Learn, grow, excel
October 2020
TOP HEAP DBOY 2020 WINNERS Improving through benchmarking Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz
|
WHY ARE MY COWS GOING BLIND? October 2020
ways to reduce nitrogen
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
DESIRE FOR IMPROVEMENT LEADS TO DBOY WIN p24
CONTENTS MILKING PLATFORM 10 Anne-Marie Wells performs magic with her wand 11 Winter crops help save soil for Carla Staples 12 Loss of a livestock carrier strikes close to home for Alex Lond 13 Niall McKenzie enjoys coffee calves and cleaning
34 A PLANTAIN NO-BRAINER
UPFRONT 14 Lifestyle blocks - a boon or scourge? 20 Global Dairy - Trade deals hinder Canadians 21 Dairy NZ - Sharing view with future decision makers 22 Market View - Fonterra returns to profit
BUSINESS 25 Desire for improvement leads to DBOY win 30 From Sydney for success back home
SYSTEMS 34 A plantain no-brainer 37 Project farmers blaze a plantain trail
50 SINGING THE PRAISES OF DAIRYING Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Special Report:
SPECIAL REPORT: Top of the heap - through training and education
TOP HEAP
39 Making a name for himself 44 Kiwis seek rural training 48 Learning with VARK
of the
50 Singing the praises of dairying 52 The making of Mark and Measure 55 Pandemic helps steer students 56 New AB techs wanted 57 Dairy lifestyle attracts newcomers to GoDairy
ENVIRONMENT 58 Wearing the nitrogen cap
through training and education
61 Portugal - Dairying in a very dry climate
STOCK
39 Making a name for himself 44 Kiwis seek rural training 48 Learning with VARK 50 Singing the praises of dairying 52 The making of Mark and Measure 55 Pandemic helps steer students 56 New AB techs wanted 57 Dairy lifestyle attracts newcomers to GoDairy
64 Health conscious for cattle and people 68 Thiamine - Why are my cows going blind? 70 Vet Voice - Cows not cycling? Check ovary health
WELLBEING
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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034-041 DXP 1020.indd 38
71 Choosing to be lucky 30/09/20 10:06 AM
72 When you lose your favourite shirt
YOUNG COUNTRY 74 Selling stock takes good relationship
DAIRY 101 76 Get involved with your catchment group 58 WEARING THE NITROGEN CAP
RESEARCH WRAP 78 Validating the OAD journey
SOLUTIONS 80 Tried, tested and proven heat detection 81 Zanda award to split for 2021
OUR STORY 82 The Dairy Exporter in 1970
COVER:
64 HEALTH CONSCIOUS FOR CATTLE AND PEOPLE
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Floyd Fenn is our coverboy, a young man from Shannon keen and engaged in dairy training to get him to the top of the heap (p39). Photo by Brad Hanson
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DAIRY DIARY October 12 – Your Farm Business Future
the dairy industry. This event is being held in
to farmers on September 21. For details about
is a workshop organised by Dairy Women’s
Whangarei between 10.30am and 1pm. Other
the election visit https://electionz.com/
Network, which focuses on succession planning
dates/locations: October 15, Awakeri; October
and preparing the next generation for farming
20, Stratford; October 21, Pahiatua. For more
and farm ownership. The workshops, delivered
information visit www.smallerherds.co.nz
by ASB Bank and NZ CA*, includes strategic
dairynz2020
October 27 – “Making the most of your surplus” is a SMASH event being run in
planning, succession options, common
October 15 – NAIT and OSPRI are holding
challenges and how to have courageous
an interactive workshop in Gore in partnership
conversations with strategic stakeholders. This
with Dairy Women’s Network. The workshops,
workshop is being held in Pukekohe between
being held around the country, cover the
November 3 – Tech Talk and Eradicating BVD
10am and 1pm. Dates and locations for further
fundamentals of NAIT and understanding
is a practical, onfarm workshop being held near
workshops: October 13, North Canterbury;
the importance of traceability. For further
Waimate. It focuses on technology as a game
October 13, King Country; October 16,
information visit https://www.dwn.co.nz/
changer, and on the importance of the BVD
Pukeatua between 10.30 and 1pm. For more details visit www.smallerherds.co.nz
Manawatu; October 22, Wairarapa; October
espresso_events/nait-basics-taranaki/. Dates
dairy framework. The workshop runs between
27, Taranaki; October 28, South Waikato;
and locations for other workshops: October
10am and 1pm. For further information visit
November 2, Taupo; November 2, West Coast;
16, Omakau in Otago; October 20, Rotorua;
https://www.dwn.co.nz/espresso_events/
November 17, South Canterbury. For further
October 20, Reefton on West Coast; October
information visit www.dwn.co.nz.
tech-talk-and-eradicating-bvd-north-otago/.
28, Te Kauwhata in Waikato; October 29,
Dates and locations for other workshops:
Dunsandel in Canterbury; October 30, Orari in
November 5, Manawatu; November 5,
Canterbury; November 3, Edgecumbe.
Southland; November 5, Waipa; November 18,
October 13 - A Farm Systems of the Future field day, run by DairyNZ, is being held in
South Waikato; December 1, Kaipara.
Hinds, Canterbury. Another field day will be
October 16 – Primary ITO is running Milk
held on October 20 in the Selwyn district. For
Quality One near Dunsandel in Canterbury,
further information visit https://www.dairynz.
November 11 – New Zealand Grassland
which is a two-day programme designed to
Association is planning online events this
upskill team members involved in milking.
year with a series of webinars beginning on
It demonstrates best practice for collecting,
November 11. For more details visit
handling and storing milk to maximise business
www.grassland.org.nz
co.nz/events/canterburynorth-otago/farmsystems-of-the-future-field-day-hinds
October 14 – Position your Business for
returns. For details on the programme contact
Success is a free event, organised by Smaller
Mindy Edwards on 03 3088240.
November 20 – Rural Women New Zealand’s
Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH), which shows
annual general meeting and NZI Rural Women
you how to analyse your business so you can
October 20 – Electronic and postal voting
NZ Business Awards 2020 are being held in
maximise your returns and set structures in
closes for the DairyNZ election of two farmer-
Wellington. For more information visit
place so it adapts to ongoing changes in
elected directors. Voting papers were mailed
www.ruralwomennz.nz
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Editor’s note
BIG TICK
E
for training
ducation is never wasted and it’s never been cheaper. And it seems its time has come - the perfect storm of Covid-19, the migrant workforce being shut out and loss of jobs in other sectors has awoken young people to the need and availability of training, and it’s an exciting time for the sector with a huge uptick in training. The Apprenticeship Boost programme subsidises employers for taking on apprentices actively training - to the tune of $16,000 per apprentice, over 20 months. That’s a no-brainer if you are taking on a new worker - sign them up for a fees-free apprenticeship and gain the wage subsidy and an engaged and learning employee at the same time. Floyd Fenn is a focused young man on his way to the top of the heap - he has a plan of his life goals and is undertaking the training on and off the farm to get himself there (p39). (He was also a good sport about lying on top of the silage heap so we could grab our arty cover shot!) Thanks Floyd. Training and recruitment company NZ Dairy Careers in Canterbury have seen a huge upswing in trainees with more than
1000 people registering their interest in a rural retraining programme and many having gone through the training and been placed in jobs on farms. Read more about them and some of their amazing career-changing stories on pg44. Dairy NZ are also getting many interesting people attending their GoDairy courses and finding roles in the industry (p50). Lincoln University has also had a 30% lift on the same time last year in domestic student applications for some degrees and good increases in diploma enrolments with the fees-free policy for course costs. Chris Neill takes a look at the DairyNZ Mark and Measure course - rated as the best professional development they have undertaken for building their business by a number of recent participants (p52). Research in 2017 by economic think tank BERL found an apprenticeship just as lucrative across a lifetime as a university education, and miles ahead of no education at all past school - so for both employers and employees it’s a no-brainer - get involved in free, wage-subsidised training - its good for you, good for the sector and for the economy.
NZ Dairy Exporter @YoungDairyED @DairyExporterNZ @nzdairyexporter
Sneak peek
NOVEMBER 2020 ISSUE
• Special report: Hot Science • What’s hot and happening in research? • How are farmers going to meet the wintering rules? • How the Pickett family drove down N and P leaching on their Morrinsville farm. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 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 Chris Neill, P: 027 249 1186 waipuvian@gmail.com
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
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 hosted online webinars on calf rearing, you can check them out here: https://www.dwn.co.nz/product/successful-calfrearing-webinar-series/
www.facebook.com/MeatTheNeedNZ
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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MILK PAYOUT TRACKER:
2020/2021 Fonterra forecast price 7
$/kg MS
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/
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6.91 6.50
6.50
6.50
Average $6.55/kg MS 6.35
6.50
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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www.nzfarmlife.co.nz NZ Dairy Exporter @DairyExporterNZ
Printing & Distribution: Printers: Ovato New Zealand Single issue purchases: www.nzfarmlife.co.nz/shop ISSN 2230-2697 (Print) ISSN 2230-3057 (Online)
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
TF
TOW AND Fert
REDUCING THEIR NITROGEN
Align Farms drops under the 190 Units N/Ha limitation one year before they need to. Rhys Roberts, CEO of Align Farms, knew they needed to change their nutrient programme. He and his team changed to foliar application, using a Tow and Fert across the company’s five dairy farms. They reduced their Nitrogen inputs, grew more grass, and produced more milk one year before the government regulations kick in. LEARN HOW ALIGN FARMS ACHIEVED THE FOLLOWING:
Reduced their ‘N’ inputs across their farms by up to 33% Went from a farm average of 246 units ‘N’ per ha to 173 units ‘N’ per ha Reduced their milk urea from 20 to 25mg/dl to between 3 and 5mg/dl
Read the FULL Case Study.
“The Tow and Fert system is versatile, pragmatic and does everything that we need it to do”. Rhys Roberts CEO, Align Farms
Or watch the videos www.towandfert.co.nz/align
N, P, K
GROW MORE GRASS
REDUCE INPUTS
SAVE TIME
SAVE MONEY
TOW AND FERT: THERE IS ONE FOR YOUR FARM CALL 0800 337 747 FOR A FREE ON-FARM DEMO For a FREE on-farm demo
www.towandfert.co.nz
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
CALL 0800 337 747 or email us at dairy@towandfarm.co.nz 9
MILKING PLATFORM OTAGO
Left: Anne-Marie is using the new wand like a boss and appreciating the time-saving and accuracy benefits of the technology.
Avoiding errors in reading cow tags Anne-Marie Wells waves her wand and EIDs appear magically on the screen.
A
t the end of last season we bought a wand to read EIDs. We had been thinking about it for a while and, because we would use it only a couple of times a year, wondered if it justified the cost. I suppose it depends how you measure cost, but in my view it paid for itself on the first use when we sent cows away to winter grazing. Usually we make a note of all the cow numbers as they head onto the truck. At this point it’s not unusual to misread or miswrite the odd number, then those numbers are entered into the computer where there’s a second chance to do the 10
same. This time the cows were scanned as they went onto the truck, and when I plugged the device into the computer, all I had to do was open the group and select to do a NAIT transfer – I didn’t even need to log on to the NAIT website. The real gem for me was when it came to selling our Hereford calves. I used to have to note all the numbers, find the piece of paper with the numbers on, log into the NAIT website, find the numbers in my unregistered animals, register them, then move them. I have just done it through the wand. I scanned the EIDs, plugged in the wand, registered and transferred them,
and the whole process took less than five minutes. I think part of the reason I am so excited about this is because I have spent the last two months feeling fairly inadequate out on the farm, and it is nice to have something I feel good at. Because of my background I find the paperwork side of the farm easy and (dare I say it) enjoyable. I have good systems in place – if the numbers don’t add up I enjoy the challenge of working out why – and the work suits me because it is predictable and systematic. Plus, nothing is going to die if I get the GST wrong. Out on the farm, particularly in spring, things aren’t as predictable. The day-to-day routine follows the same pattern, but the detail changes with any number of things such as the weather, the number of people available to do the job, or whether the cows/calves/children are co-operating that day. While I am keen to help, I am not able to attach implements to the tractor and I’m not the fastest at moving stock. Plus, if I hold a bag of CalproMag the wrong way, something might actually die. That busy time of year often gets me thinking about the many different ways we ladies are involved in the farming lifestyle. There is a spectrum that ranges from completely running a farm to having an off-farm job. It’s tempting to look over the fence and wonder if you have it right. Should I be doing more out on the farm? Should I stop my involvement so I don’t have to drag the kids out farming on the weekend? Every farming family is different, making it unfair to compare our situations. When our youngest started school, Duncan and I looked at whether I should move to be full-time on the farm and made the conscious decision not to employ me. I didn’t get the job. I kept the job of farm office and farm backup. And while I may not be able to attach implements to the tractor, I can attach a document to an email and I do like the speed with which I can now move our stock – in NAIT that is.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
MILKING PLATFORM WEST COAST
Pugging rules difficult for the West Coast Grazing winter crops helps save pasture and limit soil damage on Carla Staples’ farm.
A
lot has happened since we wrote our last article. Calving is almost over, and spring is well and truly here. Covid-19 has re-emerged in the community and, although it was in Auckland, it has affected the whole country with the South Island again being put back into Level 2 even though there had been no cases in the south. Another big event on the horizon is the upcoming election and the growing list of new policies each party is presenting to us to ensure we vote for them. There have been some very interesting policies flashed about by some. Currently, the biggest issue for New Zealand farmers would have to be the new freshwater legislation that the current government has rolled out – it has certainly been a talking point in our household and amongst friends. The nitrogen limit and crop resowing dates are not the biggest issue for us, although we will have to reduce our nitrogen use slightly. The biggest issue will be around the pugging rules. As everyone knows it can get quite wet on the Coast. From May until October things can be quite challenging as far as soil and pasture management go. Having these winter crops enables us to conserve pasture and limit soil damage to just the three paddocks we crop instead of any paddock we graze over winter/spring when the weather is too wet. To limit pugging to 50% of the paddock, let alone a depth of 5cm on our soils, would mean the cows would have to stand/sit on concrete/gravel for up to 23 hours a day, and on top of this we would
have to buy in a considerable amount of silage to feed them while they are on the pad. We have looked into covering the feedpad and turning it into a compostingbarn style enclosure, and it’s something we will consider in the future. But even if we did it and we still grew the winter crops and lifted them to feed in the barn, the ground conditions we experience over this period would make it near impossible. Walking through a paddock in our gumboots after a rain event here would leave tread marks deeper than 5 cm let alone driving machinery in it. We understand why the government wants to improve the effect cropping has on the environment, but using a blanket approach is not the way forward. What works for Northland certainly won’t work for Southland or the West Coast. The Coast
Getting winter crop paddocks reseeded in mid-September has been a miracle on the West Coast this year.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
A sunny day on the Coast, but Carla is worried about the new pugging rules on their farm walking in gumboots on a paddock after a rain event can leave tread marks deeper than 5cm!
already has some of the cleanest waterways in New Zealand and most farmers here are going above and beyond to keep them that way. A lot of thought goes into the planning of our winter crops regarding run-off and proximity to waterways to limit any effect we have on water quality. We bought our farm three years ago so we could run the farm the way we wanted, but it seems as though the government is trying to take this away from us. No doubt this discussion is going on in most farming households throughout New Zealand – it’s certainly a hot topic at the moment and it will be interesting to see whether there are any more changes made to this legislation over the coming months as the farming community gives the current government some much-needed feedback. Farmwise, the spring has been pretty straightforward so far compared with last season. Calving went very smoothly and the cows have been milking very well. We just need a bit more sun and warmth and the grass will be away. We also managed to get two of our winter crop paddocks sown in grass in midSeptember, which was a bit of a miracle considering the weather over that period. We also had a new backing gate installed at the cowshed in August, which has made milking a lot smoother. Before we know it we’ll be back into mating again. 11
MILKING PLATFORM SOUTH WAIKATO
Plenty of calves - what to do with them?
When tragedy strikes afar The loss of a livestock carrier with more than 40 crew and 5800 cattle aboard is close to home for Alex Lond.
D
uring the calving season, news from the outside world generally takes a back seat for most dairy farmers, who have more than enough on their plate without worrying about the world’s problems as well. But this has been an extraordinary year, and at the beginning of September a tragic event occurred that directly affected New Zealand’s dairy industry. On September 2 the ship Gulf Livestock 1 capsized and sank during a typhoon on its journey from New Zealand to China with 5800 cattle onboard and more than 40 crew members. Now, the Government has temporarily suspended all live export trade, with it looking increasingly likely that they will be banned altogether in the future. As my knowledge on this topic grew, my concerns for the animals and indeed the future of live exports increased rapidly. On the last farm I managed, nearly half of our replacement heifers were destined for export, and although at the time I was 12
not the biggest supporter of the idea, it cannot be denied it is a practical solution to reducing bobby calves each year onfarm. With more and more farmers trying to get away from bobby calves, one of the obvious alternatives has become sexed semen, which allows the farmer to handpick cows that they want replacement heifers from, as well as reducing the amount of bull calves produced. This season, after sexed semen was used last mating on my herd, we have double the replacement heifers reared in the 2019/20 season – 105 in comparison to 55, and other farmers I have spoken to in the area have said that they are in a similar situation. So where, if not overseas, are we to sell our surplus AI heifers? In the Waikato this season there haven’t even been enough buyers for our bull calves (we had Angus bulls here, with the cows producing good beef calves long after buyers had filled their quotas) so I doubt everyone has been able to find a buyer for any additional heifer calves as well.
China offers premium prices for NZ’s dairy cattle, and although I am sure I am not the only one who has reservations about sending our homegrown livestock overseas, to have the option removed entirely would be detrimental to our industry. Three weeks later, thousands of cattle are still awaiting export to China and face an ever-increasing risk of being sent to slaughter instead, as the cost of the wait in pre-export isolation continues to increase. As well, all searches have been called off for the 40 missing crew members, and the NZ government are failing to co-operate and help the families of the two missing Kiwis who are desperate for any kind of search to be resumed. A very dear friend of mine is a close friend of Lochie Bellerby, one of the missing men, and I know how hard they are all trying to help find these crew members who still have every chance of being alive. If you can find the time, please research the appeals of the families of the men on board and sign the petition to help persuade the NZ and Australian governments to resume the search. www.change.org/p/australian-departmentof-foreign-affairs-resume-the-search-for-gulflivestock-1-survivors?
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
MILKING PLATFORM NORTHLAND
Left: Niall with the calves.
Coffee, calves and cleaning Niall McKenzie is really enjoying his second season on the farm.
12th September 2020 Dear Diary,
T
he alarm went off this morning at 3.45am, and I was incredibly happy not to get up straight away. It was Saturday, and Delwyn was on farm jobs with me for the weekend. She is currently filling in at a local school for one of the teachers who is about to calve. We got up, had two coffees each, I had five Weetbix, and Del updated the calving details from the last couple of days and Best on Farm Practice. QCONZ are coming on Tuesday for their annual visit. I wonder
what they will moan about this time. I have really enjoyed spring, especially the beef calves, hardly any going to bobbies – so cute and easy to rear, and a lot more resilient than dairy AB calves. Have you ever looked at LIC’s setup? It’s so like Apple computers’. You have to use their database and software to get the most out of their products. On today’s positive note I just love being on the farm for the second season, it is so much more cruisey. You know how the infrastructure works and how to fix problems quickly. Also on the plus side we got another 26 beef calves outside today – I just love seeing them prance around!
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
13th September Great start, straight out of bed, one coffee, and on the bike. We had a big morning of waterblasting and cleaning. It doesn’t really need to be noted but Delwyn has higher expectations than me on how things should be! It takes a while to feed all calves. Got home at 11.15am, put on some different clothes, and went to Wellsford only five minutes away. Since about 10.30am I had been “running on fumes” on the thought of McDonald’s chocolate thick shake. Unfortunately, it was too popular and I wasn’t going to wait in line, so we ended with kebabs instead. As it was Sunday I focused on having my nanna nap, then worked on Best on Farm Practice. I had a great run for the afternoon milking – didn’t have to use the bum bar behind eight out of our 14 rows. The cows and heifers must be settling down after calving. Home now and on one beer and a neck as I write this. I bought a box of Lion Reds today, should last two weeks – “should” being the key performance indicator. Sad to say I want some more rain – we need it – but I am looking forward to money coming in over the next two months. Our farming company should be back in the black by 1st of November. I need to start thinking of what I am going to write about for the Dairy Exporter article due in a couple of days. I had the idea of interviewing an important person in the dairy industry and asking them some important questions. I suggested this on Facebook and asked my friends what questions to use. This is what they suggested: Chris Teal wrote: “Does a one-legged duck swim in circles? Greg Chaplin: “Why do cows have hooves instead of feet? It is because they lactose. Chris Ogle-Atkins: “What happens to a cow if it is lactose intolerant?” The best question was from Carla Preston: “What would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?” The Milky Bars are on me. 13
INSIGHT
UPFRONT LIFESTYLE BLOCKS
Rural lifestyle blocks – boon or scourge? The popularity of rural lifestyle blocks has surged since lockdown ended, but are they really good for the country? Phil Edmonds looks at the pros and cons.
L
ast month the Real Estate Institute of NZ reported the number of lifestyle block properties sold across the country was the highest ever in the three months ended August 2020. According to the agents on the ground, the demand is only likely to escalate along with the prices. Naturally, farmers in the right place at the right time will be thinking seriously about how they might capitalise on this. But as with the recent experience of productive land being sold for forestry plantations, there’s an abundance of tension around balancing the rights 14
of those taking land out of production for immediate economic gain, and the collective need to protect New Zealand’s most versatile, productive land for the purposes of growing food for export and being our economic saviour from Covid-19 calamity. Lifestyle block development is nothing new, and nor is its attraction to both buyers and those in a position to sell it. Concern about the unchecked expansion of this market has, however, set in particularly as interest has widened from the negative environmental consequences of development (the long-
standing campaign to protect wetlands, for example) to the wider economic loss (calls to protect our productive natural assets). It is alarming, but not unsurprising, to find that in the last 25 years NZ farmland has lost 17% (2.2 million hectares) of its total area. In 2018, the total area dedicated to farms was 13.7m ha, and has almost certainly diminished more since then. A small part of that loss has gone into arable fodder crops and horticulture, but much more has been dedicated to housing NZ’s growing population – which between 1996 and 2013 increased 19% and has, of course, escalated further since.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
‘I’m seeing people who are happy to be stuck in the back of beyond. There is still huge demand at the bottom end of the market, where properties are not as close to amenities. Prices reflect that, and the lower prices obviously have an appeal.’
