Dairy Exporter November 2017 (DL) by NZ Farmlife Media

Learn, grow, excel

WINNER

$12

NOVEMBER 2017

$12 incl GST

PATHWAYS TO PROFIT

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

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Dairy Exporter |

Proudly available from your local veterinary clinic. Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health New Zealand. Trading name of Merial New Zealand Limited. Level 3, 2 Osterley Way, Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand l All products are ® Registered trademarks of Merial NZ Ltd. Registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997 | No’s A7290, A6416, A6417, A10640, A9270, A7191, A010759, A10399, A10222, A10018, A6859, A7189, A7456, A9888, A7353, A9150, A9222, A10120, A011155, A6481, A9544, A10131, A9390, A10132, A9418, A9964, A10274, A11138, A9970, A10734 & A11065 | ©Copyright 2017 Merial NZ Ltd. All rights reserved. NZ-17-BAH-199. www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017 3

CONTENTS

MODULAR STAFFING GIVES TEAM FLEXIBILITY 46

MILKING PLATFORM

THE VALUABLE WEED 38

11 Charlie McCaig reflects on our debt to Chew Chong 12 James Davidson on the need to embrace a changing world 13 Niall McKenzie on the new tools available

UPFRONT 14 Bob Edlin looks at the world of fake dairy 21 Alan Barber considers the threat from alternatives 23 Market View: Markets not supportive of milk price

BUSINESS 24 Once-a-day milking: Not part of the 4.31am crowd 29 Once-a-day milking: Northland research planned 30 Coaching: Empowering individual action 33 Forage: A cropping focus for dairy

NOT PART OF THE 4.31AM CROWD 24

NEW ZEALAND

Learn, grow, excel

NZ Dairy Exporter is published by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740, Toll free 0800 224 782, www.nzfarmlife.co.nz Dairy Exporter/Young Country editor Jackie Harrigan, ph 06 280 3165, M 027 359 7781 jackie.harrigan@nzfarmlife.co.nz Lead sub-editor: Andy Maciver, ph 06 280 3166 Reporters Hugh Stringleman ph 09 432 8594; Glenys Christian

ph 027 434 7803; Sheryl Brown ph 021 239 1633; Cheyenne Nicholson 06 280 3168; Anne Hardie 027 540 3635; Anne Lee 021 413 346; Karen Trebilcock 03 489 8083; Designer: Joanne Hannam Account Managers: Warren McDonald, National Advertising Manager, Ph 06 323 0143 Warren McDonald, Auckland/Northland Janine Gray, Waikato and Bay of Plenty, ph 027 474 6094 Donna Hirst, Lower North Island, ph 06 323 0739 Nigel Ramsden, Livestock, ph 06 323 0761

Shirley Howard, real estate/international, ph 06 323 0760 Debbie Brown, classifieds/employment, ph 06 323 0765 South Island, ph 03 382 6143 Subscriptions: www.nzfarmlife.co.nz subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz ph 0800 2AG SUB (224 782) ISSN 2230-2697 (Print) ISSN 2230-3057 (Online)

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

HITTING THE SWEET SPOT

SYSTEMS 38 Plantain: The valuable weed 42 Plantain’s healing properties 43 Trials offer badly needed tools 44 CO Diary: Irrigation in Southland 46 Modular staffing gives team flexibility 50 Compliance: Make time for timesheets 52 Dicyandiamide set to reappear

SPECIAL REPORT | PROFITABILITY 54 Capturing the rye 62 High-input profitability

HITTING THE SWEET SPOT 58 Special report

64 Ten traits of high performance farmers 66 DairyBase: Strategic benchmarkers 67 Life at the top

ENVIRONMENT 68 Planting: Taking a holistic approach 71 Ecologically speaking: Build a wetland

SPECIAL REPORT

PATHWAYS TO PROFIT

STOCK 74 BCS: Camera keeps the score 76 All for the love of cows 79 Vet Voice: Dairying – do Kiwis or Scots do it better?

YOUNG COUNTRY 80 Moving south and joining in 82 Laundry well hung

VIEW FROM THE TOP

SPECIAL REPORT 53

83 New frontier for dairy: the ageing population

RESEARCH WRAP 85 A smart system for the Southern Dairy Hub

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

58 Hitting the sweet spot

FARM GEAR 86 Milk cooling: Wrap your vat

DAIRY 101 88 Little bobby’s many end uses

SOLUTIONS 90 Allflex wins at World Dairy Expo

Property 91 Property Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

MOVING SOUTH 80 5

DAIRY DIARY

BROUGHT TO YOU BY FONTERRA FARM SOURCE

NZFARMSOURCE.CO.NZ/STORE | 0800 731 266

NOVEMBER November 15-17 – Canterbury A & P Show’s dairy section has royal event status this year and will have three international judges. For information on the show visit www.theshow.co.nz

day to analyse the region’s seven-year DairyBase Project. Farmers will share their experience and DairyNZ senior scientist John Roche will share his findings at the Whakatane day which runs between 10.45am and 1.30pm. For further details and farm address visit www.dairynz.co.nz/events/bay-of-plenty/bopfod-dairybase-and-farmsystems-event-november-2017

November 18-20 –Winners of the Enterprising Rural Women Awards will be announced at the Rural Women New Zealand’s annual conference in Invercargill. Visit www.ruralwomen.org.nz for more information.

November 30 – Northland Dairy Development Trust will hold a day at the Okaihau Hall to discuss the research from the Northland Agricultural Research Farm and in particular, reducing reliance on palm kernel. For details on the day which runs between 10.00am and 1.30pm, visit www.dairynz.co.nz/events/northland/northland-dairydevelopment-trust-takes-the-narf-trial-on-the-road

November 22 – Owl Farm focus day at the Waikato demonstration dairy farm. For information about the farm visit www.owlfarm.nz November 21 – Smaller Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH) is running a soil and staff field day in Taranaki on November 21 and then in the Manawatu on November 22. Both days will look at interpreting soil tests, understanding your nitrogen footprint, plus hiring and managing casual staff. For further information visit www.smallerherds.co.nz

November 30 – Last day to enter the 2018 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards. Regional judging for the three categories, New Zealand Share Farmer of the Year, New Zealand Dairy Manager of the Year and New Zealand Trainee of the Year will take place between January and March. The National Final will be held in Southland on May 12. For full details visit www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz

November 28 – Bay of Plenty Focus on Dairying is hosting a field

JANUARY January 10-11 – The 2018 Positive Farmers Conference is held in Cork, Ireland, and focuses on developing a profitable and resilient dairy operation, together with a high quality of life. For full information on the conference visit www.positivefarmers.ie

place at the Manfeild Agri-Centre in Feilding and is open to any young person 15 years old or older. Register by December 1. For further information visit www.nzdairyevent.com/national-breedsyouth-camp

January 21-25 – International Dairy Week in Australia spans five days and has more than 1000 head of first-class dairy cattle and 180 breeders competing for prestigious awards. Trade exhibits, seminars and tours are all part of the event at Tatura in Victoria. For more information on the event visit www.internationaldairyweek.com.au

January 31-February 2 – A one-day tractor sale of new and used vehicles will be held in conjunction with the New Zealand Dairy Event at Manfeild Park in Feilding. The three-day event attracts some of the best cattle from around the country as well as a focus on competitions for farming youth. Another feature is the Semex Summer Sensational Sale. Entries for the event close on November 27. For more details visit www.nzdairyevent.com

January 27-30 – The National All Dairy Breeds Youth Camp takes

FeedSCAN

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ANALYSE OPTIMISE MAXIMISE

TAKE THE GUESSWORK OUT OF YOUR FEED PLAN WITH THE ONLY INSTANT ON-FARM FEED ANALYSIS IN NEW ZEALAND. The information from the FeedSCAN analysis identifies any nutrient gaps in your herd’s current diet. We can then suggest possible complementary feed solutions that will make sure your animals are getting the balanced nutrition required for better returns.

BOOK A FEEDSCAN SERVICE FOR YOUR FARM TODAY. Contact Agrifeeds. 6

0800 424 743

AGRIFEEDS.CO.NZ

FORWARD-THINKING NUTRITION Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

EDITORIAL

Pathways to profit

ands up if you have actually ever skinned a cat? Old sayings are a funny thing – we trot them out and say them like they are fundamental truths… but how many people actually know all the different ways to skin a cat? And how many people would want to skin a cat? That’s what I as a journalist love about working with words and language – there are so many crazy and quirky sayings and clever ways to put things to deliver a really fine story. It makes life interesting. A shoutout to the Dairy Exporter team who won the Runner up Award to the Rongo Award presented for excellence in agricultural journalism for their work on a series – a special report in this magazine on team building, benchmarking and budgeting. Well done team. Thanks also to DairyNZ who sponsored the Dairy Industry Journalism Award that I won personally. That was a thrill! But just as there is apparently ‘more than one way to skin a cat’ – there are many different ways to increase profitability in a dairy farming system. In fact there are probably as many ways to increase profitability as there are farming systems in New Zealand. In our Pathways to Profit special report (p53) we have dug into a few different farmers’ methods – from Northland’s high-input highprofitability Okaihau Pastoral system to the Siemelinks in Bay of Plenty who concentrate on growing and using every blade of grass, and down to the Canterbury operation of Craig and Hannah Fulton who don’t try to cut costs or push production, but strive to find the sweet spot where everything is humming. Julie Rickman has analysed many high-performing farms as part of the Ministry of Primary Industries’ Farm Systems Change project and gave us an insight into the 10 traits of high-performing farmers. She says it’s

NZ Dairy Exporter

about not maximising but optimising outcomes – that’s where the highest profitability happens. Read about the 10 traits on page 64. The sixth century Chinese warrior Sun Tzu said if you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles, so we have taken an in-depth look at fake milks that are growing in the market. Bob Edlin has looked at oat milk, rice milk, hemp milk, almond milk, the list is long… and can we even call them milk? And what is the NZ dairy industry doing about these alternative challengers? Get to know your enemy on page 14. I thought it was all a storm in a tea cup until I went for coffee with four friends and acquaintances on the weekend – and three were drinking soy-based coffees! With the change in Government we can’t be sure yet what the impact will be on farming but Anne Lee has put together a comprehensive look at the latest weapon in the war against nitrogen leaching – the Ecotains, as well as a roundup of new and existing tools in the toolbox. (p38)

@YoungDairyED

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

SNEAK PREVIEW:

NEXT ISSUE IMPACT PLAYERS – Next month we are taking a look at the Impact Players of 2017 – the issues, the people, and the aspects of farming that have really made an impact – the good, the bad and the ugly. SPECIAL REPORT: WOMEN IN DAIRYING – A look at women in roles across the dairy industry.

Jackie @DairyExporterNZ

MANAGING SUMMER FEEDS

Word in your ear DAIRY STOCK PERFORMANCE

Tracking dairy stock to target weights and then we look at the graphs. A graph’s an easy way to show how the animals are tracking. We then print the PDF reports or screenshot the main screen with everything on it and email it out. It’s really user-friendly.”

CASTLEROCK DAIRIES Simon Hunt, Operations Manager Laurie and Clare Ngakai, Manager Mossburn Support Block Location: Stock numbers:

Farm size:

Southland 3 dairy platforms – 4,600 Support Block – 2,400 (peak) mix of R1s and 2s plus a few beefies, empties and bulls 22,500 ha

Laurie and Clare Ngakai had been looking for a programme that would make tracking animal progress and reporting easier and faster, when an ad in Farmers Weekly for Tru-Test’s new MiHub Livestock Management software, caught Laurie’s eye. They explain “We have been capturing weights and other cow data using the XR5000 weigh scale for a couple of years now. However, reporting required transferring the information from the weigh scale to a flash drive, taking this back to the office and manually manipulating it in a different programme to get some numbers to present to the directors and the managers.” “I wanted the ability to visually present that information to them, so that we could all see where the other animals were sitting, like the 10% above and below. And also the numbers and what animals. Rather than a percentage, an actual number of animals, so we know where our shortfall is. MiHub lets me do this.” “When we saw the ad for MiHub we downloaded it straightaway. It was no cost to us having the XR5000 and so we had nothing to lose” says Clare. “It was so easy [to sign and get going with it]. It’s a great way to show records. Laurie brings the XR home and I upload the data

Weighing & EID

Laurie continues. “It’s exactly what I initially wanted it to do and it’s also triggering a lot more things that we can now enhance or improve on. Rather than just group animals, we’re now looking at targeting specific animals, utilising the data to determine improvements we need to make to their diet or weight gains and things like that.”

“Laurie’s got a young stock management plan to have specific target weights that they should be meeting each month and an average daily gain. MiHub allows you to manually put this in so you can either work to industry targets or your own specific targets.” “In the past we just got our weight. As a number weight doesn’t mean much to you in conjunction with average daily gains, but when you plot it on a chart and you plot it against a target, you can see it forms a pattern. And looking at that pattern, you can go back to your weather or what your feeding regime is and you can say, okay, they’ve tapered off there and we had bad weather then or they’ve increased there because I’ve changed their diets. Going forward, we can start to identify patterns or shortfalls over given time periods. We'll then know this is coming up, this is what happened last year, this is what we can do to get in front of it. So yeah, it’s that visual thing.” Clare adds “The industry guidelines come

Pasture Management

Dairy Automation

For Laurie and Clare Ngakai, tracking stock to targets and performance reporting are easy tasks with the MiHub Livestock Management online programme.

pre-loaded for the targets, like when they’re born, and when they finish off and go to the dairy platforms. It puts in the breeds and information like that. It’s all automated – you just click which one. Laurie’s got a young stock management plan to have specific target weights that they should be meeting each month and an average daily gain. MiHub allows you to manually put this in so you can either work to industry targets or your own specific targets.” Communication to management is now a lot easier and more informative. Operations Manager, Simon Hunt agrees. “Since Laurie adopted MiHub we’re now getting pretty clear information, in an easy format. It’s also quick for me to jump into MiHub on my phone and see how they’re tracking in real time. For me, I want to see reports, trends and progress to targets – that’s what I’m interested in. I’d be rapt if I was a dairy farmer and my grazier was sending me this information. For farm owners or people who have got skin in the game or in my role, it’s vital that we’re getting accurate information to justify the money we’re spending on grazing and/or leasing land.” Laurie sums up his experience so far. “I’m a bit of a technophobe but have found it extremely easy to use, and without a doubt, it has added a great deal of value to our business.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017 Milk Cooling & Tanks

MiHub™ & Data Services

MILK PROTECTION

Keep a lid on the rising cost of refrigerants The cost of refrigerants is about to steeply increase, potentially adding significant running costs to NZ dairy farmers’ milk cooling systems. What is causing the price increase? The cost of refrigerants is set to sharply increase over the short to medium term. This is because of the way the pricing is structured. Imported refrigerant costs are based on the variable carbon price which is passed on to the end user. The importers pay per ton of carbon based on the refrigerant GWP (Global Warmer Potential) number e.g. R404A has a GWP of 3922. All imported refrigerants now have a zero Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) although the common HFC (Hydrofluorocarbon) refrigerants that are used still have a relatively high GWP.

The phase down of high GWP F-Gas refrigerants has been indicated by the government as beginning in 2019 and consultation on how the phase down should be managed has begun.

What does this mean for NZ dairy farmers? The refrigerant that you have in your system now can stay there. Refrigerant only needs to be changed if you lose some via a leak or upgrade your system. Additionally, as lower GWP refrigerants are produced, interim refrigerants will

be used for new system installations or to replenish existing systems whose refrigerants have already been phased out e.g. R12, R22 etc. Using a new lower GWP refrigerant in existing systems can cause performance changes, some will have positive or negative effects on the overall performance. The table below shows how a system will operate at a higher discharge temperature, although it will have a slightly improved COP (Coefficient of Performance) when operating on the new R449A compared to R404A.

R-404A - Med Temp Conditions Evap (kPa)

Cond (kPa)

Disch T (°C)

COP

GWP

R-404A

436

1,833

2.72

3922

R-449A

386

1745

2.82

1397

Causes for increased refrigerant use and what you can do to limit costs Don’t get bitten by the steep increase in refrigerant costs.Make sure your milk cooling system is serviced to help prevent loss.

their milk cooling maintenance costs, Tru-Test also offers an Asset Care Plan which can be extended to include other Tru-Test on-farm cooling equipment.

Carrying out a regular preventive maintenance check will help identify any noticeable or potential refrigerant leaks that could be remedied at the time of the visit. This includes eliminating any excessive vibration from the fans and compressor, and any support or additional brackets for copper pipework.

Talk to your local Tru-Test On-Farm Milk Cooling specialist today to book a Chiller Check Service or to find out more about our Asset Care Plans.

Stay on top of your milk cooling maintenance to keep a lid on increasing refrigerant costs.

Tru-Test offers a range of proactive servicing plans along with reactive servicing. All servicing is carried out by our nationwide team of specialist milk cooling technicians. We also support our milk cooling customers with a 7-day call centre. For farmers wanting complete peace of mind and an annual visibility on

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

www.tru-test.com

How are you tracking? Let’s talk. 0800 TRUTEST (878 8378)

ONLINE

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.

Connect with us online: www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

NZ Dairy Exporter

@DairyExporterNZ NZ Dairy Exporter

1000 Likes!

Since December 2016, NZ Dairy Exporter has amassed 1000 likes on its Facebook page.

Every spring Ngatea dairy farmer and Fonterra shareholder councillor Julie invites local children to her farm to look after a calf for their school Calf Club competition.

Joanne Leigh from Top Notch calves gives tips tricks and myths about calf rearing and weaning.

Misplaced grasses Here’s what some of our followers say on Facebook.

