Learn, grow, excel
July 2020
RETHINKING
FERTILISER REDUCE, RECYCLE, RE-ENGINEER
Sorting metabolics for calving
Off-farm investments
Solving the wellness puzzle
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FARMINATE A IN MAM TE G
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TILITY SMOOTHING VOLA WITH MILK FUTURES
rmlife.co.nz Dairy Exporter | www.nzfa
DING LOW MILK UREA BREE LEACHING VALUES REDUCE N | June 2020
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Their first copy will include a letter from us saying a good mate thought they’d enjoy reading Dairy Exporter. 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 subscriptions go to the right people.
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46 PASTURE + SOILS BRINGS SUCCESS
CONTENTS MILKING PLATFORM 10 Alex Lond experiences Gypsy Day with a cat 11 Anne-Marie Wells tidies her office and goes paperless 12 Nialtor McKenzie finds the co-op unco-operative 13 Carla Staples sees a good end to a tricky season
UPFRONT 10 GYPSY DAY WITH A CAT
14 Are higher environmental standards critical to future exports? 18 DairyNZ: The view from the chair 20 Global Dairy: Will UK farmers lose in US deal? 22 Market View – Dairy holds its ground
BUSINESS 24 High productivity in a hidden valley 30 A new veterinary book for cattle farmers. 32 Investment tips shared
SYSTEMS 36 Testing key to metabolic problems 24 HIGH PRODUCTIVITY IN HIDDEN VALLEY
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
39 Beware selenium sales pitches 40 Organic trace minerals improve production
GYPSY DAY WITH A CAT
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Take it to the
NEXT LEVEL
Are you passionate about agriculture, making a difference, and wanting to take it to the next level?
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APPLY FOR THE
anda McDonald award
Jack Raharuhi
2020 Award Winner
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
SPECIAL REPORT: 58 FERTILISING WITH IRRIGATION
RETHINKING FERTILISER 46 Pasture + soils bring success 49
Nitrogen cap a blunt instrument
52 Challenging season for organic dairy 54 Faster, more accurate soil tests 57 Embracing the 4 Rs of fertiliser 58 Fertilising with irrigation
SPECIAL REPORT
RETHINKING FERTILISER Reduce, recycle, re-engineer
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62 Equity partnership gains multiple awards 65 Dairy farming with pride in Matakana 68 Balanced waterways policies but details to come
Pasture + soils Brings Success
STOCK
49 Nitrogen cap a ‘blunt instrument’
70 High-tech breeding yields genetic gain
52 Challenging season for organic dairy 54 Testing times
73 BVD test identifies infective calves
57 Embracing the 4 Rs of fertiliser 58
ENVIRONMENT
75 Rolling down cows safely
Fertilising with irrigation
77 Vet Voice: Mastering mastitis control 79 Feed additive against subclinical mastitis
YOUNG COUNTRY 80 Helping Southland farmers meet wintering challenges
WELLNESS 82 Solving the Jigsaw of Wellness Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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RESEARCH WRAP 85 Drought reduces profit on NARF
DAIRY 101 86 Spotting the Springer
SOLUTIONS 88 App helps farmers improve in-calf rates 89 Subscribing to monitoring 62 EQUITY PARTNERSHIP GAINS MULTIPLE AWARDS
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
OUR STORY 90
Counting down to NZ Dairy Exporter’s centenary
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DAIRY DIARY June 14 – A new DairyNZ group is being formed for young managers and 2ICs in the Bay of Plenty. The Tirohanga Young Guns will focus on pasture skills throughout the year with the first meeting focusing on setting up for spring. It will include spring rotation planners to help plan spring pasture management plus feed budgets and pasture monitoring. For more information contact Colin Grainger-Allen on 021 225 8345.
July 21 – The Government’s Essential Fresh Water Legislation will be discussed at a meeting in Taumarunui about how it will affect you and your farm. The meeting, hosted by DairyNZ and Beef +Lamb New Zealand, runs between 3pm and 5pm. For more information visit https://beeflambnz. com/events/essential-freshwater-legislationmeeting, contact Michelle Greaves from DairyNZ on 021 280 8405 or email her at michelle. greaves@dairynz.co.nz
July 15 – New Zealand’s agritech sector is hosting three workshops in three locations to reflect the post Covid-19 environment. Agritech New Zealand and the Agritech Industry Transformation Plan (ITP) taskforce are reviewing and redeveloping the New Zealand agritech story and want input from businesses with real life experience to adapt and then deliver that message to offshore markets. The workshops are free. Dates/locations: July 15, Auckland; July 16, Hamilton, July 21, Lincoln. For further information and tickets go to https:// agritechnz.org.nz/category/events/
July 18 – Owing to Covid-19 the Lincoln University Dairy Farm hosts a Zoom webinar covering a different Canterbury relevant topic each month. To view, visit http:// www.siddc.org.nz/lu-dairy-farm/focusdays-and-events/
August 23 – Entries close for the 2021 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarships. The rural leadership programme has a global focus, designed to fast-track the development of emerging leaders in the agri-food sector. Each year up to five scholarships are awarded to individuals who are expected to assume positions of greater influence in their field in the future. To apply for a scholarship visit www.ruralleaders.co.nz
August 27 – An irrigation operator and manager training workshop is being run by Irrigation New Zealand in Ashburton. A combination of classroom learning and paddock practical application. For more details go to https://www. irrigationnz.co.nz/EventsAndTraining/ UpcomingEvents
August 4 – Instead of onfarm focus days during Covid-19, the Lincoln University Dairy Farm hosts a virtual farm visit on Zoom. It includes manager Peter Hancox and farm consultant Jeremy Savage. To view, visit http://www.siddc.org.nz/lu-dairy-farm/ focus-days-and-events/ July 14 - Global perspectives and collaborations on reducing GHG emissions is a webinar being run by the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre. It runs between 9.30am and 10.30am. For more information and to register go to https://www.nzagrc.org.nz/webinar.html July 31 – Entries close for the NZI Rural Women NZ Business Awards 2020. The awards have seven categories with a supreme winner selected from the winners of those categories. The awards showcase small rural-based businesses owned and operated by women. To find out more about the awards and to enter visit https://ruralwomennz.nz/home/nzi-ruralwomen-new-zealand-business-awards/
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September 23 – Owl Farm near Cambridge is planning on holding its September focus day onfarm. The demonstration farm is a joint venture between St Peter’s School and Lincoln University. Focus days are an opportunity to meet, network, and share ideas while learning how Owl Farm is developing as a workable blueprint of sustainable, profitable dairying. For further information about the farm visit www.owlfarm.co.nz.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Editor’s note
Reduce, recycle, re-engineer
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hen you get a few years under your belt, a few kms on the clock, it’s interesting to reflect on history and see how things change and evolve. After a period of excess usually comes a drive for efficiency, followed by encouragement, and incentivisation and then regulation to make it happen. Just as we have reached peak cow, maybe peak fertiliser is a thing too? Just like a plant in the wrong place is a weed, so too fertiliser in the wrong place or at the wrong rate is a potential pollutant. Farmers are moving to reduce, recycle and re-engineer their fertiliser use, understanding if they don’t do it themselves, they could be forced to with regulation. In our special report, we cover how New Zealand agriculture would feel a huge financial impact (-$1.6 billion) of removing nitrogen, as Greenpeace have mooted. Both of the big fertiliser companies report farmers are moving to coated products, to cut down on loss of nutrients to volatilisation and by leaching into groundwater and waterways. It seems to me the use of these products is a no-brainer - why would you take the risk of using a product that could potentially have a loss of up to 18% of the nitrogen spread? At $560/tonne of urea you could potentially be losing $101 worth of fertiliser into the atmosphere and waterways. Why do fertiliser companies continue selling a product with such a high pollution potential, when the reengineering exists for halving the pollution potential of that product? Smart farmers like James and Melissa Barbour at Trewithen Farm add as little N as possible, in small dollops and only
NZ Dairy Exporter
when the temperature, soil and moisture conditions are right, to minimise losses. Effluent areas are applied with recycled nutrients and avoid applying on creeks, drains and stock camp areas. Grass has to be actively growing before fertiliser application and the Barbours are using some coated product and looking at more (pg 46). Pamu are investigating applying nitrogen through their irrigation system, an exciting development called fertigation allowing them to apply 1.5kg N/ha/day through a centre pivot (pg 58) and reducing the risk of potentially losing a month’s worth of nitrogen due to a large rain event. They have measured a 36% reduction in total N use in the first two seasons. With the N cap of 190kg N/ha/year introduced in the Action for Healthy Waterways legislation farmers will need to reduce, recycle and re-engineer nutrient applications with clever technologies like these. Irricon environmental engineer Keri Johnston takes an in-depth look at the Action for Healthy Waterways policy recommendations and how they will affect farmers and she says the policies are more balanced than the earlier discussion document but details around some policies are yet to come (pg 68). And if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of that, catch up with Rachel Grunwell’s pieces of the wellness puzzle (pg 82). There are great tips in there for all of us - as she said, you don’t need to feel overwhelmed - just choose one piece of the puzzle and start making small changes you will feel better for it.
@YoungDairyED
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
@DairyExporterNZ
Sneak peek
NEXT ISSUE: AUGUST 2020
• SPECIAL REPORT: GOVERNANCE: What does good governance bring to your business and how do you upskill? • Do what’s right: Treating cows as they would like to be treated forms part of Fraser and Katherine McGougan’s animal management policy at Taneatua in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. • Zanda McDonald winner Jack Raharuhi: Mentoring and encouraging young staff while building a dairy career.
@nzdairyexporter
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NEW ZEALAND
NZ Dairy Exporter is published by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740, Toll free 0800 224 782, www.nzfarmlife.co.nz
NEW ZEALAND
ONLINE
Dairy Exporter Editor Jackie Harrigan P: 06 280 3165, M: 027 359 7781 jackie.harrigan@nzfarmlife.co.nz
New Zealand Dairy Exporter’s online presence is an added dimension to your magazine. Through digital media, we share a selection of stories and photographs from the magazine. Here we share a selection of just some of what you can enjoy. Read more at www.nzfarmlife.co.nz
Deputy editor Sheryl Brown, P: 021 239 1633 sheryl.brown@nzfarmlife.co.nz Lead sub-editor: Andy Maciver, P: 06 280 3166 Reporters Anne Hardie, P: 027 540 3635 verbatim@xtra.co.nz
PODCASTS: For all Dairy Banter Podcasts visit www.nzfarmlife.co.nz/tag/dairy-banter
Anne Lee, P: 021 413 346 anne.lee@nzfarmlife.co.nz Karen Trebilcock, P: 03 489 8083 ak.trebilcock@xtra.co.nz
www.facebook.com/MeatTheNeedNZ
EPISODE 5 - HOW BODY CONDITION INFLUENCES REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE The latest episode in the podcast series with CRV Ambreed is up now. Sheryl Haitana chatted to the knowledgeable Jane Kay from DairyNZ in the latest CRV podcast about infertility in the NZ dairy herd and how to manage BCS to achieve better results. www.crv4all.co.nz/podcast/episode-5/ EPISODE 4 - ANGUS HASLETT: TAKING THE REINS AT CRV GLOBAL In this episode, Angus joins Sheryl Haitana from his home office to talk about his tenure with CRV Ambreed, the benefits of the Dutch-Kiwi relationship for NZ farmers, and his views on where the industry is heading in the next 10 years. EPISODE 3 - MAKING GOOD DECISIONS WITH MYHERD Sheryl Haitana talks with CRV IT manager Andrew Singers and the company’s herd testing manager Mark Redgate about the new tool and how herd testing data will be incorporated.
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Andrew Swallow, P: 021 745 183 andrew@falveyfarm.co.nz Dairy Womens Network held a very successful virtual conference in May, check out the saved webinars here www.dwn.co.nz/dwn2020/ In June they are hosting online webinars on calf rearing, you can check them out here: www.dwn.co.nz/best-practice-and-vital-newresearch-focus-of-calf-rearing-webinar-series
MILK PAYOUT TRACKER:
2020/2021 Fonterra forecast price Average $6.32/kg MS
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$/kg MS
The NZ Dairy Exporter & Country-Wide are proud to support this fantastic initiative to help feed those in need. Dairy Exporter senior journalist Anne Lee talked to the farmers behind Meat the Need, Wayne Langford (Yolo Farmer) and Siobhan O’Malley (PukekoPastures) in our latest podcast - take a listen, visit meattheneed.org and help out if you can. www.soundcloud.com/ user-951516558/meat-the-need
6.50
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6.50
5.75
6.70
6.50 5.95
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Phil Edmonds E: phil.edmonds@gmail.com Design and Production: Jo Hannam jo.hannam@nzfarmlife.co.nz Emily Rees emily.rees@nzfarmlife.co.nz Social Media: Charlie Pearson, P: 06 280 3169 Partnerships Managers: Janine Aish Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty P: 027 890 0015 janine.aish@nzfarmlife.co.nz Tony Leggett Lower North Island P: 027 474 6093 tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz David Paterson South Island P: 027 289 2326 david.paterson@nzfarmlife.co.nz
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CONNECT WITH US ONLINE: www
Chris Neill, P: 027 249 1186 waipuvian@gmail.com
www.nzfarmlife.co.nz NZ Dairy Exporter @DairyExporterNZ
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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*KI Roberts, J Bennison & S McDougall (2018): Effect of treatment with oral Ca boluses following calving on concentrations of Ca in serum in pasture-based dairy cows, New Zealand Veterinary Journal, DOI: 10.1080/00480169.2018.1520654
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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MILKING PLATFORM WAIKATO
After Gypsy Day, Alex is now farming in the Waikato on what she calls ‘cliff edges’ and her team members calls ‘rolling hills’.
Gypsy Day with a cat Moving to a new farm just an hour away became a minor cat-astrophe. Alex Lond explains.
I
’m sure that I was not the only farmer who breathed a sigh of relief as life in New Zealand returned to normal with a couple of weeks to prepare for Gypsy Day. Not that I had to try to move anything remotely difficult, such as machinery, livestock, or - perish the thought for the next few years - children! When I first arrived in New Zealand, and for a good year afterwards, I could fit everything I owned into a 12kg backpack (bar my first dog, who would happily sit on top). Fast forward four years, and two utes and four trailer loads jam-packed full still didn’t quite cover it. In a way, I think (cue eye roll from experienced Gypsy Day readers) it is almost harder moving a smaller amount of stuff because you can’t quite justify removal trucks, but have too much paraphernalia to fit comfortably into 10
your own vehicles. With chickens spilling out of the dogs kennels, a cat buried deep in the contents of my canopy (who to my dismay peed on every hard-to-clean fabric item she could find), and floor lamps and mirrors strapped precariously on top of furniture fully open to the elements, the hour-long journey to my new location certainly felt much longer. I would like to say that I fitted right in on the North Island’s roads on the 31st May but, after stopping to rescue said cat after listening to her frightened meows for half the journey only to have her release the last of the contents of her bowels on my lap, I started to think that maybe everyone else was a little more prepared. Although it really is not far down the road, I am now located in the Waikato rather than the Bay of Plenty and the hills
are certainly reminding me of that every day. Fortunately, my new staff member is a local and is therefore far more capable than me at navigating break-fences down slippery what-I-call “cliff edges”, what he calls “rolling hills”. The new farm is quite a different system to anywhere I have previously worked, with no winter crop or feed pad, and so the main challenge is proficient feed allocation with grass, PKE, balage, and hay through the winter and spring. The cows are mostly Friesians with a small number of crossbreds creeping into the mix and are all in superb condition, so the only task for me (echoing the words of a fellow columnist from last month’s Dairy Exporter) is to make sure they don’t get too fat prior to calving. It is half the size of my previous farm with less than half the staff members to manage, and I am embracing the opportunity to get to know all its quirks before things get busy. With July fast approaching I am very much looking forward to my first calving season here. Most importantly, last night the heavens finally opened with the most wonderful rain falling overnight, 45mm of soaking but not damaging, and 20mm so far today; and the cows didn’t even make a mess of their paddocks. What a way to end the week. Long may it continue.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
MILKING PLATFORM OTAGO
Left: Anne-Marie Well’s office before she went paperLESS.
Going paperless brightens Outlook An email solely for invoices, plus electronic folders and archiving, have helped Anne-Marie Wells’ tidy her office.
W
hen I look at my inbox I am staggered by the number of emails there. It’s normally pretty bad, but add to it the COVID-19 correspondence from the many businesses we use and it’s almost at the point where I want to create a new email address and walk away from the old one! The truth of the matter is that I did this last year and over the past year, especially during lockdown, and in a roundabout way I am so pleased I did. I had set myself a challenge to be paperLESS in the office – to reduce my three fully-stacked folders of invoices to just one – and sorting out my emails played a large part in achieving that goal. My main driver was saving paper but, if I’m honest, there was a fair bit of me being a miser in there too. Many companies
were already emailing invoices and I was printing each one out and adding it to the ones that came in the post. I thought “why should I be paying for the paper and ink?” Going paperLESS would mean buying less stationery – a win for the planet AND my budget. The first thing I did was tidy up our emails. Invoices were at risk of getting lost among the newsletters, updates, quotes, and general correspondence. When I say “tidy up” I don’t mean trawling through, sorting, and deleting: I mean doing that thing Outlook asks about every so often – archiving our emails. Archiving seems a bit scary. Where will they go? How will I find an email I want from ages ago? What if I change computers and lose everything? I liken it to grabbing all your folders off the floor and throwing them in an outside
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
(weatherproof) cupboard. Everything is still there in the same order you left it – it’s just not in the way any more. On the rare occasion I need to look for something Outlook loads it back up and it looks like it never left (I am using MS Office Home and Business 2016). Once I had a clean slate I set up a new email address dedicated to invoices and connected it to my existing Outlook so it is always visible with my emails. Even if I couldn’t have connected it I would still have set up another email – it has been invaluable having them in their own dedicated mailbox. I contacted all our suppliers and asked them to send invoices and only invoices to this email address. My invoices email is set up to mirror my paper folders: I made an email folder just like the A4 folder for my printed invoices, with dividers marking each month. My “in tray” is for unprocessed invoices and, once they are paid, I move them to the relevant folder. To the right is how it looks: It took a while to get used to processing invoices from the computer screen but having a good system and sticking at it has made it easier. I am now struggling to fill up even one A4 folder and am buying less printer ink and paper. I can’t say I am any better off yet – I used my savings to buy a second computer screen, which has been a huge help with managing the invoices online. My new goal – keep our farm emails as tidy as our invoice emails. I have a feeling this will be as (un)successful as my goal to clean my oven regularly. Still, there’s always Outlook archive again this time next year. 11
MILKING PLATFORM NORTHLAND
Getting in some expert help: Our nephew Oscar Wattam aged 6 with his culvert he put in on his farm.
An unco-operative co-operative? Nialtor McKenzie ruminates on crucial differences between supplier and shareholder, information flow and cashflow.
D
airy Farmers are essential – I have always known this and I am glad now more New Zealanders have become aware of it. This is great, we can get a free coffee at Robert Harris…. sorry, the deal has gone. Since we are essential we cannot get any Covid-19 subsidies, and if you did find a way be prepared to have to pay it back. As it turns out, the last four months of last season sucked on most North Island farms – simply not enough moisture to grow our grass. For the month of May our wonderful neighbours provided the farm with water. Our dams were dry – even the back-up dams. We spent a lot of time transferring water from one dam to another water source. Last year’s plan was to do the big milk solids, make the most of the high pay-out, feed palm kernel, and have a high stocking rate to utilise grass grown. In short, the grass didn’t grow. We ended up 4.5% behind for the season compared with the 12
previous year. Our ward was 11.5% behind. Our Farm Working Expenses blew out from $1.75 to $2.50. We just have to mark it in the ground and move on to the 2020/2021 season. Is Fonterra an unco-operative cooperative? If you have ever attended a Fonterra-hosted meeting their whole focus is about the shareholder. This is hard to believe considering that, since the capital launch of Fonterra, shares have gone from $8.20 to now $3.78. I would also like to note that when the banks lend money for shares, they hope the dividend would pay the interest. Umm... what dividend? Cash flows in and out. In February we commenced work on the next season’s cashflow, working on new ideas while reflecting what has happened previously. To do this successfully we need to work on a forecasted payout that should be provided by Fonterra. These timelines do not meet because Fonterra does not set its advance farmgate milk price until the 25th
of May. That’s right, six days before the new season starts. Rubbish! To add to the problem of making an accurate cashflow, Farm Source’s Payment Predictor is misleading. I will explain this failing. On the 1st of the month I go onto Farm Source’s website and enter in the details of the actual milk solids we did the previous month to find out how much money I will get on the 20th from Fonterra (now the 15th). Simple data entry. Then Fonterra comes along and does something different with their workings and I’ve got a difference of 8-15% less than what the Payment Predictor said it was going to be. With any business you have risk. One of Fonterra’s tools is that they provide the platform of a fixed milk price. This is where suppliers can fix a percentage of total milk solids at a fixed amount. Through the season this has different releases with different prices. They charge a small fee per kg MS. Every shareholder can apply to do this but a supplier, such as a 50/50 sharemilker, cannot apply for this without the shareholder. I live and work in Northland so I must quickly raise the flag for our provincial growth fund. It is hard for a co-operative to be fair to everyone. That’s why some people don’t like the principle of the fixed milk price. Fonterra’s answer is that all shareholders are eligible. The winter milk quota price is a different story. How close you are to winter milk processing plants determines how much premium you get, which is pretty crap really considering that in Northland we can grow good pasture in the winter and, with few free-draining soils, leaching is a very limited problem. We should get the highest premium. Where is the co-operative? Last season Fonterra released its Cooperative Difference programme. This is split up into different areas like milk quality, environment, etc., and it takes a lot of work to achieve these levels. As a reward you receive Farm Source dollars. However, the work is normally done by the supplier, not the shareholder. Who gets the reward? The shareholder. This point was not advertised very well. I heard about it only last month on social media. Don’t get me started on current regulations to supply and QCONZ. That’s another day. Ps I am still waiting for my hand sanitiser.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
MILKING PLATFORM WESTLAND
Left: A very good end to the season helped the Staples milk for an extra five days. Above: Checking out the swedes.
Good end to tricky season With production improved, cows holding condition, and renovations finished, Carla Staples is looking forward to a family holiday.
H
ow things have changed since our last article! The 19/20 season is done and dusted – we’re glad to see it end – and, in bigger news, we have moved from a complete Level 4 lockdown to the mostly unrestricted Level 1 with the cases of Covid-19 dropping to zero for the past three weeks. As most dairy farmers would agree it has been farming as normal, and it almost felt like calving time when we are on farm for weeks on end anyway. The effect it has had and will continue to have on our economy may last for generations – fingers crossed that it’s not for too long. All in all we had a very good end to last season. May was a lot drier and settled than we have experienced over the last few years, which meant we could carry on milking longer than the previous season. We dried off on the 29th, which was five days longer than the season before. This meant we could close the gap in production on the 18/19 season.