A comprehensive Ministry for the Environment report on NZ land use based on census data up to 2017 starkly identified urban expansion as eating into NZ’s most versatile or “high class” land, ideal for many potential agricultural uses. Delving deeper into understanding what form of development has taken place on those premium soils, the report noted the creation of lifestyle blocks on the fringes of urban areas pose a greater risk to the availability of high quality soil resources for the primary sector than does urban expansion. As far back as 2013, lifestyle blocks had already occupied 10% of NZ’s high-class land, and in the Auckland region, 35% of the most versatile land. The Government finally took note of the call to stop the country’s most productive land from slipping into urban development last year when Environment Minister David Parker announced that a nationwide National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land would be introduced. While the consultation was held at the end of 2019,
REINZ rural spokesperson Brian Peacocke.
further development of the policy has been delayed due to MPI resources being redirected to the Covid-19 recovery. That represents a welcome signal of change ahead. Meanwhile, the lifestyle block market is enduring what REINZ rural spokesperson Brian Peacocke refers to as “an adrenaline rush”. The number of lifestyle block properties sold across the country reached 2512 for the third quarter this year, 556 more than in the same three months in 2019, representing a 28% uplift. Part of this this was put down to buyers catching up after the lockdown lull, but there is also an emerging sense that it represents a
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
refreshed desire to live life in the country, particularly as technology is making working from home viable. In its regular commentary on the market, REINZ suggested “Covid-19 has been a strong catalyst for many people to make the leap they’ve been talking about for years”. While different regions have different lifestyle block profiles, the upward trend in sales has been more or less uniform across the country. Auckland (+190 sales) and Canterbury (+151 sales) have seen the biggest boom. Waikato rural property agent, Bayleys’ Mike Fraser-Jones, says he’s seeing plenty of people from Auckland now considering lifestyle as an option, but there is interest from all areas, including the influx of New Zealanders returning from overseas looking at alternative options to city living. As a result, Fraser-Jones is confident the market will peak a lot higher than where it is now. But the lifestyle market is not just about demand. Like other housing markets in recent years, much of the activity has been 15
driven by supply factors, and Fraser-Jones notes that this is a big constraint. “Demand is so far ahead of supply. The only thing holding up a really big burst is a shortage of properties.” Peacocke agrees demand is robust but there may be more nuanced factors making an impression, along with changes to bank lending criteria. REINZ data shows that, until recently, lifestyle block property sales have been relatively stable (at least in the middle of the year) since they last peaked in 2016. “Possible reasons why sales have not got back to where they were is tighter bank policies on lending where the rural lifestyle category differed from urban residential property. There are also wider cyclical reasons, based on the length of time people stay on lifestyle blocks. Families often face pressures to move closer to cities and towns once children grow up and require more frequent access to different amenities.” So, what of supply. Farmers are of course the ones with the land to ultimately determine that. Who is well placed to capitalise? To some extent it depends on what life stage farmers are at. For those nearing the end of their active farming lives and thinking about family succession, parcelling off some of the farm can be an attractive option to release capital to the next generation while not having a material effect on the farm’s economic 16
Waikato rural property agent, Bayleys’ Mike Fraser-Jones.
North Canterbury Federated Farmers president Cameron Henderson.
proposition. There are also those who are similarly long established and now facing the prospect of extensive capital investment to improve their farm environmental performance. They may contemplate an opportunity to decommission their productive capacity by selling blocks, and in so doing allow them to stay on the farm. Other farmers may be in positions where an opportunity to reduce debt through a lifestyle block sale could make their existing farm operation more financially sustainable.
As to whether there’s any limit to who can participate in that, Fraser-Jones is confident there’s opportunities for all. Contrary to popular thinking, not everyone looking at lifestyle block options wants to be close to town boundaries. “I’m seeing people who are happy to be stuck in the back of beyond. There is still huge demand at the bottom end of the market, where properties are not as close to amenities. Prices reflect that, and the lower prices obviously have an appeal.” Strongest demand is for those properties with a better balance between living at a slower pace, having peace and quiet in a country environment, but at the same time being within reach of schools and amenities including decent internet access, which those moving out of town consider more essential. On the face of it, the high demand does look favourable for those considering slicing a hectare or two off their farms for a nice windfall. But if it sounds simple, it’s less likely to be the case indefinitely. There are plenty of signs that non-market influences will disrupt the supply and demand dynamic – not least councils playing catch up with regulatory oversight. While the Government’s intention to act on restricting the development of high-class land has shaded the potential for farmers with elite soils cashing in, councils are looking far more closely at long-term environmental hazards and, in some instances, disruptions to rural character that could easily hinder the development of much more than just very productive land. Flood risk, coastal erosion and storm surges might not be on the radar of developers, but they certainly are on the minds of councils now, particularly those that have had to cope with paying off the effects of 1-in-100-year weather events. Repurposing land can have implications on a council’s financial ability to deal with the aftermath of an event and they’re increasingly taking a conservative view on such risks. This is not just on land that might be considered prone to hazards. Fraser-Jones believes councils are becoming over cautious. He fully supports tighter controls on chopping up good
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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productive farms but loosening the reins on poorer quality land that may be marginally productive would help alleviate the acceleration in demand. Councils have also belatedly become far more mindful of planning ahead rather than facing the cost of retrofitting infrastructure needs like flood protection and maintenance of water quality, which as a result has effectively curbed the “freefor-all”. Developments in North Canterbury have provided a good example of this where the Waimakariri District Council has set out to manage the demand for lifestyle block properties and the quality of supply through its Rural Residential Development Strategy. As part of its long-term planning, the council has anticipated steady growth in the number of additional households it expects to accommodate and is expecting an increase of nearly 400 new rural residential homes over the next 10 years. It wants to manage the demand for semirural living efficiently by identifying “clustered” locations for development, which helps manage the balance of rural land for primary production and rural character purposes. Fraser-Jones agrees on this score, even though it forms an impediment to some farmers realising the potential value of their land. “You don’t want pock-marked farms everywhere, which can damage the residual value of farms in a given area. Lifestyle blocks collected in a corner are going to be preferable to their being dotted all along a road.” In implementing this strategy the Waimakariri District Council has enabled lifestyle block growth, but constrained it by excluding locations from development deemed to be “within high flood hazard areas, not connected to existing residential nodes or small settlements, or not able to connect to the network scheme for wastewater.” With all that in mind, is there any sense 18
of a consensus among farmers on lifestyle block development? Just as with the recent increase in farmland being sold for forestry plantations, reactions from farmers to the prospect of more infiltration of lifestyle blocks on the landscape will inevitably be mixed. What is good for one farmer may not be so for his or her neighbours. As for farming communities at the centre of land change away from productive use, any adverse views might be tempered if the land remains well looked after and maintained. North Canterbury Federated Farmers president Cameron Henderson has seen the Waimakariri lifestyle block expansion emerge around him. He says the developments in the region to date have come from the break-up of productive land, but there is less concern among farmers if the land continues to be cared for. “What we don’t want is farming’s reputation damaged, especially by the sight of skinny, underfed-looking animals in a paddock, for example, or untidy looking blocks. If these blocks are managed well, farmers are not concerned. But if the new owners are not from the land and are not used to seeking advice from consultants on farm management practices, for example, it can be a recipe for unfavourable outcomes.” Unlike the impact of forestry plantations, however, there is certainly
Keith Vallabh, former Vegetables NZ Inc chairman, farms on the high-value horticultural soils of Pukekohe.
an upside for rural communities with the added commercial facilities and amenities they attract. Cameron says the Mandeville shopping area in the Waimakariri District wouldn’t have been built without the lifestyle block development there. Schools are also revived with a greater concentration of people in rural areas. “Mandeville represents an example of lifestyle blocks having a positive impact, and it would be good to recognise what has worked well there and understand how it can be replicated in terms of farm size and community facilities. “If there’s more consideration around what the benefits are, it will make lifestyle block subdivision successful rather than just ‘I’ve got a farm, I’m going to chop it up into four-hectare blocks and sell to the highest bidder’. It’s too crude to continue with that mentality.”
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Pasture & Forage News
October 2020
Protect your daughters How are your pastures looking in the lead-up to summer? The #1 aid to pasture persistence is to have thick, healthy pastures before summer arrives, because once conditions turn hot and dry, your management options become limited.
Setting up summer chicory crops for bumper yields and grazing With warming soil temperatures, summer crops of 501 Chicory will soon be in the ground, if they are not already. As well as providing palatable, high quality, multi-graze feed for lactating cows, this cultivar has excellent DM yield potential. Your 501 chicory crop should be in the ground - or nearly in the ground - by now, and if it’s not the longer it’s delayed the longer it will be available for utilising. To get the most from your 501 crop, you want to have no competition for nutrients, light and water from weeds. Controlling the weeds when they are small will reduce the potential impact of those weeds on the 501 crop. Seek specialist advice before applying any crop protection to ensure you are targeting the right species. Chicory usually germinates quickly, but young plants then seem to sit and look like they’re not doing much for about four weeks. Don’t worry. They are putting energy into the development of their deep
tap root, which helps them tolerate dry spells over summer better than ryegrass through greater access to soil moisture and nutrients. 501 Chicory crops should be ready to graze when the plants have seven or eight leaves. Keep an eye on them, because they will reach this stage quicker than other cultivars. Cows should go onto the crop when it’s 30 cm high, and be taken off when they have grazed it down to 3 cm. Care needs to be taken in wet conditions to avoid damaging the crown of the plant.
Are your pastures in good shape after the spring growth flush, or could they use some attention to ensure they are well-prepared for the summer? Right now, the best thing you can do is maintain consistent residuals, removing seedheads as early as possible, so your ryegrass reverts to producing the all-important daughter tillers. Those daughter tillers are what you will milk off in summer, autumn and next season. And they help your pastures last longer - if they don’t survive, ryegrass tiller numbers will drop. Pastures will thin out. Thin pasture is susceptible to weed invasion. This is where crops like 501 Chicory shine, because they allow you to lengthen your grazing rotation round, and helps prevent existing pastures from getting bared out. When cows are eating 501 Chicory, they’re giving your ryegrass a break, and that’s good for long-term pasture resilience and survival.
It establishes well from minimum tillage or direct drilling, and can be renewed into autumn pastures the same way, reducing soil cultivation and associated risk of soil N and P loss, and protecting fragile soils.
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GLOBAL DAIRY CANADA
Trade deals hinder Canadian dairy farmers Eager to please US negotiators, the Canadian government signed trade agreements that allow more dairy imports and remove Canadian farmers’ right to manage their products, as Anne Cote explains.
C
anadian dairyfarmers are Trade Agreement (CETA) followed in gambling that their newest 2019 and the most contentious of the marketing initiative, the three, CUSMA followed in 2020. All three Blue Cow logo, will persuade aggressively attacked Canada’s supply Canadians to support Canadian dairy and management system. leave imports on the store shelves. Canadian producers went to work to The result of the most recent trade protect that system. They put aside the talks between Canada, Mexico and the differences that had kept the industry United States is the new Canada-United divided into east and west sectors, States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), which developed a consumer education came into force on July 1, 2020, replacing campaign, and presented a united front the former North American Free Trade as they lobbied the federal government to Agreement. protect their supply management system CUSMA left a sour taste in the mouths as it stood. of many of Canada’s dairy producers. Still, the federal government in It raises the quantity of milk and milk Canada, keen on mollifying potential products the US is allowed to import into trade partners, appeared ready to legislate Canada, and, according to some, an end to supply management. gives the US too much leeway Although they weren’t successful in defining milk and milkin dismantling the system, they based products, taking away managed to undermine it by Canadian producers’ right to allowing increased imports. manage their own product. The first bite took a toll on For decades Canadian cheese sales. Through CETA, dairy producers have worked Canada gave 28 European Anne Cote under a supply management countries an opportunity to ship system, which, for the most part, thousands of pounds of additional satisfied the needs of the domestic market. cheese into Canada. Every sale of Occasionally domestic demand would imported cheese was a loss for Canadian increase sharply as it did for butter a few cheese. years ago. When Canadian producers The 11,000 Canadian producers were couldn’t meet the demand, butter was furious. But, being law-abiding folks, they imported. Leading export countries like rolled up their sleeves and pulled together the US began to view Canada as a lucrative to develop a marketing campaign aimed market for their excess milk products at educating Canadian consumers about if only the supply management system the dependability and quality of Canadian could be eliminated. products. The first tangible result was the Trade negotiators involved in the “little blue cow” logo that now adorns Comprehensive and Progressive Transalmost every Canadian dairy product. Pacific Partnership (CPTPP, 2018) were However, they lost ground to CUSMA. the first to attempt to convince Canada The US dictated the elimination of two to scrap the supply management system Canadian milk classifications and allowed for dairy, poultry and eggs and open the the import of US diafiltered, or double Canadian market to imports. processed, milk into Canada. The Comprehensive Economic and The fight isn’t over. Initial data indicates 20
Safe and warm inside: Calves at Bles-Wold Dairy Inc near Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.
consumers now actively look for the Blue Cow logo when buying dairy products because they are interested in where their products originate and like the idea of supporting Canadian milk producers. David Weins, Vice President of Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC), the national policy and lobbying group, and a staunch proponent of supply management, continues to tell dairy producers that, despite the setbacks in recent trade agreements, the Canadian dairy industry has a vision for the future and that future includes supply management. “We won’t let CUSMA bring us down... Trump may have won this battle but the war’s not over,” Weins says.
Anne Cote is a new contributor to the Dairy Exporter, writing a regular Global Dairy column on the state of dairy in Canada and USA. Based in Canada, she has been a journalist since 2004, branching out into agriculture both provincially and nationally in 2006. She has been primarily involved in covering dairy in her home province of Manitoba, Canada and has travelled extensively visiting farms in the U.S., Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand and South Africa as well as throughout Canada.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
INSIGHT
UPFRONT DAIRYNZ
Sharing your views with future decision makers Words by: Dr Tim Mackle, DairyNZ Chief Executive
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ith an election just around the corner, DairyNZ has been actively working to represent your views to politicians across the spectrum. We have seen in past elections that a range of issues affecting dairy farmers has become politicised during the campaign season. This election, DairyNZ aimed to bring forward the real issues affecting dairy farmers and stimulate discussion among political parties about how they will address those concerns. We know that dairy has a critical role to play in New Zealand’s Covid-19 recovery, so it’s important for all Kiwis that our sector is productive and prosperous. We are New Zealand’s largest export sector and account for over a third of our total export value. We also directly support nearly 50,000 jobs – many in the regions. We know we also have a key role to play in New Zealand’s efforts to improve water quality and reduce emissions. Farmers have been taking action to play their part in these challenges.
SURVEY FINDINGS DairyNZ surveyed around 250 farmers on the outlook for their farms and communities, their concerns, their wellbeing and environmental activities. This was compiled in DairyNZ’s View from the Cowshed report. The most significant finding was that 62 percent of farmers said they – or someone on their farm – had experienced mental health issues over the past year. Farmers
said regulation changes were the biggest stressor, closely followed by financial concerns and perception of dairy by the public and in the media. Dr Tim Mackle. The survey also highlighted that broadband and mobile reception remains a significant issue, with around half of the farmers surveyed saying they don’t have the broadband or mobile coverage they need onfarm. Sixty-three percent of farmers had been impacted by drought over the past 12 months. Farmers also raised concerns that the public don’t appreciate how low carbon New Zealand dairy farming already is, and they want to see fair emissions targets.
YOUR TOP PRIORITIES Drawing on the feedback, we listed the top actions the government could take to improve outcomes for dairy farmers and for New Zealand in the View from the Cowshed. Those priorities included partnering with farmers on water quality and zero carbon requirements, and ensuring they are fair, scientifically robust and have reasonable timeframes for implementation. We also want to see the methane targets in the Zero Carbon Act reviewed to ensure they are firmly grounded in science and use a split-gas approach. A second priority is working with dairy farmers to future-proof our sector. This
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
View from the Cowshed.
includes investing in rural broadband/ mobile coverage and water storage, and reforming the Resource Management Act to reduce compliance costs. It also includes continuing to support the training of Kiwis for dairy roles and recognising the contribution of skilled migrant workers. Finally, we want to see a clear strategy and resourcing to support research that enables dairy farmers to create more value and improve profit sustainably. Our View from the Cowshed report was provided to all MPs, their advisors and media, and it’s been getting good traction. The week of its release, media asked the Prime Minister to respond to some of its insights. DairyNZ partnered with The Country radio for a political debate where Jamie Mackay put questions to the agriculture spokespeople from the four largest political parties. He asked about their positions towards dairy and how they would address farmers’ concerns. It’s great to see dairy farmers thoughts and concerns become an important part of the election debate. Following the election, DairyNZ plans to meet the incoming government to highlight the things that are important to farmers and advocate for them to prioritise addressing these issues. • To read the View from the Cowshed report and view the debate visit dairynz.co.nz/ publications/dairy-industry 21
INSIGHT
UPFRONT MARKET VIEW
Fonterra returns to profit Words by: Amy Castleton
F
onterra announced its 2019-20 results in mid-September. The co-op has returned to profit, illustrating that its refreshed strategy has been the right move. Fonterra made a profit of $659 million, up $1.3 billion from the previous financial year. Fonterra did make several comments in its announcement that illustrated the second half of the year was much more difficult than the first half, owing to impacts from the pandemic. It does remain cautious, noting the outlook remains uncertain as the market continues to react to Covid-19. Fonterra confirmed its 2019-20 farmgate milk price at $7.14/kg milksolids (MS), and a dividend of five cents, bringing the total cash payout to $7.19/kg MS. This is the highest milk price Fonterra has paid since the 2013-14 season. Earnings per share were 24c, meaning Fonterra has retained 19c. However, this will allow the co-op to pay down a significant amount of debt, keeping it in good shape in the uncertain economic climate. Fonterra also announced a forecast dividend for the 2020-21 of 20 to 35c per
Packing milk powder at Fonterra’s Pahiatua plant. Demand remains stronger for milk powders than for milk fats. 22
NZX Seasonal Farmgate Milk Price forecast 7.75 7.50 7.25 7.00 6.75 6.50 6.25
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov 2019-20
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
Source: NZX
share. And it has maintained its milk price is mixed. Argentine milk production has forecast at $5.90-$6.90/kg MS. been growing, though no doubt economic The NZX milk price forecast factors will start to have some impact. for last season had ended Poor weather, along with the up at $7.09/kg MS, closely struggle to keep Covid-19 aligned with Fonterra’s contained, has seen milk actual payout. Our production fall in Brazil. forecast for the 2020-21 All in all there is plenty of season currently sits at milk to go around. However $6.78/kg MS, near the demand remains volatile. It’s upper end of Fonterra’s difficult to predict whether forecast range. businesses will be able to operate The 3.6% lift in prices at the and what demand will be at the Amy Castleton. September 15 Global Dairy Trade consumer level, making both buying (GDT) event has supported the and selling difficult. Demand remains NZX milk price. The forward view using stronger for milk powders than for milk prices for dairy commodity futures on fats, as this part of the market is a little the NZX Dairy Derivatives market is also more stable. Chinese demand pulled back reasonably positive at the time of writing, a little at the September 15 GDT event, with some increases expected through the notably for whole milk powder. However remainder of NZ’s dairy season. we expect this indicates China has Pricing for commodities will start to be completed its buying to enter product into more influenced by NZ milk production the country after January 1. From January over the next few months as we make 1 a 0% tariff applies to NZ-sourced milk our way through spring. At this stage powder, up to a safeguard level of 179,137 we look to be doing well, with cows in tonnes. China had started its typical good condition and soil moisture much buying for this earlier than usual this improved. year, to ensure there were no supply chain Milk supplies are also growing issues due to the pandemic. significantly in Australia and the United States, while the European Union is • Amy Castleton, senior dairy analyst at tracking relatively flat and South America NZX Agri. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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BUSINESS DBOY SUPREME AWARD WINNERS
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Desire for improvement leads to win After completing the DBOY farm performance analyses and entering the competition five times, a Waikato farming family has achieved the Supreme Award. Elaine Fisher explains. Photos by Emma McCarthy.
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rom losing $2million in equity during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2009, Richard and Nadine McCullough have become the Supreme Award winners for the 2020 Dairy Business of the Year (DBOY). “We bought this farm in partnership with my parents, Bruce and Wyn McCullough, in 2008. By 2009 the GFC had hit and the property dropped in value by $2million,” says Richard. “Nadine and I were carrying a heavy debt and we’d lost equity but also benefited from the interest rates drop. Obviously, equity did not matter so long as you don’t have to sell the farm or borrow more money.” However, it was tough in all ways – financially, emotionally and in sheer hard work – and it got harder again when the payout was really low for the 2014 to 2016 seasons. “It’s not easy getting up every morning knowing you are losing $1000 a day no matter how hard you work. We were fortunate that the property had a stand of pine trees we could harvest to help get us through.” Richard says had they known how difficult those first few years would be
they probably wouldn’t have bought the farm. “Now, though, there are no regrets.” Turning the business around has been a long and carefully considered process, and among the tools that have helped their success has been completing the DBOY farm performance analysis every year and entering the DBOY awards five times. Richard says the cost of the analysis is minor in the scheme of things and provides a whole-farm picture of their business, which has helped improve their financial performance over the years. “It shows us what we are doing well, what our weaknesses and our strengths are.” Last year the couple were joint runners-up in the awards, and that provided the impetus to enter one more time, targeting the supreme award. “I don’t know if we can enter again and I’m not sure that we would, but we will continue to do the report because of its value to our business. “The main reason for entering initially was not that we expected to be a finalist. It was all about selfimprovement. The report is a good
Left: Richard McCullough with the herd whose performance helped he and Nadine win the 2020 DBOY supreme award.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October
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“It would be fair to say that I won’t trade efficiency for 100% perfection. Some farmers chase perfection but I won’t do that at the cost of efficiency.” analysis of the facts and figures and a way to benchmark ourselves. “The payout and weather can be so variable that it can make comparison from one season to the next difficult, but once you build enough data over a long enough period you can see trends and pick up areas of strength and weakness irrespective of weather and payout.” McCullough Farm Partnership is a 245ha effective farm milking 650 cows at Karapiro in partnership with Richard’s parents, Bruce and Wyn McCullough. The partnership also won the DBOY Best Waikato Farm Performance and Lowest Environmental Impact awards for the second year running. The McCulloughs showed excellent return on assets at 6.2 percent, continuing a strong run in the most important single measure of business performance. They
also achieved an excellent operating profit margin of 44%. For every dollar of income generated they retained a high proportion as profit, which enhanced business resilience by providing a buffer for changes in performance. They had good cost control as demonstrated by their low cost of production of $4.46/kg milk solids (MS). While their income per hectare is below average, tight control of costs have resulted in good profit per hectare. Their high proportion of homegrown feed (12.3 tonnes of dry matter per hectare) allowed the partnership to control the amount and price of their supplements and added to overall farm resilience. In the Lowest Environmental Impact category, the McCulloughs had the highest environmental score of 10 out of 15 for
Farm Bridges Haybarns SHEDS
Cattle Yards Sheds Calf Sheds
greenwoodinfo.co.nz
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
low nitrogen leaching (26kg N/ha/year), spreading effluent over 54% of the farm and significant effluent storage, feedpad use, and having 100% of waterways fenced and half of riparian areas planted. While self-improvement was the main goal for entering, Richard says his competitive side did kick in when they were runners-up last year. “It helps to be competitive. To survive you need to have the drive to improve or else you will always be mediocre. “From our experience of the GFC and then the low payout years, there is always pressure to be at the top of your game. Even though you are not competing directly with other farmers, you still need to be at the top when things turn bad, because it’s the low-hanging fruit that drop off first. “It is really fascinating seeing all the different systems among finalists. Some are all grass, some extremely intensive. Some are spring milkers, some split and some winter milking. The interesting thing is that there is no one perfect system. It’s all about the management of the system that suits the farm and farmer, and how that can be run profitably.” Benchmarking their business against others early on showed Richard and
Far Left: Among Richard McCullough’s favourite recreations is riding through the pine plantation on the farm. Left: Ellah McCullough (6) loves life on her family farm, and especially the animals, like the dairy cat. Above: Richard and Nadine McCullough.
