMR from a 35kg hopper.

Mixing

CMR mixed on demand.

Weighed and mixed on demand. Auto calibration of milk and powder.

Automated mixing and heating. Heated mixing bowl to reduce heat loss.

PROGRAMMABLE PARAMETERS

On demand

Ad Lib

Type

Touchscreen

Not Applicable

Litres per feed

Yes

Feeds per day

Yes

Calf Individualised

Yes

Same mix for synchronised feeding. Individual through priority feeding.

Group feeding.

Reduced consumption

Yes

Slow Drinking

Yes

Absenteeism

Yes

Forefoot weigh scale, (extra).

Not available in NZ

Checking milk supply, adding powder. Monitoring calves by handheld or App

1 to 1.5

20–30 mins; cleaning, checking and checking calves.

CALF ALERTS

CALF MONITORING Weight LABOUR Labour Requirement per day; (hrs)

SERVICES Power Requirement

Single or three phase

2kW

Water Requirement

Single or three phase.

Cold water

10 litres / minute

Concrete Pad with Drainage

Yes

Milk line & teat cleaned after each feed. Twice daily wash and sanitise.

Automatic, 3 times per day. Weekly circulation clean. Additional cleaning of milk tank and delivery lines.

Automatic alkaline and acid wash twice per day. Weekly circulation clean.

Routine calibration by farmer. Annual service.

General maintenance, (tubing). Annual service managed by Lely. Manual exterior clean

Weigh calibration by farmer 4 monthly. Annual service, approx $250

Forefoot Weighing. Calf Guide App. Extra feed Hopper.

Teat sliders to withdraw teats. Liquid or powder additive dispensers. Calf Manager Programme. Calf Cloud App (suppliers app)

Smart phone app. Dosing unit for liquid or powder. Automatic teat cleaning.

www.holm-laue.de Facebook Robotic Feeders

www.lely.com/nz

www.pppindustries.co.nz

CLEANING Part auto, part manual.

MAINTENANCE

EXTRAS AVAILABLE

See

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July 2020

www.technipharm.co.nz

systems have their feeding stalls as part of the main unit, most have remote feeding stalls allowing them to be sited in separate pens adjacent to the main unit. There are often limitations on the distance between the main unit and the feeding stalls. • Feeding stalls: These may be single units or pairs fixed side by side. Most systems allow four stalls to be served by the mixing/dispensing unit and most allow the four stalls to feed concurrently. They may include a device like a slide to exclude access to the teat once the calf has consumed its ration. They may also incorporate forefoot scales to record live weight and alert any issues. • Cleaning system: This may be manual, fully automatic, or partially automatic. The services needed for an automated system are usually single or three phase power, cold water, and drainage.

WHAT’S ON THE NZ MARKET? Seven systems were found during research for this article. In addition, Calf Smart feeders made by Zeddy in Palmerston North are undergoing a review and will

Feeding stalls may be single units or pairs fixed side by side.

be back in the market at some time in the future. Details of the feeding systems currently available, as provided by their suppliers, are presented in Table 1 (p42). As usual, best practice for any prospective purchasers is to ask the reps to arrange for

you to visit a farm during feeding. Other considerations that should be made, apart from cost, include on farm modifications needed to accommodate an automated system, technical back-up, and emphasis placed on New Zealand made.

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SPECIAL REPORT | HYGIENE

Calf-rearing lessons BY: SHERYL HAITANA

ne lesson farmers can take from Covid-19 is the importance of self isolation and hygiene when it comes to calf rearing this season, says Fonterra senior veterinary manager Mike Shallcrass. Coronavirus strains are common in calves and can cause deadly scours. As with many of the infectious diseases in calves, isolating sick calves from the rest of the calves is vital, he says. “Put them in the hospital pen away from the other calves and keep them there until they go out on pasture. Don’t put them back with the other calves when you think they look better.” The other important task is cleaning calf equipment thoroughly with hot soapy water to kill any bacteria. “Feed your sick mob last and clean the equipment to get the milk fat layer off because the bugs can live in it.” Mike presented a webinar for Dairy Women’s Network Calf Rearing series in June on calf diseases. His key take home messages are for farmers to make the time to prioritise the best start for their calves because it will save them time and money long term. “The most limited resource on farm is time. There are some simple

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rules around calf rearing and most people know them, but when you are pushed for time the temptation is to cut corners.” Calves are born without any immunity to disease and must acquire it through colostrum. If they don’t get enough colostrum within the first 24 hours their immune system can be compromised. This is called Failure of Passive Transfer of immunity (FPT). An Australian study has shown calves that don’t get enough colostrum are twice as likely to die before weaning than calves who get enough. They are 1.5 times more likely to get scours and 1.7 times more likely to get a respiratory disease. NZ research into calves left on their mothers for the first 24 hours shows only half of the calves are getting enough colostrum, Mike says. “It’s common to collect cows and calves once a day (OAD) but for some calves it’s too late. “Ideally you would be picking up your calves at least twice a day (TAD), milking your freshly calved cows twice a day, and making sure that only the best colostrum goes to those newborn calves.” The practicality of picking up calves twice a day comes down to time pressure again and is not practical on all farms. If farmers can’t collect calves then bottle feeding colostrum in the paddock is a compromise solution, he says.

Other research has shown Kiwi farmers are reasonably good at feeding calves colostrum early and feeding them the right volume. The biggest issue on NZ farms, however, is colostrum storage because of the sheer volume farmers are dealing with. “In NZ we deal with a flood of colostrum and deal with bulk storage. Bacterial contamination anywhere along that chain will affect the quality of all of that colostrum milk.” The importance of hygiene through this process is vital. Storing colostrum in plastic containers, for example, is not ideal because micro scratches are hard to clean and bacteria can hide in them. The quality of colostrum drops significantly after the first milking so a good solution is to separate that gold colostrum milk, store it well, and keep it aside for newborn calves.

FREQUENCY QUESTIONS Decisions around calf feeding frequency and whether to use milk replacer must take into consideration both financial costs and time restraints. Farmers who feed calves on a high milk volume will need to be feeding calves TAD. These calves will experience fast growth, but the calves’ rumen will develop more slowly and they may have a growth check when they are weaned, Mike says. Calves reared on a low milk volume system can be fed OAD, as long as they have access to enough other feed all day to meet their nutritional needs. These calves may have slower growth rates but their rumens will develop faster and they will have a smaller growth check when weaned off milk. When it comes to calf milk replacer, farmers need to consider the ingredients closely, he says. From an animal health point of view, calves should be fed whole milk for the first four weeks. “For a younger calf the closer their feed is to whole milk the better – that’s all they’re designed to digest.” If farmers want to use a milk replacement then they should opt for a whole milk based one in those first four weeks. “Milk replacement should be a whole milk replacement. Once a calf is four weeks old you can be more relaxed with what they can eat.”

SPECIAL REPORT | CALF REARING

Making rearing stress-free Four-day-old calves are some of the most vulnerable, fragile, and high-risk farmed animals in New Zealand, a Manawatu vet says. Russell Priest reports.

otally Vets Feilding-based Juan Klue says calves require the highest levels of hygiene, biosecurity, and feeding if they are to be reared successfully. During the calf-rearing season he is regularly confronted by rearers who are stressed out because of major outbreaks of calf scours. “I hate being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff when it comes to sick calves.” He knows in such situations there is sometimes a limited amount they can do to change the outcome which can be dead calves. In 2019 Klue set up a Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP) action group consisting of calf rearers who were all enthusiastic about learning, exploring new ideas and sharing information with the common goals of reducing calf sickness and death rates and rearing calves efficiently. These calf rearers buy in calves four days or older and either sell them at weaning, at a nominated weight

(100kg+) or finish them as rising two-year-olds. “Shoring up the clinic’s knowledge along with my own and that of farmers was my own personal goal.” This information accumulating process is part of an overall strategy of Totally Vets as a company which advocates a disease preventative approach to farming as well as giving advice that supports and maximises the chances of success of products that it sells. Klue kicked off the knowledge-gathering process by undertaking a large amount of background research. This process was helped considerably by an association Totally Vets has formed with a New Zealand-based company Nutrinza and United Kingdom-based company Volac International. Operating throughout the UK, Ireland Volac has accumulated a wealth of knowledge on calf rearing as a result of extensively researching the subject in line with producing calf milk replacers. A number of successful NZ calf rearers were also interviewed producing information that has been used to supplement this overseas research and

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added a NZ perspective. Using knowledge learned from this process Juan now maintains there are two primary interlinked goals for calf rearing focusing on preventing disease and maximising growth efficiently. He believes that in order to prevent or minimise the severity of a disease an understanding is required of: • the major factors necessary for the development of the disease • how these can be influenced to produce a favourable outcome. These major factors include a susceptible host, a disease causing organism (the pathogen) and a favourable environment for the disease to establish. He also maintains to maximise growth efficiently requires an understanding of: • what affects feed conversion efficiency (the ability to convert nutrients into muscle and skeletal growth) • what causes growth checks • how these can be influenced to produce a favourable outcome. Another key ingredient for successfully rearing calves is to measure, monitor and record all management aspects of the calf rearing process. Without baseline information and continued monitoring Klue Juan believes appropriate adjustments cannot be made to effect improvement if required. To help calf rearers prevent or minimise disease severity Juan came up with some management principles to help neutralise the major factors required for the development of disease. These principles are: • Maximise calf immunity • Minimise the effects of stressors • Minimise exposure to disease causing pathogens • Minimise calf sickness and death rates. For dairy farmers the main influencer of a calf’s susceptibility to disease and immunity is colostrum management. Ideally a new-born calf should be fed 10-15% of its body weight (litres) within 12-24 hours of being born of hygienically collected, first milked (‘gold’ ≥ 22% Brix reading) colostrum from a recently calved healthy cow. Further hygienically stored and preserved colostrum should be fed for as long as possible thereafter. For calf rearers the main influencers of a calf’s susceptibility to disease and immunity are: • Colostrum management (which calf

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rearers generally have no control over) • The physiological effects of stress especially that caused by transportation between farms (and/or sale yards) • Environmental changes • Personnel changes (exposure to different people) • Feed changes on the day of sale. Stress impacts on the calf’s ability to fight and remove bacteria, viruses and foreign material from within the body. It impacts on its ability to produce antibodies making it more susceptible to disease. Stress also reduces the amount of hydrochloric acid produced in the abomasum (the calf’s stomach). It can cause an inflammation of the intestine which can lead to a nutritional scour after the calf has been fed milk further increasing its susceptibility to gut pathogens. One strategy Juan learned to help overcome stress was for rearers to put transported calves into a warm, dry, clean pen and feed them a warm, good quality, isotonic electrolyte on arrival at the calfrearing facilities and then allowing them time to rest for up to six hours before feeding them milk.

“I know there is not a lot I can do except advise the client to spend a heap of money on remedies that don’t have a high success rate.” Other strategies to minimise the impacts of stress include keeping management as consistent as possible (feed timing, feed concentration, feed volume, feeding personnel etc.) and to make any management adjustments slowly over a few days. Another strategy is to spread management events out over time such as vaccinating, weaning and changing feed type and not try to do them all at once. Vaccinating calves with products that boost antibody production against salmonella and clostridial diseases are also key strategies to boost immune function as can be the supplementation of injectable trace elements such as copper and selenium. The environment plays a role in disease development as well. For example, cold, wet calves are more susceptible to disease

Feilding veterinarian Juan Klue says rearers are regularly stressed out by massive outbreaks of calf scours and wants to change it.

as energy is partitioned away from growth and immune function into keeping warm. Strategies should be put in place to prevent this such as providing warm, dry pens, topping up bedding regularly, feeding more milksolids per day, feeding warm milk, using calf covers and/or providing nest areas at the back of the calf pen. Hygiene and biosecurity are key elements for minimising the spread of diseasecausing pathogens as well. If hygiene and biosecurity measures cannot be implemented throughout the calf-rearing season because of constraints then at the very least these should be practised with calves less than three weeks old as this is the period they are most susceptible to disease. “Think of every pen or batch of calves as an island”, Juan said. “Prevent disease from entering and leaving each island, unless they are sick calves getting separated from healthy calves.” Having a dedicated, isolated sick pen and feeding and treating sick calves after the healthy ones as well as using separate personal gear and equipment on the sick calves are key hygiene and biosecurity strategies. Other strategies include steamcleaning or hot-water-blasting sheds prior to the season, daily cleaning and disinfecting of personal gear and feeding

›› Continues p48 47

Above: ‘Think of every pen or batch of calves as an island.’

equipment, wearing disposable gloves, wearing an apron, preventing contact between calves from neighbouring pens, cleaning out pen feeders regularly, topping up bedding regularly to name a few. Juan also believes that if disease is occurring among the calves a veterinarian should be consulted for advice. An initial phone call is generally free but the input could save deaths, time, money and stress. He also believes getting a diagnosis as soon as possible is vital especially with scouring calves as there are different pathogens that can cause scours but they may require different types of treatment and the sooner the correct treatment begins the better the outcome will be. Getting a diagnosis is also essential as management changes can be implemented based on preventing disease in the healthy calves in the present calf rearing season as well as preventing disease in future seasons. Nutrition also plays a major part in preventing disease as well as maximising growth. The older the cattle beast the lower its feed conversion efficiency (FCE) which is its ability to convert nutrients into muscle and skeletal growth. An 11-month-old cattle beast can only convert about 8% of its feed intake into weight. A calf less than a month old

when healthy and not using energy to keep warm can convert up to 50% of its feed intake into muscle and skeletal growth. Therefore it makes sense to capitalise on this high growth period by feeding a calf well during the first few weeks of life. Juan believes underfeeding during this period is an opportunity lost. A high, early feed intake underpins the high volume, accelerated, intensified approach to calf rearing. This approach aims to: • Maximise early FCE and therefore early growth potential • Improve health outcomes as more nutrients are available to the immune system to fight disease and for keeping warm. Calves cannot derive enough nutrients from meal within the first three weeks of life to substantially influence immune function and growth. Therefore most nutrients during this early stage of a calf’s life must be derived from milk. Calves on mum can feed ad-lib to achieve maximum growth but this is not the case in most calf rearing operations. Calves can consume up to 15 – 20% of their body weight in whole milk volume per day in their first few weeks of life. However, they must be fed a high-

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quality, highly digestible whole milk or calf milk replacer up to a milksolids concentration of 20% for this to be successfully implemented otherwise nutritional scours or bloat can occur. Calves need to be transitioned from a low milk feed intake to this higher feed intake over 3-4 days. Most calf milk replacers (CMR) feeding recommendations are below this level of intake to minimise the risk of nutritional scours and bloat. Some CMRs, like Blossom Hi Spec, have feeding recommendations that focus on an accelerated approach to calf rearing. Other strategies that influence FCE include providing ad-lib clean water, ad-lib access to high-quality meal (high palatability, energy > 12 megajoules of metabolisable energy (MJME)/kg, protein 18-20%, coccidiostat, vitamins and minerals) and access to highquality fibre feed (if this is not the meal then meadow hay, lucerne hay, pea straw can be used). Other nutritional additives can be used with success as well such as probiotics, Optiguard or bentonite. When using an accelerated approach to calf rearing weaning off milk is an important process and should be done well to minimise the risk of any subsequent growth checks through poor rumen development. Calfrearers can use several indicators to predict that calves have good rumen development and enough body reserves to be weaned with minimal growth checks. These are: • weaning calves over a period ≥ 10 days • weaning calves ≥ eight weeks old and at ≥ twice their birth weight. Calves need to have been eating meal for at least three weeks and be eating at least 1kg meal per day with ad-lib clean water essential. Juan freely admits there is no onesize-fits-all approach to calf-rearing but he hopes the information that he has learned and collated will help him help those that rear calves. If others are looking for calf-rearing information talk to your local veterinarian, follow calf-rearing forums (but base your actions on science if applicable), or research calf rearing websites like Volac Feed for Growth, DairyNZ, Dairy Australia et al.

