Dairy Exporter September 2020

September 2020

Learn, grow, excel

100%

How Whakamaru’s Walters family hit 100% of their Te Ara Miraka farm excellence programme targets and made a 20c/kg MS premium

SPECIAL REPORT

Flexible forages Thinking to avoid the unthinkable Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

New mixes, diverse forages, boosting clover content, accounting for plantain

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24 BELLA VACCA JERSEYS:

CREATING A BRANDED PRODUCT

CONTENTS MILKING PLATFORM 10 John Milne from the West Coast introduces himself 11 George Moss’ brain is exercised by this season’s

wild swings 12 Frances Coles explains the five pillars of resilience 14 The Verhoeks are pre-mowing after a kind winter keeps

grass pumping 30 ACCOUNTING FOR THE IMPACT OF PLANTAIN

UPFRONT 16 Is it time for a NZ food traceability scheme?

21 Global Dairy – Ireland: price drop fears dampen expansion 22 Market View: Dairy prices follow demand drop

BUSINESS 24 Bella Vacca: creating a branded product 28 Taking volatility out of the dairy business 30 Accounting for the impact of plantain 32 Ian McNab investigates N reduction in Ireland and Denmark.

34 Nicola Shadbolt: The meaning of being a co-operative

SYSTEMS 36 Excellence boosts income on Whakamaru farm 40 Miraka farmers score well 78 DRIVING THE WAHINE WAKA Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

43 Putting the research around regen into practice 3

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SPECIAL REPORT:

Flexible forages

SPECIAL REPORT

Flexible forages

46 Mixed forage crop boosts production 50 Maximising profit from homegrown feed

New mixes, diverse forages, boosting clover content, accounting for plantain

52 Growing demand for alternative forages 53 Plantain performance pleases 54 Fescue: growing pasture that suits the land 56 Legume power - relearning the lost art of clover cultivation 58 Measuring pastures gives the best idea of

paddocks to renew 60 Expert management of fodder beet crop

46 50 52 53 54

Mixed forage crop boosts production Maximising profit from homegrown feed Growing demand for alternative forages Plantain performance pleases Fescue: growing pasture that suits the land

56 58 60 61

61

Legume power - relearning the lost art of clover cultivation Measuring pastures gives the best idea of pastures to renew Expert management of fodder beet crop Fusion of forages adds flexibility.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Fusion of forages adds flexibility

ENVIRONMENT 45

62 Every bit counts for environmental improvement 65 Fish ladders building whitebait stocks 66 Discussing regenerative agriculture in Southland 68 Freshwater rules about to land

STOCK 70 Beef calves give flexibility 72 AB assured under Covid levels 73 Integrating data from connected cows 54 GROWING PASTURE THAT SUITS THE LAND

74 Photo op for cows on heat 75 CO Diary: Taking pain out of disbudding 76 Vet Voice: Plan well for mating

YOUNG COUNTRY 78 Rachael Lind is driving the wahine waka

WELLBEING 82 Use your voice and plant a seed for safety 84 Thinking first, to avoid the unthinkable

DAIRY 101 86 Sorting your mating plan

82 USE YOUR VOICE

COVER: Sarah Walters spends a moment with Millie the milker in her herd at Whakamaru.

Photo: Malcolm Pullman.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

SOLUTIONS 88 Dairy yard matting enhances animal welfare 89 Skills training on your phone

OUR STORY 90

Counting down to NZ Dairy Exporter’s centenary 5

DAIRY DIARY September 16 – “Organic farming with robots” is the first event for the year for the Lower North Island Organic Group, and will be held near Bunnythorpe. For more information visit www.dairynz.co.nz/events/lower-north-island/ lni-organic-discussion-group-september/ or contact Charlotte Grayling on 027 355 3764.

September 17 & 22 - Ezicalve will be selling 300 beef bulls for dairy heifer and cow mating. More details www.ezicalve.co.nz

September 22 – A pre-mating field day in Ashburton follows learnings in the past year from DairyNZ and LIC working with local case study farmers to help improve reproductive performance. The field day looks at managing at-risk cows, how cows are responding to these changes, and local challenges. For further details visit https://www.dairynz.co.nz/events/ canterburynorth-otago/pre-mating-field-dayashburton/. Further field days are being held on September 23, Timaru; September 24, Culverden.

September 22 – An on-farm pasture seminar is being held at Hukerenui in Northland in association with Farm Source and Barenbrug Agriseeds. The session between 10.30am and 12.30pm covers spring pasture management, silage, drought, ryegrass persistence and more.

For further details visit https://www.dairynz. co.nz/events/northland/hukerenui-on-farmpasture-seminar-september/ or contact Amy Weston on 027 807 9686. Other sessions that are being around Northland includeSeptember 23, Bream Bay/Mata/Waipu; September 24, Titoki, Matarau; September 25, Ruawai.

September 23 – Owl Farm near Cambridge is planning on holding its September focus day on farm. 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. More? Visit www.owlfarm.co.nz

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September 30 – Shrimpton’s Hill Hereford bull sale will be auctioneering 170 bulls bred for short gestation. Catalogues available at www.shrimptonshillherefords.co.nz

September 24 – NAIT and OSPRI are holding an interactive workshop at Opunake in Taranaki in partnership with Dairy Women’s Network on the fundamentals of NAIT and understanding the importance of traceability.

For further information visit https:// www.dwn.co.nz/espresso_events/naitbasics-taranaki/.

Other workshops follow including: September 30, Putaruru in Waikato; October 15, Gore; October 16, Omakau in Otago; October 20, Rotorua; October 20, Reefton on West Coast; October 28, Te Kauwhata in Waikato; October 29, Dunsandel in Canterbury; October 30, Orari in Canterbury; November 3, Edgecumbe.

September 24 – An Extension 350 field day is being held in Northland at Kaiwaka. The farmer-led mentoring and extension programme is aimed at lifting profitability, environmental sustainability and wellbeing.

For further details on the field day visit https://www.dairynz.co.nz/events/ northland/extension-350-field-dayparker-farm-september/ or contact Hamish Matthews on 021 242 5719.

September 29 - Tahuna and Hiwiroa studs will be holding an online Bidr auction of 7 2-year-old and 6 yearling Shorthorn bulls, bred for calving ease, docility and growth.

More: FB:hiwiroashorthorns or hiwiroa@xtra.co.nz

.

October 15 – Smaller Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH) is holding a field day in the Bay of Plenty where it uses case studies to show how you can position your business for success. The day is aimed at helping you analyse your business so you can maximise returns and set structures in place to enable it to adapt to ongoing changes in the industry. For further information.

Visit www.smallerherds.co.nz

October 16 – Primary ITO is running Milk Quality One near Dunsandel in Canterbury, which is a two-day programme designed to upskill team members involved in milking.

It demonstrates best practice for collecting, handling and storing milk to maximise business return. For details on the programme contact Mindy Edwards on 03 3088240.

October 20 – Electronic and postal voting closes for the DairyNZ election of two farmer-elected directors.

Voting papers are mailed to farmers on September 21. For details about the election visit https://electionz. com/dairynz2020/.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Editor’s note

Following the research

O

ne of the most satisfying things about working in an industry for many years is watching the change for good. One of the most frustrating things is how slowly things

change!

Back in 2011 at the Pasture Persistence symposium in Hamilton, research from surveys clearly showed farmers were struggling with poor persistence of ryegrass in many regions of New Zealand - was it management issues, changing climatic conditions or pest challenges?

Among the papers there were ways to address the issues, including establishment and management methods, alternative mixtures and forage species, changing farm systems, new varieties and research on controlling pasture insect pests.

Fast forward nine years and in our special report we show farmers innovating to solve their issues - including poor productivity, pasture persistence and nitrogen loss.

It was never going to be about completely replacing ryegrass, but finding the right plant for the right place and production at the right time of the year.

The Giles of Southland have tried numerous options fodder beet, catchcrops of oats and now a mixed forage crop incorporating ryegrass, clovers, oats and vetch.

Chris spends hours researching different forages and loves to pick the brains of any agronomist who comes close enough (pg46).

White clover has taken a hit in pastures of late estimated to be down to 15% of total drymatter content in NZ dairy pastures - a crazy statistic in light of the fact it contributes free nitrogen of up to 200kg N/ha/yr, supporting higher overall pasture production.

How does your clover stack up - when the recommendation is for 30% clover in the sward for optimal farm performance? (pg56)

@YoungDairyED

NZ Dairy Exporter

Plantain is another good news story, with early adopter farmers using it as a nitrogen reduction tool and others watching eagerly to see how they are overcoming some of the hurdles they have encountered. (pg53) Now that the effects of plantain are being accounted for in N loss numbers in the nutrient modelling tool OverseerFM, farmers will see the advances they have made from incorporating plantain into their farm systems, which could unleash another wave of adoption in catchments where meeting N limits is a challenge (pg30).

Meet our cover girls - Sarah Walters and Millie the milker - who have contributed to the Whakamaru farmers achieving 100% of their Te Ara Miraka farm excellence targets to earn a premium of 20 cents/kg MS for the season.

The programme covers 27 different aspects of farm management around people, environment, prosperity, cows and milk. While they appreciate the ability to add value to their milk and earn the bonus of 20cents/kg MS, maintaining their 100% record is a source of pride for the Walters who say “why wouldn’t you strive to be the best?” (pg36).

@DairyExporterNZ

@nzdairyexporter

Sneak peek OCTOBER 2020 ISSUE • • • •

SPECIAL REPORT: Education How is Go Dairy going? New entrants to the sector, new training structure.

How the McCullough family won: the DBOY awards.

How to: Set up a local catchment group

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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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

Lead sub-editor: Andy Maciver, P: 06 280 3166 Reporters Anne Hardie, P: 027 540 3635 verbatim@xtra.co.nz Anne Lee, P: 021 413 346 anne.lee@nzfarmlife.co.nz

PODCASTS: For all Dairy Banter Podcasts visit www.nzfarmlife.co.nz/tag/dairy-banter

Karen Trebilcock, P: 03 489 8083 ak.trebilcock@xtra.co.nz Andrew Swallow, P: 021 745 183 andrew@falveyfarm.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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Chris Neill, P: 027 249 1186 waipuvian@gmail.com 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 7

$/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

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6.50

6.50

6.50

6.67

Average $6.44/kg MS 6.50 5.95

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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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

WES1154_DAIRYEXAgri 2020-08-24T11:37:51+12:00

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MILKING PLATFORM WEST COAST

John and Jo Milne milk their 300 pet Jersey cows “Out the Cape” (at Cape Foulwind) on the West Coast.

Great season start on the West Coast John Milne has put pen to paper again to tell us about how things are tracking on the Coast at Cape Foulwind.

A

bit about us. We milk 300 pet Jersey cows on the West Coast of the South Island. Westport is our main town. The area we farm is called Cape Foulwind, or as the locals say “Out the Cape”. It’s on a peninsula and it’s damned windy some days or weeks. In the same breath it is lovely when it’s not windy – views of the Paparoas to the south-southeast, Tasman sea to the north – on a clear, still day you can’t beat it.

We have owned this farm for 13 years now, running it ourselves for the past six seasons. Prior to that we had a manager on the property while we sharemilked and later owned another farm “up the nine mile” on the other side of the Buller River. We sold that seven years ago and had a year of almost being a townie while 10

the manager worked out the end of his contract.

My wife Jo-Anne and I have three adult children: Samantha 26, Aimee 22 and Hamish 18.

Following one of the slowest growing springs on record in the 19/20 season we are having one of the best autumns and winters leading us into a fantastic early spring period this season (20/21) for the Coast.

Baling of some surplus grass has been completed in some areas of the Coast already. Long grass is extremely difficult to graze in a normal spring here, with poor utilisation on wet ground being the norm.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great for sure.

We are off to a flyer.

Well over 12 months ago I put pen to paper to express the dilemma the West

Coast dairy farming community was having with the sale of Westland Milk Products to Yili, and opinions of a lot of outsiders trying their best to tell us what was best for us and our future. Thankfully voting time came around with the result that now the Coast dairy industry can carry on.

The sale was completed on the 1st August 2019, and to be honest it’s been like a breath of fresh air.

Milking cows, putting milk in the vat and getting paid a competitive milk price, with incentives for high quality milk components as well, is great. We just don’t know, or need to know, what’s happening at the other end any more.

We have 10 years guaranteed competitive milk prices. It’s not a long time when you think about it but on the other hand it’s a set time for us to focus on our businesses and what we need to achieve in that time. In 10 years if Yili doesn’t want our milk someone else will.

Demand for dairy products isn’t dropping or slowing – it may be changing but demand is still there.

Sure we are supplying a Chinese-owned company now that is going from strength to strength worldwide. Is it a worry? Of course it is. But at least we are no longer in a co-op trying to sell into a Chinese market, getting it wrong time after time, and hearing that the milk price is dropping because they got it wrong.

Yili has had a busy winter maintenance catchup in Hokitika, which has been good to hear. It really shows the importance of being able to process raw milk on this side of the Alps and shows that they are investing in the Coast.

The Coast has traditionally been a starting point for a lot of young couples to get on the farm ownership ladder. Large sharemilkers cash up and make the next move here. Those days have definitely slowed with banks becoming more stringent on lending and owners holding onto properties because land prices have crashed to such a low level on the Coast at present. It will change again, I’m sure, with some steady payouts and time under our belts with Yili.

We need young people entering the industry to keep the small towns and communities up and down the country buoyant.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

MILKING PLATFORM SOUTH WAIKATO

Managing the swings George Moss is finding this season’s wild swings are exercising his brain and he wonders if it’s the new normal.

W

hen the decision was made to dry off in April we were concerned about the amount of home feed on hand to get us through the winter. Feed budgets were done on the basis of another month’s dry and “normal” South Waikato winter growth rates.

Expensive PK was contracted as a backstop to the likely shortfall. We only ever contract feed if we are concerned about availability. At the time feed supplies were very short with PK companies expressing some concern over ability to supply due to Covid-19 complications.

Milk price at the time had the same cloud of uncertainty hanging over it.

Come late August we have feed – both stored silage and pasture to spare – and cow condition at calving has been good.

Growth rates for May were good but in June we ran about double the normal growth figures. This meant the young stock were pretty much all-grass wintered for the first time ever and the cows had about half the normal amounts of silage fed out.

Is this the upside of climate change and is this the new normal? The contracted PK we are using but alas for little economic benefit. Cows are setting new highs on a daily basis, and calving thus far has been relatively sweet – easy when not chasing feed. The dry autumn, the Covid-19, the big swings in milk price futures, and the environmental and climate challenges continue to exercise our brains.

When we started sharemilking, profit and production were totally correlated, milk price could not fall by more than 5% in a season and all we had to focus on was getting as much milk out of the grass and cows as we could. It was hard to fail.

Now we need to decide whether to fix feed costs, fix milk price, where to pitch labour costs or use contract/share-milkers, manage compliance to levels never even

George and Sharon Moss: “Increasingly I see these competing forces severely challenging the mum and dad dairy farm that this industry was built on.”

dreamt of before, and now how to mitigate climate change and not upset the water.

Profit is now correlated with cost of production, and production is constrained by environmental concerns and potentially the climate itself on a more regular basis.

Bank tolerance for increasing debt to keep existing businesses going is seriously challenged and further exacerbated by falling asset values. Diluting debt with more milk seems flawed, and killing debt through profit seems to be the only way forward. Increasingly I see these competing forces severely challenging the “mum and dad dairy farm” that this industry was built on. However, I absolutely believe that there is a pathway through all these challenges. In reality, even as smaller family farming units we should be thinking and planning as if we were large corporate entities continually looking forward. That is what many of the corporates do well. They allocate time to governance, which in turn allocates time to strategic thinking – where do we want to be in five and ten years’ time; how do we manage risks to both compliance and income; how do we manage change; and, most importantly, how must we change?

These are complex and difficult decisions

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

as one tries to second guess income streams, climate, market and societal expectations and the expectations of staff.

Family entities do well by maintaining relatively lower overhead costs and the ability to buffer the business through managed drawings and often “hands on” involvement. Those “mum and dad” businesses that do overlay good governance practices and corporate thinking become seriously successful entities.

The Dairy Exporter did a great piece on the importance of governance (mandatory reading). To us, this is the critical component going forward – we do not know what we don’t know, we do not always know what best practice looks like, and we certainly do not have a monopoly on the solutions. Our farm advisors, a very few trusted confidants and our bankers all help formulate the way forward for us. Over time we have moved our thinking from trying to be in the highest profitability quartile to a consistently profitable business regardless – we are now consciously trading off some profit for certainty and for resilience in the poorer years, which after all are the ones that can hammer you. Meetings are relatively formal and quite structured, spending as much time looking forward well into the future as analysing the past, and happen quarterly. Prior to calving we got our base files sorted in Farmax and will model two different scenarios that will “stress test” both climate and price against the base. These will be part of the future planning and decision making. Part of those governance discussions is about how to continually maintain and improve the attractiveness of our positions to our staff – retention is a big cost saving both in terms of recruitment costs but also for business continuity and smoothness.

Constantly on the radar, and part of ongoing discussions with our advisors/ mentors, is where to from here? Each calving and each 20 litre bucket of milk seems to get that much harder. The body just does not bounce back like it used to – a cracked rib is testimony to that.

Lots to ponder, but right now I would not want to be in any industry other than dairying – in the words of Gandhi: “The precondition to all economic life takes place in the countryside”.

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MILKING PLATFORM WAIMATE

Left: Frances speaks to a Women Empowering Women Group on the five key elements of resilience.

Take good care of yourself Investing time for your own wellbeing is one of the best decisions you can make, according to Frances Coles.

L

ast month I had the pleasure of speaking to a Women Empowering Women group about some of the challenges I’ve faced in both my personal and business life and how I’ve overcome them.

Much of the talk focused on the five pillars of resilience, and given how things have shaken down here in New Zealand over recent weeks along with the fact we are all in the thick of our busiest time of year onfarm, I thought it was a good opportunity to share some of what I spoke about.

The five key elements of resilience are mindfulness, self care, self awareness, positive relationships, and purpose.

Mindfulness and self care go hand in hand and should be seen as essential when you bear in mind the many benefits of investing in them, such as improved focus, happiness and productivity – all good things to have when you’re busy onfarm!

And before you even try to use said busyness as an excuse not to take care of yourself – be aware it only takes five deep 12

breaths to activate your parasympathetic system – you can’t tell me you don’t even have 30 seconds to spare!

If you have a little more time, try taking a walk in the sunshine, phoning a friend or family member for a catch-up, reading a book or magazine, taking a bath or even treating yourself to a massage.

In this day and age of apps and social media there are plenty of places to find inspiration for mindfulness and wellness.

“Calm” and “Headspace” are good apps for those looking to master the art of meditation. Meanwhile there are plenty of clever farmers sharing their wellness journeys on Instagram – @yolofarmernz, @farm4lifenz, and @elle_perriam are just three great examples.

Positive relationships are also key. Make space in your life for the people who light you up, make you laugh and treat you well, and allocate less time to those who do not. We only get one life, so it makes sense to find a “tribe” you can enjoy it with and who will lift you up when times are tough.

Cast the net wide when you are looking to build your tribe. It’s not likely to include just obvious people like partners and immediate family. It can also be your workmates, friends, sporting teammates, people you volunteer with in your community, or the other crazy clowns who also share your passion for skydiving/ ultramarathon running/building model trains/fishing for trout in the back of beyond – whatever floats your boat!

If you have the time and inclination, look into Harvard University’s Grant Study – a piece of work spanning almost 80 years, which proves that embracing community helps people be happier and actually live longer.

Self-awareness is a trickier beast that doesn’t come easily to everyone. Some people naturally have an innate sense of where their “lane” in life is: others need to invest a little more time considering it. Alternatively you could ask for the help of a trusted few people to share with you what they believe your strengths and weaknesses are. From there you can forge ahead with a clearer idea of where your niche is in all the teams you are part of – family, work, sports and community interests.

Purpose is a big concept – but can be more simply thought of as your “why”.

What’s the reason you get out of bed in the dark to slap on the wet-weather gear again and battle your way through the rain and cold to set up the next day’s break fences?

What keeps you going when you feel like you are cupping up your millionth cow?

Whose face do you see when you have a pen full of newborn calves to train, not one of them seems to know how to suck, and there’s that one crazy calf that loves to run around knocking everyone else off the feeder just as you finally get them all latched on?

Being clear on your “why” will give you the resolve to keep going when things get tough. Because they will. Life is not always plain sailing. But you should never underestimate your resilience – take a moment to reflect on challenges you have overcome in the past, and believe in yourself. You’ve got this!

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

13

MILKING PLATFORM WAIKATO

Left: Calf rearer hard at work. Above: Exceptional winter weather has allowed for pre-mowing in July.

Pre-mowing in July?

Kirsty Verhoek basks in the luxury of having had a mild winter.

W

hat a great welcome to the Waikato for our first season of 50/50 sharemilking: premowing in July! We have been fortunate to experience an exceptional winter with mild temperatures and not too wet mixing to give us phenomenal grass growth rates of 35+kg DM/ha. Hence the early start to pre-mowing to target good residuals and guarantee us good pasture quality heading into spring. The bonus is that it also helps to get on top of any weed burdens early.

Our first calf hit the ground on the 25th June and we now have less than 20% of the herd to calve at the time of writing this article. Although Covid-19 is still making its presence strongly felt it has taken a bit of a back seat while we have focused on our own lockdown of calving.

We place a lot of effort into our calf rearing. How we feed our future herd dictates their overall lifetime performance so it is something we like to get right. With big Friesian/Friesian-cross calves we aim to feed to 10% of their body weight, split over two feeds a day.

During the busy period we are picking 14

up calves 2-3 times a day. This makes sure that every calf that comes into the shed gets 4-6 litres of “gold” colostrum over its first two feeds within the first 12 hours of life to get protective antibodies. From one week of age calves are offered ad-lib meal and straw and have access to outside paddocks with good pasture.

It’s always an enjoyable sight to see calves with their tails up in the air zooming around the paddock after a feed.

With calving soon wrapping up we have just cemented in our mating plan.

It is disconcerting that we had a ratio of 65:35 bull to heifer calves at last calving and so will be light on replacements.

This, combined with dismal calf prices, especially for bobby calves, and the effort and cost that goes into rearing these calves, has forced us to explore changes to the mating plan and get a tighter calving spread. Growing the genetics of our herd is an area that excites us so we look forward to trying out targeted, sexed semen and top genetics bull straws.

Our goal now is to get our girls cycling.

Early signs are good. We are hoping that we will see the benefits of early and regular

metrichecking (starting six weeks post calving) to identify cows with any uterine infections, as well as meeting feed energy and protein requirements. As you read this we will be into our pre-mating heats and confirming plans for our “Why Wait” programme.

On the farm front we are producing 2.3+kg MS/cow, which is slightly sooner than we had anticipated. The girls are milking well, especially considering we have the first calvers on once-a-day until they conceive.

We have taken this approach due to some bought-in heifers entering the herd at a lighter liveweight than our target, so once-a-day milking will ensure that they are in peak condition and cycling well when it comes to mating.

This follows the same thread as our calf rearing – making sure our young stock reach target liveweights is key to achieving their full potential over their lifetimes.

Being a System 5 farm we naturally use a considerable amount of supplement, but after a subtle winter we now have the luxury of producing well while not digging into the conserved feed stores too vigorously.

Somatic cell counts are also relatively low at under 100,000 and we are also experiencing minimal animal health issues. Long may this type of favorable climate continue!

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

15

INSIGHT

UPFRONT TRACEABILITY

Is now the time for an NZ food traceability scheme?

Do we need tracking of farm produce from paddock to plate food to satisfy consumer expectations? Phil Edmonds explores this vexed question.

T

here’s no question that a comprehensive traceability system is in the sights of those strategising the future growth of food production and export in New Zealand. And those close to international consumers believe that the landscape has changed this year with food brands set to face more demanding calls for more information on food origin.

The think tank Koi Tū, led by Sir Peter Gluckman among others, released a report titled “The Future of Food & the Primary Sector” in June noting traceability and “origin marketing” is becoming more important in the postCovid-19 environment, and “New Zealand needs to develop and market a national accreditation scheme that reflects the nature of our future food production and is evidence based.”

16

But have you heard all this before?

Almost certainly.

To a large degree, this plea is no more nor less than many have been seeking for some time.

EMULATING THE IRISH

About five years ago there was a sense New Zealand needed to scramble quickly to replicate Ireland’s Origin Green traceability scheme, which was having success in both raising the profile of Ireland’s food products and getting them fast-tracked onto shelves in offshore markets. But that urgency faded.

A national quality assurance scheme to match the likes of Ireland’s is no closer to becoming a reality than it was then. Why is that?