Nadine that their cow performance was at the lower end of the finalists. “Obviously that was an area we could improve on, so we did a bit of work targeting transition feeding to get cows growing quicker. We also reduced cow numbers by 40.” Richard’s thinking stemmed in part from his experience during an agricultural exchange programme to Denmark 17 years ago. “Compared with overseas we don’t push our cows to their full genetic capability. Our cows do 450 to 500 kg/MS. Overseas they achieve up to 700 per cow. Admittedly that’s with barn-fed cows, but in terms of genetic potential there is plenty of room for improvement with our pasture systems in New Zealand. “However, you have to make sure you
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
FARM FACTS:
Owners: Richard and Nadine McCullough, Bruce and Wyn McCullough Location: Karapiro, Cambridge Area: 383ha, 245ha milking platform Cows: 650 Friesians Effluent irrigation: 80ha N leaching: 26kgN/ha/year Supplement grown onfarm: 38ha maize Supplement bought in: 530t PKExtra 20 (palm kernel and molasses), 22t canola Farm dairy: 44-bail rotary, ACRs, milk meters, Cellsense, Protrack, automatic teat sprayer, automatic drafting, and heat detection camera.
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colostrum cows is better, and we were up by 41% in March and 15% in April this year compared with last year.”
EFFICIENCY VS PERFECTION Another strong focus for Richard is the efficiency of labour and machinery. “It would be fair to say that I won’t trade efficiency for 100% perfection. Some farmers chase perfection but I won’t do that at the cost of efficiency.” That philosophy is reflected in the DBOY labour efficiency per cow/FTE score of 203, by far the highest of all entrants. The partnership also scored 10.3 out of 15 in the human resources category, reflecting high staff retention and training. “A labour turnover of less than 20% is an outstanding result for the dairy industry. This indicates your business is holding on to staff, which is a metric we often see in high performing farms,” the DBOY report
reads. “Your business is spending more on formal staff training than most dairy farming businesses”… and demonstrated “your commitment to staff development”. The farm employs two full-time staff who work a 10-days-on, four-days-off roster, except at calving when it’s sevendays-on, two-off. Richard fills in when staff have the same days off. “The system is set up so I can manage the farm by myself. I can do mating, milk 650 cows, load three mixer wagons, and look after the young stock.” The 26-year-old, 44-bail rotary shed has been retrofitted with automatic cup removers and teat sprayers, Protrack, milk meters and an LIC heat camera, at a cost of around $250,000. The farm is a winter milk supplier for Open Country Dairies and it’s the premium they earn that makes a difference to the
DBOY 2020 KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (Based on 2018/19 production season)
Milk production: 443kg MS/cow, 1140kg MS/ha Return on capital: 6.2%
Operating profit margin: 44% Operating profit: $3,843/ha
Cost of production: $4.46/kg MS
Operating expenses: $3.36/kg MS Homegrown feed: 12.3
Pasture % of feed: 65%
Labour efficiency cows/FTE: 203 Environment Score: 10/15 HR Score: 10.3/15
Above: For 2020 DBOY supreme winners Nadine and Richard McCullough, spending time with their daughter Ellah (6) is important. Left: Ellah is obviously a real animal lover. Below: Richard and his bike: while they had a few hard years early on, they have no regrets about buying their Karapiro farm.
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don’t fall into a high-cost system. I’m always conscious of that risk and do a full analysis of the system and extra money spent on feed. It’s easy to get carried away when looking at the total production and forgetting the expenses.” Refining transition feeding followed attending a seminar on dairy nutrition led by Bryan McKay of Dairy Production Systems Ltd. “We targeted the colostrum cows, milking them once a day, and changed the diet for the springer mob so it is closer to what they will get as milkers to make the transition easier. “We put a lot of feed in the paddock for the colostrum cows so they have easy access to it. Cows which have been through calving may not eat as much pasture as they need, so we fill a trailer with PK Extra 20, which is a pre-mixed blend of palm kernel and molasses. The molasses provides sugar energy for the cows and they can eat ad lib as much as they want. “The result is that production for the springer mob and
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
farm’s profitability. Calving begins on March 1 and the operation is a DairyNZ System 5 from February through to October, with the cows fed all grass during the other five months. Richard maximises the use of pasture and homegrown maize silage first, and forward-contracts all his supplement so he knows the cost of his production ahead of time. The 2020 summer drought ran into calving, putting pressure on the system. “Freshly calved cows need more protein, so we probably spent an extra $70,000 on feed.” Building a covered loafing barn to house the cows, so each herd would be doing only one walk to the paddock every day, is now an aim. That would help with lameness issues as well as further lowering the farm’s nutrient losses. There’s another challenge ahead for the farm, and it’s coming not from the economy or the weather but from the planned Waikato expressway extension right through the property. “We’ve said we want an underpass high enough for a combine harvester to drive under. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. It will be cheaper for the authority than buying almost half the farm,” says Richard, who thinks construction of the extension to the Waikato Expressway is probably years away. “It would be nice to know for certain when it’s going to be built, but given the amount of traffic on the main road, and the crashes, I think it will happen eventually.”
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TOP TIPS FOR FARMERS ENTERING THE DBOY
Richard McCullough’s five top tips for farmers entering the DBOY awards in 2021: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Start now with good record keeping Separate out data for different aspects of your operation, especially inputs for cropping. To get the full benefit, record exactly what is spent where and keep track of that through the year Be prepared be completely open about your business Be prepared to have people question and challenge the way you do things. This is not done in a negative way – judges genuinely want help Take on board suggestions for improvements. Don’t be afraid to try something new.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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BUSINESS DAIRY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Success tied to the farm A Northland couple gave up successful careers in Sydney to find success onfarm back home. Chris Neill reports.
I
n February 2014 Greg and Janelle Imeson left promising careers in engineering and creative advertising in Sydney for Greg to be a dairy farm assistant in Northland. It was the beginning of their new farming life for which they gathered knowledge from the vast DairyNZ online resources. This was complemented by advice from farming and non-farming rural professionals, allowing them to advance quickly through farm management to farm ownership. In that time, Greg won the Northland Dairy Manager of the Year Award in 2017 along with the Fonterra Farm Source Dairy Management Award, Primary ITO Power Play Award, 30
and Westpac Financial Management & Planning Award. Following that, Greg and Janelle became runners-up in the 2020 NZ Dairy Business of the Year award along with Best Northland Farm Performance award and High Input with Best Financials award. At the beginning of the 2020/21 season Greg and Janelle, with their children Jethro and Marley, are settled on their 74-hectare dairy farm at Poroti, milking 195 cows. Currently split calving and reliant on imported feed, they are gradually moving to autumn calving and a focus on homegrown feed. All replacements are bred and raised off-farm from weaning. When looking for options after
managing an 850-cow herd, their lack of experience made them unattractive as sharemilkers, so their solution was to invest their savings into their own farm. They took advantage of the low farm milk price to secure shares and cows, and picked up a small, high-producing farm other buyers drove past because it was “too wet”. While Greg grew up on the family dairy farm at Hukerenui, Janelle was a town girl from Blenheim. In their discussion when buying the Poroti farm, Janelle offered to be an active participant in the farm work, with a throw-away question of “how hard can it be?” Learning everything from milking, tractor operation and stock handling,
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
In their discussion when buying the Poroti farm, Janelle offered to be an active participant in the farm work, with a throw-away question of “how hard can it be?”
with two very small children attached, was challenging and successful. Now a capable and active farmer who can operate the farm on her own, Janelle enjoys the happy banter and stories of this learning experience with Greg, who was her tutor. In telling their story of early farm ownership, Greg and Janelle talk about “tying themselves to the farm for three years”. This meant no discretionary spending or holidays, and holding on to every cow with no culling until their first self-raised replacements came of age. Greg watched with envy while his neighbours brought in machinery to make farm improvements, and Janelle continued her graphic design business while learning the business of farming. However, this astute couple who have been recognised by the industry, are setting up a farming business giving them a sense
of achievement and the lifestyle they want as a family. They continue to apply the skill and disciplines in their business that contributed to their competition success. The period of putting all possible income into debt reduction provided time to understand the property. This has given clarity to the placement of drains in the three-year laser drainage programme, which Greg believes will remove rushes to improve permanent pasture and increase total pasture production by 10% at a cost of $100,000. This development connects with the pasture renewal programme, which includes growing 7ha of maize annually to reduce reliance on imported feed, and a target to produce 80,000kg milksolids (MS) a year with once-a-day milking. It also fits with their transition from high input to System 3, and with reducing
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Left: Mountain biking is one of the family interests that ensure Greg and Janelle get time off-farm. Below: Greg and Jane’s replacements will be welcomed into their herd, not having culled or bought in any replacements because of cost control measures.
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DBOY 2020 KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (Based on 2018/19 production season)
Milk production: 366kg MS/cow, 950kg MS/ha Return on capital: 7.1%
Operating profit margin: 39% EBIT: $2676/ha
Cost of production: $4.14/kg MS EBIT/kg MS: $2.82/kg MS
Homegrown feed, t DM/milking ha: 10.7 Pasture % of feed: 73%
Labour efficiency cows/FTE: 192 Environment Score: 8.1/15 HR Score: 8.9/15 Above: The Imesons picked up their small, high-producing farm because others thought it “too wet”, but now they are planning a laser-drainage project to solve that problem.
pugging and stress on animals and themselves. Their farm has produced 80,000kg MS previously, but milking twicea-day. With these changes they expect to see a steady increase in equity and business profitability, allowing them choices now and in the future. It requires tight control of farm costs, and focus on achieving production to deliver high-quality milk from a farm that is recognised by customers as environmentally sustainable. They are adamant that staying ahead of compliance expectations is essential because the costs of trying to catch up are too high. Achieving this means staying current with factors that will have an influence on the business, thinking about their impact and responding – which may not mean doing what everyone else is doing. The 2019/20 drought in Northland was a memorable event that has challenged many farmers. For Greg and Janelle, it was a time of recognising and responding to 32
the immediate risks while protecting the future of their business. Maintaining production to protect income was essential. The season had started well, 12% ahead on milk production at Christmas and on track for the target 76,000kg MS. Their Wharekohe soils hung on into February, then pasture went into survival mode. The 6.6 ha of maize, which was expected to yield 22 tonnes/ha and provide feed for calving and the following summer, came in at 18t/ha. They decided to use the bulk of it along with palm kernel to achieve season production of 71,000kg MS. This was a calculated risk, which has led to a new plan that maintains confidence in the pasture and maize to deliver feed for this season. Greg and Janelle see a positive future as global food producers, recognising there will be challenges meeting social and environmental challenges, finding competent relief milkers and riding the fluctuations of milk price. They believe
in the New Zealand industry and, as supporters of DairyNZ, expect their industry body to provide management tools to address new demands, explore the science for new solutions, and promote the industry politically and to the wider community. Making no claims to getting everything right, they do have clarity of what is important, which includes getting offfarm, hunting, fishing, diving, surfing and mountain biking with their children. They see their farm as a big, profitable lifestyle block. Their management system is designed to secure that profit, which gives them scope to enjoy their lives as they choose. They think and act to achieve the outcomes they want and maintain flexibility to respond to changes that are inevitable in business. They have shown that the DIA and DBOY awards they won are a reflection of their ability to focus on what is important to their farming success.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
NAIT checklist for bulls Help build lifetime animal traceability and support disease management
Selling or leasing service bulls? All my bulls are correctly tagged and NAIT registered at my NAIT location I’ve completed a pre-movement TB test* * If you’re not sure, check with OSPRI if you need a pre-movement TB test.
I’ve filled out an Animal Status Declaration (ASD) form and a Declaration to Livestock Transporter (DLT) form When the bulls leave: I’ve recorded a sending movement in NAIT – within 48 hours of them leaving When the leased bulls return: I’ve recorded (or confirmed) a receiving movement in NAIT – within 48 hours of them arriving
Buying or leasing service bulls? I’ve confirmed with the bull provider that the bulls are tagged and NAIT registered I received an Animal Status Declaration (ASD) form from the bull provider When the bulls arrive: I’ve recorded (or confirmed) a receiving movement in NAIT for the bulls I bought/leased – within 48 hours of them arriving When the leased bulls leave my farm: I’ve recorded a sending movement in NAIT – within 48 hours of them leaving* * If you’re sending to the works, they will record the movement for you. Make sure you record your NAIT location number on the ASD form. Failure to comply with NAIT obligations may result in fines or prosecution issued by the Ministry for Primary Industries.
Need help? Call OSPRI on 0800 482 463 NAIT is an OSPRI programme Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
info@ospri.co.nz | ospri.co.nz 33
SYSTEMS PLANTAIN
F
Maintain plantain – a no-brainer Pastures containing up to 30% plantain have shown promise in reducing N losses. Jackie Harrigan has the story. Photos by Brad Hanson. 34
aced with cow numbers dropping from 250 to 160, or spending huge amounts on a barn to get cows off their Norsewood pastures, Jamie and Natalie Arrandale are pinning their hopes on the Tararua plantain project to help them bring down nitrogen (N) losses and meet Horizons Regional Council’s N loss targets. Jamie and Natalie have farmed in the Upper Norsewood area since buying the farm in 1992, shifting down from the Waihi Beach area in the quest to get into ownership of their own farm. “It was a big change going from white sands (on the Waihi Beach) to the snow.” (Norsewood gets snow at least once each winter.) With an attractive backdrop of the Ruahine Ranges just up the road, the 95ha farm has the charm of an ever-changing play of light on the bush, but the trio of high altitude (360m above sea level) with high rainfall and a free-draining soil type makes it difficult to meet the strict N loss targets demanded by its placement in the sensitive catchment of the Upper Manawatu River. Now, with their son Hayden coming on to the farm as contract milker, Jamie and Natalie are nervous of any changes that would compromise the profitability of the enterprise, or give a hit to the capital value of the farm as they look ahead to issues of farm succession and retirement in the future. From 2014 through to 2018 they have been a case study for Massey University third-year farm management students, and their chosen topic of investigation has been meeting the Horizons’ nutrient budget requirements. While the students were diligent about coming up with mitigations for the Arrandale’s N loss problems, none of the options came without a huge price tag (the wintering barn) or a terminal hit to profitability (reducing cow numbers to 160). While the bordering Mangatiwainui River has been fenced off ever since the Arrandales purchased the farm, upgrading their effluent system to have 100 days storage has been put on hold until the regional council has decided what they want them to do to become consented.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Far Left: Jamie and Natalie Arrandale, searching for mitigations to meet Horizons N leaching targets over the next 20 years. Left: Jamie Arrandale started his plantain journey with a pure sward in 2014, now he is planning to have 30% of the farm’s mixed sward in plantain, to mitigate against N loss. Above: The Arrandales farm at Norsewood, at the foot of the Ruahine Ranges, in the Upper Manawatu Catchment, where high rainfall and high altitude make meeting N loss targets difficult.
“We have a consent for 400 cows as we have a large effluent irrigation area of 80ha, but currently just have the storage for a week.” Meeting the requirements for the consenting process has taken up a lot of Jamie’s time and energy, alongside his farm advisor of many years John Simmonds from DairyTeam.
PLANTAIN INTRODUCED Recently Jamie and Natalie have thrown themselves into the Tararua plantain project, the DairyNZ extension project that is encouraging all 118 unconsented farmers in the Tararua region to plant and sustain at least 30% of their farms in plantain, to drive down the N leaching across the Manawatu River catchment. The Arrandales started down the plantain road in 2014, well before the Tararua project, trialing a sward as a
FARM FACTS:
Owners: Jamie and Natalie Arrandale Contractor milker: Hayden Arrandale Cows: 250 Friesians peak milked (2.6cows/ha) Production: 106,000kg MS, 432kg MS/cow, 1118kg MS/ha Total pasture harvested: 12.2t DM/ha Supplement: Hay 30t DM, balage 72t DM, palm kernel 153t DM
Table 1. 14.2 N leaching Limits Farm leaching target (kgN/ha) Total nitrogen (kg)
Year 1
Year 5
Year 10
Year 20
38
33
31
29
4314
3792
3522
3342
Farm area (ha) 114ha, (LUC II 90ha, LUC VII 24ha)
summer crop to see if the deep-rooting herb would hang on better than their 4ha summer turnip crop. The trial was a success and convinced Jamie that the cows would actually eat it and milk well off the crop, so he had the confidence to get involved in the Tararua plantain project and sow 4ha of two straight plantain swards and 4ha of a mixed sward, with the results being measured and monitored by DairyNZ’s Pip Hedley. “The trial concluded that, if we are wanting to get to 30% of the farm in plantain, we were better to sow it into a mixed sward across the whole platform,” Jamie said.
MIXED SWARD ESTABLISHMENT To create the mixed sward, Jamie had a contractor direct drill grass seed into the last paddocks of the pure plantain crop. “We direct drilled grass into the sward last autumn – we didn’t worry about spraying it out.” He had also drilled turnips into the remnants of a couple of plantain paddocks and had a cocktail of plantain and turnips.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
He has been impressed with the persistence of the plantain. “I thought we had lost it to grass grub a few years ago but it’s pretty resilient – it just came back. “If we can get 30% of our pastures into plantain, we can hopefully get our leaching down to where it needs to be. “We need to reduce N leaching from 45kg N/ha/year to 29kg by year 20.” (See Table 1.) By introducing plantain up to 30% over the whole farm, the N leaching should drop to 38kg and, along with other mitigations, the family can keep driving the N loss down. He is understandably nervous as to what the outcome of Horizons’ reset of the N loss targets under the One Plan legislation. “I keep asking myself – will they accept that level of plantain? And that level of N loss? And what else will we need to do that doesn’t affect our profitability?”
MAINTAINING PLANTAIN IN THE SWARD While the cost of establishing plantain into the current pastures can be spread 35
Graph 1. Potential reduction in N loss from plantain 0%
-5%
45KgN/ha
N Loss Reduction
43KgN/ha -10% 41KgN/ha -15%
38KgN/ha
-20%
36KgN/ha -25%
Jamie and Natalie are nervous of any N loss mitigations hitting the capital value of their farm as they look ahead to succession and retirement.
over the next few years as pastures are renewed, Jamie says he will look on it as a cost of compliance and a way to keep farming. “We are probably renewing 6-8ha through the turnip cropping and plantain cropping – so the whole farm gets renewed over an 11-12 year cycle, but we could do more than that by drilling the plantain into the existing pastures – it’s not like you are taking it out of the rotation. “We trialed two paddocks two years ago – mixing plantain into the pasture mix in one block and then sprinkling the plantain on top of existing pastures in the other block – and there was basically no difference in the establishment,” he said. “There was no noticeable difference in the plants after the March sowing. “We might get to the point that to keep it in the pasture in the right ratios we could throw it onto the fertiliser mixture, if it doesn’t react badly with the fert – I don’t know – we might just need to keep spinning it on in the autumn in light amounts.” Other issues are the slow growth of the herb through the winter, which Jamie says is not going to suit the winter milking guys. But he and Natalie bought a runoff up the road after Mycoplasma bovis arrived in the country, and the cows can be walked up there to winter off the platform, allowing the pasture and plantain to grow a bulk of feed for the spring. They trialed fodder beet for winter feed for 100 cows on the platform for a couple of years after some of the students did a project on that, but they decided that it 36
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Percent Plantain in diet
might not be a good crop with the new wintering rules around pugging. The only problem Jamie foresees with the plantain is the limited options for control of weeds in new grass/plantain swards owing to the plantain being killed out. “We learnt the lesson that weed control has to be done prior to establishment of the sward – you can’t do much after the plantain goes in.”
“You need to spray out the weeds in the autumn, preferably with a double spray, and then go in with the new grass/plantain mix in the spring.” The Arrandales found it worked well with a autumn spray then putting in a short rotation crop of Tabu ryegrass that was eaten off and then sprayed out in the spring and put into the plantain mix.
SCENARIO:
Overseer analysis of the farm system as of May 2019
FARM DETAILS: • Total area: 114ha • Productive block area: 95.00ha • Nitrogen conversion efficiency (NCE): 29% • N surplus: 164kg/ha • Region: Manawatu/Wanganui
KEY INPUT DATA: • 90ha of 95ha eff is brown sedimentary soil, remaining 5ha recent soil • Average rainfall: 1533mm/year • 5ha summer crop in turnips • Peak cows: 262 in December, 45 replacements throughout the year • Imported feed: 60t DM balage, 150t DM palm kernel, 120t DM hay. • Fertiliser: 11t urea, 2.5t ammonium sulphate, 17t DAP, 6.5t pot chloride, 10t lime • No irrigation, no fodder beet.
CURRENT SWARD: N loss/ha: 45 P: 110
P/ha: 1
GHG/ha: 9819
NCE: 29%
With 30% plantain within the sward across 95%: N loss/ha: 38
P: 110
P/ha: 1
GHG/ha: 9719
NCE: 30%
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
SYSTEMS PLANTAIN
“Efficiency to me means knowing when my cows need attention and acting quickly.” Bruce McLaren - WAIKATO
How much plantain is in this sward?
Project farmers blazing plantain trail Two years into the Tararua Plantain project, 50 out of the 118 unconsented farmers in the Upper Manawatu catchment are getting stuck into growing. Jackie Harrigan reports.