We ended up just over 2000kg milksolids down, which was a good result considering we were over 5000kg down at Christmas because of the weather and poor start to the season. The cows also held condition through the April/May period and have transitioned well into winter. This winter the girls’ diet again includes swedes and grass with the addition of palm kernel to replace the silage that we did not make enough of to last through winter. It has been a bit of a juggling act to get their feed allocations in line with the feed budget, but after a couple of weeks we got it sorted and now they seem to be gaining weight nicely. The weather has also been playing its part so far, which has made things a lot easier to manage. As we write this we are nearly half-way through winter. Next week we will be teat sealing the heifers – it’s something we haven’t done before but because a lot of heifers came into the shed with mastitis last season it’s an area we really wanted
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
to focus on and improve this season. It will be interesting to see how much of a difference this makes at calving time – it was disappointing to watch heifers come in full of milk only to find one or sometimes two quarters full of mastitis, which in some cases they never fully recovered from. As far as winter maintenance goes we haven’t got too much planned, which is a refreshing break from the past two seasons when we have been flat out with builders and other tradesmen running around everywhere. With the inside of the house nearly completely gutted and renovated we are looking forward to having no one in the house during calving time this season. We are installing a new backing gate in July and there is also a bit of fencing to be done around the farm, which Chris will do before the calving. In July we are looking forward to heading away with the kids for a weeklong holiday. No doubt the rest of New Zealand will be trying to do the same over the school holidays. It will be good to get away from the farm for a bit and catch up with friends and family in other parts of the South Island without many foreign tourists on the roads. One thing we have noticed, especially in our neck of the woods, is when there’s a long weekend the roads are packed with Kiwis checking out our backyard, which is good to see. It’s great that everyone is supporting local businesses – they have been hit hard by the lockdown and will need all the support we can give them to get through this tough time. 13
INSIGHT
UPFRONT BUDGET
Do environmental improvements have marketing value? Are higher environmental standards critical to our exporting future? Phil Edmonds outlines the arguments for and against government investment in the environment.
O
ver the past eight weeks more public money than ever has been earmarked for cleaning up our waterways, improving biodiversity, and dealing with pests. Much of it has been implicitly, if not explicitly, talked up as a gift to the primary sector. While it has been widely welcomed there are some who have started to question how we can start to quantify the benefits of that investment. They see now as the time to start demanding more tools to verify the effort being made and, as importantly, 14
a nationally coordinated campaign to sell those verified environmental improvements. A quick recap of the cash poured into environmental projects with at least some connection to farming operations reveals an unprecedented torrent of investment – albeit in unprecedented times. First, the budget delivered $433m for new jobs in regional environmental projects, $315m for biosecurity including weed and pest control, and $154m for new jobs enhancing biodiversity on public and private land. Subsequent announcements in May
saw the Government create more flexible funding criteria for applications to the One Billion Trees Fund, with $10m dedicated to help up to 10 catchment groups plant landscapes at a whole-ofcatchment scale. This extra funding was in addition to the $100m from the Provincial Growth Fund for waterway fencing, riparian planting, and stock water reticulation also announced in May. And at the end of May the Government finally unveiled its post-consultation plan to clean up waterways with a $700m fund to support riparian and wetland planting, removing sediments, and other
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
“The payback on an environmental investment is sometimes measured in decades rather than months or years, which makes the investment difficult to audit.”
initiatives to prevent farm run-off entering waterways. All in all, some big bucks. But with such a monster spend-up did there need to be more clarity around the return on investment? To date, the answers to that question have revolved around job creation and ensuring there are opportunities for those made jobless to stay in work rather than drift out (understandably given the Covid-19 context), and the familiar cry that it will protect/increase the value of our primary exports. For example, the clean water announcement was positioned by Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor as a means to help increase the value of our primary exports. Environment Minister David Parker added “Our environmental reputation is the thing that underpins our biggest export earners… It’s time for us to invest in cleaning up our water in order to protect the economic value-add it brings.” On the surface, the value-add justification doesn’t sound rigorous enough but there isn’t a lot of scrutiny being placed on those joining the dots between a clean environment and higher export food prices. There are a number of likely reasons. First, it would appear there’s now a broad consensus of support for making this connection. It isn’t just politicians using the link as an easy way to sell tighter rules around environmental standards. Read any analysis of where value from food production is going to come from in the future and fixing the environment is at the top of the pile. For example, an introduction to a paper published in June by Auckland University and co-authored by Peter Gluckman, former chief science
Andrew Hoggard: ‘Let’s not kid ourselves that there are people out there waiting for this and they are suddenly going to pay us a whole lot more.’
Nic Lees: ‘I do worry about how we are going to magically find value by raising environmental standards. ‘
advisor to the Prime Minister, titled The Future of Food and the Primary Sector, noted “consumer demand for high quality food is growing with interest in foods’ provenance and attributes such as… carbon footprint and environmental protection.” Second, KPMG’s global head of agribusiness, Ian Proudfoot, has noted that the payback on an environmental investment is sometimes measured in decades rather than months or years, which makes the investment difficult to audit. And third, political opponents who
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
are best placed to attract media attention are understandably more motivated to advance arguments that trigger immediate negative responses. For example, when responding to the budget announcements National’s environment spokesperson Scott Simpson said he feared for how much of the money being dished out would end up going into added bureaucracy in Wellington offices. With all that said, is further scrutiny worth the effort? Lincoln University agribusiness management senior lecturer Nic Lees says it is very difficult to measure the impact of a country’s environmental credentials through an analysis of premiums paid for food and beverage products. His ultimate answer is in the “yes but, no but” camp. Recently returned from carrying out research into the Origin Green concept in Ireland, Lees found little evidence that products holding environmental credentials deliver price premiums. He says that more than anything it is very hard to prove. 15
“I haven’t found anything in the research I have done that shows consumers necessarily seek out and compare different levels of environmental commitments to freshwater, biodiversity, and carbon emissions in the food products they are looking to buy.” This would suggest a significant threat to those who believe cleaning up our environment is New Zealand’s biggest challenge if our primary sector products are to remain internationally competitive. It’s a view certainly endorsed by newly minted Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard who worries that the defence of environmental spending in the name of adding value is potentially just adding cost. “Everyone talks about how prices will rise. But look what happened when the EU came back to us with its free trade offer. Do premium consumers in Europe really want to buy our stuff? “I do worry about how we are going to magically find value by raising environmental standards. If we constantly increase minimum standards, is an overseas buyer going to continue paying more and more? Let’s not kid ourselves that there are people out there waiting for this and they are suddenly going to pay us a whole lot more when we achieve what we hope to do.” In terms of specific environmental commitments there seems to be even less ability to identify a transparent return on investment. Nic Lees says “I’m still not sure how much consumers value one type of commitment over another – it will vary depending on consumer interest. In reality it is extremely complex. For example, as a consumer how much do you value recyclable packaging versus how much the food producer or manufacturer pays workers versus the impact of the food production on water quality etc. It is very hard to make specific ethical choices. You can’t consume a purely ethical product.” Unsurprisingly, that is not the end of the debate. Lees says there is a big “however” that relates to New Zealand’s ability to get access to markets willing to trade, and this is at a business-to-business level rather than business-to-consumer. In fact, let’s forget consumers for a moment – even if it is contrary to everything we are supposed to believe. 16
Above: Heli-spraying wilding pines: The budget delivered $315m for biosecurity including weed and pest control. Left: Ian Proudfoot: Lengthy payback.
IRISH EXPERIENCE Lees says this is where the Origin Green certification mark has been valuable for Ireland. “If you are supplying large foodservice companies like McDonalds or food manufacturers like Nestlé they have their own standards and they want to be sure their own suppliers are meeting those standards as well. If you can show that you are meeting those standards then you are at least in a position to be considered as a supplier. “The Irish food and beverage export profile is very similar to New Zealand – like us, they export the majority of their agricultural output. This means they are most often competing against local products which, in Europe at least, are typically able to command a premium without any other attributes simply because there is so much emphasis on eating locally produced food. But for the Irish products, being backed by a mark with certified environmental credentials at least gets them in the door and gives retailers a reason to have them on the shelf.”
Perhaps even more relevant to New Zealand’s export position is that while international consumers may not be looking for different environmental commitments to freshwater, biodiversity, carbon footprint, and so on, putting them on the packet does provide a cue to what they are really looking for. Lees says that if you look at Asia, consumers are typically looking for safe food and long-term health and wellbeing. Asian markets won’t be wowed by environmental credentials. However, a clean environment is closely associated with safe and healthy food and it offers a (valuable) de facto measure of safety. Ultimately, Lees says, we should be convinced that higher environmental standards are critical to our exporting future even if we can’t satisfy ourselves that we are making a meaningful difference by getting specific consumer applause. Adopting a counterfactual approach, Lees says “it is more likely to have a negative effect if we don’t do it. It will make it harder to compete in markets where there is an equivalent local product”. For farmers, the uncomfortable finding is that it is going to cost more and we are going to have to pay to verify what we are doing. And (yes, another “and”) we’re going to have to pay more to sell that verification. The Primary Sector Council, established in 2018 by the Minister of Agriculture to develop a shared direction for agriculture, food, and fibre sectors, looks to be taking
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
“I do worry about how we are going to magically find value by raising environmental standards.” this job on. As part of the government’s Covid-19 response, the Council has developed the document “Fit for a Better World” based on three pillars of recovery – productivity, sustainability, and inclusiveness. Proving our sustainability certainly appears to have been given a shot in the arm. The document notes work is under way to develop “robust, pragmatic regulations” across water and climate, and, for fresh water, to deliver a framework for improving quality by co-investing with community catchment groups, starting with riparian planting to control sedimentation. While suspicious of the value the Primary Sector Council can bring to farmers Andrew Hoggard does support policies that can deliver evidence of improvements based on science. “Horizons Regional Council’s sustainable land use initiative, for example, developed a scheme similar to the catchment ones the government is proposing, and they’ve been able to measure improvements in silt loading in the waterways. This is a good example where investment has been made, local government and farmers have worked together, and have been able to quantify how many hundreds of thousands of tonnes of silt it has prevented from ending up in waterways each year. It can be done.” The government is clearly hoping this success will be replicated and produce the kind of verification at a national level that will enhance New Zealand’s prospects of fortifying our access to the highest-paying markets. If this sounds like the beginning of a step change in measuring the impact of our environmental investments, it will require a giant leap to get all sectors on board to “storify” that verification. Nic Lees says now is the perfect time for the government to bring a story together backed up by verifiable data, like Origin Green. But he also says it won’t be easy. There remains a deep-seated aversion to collective marketing, which is based
on our fear of paying for services that benefit those who have not contributed. There is also a prevailing sense that governments should not get involved in activity that affects commercial decision making in markets. Andrew Hoggard says, “If consumers do start demanding more product verification then that should be a conversation between the farmer and their cooperative or company rather than involving the government.” This might well have been a factor in what Ian Proudfoot identified as a disappointing outcome in the budget – no obvious funding set aside for implementation of the Primary Sector Council’s industry vision. “Given the importance of the primary sector to the country’s recovery, the decline in investment in future proofing it seems inconsistent with ensuring the sector delivers on its potential to benefit all New Zealanders.”
NATIONAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN? If it is farmers who are reluctant to support a national marketing campaign that talks up the environmental progress on the grounds that it’s no place for public money, Nic Lees suggests they look at the tourism sector. Prior to Covid-19, Tourism NZ was receiving $100 million a year to promote NZ as a tourist destination. “If it’s ok for the government to do the marketing for tourism which is (was) a $16 billion industry, there shouldn’t be any reason why it can’t get support to put money into marketing the verifications of New Zealand food and beverage exports (generating approximately $46 billion), which is going to be more important than ever to rebuild our economy.” Lees says holding tight to these attitudes eschewing government interference does limit us as much as it makes us transparent, efficient, and competitive. What we can’t lose sight of is that the state of our environment will become more of an asset worthy of capitalising on. Depending on how you see that asset valued in the marketplace we could be reaching a point where it’s a question of “use it or lose it”.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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UPFRONT DAIRYNZ
INSIGHT
An update from DairyNZ’s Chair Words by: Jim van der Poel, DairyNZ Chair
A
fter a challenging few months it’s great to see Covid-19 restrictions easing and a more normal way of life resuming on and off farm. DairyNZ was pleased to launch our new “Free Farm Ready Training” course in June as part of the “GoDairy” campaign. The campaign is in response to Kiwis who have lost their jobs because of Covid-19 and supports them to change careers to dairy farming. Week one of the three-week training is online and covers working and living on a dairy farm. Weeks two and three are practical, teaching the basics of animal handling, farm infrastructure and farm vehicle safety. The course will run regularly over the coming months and DairyNZ is working with the Government to promote it and share information on dairy careers with those looking for work. If you know anyone keen on working in dairy, they can visit godairy.co.nz/training for information and to register for the course.
ESSENTIAL FRESHWATER DECISION The Government also recently announced its Essential Freshwater package. It’s pleasing to see that the many submissions from farmers and DairyNZ’s detailed and evidence-based submission have contributed to changes. One of the more impractical and expensive proposals – moving existing fence lines – has been dropped. Instead, existing fencing can remain while newer fences will need a 3m setback. The Government sees Farm Environment Plans as a key tool to 18
achieve environmental improvements. The primary sector supports this and will be working with iwi, regional councils and the Government to help all farmers develop a plan. Many of the existing plans in place today are likely to meet the requirements. The introduction of a nitrogen fertiliser cap is an input control rather than a focus on outcomes. We understand that some farmers will be impacted by that limit. We have concerns that it unfairly targets dairy farmers with requirements that don’t apply to other agricultural sectors – this is unfair and inconsistent with the fundamentals of Te Mana o te Wai (water first approach). This is something we cannot support. The controversial dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) measure has been parked for now, although the Government will review this in a year. DairyNZ and many other submitters had concerns that the evidence base for a DIN measure was not robust and it wouldn’t achieve the water quality improvements the community is seeking. Along with farmers, we think there were more pragmatic ways to improve water quality that don’t impose huge costs on farms and rural communities. We will continue to advocate strongly against any reintroduction of a DIN measure. Instead the government has adopted a nitrate toxicity measure of 2.4 g/m3 for waterways. While we agree that nitrate toxicity is a better effects-based measure, we disagree with the standard adopted. We supported 3.8 g/m3 as a more reasonable progression on the old National Policy Statement. The new measure has the potential to seriously affect some farmers in Canterbury, Southland, and Waikato. Many of these farmers are already working
Jim van der Poel, DairyNZ Chair.
to meet regional council environmental requirements. The new nitrate toxicity measure is to be met over a generation. How long a generation is will be decided through regional policy processes. While there are serious challenges, there is also time to consider and implement the best options to achieve change. DairyNZ would like to see those options explored – for example, how Government budget funding can be used to support the changes the Government wants to see. Agriculture has a critical role in rebuilding our economy. It is one of New Zealand’s biggest employers and currently our most productive major sector. We want to see central and local government working alongside farmers and the sector to find pragmatic and workable solutions that improve water quality. You can find DairyNZ’s recent webinar on Essential Freshwater and a range of other information online at dairynz.co.nz/ freshwater.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Pasture & Forage News
July 2020
Shogun rules for winter grazing
Picking the right chicory cultivar can make a surprisingly big difference this spring When it comes to chicory cultivars, there are two types available – annual, and perennial. This may not seem like an important distinction. However, it can make a big difference to how much dry matter (DM) is produced over a six-month period, because an annual-type crop establishes and re-grows faster than a perennial, so can provide one more full grazing during summer. It’s a bit like the contrast in establishment and growth speed between an annual ryegrass, and a perennial. 501 Chicory is an annual-type cultivar. We’ve measured its DM yield advantage in trials, and it’s significant – 501 can grow 550 kg DM/ha more than the likes of Choice and Chico. This performance will be particularly important in the coming summer, because farms’ capacity to produce feed has in many cases been compromised by last season’s drought. Plus there are several other advantages with chicory. 501’s high DM yield, combined with excellent ME and crude protein levels – both of which exceed summer
pasture and PKE – make it a very cost effective summer feed. (ME is 12.5 and crude protein approximately 20-26%, compared to PKE with an ME of 11-11.5 and crude protein of 14%.) Cows love it; it resists white butterfly and diamond back moth, so it does not need insecticide sprays; and its deep tap root makes it much more resilient and drought tolerant than pasture in summer. Nitrate leaching research has shown heifers grazing chicory urinated more frequently without increasing urinary output, or urinary N, potentially reducing N loading and subsequent nitrate leaching from soil. 501’s root system, up to 1.5m deep, improves soil structure, mines deep soil N and can recover excess soil N left after winter-grazed crops. It’s ideal for effluent blocks with high soil levels of N and potassium (K), as it soaks them up more efficiently than turnips or maize.
facebook.com/BarenbrugNZ barenbrug.co.nz 0800 449 955 Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
@BarenbrugNZ
If you are one of the many farmers who planted Shogun this last year, it’s likely those paddocks will grow more DM/ ha during winter than anything else on the farm. In fact, Shogun’s growth rates at this time of the year are so good they can catch you out. Our advice? Don’t turn your back on it during winter. If the cover on those new paddocks becomes too heavy at this stage of their establishment, because you don’t have animals available to graze them at the right time, Shogun’s future performance could be compromised. So make sure you’re organised to stop this happening. Shogun should not be allowed to get longer than 3500 kg DM/ha without being grazed – and given its fast growth rate this can happen surprisingly quickly. You may need to alter your normal winter stock grazing plan to accommodate this. Shogun is rated 5 stars in the DairyNZ Forage Value Index rankings for 12 month feed in all four regions of New Zealand – upper and lower North Island, and upper and lower South Island. For more advice visit www. barenbrug.co.nz.
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GLOBAL DAIRY ENGLAND
Will UK dairy farmers lose in US trade deal? Going Local: milk vending machines have proliferated on UK farms and the locals have supported them.
British agriculture could be the sacrificial lamb in securing a trade deal with the USA, says UK correspondent Tim Price.
W
e’ve all been to highly recommended restaurants where we’ve made our choices from a delicious menu and then sat and waited. And waited, with sinking hearts, until the waiter emerges from the kitchen to announce that your dish is “off”. That’s how the UK’s drawn-out exit from the European Union (EU) is panning out. It’s now more than three years since Brits voted “out”, tempted by visions of red-tape-free business and countries queuing up to get hold of our cheeses, steaks, and lamb cutlets. But we’re still grinding through negotiations for a “deal” – led either by our old partners in Europe or the US. While the main course is still cooking, a tempting starter dish has just been served with Britain seeking to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. If successful, this could open up new trade opportunities for New Zealand. Britain is due to leave the EU formally at the end of 2020 – and the British Government has signalled strongly that despite the huge impact of the Covid-19 pandemic it won’t be seeking an extension. Negotiations between Britain and the 20
EU’s leaders are not looking promising as the EU refuses to make concessions to its estranged partner that would appear to condone Britain walking out on the relationship. Now, seduced by the prospect of technology riches from a partnership with the United States, ministers have let slip that British agriculture could be the sacrificial lamb to secure the deal. It would mean that while the Brits would be required to farm to high environmental and welfare standards, poorer quality US produce would be allowed to flood the market – without labelling to show its origin. A compromise suggestion for a dualtariff system, with higher tariffs on imported food not produced to UK standards, has already received the “thumbs down” from the States, dashing hopes of a quick deal. Details of how future UK agricultural support will be delivered, in the form of “Public money for public goods” instead of area-based payments, is set out in the Agriculture Bill currently working through Parliament. Fearing a US trade deal could put British farmers out of business, National Farmers Union President, Minette Batters, is campaigning hard for amendments to the Bill, which would guarantee
that upholding UK standards will not come at the price of low quality imports undercutting domestic producers. Thoroughly spooked by the empty supermarkets shelves at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown, the British public has got behind an NFU protest petition with more than a million people signing up to protect the nation’s high food standards. When lockdown started, Britain’s large food service trade all but collapsed forcing dairy producers supplying the sector to throw thousands of litres of milk away while supermarket shelves remained bare. The almost complete closure of food service and hospitality outlets resulted in the loss of a market for around 8 million litres of milk every week, affecting more than three quarters of all dairy farmers in the UK through drops in milk price or delayed payments. It took weeks to untangle the UK’s notoriously complicated dairy supply chains to redirect dairy produce into the retail sector. While increased retail sales have fallen short of the collapse of the food service market, one positive trend for the dairy industry has been the resurgence of demand for locally produced, easily traceable milk. Farmers have been quick to respond, supplying local shops or installing milk vending machines on their own premises. Maintaining support for UK farming once the economic impact of Covid-19 bites may well determine whether a cheap food US deal wins the day.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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INSIGHT
UPFRONT MARKET VIEW
Left: Oceania SMP prices provided the boost to overall SMP prices.
Dairy holding its ground
airy commodities had a good month in June with prices rising at both Global Dairy Trade (GDT) events. The GDT price index ended the month at the highest level it’s been since early April. There has been some good demand from South East Asia in particular and from China to a lesser degree. Chinese demand has been growing but it faltered below the previous year’s levels at the June 16 event. There have been reports that China has built some stockpiles of milk powder, which may explain why Chinese buying volumes have fallen below year-ago levels. Sentiment seems to be leaning more positive at present, no doubt buoyed by the lifts at GDT. This can be seen by lifting prices for dairy commodity futures on the NZX Dairy Derivatives market, which are mostly up on month-earlier levels. The increase in prices – both on GDT and futures prices on the derivatives market – has resulted in a jump in the NZX milk price forecast for 2020-21, which in midJune was $6.62/kg MS. This forecast does seem high and it’s likely to ease as the season progresses because pressure does remain on commodity prices. While commodity prices have had a boost this month, the market is still 22
Dairy commodity prices 7000
US$/tonne
D
milk powder (WMP) prices were up 2.2% and skim milk powder (SMP) prices were up 3.1%. However, Chinese buying of WMP was well below year-ago levels. Oceania SMP prices provided the boost to overall SMP prices but European SMP prices did actually fall at GDT. There is plenty of SMP and non-fat dry milk coming out of the Northern Hemisphere, and these factors indicate possible headwinds that are yet to hit here in Oceania. In the fat side of the market, butter prices slid 1% at the last GDT while anhydrous milkfat prices have been a bit volatile and it remains uncertain just how more resilient. demand may play out over the Butter is more sensitive to the next several months. demand from food service, which Part of the demand is yet to fully pick back up. story recently has been Whilst lockdown the easing of lockdown restrictions are easing around measures around the the world many food service world and things starting outlets can’t yet operate at to open back up to some full capacity and the demand degree. at the consumer level is not This has meant businesses necessarily there either. need to refill their supply So it’s unlikely that we will see Amy Castleton. pipelines, but this spike in much of a lift in demand for butter demand for certain products won’t last any time soon and thus prices are unlikely forever and the question is what demand to see much movement either. will look like once things settle again. We’re still in a state where anything Oceania milk powders have done well could happen but at this point things this month. At the June 16 GDT whole look reasonably positive.