For a start New Zealand does not have an existing regulator that is mandated to

Lincoln University agribusiness expert Nic Lees: “Pasture fed, biodiversity – there are things coming into alignment with consumer expectations but we are not able to verify these attributes in a way that people can evaluate what we are doing.”

take charge of such a system. Ireland made a step in this direction in 1994 when it created Bord Bia (the Irish Food Board), a state agency with the sole purpose of promoting Ireland’s food overseas.

The Ministry of Primary Industries took the initiative around 2017 to explore the possibility of matching Ireland’s scheme with our own national traceability system, but MPI has no role in accrediting food

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

We have a disconnect in New Zealand between MPI’s production and biosecurity, farm-focused approach and the growing need for a market-focused approach to providing quality assurance. provenance – its remit is only to manage food safety and biosecurity.

This is an obvious block on the potential to develop mandatory provenance programmes.

Recently egg producers wanted to introduce an industry egg traceability initiative to provide assurances about the conditions in which the egg originates, but have been told by MPI there is no basis for compulsion because it is not a food safety issue.

This barrier does not appear to be closer to being resolved. In the government’s recently launched Fit for a Better World strategy to grow the primary sector there is a lot about understanding consumer needs and preferences but no prescription on how to deliver on those needs with a partnership between government and industry. Traceability is not mentioned once in the founding document and, arguably, the nearest it gets to acknowledgment is through a reference to the importance of “investing in systems, data and decision support tools to help land managers make better environmental and biosecurity choices.”

DISCONNECT BETWEEN PRODUCTION AND BIOSECURITY

Is industry-wide, mandated traceability just too hard for New Zealand?

At the moment, Lincoln University agribusiness expert Nic Lees regrettably thinks so, but to our cost.

“We have a disconnect in New Zealand between MPI’s production and biosecurity, farmfocused approach and the growing need for

Paul Ryan, CEO of Trust Codes: “Showing that you have your supply chain under control will become more of a norm and if a product can’t demonstrate this consumers won’t buy it.”

a market-focused approach to providing quality assurance.

“What it comes down to is we don’t do things until we have to. Without having suffered a crisis we have been content to continue trading on the perception that New Zealand is a sustainable place producing safe food and that we are well known in the marketplace. But Covid-19 shows that bad events do happen out of the blue and so we shouldn’t continue believing that perception is enough, or will last.

“The trouble is, it’s just very hard to put precautionary measures in place like traceability systems in advance and get farmer buy-in. M bovis has shown us that.”

Lees says the reluctance to come together is a shame because we have got great “sweet spot” attributes to convey via a mandated traceability system.

“Pasture fed, biodiversity – there are things coming into alignment with consumer expectations but we are not able to verify these attributes in a way that people can evaluate what we are doing.”

This perspective tempers the likelihood of Koi Tū and others getting their wish anytime soon.

But any block on progress shouldn’t be read as a blanket refusal by farmers to engage, says NZX Head of Analytics Julia Jones, who is conscious of a need to understand the demands of tracing provenance from a farmer perspective.

She says to be fair to farmers, the reluctance to invest in technology to support transparency across the supply

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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17

Ireland’s Origin Green programme was developed by Bord Bia (the Irish Food Board) to demonstrate the commitment by Irish food and drink producers to operate sustainably in terms of emissions, energy conservation, water management, biodiversity, community initiatives and health and nutrition. Ambassadors are placed with international food producers for a period of two years to promote Origin Green and the sustainability credentials of the Irish food industry.

chain is not helped by uncertainty about what we should be measuring and making more traceable.

Part of this is due to the diversity in consumer concerns – one minute it is animal welfare, the next it is climate change, and so on. “What is clear though is that consumers are never going to want ‘less’, or fewer guarantees about what they are buying. And they’re not going to start thinking ‘forget the planet’, or ‘never mind how we deal with sick cows.”

What is even clearer still is that consumers won’t expect to pay for more assurances.

Paul Ryan, CEO of Trust Codes, a New Zealand-based provider of traceability technology services that connect consumers with the product source, fully agrees. “I have never met a consumer who has said yes, I’ll pay more for product assurance. Imagine saying I am not going to tell you the best before date unless you pay a premium. Showing that you have your supply chain under control will become more of a norm and if a product can’t demonstrate this consumers won’t buy it.”

Julia Jones says “It does come back to the consumer and what they want. With all consumers there is a hierarchy of wants, and there will be some that are deal breakers. For some it will be carbon free and Fonterra’s Carbon Zero Milk will obviously have appeal to that particular audience. But we still don’t really know what we need to measure.”

That does not represent an excuse not to act, however.

Jones says that putting provenance assurance in the too hard basket and relying on price, as we have been accustomed to doing, is not sustainable. “If we can’t get the price tomorrow that we have obtained today – so to speak – we have a problem. There will always be someone who will want to buy our product but they just won’t pay enough money to enable our businesses to survive.”

The trouble with high consumer expectations is that brands, in the battle for 18

acceptance, tend to over-promise on things like traceability, which has the unfortunate consequence of raising expectations further still.

NZX head of analytics Paul Ryan says Julia Jones. we need a dose of realism around what the consumer can rightfully expect from better traceability.

“There’s a lot of people out there promising the world – saying things like I can track a cow to your plate, for example. And that can be massively damaging to your story because it sounds great to say it, and it’s almost the ultimate promise of technology, but also exposes a heap of reality around how products are made.

“In terms of meat and dairy you can’t actually say a steak or glass of milk came from a particular farm. I don’t believe anyone can do that unless they’re a very smallscale producer.

“The fact is dairy and meat are produced under an aggregation model. But that doesn’t necessarily need to matter if we get back-end certification such as pasture-fed, water quality in a catchment, and so on.

“I think we can say that ‘regionally’ this is where your milk has come from. It’s like in the old days the local butcher would tell you they had lamb from Otago – we are going back there but in a digital way.”

TRACEABILITY - COST OR INVESTMENT?

The ugly question about who in the supply chain should pay for the cost of complying with consumer wishes can’t be ignored. But a constructive consideration of this might focus on whether traceability should be seen as a cost or a form of investment.

Jones says traceability shouldn’t be seen as a cost because a cost is seen as something that adds no value to your business. If the task itself can be made easy, farmers should be able to see improved traceability as a win-win.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Pasture & Forage News

September 2020

Mixing it up Mixing diploid with tetraploid ryegrass never used to be common practice, because it was always thought the tetraploid would be grazed out.

But diploid Maxsyn NEA4 and tetraploid Viscount NEA4 combine well. Together they give a great pasture – denser and more robust that a straight tetraploid, with much better palatability than a straight diploid.

Milk Maxsyn for all it’s worth – top grazing tips for spring Getting the best out of New Zealand’s newest perennial ryegrasses at this time of the year comes down to a simple step: graze it three to four days earlier than other paddocks.

Maxsyn NEA4 is the next generation in pasture production, with superb yield potential for the coming season. This means higher daily DM growth rates and subsequently faster return times compared with other paddocks.

“Maxsyn is a beast! So when growth takes off you need to tame it, by grazing it when it’s ready to graze, or it will get the better of you,” says Blair Cotching, Barenbrug pasture systems manager.

Managing Maxsyn is no different from managing other perennial ryegrasses. It can just happen faster, because Maxsyn grows faster.

Following three golden rules will help, he says.

1. Graze at the 2.5 to 3 leaf stage.

2. Graze (or mow) to a consistent, even residual, ideally 1500-1600 kg DM/ha 3. Repeat rules one and two.

Following maximise

these rules will also utilisation, increasing

forage quality and clover growth, as the pasture won’t get too long and shade it out.

Consistent residual management makes a huge difference to future pasture quality. Grass left behind after one grazing will be past its useby date at the next grazing, and the results will show in the vat because cows won’t want to eat it.

Allowing Maxsyn to get too long in spring (>3200 kg DM/ha) will lower its density, meaning less DM next autumn.

Blair says it’s also very important not to make hay or heavy silage crops from Maxsyn in its first season.

This 50/50 mix is easy to manage during periods of fast growth, because it remains palatable even at relatively high covers.

For farmers who want the easy grazing and improved animal performance of a tetraploidbased pasture, but who have struggled getting straight tetraploids to persist, this is now a very successful and popular option.

Sow 10 kg/ha Maxsyn (half of the recommended 20 kg/ha) with 15 kg/ha Viscount (half of the recommended 30 kg/ha).

With Kotuku and Weka white clovers, this mix gives the balance of palatability and persistence to improve profitability across many situations.

Following these rules sets up a dense, well-tillered pasture, which in turn is the best way to improve persistence, and to set new pasture up to better withstand a possible summer or autumn dry spell.

“These rules also make you money, help set up long term pasture performance.”

facebook.com/BarenbrugNZ barenbrug.co.nz 0800 449 955 Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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19

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“The more we monitor, the more we have the ability to make better farming decisions.”

Nic Lees believes there’s grounds to treat traceability both as a cost and an investment without either having negative connotations. Like Jones, he sees the potential for farmers to put data figures around how farms are working and help them understand their own operations better. But it also has to be seen as an essential cost of getting products into the market. “Whether it is Nestlé, McDonalds or Danone, they require a level of verification on animal welfare and sustainability, and if you can’t provide it you can’t sell your product.”

Paul Ryan is unequivocal on traceability being seen principally as a cost of doing business. Working with brands that are closest to the consumer, Ryan sees brand owners faced with the immediate prospect of either complying with consumer wishes or letting their attention drift to a competitors’ offering.

Wherever the line item appears on your (or someone else’s) financials, Julia Jones says farmers shouldn’t be fatalistic about yet more compliance.

She’s optimistic that New Zealand farmers can and will contribute to a traceability system that satisfies the needs of consumers, partly by recognising there is a lot they do at the moment that doesn’t need to change – it just needs to be recorded.

Technology will enable that as long as it is strategic. “If you have six different scanners on a farm for different things that won’t help – it’s just as easy to continue writing things in a notebook.

There’s a lot of technology put in place with good intentions but might not be efficient. But a fit-bit for a cow, for example, means farmers are only being asked to validate data, not manually enter it.”

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So, what chance is there of all participants, farmers though to brand owners, in partnership with government, coming together to develop a national traceability scheme as deemed essential to secure our market position and authenticate our New Zealand story?

Julia Jones has been a member of

GMP Dairy’s intelligent infant formula, launched August 2014 has a 3D smartphone integrated traceability QR code label on formula can.

the Primary Sector Council, which has investigated the potential.

She says “I think a national framework would be great as long as it provides a ‘guiding star’ representing the values we want to project but not be prescriptive about how we get there. This would enable farmers to adhere to the values their own way. It wouldn’t work as a blueprint.”

While a firm believer in the merits of a national traceability scheme, Nic Lees warns that it would need to have some backbone to give consumers confidence it was meaningful. “Australia, for example, has developed a National Traceability Framework but it is pretty underwhelming, essentially business as usual, and nothing transformative.”

Paul Ryan, whose company Trust Codes works with Australian companies and who has been on traceability standards steering groups in Australia, does not think there should be a grand strategy in New Zealand. “The danger with frameworks is that they stifle innovation. All of a sudden you have a whole bunch of processes that look no different than each other.”

This risks food producers settling on a minimum standard and losing sight of what the consumer really wants.

And it also takes away a motivation to differentiate products from others.

This is largely where we are now. Silver Fern Farms, Fonterra, Synlait, Zespri and others have all actively invested in traceability on their own terms to further their own commercial ends.

As much as we’ve got a lot to gain from telling a national, evidence-based story, it might take something even bigger than Covid-19 to realise it.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

GLOBAL DAIRY IRELAND

Irish milk prices firm amid Covid-19 fears Words by: Chris McCullough

farmers. Its group operating profit of £12.2 million for the financial year ending airy farmers on both sides of March 2020 is down from the previous the Irish border have celebrated year’s profit of £14.3 million, with overall recent rises in milk prices but group turnover £504.5 million, down the champagne may from £509 million in 2019. Dale be put on ice as future market Farm Group chief executive fears heighten.

Nick Whelan said: “I am Prices fell steeply between pleased to report a solid February and mid-April year of results for 2019/20, owing to the sudden impact achieved despite some of Covid-19 as restaurants, weather-related challenges cafes and other food service during that time. outlets closed their doors.

“Our portfolio of dairy Since May those prices have products in retail and Chris McCullough foodservice across the UK, as well increased slightly but there are fears they could dip again on both as our global exports, performed sides of the border, depending on the well. Milk volumes and milk quality in the outcome of Brexit trade talks and if any year were relatively strong. more Covid-19 lockdowns are ordered.

“Our award-winning cheddar cheese Milk processors have announced recent continues to perform particularly well increases to the milk prices they pay and within the own-brand, foodservice and some have registered decent profits in branded sectors in both the domestic their latest annual accounts. market and worldwide,” he said.

There is no doubt the ongoing Covid-19 NORTHERN IRELAND era has affected recent sales and that will In Northern Ireland the average farmgate put a major dent in the accounts released milk price paid for June 2020 milk, next year. including bonuses, was 25.43 pence per Whelan added: “The impact of the litre (NZ$0.51), 0.97 p/l lower than June Covid-19 pandemic is having a significant 2019. In the period from January to June effect on our business and our dairy 2020 the volume of raw milk produced farmer members currently, but we always was 1,315.24 million litres, 2.5% higher endeavour to pay a competitive milk price than the same period in 2019. to farmers and ensuring we deliver on this Northern Ireland processor Dale Farm will be our core focus.” is owned by a co-operative of 1,300 dairy

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SOUTH OF THE BORDER

Nick Whelan, Dale Farm Group CEO: a solid year’s result but headwinds from ongoing Covid-19 fallout are on the horizon.

Over the past five years dairy farmers in the Republic of Ireland have added 400,000 cows to the national dairy herd now sitting at 1.5 million cows.

Prices in this region also fell earlier this year but are on the rise again. Lakeland Dairies has announced a one cent per litre price increase for its July milk supplies paying a base price of 31c/l (NZ$0.56).

“There is stability for now in the markets but the re-emergence of Covid-19

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Republic of Ireland farmers are reconsidering ambitious expansion plans in the wake of Covid-19.

nationally and internationally is concerning, especially for the foodservice sector. As well as the supply/demand dynamic and Covid-19, lack of progress on a Free Trade Agreement between the EU and the UK is worrying,” they said.

Dairygold also confirmed an increase.

EXPANSION

While many farmers in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland had previously considered increasing their milk production, Covid-19 has dampened their ambitious plans.

Northern Ireland dairy farmer Jason Rankin said: “In terms of expanding, land is our main limiting factor. At present we are close to optimum stocking levels and further expansion would not be possible without increasing reliance on purchased feed, which I do not believe would be a sound business decision.

“I think that, given the current market volatility, farmers need to think very hard before they expand. In some cases it will be the right decision but expansion is not the panacea that many farmers believe it to be,” he warned.

21

INSIGHT

UPFRONT MARKET VIEW

Dairy prices follow drop in demand prices to drop a little further as NZ makes its way through peak milk production and airy commodity prices plunged then starts to lift again heading into 2021. at Global Dairy Trade (GDT) It isn’t especially unusual for WMP prices in early August and continued to ease through September and October as their decline in the second the market gets a better view of NZ milk event of the month. Prices overall have production for the season. If we have a lost much of the gain they made in July dry spring, this may provide some support with the GDT Price Index now roughly to WMP prices. Soil moisture levels have where it was in mid-June. improved considerably over recent months The declines are a reaction to following the drought earlier in the year. uncertain market conditions.

However, groundwater levels are still an The pandemic continues to issue in some areas and will need to affect demand although improve to carry pastures through some commodities are spring and summer. considerably more Skim milk powder (SMP) impacted than others. prices have been interesting.

The heavy impacts SMP lifted 1.1% at the August on economies – with 18 GDT event but this seems to significant drops in be in defiance of conditions in gross domestic product the rest of the market. It appears already being flagged in that Chinese buying may have held Amy Castleton. the price up at that event. Aside from various regions – means that affordability is starting to this there has been talk that some become an issue and thus buyers are not buyers – South East Asian especially – are willing to pay more than they have to for starting to head to cheaper origins because product, particularly if they don’t have affordability is becoming a problem: an urgent need. There is plenty of milk NZ product is usually preferred for its available at this stage and it looks likely premium nature but this is signalling that supply will outstrip demand this year. buyers are starting to become more Whole milk powder (WMP) prices are concerned about price than about specific now back under US$3000/t. The NZX attributes of a product.

Dairy Derivatives market expects WMP Fats continue to struggle although

Words by: Amy Castleton

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Dairy commodity prices

US$/tonne

7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 Jun 18

Dec 18 WMP

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Jun 19 SMP

Dec 19 AMF

Jun 20 Butter

Above: Asian buyers are starting to head to cheaper products than NZ dairy products as affordability becomes an issue.

butter seems to be taking a harder hit than anhydrous milk fat. The fat side of the market is much more exposed to food service and, with food service outlets generally not operating or operating in a limited capacity, there is less demand for product. NZ milk production was up 2% year on year in June. We’re yet to see July figures at the time of writing but expectations are that July production will also be up on last season. Soil moisture levels are improving, which should hold milk production in good stead through spring and into summer.

Meanwhile, production in the Northern Hemisphere has bounced back.

US production was up 1.5% year on year in July, and June data was revised to 0.8% up (the previous estimate was +0.5%).

The driver of this has been the removal of supply restrictions that were imposed when Covid-19 first started to hit, as processors struggled to run their plants.

Dairy cows have become more productive – likely due to increased feed levels – though there are a few more cows in the milking herd as well.

European production looks to be up about 1.1% year on year for June (a few countries were yet to report data at the time of writing). This follows a 0.1% decline in May largely owing to a summer drought: with that now over production has resumed at higher levels.

• Amy Castleton, senior dairy analyst at NZX Agri.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

23

BUSINESS DIRECT SALES

Bella Vacca Jerseys: creating a branded product To maintain economic survival for a small herd at a low payout, Gav Hogarth and Jody Hansen launched their Bella Vacca Jerseys branded milk delivery service. Chris Neill reports.

I

n the 2015/16 season the farm milk price dipped below the cost of production for many farmers.

For some, particularly small herd owners, it was the demise of their farming business and for others it was a challenge that created new opportunities. Gav Hogarth and Jody Hansen took the road to opportunity, which has demanded a huge 24

commitment of their time, energy and finance and would have exhausted anyone without their passion and enthusiasm.

Two realities were behind their decision to act. First, for economic survival Jody returned to off-farm work with a daily commute of two hours, which neither she nor Gav wanted. Full participation in farm life and grandchildren was what they

sought. Second, they had absolute belief in the quality of the milk they produced and its appeal as a whole milk product.

As 50:50 sharemilkers on 150 ha with 61 ha effective they are milking 160 cows southwest of Moerewa with all the challenges of Northland farming including droughts, floods, and ryegrass/kikuyu pastures. Typically, 6ha of sorghum is

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

The transition has begun to four calvings per year each with 40 cows, with the intention of having at least 120 cows in milk all year.

Left: Gav Hogarth and Jody Hansen built a whole milk production and delivery business to keep their cows employed. Now Bella Vacca (Beautiful Cow) milk has won them an Outstanding Food Producers Awards.

Right: Amy is Gav and Jody’s daughter-inlaw and trainee manager for the Bella Vacca business, allowing them to have thoughts of more time with grandchildren, living by the sea and fishing.

grown annually and strip grazed but the 2019/20 drought compromised that. Each year they buy in 80 bales of silage and 60 bales of hay plus around 100t of DDG mix.

Around 70% of the platform is flat and in the recent flood was briefly a lake. The 160 cow Jersey herd is producing close to 330kg MS per cow.

The farm has recently completed a Farm Environment Plan, and the property owners are aligned with suggested changes. They include fencing off a wetland to protect flora and fauna including a remnant stand of kahikatea.

The opportunity they saw was to supply pasteurised, bottled milk. With Jody’s accounting skills they were confident enough to sell their house to fund the project after the bank declined their invitation to participate. Within six months of deciding to act, the equipment to pasteurise and bottle was acquired.

It took a further 18 months to meet regulatory requirements and sell the first bottles of milk. The brand Bella Vacca Milk was launched with the first delivery of 36 x 1 litre bottles in June 2018.

In overview, the process is simple – feed

cows, produce milk, pasteurise and bottle that milk and deliver it to customers.

In the initial phase, when there was insufficient income to employ staff, Gav and Jody did it all with Jody working off farm as well. Through their commitment and love of a challenge their business has progressed beyond expectation. While the 2019/20 drought added to feed costs and Covid-19 took away 70% of their Bella Vacca milk sales, hard work and customer satisfaction has already returned their market to pre-Covid levels.

Gav and Jody’s initial projection was for sales of 300 litres per day (9,000 litres per month) of bottled milk and the balance of their milk production collected by Fonterra. Prior to lockdown, sales had peaked over 20,000 litres per month, and there is a revised target of 30,000 litres per month by the end of year 2020. Market growth to date has come from word of mouth. They now employ a trainee manager, two people in the milk room plus three delivery drivers; the current plant has capacity to process 60,000 litres per month with the addition of more labour. Jody and Gav see the team of six

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

trained and employed in the business as critical to Bella Vacca’s success. They are confident a team of 10 could run the business at full capacity and are keen to employ locals.

As their market for whole milk continues to grow, the need to ensure continuity of milk supply becomes critical.

In response, the transition has begun to four calvings per year each with 40 cows, with the intention of having at least 120 cows in milk all year. The calvings will be short and coincide with a round of natural mating to beef breeds. The difficulty of maintaining genetic selection with this calving pattern means replacement Jersey cows will be sourced in Northland to maintain Bella Vacca Jerseys.

Few dairy farmers view their brand beyond the processing company they supply. For Jody and Gav, brand development and protection is a key factor in their business. It includes the surety of milk quality and traceability, the environmental sustainability of their farming operation and the recyclable glass bottles for their product. They are marketing 1 litre bottles of whole 25

To ensure smooth continuity of supply, the Bella Vacca herd is transitioning to calving at four times of the year.

milk from Houhora to South Auckland, retailing at $3.90 per bottle with “swappa bottle”. For a small business, independent verification of their quality and standards comes through meeting industry standards plus putting themselves forward to be judged by their customers and independent judges connected with other brands that represent their ideals.

Jody and Gav were delighted to receive the inaugural Emerging Land Based Business Award from the 2020 Northland Ballance Farm Environment Awards. Judges comments with the award recognised that “energy, enthusiasm and tenacity has seen them and their team overcome all obstacles and become the number one supplier of whole milk in Northland”. There is “passion for the product throughout the whole team, driven from the top”. The judges identified the use of recyclable glass bottles, lowering the farm stocking rate, and enhancing the farm environment as key elements of their sustainability.

This award comes alongside the Outstanding NZ 2020 Food Producer Gold Award. Judges’ feedback is “a great example of a dairy farm who have reduced stock numbers, increased wetlands, reusable bottles, low emissions, environmental plan, family business and employ local staff”. In addition to the award enhancing their Bella Vacca brand, Jody enjoys the use of a Toyota SUV for 12 months and a $10,000 Mediaworks advertising package. The prospect of managing growth with this scale of 26

Through winning an Outstanding NZ 2020 Food Producer Gold Award, Jody has the use of a Toyota SUV for 12 months and a $10,000 Mediaworks advertising package to be used to grow their business.

marketing on their business has them thinking.

Gav and Jody have created a processing and marketing business alongside their milk production business. Jody is the business manager responsible for finance, staff, marketing and distribution, and Gav is farmer, operator, serviceman and customer relations manager. The combination has worked incredibly well and they are looking forward to sharing the joy by bringing family into the business, with daughter-in-law Amy Deal now the trainee manager. To ensure focus on growth of whole milk production and sales they will engage a sharemilker to focus on delivering the quantity and

quality of milk required for bottle sales.

Reinvestment to build capacity and market will come from a strong cashflow.

The primary goals and aspirations for Jody and Gav are to spend more time with family, particularly grandchildren, and to have an income stream that will allow them to enjoy retirement with talk of fishing and living by the sea. They are still enjoying growing their business and discovering the opportunities in diversification that are spilling from the decision to protect themselves against a low farm milk price. Their transition from dairy farmer to owner of a branded product has been challenging and rewarding.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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BUSINESS FUTURES

N

ZX’s new milk price futures and options market launches later this month, allowing Kiwi farmers to lock in a milk price but how does it work, what are its benefits and what are some of the pitfalls to be aware of?

The market has the potential to reduce farmers’ income risk and even out what have been highly volatile returns with many seeing it as an alternative to Fonterra’s now-scrapped guaranteed milk price (GMP).