WINNING READERS Winners of the Oli and Gus promotion were: Sally Johnstone, Ngatea; Anne Berney, Owaka; Kay Moir, Te Awamutu; Heather Symes, Christchurch; Chris Hanrahan, Rakaia; Will Burrett, Ashburton; Laura Lewis, Pukeatua.

In the Pasture Guide published in NZ Dairy Exporter, October 2017, two of Seed Force’s perennial ryegrass varieties --SF Moxie and SF Hustle -- were erroneously listed in the “annual, short rotation and Italian ryegrass” section.

DAIRY FARMERS - have your say on the biosecurity Government Industry Agreement (GIA) for Biosecurity Readiness and Response. Read all about it in the yellow packs mailed to you and give your views online by December 6. www.dairynz.co.nz/gia

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

MILKING PLATFORM │ INVESTMENT

Our debt to Chew Chong Charlie McCaig

Opunake, Taranaki

try and keep the daily farm grind and discussing politics out of these columns. The former because I don’t think anyone wants to hear about my round length and the latter because there’s enough political pundits in this country as it is. But politics and the weather seem to have been the only things on my mind for the last three months. It’s been a long haul. So, let’s get the easy one out of the way first. Oh my god it’s been wet.

I haven’t spoken to a North Island farmer this season who hasn’t been day dreaming of what it would be like to just be driving a Farmsource delivery ute instead of cycling through various pairs of wet weather gear in a vain hope that one set might be vaguely more hospitable than the sodden pair you took off the night before. Relentless. Depressing. Miserable. And a range of other, less-repeatable, adjectives

have been on everybody’s lips. Our farm passed its typical annual rainfall in late September and has received another 160mm since then. Officially the wettest season-to-date, it will take an exceptionally dry November and December to stop it becoming the wettest year on record here. I’m not sure what to root for. Weather like we’ve had is taxing on people and animals. Production is down. Animal health bills are up. Staff are tired, sharemilkers stressed. But all problems ease with time and we’ll all get back on top of the issues this spring has thrown at us. I want to applaud the people and organisations that have been doing things to help cheer people up. In an environment where sometimes the best you could hope for is failing less than you did yesterday, it’s been noticed and appreciated. So, on to the politics. Not to be out done by the United States and Europe, New Zealand is turning up the antiforeigner rhetoric. As with the US, it confuses me greatly that a country, literally founded by foreigners, can conclude immigration is a bad thing. As a foreigner, the rhetoric bothers me a lot. The trouble us foreigners cause is complicated with many facets that tend to get lumped into a general, anti-immigration message. Yes, it’s probably bad for people or companies that don’t live or operate here to be able to buy land. Yes, the number of migrants that choose to settle in Auckland is probably adding fuel to the housing price fire. But I’m not sure how reducing immigration to 30,000 people a year solves either issue. What it does do is signal that ‘foreigners’ are the cause of the ‘problem’ and reducing their numbers will help solve it. In the history of global politics, that signal is not normally given by decent people.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

The rhetoric seems to me to only ever look at the problems in isolation of all the benefits immigration brings. In the case of foreign land ownership, it may just be a cost of doing business with the world. We are reliant on exports so not in much of a position to dictate. Equality issues aside, nobody could argue world trade has made NZ a poorer place so on balance we are winning. In the case of the people that come to live here we are also winning. Migrants often do the jobs others don’t want to do. I’m not sure the dairy industry could function in many areas without the migrants who choose to milk cows. Population growth also brings economic growth and foreign cultures bring new ideas and new ways of thinking. In 1866 a Chinese-born migrant called Chew Chong arrived in NZ. He was an entrepreneur who tried his hand at gold mining before moving to Taranaki and establishing an export market for mushrooms. The sale of these mushrooms provided an income for the many farmers who had settled the land but were close to bankruptcy as they had yet to find a way to make it productive. He turned his attention to butter exporting in 1874 and his efforts earned him the accolade of “the originator of the dairy factory system” when in 1887 he set up NZ’s first factory that paid farmers cash for their milk. He also introduced the first form of sharemilking. We owe a huge amount to this Chinese migrant who set the scene for the modern dairy export industry. It is surprising to see so much xenophobia in the political discourse in a country where 25% of the population wasn’t born here. It’s fine to have a conversation about how to structure immigration in a way that will produce the biggest benefit and reduce the costs but caps are not the way to achieve this. Imagine if today’s Chew Chong is applicant number 30,001? 11

MILKING PLATFORM │ COLUMN

Kiwi farmers need to embrace the changing world James Davidson

Hinds, Mid Canterbury

First, I need to address the elephant in the room... isn’t it great that since my last column, we are now three months closer to the next election. While most of us have been knuckling down trying to make it through another challenging spring, the political circus has been eating away at our positivity one media release at a time. Chuck in a touch of Mother Teresa Jacinda, Winston’s old-school charm, and the Greens’ tree-hugging agenda, and you have a cocktail that could send your Saturday night in one of two directions – up or down. I’ve heard some pretty extreme opinions of late, with one sharemilker being certain the new ‘Jacinda/Winston government’ would sink him within three years. It’s hard not to feel down-hearted when you feel your goal of farm ownership slip further away. My generation of farmers under 35 find ourselves at an interesting crossroads in our careers. It’s a hard road when every year you put a few hundred thousand

dollars away only to work out that you won’t be able to buy a farm for 20 years. Who knows what conditions we will be farming under in three years, let alone 20 years’ time. There are some talented farmers in my generation, but very few have the capital to enable them to be at the forefront of innovation. Every day more threats appear which challenge the way we farm and make the prospect of ownership feel less attainable. Our generation faces this crossroad with two directions available; option one being to keep chugging away and hope the cost of environmental compliance and the development of synthetic proteins hold off long enough to ride out the good years with the bad and save a little bit along the way to purchase our own slice of land. Option two is to embrace it, realise farming is a whole new ball game where only the best will survive. We have to stop thinking we will get lucky like previous generations who developed the land we farm today. We have to create our own luck and think outside the box. Be innovative and think in new ways, embrace technology and the changing demands of consumers and world trends. While we are content to farm without subsidies, big businesses and the Government need to step up to the plate and feed the hungry minds of our

We have to create our own luck and think outside the box. Be innovative and think in new ways, embrace technology and the changing demands of consumers and world trends.

Angus turns one – what’s the future of farming going to look for his generation? 12

generation. The opportunities are endless; legalise marijuana and become the largest exporter of medicinal marijuana to the world; or farm vertically – lease a warehouse, pack it with vertical hydroponics and fly New Zealand-grown lettuce to Shanghai in less than 12 hours. Or perhaps build a biodiesel industry, swap cows per hectare for canola overnight, fill the countless irrigation ponds in Canterbury with freshwater seafood for export. We can’t be followers. The recent European Union vote to phase out the use of glyphosate within five years has to be taken seriously. Why would a country that bans the use of glyphosate turn around and import products from a country that still uses it? Life without glyphosate would be tough but it would set us apart in the global export market. Something to think about until I write my next column. Life on the farm over the last few months has been pretty hectic, as many of you know. It was back to reality with a normal wet and cold Canterbury winter and a slow start to spring. Groundwater levels are up a lot which should see a healthy irrigation season and the Selwyn River do-gooders seem to be biting their lips as it maintains good flows well into spring. The Central Plains Water Scheme diggers seem to be behind schedule with all the rain, with a September start now being pushed into February. Cows have hit their peak well, though not amazing, and the sun seems to be shining so hopefully mating results across the district are up on last year. We still dream of a sub-10% empty rate. It’s been a busy time mating heifers and weaning calves. We will wean the first of our 100 Friesian bulls that we reared within the next week, we passed on signing any up to contracts this year to give us a bit more flexibility. We are hoping they will sell for $450 each at 100kg – any more will be a bonus. And our first year being parents has officially come to an end. Angus James turned the big one on October 17 and we celebrated with all of our closest friends and family. Although being a parent isn’t the easiest job, it’s certainly the most rewarding. There’s nothing better than seeing little Angus waiting at the gate for me when I pull up to the house every day.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

MILKING PLATFORM │ COLUMN

Best thing since burnt toast Niall McKenzie Kaiwaka, Northland

I hope all the readers are feeling positive. It’s leading into summer. In the 22 years I have been dairy farming new tools have come in to make us technology-savvy and upbeat. We examine all the tools and their usefulness that we have to stop the drop of milksolids production, that inevitably happens in December. As farmers in this time, we lengthen our pasture round. We try to keep quality in our low-cost pasture. We have other tools to help manage feed deficits; cropping, feeding silage and buying in food to feed our precious girls. We examine the cost of these feeds to ensure we make a dollar return on investment. Another important tool is time management and how we spend our time. Where we sharemilk at Kaiwaka, we chose a different tool to manage this wet start to the season and continue to work the same way we started it. On August 20 we split our herd into two. Old girls in one herd, heifers and carryovers in another. This dosen’t seem unusual but our herd is only 230 cows and it adds an hour to our working day. When we wintered this season, we decided to actively run four mobs through the winter. The farm came through with less pugging damage and on average the cows where 0.2 of a condition score better than the previous spring. So we thought: why not continue the season with split herds? At the time of writing this we were up 22% season-to-date and up 29% for the month. We were also down 27% of cash budget for expenses. Man, I must have been crap last year. Talking about tools we use to run and manage our dairying ventures, do we have to remind ourselves that our Fonterra is a co-operative? Paying the chief executive of our company a package of $8.32 million for last season seems unreal. Is he a tool of ours (Fonterra) or are we the tools for

ABOVE: Pre-grazing and post-grazing of last year’s December grass. BELOW: Niall and Delwyn off-farm and about to eat an expensive rabbit pie.

The plan

paying someone that much. As part of the co-operative, everyone gets to have a vote. If you, the reader, are very unhappy with this remuneration let it be known to the shareholders’ councillor. Stand up and be counted. The reason I found it hard to take is that would buy two good dairy farms in the mighty Northland. They inevitably would be very wet in the winter and scalding dry in the summer but that’s another story. Two seasons ago our company Maximilk Productions made a taxable income of $70,000, in the year of the $3.80 payout. At that rate it would take my wife and I 118 years to get Theo Speirings’ income for one of his years. Yes our taxable income was more last year, at $170,000 and the 2017/2018 season target is $350,000. We can all moan about what someone else is getting. That is fine. But instead of getting pissed off about the best, why not follow the best and see what you can learn. So I decided to follow their plan for our company. Fonterra’s plan is Optimise, Build and Grow, Deliver, Grow, Develop, Selectively Invest, Align – which I changed to Adhere so I wasn’t the same.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Goal: Taxable income of $350,000 for 2017/2018 season for Maxi-Milk Productions: • We will optimise pasture utilisation by increasing stocking rate by 10% and split herds into old cows and young cows. • Build and grow our freehold animals to 300 – done by the October 1, 2017. • Deliver a profitable product at farm working expenses as a 50/50 sharemilker of $1.54/kg milksolids. • Grow production from 72,500kg milksolids (MS)to factory to 90,000kg MS. • Develop dairy beef line by purchasing four beef bulls plus Jerseys. Done on September 15. • Selectively invest in calf meal this season (previously no calf meal was fed). • Adhere to strictly strong cash business and zero gearing. This means that even if I achieve my goal of $350,000 taxable income for our company Maxi-Milk Productions it would take me 26 years to achieve the same income as Speirings got paid and there are two people in our company, so double it to 52 years. There are 10,500 dairy farms that supply Fonterra. That means if we didn’t pay our chief executive we all would get $792.30 per farm. Concentrate on what you can control inside your farm gate (cost of milk production) and spend a little less time on someone else’s pay cheque. Nilator out.

UPFRONT │ NON-DAIRY

ALTERNATIVE CHALLENGERS In an era of fake and alternative news Bob Edlin takes a look at the fastgrowing range and volumes of fake or alternative non-dairy milks and the arguments about whether indeed they should be called milk.

he dairy industry can’t ignore a market that has gone nuts. Consumers driven by health, environmental and animal welfare considerations are increasingly demanding milk alternatives. The booming global milk substitutes market as a result is set to reach US$16 billion in sales next year. Almond milk accounts for much of this growth. Its sales – not much more than zero two decades ago – have soared by 250% in the past five years. It has outpaced soy milk as the leading plant-based milk substitute in the US. Almond milk still accounts for just 5% of the total milk market, but since the 1970s, “real milk” sales have declined steadily (by 37%, according to the United States Department of Agriculture). New products are being developed to meet the demand for the non-dairy alternatives. This year, 4% of all new ice cream product launches in the US were dairy-free. In India, Market Research Future predicts the non-dairy cheeses will take a US$3.5b chunk of the global cheese market by 2023. New Zealand dairy leaders challenge any claims that non-dairy choices are healthier than cow’s milk. They point out that milk has nine essential nutrients that are necessary for 14

good health, like calcium and vitamin D. As to the environmental footprint, it takes about 19 litres of water to grow one almond and most of the world’s almonds come from drought-stricken California, where farmers have been accused of diverting dwindling groundwater reserves to their almond orchards. And unlike the US, cows here are not

much about health and wellness benefits, dairy alternatives are now about taste,” Roux says. This is reflected in sales of almond, coconut, rice and oat milks doubling in Western Europe in the five years to 2014, according to Euromonitor. In Australasia they rose three-fold and in North America nine-fold.

‘Unlike gluten-free food that is still very much about health and wellness benefits, dairy alternatives are now about taste.’ kept in intense confinement leading desperately unhappy lives. But challenging the health claims made on behalf of non-dairy products may not be enough. According to Britain’s Financial Times, increasing numbers of consumers are turning to lactose-free, dairy-free and plant-based food products as lifestyle choices, rather than because of milk allergies or lactose intolerance. It quotes Caroline Roux, a food and drink analyst at Mintel, who says nut-based milks have the benefit of being about more than just health and wellness. “Unlike gluten-free food that is still very

Ann Thompson, Federated Farmers dairy policy advisor, regards dairy substitution as “a very real threat”. That’s why NZ dairy farmers must have good practices onfarm – “anyone who objects in some way to what’s going on down on the farm now has plenty to choose from”. Indeed they do. Cashew and macadamia milk already are moving toward the mainstream, the variety of non-soy plant-based alternatives includes rice, oats and barley as well as nuts, while newer products are being made from flaxseed, hemp and lupin seed. Non-dairy innovators are broadening

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

their range of products and brands by blending more than one type of milk. Whether they should be allowed to market their products with labels describing them as milk, cheese or yoghurt, is another issue. A key concern of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand is that consumers do not confuse products which are quite different in terms of production process and nutritional properties. DCANZ executive director Kimberly Crewther says plantbased products do not meet the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code definition of “milk” and should not be sold as milk. DCANZ supports the Ministry for Primary Industries enforcing the code. “The standards that define products have an important role to play supporting consumers to understand where products are inherently different,” Crewther said. The labelling issue is controversial globally and advocates for dairy alternatives say these terms are important for describing their products.

Based Foods Association in the US, Michele Simon says. The Wisconsin-based Dairy Business Milk Marketing Co-operative counters by saying plant-based foods don’t have the same nutritional value as dairy products, so calling them “milk” or “yogurt” is misleading to consumers. Consumers might buy them thinking wrongly that they’re getting something that is the nutritional equivalent of cheese made from cow’s milk. John Holevoet, director of government affairs for the co-operative, says this confusion drives away consumers who would normally buy dairy products – and this hurts farmers and processors.

NZ demand for dairy alternatives “If a company is making a product that tastes like yogurt, feels like yogurt, happens to be made from almonds, why shouldn’t that company be able to use the word ‘yogurt’?” executive director of the Plant

Foodstuffs external relations manager Catherine Reiss says the trend towards dairy alternatives has resulted in a wealth of new products appearing on New Zealand supermarket shelves in recent years. In Foodstuffs North Island stores, sales of non-dairy milks have increased by 11%

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

since August 2016. These include nut, oat, soy and rice milks. Sales of fresh milk and cream nevertheless are showing strong annual growth (9.3% at time of writing). Cream sales were up 10% and milk 9.2%, “driven mainly from our private label brands Pams and Value.” Organic milk and cream sales were growing at 2%. A Countdown spokesperson says doubledigit growth in non-dairy milk alternatives (such as almond milk, soy, rice, coconut, oat and hazelnut milks) was recorded in the past year. “We know that a lot of our customers seek out options other than dairy and we have steadily grown our range to meet this demand,” he says. But growth in non-dairy alternatives “hasn’t really impacted the popularity of regular milk products which are a family staple”.

Will cow cockies be put out to pasture? Dairy industry leaders are confident there will always be a strong demand for naturally produced NZ dairy products, even as the potential range of plant-based foods on offer expands. DCZNZ executive director Kimberly Crewther emphasises the health attributes of the industry’s product: milk is a natural, highly functional and nutrient-dense food source which plays an important role in global nutrition. Dairy NZ chief executive Tim Mackle says there’s a role for synthetic food products in terms of feeding the world. But he is sure there will always be consumers who will seek the high-quality natural dairy products “that begin with our

premium-bred dairy cows munching green grass on the farms of our farmers – our food producers”. Westland Milk Products chief executive Toni Brendish agrees. “We believe there will always be a demand for natural dairy proteins and that Westland has an advantage in that regard with its ability to offer high-quality milk products with milk produced on grass-fed pastures by farmers with generations of connection to the land and their animals.”