T
he strength of the project thus far has been the leading farmers in the Tararua Working Group – the monitor farmers showing how the forage will work from a farm systems sense. “The research is clear in terms of plantain reducing N loss, but can we do it on commercial farms? “The confidence will build as leading farmers get into it.” DairyNZ project leader Adam Duker asks. The project now has two years monitoring data from pilot farmers, and the group is holding field days on the technical aspects of establishing the sward, managing it, and controlling weeds and pests. “We are also monitoring the production and persistence aspects of the crops,” Duker said. In 2020/21, the third year of five of the project, 10 case studies are being developed to represent Tararua farmers so that all other farmers can find a situation
that fits them and that they can learn from. Tararua farmers are farming with environmental and economic imperatives, so it’s important to Adam Duker. understand how the plantain fits into the scenario, Duker said. “We know that plantain can be a great tool for farmers to mitigate N losses, along with other mitigations. But they all add complexity, and how do they all fit together? “With this research we can quantify plantain within the toolbox and think about where it fits and what degree of plantain should farmers be pursuing to hit the sweet spot.” Further research includes developing visual tools for farmers to assess the ration of plantain in the sward.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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Special Report:
TOP HEAP of the
through training and education 39 44 48 50 52 55 56 57
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Making a name for himself Kiwis seek rural training Learning with VARK Singing the praises of dairying The making of Mark and Measure Pandemic helps steer students New AB techs wanted Dairy lifestyle attracts newcomers to GoDairy Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
SPECIAL REPORT | APPRENTICESHIPS
Apprentice farmer, Floyd Fenn.
Making a name for himself Floyd Fenn has been learning from his employer Mike Williams, since he was a 12-year-old milking helper - five years on he is still learning - now as an NZ apprentice and soon to be supported by the government under the Apprentice Boost scheme. Jackie Harrigan met the life-long learner.
N
ot many 17-yearolds have their own line of branded workwear - but Floyd Fenn of Floyd Fenn Farming thought, why not? “I just thought it would be fun and so I played around with a logo on my notepad and got them embroidered on to winter and summer beanies and caps, and also on my overalls and woollen jersey.” “Who doesn’t want their name on their beanie?” Floyd’s good name means a lot to him he’s the kind of chap who works hard and makes every day and every job his absolute best. “It’s my name on the cap, so I want people to think that I have a good work ethic.”
Floyd works as an ‘experienced farm assistant’ for Mike and Sharon Williams on their 165-hectare Shannon dairy farm, peak milking 400 Friesians and in the 2019/20 season producing 170,000kg milksolids (MS). Floyd has been working for the Williams full time since December 2019 - but he has been with them for a lot longer. Mike headhunted him when he was 12, offering him the chance to learn how to milk cows after school, when they chatted at the Shannon Rugby Club after prizegiving. “I have always been local, I used to bike around here after school, Mike gave me overalls and some gumboots and taught me how to cup cows - he paid me $5 for each milking and I seemed to have a knack for it.” Monday nights soon grew to Monday,
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Wednesday and Friday and then every weekend and school holidays until Floyd left school after achieving his NCEA Level One. “I didn’t mind school - I actually liked science and maths and I got the top mark in the Manawatu for Horticulture Level One but I don’t regret it - I missed my mates a bit to start off with.” But he is playing rugby with the Shannon B team (and won the best back of the year award) and keeps busy with work, hunting and speedway. As an NZ Apprentice training through Primary ITO, Floyd is continuing to learn, which he loves. “Mike and Sharon offered to support me through training so I enrolled in Primary ITO and started at Level 3 Milk Quality (which was 10 classes in Feilding), then I did Food Safety and Milk Quality, Dealing
39
with dairy farm effluent, which was two sessions in Foxton.” “The logistics, legal side and best practice around effluent gave me a bit of clarity.” Next was the Level 3 calving - all about calving, mating, best practice on rearing calves - “the training is really good to build on the practical stuff that I have learnt on the farm.” “Even my boss is picking up new things through my training - we used to feed hay, but I learnt that straw is better for rumen development.” For the first season it was just Mike and Floyd full time on the farm - and the duo managed to lift milksolids by 8% and do the highest daily production ever for the farm, while driving down the somatic cell count to an average of 102,000 for the season, all of which Floyd is pretty proud of. “I really make sure I milk the cows out properly and break the seal before I take off the cups - I do everything by the book and to the best standard I can.” This season they have two part-timers, both from Shannon. One does morning milking and the other the afternoon -
40
which frees Floyd up to fetch the cows and colostrum mob, collect and feed calves, shift break fences and feed out on the runoff across the road. Floyd is not one to sit still, and has learnt lots of skills alongside his dad, who has a lifestyle block and works as a production engineer, so many skills are coming in handy on the farm and for the speedway where they do their own fabrication. Rather than cart broken farm gear to the workshop in town to get fixed, he turned his hand to it - repairing welds on the hipclamps, the calf rearing gear and the boom sprayer so far. He also spent three hours overhauling the farm motorbike one evening - cleaning, servicing and changing oil - “it went much better after that.” “I’m a jack of all trades - master of none and everything that I do - if my name’s on it, I do it to the best I can, I put in 100%. “I like to take pride in what I do - I don’t want to be known as someone who does shit farming. “My dad taught me to take no shortcuts to work hard wherever you are.” Floyd likes to get out hunting in the
My goals: 1 year: comple t ITO training / e milk quality / beat farm kg M record S 5 year: farm m farm, employinanager, running a g staff 10 year: 50/5 0 sharemilking 20 year: Farm member, 200 owner, + 1 staff cows By 2053: cont ract milking f as well. arm
Tararua Ranges, initially with his dad, and now with some mates, and he thinks nothing of a six-hour tramp to Burn Hut to experience the bush and enjoy the scenery - and hopefully bag a deer. Living on his own is fine, although he doesn’t really like the bills that come with it, and he says he has the cooking and healthy eating side sorted.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Right: ‘It’s my name on the cap, so I want people to think that I have a good work ethic.’ Below: The Williams’s farm with the Manawatu River meandering along the back boundary.
“I have been cooking since I was really little, I was in the kitchen helping mum and dad out since I was four.” With a sister who is a chef, and is good for the odd ‘How To’ message, Floyd usually has a big cookup on Sunday ‘like it’s for a standard family’ - then he stores it in containers in the fridge and eats it for dinner and lunches for the week. This country boy says he’s not into city life and loves the “free-flowing” farming lifestyle where he can be doing something different every day. “I love the variety of farming, and sunny days (like this) makes it 10 times better.” “I don’t think of it as a job - it’s more of a lifestyle - you have to love what you do.” He has his goals and is finessing the way to get there. “I have decided to save really hard and buy a house to rent out - because I can borrow 90% of a loan for a house, whereas land you can only borrow 70% - so I can buy a house with a smaller loan and rent it out, and keep saving hard to pay down the debt and save up for land with a 30-50% deposit.” The only thing that might dissuade him from moving up through the dairy industry is a stint in the army. “I have always wanted to get in the SAS - I have watched hours of SAS training programmes - but farming is definitely my long term goal.”
Apprentice boost Dairy farmer Mike Williams has just applied for the government’s Apprentice Boost scheme, funded from August 2020 as part of the Covid-19 recovery. The scheme entitles Mike up to $16,000, over 20 months to subsidise the wages of his NZ dairy farming apprentice, Floyd Fenn. The funding is accessed through MSD and the farmer claims the subsidy on a month-to-month basis - $1000/ month for the first 12 months, followed by $500/month for the next eight months. The apprentice needs to be already employed by the farmer and actively involved in training, says Manawatu Primary ITO training advisor Dani Donovan. “There has never been a better time to put staff through training,” she said, explaining that along with the wages boosting funding, training is funded fees-free by the government until the end of 2022. The level three and four training is worth more than $3000. Apprentices need to have completed the level two milk harvesting module or pre-employment training and be willing to commit to stay in training for three years, while working through their apprenticeship.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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More Trades Academy funding Vocational training in the dairy sector (and right across the primary industries) is heading into an exciting time with the restructure of the sector under the new title and more funding for Trades Academy places in high schools, says Primary ITO CEO Nigel Philpott. The new structure brings all vocational training under the same umbrella and makes training whilst moving around the industry much more seamless for learners. “Whereas the training providers used to operate in competition with each other, now they will be in a partnership model and trainees can move easily between providers.” In June the Government announced $32.3 million extra for Trades Academies and Gateway programmes, with 1000 more Trades Academy places in secondary schools, doubling the existing capacity.
Nigel Philpott, CEO Primary ITO.
“If more students have the chance to experience the career possibilities of farming and horticulture while they’re at school, they are even more likely to then take advantage of the free industry training and apprenticeships that are also on offer, and go on to be the industry leaders of the future.” The uptake of Apprenticeships and training has been very pleasing, Philpott says, adding 1500 farm
apprentices exist compared to 1100 this time last year. “We have had huge interest from Northland, Waikato and Canterbury in particular.” There will still be demand for short courses but the mix has shifted to trainees completing all the courses under the apprenticeship structure. “Visa holders are still keen on the short courses, and so the ITO is pulling courses apart and making them into modules that can be completed as microcredentials. Also called ‘just in time learning’, the short courses can be much more flexible and taught and completed in time for seasonal activity - like a two week ‘preparation for calving’ course that is taught in a classroom, then the learning used on farm and the microcredential awarded. “The qualification authorities are becoming much more flexible and making sure the learning suits the person and the seasonality of the job.”
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Pipi - pathways into primary industries Work has begun on building a Pathways into the Primary Industries programme to help potential primary industry workers understand the ways to get into the sector. “Employers say that it is not a wellunderstood pathway and the programme with help inform potential entrants and their gatekeepers (parents and teachers). Portraying the suite of pre-employment training, online learning and taster course opportunities then working with employers to improve their understanding of attracting and retaining staff, the programme will include rolling out good news stories and a badging system that aggregates all of a person’s qualifications and work experiences to carry with them. Funding has been sourced from the TEC (Tertiary Education Commission) to start work building a digital platform to hold all of the information, for each young person to have on their phone, acting like a Passport to work.
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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SPECIAL REPORT | DAIRY CAREERS
Kiwis seeking rural training
M Words by: Anne Lee
ore than 1000 people have registered their interest in a rural retraining programme being run in the South Island that’s aimed at getting Kiwis employed out on farms and in the wider rural sector. It’s being run in conjunction with NZ Dairy Careers, Agri Training and Agstaff at Ag Training’s South Island training facility. NZ Dairy Careers project manager Trina Moore says the response from right across the country has been amazing. “It’s been fantastic seeing people who’ve never had anything to do with the rural sector really get excited about it and in particular excited about dairying. “We’ve asked people who’ve come on our courses what area of agriculture they’re most interested in and at the start of the course only 22% have mentioned dairying but by the end of the course that’s changed to 60%. “And that’s where they’re going
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– we’re placing people in jobs and they’re loving it.” Before Covid-19 hit, NZ Dairy Careers worked mostly with young Irish and other overseas people keen to come to New Zealand and experience Kiwi farming. “With border restrictions we couldn’t bring international workers into New Zealand, creating even greater need for local people to work in primary industries. “At the same time Kiwis were losing their jobs - and still are. They knew there were jobs out on farms but they don’t have any experience and coming from cities it’s such as huge career change, they just don’t know where to start. “They don’t really know if it’s going to be for them either. “So our three companies came together and looked at what we could do to give them taste of farming life and, if they were interested and able to go the next step, give them enough training so they could step into a job.” Trina says people have registered their interest and completed a 20 hour online webinar course. It introduces them to rural life with a range of speakers – both rural
Course ‘lit the fire’
N
athan Eggleton has been driving tourist buses in and out of Fiordland for the past five years, but Covid-19 put a stop to that. “I thought I’d have a go at a rural contracting course but then this advert came up on FaceBook for the Rural Retrain course and I thought I’d give it a go to get a good overview of farming. “They were the ones who lit the fire for me when it came to dairying. I hadn’t even thought of it. “I was like a duck out of water a bit on the 13-day course, but I loved it. I learned so much and like the sound of the cut and thrust of dairying – the opportunities, the systems.” He followed the course up with a six-week rural contractors’ course but came to the realisation that dairying might be a better fit. He contacted the NZ Dairy Careers team and they quickly found him a job that he’s loving on a 1000-cow farm. “I know they have my back and I’m totally immersed in this. I was like a possum in the headlights to start with – so much to learn every day – but I can see you could move up pretty quickly.”
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Off the roller coaster
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my Luckhurst reckons working on a 1400-cow farm is a lot less stressful than her previous job – working as a roller coaster operator in a British theme park dealing with hundreds of amped up children each day. The 26-year-old cut short her OE and came home in time for lockdown on the strong advice of her parents – they bought her a plane ticket and told her to get home - now. Not one to sit around, the Botany graduate had been searching through the internet and came across the Rural Retrain course. “I’d grown up in rural Taranaki so it seemed like something I could do but dairying really wasn’t on my mind. “I did the webinar and loved it and the next step was the 13-day course. “It was cram-packed with so many things. I’d had a fear of motorbikes but they taught me how to feel confident. “We got to drive two different types of tractors, do fencing, I loved it.” “The course really opened my eyes to dairying. It was nothing like I’d expected and the opportunities – I just didn’t know they were there. “Kath (Holmes) is our pastoral care person. She’s fantastic. She’s my contact, she looks after us and makes sure we’re settling in, answers questions and is always at the end of the phone. “It’s a great team on the farm here too. I’m learning so much so fast.”
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professionals and farmers – covering health and safety, what it’s like to live rurally, how to update their CV and interview skills and goal setting. “We have career changers talk about their experience and farmers talk about what happens onfarm. They also have takeaway tasks to do to assist in their learning. Those that have successfully completed the online webinars go through a selection process to be invited to our 13-day Rural Retrain course at Winchmore in Canterbury.”
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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Hairdressing to milking Rural Retrain Foundation course trainees learning the ropes.
They stay in lodge accommodation at Methven with their food provided – although they get together and cook the meals. The days spent at Winchmore are mostly spent learning practical skills. Agri Training business development manager and trainer Bryn Price says it’s a very full course with practical sessions on riding a motorbike, driving a tractor, riding a quad bike, fencing – both electric and standard wire, stock handling, stock health, drenching, ear tagging and other seasonal tasks. Local farmers have opened their gates so they can do work experience, learning how to milk and feed calves and a vet gives them an introduction to animal health and they learn the basics of pasture management. “By the end of it we know them pretty well and through NZ Dairy Careers and Agstaff there is a direct pathway for them into jobs.” “We can really place them where they’re going to be a good fit,” Trina says. So many of them change their minds on the type of farming they want to be involved in because their initial understanding has been somewhat tainted by what they’ve heard or seen in the media and on social media. “They’re genuinely surprised when they see what dairying is really like,” she says. An important part of the recruitment and placement programme is the pastoral care aspect. “It’s a non-negotiable – we believe it’s that important - and we keep it in place for a year.” New employees have a dedicated person they can call and that person also visits them on the farm to make sure they’re settling in and everything is going well. They step in and help with any hurdles they come across but might not want to bother their employer with. Trina says ideally, they’d like them to go on and do a trade certificate through Agri Training. The aim is to have training more akin to the farm cadetships of old and tailor the training to students and farmers. Bryn says the idea is for it to be hands-on and ensure people can carry out the practical tasks while helping them understand the underpinning technical knowledge to support those skills. By early October 174 people had completed the online webinars and 40 had completed the 13-day training programme at Winchmore. Another 25 are due to start a 13-day programme in late November. Out of the first 25 who completed the 13-day programme, 80% are in full-time permanent employment, 4% decided to go back into education as result of enjoying the learning experience and the remainder were likely to be employed
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L
oriaan Meyer was a hairdresser living in Auckland with her husband Hannes and three children when they decided to give farming a try. They’d already made a huge decision in immigrating to New Zealand from South Africa 10 years earlier but it still took some courage. “I wasn’t working because of Covid-19 and I saw there were jobs in farming. Hannes stayed working and I did the webinar and then came down to Canterbury to do the 13-day course. “I loved the training. There was a real family atmosphere. “It was my first time living like that with a whole lot of Kiwis and it was so different to Auckland.” Hannes is a qualified boilermaker and had some farming experience from South Africa so Loriaan was hopeful she’d be able to find a dairying job where they could both work. “The good thing about the course was they helped so much, matching us up to the right people.” Loriaan started at the beginning of September and was closely followed by Hannes and the children. “Together we’re earning a little bit less than what we were in Auckland but we’re not paying $650 a week in rent and there’s no commuting to work so we’re actually better off.” The school bus goes past the front gate too. “It’s hard work, my arms felt like they’d fall off after the first week milking but I’m used to it now and we love it here.”
in the rural sector within a short time. “We’ve had some amazing career changers and people have come from all over New Zealand. “People are willing to move and once they see first hand what dairying is about, they’re very keen to work in the industry. “It’s actually really nice to have made positive changes in people’s lives – really rewarding. “And it’s so good to see so many New Zealanders coming through with a great work ethic.”
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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SPECIAL REPORT | LEARNING STYLES
Learning with
V A RK
VISUAL MODE Prefers diagrams, flow charts, maps, graphs, graphic representations, highlighted text.
U
AURAL MODE Prefers learning through discussion, prefers to communicate by phone or emails and texting. Likes informal written communications.
Words by: Anne Lee
nderstanding preferred learning strategies can be a powerful tool when it comes to training your team. That’s because when people receive information in their preferred learning mode, they’re more likely to understand and retain it and then use it appropriately. Understanding your own learning preferences can make a big difference to how well you train your team members too. Canterbury-based educational specialist Neil Fleming is recognised globally for his development of the VARK questionnaire and support tools used in education and business. VARK stands for four learning preferences:
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READ/WRITE MODE Prefers written instructions, lists, manuals.communications.
KINESTHETIC MODE Prefers doing, likes videos, demonstrations, needs examples, real life situations and their experiences.
• Visual • Aural • Read/write • Kinesthetic “What people often don’t realise is that their learning preference will also be how they prefer to communicate when it comes to explaining something or teaching others. “It’s inwards and outwards – how you prefer to learn and how you prefer to train or communicate with others,” he says. So if you’ve been frustrated because people just don’t seem to be getting it when it comes to training or following instructions, it may be time to take a look at your own learning preferences and see how they marry up with your team. “If you’re strongly aural you will prefer to talk it through when it comes to learning but you may also rely heavily on giving verbal instructions when it comes to teaching.”
If your team is low scoring when it comes to aural and lean more towards kinesthetic they’ll prefer to learn through real life demonstration and doing it themselves, so your messages are going to take a lot longer to get through. Most people (55-65%) will have a combination of two or more learning preferences classifying them as multimodal and only about a third of the population will have a strong preference for just one way of learning. Neil’s VARK questionnaire allows for more than one answer to each question. It results in a score for each learning mode. If one stands out it may indicate a strong single preference but, for those with a similar score for two, three or even four preferences, adding all the scores together to get a total will give more insight. If the score is relatively low - between 14 and 26 – the person has a Type One
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
‘What people often don’t realise is that their learning preference will also be how they prefer to communicate when it comes to explaining something or teaching others.’
Canterbury-based educational specialist Neil Fleming: “What people often don’t realise is that their learning preference will also be how they prefer to communicate when it comes to explaining something or teaching others.”
preference. They are likely to use a single mode for a specific situation but can switch that mode to suit the situation, specific task, project or person. If they score 30 or more, they are classified as a Type Two multimodal learner and are likely to use each of the high scoring learning styles before they fully grasp a concept or solve the problem. “An A, V, R multimodal Type Two will want to talk it through, see the diagram and read the instructions.” But once they’ve understood it, they are likely to understand it more comprehensively than those with a single preference and retain it longer. Only about 9% of the population is classified as Type One with about 28% classified as Type Two. Because Type Two people have used two, three or four modes to understand something they often make good trainers as they can relate it back according to the trainee’s learning preference. Neil says knowing someone has a strong
preference for kinesthetic learning but has a low or even zero score for read/write doesn’t mean you can’t give them written instructions. “It will just take them longer to take that information in if that’s all they are given. “It’s better if you can show them but if written instructions are all there is then its better if they’re written in a way that creates a real-life scenario and gives them real life examples.” People often confuse visual with watching a video but visual learners prefer graphs, charts and maps – things that aren’t real but symbolic and graphically represent something. Covid-19 travel and gathering restrictions have created challenges but also presented opportunities for communication, learning and training. Online technologies and communication tools have seen a surge in use. Neil says care has to be taken with using online communication even if it does involve a video link.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
If people just sit and watch others while they talk - even if they do get the chance to join in the conversation - it’s more like an aural-only experience. Most online communication tools have facilities to share screens to show diagrams and charts which is helpful for visual learners and if videos of real-life scenarios are used too then kinesthetic learners can be engaged too. “You might find in an online meeting, where a number of people with different learning preferences are included, that those with a strong single preference will get annoyed if they’ve understood clearly what’s being communicated but then have to sit through explanations catering for others’ preferences.” Being aware of what preferences people have can make communication so much more efficient but it may mean repackaging a message or training in a few different ways to make sure the whole team is on board. Neil says once the dynamics in the team are understood well it can become second nature to adjust your own strategies depending on who you’re dealing with. The rewards in getting it right can be hugely satisfying and make for a much more effective, efficient, cohesive and successful workplace. Neil’s VARK questionnaire is free for individuals to do online at www.vark-learn.com and is available for trainers for a small fee to cover copyright. He also facilitates workshops to help people interpret the questionnaire results.
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SPECIAL REPORT | GO DAIRY PROGRAMME
Tasha has a range of waiata she likes to sing to the cows in the dairy shed.