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Test for the best BY: KATHERINE DEWITT

’ve been obsessed with a little tool called a Brix refractometer for a few years now. Squirt some colostrum on the tool, look through the eyepiece, read the scale and you can determine the quality of colostrum in seconds. It’s a useful option to add to your calving toolbox to help make informed decisions so your calves get the best quality colostrum. When talking to farmers who use Brix refractometers the same learnings come up again and again. Colostrum quality varies and unfortunately you can’t tell how good the colostrum is unless you test it. Otago farm manager James Matheson is one farmer who started using a Brix refractometer four years ago – a move that’s vastly improved the health of his calves. As part of the WelFarm programme run by XL vets, calves at Chris Lawlor’s Waipahi farm, managed by James, were given antibody blood tests. These tests establish whether calves have received enough protective antibodies to help them develop immunity. “Back then, we were rearing 250 calves and thought we were doing a good job but it turned out half the calves weren’t getting enough of the right colostrum, so we had to make changes,” says James. “Our vet introduced us to the Brix refractometer and since we’ve been using it to test colostrum we haven’t looked back.” Once his team started using the Brix they followed up with antibody blood tests and had pretty much perfect results, whereas before it had been “a bit hit and miss.” “We would strip the cow into a test bucket and everyone would be saying ‘look at this – it’s good stuff’. But when we tested it, it was terrible so we were failing to identify the best colostrum and the calves were missing out. “There’s an old tale out there about heifers having terrible colostrum but, in reality, we’ve found that quite often they have better quality colostrum than the cows, albeit less volume. James says the best colostrum goes to newborns, the next best goes to first and second feeders, and it peters off from there

until the calves are four days old. “It’s made us realise how important it is to test colostrum quality. This is reflected in the health of the calves too because since we started using a Brix refractometer we haven’t lost a calf through illness.”

CALF REARING BY TRAFFIC LIGHT These days James and his team rear 500 calves. It’s a big operation and needs a finely tuned system. In charge of calf rearing is Reuben Earl, who joined the team fresh from Telford Agricultural College two seasons ago. James says at the time they didn’t have a dedicated calf rearer, which most farmers would consider essential. “This was Reuben’s first job, so it was vital that we had good systems in place from the start. Reuben and I collected all the information we could lay our hands on, including from DairyNZ’s website, and developed a plan that followed best practice. We call it our ‘traffic light’ system.” Under the system, new calves are sprayed with a blue dot, tubed with gold colostrum, given a probiotic and a mineral jab. They get a red dot while they’re learning to drink, an orange dot when they’ve got the hang of it, and a green dot when they feed on schedule.

LEVEL UP YOUR CALF CARE To help farmers take their calf care to the next level, DairyNZ developed the Calf Care Toolkit last season. So far, it’s been used by more than 2000 farmers. It’s easy to use: simply answer 12 easy questions online and get instant tailored feedback and farmer advice on ways to make your calf care even better. Once you’ve decided which areas to focus on, follow the web links for more advice and support. You can also share the results with your team, vet or consultant. Give it a go at dairynz.co.nz/calf-caretoolkit. • Katherine DeWitt is a Developer, Animal Care Team, DairyNZ.

WATCH Colostrum www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2MKhXsVx05A

LIVESTOCK | ONFARM

The South Canterbury 220ha dryland farm is running a sheep stud, commerical ewes, beef cows, dairy grazers and 200 sows to spread risk and lift profit.

Diversification drives business Diversification was once a catchword in the agricultural industry but a South Canterbury farmer is showing that, done well, diversification can spread risk and drive profitability. Sandra Taylor reports. Photos by Angela Darke.

n 2012, Hamish Cottle and his father John introduced 50 sows on to Highgrounds Farm, their 220ha dryland sheep and beef property on rolling downs inland from St Andrews. Their reasoning was simple. Hamish had recently returned to the farm so the business had to generate extra income and irrigation was not an option. He also

wanted to take over the farm eventually, so it had to be profitable enough to allow the succession process to get under way – which it has. Prior to buying the farm in 1989, Hamish’s father had experience raising pigs so knew about their requirements, and the business model stacked up. The enterprise has been a success and has grown over the years. Hamish and

his partner Angela, along with Hamish’s parents John and Cheryl, are now running 200 sows and providing Neat Meats with 100 porkers every week. Hamish says they have been fortunate enough to supply Neat Meats from the outset and enjoy a very close and open working relationship with the company, which specialises in niche meat products such as true free-range pork.

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Each sow on Highgrounds Farm produces 2.3 litters per year and each litter averages 11.4-11.5 piglets weaned, which is very high for an outdoor system. The pig enterprise ticks all of the animal welfare, environmental, and economic boxes and Hamish says they take real pride in running what is a truly free-range business. The pigs are on a continuous, albeit very slow, rotation around the farm. Breeding sows are leap-frogging each other as they go through their reproductive cycle and this means they are always given clean, disease-free ground for farrowing and rearing their young. Hamish and John run a three-week batch farrowing system, so every three weeks 28 sows come in for farrowing onto clean ground in cleverly designed, round farrowing pens that Hamish and his father adapted from a design described in a 1950s Ruakura technical publication. The pens allow the sows to express their natural behaviour while giving the piglets a central “safe zone” to stop the sow using her progeny as a mattress – the leading cause of piglet deaths. At weaning the piglets are divided into gender groups and each is run on a separate paddock. Because of the space they are allocated there is no need for teeth or tail trimming or the animal health treatments often required in more intensive operations. No antibiotics are used. The weaners stay on their designated areas and are finished on a specially formulated mix that Hamish buys from Fresh Pork at Burnham. He buys in eight different mixes, each specifically formulated for the different life stages and nutritional requirements of the pigs. The weaners are finished at about four months of age. They are weighed every week and drafted off when they reach the required weights, the males at 80kg (6065kg CW) and the females 100kg (70-80kg CW). They are processed at Harris Meats in North Canterbury. The pig operation is a critical part of the farm’s pasture rotation, which is run on a five-year cycle. The pigs are incrementally moved onto run-out pastures and, because Hamish gives them enough room to ensure they retain ground cover and don’t dig up too much soil, the pigs are fantastic at building up soil fertility by depositing

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Left: The farm is now running 200 sows and providing Neat Meats with 100 porkers every week. Below: Hamish Cottle and Angela Darke are running a free-range beef, sheep and pig business.

potassium and phosphate along with nitrogen. These nutrients are soaked up by a catch crop of whole-crop cereal silage that is grown in the wake of the pigs. When fed out, this silage transfers nutrients across the farm. Other crops grown are kale for wintering dairy grazers and rape, kale, and oats for sheep. To prevent nutrient losses to the environment, pig pens are placed on

higher ground. Gullies, which the pigs cannot access, are left in grass that acts as a nutrient trap and prevents run-off into waterways or critical source areas. Hamish employs two full-time staff to work in the pig side of the business – while the pigs have greatest costs they also generate valuable cashflow and are typically the most profitable part of the enterprise.

›› Sheep numbers to expand p52 51

Sheep numbers to expand Hamish admits his real passion is his sheep. He runs a Texel stud (selling 25-30 rams every year) alongside 1300 Perendale/Texel commercial ewes and 400 hoggets. In selecting ewes he is looking for a sheep that can hold her condition in tough seasons while still feeding her progeny well. He is also looking for carcase characteristics, such as depth of muscle and conformation, as well as longevity. They have recently added a neighbouring 120ha to their landholding and are looking to increase ewe numbers to 2500 plus replacements and gradually phase out the 170 R2 and 160 R1 dairy grazers that have been a stop gap since buying the new farm. They will increase ewe numbers by retaining more ewe lambs from their ewes and hoggets. Hamish believes that, done well, the sheep can be financially competitive with the dairy grazers, and this means setting up a system that maximises spring and early summer production so that 70-80% of lambs are gone at weaning or very soon after. Legumes will be critical to driving this fast-finishing

system and Hamish is increasing the area he has in lucerne from 20ha to 50ha by establishing around 10ha more every year. The farm is moving away from ryegrass pastures simply because they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t persist or perform in the east coast dryland environment, and all permanent pasture mixes now include deep-rooting species such as tall fescue and cocksfoot along with herbs such as plantain and chicory and clovers. It is this high-quality feed that will allow the ewes to realise their genetic potential, and ultimately Hamish would like to be scanning 180% and consistently tailing 160%. At the moment the ewes are scanning around 175% and lambing 150%. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If we can set the scene then she can do the job.â&#x20AC;? Between 30% and 40% of the terminal sire lambs are sold at the weaning draft but Hamish says he likes to see lambs reach their potential and strives to finish them to between 18-20kg CW. To do this they grow the specialist finishing feeds pasja and rape, which they find does the job well. The weaned lambs are run in mobs that are gone

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through fortnightly, taking off any that are ready to go. Remaining lambs are drenched once a month or every second visit to the yards. Depending on the season, surplus rape may be used for flushing ewes but Hamish is hoping he will be using lucerne for that in the near future. The lucerne is being established on stony soils ideally suited to the forage because they are free-draining and will allow the tap root to grow through the soil profile to access moisture and nutrients at depth. Hamish says he intends using lucerne to drive ewe lactation and both pre- and post-weaning growth rates. By maximising lamb growth rates in spring and early summer he will have the bulk of his lamb crop gone by January and can either use the lucerne for making supplementary feed or for trading lambs before it is used for flushing ewes. In other words, it provides options. Breeding cows have played, and will continue to play, an important role grooming pastures on Highgrounds Farm. A couple of rougher blocks are ideal for wintering the 40 Angus/Hereford type breeding cows. These are all put to an Angus bull and all the non-replacement progeny are sold at weaning. With the acquisition of the extra 120ha Hamish is aiming to increase breeding cow numbers to 60 because he values the role they play in maintaining pasture quality. Hamish sees diversification and setting up their farm system to be summer safe as being the strengths of their business. The three enterprises – pigs, sheep and cattle – complement each other and mean they have not got all of their eggs in one protein-production basket. According to Overseer’s long-term average climate data the farm receives 567mm of annual rainfall – hence the recent focus on establishing droughttolerant dryland pastures and using these pastures to maximise early season production. While Hamish doesn’t use a farm consultant he gleans information from colleagues and industry experts including Angela, who is a soil specialist working for PGG Wrightson. Hamish is part of the Fairlie-based Red Meat Profit Partnership group “Fairlie Good Farmers”. He says he has really enjoyed being part of this group and has got a lot out of it, particularly as he expands the business and makes use of lucerne and other pasture species to drive production.

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Left: The extra 120ha will allow cattle and sheep numbers to increase and stop dairy grazing. Below: Hamish gives the pigs room to retain ground cover and not dig up too much soil. Bottom: Each sow on Highgrounds Farm produces 2.3 litters per year and each litter averages 11.4-11.5 piglets weaned.

LIVESTOCK | ONFARM

Owen Maher.

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Drone view of new sheep yards.

Rapid gains on run-down farm A farm that was in a run-down state in 2018 has had a major make-over. Russell Priest compares then with now. Photos by Brad Hanson.

he Maher/Lowry family of Rangiwahia featured in Country-Wide December 2018, the story focusing on the state of the farm they had bought in the autumn of that year. The 294ha hill country block (now named Whakatiwai) was once described by locals as a model farm but had been leased for the previous 17 years and required a lot of work. Unfazed by this the manager, Owen Maher (then 35), and his support team could see the farm’s potential and immediately embarked on a massive restoration project. The result in such a short time can only be described as astonishing. When the writer visited in April it was hard to comprehend that the area was just emerging from the most severe drought and yet Whakatiwai stood out like an oasis. “The farm was just one big paddock when we took over. It made stock management a nightmare for me because I’m a rotational grazing man,” Owen said. Fences were falling over, wires were so loose stock could walk straight through them or through large holes under the bottom wire.

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“We replaced 1000 posts and fortunately most of the wires were okay and only needed straining so the job was not as formidable as it looked.” Owen’s engineer brother Derek often helps out with fencing and, while he’s been doing this, Owen has been able to concentrate on the stock work. “I had a bit of a win when Derek arrived the weekend before the Covid-19 lockdown and decided to remain in our bubble and become an essential worker. He was with us for three weeks.” The cessation of livestock trading due to the lockdown meant the brothers were able to concentrate on erecting a subdivisional fence and completing most of the remaining repair work. “If the lockdown hadn’t occurred and Derek hadn’t arrived I’d be fencing for three months through the winter.” Owen is now happy that most of the fences are stockproof, allowing him to set up a long winter rotation and making management a lot easier. At takeover in April 2018 most tracks and water tables on the farm needed clearing. Water courses had been blocked, resulting in large swampy areas that caused a significant number of stock deaths. Dams required cleaning out and

new dams needed to be formed. Owen bought a second-hand 12-tonne Caterpillar digger for $32,000, on which he has clocked up 400 hours. “I put in new dams to encourage stock to graze paddocks more evenly, and put in crossings where I saw ewes were crossing swampy areas.” A good source of gravel was discovered on the farm and the digger and a 14t dump trailer and tractor have been used to metal the major tracks and create two pads for feeding balage to in-calf cows and heifers in winter. Most of the earthworks have now been completed thanks to the digger and Owen’s tireless work. He maintains that using an outside contractor would have cost at least $60,000. The digger’s still valued at $32,000 and $15,000 has been spent on running costs and maintenance, he says. Vehicle and stock access has been markedly improved, water has been made more accessible, and large areas of swampy land have been drained, recovering valuable grazing land and indirectly saving the lives of many animals.