What the doctor says… The nutritional value of dairy is at the heart of the rivalry between dairy and non-dairy products, Fonterra Co-operative Group chief science and technology officer, and past president of the International Dairy Federation, Dr Jeremy Hill says. He has worked on milks and the literature on alternative beverages over the past few years and says dairy has a range of hard-to-replace nutritional benefits. It is the sole source of nutrition for young mammals and its extremely high protein quality has been affirmed when measured by different methodologies. One measure basically tests how protein in milk is digested to release the nutritional components called amino acids that provide our bodies with the essential building blocks for protein. It shows dairy provides many essential proteins – the scores for dairy can be 30% higher than the next-best-scoring plant proteins and three-times higher than the lowest-scoring plant proteins. The amount of protein in a product alone can be misleading. It’s the quality of dairy protein that counts – and milk’s rich nutrient mixture of proteins, fat components, minerals and vitamins. “And it’s very hard to find a food that has anything like this nutrient density,” Hill says. Furthermore, it is not just the additive effect that is beneficial but also the way the nutrients are absorbed and how well they can act. New benefits for dairy are being found just about every year. Hill cites a United Kingdom study showing milk’s hydrating properties. Using water as a standard and making comparisons with a range of beverages, the researchers found milk

(both fat-free and whole milk) had a significantly higher hydration index – 1.5 times higher – than water. This was the same as the result for oral rehydration solution (such as Pedialyte) in out-performing all the other beverages tested. Choice is fine and having non-dairy products is not a problem “as long as consumers are informed about what they are and what they are not and are clear about what dairy offers without denigrating the substitutes”, Hill says. DCANZ executive director Kimberly Crewther draws on several studies, too, while maintaining that few other foods deliver such a wide range or richness of health-enhancing nutrients. She lists: • Calcium and other nutrients – these are important in developing and maintaining bones, particularly important in childhood and adolescent children for bone growth and skeletal development. Low calcium intake in children and teenagers will adversely affect future bone health. In ageing it is important to maintaining an adequate calcium intake to help reduce the risk of osteoporosis. • High-quality protein – this helps optimise muscle mass and attenuate its decline. Sarcopenia (age-related

A global trend The global market for plant-based dairy alternative drinks is forecast to exceed US$16 billion next year – it was US$7.4b in 2010. Dairy-alternative drinks accounted for 7% of global dairy launches recorded by Innova Market Insights in 2016, up from 6% in 2015. Per-capital consumption of milk has dropped 12% in the United States and 4.1% in Europe in the past five years. US dairy milk sales are forecast to fall 11% to US$15.9b in the 20152020 period. Total sales of non-dairy milk in the US (now around US$2b) are predicted to reach nearly $3b by 2020. (Data sources: Innova Market Insights, Mintel Market Research and Euromarket)

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

When the unexpected happens, we’ve got you covered.

weatherproof your farm pioneer.nz

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017 Pioneer® brand products are provided subject to the terms and conditions of purchase, which are part of the labelling and purchase documents. ®, TM, SM, Trademarks and service marks of Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.

NZ supermarket drink sales

To August 13 ($) 12 months change (%)

Water

Milk drinks

Fresh flavoured milk

Other non-dairy milk

Soya milk

UHT flavoured milk

89,710,626

49,449,096

43,064,986

25,220,322

21,815,060

14,993,892

13

9.8

-1540

14.9

7.1

13.7 Source: Nielsen

muscle loss) is a health concern in the later stages of life. During their 40s and 50s, people start losing muscle mass which can lead to other chronic health issues. Muscle loss can be detrimental to the quality of life and raises the risk of falls and fractures. Sarcopenia can be mitigated through protein intake combined with resistance training which helps build muscle mass.

Greenhouse gas and water The dairy industry can bring science into its environmental argument, too. University of Washington researchers in 2010 examined the relationship between the nutrient content of beverages and their climate impact. They studied 21 essential nutrients in a range of retail beverages in Sweden (milk, soft drink, orange juice, beer, wine, water, soy, and oat). Swedish milk had greenhouse gas production-to-nutrients content less than half that of the soy-based milk substitute and less than 10% of the rice-based milk substitute. NZ milk performs even better – it has a GHG footprint up to a 30% lower than that of Swedish milk. More research is needed on the comparative relationship between water

use and nutrients, Fonterra’s Dr Jeremy Hill says. But he scotches an often-quoted finding that a kilogram of protein from Australian meat production requires 10,000 litres of water to produce and a kilo of wheat protein requires 2500 litres. “That’s water applied – not the water that is used per se,” he explains. The International Standards Organisation’s methodology produces data closer to the right answer than by simply measuring how much water has been sprayed on to the land. Applying this methodology, the headline-grabbing 10,000 litres for beef and 2500 litres for wheat is evaporated to 44 litres and 57 litres respectively.

How milk is legally defined in NZ The Animal Products Act says “milk”means the mammary secretion of milking animals. The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code also defines “milk” as the mammary secretion of milking animals, obtained from one or more milkings for consumption as liquid milk or for further processing (but excluding colostrum). Where milk terminology is used in conjunction with a food that does not meet this definition, further descriptors and context information must be provided to make clear the product is not milk, does not meet the definition of milk, is not nutritionally equivalent to milk and does not have the properties of milk. The Fair Trading Act may provide another legal avenue to test whether the use of “milk” for plant-based products is appropriate for Kiwi consumers. It is aimed at prohibiting traders from: • misleading and deceptive conduct generally; • unsubstantiated claims; false representations; unfair practices; unfair contract terms.

The labelling law in other countries

The European Court of Justice this year ruled the terms milk, whey, cream, butter, buttermilk, cheese and yoghurt can be used only for animal-based products such as cow or goat’s milk. The ruling settled a case brought by German competition association Verband Sozialer Wettbewerb (VSW) against TofuTown, a producer and distributor of vegetarian and vegan food products in Germany. VSW challenged TofuTown’s use of dairy terms such as Soyatoo tofu butter, plant cheese, veggie cheese and cream on purely plant-based products, claiming this contravened competition rules. European regulations reserve terms traditionally used to describe dairy products exclusively for use by products produced by normal mammary secretion. Products with ingredients specifically designed to replace the dairy content are prohibited from using the terms (with some exceptions). In the US, judges have taken a contrary view. Judge Samuel Conti, of Federal District Court in San Francisco, in 2013 dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit that claimed that almond, coconut and soy milk were mislabelled because they do not come from cows. Conti said it was implausible that a reasonable consumer would mistake a product like soy milk or almond milk with cow’s milk. Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, has introduced the Dairy Pride Act to fight back for the dairy industry. Her legislation would require nondairy products to no longer be labelled with dairy terms such as milk and “cheese”. It has been sent for committee hearings. The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the regulatory body of Russia, has

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

PASTURE November 2017

‘Save us - we don’t want to die this summer!’

Follow the stars

If the coming generation of ryegrass tillers could talk, there’s one thing they would say to you at this time of the year – ‘please don’t kill us, we want to live!’ It may sound fanciful, but the truth is your ryegrass plants are living entities doing their best to persist and stay alive. They don’t want to die, any more than you want them dead. In summer dry areas, however, the mix of heat, insect damage, slower growth rates and lack of moisture can make survival challenging over the next two to three months. Add a drought, and the risk is compounded. That’s why pasture management is so vital in coming weeks. You’ll benefit, regardless. If an extended summer dry does occur, your pastures will be well prepared, and if it doesn’t, your pastures will yield more and reach autumn in great shape. Consistency is the number one priority. Ryegrass tillers are creatures of habit, just like cows, and they adapt to your management. Nothing influences pastures more than consistent, correctly timed grazing. Get residuals right every grazing. Graze too early, e.g. at 1-2 leaf per tiller, and you weaken

pasture and lose DM/ha. Graze too late, or make heavy silage crops e.g. 4+ leaves per tiller, feed quality suffers, and you lose tiller density, because daughter tillers get shaded out and die. You need these daughters; they are your pasture for 2018! If conditions are right, consider December N application to improve pasture health and growth going into summer. If the rain stops, avoid overgrazing. Keep post grazing residuals up at 4-5cm high (7-8 clicks on the RPM) and protect the plant’s energy reserves by lengthening the round, decreasing feed demand and/ or increasing feed supply via chicory, turnips or supplements. In extended dry periods, on/ off grazing is the only way to go. Anything above the 4-5cm residual can be grazed, but below that, cows will injure and even kill your hardworking ryegrass tillers. Use a feed pad, sacrifice paddock or crop and when the rain comes, your pasture will reward you with fast recovery and a better autumn.

Trojan perennial ryegrass with NEA2 endophyte provides superb DM yield, palatability and persistence. It’s also the best growing perennial through winter, early spring and up to Christmas - the make or break period for most NZ dairy systems. With top ratings from winter through summer in the DairyNZ Forage Value Index, along with a very high ME of 12.3 or more, Trojan means more kg MS/cow/ day at the peak of the season, with less supplement. If you’d like to learn more about how to milk Trojan for all its worth, you’ll find everything you need to know in our latest booklet, ‘All season all-star’. It’s full of advice for getting the best from the best, and it’s available free now. Download today from www.agriseeds.co.nz, or ask your local seed merchant.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

For further information freephone: 0800 449 955, email: mail@agriseeds.co.nz or visit: www.agriseeds.co.nz

600

Non- Milk alternativies

Milk and non-dairy consumption Volume (rebased)

500

400

300

200

Milk 100 2001 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 Source: Financial Times

notified the World Trade Organisation of amendments aimed at distinguishing between dairy products with or without milk fat substitutes. The draft rules and standards for labelling such products, including branding, descriptions and label placement, ban using dairy terms in the names of products containing any milk fat substitute. The effect would be to bar almost all uses of dairy product names such as butter, cheese, and ice cream if the product contains a non-dairy milk fat substitute.

If you can’t beat ’em… Multinational French food corporation Danone has acquired White Wave, based in Denver, an international competitor in the plant-based, organic dairy and organic produce categories. Its brands include So Delicious. Want Want China Holdings Ltd., one of China’s largest processed-foods companies, is expanding into the lucrative niche market for soy and other plant-based milk products as Chinese families spend more on alternative options. The Hong Kong-listed company plans to introduce its line of soy and oat milk this year and forecasts the market for plantbased milk will more than double to about 55 billion yuan (NZ$11.5b) within two to three years. The 92-year-old Elmhurst Dairy, in New York City, shut its plant last year, saying pasteurised fluid milk “has sort of gone out of style”. Not long after it was rebranded as Elmhurst and is now producing dairyfree milks made from almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, and cashews and re-branding as Elmhurst Nutmilk.

Is Fonterra overconfident? Science writer Peter Griffin has questioned Fonterra’s confidence that synthetic milk poses no significant threat to dairy products. Fonterra reiterated its position after the Government’s chief science adviser, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, told the NZBIO conference in Wellington that synthetic food is one of the “big existential risks to New Zealand” and the “risk is real”. Griffin describes this rejection of synthetic milk as a threat as Fonterra’s Kodak moment – mirroring the US camera company’s failure to recognise and respond to the disruptive threat posed by digital photography. He brought science into his thinking: 1: A University of West England research paper that compares the energy use between conventional and “yeast-derived” synthetic dairy products. “In comparison to conventionally produced milk, YDM involves approximately 24-84% lower

energy use, 98% lower water use, 77-91% lower land use, and 35-65% lower GHG emissions.” 2: Several start-ups, most prominently Perfect Day which plans to launch by the end of this year, have pioneered ways of using genetically modified yeast to produce milk without input from cows. Griffin asked: “Where are our start-ups in this space?” 3: The global market for milk alternatives is expected to be $10.9b by 2019, according to analyst group BCC Research. Most of that market (US$4.4b in 2014) was made up of soy products. Many people don’t like the taste of soy. But if the new wave of start-ups can mass produce alternative milk products that, as they claim, taste as good as milk products from cows, and are cheaper, this market could grow much faster. Griffin hopes Sir Peter was right when he told the NZBIO conference our primary industry companies are indeed working behind the scenes on this.

bob.edlin@xtra.co.nz

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

UPFRONT │ NON-DAIRY

Close watch on products essential California company Perfect Day produces what it claims is a “cow-free milk” that tastes like the real thing because it contains casein and whey produced by inserting a cow’s DNA into a particular strain of yeast and mixed with plant-based nutrients and fats.

Allan Barber This is the year plant-based alternatives to dairy and meat have suddenly started to pose a more-serious threat to the traditional animal-based products on which New Zealand farmers, and our economy as a whole, depend. There is no danger these alternatives will suddenly take over the world, leaving dairy and sheep and beef farmers wondering what to do with their stranded assets. But, to prevent being taken unpleasantly by surprise, it will be necessary for the dairy and red meat sectors to keep a close watch on these competitors and track their progress with global consumers.

NZ agriculture needs to get on the front foot and tell a story which presents a compelling argument that counters all these ideological perspectives, otherwise we risk our traditional markets eventually coming under serious threat.

Perfect Day is a San Francisco-based start-up company which has developed what it claims is a “cow-free milk” that tastes like the real thing because it contains casein and whey produced by inserting a cow’s DNA into a particular strain of yeast and mixed with plant-based nutrients and fats. The result is a lactosefree milk alternative which uses 65% less energy, generates 84% less greenhouse gas emissions, requires 91% less land and 98% less water. The two scientist inventors of Perfect Day had become increasingly frustrated

with the taste and texture of dairy-free alternatives and decided to develop their own improved version. The company’s website states the product is a complement to normal milk and does not seek to replace dairy cows entirely, but wants to offer consumers another option. They believe the main opportunity for their product will be for cheese manufacture for use on pizzas and cream cheese on bagels, although this appears to stem from their own personal frustrations with trying to find acceptable vegetarian and vegan alternatives. At the moment start-ups like Perfect Day have very little capacity to produce enough alternative dairy products which could make an immediate dent in global consumption patterns, although this will scale up very quickly if consumer response is positive. There doesn’t yet appear to be much serious evidence why consumers may be prepared to change their habits from natural to alternative dairy products, but the serious capital being invested in companies like Perfect Day suggests there is plenty of confidence behind them. Although there does not yet appear to be any conclusive proof of the health effects of changing diets to plant-based alternatives, they are unlikely to be much different from adopting a vegetarian or lactose-free eating regime. Consumers will adopt the alternatives for a variety of different reasons, including

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

perceived or real health, environmental, animal treatment and economic concerns. The uptake rate of these new methods of food production will vary enormously in different parts of the world. But NZ agriculture needs to get on the front foot and tell a story which presents a compelling argument that counters all these ideological perspectives, otherwise we risk our traditional markets eventually coming under serious threat. Another San Francisco start-up, Impossible Burger, has developed the “veggie burger that bleeds” in an attempt to mimic the taste and texture of groundbeef hamburgers. The product is targeted at high-end restaurants in New York and California and, while the ultimate goal is to sell the product wherever meat is sold, the main target is food service. Production capacity would have to expand to hundreds of factories to service the whole market, so again progress will be slow in the immediate future. The relevance to the dairy industry of meat alternatives are less obvious than the threat from plant-based dairy products, but cull cows are an important source of profit to the meat industry. If the American market were to adopt plantbased burgers in a big way, the value of cull cows would fall which would affect dairy farmers as well as meat companies. It might eventually result in less processing capacity which would make it more difficult to get culls off the farm, as well as reducing income. None of these changes will happen overnight, which gives the agricultural sector time to come up with a strategy to justify NZ’s status as a global food provider of choice. This strategy should address questions of provenance, sustainability, the impact of farming on the environment and the role of research and development to develop a coherent NZ story to support the future of our primary sector. Leadership from the new Government will be necessary.

Milking Robots they work for us.

Brian, Cathy and David Yates, Karaka, 170 cows

Our farm had been in the family for six generations, but when my kids decided on careers in the city, it was nearly ‘6 and out’. Having seen the reality of modern dairy farming after we put the robots to work, the kids and grandkids now see dairy farming as an exciting career opportunity. It’s an approach that works for me, it works for my family, and there’s no reason it wouldn’t work for you. Visit DeLaval.co.nz/robot to find out how robots brought my son back to work on the family farm.

B&DEL0234

delaval.com | Grant Vickers 021 704 691 22

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

UPFRONT │ MARKET VIEW

Dairy markets not supportive of milk price Whole milk powder p rices - US$ p er tonne

6000

Susan Kilsby

5000 4000

AgriHQ

Global markets for dairy commodities have been about as inspiring as the spring weather. A brief rally occurred in dairy commodity pricing during September but you could be forgiven for missing this while knee-deep in mud attending to more-pressing farming matters. By October global dairy prices were heading south again. The much-publicised record butter prices, combined with the intervention programme providing a floor for SMP, have helped lift farmgate milk prices in Europe and the United States. This has bolstered industry confidence, which is expected to translate into more milk. Butter pricing is starting to come off a bit now but still remains very high in historic terms – particularly in Europe. The lift in demand brought about by consumers favouring natural fats has not changed. This underlying demand is expected to hold butter prices at levels well above their long-run average level. But with more butter comes more skim milk which is typically manufactured into skim milk powder (SMP). With about 400,000 tonnes of this product sitting in stock in Europe the world really doesn’t need any more. The European Union intervention programme closed its

2014

3000

2015

2000

2016

1000

2017

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

seasonal buying at the end of September which means no current price floor is available to prop up this product. Typically the programme reopens for purchasing at the start of the new dairy season on March 1 with up to 109,000t of product able to be purchased at the set intervention price of €1698/t (~US$2000/t). When the European Commission set this price they didn’t factor in butter prices being so high. So we have a situation where farmers are being well-paid for their milk but the market is still being supported by the EC. The EC is now looking to go directly to a tender system when the market reopens for buying next year, so this will provide a lower level of market support. The commission is now looking to sell the existing SMP stocks at lower prices than they were purchased for – in order to move the stock on. Depending how this is done, it could cause some market disruption – particularly if these stocks are sold into the food rather than the feed market.