Singing the praises of dairying
T
Going from traffic management to dairy assistant has been inspirational for a GoDairy graduate, as Anne-Marie Case-Miller reports.
asha Morgan can’t stop smiling. “I just love dairy farming! I love the cows, they are just amazing animals. I even love milking! I just love what I am doing, it’s amazing.” “I never, ever thought I’d be dairy farming, never ever in my life! And now look at me. I’m here and going places,” says Tasha. What began as an accommodation arrangement has become a new lease on life for the former city girl, with her new role as a farm assistant on Harry Janssen and Winton Bebbington’s 300 cow, 130ha farm at Hampton Downs. “I was working in traffic management for Higgins so I was used to working outside in all sorts of weather, but what I’m doing
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now is completely different from city living to actually living and working in the country,” Tasha explains. “I used to go down and talk to the calves, and then I asked Harry if I could help raise them and he said yes, so I began to help by rearing calves and from there Harry and Winton taught me to milk so I was able to do relief milking.” Researching dairy farming education online led Tasha to the GoDairy programme offered by DairyNZ. GoDairy is designed to attract people to work in the dairy sector. It offers Farm Ready Training, which is entry-level training to help people find out what it’s like to work on a farm and learn some farming basics. The training includes a week of online learning followed by two weeks of practical training on a farm. GoDairy is about creating awareness of
Fast Facts Tasha’s Top Cow Waiata: Tiaho Mai Ra Mr Postman - LaTasha Lee Isn’t She Lovely – Stevie Wonder My Dearest Darling – LaTasha Lee Tēnā Rā Koe – Stan Walker Please Don’t Go – Six60
job opportunities in dairy – and it has a big emphasis on ensuring newcomers understand farm life before they arrive. Anyone interested in taking part can sign up at godairy.co.nz. Tasha has completed the first week, with
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
“They are such beautiful beasts, beautiful little women. I talk and sing to them, and I sing to the calves as well.” the final two weeks in October, after being delayed by Covid-19. “It’s an awesome course with very, very nice people,” says Tasha. “The first week was around the basics of the New Zealand dairy industry, the second week will be focused on animals and the final week will be on vehicles and machinery.” Tasha says she has learnt so much already, both from working onfarm and through the GoDairy programme. “This has been the best move for me, I absolutely love what I do and they say if you have a job and you love it, you will do it every day.” Tasha’s love for the cows is what gets her up in the morning and is also what she loves most about dairy farming. “They are such beautiful beasts, beautiful little women. I talk and sing to them, and I sing to the calves as well,” she laughs. Tasha credits her bosses for her career satisfaction and says if it wasn’t for them, she wouldn’t be dairy farming. “They are very encouraging, reliable, trustworthy and helpful. They have taught me so much.” Harry and Winton are just as happy with the working arrangement. “We are very lucky to have her,” they say. “She has no bad habits and isn’t afraid to ask questions.” “The GoDairy programme is an excellent service and has given her the confidence and knowledge to ask ‘Why’.” Tasha encourages any young person considering dairying as a career to enrol in the GoDairy programme. “Give it a go and ask lots of questions, it’s the only way you’re going to learn. If you don’t like to read, then ask questions and do, and you’ll learn that way.” “GoDairy is free and the first week will determine whether dairy farming is for you,” says Tasha. “Through the course you actually get to work with animals and it will give you some ideas about what it’s going to be like when working on a farm.” Tasha is very proud of her farming assistant role and of the calves she has reared. “They’re like my little babies, I still walk up
there and sing to them! Those calves are my proudest moment and there’s one that I saw being born, take her first steps and have her first drink. I named her Gina!” Tasha is also proud of herself for pushing through the challenges of injuries. “I have carpal tunnel in both hands and torn ligaments in my knee, but I just push through and do the work.” Tasha is getting used to the early morning starts and says “being pooed on in the shed” is her least favourite moment in the role so far. “Thank heaven for aprons,” she laughs. Remembering the different cleaning routines and procedures in the shed has also been challenging. “I’ve never done that in my life and there’s so much to remember!” Tasha’s future farming goal includes managing a dairy farm. “This isn’t just a job, it’s a career and the sky’s the limit. I love that at the end of the day I know I’ve done what I can to help the cows.” “Even if you think you don’t want to go dairy farming, you should do the GoDairy programme,” advises Tasha. “Look at me. I didn’t want to go farming, and now I’m working on a farm and doing GoDairy!” “Life is good.”
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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SPECIAL REPORT | PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The making of Mark and Measure
T
Words by: Chris Neill
he dairy sector has plenty of competition, from friendly rivalry with a neighbour to full on war with weeds, pests and disease. Less conspicuous is the intimate competition with self which for some is coping with the challenges of each day and for others it is pushing the boundaries of personal development and improvement. Numerous support, information and education programmes are available for self improvement and one of the gems is DairyNZ’s Mark and Measure. The genesis of Mark and Measure was a wealth creation programme for farmers developed some 23 years ago in Ireland with participation spread over several months. Lynaire Ryan, Phillipa Hedley and Paul Bird brought the concept to DairyNZ , and created a three-day residential programme. Paul is now a senior project manager with DairyNZ and responsible for delivering
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Mark and Measure to dairy farmers looking to understand and advance their business. The core elements of Mark and Measure are Vision, Values and Goals. Most participants are farming couples and the process of defining their individual and collective business vision can be challenging. When one partner draws an aeroplane as a part of her vision to signify travel and husband interprets this as flying fertiliser on the farm, courageous conversation is happening. The relevance of values to achieving a vision is not commonly recognised. Another farmer desperately wanting to increase pasture grown couldn’t get it to happen. He discovered his key constraint in the values passed down from his grandfather and father that the only nitrogen on the farm would be fixed by clover. Goals are often talked about but aligning them to the business vision gives greater reward to the business when they are achieved. Programme participants must define their own Vision, Values and Goals with the support and encouragement of the facilitators and other farmers in the room. For some it will be financial and others it may be lifestyle or succession and almost
certainly the Vision and Goals will change with more thinking and time. The current format for Mark and Measure offers those with a farming business three days off farm in the company of other dairy farming business owners providing an opportunity to talk about their future. Before the course starts, participants have a full financial analysis of their business undertaken using DairyBase. An experienced business analyst discussed with the farmers their business strengths and opportunities and this starts the journey of understanding how the business owners can achieve their Vision. The course warms up with introduction to personality types and how understanding these is integral to successful business and staff relationships. A look at the importance and maintenance of wellness will swing the mood from hilarity to sobering reality. It’s the beginning of understanding that as a group the participants are challenged by similar issues and the foundation for supportive relationships that will develop and continue. The progression into financial analysis, budgeting and investment principles can be challenging for some
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Left: Luke and Sunny Oud with daughter Lilah have a vision for their future in dairy farming.
but they are crucial elements to business understanding and the creation of each business Planning Wheel. Planning Wheels are relatively simple means of pulling all the elements together with Vision and Values at the centre surrounded by the key goals for achieving this vision. Then comes the crunchy part of defining actions required to achieve each goal. The first iteration is frequently modified as participants review and revise their thinking when they return home. After many years with the programme Paul Bird sees the key benefits to participants are development of relationships and networks with like minded farmers, strengthened alignment of farming couples, and learning new skills and processes for their business journey. In the latest format Mark and Measure is offering coaching sessions after the course to encourage follow through with the plan. Past participants commonly recall their farmer guest speaker talking of the challenges and successes they have dealt with. For some it is a reflection on wealth creation and others share their story of overcoming considerable adversity. The common feature is a dairy farmer achieving their Vision with planning and perseverance which inspires farmers participating in Mark and Measure to think about what they could achieve with their business.
Luke and Sunny Oud with daughter Lilah and the next generation of their dairy investment.
“Past participants commonly recall their farmer guest speaker talking of the challenges and successes they have dealt with. For some it is a reflection on wealth creation and others share their story of overcoming considerable adversity.”
Bringing in the Extension 350 project The farmer-centric Extension 350 project started in Northland four years ago. Focused on profitability, environmental sustainability and farmer wellbeing it encourages farmers to achieve what they want in their lives and business. Mark and Measure is a critical component of farmers’ journey to their success in the project. To date, E350 has had DairyNZ deliver three Mark and Measure programmes which accounts for 60 farms and has another three programmes booked. Project Lead Luke Beehre views Mark and Measure as a structure where farmers benefit from the course material, socialising with and supporting other farmers, and the inspirational guest speakers. This aligns with the projects philosophy of farmers learning from other farmers. Each E350 Target farmer is supported by a Mentor farmer and farm consultant. The Target farmers identify their Vision, Values and Goals which the Mentors and Consultants must understand to then support them with the actions required to make and sustain change. The ongoing mentor and consultant support after the Mark and Measure course is proving highly beneficial in locking in the learning and the conversations this team engage in are more strategic and aligned with what the Target farmer wants. While target farmers Sue and Peter Skelton wished they had done Mark and Measure at the beginning of their farming career it helped clarify where they had come from, what they have now and identified that a vision for their business is essential. A key learning has been “making little changes add up to big results” with regular pasture monitoring and monthly budget revisions their key examples.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Other target farmers Luke and Sunny Oud who are relatively new to farming, are now recognising the course benefits and are astounded at how their vision has been able to grow. Learning to create goals and actions is allowing them to progress toward achieving their vision. Both Skeltons and Ouds recognise the contribution of sharing the journey with other farmers to support and inspire themselves and others. Because E350 involves dairy plus sheep and beef farmers, providing Mark and Measure beyond dairy was required. Luke is very appreciative of DairyNZ willingness to collaborate, adopt and adapt. With additional support for sheep and beef specific content the modified programme has for at least one beef farming couple been “life changing”. When it came to farmers supporting and learning from other farmers there was plenty of common ground with Vision and Values but some variation in the goals and actions. The E350 team appreciates the complementarity of Mark and Measure to supporting farmers on a journey of change over three years. The key contributions are building strategies aligned with Vision Values and Goals, developing strong farmer to farmer support relationships, providing the framework for courageous conversations, and inspiring farmers to rise to their challenges. Tafi Manjala who is an AgFirst consultant working in E350 describes it as “taking people up for a helicopter view of their business, establishing a road map with the planning wheel, and creating clarity of actions which are essential particularly when confronted with adverse events”.
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GROW SOME IT’S TIME TO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020 TRACTA63289_DE_GS
SPECIAL REPORT | LINCOLN UNIVERSITY
Pandemic helps steer students
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Words by: Anne Lee
incoln University is enjoying a surge in interest from prospective Kiwi students eyeing opportunities in the agri, food and fibre sectors. As one of the few positive spinoffs from the global pandemic there’s been heightened recognition of the sectors’ vital roles in New Zealand. Lincoln University deputy vicechancellor Grant Edwards says through the Covid-19 experience it’s become clear agri, food and fibre will take an important lead in NZ’s economic recovery and it’s creating exciting opportunities for both school leavers and career changers. The role agriculture and supporting industries will play in spearheading environmental improvements has also been highlighted with opportunities booming across the whole spectrum of the sector from boots-on farmers, industry support, agribusiness, science and research. “There’s a lot of positive activity in all of those areas and they hold exciting prospects,” he says. And Kiwis are seeing that. Lincoln University agribusiness and commerce faculty dean Hugh Bigsby says domestic student applications for some degrees are up 30% on where they were at the same time last year. “Students have choices so it’s great to see more of them choosing to enrol in applied science and applied commerce degrees related to the agri sectors.” Diploma course enrolments have increased with the Diplomas in Agriculture, Farm Management, Horticulture and Hort management included in the government’s targeted training and apprenticeship fund that means free fees for course costs. Applications across all courses are coming from both school leavers and potential career changers made redundant. The combination of limited or no travel over the coming year means overseas gap years are likely off the table and tough economic times may make it harder for school leavers to find jobs. Just as students
Attendees at a Lincoln University field day.
and the workforce are having to pivot, so too is the university. Covid-19 lockdowns and alert levels saw the university move to fully online learning during alert levels four and three with some opportunity for face-to-face learning in tutorials and labs during alert level two. At level one face-to-face learning is back but online learning remains an option. “The university has made a very significant investment in online technology so students can study wherever they are if they can’t get to university,” Grant says. “We’re also making available a Certificate of University Studies online as a bridge from secondary school or the workforce to help people into university.” A combination of free-fees for taught postgraduate degrees until the end of 2021 and online availability has boosted interest from New Zealanders in post-graduate studies too with enrolments jumping from just 11 Kiwis in the master of business course in 2019 to 86 in 2020. Hugh says part of this growth is because they’ve also packaged up a number of core foundation courses common to a number of businessrelated masters degrees offered at the university and rolled them into an online Post Graduate Certificate in Commerce. “It’s 60 credits and a semester worth of courses so people can either stop at one semester with a qualification or use it towards their masters degree,” he says. Several new courses will be available online in 2021, including a new Diploma in Horticultural Business, modelled on a programme the university has been collaborating on with the University of Tasmania. While the increase in domestic
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
student numbers will go some way to making up for numbers lost through the closure of NZ’s border, Grant says the financial impact of losing international students will certainly be felt. “There’s the impact on the university’s revenue but we’re also losing research work that would have been carried out by those international postgraduates that’s highly valuable to New Zealand. “A number of those international students would have gone on to be employed in our agri, food and fibre sector as well as the research community including our crown research institutes,” he says. As well as stopping students coming in, Covid-19 is stopping NZ students travelling. “We’re a globally connected university and it’s important that we keep up those global connections. “Last year we took 75 students offshore on five different trips to Indonesia, Thailand, China, South Korea and Brazil looking at import/export opportunities and connecting with universities to develop joint programmes,” Hugh says. Lincoln, like other universities, wants to see borders opened to international students providing it can be done safely. But with that looking less likely before next semester the university is working on creating systems so postgraduate students can start their enrolment process while still overseas and begin their studies. “We have to be careful though that we don’t put the students at risk of getting to a point where they can’t carry on their studies because they can’t get to our campus,” Grant says.
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SPECIAL REPORT | BREEDING RECRUITS
Left: The McCarthy family are passionate about their role as AB techs for LIC. Left to right: Dad Paul McCarthy with daughters Laura, Anita and Erin.
RECRUITS put hands up for AI
A
rtificial breeding technicians (AB techs) across the country have begun rolling up their sleeves in order to get millions of dairy cows pregnant over the next six months. Last year LIC, which employs about 900 AB techs between September and March, oversaw the insemination of more than four million cows. While undertaking this work, the co-operative is also seeking new recruits to train ahead of next season. Once trained many return year-afteryear including the McCarthy family. Paul McCarthy first trained with LIC in 1978 as a 20-year-old. After nearly 40 years he has inseminated thousands of cows while running a 134-hectare dairy farm in
Trainees practice AI on LIC’s artificial cow.
Galatea in the eastern Bay of Plenty with his wife Johanna. “My brother-in-law works as an LIC AB tech near Ashburton and my three youngest daughters – Anita, 31, Laura, 30, and Erin, 28 – all became fully-qualified AB techs about five years ago.” “My daughter Laura only just got
“making milking easier and faster”
through because there’s a height and length-of-arm criteria for the job. But she just got in and did her apprenticeship in the South Island where you’re dealing with large Friesian cows and she was able to inseminate those big cows. She’s a very determined person.” Paul says having good empathy for farmers and animals is vital. “I also inseminated in Australia last year and New Zealand techs are in demand over there, as they are everywhere. Our adherence to hygiene, our training, our technique – it’s all outstanding. LIC should be proud as well.” Applications for the next intake of LIC AB techs open on October 1. Training commences in February with an intense two-week course with attendees having to pass the first week before moving on to the second. Initially, trainees work on artificial cows to make sure the insemination technique is learnt. The introduction of artificial cows by LIC in 2015, with silicon parts that have been made to resemble as close as possible the internal reproductive organs of a cow, has lifted the overall AB apprentice technician pass rate in recent years. Training takes place at six training sites across the country between February and May. Applicants pay a training fee of $899 (plus GST) which covers participation in LIC’s 12-month apprenticeship programme including four national unit standards administered by Primary ITO. Once applicants have successfully passed, they’re eligible for a refund on their training fee as part of the Government’s apprenticeship programmes. More? Visit www.lic.co.nz/productsand-services/artificial-breeding/train-abtechnician
See our website or phone for more info.
for circular and s te ga g in ck ba e iv ct fe ef About rectangular dairy yards
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www.mcconnel.co.nz
Phone: +64 7 849 2122 Fax: +64 7 849 2128 Email: sales@mcconnel.co.nz
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
SPECIAL REPORT | CO DIARY
Dairy lifestyle attracts newcomers to GoDairy
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Some have never been on a farm, while others have a rural background or family/ t’s been exciting to help friends on farms. introduce Kiwis to dairy farming I’ve been impressed by the enthusiasm as a career option through the participants have to find a job and DairyNZ’s GoDairy training. get out onfarm. They particularly like the The free, three-week GoDairy idea of working with animals and being Farm Ready Training was outdoors every day. Many have also said launched in June they think dairy offers a good and offers Kiwis who have had lifestyle for their family. their employment affected They have been asking a lot of by Covid-19 the chance to questions – from how cows think get into a dairy career. As a and act, to expectations onfarm, consulting officer, I’ve been how farmers reduce their impact on involved in facilitating online the environment, and how to find training sessions giving people a good boss. an overview of the dairy sector Over the coming few Heather Donaldson. and what working on a farm months,there will be a growing involves. The online sessions are followed number of GoDairy graduates – and other by two weeks of practical training covering Kiwis – coming to farms to start work. animal handling and care, and safe farm As well as working as a consulting officer, vehicle operation. I’m a contract milker with my husband So far, a really wide range of people have Craig in South Canterbury. We’ve been taken part in the training – including IT involved in training quite a few new staff professionals, tourism workers, mums and this has taught me that learning never caring for children and former airline staff. stops.
Words by: Heather Donaldson
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SUPPORTS A HEALTHY FAECAL EGG COUNT FOR INTESTINAL HEALTH
HOMEOPATHIC FARM SERVICES Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Every farm has its own systems and processes, so taking time to explain to new staff how you do things is vital, regardless of their level of experience. There is a lot to take in during the first few days, so we try to follow up a couple of days after discussing a new task. This is a way to check they understand what needs to be done and are doing it correctly. If you have a new starter onfarm and want to know how you can support them, then visit dairynz.co.nz/onboarding. Good onboarding is also about being a good boss. DairyNZ has an exciting competition under way where you can win some great prizes by telling us what it means to be a good boss; visit dairynz.co.nz/goodboss Farmers wanting to employ a career changer, or see if staff employed after 1 May 2020 qualify for the free Farm Ready Training, can visit dairynz.co.nz/godairy. People interested in joining the GoDairy training can see www.godairy.co.nz
p 07 858 4233
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SYSTEMS NITROGEN FERTILISERS
Wearing the nitrogen cap Advice and top tips from farmers, farm consultants and scientists involved in the Meeting a Sustainable Future project have contributed to getting fertiliser rates down to meet new national freshwater nitrogen caps. Anne Lee reports
H
igh users of nitrogen fertiliser are being urged to start lowering nitrogen rates this season to try and reduce the potential for dramatic impacts on their farm systems when new national freshwater nitrogen cap rules come in. The 190kg N/ha/year cap on nitrogen fertiliser application for each hectare on the farm will begin in July next year under the Labour Government’s new rules. Farmers will have to report their synthetic fertiliser nitrogen use to their regional councils. Canterbury farmers are likely to be hardest hit by the new input rule which had not been signalled in last year’s proposed policy statements that drew record numbers of farmer submissions. DairyNZ Meeting a Sustainable Future project leader Virginia Serra says DairyBase 58
data shows for the 2018/19 season average nitrogen fertiliser use in Canterbury was 234kg N/ha effective. The average for the past 12 years reported for Canterbury farms in DairyBase was 226kg N/ha effective. The figures are backed up by data from farms involved Virginia Serra. in the Meeting a Sustainable Future Project where farmers are partnering with DairyNZ to work together on solutions to reduce nitrogen losses and implement practical solutions borne from research studies including the Forages for Reduce Nitrate Leaching study. Partner farmers averaged application rates of 218kg N/ha for the latest year end which was down 11% on the groups
average of 244kg N/ha over the 2009-2013 baseline period. An established consultancy firm in Canterbury reported its clients averaged 235kg N/ha for the 2019/20 season with several clients applying more than 300kg N/ha. Irrigated Canterbury farms can usually expect high response rates of 10-15kg drymatter (DM)/kg of nitrogen fertiliser making nitrogen boosted pasture a very price competitive feed which explains the higher rates, Virginia says. Despite those response rates though the relationship between nitrogen fertiliser and profit is low according to DairyBase data analysis. Much of the focus of research and farmer projects has been on the major culprit driving nitrogen loss onfarm – nitrogen deposited at high rates in the urine patches from cows. Managing irrigation to limit drainage also has a significant impact on helping keep losses down. But Overseer is responsive to reducing nitrogen fertiliser with nitrogen fertiliser correlated to nitrogen surplus and nitrogen surplus highly correlated to leaching, so lowering rates will go some way to achieving environmental goals - providing of course the nitrogen isn’t substituted with other inputs such as bought-in feed. Virginia says discussions with farmers in the Meeting a Sustainable Future project held following the announcement of the 190kg N/ha/year cap have drawn out advice and top tips from farmers, farm consultants and scientists on how to get rates down. Several farmers in the project group have successfully dropped nitrogen fertiliser use from more than 300kg N/ha/year to 200230kg N/ha/year but the transition has taken two to three years. A successful transition takes time and its best to do it gradually, she says. “It’s important that clover has time to re-establish and the additional nitrogen fixed - from increased clover growth - is available to the grass, to compensate for the lower nitrogen from fertiliser. “So farmers using high rates will need to start now if they want to get rates down to the target next season,” she says.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Regional Data
THE RULES
The 190kg N/ha/year cap is the maximum application averaged across (pastoral) land on a farm. Importantly, it is also the maximum application on any hectare of pasture (area not used to grow annual forage crops). It is possible to put more than 190kg N/ha/year on forage crops but only if offset by applying lower amounts on pasture. The nitrogen cap applies to a “contiguous land holding”. This is “one or more parcels of land within a farm”. So, if there is a support block contiguous (joined) with the milking platform, it is all subject to the same N-cap. If the support block is separate, both blocks must independently meet the N-cap. Farmers that exceed the N cap will need to apply for a resource consent.
FIGURE 1: REGIONAL DATA
Kg fertiliser N applied (Canterbury – Dairy Base)
FIGURE 2: KG FERTILISER N APPLIED (CANTERBURY – DAIRY BASE)
CANTERBURY AVERAGE (DairyBase) kg N applied /ha
300
One of the places reductions can be made is the effluent area. Data from the partner farms shows that when nitrogen from effluent is accounted for, applying nitrogen fertiliser is likely to push the total nitrogen applied to the area well beyond what’s being used on the rest of the farm. (Figure 1.) The aim should be for total nitrogen applied on the effluent area (N from effluent plus N from fertiliser) to be at the same rate as the rest of the farm. Achieving that in reality can be difficult though with nitrogen levels in stored effluent varying. Samples can be tested through the year to help decision making but it’s an area identified as needing more research.
APPLICATION STRATEGIES Following the cows with nitrogen is a simple and commonly used fertiliser application strategy but it can lead to more nitrogen being applied than required particularly when grazing rounds are sped up through high growth periods. If grazing rounds are at 18-19 days, ryegrass is likely to be grazed before the 2.5 leaf stage rather than between the 2.5 to three leaf stage where the greatest drymatter accumulation takes place.