While GMP drew criticism from some for being somewhat complex – particularly when it came to the process for securing a contract – there’s no doubt what farmers now have in the new futures and options contract takes that complexity to a whole new level. So it’s not going to be for everyone, and even those with

out participants must be comfortable they understand it and be fully aware of the possible outcomes before they make a trade. Farmers will be able to trade a futures or options contract only through an accredited or approved company, with those companies obliged to ensure their clients understand the contract.

Currently there are two NZ-based firms accredited to participate in the NZX derivatives markets – First NZ Capital and OMF, and several international firms.

Accredited firms will be listed on NZX’s website. Mike McIntyre is head of derivatives at First NZ Capital, and says while it’s early days the farming entities he’s talked to see the new milk price futures product as an appropriate price risk management tool and are working on coming to grips with the details.

There’s also an increased awareness that NZ dairy farmers, and in particular Fonterra suppliers, are wide open to milk price volatility.

Taking volatility out of the dairy business

‘There are still too many people though, and I’m not just talking about farmers here, who think commodity prices can be forecast and therefore debate the need for any sort of hedging.’

It was about sticking to the risk management plan but also having clear steps and triggers where decisions had to be made so it would be “a bit more operational”.

So if prices hit certain targets there was a planned course of action.

28

DAIRY 101: HOW FUTURES WORK FUTURES MARKET

U

ncertainty and volatility in dairy markets caused by Covid-19 has reinforced the need to understand and stick with your hedging policy, if you have one that is, and reignited interest in managing milk price risk for those who don’t.

Dairy commodity prices have run a roller coaster path this year creating a level of panic at times for both buyers and sellers.

Lachstock Consulting managing director Lachie Stevens told an NZX webinar on formulating a hedging policy in a time of crisis, that as Covid-19 took hold around the world through the first half of this year it created a level of panic and uncertainty in commodity markets.

Through that period, he said, it was important not to get caught up in the hysteria of the moment and he had worked with clients to stick to their existing decision-making processes.

Forward sells 10 futures contracts at $6.50

Market settles at $5.00

6000kg MS x 10 60,000 x $6.50

Profit is difference $1.50 x 60,000

Agrees to sell at $390,000 (in Oct 2021)

$6.50

MAY 2020 FORECAST

PHYSICAL MARKET

Words by: Anne Lee

Farmer settles by buying back 10 contracts at $5.00, costs $90,000 less

+$90,000

+$90,000

MILK PRICE DROPS

$5.00

OCT 2021 FINAL

FONTERRA FARMGATE MILK PRICE $5.00

-$90,000

VAT 60,000kg MS budgets on $390,000

Gets $300,000

A farmer who produces 60,000kg MS decides to hedge all his milk and in May this year enters into “If they don’t let’s not panic and start have been the earlier adopters of hedging 10 milk price futures contracts (10 x each contract for 6000kg MS) agreeing to sell the contracts at doing that could be detrimental to MS.with fixed price contracts more widely time things of settlement (October 2017) for $6.50/kg our Over business,” Lachie taken up by the dairy farming the season, milksaid. price drops to $5/kg MS which is $1.50/kg MSgeneral less than he had budgeted for at the start of thedirector season. Nigel NZX has said the milkpopulation. price futures contract will settle to Fonterra’s TDB Consulting Atherfold finaldairy announced milk price which means that’s what the contracts worth. said farmers clients who had good “There are will stillbetoo many people though, But our farmer has contracts to sell his futures at $6.50/kg MS so he makes gain onfarmers the futures risk management policies and had and I’m not just talkinga about market of $90,000 or $1.50/kg MS x 60,000kg MS. complied with them typically had no here, who think commodity prices can be On the farm he’s received only $5/kg MS when he’d budgeted for $6.50 so his total milk revenue reaction at allnot to the rapidly changing forecast and therefore debate the need for was $300,000 $390,000. markets. any sort of hedging.”

The $90,000 less he made on the farm is counteracted by the $90,000 gain he made on the futures market and overall hishigher total income the many equivalent of $6.50/kg MS. Policies are generally the the ends up atToo farmers are prepared to risk

price the more milk price futures contracts farmers sell and with prices at the higher 12 end of the spectrum earlier this year those who had complied with their policy had been in a good position.

As prices dropped farmers who hadn’t stuck to their policies become a little panicky about missing their chances.

New Zealand dairy farmers have good tools to manage income risk but the market is still very much developing, Nigel said.

Larger farms and corporate operations with a level of administrative support

of something that’s agreed is made. In th futures each c milksolids (MS The contra a financial ma case the NZX physical deliv Instead the the settlemen will be worth the real value good the futu In the case settlement pr final farmgate The milk pr settles once a October 3 as A farmer w milk price risk by agreeing i contract at th The price a is taken out is receive at the The cost of price) is taken farmer will rec remaining fun Fonterra’s fina futures contra he or she mak If the settle milk price is m the farmer wi and be requir value of that d As an act o are complete market are re a “margin acc The amoun percentage o commonly ab Additional deposited int moving again Margin accou more informa The key pri that any gain market will of physical mark price or a hed

prices dropping to where they make a loss because they’re worried about prices going Dairy Exporter | agrihq.co. the other way and missing out on the upside.

“It’s tough to give up the upside of things but I always think the downside is much worse, it’s the harder pill to swallow.”

Bridgecape Commodities managing director Scott Briggs said ongoing volatility in the wake of Covid-19 was a certainty.

“It’s important for any market participants to realise we are going

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

to swing between periods where the fundamentals of dairy are driving the market and then there are going to be other periods where the macro environment is going to be driving it,” he said.

It’s important not to focus on times when physical market returns are higher than hedged prices and remember the guiding principle that a hedging policy is to try and take volatility out of the business, he said.

That brings a range of benefits and it’s important that’s well understood and communicated right through the business.

In developing a policy Nigel said the first point was to ensure clients fully understood the hedging products available – whether that’s milk price futures and derivatives or fixed milk price contracts.

There also had to be a clear understanding of the farm business and its own risk profile.

“The riskier the farm is, the more detail required in the policy and the less discretion the farmer has around hedging.

The less risk the less detail and the more discretion they would have.”

Ideally the policy itself needs to be simple and in the right language so it’s clearly understood rather than a 10-page risk management plan that might be preferred by banks from a governance point of view, Lachie said.

It might be as simple as a five-step decision-making framework and if the farmer is new to hedging, they should be looking at that and checking off that they’re following the process on a regular, monthly basis. The place for detail is in background material the farmer can read and review so they remind themselves of the rationale and detail that leads to the policy, Nigel said.

The most important factor to understand and be well set up to manage within a hedging policy is cash flow, panelists agreed.

Understanding margin requirements – in terms of the amount of money to be held in a margin account to help close out the hedge - is vital as is understanding that margin calls can be made, whereby farmers may have to top up that account over the period the hedge is held.

In times of high volatility, margin calls could require significant amounts of cash and farm businesses need to be able to

TABLE 1. HOW MARGINS WORK Day (close)

Futures milk price

Total milk price futures price movement

0

$5.00

Initial margin deposited

1

$4.90

Value of contract falls by $6000

2

$4.80

3

4

Impact on futures position

Closing balance

Balance relative to maintenance margin of $24,000

Margin call

$30,000

plus $6000

0

$6000 credited to margin account

$36,000

plus $12,000

0

Value of contract falls by $6000

$6000 credited to margin account

$42,000

plus $18,000

0

$5.00

Value of contract rises by $12,000

$12000 debited from margin account

$30,000

plus $6000

0

$5.30

Value of contract rises by $18,000

$18000 debited from margin account

$12,000

minus $12,000

$18,000*

* A margin call of $18,000 is required to bring the account balance back to the initial margin value

EXAMPLE: • A farmer sells 10 milk price contracts for $5/kg MS. • Ten milk price contracts cover 60,000kg MS. • Total value is $300,000.

• Initial margin is 10% of $300,000 = $30,000.

• Maintenance margin is $24,000.

The margin account balance increases and decreases over several days as the daily settlement price fluctuates.* The margin account balance eventually falls below $30,000 to $12,000 in the example when the milk price futures price goes to $5.30/kg MS. At that point a margin call will be made and the farmer is legally required to deposit another $18,000 within 24 hours into the margin account to bring the margin account balance back to the initial margin value.

The more contracts the farmer has sold or the greater the milk price shift, the larger the margin call will be. * Fluctuations are hypothetical to enable explanation.

access the finance and manage that cash flow.

Care needs to be taken in carrying out “what if” stress test analysis to calculate what cash flow pressure could come on if market prices moved 10% or more against the contract which, in a farmer’s situation, would be if milk price increased on the level the hedge is taken out.

The calculation should be done with varying percentages of total milk production hedged.

“It’s all about education and (understanding) cash flow. If you’re comfortable with the product and the way you want to manage it then the more willing you’ll be to allocate operational cash to this area of the business,” Lachie said.

Typically, as a rule of thumb, Nigel suggests about $1/kg milksolids (MS)

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

hedged is about the amount of money required for the variation margin account.

In the NZ market farmers will have policy settings that mean hedging a greater percentage of their production at higher contract prices with the range from about 25% if prices are lower and up to 75% at the high priced end of the scale.

Timing of the contract can also play a part in what percentage of milk production is hedged.

“The further out the contract is the less we’d suggest hedging. We’re less certain about what the cost of farming will be in the next season and the season after that.

“Given we are trying to protect the profitability of the business (by hedging) we have to be mindful of what cost and revenue we need in order to maintain that profitability.”

29

BUSINESS OVERSEER

Accounting for the impact of plantain An OverseerFM add-on allows farmers to gauge the effects of plantain on N losses from pastures. Jackie Harrigan explains.

W

The effect of plantain on N loss has been studied for four years under the Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching (FRNL) programme.

hen Overseer pushes the research into OverseerFM.” go button on the plantain The programme had added data entry module in their nutrient functions ahead of the reporting season management software in in June for their 5000 active farmer clients late August, farmers will be pleased to see to add in the detail of how much plantain at last the program taking into account the they have sown in their system, and at the effects of plantain pastures helping to drive end of August they will be able to see the down nitrogen leaching on their farms. impact on nitrate leaching based on the The plug-in is the next step in the FRNL research. evolution of the nutrient management Read says the company has worked hard modelling software to account for the use to make the programme more useful and, of plantain on NZ farms and the positive with the recent addition of a knowledge effect the forage has been proven to have base and more extensive in-app help, allow in decreasing levels of N leaching. farmers access to more information to The changes are the outcome of four support farm planning and testing the long years of scientific study into impact of different scenarios such the effect of plantain under the as using plantain.

Forages for Reduced Nitrate “The programme is really Leaching (FRNL) programme. user friendly now. There has Research undertaken as been a historic reliance on part of the FRNL programme consultants to generate results assessed the impact of Tonic but it's really encouraging to plantain and, once the trial data see farmers begin to get involved was available, Overseer could themselves and see what's Caroline Read, use the evidence-based results in possible.”

Overseer. their model, said Overseer CEO “We are trying to make Caroline Read.

OverseerFM much more useful to farmers, “The last year has been spent with rather than just using it to generate an N Agresearch scientists under the umbrella loss figure, by providing the information of the FRNL group looking at how we that the model generates in more could implement what they found in the meaningful ways so they can get value 30

out of it. They can do much more detailed planning, see where changes need to be made, be part of a catchment group, and feed their information in there.”

OverseerFM costs $360+GST for a full year subscription, allowing each farm to make as many analyses of the farm as they like.

“You can have your year-end analysis and then do lots of predictive and scenario analyses that look at different ways of doing things,” Read said.

“The regional councils who use the system to generate a loss figure have independent auditors for assurance that the system is defendable.”

Once farmers start to use the plantain functionality, Read is looking forward to being able to see how many of their 11,000 signed-up farmers are using the herb varieties.

ENVIRONMENTALLY FUNCTIONAL PLANTAIN At this stage the model has been amended to account for the effects of plantain on the cow and the diuretic effect that causes urine to be passed more often, be more dilute and therefore lower in nitrogen.

The effect works by a lower apportioning of the excreted nitrogen to urine and a

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

The OverseerFM model has been amended to account for the effects of the plantain diet on the cow and its urine; the effects of soil biology will be incorporated into the model when the research has been completed on this aspect.

lower nitrogen load per urine patch and therefore a decreased urine volume per animal per day.

“There are also soil biological processes at play in bringing down the N loss but research is ongoing on that aspect and, once the science is sorted, that will be added in as well,” Read said.

All of the research has been carried out on Ceres Tonic plantain (FRNL trials) known as an environmentally functional plantain and differentiated from other varieties that have not yet been researched.

The plantains are the Plantago lanceolata varieties – winter-active, prostrate, large but narrow-leaved types with a coarse root structure. The varieties tend to have lower dry matter content, higher structural carbohydrate/nitrogen ratio and lower proportions of total nitrogen that are soluble and degradable compared with ryegrass.

OverseerFM calculates the nitrogen in excreta and apportions this to urine and dung using an equation based on the concentration of nitrogen in the diet.

FRNL research identified that where animals are fed plantain the proportion of nitrogen allocated to urine is adjusted according to the proportion of plantain in the diet up to 60%, above which the proportion does not change.

The farmer simply estimates what proportion of the sward is plantain (Overseer is developing guidelines to do

this) and enters it into the program, also accounting for the pasture proportion and any supplements fed to the animals.

Harvesting and direct feeding are assumed to be consistent with grazing but no proportion of plantain is calculated for supplements containing plantain that are ensiled or stored.

Overseer is encouraging the seed industry to work together on an agreed criteria to determine the environmentally functional plantains, with accompanying product labelling, so that the varieties are independently verified.

“We are not able to validate or verify the different plantains but it is up to the industry to come to a level of agreement so that farmers can distinguish which varieties to buy.”

ENABLING AN OUTPUTS-BASED REGULATORY SYSTEM New Zealand is fortunate to not have the blanket input controls enforced in Europe to mitigate N losses, says geologist turned water policy analyst Caroline Read, who has been the Overseer chief executive for the past four years.

Controlling inputs not only means a very expensive research and monitoring job, it kills innovation and flexibility, she says.

However the new Freshwater rules are moving in that direction with the limit of 190kg N/ha/year applied nitrogen.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

“My goal is to try and encourage an outputs-based regime in New Zealand – it makes us so much more innovative and progressive. OverseerFM gives farmers the tools to engage with and to work with – and adding in more functionality helps farmers build trust in the product and the results they are getting – along with willingness with acceptance of the role of OverseerFM in regulation.”

“We are moving and people are starting to see the benefits – we keep bringing in other features that farmers can see value in. It's a continual process of seeing the mitigation opportunities out there and getting the science and research to back an evidence-based approach to putting them into OverseerFM.” Other mitigations included in the modelling programme are riparian strips and wetland areas, and Read said the fact there are so many different N mitigation innovations makes it an exciting space to work in.

NEW VARIETALS The next pasture forage on the list to include in the OverseerFM model is chicory, Read says.

“We have a number of varieties already – chicory will be the seventh and many farmers are using it so we need to get the research data into the model.”

Looking forward at the plethora of different varieties used in the likes of a regen mix, Read says what will likely happen is plants will be pooled together in similar groups.

CARBON STOCK TOOL Farmers have been able to measure the greenhouse gases emitted from their farm for some time in OverseerFM, and new functionality added last year measures the other side – the carbon being sequestered in trees on the property.

“We added data from the MPI carbon look-up tables that provide the sequestration rates of different trees to our treeblocks to allow farmers to basically find out how much is being sequestered, or look at adding treeblocks to the farm,” Read said.

Since 2006 a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) report detailing methane, CO2 and nitrous oxide from all sources adds up the total GHGs emitted, so now both sides of the ledger are covered.

31

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTAL NITROGEN

Left: Irish cattle grazing. Right: The large wetland, still under construction near Aalborg (North Jutland), is for treating run-off from the adjacent maize crop.

Environmental N reduction Insights from Denmark & Ireland

The way two European countries work with farmers to reduce nitrogen losses from dairy farms holds lessons for NZ regulators. Jackie Harrigan explains.

S

tudying the regulation of environmental nutrients in Denmark and Ireland led Horizons Regional Council’s senior rural advisor Ian McNab to question the path New Zealand was taking in the regulation of Kiwi farmers.

McNab travelled to Europe in 2019 to investigate the environmental conditions and constraints in Ireland and Denmark because Ireland has a similar pastoral system to New Zealand and Denmark has made big reductions in nutrient losses from agriculture.

Both countries are supplemented under the EU Common Agricultural Policy, which pays subsidies based on Pillar One direct payment and market measures (basically a payment for hectares farmed and historic production), and Pillar 2 subsidies for special projects, for example for further biodiversity and crop diversity environmental projects, young farmers’ incentives, and others.

The 50 pages of regulations in the Statutory Instrument (SI) set out all the rules around environmental regulation down to how much fertiliser is allowed and how to deal with slurry. Farmers’ receipt of the full basic payment depends 32

on adherence to the document, which also calculates a nitrogen mass balance to estimate nutrient flows through each farm.

Nutrient regulation has been tightening up over the past 20 years, says McNab, under the Water Framework Directive encompassing the underlying legislation like the Urban Waste Water Directive, the Nitrates Directive and the Water Quality Directive, among others. Running in six-year cycles, a review of the 2010-2015 results saw an improvement in water quality in both Denmark and Ireland, with slowing improvements for Ireland from 2009. But since 2015 the removal of milk quotas in Ireland has seen an intensification of dairy farms with a 50% increase in milk produced but a corresponding decline in water quality.

Denmark, too, has made impressive improvements with N-loss halving between 1990 and 2007 but further improvements will be more and more difficult to achieve.

Now the government is looking to farming leaders for innovation but that is proving difficult to get traction, McNab says.

“Onfarm innovation that the country needs to further reduce the impacts of agriculture is less evident due to government intervention.”

Developing constructed wetlands is a great initiative, investigated and proven to work by reducing both nitrogen and phosphate from run-off water before it reaches a waterway. Combined with woodchip bioreactors these edge-of-field mitigations have been effective, and now the government has an ambitious plan to build 1000 wetlands by 2021.

Supported by EU funding, there is a comprehensive application process including waterway N monitoring and contour mapping. But if farmers apply, are consented and then build but the wetland is not up to a specified standard, the funding will be withheld – a considerable risk for the landowner. Add to that the time taken for processing consents and the lack of enough contractors to do the work involved in building 1000 wetlands and McNab says Danes are not sure of the progress that can be achieved.

Over in Ireland the EU input-based regulation means a 38-page Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) handbook that helps to explain the SI regulations.

Input regulations on nitrogen relate to what two dairy cows would produce on a hectare of land (170kg N/ha), which includes N from manure only. Added

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Top left: A constructed wetland in Denmark is proving successful at removing nitrogen and phosphate from run-off water.

Left: Ian McNab at Nenagh Castle, County Tipperary.

Bottom, left: Irish farm land.

nutrient from fertiliser applications is based on pasture and crop yields from the “look up” tables pertaining to what the farm grows. Any farmers stocked over the level of two cows/ha are “derogation” farmers who have a concession to go to 250kg N/ha/year (equivalent to three cows/ha) provided that they meet other conditions including low-emission slurry spreading, farm-scale liming, pasture monitoring, protein-reduced supplement, and biodiversity measures.

The number of derogation farmers has increased since 2015, and the current practice of Teagasc (the Irish agricultural research and extension body) helping farmers sustainably expand milk production creates tension with the message of improving water quality outcomes, says McNab. Teagasc’s seven steps to improving farm sustainability are first and second about productivity gains from better cow genetics and reducing N fertiliser by upping feed quality with more clover, while the other five messages are about environmental improvement. But the pent-up demand from farmers to increase milk production in the hope that they also increase profitability runs the risk of overrunning the EU directive to improve water quality.

TAKEAWAY MESSAGES:

McNab said the three main takeaways from his investigation provided important lessons for New Zealand environmental regulation: • Top-down regulation hinders innovation • We need to consider edge-of-field technologies • One size fits all is not the right approach – identifying the issues at a sub-catchment level and then targeting site-specific solutions is the best way to get results.

A complicating factor is that dairy as a land use is 2-4 times as profitable as beef, so farmers are converting and putting further pressure on the environment.

The Irish Environmental Protection Agency has now turned to developing targeted environmental mitigations and programmes at catchment and farm level as part of the EU Nitrates Directive.

Farmers can opt-in to the various schemes and essentially swap out their Basic Payment Subsidy for a targeted subsidy around a greening initiative (Prime Minister Varadkar is keen for every farmer to plant at least 1ha of native woodlot); or

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

a “green, low-carbon agri-environmental scheme” for farmers who de-intensify and preserve traditional hay meadows and lowinput pastures, and retain carbon stocks through margin and habitat preservation with low tillage. Designated special areas of conservation are also subsidised for areas of significant biodiversity – endangered species, for example.

Within the 190 Priority Areas of Action (identified by the EPA), consisting of the most severely eroded catchments identified by catchment level water testing, farmers can receive free one-onone advice from Teagasc or dairy company advisers. Accompanying grants schemes are available to assist in implementation of the mitigation of contaminants including N, P, E coli and others like herbicides and sheep dip. The Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advice programme has seen a 90% uptake in the offer of advice to farmers, raising questions of whether the dairy companies have enough advisors to handle the queries.

• Read more of the report: http://www.horizons.govt.nz/HRC/media/ Media/Rural%20and%20District%20 Advice/Comparative_Analysis_of_Nutrient_ Management_Regulation.pdf 33

BUSINESS CO-OPERATIVE BEHAVIOUR

The meaning of being a ‘co-operative’ Words by: Nicola Shadbolt

R

ecent announcements by Fonterra on how they will reward/penalise their owners for sustainability practices generated a range of responses including some saying they are not ‘being co-operative’.

This raises the question of what does being co-operative really mean?

The answer is, as with so many similar complex questions, that it depends! What might seem right in one cooperative will be greeted with scorn in another, it all depends on the history of each co-operative, the legislation they have evolved and exist under and the expectations of the owners that have built up over time.

These differences were brought home to me when I was invited to a Co-operative Leaders’ workshop in Missouri just after I stepped off the Fonterra board in late 2018.

Attendees came from a wide range of countries and as we worked together on Professor Mike Cook’s co-operative lifecycle framework it became obvious that there were quite different ‘co-operative’ systems in place.

For example, one of the European cooperatives not only deducted differential freight charges they also had a different price for the milk that supplied their premium products to that used for the lower-priced products. Once the amount of milk supplied went over a predetermined amount the price dropped.

They also paid premiums for differing levels of quality and approved on-farm practices.

For that cooperative it was highly unlikely that each member received the same price for their milk. So, while some may say that is not treating everyone the same, it is not being ‘co-operative’, their 34

Above: New Zealand’s biggest company, cooperative Fonterra’s giant Whataroa plant near Hawera.

Left: Nicola Shadbolt.

response was that they were just running a good business by costing their inputs according to what they are worth to ensure the co-operative can be profitable and to align their members with market demand.

It was interesting to note that under their legislation members control their cooperative through a one member/one vote system, so they were very critical of votes proportionate to participation (wet shares) that Fonterra has, and argued that it did not enable democratic control.

In the co-operative business research literature, there are examples where paying the same price to everyone has led to discontent from those who have better quality or higher specification products that they know is worth more. This has often led to members selling the better product elsewhere and the co-operative then receiving only the poorer quality product. Not as easy to do with a product like milk, but always a risk if the end market is prepared to pay a premium for quality product.

For nearly a decade now we’ve been running a postgraduate course at Massey University on co-operative governance and management. The first assignment we ask students to do is to determine the difference between corporates and cooperatives. It always generates interesting debate because there are many ways in which a co-operative is very similar to a corporate, and in other ways it is quite different. And, just to confuse things

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

COLLECTIVE ACTION: Principles for Co-operatives:

1. Voluntary and Open Membership 2. Democratic Member Control 3. Member Economic Participation 4. Autonomy and Independence 5. Education, Training, and Information 6. Co-operation among Co-operatives 7. Concern for Community From: International Cooperative Alliance (ICA)

further, there are many ways in which the co-operative business model has evolved throughout the world so there is no one typical model to compare against.

However, most co-operatives do deliver to a very similar set of principles that are based on the rationale for collective action, although the how of delivery will differ, as with the democratic control discussion above, but they are generally understood as being key to the success of all co-operatives.

As identified by Cook and others the cooperative business model can create some challenges. One commonly mentioned is the free-rider problem when new users join and reap the benefit others have built up over many years. The free-rider risk also exists if co-operatives undervalue their membership fee. This particularly becomes an issue if the co-operative expands and if the fee is insufficient to cover the capital cost of that expansion. We have had a very real example of this in NZ and one that led to the demise of a co-operative.