6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 Apr 18 WMP
Oct 18 SMP
Apr 19 AMF
Oct 19
Apr 20
Butter
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
23
SYSTEMS LOW STOCKING RATE
Three generations of the Todd family in the Tutaki Valley.
High productivity in hidden valley Three self-contained, low input dairy units in a dry, secluded valley achieve productivity and environmental targets with a closed herd, conservative stocking rates, and judicious use of crops. Anne Hardie reports.
T
he Todd family milks 1800 crossbred cows in the Tutaki Valley south of Nelson, yet most travellers heading through nearby Murchison would never guess the rugged hills hide such a productive bowl. In this valley the Todds farm three dairy units that are self contained, low input, and (apart from a few tweaks) achieving their environmental targets to take the 24
business into the future. Stocking rates are conservative, cows have access to hill country with their winter crops, and although the farms have 25km of river frontage there have been years of bridging and fencing. There are now 14 bridges up to 19m in length spanning waterways and, along with riparian fencing and other costs, the environmental spending added up to three quarters of a million dollars a
couple of years ago. For four generations the family have farmed in the valley, beginning with a ballot block after return from war. Other properties were bought as they came on the market and today the business includes the home farm milking about 420 cows at the peak of the season; the middle farm, Tiraumea, which milks 385 cows; and the southernmost farm, Tutaki
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Right: The Todds run a closed herd. Below, right: Herd manager at Tiraumea, Charles van Kempen.
Heights, which milks 1000 cows. The two northern farms are run as one company and one herd. Cows are wintered together and divided into two herds, one for each farm and dairy, as they calve. Tutaki operates separately though all three farms work together wherever possible, including machinery and houses. On the home farm are John and Debbie Todd who converted Tiraumea from a bull farm back in the 90s, while their son, Stephen, and his partner Kim Sluys, are the younger generation on Tutaki with their family of five kids. They also oversee Tiraumea, which has a herd manager in charge of day-to-day operations. Between the three farms they employ eight full-time staff and six part-timers who are mostly the wives or partners of full-time staff. Tutaki was the first farm converted to dairying in the 1990s by Avon Gillespie who went on to convert several farms further south in the Maruia Valley before his business toppled. Despite the hype and collapse of Gillespie’s business, John says his entrepreneurship and the quality of his conversions stimulated the region’s dairy industry. Tutaki has never been an easy farm, with a hike of 10km from one end of the farm to the other. Being the narrower end of the valley means it also slopes up to the surrounding hills. As with the other farms it has a mix of stony river flats and silt loam terraces before the steeper hill country kicks in. Tutaki covers 600ha, with 400ha forming the milking platform and the remainder in crop or used for young stock. Hard, frosty winters are followed by scorching summer heat into the 30s when the stony river flats dry out and the cows can have long, hot walks. Though the dairy is located in the middle of the farm the cows still walk up to 5km, and because of that they are milked once a day (OAD) at about 5am and stocked at about 2.3 cows/ha. This season Tutaki has produced close to 300,000kg milksolids (MS), which is its best production for the past five seasons, working out at 750kg MS/ha. The season for all three farms begins with the first calves on August 10 and cows
are dried off about May 20. Whole milk for calves is taken from the vat on both Tutaki and the home farm. Tiraumea, in the middle, produces about 160,000kg MS from 150ha to work out at a little more than 1,000kg MS/ha. It has the benefit of 80ha of K-line irrigation sourced from the river, which keeps chicory performing well through the dry summers and enables them to milk the herd twice a day throughout the season. It’s still lightly stocked, though, at about 2.5 cows/ha. “That extra protein in summer seems to hold the cows up,” Stephen says. “If you can get a bit of high quality feed into them, they seem to hold up pretty good.”
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
FARM FACTS:
• Farm owners: Todd family • Location: Tutaki Valley near Murchison, Tasman • Farms: Tutaki 400ha MP, Tiraumea 150ha, Home 150ha • Cows: Tutaki 1000 cows; Tiraumea 385 cows; Home 420 cows • Production: Tutaki 300,000kg MS, 750kg MS/ha; Tiraumea 160,000kg MS, 1000kg MS/ha; Home • 135,000kg MS, 900kg MS/ha
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Left: Youngsters Fergus and Oscar on the shoulders of John and Stephen. Below: Looking north up the Tutaki Valley behind Stephen.
Grazing cows on winter crops is getting a lot of flak from the public in some regions, but one of the advantages in the Tutaki Valley is scale and terrain. The home farm to the north produces 135,000kg MS from 150ha, or 900kgs/ha, with the herd on OAD the entire season. This farm winters a large proportion of the cows so paddocks are out of the round early for winter crops. Hard winters with frosts reaching -8C force the herds onto crop and supplements. They don’t mind frosts though – less wastage of feed and easier on the cows than wet weather. About 90ha goes into winter crop each year, and for four years that was fodder beet although they’ve been a bit disenchanted with it. Yields averaged 18-20t/ha, with some paddocks down to 12t/ha, and the best up to 27t/ha. At 18t/ha, Stephen says the costs of the crop are just too high to warrant the results so they replaced half the fodder beet with kale. They had also had reproduction problems, with too many empty cows for their liking, and thought fodder beet may have been a factor. “We were wondering whether coming off fodder beet, with its 60% sugar, to pasture that had been carried through 26
winter with quality that wasn’t great and low sugar levels was leaving the cows in a lull as they came up to mating.” For the past couple of years they added molasses to the cows’ diet to make up the sugar difference through the winter. Cows were given 5-6kg/day of both fodder beet and kale, plus a couple of kilograms of hay or balage. Empty rates have improved slightly but they are still a work in progress, and Stephen says the walking distances for the cows are an ongoing challenge that works against them at mating. This is the first year they have removed fodder beet completely from the winter programme and replaced it with swedes as well as kale. It’s the first time they have grown swedes and the paddocks have produced between 15 and 18t/ha, with some of it grazed a month earlier than planned because of the long, dry summer. This winter the cows will be fed either swedes or kale as well as hay or balage. As cows get close to lactating they will be taken off swedes and grazed on the kale
before being moved to grass. Grazing cows on winter crops is getting a lot of flak from the public in some regions, but one of the advantages in the Tutaki Valley is scale and terrain. Most of the cropping is on the extremities of the milking platforms or support areas that merge into rougher hill country. That works especially well on Tutaki where those paddocks further away from the dairy are also the paddocks rising into the hills. Around the edges of milking platforms on the home farm and Tiraumea is about 400ha of good hill country that provides support land for both units that includes the overflow from crops. “We can choose winter areas that don’t pug too much, and cows can spread out on crops that back onto rough country where they can go out and lie down.” Come summer, the crops become chicory, summer turnips, and, to date, a bit of raphno. Between 40 and 50ha are planted in summer crops and Stephen is questioning whether he will grow raphno again. Although it produces 3-4t/ha at first grazing it struggles to regrow through the dry without irrigation: turnips yield 10-12t/ha of bulk to feed to cows through the dry. “You graze raphno in spring and then Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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can’t graze it again for a while. It’s out for a long time whereas you can have turnips and have grass back in autumn for the cows to graze in spring.” They don’t plant turnips on the home farm though as the heavier ground can produce turnip scald and, because the timing is similar to facial eczema (FE), it’s difficult to judge whether scald is caused by turnips or FE. This year the home farm had no crops and used pit silage as a supplement. Each year all surplus grass on the farms goes into pit silage that they make themselves, adding up to 1,500t between the home farm and Tiraumea plus 1,500t on Tutaki. John says the farms can grow an amazing amount of grass in a good season but it’s a matter of balancing it through the year. Because of that they cut more when they can and feed it out on the fringes when it is needed. As well as silage they make 800 bales of balage after the main cut, which gives them flexibility with feeding supplements during wet weather or if a silage wagon breaks down. They’ll also buy standing grass in the neighbourhood, if it’s available, and make it into hay. They feed it to the cows on winter crop to fill them up, or during the dry with summer crop, or when it’s wet and they want to keep the cows full. The one bought-in supplement is palm kernel, feeding up to 2kg/cow/day in the dairy through the pinch periods of the season and 1kg/day the rest of the season. If needed, they will offer it to the herds in trailers through spring or dry summers if there is a feed shortage. Stephen says they
usually contract a few loads in spring to fill those feed gaps though price also dictates how much they will buy. This year they had to feed out more pit silage through the dry summer, which means they will have less silage going into spring and that will also influence their decisions around palm kernel. Looking ahead, Stephen says they want to remove the palm kernel from the middle of the season and use fertiliser to grow more grass when they can turn it into supplement for the dry summer. The prospect of a lower payout, plus higher prices for palm kernel, will make that an important consideration this coming season. “The cost of feed is always important but more important as the payout drops
and the opportunity to turn a dollar out of that feed gets harder. We can either carry more (bought-in) feed into a drought or cut more grass before it. The profitability is in grass because you can grow grass way cheaper than you can buy in feed. “We’re trying to be more efficient. We’re grass based now, but we want to become more grass based with less (fed) through the shed. If and when the payout drops, the more efficient you can be is the better place to be.” One of the advantages of wintering the cows and planting crops through winter and summer is the regrassing programme that follows. Shogun ryegrass is the top choice for heavier paddocks where it does well, while drought-tolerant perennial ryegrasses such as Governor and
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Left: The Todd family.
One50 are chosen for the drier paddocks. Summer crops are grown near each of the three dairies, with Tabu, Shogun, or Trojan ryegrasses following the chicory, depending on the rotation.
REPLACEMENTS
The Todds raise their calves on whole milk from the vat because it is simple and they know the calves are getting exactly what they need. Between the three dairy farms they raise 500 calves each year. They are split between two sites and raised by the women on the farms because they are “caring, patient, and do a great job” with the calves. Milkbar trailers are filled with whole milk with DanCalf Plus added to include a coccidiostat and avoid coccidiosis. They’ve had trouble with that in the past and want to avoid a repeat. The calves are kept in the sheds from two to four weeks before being moved to paddocks in groups of 50. Muesli is introduced from day one and then pellets of any brand but they must be grain based and have 20% protein. “Whole milk is easy,” Stephen says. “You don’t have to mix it and generally milk powders aren’t a lot cheaper with labour and the hassle of doing it. This year it would have been cheaper to feed milk
powder but it could have been the other way. Milk is easy and simple and it’s a known quantity.” Also, Fonterra doesn’t pick up colostrum from their location, so feeding the calves makes good use of that milk. Careful selection of genetics has gone into breeding replacement calves, aiming at high breeding worth (BW) with A2/A2 breeding because they are hedging bets for the future. They also place importance on the fertility breeding value. The aim is capacious cows that have the ability to carry milk; an efficient cow that has the ability to get back in calf easily and “does a good job”. Rising two-year-old heifers are synchronised and artificially inseminated (AI) so that they are always breeding from their best stock. Along with heifer replacement calves the Todds keep 40 bull calves that are mostly Friesians with high BWs, which will run with the cows after AI, but also a few Jerseys to run with heifers after AI. “The main driver is the assurance of having bulls, knowing what you’ve got, and keeping your herd closed,” Stephen says. Even before Mycoplasma bovis came along they operated a closed herd to prevent problems such as bovine viral
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
diarrhoea in the herd, and still vaccinate their bulls to avoid the disease. Taking a proactive approach with animal health has long been a focus on the farms and with that in mind they prefer to spend the money on vaccinations rather than an outbreak. Cows are also vaccinated for rotavirus six weeks before calving because they experienced that havoc six years ago and don’t want to revisit it. “It’s quite a high cost (to vaccinate) but the cost at the other end if you don’t can be quite high.” Similarly, the health of the cow and her milk is critical, with vigilant culling on higher somatic cell counts (SCC) following herd tests and trying to stay on top of subclinical mastitis. On the home farm, the SCC averages 90,000 cells/mL while Tiraumea averages between 80,000 and Tutaki averages 170,000. Minerals are fed to the cows in the dairy and two of the farms have Dosatrons to provide them through the drinking water. Through winter, minerals are also added to the cows’ diet in water and on silage, including magnesium to help prevent milk fever and grass staggers. “Then you don’t have a hole to fill coming into calving. We try to keep the tanks full.”
While the valley floor and terraces are in milk production, 500ha rising up to the steeper walls of the valley has the staggered plantings of pine trees for the potential return from harvest and carbon credits. About 60ha are already well established trees, 150ha were planted two years ago, another 150ha planted last winter, and 125ha will be planted in pines this winter. For the past couple of years and this winter they have been eligible for a Government grant through the Afforestation Grant Scheme, which was designed to establish new forest, with the One Billion Tree Fund replacing it. “You wouldn’t be able to afford to plant these areas without the grants,” Stephen says. “Most of it is unusable land for dairy support. And it means we can grow an asset for the future. 29
BUSINESS CATTLE BOOK
Illustrated vet book for cattle farmers Words by: Jackie Harrigan
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fter working for over 40 years in Taranaki as a large-animal vet, keen photographer Cathy Thompson had amassed a huge collection of photos of animal health conditions, interesting and unusual cases, and onfarm facilities. Now she has spent the first two years of her retirement using the photos to write, firstly, a Practical Guide for
Cattle Veterinarians and, recently, a Veterinary Book for Cattle Farmers. Cathy has always been a keen photographer and says she was always really interested in the different things she saw onfarm with farmers and their animals. “Some were really gory and I often brought bits back to the clinic to show people,” she says, laughing about how she used to drag the poor clinic receptionists out to see what she had collected.
Thinking outside the [tree and fence lined] box Dung beetles will deliver upon the promise to restore and protect our freshwater while increasing production and drought tolerance. We need to be smarter than just focusing on planting and fencing. MPI supports planting, fencing and “other initiatives to prevent farm runoff ”. Without question that is where dung beetles fit in. There is absolutely no better scientifically proven way of reducing overland flow than dung beetles. They deliver an up to 80% reduction in overland flow. This results in a 97% reduction in sediment, and equally includes reduced e. coli and phosphorus. Seed dung beetles to fix the broken nutrient cycle and boost production.
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The collection of thousands of photos proved very useful in her work to show other vets and farmers unusual and interesting things, for vet conferences and when she hosted senior vet students for practical placement. In 2001 she was the Massey Dairy Practitioner in residence at the university for eight weeks, giving guest lectures and tutorials to fifth year vet students, lecturers, and other students. “I have also built up a bone collection – with skulls and leg bones mainly – showing different lumpy bits, infections, and other problems, and a collection of unborn calves of different sizes.” When she retired after 45 years of vet work, mainly at the Taranaki Veterinary Centre, she started writing about deformed calves and then just kept going, ending up with a weighty tome with all the “practical things they didn't teach you at Vet school – including tips and tricks of how a slightly-
“I have also built up a bone collection – with skulls and leg bones mainly – showing different lumpy bits, infections, and other problems, and a collection of unborn calves of different sizes.” built female manages to restrain, examine, and treat cattle”. The book was sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim and distributed through the NZ Veterinary Association, and is popular with vet students and new vets in practices around the country. Cathy decided to follow it up with the book for cattle farmers, sponsored by Shoof who are distributing the book through their online shop and vet practice and farm supply stores networks. The farmers’ book has similar content to the book for veterinarians, but with more about first aid, what normal looks like, and a section on safety and handling tips
and tricks. There are also true stories and interesting cases she remembers from her many years visiting farms. "I have loved working with people over the years. Having photos helped my memory of cases, farmers and farms, and stories! Many of "my" farmers thought I should write a book, so I did it for them.” “I certainly didn't write it to make money – I wanted to use my photos to give something back to the vet profession and farmers.” The Veterinary Book for Cattle Farmers will retail for $150 RRP and is available from shoof.co.nz, vet practices, and farm supply stores.
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BUSINESS INVESTING
Keep a close eye on the direction of government policy but remember policies can change.
Investment tips shared Andy Macfarlane and Richard Green, two well-known agribusiness professionals and experienced investors, share their thoughts about investing off and on farm.
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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.
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.
NEVER UNDER-ESTIMATE THE POWER OF COMPOUND INTEREST
SPREAD RISK
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.
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.”
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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 debt-servicing and cash buffer.
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.
DON’T BE AFRAID TO BUCK THE TREND
FIRE BULLETS BEFORE CANNON BALLS
INNOVATION IS CRITICAL
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.
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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.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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 reinvestment 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 coinvestors, 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. (First appeared in Country-Wide magazine, July 2020.)
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SYSTEMS METABOLICS
Testing key to solving metabolic problems Paul Mercer told Jackie Harrigan about the process of understanding and addressing metabolic problems in the Manawatu herd he manages.
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olving the metabolic problems around calving cows helped Manawatu farm manager Paul Mercer halve the incidence of milk fever and ketosis in his herd and reduce the empty rate for the following season by a third. Paul manages the 410-cow herd on Garvaghy Farm at Rangiotu for Robert Ervine and Colleen Sheldon. Now in his third season, Paul remembers back to that first season with a shake of his head. “We had a lot of metabolic problems – 20% of the cows had clinical milk fever followed by ketosis and retained membranes and it had a big impact on production, but then more problems affected mating performance.” “We dusted the grass and the hay but the cows were still going down – it was really exhausting.” 36
Paul says he had a recipe for getting the cows up again and that “we got pretty good at it”. “I usually put one bag of calcium in the ribs first and then a bag in the neck vein – you have to make sure there is no air in the bag.” “But a couple of down cows take an hour out of your day, especially if you have to hip lift them.” The six-week in-calf rate dropped to 62% that season and the empty rate sat at 18%. “We had multiple issues that season – after the metabolic problems at calving then 18 cows went down at mating, the metabolic issues just carried on, as well as a flood on the riverbank land, and mating problems led to poor results.” Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Left: Paul Mercer: solving his cows metabolics problems improved reproduction results. Paul was Manawatu DIA Dairy Manager of the Year for 2020. Right: Farm owner Robert Ervine with Paul Mercer.
“Blood tests are crucial, pasture tests are crucial, and soil tests are crucial – prevention is the key.”
“I remember thinking ‘this is no good – we need to do something about this’,” Paul says. Half of the farm lies alongside the Manawatu river across a stopbank from the rest of the land and is prone to flooding at any time, but the regional council’s early warning system gives Paul time to move the cows off the area. Paul is the type of person who likes to measure, monitor, and understand what is going on with his cows, his grass, and his soil. Currently embarking on a Bachelor of AgriCommerce degree at Massey by distance learning, he sees his future in farm consultancy, helping other farmers to solve issues through identifying an issue, researching a solution, and then monitoring its implementation. After doing some research Paul and Robert decided the first step was to blood test the cows to see what was going on with them. “If one cow goes down it’s good to blood test a group because the problem will pop up in others as well,” Paul says. He started taking bloods from older cows that were at a similar post-calving stage, saying they were cheap to test and the problem was not as likely to show up in the two- to three-year-olds who usually handle the mobilisation of calcium from their bones after calving better than the older cows. “With our relatively high-producing
herd at 450kg MS/cow and on a diet of mainly grass and maize silage, the cows are on a metabolic knife edge.” In a less intensive, lower-producing herd, if the cows are averaging 300-400kg MS/ year, Paul says they don’t have the same high demand for minerals and can get by with enough from the feed. Attending a metabolics field day was part of his research, and someone asked him if his down cows were crawling. “They told me that’s a phosphorus problem, and I realised that was the funny moving gait they had.” Sure enough, the blood tests came back as low in phosphorus (P) and cows were supplemented, but the poor results impacted mating later in the season. “If the cows miss getting pregnant in the first cycle then you can miss out on 42kg MS early in the season at $6/kg MS or whatever the payout is.”
means that grass can grow very fast – up to 100kg DM/ha/day in the spring – and it’s almost too fast for itself. The soil doesn’t hang on to the minerals and the grass doesn’t pick up enough minerals.” Now soil tests are carried out in early October with three paddocks on each block sampled to get a trend in fertility of the soils. “With mineral issues it all starts with the soil and then the plants,” Paul says. “Blood tests are crucial, pasture tests are crucial, and soil tests are crucial – prevention is the key.” A flood can have a huge and very quick effect on fertility with P levels dropping, and so fertiliser needs to be applied. “The silt soils can have the minerals washed out of them in a prolonged flood event and a dumping of fresh silt can be quite deficient in nutrients, depending on where it has come from.”
THE ANSWER LIES IN THE SOIL
PASTURE TESTING CHECKS
Soil tests were being carried out each year but Paul says they hadn’t looked hard enough at the results of the soil test after the flood. “The nature of the farm, with particularly the Parewanui silt and to a lesser degree the Rangitikei silt loam,
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
To gather data with more immediate results Paul took up the suggestion of a visiting rep who recommended pasture testing. The farm now carries out monthly herbage testing from August and may take a sample any day for an extra test if they 37
are seeing metabolic issues in the cows. The R2 heifers start calving on 15 July and the older cows on 20 July, Paul said. “We start the pasture sampling in early August to see what the P level is doing along with energy levels and other minerals. “You just pick a handful in 5-6 different places pre-grazing and pop into a plastic bag then drop into the lab.” This result outlines the mineral and energy content of the pasture and the dietary cation anion difference (DCAD), which indicates the risk of metabolic disease.
BALANCING MINERALS
Fearing that dusting the pastures was not giving them enough mineral coverage – and little to none in a Manawatu wind or rain event when the dust was blown or washed off the pasture – Paul and Robert decided they wanted to feed a transition diet added into the maize silage they feed to their cows. In consultation with Fraser Abernathy from The Dairy Vet Ltd, a transition plan was devised to solve the metabolic issues around calving and early lactation and to improve cow intakes and energy levels through to balance date. A nutrition plan was established with the springers being fed a low DCAD diet, which stimulates the cows own calcium reserves and reduces milk fever and the problems of retained
Balancing the transition diet for his cows has helped Paul Mercer drive down metabolic problems.