224 202
200
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226
243
227
244
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234 208
223
226
150 100 50 0
07/08
08/09
09/10
10/11
11/12
12/13
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
17/18
18/19 2019/20 Average
Clover root weevil
Kg Nitrogen applied & Operating profit per ha
FIGURE 3: KG NITROGEN APPLIED & OPERATING PROFIT PER HA (CANTERBURY DAIRYBASE 2018/19)
(Canterbury DairyBase 2018/19)
6,000
5,000
Operating profit ($/ha)
EFFLUENT AREA
Kg N applied /ha
250
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
4,000
3,000
y= 4.13x + 2761 R2 = 0.0253 2,000
1,000
0
100
150
200
250
300
350
Nitrogen applied (kg N/ha)
59
13
WAYS TO CUT NITROGEN
1. Cut nitrogen application rates per dressing from 1kg N/ days-in-round to 0.8kg. 2. Reduce or avoid applications on dry areas or areas with poorer species. 3. Grazing at the 2.5-3 leaf stage may reduce the number of grazing rounds and, if following cows with N, may also reduce the number of applications. 4. Ensure no other soil issues such as fertility, drainage or compaction are limiting pasture growth. 5. Don’t shade out clover – don’t leave pastures to grow out to get heavy silage cuts. 6. Check soil fertility is at right levels for clover growth. 7. Encourage clover through good establishment, oversowing.
8. Check out Dairy Exporter September 2020, pages 56,57 for tips on clover. 9. Use coated products for N (SustainN/N-Protect)
10. Use precision tracking for fertiliser application but check actuals.
11. Manage irrigation well to limit chance of drainage and N loss. 12. Limit nitrogen fertiliser applications on effluent area.
13. Avoid high fertility areas such as around troughs, near gateways when applying N.
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Slowing the round to time grazings to be between the 2.5 and three-leaf stage will maximise pasture yield. Don’t go beyond the three leaf stage because that’s going to shade out clover. Slowing the round may reduce the total number of grazing rounds for the season without compromising feed intakes. And if you’re using the “following the cows” application timing strategy then fewer grazing rounds means fewer nitrogen applications. That could mean an immediate 25-40kg N/ha reduction on its own depending on what the rates would have been for the dressings that get dropped out. Some farmers have moved to timing applications once or twice a month rather than after grazing, Virginia says. While that helps simplify reductions it can mean some nitrogen efficiency is compromised as some pasture will be in the middle of its regrowth cycle when the nitrogen is applied and will be grazed before the maximum response is achieved. DairyNZ principal scientist Dr Ina Pinxterhuis says pasture height should be above 3.5cm or 1500kg drymatter (DM)/ha to get a response from nitrogen fertiliser. The pasture won’t respond until four days after application so it can be grazed until then without reducing the growth response. From four days onwards the uptake of nitrogen is rapid if growth conditions are good but that won’t be reflected in the DM yield until 14 days after application. That means the nitrogen content in the pasture from four to 14 days is higher, increasing the likely urinary N loss if grazed then. It takes 20 days in spring and up to 40 days in the autumn to get a significant yield response to N fertiliser so grazing before then means you’re not getting the full benefit of the fertiliser. Pasture growth is limited when soil temperatures are below 6C and above 16C so applying nitrogen then won’t get a growth response. Typically 1kgN/ha/days of round length is used to determine the application rate at each dressing but cutting that to 0.8kg could be considered. That too could mean a reduction of 4-8kg/ha at each application depending on original rates which would also add up to a significant reduction over the whole season. Some farmers have delayed their first nitrogen application until September instead of applying it as soon as soil temperatures go above 7deg C which is usually mid-August. Most make their last applications mid-April. No applications in January and February during periods of peak clover growth has been a strategy tried by several partner farmers but it’s had mixed results with some farmers facing a feed deficit in March. It’s important to have a plan but it must be monitored and adjusted during the season in response to weather conditions, Virginia says.
CLOVER Building clover content in pastures will help make up for reduced nitrogen fertiliser inputs. Achieving good establishment will take extra attention at pasture renewal time. Check soil fertility is good for clover. Clover needs higher levels of phosphorus (P) sulphur (S) and potassium (K) than ryegrass and needs magnesium (Mg) and molybdenum (Mo). It grows best at a soil pH of 5.8-6.2. It can be oversown now. Check out last month’s issue for tips on growing and establishing clover (Dairy Exporter September 2020, pages 56,57). Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
SYSTEMS DRY CLIMATE FARMING
A Portuguese farm.
Dairying in a very dry climate In Portugal there is virtually no rain from May to October, so without irrigation, dairying would be impossible. And although there are fertiliser regulations, farmers apply up to 625kgN/ha and largely flout the laws by ‘paper’ transactions amongst neighbours. Sjoerd Hofstee explains how.
M
ost people know Portugal only from sunny holidays. The country guarantees high temperatures with plenty of sunshine and dry weather for much of the year. Not the best ingredients for dairy farming, but it is still practised on a fairly large scale in the north, not so much in the south of the country where the soil is rocky or too dry. Most Portuguese farmers have small farms, averaging 55 cows, with a few larger farms with several hundred cows located in the centre of the country close to the capital, Lisbon. What makes farming in most of Portugal especially difficult is that it does not rain one drop from May to mid-October. It gets hot, and the wind is almost always blowing on the Iberian Peninsula, further drying out the soil, although it is a pleasant refreshment for the cows.
Grass can hardly survive the summers anywhere in Portugal. The shallow-rooted plants are burned by the strong sun, so grass is resown annually to grow from autumn to the following spring. With irrigation, many dairy farmers grow silage maize or sorghum from early May to mid-September. After harvesting, they immediately sow grass, mostly Italian ryegrass, from which they harvest the first cut in mid or late October. Plenty of sun and irrigation ensures rapid germination and growth of grass. The grass can be harvested again at the end of winter, around March 1, and if it is growing well a third cut can be made before May 1. Irrigation is possible because of the various reservoirs that have been built or enlarged and improved in recent decades together with all the associated pipes and pumps to get the water from the reservoirs to the agricultural lands.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
In the south there is a kind of quota for the use of irrigation water, but not yet in the centre and orth. However, it is certainly not free. The regulations and costs differ by region, but on average the costs are about €500 (NZ$887 ) per hectare for the water itself and the electricity. These costs are in addition to the lease price averaging about €600/ha (NZ$ 1064) in central Portugal. Purchase price for land is between €20,000 and €30,000/ha (NZ$35,500 and NZ$53,350) ; availability is limited, but domestic and foreign investors have been increasingly active in recent years buying land, especially for growing almond and olive trees.
FACTORY QUOTAS Another factor distinguishing Portuguese dairy farming from most other European countries is that the dairies work with factory quotas. The dairy industry has 61
shown little innovation in recent years and still relies mainly on the domestic market. Partly due to competition in the daily fresh market, especially from neighboring countries, the milk price was around €32.5 (NZ$57.65) per 100 kilos for spring 2020 – a few cents below the level of most North West European factories. Milk is paid for on the basis of fat and protein content, but nothing extra is paid for contents above 4.00 fat and 3.50% protein. This is because most milk is processed into daily fresh products. Like all EU countries, Portugal has a fertilizer law. This is also checked, but the ‘paper is patient’, every Portuguese dairy farmer knows. If you have more manure than you can legally place, it is usually enough to have a conversation with a neighbor who owns a lot of land. For a little money he signs that he receives the manure which then simply ends up on the fields of the dairy farmer. Nobody cares about it in Portugal.
HARVEST SORGHUM THREE TIMES A SUMMER Jan and Hinke Schuurmans bought their first Portuguese farm in 1999 near the town of Alcanhoes. They now milk a total of 1,000 cows at three locations for which they grow grass in winter, and in summer a combination of sorghum and sudan grass. Under irrigation and with lots of sunlight, the quality of the grass silage is usually good. Jan says he grows sorghum from May to mid-September. “I tried alfalfa, but that crop doesn’t like manure. By alternating grass and sorghum, I can always store the slurry on my own land during the year. This saves transport and arranging sales.” The sorghum that Schuurmans grows is a cross with sudan grass, which increases the leaf percentage. This is cut and chopped
The Schuurmans cows are fed forage harvested as grass in winter and sorghum in summer.
two to three times, just before it blossoms. The nutritional value is therefore not very high. The energy level is low with the raw protein at about 11%. “Beautiful food for young cattle, dry cows and partly also for dairy cows. Although it milks better with grass or preferably in combination with sorghum/ sudan grass and ryegrass, but that is not available all year round.” The sorghum is sown in May after first working soil with discs and then with a rotary cultivator. “We have also tried to sow the sorghum full fields in sprayed out grass, but that did not work well. Spraying the grass is not necessary because the sun burns the roots to death. That is why we also have little trouble with weed pressure in the sorghum and we never spray chemicals for weed protection.” They don’t see the hot summers as a problem. “The air is dry and therefore the heat is not often a problem. In our region there is no limit on the use of water for irrigation.
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30,000KG DM FROM MEADOW GRASS More than two hours south of Lisbon, Frans Ampt farms on the Portuguese ocean coast similarly to New Zealand. The cows remain outside all year round. Frans and his wife Martine van’t Westeinde started farming on the west coast of Portugal in 2006. The climate is mild, never gets warmer than 30 degrees, and there is always a breeze from the sea. Grass grows well in this climate with the help of irrigation and a lot of fertiliser. Frans manages to extract 30,000 kilos of dry matter from one hectare. He does this by offering the 400-cow herd 2.6 hectares of meadow grass each day. Grazing is done twice and then mowing once. After each grazing, the plot receives 55kg of nitrogen per hectare. This means more than 625kg nitrogen per
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Left: Making milk in Portugal is only possible with irrigation. Above: With a mild climate and sea breeze, Frans Ampt can have his cows grazing outside on irrigated pastures.
hectare per year. A fertiliser law also applies in Portugal and so that much nitrogen is officially not allowed on the 100 hectares of pasturable land. “That is easy to arrange on paper,” Ampt explains. In practice, one of his larger, less intensive neighbours signs off that he applied the nitrogen, and because there are very few rivers and creeks, runoff of excess never really happens. The livestock consists largely of Jersey crosses with a bit of Holstein blood. The animals produce an average of about 6,500kg of milk per cow per year with 4%
fat and 3.5% protein. They achieve this on a complete grass ration with an energy supplement via concentrated feed in the milking parlour up to a maximum of 12kg per cow. “The concentrated feed contains cornmeal, beet pulp, wheat, barley and less than 9% raw protein. It is really intended to compensate for the large protein content of the grass. “ There is currently sufficient water supply. “We work here in an agricultural area totaling almost 20,000 hectares supplied with water from a reservoir. In the morning I have to call how much water
ON-FARM FIELD DAYS
has been supplied for my irrigation and that is still being pumped through. There has already been talk of a quota in this region, also because it has rained much less here last winter, but it is not there yet. It is already a fact that water is a very serious cost item. An investment in a pivot that can irrigate 45 hectares is still possible for €50,000, but electricity already costs €8000 to €9000 (NZ$14,200 to NZ$16,000) annually. Every cubic meter of water now costs €0.06.(NZ10c) If you use 6000 cubic metres every day in summer, that adds up…”
DAIRY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
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. 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 Tuesday 24 November - WAIKATO McCullough Farm Partnership Ltd - Richard & Nadine McCullough 100 Kentucky Road, Cambridge - S/N OCD 075
For more information please visit our website www.dboy.co.nz
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
63
STOCK ANIMAL HEALTH
The Willis herd ready to be milked.
Health conscious for cattle and people Protection of the land, stock and local people has won a Southland farmer several Ballance Farm Environment awards. Karen Trebilcock reports.
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hen it comes to stock health, Robert Willis prefers to be the ambulance at the top of the cliff rather than at the bottom. And as a full-time ambulance officer for St John in Invercargill it’s not an expression he uses lightly. “On the farm we’ve used pain relief from day one with anything that needs it, not just dehorning calves. “We teat-seal heifers and cows, and that has reduced our mastitis, stopped us using 64
so much antibiotic and lowered our cell counts. “We’ve got Rumensin in the troughs to stop bloat and we’ve got grain feeding in the dairy to maintain our cow condition.” He said the grain has improved in-calf rates, maintained cow condition and also allowed him to graze covers down to 1500kg DM/ha in peak grass and 1600 in the shoulders to maintain quality. When the cows can’t do it he pre-graze mows to make sure they can. “It was either paying for grain feeding
in the dairy or buying a silage wagon. The cost was the same, but we have a rolling farm and we didn’t want to wreck our tracks. It was an easy decision. “We really focus on maintaining our tracks and letting the cows walk in themselves to the dairy as much as we can, and that stops so many foot problems.” He works with Louise Ingram from Otautau Vets for the cows’ nutrition and health. “She started as a vet the same time as we converted, so we’ve grown together as
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
BOBCAT FARM
Location: Gummies Bush, Southland Area: 112ha dairy platform, 120ha runoff Herd: 340 Friesian, Friesian cross BW 129/51, PW 144/58 Production: 192,500kg MS 2019 – 2020 (330 cows)
a team. She really gave me the confidence to graze lower, especially when there’s been no sun and we’re stuck in a 20-day rotation. “With our colostrum we separate out the gold colostrum, we test it ourselves, and make sure every calf gets it in that essential first eight hours; and we haven’t had a sick calf for, I don’t know, a decade. “And we keep a closed herd and make sure all of our boundaries are secure.” The southerly, salt-laden wind can hit the coastal area hard, and planting trees has always been a necessity as well as a passion for Robert and his family. When M bovis emerged in Southland they realised the extensive plantings on the boundary fences also protected the cows. “We’ve formed an island here, and with disinfecting and washing cars coming in we managed to keep it out.” Covid-19 has made him rethink the strategy, but for now he’s not changing. “If we did get something it would just go through the cows so quickly because they’d have no immunity. We don’t vaccinate for many things. “It makes sure we do our borders really well.” Part of the closed herd status is not using bulls for mating. An LIC sire-proving herd, they haven’t used outside bulls for more than six years. Heifers are mated AB for 14 days, then farm-bred bulls are used; the herd is inseminated for six weeks’ sire proving, then six weeks short-gestation Hereford. He uses FlashMates as well as tail paint, checking dates, and also milk testing to pick heats. With sire proving, he likes getting the best genetics before anyone else and doing it economically. His BW and PW are in the top 10% in the country. “You have to be a details person to do it. You have to herd test and make sure all of your recording is correct.”
Robert Willis is proud of the many trees and shelter belts planted on the farm.
Calves are inside for only a week and then are out in paddocks on the runoff, with plastic coats on and a shed for shelter. They’re fed ad lib once a day, and Robert said he would never go back. “It probably takes a bit more milk but we have no bugs, no sick calves.” Also on the runoff are the yearlings, and during the winter the cows as well on fodder beet, moved two to three times a day to protect the soils and to keep the cows fully fed. “Shifting them several times a day takes all of their stress away. There is not the hierarchy in the cows stopping some of them getting enough to eat and they can eat all day and be happy.” His father ran the sheep farm for 37 years before Robert took it on, the fifth generation to farm in Gummies Bush.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
“A lot of my friends at school were off dairy farms and from the age of 11 I used to milk after school at a neighbouring farm. I realised I was drawn to cows rather than sheep. “While my father used to love a pen full of lambs to dag, for me it was milking cows.” Robert converted the farm in 2001 and, with land values high in the area, realised profitability was key. “There are a lot of intergenerational farms here and land is like gold. Every little bit of it you’ve got you have to make the most of.” But several years ago two moments made him reconsider what he was doing. The first was his kids asking him what he was doing home. “I suddenly realised they hardly saw 65
Top: Robert and contract milker Jordan Hawke. Above: Calves out in the Southland sunshine in the first week of September.
me home, that’s how much time I was spending on the farm. The second was when I was putting a line into a cow to give it an intravenous bag because it was down. I thought I could be doing that for people.” He joined the Riverton St John as a volunteer and when a paid full-time position came up in Invercargill four years ago he applied and got the job. “I was turning 40 too and there is something about turning 40.” He and his wife Cate and their two children, Isabella, now 16 and Luca 11, moved off the farm to a lifestyle block on 66
the edge of Invercargill, half an hour away. David Monteith, who had worked with him for years, stepped up to contract milk, and now his daughter Kelly Hawke and her husband Jordan have taken it on. “The similarities between dairying and working as an EMT (emergency medical technician) are quite odd. You’re still problem solving. “With farming you are always trying to figure out feed and weather and cows, and with patients each one has a problem you need to deal with. “You never know what is going to happen each day, just like farming.
“And farming set me up with being used to early mornings and shift work and thinking on the spot and being in the public eye and doing the right thing.” Moving off-farm made him also reconsider where the farm was at, and he finally decided to enter the Ballance Farm Environment Awards. “I’d been thinking it’s not quite ready yet and then you realise it will never be perfect.” This year the farm picked up the Bayleys People in Primary Sector Award, the Waterforce Wise with Water Award, and The Plant Store Planting and Design Award. St John employs about 25 people in Invercargill and, apart from the wife of a dairy farmer, he is the only one with a connection to farming. “I get from a lot of them – why are you here? You used to be self employed, no boss. But you value yourself a bit more when you’re paid an hourly rate.” He works a four-day shift, two days, two nights and then four days off. “And you can switch off. With the cows I could never switch off. I used to be a volunteer for St John as stress relief from the farm. “Now I come out to the farm on my days off and it’s my stress relief from St John. “It’s just a pleasure to be here.”
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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Find out more from your CRV Ambreed Field Consultant or online at CRV4all.co.nz Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
BETTER COWS | BETTER LIFE 67
STOCK THIAMINE DEFICIENCY
Why are my cows going blind? Dietary changes, weaning and other stressors on cattle can cause vitamin B1 deficiency, which in turn can cause blindness. Dr Rory Dean describes the signs to watch for and what to do when you see them.
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n 1884, Polish scientist Casmir Funk discovered four chemical substances were required in humans’ diets for essential functions. He found these substances seemed to contain an amine chemical group and he termed them “vital amines”, which would eventually be shortened to “vitamins”. One of the original four vitamins he discovered was thiamine, or vitamin B1. All ruminants have an essential requirement for thiamine, which helps support, among other things, a healthy neurological system. In healthy ruminants fed sufficient roughage, plentiful thiamine is normally produced by thiamine-producing bacteria in the rumen. Thiamine deficiency in cattle occurs 68
under several circumstances that are not production of thiaminase, an enzyme that fully understood. breaks down thiamine. Certainly, when cattle are fed diets Vitamin B1 is essential for energy supply containing insufficient roughage, to the brain in ruminants. Deficiency thiamine deficiency causes a type of degeneration is common, and this in the brain called Conditions your vet may consider for similar cases: is often a problem in polioencephalomalacia, • Lead poisoning feedlots around the which causes a variety of • Salt poisoning world. Changes in diet, symptoms. Affected animals • Thiamine deficiency weaning, physiological may appear restless, blind, stress, and sulphur show seizure activity, or toxicity following fertiliser application wander aimlessly. Often death ensues are commonly associated with thiamine within 24 hours. deficiency. The current and most likely theory for the progression of vitamin B1/ CASE EXAMPLE: thiamine deficiency in these cases is that During an August weekend, a contract the stressor causes a shift in the population milker sought veterinary advice for a cow of bacteria in the ruminal “soup”. This that had appeared to be aggressive and had change in rumen bacteria leads to shown seizure activity the night before. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Left: Lab tests allowed us to rule out lead toxicity in this case, and showed the animal had sustained muscle damage from bumping into things. Centre: Lab testing showed Blood Lead levels <0.02 mg/L 0 - 0. Right: Kiwi ingenuity! A veterinary colleague examines the heifer’s response to light using a small torch and a pair of overalls!
She was promptly treated by the farmer with calcium/magnesium and pain relief, but seemed to not respond to therapy. Owing to damage the animal sustained during seizures and being cast overnight, the decision was made to euthanise her on welfare grounds. The following week, a first lactation heifer was presented to me as suddenly blind. She gave around 20 litres of milk the night before, and seemed normal. The staff reported her able to keep up with the herd in the morning, but when on her own she would walk into objects. She had reduced milk yield and had poor ruminal fill as if she hadn’t eaten overnight. On examination, I found her to be completely blind and showing evidence of not having eaten overnight. Other than some evidence of head pain, her neurological examination was normal. She was blood sampled and treated with Vitamin B1 (thiamine) and dexamethasone, a potent steroid anti-inflammatory medication. The following day the heifer appeared to be eating well, but was still blind. Subsequently, another first lactation heifer was found to be blind, with her head raised and showing a “high stepping” gait. She had clearly been having seizures, was covered in mud and was easily tackled to the ground in the paddock. She was given the same therapy comprising the vitamin
population, leading to thiamine deficiency. Most cases of thiamine deficiency are seen in young cattle under one year of age, so this was a challenging, unusual case. It was decided to orally drench all 200 heifers in the mob with thiamine powder made into a solution, and reduce the amount of starch in the diet. The two heifers that were treated by me were diligently treated with thiamine Vitamin B1 (thiamine) and dexamethasone. injections twice to thrice daily by staff, and continued to improve before regaining B1 injection and dexamethasone, and the their sight a week later. After the farm team first heifer was re-treated. Blood samples drenched the heifers and changed the diet, showed changes suggestive of muscle no further cases were seen. damage, which is caused when blind In summary, it is important to involve animals walk into objects, and the absence your veterinarian for advice and diagnosis of lead in the blood helped in managing unusual me rule out lead toxicity as cases onfarm. Early action, Some concern was raised the cause of the blindness. diagnosis and treatment over an old shed in the The heifers were in of the mob prevented paddock, as cattle can great condition, and were considerable losses in get lead toxicity from old milking well. They had this case. Treating the paint – thankfully, this was recently been moved down individual cows without not the case. from the runoff, where consideration of the rest of kikuyu grass predominated, the heifer mob would have on to a diet comprising ryegrass, maize led to huge losses had this farmer not acted silage and distillers dried grains. While this early and aggressively. is a great diet for early lactation animals, Moreover, the diligent treatment and in this case the dietary change and the nursing care is the primary reason behind physiological stress heifers were under in the positive outcomes in the two heifers their first lactation may have contributed that were treated for thiamine deficiency to a change in their rumen bacteria in this case.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
69
VET VOICE PREMATING CHECKS
Cows not cycling? Check ovary health Vet Lisa Whitfield explains how ovarian hormones can malfunction and create non-cycling cows.
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any people forget that ovarian health is one of the key drivers of a cow achieving an efficient turnaround between calving, resumption of cycling and becoming pregnant again. A complex hormonal cascade – the hypothalamo-pituitary-ovarian axis – both drives and is limited by ovarian health. Excessive or insufficient levels of the hormones that drive this cycle will result in the fine hormonal balance being off, and thus a cow that is unlikely to be able to become pregnant. The main drivers of this cascade are: • GnRH - Gonadotropin releasing hormone – produced in the hypothalamus • LH - Luteinising hormone – produced in the pituitary gland • FSH – Follicle stimulating hormone – produced in the pituitary gland • Oestrogen – produced in the ovaries • Progesterone – produced in the ovaries The ovaries are responsible for the production of the key sex hormones including oestrogen and progesterone.