The other one is agency risk; this is very important as it has led to the demise or upset of a number of co-operatives. This is the risk that appears once you delegate the running of your business to someone else.

The rules around how you select/elect those people and how well they then deliver to your needs are fundamental to minimising this risk. How well they are held to account is probably the most telling as an out-of-control board/ management can also do great damage.

There are various examples from around the world of how this is addressed, the most novel I have observed is an Indonesian collective that rotates the role of chair in the board to contain the power imbalance that can lead to dysfunctional

Above: We have had a very real example in NZ that led to the demise of a co-operative, where the co-op expanded but the membership fee for new members was insufficient to cover the capital cost of that expansion.

boards. A commonly used definition of co-operatives is that they are user-owned, user-controlled and that they are there to benefit the users. A simple test then is to what extent are they user-owned, that is only those who participate in the co-operative (sell to/buy from it) have provided the capital through membership fees/shares and retained earnings. Then, to what extent they control the cooperative is a measure of how they use their ownership rights, who gets to vote on critical issues? Finally, how are the profits/rewards of membership distributed among the members, is it an equal amount to each member, based on how much they participate, or on how much they own?

The benefits are also not always profit as they often include technical assistance, training, social programmes to name but a few. There is a belief that the co-operative is not just there to provide money, there is a strong membership expectation of more.

When I am asked to describe a cooperative, I reflect on my many years as a member of several co-operatives, as an academic researcher and teacher of co-operatives and as a governor of a cooperative and come up with this simple definition: A co-operative is a socialist construct in a capitalist skin.

Essentially a co-operative must get the collective action, the ‘core’ right, we are

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

in this together, we are stronger together than apart, we matter to each other.

The term ‘socialist construct’ is a bit off-putting for some but I use it purposely to reflect that it is about people and what matters to them and their families and communities. However, without a capitalist skin the co-operative becomes redundant, like the ones that only receive the poor-quality product, as their members have moved their better-quality product elsewhere. The capitalist skin dictates that the co-operative must be run as a business but not just with a short-term corporate focus, it needs an intergenerational strategic focus to match that of its members. This requires strong governance with appropriate accountability to minimise agency risk.

When I shared this definition recently the response I got was enlightening – so the shareholders’ council looks after the socialist construct (reinforced by the fact that they are elected on a one-farm onevote basis) and the Fonterra board looks after the capitalist skin. Neither body is independent of the other, both work together with mutual respect to deliver overall success.

• Nicola M Shadbolt is Professor of Farm and Agribusiness Management at Massey University 35

SYSTEMS EXCELLENCE

Excellence boosts income on Whakamaru farm A score of 100% in the Te Ara Miraka farm excellence programme is earning this farming couple an extra 20c/kg MS. Elaine Fisher has the details. Photos by Malcolm Pullman.

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he blue Te Ara Miraka sign at the gateway to Sandel Ridge Farm signifies that its owners not only strive for but also achieve excellence in dairying.

In fact, this season Sarah and Peter Walters achieved a perfect score of 100% in the Te Ara Miraka farm excellence 36

programme, earning them an additional 20c/kg MS. It’s a source of considerable pride for the Walters, and of course the 20c bonus is welcome, but in many ways achieving a perfect score for excellence across a wide range of farming activities, including animal welfare, sustainable land

management and supporting staff, means even more.

“I’d be really gutted if we lost any points for not meeting the Te Ara Miraka goals,” says Peter.

The couple’s Sandel Ridge Farm near Whakamaru was one of five Miraka suppliers to achieve a perfect 100% score

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Far left: The blue Te Ara Miraka sign at the gateway to Sandel Ridge Farm signifies that owners Peter and Sarah Walters achieved a perfect score of 100% in the Te Ara Miraka farm excellence programme.

Left: Peter Walters checking soil moisture levels before applying effluent.

Above: Ricardo Mantiquilla at work on Sandel Ridge Farm.

this year. The second and neighbouring farm called Punawai, which they also own, achieved 96% earning second place. The other farms to achieve 100% were Papatangi, Arataki, Glengour, and Chamberlin Trust.

Eighteen of the 101 Miraka participating farms reached a score of 90%. That’s up on the 10 farms that achieved over 90% when the awards began four years ago.

The excellence standards include a mix of mandatory and optional criteria. Optional criteria are allocated points, and results are financially incentivised over and above the base milk price.

Criteria for the awards are strict, and Sarah says failing to meet even one of the many mandatory standards means the loss of all points.

Grant Jackson, Miraka’s General Manager of Milk Supply, says; “We’re asking farmers to really raise the bar and strive for excellence. This is about more than just meeting regulations. Our goal is to show what’s possible and to become true leaders in the industry.”

Sarah and Peter agree. “Most of the criteria assessed by the programme are about good farming practices, the kind of things we should all be doing,” says Peter.

Even without the awards programme Sarah and Peter would strive to meet high standards, but the incentive of an improved milk price has prompted them to go even further.

“In many ways the programme is helping all Miraka suppliers to prepare for the environmental regulations which are coming. We feel we are ahead of the game and ready now.”

Sarah says setting out to meet all the standards makes sense. “Milk is what our business produces and meeting the Te Ara Miraka standards is a way of adding value to our product, so why wouldn’t you strive to be the best?”

Te Ara Miraka (the Miraka Way) is described by the company as “setting the benchmark and being the best in class in our business. It also supports and encourages a culture of excellence through the entire Miraka supply chain – from the farm to the consumer”.

Twenty-seven different aspects of farm management are judged and points are awarded for performance in each under five category headings: Nga Tangata/ people, Te Taiao/ environment, Taurikura/ prosperity, Nga kau/cow, and Miraka/milk.

Staff must receive at least the minimum

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

wage and have training opportunities.

Effluent management and healthy waterways are also scrutinised as is financial planning and farm performance, animal welfare, absence of the use of growth hormones, in-calf rate and herd traceability.

Having compliant shed water, a farm dairy shed A rating, milk cooling and security and being grade free also earns points.

“The criteria change slightly each year so there’s always something more to strive for,” says Peter.

This is the Walters’ sixth season supplying Miraka although Sandel Ridge Farm was a foundation supplier for the iwiowned, Taupo based dairy company.

Sarah and Peter, parents of Caitlin (14) Nick (12) Cameron (11) and Matt (9), bought the 214ha farm five years ago, moving from Otorohanga where they had been in equity partnership with Peter’s family.

The couple had been proud Fonterra farmers but, strapped for cash to buy their first farm, the opportunity to supply Miraka without having to buy shares, plus the company’s philosophies and high standards, appealed.

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Left: Sarah and Peter, with Nick (12) Cameron (11) and Matt (9), (Daughter Caitlin was away at boarding school.)

Below: Sarah Walters feeding calves.

Right: Peter Walters applies most of the fertiliser himself. The soil needs mainly sulphur with some potassium and phosphorus. Nitrogen is used sparingly.

“There’s always an argument about the advantages and disadvantages of co-operatives versus corporates but we feel Miraka is small enough to be close to its suppliers. The management team is so small in number it could sit round our kitchen table, and they know every supplier by name,” says Peter.

On Sandel Ridge Farm, 555 cows are milked through a 40-a-side herringbone dairy, while on the neighbouring 210ha farm bought two years ago 500 cows are milked in the 30-a-side herringbone shed.

The farms operate as independent units with six full-time staff employed across both.

Achieving a six-week in-calf rate of 78%

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(up from 72-74%) has been a high point for Sarah and Peter, beginning as they did with a very mixed herd of cows. “In our first season here we had cows calving from late June to late October. It was just too hard on everyone,” says Peter.

“We have concentrated on training staff to better manage mating, making sure the herd and young cows in particular are well fed, and use LIC A2A2 semen for four weeks followed by bulls for six weeks.”

Sarah says the herd is now at the stage where breeding cows can be selected on performance, with the aim of developing an A2 Jersey/Friesian crossbred, high performing herd. Last season’s production

was 440kg MS per cow, or 1200kg MS per hectare.

Sandel Ridge Farm was well established and needed relatively minor improvements when the Walters took it over. They have upgraded the dairy cooling systems and spent in excess of $30,000 to pump surface water from the farm’s underpass to meet environmental standards.

The soil is mainly ash over loam. Despite its central North Island location there’s little or no pumice. “I wish we did have pumice for races,” says Peter. “It’s fertile soil, which grows grass and drains well.

If you talk to old timers they will tell you that 30 to 40 years ago you couldn’t make mud here but, thanks to topsoil creation through farming, sometimes there’s mud now.”

Peter applies most of the fertiliser himself. The soil needs mainly sulphur with some potassium and phosphorus.

Nitrogen is used sparingly, at a rate of around 125 units per year. Dairy shed effluent is spread by a travelling irrigator over 33% of the farm.

This summer’s drought saw milk production drop by around 15,000kg MS and forced the couple to buy in more feed than usual at an additional cost of around $80,000 on the home farm alone.

“We bought in hay, more palm kernel, and grape waste as well as fed our own silage and grew 11ha of turnips and 3ha of fodder beet,” says Sarah.

Mild weather and welcome rain during

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

winter saw grass growth rebound quite quickly, which was just as well as all the animals stayed onfarm this winter. While this did save grazing-off costs, careful management was required to keep stock well fed. “We have proved that we can over-winter our stock here and may consider doing so in future,” says Sarah.

The farm’s contour is flat to rolling with only a few sidlings too steep for vehicles. It features established trees and is set against a backdrop of hills and neighbouring farms. However, this is also a forestry area and 20 to 30ha of the second farm has the potential to be planted in pines, adding diversity to the family farming business.

Buying a second farm was a big step for Peter and Sarah, but with reliable staff, some economies of scale and time management the couple have found they in fact have more time for themselves and their family. “Last summer we had the longest family holiday we’ve ever had,” says Sarah.

Covid-19 lockdown and the long-term impacts of the pandemic on the world’s economy has caused Sarah and Peter some sleepless nights, but recent more optimistic forecasts by economists and banks, and the fact that consumers in times of crisis turn to healthy foods, have revived their optimism. They also reflect on the positive change in the New Zealand public’s perception of farming. “It appears more people are appreciating how important dairying is to our economy,” says Peter who believes there are strong parallels between the New Zealand dairy industry and the All Blacks.

“The All Blacks are seen by other rugby nations as examples of quality and efficiency and looked to for ways to improve their own game. I think other nations also look to New Zealand as a world leader for excellence in the production of high-quality dairy products.

“Like the All Blacks, dairying has its armchair critics but I think Covid-19 has brought about an understanding of what our industry contributes to the economy and a change in attitudes among many.”

Sarah and Peter believe the industry overall needs to continue to lift its standards. The Miraka way and the high number of its farmers scoring 90 to 100% serves as an example of what can be achieved. Incentivising farmers to strive for excellence across all aspects of farm management and rewarding them financially is far more effective than imposing penalties for failing to meet set standards, they believe.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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SYSTEMS SUSTAINABILITY

Miraka farmers score well

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espite a challenging dry summer a record number of dairy farms achieved a perfect score in the Te Ara Miraka Programme, says Grant Jackson, Miraka’s general manager of milk supply.

“We have been running the awards for four years now and each year we’ve seen significant improvements across our farm community.

“We’re asking farmers to really raise the bar and strive for excellence in a wide range of areas including animal welfare, sustainable land management, and supporting staff. This is about more than just meeting regulations. Our goal is to show what’s possible and to become true leaders in the industry.”

Eighteen of the 101 participating farms achieved a score of 90% or more, and five farms – Papatangi, Sandel Ridge, Arataki, Glengour, and Chamberlin Trust – achieved a perfect score of 100%.

Just 10 farms achieved a score over 90% when the awards began four years ago.

The excellence standards include a mix of mandatory and optional criteria. Optional criteria are allocated points, and results are

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financially incentivised over and above the base milk price. Wayne Chamberlin of Chamberlin Trust Farm says achieving the top score was a challenge. “The Te Ara Miraka framework is good as it keeps you on your toes. It incentivises you to keep striving and stay focused right through the season, and new measures are added each year. Miraka’s approach aligns well with our own philosophy on the farm. We firmly believe that if you look after the land and the animals, they will look after you,” says Wayne.

Phillip Samuels of Papatangi Farm has been with Miraka since the organisation first began. Papatangi is one of five farms owned by the Te Raparahi Lands Trust, and all five achieved an excellence score of 90% or more this season. “We’re really proud to be suppliers to Miraka. They are proactive to deal with and have a genuinely personal approach. We never feel like we are being held back – Miraka encourages us to be innovative, to get out there and make things happen,” he says.

Japie Nortje of Arataki Farms Ltd has also been with Miraka from the start. “We’ve been pushing hard to achieve the top mark

in the Te Ara Miraka programme. Each year something small would trip us up so we’re really pleased we made it this year. For us it’s about putting in place the systems and getting everyone in the team involved.

With a bit of guidance and support I believe that farmers can start achieving results like these right across the industry,” says Japie.

“Miraka’s goal is to become the most sustainable dairy company in the world,” says Richard Wyeth, Miraka’s chief executive officer. “Achieving this goal starts at the farm through the hard work and dedication of our farm supply whānau. By supporting them to apply environmentally sound practices we are helping to create climate-resilient farms that produce some of the highest quality milk in the world,” he says.

The Te Ara Miraka programme continues to evolve. The organisation is looking to include a more dynamic approach to assessment in the future, recognising that there are a number of ways to achieve outcomes that benefit the land, the animals and the people, all while producing world-class milk.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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SYSTEMS REGEN AG

Pilot study points to trends in Regen Ag A small study comparing soils and pastures under regenerative management with conventional best practice is paving the way for a more extensive research programme. Anne Lee reports.

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esearchers at Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research have joined forces with South Island farmers to help develop some scientific robustness in the regenerative agriculture discussion.

Dr Gwen Grelet is leading a pilot comparative study involving 12 farms – six dairy farms and six sheep and beef farms, all in Otago and Southland.

Half of the farmers have been undertaking regenerative practices for three to more than 10 years. Three dairy farms using regenerative practices have been paired with three neighbouring farms using conventional best practice.

The sheep and beef farm comparison is set up similarly.

Three paddocks have been selected on each of the regenerative farms and paired with three very similar paddocks, in terms of soil type, aspect and topography, on the conventional farms.

Both sets of paddocks are within 200m of each other in each instance.

The researchers have then studied 20m x 20m plots in each paddock with samples taken from each to look at a range of variables including: • Soil carbon stocks • Nitrogen stocks • Soil aggregate size • Water infiltration rates • Soil macro and micronutrient levels • Forage diversity and quality • Visual soil health assessment • Number and diversity of invertebrates both above and below ground A smaller-scale economic analysis is being carried out too, combining financial information from some of the farms with others to create a comparative whole-farm financial study.

There is definitely a need for scientific experiments to test out specific regenerative practices using replicated plots

Gwen Grelet – building a scientific understanding.

Those results and other final results from the study will be available in December.

Gwen says the regenerative farmers in the study manage their pastures in a way that seeks to increase diversity in the above and below ground ecosystem.

They use a combination of practices to do this, such as sowing multi-species pastures and multi-species cover crops, and adaptive multi-paddock grazing where higher stocking rates are used for short durations with higher residuals left than on a conventional best practice farms.

The aim is to use the animals to trample a portion of the forage into the ground to allow nutrient cycling.

Gwen says the onfarm research offers a pairwise comparative study that’s being

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

used to assess the experimental approach and will help inform how future research could be carried out.

“There is definitely a need for scientific experiments to test out specific regenerative practices using replicated plots – and there’s growing interest now from research institutes in New Zealand for this – but this study was to help us work out how we could research effects on farms at a farm scale with the whole ecosystem in mind.

“I’m interested in looking at how the whole ecosystem functions and how changing practices might create differences – how each of those differences then interact in a biological system.

“In this pilot study we only have a small number of replicates so it is difficult to show statistically significant differences but we have seen some trends in the data and some interactions.”

No statistically significant difference has been found, for instance, in carbon stocks although a trend may be apparent.

Nitrogen levels too aren’t notably different but what is notable is the fact that the regenerative farmers have used less or no urea nitrogen fertiliser.

“There’s no indication that, despite the regenerative farmers using considerably less fertiliser nitrogen, that nitrogen levels are being depleted in the soils,” Gwen says.

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3 PAIRS OF SHEEP & BEEF (DRY STOCK) FARMS

Plantain and clover are among the ingredients of this diverse pasture.

3 PAIRS OF DAIRY FARMS

The experimental design allows for a comparative study.

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The visual soil health assessment measure (VSA), developed by Graeme Shepherd of BioAgrinomics Ltd, shows the soils on the regenerative farms score higher for soil health.

VSA scores soils on soil and plant factors including soil structure, rooting depth, earthworms, pasture colour and growth relative to urine patches, clover nodules, pasture quality and soil smell.

The data showed soil aggregate size tended to be greater on the regenerative farms in the pilot study.

“The larger the soil aggregate size the more likely the soil will be able to hold together better through the cycle of heavy rain and drought.

“We also found here that there was a correlation between soil carbon stocks and aggregate size.

“So the greater the soil mean aggregate size the more soil carbon there was. This makes sense because smaller soil aggregates can be lost more easily through erosion.”

As expected, there was greater plant diversity on the regenerative farms, that being a key aim of the practice.

“We had a range in diversity in plant species – some farms had quite low diversity of plant species and some had well over 30 species.”

Overall, the regenerative farms supported bigger invertebrate communities with more nematodes below ground and more insects above ground.

This might matter for farm performance, Gwen says.

“We did see that as nematode numbers increase so do the carbon stocks and

we saw that an increase in earthworms was correlated with a decrease in soil compaction.”

Gwen says they also looked at the fungal bacteria ratio, which is how many nematode eating fungi there are compared with how many nematode eating bacteria there are, because that can be an indication of how energy is flowing in the below-ground ecosystem.

“We had hypothesised that under regenerative management we might have seen an increase in the fungal to bacteria ratio but our data didn’t find that.”

Gwen says the number of farms sampled was too small, and although the experimental design was powerful, it hasn’t been sufficient to answer the questions farmers have and shouldn’t be seen as being able to or even aiming to provide definitive results on assessing whether regenerative management is better than any other system.

“We’re not trying to get information here for the purpose of giving advice.

“What we’ve tried to do is capture some information and come up with a way of carrying out a study that can assess a working biological farm system which is changing all the time.”

Both regenerative and conventional best practice farmers are learning all the time.

They trial practices and methods, observe the feedback in their system through things like animal or soil health or productivity, and then they either stick with the new practice or modify it to get a better outcome.

“What we’ve tried to do is capture some information and come up with a way of carrying out a study that can assess a working biological farm system which is changing all the time.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

SPECIAL REPORT

Flexible forages New mixes, diverse forages, boosting clover content, accounting for plantain

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Mixed forage crop boosts production Maximising profit from homegrown feed Growing demand for alternative forages Plantain performance pleases Fescue: growing pasture that suits the land

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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Legume power - relearning the lost art of clover cultivation Measuring pastures gives the best idea of pastures to renew Expert management of fodder beet crop Fusion of forages adds flexibility.

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SPECIAL REPORT | WINTER FORAGES

Mixed forage crop boosts production Careful crop and grazing management has helped a Southland couple raise production while taking care of the environment, as Karen Trebilcock reports.

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hris and Desiree Giles don’t like mud. When they bought and converted the Waimumu Downs sheep farm near Gore in 2014, a large wintering pad by the dairy was included in the must-have infrastructure.

But they were still wintering about a hundred cows that couldn’t fit on the pad, plus all of the young stock, on kale and fodder beet.

Two years ago they were part of the Sustainable Farming Fund’s catch crop trials growing oats after the beet was eaten, and they saw what it could do.

For the 2020 winter they’ve grown 30ha of mixed forage crop and now they’re not going back.

Oats, the legume vetch, different clovers, plantain and a tetraploid annual ryegrass called Winter Star II from PGG Wrightson Seeds made up the mix and Chris and Desiree are keen to add others.

This year’s crop grew about 5t DM/ha in not the best of seasons, down on their target of 6t DM/ha.

“We might get up to 7t DM/ha next year. We’re thinking of adding some sort of rape as well.”

But it doesn’t end there. Even in the middle of July, the breaks that were eaten 10 days ago were greening up. Chris plans to make silage and balage off it in late October.

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“The oats will keep growing – they’ll grow at five degrees – and the rest is growing too, taking up all the nitrogen left behind by the cows.

“We’ll stitch in something else as well when the weather allows and also aerate it.

“We should be able to take two crops of balage off it during the summer and then stitch in again in February for wintering next year.”

The soils are bare for only a week or so after eating, and for Chris and his contractor there is no ploughing and no weed spraying as with kale or fodder beet.

“There’s nothing left of it when they eat it. We move them daily and move the backing fence at the same time and they get balage as well.

“Moving fences is a lot easier on it than with other crops. It takes about half an hour to do all four mobs.”

Hydrants every 20m along the fence line between the forage paddocks provide water so only short lengths of pipe are needed for the portable water troughs, helping to prevent the system above ground freezing.

“We haven’t got the balage feeding quite right yet.

This winter we still took the tractor out on good days about once a week and unwrapped it.

“We might set it out on the forage crop differently Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Waimumu Downs Location: Gore, Southland Area: 206ha owned, 100ha lease Stocking rate: 2.7 cows/ha Dairy: 50-bail rotary Herd: 550 Jersey Production: 246,000kg MS 2019 – 2020 Target: 260,000kg MS 2020 - 2021 Planned Start of Calving: 17 July (heifers) & 5 August (cows) Left: Chris and Desiree Giles with children Andrew (7) and Danielle (9). Above: The forage crop has grown 5T DM/ha for the winter.

next summer so the tractor doesn’t damage the paddock when it’s wet.”

Dairy effluent is spread on the paddocks before they’re shut up for silage, utilising the potassium, and a DAP/ Ammo mix goes on the whole farm in late spring/early summer.

The liquid UAN, which has 50% of the nitrogen as ammonium nitrate and 50% as urea, is used in July as it still performs in the cold.

They are enthusiasts of the ONEsystem micro-granular urea, which is wetted with a fine spray of water and urease inhibitor NBPT during spreading.

Humates and ProGibb, with minerals selenium and cobalt added, are also part of their system.

All up, about 170kg N/ha is spread annually.

Chris admits to spending hours researching forage crops online, borrowing some ideas from regenerative agriculture practices, and PGG Wrightson Seeds leases a farm building that used to belong to Crop and Food Research.

“We’ve always got agronomists having a look at what we’re doing,” Desiree says.

“It gives us plenty of opportunity to pick their brains.”

Chris is a fan of Allan Savory’s “How to Green the World’s Deserts” on YouTube, as well as Dave Bryant’s “Mimicking Nature”.

“Whatever we do though has to work in our system and in our budget. It’s got to be good for the cows, the people and the environment.”

Waimumu Downs won the Ballance Farm Environment Norwood Agri-Business management award, the Ballance Agri-Nutrients soil management award and the DairyNZ sustainability and stewardship award this year.

It was the first time the Giles had entered and they Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

thought it was time for some feedback on what they were doing. The farm is owned by an equity partnership that includes the Giles and six other groups all based in Southland and Otago.

While the Giles are the only dairying members the others all have roles in agriculture.

“It’s a good bunch of people. The first year was the low payout year so it was pretty tough but everyone understood farming has its ups and downs,” Desiree says.

The couple started dairying in Northland and slowly moved south in different management structures including sharemilking.

“We’ve tried a bit of everything,” Chris says. “I’ve spent some time working in the UK, we’ve lived in Auckland working in a vineyard and the kumara fields.”

“We’ve farmed a lot of different systems. We don’t think the one we have now is perfect yet but it’s working well so far,” Desiree says.

“Farming is as hard as you make it. We try to do more preventative work so we catch things before they happen.

And we try to have a lot of fun.”

Along on the journey are Chris’s mum and dad, Alan and Debbie Giles from Matakohe near Dargaville, providing the extra labour needed.

“Dad helped with the conversion and then they wanted to stay on to see how it went and they’re still here.

“They love it. They can still farm but they have none of the stress.”

Kids Danielle (9) and Andrew (7) are Southland born and are rolling their “rs”.

“I remember when we first came down here I couldn’t understand what some people were saying and now we’re doing it too,” Desiree says.

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Converting the former Crop and Food and sheep farm was easier than other conversions with too many lanes already in place.

“We had nine kilometres of lanes,” Chris says. “We had to take some out.”

The sheep pasture is renewed at 15% per year with ryegrass, mixed clovers, chicory and plantain.

“Some of the sheep paddocks are still really good and those get used when the weather is bad,” Desiree says.