›› Raising stock quality p56 55

Above: This year winter numbers are likely to be 1470 ewes, 91 cows and R2 in-calf heifers, and 60 R1 heifers.

“If the lockdown hadn’t occurred and Derek hadn’t arrived I’d be fencing for three months through the winter.”

Raising stock quality While completing an impressive amount of work on the infrastructure Owen has also created a name for himself in the livestock world in an incredibly short time. “It was always one of my goals, however, I thought it would take a lot longer to do but the reason it hasn’t is because we started with good breeding stock.” Not only has he managed to get his breeding ewes and cows to perform at high levels but he’s also created a strong demand for his lambs, R2 incalf heifers, and weaner steers with most of them pre-sold before birth. While he claims the credit for getting the numbers on the ground he also heaps praise on his stock agent, Gareth Williams. “Gareth acts as my eyes and ears in the marketplace while I do the on-farm stuff. He and I work very well together and I have 100% faith in him.” Taking over the farm in autumn 2018 meant it was a struggle to assemble the required numbers of stock of the right quality, particularly sheep. Thanks to Gareth a high quality herd of Angus cows and R1 heifers was assembled but some were calving in early July, which created management problems, and many were old.

“When you buy mobs of cows you don’t always get what you want so it will take a year or two to establish a herd that I’m happy with,” Owen said. The number wintered (140) suggested by his bank manager (Owen wanted to winter only 70) also took him out of his comfort zone but he came through with flying colours. The ewes were a mixed bag, some coming with the farm and many were aged. Gareth had found enough reasonable quality Dorset Down rams despite its being late in the ram-selling season. These went out with the ewes March 3 and their progeny were a revelation, as they were again in 2019. Owen’s first winter on the farm saw it carrying 1250 ewes, 140 Angus in-calf cows, and 103 R1 Angus heifers because a lot of roughage needed cleaning up back then. This year the proposed winter numbers are 1470 ewes, 91 cows and R2 incalf heifers and 60 R1 heifers. While the stock units have remained largely the same over the first two winters what have changed significantly are the performance levels, particularly of the sheep. Ewes wintered in 2018 achieved a surprising 134% lambing but last year this figure was 148%. The calving figures were 87% (2018) and 92% (2019).

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Timing critical to productivity Owen has increased ewe numbers significantly since taking over and is comfortable carrying up to 1500. The ewe market has been so strong over the last two years he has been forced to buy older ewes but his preference is to buy four-tooths. He aims to establish a rotation of buying 300 - 400 four-tooth ewes each year and, at the end of their final year in the flock, sell them with lambs at foot just before docking (early October). With the extra feed then available the remaining stock should perform better and enable him to achieve his goal of selling 90% of his lambs averaging 34kg off mum before Christmas (54% last year) and getting rid of all cast-for-age ewes at the same time. “I’m looking to lift significantly more lambs from the under-30kg to the over30kg weight bracket and sell them before Christmas ‘cos that’s where the best profit is.” After weaning, the remaining ewes and lambs will be mobbed up and rotated until shearing in January. Owen says the ewes have an average condition score at docking of about 2.5, which improves dramatically to 3.5 at shearing in response to the extra feed

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they are getting from being in a rotation. He is amazed at the growth response of the pasture in moving from a set-stocking regime to a rotational one. Both ewes and lambs pile on the weight, with the weaned lambs settling down quickly and the un-weaned ones appearing to self wean. “If they didn’t go into a rotation the ewes that were hard at weaning would still be hard at tupping.” With fewer mouths to feed over the summer Owen expects to be able to feed the cattle, the remaining lambs, and the ewes better and enter the ewe-buying market knowing that he has enough feed at home to sustain an extra 300 - 400 four-tooth ewes. Last year drought indicators were starting to appear before Christmas so Owen wisely sold 95% of his cull ewes ($148) and a third of his lambs ($132) in early December, then sold a further 400 lambs at the first sale in January for $108. “I knew the money wasn’t going to be good at the first sale so I worked out how many lambs I could carry over the summer and instead of selling 800 I only sold 400.”

›› Bulls need tight fences p59

KEY POINTS: Whakatiwai • 294ha hill country sheep and beef breeding farm. • Situated 40 km northeast of Feilding. • Bought April 12, 2018 in rundown state. • Today most of the infrastructure restored. • Major earthworks and fencing undertaken. • Dramatic improvement in stock performance and soil fertility. • Fast developing reputation for quality stock.

Below: Ewe numbers have been raised significantly.

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Bulls need tight fences During the 2018 bull-buying season Owen and Gareth bought five outstanding Angus bulls for an average of $9,600. Unfortunately the poor state of the fences prevented single-sire mating of the cows, resulting in a disrupted mating and two bulls suffering serious injuries through fighting. Consequently the mean calving date was pushed back and the number of dries was above expectations (92% scanning). In addition, a patch of bad weather in the last 10 days of calving resulted in high calf losses and the percentage plummeted to 92%. To avoid the rough weather, many of the cows calved on steep sidlings and the calves rolled down into the swampy areas in the valley floor. These factors have been remedied. The 2019 year’s mating went without a hitch (after paying an average of $10,000 to replace the two injured bulls). The swamps have been drained and a track put in to allow easy vehicle access to the valley floor. Owen now uses a drone to keep an eye on calving cows because he tags calves at birth. A job that used to take him 1 1½hrs takes only 20 minutes with the drone. He’s now found other uses for it on the farm, like general surveillance work and determining where to erect fences and dig drains. Owen back in 2018 fencing the farm.

›› Mobile yards improve calving p60

Owen in 2018 after he bought a 12-tonne digger to work on tracks and dams.

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Top: A larger percentage of the breeding herd wintered this year will be R2 heifers. Above: Dams/ stock crossings have been constructed in swampy valley floors. Above, right: Portable yards have been used to save valuable cows and calves.

Mobile yards improve calving The area on the farm where the MA cows are calved is some distance from the cattle yards so a set of portable yards has been installed on a ridge between the two main calving paddocks. The yards have proved invaluable in dealing with cows, particularly those with twins (10%). He paid for them in one year with the cows and calves that were saved. Owen is particularly proud of the performance of his R2 heifers and believes his aim of producing heifers better than his cows has already been realised. The 15 that calved last year were from a mob of 82. They weaned calves that averaged 255kg (the same weight as calves from the MA cows) with the heaviest being 310kg. Last year he sold an even line of 67 R2 in-calf heifers to a farmer who achieved a 98% calving and a 98% rebreeding rate. This same farmer wanted to buy them again this year but couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t because of the drought, so Owen sold them locally. The average price over the last two years for 98 R2 in-calf heifers was $1540.

Owen puts the success of his calving two-year olds down to the right genetics and good feeding. His yearling heifers went to the bull this year on November 10 for seven weeks, weighing 365kg. At scanning they were 425kg and by calving they will weigh 490-510kg. A much larger percentage of the breeding herd wintered this year will be R2 heifers (28%) giving him the opportunity to cull the MA cows heavily, particularly the late calvers. This will enable him to bring the mean calving date forward significantly and have most cows calving in the first cycle. For the last two years Owen has sold 73 weaner steers, averaging $870. This year they left the farm during the early stage of lockdown, which was a huge relief to Owen because of the drought. Owen is the first to admit that what has been achieved by the input from his mother Teresa, partner Janelle Gillum, his brother Derek, bank manager Mike Russell and many others.

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LIVESTOCK | STOCK CHECK

If animals are not deficient they will not grow or perform any better with trace element supplements.

Less on worms, more on feeding BY: TREVOR COOK

he lockdown for me meant the longest time spent at home for many years − a welcome break and time to catch up on numerous things. Now the grazing rotation is running perfectly, the firewood shed full, an old shed is weatherproof, and the office is tidier. In tidying my office I got captivated by old client reports, and shuddered at some. They were far too wordy, like little reference books. The font was too small and the typeface hard to read. However, it was the content that I was both impressed and embarrassed with. The reports were from the mid 1990s when drench resistance was an issue but the new combination drenches were dealing with that. Product inputs were prominent; the role of feeding was not as prominent. The worm management advice was much the same as I would give today − drench testing, refugia, using combinations, and warnings about long-acting products. Grazing advice was focused on lowering the larval contamination challenge to lambs and calves and grazing plans took precedence over best feeding of young stock or making best use of feed. I didn’t give as much advice then about modifying drench use on low contamination grazing and I have often wondered if that has been one of the big drivers of increasing drench resistance. The old reports show the early development of management concepts that I promote strongly today. They were based on research that, over time, I

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have been able to validate by observing and measuring the outcomes on farms. Today’s advice has a more practical slant. All advice changes over time and, having attended a presentation about farming and greenhouse gases, I see a definite need for change. Not as prominent in 1995 as today was my focus on young stock. Growing replacements well in all grazing systems was important but back then the links with subsequent production were not as clear. Hogget mating weights of 34kg was a target, and for a 55kg ewe that is above that so-called magical 60%. I never believed that applied to lighter ewes. The long-term impact of ewe lambs reaching puberty was not evident in any of my reports and such discussion was all about the success of hogget lambing. Yearling heifer mating weights of 260kg appeared in one of the reports but mature cows, especially Angus, were smaller then − but not that small. Even in deer herds the weights of yearling hinds were too light to allow high pregnancy rates. Today, replacement females being too light is still a major limitation to achieving higher production. Averages are used rather than minimum weights. The size of the tail end determines the mob performance. Advice on growing young stock for breeding or finishing hasn’t changed. They must have quality feed to grow fast and will always give the biggest return on investing in quality feed − hence the caution I always give about using just percentage of body weight for calculating feed demand. Offering more of a poorer

feed will not make up for its lower quality unless stock have lots of choice in which case they will choose to eat only the highest quality. If made to eat more, their rate of weight gain will drop. In my early reports animal health did dominate the advice so, when dealing with growing lambs or calves, worms and trace elements were very much to the fore. Both can have a huge impact on weight gains, so their dominating the advice was valid.

Young stock will always give the biggest return on investing in quality feed.

For worms, though, there is a real interaction between feed quality and quantity, and susceptibility. The impact of a relatively low larval challenge on growing calves on poor quality summer pasture is significantly more than with them on higher quality pasture. In fact, the impact of worms is always much greater when animals are under feed pressure. The impact of deficient trace elements varies: for calves, very low selenium levels even on very good feed will make them look wormy and not grow; lambs on very good grass with little clover can grow slowly if the soils are mildly low in cobalt. But it is always wise to remember that if animals are not deficient they will not grow or perform any better with trace element supplements.

LIVESTOCK | ANIMAL HEALTH

Your choice of lambing date may have created a hole and now you will struggle to grow out of it.

Getting your lambs off to a fast start BY: BEN ALLOTT

principle that I have really taken away from my involvement in the RMPP action network groups is that if we are serious about increasing the efficiency and sustainability of our operations, then performance recording and benchmarking to identify opportunity are extremely valuable. RMPP have published a great booklet: “A core set of KPI measures for red meat farming businesses.” This booklet has defined the KPIs that influence the productivity and profitability of a sheep and beef farm business. For each KPI it lists the data required to calculate it, works through the calculation, and then provides

information to benchmark how your number stacks up against similar farms to help you identify areas of potential in your business. On page 21 the process for calculating “Live weight gain lamb over a fixed period of time” is detailed. You don’t have to talk to too many farmers or sit through many farm consultant presentations to hear that a critical fixed period of time is the preweaning period for both lambs and calves. So, you have dug out last year’s data and in your terminal twin mobs with an average weaning weight of 31kg at 100 days of age and an estimated birth weight of 4kg. From that you calculate an average pre-weaning growth rate of 270g/day – nothing to be ashamed of, but you know that on the monitor farm down the road

they can regularly achieve 300g/day, which would stack an extra 3kg on every one of your lambs!

WHAT ARE THE KEY DRIVERS OF PREWEANING GROWTH IN LAMBS? 1) Genetics: The first influencer is the maternal effect as your ewes set half of the potential of the lamb born. Over the past 15 years what traits and genetic potential have you been selecting for in your maternal sires? Has selection for higher lamb weaning weight (WWT) alongside higher lambing percentages been a focus? The second major influencer is the sire effect. Are you taking full advantage of hybrid vigour by using terminal sires to their full potential? Do you assess the genetic potential for lamb growth in

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to treat or not treat stock classes at different times is incredibly valuable, brings a lot of clarity and confidence, and leaves you less susceptible to spending money out of fear or habit.

Ewes with low BCS and ewes that have lost body condition in late pregnancy have been shown consistently to give birth to smaller lambs with poorer survival.

your terminal ram purchase? Is your ram budget ($) shooting you in the foot by severely limiting the growth potential of their progeny? B+LNZ genetics have some excellent tools to make finding rams and assessing their merit easier. In your discussion group, or alongside your farm advisor, take some time to go through FlockFinder and RamFinder and to gain an understanding of key estimated breeding values (eBV), the NZ Maternal Worth Index, and the NZ Terminal Worth Index. 2) Lambing date/pasture cover: So many different strategies are out there. The one question I would ask you is “Does the feed demand brought on by your lambing date regularly result in average pasture cover dropping below 1200-1300kgDM/ha in the post-lambing period?” If the answer is “yes” then you are shooting yourself in the foot twice over – first because you have started to limit the daily feed intake of lactating ewes, reducing their milk production and therefore lamb growth rates; and second because grazing pasture this low has now started to impact on pasture growth rates, limiting your total pasture production for the spring. Your choice of lambing date may have created a hole and now you will struggle to grow out of it. An eye-opening experience through the spring is to record average pasture

cover at weekly or fortnightly intervals in blocks with early lambing ewes versus later lambing ewes. Do you see areas with low post-lambing covers translate into lower pre-weaning growth rates? 3) Ewe body condition score: The target is for ewes to lamb at a BCS of 3. Every attempt should be made to avoid BCS loss in late pregnancy. Ewes with low BCS and ewes that have lost body condition in late pregnancy have been shown consistently to give birth to smaller lambs with poorer survival. They tend to produce less colostrum, to have lower total milk production, and to wean lighter lambs. 4) Parasite control: Too much emphasis is placed on the single topic of pre-lamb, long-acting treatments for ewes. These are just one of the tools available to you and their use should be considered in light of a heap of other information. In previous articles I have written about how stocking policies, sheep:cattle ratio, young:mature stock ratio, use of alternative forage crops, and sheep genetics influence the contamination of pasture with parasite larvae. Developing a detailed animal health plan, putting in place monitoring steps, and clearly articulating how you will reach a decision on whether

Table A: Top genetics on high quality forages where intake was never limited. Birth weight (kg)

Weight at 12 weeks (kg)

Live weight gain (g/d) birth to 12 weeks

Single

5.5

51.6

549

Twins

5.0

41.7

453

Triplets

4.4

37.4

396

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5) Trace elements: You should know your farm’s selenium status and have an evidence based supplementation programme if required. Selenium deficiency will impact on lamb growth rates and on lamb survival. In my experience cobalt/Vit B12 deficiency in lambs leading into and after weaning is common, although in the locations I have worked in, deficiency in ewes is uncommon. Trace element requirements are farm specific, so spend the time developing a comprehensive animal health plan with an advisor you trust. 6) Pasture quality: Generally speaking, pasture quality in late winter and early spring tends to look after itself and the focus during this period is simply the quantity of feed available to support lactating ewes. As temperatures lift, and pasture covers stabilise and rise, the driver of animal performance shifts to the quality of the sward. With heat, grass species increase their fibre content and the feed quality of grass drops. Increasing the legume and herb content of the feed on offer helps maintain a higher quality pasture mix to help drive lamb growth rates as they transition from a milk-only diet to becoming more and more reliant on pasture. • Ben Allott is a North Canterbury veterinarian.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: A project at Poukawa Research Farm was run to assess what could be achieved with top genetics on high quality forages where intake was never limited. The results were out of this world (see table). While this research project was not set up to deliver economic optimums, to me it highlights that irrespective of your current performance level there is still a hell of a potential opportunity left to find.