OESTROGEN Oestrogen is produced by granulosa cells in maturing follicles. Oestrogen production drives the physical display of heat behaviour – as a follicle matures, oestrogen production peaks and the cow comes on heat, thus enabling insemination to occur as the follicle undergoes ovulation. Too much oestrogen, which occurs in cows with cystic follicles, can result in either hypersexuality – a cow that is on heat constantly – or, more often, in complete suppression of heat behaviour, thus the cow presents as a non-cycler.
PROGESTERONE Progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum, a structure that forms from the remains of an ovulated follicle. A corpus 70
luteum forms and will THE HYPOTHALAMO-PITUITARY-OVARIAN AXIS: produce progesterone for Hypothalamus about 18 days following heat. Progesterone is critical GnRH for controlling the rate of follicular development and Pituitary Gland the timing of ovulation (-) (-) as well as for establishing LH/FSH pregnancy. Insufficient progesterone will usually (+) be the result of a cow that Ovaries does not resume cycling after calving. Excessive progesterone Progesterone (+) Estrogen (+) will also result in Corpus Luteum Follicle suppression of heat and a non-cycling cow. This can level of oestrogen will usually result in occur in a cow that has a luteal cyst. heat behaviour, excessive levels for a long period of time will exhaust the feedback ANOVULATORY ANOESTRUS loop mechanism to the hypothalamus and Failure to achieve a first ovulation result in complete suppression of cycling. following calving is one of the most Luteal cysts on the other hand are thickcommon reasons for a cow to walled, fluid-filled structures on the present as a non-cycler – ovary, which act like a persistent these cows are experiencing corpus luteum. They pump out anovulatory anoestrus. high levels of progesterone, When looking at the which feeds back to the ovaries of a cow with hypothalamus and shuts down anovulatory anoestrus the hormonal axis. we see very little follicular It is possible to identify ovarian activity occurring. Follicles are conditions by getting ovary scanning Lisa Whitfield small and do not reach maturity, done. This service allows for tailored and so there is little of either treatment and monitoring of nonoestrogen or progesterone being produced. cyclers. However, it is not commonly This condition usually results from cows performed in New Zealand because of experiencing nutrition and energy deficits having to scan a large number of cows and losing too much body condition at once. In many cases, the treatment between calving and mating. for these ovarian conditions is the same, and that is to use the normal hormonal CYSTIC OVARIES non-cycler treatment programmes that are Cystic ovaries are a less common cause around for these cows. If you want more of non-cycling cows in New Zealand, but information about what is causing nonit is good to be aware of this condition. cycling in your herd, ovary scanning may Follicular cysts are basically thin-walled, be a useful way to investigate this. oversized follicles that do not ovulate, and that sit on the ovary, often pumping • Lisa Whitfield MVM (Distinction) BVSc out high levels of oestrogen. While a high Production Animal Veterinarian. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
WELLBEING PREPAREDNESS FOR ADVERSITY
Choosing to be
lucky By Chris Neill
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n our primary sector, each owner/operator is expected to ensure the safety and wellbeing of family, staff, livestock and other resources to maintain their business continuity and be regulation-compliant. With accumulated personal and collective experience businesses develop plans for the expected and contingencies for the unexpected. Examples of these responses would include supplies of baleage held on a dairy farm, the size and number of stock water dams on a beef farm and the irrigation infrastructure connected to a horticultural unit. Alongside this is insurance at a level that reflects the degree of risk a business can afford or is prepared to take. By geographic good fortune New Zealand adverse weather events are commonly regionalised, and the unaffected areas assist those affected. Droughts and floods of 2019/20 from Northland to Southland challenged that paradigm, with the national/global impact of Covid-19 adding further challenge and complication, particularly in the timely processing of farm production. The impact of some extreme weather events can be immediate and drastic, with flooding being the most common. There is limited warning but typically sufficient to move people and stock from harm’s way. The recovery time from such events is linked to the severity of the event and the resources applied before and after the event. It is a combination of preparedness and response. In contrast, droughts tend to be slow in developing with an increasingly significant impact. Anecdotes of previous events build expectations of duration and severity which can compromise decision making that ultimately determines the degree of damage an event inflicts. Alongside drought comes the risk of fire with potentially immediate and drastic impact. For all these events, time, money, and energy are consumed in the recovery process and some businesses and individuals are unable to continue. When adverse events occur, some individuals find their health and safety at greater risk than acceptable and businesses find themselves disrupted and financially compromised. At these times, community and sector groups plus local and central government step forward with support which is commonly short term to address the immediate risks to people and animal welfare. Some businesses and individuals are better than others at coping with adverse events. It’s a mix of; appropriate land use, business and risk management strategies, financial Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Adverse weather events are predicted to be more common and more severe because of global warming.
resources, and personal capacity to deal with adversity. Those without an appropriate mix may view those seemingly less impacted by an adverse event as “lucky”. Sector groups and government agencies encourage individuals and business owners to prepare for disasters. Some folk take the advice and build it into their personal and business plans. Others choose to continue unplanned, leaving them vulnerable to calamity and expectant of assistance when the inevitable occurs. Any suggestion that support agencies are eagerly waiting to be needed is ignorant of the impact on responders, many of whom despair at the losses and sadness which could have been avoided or minimised. Adverse weather events are predicted to be more common and more severe because of global warming. In acknowledging this it seems reasonable to expect the level and type of preparedness for adverse weather events should be reassessed at all levels. Differentiating personal from collective responsibilities in preparing for extreme weather events is a starting point. Understanding of what can be achieved from clarity of personal responsibility and having plans to mitigate risk is held by the “lucky” people who seamlessly incorporate risk management in their business and life. With wider adoption of their practices, the impact of climate change may be less of an ordeal, extreme weather events less devastating. It could start with an increased focus on preparedness and choosing to be “lucky”. 71
WELLBEING TRACTOR SAFETY
When you lose your
favorite shirt By Harriet Bremner
Why does someone have to die before we change the way that we do things to make it less dangerous? We are dealing with the shit that kills you every single day and forget how dangerous the things we are doing are because it goes right most of the time.
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hen your alarm goes off in the morning, you follow your daily routine of getting ready for the day ahead, which presumably is going to be like any other given day. Get jobs done on the farm, go home, spend time with your family, sleep and do it all over againâ&#x20AC;Ś with never a second thought about your shirt. But what if that shirt you have chucked on this one morning becomes the shirt that nearly kills you later in the day? It turns you into another statistic, a number and you become that guy who made that fatal mistake of going near a moving power take-off while wearing a loose shirt. This is then followed by the grief and trauma that the people you left behind now have to spend the rest of their lives enduring. Not something you wish on your worst enemy. I have recently engaged in a conversation online about a story that was shared with regard to a guy overseas getting caught up in his PTO. The photo in the first instance, caught my attention. A now stationary PTO with the remains of a shirt and pants wrapped so tightly around it, ripped to shreds. It made my heart sink and my stomach turn. Not another one I thought. I felt that gripping feeling that I know all too well returning. I then started to read the story attached to the photo. The guy states that his shirt was caught by the PTO of the tractor and that it had taken him with it. It just so happens that his father was close by and he grabbed him and threw him to the other side all the while his clothes were eaten and shredded beyond repair. They both suffered minor injuries but are counting their blessings as they were reminded in that instant that tomorrow is not promised to any of us. 72
This made me think about how bloody close we are between being able to walk away from something or it being the bitter end for our life. This situation was shared as a simple story and photo and has gone viral reaching thousands of people who are reminded that PTOs are dangerous and should not be treated lightly. Ever. This is something we should learn from and need to because there are still too many avoidable accidents and deaths occurring every day on farms all over the world. I applaud this farmer for sharing his story. He is able to see the bigger picture that this will save someone elseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s limb or life in the future. He has not thought about paperwork or red tape but he is simply seeing that the power of a story can reach so many. It has been received without judgement or negativity but with praise and gratitude that he was brave enough to do so and that he lived to tell the tale. This is what I want to see more of in our sector â&#x20AC;&#x201C; storytelling. How powerful is it to share our stories with others knowing that it can and will in fact save their life at some stage down the track? We should not feel ashamed if something does go wrong but look at it as a time to reflect on how we have been doing things and how we can learn from it and help others learn. This is putting people and our fellow farmers first and ensuring that they go home alive at the end of each day by stopping and thinking before they do something. Why does someone have to die before we change the way that we do things to make it less dangerous? We are dealing with the shit that kills you every single day and forget how dangerous the things we are doing are because it goes right most of the time. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
But what if that shirt you have chucked on this one morning becomes the shirt that nearly kills you later in the day? It turns you into another statistic, a number and you become that guy who made that fatal mistake of going near a moving power take-off while wearing a loose shirt.
BOOKS
Share your stories with me please! For the sake of your neighbors, friends, brother, sister, husband, wife and children, share a story like this so that next time they are in a similar situation they can stop and think twice, before making a fatal or limb losing mistake. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s make sure that they go home every night in one piece and know that by simply sharing our own personal stuff-ups, it could save a life. Send me a message and photo at harriet.bremner@ saferfarms.org.nz so that we can help create awareness (anonymously if you like) through our Safer Farms Facebook page and this column that gets people talking about how to make the best decisions every single time they step foot outside after putting on their favorite shirt. We want stories that involved absolutely anything from PTO to vehicles, quads, animals, chemicals and anything farming. This is the most effective way that we can look after the ones that we love and remind them that this stuff does happen to anyone at any time, of any age and of any experience. So, when you put on your shirt today, stop and think about what you have to do and how you are going to do it. Make sure that your shirt makes it home to the washing machine so you can chuck it on tomorrow for another day in paradise because no one likes to lose their favorite shirt.
Above: This photo and Dylan Fultonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first hand story of how he lost his shirt and nearly his life have gone viral on Facebook.
We have a range of books for sale on our website:
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
73
SELLING STOCK TAKES
The more information Brenden Clay has, the better the job he can do for clients. Karen Trebilcock explains why.
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renden Clay is in it for the long game as a PGG Wrightson dairy rep based in Southland. After two years in the position, the 31-year-old said he’s now finding his feet. “I enjoy it. It’s a lot different to what I expected, a lot harder, more cut-throat, but I enjoy building the relationships with my clients and other agents and that’s what makes it work. “It’s about joining the dots for people. We have to have strong relationships with clients and colleagues and I’m starting to build those, and it’s the snowball effect.” The position is salary based with bonuses for targets met. “It’s good for a young person like me starting out. PGG Wrightson have invested in me and given me a shot. The main goal for me now is to add as much value to PGG Wrightson Livestock and my client’s businesses.” Brenden does everything from selling herds to finding young stock grazing, winter grazing for cows, supplying service bulls, selling feeder and weaner calves as well as culls and store stock. When the Covid-19 lockdown happened in March the first thing on his mind was the large number of cows his clients either had sold or still had to sell before moving to a new home come June 1. “Our business was classed as essential, with very strict rules in place for our own safety as well as our clients. “But I had a lot of clients who were stressing that come June their cows needed to be somewhere else.” However, culls eventually got to the works and herds were sold and the weather in April and May was “unreal”, helping it all happen. Coming from a farming family, he knew he was going to Lincoln and did the three-year bachelor of agriculture degree there. “I went to James Hargest College in Invercargill but I spent as much time as possible on farms, crutching lambs in the weekends and milking in the holidays.” His first job out of varsity was as a field rep for the then CRT,
74
LEFT:
Brenden Clay with cows wintering on fodder beet through a PGG Wrightson contract. and after that he went dairying. Four seasons of contract milking up to 600 cows in Southland later, he decided on a change of direction and at the same time was asked to apply for a position with PGG Wrightson. “I went to the interview, went through the whole process and I got the job.” He started as a trainee in January 2018 and by spring that year moved up to be the southern Southland dairy representative, part of a team of nine in the PGG Wrightson’s southern dairy region. He is in daily contact with the members of the team using WhatsApp and Agonline, and also talks with other PGG Wrightson stock agents throughout the country, such as Murray Bain in Otago. Brenden said Friesians were popular in the south because of the live heifer export market, and there were also those seeking out A2A2 genetics especially as Open Country Dairy was paying a premium for that milk. A herd profile was all important when it came to selling. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
“A fully recorded herd with good records and herd tests is always the easiest to sell. People want to know everything such as BW and PW, age splits, somatic cells, breed makeup, production per cow and per hectare, inputs. “The more information I have, the easier it is to do my job. There is nothing worse than taking someone to see a herd and arriving and it’s not what they were looking for.” He said presentation was also key and sometimes waiting a few weeks for a herd to put on a bit more condition made a sale happen. “Sometimes we take out the old cows and sell them separately and anything not up to scratch. You don’t want to give people an opportunity to pick holes.” He said some people chased BW but others were looking for cows with capacity. Replacing M Bovis herds has kept the price up in the south this year but with that ending the emphasis would be on improving existing herds through sourcing livestock with improved genetics and conformation as well as utilising the opportunities in the live export market, he said. “The industry is changing with fewer conversions. With corporate farming and equity partnerships more prevalent there is reduced opportunity for 50:50 sharemilkers, however good management positions are being created within the industry.” He doesn’t see a time where stock agents won’t be needed. “We’ve got a robust contract system for the “PEOPLE WANT buying and selling of dairy livestock. It means TO KNOW the money will be paid EVERYTHING and the stock will arrive SUCH AS BW AND when they should and PW, AGE SPLITS, go when they should. We give peace of mind. SOMATIC CELLS, “Grazing is also a big BREED MAKEUP, part of the business with PRODUCTION PER our grazing contracts COW AND PER helping stock owners and the graziers by outlining HECTARE, INPUTS.” the expectations of each party. We identify any possible issues, and monitoring stock welfare is crucial to the success of a grazing arrangement.” When he’s not out looking at cows, playing rugby for Wyndham or hunting, Brenden can be found under the water near Bluff or Stewart Island or somewhere in between. And then there’s Doubtful or Milford Sounds in Fiordland, also close by. With a 5mm wetsuit, weight belt, fins, mask and snorkel he can free dive down to 15m with a spear gun after fish or chasing crays. However, he says paua are a bit boring – they just sit there. He has friends with boats but buying his own is on his wish list, and he has no ambition to do a scuba course and gain a PADI certification. “It would just feel like cheating.” Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
ABOVE: Brenden Clay says he doesn’t see a time when stock agents won’t be needed. LEFT:
PGG Wrightson dairy reps Brenden Clay (left) and Murray Bain.
75
DAIRY 101 CATCHMENT GROUPS
Get involved with your catchment group Story and photos by: Karen Trebilcock
T
here are now more than a hundred catchment groups throughout the country, and if you haven’t got one in your area that you can join, maybe it’s time you began thinking about starting one yourself. Catchment groups get all farmers in an area together – not just dairy and including forestry – to work on improving the waterways that run through their land. Some include towns, making sure urban people get involved and are doing their bit as well. DairyNZ, NZ Landcare Trust, Beef + Lamb NZ and regional councils all support catchment groups, and if you are not sure if one is already set up in your area, get in touch with these organisations and they will be able to tell you. NZ Landcare Trust has a map of catchment groups on their website, and there are still parts of the country, especially in the North Island, that don’t have them.
GETTING STARTED
Read about catchment groups on the internet, ring your neighbours, organise a get-together and see if you have enough people interested to share the workload. Figure out your catchment boundaries, a few goals, and if it’s a “yes” then it is time to get the whole community on board. Advertise a public meeting and get people involved. Invite someone from one of the support organisations, such as Landcare Trust, who has had experience with other catchment groups to explain how it all works. Figure out what is important to everyone about their catchment – what they use it for. It might be for fishing, swimming, irrigation, duck shooting or stock drinking water. Maybe it’s home to endangered, 76
Primary school children visit a stream on an Otago dairy farm.
native species, both in and above the water. Or maybe it’s home to some species such as rats that you would rather do without. It’s a start that will then allow the group to set some short-term goals, such as water testing and a stock take of the environment, and longer-term goals such as riparian planting and predator control. Maybe you once swam in the river but now are worried about letting your children do it because of the water quality. Having a goal of making it safe to swim in again will energise a group to test the water regularly and figure out what is going on and why.
RESOURCES
Do a stocktake of what you have got. Pooling local knowledge is great, but also see if there is water monitoring testing already being done by your regional council and find out what information they have. Fish and Game and the Department of Conservation might also be able to help. Also do a stocktake of the skills of people in your group. Hopefully you
have someone who is keen to take on the co-ordinator’s role, others who have easy access to the waterway for regular water testing, and someone who is good with finances and filling in funding applications. Water testing and planting riparian strips takes money but catchment groups can apply for a variety of funds worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. You can establish your catchment group as either an incorporated society or a charitable trust, which helps with funding applications. You may wish to set up member subscriptions as well, and some larger catchment groups pay their coordinator for their time. As well, you can set up a website about your catchment and include the group’s aims and progress, which can become a historical record of what you have achieved. And there might be someone with an empty tunnel house who likes growing seedlings, and others who love an excuse for a day in the bush or along the river to collect native seeds for them. Or someone who is keen on predator control and wants a supply of possum fur.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Figure out what is important to everyone about their catchment – what they use it for. It might be for fishing, swimming, irrigation, duck shooting or stock drinking water.
Or someone who wants to set up motion sensor cameras to see what is really out there living along your river banks.
GET TOGETHER SOCIALLY
The social side of catchment groups should never be forgotten. Make sure your group includes all members of families for various activities such as planting areas, collecting rubbish, weeding, gettogethers over a shared barbecue or visits to special areas in the catchment. Keep it fun and people will want to be involved. Include all landowners but also think about the community groups, churches and iwi in your area. Organise a bus trip for a retirement village or a school outing, to raise awareness of your goals and ambitions across the community. They may also be keen to contribute either financially or with their time. Bird watchers, duck shooters, whitebaiters and fishermen who live outside the area but are users of the catchment should also be included, and will be valuable both with their knowledge and time. Getting everyone together gives them ownership of the waterway collectively and a common goal all can work towards. It also allows people to feel connected to the streams and rivers in their area, even though they might not flow through their farms.What you do on your land will eventually affect your nearest waterway, and catchment groups can give a greater understanding of it. Use scientists as well as water and soil experts to help figure out what is going wrong and what can be done.
Above: Farmers visit a riparian planting on a dairy farm. Right: Native seed collected for a catchment group. Below: A riparian planting funded through a catchment group in South Otago.