“They keep the cows up off the ground and then we don’t mind regrassing them if they do get a little pugged up.”

The rolling to steep farm is in terraces and about 20ha of the lower ground was flooded in the Southland floods at the start of February.

The water was gone a couple of days later leaving hundreds of duck-hunting decoys littering the paddocks.

“We had the wind a couple of weeks before that. We cut a paddock and the contractor came to bale it that afternoon and it was gone. And then there were the floods and Covid-19. It’s been a long 2020 so far,” Desiree says.

After previously farming Friesians and crossbreds they’ve opted for Jerseys for Waimumu Downs.

“They’re producing a kilo of milk solids for a kilo of live weight so they’re doing well, plus you can push them around if you need to. They’re not as big as Friesians.”

Helping them produce that kilo of milk solids per kilo of live weight is 2kg/cow/day of wheat fed throughout the milking season on the rotary platform.

“We do 24-hour grazing as well and it all seems to work. When we converted we started with 100% grass but we couldn’t feed our cows well enough in late November and in December.”

Chris does the AI himself buying enough Jersey straws from CRV Ambreed for a 23% replacement rate.

“It lasts usually about six weeks and then we put Jersey bulls out that have been with the yearlings.”

They do three pregnancy scans for accurate calving dates, and DNA all replacements.

For 10 years they’ve been using A2A2 genetics and after rejigging the minerals and adding vitamin D they no longer do any type of synchro.

As well as looking after the cows they’ve also created four wetland areas on the farm and are working with local rūnanga to develop a native seed bank.

Chris is chair of the Gore Catchment Group, on the Southern Field Days committee and on the board of trustees for the kids’ school – West Gore.

Desiree was a consulting officer for DairyNZ based in Invercargill and until a few years ago was a training advisor for Primary ITO. “With the catchment group we’re really trying to involve the whole community as well as the town because the Mataura is such a well-known trout river,” Chris said.

“We’re also involving the schools and hoping the parents, who otherwise wouldn’t be involved, will come along as well.”

Chris Giles in the forage crop on the Waimumu Downs farm.

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

49

SPECIAL REPORT | DAIRYNZ

Maximising profit from homegrown feed DairyNZ feed specialist Maitland Manning discusses growing more feed at home and increasing your chances of higher profits.

F

or New Zealand dairy farmers the number one driver of profit is the amount of homegrown feed eaten. Twelve years of DairyBase data show us that every extra tonne of homegrown dry matter (DM) eaten per hectare is worth $300 per hectare in operating profit.

To increase your farm’s potential profit, you need to increase homegrown feed eaten, increase homegrown feed grown, or both.

The options to increase feed grown are to: • improve pasture DM production through pasture renewal • use crops to fill feed deficits in summer or winter when pasture doesn’t grow.

OPTIONS TO GROW MORE FEED ON FARM

I WA N T TO I N C R E A S E PA S T U R E Y I E L D S

SELECT PASTURE SPECIES

Choose a crop that meets your farm system needs for feed supply and demand. For more on options see dairynz.co.nz/crops

I WA N T TO F I L L A N AU T U M N/ WINTER FEED DEFICIT

SELECT WINTER CROP Choose a crop that meets your farm system needs for feed supply and demand. For more on options see dairynz.co.nz/crops

Your decisions will depend on your region, climate and soil. For more, see dairynz.co.nz/ feed and dairynz.co.nz/crops. We recommend talking to your agronomist for regionally specific advice.

time and money, so you’ll need to give them careful consideration. When deciding whether to renew pasture or plant crops, ask yourself “why?”. Is it to: • fix the underlying causes of low pasture production?

• shift a surplus from spring to summer?

• fill a feed gap in summer or winter?

• use forages to meet environment goals?

How?If you’ve decided to improve pasture DM pro-

duction through pasture renewal or use crops to fill feed deficits, it’s time to make a plan.

Select paddocks

Use pasture records* to assess which paddocks to crop or renew, based on one of the following: • paddocks with lowest annual pasture yield • paddocks with least number of grazings, averaged by size • paddock soil fertility and cropping history • the distance from the farm dairy, if you’re planning to graze with milking cows. *If records aren’t available, you can use DairyNZ’s Pasture Condition Score Tool – dairynz.co.nz/pasture-tool

Think about how you’ll manage a potential spring feed 50

SELECT SUMMER CROP

Choose the right species or mix. For more on options see dairynz.co.nz/crops

Why?Both these options cost

Manage a feed deficit

I WA N T TO F I L L A SUMMER FEED DEFICIT

deficit if paddocks are taken out of the rotation to re-grass or plant into crops. Tips are available at dairynz.co.nz/feedbudgets.

Pick the right mix

Consider pasture and crop options that best meet your “why?” by referring to the diagram. To check that your mix of homegrown feeds meet the nutritional requirements of your cows, visit dairynz.co.nz/nutrition.

Choose an establishment method

The method you select will depend on what you want to achieve. You can choose from these options: • oversow – this is less expensive and quicker to grazing than direct drilling or cultivation, but can have poorer yield.

• direct drilling – this is less expensive, less timeconsuming, and results in less nitrogen leaching. It retains soil moisture and is quicker to grazing than cultivation, but it can have poorer yield if not done well.

• cultivation – this provides the most consistent results through weed and pest control, reduces compaction and offers good soil coverage of seed but is expensive, slower to grazing and can lead to higher nitrogen leaching.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020 *Baron Market Data Q2 2020.

51

SPECIAL REPORT | NEW FORAGES

Growing demand for alternative forages Farmers are showing increasing interest in pasture species other than rye and clover, as Karen Trebilcock reports.

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uppliers are making sure New Zealand farmers can access alternative pasture and forage crop seeds this spring. PGG Wrightson Seeds technical nutritionist and agronomist Wayne Nichol said there was increasing demand for pasture species other than ryegrasses and white clovers.

“Part of it is the interest in regenerative agriculture and also farmers are wanting to try new systems.”

Not that some of the forage crops are anything but new.

He said vetch, a legume, was grown in Southland for many years mixed with oats.

“A common vetch was developed because some vetch species can be higher in alkaloids. The common vetch had lower levels so farmers could feed it to stock.

“Typically we hear about planting oat and pea mixes but pea plants can frost in the south so instead they used oats and the common vetch, which was also called tares – it was an oat and tares mix.”

Other alternatives in the regenerative space, which Kiwi farmers were now turning to, included buckwheat, Phacelia, linseed, crimson clover, mustard, lupin, daikon radish and sunflowers, he said. PGG Wrightson Seeds is planning on planting several as test plots this spring in various regions so farmers could see what they looked like.

“Some of these plants have benefits as cover crops and others for grazing, and you have to know what you want to achieve before planting so you select the appropriate option.”

Unlike ryegrasses and white clovers, which had more than 70 years of research into how they performed in New Zealand conditions, there was little or no scientific data on many of the forages, especially their usefulness for grazing, he said. Wayne suggested farmers explore websites such as feedipedia.org that showed planting information, frost hardiness, crop management, and yield expectations.

“But this information is taken from the website’s country of origin and due consideration is required when interpreting information for New Zealand.”

Dairy farmers should be careful as some of the forages, such as mustard, contain glucosinolates.

“Most of these plants are fine to use as cover crops but maybe not for grazing.”

Much of the regenerative agriculture information was from North America and Europe where there were harder winters than in New Zealand and the soil issues there were 52

The Kings Seeds July 2020 to June 2021 Catalogue Kings Seeds is one of many seed suppliers for farmers looking for new forage crops.

quite different from ours, he said.

“We’ve been growing ryegrass and white clovers because we have a temperate climate so they grow well almost all of the year in most parts of the country.

“They still remain the easiest forage to grow and manage.”

He said sowing of multiple species in mixed swards could PGG Wrightson Seeds be difficult due to the different technical nutritionist and agronomist Wayne Nichol. seed sizes, with the larger seeds sieving out the small seeds in the drill and needing different depths of sowing.

“Some of these seeds are quite large, like faba beans and sunflowers, and the birds will eat them if they are not drilled deep enough, and conversely small seeds sown to depth will have poor establishment.

“And you need enough compaction afterwards to get the moisture required for a good strike.”

He said farmers should try to buy certified seed and not seed that had “come off the back of a header”.

“Certification allows you to know the germination and the purity of seed. Also consider if the legumes you are sowing require inoculation – especially the perennial types.”

He said the forages used in multispecies mixes head at different times, so grazing could be complicated to keep the paddock in a vegetative state. If there was not enough grazing pressure animals could be selective in what they grazed, leaving behind the bitter-tasting forages that could then dominate the pasture. As well, some seeds might strike the following season or even years later as “escapees”, appearing in pastures when they were not wanted. If left to seed, they could be transferred to other areas by birds.

“Some of these plants, like yarrow, we have in the past considered as weeds and have been trying to get rid of them for years.

“When making decisions on what to sow, set out the goal of what you are trying to achieve, make sure you find out as much information as you can and understand what the long-term implications are of what you’re planting before you start.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

SPECIAL REPORT | PLANTAIN

Plantain performance pleases Words by: Anne Lee

E Glenn Judson: Some farmers have established plantain as a pure sward and graze it similarly to chicory for short periods.

arly adopters are eager to use plantain as a nitrogen reduction tool with other farmers watching closely to see how they overcome some of the hurdles they’ve encountered.

Agricom animal nutritionist Glenn Judson says there’s strong awareness about plantain’s abilities as a nitrogen loss mitigation tool with the Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching (FRNL) programme and Tararua Plantain Project providing farmers with good insight on how to use and manage the herb.

“In the first 12 months, sowing it into a clean, well prepared paddock, farmers aren’t having much trouble getting it well established with good plant populations.

“Notwithstanding weed issues for some people, it’s largely meeting expectations,” he says.

Farmers are drilling it at 2-4kg/ha in their seed mix when establishing new pastures

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

or they’re broadcasting it at 1-2kg/ha on to paddocks that have opened up.

“There is some variation in terms of its efficacy in getting nitrogen reductions for some farms where things like weeds are a problem, though.

“The Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF) for instance has an issue with docks so there’s a conflict there with the weed sprays used to control them.

“In their case they have other tools to meet their nitrogen reduction targets.”

Some farmers have established it as a pure sward and graze it similarly to chicory for short periods after milking for instance as cows are heading back to their ryegrass/ clover paddock, he says.

That does create more farm management complexity, he says, so it’s more commonly sown as part of a new pasture mix and then stitched in as populations decline in year three or four.

53

SPECIAL REPORT | FESCUE

Growing pasture that suits the land Fescue suits the pasture plans for the hills on a Northland dairy farm.

Chris Neill reports.

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ecognising that ryegrass was not the answer to feeding cows on winter wet and summer dry clay soils led Stuart Thomson to find a better option.

Stuart and partner Rose Philpott are building their 50:50 sharemilking business with 240 crossbred cows on 100 hectares west of Warkworth. With 90ha effective plus a recently leased 150ha runoff they are in their fifth season and are growing in confidence and understanding about making this property work.

Cows are wintered at the runoff for eight weeks, and 65 replacements are contract grazed off. Coming on to a wet, pugged farm with compromised pasture production was a tough start, and the in-shed feeding system was critical for achieving production. Prior to the 2019/20 drought, pasture production had been lifted to 9.2 tonnes/ha and they were working on a target of 10.5t/ha, which would put them at the top end for this district.

The easy hill that makes up 50% of the farm looks inviting in early spring, one of two seasons when the Kaipara clay hills’ soils excel, the other being autumn. In contrast, the marine clay flats that are prone to flooding struggle through winter and spring to make their contribution in summer and autumn.

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Stuart has attempted to grow crops to carry feed across seasons but the compromised yields and utilisation have made them uneconomic.

With the initial pugging issues overcome, ryegrass is persisting well on the flats so Stuart and Rose have been building a pasture solution for the hill country. At this stage 50% of the hills are planted in tall fescue and their aim is to get fescue established on all the hill where it is not subject to flooding.

Seed Force “Finesse” was planted for three years and the most recent sowing was PGGW “Quantica”. Tall fescue was selected to get a longer growing window into the summer, a quicker response to autumn rain, and have greater persistence when challenged with drought and insects. Their experience with fescue to date has been winter growth rates similar to ryegrass. Explosive growth in spring, which can be readily increased with N, requires a 15-20 day round to control the plants and prevent them from bolting to seed. By targeting 2500kg drymatter (DM)/ha pre-graze covers and 1500kg DM/ha post-graze covers, Stuart maintains palatability, which can otherwise be quickly lost.

Control is best regained by growing paddocks out and cutting for silage to get even cover and eliminate the clumps of rank feed, which if forced on the cows will Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Left: The Thomsons have developed establishment and management strategies to maximise tall fescue production on their clay hill country.

Above: Rose is at home on the farm since having Eliot, and encouraging Stuart to look at options like more beef production from the runoff.

Right: Joining Northland’s Extension 350 project as target farmers has challenged Stuart and Rose to consider other options and perspectives.

compromise milk production. Summer dry on the hills restricts fescue growth but it comes back well in the autumn before cooler winter temperatures slow it down.

Pastures are showing good persistence and are expected to last up to 10 years, reducing the costs of regrassing.

This is a substantial improvement on the three years’ persistence he was getting with ryegrass.

Stuart plans to establish tall fescue pasture on all the hill country - about half the farm.

Having a large area of the farm in fescue and making it a regular part of the herd diet eliminates selective grazing issues.

They eat it without hesitation whereas with one paddock of fescue on the farm, cows will hold out for a shift to pasture they are accustomed to.

Having previously farmed at Mangakino in South Waikato, Stuart had experience with tall fescue. When first at Warkworth he used the known method of establishing new pasture through crop but found poor crop performance made it costly. He now uses a spray and direct drill regime with power harrows to break up the turf.

A seed mix of 25kg fescue and 5kg white clover per hectare is proving effective on the hill. For the flats, he is also introducing cocksfoot at 7-8 kg/ha with the ryegrass to increase pasture persistence. For droughtchallenged pasture he is an advocate of “Shogun” to beat the weeds and feed the cows.

With Olsen P levels of 50 across the farm, Stuart and Rose are maintaining pasture growth using nitrogen in various product mixes to introduce sulphur and potash.

Application rates are adjusted to stay within 180 units of N per year.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

LEARNING FROM LOCALS ON EXTENSION 350 In 2019, Stuart and Rose joined Northland’s Extension 350 project as target farmers. This introduced them to a support network of local farmers, focused on their business. Along with their assigned farm consultant Kim Robinson this team of farmers have challenged Stuart and Rose to consider other options and perspectives. They have transitioned from a badly pugged farm that didn’t grow much grass to a business with aspirational targets. There is a greater focus on financial management and the disciplines of planning, recording, and monitoring.

With the arrival of their son Eliot, Rose is now fulltime on the farm and encouraging Stuart to look at their business as more than cows and grass. Annual production at 95,000kg milksolids (MS) is a key element of this and it will be supplemented with sales of beef cattle raised on the runoff.

Costs of production to achieve this currently include 240 tonnes of feed mix (palm kernel 50%, tapioca 15%, soya hull 15%, dried distillers grains 20%) plus 150 bales of purchased baleage and 150 bales of homegrown baleage.

Increasing the amount of pasture-based feed in the cows’ diet is a key driver for Stuart and Rose in building persistent, quality pasture production and improving farm profitability, and this approach is supported by their E350 target team. With two more years in the project and a willingness to make change, dairy farming is their chosen future.

55

SPECIAL REPORT | CLOVER

How much clover do you have?

Legume power – relearning the lost art of cultivating clover White clover needs to be re-established as an essential component of a productive sward. Kathy Davis explains why and how.

T

here’s a popular saying that everything old is new again.

White clover is no exception. For over 100 years it’s done great things for New Zealand farming.

But on many dairy farms today it’s under pressure and in serious need of help.

Scientists believe even though it has been somewhat overlooked in recent decades, white clover is a key tool to help meet new and pending environmental regulations onfarm. Most recently, these include the 190kg/ha/ year limit on synthetic N applications proposed for all pastoral farms under the Government’s Action for Healthy Waterways plan, effective 1 July 2021.

Now more than ever, pasture researchers say, white clover has much to offer – tonnes of home-grown feed (moisture permitting) in the heat of summer when ryegrass can struggle; superb animal nutrition including high ME and protein in summer; and a surprising amount of free, natural nitrogen.

This can be as much as 200kg N/ha/year.

And that’s not all. Clover’s ability to fix 25 kg of N out of the atmosphere for every tonne of dry matter grown per ha supports higher overall pasture growth too.

A 2016 DairyNZ study found that when clover comprised 10-40% of total DM in summer, grazed dairy pastures showed gains in total DM yield between 1.4 and 3.4t DM/ha per year compared with ryegrass-only pastures. Those yield gains came mostly in summer when 56

extra feed grown has high economic value.

Research has also shown that, given a choice, cows will eat more legume, and each kg of clover DM eaten gives 30% more milk than grass.

Those involved in studying and breeding white clover say it’s time to go back to the future and relearn what 90 years of pasture research has taught us about the benefits of this essential plant and how to look after it.

It wasn’t that long ago that synthetic N fertiliser applications were the exception rather the rule – prior to the 1990s NZ pastoral systems were almost solely reliant on clover to fix N. Chances are there isn’t much clover in your pasture at present – maybe 10%, possibly 20% if conditions are ideal, probably not the 30% recommended for optimal farm performance.

In some parts of the upper North Island it’s now more common to see pastures with no clover than with clover.

There is no hard data available about the current state of clover populations on NZ farms. The most commonly cited estimate – that white clover contributes less than 15% of total annual DM in NZ dairy pastures – dates back to 1996.

However, there is ample science that proves the more N fertiliser is applied to pasture the more competitive ryegrass becomes, to clover’s detriment.

Since N fertiliser use in NZ has increased sharply in recent years, pasture researchers agree there’s every reason to assume clover has taken a hit nationwide.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Clover root weevil, higher stocking rates, faster dairy grazing rounds, non-selective herbicides and ryegrass-centric nutrient programmes have compounded the issue as has a trend towards sowing clover and ryegrass seed tightly together in the same row.

This technique does not favour clover establishment because clover seed is small, with little energy reserve. It is slower to establish than ryegrass and needs to be sown shallow (<10 mm deep).

By comparison, ryegrass seed can successfully emerge from a sowing depth of 20 mm at which point clover germination will be significantly reduced. Clover is also very vulnerable to competition from ryegrass at certain times of the season.

The accumulation of high pasture covers in late winter and early spring to meet cow feed demand in early lactation can suppress clover development and its subsequent contribution to pasture DM yield and quality in the warmer months.

Added to these various systemic pressures on pasture clover content is what Barenbrug marketing manager Graham Kerr says is a significant drop in the amount of clover seed sown on farms during autumn pasture renewal. Instead of ryegrass and clover, more farmers are sowing ryegrass seed only. This has become particularly obvious in recent years.

“We believe a large part of this is being driven by the need for broadleaf weed control in new pastures. Plus we have seen a move towards more use of shorter-term ryegrasses, again often sown without clover.

“Our pasture clover resource was not where it should be even before this started happening. So to have clover not actually being sown in the first place is worrying.”

The good news, according to Barenbrug pasture systems manager Blair Cotching, is that where pasture clover content is sub-optimal it’s not gone for good – it just needs to be revived and cared for. In return, he says, it will reward you with environmental benefits and gains in animal and pasture production.

Best of all, now is an ideal time to take stock of your existing clover and to start reversing its decline.

BUILDING CLOVER NUMBERS

OVERSOWING TIPS Sward management before and after oversowing clover is critical, Blair Cotching says.

Before oversowing – check the grazing rotation.

Best results come from spinning seed on at 4-6kg/ha no more than three days before grazing.

This allows stock to “harrow” the seed for good soil contact. Seed can also be spun on a day or two after grazing, ideally following a good even grazing. In this situation harrowing afterward can improve the results.

After oversowing – clover seedlings need lots of light to grow properly. Grass must not be allowed to get too long for the next two grazings after oversowing. This is the single biggest success factor for oversowing clover. Oversown paddocks should not be cut for silage. Keep grazings brief, to prevent preferential overgrazing of newly establishing seedlings.

In both new and existing pastures, ryegrass has a big head start. Use a modern clover like Kotuku that establishes strongly to compete in this environment. Modern varieties have been bred for higher yields, which means extra N fixation.

Use coated seed for oversowing. Lime coated seed has better ballistics: it spreads more evenly and the extra weight helps seed-soil contact. It’s also important when putting on with fertiliser to avoid potential seed burn. Animals could possibly ingest this seed within stock WHP periods so make sure the coating is free of insecticide and fungicide.

1

2

3

4

Soil test paddocks that lack clover and, if you have ongoing poor clover growth, herbage test any clover plants present too. Clover needs 16 nutrients to thrive, and is often described as the canary in the coal mine because it will reveal soil nutrient deficiencies sooner than ryegrass. It needs higher soil levels of phosphate (P), potassium (K) and sulphur (S) than ryegrass, and sometimes more magnesium (Mg) and molybdenum (Mo). Clover is also sensitive to soil pH, growing best at 5.8 to 6.2.

Be clover-friendly when renewing pastures this season. Take care with good seedbed preparation, and when drilling drive slowly because seed drills go deeper with more speed. Roller-drilling or broadcasting is better than standard row sowing with a coulter drill.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Spin on clover seed. In existing pastures with nil or minimal clover, oversowing 4-6kg/ha clover seed in spring is a practical, effective way to start rebuilding clover populations. This can be done now through October in the North Island and into November in the South Island. See the tips box for more practical advice on this.

Let the light in. This is absolutely vital for newly sown pastures. Ryegrass establishes faster than clover. If it is allowed to get too long too soon it will shade out and kill baby clover seedlings before you know it.

57

SPECIAL REPORT | RENEWAL

The worst paddocks on the best part of the farm are the sitters for renewal, says Graham Kerr.

Measure before renewing Paddock analyses will indicate where renewal will give the most profitable result, as Anne Lee reports.

K

eeping paddock grazing records – even basic ones – can make you thousands of dollars when it comes to renewing pastures.

It can save you money too.

“That’s the power of smarter renewal – having paddock records and being able to analyse what you do,” Barenbrug’s marketing manager Graham Kerr says.

There’s no doubt there’s money to be made in renewing pastures but people often make the mistake of simply spraying out paddocks based on what they look like or based on how old they are.

“On every farm I’ve ever analysed there’s at least 100% difference between the poorest performing paddock and the best when it comes to yield, so there’s money to be made all right.

“The only problem is people often don’t renew what’s actually the poorest performer so they’re not only missing out on getting the best return on their investment they’re also spending money in the wrong place.”

Keeping paddock records could be as simple as putting up a piece of paper in the farm dairy with paddocks listed and adding a tick each time cows go into each paddock.

“If you note the area of each paddock you can have a column that notes the grazings per hectare.

“At the end of the season you can see very quickly the paddocks the cows aren’t getting back to very often.”

There could be other reasons for less frequent grazings such as distance from the farm dairy, a different soil type or flood-prone paddocks but the basic analysis gives you an objective place to start when it comes to renewal decisions and planning.

“It can be a real eye-opener,” Graham says.

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Pasture growth records from pasture recording platforms such as Minda Land and Feed, Pasture Coach or Agrinet can be used in the same way although they will allow for more accurate analysis of actual pasture drymatter (DM) per hectare yield differences. If you’ve been plating or recording pasture DM regularly throughout the season you can produce a report that shows DM/ha yields for the year, and by ranking them from highest to lowest it’s possible to see where the greatest gains are to be made in renewal.

But, as with grazing records, it’s unlikely it will be as simple as starting at the lowest performer and working upwards. Graham says you need to look at the yield information in light of other factors, as figure one shows.

Figure 1 Marlborough – Estimated paddock yield 2015-16

“If you look at the difference between the lowest performer and the top performer you’ve got a potential missing 8.5t DM/ha for the worst paddock.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

“If all the paddocks are similar – similar soils, irrigation – then that might be true. But in this case some are flat irrigated, some are rolling (land) irrigated where the irrigation isn’t quite as good, and some are in summer dry country.

“When you split them into their different areas you can see the difference between the top and bottom performers for those areas aren’t necessarily as great as before.

“There’s not actually a lot to be gained by taking the bottom performer in the summer dry area and getting it up to the top performer in that area – only 1.5t DM/ha/year.)

Instead the biggest gains will come from improving the poor performers in the flat, irrigated area.

“Almost invariably on farms the paddocks to renew first are the worst paddocks on the best part of the farm – they are the sitters for renewal,” Graham says.

He’s found that even seasoned, experienced farmers can be surprised at what the analysis shows.

“So often it isn’t until you do the numbers that it’s obvious.”