LIVESTOCK | SCANNING

Ewe scans down 20% BY: JOANNA GRIGG

he summer feed shortage has translated into fewer lambs in utero. A catch-up with ewe pregnancy scanners mid-June shows the first third of the scanning season is not heralding a uniform disaster for all, but down in general. Ewes in Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Tasman and Marlborough that went to the ram during February and early March have 15 to 20% fewer lambs on board. It was a different story north of the Mohaka River, Wairoa, with cracker conditions allowing good rates of multiples. Andrew Vavasour, Ewe Scan, said March-mated ewes were scanning well here and some farmers reported it was “the best year ever in their farming career.” Carl Williams, AgScan owner and operator for 26 years, said ewe condition picked up in Waikato as mating progressed but the earlier mobs, tupped in February, were obviously losing weight. This is

reflected in the 20% drop in expected lambs compared with usual. In Hawke’s Bay, pregnancy rates were also trending down 20% - a combination of more dries (typically 4%) and fewer multiples. Triplet-bearing ewes made up less than 5% of most flocks he had scanned, he said, which is probably a good thing.

“I know it sounds gloomy but everyone has a turn being in the crap so to speak, and this year it’s Hawke’s Bay’s turn.” Fertility has come at a cost with one of Williams’ clients spending into six figures on feed. “Some farmers who have invested in feed have ewes in better than normal body condition.

“Two neighbouring farms had dramatically different results; one fed supplements and was only 4% down while the other didn’t so much and was 30% down.” Fewer ewes were conceived in the first cycle, creating a larger mob of lates for many farmers. Hogget lambing remained in the plan for a group of farmers that always have this built into their system, Williams said. “They know what they are doing and plan for it.” Andrew Vavasour, Ewe Scan, said clients in Hawke’s Bay typically had scanning results 15% to 20% down - from 200% to 185% for example. “One guy had 22% dry in his two-tooths but it turned out to be a high-five moment as he wanted to sell them anyway.” Fewer triplet ewes may be a blessing for getting mobs through winter but it will still be a battle even for single-bearing ewes. Vavasour describes pasture covers and ewe condition in the district as concerning for the start of winter.

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Left: The crew at Riverina Station, Gisborne, model Ewescan’s Covidinspired headwear during pregnancy scanning 2020. Left to right: Ray Takarua, Jay Mutton, Matua Carston, Andrew Vavasour from Ewescan, Gavin Bowen and Dan McGregor. Right: Don’t expect to see many triplets in early to mid-lambing flocks in Hawke’s Bay, Waikato, Marlborough or Tasman.

“Areas are decimated, with dead pastures and poor crop strike.” Ewe condition had not recovered by mid-June across much of the Hawke’s Bay, Tasman and Marlborough. “There is definitely stress out there and scanners just try our best to cheer farmers up. “The baking and feed sent to farmers has been hugely well received and appreciated. “I know it sounds gloomy but everyone has a turn being in the crap so to speak, and this year it’s Hawke’s Bay’s turn.” Scanning gives options. Vavasour said some farmers are selling triplet-bearing ewes or sending late lambing older ewes to higher country as a buffer mob for potential sale with lambs at foot. He has about half the normal hoggets booked to scan in the Hawke’s Bay.

“Farmers are just worried about trying to feed their livestock each week, rather than focused on the money side.” Earl Paewai, Livestock Ultrasound Scanning, was 25% through his Dannevirke, Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Wairoa scanning beat. His database result was showing an average conception rate for mixed age ewes of 95% (dry rate five percent). Mixed age ewes were averaging a 146% lamb potential, with a top result of 194%.

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“Some farmers are pleasantly surprised as they were expecting worse.” Two tooths struggled the most, averaging 11% dry, and a 116% lamb potential. Overall, results were trending back on last year, particularly Hawke’s Bay, he said. Ewe numbers were down and there were fewer hoggets booked to scan as they are either sold or run dry. The drought situation has been really tough for farmers but morale was boosted by kindness of others. “One Dannevirke guy took a load of hay up to his ram breeder unannounced and made his day.” The top-of-the-south flocks have also felt the impact of feed shortages. Danny Hajdu, Nelson Town & Country Vets, said earlymated crossbred mobs usually scan around 150% but were closer to 135%. Hoggets were not up to weight so not joined with the ram. “Ewe condition score is now the worst I’ve seen in places.” His beat covers Waimea Plains, Motueka, Tapawera and Murchison. Farmers that held ewe fertility did so through feeding supplements, with some success grazing hop gardens during ripening and feeding hop waste. “The leaves are very high protein.” Rain did not fall until late April, with one advantage being no facial eczema effects.

Normally two-thirds of flocks would carry twins but it is more like 50%. Farmers are not unhappy about this, he said. “Farmers are just worried about trying to feed their livestock each week, rather than focused on the money side.” Steve Leslie scans early-lambing flocks in Golden Bay, Tapawera, Seddon and Wairau Plains. One third through his beat and lambs on board were down as much as 20% but typically 10%. “Supplementary feeding has largely been successful in maintaining conception and multiple rates.” Marlborough had a major dry spell January to April and proactive farmers fed balage, peas or grain. Farmers relying on crops to flush were caught as growth was minimal, he said. The conservatively stocked farms were more resilient. He had observed that body condition was lower than normal, especially south of the Wairau River and coastal Marlborough, with two-tooths the worst affected. “Some were very thin and it’s hard to put condition on now.” The difficult lamb growing season meant lambs were still on farm well into summer. “One farmer I know hadn’t had a draft away, through multiple reasons, by late March. “I guess, in hindsight, more lambs should have gone store from farms this year.”

CROP & FORAGE | ONFARM

A profitable piece of paradise Taumarunui ag consultant Geoff Burton and his wife Ros are creating impressive financial returns from their intensive small scale farm while successfully using summer fallow management. Russell Priest investigates.

or the past 20 years Geoff and the local sustainable land management group have been fine tuning the technique of summer fallowing (SF) or deferred grazing. Ryegrass-based pastures are shut up late spring and summer to allow them to reseed. They build up root reserves and are grazed in the autumn. The group’s belief that the technique has many significant benefits has until recently been based on anecdotes. But research

by AgResearch’s Katherine Tozer strongly suggests the group may be correct (see p71). “SF is about regenerating the pastures and soils and providing a cheap and valuable source of summer feed,” Geoff said. As well as working full-time in their farm business consultancy, Geoff and Ros also run their 40-hectare (29ha effective) property in an idyllic setting on the banks of the Whanganui River, 12km south-west

of Taumarunui. The 11ha of ineffective land is covered in regenerating native bush sloping down to the river from a farmed pumice terrace. Across the river opposite their block is the 420ha Te Maire native reserve, part of the Whanganui National Park. The Burtons shifted to their block 35 years ago and set about knocking it into shape in their spare time with limited outside help. Together they have not only created their own piece of paradise but

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Above: Geoff Burton is a big fan of summer fallowing on his small, but intensive farm. Left: Geoff Burton’s R2 heifers are breakfed on summer fallowed pasture.

FARM FACTS • Strong advocates of summer fallowing • Intensively farmed 40ha (29ha effective) farm. • GFI $2841/ha and NFI $1369/ha. • Buy 450 Coopworth Romney ewe lambs and sell as two tooths. • Finish 50 R1 heifers for local trade.

also a working farm generating a healthy income. When the writer visited it in the middle of February’s severe drought it stood out like a green beacon with its deciduous shade trees and with pastures in an ideal state to respond to rain. The most striking of their pastures had recently gone through the SF programme and were significantly greener and denser, with plants noticeably more vigorous than those in surrounding paddocks. “They display similar vigour after SF to

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that shown by young grass paddocks after they’re sown,” Geoff said. Geoff had shut up two SF paddocks (1.6ha) in November and was break-feeding them in late February to 47 about 400kg R2 heifers. He estimated the paddocks were carrying 4000-5000kg drymatter (DM)/ha and would last them for 30 days. “I wouldn’t normally graze them this hard but because the store cattle market is so flat at the moment and feed is short I’ve made the decision just to maintain them or even let them lose a bit of weight until it picks up.” By rubbing seed heads of the species in the two paddocks in his palms Geoff displayed the large quantity of seed that had been set. To achieve good reseeding, the pastures must not be grazed before the seed has fallen on the ground. Trampling by the stock flattens any remaining vegetation and helps push the seed into the seedbed. “Two years ago I didn’t need my SF pasture because it was such a growthy summer so I flattened it towing a large poplar log behind my truck, because I don’t own any harrows, creating a surprisingly good sward after the seed germinated.” Geoff’s cattle strategy involves shutting up 0.15ha to 0.2ha per cattle beast of

nitrogen-boosted pasture in March/April, buying 50 R1 heifers in late winter and break feeding them from July until the grass starts lifting in October. Then they join the 450 ewe hoggets in a 14 to 20day spring/summer rotation. Normally he aims to finish them for local trade between February and April at 220kg-250kg carcaseweight. Formerly, Geoff operated a more complex cattle finishing system involving making hay and grazing stock off. However, he soon realised carrying autumn-saved nitrogen-boosted grass into the winter and buying cattle when they are traditionally cheap was a far easier and more profitable management strategy. “We must get our heads around good quality grass getting a bit rank because it gives you so much flexibility.” The Burtons’ June 30 balance date stocking rate is about 19su/ha comprising 450 ewe hoggets and 50 recently bought R1 heifers. Geoff questions how meaningful this stocking rate figure is because to achieve it he has sold his older cattle by autumn, allowing him to carry autumnsaved pasture into the winter for his winter-acquired R1 cattle.

›› Hoggets high priority p68 67

Geoff buys 450 Coopworth Romney ewe lambs and sells them as two-tooths.

Hoggets high priority He generally prefers good R1 heifers as finishing stock because R2 cattle are too big for the yards and heifers are cheaper, more feed efficient, and hold their condition better than steers during pinch periods. “They don’t finish as well when they are running with the hoggets as they would if they were by themselves, however, the hoggets are my higher priority stock.” Prioritising stock classes based on their financial return is one of Geoff’s pet subjects that he encourages his clients to use, particularly when feed supply becomes scarce. This year’s drought presented Geoff with the ideal opportunity to put this into practice. With limited feed available he decided to keep feeding the sheep well and reduce the feed to the cattle based on the significantly better estimated return per kg DM from the sheep. When it became obvious he couldn’t finish the heifers he had to make the difficult decision as to how he should apportion the SF pasture to them. Should he give them a maintenance ration and hope for rain and a lift in store price? Or give them a more generous break and hope for rain soon enough to generate enough grass to finish some or all of them?

Or should he apply this to the better conditioned ones and keep the rest on a maintenance ration? He chose the first scenario because he had 1.6ha of SF and this, he calculated, would maintain the heifers for a month at best. In making his decision he was mindful of the 450 ewe lambs coming in mid-April. “I’m cut-throat when it comes to making decisions about when cattle must leave the farm so there’s no way I would let the decision jeopardise my sheep wintering programme.” Fast forward a month and the rain came to Geoff’s rescue. The SF paddocks were cleaned up and are now springing into life as is the rest of the farm in readiness for the arrival of 450 ewe lambs. And the store cattle market lifted enough ($2.20/kg LW) to justify his decision to retain them until it did, although they did lose some weight as expected. The SF area proved its worth by taking grazing pressure off other areas. Without it his financial return on the cattle would have taken a significantly bigger hit. In spite of this setback his budget is likely to remain on track because the price he paid for ewe lambs is less than budgeted as is the likely price (budget $700) he will have to pay in winter for finishing heifers.

FINANCIALS The Burtons’ 2019/20 gross farm income (sales less purchases) will be $82,389 ($2841/ha) with the surplus at $39,701 ($1369/ha). Stock numbers at balance date will remain the same at 450 ewe hoggets and 50 R1 heifers to be bought in June. Selling two-tooth ewes on a high market and buying their replacement ewe lambs on a lower market has been partially offset by a depressed cattle trading margin due to the drought.

In hindsight Geoff confesses he should have sold some of the heifers about Christmas. “I’m pretty keen on feed budgeting, particularly with the type of system we’re running, and it tells me our crunch period is during the summer, which was spot on this year.” The cattle are Geoff’s safety valve and this year they demonstrated their role superbly. “This summer we had to be flexible and change our cattle policy in response to the drought and as a result we’ve got good amounts of quality grass in an ideal state to respond when the rains come.”

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The Burton’s wetland and farm.

Grazing deferred Geoff has been practising SF for the last 20 years and maintains it works particularly well on fragile soils like pumice. About half his farm is covered in pumice and he has also worked extensively with landowners farming pumice soils. “The pumice soils around Taupo are even more fragile than here. They are very low in both nitrogen and potash, which leach readily, and they have very shallow topsoil because of the short time they have been supporting vegetation.” The Burton block has three terraces: one adjacent to the river, composed almost entirely of river silt; above this, a 60m-80m deep pumice terrace that comprises about half of the farmed area; and an upper terrace of much older ash soil derived from a lahar originating from Mt Tongariro. Bubbling up out of this lahar is an extremely reliable source of high-quality artesian water that is gravity fed to the whole farm and hasn’t missed a beat since the Burtons arrived there. The ash and pumice soils have completely different characteristics.