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Paul and his wife Laura have a one year old daughter Charlotte.
membranes. A key focus was to reduce the incidence of ketosis (excess mobilisation of body fat) over the transition period by adjusting the cows’ diets and ensuring pasture quality was maintained. This resulted in the cows maximising postcalving pasture intakes. Paul starts feeding the DCAD mix 21 days before calving through until the cows calve. With advice from Fraser and the herbage testing results, a custom blend of minerals is mixed in with maize in the silage wagon and fed on the feedpad. The aim is to cut out some of the spring grass, which can be low in minerals, supplementing 4kg grass per cow with 5kg maize silage, 3kg palm kernel, 2kg hay, and the mineral mix. Blood tests on a group of cows during the DCAD diet, and again 10 days after calving, track how the cows have some through the transition. The tests have same-day results for Mg, Ca, P, and energy (MJ ME). The colostrum diet consists of a mix of 200g lime flour and 80g Mg blended into 2.5kg palm kernel per cow per day fed in the palm kernel trolley before going onto their grass ration. “I calculate it daily, mix it up by hand, and feed it – it’s pretty rough and ready but it works,” Paul says. “It’s also a good time to see if any cows are unwell. If one is standing off to the side and not going to the trolley I put a bag on
her ribs and fix the problem really quickly. If she doesn’t perk up it could be retained membranes, so we take her temperature and look into it and then ring the vet.” Then three weeks out from mating more blood tests look at levels of bicarbonate, Ca, Mg, P, and B-OHB, which is related to the ketosis threat. “The best way to keep track is to keep testing – if my soil and pasture and bloods are good I know I can sleep at night.” The pre-mating diet consists of 2.5kg palm kernel and 18kg DM pasture per day, depending on how the bloods look at that time. The mineral supplementation at transition and pre-mating has resulted in a 50% reduction in milk fever cases and a halving of ketosis along with a lift to 69% for six-week in calf rate and lowering of the empty rate to 12%. “It’s hard to put all that improvement down to the feed because we have also started vaccinating for infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) and using Flashmate heat detectors, with a really good farm team who are well trained and really observant.” “A good team makes a huge difference to your mating performance,” Paul added. “But I really think the diet made a difference – we got 28 cows in calf 21 days earlier, which is worth a thousand kg of milk solids at $6/kg, and it also gave us way more culling and breeding options.”
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
SYSTEMS TRACE ELEMENTS
Beware selenium sales pitches Words by: Andrew Swallow
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dvice to supplement herds and young stock with extra selenium, based on overseas requirements, is not justified according to a comprehensive review paper published in the New Zealand Veterinary Journal. Massey University vet Richard Laven undertook the study because of increasingly widespread reports of farmers being told the standard New Zealand recommended intake for selenium of 0.03mgSE/kg DM consumed, established by Grace et al in 1983, isn’t relevant for modern dairy cows. The US recommended intake of 0.3mgSe/ kg DM is ten times New Zealand’s but is for cows in indoor systems on total mixed rations, Laven explains. Such diets lack fresh pasture. That’s crucial, because pasture is high in vitamin E that, as an antioxidant, reduces demand for selenium. “Selenium is an important part of the antioxidant protection mechanisms within animal cells. Vitamin E can substitute for that,” he told the Dairy Exporter. Another key difference between US and New Zealand systems is selenium loss from the animal in milk, faeces, and urine. US cows typically produce 12,000 litres of milk/year compared with New Zealand’s 6,000 litres, and because US cows are generally considerably larger and eating more they lose a lot more selenium in excrement. The UK recommended intake of 0.1mgSe/kg DM reflects its systems, which typically see cows grazing in summer but indoors on a silage-based ration in winter – a halfway-house between the US indoor, largely grain-fed herds and New Zealand’s year-round pasture-based systems. Australia’s recommended intake is much closer to New Zealand’s, at 0.04mgSe/ kgDM. Dietary content of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) also affects demand for selenium or vitamin E because PUFAs are prone to oxidising (“going-off”) in the body, adds Laven. If that’s not countered
by antioxidants, such as vitamin E or those produced with selenium, dietary stress will reduce intake, production, and health of the animal. Spring grass is high in PUFA but also high in vitamin E so it’s not a problem, he explains. In contrast, grain-based concentrate feeds result in high PUFA levels in the animal without the high vitamin E intake to compensate, hence the need to supplement with selenium and/ or vitamin E. Since selenium is a much cheaper supplement than vitamin E it tends to be preferred, which is another reason why the US recommended intake rate of selenium is so much higher: it’s cheaper than supplementing with vitamin E. Low PUFA content in fodder beet probably means extra selenium supplementation isn’t needed for dry cows wintering on the root crop, even though it’s known the bulbs are low in selenium, because there’s no loss through milk production. The case for supplementation when cows are milking off fodder beet is more likely to be justified but there’s a lack of good data on vitamin E and fatty acid content of both fodder beet and brassicas, says Laven. Similarly, there’s no evidence in New Zealand that retained fetal membranes, which are commonly linked to Se deficiency in other countries, are caused by Se deficiency. “In New Zealand it is likely that the main impact of selenium deficiency is on milk production and mastitis risk.” The only way to be sure if cows are genuinely deficient in selenium is to blood test, but even then there are some advisors using results to justify unnecessary supplementation, he warns. A blood serum selenium of less than 85nmol (nanomoles) is deficient and 85-140 considered marginal. Anything above that is fine, yet Laven says he’s heard of farmers being told they should target 400nmol and that results of 150-200nmol are “close to marginal” so they should supplement to be on the safe side. He compares it to taking out insurance cover for a Lamborghini when you drive a Toyota
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Richard Laven - “In New Zealand it is likely that the main impact of selenium deficiency is on milk production and mastitis risk.”
Corolla: it’s just not necessary. “All that happens is the cows get rid of it in their urine or milk. The low end of the normal range is really where you want to be.” Again US recommended figures are to blame, a blood serum selenium content of 440-890nmol being the target range there reflecting use of selenium to substitute for vitamin E. None of ten selenium trials with cows grazing pasture reviewed by Laven in the NZVJ support that range. Laven notes the UK’s recommended blood content is in line with New Zealand’s. A longer-term picture of how selenium status has changed can be obtained by having red blood cells analysed for an enzyme that correlates with selenium status, as well as checking serum. Low Se levels indicated by the blood cells but adequate levels in serum indicate the diet was probably deficient a couple of months previously, for example when the herd was on a winter feed, but intake in recent weeks has been adequate. If bloods do show a genuine deficiency, and Laven suggests looking at serum and red blood cell content to gain a fuller picture, correction by injection, feed additive, or fertiliser prill are all effective, the latter being the cheapest and easiest in a grazed-herd situation.
SELENIUM SENSE
• Beware recommendations citing US levels. • Science review shows NZ recommendations robust. • Required minimum intake 0.03mg/ Se/kg DM. • Blood serum <85nmol Se is deficient, 85-140nmol marginal. • Just above marginal the place to be. • More does not = better if above marginal. 39
SYSTEMS MINERALS
Cows have changed over the past 30-40 years but trace element recommendations have not.
Organic trace minerals improve production Trials show that organic trace minerals are better absorbed, cows produce more and return to service earlier. Chris McCullough reports.
D
airy farmers are often bombarded by science that tries to convince them how good mineral supplements are and how they can send profits soaring into bank accounts. Strip away the sales jargon and there may well be some benefits to adding them to rations but only if there is an overwhelming need – or is that fake news? In a nutshell, there are three things to remember about trace minerals as Steve Elliott, global mineral director for Alltech, outlined during his presentation at this year’s Alltech ONE conference, held virtually due to Covid-19 restrictions. He said: “First, trace minerals are essential. They’re not feed additives. We have to include them in every kilo of feed that we produce every day. “The second thing is that the type and the level of trace mineral that we use in diets can impact the absorption of nutrients and have other diet interactions. 40
“And thirdly, that’s why I think the industry should be using more of these organic trace minerals. We know they have higher bioavailability, less interaction with other diet components, and they fall very nicely under what we call the ACE principle, which means they’re good for the animal, the consumer, and the environment.” Steve outlined his five pillars of trace mineral nutrition to include what they are and what they should do. “One, we know they are required every day but do we really know what our animals need? Number two is, have we considered these diet interactions with things like enzymes, vitamins, antioxidants? “The third question we should ask ourselves is what about the environment? Pollution is getting to be more of a concern, trace minerals are linked to contamination. “Number four would be food safety or
impurities. We know many of the food recalls over the last 15 years have been linked back to contamination from things like inorganic trace minerals. “And then ultimately, do we really know of an alternative approach to fortifying diets of trace minerals?” he said. The main focus of Steve’s talk was to consider whether farmers really know the requirements and some of the newer science that has shown us that maybe there is a better way of fortifying diets. The connection between what animals really need these days, in terms of trace minerals, and what research tells farmers that the cattle require is based on dated references, according to Steve. “Today’s diets contain anywhere from three to 10 times what science tells us that cattle need. Is that really the way that we should be fortifying diets? We would never feed three or 10 times as much protein or energy to a cow. But we do it every day
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
“Cows that received organic trace minerals actually produce 442 kilos of additional milk compared with their herd mates that were on inorganic trace mineral diets.” Steve Elliott.
with trace minerals. I’m not sure that’s the best approach. “I realise that the cows we’re feeding today are significantly different from the cattle we fed 30, 40 years ago, yet trace mineral recommendations have changed very little,” he said. “But if we look at the National Animal Health Monitoring System you can see that many of the problems that we continue to experience in dairy cattle production are actually linked at parameters that involve trace minerals, things like reproduction, mastitis and lameness. “All have many publications showing that these types of afflictions are actually affected by trace mineral status. And if we look at other publications it’s fairly well documented that deficiencies in specific trace minerals, like selenium or zinc or copper,are linked to things like mortality, failure of vaccines, or diarrhoea. Animals need zinc, copper, manganese, and selenium every day - some more than others - but the basic functions are the same. Steve said: “We know things like selenium are very highly linked to immunity and thus the ability to battle specific mastitis pathogens. The higher the selenium status of the herd, the less mastitis challenges those herds have. “Research shows that the herds with higher selenium status actually produce more milk. I think being able to increase trace mineral status, and in this case selenium status, has shown us higher productivity in our dairy animals. “We’ve also shown similar studies when it comes to the other trace minerals like zinc, copper, and manganese. Under stressful conditions and high somatic cell count scenarios, by incorporating organic minerals into these diets we were able to significantly reduce the cell count struggle of this herd.” Productivity is something dairy farmers are always trying to improve. Steve noted some trials with high-producing cows in Europe. “In this case we fed them either inorganic trace minerals, zinc, manganese, and copper, or we fed them a blend of half inorganic, half organic, or we fed them only the organic source. “These cows started on supplementation 45 days before they calved, and we monitored them all the way through the full lactation. We found the cows that received only the organic trace minerals actually had significantly lower somatic cell counts. “When we looked at that overall lactation we found that the cows that received organic trace minerals actually produce 442 kilos of additional milk compared with their herd mates that were maintained on the inorganic trace mineral diets.” Steve also touched on reproduction and trace minerals stating that deficiencies in certain trace minerals can cause a multitude of problems when it comes to reproductive parameters. “We looked at fortifying diets with some organic trace minerals and we saw that typical parameters of days to first service after calving or first service conception rates were significantly
improved by incorporating organic minerals into those diets,” said Steve. In conclusion, Steve said there are a number of trials out there that actually show that farmers can utilise organic trace minerals as Steve Elliott, global mineral a single source in dairy director for Alltech. cattle and actually improve productivity. He added: “At Alltech we’ve done almost 200 trials looking at using only these organic sources. And I think that there’s plenty of new information suggesting that may be the right way to go. “To finish up, I’m a bit confused. I am confused as to why the industry continues to over-fortify diets when there’s little-to-no scientific justification for the levels that we’re currently using.
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SPONSORED CONTENT | CLOVERZONE
Government “cracking down on Nitrogen Fertiliser use”
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ew freshwater regulations unveiled by the government recently will require farmers to search for efficiency of nitrogen fertiliser. Fertco believe they already have one of the answers to reducing nitrogen fertiliser use onfarm – Fertco’s N-Smart – controlled release urea. N-Smart uses a vegetable oil-based bio-degradable polymer coating over urea granules to reduce nitrogen loss to the environment and
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increase plant growth rate per kg of nitrogen applied. Fertco recognises the use of nitrogen fertiliser to boost pasture growth is vital for growth during winter and early spring. However, given the weather is volatile at this time of year, urea is a hit-or-miss product because its nitrogen can be easily lost to the environment through leaching (most likely) and/or volatilisation (less likely). Removing the risk of nitrogen loss is now possible with coating technology applied to fertiliser. Fertco’s N-Smart offers the potential to reduce direct loss and benefit production by increasing plant nitrogen uptake. N-Smart’s coating acts as a membrane allowing water to pass through it. In moist conditions it takes a few days for the hard N-Smart granules to imbibe water, swell to roughly twice the original volume and start leaking out N by osmosis. This process continues for about 90 days unless there is a dry spell and the granules dry out, shrink and stop releasing N. When it Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
SPONSORED CONTENT | CLOVERZONE
rains again the release process continues. Urea on the other hand releases all its nitrogen content to the soil or atmosphere within hours. The nitrogen use efficiency (NUE, kg drymatter (DM)/kg fertiliser N applied) of N-Smart has been shown to be significantly greater than that for urea. The 90-day controlled release pattern means farmers can apply one dressing of nitrogen fertiliser at almost any time of year without the risk of N loss, thus reducing application time and cost. Perhaps the most advantageous is the risk of failure from a nitrogen application through leaching and/or volatilisation is mitigated, a big bonus for your wallet and the environment. Work by AgResearch shows in pastural situations with high rainfall and well drained soils, controlled release urea applied at 25kg or 50kg/ha reduced direct from fertiliser nitrate leaching by 30% to 100%. Ammonia volatilisation losses were also reduced typically by around 70% and denitrification losses by 50 to 100%. Plant nitrogen and pasture growth also increased when controlled release urea was used. Pasture growth was 5-15% higher when using controlled release urea, compared to standard urea. On pastoral sites, direct loss of N from fertiliser nitrate leaching from April to August was shown to reduce by 86% to 100% at 50cm depth. N-Smart has been designed to release nitrogen into soils slowly over a 90-day period meaning there is no build up of nitrate in the soil. This release rate matches the plants’ requirement for nitrogen keeping soil nitrate levels low. Therefore, when drainage occurs, there is less nitrate to be lost. Efficiency of nitrogen use results from reduced losses – meaning plants can use more of the N applied as N-Smart. N-Smart contains 44% nitrogen and on its own or combined with other required nutrients such as sulphur, it is easy to apply with traditional spreading equipment and mixes with just about anything without risk of chemical reaction. As such, no gooey mess occurs should it have to sit overnight in the spreader. There are also benefits to using N-Smart in cropping situations and Fertco have developed programmes for use in crops such as maize and fodder beet. The maize cropping programme has been used effectively for many Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
years now and results have been consistently good even in dry seasons. One of the obvious benefits is very even, green crop growth right through to tasseling. Further, not having to do a side dressing is an important advantage. Similarly, never being late with a side dressing is no longer a problem. Fertco Technical Service Reps have incorporated N-Smart into many dairy and dry stock mixes for the last eight years to the extent that in both this and last year’s sales forecast zero standard urea was budgeted. Onfarm benefits include the reduced frequency of application (important in wet conditions from soil damage and loss perspective), lower rates of N application and no adverse chemical reactions when blended with other products. The vegetable oil coating also breaks down into natural products so there is nothing that shows up as residual in either milk or meat. With the government using words like “cracking down on nitrogen fertiliser use” it could be time to re-evaluate your farm’s urea use policy.
N-Smart is Fertco’s proprietary product and we are currently looking for a South Island distributor as we operate only in the North Island. If your fertiliser company is interested in working with us to take N-Smart to South Island farmers, please call Rob Williams on 029 860 8000. For all North Island enquiries please contact Fertco on 0800 337 826 or visit www.fertco.co.nz 43
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SPECIAL REPORT
RETHINKING FERTILISER Reduce, recycle, re-engineer
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Pasture + soils Brings Success 49 Nitrogen cap a ‘blunt instrument’ 52 Challenging season for organic dairy 54 Testing times 57 Embracing the 4Rs of fertiliser
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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Fertilising with irrigation
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SPECIAL REPORT • SMART FERTILISER
Pasture + soils BRINGS SUCCESS Good pasture management and correct soil nutrient levels work together as the key to success on a North Taranaki operation. Jackie Harrigan reports.
A
fter 10 years of sharemilking in Waikato and for the past three years in Northern Taranaki, James and Melissa Barbour have honed their systems to sum up their farming ethos. “We are pretty big on pasture production - and it all starts with the soils,” James says. “The relationship between pasture production and soil nutrient levels drive animal production and that is the key driver to profitability.” Coming from a low-input system in the Waikato, the pair said they had never actually been to Taranaki before they were approached to take on the sharemilking contract at Trewithen Farm, home of the Faull family, who have owned the property and gradually increased its size for many generations.
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The Barbours had never farmed with a feedpad or in-shed feeding before, James says, so they had to be careful not to substitute feed for pasture because they could more easily feed out supplement. The farm is milking all year round, with 380 autumn-calvers and 700 cows spring calving, and the kind climate and free draining volcanic ash soils promote grass growth year round. But protecting those high-producing soils is very important and using the feedpad and the runoffs play a big part. “It’s important for us to be able to get the spring calvers off the farm on to the runoffs once they have dried off - this allows us to maintain a 100-day-plus grazing round through the winter and keep grass as the main part of the winter milkers’ diet.” Looking after the pastures is really
important, James says, and rotational grazing has a big role to play. “We put a lot of effort into making sure our pasture management is right - we focus on leaving good residuals and would rather leave a bit more than hammer the pastures - but we are happy to use the mower if we need to.” When they arrived at the property they reduced the stocking rate by 160 cows, to lower the liveweight per ha and build on the per cow production. The 600 cows from their previous job were lighter framed Crossbred cows and the existing cows they bought were slightly heavier, more Friesian cows. The couple challenged themselves to increase production above the previous five year average (502,000kg milksolids) but to ensure they were doing this profitably. Per cow production has been
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Left: James, Luke (5 months), Ben, (8), Willie (5), Melissa, Thomas (20months) and Joshua (7) and uncle Jason, the family wanted to get Mount Taranaki in their family photo. Photos by Jason Groot.
lifted from 400kg MS/cow in three years to 533kg MS/ha and over 2000kg MS/ ha, driving up the efficiency of the cows to produce more than 100% of their liveweight each season. The autumn herd is operated on a system 5 with pasture a key component of the winter milkers’ diet. “We have the infrastructure and ability to maximise production but from balance date onwards we start to pull back supplementary feed.” The spring herd runs at more of a system 4 level with cows getting supplemented on the feedpad till mid November and back on the feedpad in March when supplement is usually needed to fill in the summer dry deficit. Last season, supplement consisted of 874 tonnes of palm kernel, 326T meal and 55ha of homegrown maize (runoffs) along with molasses. Transition minerals and straw are important parts of the cows’ diet prior to calving and are used to lower the DCAD for both the spring and autumn herds. “We have the ability to efficiently feed supplement with the feedpad, a mixer wagon and the in-shed feeding system so we took the opportunity to feed more and maximise production while margins allowed in this higher payout season. “We have created flexibility in our
FARM FACTS • • • •
James and Melissa Barbour and Jason Groot, 50/50 sharemilkers Trewithen Farm, Waitara, Taranaki Milking Platform: 288ha, growing to 300ha for 20/21 season Runoffs: 140ha in total in 5 blocks, running young stock, wintering cows, growing 55ha maize • Cows: 1080 cows peak milked • Production: 577,000kg MS (2019/20) 2,000kg MS/ha, 533kg MS/cow • Staff: James, Melissa and Jason and three full time staff. system, which means we can adjust inputs depending on forecast payout. We are resilient because we maximise pasture harvested, grow all our own maize silage and contract feed prices - so we don’t get forced into a higher priced feed market during a dry summer/autumn.” The sharemilkers aim to keep their farm working expenses between $2.10 and $2.20/kg MS each season. With a payout of around $7.20/kg MS, this season was good for the Barbours, who after 13 years of sharemilking are getting closer towards their long-term goal of buying their own farm.
FAMILY AFFAIR When the family arrived at Trewithen three years ago, along with their 600 cows, they brought three sons (and two more have been born in Taranaki) and Melissa’s brother Jason Groot who works with them (along with his partner Cat, who helps out when she can). “Having Jason has made the whole job more doable, because we have complementary skill sets and work really well together,” James says.
The Barbours have enjoyed seeing the results of feeding their cows well - lifting production and efficiency, better repro results and animal health outcomes
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Jason and Cat have bought into the Barbour’s sharemilking business and are on the farm whenever James and Melissa return to visit the Waikato where they have a 160ha drystock lease property. This farm is used to grow their young stock and finish 150 dairy-beef animals each year alongside a few sheep and a developing Angus stud herd, Parakau Angus, which supplies bulls for their sharemilking business, and makes them largely self-contained. ‘It gives us diversity and makes our business very flexible as we can pull stock out and shift them around and we have a casual manager who runs it for us.” “We love dairying and really enjoy the drystock as well and it gives us a good chance to visit both of our parents who live nearby,” James says. The Faull family have many and varied business interests, including a chain of international hotels, the Swiss-Belhotel International. James says it is great working with oversight from such astute business people, who are always encouraging them to be innovative and challenge their progress. “We are entrusted to make the majority of the onfarm decisions, but we have regular catchups with both Gavin Faull and his son, Oliver Faull and enjoy their insight into the operation and their pride in their farm.” Gavin has always had a target of 600,000kg MS for the farm, which James says is possible, especially expanding the platform to 300ha. “We’re getting close to Gavin’s ambitious target; with another 20kg MS/cow we could get there - and upon doing so Gavin says he would take us all to the Hong Kong Sevens!” The Barbours also brought their longtime farm consultant with them to the farm, Mark Dodd, from Tauranga, who is always challenging them to find the best outcome
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for the cows, the farm and themselves, and the group all have a 6-8 week meetings on the farm.
BALANCING FERTILITY When they first arrived they questioned whether the farm should be growing more pasture - expecting about 15/16 tonnes of drymatter (DM)/ha/year. Whole-farm testing, at a cost of about $7000, identified a variable level of fertility so they quickly decided to use the next two years to address any imbalances paddock by paddock. With advice from Ravensdown rep James Livingston they formulated a capital fert plan that used five different tailored mixes using the HawkEye system to capture paddock fertiliser history, capturing soil test results, ordering product and monitoring placement. “Testing the whole farm was complicated but it was really important that we got it right. The farm owners were really supportive and this was appreciated by us, as sharemilkers, as we know fertiliser is always a large investment. After two years of the programme and another round of all-paddock testing, we are seeing some massive gains with Olsen P lifted from 20-25 up towards 30-35 and potash levels back up to optimum.” The tailored fertiliser plan has overcome any other trace element deficiencies and addressed the problem of very little clover in the pasture sward. “We started seeing clovers return as the fertility improved.” James intends to repeat the all-paddock testing every few years, saying it is a good investment. “You don’t have to go long to realise the savings in the fertiliser programme - it’s important to know the levels of nutrients in each paddock - not just the average across the farm.” While the Barbours are renewing pastures on the runoffs with a mixture of deep-rooted herbs and grasses, on the milking platform they concentrate on renewing 20-30ha of chicory each year into a mix of Governor, One50, Maxxam and always add clovers, as well as oversowing clovers with fertiliser. Effluent was previously applied by a low application system but the Barbours felt it wasn’t working well for the property - and with no solid separation the small nozzles were regularly getting blocked.