Below: Keeping paddock records to identify the poorest performers helps decide which to renew first, and can save lots of money, says Barenbrug’s Graham Kerr.

Measure to renew Figure two for the Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF) shows a similar story although the pasture is measured as pasture disappearance or what’s consumed rather than growth rate. Paddocks are grouped according to soil type. The obvious candidate for renewal is N11 but it is also the paddock that gets a pretty hard time as it’s located next to the farm dairy and used for any sick or lame cows.

Figure 2 LUDF Paddock growth 2018/19 (t DM/ha)

Wakanui soils

Templeton soils

Temuka soils

N11 is pretty unfairly treated so it’s put to one side in the renewal analysis and others are considered before it, Graham says. Instead, N3 was the first to be renewed.

Analysis is also carried out on how paddocks perform following renewal at LUDF. It gives discipline over ensuring renewal is achieving what it sets out to and if it doesn’t the team looks at why so that improvements can be made.

Financial analysis shows the farm spends about $1000/ha on renewal, which is paid back within the first season.

Over the following five years the total benefit is estimated to be $6430/ha when a milk price of $6.35/kg milksolids (MS) is used.

“It shows we are doing successful renewal at LUDF and it

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

KNOW THE DRILL Fifteen centimetre drill rows are for cereals, not pastures, Graham Kerr says.

“All that space left between the rows is just ideal for weeds and old grasses to germinate and fill in.”

Instead, a roller drill will give more even seed spread, giving new pasture seedlings a better chance of competing.

It will also give clover a better chance at establishment.

If it’s sown in the row with ryegrass seed it is going to get shaded out by the ryegrass, he says.

If paddocks can’t be roller drilled they should be drilled in a diamond or cross pattern.

That too will give clover a chance but reduce the open space for weed and old grass species invasion.

“We also see people who direct drill put clover and about 5kg/ha of ryegrass seed into a separate small seed box and dribble that on in front of the main drill so you have ryegrass drilled in rows behind.

“It helps fill in the gaps between the rows.

“Clover loves light but we don’t want great big empty areas where weeds can take over.” gives us confidence to keep investing in it,” he says.

LUDF has renewed anywhere between 5-20% of the farm per year over the years.

“It’s purely driven by how many paddocks we can find. If we can’t find any that fit the criteria we won’t renew them.”

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SPECIAL REPORT | FODDER BEET

Seed company offers fixed price fodder beet package You supply the land, they supply the expertise, everyone benefits.

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Canterbury seed company is challenging the traditional agronomy service delivery model with a market-first approach to growing fodder beet crops in New Zealand.

Wholesale Seeds’ chief executive Patrick Davis says its Sure Yield model offers customers a fixed-price agronomy deal.

“The traditional agronomy service delivery model is fraught with risk to the customer and lacks accountability.

We wanted to recreate the model and offer a solution that delivers the best possible results for farmers.”

Under this model, farmers simply supply the land and agree to target yields, then Wholesale Seeds takes care of the process.

“We become the farmer in effect, and the customer to all of the external contractors involved in sowing and managing the fodder beet crops.”

Sure Yield customer Rhys Roberts, operations manager for Align Farms Group, is an avid supporter of the service, after exceeding target yields in his first season under the model.

“Traditionally we held all of the risk, and if a crop didn’t perform we would have to absorb the cost of that ourselves, as well as find alternative ways of supplementing stock.

“We have now offloaded that risk – giving Wholesale Seeds the authority to make the decisions in their specialist field, and we have a guarantee in effect which takes the pressure of me significantly.”

He says it’s simply a no-brainer and a real positive for the industry.

“We deliver the results or we pay, which is essentially a guarantee to the farmers that we are 100% committed to meeting target yields,” Davis says.

The Sure Yield model gives Wholesale Seeds complete autonomy over the crop, which is the fundamental difference in contrast to traditional models.

“It allows us to optimise the timing of inputs and input selection which is imperative.

“The one area in crop management which significantly inhibits yield is delaying inputs because of contention over the cost of that input.”

With Sure Yield, the price is fixed, so farmers aren’t needing to approve or disapprove various costs throughout the process – decisions that would typically be made based on cash flow at the time.

60

Wholesale Seeds controls all crop agronomy to ensure yield targets are achieved.

“This means if we feel aerial application of chemical is going to drive the best results, we will do this – without the farmer worrying about the cost of this in isolation.”

Fodder beet is a high input crop, that when managed well can produce really good yields of high energy supplement feed for stock.

“Our team of expert agronomists understand the diverse array of factors that need to be seamlessly managed in order to achieve the best result.

“The majority of the factors we can control, such as herbicide applications, nutrition, canopy management, row spacing, planting date and irrigation. With Sure Yield, we take care of all of this so the farmer can feel reassured their crop is in good hands.”

Wholesale Seeds is very much of the view that the service does not end at the sale, especially when it comes to fodder beet – an end to end approach is important.

“We are setting a new benchmark for the industry – and in our eyes its certainly the way of the future.

“If our customers can entrust us with complete control over their crop, our team will guarantee the highest level of attention to detail and a committed agronomist in the paddock, who will ensure the process is optimised for maximum yields.”

Wholesale Seeds acknowledges it is accepting an increased level of risk with a model like that but that isn’t deterring them from their vision.

“We have faith in our products, our people, our expertise and our Sure Yield model – we wouldn’t launch an offering like this if we didn’t, and the results are already speaking for themselves with customers like Align Farms.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

SPECIAL REPORT | FORAGE CROPPING

February 23: Drying conditions meant the first grazing was heavy and reduced the crop to a low level.

January 10: This crop of Fusion was sown in early December on heavy clay based soils near Feilding.

May 21: The same crop was ready for another grazing.

June 23: After grazing, the herb component responded to moisture very quickly and rebounded.

New approach to forage cropping

A

dual-species, multi-graze forage crop system has been developed to meet environmental demands and provide improved management flexibility for a full year.

H & T Agronomics business manager Duncan Thomas says the recently announced winter grazing management guidelines led the company to develop a new approach to forage cropping, comprising a herb and leafy brassica sown together.

“We’ve been advising our clients on this for a while now and found it has the flexibility to fit several different farm systems across any region of the country,” Thomas says.

Farmers can tune their management of the crop to cope with changing weather and livestock markets by altering the frequency of grazing to suit the conditions or take opportunities to enter markets quickly to gain improved margins.

By varying the grazing frequency, the crop can be managed to be dominant in either component. If it’s grazed frequently to a low level, the composition of the resulting crop becomes more herb dominant. Graze it less frequently and the leafy brassica component starts to shade out the herb.

“Some farmers are just grazing it more lightly and removing say five tonnes of drymatter per hectare off a 15t/ha crop. Or they can take it right down if they need Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

to, and the herb responds quickly to any moisture and shoots away,” Thomas says.

H & T has developed a name for their new forage package, calling it Fusion. Thomas won’t reveal the actual seed components in the mix, but it comprises a widely used herb with proven ability to reduce the level of nitrate released on to soils, plus a commonly sown leafy brassica that doesn’t have a ripening period and can be consumed soon after establishment.

“A big concern these days is N leaching where stock is intensively grazing paddocks, and where the ground is grazed to the point of being bare and you get a much higher risk of run-off occurring. Fusion is able to lower the risk of both these issues,” Thomas says.

His colleagues Fred Milford-Cottam and Paul Oliver were closely involved with the committee that advised and made recommendations to the Government on winter grazing. Milford-Cottam says providing a mix that mitigates the environmental and animal welfare requirements was paramount in their development of Fusion. Fusion seed mixes are pre-treated with H & T’s proprietary slug repellant coating called Rappel which studies have shown this improves establishment rates and viable plant populations in the resulting crop.

To minimise soil disturbance, the company recommends direct drilling the mix, rather than going through a full cultivation.

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ENVIRONMENT BALLANCE AWARDS

Every little bit counts Words by: Chris Neill

A

decision 11 years ago to give up electrician and banking roles in Auckland for farming has brought Grant and Danielle Petterd to Northland via Taranaki and is now winning them environmental awards for their improvement initiatives.

The couple are on their second Northland farm and now in year four as sharemilking equity partners on a 277-hectare flat to gently rolling dairy farm in the beautiful and historically important Waimate North district south west of Kerikeri.

They were looking forward to this being their farming future but a combination of factors including potential land use change linked to a network of large irrigation water storage lakes is challenging that 62

vision. For now, it is providing country life for their daughters Sarah and Ruby and community involvement for Grant and Danielle through school, Playcentre, Dairy Women’s Network, Dairy Environment Leaders and entrants in the Northland 2020 Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

With 249 effective hectares, a mix of 2/3 volcanic and 1/3 sedimentary soils, they have been spring calving 623 cows to produce 255,000kg milksolids (MS) growing 50ha of maize and 30ha of chicory on the platform and introducing 300 tonnes of palm kernel. Replacement heifers are grazed off from weaning.

Grant recognised the farm’s fit with autumn calving. As the recent heavy rain has shown their volcanic soils cope with the winter wet and the sedimentary soils continue to grow crops through summer – except in the recently experienced extreme drought. Their normal six-week in-calf rate

missed the expected 65% in 2019 when it was seriously upset with infectious bovine rhinotracheitis(IBR). With a significant number of cows not in calf, the decision was made to carry those cows over for March 2021 autumn calving and the beginning of a three-year transition.

When purchased, the farm was well set up with a 40-bale rotary and wellresourced with Protrack system monitoring cow performance, cup removers, in-shed feeding, auto draft and supported with a 400-cow covered feed pad to avoid pasture pugging.

Grant looks to technology for information such as feeding, heat detection, pasture production and soil fertility that contribute to cost effective feeding of their cows and profitable milk production. To this they have added a sophisticated calf rearing system with an automated calf feeder which identifies then

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Left: The small lake and associated wetland within the farm is an integral water filtration system.

Above: Grant and Danielle with Ruby and Sarah in the calf shed with the new calf rearing system that will allow Danielle to monitor each calf’s weight and growth data.

delivers the feed mix and volume to each calf’s requirements.

The information it provides allows Danielle to monitor and respond when they are not feeding or are showing low growth rates.

As the recent heavy rain has shown their volcanic soils cope with the winter wet and the sedimentary soils continue to grow crops through summer – except in the recently experienced extreme drought.

The use of these tools and the information they produce for improved animal performance and their farm system were recognised with the Massey University Innovation Award for Northland BFEA 2020.

Grant and Danielle aim to be leaders in innovation to achieve production, profit, and environmental

sustainability. While other shareholders are primarily interested in farm profitability and return on investment, Danielle leads their focus on environmental response.

A Farm Environment Plan has been completed which has helped them to better understand their farm’s merits and opportunities for improvement.

The small lake within the farm and associated wetland is an integral water filtration system and the small area of bush connects to the kiwi zone.

The riparian planting will support diversification and growth of flora and fauna, provide shade and shelter for livestock and keep improving their attractive property.

They received the DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship Award in recognition of their efforts. They received some valuable advice from the judges that having a five-year plan for environmental improvement and working on a piece each year helps make the project manageable including support for new planting through the critical early years.

Danielle’s aim is to “do what we can on our farm to contribute to overall environmental improvement in our catchment“, with the belief that “every little bit counts”.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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63

DAIRY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

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

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Thursday 5 November LOWER NORTH ISLAND Hopkins Farming Group, Waihora Shawn Southee 1591 State Highway 56, Palmerston North S/N 45595 Tuesday 10 November NORTHLAND Imeson Country Ltd Greg & Janelle Imeson 12 Brewer Road, Whangarei - S/N 13512

Wednesday 18 November CANTERBURY River Terrace Dairy Ltd Brent & Rebecca Miller 908 Withells Road, Ashburton - S/N 39616 Thursday 24 November WAIKATO McCullough Farm Partnership Ltd Richard & Nadine McCullough 100 Kentucky Road, Cambridge - S/N OCD 075

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For more information please visit our website www.dboy.co.nz

64

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

ENVIRONMENT FISH LADDERS

Ladders for whitebait

Within hours of these fish ladders being installed, fish were seen climbing up and heading upstream past what had previously been a barrier to their migration. (Photos supplied).

Words by: Elaine Fisher

D

airy farmers will be among those involved in a project planned for waterways in the Northern Tauranga Harbour region, which could result in both an abundance of whitebait for locals and recovery of fish numbers. Lawrie Donald, chair of Uretara Estuary Managers and Project Parore member, says the proposal is to remove migration barriers to indigenous fish species in all the streams in the area.

This follows successful work carried out last year on the Te Mania, Te Rereatukahia, Uretara and Tahawai streams.

“The biggest threat to our indigenous fish species is not from the whitebait fishers but from man-made barriers, which prevent them migrating upstream. The objective of this new proposal is to extend the project to include all the streams that enter the Tauranga Harbour north of the Matahui Peninsula.”

The proposal is for a joint project between landowners, Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Department of Conservation, Uretara Estuary Managers and Project Parore.

“Last year the Uretara Estuary Managers, as part of its ‘Hills to Ocean’ project, requested that the regional council carry out a study of fish migration in the four streams that discharge into the estuary near Katikati.”

Lawrie says following that study a contractor carried out remediation work on 43 impediments in the four streams, with almost immediate results.

“In one case, mussel ropes were installed at a ford, which appeared to be a complete

A fish ladder in place in a culvert to enable the tiny fish to “climb” or swim upstream through the culvert to breed.

barrier to migratory fish. The work was finished by 3pm. After dark at about 8pm we inspected the ropes to find fish already climbing up and heading upstream. It was a great, instantaneous success.”

Often called “fish ladders”, the systems installed to enable fish to navigate manmade barriers are designed around the particular obstacle and may include ropes from mussel farms, ramps or baffles.

The idea is to enable the tiny fish to “climb” or swim around a barrier and then rest in quiet water before making the next dash upstream.

Whitebait are the juveniles of six species of fish. Five of these are migratory galaxiids: inanga, banded kōkopu, giant kōkopu, kōaro and shortjaw kōkopu. The sixth species is common smelt.

Inanga begin life as eggs laid in vegetation beside streams in late summer and autumn. When the eggs hatch they are carried downstream as larvae and spend the next six months at sea. In the spring

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Lawrie Donald, chair of Uretara Estuary Managers and Project Parore member, lays out mussel rope in preparation for installation to provide “ladders” giving fish access around migration barriers in waterways.

they migrate upstream as whitebait and grow into adult fish.

That’s why, says Lawrie, removing barriers to their upstream migration and ensuring there is habitat for them when they get there are vital to restoring viable population numbers.

Lawrie says the objective of the project is to ensure that any migrating fish (whitebait) that enters through the Bowentown entrance can reach any stream and find a home.

“There is a need to educate landowners, the community, about what a barrier to native fish looks like. Training will also be made available to contractors who may be installing stream crossings for subdivision purposes. Advice and demonstrations to this group will hopefully avoid future barriers being constructed within streams in the local area.”

• To find out more go to: www.uem.org.nz/projectparore 65

ENVIRONMENT QUORUM SENSE

Regenerative farming discussed in Southland Words and photos by: Karen Trebilcock

R

egenerative agriculture could be the answer to Southland and South Otago’s wintering woes, farmers were told at a Quorum Sense event in Gore.

The principles of the American farming philosophy include “armour on the soil surface”, which translates to keeping the soil covered with growing plants to stop erosion and nutrient loss.

Traditional winter cropping practices leave southern soils bare from the time of grazing to when conditions allow resowing, which can be as much as four to five months.

About a hundred people listened to regenerative agriculture farmers, both sheep and beef and dairy, on a snowy Friday at the end of July with speakers enthusiastically applauded, akin at times to an evangelical church service rather than a farming seminar.

Quorum Sense, formed two years ago through a WhatsApp group, was recently awarded $1.8m from MPI’s Productive & Sustainable Land Use (Extension Services) fund.

The manager of Quorum Sense, Sam Lang, explained at the event that regenerative agriculture was “an attitude of continuous improvement”.

“It’s diversity above ground and that is reflected with what is happening below ground. It is abundance above ground and below ground.”

The former Nutffield scholar said there was no hard and fast definition of regenerative agriculture and it would mean different things in Canterbury compared with Southland, Australia compared with the US. He urged farmers to “travel the world” by 66

A panel discussion at the Quorum Sense event with (from left) dairy farmers Tony and Michelle Pringle and Dylan Ditchfield, regenerative agriculture consultant Siobhan Griffin from New York State, and dairy farmer Mark Anderson.

watching YouTube videos on regenerative agriculture to learn what could work for them.

Clinton sheep and beef farmer Hamish Bielski pointed out New Zealand agriculture could not claim to be sustainable if “it relied on minerals mined on the other side of the world”.

He said farmers instead should rely on photosynthesis.

“Your whole farm is a solar panel. Make sure there is no bare soil so all the sunlight is taken up by growing plants.

“Those plants then feed the soil and the microorganisms that live there, which then feed the plants and that is what feeds your animals.”

For sheep and beef this meant diverse perennial plant species, as many as twelve or more in pastures, and not set stocking

for long periods.

He talked of moving stock at least daily if not more often, and grazing covers of up to 7000kg DM/ha.

Feed not eaten was trampled into the soil and fed the microorganisms living in it.

It was important to keep pastures in vegetative, growing states and not seeding out, he said.

Topping was not an option as mown grass desiccated quickly and did not reach the worms, fungi and bacteria in the soil.

“High density grazing is the answer. You have to lay down the litter.”

Former New York State dairy farmer and now New Zealand regenerative farming coach Siobhan Griffin said regenerative agriculture tried to re-establish “the unlimited grasslands of the past”.

“New Zealand dairy farmers have been

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

doing regenerative farming for decades.

You rotational graze and you feed ryegrass at the three-tiller stage.”

She said a step further had to be taken to diversify pastures and make dairy systems circular so fertiliser, especially nitrogen, was no longer needed.

“Leave something behind at each rotation that is trampled into the soil, that feeds the soil life.”

Diverse pasture species brought bird life, needed fewer insecticides and were holistically better for the environment.

Clinton dairy farmer Mark Anderson, a neighbour of Bielski, described his wintering practice of feeding hay bales.

The 580ha Westridge Farm milks 750 cows once-a-day with a stocking rate of 2.3/ha on the platform. Production for the past season was 335kg MS/cow.

His pastures include a mix of perennial grasses, clovers, oats, beans, vetch, kale, ryecorn, buckwheat and linseed, and when grazing he aims to eat the top third.

“The top third contains the highest energy levels. The cows trample about another third into the ground to feed the soil biology and the remaining third is there to regrow.

“The key to it is high stock density and shifting them up to five times a day so the cows eat every species – they don’t selectively graze.”

“Your whole farm is a solar panel. Make sure there is no bare soil so all the sunlight is taken up by growing plants.”

He said recent soil tests showed his farm, after two seasons of regenerative farming, had improved levels of all of the minerals including potassium, mineralisable

nitrogen, calcium, magnesium and sodium as well as increasing organic matter and carbon.

“I’m feeding the underground army.”

Most of the 2000 hay bales used for the winter had been bought in but he hoped in the future to make all of the hay on his farm.

“I am importing nutrients onto the farm with the hay so it’s not a closed system yet.”

He was also continuing to apply a fish fertiliser and a molasses-based mix.

The hay bales were proving to be low cost and low risk and with the Waiwera Stream passing by the farm he wanted to keep sediment out of it.

Cows were allocated 2.7 bales/cow for the 80 to 90-day winter and the bales were fed out on pasture with shifts behind wires.

“It’s costing us about $14 per cow per week for wintering, depending on how you calculate the hay costs. But if you factor in that the hay is also our fertiliser and our grass seed then it is even cheaper.”

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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ENVIRONMENT FRESHWATER

Rules behind the letters Words by: Keri Johnston

T

he long-awaited National Policy Statement for Freshwater 2020 (NPS) and National Environmental Standards for Freshwater 2020 (NES) have now been gazetted and come into effect on September 3, 2020.

So, what actually does this mean?

For most part, the NPS won’t appear on farming’s radar until councils start work on plan changes to incorporate the NPS into planning documents. However, the NES should be on every farmers radar right now. The NES is set of rules (much like a council plan), that sets out whether you can do something as a permitted activity (no consent required) or whether you need to obtain a consent. If consent is required, you apply to your regional council.

Below is a summary of the NES.

RESTRICTIONS ON INTENSIFICATION

These restrictions apply until December 31, 2024. Resource consents cannot extend beyond December 31, 2030.

New restrictions on intensification now apply unless a regional council has implemented the new NPSFM (this is a decision for the councils to make and they need to prove that they have already).

The cut-off date for increases in land-use activities is September 2, 2020.

Discretionary activity resource consents required for: • land-use change of more than 10ha to dairy • land-use change of more than 10ha from plantation forestry to pastoral land-use • 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

CAP ON SYNTHETIC FERTILISER APPLICATION

These restrictions commence from July1, 2021. National maximum of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser application of 190kg N/ ha/year to pastoral land (land used for 68

the grazing of livestock) in a contiguous landholding, averaged over that land and to each hectare of that land that is not used to grow annual forage crops.

A non-complying resource consent is required to allow application over the cap. The non-complying status means that resource consent will be reasonably difficult to obtain and a good volume of information will be needed to support any application. Synthetic nitrogen fertiliser can be liquid or solid and is more than 5% nitrogen by weight, but doesn’t include: compost, soil treatment, or fertilisers that are derived from plant or animal waste and is minimally processed.

Farms with dairy farmland must provide annual information to regional councils: • area of pastoral land use • area used to grow annual forage crops • other land • receipts for purchase of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser • types of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser applied and percentage of nitrogen component application rate and dates of application.

INTENSIVE WINTER GRAZING

These restrictions commence from winter 2021. Thresholds in place for intensive winter grazing of forage crop are: • size: less than 50ha or 10% of property (whichever is larger) • setback: minimum of five metres • slope: average slope of paddock 10 degrees or less • pugging not deeper than 20cm and no more than 50% of paddock (does not apply around fixed structures) • land must be replanted as soon as practicable (no later than Oct 1 that year).

OR managed through a Farm Environment Plan and adverse effects are shown to be no worse than those if the rules above applied. If the thresholds are not met, then resource consent is required.

STOCK EXCLUSION

The other set of regulations that come into force on September 3 are the Stock Exclusion Guidelines. These are separate

Thresholds in place for intensive winter grazing of forage crop include pugging not deeper than 20cm and no more than 50% of a paddock.

from the NES, but have an equal amount of punch. These regulations apply to stock exclusion from lakes and rivers more than one metre wide and natural wetlands (whether flowing or not – it is about the bed width) for the following: • Dairy cattle on any terrain • Pigs on any terrain • Dairy support cattle on any terrain • Beef cattle intensively grazed on any terrain • Deer intensively grazing on any terrain • Beef cattle on low slope land • Deer on low slope land.

Exceptions are provided for certain stock crossings, and implementation dates vary depending on farm system, from September 3, 2020, to July 1, 2025.

There is definitely a bit to get our heads around, councils included. What does an application look like? What sorts of conditions are likely to be imposed if consent is granted? What if you already hold a farming consent for example – is further consent under the NES still required?

The best advice I can give you at the moment is don’t panic, do a bit of reading, get some trusted advice, and make a plan of attack. Some of this will seem onerous and cumbersome, but putting it in the too hard basket is not an option – do something!

• Keri Johnston is an environmental engineer with Irricon Resources.

• First published in Country-Wide September 2020

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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STOCK BEEF FINISHING

Brent and Nathan Page with the remaining R3 steers in Golden Bay.

Beef calves give flexibility A range of beef options adds diversity to a Golden Bay dairy operation. Anne Hardie reports.

N

athan Page and his family milk 1400 dairy cows in Golden Bay and only the Jersey-cross calves from heifers go on the bobby truck. Friesian bull calves are reared and sold at weaning, all heifer Hereford-cross progeny are sold as feeder calves, while most of the Hereford-cross bull calves are finished as two-year-old steers.

To add another income stream, they buy in up to 70 Jersey bull calves that will be sold later as rising two- year-olds to dairy farmers.

The Page family has expanded its farming operation near Takaka from the same land Nathan’s forefathers carved out of the bush from 1852. At one stage in those early years, a small acreage of hops was grown for the country’s fledgling beer industry. Little by little over the decades, more bush was cleared and eventually the poor, pakihi soils were developed into productive dairy country.

Neighbouring farms have been incorporated into the farming business over the years and today the family 70

runs a milking platform of 580 hectares.

Alongside the Golden Bay dairy units, a further 80ha is used as a beef and cropping unit, while over the Takaka Hill near Motueka is 650ha used for dairy support and beef. About 250ha of the latter is leased land, while in Golden Bay the beef block is on a two-year lease-to-buy contract.