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“The ash soil has superior water-holding capacity to the pumice, with a significantly deeper topsoil and is relatively old.” Soil fertility levels are generally excellent with different readings for the two soil types: Pumice soils - PH 5.9, Olsen P 42, potash 4, organic sulphurs 11. Ash soils - PH 5.7, Olsen P 31, potash 7 and organic sulphur 16. Low potash levels are almost impossible to lift on pumice soils. Annual maintenance fertiliser varies according to soil tests but is normally about 300kg/ha of 15% or 20% potassic super fortified with copper, cobalt and selenium with 1-2t/ha of lime applied about every five years. Occasionally only lime mixed with sulphur and potash is applied as the phosphate levels are more than adequate. Fertiliser is applied to 75% of the farm (the flats) in the spring and to the hills in February. Nitrogen at 30 units/ha is applied annually to about half the farm in the autumn and occasionally in the spring.

Geoff’s strategy when renewing pasture on the pumice soil is to disturb the topsoil as little as possible. While he’s not opposed to renewing pasture using cropping rotations, doing this via the SF method suits his management system and gives him excellent cost-effective results. Geoff’s also drawn on his 40 years of working with Lake Taupo landowners who have traditionally grown large areas of winter crops. “After these areas are sown back into young grass they flourish for three or four years with all the nitrogen being pumped back into them. However, after that they quickly revert to browntop if not managed very carefully.” If Geoff wants to introduce new species to his pastures he SFs the area. In February, before the autumn rains, he oversows the required species with a bit of nitrogen. Then the animals graze it off and trample the seed into the seedbed left by the rotting vegetation. Neither of the paddocks this year require oversowing because this was done eight years ago when they last went through a SF. A mixture of species including ryegrass, plantain, chicory and a number of different clovers was introduced. Of these, only the grasses and clovers have persisted but the others delivered valuable shortterm feed. The naturally occurring herb yarrow is held in high regard by Geoff as a source of quality feed and fortunately it persists under SF. “It’s an extremely valuable species, especially in my summer/autumn pastures, and the lambs thrive on it.” Geoff says it’s important on lower fertility soils like pumice to oversow species, especially grasses that persist for a long period without needing unduly high fertiliser inputs. Geoff’s summer fallow system is cost effective both as a source of valuable summer feed and as a means of renewing pasture. It costs him nothing unless he is sowing new pastures species. He then broadcasts with some nitrogen. The pasture species in his sward include ryegrasses that are not dependent on high levels of N input. There are an assortment of clovers including white, red and subterranean,plus yarrow, paspalum, chicory, plantain and cocksfoot.

›› Tough wintering regime p70 69

Some of the seed set during summer fallow.

Tough wintering regime

Geoff checks one of his traps.

RAINFALL PATTERN Thirty years of records show a 20% decline in annual rainfall, from 1500-1700mm to 12001500mm, and a changing rainfall pattern. “We’re not getting it in the spring and autumn compared with the past, and these are both critical times in the farming calendar.” Last year they received only 1150mm and were particularly dry in the autumn, which affected grass growth in the spring.

The priority stock on the Burton farm are 450 Coopworth Romney ewe lambs bought in mid-April from Rangiwahia’s Philip McKinnon. They arrive onto pasture covers of about 1900kg DM/ha, quarantine drenched at 35kg and enter a 40-day rotation for April/May followed by 30 days for June/July and 20 days for August/September. This tough wintering regime involving a maintenance-only level of feeding from June to September results in their gaining only about 7kg. Joined by the cattle at the end of September, they then enter a rotation varying from 14 to 20 days during which they get four or five paddocks every two or three days. “They are a good, even line of allround sheep, are easy to shift and we only lose about 2%. They have reasonable eczema tolerance because we have only ever had one showing clinical signs in four years.” Geoff says low or non-existent eczema spore counts and internal parasite egg counts are a feature of SF pastures identified by Tozer’s research. Pastures start to respond to warmer temperatures in September when the hoggets are given a B12 injection along with their five-weekly drench. By October pastures are starting to get ahead of them so the cattle are introduced

to achieve control while the rotation continues. From this time through to sale in mid-January the hoggets average 220g live weight gain a day. Geoff’s target liveweight is 60kg by January, and by sale day this year they were 63kg. At the annual Te Kuiti twotooth ewe fair they topped the sale for the second consecutive year, at $295. Geoff’s been buying the McKinnon sheep for four years and stresses when buying trading stock you must first establish what your market is. “Buying ewe lambs for growing out and selling as breeding stock is a completely different proposition to buying finishing stock. You’ve got to consider what they look like ‘cos no one’s going to buy them if they don’t look the part.” The Burtons are strong advocates of the concept of sustainable farming, which is the central focus of the TSLMG group. The four most important sustainability issues for the Burtons are: • Making a good profit • Looking after their soils and pastures • Looking after their own mental and physical welfare • Respecting other people both locally and internationally whose lives are affected by their farming activities.

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CROP & FORAGE | RESEARCH

Bay of Plenty farmer Allen Coster was involved with a Sustainable Farming Fund Project looking at the benefits of summer fallowing.

Summer fallow grows grass BY: ELAINE FISHER

aking paddocks out of grazing rotation for three months, especially when trying to maintain pasture quality in spring, may seem counterintuitive, but research by DairyNZ and AgResearch has demonstrated significant benefits from deferred grazing. Katherine Tozer of AgResearch and Wendy Griffiths of DairyNZ have been involved in separate research trials investigating a system which was part of farming in the days when haymaking and lower stocking rates were the norm. Both scientists are impressed with the benefits of deferred grazing for drystock and dairy farmers including increased pasture density and resilience, and cost savings from not making or buying in feed or under-sowing pasture. Deferred grazing or summer fallow takes ryegrass-based pasture paddocks out of the grazing rotation over late spring and

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summer to allow the ryegrass to flower and re-seed and build root reserves before being grazed in autumn. Typically carried out on hill country where mechanical harvesting of surpluses is impossible, taking a paddock out of rotation allows grazing to be concentrated and therefore pasture quality retained on the balance of the farm. Wendy’s research began in March 2018, when DairyNZ started a plot-scale trial at Scott Farm, near Hamilton. The aim was to look at ways of recovering perennial ryegrass populations through grazing management. Through discussions with a group of Waikato dairy farmers, two management interventions were identified: extending the spring grazing rotation and deferred grazing of pasture in spring and summer. These were compared with two other management interventions: autumn under-sowing, and current best practice spring and summer management. “Deferred grazing is a viable option for

rye grass pasture regeneration. It allows the recovery of the tiller population and the shedding of seeds to recruit new plants. There are also cost savings from not having to under-sow,” Wendy says. “My observations are that a mass of seedlings become established under the mulch and that mulch, in a drought situation, helps retain soil moisture. “During our trial period we did not have a great deal of rain, maybe just three to four small events, but each time it rained we got a new strike of plants as soil moisture had been retained. We also observed a good spread of new plants across the pasture.” Another advantage of the system could be a reduction in soil degradation due to cropping. “Seed sales data indicate that 30,000 to 50,000ha has moved to annual crops and pasture in NZ since 2007. From what farmers are telling us we believe that some of this increase is due to failure of perennial pasture to persist. This is

Top: On Allen Coster’s ‘summer-safe’ farm in the lower Kaimai, Bay of Plenty, standard rotational grazing and deferred grazing was compared side by side. Above: A glasshouse study investigated the impact of simulated ‘deferred grazing’ on the root mass when ryegrass plants were grown in 1m deep tubes. The root mass was much smaller in the simulated ‘standard rotation’ treatment (left) than in the simulated ‘deferred treatment’ (right).

a significant cost and also carries an increased risk of lasting damage to soils.” Wendy acknowledges there is some concern among farmers around facial eczema levels. “This is a legitimate concern and the potential for increased spore levels is something farmers should be aware of. However, we did not have a problem during the trial in 2018-19 because it was under drought conditions.” Wendy says while there is more research to do DairyNZ will produce a simple manual to help inform onfarm decisions about how to implement deferred grazing. Katherine Tozer says AgResearch was interested in finding ways to improve pasture persistence and resilience, its recovery from drought, uneven rainfall, insect pressures and grazing stress. “I was aware of earlier research looking at the agronomics of deferred grazing which is critical but also wanted to look at what goes on inside the plant and how that affects the tiller pattern and the plant’s lifecycle. “In most NZ farms we treat the plant as if it is in a vegetative state all the time and do not allow it to complete its lifecycle, but we don’t do that with anything else on the farm.” Through the Sustainable Farming Fund project, “Farming in a Volatile World”, two Bay of Plenty hill country sheep and beef farmers – Allen Coster from Kaimai and Rick Burke from Katikati and the summer dry farm owned by John Sherlock of west

Waikato worked alongside AgResearch, Ballance Agri-Nutrients, Plant & Food Research, Bay of Plenty and Waikato Regional Councils and Beef + Lamb New Zealand to quantify the impact deferred grazing has on pasture cover and quality, soil properties, root mass and farm finances. The trial included a glasshouse study simulating deferred grazing, which showed the plants developed three times the amount of root mass and deeper roots, compared with the control. “We ran two parallel sets of experiments and assumed that what we saw in the glasshouse was similar to what happened in the pasture. The results of extra root mass is better survival and regrowth after drought,” says Katherine. “Under current farming methods we have been pushing the system. Letting the plants flower is taking the foot off the pedal and working with the plant’s lifecycle to produce more tillers, but this is also a whole different mindset for some farmers.” Not grazing some paddocks allows the ryegrass to flower and seed. It also increases grazing pressure on the rest of the farm which helps to maintain high quality pastures in late spring and into the summer. Katherine says when pasture is reopened it needs to be treated like new pasture – to be grazed off to let in light and encourage new tillers and seedlings to grow. The potential for increased facial eczema

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spores is a concern. “We have done two field studies. One in a wet year and one in a dry year. Both studies showed there was either lower or similar levels of spores to normal pasture. We have found no evidence that deferred grazing increases facial eczema, but it is still possible spores may go above the safe level so farmers using deferred grazing should be aware of that potential.” While it may be hard to leave a paddock locked up when feed elsewhere is short, Katherine says if there is a need to open deferred pastures early that can be done, but the biggest benefits come from holding out for extra tillering and production down the track. The results of the research showed that pasture quality was maintained in grazed paddocks. Paddocks that were deferred (not grazed from November until the end of summer) had greater pasture production in the year after deferring. Those pastures also had greater perennial ryegrass tiller densities 18-24 months after deferring and greater ground cover in the year of deferring. Greater ryegrass root mass and tillering (in an aligned glasshouse study in which plants were manually trimmed to simulate regular grazing or deferred) were also recorded. Farm profitability was shown to be greater too, (at least in the Farmax model developed by Steven Howarth from AgFirst). Karin Müller from Plant & Food Research found that some soil parameters including bulk density, total porosity, mineral-N and anaerobically mineralisable nitrogen showed a short-term improvement after deferring.

“Next we’d like to investigate the impact of deferred grazing on runoff and sediment loss and the impact of the greater root mass on nutrient leaching,” Katherine says. “We do not know the impact on N or P runoff but potentially the environmental impact could be biologically significant, considering the positive effects of deferred grazing on ground cover and soil structure.” Katikati dry stock farmer and 2014 Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards supreme winner, Rick Burke says deferred grazing was a saviour for Pukekauri Farms this summer. “This is the driest summer I have known since farming here. Creeks dried up and we had to really juggle grazing management. “A lot of the deferred grazing principles were part of the way we farmed years ago. Now there is much talk about regenerative agriculture and deferred grazing fits exactly with that,” Rick says. “For me it’s a simple low-cost, carbonfriendly and low-stress way of maintaining quality in the late spring by shutting up paddocks and shifting the surplus feed to be grazed at a time of need in late summer early autumn. “Deferred grazing is a tool that helps take the stress out of a drought situation. I have shut-up 10% of my farm which means I can break feed the deferred grazing with dairy heifers or store cattle leaving a large area of the farm to recover from the drought. “It’s a great way to rejuvenate damaged paddocks and the big benefit is that you will grow up to 25% more grass in the deferred paddocks the following spring.”

Allen Coster is a summer fallow fan.

Rick is committed to using deferred grazing as a management tool, selecting paddocks not suitable for making hay or silage, and those which have been pugged by stock, and as a result, have a lot of weeds. “We have also introduced other herbs into the pastures, including plantain, clover, Balansa clover, radish, chicory and vetch which we over-sow, then break feed using the young stock to walk seeds in.” Allen Coster, who farms in the Kaimai Ranges and has also won Ballance Farm Environment awards, was keen to be part of Katherine Tozer’s trial work on deferred grazing, after he heard her give an address at a Grassland conference. “I’m a fan of deferred grazing because of the huge benefits it offers. When we came out of drought, I had all that feed ready to go. “Buying in or making feed at 45 cents or more a kg of dry matter is not viable for sheep and beef farmers,” Allen says. He targeted paddocks that had suffered pugging and where ewes and lambs had been grazed in the late spring. “This form of integrated grazing helped keep internal parasites at bay and gave us a worm free pasture in the following autumn, when we re-opened the paddocks to dairy heifers which are good at mowing down that sort of feed. “We had good weight gain from the stock. I plan to reduce the number of dairy heifers I graze in future and shut up 20 to 25% of the farm for deferred grazing.”

Grazing mid-season cultivars at Scot Farm.