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TREWITHEN FARM NITROGEN USE STRATEGY: • Apply N to pasture already in regrowth phase • Use appropriate application rate - only 25-30kg N/ha/application • Don’t apply when soil temperature below 10deg, or when soil waterlogged or too dry • Make sure additional growth is utilised • Use coated N product to reduce volatilisation, esp when rainfall becomes less reliable • Don’t apply additional N to effluent paddocks • Applying own N gives more control and flexibility over timing of applications • Stay away from creeks, drains and animal camp sites • Understand that N applications are not required immediately after a dry spell, as mineralised N builds up in the soil • Monitor pH and apply lime to counter acidification of soils • Aim for total N use of 120-180kg N/ha/year
Changing to two travelling irrigators and a summer rain gun has made the system more simple and robust and means that they can get enough effluent on to 5060ha a year of the 140ha effluent area in 2-3 applications to reduce the need for any other fertiliser on those paddocks. Nitrogen is an important part of the Trewithen Farm fertiliser programme, and James uses it as a strategic tool to grow more grass. “By using N to grow more plants, we are adding to the organic matter in the soil.” Applying their own fertiliser allows them to be careful about timing, placement and maximising N efficiency. “The timing and rate of application are really important to good N management, we use it as a tool and the most profitable use is to identify any feed deficit early and
apply N to fill the gaps.” “We are also using N-Protect to cut down the N loss from volatilisation - as the climate becomes drier we will be seriously considering using the protected product year round.” With two years to go on their sharemilking contract, the Barbours say the farm and herd is in a sweetspot, they know what works and just need minor tweaking now and then to improve efficiencies. The couple has loved seeing the benefits of feeding their cows better - banking the profits from improved production and the advantages of better reproduction rates and better animal health outcomes. Now they just need to unlock that last 20kg MS/head to get them to Hong Kong.
The boys love getting out on the farm with James. He finds applying his own fertiliser allows more flexibility ensuring the right product in the right place and the right time.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
SPECIAL REPORT • N CAP
Process engineer Teresa Bakhos and Mike Manning – coatings containing trace elements can be added to create fertiliser specific to a farm or even a paddock.
Nitrogen cap a ‘BLUNT INSTRUMENT’ The proposed annual cap on N application will be difficult for some farmers and may not have the desired effect, as Anne Lee reports.
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he government’s national 190kg/ ha/year cap on nitrogen has rung alarm bells in the rural sector – not necessarily because of the number itself but because it heralds a much-feared shift towards input controls. It’s in stark opposition to the essence of the effects-based Resource Management Act where output limits are set on the effects an activity has – for instance, the amount of nitrogen potentially leached – leaving farmers to innovate, manage their inputs, or adjust their systems to achieve the output limit. Both the Minister for the Environment David Parker and Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor warned farmers last year when they attended meetings about the proposed Essential Fresh Water Package they should be careful about their opposition to proposed output limits such as dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN).
The alternative, they warned, would be input controls and no one wanted to see that, O’Connor said. But, despite the cap not being part of the proposal, the input control has found its way in while the DIN limit is to get more investigation. Nitrate toxicity levels were tightened for fresh water bodies so that 95% of fish species cannot be affected by nitrogen levels rather than the previous limit of 80%. That’s likely to translate into nitrate toxicity level well below the 3.8g/m3 level DairyNZ submitted, and may mean even tougher reductions in nitrate leaching limits for regions where farmers are already working towards significant cuts. The nitrogen fertiliser limit in itself has been viewed as missing the mark when it comes to improving water quality standards.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Mike Manning – innovation driving precision and efficiency.
Ravensdown predicts it will affect about 30% of farmers around the country with most of them in Canterbury. Nitrogen leaching into underground aquifers is the issue in that region, with the major source being cow urine.
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TF
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TOW AND Fert by Tow and farm
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Despite the cap not being part of the proposal, the input control has found its way in while the DIN limit is to get more investigation.
And while lowering nitrogen applications will reduce pasture growth and potentially cow numbers, farmers can simply replace nitrogen with supplementary feed to maintain stocking rate. Some higher users of nitrogen have also shown well-timed, strategic applications coupled with well managed irrigation can mean less nitrogen is lost to groundwater than from those applying less in a poorermanaged system. The cap could be seen as a nod to Greenpeace’s call for an outright ban on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser. AgFirst agribusiness consultant and analyst Phil Journeaux’s November 2019 study into the value of nitrogen fertiliser to the New Zealand economy found the removal of nitrogen fertiliser would cause $19.8 billion drop in output, a cut in GDP of $6.7b, and a cost to dairy farmers of $824m. If dairy farmers bought feed in or imported composts to replace nitrogen fertiliser inputs the cost rose to $1.2 billion at the farm gate. Ravensdown’s general manager of innovation and strategy, Mike Manning, says precision and efficiency are the watchwords farmers think about now when it comes to fertiliser. Putting on exactly what’s needed in the right place at the right time is a win:win:win for farmers because it not only means they get a better feed response to any application, they also save money and achieve better environmental outcomes. Farmers have made their own moves towards using less nitrogen over recent years but that’s been driven by efforts to reduce its effects and has been but one tool in a multi-factorial tool box within the farm system. “A cap is a blunt instrument and they’re often ineffective. There’s a risk they’re seen
To read Phil Journeaux paper: http://www.fertiliser.org.nz/Site/research/projects/the-value-of-nitrogen-fertiliser-tothe-new-zealand-economy.aspx
Process engineer Teresa Bakhos helped develop the process that allows specialised coatings to be put around other fertilisers.
as a target not a limit, or it’s potentially simply replaced with other inputs, which means the end goal of reducing outputs isn’t achieved,” Manning says. There’s been a strong uptake of coated urea technology as a means to get both the best plant response for nitrogen applied and minimise losses to the atmosphere through volatilisation, he says. The urease inhibitor coating slows down the conversion of nitrogen from the dissolving urea particles to ammonia gas. “We’ve also seen a lot more farmers using best practice when it comes to more precision. “They’re not applying nitrogen in
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
gateways, on effluent areas, around troughs – if there’s enough nutrient there then it makes sense not to waste money putting fertiliser on and it reduces potential losses to the environment.” Manning says innovation and technology are bringing new efficiencies and, in the future, it may be that farmers “dial up” the coating for their particular situation such as a greater amount of the inhibitor coating on urea through the summer. Already the co-operative has developed technologies to allow specific trace element coatings to be added to products such as superphosphate, including molybdenum, cobalt, and copper. “They’re customised for a farmer’s specific needs on specific soils and they’re adjusted depending on the rate of the main fertiliser going on. “For instance, if they’re putting on a low rate of superphosphate then there will be a higher rate of the trace element in the coating to achieve the desired rate of the trace element. If a higher rate of superphosphate is going on then the rate in the coating will be lower.” Nutrient input caps stifle these kinds of innovation, and overseas experience of input caps shows they often don’t achieve the environmental outcomes needed, Manning says.
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SPECIAL REPORT • ORGANIC FERTILISER
Winter grass at Aquila Sustainable Farming’s Riversdale farm ready for calving.
CHALLENGING SEASON for organic dairy Focusing on soils and non-synthetic fertilisers has been productive for a Southland organic dairy farming company despite a difficult season. Karen Trebilcock reports.
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quila Sustainable Farming is showing it takes patience, good management, and investment to get soil in a condition where it can cycle nutrients without adding nitrogen fertilisers. The nine dairy units on six farms in Southland, owned by a German investment fund, have been supplying Open Country’s powder plant at Awarua Bay with organic milk under EU organic standards since late 2018. And with 5500 cows and 1200 heifers to feed on the 4000ha semi self-contained operation, making sure the soils can produce enough is all important. Soil consultant for the farms, Soil Matters’ head consultant Rob Flynn, said
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for the first few years it was about “getting the basics right”. “Aquila was on a mission – simplifying sustainable food production. “It had to build from scratch an organic supply chain for all inputs as there was none in place in the South Island at the time capable of producing the projected amounts of milk,” Rob said. With a stocking rate of between 1.8 and 2.4 cows/hectare, production has averaged between 380 MS/cow to 420 MS/cow. Rob said it had begun with soil testing. “When the health of the soil is assessed, the physical, mineral, and biological aspects are all looked at. “From the beginning, soil tests using the labs at Eurofins were done to determine
nutrient requirements in specific areas. “Recently more extensive soil testing has been done to implement an approach which allows for more fine tuning and also take a close look at the carbon cycling in the soil.” The farms are run with closed herds and with all young stock grazed together. They are spread across Southland from Kaiwera to Orawia and include irrigated and non-irrigated pastures and a wide variety of soil types, topography, and climate zones. Rob said potassium, known to be a problem in many Southland soils, was one of the first hurdles. “One of the products Soil Matters works with is Viafos Potash22.”
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Left: Soil Matters head consultant Rob Flynn is soil consultant for Aquila Sustainable Farming.
NON-SYNTHETIC FERTILISERS A wide range of non-synthetic fertilisers is available in New Zealand for organic dairy farmers. These are described as natural products because they are either microbial, animal, or plant by-products or are mined, said BioGrow programme manager (inputs) Robert Murray. Organic fertilisers are worked on by soil or compost organisms before the nutrients are absorbed by pasture. Permitted under BioGrow are fertilisers such as dolomite and gypsum, RPR (reactive phosphate rock), natural or elemental sulphur, rock salt and sea salt, naturally mined humates, and potassium sulphate. He said organic certification includes regular soil testing to assess soil fertility levels and must show either good or generally improving levels. Restricted fertilisers can also be used if soil or foliar tests show they are required. These include mined magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts), potassium chloride, langbeinite rock (potassium, magnesium, and sulphur), and trace elements such as soluble boron compounds, sulphates, carbonates, oxides, or silicates including the forms chelated with nonsynthetic agents of cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, and zinc. Many solid organic fertilisers are slow release and are usually part of a programme that includes compost, seaweed, and other plant-based preparations that also provide nitrogen. Ballance Agri-Nutrients science strategy manager Warwick Catto said organic fertilisers tended to cost more as they required additional processing and handling due to strict protocols to avoid crosscontamination. He said sales of organic fertiliser by Ballance were low and spread throughout the country. “There are farmers that like to use organic fertiliser although their farm system may not be certified. “The most common example is farmers who use RPR.”
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
“The slower-release action of Potash22 limits the oversupply of potassium in pastures, avoiding harmful effects on animal health while keeping potassium supplied to growing plants. “Beside this, other products from the Viafos range are used and the common ones like lime and trace elements.” He said to get the soil to “cycle” they needed to make sure there was active soil biology and have a functional canopy to turn carbon dioxide into carbohydrates to feed both the cows on top of the ground and the soil life below. “The N input in this system is low. A higher N input could result in a higher feed production but, from a cost and environmental point of view, it’s better that we aim to utilise the nitrogen in the air. “The effective use of legumes in the pasture and an active soil biology underneath gives us the nitrogen we need.” Pastures include mixed swards of ryegrasses as well as plantain, chicory, and different varieties of red and white clovers. Fescue is used instead of ryegrass in some paddocks. “In the past few years it has been reasonably tough going due to some challenging weather events which every farmer has had to cope with in Southland,” Rob said. “But unlike other farmers, Aquila, because of its organic status, has had limited opportunity to buy in feed or apply nitrogen to boost feed production. “However, they have proven to be resilient and that is what it’s about. “Straight from the beginning it has been a great journey to work with them. “But the journey has only just begun. The team at Aquila has seen now what they can do when the weather starts to co-operate and are looking forward to even better results in a good growing season. “It tells them that they are heading in the right direction.”
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SPECIAL REPORT • FERTILISER TESTING
TESTING times Automation and improved soil tests are set to give farmers faster and more reliable analyses, as Anne Lee reports. Wet, heavy soil samples have to be manually pushed through a 12mm sieve before they’re dried.
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avensdown’s Analytical Research Laboratories’ (ARL) soil testing lab is bringing in home-grown Kiwi ingenuity to fully automate the surprisingly physical and mentally taxing processes of preparing soil samples for analysis. The move to full automation will be a first for a soil testing laboratory, will help improve the accuracy of results for farmers, and build capacity so that more samples can be processed on a given day. ARL manager Will Bodeker says the investment will be significantly more than $500,000 but Covid-19 showed just how valuable the automation process could be. Alert Levels three and four came right at the time the lab typically sees the number of samples arriving ramp up towards
When the lab opened the samples came thick and fast.
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its peak testing period of June, July and August. “In March we normally take on four fixed-term people and train them ready to support us through the busy period. “June, July, and August are our peak months when we receive 12,000 to 14,000 soils a month. “For comparison, in December and January we receive about 1500 tests a month.” A decision was made by Ravensdown not to test soil samples through Alert Levels four and three. Once the country returned to more normal business so did the lab but that meant a huge influx of samples coupled with the need to train people quickly. Sample numbers were 20-30% higher than
expected for this period with farmers in catchup mode. Pressure on the lab and courier delays led to a backlog and through late May and early June turnaround times for soil test results were up to 10 days instead of the targeted three to four days. It took until mid-June for things to return to a semblance of normal. “One consequence of Covid though has been a different skill set of people becoming available in the labour market so that’s allowed us to get them trained quickly and operating at a fairly good speed.” There’s a lot of physical work in handling the samples from when they arrive in bags to where they’re ready in solutions in testtubes for analysis. Clay soils are heavy and difficult to handle, for instance. “Some of them are in a state where we can sculpt them – we actually have our own sculpting competition amongst ourselves each year. “Along with the manual aspect it also requires a lot of attention to detail. Obviously we have systems but it still requires people to be thinking and engaged – it’s not the kind of job you can switch off for a minute or two.” When a sample arrives, the barcoded bag is scanned. Soil samples are then manually pushed through a 12mm sieve, which for heavier clay soils takes a bit of effort. They are then dried overnight and subsampled, which means weighing out
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
FASTER N TEST ARL is replacing its anaerobically mineralisable nitrogen (AMN) test for the faster, more accurate, potentially mineralisable nitrogen test (PMN). Both tests predict the amount of mineralised nitrogen that will be made available for plant growth over the growing season. But the PMN test can give results in three to four days rather than the seven days required by the AMN test. The AMN test is a shortened version of the original gold standard test that takes 49 days. “Nobody’s got time to wait 49 days for information and that’s why the AMN test was developed as a predictor, but the amount of nitrogen that’s actually mineralised will be affected by soil temperature and moisture,” Will Bodeker said. Research has found the PMN test is a better predictor, and the shortened turnaround time is another benefit.
varying amounts of soil depending on the analysis being done for each sub-sample, mixing each one with a specific reagent, and shaking it for a set period of time. The solution is then passed through a filter paper into a test tube. Only then is it ready for analysis. The new automation process will be installed over the coming year and has been designed from scratch to bring
together some of the existing technology and equipment in the laboratory. This also served to keep costs down. “We’ll be the first to fully automate this style of sample preparation process for soils.” Will says they looked globally for a company to develop the process and found the best candidate was in their own backyard – CR Automation, based in
Will Bodeker – Covid-19 put the pressure on.
Hastings – a company that specialises in industrial technology, automation, and robotics. “Once the sample preparation is automated it will eliminate the need for casual or fixed-term staff each year. It will cut down on the mundane, repetitive work, and reduce the risk of strains and sprains so we’ll have a faster, more accurate, and safer process.”
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MAKING FEED COSTS EASIER TO DIGEST Helping reduce farm expenses A high-quality supplementary feed, silage from farm-grown maize costs 14-26c/kgDM – or even less if it can be grown in an effluent paddock. Similarly, maize silage that’s purchased in is also more economical than most other supplements. Control over your feed costs is just one the benefits of maize silage from Pioneer® brand hybrids. Talk to your Pioneer Area Manager or local Merchant. www.pioneer.nz/maize-silage 56
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
SPECIAL REPORT • WATER QUALITY
EMBRACING THE 4 Rs of fertiliser Words by: Elaine Fisher
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ddressing water quality issues will help grow the New Zealand brand and farmers will respond to the challenges, as they always have, with innovation and good management, says Warwick Catto, science strategy manager for Ballance AgriNutrients. That response will be assisted by research and development by agricultural companies and private and public research organisations. Warwick says the government’s Essential Freshwater policy is not to be feared but farmers must be sustainable both economically and environmentally. “If the farming business is not environmentally sustainable in the long term, the business will disappear. “The policy reflects social change in how we think of waterways and environment, a little like the way attitudes have changed to, say, smoking.” And Warwick is advocating another change too. “I think we need to stop talking about the effective areas of a farm because that implies the balance is not effective.
CEO, Mark Wynne with Minister for Primary Industries Damien O’Connor at the launch of the SurePhos, a slow release phosphorus fertiliser developed with the support of the Primary Growth Partnership.
MitAgator, geospatial software that helps farmers make decisions around reducing water contaminants, is another Ballance Agri-nutrients tool.
“Those areas of wetland or swamp may be providing vital ecological services, including retaining nutrients and sediments, which enhance the overall farming operation.” The new water policy will impact farming, and the challenge ahead is to find ways of limiting leaching and greenhouse gases without adversely affecting farm production. There are four important “Rs” to fertiliser use, says Warwick: right product, right place, right time, and right rate. Ballance had anticipated a number of the changes in the Essential Freshwater policy, especially around nitrogen and phosphorus, some time ago. “As a business we have to be future ready in terms of innovation and ask what will the issues be in five years’ time and what widgets (products) will we need, as many take three to five years to create.” One of those products is SurePhos, a slow release phosphorus fertiliser. The result of years of trial and error, it was developed with the support of the Primary Growth Partnership.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Whatever the product, says Warwick, farmers need the assurance of good science and research to know that it will work. Early, successful adopters of new products or management techniques quickly become the role models others will follow. Another tool developed by Ballance is MitAgator – geospatial software that helps farmers make cost effective decisions around reducing water contaminants, making it possible to farm more sustainably without losing focus on productivity and profits. “Farmers are close to their land and know which areas are likely to be losing sediment, for example. What MitAgator does is clarify where the most important areas are on farm and give farmers the confidence to act.” Long term, Warwick is optimistic about the changes the Essential Freshwater policy will bring to farming and the country. “I think it will enhance the image of New Zealand farmers, our primary produce, and will benefit the waterways and the environment we all enjoy.”
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SPECIAL REPORT • FERTIGATION
Johan Joubert and Steve Breneger – the purpose-built tank and trailer unit with specialist fertigation pump and control system can be moved easily from pivot to pivot.
FERTILISING with irrigation Fertigation - applying fertiliser through irrigation - has allowed Pamu Farms to make significant cuts to nitrogen use on a Canterbury farm. Anne Lee reports.
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pplying nitrogen through fertigation has allowed Pāmu Farms to slash its nitrogen use without limiting milk production and studies are underway to understand how the application system could be affecting feed quantity, quality and potential nitrate losses. Pāmu Farms has been using fertigation – applying fertiliser though irrigation – on its Waimakariri Farm in Canterbury since the 2018-19 season. It saw a 42% cut in nitrogen use on historic levels in the first year and 25% in the second giving an average 36% reduction on typical use so far. Irrigation New Zealand technical manager Steve Breneger designed the system installed on the farm and is the technical lead in a wider project that includes Pamu’s onfarm experience in tandem with a scientific study at Lincoln University into the effects of fertigation on
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pastoral management and environmental loss. Ballance Agri-Nutrients, Lincoln University, Irrigation New Zealand, Fertigation Systems, Molloy Agriculture and the Sustainable Farming Fund are all supporting the project. “The headline numbers we’ve seen in terms of nitrogen reduction at Pāmu are very positive but we can’t go out and say, based on one farm’s experience over two seasons that all farms are going to achieve the same outcomes,” Steve says. “Fertigation has been used for decades overseas and in horticulture here but there’s really no research on pastoral farming. “That’s why this study is important – having the science going on along with the practical implementation. “The science is informing what Pāmu is doing but at the same time the questions they have get fed back for the science to answer.
“It’s important that we keep looking for those answers. We’ve got big reduction targets to meet here in Canterbury especially and the 190kg (nitrogen/ hectare) limit we’ve just seen imposed makes this even more timely.” Fertigation has been attempted in Canterbury before but Breneger says the key to setting up a successful system comes at the front end with design. “You have to be very clear about what you’re trying to achieve, what risks or problems you’re aiming to solve and the level of hands on management you want.” “In Pāmu’s case they were looking for a 20% reduction in nitrogen application over five years and they wanted it to be able to pay for itself over that period. “They wanted to use existing infrastructure as much as possible and where new infrastructure was needed, they wanted to be able to move it out if things didn’t work out.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
In Pāmu’s case they were looking for a 20% reduction in nitrogen application over five years and they wanted it to be able to pay for itself over that period.’
“If it was successful, they wanted to be able to replicate it easily.” Pāmu’s system includes a main 25,000litre storage tank where pre-mixed nitrogen solution is delivered by contractor monthly. “It’s pre-mixed using a hot water process that means the urea is dissolved into the hot water solution to give a 20% dilution – so for every 1000l there’s 200 units of nitrogen. “Using that process the urea stays in solution and doesn’t recrystallise. “I think that’s where some past attempts at fertigation ran into problems – farmers don’t generally want to be chemical engineers and doing the mixing onfarm just creates too much complexity and risk.” The tank sits on a concrete base surrounded by a concrete bund creating enough capacity to hold the entire
CLEAN UP THIS SEASON.
Johan Joubert - the 25,000 litre storage tank with failsafe bund.
contents of the 25,000l tank as a fail-safe measure. The solution is pumped via a four-stroke pump fitted with Viton seals to protect against corrosion to a 4200l purposebuilt tank on a trailer unit so it can be transported to the four pivot irrigators that water the 400ha property. The control unit and pump on the trailer are a specialist fertigation setup from US company Agri-Inject. Johan Joubert is the farm manager at
Waimakariri and says the system is simple to use and works with the pivot’s features so it has fail-safe devices such as automatic cut off if pressure drops, the pump stops working or electricity at the pivot stops working. The control unit can be controlled from his phone and can send alert messages to him if something goes wrong. At the pivot the pump is connected into the injector unit on the pivot, which has a non-return valve system.
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THE STUDY
Tommy Ley – looking into the effects nitrogen fertigation can have on pasture.