INVOLVE TOWNIES
Don’t forget urban areas and make sure they have adequate wastewater (sewage) and storm water systems so they’re not undoing farmers’ hard work. If they have a consent to discharge wastewater into your catchment, then approach your councillors to get it stopped. Many people in towns do not know where their wastewater goes, and with some older homes water from roofs goes into the wastewater instead of the stormwater systems, creating problems in times of heavy rain. Getting them to understand the importance of their plumbing would be a huge win. And remember the local newspaper, radio station and Facebook groups. The more information you can get out there about what the catchment group is doing, and what still needs to be done, will energise people and encourage them to get involved. It may be just a river you are looking after, but in the end it could be your whole community. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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77
RESEARCH WRAP MASSEY UNIVERSITY
gBV Protein yield gBV Fat yield
Validating the OAD journey 20.00% 24.00%
gBV Milk volume
11.00%
gVB Liveweight
10.00%
gBV Fertility
5.00% Words by: Jackie Harrigan
gBV SCS
8.00%
R
gBV Milking speed gBV Capacity
Breakdown of traits and selection pressure in the OAD selection index
5.00%
4.00% unning three different breeds of 11.00% cows under a once-a-day (OAD) gBV Front teats 2.00% regime at Massey University’s No.1 dairy farm is validating the selection of genetics from OAD selection indexes. Seven years ago, when Massey University’s No.1 dairy farm was faced with not being able to meet their N loss targets, they were forced to de-intensify the split calving unit. Dropping their stocking rate to more closely match grass growth allowed them to explore sustainability through OAD milking and to meet the N loss targets. The 119ha effective farm milks 260 cows at the peak through a herringbone shed with a feed pad on the 25% irrigated farm. One hundred of the cows are wintered off the farm and young calves are grazed off year-round. Supplements of maize silage and meal are imported and summer crops turnips
11.0%
gBV Udder support
78
2.0%
gBV Protein yield 20.0%
4.0%
gBV Fat yield gBV Milk volume gVB Liveweight
5.0%
gBV Fertility 8.0%
gBV SCS gBV Milking speed
5.0% 24.0% 10.0%
gBV Capacity gBV Udder support gBV Front teats
11.0%
and chicory are fed out in the summerautumn period each year before 20% of the farm’s pasture is renewed. While a breed comparison trial is prohibitively expensive to set up and run, professor and researcher Nicolas LopezVillalobos said the idea was to use the farm
as a teaching and research resource. “We decided to investigate the sustainability of the system through tracking the genetic gain and, alongside that, assessing the changes to traits other than production (TOP) that do not contribute directly to the income
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
DMDSHB QDMCR ENQ Q@HSR NE LONQS@MBD ENQ LHKJHMF
DMDSHB QDMCR ENQ Q@HSR NE LONQS@MBD ENQ LHKJHMF
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Operating expenses. $/ kg MS
4.5
Operating profit, $/ kg MS
1.16
Operating profit margin, %
20.50%
5.21 1.22 19.00%
4.77 -0.03 -0.60%
4.6 -0.02 -0.40%
5.83 1.55 21.00%
5.18 1.54 22.90%
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¬¯ « ¬¯ « ¬¯ « ¬¯ « ¬ « ¬¯ « ¬ « ¬ « ¬ « ¬« « ° ¬ « ¬« ë ´ JF XD@Q ¬« « ¬« « ç¬ ° JF XD@Q ° ¬« « °° ³ « «° ¬« « Dairy benchmarked ³ « ³ « Table 1. Financial performance: Massey University No1 «« ³ « « ± « §°« with OAD owner operator NI dairy farms (Dairy Base) ³ « ± « ± « §° §° ± « §° ¯ « §¬« ± « §° ¯ « ¯ « §¬« §¬« ¯ « §¬« 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 « §¬° ¯ « §¬« « « §¬° §¬° « §¬° « « §« No.1 DB No.1 DB No.1 DB « §¬° « « « « «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ §« §« «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ « « §« DAIRY Benchmark DAIRY Benchmark DAIRY Benchmark «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ « « «¬« «¬¬ «¬ HQSG XD@Q «¬« «¬¬ «¬¬ «¬ «¬ HQSG XD@Q «¬® «¬¯ «¬¯ «¬° «¬° «¬± «¬± «¬² «¬² «¬³ «¬³ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ §« «¬« «¬® HQSG XD@Q HQSG XD@Q «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ HQSG XD@Q HQSG XD@Q «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ HQSG XD@Q HQSG XD@Q Milksolids, QDMC HM LHKJ UNKTLD kgMS/ha 759 834 775 755 771 701 ®« HQSG XD@Q QDMC HM LHKJ UNKTLD HQSG XD@Q QDMC HM LHKJ UNKTLD ®« QDMC HM RNL@SHB BDKK ®« QDMC HM LHKJ UNKTLD « ¬ ®« QDMC HM RNL@SHB BDKK QDMC HM RNL@SHB BDKK QDMC HM LHKJ UNKTLD « ¬ « ¬358 QDMC HM RNL@SHB BDKK « ®« Milksolids, kg MS/cow 369 314 315 358 285 ì ® XD@Q « ¬ « ì ® XD@Q QDMC HM RNL@SHB BDKK « ì ® XD@Q « «° « ¬ ç« «¬ RBNQD XD@Q « ì ® XD@Q « «° ç« «¬ RBNQD XD@Q « «° ¬« ç« «¬ RBNQD XD@Q « ì ® XD@Q milksolids, kg MS/FTE 60561 48039 66273 46189 70999 41939 « «° ç« «¬ RBNQD XD@Q ¬« ¬« « « «° ¬« ç« «¬ RBNQD XD@Q «« « ¬« « Gross farm revenue, 4290 5369 3672 3460 5690 4707 « §« «°« «« $/ha §« «° §« «° §¬«« §« «° §¬« §¬« §« ¬ §« «° §¬« §« ¬ Operating expenses, 3411 4348 3694 3474 4498 3629 §« ¬ §« §¬« §« ¬ §« §« §« ¬° §« ¬ §« $/ha §« ¬° §« ¬° §®« §« §« ¬° §®« §®« «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ §« -22 §« ¬° §®« X à ¬ ²¬²W § ¬« ²°³ Operating profit, $/ha 879 1021 -14 1193 1078 «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ §« X à ¬ ²¬²W § ¬« ²°³ «¬« «¬¬ «¬¬ «¬ «¬ HQSG XD@Q «¬® «¬¯ «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬± «¬² «¬³ «¬³ §« «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ §®« «¬« X à ¬ ²¬²W § ¬« ²°³ «¬® «¬° «¬² §« X à ¬ ²¬²W § ¬« ²°³ «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ HQSG XD@Q «¬« «¬¬ «¬¬ «¬ «¬ HQSG XD@Q «¬® «¬¯ «¬¯ «¬° «¬° «¬± «¬± «¬² «¬² «¬³ «¬³ HQSG XD@Q «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ §« «¬« X à ¬ ²¬²W § ¬« ²°³ «¬® HQSG XD@Q Gross farm revenue, $/ 5.65 6.44 4.74 4.58 HQSG XD@Q 7.38 6.71 HQSG XD@Q «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ HQSG XD@Q HQSG XD@Q kg MS HQSG XD@Q
QDMC HM TCCDQ RTOONQS QDMC HM TCCDQ RTOONQS QDMC HM TCCDQ RTOONQS QDMC HM TCCDQ RTOONQS QDMC HM TCCDQ RTOONQS
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including udder support, front teat placement, milking speed and body capacity. These TOP traits are assessed each year. The combination of culling and sire selection has seen an increase in the average udder support, capacity and overall opinion scores for the herd. This «¬± «¬² «¬³ OAD to suited is producing a cow better «¬± «¬² «¬³ «¬± «¬² «¬² «¬³ «¬³ «¬± longevity the «¬³ milking and should increase «¬± «¬² HQSG XD@Q QDMC HM OQNSDHM the herd. in of the cows QDMC HM OQNSDHM QDMC HM OQNSDHM QDMC HM OQNSDHM stage we are rearing 22% new this QDMC HM OQNSDHM “At ë ´ JF XD@Q ë ´ JF XD@Q ë ´ JF XD@Q each year and using the replacements ë ´ JF XD@Q
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the genetic gain has increased by $10 worth of BW each year.” Nicolas Lopez-Villalobos says good gain QDMC HM E@S the traits other than is« «being made in QDMC HM E@S QDMC HM E@S « « « « QDMC HM E@S « « ¬³ « the OAD selection by using production QDMC HM E@S ¬³ « « « ë ³® JF XD@Q ¬³ « ¬³ « ¬± « ë ³® JF XD@Q index. ë ³® JF XD@Q ¬± « ë ³® JF XD@Q ¬³ « ¬± « ¬± « ¬¯ « ë ³® JF XD@Q and financial data from ¬¯ « The physical ¬± « ¬¯ « ¬¯ « ¬ « ¬ « ¬¯ « ¬ « farm have been analysed through the ¬ « ¬« « ¬« « ¬ « ¬« « ¬« « ³ « and when compared against a DairyBase, ³ « ¬« « ³ « ³ « ± « group of 65 OAD benchmarking ± « ³ « ± « ± « ¯ « farms in the North operator ¯ « owner ± « ¯ « ¯ « « « ¯ « « for the three seasons 2014/15, Island « « « « « « « « «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ « « No.1 Massey the«¬° 2016/17, and 2015/16 «¬« «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬± «¬² «¬³ «¬« «¬¬ «¬¬ «¬ «¬ HQSG XD@Q «¬® «¬¯ «¬¯ «¬° «¬° «¬± «¬± «¬² «¬² «¬³ «¬³ « « «¬« «¬® margin profit operating an had farm dairy«¬« HQSG XD@Q HQSG XD@Q «¬¬ «¬ «¬® «¬¯ «¬° «¬± «¬² «¬³ HQSG XD@Q HQSG XD@Q season, -0.6% in the first of¬°20.5% in the QDMC HM KHUD VDHFGS QDMC HM KHUD VDHFGS QDMC HM KHUD VDHFGS ¬° ¬° QDMC HM KHUD VDHFGS ¬° and 21% in season, low payout second, ¬« QDMC HM KHUD VDHFGS ¬° ç¬ ° JF XD@Q ¬« ¬« 1). ç¬ ° JF XD@Q (Table 2016/17 ¬« ç¬ ° JF XD@Q ç¬ ° JF XD@Q
RBNQD RBNQD RBNQD RBNQD RBNQD
HKJ UNKTLD HKJ UNKTLD HKJ UNKTLD HKJ UNKTLD HKJ UNKTLD
QNSDHM JF QNSDHM JF QNSDHM JF QNSDHM JF QNSDHM JF
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The index takes into account the traits
DMDSHB SQDMCR
DMDSHB SQDMCR
DMDSHB SQDMCR that farmers have identified as being
DMDSHB SQDMCR important for successful OAD milking,
« °« « °« « °« « °« « ¯° « ¯° « °« « ¯° « ¯° « ¯« « ¯« « ¯° « ¯« « ¯« « ®° « ®° « ¯« « ®° « ®° « ®« « ®« « ®° « ®« « ®« « ° « ° « ®« « ° « ° « « « « « ° « « « « « ¬° « ¬° « « « ¬° « ¬° « ¬« « ¬« « ¬° « ¬« « ¬« « «° « «° « ¬« « «° « «° « «« « «« « «° « «« « «« « ««
@O@BHSX @O@BHSX @O@BHSX @O@BHSX @O@BHSX
«¸ «¸ «¸ «¸
QNMS SD@S RBNQD QNMS SD@S RBNQD QNMS SD@S RBNQD QNMS SD@S RBNQD QNMS SD@S RBNQD
F QNSDHM XHDKC F QNSDHM XHDKC F QNSDHM XHDKC F QNSDHM XHDKC « «¸ F QNSDHM XHDKC « «¸ F @S XHDKC « «¸ « «¸ F @S XHDKC F @S XHDKC F @S XHDKC « «¸ to cull for poor opportunity but certainly enable the ¯ «¸ F @S XHDKC F HKJ UNKTLD ¯ «¸ ¯ «¸ and add to conformation.” OAD system, ¯ «¸ F HKJ UNKTLD F HKJ UNKTLD F HKJ UNKTLD ¯ «¸ through Lopez-VillaLobos sustainability F HKJ UNKTLD says the ° «¸ F HUDVDHFGS ° «¸ now under way is research longevity, F HUDVDHFGS ° «¸ productivity and F HUDVDHFGS ° «¸ F HUDVDHFGS ° «¸ F HUDVDHFGS the type traits of of the herd.” validating profitability F DQSHKHSX F DQSHKHSX F DQSHKHSX coming out of the offspring The trial was set up in F DQSHKHSX F DQSHKHSX cows. OAD to run 80 Jersey, 80 the F 2014³ «¸ ³ «¸ ³ «¸ ³ «¸ F F stresses that the trial HeF Friesian ³ «¸and 80 Kiwicross F F HKJHMF RODDC comparing across the is not cows. Any cows from No.1 F HKJHMF RODDC F HKJHMF RODDC F HKJHMF RODDC ° «¸ saying that would breeds, Dairy with F HKJHMF RODDC Nicolas Lopez-Viillalobos. ° «¸ ° «¸ F @O@BHSX ° «¸ F @O@BHSX be prohibitively bad udder F @O@BHSX expensive, ° «¸conformation F @O@BHSX F @O@BHSX ¯ «¸ the focus is on says but F CCDQ RTOONQS have been culled, and ¯ «¸ ¯ «¸ ¯ «¸ F CCDQ RTOONQS F CCDQ RTOONQS produced been have for the OAD heifers cow functional replacement¬« «¸ a designing F CCDQ RTOONQS ¬« «¸ ¯ «¸ ¬« «¸ ¬« «¸ F CCDQ RTOONQS based F QNMS SD@SR using LIC sires system. ¬« «¸ ¬¬ «¸ F QNMS SD@SR F QNMS SD@SR ¬¬ «¸ F QNMS SD@SR ¬¬ «¸ milking. cows we can show on a selection index for OAD “From tracking the ¬¬ «¸ F QNMS SD@SR ¬¬ «¸ ¬¬ «¸ ¬¬ «¸ ¬¬ «¸ ¬¬ «¸ ¬¬ «¸
Ð ° SNM EDDC
DOK@BDLDMS GDHEDQR G@R ADDM RHQDC TRHMF ATKKR RDKDBSDC A@RDC NM DOK@BDLDMS GDHEDQR G@R ADDM RHQDC TRHMF ATKKR RDKDBSDC A@RDC NM DOK@BDLDMS GDHEDQR G@R ADDM RHQDC TRHMF ATKKR RDKDBSDC A@RDC NM SGD RDKDBSHNM HMCDW “From tracking the cows we can show the genetic gain DOK@BDLDMS GDHEDQR G@R ADDM RHQDC TRHMF ATKKR RDKDBSDC A@RDC NM SGD RDKDBSHNM HMCDW SGD RDKDBSHNM HMCDW SGD RDKDBSHNM HMCDW has increased by $10 worth of BW each year.” «¸
¯ ° SNM EDDC ¯ ° SNM EDDC ¯ ° SNM EDDC ¯ ° SNM EDDC ¯ ° SNM EDDC
¬ BGNNK NE FQHBTKSTQD @MC MUHQNMLDMS~ @RRDX MHUDQRHSX~ @KLDQRSNM NQSG~ DV D@K@MC NMSDQQ@ DRD@QBG @MC DUDKNOLDMS~ @KLDQRSNM NQSG~ DV D@K@MC BGNNK NE FQHBTKSTQD @MC MUHQNMLDMS~ @RRDX MHUDQRHSX~ @KLDQRSNM NQSG~ DV D@K@MC NMSDQQ@ DRD@QBG @MC DUDKNOLDMS~ @KLDQRSNM NQSG~ DV D@K@MC NMSDQQ@ DRD@QBG @MC DUDKNOLDMS~ @KLDQRSNM NQSG~ DV D@K@MC NMSDQQ@ DRD@QBG @MC DUDKNOLDMS~ @KLDQRSNM NQSG~ DV D@K@MC
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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
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79
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SOLUTIONS What’s NEW? HEAT DETECTION
Tried, tested and proven heat detection tool
A
ccurately determining when a cow is on heat ensures a more successful mating period. You need a clear process, good observation and effective use of a reliable heat detection tool. Farmers use FIL tail paint as it’s tried, tested and proven. With an effective painting plan in place, you can identify almost 90% of cows on heat. Applied properly, it will reliably provide a visual indication of when a cow has stood to be mounted, and consequently rubbed, to show that she’s on heat. It also helps to pick up cows that are on heat for a short time and might otherwise be missed. FIL Detail tail paint comes in six fluorescent colours, which enables a systematic painting plan to identify each stage during the “detection to pregnancy” 12-week cycle:
1. Paint all cows with red tail paint approximately three weeks after calving. Check the paint strip at each milking. In most cases, much of the paint will be rubbed off when a cow is on heat. 2. Paint cows on heat with green tail paint. 3. After insemination, paint the cows with blue tail paint. If the paint rubs off, the cow is not pregnant. 4. Once pregnancy is confirmed, paint the cows with yellow tail paint. FIL’s Detail 10L bucket is gaining popularity as a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly option, ultimately minimising waste onfarm. It’s just as effective as oil-based tail paint, with visibility for up to 21 days. Being water-based it’s gentler on skin, so it’s better for cows. Plus, there’s less harm
to the applicator’s skin and can be easily cleaned with water. For quick and hassle-free application, pair Detail tail paint with the Tail-Mate™ roller and extendable handle,so you can safely add extra reach when tail painting. Available at your local rural retail store or visit fil.co.nz for more information.
The right time to spray
F
rom setting up a niche crop, to preparing for a traditional pastoral option like maize, reliable weed control makes all the difference to yield and profitability. This principle applies whether you’re working with three hectares, or three thousand, especially when weather conditions are fickle, and you’re depending on a good result. As all farmers know, spring can be a testing time to spray. However, one advanced agrichemical formulation has proved itself this past year. 80
Hawke’s Bay contractor David Fleming says the use of CRUCIAL® herbicide for weed control, is money well spent. David, based in Dannevirke says switching to CRUCIAL when it was launched last year was a logical move for his one-man business, Fleming Ground Spray. “I know I’m using a product that will work. If it rains 15 minutes after I drive out of a paddock, I still know it’s going to work! Also there’s less product to cart, because it is a high strength
formulation.” Most of David’s clients are sheep and beef farmers, with some dairy farmers, and he sprays out 3800-4000 hectares of pasture a year. After 10 years in the industry, he says reliability is his number one requirement for both chemicals and equipment. For further information, contact your local Nufarm Territory Manager on 0800 NUFARM or visit nufarm.co.nz CRUCIAL is a registered trademark of Nufarm Australia Limited.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
SOLUTIONS What’s NEW? AWARD
Zanda award to split for 2021
I
n an award first, the Zanda McDonald Award, Australasia’s agricultural badge of honour, will have not one, but two winners – one from each side of the Tasman – for the 2021 award. Eight passionate and talented young individuals in the primary sector have been named in the shortlist for the prestigious trans-Tasman award – four from Australia, and four from New Zealand. The award, now in its seventh year, recognises talented and passionate young professionals working in agriculture, and provides an impressive prize package. The shortlist have been selected for their passion for the industry, strong leadership skills, and the contributions they’re making in the primary sector. The change for 2021 comes as a result of Covid-19 restrictions, which prevents the award judges from being able to interview the usual shortlist of six together in one place, to determine the overall winner for Australasia. The four Australian finalists are Hugh Dawson, 22, head stockman at Barkly Pastoral Company in the Northern Territory, Oli Le Lievre, 28, consultant at KPMG in Melbourne and founder of Humans of Agriculture, Rozzie O’Reilly, 28, breeding manager at Lambpro in New South Wales, and Tim Emery, 35, a technical officer with Tropical Beef Technology Services at the Agricultural
Jack Raharuhi, winner of the 2020 Zanda award.
Business Research Institute in Roma. The four finalists from NZ are Genevieve Steven, 26, a farm enterprise consultant at KPMG in Ashburton; Jenna Smith, 34, chief executive of Pouarua Farms in the Hauraki Plains, Sam Vivian-Greer, 31, a farm consultant at Baker Ag in Masterton, and Becks Smith, 33, director of The Whole Store and veterinarian at VetEnt in Ranfurly. Richard Rains, award chairman and member of the Platinum Primary Producers (PPP) – the Australasian networking group supporting the award – says the judges felt it was important to adapt the award to fit the current climate, since the interviews would need to take
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
place separately in Australia and NZ. “Covid-19 has created an exciting opportunity for us to look at things differently. As judges, we’ve been blown away by the talent and capabilities of this years’ applicants, and to maintain the integrity of the award, we want to continue interviewing the shortlist face-toface if we can. “So this year, our Kiwi judges will select a New Zealand winner, and our Aussie judges will select an Australian winner, through face-to-face interviews when domestic travel allows. “It will provide the best outcome for our finalists, who can spend time with the judges during the interview process, and also means we can invest in the future of two winners, and help with their future career and personal development, for the wider benefit of the agriculture sector.” Each winner will pick up an impressive personal development package, including a fully personalised mentoring trip in Australia and New Zealand (when travel allows), up to $10,000 worth of tailored education or training, media coaching, and an all-expenses paid trip to the 2021 PPP Conference. Interviews will take place over the coming months, and the winners will be announced in March 2021, and will be invited to attend the PPP Conference in Christchurch.
81
OUR STORY 50 YEARS AGO IN NZ DAIRY EXPORTER
50 years ago in the Dairy Exporter October As NZ Dairy Exporter counts down to its centenary in 2025, we look back at the issues of earlier decades. 50 Years Ago – October 1970.
M
ilkfat processed in August was estimated to total 33.5 million lb, a rise of 0.9 million lb, or 2.8 per cent on the August 1969 total. The August production figures reflected the favourable feed conditions in most areas and all districts’ figures were running ahead of last year with the exception of South Auckland, which showed a drop of 2.4 per cent, and the South Island where the August, 1969, figures were equalled. Over the Dominion as a whole, production for the first four months of the 1970-71 season will be ahead of the corresponding period of last season. Reports on stock conditions and pasture growth are generally favourable.
EASTERN TRADE PROSPECTS
Dairy produce shipments from New Zealand to South East Asia and Japan have more than doubled in the past four years, from 70,000 tons in 1965-66 to 149,000 tons in 1969. This is a remarkable increase in a short term of years and a Dairy Board Delegation of three who recently returned after a close examination of the Board’s marketing policies and strategies in that area told the Board’s September meeting that prospects for continued growth of trade with the area and for the opening up of markets for new products were excellent. The Board’s policy of dealing direct with major processors of dairy products in the various countries on the basis of 82
willingness to supply and not to compete with them was paying handsome dividends, they said.
“BACKROOM GIRL” RETIRES
Most major industries have their “backroom boys” and sometimes “backroom girls”. With the early retirement at her own wish of Miss Olive Castle, M. A. (hons.) on September 30, the Dairy Board and dairy industry have lost the services of an outstanding personality and authority in her field. Over the past 31 years, Olive Castle has qualified well and truly for the title of “dairy industry’s foremost backroom girl”, and in doing so has made an impressive practical contribution. In lighter vein she will tell you that she has been running a marriage guidance bureau for New Zealand’s dairy cattle population. In actual fact, her work as Senior Research Officer for the Dairy Board’s Herd Improvement Department (now the Farm Production Division) over the years and her achievements in developing statistical techniques to pinpoint the outstanding males and females in the national dairy cattle ranks have been a major factor in the success of New Zealand’s herd improvement movement. From the outset of her career with the board she was almost entirely responsible for the development of statistical systems which made possible the application of
Sydney, Australia, was the host city this month for the 18th International Dairy Congress. The Congress is held once every four years, and this was the first time it had been held in the Southern Hemisphere.
techniques like the progeny test for dairy bulls and the ranking system for females.
CONSULTING OFFICER’S DIARY
I am convinced that not to have heifers dry off early, it is important to get milk from them as quickly as possible, and indeed they should be milked-out at least once a day within 24 hours of calving. There are a couple of common methods of assisting milk let down in heifers where the farmer is having problems. This system has been quite common over the last few years, but it still seems to be unknown to many farmers. The method is to place a tube into the entrance of the cow’s vulva and to introduce a small amount of either water or air. The subsequent dilation apparently causes release of the oxytocin hormone which promotes contractions of the uterus to expel the air or water. The oxytocin hormone is that which causes milk let-down. This seems to work in at least 90 per cent of cases. Thanks to the Hocken Library, Dunedin.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
DairyNZ consulting officers
October 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
DairyNZ AGM
Huntly/Tatuanui
Brigitte Ravera
027 288 1244
Matamata/Kereone
Frank Portegys
027 807 9685
Wednesday 21 October 2020, Hotel Ashburton,
Pirongia
Steve Canton
027 475 0918
11-35 Racecourse Road, Ashburton. From 6 pm.
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
Ross Bishop
027 563 1785
Change events will help provide clarity on your current position and
Central Bay of Plenty
Kevin McKinley
027 288 8238
how you can position yourself to adapt for the future.
Lower North Island – Head: Rob Brazendale 021 683 139
Visit dairynz.co.nz/events.
Taranaki
Waikato
Bay of Plenty
Step Change Want to identify opportunities in your business? DairyNZ’s Step
RURAL EMPLOYEE SUPPORT HUB
Regional Leader
Mark Laurence
027 704 5562
South Taranaki
Ashely Primrose
027 304 9823
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
Abby Scott
021 244 3428
Eketahuna
Andrew Hull
027 298 7260
Hawke's Bay
Gray Beagley
021 286 4346
Northern Manawatu/Woodville
Janine Swansson
027 381 2025
Central Manawatu/Rangitikei/Whanganui
Charlotte Grayling
027 355 3764
Lower North Island
For free and trusted advice call 0800 694 121 or message the team via resh.co.nz
South Island – Head: Tony Finch 027 706 6183 Top of South Island/West Coast 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
confidential number (0800 694 121) and website to help answer
Central Canterbury
Alice Reilly
027 3798 069
employees’ most common questions. Visit resh.co.nz
Mid Canterbury
Rachael Russell
027 261 3250
South Canterbury
Rachael Russell
027 261 3250
North Otago
Alana Hall
027 290 5988
Support for rural employees
Canterbury/North Otago
No question is too big or small for the Rural Employee Support Hub. The hub, launched by DairyNZ and partners, includes a free and
Southland/South Otago
Save time at milking
Regional Leader
Ollie Knowles
027 226 4420
West Otago/Gore
Keely Sullivan
027 524 5890
Did you know that up to 55% of your time is spent in the milking
South Otago
Guy Michaels
021 302 034
dairy? Use the Milksmart app to find out how much time you’re
Northern/Central Southland
Nicole E Hammond
021 240 8529
Eastern Southland
Nathan Nelson
021 225 6931
Western Southland
Leo Pekar
027 211 1389
spending, and how much time you can save, by benchmarking your milking performance. Go to dairynz.co.nz/milking-app
Milksmart App
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2020
Z
0800 4 DairyNZ (0800 4 324 7969) I dairynz.co.nz WITH DAIR
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