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ENVIRONMENT | FRESHWATER

Blanket regulations concern farmers Farming leaders say jobs will be lost and investment and economic activity will drop if downscaling farming operations is the only viable alternative to meeting tough, new environmental rules. Joanna Cuttance reports.

he Government has set the framework for “Action for healthy waterways” freshwater reforms with some amendments on the initial proposals. Industry groups agreed the amendments are an improvement but felt the blanket regulation would still cause concern for farmers. The impact of the changes would differ by region and by catchment, with little allowance given for regional differences. The framework and policies have been decided by Cabinet and cannot be changed, with the final detailed wording of the document to be released soon. Mid Canterbury arable and sheep farmer David Clark was concerned about achieving the nitrate levels referred to in the document. Initially the proposed bottom line for dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) was at 1ml/l. Clark said this was a bad idea and bad policy, and rightfully it was dropped and replaced with an increase to the existing bottom line for nitrogen toxicity in fresh water from 80% to 95%. Nitrate toxicity is the nitrate concentration at which some fish species may be negatively affected. The higher the

number, the smaller number of species it may have any effect on. For example, at 95%, there may be 5% of fish negatively affected, at a level of 80% there may be 20% affected. Clark said this new level effectively equated to a DIN of 2.4ml/l. Achieving this would be very difficult in the MidCanterbury region when water entering your farm was already above that point. He explained that on the western side of the catchment area there was a spring water stream coming out of DOC land with a DIN of 3.2ml/l. “Farmers are going to be hard pressed to have it at 2.4 through their own properties.” He believed a much more catchmentcontrolled approach was needed. The Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan had a total nitrate target of 6.9ml /l in groundwater, which was a difficult but achievable target and Mid Canterbury farmers were pleased to be able to work towards it. “Now what is in front of us is not achievable and trying to reach this new target would come at a very significant cost to the community”. He said there would be losses of jobs,

investment, and economic activity as farmers saw downscaling as their only viable alternative rather than wanting to, or being able to, invest in changing farm systems. Under the new regulations in-stream nitrogen levels in lowland streams are too high and farmers will have to continue to reduce nitrogen loss over coming decades. Councils would be able to tailor regulations to each catchment but they must remain within the minimum standard regulations set by the Government.

RULES UNWORKABLE Otago and Southland farmers are trying to determine how winter grazing methods can meet the “permitted activity” criteria and the extended standards. Under the new regulations, grazing stock on forage crops in winter would be a permitted activity if: • the paddock was less than 10 degrees slope • the area planted was either less than 50ha or 10% of the farm (whichever was larger) • the crop was set back more than five metres from a waterway. Winter grazing

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also had to meet other standards: pugging was to be no deeper than 20cm and cover less than 50% of the paddock, and bare ground in paddocks subject to winter grazing was to be re-sown as soon as practicable within one month of the end of grazing. Waikoikoi sheep farmer Bill McCall submitted his concerns that the proposed winter grazing rules were unworkable in west Otago where he farmed. Growing and feeding crops was an essential practice to get stock through winter, he said. Since the decisions on the reforms had been released he had been getting on and doing what he could but he felt sceptical. His major concern was the impossibility of having bare ground for only four weeks. McCall explained they tended to finish feeding crops at the end of August. To be able to get back onto the paddock in a minimum of six weeks would be pretty good for them, he said. Although even if they did manage to get a tractor on it was unlikely seed would strike because of the cool soil temperature.

Invercargill-based agribusiness consultant Deane Carson said there was a level of confusion about what was required for this winter. There was a need for information telling farmers what to do. He believed the Government needed to provide an in-depth education plan to help farmers understand the requirements. When people were looking for ways around a regulation it showed something was not well-written, he said. The requirements are from winter 2021, and if farmers wanted to plant above the thresholds or exceed the practice standards they would need to get resource consents. At this point it was not clear what consents would require or what the cost would be.

CHANGE WILL TAKE TIME Southland farmer Dean Rabbidge has been future proofing the farm he owns with wife Sarah at Glenham, near Wyndham, for the past three years. Rabbidge said he had felt comfortable with the original proposal of a 5m setback for

AMENDMENTS CAUSING FARMERS THE MOST CONCERN New bottom lines for DIN and DRP removed. Replaced with tightening measures for in-stream nitrate toxicity. Minimum for new stock exclusion fences set at 3m, a reduction from 5m. Timeframes pushed out by at least 2years. Areas with minor amendments Stock holding pads to meet a criteria otherwise consent required from winter 2021. Regulations now do not apply to; wintering barns, sacrifice paddocks, areas for animal husbandry and calf raising. All feedlots need a resource consent from mid-2020 and must meet stock-holding standards. Those with existing resource consents to take more than 5l/s of water (irrigation) must measure and report electronically. Compliance deadlines vary. All farms must have a farm plan with a freshwater module, staggered over a timeframe. Small wording change to the Wetlands policy to allow extra flexibility. Impact will depend on

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consenting requirements, which are yet to be worked through. From mid-2020 until end of 2024 need a consent for specific forms of intensification. Requirements have changed from those proposed. Impact would depend on the nature of the consent. Areas with less change Grazing on winter forage crops. Te Mana o te Wai – detail still to be settled, inference is that this would diminish the weighting given to economic use when freshwater policies are being implemented. A national synthetic nitrogen fertiliser cap of 190kg/N/ha/year will apply to all pastoral sectors. Dairy farmers are required to report annually to councils the weight of nitrogen applied per hectare. Cap does not apply to arable and horticultural farming. Further information can be found on the Ministry for the Environment website, Action for healthy waterways – information for sheep, beef and deer farmers.

Dean Rabbidge said the results from change would take a long time to show.

stock exclusion fences and many of the fences he had put up met this threshold because this was what worked best on his rolling country. The minimum setbacks for new fences had been set at 3m, though some councils have indicated they would have a 5m setback. The deadlines to have them completed have been pushed out by at least two years. Rabbidge’s biggest concern had been around the timeframes, and the extension along with sheep excluded had given a bit more breathing space. He felt farmers were heading in the right direction but there was a perception by some in society that all the changes would happen overnight and be effective immediately. That was not possible because it involved changing decades of what were educated farming practices of their time, he said. He felt the results from change now would take a long time to show. Rabbidge put in a new water supply last year on part of the farm, completed fencing for total stock exclusion for his cattle, and would continue with this work to include total exclusion for his sheep. He said the financial cost was huge. Federated Farmers still believed that existing national regulation allowing for regional differences with tailored regional rules was far preferable to blanket regulation. Principal policy advisor David Cooper said that, with the new framework decided, they were now providing feedback to government agencies. This was around where the proposed rules could best deliver on the policies and whether they were practical and pragmatic. In the longer term they would focus on working with regional councils on how these new requirements would be implemented.

ENVIRONMENT | REGULATION

Above: A proposed limit of 1mg/L for dissolved inorganic nitrogen has been kicked into touch.

Progress with Healthy Waterways policies BY: KERI JOHNSTON

ast year the Government released its “Action for Healthy Waterways” discussion document. It outlined the much-anticipated, proposed changes to our national freshwater management framework. The document resulted in more than 12,000 submissions being received for consideration by a Government appointed expert panel. The recommendations by the expert panel were approved by Cabinet and released at the end of May. They are essentially a suite of broad policies that are final, and so no further opportunity exists to have input on them. It would be fair to say that the overall result is a much more balanced, practical suite of changes but there is still a lot of detail to come, as discussed later, and the odd quirk that wasn’t expected. The broad policies are as follows:

• Councils will be able to maintain water quality attributes below the national bottom line to “secure the benefits” of the existing structures in the Waikato, Tongariro, Waitaki, Manapouri, and Clutha hydro schemes. • Limits and how they are to be expressed will be defined in planning documents. • Water quantity limits must be linked to ecosystem health outcomes. • Territorial authorities will be required to manage the effects of urban land development on freshwater bodies and coastal marine environments. • Clarification of what Te Mana o Te Wai means and how it is to be implemented, both nationally and regionally. • Councils will be required to involve tangata whenua actively in council processes for policy and plan development and decision making. • Regional council policies and plans must include mahinga kai as a value.

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• Amendments ensure that regional authorities manage all aspects of ecosystem health, not just water quality and quantity. • New attributes with national bottom lines: - Macroinvertebrates - Submerged plants in lakes - Dissolved oxygen - Suspended sediment - Deposited sediment - E. coli at swimming sites during the bathing season. • New attributes without national bottom lines: - Fish species - Ecosystem metabolism - Dissolved reactive phosphorus. • Existing national bottom lines for nitrate and ammonia toxicity attributes will be strengthened to protect 95% of species from toxic effects. Exceptions to this will be allowed in specific areas of the Pukekohe and Lake Horowhenua catchments because of their contribution to national food security (vegetable production). • From mid-2020, technical standards, methods, and requirements for activities affecting streams and wetlands and the surrounding vicinity will be prescribed. This will include vegetation clearance, earthworks (including for drainage), and changes to water levels. Resource consents will be required for most of these activities. • From mid 2020, minimum design standards for new weirs and culverts must provide for fish passage. Passive flap gates will be a non-complying activity. Regional councils will be required to gain information on current

structures and adopt work programmes to address barriers to fish migration. • Until 31 December 2024 resource consents will be required for: - land-use change of more than 10ha to dairying - land-use change of more than 10ha from woody vegetation or forestry to pastoral farming - increases in irrigated pasture for dairy farming above 10ha - increase in winter forage cropping area above annual highest 2014/15 – 2018/19 - increase in dairy support activities above highest annual 2014/15 – 2018/19. • From July 2021 there will be a national maximum of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser application of 190kg of nitrogen per hectare per year for dairy, dairy support, sheep, beef, and deer farming. Dairy farmers must report applied amounts to councils. • From winter 2021, if you are winter grazing on areas that exceed the following thresholds you will require a resource consent: - 50ha or 10% of property area (whichever is larger) is used for winter grazing - setback of five metres from waterways - average slope of paddock 10 degrees • Farm plans will be required for: - pastoral farming totalling 20ha or more - arable farming totalling 20ha or more - horticulture totalling 5ha or more - an agricultural purpose prescribed in the regulations (not yet determined) - any combination of the above uses totalling 20ha or more. • Water users with consents to take more than five litres per second will be required to measure water use every 15

minutes and provide electronic records to councils daily. Notably missing is the national bottom line for dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN). The proposal for a limit of 1mg/L and caused a huge amount of debate. It has been kicked for touch and the need for a DIN limit will be reassessed in the future. Also kicked for touch is water allocation and iwi rights and interests. This is not a surprise – a complex, fraught debate that no government to date has had the balls to address. The nitrogen fertiliser cap was one of the quirks. What they are hoping to achieve with this I am not sure. You can reduce its use but making up the feed shortfall requires supplementary feed, which is a form of imported nitrogen, so you reduce nitrogen in fertiliser only to replace it in imported feed. Nonsensical. So, what happens next? Some of the specific regulations are still to be drafted, including the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and National Environmental Standards. Councils must give effect to these new documents by 31 December 2024. It is indicated that there will be consultation with stakeholder groups (for instance, in relation to the requirements for mandatory farm plans with freshwater modules), but the regulations are due to be presented to Cabinet for consideration in July so there is not a lot of time. As is often the case the devil can be in the detail, so there may still be some sting in the tail in the drafting of the regulations. Watch this space. • Keri Johnston is an environmental engineer with Irricon Resources.

Nonsensical: The nitrogen fertiliser cap will mean a farmer will have to reduce nitrogen in fertiliser only to replace it in imported feed.

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ENVIRONMENT | CARBON FORESTRY

Carbon price must rise – eventually Speculation on the carbon price skyrocketing has been partly blamed for fuelling the buying of productive farmland to be blanket planted in pine trees. What does the Covid-19 global pandemic mean for the carbon price and the regulations surrounding it? Rebecca Harper investigates.

ovid-19 might be a headwind right now but, long term, the price of carbon can only go one way – up. Those in the industry agree there is a dip in demand in the current environment, but the issue of climate change will not go away and the carbon price will have to increase if people are to change their behaviour. Nigel Brunel, director institutional commodities with OM Financial Limited, said Covid-19 hurt but the Zero Carbon Bill had already been passed by government and the net zero goal remains 2050. While there would likely be ups and downs in the carbon price it would have to move higher for the overall aims to be achieved when it came to climate change, Brunel said. Covid-19 was clearly having an impact right now. “People around the planet have been in lockdown and over that time

emissions dropped dramatically but it’s really only one month. It will have some impact on our overall emissions – the numbers being bandied about are a 1020% reduction for the year. “Before Covid-19 we were in for a big year. It’s just pulled back slightly, emissions will still occur and we still have an ETS and the wheels will keep on spinning – they might not be moving as quickly – but they’re still moving.” Brunel did not see the global pandemic having any impact on the government’s legislation plans. “We have a headwind in front of us but I don’t see the government diverting from its climate track. The Zero Carbon Act (ZCA) was passed last year – that’s the big piece of legislation – the rest is relatively minor (in comparison to ZCA). What we now have to do is make the ETS fit for purpose to meet our Paris commitments and track to net zero by 2050. “I don’t see anything changing other than that the Select Committee reported

back and National asked for a delay in implementation. But they’re a minority and it’s likely that legislation will go ahead.” A spokesperson for the Ministry for the Environment said The Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill was making its way through Parliament. The Environment Select Committee reported the Bill back to the House on Monday 4th May. “Parliament is now considering the report and is able to make changes to the Bill before it becomes law.” Brunel believed the carbon price must go higher for people to change their behaviour. “No one will move to an electric tractor unless there’s a meaningful price on carbon impacting fuel prices (and a fairly priced E-Tractor of course).” There was a school of thought that for the Paris agreement to be achieved the carbon price should be placed at $75 to $125 US/tonne by 2030. “I believe the higher the price of carbon

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“The danger of a completely unregulated, unfettered market is that people are driven to the cheapest low risk option – and that’s when we see pine tree fever.” goes, the more technology comes the other way to meet it. I’m probably more of a $50-$75 US/tonne guy over the next 5-10 years,” Brunel said. With regard to farmers and planting of farmland he said no one wanted to see small rural communities being carpeted with pine trees but there were revenue opportunities for farmers. “If someone wants to plant trees for carbon that can be quite a risk. Some companies will go 50/50 with the farmer and it can be a really good business opportunity if done right. “Many farmers are not comfortable with the risk and they want to keep their land. Working with a company through a joint venture removes a lot of the risk for the farmer. He doesn’t have to do anything except provide the land, and he keeps the land. It’s a permanent forest kind of deal usually and not necessarily pine trees.” Ollie Belton, the director and owner of Carbon Forest Services and a partner in Permanent Forests NZ, agrees the carbon price is on its way up. Permanent Forests NZ specialises in nontimber production forests – those purely for environmental purposes including biodiversity and native forest restoration. “We promote high value carbon credits that benefit companies wanting more than to just meet their obligations, such as Air New Zealand. When you fly with them you can choose to go climate neutral and offset your emissions. We match companies with forest owners, often farmers, for that project.” Belton believes the land use debate is an issue if the carbon price continues to

Nigel Brunel.