He says fertigation is carried out separately to irrigation runs with a simple calculation used to determine the flow rate needed to achieve 5unitsN/ha/week application rate. The aim is to have a daily application rate of just 1-1.5kgN/ha/day (equivalent to 1-1.5mm/day). The farm uses soil moisture monitoring and, just like irrigation management, fertigation is only carried out when the soil moisture levels allow so that drainage doesn’t occur. “That’s where fertigation reduces potential risk of nitrate leaching because you’re not putting on a month’s worth of nitrogen in one dressing and then having a heavy rain event a week later that washes it down through the soil profile,” Steve says. Even in the worst case scenario where a heavy rainfall event occurred after fertigation you’d just lose 5kg N/ha not 3050kg N/ha, he says. Equally during hot, dry weather,
Lincoln University masters degree student Tommy Ley is nearing the completion of his study into the effects of fertigation on pasture yield, pasture quality parameters and nitrogen losses. The study has compared ryegrass – white clover pasture plots that have been either treated with solid urea fertiliser or dissolved urea in solution to simulate fertigation. He’s carried out two experiments over an eight month irrigation period since September 2019. The first experiment was a direct comparison between the two forms of application of nitrogen fertiliser. He compared control plots, which received no nitrogen fertiliser, with plots that received either solid urea in a monthly application of 25kgN/ha followed by 6mm irrigation or liquid urea also in one monthly application equivalent to 25kg N/ha and also followed by a 6mm irrigation. A third treatment was carried out using solid urea at 25kg N/ha/month but irrigation was delayed until two days after each month’s application.
The plots were harvested each month just prior to fertiliser applications with pastures analysed for drymatter (DM) yield, DM percentage, crude protein, DM digestibility, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and metabolisable energy (ME). Plant nitrogen and soil nitrogen measures were also taken. In the second experiment Tommy has looked at the effects of scheduling more frequent lower rates on nitrogen fertigation on pasture measures. He compared control plots with plots where fertigation was applied either monthly at a rate of 25kgN/ha or weekly at a rate of 6.25kg N/ha. The results will help understand if fertigation can help plant nitrogen use efficiency with theories suggesting the frequent, low rates of nitrogen applied in liquid onto the soil help maintain a steady pool of the nutrient sufficient for plant growth with minimal losses beyond the root zone. We will bring you Tommy’s results in coming months.
fertigation limits the amount of loss to the atmosphere through volatilisation. “If we’ve had rain and the soil moisture levels are getting up there we can delay fertigation and because we’re putting it on with the pivot at such low rates we can get round in a day and catch up the following week. “So we shouldn’t be limiting the amount of nitrogen needed for the plant if we can’t put it on one week,” Johan says. A wet spring and early summer period in 2018 meant fewer opportunities for fertigation in the first half of the season and was part of the reason for the dramatic reduction in nitrogen applied at 115kgN/ ha for that season. In the following season the total application was 150kg N/ha. Johan doesn’t believe production is being hurt by the reduced nutrient applications or timings of fertigation having to be carried out based on soil moisture levels. Supplementary feed levels and stocking
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
rate have remained fairly static and milk production has also been on par. Johan doesn’t find having to time fertigation based on soil moisture levels creates any extra work or problems with complexity. “You probably have less to think about really because it has become part of the routine. “It takes about 2.5 man hours a week to move the trailer and set it up.” Johan says staff can fill and move the tank and trailer but setting up the fertigation round is only carried out by himself and his 2IC. There’s no withholding time or issue with scheduling fertigation around cow grazing. We also don’t have as many vehicles coming on farm spreading fertiliser which is a benefit to health and safety, Johan says. A benefit has been the reduction in vehicles on farm with no contractor coming in to spread nitrogen on specific paddocks.
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ENVIRONMENT AWARD WINNING
Sandra and Chris Campbell with daughter Charleigh (8), their farm manager’s son Finn Harrison (7) and son Ryan (6).
Equity partnership gains multiple awards Words and photos by: Karen Trebilcock
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nowing that what they’re doing is making a difference to their waterways keeps Chris and Sandra Campbell working hard. The couple won the Bayleys People in Primary Sector Award, the DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship Award, and the Norwood Agri-Business Management Award in the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards announced via Facebook in early May. “It’s less daunting if you do a small bit of it at a time, keep ticking off the boxes, than having to suddenly do it all at once to be compliant,” Chris said. The Clifton family milks 470 cows on rolling country, neighboured by Pamu sheep farms. Their business is a simple but effective 62
equal equity partnership with Peter and Elaine Carnie of Invercargill. Chis and Sandra are also the contract milkers for the partnership. After years of contract milking they understood the business and weren’t keen to go sharemilking and put all of their money into livestock. An equity partnership with old friends instead was the answer and provided the stable opportunity they wanted for their young family. The farm was a 1990s conversion owned by Noel and Tania Caulfield when the partnership bought it four years ago. While contract milking at Clydevale Chris and Sandra spent two years looking at more than 70 Southland farms, as well as a few in Otago, and knew the Clifton farm was for them when they first saw it. “It was the only one we came to that felt
loved,” Chris said. “And it had scope.” The farm was bought as a going concern with Noel and Tania staying around for the transition to make sure everything kept running smoothly. The Campbell’s farm manager, Aaron Harrison, came with them from Clydevale and they’ve since added to their team Ernie Mahlobo from South Africa who is on a rural exchange programme. Management meetings with the Carnies happen four times a year although the two families prefer to go cod fishing off Kaka Point, 40 minutes’ drive away, in the Campbells’ boat. “We’re responsible for the on-farm management but we’re on the phone with them probably at least once a week,” Chris said. The cows do about 500kg MS/cow/year on grass supplemented by a barley and
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
FARM FACTS:
• Oakwood Hills • Location: Clifton, Otago • Area: 280ha total, 230ha effective • Stocking rate: 2.5 cows/ha on platform • Dairy: 40-bail herringbone • Herd: 470 Friesian, Friesian crossbred • Production: On target 235,000kg MS 2019 – 2020 • Planned Start of Calving: 25 July (heifers) & 5 August (cows)
One of the fodder beet paddocks planted with a large buffer zone and old round bales placed to help filter any runoff.
palm kernel mix – about 500kg/cow/year fed through the herringbone’s in-shed feeding system, mostly in the season shoulders. “The grain balances the farm’s feed curves,” Chris said. While the young stock are away on a May to May grazing contract an hour away, the cows are wintered on 25ha of fodder beet plus balage made onfarm. The best beet paddocks this year are at 37t but the worst down at 18t after a wet spring that made working the ground a nightmare.
“Overall it’s about a 26t average so that’s not too bad, especially considering the weather.” Production is going to be up 10,000kg MS on the 2018/19 season when, ironically, it suffered from a drought. “We’re still waiting for a normal season, whatever that looks like, to really see what we can do,” Sandra said. “I think the cows have got a lot more in the tank yet and we’re getting to know the farm better too, which helps,” Chris said. With their breeding they pick and choose from LIC as well as CRV Ambreed
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
bulls and this season inseminated their fifty best cows with high BW sexed semen from ST Genetics. After six weeks of AI with the cows, Hereford and Angus bulls are run with them and Angus with the heifers. A beef farmer has a long running arrangement with them to take the resulting calves. “Last spring I think we only bobbied 30 or 40 calves,” Sandra said. “Having basically a black and white herd helps selling dairy beef,” Chris said. Their Overseer figure sits at about 23kg N/ha/annum helped by having 20ha of mature pine trees on the property. But Chris and Sandra don’t relax because their Overseer figure is within the Otago Regional Council requirements. Instead they’re making sure they’re doing the best they can with 4ha of the fodder beet paddocks not planted, ensuring there are plenty of buffer zones to protect the critical source areas. Old hay bales from the neighbouring Pamu farms have been placed in swales and hopefully will work as an extra filter
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Top: Sandra with a tray of Carex seedlings she has grown from her own collected seed. Above: Chris Campbell checks the cows after drying them off.
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to stop sediment ending up in the Kaihiku Stream (a tributary of the Clutha River) that borders the farm. They’re also members of catchment groups Otago South River Care and their local Waiwera one with Sandra busy in both. As well, she is involved in a Red Meat Profit Partnership group, is a board member at their kids’ primary school, works part time for Oranga Tamariki assisting local social workers, and is on the Southern Dairy Hub’s Research Advisory Group. It is at the Hub that she sees the future of farmers sharing information to make life better onfarm for people, cows, and the environment. “We used to go out to the paddock all the time and pick up the cows and calves but it was so stressful on everyone,” Sandra said. “It used to take so much time, and calving in the paddock wasn’t great for the cows, so now we calve all of our cows on a pad.” The pad is under the old covered sheep yards on the farm and the sheep pens have been converted into calf pens. Old trees are chipped on the farm to use as deep bedding for the pad and there is a self-feed silage stack. “When a cow calves now I just walk the
calf up the ramp into the calving shed and the job is done. It’s not sophisticated but it works so well. “And it’s not far from the house so I can go out in my jimjams and check the cows, give them all a scratch and go back to bed. “There is some really cool stuff happening on farms like this but we don’t see what each of us does so if we could share it through the Southern Dairy Hub, plus with the science they’re doing there, it would be great.” A bit of a push from friends helped them enter the Ballance awards, plus they had first-hand experience when they were contract milkers for Terry and Jacqui Carr who won several merit awards in the Otago competition in 2013. “We had thought we should wait a few more years before we entered to get everything right but we’d been here for four years and you probably never have everything as good as you could,” Sandra said. “It was a really great way of having a close look at what you’re doing, and farming needs all the positives it can have at the moment. It’s just a lot of fun.” “We’re not perfect, there is still lots to do, but we’re doing a little bit all the time and I think that’s what’s important,” Chris said. Sandra has an Instagram account – Ourwatercarejourney – where she posts what she’s doing onfarm to enhance their waterways including water testing, planting, and preparing their Farm Environment Plan. Lloyd McCall used to be their accountant and is now co-ordinator of the nearby Pomahaka Water Care Group and has found a convert in Sandra. He has her collecting native seeds and she is now growing her own plants for their riparian areas. While Chris missed playing golf, taking the boat out, and hunting, Sandra’s Covid-19 lockdown project was building a tunnel house for her growing native plant nursery. Meanwhile kids Ryan (6) and Charleigh (8) teamed up with Aaron’s son Finn (7) most days building huts in the pine trees after homeschooling was finished. “They’ve spent lockdown learning lots about engineering.”
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
ENVIRONMENT INFRASTRUCTURE
Keith and Jenny with the new effluent system positioned downhill and downwind from their home.
Dairy farming with pride in Matakana Words by: Chris Neill
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rofitable dairy farming is a priority for Keith and Jenny Trotter. Rye/clover pasture growing 14 tonnes DM/ha is the foundation of their production, supplemented annually with 300t of palm kernel and 400t of maize silage. Their 150ha farm milks 400 cows to produce 175,000kg MS and is supported with lease blocks of 100ha and 30ha to raise replacements and run a small beef unit. The soils, which are predominantly Warkworth clay, have been extensively drained. It is the combination of these soils, wet winters, and the establishment of facilities for feeding cows off pasture that has encouraged and allowed the transition to autumn calving. The 2019/20 drought has impacted cow condition in this their first season of autumn calving, which follows a 400+ day lactation to make the transition from
spring calving. Through the drought, input costs have been held to budget, milk production is down by 10% and there is a small feed deficit carried forward. Considerable oversowing and undersowing have been required to restore pastures, and the farm water supply has shown itself to need upgrading to cope with such extreme dry conditions. The facilities Keith and Jenny have established are key elements to their winning the DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship Award and WaterForce Wise with Water Award in the Auckland 2020 Ballance Farm Environment Awards. Their 11-year-old 34-aside herringbone shed and the three-year-old feed pad, both designed to handle 400 cows, are connected to a two-year-old effluent management system. The effluent system features one lined pond with 90-day storage capacity, which receives effluent from both cowshed and feed pad through a twin weeping wall system. The pond
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
FARM FACTS:
• Farm owners: Jenny and Keith Trotter, Matakana • 400 cows, 175,000kg MS, transitioning to autumn calving • Milking platform: 150ha, two lease blocks 100ha, 30ha • Pasture: 14t DM/ha • Supplement: 300t palm kernel, 400t maize silage water is irrigated to 35ha and is estimated to reduce the need for purchased N by 60kg/ha/yr on that area. In addition, the solids behind the weeping wall are spread 6 monthly – having twin walls allows for distribution to be timed with soil condition and other farm work. Positioning of the facilities means gravity is a primary mover of material and, to Jenny and Keith’s relief, the system has proved to be odourless at their family home. Keith attributes the system’s success 65
WELL INSULATED.
GOOD CALL. At FMG, we know that over a quarter of all our milk claims are due to chiller failure. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s this kind of specialised rural knowledge that allows us to pass on valuable advice to farmers. Advice like recommending dairy farmers insulate their milk vats to protect them from heat gain and reduce stress on the chiller system during early summer. We also advise things like checking milk is entering the vat at the required temperature, or that you alter milking times where you can. At the end of the day, if we can help you avoid loss through chiller failure it reduces stress, lost production and downtime. So why not get in touch with FMG to see how we can help you make some good calls on your farm. Call us on 0800 366 466, or go to fmg.co.nz
Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re here for the good of the country. FMG0919DEFP_I
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Top: Keith and Jenny standing in pastures recovering from drought with the herd behind them. Above: Keith with son David who is returning to work on the family farm.
to the good advisers and construction team who put it together. Keith and Jenny have been on their farm for 27 years. Keith grew up on the farm next door and Jenny is a Warkworth girl. Farming, family, and community are the key focuses of their lives, and having their son David joining them to work on the farm is hugely satisfying. As proud dairy farmers and stewards of the land they have no grand conservation plan, rather a sense of wanting to do the right thing. Social media gave Jenny a view of the negativity directed at farming, which she is unhappy about. Jenny and Keith’s response is to counter with positivity and open their farm to scrutiny of local, national, and international visitors and to tell them what they do in their business and why. School groups and Fonterra “Open Gate” days with 500 people have been some of the highlights and opportunities to share and encourage understanding of the systems and investment they have made to be economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable. Participating in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards reflects their desire to promote dairy farming positively. It also came from observing Keith’s brother who entered the previous year, and encouragement from their banker to showcase the effluent management system. In the early years on their farm Keith planted poplar poles to slow down ground
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
movement and minimise soil erosion on steep sidlings. This advanced to fencing waterways then planting low-production gullies and wetland. Enthusiasm to do more has grown along with these early plants, helped in one year by access to free plants from Te Arai nursery. Jenny and Keith like what the planting contributes to their property and to Jenny’s aspiration for it to be beautiful, with the increase in native bird numbers adding to their enjoyment. Keith collected manuka seeds and surprised himself by growing seedlings that were planted on the farm but suffered heavy losses due to drought stress. However, it was sufficiently rewarding that he plans to grow more and include them in the 1ha gully identified for the next round of planting. After that it will be strategic shade planting around the farm, while recognising pasture production as the key driver of their business. Keith and Jenny farm for profit and achieve this by adding value to their property with facilities that protect their environment, planting that protects soil and enhances the farm’s aesthetic value, finding personal satisfaction in doing the right thing, and generating positive financial returns. This encourages them to present themselves proudly as dairy farmers making a worthwhile contribution to their family and community. (First appeared in Country-Wide July 2020) 67
ENVIRONMENT REGULATION
Existing national bottom lines for nitrate and ammonia toxicity attributes will be strengthened to protect 95% of species from toxic effects.
Balanced waterways policies, but details to come Words by: Keri Johnston
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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, 68
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. • 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 Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Above: The nitrogen fertiliser cap will mean farmers will have to reduce nitrogen in fertiliser but only to replace it in imported feed. Left: Water quantity limits must be linked to ecosystem health outcomes.
- 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
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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. 69
STOCK EMBRYO TRANSFER
From left, Gina, Ivan and John are managing the business of 450 embryo transfer calves born at Bellevue Enterprises.
High-tech breeding yields genetic gain The pressure to ensure calf survival is higher when you’re managing some of the best genetics in the country, yet Bellevue Enterprises farm manager Ivan Deed takes it all in his stride. Sheryl Haitana reports.
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ome of the country’s top dairy genetics are born at Bellevue Enterprises’ dairy farm, a 10-minute drive from Hamilton. The company was founded by Waikato and Canterbury farmers in 2013 and works with Animal Breeding Services (ABS) to breed dairy and beef calves with high genetic merit. The focus is on genetic gain through using the best breeding technologies on behalf of NZ breeding companies and individual dairy farmers. Farm manager Ivan Deed is usually on midwife patrol doing most of the night 70
checks on the springers, which calve all year round. Checking on a cow at 10pm and not going back until the morning is not good enough when the calf is potentially worth thousands of dollars. “It’s much like a foal watch. It’s long hours and late nights but it’s a rewarding job – it’s definitely not boring,” Ivan says. He doesn’t hesitate to intervene early either if he feels a cow needs help calving and will make the call early to get in a veterinarian if necessary. An embryo transfer (RT) Friesian calf can weigh up to 45-55kg and the health of both cow and calf are vital.
“The ET calves traditionally are a little bit bigger: when it comes to assisting them or calling in a vet I make the call and make it early. “You can cause cows more harm than good by leaving them too long to calve on their own.” Recipient cows can have less of a bond with their calf and can sometimes show fewer labour signs, he says. Ivan and his staff do several checks on the springers during the day, looking out for the cues and monitoring individual cow behaviour. Ivan’s skillset is invaluable when it Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
comes to calving down the cows with success, operations manager John Elworthy says. “He is up all night checking the springer mob because they’re so valuable. Some of them are so expensive you can’t insure them.” John was contract milking up to last year when he decided he wanted a different opportunity in the industry. “Bellevue is a really diverse company to work for – every day is different, with new challenges.” Newborn calves are given gold colostrum, an iodine spray on their naval, and a dose of Calfbrew – a live probiotic from BioBrew. Of all the products he’s trialed over the years, the liquid probiotic is what Ivan swears by to give calves the best start. “It’s getting good bugs into their gut. I’ve tried other products and nothing comes close to the Calfbrew. We’ve used it for about six seasons.” The calves get a daily dose in their milk, and if any of the calves have an upset stomach they get an extra drench. “The beauty with Calfbrew is it’s a natural product, you can’t overdose. It’s completely safe. It mixes easily, unlike other probiotic powders I’ve tried to use in the past. “The calves like the taste of it so much they come up for a drench.” Calf rearing costs are higher than on the average dairy farm but it’s an A-grade job where they don’t cut any corners.
They can hold 100 calves indoors at any time, with 10 calves to a pen. They are sprayed weekly to keep on top of bugs, and new woodchips are put down for new pens. The calves go out into the paddock after a few weeks, depending on the weather, but always have access to a shelter. Ivan has been managing the daily operation of the Bellevue dairy farm for the last eight years. The farm calves and milks year round, peak milking 300 cows at any given time. They calve up to 450 cows throughout the year. The milking operation is run at a DairyNZ System 4, feeding maize silage, palm kernel, and grass silage. Bellevue has a drystock operation where in-calf cows are kept until they are moved to the dairy farm 10 days before their due date. The company buys young, highbreeding-worth (BW) cows under five years old, mostly big Friesians to handle the
A 14 to 1 return on investment.
KEY FACTS:
• Owners: Bellevue Enterprises • Location: Matangi, Hamilton • Area: 130ha • Cows: Milking 300 peak Friesians, calving up to 450 cows • Production: 380kg MS/cow average • Farm dairy: 28-aside herringbone, Protrack bigger embryo transfer calves. “The recipient cows need to be able to calve down efficiently – across the breeds, Jersey, crossbred, Friesian, and beef,” Bellevue Enterprises ET and recipient manager Gina Roberts says. Bellevue averages a 60% hold rate for fresh embryo transfers and 50% for frozen transfers, which is higher than the average because they are using non-lactating donor cows.
It comes with our culture. In 2012 MPI funded a four and a half year study* to test the effectiveness of BioBrew’s CalfBrew® probiotic supplement on calves. Early results showed that the use of the fresh, intact probiotic increased the rate of calf growth by up to 10%. As adults, the treated calves produced significantly more milk solids and were also less likely to die and more likely to remain in the herd. Ultimately, the benefits associated with CalfBrew® equated to a 14 to 1 return on
investment, showing that use of a fresh probiotic on calves has both short-term and long-term benefits for both stock and farmers. BioBrew’s CalfBrew® is a fresh, live and active probiotic and the finest microbial tool available. It is designed to bring your calves, lambs, and kids through their first year in optimum condition at a truly affordable price. Visit biobrew.net.nz to view our wide range of live probiotic products.
296 calves on three farms were included in the study funded by MPI Sustainable Farming Fund and DairyNZ and undertaken Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020 *
by the Clutha Agriculture Development Board. Funding was for two projects, the trial in 2012 and the follow-up in 2016.
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“We are also using non-lactating cows as recipients, which is a big advantage. “Our fresh embryo hold rate was 59.4% last year. It is 30% with frozen embryos in non-Bellevue cattle,” she says. Farmers have to use frozen embryos unless they’re close to the laboratory. ABS is ramping up its ability to do embryos. On average each cow produced 10 eggs from a TVR session, that equates to 2 -3 viable embryos, Gina says. “ABS is using the TVR approach, which is less invasive, a less hormone approach.” TVR (Trans-Vaginal Recovery) is the name given to the non-surgical, ultrasound-guided method of collecting eggs (oocytes) from the ovaries of donor cows. TVR can be performed on post-puberty heifers, on lactating and non-lactating cattle, and even on cattle up to three months pregnant. Embryo transfer technology is always advancing and they can now take a biopsy of the embryo that tells you the sex of the calf before it is implanted, she says. Farmers need to understand the true cost of doing embryo transfers on their own farm. Factors that increase their costs are having lower hold rates, which results in a higher empty rate and fewer in-milk cows, Gina says. It is 9% cheaper to use Bellevue Enterprises recipients to do embryo transfer work, Gina says. Gina’s role is client based, communicating with clients including keeping them informed of how calves are tracking. “Some of these are the most valuable calves in the country. If you put aside their genetic value, the cost of getting them on the ground is high.” The calves are weighed four times from birth to weaning to monitor growth rates. They are fed twice a day for four weeks then put on once a day. They wean
Top: Great care is needed to look after the high value calves. “It’s much like a foal watch. It’s long hours and late nights” - farm manager Ivan Deed says.
Above: Most clients get Bellevue to rear their calves through to weaning.
Friesians at 100kg, crossbreds at 90kg, and Jerseys at 80kg. Farmers can opt to get their calves back either at 10 days old or when they are weaned at 100kgs. Most clients get Bellevue to rear their calves through to weaning. “If we can do our job correctly we
“making milking easier and faster”
provide a fantastic service and a top genetic calf,” John says. The recipient cows are put back in calf via artificial breeding and sold into the market as an in-calf spring cow. Ideally, Bellevue would like to purchase a second dairy farm in the future to take on these cows, he says.