Dairy Commodity P rices

US$ p er Tonne

8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 Aug 15 SMP

Feb 16 WMP

Aug 16 AMF

BUTTER

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Feb 17

Aug 17 Source: AgriHQ

Source: AgriHQ

Milk production is now growing in Europe again and this trend is expected to continue next year. This rate of growth in Europe is more than offsetting the slowdown in production from NZ. This will put further downwards pressure on dairy prices, particularly SMP and cheese. Cheese prices have held up relatively well so far and this is one of the most profitable produce mixes. But any lift in production from the Northern Hemisphere will certainly be bearish for this commodity. The general bearishness in the market has also effected WMP pricing. WMP prices slipped under the US$3000/t level in late October.. Demand from China – our biggest buyer – has also been solid. Therefore you would expect WMP pricing to be a little stronger than it is. But when you consider where the other dairy commodity prices are sitting it is less of a surprise to see WMP being dragged down as well. The net impact of the weaker WMP prices is that Fonterra’s $6.75/kg milksolids (MS) forecast is getting harder to achieve. The market is just not at that level, and a price in the lower end of the $6-$7 range now appears more likely. In late October the AgriHQ milk price forecast for the 2017-18 season had slipped back to $6.36/kg MS. The September 2018 milk price futures contract was trading in late October at $6.40/kg MS. It is still possible for the market to lift sufficiently to reach the level required to reach Fonterra’s $6.75/kg MS forecast. But for every day that prices linger at or below the US$3000/t mark means an even greater price lift will be required later in the season. 23

BUSINESS │ ONCE-A-DAY Kylie and Bart Guckert with their two-yearold son Cooper.

NOT PART OF THE 4.31AM CROWD Making the switch to once-a-day milking has meant a range of benefits for Kylie and Bart Guckert, including an end to early rising. Glenys Christian reports.

arly morning starts are firmly a thing of the past for lower Northland contract milkers, Kylie and Bart Guckert thanks to their switch to once-a-day (OAD) milking. “We’re not the 4.31am crowd,” Bart says. “And now we think what a silly thing to do.” They believe that a lot of Northland farms lend themselves to OAD with the hilly topography, marginal country, walking distances, summer dry and just stock pressure in general. This was certainly the case on their farm and on their third season since making the switch there’s no going back. Kylie was brought up in Auckland on a 40-hectare lifestyle block, spending 11 years as a customs officer and customs broker there before deciding that that life wasn’t for her any more. “When you start driving to work

dreading it and counting down the hours, it’s time to make a change,” she says. Farming was in her blood so the change saw her move to a 2000ha Landcorp sheep and beef station near Taupo and embark on PrimaryITO studies. “I enjoyed sheep and beef but the opportunities were perhaps greater to get ahead in dairying and it was certainly less physically challenging,” she says. So the move was made to dairying in 2007/08 where she did a season on a Te Puke dairy farm before heading north to Wellsford to work on her parents’ dairy farm. “I was green but the dairy industry is one that you can learn a lot fairly quickly through discussion group and publications,” she says. Kylie had by then met Bart who was working on a sheep and beef unit in Pouto. His father managed farms in the Wairarapa

Farm facts Location: West of Wellsford, lower Northland Owners: Murray and Elaine Shepherd Contract milkers: Bart and Kylie Guckert Area: 176 hectares (160 effective which includes a 40ha steeper kikuyu block) with 40ha runoff two kilometres away Herd: 290-310 crossbred cows, Breeding Worth (BW) 56/39, Production Worth (PW) 66/58, recorded ancestry 81% Production: 2015/16, 84,100 kilograms of milksolids (MS), 2016/17, 89,400kg MS Dairy: 20-aside herringbone Supplements:100 tonnes palm kernel, 50-100t of grass silage made on home farm and runoff, 50-100 bales of hay bought in, 10ha of crops grown as part of a pasture renovation programme.

for several years before the family moved to Whakatane, and Bart worked on farms in his school holidays before embarking on his farming career, first as a single shepherd before progressing through to farm management. He also did tractor

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

work in Western Australia as well as a stint with the Department of Conservation (DOC), helping to eradicate possums Wellsford and wallabies on the Hauraki Gulf’s Motutapu and Rangitoto Islands. Bart decided in the 2011/12 season to join Kylie on the dairy farm, and consultant, Kim Robinson was taken on as a farm adviser in early 2012. “Kim made some seemingly small changes that had hugely positive results such as drying off on body condition score (BCS) from February onwards,” Kylie says. It was soon after Kim came on board that OAD talks got under way. Kim felt there were a few issues in the existing twice-a-day( TAD) milking system that needed to be rectified before OAD could seriously be considered. She felt owner’s dairy unit. Although it was a OAD could exacerbate the problems rather role Bart thoroughly enjoyed, during than rectify them. their absence the dairy farm had suffered through poor management. Not only did production drop from 89,000kg milksolids ‘We experienced better (MS) to 81,000kg, but also it was also hit animal health, major with huge financial penalties through grading. reduction in empty rates, Kylie and Bart were asked if they would a drop in farm working like to return and Kylie said tongue in expenses (FWE), more cheek that if a move was made to OAD flexibilty and just generally they might consider it. So they returned to the farm in 2015/16 a less-stressful system for as contract milkers. both man and beast.’ Their first OAD season saw production within 10% of the farm record. “This came as a pleasant surprise as we had prepared ourselves for up to 20% The farm owners, both off-farm, were drop,” Kylie says. also fairly ‘old school’ so not overly keen “From what we see and hear, people on the idea, however the seed had been are so focused on the production loss sown so the homework began. and yes, it is important but it is the big Kylie and Bart left the farm in 2014/15. picture stuff that needs to be taken into Bart managed a bull block at Whakapirau, account. as well as also working on the farm

Plenty of riparian planting has been carried out on the farm including this area around a lake.

“For us, we experienced better animal health, major reduction in empty rates, a drop in farm working expenses (FWE), more flexibilty and just generally a lessstressful system for both man and beast.” In their second season, 2016/17, they reached 89,422kg MS. They had gone from traditionally a 10+ percent empty rate over a 12-week mating to 4.5% empty rate over a nine-week mating period. “OAD has certainly increased the sixweek in-calf rate,” Bart says. And due to this the farm has pushed the planned start of calving (PSC) out to July 20. “We have found that cows seem to recover and cycle quicker after calving,” Kylie says. “We used to still be calving at planned start of mating (PSM) but now with just a nine-week mating, the cows have two to three weeks recovery time and have had anything from one to three cycles before

The hilly farm lends itself well to once-a-day milking.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Five reasons to make the move Kylie and Bart Guckert list their five top reasons why other dairy farmers should consider once-a-day milking (OAD) as: • Lifestyle. “OAD gives you the opportunity to fit the system around the lifestyle rather than having to fit the lifestyle around the system, which can only be good for all involved,” Kylie says. “It has definitely improved our quality of life, especially with a young family.” • Improvements in animal health. • Reproduction. Huge gains can be made resulting in better culling opportunities, younger animals being kept in the herd longer and more days in milk. • The general flexibility in the system, including the opportunity to work offfarm or in the community. • While farmers should be prepared to see production possibly drop in the first year or two, there are a lot of savings too, such as FWE, lower effluent costs and better staff retention.

PSM. We believe this has added to our increased conception rates.” This season they had 78% of the cows calved in the first three weeks. “With the reduction in empty rate, we have been able to selectively cull – not a luxury we have had in the past,” she says. Culling has focused on low production. “You always get a handful of cows that are not suited to OAD and put fat on their backs instead of making milk, which are normally dealt with before Christmas.” Udder confirmation and milking speed are two other areas they look for when culling. “There’s no room for slow-milkers in an OAD system,” she says. They will also cull for high somatic cell counts (SCC) with traditionally the farm experiencing fairly high SCC. But they were given the advice by Kim to strip a quarter each milking. “That’s some of the best advice we were given,” Bart says. “It is another job but it quickly became just part of the routine. We now strip two quarters per milking which has led to a significant drop in mastitis. The biggest thing with mastitis is vigilance. You need to be on to it to avoid crosscontamination.” The couple used LIC semen from the selected OAD team of bulls last season and will do the same this year. They also use beef straws on the cows which sit at the bottom 30% of Breeding Worth (BW), and the calves are sold through the Wellsford saleyards for good money. This year they put red polls over their heifers to get away from producing bobby calves, with the resulting calves bought by a local farmer at four days old. 26

Flexibility with OAD A huge plus the couple have found with OAD is the flexibility it gives them. With Kylie in charge of calf rearing but also having sons Jackson, 4, and Cooper, 2, to look after they were concerned how this aspect of their farming operation would work. “We looked at calf rearers and nannies but they come at a cost – then we had a lightbulb moment,” she says. “We don’t have to cup-on early.” After some discussion they came up with

a solution, which was for her to go out and attend to the calves’ needs from 5.30 to 7.30 in the morning while Bart sorted the kids then she returned home and they swapped over. Bart would then go out with Brendon Gear, the farm assistant, checking springers, collecting freshly calved cows and adjusting breaks before cupping on at 9am. “The kids and I would then go and feed

➥ 28

Only milk and hay is fed to the calves until they’re five or six weeks old.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Cows milked once-aday are more placid and easy to manage.

the newbies once fresh colostrum was available,” Kylie says. This meant no real disruption to the kids’ routines, less time with the kids at the calf sheds and the job getting done without too much stress. “Sure you can do these things with the kids around but you can get it done a whole lot quicker when you do not have to keep an eye out all the time,” she says. Once calving is complete, cups on goes back to 6.30am. “OAD gives you that flexibility.” Bart and Kylie basically job-share, operating as one unit with the exception being during calving. “Bart is a beef farmer who doesn’t like milking cows so once calving is over I share the milking with Brendon,” Kylie says. “Bart stays at home until the kids are up and fed before going out and doing the day-to-day management stuff.” Brendon is into his second season on the farm and Bart and Kylie say OAD certainly is easier on staff and it takes away the stress of paying minimum wage as the hours are naturally reduced on an OAD system, particularly during the spring period. The 20-aside herringbone dairy is old but good for a one-person operation. “Milking takes a while as you can imagine and we did have to make some changes,” Kylie says. This year money has been spent on upgrading the refrigeration equipment, putting in a froth buster and a bigger filter Hay is always available for the calves.

cage in order to cope with the increased volume of milk. “We currently operate a DairyNZ System 3 farm, but ideally we’d like to be System 2 and in a perfect world System 1,” Kylie says. The herd is fed palm kernel on trailers in the paddocks with them getting through around 300kg/cow of the supplement each year. They would like to cut back on palm kernel use and say that with Fonterra’s fat evaluation index (FEI) demerit points coming in next season they’ll need to be sure they are within the limits, although they don’t believe they are feeding enough for it to be a problem. They also make between 50 and 100 tonnes of grass silage each year on the home farm and the runoff along with buying in from 50 to 100 bales of hay, which has come in very handy with slow grass growth this spring. Average rainfall is around the 1200 millimetre mark with dry summers expected, and the couple had often moved the herd to OAD from Christmas in the past. They crop and regrass around 10ha every year, choosing the worst paddocks. Initial struggles with getting new pasture established have been rectified with advice and seed coming from Northland Seeds in Whangarei. They usually grow turnips before sowing new pastures, but this year plan on putting in 7ha of the crop and 4ha of chicory. They have grown chicory before as part of herbal leys down on the runoff which Kylie’s mother, Elaine, converted to a biological farming system about four years ago. A year ago those practices were used for the first time on 30ha of the home farm which is treated separately to the rest of the land. “It’s something we believe in and we feel it is the way New Zealand is going,” Kylie says.

“The runoff certainly grows grass and once the soil is sorted it’s just a case of topping nutrient levels up.” For the rest of the farm around 1t/ha of lime will go on in summer and 70kg/ha of urea is applied behind the cows in small doses. OAD also gives Bart and Kylie the flexibility of some off-farm income. Bart is an AB technician handling their herd, a neighbour’s cows and also those of a farmer closer to Warkworth. He AIs the neighbour’s cows at 9am before returning to do theirs. The final farm does their AB at 5.30pm which works well. He also does relief tractor driving for a local contractor, something he says he finds enjoyable. “Bart doesn’t particularly like milking the cows, but more the day to day running of the farm,” Kylie says. She works as a contractor for DairyNZ, collecting information from Northland farmers for DairyBase. This is generally planned during the two days a week that sons Jackson and Cooper are in childcare. “Farming can be insular so it’s great to have that social contact,” she says. And this year she’s also been a canvasser for the IHC rural calf scheme and has been impressed by the giving nature of many farmers. For farmers looking at the possibility of switching to OAD Bart and Kylie say it a case of going home, doing the sums and working out if their property is suitable for the management change. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of information available at present so both he and Kylie suggest talking to as many farmers as possible who have already made the move. And if the decision is made to go OAD, “just grab the bull by the horns and do it”.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

BUSINESS │ ONCE-A-DAY

Northland research planned Glenys Christian glenys.christian@nzx.com A project planned for next year is hoped to answer Northland farmers’ questions about transition to full season once-a-day (OAD) milking. AgFirst consultant, Kim Robinson, from the BNZ Northland Dairy Development Trust (NDDT) says she has a dozen farmer clients who have transitioned over recent years, and believes throughout Northland between 10 and 20% of dairy farmers may be milking OAD all season. Other farmers considering the change could learn a lot from their experiences and use that on their own properties, she says. “There’s not a lot of objective information. “Most is anecdotal, but farmers are asking for more information on a range of OAD components.” Northland is well-suited to full season OAD milking for reasons such as: lower focus on production per cow compared to profit and sustainability, farmer age, older infrastructure, and plenty of adjacent nonmilking land, she says. OAD is claimed to improve farmer and staff well-being, strengthen rural communities, improve profitability, make more efficient use of existing farm infrastructure and nonmilking land and reduce environmental impacts. But many farmers considering OAD milking are wary of the potential impact on production, profitability and the perception of other farmers. All of these factors are barriers to adoption of OAD and while some farmers are vocal proponents, other farmers can be sceptical. OAD provides unique challenges and opportunities compared with twice-a-day milking and these need to be identified, with strategies demonstrated on how to deal with them. Robinson says hard data is required, allowing farmers to work out which OAD farming systems most closely matched theirs so they can apply lessons learned to their own situation. “It’s quite a big change and it can be quite scary,” she says. “There are key things to do to and a three-year transition plan can mitigate risks.” Without this the move could end in failure and a return to twice-a-day (TAD) milking. “That leads to a negative focus from

Kim Robinson – anecdotal stories about once-a-day milking but little hard data.

some people which is unnecessary” she says. In order to identify the areas farmers have the most questions about OAD, NDDT and DairyNZ sent out a survey to Northland dairy farmers in July. The issues were grouped under five headings: cows, feeding, environment, profit and people. “The responses were really spread, showing farmers had a wide range of questions in all areas,” she says. “But there was a spike in profitability and people and wellbeing.” Another area where there are sure to be plenty of questions is the effect of OAD milking on Fonterra’s fat evaluation index (FEI), where a demerit points system is planned to be introduced from September 1 next year. Robinson says different strategies may be required on OAD farms to avoid FEI grades when feeding palm kernel. Following the survey an application was made in August for funding from the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Farming Fund for a project to run over three years. The first step is to review existing literature and resources on OAD milking in New Zealand, drawing together all the information already available. It will be organised into an objective, farmerfriendly form and made accessible to the dairy industry The aim then is to quantify the physical, financial and social impact of

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

transitioning to full season OAD milking in Northland through a series of interviews with farmers who have already made the move. Robinson hopes by collating responses from 25 farmer interviews the key successful strategies they’ve used can be identified. By focusing on the transition from TAD the physical, financial, environmental and social impact of OAD milking could be quantified. Innovations farmers had developed in labour, infrastructure and effluent management, for example, could be more widely shared. Strategies could be developed which farmers could use to minimise risks during transition to OAD and optimise performance if they are already milking OAD. This information would then be shared with other interested farmers through case studies, a Northland OAD roadshow, field days, by email and social media and the annual NDDT conference. The last stage would be upscaling the results to two focus farms in Northland. The first would demonstrate strategies for the successful transition from TAD to OAD milking and be supported by a management team of OAD farmers. And the second would demonstrate strategies to optimise performance on an existing OAD farm, again backed by a management team of OAD farmers. The result of the SFF application should be known in January and if successful the project will run from the middle of next year. 29

BUSINESS │ COACHING While stock management come naturally to many dairy farmers, people management has been identified as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers.

Empowering individual action Jackie Harrigan Jackie.harrigan@nzfarmlife.co.nz Everyone knows the saying “Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day, teach a person to fish and they can feed themselves forever”. But how about the other version – “Solve a person’s problems and help them for a day, teach them to solve their own problems and you help them forever”. That’s a great one for mothers to learn, and apparently, for dairy farming employers and team members too. The premise of self-empowerment is the basis of a coaching course to help those in the dairy industry by empowering them to gain the skills and resources they need to do their jobs well. Coaching conversations, a half-day workshop sponsored by DairyNZ and delivered by Dairy Womens Network, will be held throughout New Zealand from November through to early 2018 after a recent DWN survey identified people management as one of the biggest farm challenges facing its members. Coaching is not the same as people management but coaching conversations can be used with farm teams, partners and children as it encourages people to make the most of their skills and to use them to take action. Course developers Lynda Clark and Corene Walker have decades of experience in the agriculture and coaching sectors 30

and are joined by Katherine Gillespie from the Manawatu facilitating the central and lower North Island modules. Katherine, an AWDT Pathways graduate, came across the coaching framework on her recent Kellogg course and was impressed by the strategies it taught her. “I tend to feel I should be solving everyone’s problems, but the coaching conversation skills are such a powerful tool to be passing on to people – its giving them the tools and strategies to be asking the right questions and getting them to think about how to solve issues for themselves.”