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climb. At the moment the conversion of pastoral farmland to pine forests is isolated to hotspots around the country, such as Wairoa and the Tararua region, but that could change. “I’m not anti-forestry but I think we need a more integrated approach. We don’t want the escalating carbon price to wipe out productive farmland.” Like Brunel, he believes that the price of carbon must increase if we are to solve the issue of climate change. “But without market regulation or safeguards it is hard to see how we will stop seeing farms converted to forests. We know we need a high carbon price to change behaviour, but we need a higher carbon price for other types of forest, like natives or permanent mixed species forests, to make that economic. “The danger of a completely unregulated, unfettered market is that people are driven to the cheapest low risk option – and that’s when we see pine tree fever.” Belton said the immediate effect of Covid-19 was a decrease in emissions, such as those from aviation, leading to a decrease in demand. “This temporary blip depends on how sustained the decrease is. Aviation is actually a very small part of New Zealand’s emission profile. Other parts of the economy, like transport, are more important.” He believes there are bigger things at play – specifically, politics and the ETS review. Much of the price in the carbon market is driven by regulation. “Will the government, given we have an economic crisis, continue to implement those stronger green regulations in the face of the situation?” If you listen to Brunel, the answer is “yes”. “At the moment we have a price cap of $25 in the ETS; an emitter can just pay the government $25 cash. Before Covid-19 hit the government indicated they would raise it to $35 in 2021. When they announced that, the price of carbon went up big

Ollie Belton.

time. In January the price was at $29 but it has come back. If the government can’t implement that change that will have an impact on price,” Belton explains. Economic recession is the other factor that could significantly impact the carbon price. “Some companies may fail and then won’t participate in the market, which brings demand down. Other parties may have stockpiled carbon credits for future use and could look to sell those into the market to generate cash. There is the potential for a lot of credits sitting in the registry to come to market, which would push the price down.” Belton said this might reduce some of those speculating on the carbon price and purchasing farmland. “It could take the shine off the speculative market but for the longerterm players who understand the market it might slow things down. I personally believe it will only be a pause. “The long-term trend globally is that we are starting to take it (climate change) more seriously, and we need to. Everything is on pause at the moment – it’s just a matter of how long that pause will be and how long before the economy recovers.” As for the tree-versus-sheep debate Belton sits on both sides of the fence – many of his clients are farmers as well as foresters. He says the debate to date has been polarising but it is possible to find middle ground and move forward. “For me, I have seen some of the farm lobby groups doing damage to farmers. Farmers are actually the ones who are in pole position to generate revenue onto farm through trees. But the topic is complex and it can put people off. “I think the forest industry can be quite dismissive of farmers and, conversely, farmers can shoot themselves in the foot. There is a middle ground and I hope this debate can lead to something that’s positive for everyone.”

ENVIRONMENT | CARBON FORESTRY

ETS reform rushed – B+LNZ BY: REBECCA HARPER

nalysis by Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) indicates that since 2019 about 70,000 hectares of productive sheep and beef land has been, or is in the process of being, converted into forestry. The organisation is alarmed that the Government is rushing through a reform of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that will have significant consequences for sheep and beef farmers. An email sent out by B+LNZ chief

executive Sam McIvor said the organisation was seeking changes to the legislation so limits can be set on the amount of carbon farming available through the ETS to offset fossil fuel emissions. He said as the carbon price increased, the rate of conversion was likely to accelerate and spread around the country. “The Government’s own projections show sheep and beef farmland decreasing by nearly 20% over the next 15 years and the land in exotic forests increasing by 25-30% over the same timeframe,” McIvor wrote. This was supported by modelling by

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ENVIRONMENT | RESEARCH

the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment last year. The Commissioner estimated 5.4 million hectares of land would need to be converted into forestry to meet the Government’s Zero Carbon Bill targets (which is about 60% of productive sheep and beef land). As a result, the Commissioner recommended halting the use of forestry to offset fossil fuel emissions. He said the Government had said there were provisions in the Climate Change Response Act that could limit the ability of fossil fuel polluters to offset their emissions by planting exotic trees. “However, our analysis is that the Act does not provide the necessary robust safeguards and increases the risk of challenge should the Government decide to use the legislation to limit units from forestry.” National’s newly appointed Agriculture Spokesperson, David Bennett, said his party was calling for a science-based approach that enabled practical solutions farmers could manage and accommodate within their businesses. He said there were issues with the legislation and requirements and changing land use, particularly at a time when farming was being expected to pay the bills for NZ while having extra costs imposed on it. Bennett said farmer-organisations, like B+LNZ, have been very effective at looking at what can be done. “Farmers have put out there what they are able to do in the current environment and we want the Government to listen to those farmer voices.” Bennett said changing land use was a concern for rural communities in terms of a loss of population and services, like schools. If elected later this year, Bennett said National would listen to and work with farmers to achieve environmental outcomes, setting goals that were more practical and attainable on farm. “We see it as a partnership, rather than a dictatorial approach. It would be about working together to set the rules.”

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Water from stones BY: SANDRA TAYLOR

Lincoln PhD student has found stones can hold a surprising amount of moisture, throwing doubt on long-held assumptions about the water holding capacity of stony soils. Balin Robertson, from Lincoln University, has been studying water storage in stony Canterbury soils and says there is a lack of science on these soils. As a result, irrigation and nutrient models such as Overseer are relying on the assumptions that field capacity (upper drainable limit of a soil) is the water content at a suction of 10 kPa and that rocks do not hold water. Field work was carried out when paddocks were at field capacity, the soil moisture state after a saturated soil has drained for two days. Results showed that field capacity occurred in stony soils at suctions lower than 10 kPa, which suggests that they retain more moisture than had previously been predicted. Balin says his work, carried out at 52 soil pits at 24 pastoral sites across Canterbury, found rock fragments in the subsoil below 40 cm could contribute to a substantial proportion of the water retained at field capacity. “On average, rock fragments account for one third of the water held in the subsoil. “So, while it may not be possible to get blood out of a stone, you can get water.” Stones accounted for 10% of the water retained within the soil to a depth of 60 cm, which is equivalent to around 11 mm of water. Size does matter when it comes to rock fragments. Small fragments of between 2mm and 20mm appear to have a greater ability to absorb water than fragments larger than 20mm because of their higher relative surface area. He says while it is difficult to measure the properties of stony soils, the work does need to be done. He admits he has been surprised by his findings, which suggest best management practices may be conservative and there could be a buffer for drainage and nutrient leaching targets.

Lincoln University student Balin Roberston has found stony soils can hold a surprising amount of moisture.

However, it has yet to be determined just how dynamic the water held in the rock fragments is and how much of the water retained by rock fragments is available to plants. Balin says he is addressing this question now in an experiment that had to be relocated to his garage rapidly at the time of Covid-19 lockdown. “Globally, stony soils are very understudied.” In trying to correct this Balin has spent many hours in the laboratory quantifying the relationships between a number of soil properties, including the water retention of fine earth and rock fragments at field capacity, rock fragment size classification and content, particle size distribution, and carbon. This information will be used to provide data to guide both management and regulation on Canterbury’s stony soils. Sam Carrick from Landcare Research says Balin’s research is crucial for S-map, which is used extensively to supply soil data to the farming industry but has had little quantified data to draw on for the widespread stony soils of Canterbury. “Farmers have been asking for this knowledge for a number of years and now, through Balin’s sweat and dedication, they have the data upon which to base decisions.”

Never too young to start farming Is there any reason to wait until you are a grown-up to run your own farming business? The answer is no, according to 12-year-old North Canterbury girl. Annabelle Latz reports.

asey Mackintosh is a Charollais sheep stud breeder from White Rock, North Loburn. She began her farming business venture two years ago when her parents Duncan and Tina gifted her an appendix flock of 15 halfewe crosses - Charollais crossed with Focus Genetics’ Romney ewes. And she has one goal. “To have a better stud than all the others.” Her learning curve began quickly. After buying an additional 10 Charollais hoggets from breeder Peter Ponsonby of Otago, by whom she was also lent a good ram, she ventured into some breeding of her own. The weather wasn’t the best in the 2018 season and her lambing percentage was down.

“There will always be highs and lows. Mum and dad told me the first year is the hardest year.” But the lambs that made it looked great. “They were small to start with, but they grew fast.” Casey knows it will all be worth it. “There is one hogget - I don’t want to get on the wrong side of her - she is big!” In 2017 Duncan and Tina came across the Charollais sheep at the Canterbury A&P Show. They liked what they saw, especially the fast growth qualities. “This is really what they’re known for,” says Duncan. Charollais sheep breeding was turned up a notch in 2019 on their 1056 hectare White Rock

Mains farm where they also have cattle, breed rodeo bulls, and have 91 ha sectioned off for QEII Conservation. In 2019 Casey enlarged the appendix flock, bringing the stud and ewes to 69 and resulting in 99 lambs. This year she has also mated her ewe hoggets, which average 49.9kg. Business life is in full swing too, Casey explaining that her ram hoggets went out with her parents’ ewe hoggets. “They hire them off me in exchange for grazing.” Her stud is called CM Charollais and listed 12th on the Charollais breeders’ list. She enjoys everything involved in breeding sheep, from the book work to seeing the new hooves safely on the ground.

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Left: Casey loves everything about breeding sheep, from studying the catalogue to doing the lambing beat. Right: It’s all about team work here for the Mackintosh family.

Casey has equal love for competing on her pony Me and is looking forward to being able to fund this passion through her farming. She will head out before school to do a lambing beat, then relay to her dad what needs to be done before jumping on the school bus. “I think it’s good we can produce meat for people; it’s quite rewarding when you produce a great lamb.” Casey has 30 stud ewes, 40 appendix ewes, 35 ewe hoggets, 45 ram hoggets, three stud rams, and some two-tooth rams that have just come out of her parents’ commercial ewes.” In the evenings Duncan and Casey study the breeders’ catalogue. “I teach her about EBVs, how genetics work, and SIL data,” says Duncan. Casey has been learning about budgeting and keeps her figures in a book where she can plan financially for the year ahead. She will borrow money from her parents to buy the next few sheep, and pay them back when the money comes in. “She said to me she was going to go bankrupt. I have taught her that through the year she can balance the books,” Tina says. She added it’s about teaching the kids financial education. The study paid off. Casey and Duncan took their knowledge to a couple of sales earlier this year in Feilding and Gore, buying a stud ram for Casey from Peter Ponsonby and three commercial rams for Duncan and Tina. Casey also bought nine stud two-tooths and 13 stud ewe hoggets from Elite Charollais in Feilding. She is already looking to the future, and earlier this year lent close friends, Dan and Mandy Shand from Island Hills Station, two rams on a trial. “It was her idea,” says Duncan. “She said ‘I need to get my rams out there.’” She has been using her rams in Duncan and Tina’s commercial flock as terminal sires. Originally it was about crossing the Charollais with the hoggets, now it’s about putting them across the commercial ewes too. Duncan and Tina explain they’re good for breeding hoggets with narrow shoulders, creating a wedge shape for ease of birth. They have noticed a dramatic reduction in

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Right: Casey and her little sister PJ have plenty of fun on their ponies when they’re not busy helping their mum and dad on the farm.

birth assistance at lambing coupled with aggressive growth rates. “And the meat is where it counts,” says Casey. The data suggest the Charollais meat eating quality is in the top tier. Casey has this in mind for when lamb does eventually get rewarded for meat eating quality - she knows she will have a product ready to go. Duncan has been using the analogy of his bull breeding to teach Casey a thing or two about breeding good sheep. “There are sires that leave their mark and are rock solid breeders. It’s not necessarily about the newest and flashiest ram but one with good

history. It’s about having a good, solid female foundation,” he says. The Mackintosh family are all dedicated to farming, and “since day dot” Casey and her little sister PJ have been in the yards. “I will now start looking at the marketing side to get a client base. I’m looking at options for an on-farm sale combined with another breeder.” She enjoys showing sheep, and took a ewe and lamb to the Amberley A&P Show last year. “I think it’s pretty cool that you don’t have to be an adult to do something. You can actually live up to what you want to do, even at a young age. I think it’s pretty cool, yeah.”

COMMUNITY | SKY RUN

Exploring untouched Zimbabwe BY: ANNABELLE LATZ

ountain running and Zimbabwe is not a connection that most people would make. Sky Run Zimbabwe is a 56km mountain run through the country’s Eastern Highlands in Nyanga National Park and on

private farmland. Above the thick mist at 4am on a Saturday in December, a few dozen of us graced the start line to run the Turaco trail. We first meandered through forest, followed by a morning sunrise over silhouetted grazing cattle; a fiery red sky and a bed of clouds below us. For 13 hours I was grinning as I ran those farm tracks and grasslands, navigated the rocky slopes, hiked the valleys, powered up the never ending but awesome Pungwe Gorge, summited the 2592m peak of Mt Inyangi (Zimbabwe’s highest mountain), spotted the Nyamkombe and Nyazengu waterfalls, and replenished with river water so pure and untouched it could only have been delivered by Poseidon himself. Those brilliantly exposed ridge lines with the Chimanimani Mountains nearby, Mozambique just a skip and a hop away, delivered a great opportunity for mind wandering – the history of this place and what Zimbabwe has been through the past few decades, and this area as a place my dad explored as a child. On this race day the current hardships of this beautiful nation had been put to one side and we were all there for one reason – to cherish those mountains and run in the sky. The beat of the drums at the finish line could be heard for the final couple of kilometres to deliver one of the most beautiful, friendly and warm finish lines in the world. My experiences of mountain running in Southern Africa this year have taught me it takes spectacular people to create such races. Chris Cragg, the man behind Sky Run Zimbabwe, is no exception. It was his project of love that created the Turaco Trail, a relationship with the local people and the Park spanning 30 years, and a three year approval process to gain permission to

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Opposite page, from top: How’s this for a way to start the day? Awesome nutrition stop. Local farmers graze the national park land, a system which works for everyone. Above, clockwise from top left: It was 13 hours of running, but never a dull moment. A friendly face to greet runners on the finish line. Text book running inspiration.

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develop this beautiful trail. Sky Run Zimbabwe has just celebrated its fifth year and it takes continual work and collaboration to keep the trail open. For example, every two months the trail has to be cleared. “We get locals to maintain the trail for us, which provides jobs for the community. We definitely don’t have issues with land owners who are only too happy to have us bring extra revenue into the area,” said Chris. Supplying revenue to local communities is a huge deal through initiatives like buying the fruit for the race from local farmers. He said there are very few races in the world where you run 99.8% of the race on a true single-track trail, created as a hiking trail for one purpose, with the terrain and landscape continually changing. “The love that goes into the preparation of this event will definitely be felt at every turn. These are just some of the things that make it special. Give

it a try, you won’t be disappointed,” said Chris. He conceded that from an international perspective Zimbabwe’s politics and its various problems have had an impact on the willingness of people to participate in this event. However, those brave ones realise once they are there that the day is all about sport and their enjoyment, and this positive news spreads. “We do have many issues in Zimbabwe but the local people are definitely not one of them – they are incredible and make this event even better. There are a lot of positive things coming out of Zimbabwe despite how tough it is to make them happen.” He said a lot of Zimbabweans themselves don’t realise what running in their own mountains is really about. “But they have fallen in love with it over the last few years thanks to this incredible race. All problems cease to exist in that moment in the mountains.”