See our website or phone for more info.
for circular and s te ga g in ck ba e iv ct fe ef ut bo A rectangular dairy yards
K. H. McConnel Ltd. Hamilton, New Zealand 72
www.mcconnel.co.nz
Phone: +64 7 849 2122 Fax: +64 7 849 2128 Email: sales@mcconnel.co.nz
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
STOCK BVD
BVD test identifies infective calves
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ew evidence from a New virus’s transmission across the placenta. Zealand study supports the When fetal infection occurs before the use of Bovine Viral Diarrhoea development of a fully functioning (BVD) calf ear notch testing immune system, persistently infected (PI) to detect persistent infection (PI) cattle are born. A PI calf will always in calves at any age. Identifying carry the BVD virus and will never and culling these animals, who generate antibodies specific to remain carriers of the disease the virus because its immune throughout their lives, system does not recognise minimises the spread of the the virus as “foreign” at the disease and the unnecessary time of infection. PI cattle culling of acutely infected are the leading cause of new animals. acute and fetal infections BVD is a Pestivirus that owing to their shedding of Andrew MacPherson, IDEXX Medical Affairs Veterinarian. spreads rapidly and has been enormous amounts of the found in about 80% of New virus via all body fluids. Zealand’s dairy and beef herds. Its cost to Current estimates place the prevalence NZ dairy farmers is $127 million ($70,000 of PI animals in BVD-infected herds in per average herd). New Zealand at less than two percent, and The disease causes reduced fertility, identifying and appropriately managing abortion, congenital defects, reduced milk PI animals is the primary focus of BVD production and increases susceptibility to control programmes. other infectious diseases due to immune suppression, particularly in young calves, WHY IT IS ESSENTIAL TO TEST which can lead to increased calf deaths. NEWBORN CALVES AND HOW But voluntary control is entirely achievable TO DO IT through a community effort to identify Since the effects of BVD can look similar to and remove infected animals from dairy those of other diseases, knowing the farm herds. BVD status is crucial in the fight to achieve There are three types of infection – control. Comprehensive diagnostic testing acute, fetal, and persistent. plans are fundamental to making informed A first-time exposure to the virus in decisions on controlling and preventing naïve, susceptible animals results in acutely the spread of the BVD virus. infected (known as transiently infected BVD control consists of two critical or TI) animals that recover but shed low mechanisms that, together, break the levels of the virus. within-herd transmission cycle: the early Infected dams will be at risk of identification and removal of PI animals; causing fetal infections due to the and strict herd biosecurity to prevent the
reintroduction of the BVD virus from outside sources. Detecting PI animals is, and should remain, the primary focus for farmers working to remove BVD from their properties. Previous studies have demonstrated that an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test using a small bit of ear tissue (ear notch) is an accurate, economical, and feasible way of detecting PI calves in New Zealand. A 2019 research trial by Cognosco Animal Health in New Zealand was designed to assess the sensitivity and specificity of ear notch samples of calves analysed using a specific antigen ELISA test and real-time PCR testing at four time points after birth. The trial results demonstrated an economical breakthrough, said Andrew MacPherson, IDEXX Medical Affairs Veterinarian. “We now have the perfect test to focus our efforts on identifying only PI animals, saving unnecessary culling of acute animals and enabling farmers to maximise their return on the calves born each year. ” Adopting a simple and easily understood test for every calf born is a significant opportunity for the New Zealand dairy industry to control BVD voluntarily. Farmers’ willingness to test all calves to identify PI animals and remove them from their farms, combined with improved biosecurity, will deliver economic benefits for all farmers and lead to significant improvements in New Zealand’s BVD status.
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What don’t you know about this calf?
Bovine Viral Diarrhoea costs you money • BVD costs $70,000 in lost productivity per annum, for an average-sized infected herd.1 • Your cattle have an 80% chance of being exposed.2 • The most effective and economical means to control BVD is to test every calf born on farm. • For peace of mind – Get your calves tested with the IDEXX BVD Ag Test. Speak to your vet about the preferred way to manage BVD this calving season using the IDEXX Ag Test. Call 0800 838 522 to get your BVD resource pack and hear about our special offer. 1 Dairy NZ. BVD Virus. Accessed from: www.dairynz.co.nz/animal/cow-health/bvd-virus, 2019. 2 Dairy NZ. BVD Virus. (n.d.). Retrieved 02 03, 2020, from https://www.dairynz.co.nz/animal/cow-health/bvd-virus/ ® IDEXX is a registered trademark of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. © 2020 IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
STOCK CO DIARY
Rolling down cows safely Down cows are best rolled often to reduce limb stress until they are ready to stand. Caroline Benson explains why and how.
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alving is normally an exceptionally busy time of year and it’s also the time when you’re most likely to see a down cow on
the farm. While our natural instinct might be to help a cow stand as soon as possible this can actually be harmful, if the cow can’t hold its own weight, and can result in skin, muscle, or bone damage. Rolling is a safer process for the cow and simpler to carry out. It helps reduce stress on the limbs until a cow is ready to stand. Often down cows can’t roll themselves and one back leg (the weaker one) will take all their weight. This can reduce that leg’s circulation. It doesn’t take long for a 500kg animal to worsen muscle damage lying down on the same area.
Many farms will have new team members on board so it’s important that everyone discusses and understands how to care for down cows before it gets busy onfarm. If she can’t roll herself she needs to be rolled two to four times a day. If a cow keeps sitting on the same leg after rolling you can use hay or silage bales to help prop her in place on the correct side. It’s best to allocate one team member to roll and care for the cow. In cold and wet conditions, down cows need to be kept warm. If their body temperatures drop, so does their feed intake. Energy levels then fall, making a bad situation worse. A cow cover, tarp, or using hay as a bed or a cover are all options to keep her warm. You’ll also need to provide food and Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
ROLLING A DOWN COW
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Tuck the cow’s legs in: the closer they are to her body, the better. Roll the cow over: stay low, bend your knees and push from her hips if possible, grab a teammate to help push from her shoulders, avoid injuring yourself in the process.
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Pull the cow’s legs back out: each time you roll her, flex and extend her back legs afterwards to help with blood flow. Repeat two to four times daily.
water that is easy to eat and reach, and pain relief if needed. Molasses, starter, or energy drenches also help to provide energy, and metabolic support through bags given intravenously may also be useful. Many farms will have new team members on board so it’s important that everyone discusses and understands how to care for down cows before it gets busy onfarm. If the cow doesn’t get up within a few days or you’re not sure about her condition or treatment, call your vet. Caroline Benson.
• More information on down-cow care, and when and how to lift cows, is available at dairynz.co.nz/down-cows. Caroline Benson is a DairyNZ consulting officer in Taranaki. 75
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
STOCK VET VOICE
Figure 1: When drying off, get anyone involved to spray their initials on the cows they treat so problems can be identified and training implemented if necessary.
Mastering mastitis control Take time to understand mastitis and be rewarded with gains in animal health and productivity, says Lisa Whitfield.
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astitis is a disease that is universally experienced on dairy farms. There is no farm that doesn’t have mastitis but there is wide variation between experiences on each farm from season to season. Ask yourself if mastitis control is a priority for you. It takes the investment of time, effort, and money to understand mastitis on an individual farm but the long-term gains in animal health and productivity are very rewarding. Over the last six years I have been privileged to have worked with a number of farmers who have been successful in lowering their bulk tank somatic cell counts and clinical mastitis rates. Some of the lessons they have learned, which they felt made a difference to their operations, are discussed here:
GET THE BASICS RIGHT, PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL IN THE SHED
cups-off? Do they know how to do teat spraying properly? Are they careful with where they use wash hoses during milking? You may know everything that is Do they know how to take a milk sample important to running a smooth operation for culturing? in the shed, but do your staff have the Machine function and maintenance same knowledge? It is important of its components is a given to that everyone involved in the most people; however, it is still milking process knows the surprising fundamentals about mastitis. how often the milking Ensuring a good baseline machine is not working level of knowledge among correctly and problems your staff will start you off on haven’t been addressed. the right foot when it comes Make sure the rubberware is to tackling mastitis. The actions changed on time and don’t crank Lisa Whitfield. of people on the farm are one of vacuum levels up unnecessarily. the biggest contributors to mastitis problems, so you have to invest the time WHERE DO YOUR MASTITIS into getting everyone on the same page. PROBLEMS ORIGINATE? Do they take note of the cow that is slow Which mastitis-causing bacteria are a to walk out of the paddock? Do they strip problem on your farm? If you can’t answer and paddle that quarter that is swollen at this, how do you know where to focus
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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your efforts to make a change? Mastitis pathogens all come from many different sources to cause inflammation in the udder, increasing cell counts and causing clinical cases. For example, Streptococcus uberis is sourced from the environment, particularly from cow faeces; Staphylococcus aureus is sourced from the udder of cows, so contamination comes from infected milk; Corynebacterium bovis resides on cow skin, particularly on teat skin. If you know the type of bacteria that are causing your problems you can set up a targeted control plan that not only aims to reduce the level of infection but also is focussed on stopping cows from picking up new infections from the source. Find the way that works for you to monitor the bacterial pathogens on your farm. Make sure you don’t scrimp on milk sampling – take enough samples to give you a good handle on your situation. Learn how to take clean, uncontaminated
milk samples so you don’t waste your time and money.
PRIORITISE TEAT AND UDDER HEALTH
Healthy teats and udders are the first line of defence against mastitis. If you have teat damage you are leaving an open door for bacteria to invade and colonise the teats and udder. Some practical tips for healthy teats and udders include: • Teatspray – this should be applied shortly after cups-off at every milking for the whole season. Emollient is a really important part of teat health as it moisturises the skin, keeping it from drying out and cracking. Dry, cracked skin provides a haven for bacteria such as Corynebacterium to colonise the teat skin and subsequently the teat canal, which will result in elevations in cell counts. • Minimise overmilking – leaving the cups on the cows after they have
finished milking out is an easy way to damage teats. Once a cow has milked out, cups should be removed as soon as possible – the average overmilking time should be less than 90 seconds per cow. • Internal teat sealants – these should be used in every cow at the end of lactation. They provide the best protection against new udder infections being acquired over the dry period. It is critical that they are applied correctly – plan, don’t rush the job, and get in help if you need it. Mastitis is a vast subject but it doesn’t have to be complicated. People have the biggest impact on mastitis levels on the farm, and understanding what you do to influence this is a step towards understanding how you can break the cycle of infection on the farm. • Lisa Whitfield is a Manawatu Production Animal Veterinarian.
Herd Health. The New Frontier. OxC-beta™ Dairy is scientifically proven to benefit animal health and productivity. The product contains newly discovered and naturally occurring substances that support immune function. A healthy immune system helps to ensure reliable productivity and profitability.
Veterinarian Scott McDougall, from Cognosco, the research group at Waikato’s Anexa Farmers Vet Clubs, trialed OxC-beta™ on four NZ commercial farms in Spring 2019. OxC-beta’s immune support helps maintain udder health The benefits of OxC-beta Dairy supplementation on immune function allowed more cows to remain healthy.
How OxC-beta™ Dairy helps Kiwi Farmers:
> Animals with healthy immune systems are better able to defend themselves against commonly encountered production stresses. > Helps to maintain udder health and optimize milk quality during periods of stress. > Safe for use during the lactation period. > Non antibiotic mode of action – no need to discard milk.
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For more information contact Steve Atfield at VetPak at steve.atfield@vetpak.co.nz or call 0272 428 159.
% of quarters testing clean
> Supports immune function to keep your animal’s natural defenses in top shape.
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10
5
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OxC-beta
All cows enrolled in the trial had somatic cell counts >200,000 cells/ml and confirmed bacterial infection of the mammary gland. Dietary treatment with OxC-beta Dairy 10% (3g/head/day) for 42 days.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
STOCK SUB-CLINICAL MASTI-
Incorporation of OxC-beta in feed may aid in control of mastitis.
Feed additive against subclinical mastitis Words by: Scott McDougall
Avivagen, a Canadian animal health company, approached him about running beta-carotene feed additive has a trial to assess their non-antibiotic OxCbeen investigated as a way of beta product against subclinical mastitis treating subclinical mastitis. and he was intrigued to investigate further, Control of mastitis in McDougall said. dairy herds is well understood, with “OxC-beta is formed by complete adherence to strict protocols and controlled oxidation of betagenerally leading to low carotene and has been shown levels of infection in most to support immune function herds. However, even in by increasing the ability of well-managed herds there the cows natural defences to remain some animals that detect and destroy bacteria carry subclinical infections. while maintaining moderate Antibiotic treatment of these levels of inflammation.” subclinical infections is generally From four spring-calving dairy Scott McDougall. not advisable as the cost of milk herds Cognosco selected high discarded after treatment likely somatic cell-count (>200,000 outweighs the benefit. A non-antibiotic cells/mL) cows with infection confirmed approach, however, could be a useful by microbiology and an elevated SCC in strategy to help the infection. one or more quarters. Cows were then Veterinarian Scott McDougall from randomly assigned within each herd to Cognosco, the research group at Waikato’s be fed meal (0.5 kg/cow/day) with OxCAnexa Veterinary Services, investigated beta or without OxC-beta for six weeks. use of a special form of beta-carotene (the The two treatment groups were balanced precursor to vitamin A) in treating existing within each herd by breed, age, and days subclinical mastitis cases. in milk at the commencement of feeding.
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Quarter-level somatic cell count data, herd test data, and clinical mastitis treatment records were collected and analysed. A range of different bacterial species was isolated prior to treatment with the most common bacteria being minor pathogens. However, a number of quarters were infected with major pathogens including S. aureus, S. dysglactiae, and S. uberis. About twice as many quarters from cows fed OxC-beta cured than from the control group (13.9% vs 6.9%). Fewer of the quarters in cows fed OxC-beta had clinical mastitis in the six weeks after the start of feeding compared with quarters from control fed cows (0.8 % vs 4.4%). But there was no effect of OxC-beta feeding on the quarter-level somatic cell count after treatment, the herd test somatic cell count, milk production L/cow/day, or milk fat or protein percentage. Results suggest the immune supporting actions of OxC-beta may aid in control of mastitis by reducing the number of infected animals and reducing the risk of subsequent clinical mastitis. 79
Helping Southland farmers meet wintering challenges An environmental advisor is impressed with how much Southland farmers have achieved, some without even realising it, as Karen Trebilcock reports.
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airyNZ’s Southland environmental change specialist Tessa Schmidt is an interpreter of government and council policies for farmers, helping them translate the rules into appropriate onfarm practices. And in Southland, where wintering and water quality is in the national if not international spotlight, it’s not a job for the faint hearted. But Tessa (24) is relishing working with farmers, the regional council, and other organisations to make sure everyone is doing their bit, and she’s impressed with how much farmers have achieved, some without even realising it. “Farmers want to have a conversation about the environment but they also want to be respected for the work they’re doing and have done already,” Tessa said. Part of her job is working with the 21 (so far) catchment groups in the region, with the help of DairyNZ, NZ Landcare Trust, Beef + Lamb NZ, and regional council Environment Southland. “It’s awesome being part of such engaged groups,” she said. Part of Tessa’s role also involves helping find speakers for the catchment groups, organising events, and helping out with their projects. “They represent the full community, not just farmers, and are across all types of agriculture, not just dairy, so it’s really good that we’re getting consistent messages out to everyone and for everyone to understand each other’s perspective. “That is the beauty of the catchment groups – all the farmers, whatever type of farmer they are, are talking to each other.” For the past six months she and DairyNZ 80
consulting officer Leo Pekar have been working in the Aparima Freshwater Management Unit, visiting every farm and discussing farm environment plans and winter grazing management. It’s part of DairyNZ’s support for the farmer-led Aparima Community and Environment project (ACE). The catchment is one of several throughout the country being closely monitored to see what results farmers can achieve. “Everyone has been willing to take good management practices on board. Many don’t even realise the incredible job they’re doing.” She said a big challenge for Southland dairy farmers was wintering, which farmers are working hard to get right. “If we don’t get wintering right then we won’t be able to winter cows here and then what will we do?” Almost all farmers were now winter grazing crops from the tops of slopes down, back fencing, and using portable water troughs where they could. “They want to do the best for the environment. What farmer doesn’t want healthy waterways?” And Tessa knows. Her family has farmed at Woodlands near Invercargill for 125 years. Her parents, Bob and Delwyne, converted the family sheep farm to a 500-cow dairy unit when she was five. “I feel very lucky that I have parents who are dairy farmers here so I understand a lot of what farmers have been through and where they are trying to get to. “I know how tough it’s been for them.” She went to James Hargest High School in Invercargill but didn’t know what she wanted to do afterwards except that it had to be something to do with agriculture. She had
Tessa Schmidt looks over cows on a wintering pad in Southland.
heard Lincoln was a small, friendly university so the decision was made. “I did the AgSci course, which is pretty broad, and in my second year I took a paper about farm environment plans and I loved it. I’d found my passion.” In 2017 she finished the four-year degree with honours in soil science looking at how catch crops can reduce nitrate leaching after winter grazing. Along the way she secured a DairyNZ scholarship. “I loved how many opportunities the scholarship gave me for networking in the primary sector. “As well as helping to pay fees, the scholarship has a strong focus on mentoring and helping students identify and meet their potential.”
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
She applied for several positions when she finished her studies and the DairyNZ one was the only interview she didn’t find stressful. “I wanted to work in the environmental space and to be able to build relationships with people so it was perfect and I got the job. “But it was a big call for DairyNZ as I was their first graduate they’d taken on in this role.” After finishing DairyNZ’s graduate programme she has settled back into living in Southland and, with her partner Connor Miller, a shepherd, they’ve bought a house in Gore. They met at Lincoln where Connor was completing a bachelor’s degree in agriculture, and during Tessa’s fourth year he milked cows near Ashburton to stay close while completing his final paper. While she has enjoyed working from home during the Covid-19 lockdown she
also has a desk at the DairyNZ offices in Invercargill. “I love Southland. Farmers in Southland are so great to work with, so friendly and always keen for a chat.” Tessa was a keen horse rider before university but the horse couldn’t follow her to Lincoln. However, she has kept up netball and for 14 years has played for Woodlands. This winter, with netball finally starting again in Level 1, she has decided to make the switch to nearby Makarewa. The rest of her spare time is spent decorating and getting their house the way they want it, and she also goes to Toastmasters. Her message to all farmers is to get right what they can and try not to be overwhelmed by environmental issues. “It’s all about small steps instead of trying to do everything at once. “If farmers need support, all they have to do is ask. The support is always here.”
Above, left: Tessa is DairyNZ’s Southland environmental change specialist. Above: Tessa’s parents converted the family farm at Woodlands when she was five so she knows her way around a dairy farm.
The dairy sector has 1,000 jobs up for grabs on New Zealand dairy farms. DairyNZ has launched a Go Dairy campaign offering entry-level training to help people find out what it’s like to work on a farm and learn some farming basics. The three-week course is designed to attract Kiwis into dairy careers. People who are interested should check out godairy.co.nz/careerchangers and fill out the online registration form, or call DairyNZ on 0800 4 DAIRYNZ (0800 4 324 7969).
TALK TO THE EXPERTS FOR FARMING SUPPORT
HOMEOPATHIC FARM SERVICES
e info Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
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WELLBEING MENTAL HEALTH
Solving the Jigsaw of Wellness Words by: Jackie Harrigan
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peaking to the Dairy Women’s Network conference in May, wellness coach Rachel Grunwell said that wellness is like a jigsaw puzzle with many pieces. “I want to stop the overwhelm – you don’t have to work on all the pieces of the puzzle – don’t walk away from here thinking you have to work on a hundred different things. Just choose one thing that resonates with you and work on that.” In her Youtube presentation Grunwell encouraged viewers to find the one thing that lights a fire in their hearts and if they don’t need all of the tools in the toolkits outlined below, she suggested the tools might be good to be shared with their husbands or children.
Rachel Grunwell.
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“Given that one in four people suffer from mental health issues in NZ, we all need those skills.” A trained and experienced journalist, she says when offered a role writing a wellness column she embraced it and transformed herself from ‘busy, hassled working mum of three sons into discovering a better way of achieving and building wellness’. Later she trained to be a wellness, yoga and lifestyle coach. Her scientific approach to wellness is based on the findings of 30 global experts, which she details in her book Balance.
MOVEMENT
Fitness is the foundation of your physical and mental health, says Grunwell. “It’s not just about the bodywork, it’s about the mindwork.” Movement is crucial not only for improving health outcomes - increasing lifespan, reducing the risk of disability, guarding against diabetes and heart disease, building strong bones - but also for happiness, managing anxiety, preventing depression and for boosting productivity, creativity and brain power.
ALL TECHNIQUE TO PROCESS STRESS
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Acknowledge the stress – I feel stressed Link the trigger – why do you feel this way? Why do you have this trigger? Helps understanding Let it go – process the stress, breathe out, relax shoulders, let it go.
“Being fit is crucial to you living well and being productive.” However, just walking doesn’t cut it, she says. “You have to get your heart rate up.” Grunwell made herself embrace running, saying she used to get puffed just pushing the pushchair but now runs marathons. “Just show up – start small, 20 minutes walking will get you started. “You don’t have to be good at fitness – you just have to start and get a bit better each time. I went from walking around the block for 10 minutes twice a week to now being a multimarathon runner.” Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
TIPS: 99 99 99 99
FOOD:
“How you fuel yourself reflects how you think and how you perform,“ Grunwell says. Trends that she says tend to pop up: • Eat enough PROTEIN – 1-2 servings at each meal builds muscle power and provides satiety – the feeling of being full so you are less likely to snack. • Drink enough WATER – for an average build, drink up to 2 litres/day. Try drinking a glassful on getting up, have a big bottle of water on your desk for drinking all day, at tea breaks drink a couple of glasses of water, and avoid snacking because “you might just be thirsty, not hungry”. • Eat REAL FOOD - eat like your grandmother – avoid packets, preservatives and hidden sugars - eat anything that grows in the ground, grows in trees or moves.
STRATEGIES TO UNWIND: 99 Walking 99 Deep belly breathing (diaphragmatic breathing) 99 Yoga / tai chi 99 Loving kindness meditation 99 Meditation body scan 99 Gratitude practice 99 Journaling to train your brain towards positivity 99 Daily list of good things in job, career and life 99 Chase oxytocin – through loving touch, exercise, gratitude, giving.
Boosting brainpower - eat blueberries Avocados and almonds , and vitamin C rich foods to boost skin quality Too much sugar – makes you moody, irritable and sluggish Coffee – has some great benefits – just 1-2 cups per day, but not after 3pm because that can impact sleep, cause anxiety
• Eat MORE GREENS – imagine threequarters of your dinner plate filled up with the colours of the rainbow – different plants full of micronutrients and fibre. • HEALTHY SNACKS – try water in case you are thirsty, a glass of milk, some raw nuts, full-fat yoghurt and berries or tin of fish, cubes of cheese or healthy blissballs.