‘It’s powerful to learn that you don’t have to solve everyone’s issues – rather, problems can be passed back along with strategies to solve them.’ The programme provides a framework for conversations that is easy to follow, is structured with a start and a finish and Katherine says once you understand it you can identify others using it. “The more you are exposed to it the more you can implement it. “A big part of it is being able to listen,

to be present and notice what the other person is really saying.” Part of the model includes getting them to think about what might be the blockages, what is stopping them from being able to solve the issue themselves. “If you can work out what is stopping you, then you can be aware rather than being blindsided by it.” Katherine warns that the issue often needs to be drawn out – it may be different to the problem being presented. Silence is also okay – silences in a conversation do not always need to be filled with words – people need time to think and speak, she says. The course is very practical and after half a day people will go home with good tools to implement in many everyday situations. “It’s powerful to learn that you don’t have to solve everyone’s issues – rather, problems can be passed back along with strategies to solve them. It’s very empowering to hand the power over to someone else to do it for themself.” DWN chief executive Zelda de Villiers thinks anyone in the rural sector would benefit from being a part of the workshop, because as the industry moves to complex and large-scale farms contemporary and collaborative management and coaching are becoming more important. More? To find a Coaching Conversation module, dwn.org.nz/events and register online.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Community governance

Katherine Gillespie.

Strengthening rural communities Katherine Gillespie is a dairy farming wife and mother who lives and farms 45km from the nearest town and while the roads are good and she doesn’t feel ‘isolated’, she understands the need for strong rural communities. With husband Lance and three small children in tow, the registered nurse moved to their picturesque 145-hectare property at Apiti, northern Manawatu, in 2007. The family’s 360 kiwi-cross cows produce 500kg milksolids (MS)/cow, high on Table Flat Road, seemingly just a stone’s throw from the Ruahine Ranges. The small farming community is named ‘The Gateway to the Ruahine Ranges’ and is the start point for many hunting spots and tramping huts high on the ranges. Settled in the late 1880s and lucky enough to still have an operating tavern, school and Playcentre, numerous other village businesses and amenities have fallen by the wayside over the years. Apiti was Katherine’s first experience of a strong rural community and following the subsequent decline she was feeling the need to understand why and to try to work to rebuild the lost community spirit. The Kellogg course was a development opportunity Katherine took up and really enjoyed. “It was life-changing in a lot of ways, with time out from home and children responsibilities across three block courses.” A chance to indulge her love of

Recommendations from Katherine’s Kellogg report: Create conscious community Strive to cultivate community that is open minded, inclusive, engaged and forward thinking. Encourage awareness of community needs and flexibility in thinking when addressing these needs. Build quality leadership Build local leadership skills and recognise the importance of leaders with a future focus and skills in governance and strategic planning. Ensure that community leadership and vision is visible and accessible to all. Encourage collaboration Empower communities to engage and collaborate with other local communities. Share knowledge, ideas, problem solving, community event planning, draw on others’ expertise. Community development Endeavour to become a community actively involved in improving its own social, economic and environmental situation. Engage with local government to ensure that community development is resourced and sustainable. research and her passion for community development, she enjoyed really getting her teeth into some critical thinking and analysis. Networking with fellow primary industries people and the chance to build a more global picture of where her family’s business fitted and the factors influencing it were other highlights. Kathryn had done a number of professional development courses and community development was a theme through them all so the Kellogg gave her a chance to dive deep into the subject. Advice on keeping it local helped form the research into surveying locals in three adjacent north Manawatu rural communities – Apiti, Kimbolton and Rangiwahia. The survey time was wellspent information gathering, plus a great chance to reconnect with community members. “So many changes have happened over the past 10 years that influence the availability of people to get involved – the more (community members) do together , that’s where relationships are formed.” An ageing population and smaller roll at the local school, combined with a moretransient dairy farming population and more non-farming lifestyle community members chasing lower living costs has meant a more fragmented community. Combined with more women travelling to town daily for off-farm income who also transport their children to larger schools

The Gillespies farm on Table Flat Road, Apiti – close to the Ruahine Ranges.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

means the pool of potential volunteers to run community organisations and initiatives has dwindled, leading to volunteer fatigue, Katherine says. “We have still got so much potential, it’s a matter of pulling together and reaching out to the other non-farming sector to see what they would like to get involved in.” Interestingly she found the community perception of strength was higher in the most-isolated Rangiwahia area, where the locals had stepped up and taken over the role of community hub in place of the recently closed local school. Likewise the stronger community vibe in Kimbolton, a larger settlement closer to town, had a larger proportion of community members engaged in the local district council community committee meetings which Katherine found were beneficial for maintaining connectedness and giving all community members a voice. “The fact that these committees have a voice that goes straight to council is fantastic.” She has since joined the Apiti community committee and holds the role of secretary and treasurer and is encouraging others to come along and support them and work more collaboratively with other groups. Katherine investigated the concept of ‘social capital’ – the collective value of all “social networks” (who people know) and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other. Research showed the higher levels of ‘bonds, bridges and linkages’ within a community that were built by way of social capital were indicated by people spending more time in community organisations, volunteering and socialising more, being more engaged in community and meeting each other’s needs. “The project has given me more questions than answers and the changes I want to make are slower than I hoped, but there are lots of ideas and we are going in the right direction to strengthen the community again.” 31

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BUSINESS │ FORAGE

Cropping focus for dairy Looking after the soil is paramount for dairy and cropping farmer Alan Henderson. Glenys Christian reports. Some soils on Alan Henderson’s Te Awamutu dairy farm have grown maize continuously for the last 55 years. “So anyone giving me advice about how to manage them needs to have at least that length of experience,” he says. “My philosophy is to grow as much drymatter (DM) as possible, then feed it through 800 factories, my cows,” he says. “And to do that you’ve got to look after your soil. That’s always been at the forefront of my thinking.” By looking after the soil and looking after cows that will look after the environment by default, he believes. Alan’s parents first bought a drystock property in the area in 1958, making a switch from beef to sheep. “Then we drifted to both beef and cropping, expanded, then went to dairy and cropping,” he says. Starting off with about 200 cows he now runs 800 straight Friesians, milked all year round with drying off starting late May and not finishing until July 10. His heifers start calving on June 10, with the main herd following on July 10, with 70% calved over the next six weeks. He uses CRV Ambreed semen for mating for four weeks then Hereford bulls, with a replacement usually around 20% with culling mainly on production. He’s aiming for a 10% lift this season in the 340,000kg MS produced in 2016/17. He runs a pasture renewal programme

Key points Location: Te Awamutu, Waikato Owner: Cranleigh Agribusiness Area: 360ha, including a milking platform of 230ha, and a 36ha runoff two kilometres away Herd: 800 straight Friesians, Breeding Worth (BW) 42, Production Worth (PW) 52, recorded ancestry, 68% Production: 2016/17, 340,000kg milksolids (MS), aiming for a 10% improvement this season Dairy: 60-bail rotary with automatic cup removers and Protrack Supplements: 800 tonnes of maize silage grown onfarm, 500-600t palm kernel, 100t dried distillers grain and 150t of molasses fed by mixer wagon, 80t of grass silage from runoff, chicory, turnips and wholecrop barley also grown. on up to 30% of the farm every year, making him adamant that all farmers should treat pasture as a high-nutrient crop. Many don’t do this, he says, because it would require an aggressive farm management approach, grazing cows for just four hours at a time then standing them off. “It takes a big facility and it’s a big capital cost,” he says. “And then there’s the question of

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

profitability when the payout’s low and you’ve got expensive land. Farmers don’t give enough consideration to the cost of their land.” While average pasture yields of from 12-15 tonnes DM a hectare have stayed similar over Te Awamutu the last 20 years, land prices have doubled in that time. “You don’t see many dairy farms in the middle of a kiwifruit area,” he says. And while importing and feeding supplements is fine it’s not lifting the productivity coming directly from the land owned. “So that’s why you’ve got to look at high-value crops,” he says. “I try to grow crops for 12 cents/kg DM ready to go down the cows’ throat excluding land value.” While maize, his largest crop, comes in at a slightly higher cost of 15c/kg DM he says the crop is relatively consistent with him often taking out Pioneer awards for the highest yields in the area. He uses all he grows for maize silage to feed his herd and while he gets contractors in for harvest he minimises costs by using his own staff of four, two of whom live onfarm, to do as much of the work as possible. After the maize is taken off he’ll sow an annual ryegrass on which he’ll winter 150 cows for 42 days. 33

Calves are supplied to four Gisborne stations at 100kg weight.

‘What we haven’t got in the Waikato is a high-yielding forage crop which will grow during the winter period.’ He also grows wholecrop barley, fodder beet, chicory, turnips, lucerne and mustard as a cover crop. Fodder beet has been grown for the last four years, with yields of around 20.5t DM/ha, but this is below his self-imposed threshold of a 30t DM/ha to continue growing them. “I grew 8ha and grazed them with the cows but it was too destructive on our Horotiu silt loam soils,” he says. This year he lifted 2ha of the crop and fed them through his Jaylar mixer wagon, purchased five years ago but says that’s the last crop. While he had a feeder wagon previously he says the beauty of the mixer wagon is that all elements going in are mixed together so every mouthful the cows receive is consistent. As well as maize silage, from 500-600t a year of palm kernel is fed through the wagon along with dried distillers grain and molasses. There’s a 450-cow uncovered feedpad where the herd’s fed before milking. When it comes to Fonterra planned introduction of a demerit points system for high Fat Evaluation Index (FEI) readings during next season, Alan’s not planning any big changes. “We’re very mindful of the 3kg/cow/ day guideline and we’ll work within those parameters,” he says. “But there are a lot of other feeds which are triggering a lift in the FEI levels, and they seem to be distorting the readings.” Around 150t/year of molasses is fed, valued for the high energy it provides the herd early in lactation.

Alan Henderson in his high yielding maize paddock.

He regularly achieves 10-12t DM/ha He also grows 8ha of turnips, yielding from 10-14t DM/ha, and uses the area after grazing to stand the herd off other crops and pasture. Lucerne was grown in the past as a good protein source and made into silage, but not anymore, with Alan seeing it as being more-suited to a drier area. “But what we haven’t got in the Waikato is a high-yielding forage crop which will grow during the winter period,” he says. “With gene technology and development of different forages better yielding options will be available. Grass will be developed that’s more nitrogen and methane-efficient and grows higher yields.” Genetically modified cultivars have a role to play, he believes, pointing to one developed in this country, but unable to be used here because of current legislation. “The United States has experimented with it and may use it,” he says. “If they do we’ll be competing against that.” His interest in looking into different options has seen him involved with the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) over a long period and for the last six years he’s been its northern North Island

director. While the Future Food project is looking at older crops which might hold new potential research work that he’s particularly interested in is looking for annual clovers with higher protein levels which can also fix more nitrogen. “Cover crops are becoming more important worldwide,” he says. He’s been trying different species for the last 40 years, with persistence regarded highly. “Different cultivars perform differently, but a pasture on this property is old at five years,” he says. When it comes to fertiliser one tonne of lime goes on every second year and 150kg/ha of diammonium phosphate (DAP). He also uses up to 3t/ha of chicken manure, sourced locally. Around 100 units of nitrogen will go on annually applied in small amounts behind the cows. Dairy effluent is applied to the land going into maize which he describes as a win:win situation. “Effluent is a byproduct of the cow but it doesn’t have to be a byproduct of the enterprise,” he says. The farm’s effluent area was increased by 20ha to 50ha when the new 60-bail rotary was built four years ago, with Alan helping out with a lot of the work due to his self-

Need for diverse forage crops Alan has switched to growing more chicory over the last 10 years and it now can be used on up to half of the pasture renovation area. It lasts for two years with annual ryegrass sown to be grazed over winter then permanent pasture put in. “There’s more yield and it fills the protein deficit in summer and autumn,” he says. 34

Around10% of the electricity needs in the 60-bail rotary dairy are supplied by the 102 solar panels on the roof.

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taught engineering and electrical skills. The Waikato Milking Systems Centrus features a fibreglass platform which is just 15% of the weight of the usual concrete one. Alan says it’s easy to keep clean and has been maintenance-free. As the only dairy platform of its kind in the Waikato west of Hamilton he often has overseas visitors coming to look at the way it runs. It has automatic cup removers and Protrack drafting, and while there’s no milk metering yet the systems are all set up to install it if that’s decided on in the future. Bore water is used four to five times in the dairy before being irrigated on crops by travelling irrigator, after passing through the four-pond effluent system which stores enough water to potentially irrigate 20ha. While Alan’s farm backs on to a lake there are no streams or wetlands actually on the property.

Expand and diversify Alan has expanded over recent years, buying three neighbouring dairying farms, and connecting them up by improving races. One of the farms also has a herd barn where he is able to stand the herd off for up to 16 hours a day. “Because of the environmental footprint there may be more on/off grazing of cows,” he says. Around 20 years ago he started a commercial calf-rearing operation supplying 700 Friesian-Hereford cross calves a year to four Gisborne stations. “We’ve always done a lot of calves and it was an opportunity to further expand the enterprise,” he says. To fit in with his cropping system he also buys in around 350 beef calves from local saleyards selecting only white-face calves. They receive four litres each a day of whole milk and 2kg of meal in one of three half-round barns. They are weaned at 70kg and go off the property at 100kg. He also now owns an orchard of 4ha of nashi and 2ha of apples which have been

leased to an orchard manager for the past 15 years. “It’s better for me to concentrate on the dairy side of things,” he says. In the future he doesn’t see cow numbers increasing, but believes the farm may become more diversified. “There are lots of areas which could be planted in horticultural crops,” he says. However his plans are very firm for his award-winning maize paddock of more than five decades. “It’ll be in maize as long as I’m in charge.”

Another level of complication Alan Henderson says if Waikato Regional Council’s planned Healthy Rivers Waiora land use changes are brought in they won’t be any cheaper for farmers and new processes won’t be any better. “Healthy Rivers is just another level of complication we have to address for the privilege of the right to farm,” he says. “We’ll be paying $100,000 each for policemen of the plan and another $100,000 each for people to sit in an office and want data.” He believes the council has achieved half the positive result they’re looking for through increased farmer knowledge aided by work carried out by both DairyNZ and Fonterra. “Farmers are giving the environment more consideration when they make decisions,” he says. In his submission he supports the idea of farm environment plans, but believes they should be simplified to a maximum of one page. “Time and education is the best way forward,” he says. He opposes the proposed land use change rules saying they’re heavy-handed and affect the whole region. Instead he believes a lot of environmental issues could be dealt with more easily through the council developing sub-catchments and monitoring those so local farmers can take on board the information generated.

All the chicory and turnip crops are sown using this air seeder. 36

Plan change progressing Hearings on the proposed plan change for farmers in the Environment Waikato area are due to start in the middle of next year after hearings commissioners complete their consideration of submissions and evidence. A summary of submissions on the main part of the plan will be available on the council website shortly and early next year there will be the chance for further submissions to be made in support or opposition to any of the points summarised. The exception is for a withdrawn part of the plan related to an area where Hauraki iwi have interests, which will be re-notified later this year or early next, which will trigger fresh consultation and submissions processes but only for that area. The intention then is to merge the withdrawn Hauraki area and the main plan change process before the start of next year’s hearings.

He says the proposed setback zone of one metre from farm boundaries is too big and 600mm is all that’s required, as research has shown 91% of incoming sediment is removed in that distance and cover crops are also helping. He believes timeframes should be extended for arable growers to be compliant until a cropping version of Overseer is perfected. And he believes the suggested rule of no cultivation on slopes of more than 15 degrees is impractical as it would be a hard job to measure slope variations through a whole paddock, particularly a large one. In his opinion academics making up the rules have poor knowledge of soil management. “And now companies are seeing the opportunity for growth by employing younger academics without practical knowledge.” But he says there is a positive side because some older farmers who want to become less-involved in practical work on their properties are upskilling in the environmental area and looking to become consultants themselves.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

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FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

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RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

SYSTEMS │ N REDUCTION Glenn Judson.

The valuable weed Certain varieties of plaintain are showing promise in limiting nitrogen leaching. Anne Lee reports.

umble plantain is emerging as a potential “multi-tool” in the small but slowly growing toolbox farmers have for cutting nitrate leaching. Once considered a weed, there’s now growing confidence the innocuous little broadleaf has several ways it can help reduce nitrogen losses under the all-important urine patch. While it’s been known that some plantain varieties lower the concentration of nitrogen in the urine of animals grazing on it, exciting new findings show the urine from animals grazing certain plantains may include a natural nitrification inhibitor too. That means the urea present in the urine is turned to nitrate more slowly therefore limiting the potential for leaching. There’s also research to suggest compounds in the plant itself may slow the nitrification process in the soil. Agricom is the proprietary seller of Tonic and Agritonic plantains and in September it launched a new brand both plantains will now be marketed under. Ecotain is the trademarked brand under which any of Agricom’s plantain cultivars will be marketed if they have proven environmental properties that can help dilute, reduce, delay and restrict nitrate leaching. Agricom science leader Glenn Judson says recent findings from the Greener Pastures project, funded by

the Callaghan Innovation Fund, are exciting because it’s now apparent the Ecotains have more than one path to help limit nitrate leaching. “The beauty of what’s been found is that there are four mechanisms at play and that means we can have greater confidence that Ecotains are going to be effective across a range of situations – soil types, locations and climates,” he says. “This plant has been used as a forage in pasture mixes for 20 years but we’re now looking at it through a different lens.

The low growing point means it can cope with typical dairy grazing round lengths.