Only 60 minutes by road separates the Golden Bay dairy farms from the Motueka farm – double that for a truck and trailer load of cattle – but they are distinctly different climates and country. In Golden Bay, the rain is measured in metres and each year the farms get a decent drenching between 2.5m and 2.7m. Whereas on the Motueka farm it’s a mere 1.2m and the Moutere clay hills dry out in typically drought-prone Nelson style.

Nathan is operations manager and lives on the Golden Bay dairy farm with his wife Emma and three young children who are the seventh generation on the farm. His father, Brent, is still very much involved in the farming operation even though he has

moved off the farm with his wife, Kathy.

For the past 14 years they have been keeping an increasing number of calves, partly to make use of the land they had near Motueka and because financially it’s worth the equivalent of $1kg milksolids (MS) to their income – the dairy farms produce about 560,000kg MS each season.

It also simply made sense to raise those calves rather than put them on the bobby truck for their minimal returns.

Covid-19 has shown how quickly everything can change in the world and Nathan says the range of beef options in their operation gives them diversity to help ride out downturns. When one income stream is down, the other can often fare better. In the past, when the milk payout fell to $3.90/kg MS, it was the stock sales that provided vital cashflow for the business.

“When dairy is down, usually beef is pretty good and props it up a little bit. And it makes sense for the Motueka farm to provide income rather than be just dairy support.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

This past season they had 180 two-year-olds to finish and managed to get two loads of 40 away before Christmas for $6.20/kg, adding up to about $2000 per animal.

The milking herd is made up of big Friesian cows, though Nathan began breeding toward a smaller-framed cow this year to achieve a good mix of litreage and milkfat. At mating, the herd is artificially inseminated (AI) for four weeks to produce replacement heifer calves and that also produces about 120 Friesian bull calves which are reared to weaning at 100kg. For the past few years they have been sold to the same buyer in the North Island at market rate and last year those bull calves fetched between $500 and $550 each.

All of the calves born on the dairy farms are given colostrum for four days and then taken in their own truck over the hill to the Motueka farm where a small dairy is set up to milk 30 to 35 cows to feed these calves.

“They are all reared on full milk and it’s so easy. We milk the cows and chuck it in the feeder and the calves’ weight gains are good.”

A farm manager and farm assistant are employed full time on the Motueka farm and have the job of raising the beef calves and taking them through to two-year-olds.

After four weeks of AI on the dairy farm, Hereford bulls that are bought as yearlings from a Fox Glacier breeder, Wayne Williams, are run with the herd for six weeks to produce the beef-cross stock.

This year they bought 15 15-month Hereford bulls and Nathan says they have

Brent Page with some of the 1400 cows milked on the Golden Bay farm.

Friesian-Hereford-cross steers add another income stream to the business.

been ideal to produce calves with a low birthweight but fast weight gain and an essential good temperament.

The herd produces about 500 beef calves and they keep about 170 of the earlier bull calves for themselves, then sell the rest when they are four days old to the same local buyers who have bought them for a number of years. Last year the Herefordcross heifer calves sold for $150 and similar bull calves between $180 and $200.

Those bull calves that are reared on the Motueka farm are run in groups of 40 while they are being fed cows’ milk and at weaning the 140 or so are split into two herds that will be taken through to prime beef as two year olds. It’s a simple grass system with a bit of hay and balage to keep them full through winter and maintain weight. Spring growth takes the steers to between 500 and 600kg liveweight, with the first ready to go to the works in November.

This past season they had 180 two-yearolds to finish and managed to get two loads of 40 away before Christmas for $6.20/kg, adding up to about $2000 per animal. Then the price plummeted, leaving them with 80 now R3 steers to farm on until the price lifts.

Running lower stock numbers gives them the flexibility to do that. Normally they would have all the two-year-old beefies gone before winter, but they have the feed to take those 80 remaining steers through winter if needed.

As a dairy support block the Motueka farm carries all the R1 and R2 dairy heifers as well as 100 carryover cows, plus winters between 300 and 350 cows. That means it carries 300 R1 heifers which get a bit of kale crop through winter, plus grass and hay. The 300 in-calf R2 heifers head back over the Takaka Hill at the end of July to calve on the dairy farms.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

In Golden Bay, the lease-to-buy farm has part of it incorporated into the milking platform and the rest is for beef, with the stocking rate still low. They didn’t want to milk any more cows, so the beef side works well on it, while still having the flexibility for dairy support.

Between the properties in Golden Bay, the bulk of the dairy herd is wintered with the help of good June grass growth and about 13ha of swedes. This winter the Pages are budgeting on 20 tonnes/ha from the swede crop, but Nathan says it could be a 24t/ha crop.

One of their strengths as a business, Nathan says, is having the gear to spread fertiliser themselves as well as ground work and drilling, without having to queue for contractors. Golden Bay’s high-rainfall climate combined with areas of pakihi soil makes regular dressings of fertiliser essential and it is a big advantage to apply it themselves.

“It means we can get the fertiliser on when we want it and that’s a big thing for us, especially in spring. We can get it on a couple of days before the rain and get a good response from it. It’s money in the bank when you can do it like that.”

The only time they get contractors in, is for baling balage and hay or chopping pit silage, with all the grass supplements cut on farm for the stock. Carting their own stock is another strength, especially with properties on both sides of the Takaka Hill.

These days they have two truck and trailer units that have been valuable assets since the threat of Mycoplasma bovis. Between calves, heifers, cows and supplements between farms, the units get good use and give them more flexibility to move stock around if they need to.

• First published in Country-Wide Beef May 2020.

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STOCK MATING

AB assured under Covid-19 Words and photos by: Karen Trebilcock

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hatever level we are at with Covid-19, AB companies are assuring farmers their cows will get in calf this spring.

The Minister of Agriculture and MPI have designated LIC and CRV Ambreed as essential services, and technicians will be allowed to visit farms almost as normal.

LIC head of marketing and products Mike Wilson said extra hygiene and safety protocols would be in place.

“We’ve delivered our AB services in challenging times before, including severe floods last year and earlier earthquakes when large parts of the country were in a state of emergency, as well as the M bovis outbreak,” he said.

“We have lots of experience in managing these challenges and have tested procedures in place to deliver our critical AB services over the coming months.

“For us, not getting the national herd in calf is simply not an option.”

For CRV Ambreed it’s the same.

“CRV will take the learnings from both the lockdown during the autumn mating and the increased biosecurity measures during the M bovis alert period and apply these again as required this spring,” CRV

Whatever level we are at, AB companies are assuring farmers their cows will get in calf.

Ambreed operations manager Andrew Medley said. These measures included providing additional PPE gear such as disposable face masks, and technicians would be washing their hands when arriving and leaving each farm.

Hand sanitiser cannot be used as it affects semen straws.

CRV will also be screening all its technicians before starting their AB runs to ensure they have not been or are not currently a close contact of any Covid-19 case. This will also apply to the direct contact people on the farms visited.

“Both farmers and techs have a responsibility and an awareness of how to manage themselves during the AB season and it is an expectation that the social

distance guidelines will be maintained,” Andrew said.

“This may feel a little different initially, but we are confident it can be achieved.”

If parts of the country are in different levels, as they were in August, technicians will be sourced for the same areas as farms whenever possible.

Andrew said LIC knew that AB was a busy time onfarm.

“We recognise that, like every other business in New Zealand, the pandemic is bringing with it new challenges and constraints but we’re confident LIC is taking every precaution possible to keep our people and farmers safe while maintaining an uninterrupted AB service delivery,” Mike said.

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STOCK NEW TECHNOLOGY

Connected Cows Words and photos by: Karen Trebilcock

I

t’s now easier for farmers to combine different technologies on their dairy farms. LIC’s cow drafting system Protrack, installed on more than 2000 farms throughout the country, now has an application programming interface (API), which farmers can ask for.

APIs allow tech, which use different coding and systems, to integrate. It means CowManager ear tags, Allflex collars, and all other cow wearable monitors can now use Protrack for drafting.

“LIC identified a growing trend towards connected cows and we’ve been working with multiple cow wearable suppliers over the last two years,” LIC head of marketing and products Mike Wilson said.

The new software, the Protrack Draft

A cow wearing a monitoring collar on a Canterbury farm.

Integrate API, went live last year and enables Protrack to “talk” with other onfarm technologies and enable drafting.

Protrack is fully integrated into MINDA, which provides associated value on farms and to farmers, he said. A huge plus is that many of the wearable monitors detect cows in heat ready for AB and,

with Protrack, cows can be automatically drafted at milking, reducing workloads.

Not only does it take the guesswork out of interpreting tail paint rubbing but it can also improve the accuracy of heat detection, cows are not missed, and farm staff can concentrate on milking. Mating can go on for longer than the usual six weeks because staff are no longer tired from picking cows and manually drafting.

“This can help to eliminate the use of bulls onfarm, and short gestation length semen can be easily used to tighten the calving spread,” Mike said.

“Cow wearable technologies also enable pre-mating heats to be monitored, which can then be recorded into Protrack, allowing easy identification of non-cyclers so action can then be taken to improve their chances of cycling activity.”

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STOCK ARTIFICIAL BREEDING

Photo op for cows on heat Words and photos by: Karen Trebilcock

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hen there are 900 cows, drafting at mating time has to be made easy, and for Matt Kerr, manager of the Kerr Family Trust’s dairy farm near Outram in Otago, that means switching on the Protrack Heat camera.

He had the camera installed in the rotary dairy five years ago when it was new technology, and that same season he stopped using bulls.

His not-in-calf rate of 10% to 12% and his six-week in-calf rate of 72% (Otago average 66.6%) show the camera’s worth, but it’s his calving length that really shines.

From 15 weeks of mating five years ago it’s now at 10 weeks.

“With no bulls, we are using short gestation length semen and that has really tightened up calving and mating.

“My last cow is calving September 28 this year,” Matt said. “I’ve got no cows calving in October.”

But using the camera is not just about getting it installed and turning it on.

There are few tricks and tips that Matt has learnt over the years.

The camera takes a photo of the Protrack heat patches and the software detects the volume of red pixels in each photo.

The blue is the edge of each patch and

This is the fifth season Otago dairy farmer Matt Kerr will have used the Protrack Heat camera.

the red pixel count in the photo shows whether the patch has been activated by a cow riding.

If there are enough red pixels then the cow can be drafted out for AB. If there are no blue pixels the cow can also be drafted as it means it has lost its patch.

However, with cows it is never that easy.

Keeping tails clean and trimmed, Matt said, stops dirt being flicked onto the patches, which can result in false readings.

And he still tail paints just to give him another check to see if the cow is really ready to mate.

Because the camera’s software is looking for blues and red, those tail paint colours

can’t be used – neither can pink, which can look red in some light. Matt sticks to orange, green and yellow.

He also looks at photos from earlier milkings, which the software allows, to make sure the cow is on heat.

“It is only a camera. It’s still up to you to decide whether the cow is ready to mate.”

About twice a week he sets the system to draft cows with dirty and missing patches, trying for a wet day.

“They come in at the end of milking and then it’s a quick job, especially if it’s been raining.

“If the patches are dirty and it’s dry, it can be really hard to clean them.”

He has a panel heater in the dairy and lays the new patches on it before applying them.

“If you get them really hot then they stick easily. That’s the secret to it. And making sure they are in the right place.

Patch placement is critical.”

He said the benefit of the camera was it took someone out of the dairy during milking.

“The money you invest in the camera gives you time that you can do other things with.

“Instead of standing in the dairy for ten weeks looking at cows for hours as they get milked I can go and do what I need to do.”

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STOCK HORN DISBUDDING

Taking pain out of disbudding Words by: Kevin McKinley

for disbudding. This numbs the horn bud for about two hours – like a dentist numbs ’m sure many of you have heard tales your tooth. Using an anti-inflammatory or from a few decades ago when small a topical anaesthetic is also recommended children (including me!) were sent to to provide longer-term pain relief. the dentist to have their fillings put in Some farmers use vets to sedate calves without any pain relief. We were all happy for disbudding. This removes much of to see the back of that cruel practice. the handling stress, and recent evidence More recently our focus has shifted to indicates it provides some extra pain relief animal welfare. for up to 24 hours.

A raft of research has While disbudding is often done reinforced that cows and by contractors and vet practices, calves feel pain like we do. some farmers have worked with Today, we know that stress their vets to receive training to hormone levels rise quickly do it themselves. Whether you when calves are disbudded disbud the animals yourself or without pain relief. When contract this out, farmers tell me pain relief is administered these that using pain relief makes it much Kevin McKinley. hormones are more stable, easier as calves are calmer to handle. indicating the calf is much more They may also be less stressed with comfortable. farm staff in future.

As a consulting officer I’ve seen a huge If you have new staff, talking to them shift to using pain relief for disbudding by about why pain relief is important for farmers in my region. It’s now widespread disbudding, and for other conditions such and seen as a core part of providing good as lameness and mastitis, is a great way to animal care. It’s the right thing to do – get them thinking about animal care. and since October 2019 it’s been a legal Finally, if you’re planning to disbud requirement. calves it’s worthwhile getting onto this Legally, local anaesthetic must be used soon.

I

Placing calves in a crate creates a safe, calming environment for disbudding.

Calves can go through this procedure from two to six weeks old. Younger calves tend to be easier to handle. In older calves the procedure is more painful because removing a horn bud attached to the skull leaves a bigger wound.

New Zealand farmers have a great reputation for animal care. Providing pain relief during disbudding, for lameness, and during difficult calvings is good for our cows and will also help reinforce our position as world-leading farmers.

Let’s keep up the good work!

• Kevin McKinley is a DairyNZ consulting officer – Bay of Plenty.

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VET VOICE PREMATING CHECKS

Left: A good number of these first heats may be silent but you should still see riding behaviour beginning within a few weeks of the start of calving.

Plan well for mating Getting your herd in calf successfully requires careful preparation and planning. Lisa Whitfield walks you through management of the process.

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hile it seems like calving even more important to keep a close eye and the new milking on what they are doing. season has just got under Check your cows for endometritis from way, now is the time to be between 21 and 30 days after calving thinking about how you can get your cows to ensure they are treated early and recovered from calving and prepared for have plenty of time to recover from the mating. infection. Discuss with your vets what Most people don’t realise that the egg, options are out there to reduce the which is expected to be fertilised amount of antibiotics used with at the start of the mating period, treated cows – a prostaglandin is under development 100 injection is a good, cheap days prior to ovulation. This alternative to intrauterine means, for example, that the antibiotics for treating cows ovulated egg, which you want with endometritis if the cow to become an early pregnancy has a corpus luteum on her on the 20th of October, is ovary. Ultrasound is the most undergoing important phases of Lisa Whitfield reliable method of detecting such a development from way back in late corpus luteum.

July. Consequently it is vulnerable to Pre-mating heat detection is a key nutritional and health stressors affecting preparatory activity and should be the individual cow, which commonly undertaken from at least 35 days prior to occur over the busy spring period. the planned start of mating. Recording Healthy cows will experience their first pre-mating heats gives you key records that post-calving heats between 11 and 21 days help with tricky breeders during mating. after giving birth.

By recording pre-mating heats you know A good number of these first heats may roughly when to expect that cow back be silent but you should still see riding on heat and therefore, if she has a weak behaviour beginning within a few weeks of heat, you can be more assured that you are the start of calving. detecting a true heat and submitting her at Keep an eye on your early calvers – if the right time. they are not showing early heats, consider Ninety percent of cows will have heat why this may be the case. Cows milked intervals between 18 and 24 days, but twice-a-day have less time in the day to there will still be a good number who have show heat behaviour, which means it is longer or shorter intervals.

76

Starting early with pre-mating heat records allows you to identify non-cycling cows before the planned start of mating.

The profitability of intervening with non-cyclers comes from performing any interventions prior to the planned start of mating so that they have the opportunity to become pregnant early in the mating period. Tail painting has been a mainstay method of monitoring heats in New Zealand for many years now. In addition, with all of the technological advances over the last few years it is important to remember that nothing is going to be more reliable than the eye of a person experienced in performing paddock checks for heats each day and/or multiple times per day.

Recording pre-mating heats gives you key records that help with tricky breeders during mating.

Heat detection aids, such as tailpaint, heat mount-detectors, pedometers and collars, should be used as an adjunct to paddock checks by an experienced eye.

Take the time to train any staff who are going to be expected to perform heat detection in the methods you need them to know. Make sure you touch up tail paint every few days. Active management of cow body condition is another key factor in mating performance. Ensuring your cows calve down in good condition is the result of drying off decisions made back in late summer and through autumn.

Remember, though, that significant body condition loss between calving and mating will also be detrimental to a cow’s reproductive performance – she is more likely to be a non-cycler, and if she does cycle her fertility may be poor.

Begin preparations for the mating season early!

• Lisa Whitfield MVM (Distinction) BVSc Production Animal Veterinarian

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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Driving the wahine waka Women are increasingly taking on managerial roles on dairy farms.

Anne Hardie profiles one who revels in her life as dairy manager.

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achael Lind wants to drive the “wahine waka” to lead more women into management roles in dairying, and she is living that goal as dairy manager on one of Pamu Farms’ West Coast dairy units.

The 36-year-old mother of two is in charge of the 1,080-cow herd on the Bassets unit at Cape Foulwind; an aptly-named location that

78

also has to deal with more than 2m of rain a year. She’s been there two seasons and during that time has twice placed second in the Dairy Industry Awards for the West Coast-Top of the South – which means she will be back next year to seek the top honour and “prove a point”. Both times she entered she was awarded the leadership merit award and this year she scooped the livestock merit award as well.

When she left school about 20 years ago, after a childhood on an Arapawa Island sheep farm, she hadn’t even contemplated dairying. Instead, she had planned a career surrounded by grapes and wine. But during a stint on a dairy farm while waiting to begin her polytech course, she fell in love with cows.

Along the way she has been an artificial insemination technician while she was a dairy

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

assistant, then a herd manager of herds between 400 and 1,500 cows, before taking on the challenge to step up to farm manager.

She admits she got a push from her husband, Murray, to apply for the job and puts her hesitation down to a lack of confidence that she often sees in other women in agriculture.

It’s one of the reasons she wants to do her bit to encourage women into management roles in the dairy industry.

“I’ve never had huge confidence and often struggled to back myself, even though I know I’m good at what I do.”

Yet now she is speaking via webinars, to 60 or so viewers, from Pamu farms from the middle of a paddock with a selfie stick as she describes the farm’s performance. At a Pamu roadshow, where she spoke about her journey and role at the Basset unit, she discovered she could give other women confidence to head to management roles in dairying.

“A young woman came up and said thank you for telling my story because it gave her confidence to show where she could go.”

Recognising she now has an opportunity to lead other women, she is looking at creating discussion groups within Pamu Farms for women to encourage and guide them toward management roles. Moving from private farming to a corporate farm has been a big shift for her. From roles focused on cows and grass, she has her sights set on lifting the farm’s EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and reducing cost of production, while carrying out more recording and reporting to a chain of command.

“My first season was about finding my feet. Learning how the farm worked, staff and the ropes of the corporate world. The second season, I knew what needed to be done differently. These days you can’t farm for an average season; you have to farm smarter than we ever had to.”

The farm spans 460 effective hectares and produced 393,000kg MS for the 2019-2020 season on a DairyNZ system two. The crucial figure is an EBIT of $2,316/ha, which makes it a high performer on the West Coast.

Nudging out as it does into the Tasman Sea, Cape Foulwind is vulnerable to the drying winds as well as rain, creating a range of challenges through the year for a largely grass-based system. To overcome some of those challenges the farm grows 50ha of crops including raphno for summer and winter plus swedes for winter.

The 30ha of raphno has been trialled on the farm for its ability to be grazed as a summer crop and then locked up for a second grazing in winter for the 550 cows wintered on.

“It’s really versatile. You can graze it at 90

Right: Rachael says team support is needed for good results.

Below: The team needs to be involved with every aspect of the business.

“I love my cows. Having content, relaxed cows is very rewarding. When you have happy cows you have happy staff.” days or wait until 120 days and you can feed it as a high-energy feed during dry periods or as a supplement feed to extend your round.

Your paddock is out of the round for a long time because we put poor-performing pastures into swedes and then into raphno and then regrassed. But it’s worth it and the cows love it.

“I love my cows. Having content, relaxed cows is very rewarding. When you have happy cows you have happy staff.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Rachael says it is not possible to achieve good results without team support and that makes her passionate about her leadership role.

“You have to have your team involved in every aspect of your business. These guys don’t turn up just to put cups on and go home. They know why we do what we do and the more they’re involved the more motivated they are.

“To be a good leader you need the engagement of your staff – you have to show 79

them at the coalface what drives you, and when they see that they become more involved as well.

“I get in the cowshed with them and help train heifers or get out in shitty weather to help with fencing. I think you’re more respected for that. Having a younger female boss can’t be easy for everyone so you have to earn their respect. Quite often we’ll sit and chat after work and it’s good to get to know what makes your team tick.”

Like many, family is at the heart of what makes her tick and she says she has been fortunate to have plenty of support.

“Understanding” employers have enabled her to take maternity leave as she worked her way up the ladder, with invaluable childcare help from her husband’s parents. During Covid-19 lockdown both Rachael and Murray were essential workers, and their children, Ayla, 10, and Brayden, three, were cared for by Rachael’s parents on the island for the entire lockdown period. It was tough seeing your kids only through video chats, but she says she was privileged to be working in a job she loved.

Lockdown ramped up the use of technology on the farms such as the webinars, which continue to be a good method for connecting people. While technology has been useful

Rachael’s focus is on EBIT and cost of production. This season the farm will cut more grass supplements.

onfarm, Rachael says it has created challenges across the agriculture sector in the past five years or so through the increased exposure to the public. It is now up to the industry more than ever to showcase to the public that it is both sustainable and responsible, she says.

“Public perception of dairying hasn’t always been great. But the more positively we can get

out in the community, the more agriculture will be accepted.”

One way of achieving that is through the schools, and several students from the Gateway programme have gained work experience on the Cape Foulwind farms in recent years.

Students head out to the farm once a week for work experience and for Rachael, it’s a nurturing role that she enjoys.

“I love seeing the young ones grow and taking them under my wing. I was there 20 years or so ago and it’s great seeing their confidence grow as well.”

Her own confidence has risen significantly since she took on the challenge of dairy farm manager at Bassets and also since her success at the Dairy Industry Awards. Next year she will be competing for the dairy manager award again. On the farm, if the weather plays ball, she reckons her third season will enable her to lift performance further. It will entail cutting more pasture supplements to better manage the grass – if weather allows – lowering nitrogen use to 200kg/ha as part of the sustainability goals, plus cutting costs, especially through repairs and maintenance where possible. Along the way, she hopes she can encourage more women to seek out opportunities towards management in the dairy industry.

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

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WELLBEING MENTAL HEALTH

Keeping farm teams happy and safe is a topic we feel pretty strongly about here at the Dairy Exporter.

That’s why you’ll see it given its own dedicated section in the magazine every issue in our monthly Wellbeing column.

Use Your

We’ve teamed up with author and Safer Farms health, safety and wellbeing advocate Harriet Bremner to help us spread the word, share some stories and bring you some practical how-to’s.

Harriet’s well qualified to be your guide. She’s on the journey herself having lost her partner in a tragic farm accident.

She’s written children’s books on safety and wellbeing, worked with rural mental health advocate Elle Perriam who set up her campaign “Will to Live” after losing her partner to suicide, and has more recently worked with Australian Alex Thomas on #PlantaSeedforSafety.

On top of that she works for Safer Farms – an organisation set up by agricultural business leaders to share resources, bring about a change in mindset and improve health and safety outcomes.

We hope you’ll make Harriet’s column part of your regular read.

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Voice

By Harriet Bremner

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hen I finally figured out the true meaning of being resilient, I realised that I had been running from reality and not facing it straight on. I had not been following my heart or my dreams and I wonder how many of us push aside how we are really feeling.

When you finally realise that you are not ok and the walls start to come down it’s amazing how refreshing it is to tell the people around you that you have come to this realisation, this moment. That moment for me was when I finally let 2.5 years of grief come and sit with me rather than continually trying to outrun it.

Every single one of us has a mental health journey that we go on due to any number of things at different stages in our lives.

This is when it dawned on me how much we, as adults, can struggle to “use our voices” and speak up when we are not ok. Society and its expectations have led us to believe that you must walk out that door each day and be “ok”, even when you are not. We have a culture that says don’t cry and don’t be sad, which has conditioned us to be adults who push away, hide and refuse to accept emotions.

I realised that if we want to help our future teenagers and adults speak up and always be honest and open about how they are feeling then we need to be

targeting children. Children are sponges and moldable to behaviours, which in the long run turns into the culture that we need to change.