COMMUNITY | RURAL CRIME

P fuels Northland’s crime BY: ANNABELLE LATZ

ending off rural criminals is a far cry from the lifestyle of the young surfer who moved to Northland in November 1970. Ian Russell is an Angus breeder on Pouto Peninsula, northern Kaipara Harbour, where he farms 1300ha, and leases a couple of other blocks nearby. A big change he has seen is the rise of crime in the area, and he can’t emphasise enough the importance of farmers sticking together and communicating. Over the years he’s had his truck shot at, had cows and sheep harmed and killed by shotgun, had stock stolen, had his shearing shed burnt down, had a person in his paddock burning his standing hay and ploughing up his paddock, and received death threats on the phone. It’s been going on for about 15 years, and the methamphetamine scene in Northland has been a major factor and cause. “Last March there were seven cows shot by the road in the stomach. Eight years ago I lost 13 animals in six days. They even put a cow’s head in my letterbox.” It was about that time, eight years ago when there was a film crew with a camera set up in his roadside woolshed to capture footage, filming a documentary about crime in New Zealand. Ian believed local criminals had been watching the activity and became aware they were possibly caught on camera. “Then my woolshed was burnt down. It was really sad, it was a 1933 vintage woolshed, all kauri, it was a bit of a community hall.” What saddens and frustrates him the most is the lack of accountability for these crimes. “No one was prosecuted, because they had to be pretty much caught red handed.” A year ago Ian set up a group for local farmers, whereby neighbours met at his farm and discussed the crime issues, named ‘Meat Watch.’ “The meeting lasted for six hours, where we networked together and as a result of this and tip offs, we learned who

Northland’s Ian Russell has had many crimes committed against him in the past 15 years.

some of the offenders were.” Ian admitted farmers generally aren’t always great at communicating, but they were all being affected. “This is crazy, we are all losing stock. I think it’s a bigger farmer issue. In a sense farmers are on their own, the only people who are really going to look after farmers, are other farmers.” Chatting to Ian at his kitchen table, overlooking Kaipara Harbour, he spoke of the millions of dollars of rural crime; 780 head of cattle and 2800 sheep stolen, and wounded stock. “That’s not including sheep being killed by dogs, I once had 120 killed.” Farm equipment like ballcocks are not spared either. “That stuff’s not being stolen by kids to sell in Auckland.” With restrictors on his windows and a beam across his driveway which buzzes when someone is on their way up to the house, he couldn’t emphasise enough the importance for neighbours to look out for one another, be observant of strange behavior, and keep talking to one another. “It’s a national problem now, we need to roll our sleeves up and help each other.” He has always been involved in beef farming and been breeding commercial angus since 1978. Originally from Cambridge, and while in

Northland to enjoy some surf in the early 1970s, Russell landed himself a farm job. “I was asked to pick up hay. “It went from throwing a few bales around, and I was soon offered a job.” That was Pouto Forest farm, a threetiered operation of stock, horticulture and pine. Ian worked there for 24 years, briefly as assistant manager, then general manager. In the mid-1990s he got the opportunity to go farming on his own account by taking over the lease of the land. And buying the livestock, 12,000 sheep and 5500 cattle. Not wanting to be at the mercy of the commodity markets, he decided to focus on breeding Angus. “And the breeding cows did better on some of the rougher forest grazing.” The stock cost him $1.5 million, and the grazing price was well negotiated. The New Zealand beef industry was also experiencing a price crash, which worked in Ian’s favour. “The local trade schedule was back to $1.59/kg hook weight. Given the downturn I thought, ‘maybe it’s doable’.” Ian has seen changes in his industry over the years and enjoyed the science and challenge of breeding good Angus cattle, a breed he describes as hardy and traditional.

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COMMUNITY | TECHNOLOGY

Problem? Consider Occam’s Razor BY: KIRSTIN MILLS

couple of years ago I was ready to throw my laptop through the window. It is a high-spec machine with a fast processor and a large hard drive. But it slowed to a crawl. I tried everything – I rebooted it, I defragged it, I removed unneeded files and programs, I virus scanned it, I pleaded with it. Nothing worked. Finally, I gave up and called my computer-repair guy who feared the hard drive might be about to crash. I took it to him, he turned it on and – of course – it worked just fine. He ran a few tests, but they all showed it was functioning perfectly. Confused, but relieved, I took it home, plugged it in and … you guessed it, it was completely sluggish again. The observant among you might have picked up one of my steps: “plugged it in”. I have a Dell laptop, which is fussy about plugs. Even though I was using an official Dell plug, I had started receiving error messages periodically, warning me the plug was not approved and instructing me to switch to a correct plug. Because my plug was the correct one, I ignored the message. For some reason, as I battled with my hardly functioning computer, I remembered the message. I unplugged the computer and, hey presto, it worked fine. The plug had malfunctioned – all I needed was a new

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one. It is an example of not making assumptions about what could be wrong. It also shows the importance of telling anyone you seek help from about all error messages you have received. I did not mention the error messages to my repair guy because I did not think they were relevant. Sometimes Occam’s Razor comes into play; usually, the simplest explanation is the correct one. I once spent a lot of time troubleshooting the wifi issue on a friend’s laptop. Unbeknown to either of us it had a wifi switch on the side. He rarely moved his laptop from its desk but this one time he had, inadvertently knocking the switch that turned off the wifi. This brings me to one of the first things you should do when troubleshooting IT issues: ask what you did just before you started having problems. It will not always point to the issue, but it might. In my friend’s case, if I had known he had moved the laptop immediately before having the problem it might have made me consider a hardware issue earlier. Another time I discovered my computer backup system had not been running. I made all sorts of assumptions about what had gone wrong, which included blaming the drive and the backup software. Eventually I figured out it was just that Windows had changed the backup drive letter. Windows assigns letters to all drives – but they are dynamic

(unless you proactively assign permanent letters) so USB-connected devices can change depending on what else you’ve got connected and the order you connected them. I Googled how to change the drive letter and the backup started working again. So, in summary: 1. Do not assume anything and note or photograph error messages. 2. Apply Occam’s Razor – What did you do immediately before this problem started? Did you unplug or plug something in? Update software? Remove software? Add software? My third piece of advice is to reboot your computer followed by running a virus/malware scan. You can fix many issues with rebooting but if they continue, even sporadically, seek advice from a friend, an IT professional or Google. Google is a wonderful way to find solutions, except for those rare times when you find just one person with the same problem but no answer!

Source : https://xkcd.com/979/

SOLUTIONS | ANIMAL HEALTH

Probiotics give growth boost

ew Zealand farm trials of feeding a live probiotic to calves have shown a 14:1 return on investment (ROI). Calf growth and subsequent milk production improved significantly, cows were retained longer in the milking herd, and fewer died compared with control groups. An independently managed MPI Sustainable Farming Fund study used CalfBrew to determine the short- and long-term effects of using a probiotic on calves. Calfbrew is a fresh, intact probiotic product from BioBrew Ltd, which was developed through Callaghan Innovation-funded research at Lincoln University. The results showed that the use of CalfBrew increased calf growth rate by up to 10%. As adults the treated calves produced significantly more milk solids in the 2015-16 season. These cows were also less likely to die and were more likely to remain longer in the production herd. The conclusion was that the use of a fresh probiotic for calves had both short and longer-term benefits and the longerterm ROI was greater than 14:1. The 2012 study was funded by SSF and DairyNZ and undertaken by the Clutha Agriculture Development Board. The study followed 296 calves on three farms. In 2016, a further SFF and industry funded project looked at the long-term advantages in giving probiotic supplements to neo-natal calves.

Table 1 The Effect of Probiotic Supplementation on Calf growth rate for the first 100 days (kg/day)

Probiotic

Control

Difference

Statistical Significance

Farm 1

0.665

0.658

+7g/day

Farm 2

0.602

0.548

+54g/day

P < 0.01

Farm 3

0.574

0.527

+47g/day

P < 0.02

*There was a lot of “noise” in the data from Farm 1 due to bull and steer calves being haphazardly included in the pens.

Table 2 Effect of Calf Probiotic Supplementation on Milk Solid (MS) production as adults (kg MS/cow/year)

Probiotic

Control

Difference

Statistical Significance

2015-16

342

328

P < 0.03

2016-17

302

294

Table 3 Effect of Calf Probiotic Supplementation on mortality rates and the likelihood of remaining in the herd after 4.5 years (numbers are expressed per 100 calves treated at the start of the experiment) Numbers/100

CalfBrew

Control

Sold in calf

10.2

8.3

Sold beef

13.0

14.7

Milking

68.5

56.0

Dead

8.3

21.1

Total

100

Table 4 Cost of treating 100 calves with CalfBrew

Volume/day (L/calf)

0.02

Number of days

Number of calves

100

Cost/L*

$18.26

Total

$1,826

*based on $105/5L from BioBrew Webstore, excluding GST.

Table 5 Economic Returns Net Returns per 100 Cows

Net Number

Value/Unit

Total Value

Sold in calf

1.9

$1,700

$3,278

Sold in beef

-1.7

$800

$(1,373)

Milking

12.6

$1,800

$22,599

$6.12

$1,614

Extra milk (kg MS/cow) Total

$26,118

ROI (return on investment ratio): $26,118/$1,826 or over 14:1 • • • •

Sold in Calf value based on $1750 as maximum agreed value for TB reactors Sold in beef value based on approximately 286kg at $2.80/kg Milking value based on $1800 as maximum agreed value for TB reactors Extra value based on 2016-17 milk price

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SOLUTIONS | YOUNG STOCK

Colostrum and immunity

olostrum, or the first nursing, is the most important meal a new-born animal will take. Make sure it is a good one, because failure of transfer of immunity could cost you in the long run. The process by which a new-born absorbs IgG via colostrum is called passive transfer of immunity. The antibodies in the colostrum pass through the walls of the gut to be absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Ideally, animals should get 10-15% of their bodyweight in colostrum within the first six hours of life. The window for optimal passive transfer of immunity is about 24 hours. What is Failure of Passive Transfer (FPT)? It’s a reduction or total failure of transfer of immunity via antibodies when a newborn animal fails to obtain or absorb adequate quantities of IgG (immunity) from colostrum in the first 24 hours. This can happen if: • Colostrum contains inadequate levels of IgG (less than 22% milk solids) • A new-born animal receives insufficient colostrum • Colostrum is fed too late after birth • Colostrum is contaminated by bacteria at harvest, during storage, or at feeding In a 2015 study by Dairy NZ, only 10% of 298 colostrum samples collected at

multiple times during the calving season had immunoglobulin (IgG) concentrations over the recommended levels¹. What’s the cost of failure of transfer of immunity? It’s important to note that just because new-born animals have not had adequate colostrum (immunity/IgG) does not mean they will die, but they will be more vulnerable to disease and stress in both the short and long terms. They will be the first ones to show signs of decline. A 2011 South American study of 290 lambs showed that 30.5% of lambs with

insufficient immunity died in the first month. Failure of immunity transfer was also most strongly associated with lamb deaths up to 60 days of age. ² You can avoid failure of immunity transfer with Launchpad 18 Colostrum Powder from AgriVantage. To find out more, see www.agrivantage.co.nz ¹ www.dairynz.co.nz/news/latest-news/ colostrum-management-giving-calves-agreat-start-to-life/ ² www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0100736X2011000300003&script=sci_abstract

The Wrangler celebrates 25 years

he Wrangler is celebrating 25 years of helping New Zealand dairy farmers manage lameness safely. Wilco and Waverley Klein-Ovink are the brains behind the product, putting their Kiwi Number 8 mentality into designing equipment to make their life on the farm easier. As Bay of Plenty sharemilkers, Waverley would typically hold a lame cow while husband Wilco treated the hoof. They looked for equipment to buy to make the job easier and safer and on finding nothing

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July 2020

available, Wilco designed The Wrangler. The concept was so new to NZ they were granted a patent on tying and lifting a cow’s leg. “No one seemed to realise at that stage what a huge issue lameness was in New Zealand,” Waverly says. “Farmers were regularly getting injured and cows going untreated so we started researching and writing to raise awareness of the need for better facilities to get cows treated.” It was around the same time that OSH (Occupational Safety & Health) was

established and their vets persuaded them this could be a solution for other farmers to keep themselves and staff safe. They took their design to Mystery Creek and won the Fieldays Innovation Prototype Award in 1995 and the Innovation New Equipment Award in 1996. “Kiwi farmers have helped us develop it by putting their collective heads together. It’s a great product NZ can be proud of.” To celebrate 25 years in business, Wrangler orders during June get a free upgrade to the new enhanced back leg winch, worth $450+GST.

PHOTO COMPETITION | ENTRIES

Above: Izaac and Quinn out mustering with their dad Andy on Twin Bridges in the Manawatu. – Sharee Henman. Above right: Mob of cattle on Haupouri Station, Hawke’s Bay. – Sharee Henman. Middle left: Sheep country. – Carys Bates, Kakatahi, Whanganui. Middle right: In the bubble, feeding out to these girls twice a day. – Tim Henricksen. Below: Central Otago vista, Middlemarch. – Corban Blampied.

Thank you everyone who contributed to the CountryWide photo competition. The last of the winning entires will be announced in CountryWide August issue. Two winners will receive a twin-pack of Mudhouse wine. Three merit prize winners will receive a Gallagher electric fence tester.

This months’ winners Corban Blampied Central Otago Sharee Henman Twin Bridges, Manawatu MERIT PRIZES GO TO: Carys Bates Kakatahi, Whanganui Pip McLane Morrinsville, Waikato Tim Henricksen Pongaroa

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July 2020

FARMING IN FOCUS More photos from this months’ Country-Wide.

Above: Hitching a ride on Hamish Cottle and Angela Darke’s South Canterbury farm. Above, right: Little pigs are a sign of diversification on the Cottle’s South Canterbury farm. Middle left: High quality Angus cows on Owen Maher’s Rangiwahia farm. Middle right: Fences were falling over when Owen Maher took over the farm. Below, right: Owen Maher now uses a drone to keep an eye on stock. Below: Mature specimen trees line the entrance to the Bells’ farm.

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