‘We’re almost kicking ourselves because all of these functional properties have been sitting there in some of the plantain cultivars and we didn’t know it.’ “We’re almost kicking ourselves because all of these functional properties have been sitting there in some of the plantain cultivars and we didn’t know it.” The variation in functional activity across cultivars is why the Ecotain brand has been developed. “We were surprised that not all plantains have these environmental benefits which means we’re going to have to be careful with breeding

Unlike ryegrass plantain doesn’t lose quality when it’s seeding.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Nitrification delay The ability to slow the nitrification process is the Dr Trish Fraser newest function of plantain to be investigated – natural and arguably the most exciting because of the nitrification myriad of possibilities it opens up. inhibitor Plant & Food scientists working on the potential Greener Pastures project have found the urine exciting. from sheep fed plantain appears to be different from the urine from sheep fed ryegrass and white clover. Plant & Food scientist Dr Trish Fraser says her team has found the urinary nitrogen present in plantain-fed, sheep urine takes much longer to be converted to nitrate when it’s poured on the soil. The research has been carried out in the laboratory and is currently being repeated using cow urine. The process of converting the ammoniumnitrogen that has come from the urea found in urine to the leachable nitrate form of nitrogen is carried out by nitrifying bacteria found in the soil. Trish says typically the nitrification process would see the level of nitrate in the soil begin to rise sharply within about a week following the deposition of the urine. However, with urine from sheep fed plantain that rise in nitrate doesn’t start until another week later and then occurs at a slower rate. After 21 days the amount of nitrate formed in the soil under the plantain urine patch was less than half that under the ryegrass white clover patch. “That has big implications for reducing nitrate leaching because there’s more time for the plants to take up the nitrate and thus less likelihood for it to be leached,” she says. Work is now underway to find out what’s behind the nitrification delay. “We know there are a couple of thousand compounds in the urine of animals that have been eating pasture – ryegrass and white clover but the analysis we’ve done shows there are about 70-90 compounds that are unique to the urine from animals fed plantain. “We also know there are compounds in the plantain plant that are unique to it and what’s in the plantain is going through the animal and coming out in the urine. “At the moment we’re trying to isolate which compounds may be causing the effect and whether they need to be present in a certain combination, ratio or amount.” Scientists are also trying to work out exactly how they are causing the nitrification slowdown, which soil bacteria the compounds might be acting on and what they’re doing. Trish says her team has looked at several cultivars of plantain and not all have the same ability to reduce the nitrification rate. “What’s very exciting about this are the implications it has for farmers.” If some plantains contain compounds that can be used as a nitrification inhibitor there could be opportunities to create a plant-based inhibitor, or opportunities to ensile plantain as a crop and feed it at times of the year when there is most risk of leaching. “There are a lot of possibilities going around in our heads but we can’t jump ahead too quickly. We still need to understand what’s causing the effects we’ve found.”

SHEEP URINE (800 MG N/KG) ADDED TO SOIL 500

Ecotain urine

Cumulative nitrate production (mgN/kg soil)

programmes to make sure the effects are there,” Glenn says. While the Ecotain brand gives a frontend marketing platform the science behind the claims is robust and ground-breaking with new findings opening up an exciting range of opportunities. A 130-page booklet that includes the full versions of 14 published scientific papers has been produced in support of the Ecotain plantains’ abilities. Some of the science has come from the two research programmes, Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching (FRNL) and Greener Pastures. Both are running in parallel as scientists work urgently to find new tools to help farmers meet fast-approaching regulatory deadlines. In Canterbury, many dairy farmers are facing rules that will require them to cut nitrate leaching by 30% or more within the next five years. The FRNL project has been led by DairyNZ with funding from the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE). It was its precursor, the Pasture21 project, where the first hints of plantain’s abilities were found as researchers looked at diverse pastures that included plantain, chicory, red clover and lucerne. That study aimed at lowering dairying’s environmental footprint without compromising productivity. Through the follow-on FRNL project and the Greener Pastures project plantain has emerged as a significant player. Although many plantains are winterdormant, Ecotains are winter-active growing in the cooler, riskier times of the year for leaching. FRNL studies and others have found milk production is not reduced by grazing pastures with high levels of plantain or even pure plantain swards and in some cases milk production was increased. From a farm systems point of view FRNL work has looked at just how much plantain or more specifically Ecotain needs to be in the sward before nitrate leaching reductions would be significant. “Because it’s not included in Overseer yet it’s difficult to say and will depend on reduction targets but, based on the studies so far it looks like about 30%, or maybe slightly less, gives a functional decrease. “To get this percentage in the pasture is going to require some focus on agronomy and seeding rates,” Glenn says. Typically it’s been included in a pasture mix at 1-2kg/ha but indications are that’s going to have to lift to 4-5kg/ha. The plant also doesn’t persist like ryegrass and is likely to have to be stitched in after the second or third year to maintain a higher percentage. That will have some financial implications but for farmers faced with

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

400

Ryegrass urine Soil (control)

300

LSD (5%)

200 100 0

Time (days)

Glenn Judson – looking at plantain through a different lens.

HOW IT WORKS DILUTE Studies have identified and quantified both plantain’s diuretic effects and its effect on lowering the concentration of nitrogen in cow urine. In one study by Lincoln University PhD student Lisa Box, urinary nitrogen concentrations were 33% lower for cows grazing a 50-50 ryegrass plantain sward compared with a ryegrass white clover pasture. (NZ Dairy Exporter, January 2017) Similar results have been found by other researchers with studies finding the dilution effect comes from both an increase in water intake due to the plant’s lower drymatter and a diuretic effect causing animals to urinate more often. A study supporting the diuretic carried out by Lincoln University PhD student Cath O’Connell was published in 2016. It found sheep fed plantain produced about 500ml/day more urine than those fed ryegrass even when the amount of water in each feed type was the same. In addition to the diuretic effect and of greater effect on urine concentration is that animals grazing some lines of plantain will be consuming significantly more water than those grazing ryegrass if their drymatter intake is the same.

meeting stringent nitrate leaching reductions and the prospect of being non-compliant with their consents to farm, a level of cost may be acceptable, particularly if milk production levels can be maintained. “I think what we’re going to see is that if farmers want to use Ecotain as a tool it’s going to become part of an integrated system. “Maybe we’re going to look at our pastures more like a crop and we’ll see people planning out a paddock for seven years. Some farmers are going to get good at forage rotations,” he says. Glenn says Ecotain should can be grazed just like ryegrass and will cope with most round lengths farmers would generally use throughout the season (as its growing point is below that of ryegrass – out). “It’s not like chicory and doesn’t like to be carried through to big covers.” Having Ecotain included in Overseer is a priority and Glenn says work was continuing to get data in front of the Overseer management team (it has had a presentation on it). Part of the ongoing FRNL work is to gather data to present to the Overseer science group. FRNL also has a group of monitor farms – farmers using the forages from the project in their commercial operations. That’s provided a feedback loop enabling the scientists to hear first-hand what difficulties farmers might have in adopting the science and what they need more information on. This season more of those famers are integrating higher volumes of plantain into their systems. “I don’t think Ecotain is going to be the one silver bullet here, but I think we are on to something that’s relatively simple to use and could have pretty big implications,” Glenn says.

Nitrogen intake and excretion from dairy heifers fed perennial ryegrass/white clover and Ecotain (Cheng et al, 2017) Perennial ryegrass/ white clover

Ecotain

Nitrogen uptake (g/day)

120

125

Urine N concentration (g/kg)

3.5

1.4

Total urinary N (g/day)

REDUCE Part of the reason there’s less nitrogen in urine of animals fed plantain is likely to be because during the digestion phase more of the nitrogen in the plant is partitioned away from urine and into faeces, milk and lean tissue. A Lincoln University study by Dr Paul (Long) Cheng compared the urinary nitrogen Example concentrations of cows fed Plantain Ryegrass either plantain or a ryegrass Animal eating 10kg Animal eating 10kg white clover mix in an indoor DM @ 13%DM will DM @ 17% DM will experiment. eat 76.9kg fresh eat 58.8kg fresh The nitrogen intake was weight if 87% of that weight if 83% of that kept similar for each group is water then the is water then the but cows eating plantain animal will consume animal will consume 67 litres 19 litres had lower urinary nitrogen concentrations showing the nitrogen was going somewhere other than the urine. Additional nitrogen in faeces poses less of a problem because the faeces are slower to break down. Glenn says the reduced effect is thought to be small compared with the other three although this is an area that probably requires further work. But it’s still a factor and may help with animal productivity if more nitrogen is heading to milk and body tissue.

RESTRICT Overseas studies and preliminary work in New Zealand indicate the plantain plant itself may be have some nitrification inhibitor properties. Studies by Marko Dietz published in 2012 in the journal Plant Soil found that incorporating the leaf material into the soil suppressed soil mineralisation. Some preliminary work by Plant & Food has found the plant’s roots may also suppress nitrification. DELAY (see pg39)

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Helping grow the country 41

SYSTEMS │ N REDUCTION

Plantain’s healing properties Anne Lee anne.lee@nzfarmlife.co.nz @Cantabannelee When agronomists presented information on plantain to Manawhenua of Ngai Tahu Farming’s Te Whenua Hou property they were re-introducing a well-known plant. Plantain has been used in traditional medicine for humans and now it seems it may have protective and healing qualities for the land too. Ngai Tahu Farming general manager of dairying Shane Kelly says the Eyrewell farms north of Christchurch that make up Te Whenua Hou are expanding their use of forages coming out of the Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching (FRNL) project on to all of its dairy platforms and support land. The scale of Te Whenua Hou, with its seven (soon to be eight) dairy platforms, five support blocks and five beef finishing blocks totalling 6757 hectares make that expansion a significant exercise. The dairy support farms total about 1300ha and will now go through a cropping rotation that will include up to four years of Ecotain plantain and Italian ryegrass.

‘We know we’re probably going to have to oversow the Ecotain mix after a couple of years to thicken it up and we’re prepared for that.’ The paddocks that have gone into fodder beet this season will be followed by a catch crop of oats that will have one cut of silage taken before the area is then sown into kale or spring-sown barley. On paddocks where the fodder beet is still being grazed into early spring the barley will be sown directly without the catch crop. For paddocks sown into kale another catch crop of oats is likely to follow if time allows before the Ecotain mix is established. For paddocks sown in barley the Ecotain mix will be established after the grain is harvested. Shane says the farms’ management has worked with Agricom to set up the rotation on its support blocks that replaces a typical permanent pasture mix with the Ecotain plantain and Italian ryegrass. This is in an effort to bring down potential nitrogen leaching while keeping the economics about par with what they’ve done before. 42

Quinten Green, Te Whenua Hou dairy support farm manager, left, and Shane Kelly – Ecotain will play a big role on the support farms.

“We know we’re probably going to have to oversow the Ecotain mix after a couple of years to thicken it up and we’re prepared for that,” Shane says. Even if the programme means a little more cost it should result in greater drymatter production overall which will help with the economics. But Shane says the ability to bring about better environmental outcomes makes it well worthwhile. Toitu Te Marae o Tane, Toitu Te Marae o Tangaroa, Toitu Te Iwi – Land sustained, water sustained, people sustained isn’t just a motto. “It’s how we farm,” Shane says. “The wintering blocks are areas where the potential for leaching is greatest and if we can get a 20-30% reduction there then that makes the whole operation more sustainable,” he says. While the support blocks are well irrigated he will be watching mid-summer growth of the Ecotain mix. “We’ll be watching to see how it goes through the hotter period. It’s a bit of a test for it. “We’ll be reviewing the whole programme as we go to make sure it’s all performing as it should, taking into account that there will be seasonal variations in yields. On the dairy platforms the Ecotain plantains have already been used on dryland corners and dryland calf paddocks. Calves have done well on it as part of their diets through to weaning. It’s palatable and getting calves to weaning weights has taken a similar amount of time as when they were on all grass. In some of the paddocks during the conversion process Ecotain plantains have been sown into the pasture mix but at low rates of 1-2kg/ha. The oldest paddocks on Te Whenua Hou are just six years old and Shane says the

plan to get more Ecotain plantain into the pastures is to incorporate it into any oversowing at a seeding rate of 4kg/ha. “We’re also actively renewing 10% of the pastures on some of the dairy farms where we can see paddocks that need it and we’ve made the call to do two years of oversowing on others. “That will allow us to do about 100ha/ year on those oversown farms. We’re expecting that will give us additional feed on those farms and we’ll be better placed to take 10% out and do a full renewal programme.” Seeding rates for the renewal programme will be 4kg/ha of plantain in a mix that will total about 26kg/ha while the oversown mix will be about 11kg/ha. “It’s far easier to establish in a renewal programme because you get the opportunity to spray out all the weeds and the plantain gets enough light to get away. “It’s more difficult to stitch it in to an existing sward. We’ve direct-drilled it on our Paritea farm as part of the FRNL project and we’ve found it can take a bit more time before you see it coming through.” Prior to drilling it’s important to spot spray for any weeds because plantain is susceptible to broadleaf weed sprays. “You can’t go into a paddock where plantain’s established and boom spray – you’re going to have to spot spray so if you have weed problems that’s going to be an issue.” Shane’s experience grazing plantain is that at responds well in a typical ryegrass grazing round but it doesn’t like to be pugged. It may affect platemeter readings if there’s a high percentage in the sward but with observation and watching cow behaviour and what’s going in the vat the effect can be accounted for by altering allocations.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

SYSTEMS │ N REDUCTION

Trials offer badly needed tools Anne Lee anne.lee@nzfarmlife.co.nz @Cantabannelee The Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching project (FRNL) has been running for almost three years and is coming up with ground-breaking science that may offer dairy farmers some badly needed tools to help cut leaching and meet new regulatory limits. The almost $30-million, six-year, DairyNZ-led study has been funded by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. DairyNZ senior scientist Ina Pinxterhuis says the next

Some of the most exciting work will be with plantain and fodder beet and the emerging data that shows some kind of nitrification inhibitor effect. programme of work is focusing on the three key players identified in the first round of investigations. They’re fodder beet, plantain and catch crops with studies over the next two years focused on understanding more about the pathways that cause the reductions seen and getting a good understanding of how they can be successfully integrated into farm systems.

What we know so far Nitrate leaching from a urine patch was 25-35% lower under Italian ryegrassbased pastures than under other types of pastures due to cool-season nitrogen uptake of Italian ryegrass. Urinary nitrogen concentration of cows grazing plantain was 56% lower than those grazing perennial ryegrass/white clover pastures, and 33% lower for cows grazing 50/50 pasture-plantain. Modelling of diverse pastures that include plantain estimated that, at farm scale, nitrogen leaching of a dairy farm could be reduced by 10 and 20% when the area of the farm sown in diverse pastures was 20 and 50%. APSIM modelling of diverse pastures on an intensive North-Canterbury sheep and beef farm estimated a slightly higher production and 16% higher profit in a year of average weather, with a reduction of 35% in nitrogen leaching. A diet of 40% fodder beet with autumn-saved pasture almost halved the urinary nitrogen concentration in a lactating cow. Feeding 40% or less of drymatter as fodder beet to cows in mid- to late lactation reduces their risk of acidosis. Feeding 70% or less of drymatter as fodder beet to non-lactating cows reduces the risk of not meeting their nutritional requirements. Following a grazed fodder crop, a winter-sown cereal catch crop reduced soil mineral N and N leaching from simulated urine patches by 22–40%. Compared with conventional tillage, direct drilling autumn-sown forage crops reduced the compaction that results from winter grazing, leading to as much as a 20% improvement in the yield of a subsequent cereal crop, which in turn increases N uptake from the soil, reducing the risk of N leaching.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Monitor farms are gearing up to undertake paddock scale trials on different establishment methods for plantain and fodder beet – the effects of that on yield and the subsequent yields of catch crops. Studies on commercial farms give farmers an opportunity to bring their skills and practical nous to the project. How farmers can make good use of the catch crops is being investigated – with studies looking at the options of grazing them, working them in, taking them to green-chop silage, whole-crop silage or right through to grain. Some of the most exciting work will be with plantain and fodder beet and the emerging data that shows some kind of nitrification inhibitor effect. Understanding what effects fodder beet is having on the soil to keep nitrate leached under the crop to below what’s expected is underway. So too is the financial analysis of incorporating the crops into farm systems. The backroom work and field studies using lysimeters of different scales to back up modelling losses will also be carried out. This kind of data is essential if the use of the crops can be incorporated into the Overseer model. Dairy Exporter will be keeping up with what researchers and farmers are discovering and we’ll bring those stories to you regularly over coming months.

SYSTEMS │ CO DIARY

Irrigation in Southland Nicole Hammond Irrigation is often contentious and a topic that can polarise people. I’ve heard both sides of the argument. I believe there is a place for irrigation in Southland. Centre pivot irrigators are becoming more frequent in northern Southland due to free-draining stony soils and dry norwesterlies. But compared to other regions the number of farmers irrigating is small. For those irrigating, or considering irrigation, there was a lack of specialist consultants to answer any questions they may have. To fill this gap, DairyNZ established a Southland/West Otago Irrigation Discussion group. The group aims to increase awareness and knowledge around

good management practices, and the regulations under the proposed Water and Land Plan in Southland and bring farmers with questions together. This gives them a support network to discuss individual situations, implementing technology and challenges they’re facing when choosing pasture species to put under irrigation. The first discussion group in Mossburn attracted farmers with a range of experiences; from those thinking about the viability of irrigation, to one who had been irrigating since the 1970s. Many were interested in pasture growth potential and pasture species that suited irrigation. They wanted to know about the monitoring technology available and variable rate irrigation (VRI) systems. They explored environmental regulations, the return on investment and associated cost, and there was general discussion about what experiences people had with irrigation. This group is a great step towards increasing the confidence of Southland/West Otago farmers around irrigation and the technology available. Remember, you can access information

We live here.

Good irrigation management practices to remember include: • Assessing soil moisture levels and scheduling irrigation by using soil water budgets or monitoring soil moisture levels with real time soil moisture equipment • Measuring and monitoring all water use on farm • Recording irrigation events (when, where, amount) • Inspecting and maintaining equipment regularly • Carrying out routine bucket test to assess performance; you can use the latest app by Irrigation NZ called the ‘Check-It Bucket Test’ or go their website to do an annual performance assessment • Include irrigation management training for your staff on farm. You can access some great information at irrigationnz. co.nz/practical-resources.

from the DairyNZ website, Irrigation NZ or your local consulting officer. The Southland/West Otago irrigation group details can be found in the events section of the DairyNZ website. • Nicole Hammond is a DairyNZ consulting officer in Central/Northern Southland.