Use Your Voice is set in the South Island High Country. A sausage dog (Poppy) and a huntaway (Jess), who has lost her bark, embark on a journey together where they find that it does make a difference when you use your voice. Sometimes you just need to learn how to use it.

Poppy and her farmyard friends help Jess (Will to Live Huntaway) through her tough time whilst also delivering important messages about mental health to children, encouraging them to speak up about how they feel, that it’s okay to cry, and how to tell others about their feelings.

My vision with this book was to ensure that it was targeting both children and the adults that are reading it with them. I was honoured that “Like Minds, Like Mine” and the Mental Health Foundation of NZ saw my vision too and awarded the book with the 2019 Creative Grant before it was printed.

So, the next time someone opens up to about how they are really feeling just remember to listen without judgment and be authentic in how to respond, for you could be the first person they have ever opened up to. And that, my friends, is an honour.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

#PlantASeedForSafety – the health, safety and wellbeing initiative without the baloney!

When I met Alex Thomas (Founder of #PlantASeedForSafety) I was instantly drawn to her enthusiasm and authenticity when it comes to agriculture. Her own personal backstory makes you sit up and listen to the Aussie pocket rocket, and I am blessed to get to be the ambassador for #PlantASeedForSafety in New Zealand. We know that storytelling is a powerful form of learning and something that everyone enjoys so we are excited to share wonderful stories about the amazing women who are involved in our ag community.

We are gathering stories from rural women all over New Zealand (powered by Safer Farms) to celebrate them and their practical solutions that are industry-driven, to inspire others to make safer and healthier choices. We hear the “she’ll be right” because “I have been doing it this way for years” a lot and, let’s face it, it doesn’t mean it will always be right. This is why having conversations and making health, safety and wellbeing a part of everyday business should be the priority, NOT ticking some boxes and hiding them in the filing cabinet.

I believe that the focus has very much been on the safety side of things where we chuck a hi-vis vest on, tick a box and think we have done safety right. A vest makes you more easily seen but does not have the ability to save your life if you make a bad decision in a moment. We cannot Band-aid

this and must weave looking after ourselves into everyday farming, and it MUST make sense. It is as simple as stopping to think about a job before starting, especially when it comes to working with heavy machinery and vehicles or checking that the person is confident to do the job before starting. A simple conversation.

The eyerolls, the sighs, the grumbles that begrudge health and safety in our agriculture industry are all signs that it has been done wrong…for a very long time.

Since when does keeping people alive need to be such a chore? Policies, procedures and paperwork have been shoved at farmers and it has created this stigma attached to it.

It shouldn’t be a chore because putting people first, having good conversations and going home alive at the end of every day is something that just makes sense. Look after your mates, eat well, get plenty of sleep, do some exercise and make sure you take breaks. These are the things that make sense and are a great start to doing health and safety well.

We want your story whether you work on farm, in the community or anywhere else in the primary sector! Every single one of us has a story to tell and a simple way to look after the people we love. As Alex says: “Silence and safety paperwork doesn’t save lives but rural women, who are prepared to #PlantASeedForSafety, do.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

VISIT www.plantaseedforsafety. com to submit your story today or e-mail Harriet directly at harriet. bremner@saferfarms.org.nz if you have any questions! #SaveALifeListenToYourWife is a hashtag with a difference.

It breathes humour, fun and lightheartedness while at the same time a cheeky line about women having great ideas!

Let’s bring the life back into health, safety and wellbeing again because we have lost sight of what really matters when we talk about this very subject.

To get your copy of Use Your Voice visit www.gurtandpops.com and find out how Jess finds the courage to speak again.

Above: Harriet Bremner and Alex Thomas.

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WELLBEING STAYING SAFE

Thinking to avoid

the unthinkable

A personal tragedy has focused Damian Anderson on urging farmers to think seriously about everyday safety.

Damian Anderson – out on the farm, take a minute to stop and think to keep safe.

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Words by: Anne Lee

D

amian Anderson had been crossing the Clyde River in Canterbury’s high country for years – it was a place his Dad had taken him hunting since he was a boy, a place he’d gone numerous times with mates and a place he’d taken his sons since they were young.

He knew the place and the river well.

But in July last year the unthinkable happened.

“We were coming home. We’d been hunting, two other guys and my son Kayde, and we knew the weather was coming.

“I’d been keeping my eye on the forecast. We’d decided to head back home on Sunday morning and when we got to the place we normally cross the river it was higher and dirtier than we expected.

“So we changed tack and went to where it was a bit more braided - so we had a couple more crossings but it was shallower.

“We’d crossed one braid and were threequarters of the way up the bank getting out of the next one but we couldn’t quite get up and out of the river.

“We tried a couple of times and then all of a sudden the back end got caught by the water and that was it.

“I can’t tell you how many times it rolled but I remember getting tossed around and reaching out to gravel and then water and then I popped up in the river, then the other guys did, but Kayde didn’t.”

The men were well equipped. There were two

vehicles, tow ropes, a satellite phone, personal locator beacons but none of it could save nineyear-old Kayde.

Grief is still raw for Damian, his wife Carrie and Kayde’s brothers, Jordan 16 and Flynn 3, but a little over a year on and Damian was back on a river bank.

It was a different Canterbury braided river this time, the Waimakariri, and this time he was there with a whole new purpose – to help make a video on basic vehicle river crossing safety, truck set-up and vehicle recovery.

He was there with four-wheel drive (4WD) driver trainer Mark Warren of Hillseekers 4WD NZ, journalist Tony Benny creating the video, and Safer Farms team Tony Watson and Harriet Bremner also involved.

The aim was to help educate others, to keep them safe and help prevent another family going through what the Andersons have.

Mark is also a farmer and knows only too well that farmers face risk every day.

He says so much about safety is learning how to assess, think about and manage risk.

River crossings aren’t common on dairy farms but can be on sheep and cattle operations and when farmers are getting out the back hunting or tramping. (See box p85 for some tips from Mark.)

The debate around seatbelts in vehicles, both while working onfarm and during river crossings, is one often brought up.

When it comes to working on a gradient or where moderate speed or greater is involved, either onfarm or when carrying out a river crossing, Mark is in the “definitely wear it” category.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

‘At this time of the year especially, people are flat out going from job to job. But there’s no room for a “she’ll be right” attitude.’

Damian Anderson and Mark Warren – helping educate others in the wake of tragedy.

“I have rolled vehicles with seatbelts on and I have rolled vehicles with seatbelts off.

“I much prefer rolling with them on.

“To the people who say they don’t want to wear them so they can jump out in a hurry I say – if you can’t unclick and flick the belt off in 0.3 of a second you shouldn’t be in the vehicle.

“I have seen people thrown out of a rolling vehicle and squashed. If you have your belt on you can normally walk out of a couple of rolls without much damage.”

Back on the farm, where Damian is farm manager for sharemilkers James and Ceri Bourke on a 1350-cow Dairy Holdings Ltd property, Damian says one of the key things people can do to protect themselves and their workmates from harm is to take a minute and think about what they’re doing.

“At this time of the year especially, people are flat out going from job to job.”

But there’s no room for a “she’ll be right” attitude.

“Slow down, think about it and do it properly,” he says.

Health and safety is always top of the agenda at weekly meetings but people are well connected via texts and Whatsapp groups so any hazards or issues are addressed quickly, he says.

Prevention rather than reaction is the aim.

Dairy Holdings has made a conscious decision to make health and safety an absolute priority on its farms, so strongly supports Damian’s education efforts.

“Vehicle safety, hazard identification and worker engagement have been paramount to our focus here at Dairy Holdings,” chief executive Colin Glass says.

“It’s great to see Damian trying to educate others in our industry about how things can go wrong in the blink of an eye.”

The company recently recruited a fulltime health and safety manager, Jane Fowles, to assist with its journey in this area.

“We have a real potential within the agri industry to make some fundamental shifts in how we think about our health and safety.

“Damian is one of the people championing that shift.

“We need to take more pauses to think about what could go wrong here – how can we make what we do safer?”

Look out for the video on river crossing safety, out soon on Safer Farms YouTube channel.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

A few pointers

When it comes to river crossings there are numerous issues to consider, and each situation comes with its own risks and specific factors.

But a few general pieces of advice from Mark Warren are: 1. Assess the river’s depth. If you can’t see the bottom don’t cross it unless you can easily walk across it first.

2. If a grown man can’t stand easily on his own in the flowing water then it’s too swift to cross.

3. Don’t drive through water deeper than the wheel hub. If the water is flowing over the top of the wheels most vehicles will start to float and can get swept away in the current.

4. Unless you are very experienced have a backup recovery vehicle and the right extra equipment such as a snorkel, two ropes etc.

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DAIRY 101 REPLACEMENTS

1

2

Sorted your mating plan yet?

Story and photos by: Karen Trebilcock

S

o mating is about to start and plans with your AB company are almost finalised but there is still that nagging question in the back of your mind – just how many replacements do you need?

If you have too many you have the extra costs of rearing; too few and you may have to buy in cows or heifers or not be able to cull as many as you want.

A hundred inseminations to top bulls will give you 100 calves to use as replacements right?

Wrong.

Let’s do the maths.

For starters, your AB technician may think they are better than a bull (and they are) but that doesn’t mean every insemination produces a calf.

A good technician will get about 70% to 74% of cows in calf from each insemination. A not-so-good one will be 65% to 70%. If you are doing a synchro of some sort it could be as low as 50% 86

because of the synchro programme.

If you are not great at picking cows on heat, that will affect the rate as well.

The health of the cow is another factor as is the feed it gets before and during mating.

The weather, of course, also plays a part.

And then there is the type of semen you’re using.

If you are using frozen, sexed semen the rate will be somewhere between 50% and 60%; fresh sexed semen is higher – about 70%.

If you are not using sexed semen remember that about half of the calves will be males. But this is not guaranteed because nature does some crazy things at times. It’s not unusual to have 60% females or 60% males, or worse.

And then there are deaths (calves and pregnant cows), abortions and everything else that can go wrong.

Expect that for every four inseminations of non-sexed semen you do there will be one heifer calf.

So if you want 100 replacements you

need to do at least 400 inseminations, and that doesn’t include the inseminations you do as synchros.

If you want to be safe, do 500 inseminations for the 100 replacements.

Or another way of looking at it – if you do six weeks of AB, the national six-week in-calf rate is about 67% and then the pregnancy loss (including calving) is 7%.

So if you have a 400-cow herd you should get 246 calves from AB in the first six weeks and hopefully half of those will be heifers – 123 calves – which gives you a replacement rate for your herd of 25%.

So do you need a replacement rate of 25%? Some farmers get it down to 18%.

If you can lower your replacement rate it can save you a lot of dollars.

To make that decision you need to know where your herd is at and think about your aims and your farming system.

Dairy statistics show that about 80% of cows aged two to six years survive for another season; for cows aged six to nine years it’s about 65%.

So what is the age profile of your herd?

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

3

4

1. This one is a keeper. 2. Hours old, number 46 is already destined for the milking herd. 3. In two years’ time will this calf be needed for the herd?

4. Make sure you do the maths to understand if you are breeding enough replacements.

Remember, the decision you’re making now will affect you in two to three years when the calves from this year’s AB season will be entering the herd.

Are there older cows that need to go?

Do your cows have bad udders/feet/ temperament that mean you need to cull heavily?

Are some cows just not performing?

If that’s the case you need a high replacement rate, but if your herd is steaming along with few problems why not go lower?

Remember, the decision you’re making now will affect you in two to three years when the calves from this year’s AB season will be entering the herd.

Who knows what the payout will be doing then, let alone your farming situation.

M bovis shook things up. Something similar might happen again.

If you want to stay a closed herd and not buy in replacements no matter what, then maybe increase your replacement rate just in case you have a bad year.

Empty rates can be anywhere between

7% and 18%, so if you are used to having a low empty rate and that changes at least you will still have the numbers.

But if a closed herd status is not important to you, or you buy and sell stock anyway as part of your business structure, then you don’t need the insurance of a high replacement rate.

Remember, though, that AB is not only about replacements – it’s about the allimportant need to get cows in calf, which your technician will do far better than a bull.

A bull’s success rate percentage is somewhere in the 50s or maybe the 60s, and can be a lot less if fighting the other bulls in the mob is more on its mind than sex.

If you have heat detection sorted, stop using bulls altogether and just have your technician in, saving your fences, your cows’ hips and your patience.

And the semen available now for AB

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

gives you more options than ever before.

There are beef breeds such as Hereford, Wagyu and Speckle Park sought after by rearers.

A2A2 genetics are needed by those wanting to supply contracts to milk companies.

Another income stream can be generated by selling calves instead of putting them on the bobby truck.

Or you could rear the calves yourselves and target the weaner market.

AB options also give you management tools to condense your calving.

The six-week in-calf rate is no longer dictated by the number of cows you get in calf in that first six weeks of mating.

With short gestation semen, cows mated in weeks seven and eight can be included in it.

Use short gestation semen after you have your replacements and it will tighten up your calving, giving you more days in milk and allowing what would be latecalving cows more time to recover before mating starts again.

Whatever you decide, get your order sorted with your AB company now – the mating season is almost here.

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SOLUTIONS What’s NEW? ANIMAL WELFARE

Cushioning to counter lameness

E

dward Simpkin grew up on a Northland sheep and beef farm, but being one of five sons, making living on the land was not possible for all the boys. After working on the farm for three years Edward and his father started a business manufacturing and selling dicalcium phosphate which they built up and eventually sold to a larger fertiliser company.

A great stepping stone to Edward’s current business, he spent a lot of time calling on farmers, mostly meeting them at the sheds or yards, where he first noticed a need for rubber surfacing over concrete for cattle welfare.

“I often heard and saw firsthand the issues dairy farmers had with cows slipping and associated lameness.”

He started AgImports, providing costeffective rubber matting solutions for farmers, and his passion grew with more installations and outstanding results and feedback from these customers. Edward says it’s a great thing to be able to reduce the stress and costs to owners associated with lameness caused from hard, slippery,

A

Covering concrete with rubber matting reduces slipping and lameness, both animal welfare issues.

More? Visit www.agimports.co.nz

AsureQuality’s new look

sureQuality provides the broadest range of food assurance services in New Zealand with over 100 years’ experience working closely with our food and primary production sectors. It’s been 13 years since the two state-owned enterprises, ASURE and AgriQuality, merged to become AsureQuality and, after a delayed launch due to COVID-19, their team is excited to finally share their new look.

The new branding is designed to better reflect AsureQuality’s business today, their shared role for Aotearoa, and the services they deliver. Along with the new-look branding they have also developed a new

88

cold and abrasive surfaces for animals.

Recommending the most suitable matting for each situation is paramount, he says, and with more than 15 years’ experience in the industry, he can provide quality products and services to farmers with a wide range of budgets and situations to work out the best return on investment.

Meeting recent legislation about effluent management around standoff yards and feedpads can be economically managed by installing Ag Mats over existing cow yards and feedpads, he says.

The mats can be easily washed down into existing effluent holding facilities. “This makes a comfortable, safe standoff area while reducing cow lameness each time they collect in the yard at milking times.”

AgImports has recently added a range of molasses-based mineral blocks to their product range.

“These blocks are another effective simple way to keep stock heathier and are purchased directly from a well-proven manufacturer in Australia, keeping them affordable and sustainable.”

Purpose statement: Helping Aotearoa shape a better food world.

AsureQuality’s chief executive officer, John McKay, says that people in New Zealand’s primary production and food sectors work hard every day to uphold what Aotearoa stands for in food – a higher standard of quality and safety.

“We’re very excited to launch our new branding and purpose, which really resonate with our people. Together we’ve talked a lot about our New Zealand-ness and our deep sense of responsibility to do the right thing for food.”

More? Visit asurequality.com

NZ’s guardian of food quality standards reviews its brand.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

SOLUTIONS What’s NEW? TECHNOLOGY

A

On the phone to Knowby

desire to make life simpler is the motivation behind a new platform for creating and sharing step-by-step instructions made up of text, photographs and short instructional videos for any business, including farming.

Knowby was developed by New Zealandborn, Tasmanian dairy farmer Grant Rogers and has already gained strong support from DairyNZ for delivering content to newcomers to the dairy industry through its Go Dairy campaign. DairyNZ has loaded several short video clips on to the Knowby platform on a range of topics from tagging calves to the correct technique for putting cups on cows. These are an ideal source of knowledge, particularly for newcomers to dairy and form part of DairyNZ’s training strategy.

DairyNZ’s Callum Eastwood says the platform is ideal because the content is

R

personalized and specific to the property.

Rogers is a qualified veterinarian who has been dairy farming in Tasmania for the past 17 years and says Knowby makes creating and sharing instructions and knowledge very easy for anyone with a smart phone. Staff can access content by clicking on a QR code or opening a link sent via text or email.

The information forms a resource for new staff or for providing existing staff with a refresher on any aspect of the farm’s operation. Rogers says few people read long manual full of instructions, but he’s found most would watch a short instructional video which provides easy steps to achieve the best outcome from a task.

Knowby is available on subscription with options priced to suit any sized business.

More? Visit knowby.co

Knowby on phone: helping staff get up to speed with farm tasks.

A multi-faceted approach to reducing nitrogen use

hys Roberts has always been early to adopt new techniques of dairy farming, often trialling different things well ahead of the industry

curve.

In mid-2019, he was contemplating the future of dairy farming in the Canterbury basin region. His company, Align Farms, of which he is a 50% shareholder, owns five farms and two support farms in the region.

Rhys says one way dairy farmers can reduce their nitrogen input is to increase their round lengths. As most farms do about 10 rounds of fertiliser input throughout the year, increasing their round length can reduce the number of inputs a farmer puts on each year.

“If your round length is 21 days and you increase it to 24 days, or if you are on 25 days and move to 28 days, you can

reduce your rounds to 9 per year without even noticing any difference. That is a whole round of nitrogen that is now out of your system. It might not seem like a big change, but it is a significant drop in N use.”

“The benefit of using the Tow and Fert is that you can apply your fertiliser more rapidly after the cows have grazed the paddock and the uptake by the plant is immediate.”

“One of the beauties with a fertiliser product that is in suspension or dissolved in liquid through the Tow and Fert, is that you are getting uptake in the plants on day one and growth from there going forward. You are maximising your pasture production which is critical on a dairy farm,” Rhys says.

“Back 18 months ago I thought that

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Rhys Roberts from Align Farms.

moving from 250 units of N down to 180 or 160 was probably going to be a big push for Align. Now, 12 months in, we have achieved those figures; we have got under 180 units across the business, with no material changes in pasture production, animal health or milk production,” says Rhys.

More? Visit www.towandfert.co.nz 89

OUR STORY 50 YEARS AGO IN NZ DAIRY EXPORTER

50 years ago in the Dairy Exporter September As NZ Dairy Exporter counts down to its centenary in 2025, we look back at the issues of earlier decades.

50 Years Ago – August 1970.

O

ur scale of operations on dairyfarms and in dairy factories reduces our costs to a minimum,” the Dairy Board Chairman, Mr F.L. Onion, C.M.G, said in an address to the Waikato Branch of the Economic Society of Australia and New Zealand in Hamilton recently.

“Average herd size on New Zealand dairyfarms is now just over 100 cows. This is a scale only dreamt about by planners in Europe. The average number of cows per farm for example in France in 1968 was 9; in the Netherlands in 1969 was 15 and in West Germany in 1969 was 7. In the United Kingdom in 1968 the average herd was 29 cows. In the United States the present average is 30 and in Australia 42.

“Our large New Zealand herds are managed on average by 1.5 labour units, which is very low on world standards and results in a milk output per labour unit which is probably the highest in the world.”

U.S. PROSPECTS

New Zealand must continue to press with all possible vigour for the improvement of access to dairy products markets, said Mr S.T. Murphy, General Manager of the Dairy Board in Auckland early this month.

There were grounds for hoping that the United States’ inward-looking dairy products supply policy would change.

“Our advisers in the United States consider that were it not for the war in Vietnam, the major issue in the 90

United States today would be the domestic and foreign agricultural policy.

“The power of the dairy lobby in the United States is declining and the American people are disenchanted with high food prices. I believe we can look for a fundamental revision of United States agricultural policy in the next few years.”

CALF REARING

Jim Rotherham, Matamata Consulting Officer, quizzed a number of his discussion group members a short time ago to determine the most popular calf rearing methods.

His small survey is as yet unfinished and covers only 60 farms.

Number bucket fed – 17 Number using calfeteria – 25 Number using nurse cows – 18 Of those farmers using nurse cows, five were running the cows with the herd and putting nurse cows with calves at milking time.

Of the 60 farmers, only eleven were feeding calves once per day and only six were using milk substitutes.

Jim comments: “I can’t understand why so few farmers feed calves once a day. It’s a well proven system, the calves grow just as well and it saves time at a period of the year when time is absolutely critical.

“It’s not unusual for farmers to rear much better calves on once-a-day feeding because they can put more time into the

Our cover this month features the New Zealand wholemilk biscuit. New developments in the manufacture of the biscuit will boost production five-fold for commercial sales.

operation. They have more time to clean equipment and to check calves for scours and other disorders.”

PEACEFUL HAUNT

I wonder how many women live in a solid, roomy old farmhouse built in the early years of this century? I have just returned from a holiday in such a house, which my daughter has rented for a time.

Everything about the old home delighted me; the three gables with those ornamental spikes adorning the points, the bow windows in the main front room, the pink embossed glass in the front door, and the fretted wooden arch half-way down the hall. I loved the vast rooms and high ceilings; my daughter’s king-sized “fridge” and freezer are quite lost in the enormous kitchen.

In every room there are sash windows.

These caused me one or two tremors, for I always remember the story of the poor old lady, alone in her house, who was caught by a sudden descending pane and, half guillotined, called out piteously for a couple of hours before anyone came to the rescue. - Anjo Thanks to the Hocken Library, Dunedin.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

DairyNZ consulting officers

September Events

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

DairyNZ AGM Wednesday 21 October 2020, Hotel Ashburton, 11-35 Racecourse Road, Ashburton. From 6 pm.

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

Eastern Bay of Plenty

Andrew Reid

027 292 3682

Central Bay of Plenty

Kevin McKinley

027 288 8238

Bay of Plenty

Lower North Island – Head: Rob Brazendale 021 683 139 Taranaki

Free farm ready training

Discover Dairy

your future in

Find out more about our campaign

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

Hawke's Bay

Gray Beagley

021 286 4346

Northern Manawatu/Wanganui/Woodville

Rob Brazendale

021 683 139

Central Manawatu/Rangitikei

Charlotte Grayling

027 355 3764

Lower North Island

to support Kiwis who may have lost their job due to Covid-19 through free practical farm training, and how to recruit a newlytrained career changer at dairynz.co.nz/godairy.

Order your soil guide today

South Island – Head: Tony Finch 027 706 6183

DairyNZ has updated its Pocket guide to determine soil risk for farm

Top of South Island/West Coast

dairy effluent application. This guide takes you step by step through

Nelson/Marlborough

Mark Shadwick

021 287 7057

West Coast

Angela Leslie

021 277 2894

Regional Leader

Rachael Russell

027 261 3250

North Canterbury

Amy Chamberlain

027 243 0943

Central Canterbury

Alice Reilly

027 3798 069

Mid Canterbury

Stuart Moorhouse

027 513 7200

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

If you’ve shifted farm or changed your supply company,

South Otago

Guy Michaels

021 302 034

make sure you’ll still receive your copy of Inside Dairy – visit

Northern/Central Southland

Nicole E Hammond

021 240 8529

dairynz.co.nz/address and let us know your new details.

Eastern Southland

Nathan Nelson

021 225 6931

Western Southland

Leo Pekar

027 211 1389

the process of understanding the soil risk for your farm.

Order at dairynz.co.nz.

Canterbury/North Otago

Events Find out what’s happening near you at dairynz.co.nz/events.

Southland/South Otago

Change of address

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020

Z

0800 4 DairyNZ (0800 4 324 7969) I dairynz.co.nz WITH DAIR

YN

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Q. Have you got everything in order?

A.

There's always room for improvement

Mating season’s not too far away, so if you’re scrabbling around for ways to improve your AI rates, you can’t go past LIC’s Heat Detection patches. You can spot them a paddock away. Identify your girls in heat and accelerate their chances of getting in-calf. Reduce your missed heats, get a tighter calving spread and enjoy increased productivity.

Easy to apply, easy to buy, make LIC Heat Patches part of your winning line up.

KINGST_1290_NZDE_A

Get your order in today, while there’s still time by calling your LIC Agri Manager or buying online at shop.lic.co.nz

lic.co.nz/heat-detection 92

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2020