MINDFULNESS:
“A lot of us are working on a speed setting, mindfulness can be super helpful to help let go of the past, turn a fresh page rather than living in the future. Concentrate on how you are feeling now. “The key to living your best life is to make the most of the moment right now, right here and enjoy the magic of the moment.” Mindfulness is attention training, Grunwell says, and it helps with regulating emotions and controlling stress. “Too much stress is not good for your health – it increases your blood pressure and you can’t think straight – and you can’t make clear decisions.” Responding to stress requires a pause – slow your breathing. Deep belly breathing helps you reset and calms the nervous system in a matter of moments. Yoga practice is really good to reset, Grunwell says. She also recommends letting go of judgement of others – it’s self-inflicted stress and it’s a waste of time. Self talk is hugely important and needs to be role-modelled to our children. “We are so hard on ourselves in this day and age – we should talk to ourselves like we talk to our best friend, be kinder and be positive. Don’t worry about what we think other people are thinking of us”.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
CONNECTION:
Grunwell says listening well makes you a better friend, parent, partner and generally better person. There are five levels of listening – listening for words, tone, body language, feedback and heart level listening.
SLEEP
Sleep is a powerful tool for better performance – Grunwell says it powers how you think, feel and react. Adults need a minimum of 7.5 hours, eight hours is the best to aim for, including the most restorative time of the golden window, between 10pm and 2am. Children need even more than adults.
GIVING BACK
Helping others is a massive key to happiness - it helps them and it lifts you up too. “Choose a group that interests you and make a commitment to getting involved and helping them.”
THINGS THAT MATTER
THINGS THAT YOU CAN CONTROL
WHAT YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON
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DAIRY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Congratulations to our 2020 Dairy Business of the Year
M C C U L LO U G H FA R M PA R T N E R S H I P LT D Judges commented that a big strength for the McCulloughâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is their consistency, and they performed consistently well across all metrics. Please visit our website www.dboy.co.nz for more information on all finalist KPIs
SUPREME WINNERS
RUNNER UP
Imeson Country Ltd Greg & Janelle Imeson
enr94029
McCullough Farm Partnership Ltd Richard & Nadine McCullough
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
RESEARCH WRAP NORTHLAND
Drought reduces profit on NARF Words by: Kim Robinson
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round 70 farmers and rural professionals braved the heavy rain and attended the Northland Dairy Development (NDDT) June field day at the Northland Agricultural Research Farm (NARF). AgFirst consultant and NDDT Coordinator Kim Robinson presented the financial results from the 2019/20 season of the Dairying in a Variable Climate trial. She gave an overview of the challenging season, detailing the impact of the wet spring and extended drought on both production and profit. The farm grew 2t DM/ha/yr less pasture than the longterm farm average. The drop was mostly between December and April. In late March 16mm of rain boosted kikuyu growth just in time to allow the herds to continue milking for an extra month. All farms dropped production compared with the previous season. This drop ranged from 180kg MS/ha on the Pasture Only herd to 21kg MS/ha in the Palm Kernel Plus herd. Without the April kikuyu growth milk production may have been significantly lower, particularly on the Pasture Only farm. Tools used to cope with the feed shortages were discussed, including the use of once-a-day milking for four weeks in the spring when the Pasture Only herd ran out of silage during a wet September. Despite the difficult month the Pasture Only herd bounced back and there were no significant effects in mating performance. The challenge of managing the Fat Evaluation Index (FEI) was discussed on the Palm Kernel Only herd. Half of the herd had to be dried off in March in order to provide enough pasture for the remaining milkers to remain under the FEI grading level. Managing feeding for FEI levels created significant stress and was reflected in the farm managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worry scores.
Financial results were then presented. The alarming figure was that, despite the high milk price, profit on all farms dropped $600-$1200 per hectare compared with the previous season. For the first time in the trial the Palm Kernel Plus herd was the most profitable. The extra milk on the two palm kernel farms was produced at a marginal cost of $6.27-$6.54/kg MS, so at the milk price of $7.20/kg MS these farms were more profitable than the Pasture Only farm. If the milk price had been $6.00/kg MS the Pasture Only farm would have been the most profitable. This showed that, despite the drought, supplement use must be weighed up against the expected milk price. Palm kernel had been purchased at $300/t and Distillers Dried Grains at $560/t excluding delivery costs. Sensitivity analysis was carried out on palm kernel price and milk response to supplement. This showed that profit was more sensitive to response rate than palm kernel price. A rise in palm kernel price of $100/t dropped profit by $340-$380 per hectare, but a relatively small drop in milk response to palm kernel from 100g to 80g
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Above: After extended drought, the crowd at the latest NARF field day, Dairying in a Variable Climate had to shelter in the shed due to persistent rain! Right: Kim Robinson.
MS per kg DM dropped profit by $400 $500 per hectare. Poor milk responses can quickly strip away profits from feeding supplements. NARF consistently achieves higher responses (100g MS/kg DM) than the industry average (70-80g MS/kg DM). This is from having simple feeding decision rules based on pasture residuals. Supplements are not fed to support production levels. Detailed results are available on www. nddt.nz or email info@nddt.nz â&#x20AC;˘ Kim Robinson is a Whangarei-based agribusiness consultant and Northland Dairy Development Trust Coordinator. 85
DAIRY 101 SPRINGER COWS
Cows tuck in silage dusted with magnesium this winter.
Spotting the Springer Story and photos by: Karen Trebilcock
F
ollowing the Government’s Winter Grazing Taskforce report, extra care needs to be taken this spring to make sure cows aren’t calving in mud. Of course, the easiest way to do this is to make sure none of your cows are standing in any mud during winter and early spring but it’s far easier said than done. And although there may be dry areas in the paddock, cows like to go off by themselves to calve and, if all of the dry spaces are taken up by lounging cows, they may choose the wet corner instead. The best thing to do is to separate calving cows from the rest of the herd so you can give them the best treatment. So how do you know if a cow is about to calve? The easiest way is through a 12-week pregnancy scan. This scan not only shows
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empties but gives the approximate date of birth for the calf. However, January is long gone and you can’t go back in time so if the scan wasn’t done book it in for next year and start looking at your AI records.
Closer to calving, look for cows that are keeping by themselves and are not interested in eating. The last AI date for the cow should be accurate enough to predict the calving date although some cows will have held to an earlier insemination or have slipped that foetus and ended up getting it on with the bull in the paddock late summer. And if your tags and records aren’t great
then none of it will be much help. It’s now up to the cows to tell you. Up to a month before calving, udders will become swollen and the milk vein under the cow’s belly will show. Milk can drip from teats and there can be a mucus string from the vulva. Closer to calving, look for cows that are keeping by themselves and are not interested in eating. Their vulvas will now look swollen and flabby and there will be a dip between the tail head and the pin bones. They will not look happy and will be restless, their tails swishing from side to side. Their backs will be arched and they will be kicking and nosing their sides. When things are getting really close the water bag will be protruding. With heifers, all of these signs can be seen a day or so before calving: with cows it can be only hours or minutes, so
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Move cows and heifers about to calve, quietly and carefully, to a dry calving area (no running them down the lane). checking cows and heifers regularly and several times a day is important. Cows and heifers on fodder beet will bag up closer to calving and show fewer signs, so keep an extra-close eye on them. Move cows and heifers about to calve, quietly and carefully, to a dry calving area (no running them down the lane). The best setup I’ve seen recently is a bed of deep wood shavings under the farm’s former covered sheep yards, with a selffeed silage stack. Calves, once they are born, are walked up the ramp to the old sheep pens that were converted into calf pens. Whatever you choose, make sure it is as weather proofed as possible, and dry. If you don’t want to be there in the middle of the night checking your cows, then they probably don’t want to be there either. And a good calving area will help prevent down cows. Down cows – cows that won’t get up again after calving – are probably one of the most frustrating aspects of dairy farming. Right when you are busy trying to get new calves to suck, milking colostrum cows, keeping the feed up to milkers, and still checking the drys, a down cow takes up time you just don’t have. The best cure is always prevention. There can be multiple reasons for down cows, but at least fix the easy ones. Having cows calve where they are not going to slip over is a no brainer. If a cow slips during calving she will fall and hurt her legs and back and won’t want to get up again. Or if she’s afraid of slipping over she will
sit down and do the whole hour- or twohour-long process on the ground. If the ground is wet and cold she will get wet and cold and her legs may get too cold for her to stand up again after calving. The other reasons are usually to do with metabolics. There is a lot going on in the body of your supreme athlete of an animal – she is giving birth, producing a lot of milk from day one, and will have to get her reproductive system recovered so you can get her back in calf in a couple of months’ time. Her body is sore from calving, and the hormones she’s produced to loosen the pelvic ligaments have affected all of her tendons so she’s a bit wobbly and her feet are sore. As well, you upped her feed intake from about 10kg DM/day to 18kg DM/day and probably changed her diet as well from fodder beet, kale, or swedes to fresh grass, which means her rumen has to adjust. On top of all that you’ve taken away her best buddies who are yet to calve, put her with the stroppy heifers who still don’t know how to walk onto the rotary platform, and the weather has turned nasty. No wonder she’s not happy. Her body is trying to produce milk, which is made up of calcium and magnesium. If you don’t give her these minerals she’s going to start taking them from her own body that needs them too.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Magnesium dusting of feed should start about a month before calving, and think about adding trace minerals as well. Chromium, cobalt, copper, iodine, selenium, and zinc are all involved in the metabolic pathways that help boost the immune system. Vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin) is needed to activate calcium in the bloodstream, and vitamins A and E help with the immune system as well. Some of these minerals and vitamins can be stored in the cow’s body and others need to be given daily. As well, some winter feeds are deficient in them so extra supplementation is needed. Talk to your vet or field rep about what will work the best for your system.
Magnesium dusting of feed should start about a month before calving.
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SOLUTIONS What’s NEW? TECHNOLOGY
App helps farmers improve in-calf rates
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ating is a busy time so the opportunities to improve sixweek in-calf rates may be lost if a robust plan is not in place to ensure every cow receives the attention it needs to get back in calf as early as possible. Within a herd there will be cows that have metabolic issues, cows with uterus infections, and cows that calve later than others, so it is important to keep track of them. What we have been missing is a simple reminder system to make sure all the important tasks relating to mating happen at the right time. The new Ready to Mate app from AgriHealth is now available to help farmers plan and manage reproduction (repro) programmes to lift their six-week in-calf rates. It is easy to use – simply enter the planned calving date and your repro plan is ready. All of the important programmes are covered – metrichecking, tail painting,
treatment of non-cycling cows, and Why Wait programmes are included with day and date reminders for the chosen events as well as a tail paint marking system that everyone on the farm can follow. The Ready To Mate app is customisable – you choose the repro programme you want and set the calving date and the app will send automatic reminders of upcoming actions for your farm via text or email. The repro plan can be downloaded as a calendar to view at the office, or multiple accounts can be set up for multiple farms or farm staff, so everyone involved knows what needs to be done and when. It takes only two minutes to set up the programme and you will never miss an event again. The Ready To Mate app is free and available now for Android and iPhones. Search for “Ready To Mate” in the app store or scan the QR code.
Spreading with SAM
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oombridge and Alexander have introduced their new SAM computer-controlled spreader. It features Topcon technology which is ISOBUS-compatible, intuitive to use and customisable. The monitoring system in SAM spreaders is fast, accurate and user-friendly. It gives precise control when spreading fertiliser or manure, and it applies the correct rate regardless of changes in forward speed or product density. As an ISOBUS system, it can coordinate with any compliant tractor. Or it can be used with its own large colour touchscreen display. The computer operates a hydraulically driven floor-belt. Any SAM spreader can be specified with a computer control system to replace the standard ground drive at the time of build. The screen requires a few quick inputs from you - fertiliser density, 88
spread width and spread rate. Advantages include: • Application rates are set using the touchscreen inside the cab. • Spreaders can travel very slowly while spreading at a very high rate (eg: when spreading shavings in sheds). • Load cell integration gives pinpoint precision. Measuring the weight of product in the spreader on the go, then automatically adjusting the floor speed to achieve correct application rates. The accuracy of the spreading rate is as high as 99% of the target rate. • Border control (reduces the spinner speed on one side of the spreader, which decreases the spread width when spreading along boundaries and waterways. No double applications). • It is easy to extract information and provide maps for reporting and proof of placement.
• The system is customisable. You can choose if you want to add items such as load cells, an X25 Screen & GPS aerial (for proof of placement and field mapping of your jobs). Contact SAM Machinery if you want to chat about the options or visit your local dealer www.sammachinery.co.nz Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
SOLUTIONS What’s NEW? TECHNOLOGY Monitoring on the run.
Subscribing to monitoring
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lever agritech company Levno is leading the way on its approach to helping farmers manage the cost of its hardware technology for farmers. Instead of expecting farmers to pay the upfront hardware cost for new technology and absorb the risk it may quickly become obsolete or unsupported, Levno offers a subscription model where farmers pay a monthly fee, receive regular upgrades free of charge, and a complete support service any time of the day or night. Levno’s milk vat monitoring technology is the leading choice among Fonterra supplying farms to deliver temperature and volume data, and trigger alerts when captured data signals a problem. The company’s ‘Trim Milk’ basic option starts at $60/month but is free to Fonterrasupplying farms. The company also offers fuel, water, silo and effluent monitoring technologies on subscription, starting at $25/month for base level options. The company’s founder Larry Ellison says the company’s hardware-as-asubscription model is similar to the software-as-a-subscription approach taken by many technology companies, including accounting giants like Xero and MYOB.
“When we set up Levno we looked at other revenue models and we found a lot of farmers had been burned by the upfront cost of new technology only to be told a couple of years later their version was no longer supported and the only option was invest in the newly available version,” Ellison says. “We knew we had to make our technologies accessible to a large number of farmers so with everything we’ve done since, we’ve only offered a subscription model so farmers avoid that upfront cost and they are also operating on the latest version of their chosen technology.” It also means that farmers can test a new technology for the length of their subscription period, without the upfront capital cost. “If that technology is not delivering the value they want, then customers have the choice to walk away. It’s just a really good way for them to test out something first and at a low exit price,” Ellison says. For farmers, the subscription model also commits Levno to support its technology and deliver strong customer value. “We are constantly refining our products, upgrading them so they deliver more benefits to farmers. That constant
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
emphasis takes real investment in research and development by the company, but it also ensures our service and maintenance of our products is part of the deal,” he says. The hardware remains owned by Levno, but the value it delivers belongs to the farmer. Levno employs 45 staff and has installed technologies at more than 7000 sites nationwide. At the heart of the company is a research and development team of eight staff, plus a customer service team of 12 to handle all queries and provide support for its farmer users. “We see our role starts with developing clever technologies that solve real problems on the farm, from lowering the risk of milk being rejected to making sure milk companies have the data they need to ensure the quality of their end products.” For more information, visit levno.com
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OUR STORY 50 YEARS AGO IN NZ DAIRY EXPORTER
50 years ago in the Dairy Exporter July As NZ Dairy Exporter counts down to its centenary in 2025, we look back at the issues of earlier decades. 50 Years Ago – July 1970. COVER PHOTO
Mr A. H. Ward, O. B. E., one of the dairy industry’s most outstanding executive officers, has retired as General Manager of the New Zealand Dairy Board. Looking much younger than his 64 years, Mr Ward was photographed behind his desk before handing over the reins of office to his successor, Mr S. T. Murphy.
A WINTERING PAD YES OR NO?
Even at high stocking rates on wet soil there was little gain from the use of a feeding platform in winter. With certain qualifications, this was the main message from the eight-year trial conducted on the Massey University No. 3 Dairy Unit. Mr I. P. McQueen, Massey Dairyfarms Supervisor, reported on the wintering trial at the Massey Dairyfarmers’ conference last month in a paper on “The effects of Winter Management on Farm Production”. The main objective of the trial was to assess the value of removing stock from pasture during wet weather in the winter, as some work at Grasslands Division had shown drastic pasture growth reductions caused by winter pugging.
PRACTICAL LESSONS FROM THE DROUGHT
A difficult factor over which farmers had no control was getting works’ space for cull stock, but some farmers had greater success than others by making advance bookings for works space, keeping in touch with several stock buyers and assessing in advance likely works’ stoppages. A rising boner beef schedule helped to partly offset the drop in butter fat income. 90
While there are as yet no records of how many old and low-producing cows were culled because of the drought, the need for many farmers to get rid of these poor converters of the limited feed supplies illustrated the great advantage of herd testing in order to have soundly based culling information.
anticipated by the end of the year 1976. For some years, the metric weight equivalents have been shown on all dairy products export packs, and the Dairy Board is accustomed to selling by metric weight.
NEW DAIRY SPECIALISTS APPOINTED
MUCH TALK BUT LITTLE ACTION OVER EEC DAIRY SURPLUSES
Eight new Department of Agriculture farm dairy management specialists are taking up posts throughout the country following the completion of an intensive 19-week training course at Ruakura. They are the first of a 40-man specialist group of Dairy Advisory Officers (Farms). “The primary job of these men will be to assist any dairy farmers wanting help with problems encountered in producing top quality milk,” says Mr N. E. Briggs, Director of the Department’s Dairy Division. The men all hold agricultural degrees and the special course they have just completed covered all phases of farm dairy hygiene and management. They will be stationed in Papakura, Whangarei, Whakatane, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Palmerston North and Christchurch.
CONVERSION TO METRIC WEIGHTS AND MEASURES The Dairy Board has decided in principle to convert all export packs to metric weights and measure. The timing of the various steps in this operation, which must be spread over a period, will be worked out in co-operation with dairy companies. Conversion “to a substantial degree” is
Optimism about moves by the EEC to reduce dairy production must be tempered with political realism, the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon D. J. Carter, warned the Dominion Dairy Conference. In spite of various moves within the EEC to slow down the rising flood of milk, so far not a great deal had actually happened, he said. At the end of 1969 butter stocks in the EEC amounted to 340,000 tons. This was an increase of only 10,000 tons over the figure at the end of 1968. In the latter year, however, stocks rose by nearly 100,000 tons, he said. “Much emphasis has been placed in some quarters upon the proposals for changes in European dairy policies. Considerable publicity has been given to the scheme under which premiums are paid for cows which are slaughtered and not replaced. “The United Kingdom has been the traditional and essential base for New Zealand’s dairy exports. British membership of the EEC aside, the United Kingdom can no longer be regarded as a market capable of significant expansion.” Thanks to the Hocken Library, Dunedin.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
DairyNZ consulting officers
July
Upper North Island – Head: Sharon Morrell 027 492 2907 Northland Regional Leader
Tareen Ellis
027 499 9021
Far North
Amy Weston
027 807 9686
Lower Northland
Hamish Matthews
021 242 5719
Whangarei West
Ryan Baxter
021 809 569
Regional Leader
Wilma Foster
021 246 2147
South Auckland
Mike Bramley
027 486 4344
Hauraki Plains/Coromandel
Michael Booth
021 245 8055
Te Aroha/Waihi
Euan Lock
027 293 4401
Cambridge
Lizzy Moore
021 242 2127
Hamilton
Ashley Smith
027 807 3049
Waikato
Events
Huntly/Tatuanui
Brigitte Ravera
027 288 1244
Matamata/Kereone
Frank Portegys
027 807 9685
Pirongia
Steve Canton
027 475 0918
Otorohanga/King Country
Denise Knop
027 513 7201
Waipa South
Kirsty Dickens
027 483 2205
Regional Leader
Andrew Reid
027 292 3682
Central Plateau
Colin Grainger-Allen
021 225 8345
South Waikato/Rotorua South
Angela Clarke
027 276 2675
Events
Eastern Bay of Plenty
Andrew Reid
027 292 3682
Central Bay of Plenty
Kevin McKinley
027 288 8238
Over the last few months DairyNZ has responded to the
Lower North Island – Head: Rob Brazendale 021 683 139
Covid-19 restrictions by offering more online events.
Taranaki
Bay of Plenty
Regional Leader
Mark Laurence
027 704 5562
South Taranaki
Mark Laurence
027 704 5562
Central Taranaki
Emma Hawley
021 276 5832
Coastal Taranaki
Caroline Benson
027 210 2137
North Taranaki
Ian Burmeister
027 593 4122
Horowhenua/Coastal and Southern Manawatu
Kate Stewart
027 702 3760
Wairarapa/Tararua
Rob Brazendale
021 683 139
Eketahuna
Andrew Hull
027 298 7260
For a variety of information to help you this calving season,
Hawke's Bay
Gray Beagley
021 286 4346
including videos on how to check springers and collecting
Northern Manawatu/Wanganui/Woodville
Rob Brazendale
021 683 139
Central Manawatu/Rangitikei
Charlotte Grayling
027 355 3764
For an update on events near you and whether they are online or face-to-face visit dairynz.co.nz/events.
Lower North Island
Calving info at your fingertips
new-born calves, visit dairynz.co.nz/calving
South Island – Head: Tony Finch 027 706 6183 Top of South Island/West Coast Nelson/Marlborough
Mark Shadwick
021 287 7057
Reduce the risk
West Coast
Angela Leslie
021 277 2894
If you’re buying or selling calves or milk, there are some
Regional Leader
Ross Bishop
027 563 1785
simple steps you can take to reduce the risk of spreading
North Canterbury
Amy Chamberlain
027 243 0943
Central Canterbury
Alice Reilly
027 3798 069
Mid Canterbury
Ross Bishop
027 563 1785
South Canterbury
Heather Donaldson
027 593 4124
North Otago
Alana Hall
027 290 5988
Regional Leader
Ollie Knowles
027 226 4420
West Otago/Gore
Keely Sullivan
027 524 5890
South Otago
Guy Michaels
021 302 034
Northern/Central Southland
Nicole E Hammond
021 240 8529
Eastern Southland
Nathan Nelson
021 225 6931
Western Southland
Leo Pekar
027 211 1389
Canterbury/North Otago
diseases, including M. bovis. Find out more at dairynz.co.nz/mbovis
Southland/South Otago
Change of address If you’ve shifted farm or changed your supply company, make sure you’ll still receive your copy of Inside Dairy – visit dairynz.co.nz/address and let us know your new details.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Z
0800 4 DairyNZ (0800 4 324 7969) I dairynz.co.nz WITH DAIR
YN
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RAVJUL20-DX
uN-limited control
HawkEyeÂŽ by Ravensdown
Now is the time to take control and manage your N-limit data with ease.
HawkEye is a free, map-based software that helps you stay in control of your nutrient decisions. Order online, track nutrient placement data, streamline record keeping and simplify compliance.
Make your farm nutrient data easier to see this spring. Join the thriving HawkEye community today. Learn more at www.hawkeye.farm 0800 73 73 73
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