DeLaval Open Days. 21-23 November DeLaval are opening farm gates across the Waikato region to show you how milking technology has evolved – whether it be a state-of-the-art parallel parlour, new rotary or a robotic system. We would like you to join us for coffee and a bite, on one or all of the 3 days. Each farm will have industry experts and giveaways on site to guide you in selecting the right system for your farm.

You’re invited. Head Office 307 Sandwich Rd, Hamilton 3200

Thurs 23 Nov DeLaval VMS Robotics

10am - 2pm

334 Parallel Road, Cambridge

Wed 22 Nov DeLaval Rotary E100 Grangelands, 187 Waimakariri Road, Tapapa

RSVP on 0800 222 228 or email Sharon.Yeeles@delaval.com

Tues 21 Nov DeLaval P2100 Parlour 284 Budden Road, Pokuru, Te Awamutu

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

SYSTEMS │ STAFFING

No workers here, it’s a team effort: Sylvia Ireland – calf rearing team leader , Pip Ireland – calf rearing team, Nick Bailey, farm manager, Matt Cautanche – milking team leader, and Kara Ireland – farm team leader.

Modular staffing gives team flexibility Fitting work to people’s lives has proved a winner for a Tararua dairy farmer. Jackie Harrigan reports.

oodville dairy farmer Ben Allomes was looking for an opportunity to radically reorganise the rosters on his 800-cow farm when the chance came up with a mid-season change in personnel last October. Ben had ruminated on finding a way to make the dairy farming system and equity partnership business fit around the people available and willing to work in it – rather than taking an inflexible system and trying to find the right people to fit it. When he stepped in to run the farm with just a calf rearer and one milker for more than 700 cows he contracted someone to come in and clean the yard for two hours each day. “In some ways it was more efficient – she did it when it suited her and us, and it was the only job on the farm that she wanted to and was able to do.” 46

The Allomes had used milk harvesters for six years very successfully – “they only wanted to be milking and they didn’t want the stress of other roles”. At the time Nicky Allomes’ cousin in Southland on a once-a-day farm had Woodville milkers who dropped their kids at school then turned up and milked at 9.30am. “It expanded my horizons to start thinking of how we could structure the new model.” What Ben came up with was a system that accommodated the needs and personal drivers of lots of different workers – some fulltime, some part-time, some contract, others casual and some permanent part-time. In fact, they don’t call them workers

– all are team members, and all take on shifts – or packages of work - that have a defined role and an expected outcome and can be shared around the team, as long as they are trained to execute it. Team members (except the manager) are all paid an hourly rate and track hours of work via a phone app so payroll maestro Nicky finds it easy to do the wages. Pay scales vary, but the Allomes always pay above the minimum wage and new skills learned are reflected in the hourly rate. Even Ben is paid an hourly wage (and not at management rates) when working on the farm. The wages bill has not increased under the modular system but the work/life balance and happiness of the staff has, with reduced risk to the business, Ben says.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

LEFT: The aim is to run a 5:2 roster based around a 45-50 hour week in the spring and a 40 hour week in the summer, still a work in progress, but working out at around 5.5:1.5 at the moment with one weekend day off and a midweek afternoon. BELOW: Ben and Nick have been working on a way of depicting staff hours in the form of a wedge showing overstaffing or understaffing. Next step is to work on the metrics of MS produced per hour of labour across a season and to move towards further rewarding staff for efficiencies gained.

‘We wanted to standardise the role, not the person – the jobs we want to get done don’t really change but the person changes, so we need levels of responsibility of being able to fulfill the roles.’ Transitional thinking When Ben wanted to transition to a skills and tasks-based team environment, he and Nicky sat down and worked out that the 800-cow farm took 35 work hours/ day to run in the spring/mating period and 16 work hours/day in summer. Analysing time and motion studies around the farm, they decided how the roles would be ‘sliced and diced’. They also realised there were different seasonal packages of work in different parts of the year, splitting the year into calving/ mating, summer and winter – with varying tasks and workloads. The aim is to run a 5:2 roster based on a 45-50-hour week in spring and a 40-hour week in summer, but with certain rules like no cups going on before 5.30am. By the time manager Nick Bailey joined the team in May 2017, Ben was well down the track of packaging up roles and thinking of how to staff them. “We wanted to standardise the role, not the person – the jobs we want to get done don’t really change but the person changes, so we need levels of responsibility of being able to fulfil the roles.” Nick was a 2016 Dairy Industry Awards Dairy Trainee winner for the Hawke’s Bay Wairarapa region and came from a moretraditional operation, where he was one of five full time equivalents on a 1000 cow unit with a 8:2 roster. Once he got to grips with Ben’s new system of flexi-work he could see great advantages in it and he says he really

likes the way it works for everyone. Now they have a team of 12 – all on an hourly rate and just three who work a full-time workload. The rest are all part-timers because that is what suits their lifestyle and motivations, and they are welcome to pick up more work if it is available and they are willing to train to do it. Nick builds the monthly roster on an Excel spreadsheet and shares it within the Messenger group for all the farm team. The team also uses the Tribal App for health and safety, and two-way radios. The three full-time team members are paid by the hour with a goal of working a roster resembling 11:3 in spring and then 5:2 in summer, although Nick says it usually works out more like a 5.5:1.5 roster through spring with staff happy to have one weekend day and also one mid-week afternoon off. The roster is frontloaded in the morning with four staff on so that most of the work gets done then and only two are needed in the afternoon. “We have found there are more people willing to work the morning shift and so we just have a skeleton shift in the afternoon,” Ben says. “You don’t get as many sleep-ins but you have more time off – and there is only one person getting up at five each morning.” And if something goes wrong in the morning you have time up your sleeve in the afternoon to fix it, it’s less pressured, Nick adds. Nick fills the roster with the ‘need to do’ jobs matched to the people available on a regular basis, then pairs up ‘nice to do’

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

jobs to the others available. For example team member Ben, their uni student who can work weekends and prefers to drive over for a long day’s work does ‘must do’ jobs in the morning then fills in the day with ‘nice to do’ jobs until the afternoon milking. Alongside Nick as manager, the full timers are team leaders for the farm team and the milking team. Team leaders are responsible for training their replacement when they are not rostered on and being comfortable that the replacement is capable of covering for them. The milking team are in charge of everything that goes on in the dairy shed – milking, cleaning the shed, the MINDA system, effluent, refrigeration and dosatron and everything within the hectare around the shed. The farm team gets the cows in, organises paddocks and breaks, oversees feeding, fencing and farm maintenance, although the latter two might be packaged for someone else in the future. Effluent application is a separate package, carried out by a trained person and attracting an additional payment. Anyone, once trained, can pick up and complete the role. Cropping is carried out by the cropping arm of the Allomes’ farming enterprise and calf-rearing is a separate job, carried out by two women who come in once a day to do just that. Mating was the job of a sole casual worker last year, this season the 19-year-old calf rearer has been trained and taken it on and is loving the experience. 47

ADVANTAGES: Flexibility: The flexibility of the system is the overriding advantage for manager Nick Bailey. “The flexibility to run the farm and keep all the people interested and involved is great – and it also gives me a chance to get the paperwork, admin and other tasks like the farm walk done.” Having all of the skills available with different people allows another form of flexibility too. “I know the skills are available to be able to roster off people and be happy others can handle the work – or even knock staff off early if they need it.” “It’s great that someone like me, a first-time manager on a new job can take weekends off and know that it is all working without me. “The beauty is that we have a big pool of people that know our farm and our systems, so if something goes wrong we have people we can call on to cover, it reduces the risk to the operation,” Ben says. Ability to offer work of all types to the local community: Ben is really keen and excited about being able to offer work to people in the local community that might suit their availability and skill-set because of the flexibility of the modular work system. “We want to use a whole lot of people with a whole lot of skills – if they can’t start at five or finish at six that’s OK, we can still fit them into our business. “I can take a punt on someone – they can come in and fill a gap and grow into something more – having time to train and learn in a safe space. “In any community there are people who are looking for opportunities.” Team dynamic: Most young people these days enjoy working in a group setting and a big team gives them a social aspect to the work, Ben says. There is also more flexibility to have time off, although Ben laughs that having four of their team members from the same family, who are all into horse sports, could be a risk in itself. Analytics: Knowing exactly the amount of time involved in each job makes it easy to analyse and justify capital expense on infrastructure, Ben says. The combined jobs of hosing the yard (3 hours) plus sorting the sump pump, water costs and pumping and spreading the effluent was easily cut down and rationalized by investing in a yard scraper and now the whole job is 30 minutes and no longer costs $100 each day.

Team talk: Communication within the team is really important – especially at handover time. “That’s the beauty of the system, it’s not rigid or fixed – whoever is capable and willing to put their hand up for a job and can fit it in, is welcome to apply.” Ben has a package of 50 hours of weed spraying through late spring each year, spot spraying after a winter boom spray of the whole property. He will offer it to existing team members, in case someone wants to do it, to earn extra income and can fit it in and finish by the stated end date. “If no one here wants it, I will go out to the local community and see if anyone there wants it – it’s a good block of work, all the gear and training is available – there is bound to be a local who will pick it up.” Ben and Nicky have done lots of work on standardising routines to make sure the jobs were all done to the same standard, and as a consequence have dropped off nine hours of work each day. They estimated the operation takes 8000 hours over a season, equating to 10 hours per cow for 800 cows. They are looking forward to moving away from using Full Time Equivalents (FTE) as a KPI, but instead measuring success and calculating efficiency in hours per cow and time or cents per kg MS. When they better understand and improve the metrics they will continue to invest in time and labour-saving technologies and share the savings across the team as higher wages for them, Ben says.

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Farm team, leader Kara, started as a calf-rearer with two months’ experience and now one year later leads the farm team. “Kara is a star of this system, she started as a calf-rearer and mastered that, wanted to learn more and more so has added to her skills. That’s her driver and we encourage her to upskill and take on more roles as she becomes confident. Now she is teaching others different jobs.”

RISKS: Making up hours: One risk of the modular-work system is that the team might ‘game’ the hours , but it’s important to trust your team and because they know exactly how many hours it takes to do the jobs the risk is minimised, Ben says. “That risk is easily dealt with because Nicky does the payroll with the help of an app and we know how many hours it takes to run the farm.” Not taking responsibility: People not taking responsibility for getting the job done could be a risk, Ben says. “You need clear systems and procedures and expectations around the packages of work – what is included and what is not included. “People love to be in charge of something – if you make them the expert in one little area then you can move them on to another area, with training and support.”

Communication vital

Mistakes:“Mistakes will happen – and the wrong decision made now and then, we realise that,” Ben says. “It’s not the decision that matters, it’s the process that is important. You need the right process to access the key information that leads to the correct decision.” Understanding of the infrastructure and the key systems is really important along with developing a culture of the team members understanding and being able to cover each other’s roles.

Understanding motivations

The biggest thing to sort out (after the makeup of the packages of tasks) was the motivations and interests of all the team. “You have to understand your people – what are their motivations?” Ben says. “Younger people tend to be more driven by pay rises and wanting time off, but some are more motivated by the opportunity to keep learning, to keep growing their skills. “Some people want to do just the one job and be an expert at it, and we get really good value and efficiency from them – they love being the expert in their area and they are the one who knows how to run that system. “Others like to keep learning and expanding their skill set – and that is the job of management – to identify that motivation and help them become more competent and skilled – one skill-set at a time.” Ben prefers this approach over the old system of employing a new farm assistant and throwing a whole lot of jobs at them,

which they could perform to a low level of competence, and risking overwhelming them. “This way you take someone on to do one job and they are trained and competent then you introduce another job, they grow in confidence and want to do more. Instead of their skills lifting horizontally across the job, they really master one thing before moving on broadening their experience in other areas.”

As with any team, the one vital thing to ensure smooth system running is communication, and luckily, with a young staff, they are all happy to use and au fait with technology to make sure the communication happens. Handover time is important to make sure people get the correct instructions. The Facebook Messenger group is used extensively to message, send pictures and reminders and a white board in the farm dairy compliments the system. Rosters are photographed and shared among the group. Another Facebook group for managers is set up across the Allomes’ different farms to discuss higher-level issues. The team also have access to Google Drive where shared documents are stored with details on farm walks, MINDA Live reports and policy manuals.

Nick Bailey builds the monthly roster for the 12 team members on an Excel spreadsheet, then shares it on the team Facebook messenger group.

Target hours vs Actual hours to run Hopelands TARGET HOURS VS ACTUAL HOURS TO RUN Dairies HOPELANDS DAIRIES 45

Nick Bailey has built an ‘hours wedge’ graph to show target hours vs actual hours over a year to run Hopelands Dairies. He will use the wedge to tweak modular hours of work and improve labour efficiencies on the dairy farm.

40 35

Hours per day

30 25 20 15 10 5 0

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

Week starting 1st June Farm Manager

Shed Team Leader

Farm Team Leader

Calf Rearing Team Leader

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Calf Rearer/AI Drafter

Days off/Holiday cover/ p ackaged work

Target hours to d o essential work

SYSTEMS │ COMPLIANCE

Make time for timesheets Veronica Briggs Let’s face it, completing timesheets can be a tedious task, particularly if only seen as a requirement under the Employment Relations Act. But there are some benefits to doing them, from increasing your team’s performance and efficiency, to supporting their work/life balance. DairyNZ is always looking at ways to support farmers, and were curious to know how farmers approach their timesheets. An online survey provided some interesting insight. Of the 181 participants, 86% say their employees record their hours each day. In addition, 77% say they started recording employees’ hours more than a year ago, stating legislation as the main driver.

While compliance was the main reason for timesheet completion, participants listed a wide range of benefits including visibility of work demands and variances, ability to balance longer hours with time off, accurate budgeting, happy staff with decent work/life balance, reviewing rosters and staffing levels and, finally, the ability to monitor fatigue. The survey also found most farmers use pen and paper, but more are starting to use electronic systems. Often, once people have tried an electronic system they don’t look back. Responses about benefits of using electronic systems included how much time an electronic system saved and real-time visibility of staff leave balances. Some electronic systems also have a payroll function, which can make life that much easier, and more accurate, by calculating annual leave, and pay, minimum wage top ups and final pays.

To help farmers who would like to switch to an electronic system, DairyNZ reviewed some of the most commonly used timekeeping apps. A list of these, and their ratings, are available on the DairyNZ website. If you don’t have a system in place yet, or are looking for a more efficient one,

Measuring time So how are farmers doing timesheets? Farmers Tim Dawkins and Murray Bowden share what they do at their place. TIM DAWKINS Overview: Large-scale farm in Dipton, Southland. Tim has 13 staff, with about half on a salary.

MURRAY BOWDEN Overview: Murray is the farm manager at Rylib Group on Mahanga farm, in Canterbury. Employed onfarm are two fulltime staff and two relief staff.

How they record time “We do it via pen and paper and keep it in the communications room. People fill it in every day or every other day. It’s simple but it does create a bit of paperwork. We then feed it into an excel spreadsheet for reporting. “We review the hours against what we would expect them to be and this allows us to see if, and when, we need to bring in more labour. “Our farm managers supported the implementation of recording hours and it’s now part of our culture – it’s just a done thing.”

How they record time “We use a paper timesheet for each staff member and it shows the full fortnight. It’s kept at the cow shed. Staff go past and put a line through the time they start, their break times and the finish of their day. “Our aim is to have everyone below 50 hours per week. We don’t always make it, but we can at least see what’s happening. “Across our business we look at kg MS per hour worked.”

Benefits • Keeping it in the shed makes it front of mind • It shows you care • We try and even-out hours and be more efficient with the work we are doing • We review it year-on-year and then budget staff accordingly.

Benefits • “Having the timesheet in a central place means you can easily have a chat when needed. For example: ‘Wow, you did a big day, what happened?’ • “We can tidy up any additional hours worked by topping pay up at the current rate or giving additional time off. • “I don’t want my staff onfarm all the time, I want them at home too, enjoying their other interests.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Figure 2. Timekeeping App comparison Easy to setup

Off line capability

Compliance support

Simple to enter and

Reporting capability

Agrismart

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Farmtime

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Hours app

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Simply payroll

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Toggle free version

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Figure 1. What do you use to record employee work time?

there’s plenty of useful advice on the DairyNZ website. Alternatively, if you want to talk to other farmers that are using different systems, contact Dairy Connect manager Kate Haultain on 027 807 0601. So, the million-dollar question is how can you turn the hours of work data into something really useful, such as use it to enhance work/life balance for everyone on the farm or even become an employer of choice? As we investigate this area more, we will be sharing ideas and tips on how people have implemented time recording on their farm and more importantly, what creative initiatives they are using the data for.

Customisable

8% Other 7% Computer spreadsheet

13% Payroll software

15% Mobile phone app

visit www.dairynz.co.nz/timekeeping

• Veronica Briggs is a DairyNZ people management specialist

57% Pen and paper

Source: DairyNZ Facebook time recording survey.

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

SYSTEMS │ FERTILISERS

Ravensdown chief executive Greg Campbell hopes products such as Eco-n will be back as a mitigant for nitrate leaching.

Dicyandiamide set to reappear Anne Lee anne.lee@nzfarmlife.co.nz @Cantabannelee Ravensdown is still hopeful its nitrification inhibitor Eco-n will be back on the market within the next few years. It’s almost five years since Ravensdown and Ballance voluntarily withdrew products with the active ingredient dicyandiamide (DCD) after a decision by overseas authorities to test for the ingredient revealed traces of it in milk. While research has shown DCD has no harmful effects on human health at the low levels detected, the fact there was no international standard for its presence in food products created a trade risk for New Zealand dairy. “We were very confident there was no health issue but there was a risk to trade and that’s why we withdrew it voluntarily – I think if we hadn’t done that we would have been asked to,” Ravensdown chief executive Greg Campbell says. Since January 2013 the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has been working on a solution. Initially the aim was to get DCD included in the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) international Codex risk assessment priority list for contaminants in food although it was

known that process could take a number of years. But over the last 18 months MPI has broadened the scope of the work and has initiated a work programme in the Codex Alimentarius Commission that will result in the development of a harmonised approach to dealing with the ever-increasing number of chemicals that inadvertently end up in food products. MPI senior programme manager Raj Rajasekar has led this initiative in Codex and says the idea of having a “harmonised” approach to ensure the same protocol is followed in each country has been well received by other countries. “There’s an ever-increasing potential for detection of chemicals because more chemicals are being tested for and the sensitivity of detection technology is also rapidly increasing. “We have the situation where traces of chemicals that can inadvertently get into food through things like cleaning processes can now be detected. “Typically, the way Codex works is to identify the chemical which is commonly used and then put it through a risk assessment process. “That may still be determined as appropriate if the level of detection or scientific information suggests the chemicals are harmful to health. “But there may be other cases where decision-makers determine the

chemicals may have already been in the food historically – they’ve occurred at very low levels but suddenly they are coming up in detections because the technology has changed. “What the proposal does is provide an internationally agreed way to assess and manage the risks associated with such detections. At the moment there are no clearly agreed approaches. So country A might decide to allow the product but country B might not or might not follow a risk-based approach. “The proposed approach should help provide some sort of assurance that we are all operating by the same principles and approaches,” Rajasekar says. NZ producers of nitrification inhibitor products that contain DCD are hopeful the agreed protocol will give exporters – particularly dairy processors and exporters a level of comfort that dairy exports won’t face trade barriers if low levels of DCD are detected. Campbell says Ravensdown is very supportive of MPI’s endeavours and he’s hopeful the new protocol will allow products such as Eco-n to be back in farmers’ tool boxes as a mitigant for nitrate leaching. “We have the technology and production capability to bring it back to market,” Campbell says. “We had hoped it would be back to market by now because New Zealand farmers need it and it has so much proven science behind it,” Campbell says.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

PATHWAYS TO PROFIT

54 Capturing the rye 58 Hitting the sweet spot 62 High-input profitability 64 Ten traits of high performance farmers 66 Strategic benchmarkers 67 Life at the top Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

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SPECIAL REPORT

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Not over-grazing pasture is key to looking after the daughter tillers in a ryegrass plant.

Capturing the rye Gaining a more in-depth knowledge of the ryegrass plant and thus putting more emphasis on pasture management has lifted the performance on Andrew and Jackie Siemelink’s Bay of Plenty dairy farm. Sheryl Brown reports.

ince prioritising the threeleaf principle onfarm Andrew Siemelink has increased pasture growth, pasture quality and has more milk in the vat. Focusing on not over-grazing pasture in particular has meant less damage to ryegrass plants and they have been able to maximise pasture growth. “We now grow and harvest a lot more than we ever did. We used to grow about 14-15t/DM/ha – we now grow closer to 20t/DM/ha and harvest between 17 and 18t/DM/ha,” Andrew says. “One of our goals is to eat every blade of grass and put it in the vat. When you’re growing more grass and harvesting it – your costs will come down and your production goes up. “We had our best year when the payout was $8.40/kg MS and we produced 2100/kg MS/ha and our costs were $3.30/kg MS. A lot fell out

the bottom that year.” Andrew attended an Agriseeds field day five years ago where he learnt more about the lifecycle of a ryegrass plant, and one of the biggest lessons he took out of it was taking cows off paddocks before they overgrazed the pasture. Andrew has since installed a strict policy of checking on grazing residuals and taking cows off paddocks once the pasture gets down to about 40mm. The farm has two paddocks with poplars and gum trees which are used for sacrifice paddocks, providing good shade for the cows in summer. “They’re cheap herd homes. “Standing cows off in a sacrifice

paddock in summer has made big gains for us. I didn’t understand the damage we were doing to our grass by overgrazing Paengaroa them and basically eating the plants’ reserve.” Protecting daughter tillers, which produce new plants, is vital to the lifespan of your pasture, Andrew says. “The last three years we’ve been able to do less undersowing, which is a saving. The pasture has become more dense, because we are looking after those daughter tillers, and not letting it go to seed. “We used to undersow 15ha/year but now we typically only have to do 5ha/year because we look after it.” The two herds are put on 24-hour grazing all year round as soon as possible after the calving season. The cows get a fresh paddock every evening after the afternoon milking.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Owners: Andrew and Jackie Siemelink Location: Paengaroa, Te Puke Area: 112ha effective milking platform Kiwifruit: 8.5ha Green Runoff: 40ha Cows: 465 Friesian Crossbred Farm Dairy: 30-aside herringbone Production target: 2000kg MS/ha Pasture harvested: 18t DM/ha Supplements: 700t palm kernel, 150t grass silage

Andrew Siemelink – harvesting 18t of pasture is pushing production and lowering costs in his system.

Farm working expenses/kg MS: 2015/16: $3.30 2016/17: Approx $3.20 (less palm kernel) 2017/18 target: $3 Operating expenses/kgMS: 2015/16: $4 2016/17: $3.80 2017/18 target: $3.50-3.60

They will return to that paddock until the residuals are at the right level before being moved to a fresh break. Over the summer that may occur by 10/11 am and then they are moved to the sacrifice paddocks where grass silage is fed out, if required. In summer the older herd goes on a 12-day round to eat the paspalum which is on about 35% of the farm. The younger herd go on a 50-day round on the rest of the farm. Round length is generally dependant on the three-leaf principle. “Some people hate paspalum, I love it – it has a similar ME as rye grass in the summer.” They don’t do plate metering any more, but look to graze paddocks between the 2.5 and 3-tiller stage. Andrew doesn’t grow any crops on the milking platform. His grass of choice is the tetraploid Bealey. “I like it because it grows upright and allows the clovers to grow underneath, and it is extremely palatable.” He has undersown chicory in the past but it didn’t suit their system because of its shorter round length, but Andrew does want to trial plantain in future. Looking after the pasture better in the last five years has made it more dense and having beehives on the farm has helped with the clover growth, Andrew believes. Including salt with their fertiliser for the last couple of years, at 50kg/ha per application during the spring, has also made a huge difference in the cows cleaning out the paddocks evenly and not leaving clumps, he says. Andrew and Jackie bought their first

farm at Paengaroa while sharemilking at Papamoa. They purchased the original 60ha block in 2002 which included an existing 4ha Green kiwifruit orchard. In 2009 they bought 72ha of a neighbouring farm to expand their dairy operation and during that time they also extended the orchard to 8.5ha.

‘IN THE DAIRY DOWNTURN, THE BAY OF PLENTY DIDN’T SEE AS MUCH OF THE PAIN AS THE REST OF THE COUNTRY’S DAIRY FARMERS BECAUSE A LOT OF FARMERS HAVE KIWIFRUIT ORCHARDS.’ They then bought a 40ha runoff block in Papamoa which they use for wintering cows and grass silage. Having the kiwifruit investment is a big part of their business and has allowed them to continue paying off debt. Both industries are payoutdependent and vary season to season, but having the diversity has helped them survive the dips in each industry, Andrew says. “Some years the dairy returns higher,

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

some years the kiwifruit does. The kiwifruit has certainly allowed us to keep paying off debt in the last couple of years. “In the dairy downturn, the Bay of Plenty didn’t see as much of the pain as the rest of the country’s dairy farmers because a lot of farmers have kiwifruit orchards.” When Psa hit the kiwifruit industry it was the dairy farm that supported the orchard. It was comforting to know they also had the option of putting the kiwifruit land back into dairy if it couldn’t recover from Psa, Andrew says. When making investment decisions around business growth it can be daunting at times, but sometimes you have just got to take a gamble on the industry and your own abilities. “We are fortunate in that we no longer have to push to the limits all the time.” They harvest 150-200 tonnes of grass silage each year from the runoff which they feed out to the cows as a good source of fibre in summer. They also feed up to 1.25t palm kernel/cow/year which puts them into the DairyNZ Farm System 5 category. When they started growing more grass Andrew increased the stocking rate from 3.5 cows/ha, to 4.1 to manage the grass quality. “If we reduce cow numbers too much we will have to make more silage on the milking platform which is a cost.” Andrew is reducing cow numbers this season, however, to 420 cows because he knows he will have to reduce palm kernel. “We’ve accepted what Fonterra

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Key facts

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Cows are stood off on sacrifice paddocks in summer to prevent pasture damage.

is saying about palm kernel and are trying to not go into the C or D grade in the fat evaluation index (FEI).” Andrew has been referencing the FEI chart this season and says for 80% of the season they were sitting in the A or B grade. “We went into the C grade for a couple of periods when the grass had no substance, due to the wet weather and when the oil content of the PKE was noticeably higher. “We will push right to the boundary in the tight times because we have to look after our cows first. “If palm kernel is taken off us completely, we will adjust our stocking rate.” With the industry pressure coming on to reduce palm kernel use, they might have to start using more nitrogen fertiliser again, Andrew says. “We currently use about 170kg/ha of nitrogen. The flipside of decreasing palm kernel usage will be an increased use of nitrogen fertilisers. The overall result will see minimal change in our total nitrogen plan.” The runoff is used mainly for grass silage. They are selling it next year due to development in Papamoa so Andrew is looking for new sources for grass silage for the 2018/19 season. Grass silage from the runoff is costing about 20c/kg to get back to the home farm, buying it off a contractor will push it up to about 30c/kg, but is still cheaper than maize and a better feed for his system because there is less wastage, Andrew says. When the milk price crashed to

$3.90/kg MS Andrew and Jackie looked at their options to see where they could cut costs. Andrew didn’t want to sacrifice production so they didn’t change a lot. “We were certainly weary about overspending, but because we have contract milkers we are also mindful their income is based on production and we didn’t want that to drop too much. “We were lucky that interest rates stayed low and the cost of palm kernel was low, we managed to contract it for $180/t.” To save money in 2015/16 they decided to winter their cows at home instead of trucking the usual 225 cows to the runoff and instead leased the runoff out from January through to August. That meant they still got their grass silage off the block, but received good cash flow during winter. The home farm is 50% sandy loam and 50% peat, with the sandy soil ideal for wintering cows. It worked well so they leased out the runoff again this season, in what has turned out to be the wettest year Andrew can remember. “But we still managed to do it – we got through, we did have to feed some more palm kernel out though due to the wet winter.” Losing the runoff next year will mean they will be wintering all the cows at home in future, so it will become standard practice. In winter the cows are put on a long round and fed palm kernel on the feed pad. Cows are stood off on the 220-

cow feed pad or dairy yard to protect the pasture from pugging, but walking cows to the feed pad to stand them off still means they are walking every day, and this year in particular has meant a lot of damage to gateways and the races, Andrew says. “I’ve been trying to get my races done since February this year, and have only just managed to get them done in the last week.” The pasture has had more damage this winter than any other year, so they’ve undersown 15ha to stitch up the worst paddocks. The pasture has been slow growing and the cows peaked lower than normal. “We have already come off our peak (in September) due to continual rain. We still haven’t hit the three-leaf stage all year. “We think we have probably leached a lot of nutrients this year, after all the rain, so we are putting two smaller spring dressings of fertiliser on the farm. We are about a third of the way through our second application of DAP, MOP, sulphur salt and nitrogen.” They are 5% ahead despite the difficult weather and should get close to 2000/kg MS/ha depending on how the summer growing conditions go, he says. They typically dry off the herds in three separate lots, depending on the calving spread. “It doesn’t get cold here so we have the opportunity to put weight on cows in winter with palm kernel.” That means they can milk them for longer and maximise production without having to sacrifice body

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

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condition leading into calving starting July 1. The empty rate last season was 9%, down from 15% the previous couple of years. When they bought the neighbours’ farm they also bought a number of empty high-BW cows from other farms, which increased their herd infertility, Andrew says. “It was the worst thing we could have done. I’m a firm believer that empty cows are empty for a reason, and part of that is genetics. I think we brought infertility into our herd. “We have none of those cows left or their progeny now so hopefully last year’s lower empty rate is sign of good things to come.” Last year they reduced their calving spread by doing four weeks’ artificial insemination (AI), two weeks’ AI using short-gestation Hereford, three weeks of bulls then two weeks’ AI with short gestation Kiwicross. The short gestation Kiwicross brought those last cows forward 10 days which meant they only had a 10week calving spread. “That short gestation Kiwicross gives us such a gain, it gives those cows a bigger recovery period.” This mating they’ve pulled bulls out entirely and will do three weeks’ AI Premier Sires, three weeks’ short gestation Hereford and three weeks’ short gestation Kiwicross, aiming for a seven/eight-week calving spread. They stopped herd testing for two seasons due to the downturn. The savings made although significant may have a hidden cost, they say. “In terms of culling I didn’t need the

“As much as I hate paying the grazing bill – calves eat a lot of grass and they eat the best of it. Keeping them home you start sacrificing production.” Andrew and Jackie haven’t invested in a lot of technology or automation because they like to keep things simple. The payback on the investment is also hard to quantify, Andrew says. “I see that it makes the job easier and there is more information there to make gains in herd improvement – but a big percentage of that gain is from herd testing anyway, I struggle to see the payback.” Andrew is keen to investigate capturing methane from effluent, however. They have oxidation ponds onfarm which they will have to upgrade eventually and if they could reduce the farm’s electricity bill at the same time it would be great, he says. sheryl.brown@nzfarmlife.co.nz @sherylbrownnz

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

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information because I was still getting rid of some of the infertile cows and the older cows, however a lot of production information was lost and takes time to regain.” Andrew and Jackie try to keep things simple for themselves and their contract milkers. Despite being a System 5, the bulk of the farm work is handled by the husband and wife contract milkers, Bali and Gaga. They are in their first season contracting milking. Andrew and Jackie help out over the calving and mating period. “We try and keep it simple for our staff. All fertiliser is put on by truck, there is no topping and it only takes about 15 minutes to feed out the palm kernel on the feed pad.” Calves are sent off farm at weaning to Katikati grazier, Rick Burke, who feeds palm kernel as part of his grazing operation. “It’s great because they know about it when they come back to the dairy farm.

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Craig and Hannah Fulton – getting systems humming.

Hitting the sweet spot Lessons learned as sharemilkers are critical to the way Craig and Hannah Fulton operate in their Mid-Canterbury equity partnership farm. Anne Lee reports.

anterbury dairy farmers Craig and Hannah Fulton aren’t striving for the lowest farm working expenses or top production – instead they’re aiming for a farm system where everything is humming. It’s where people are happy, productive and engaged; where cows are happy, producing milk, cycling well and healthy and where the grass is growing, grazed at the right time and in the right amount. “Getting 500kg milksolids (MS) a cow doesn’t drive us – just as getting $3/kg MS farm working expenses doesn’t drive us – what drives us is hitting that sweet spot where everything is ticking along and everyone is happy, including the cows,” Hannah says. When you’re there, that’s when costs are low, production high and profit will come. Craig and Hannah are in their fourth season of 50-50 equity partnership with farmer Chris Bolderston near Ealing in MidCanterbury. It’s a successful partnership for both parties, one that’s built on mutual respect and good communication. The pride in the farm is apparent

from the moment you drive up the long driveway, flanked by well clipped lawns punctuated by trees in full blossom. It’s a conversion that has been carried out with much care. Tree plantings have been preserved where possible and added to across the farm. That culture of pride and attention to detail is obviously carried by staff too with the farm dairy and surrounds clean, tidy and wellmaintained.

‘I DON’T THINK THERE’S ANY ONE THING WE DO THAT KEEPS OUR COSTS DOWN OR OUR PRODUCTION WHERE IT IS.’

Craig has brought what he calls his sharemilker’s mentality with him into farm ownership leading through his actions as he continues to work hard alongside the couple’s two full-time staff out on the farm. “Once a sharemilker, always a

Physical

Paddock Farm

Effective area (ha)

160

Support land (ha)

Peak cows milked

630

Stocking rate (cows/ha)

3.9

Production (kg MS/ha)

1893

10 day peak (kg MS/cow/day)

2.1

Days in milk (days)

268

Pasture and crop eaten (t DM/ha)

Imported feed (tDM/cow)

0.58

Grazing off (t DM/ha)

4.5

Total feed eaten (t DM/ha)

22.08

Nitrogen use (kg N/effective ha)

229

Six-week in-calf rate (%)

Financial 2016-17 Total income ($/ha)

13155

Net Stock Income ($/ha)

1356

Farm working expenses ($/kg MS)

3.36

Cash surplus (excludes dep, int, tax) ($/ha)

6705

Break even ($/kg MS)

4.19

Labour costs ($/ha)

1187

Animal health ($/cow)

77.46

Breeding and herd improvement ($/ha)

142.07

Fertiliser cost ($/ha) incl nitorgen

405.38

Repairs and maintenance ($/ha)

269.51

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

rearing calves and running sharemilker. If you lose sight of that as the financials but is also an owner and you start to button off a contracted to DairyNZ as the little, it doesn’t take much for costs to animal husbandry start creeping up or cows to not get consultancy colooked at as quickly as they should,” ordinator. he says. In 2007 Craig and “Over the years we’ve developed Hannah won the Waikato good systems for what we do – we Sharemilker of the Year write them down and have policies award and the Waikato but it’s more about what we do Ballance Farm Environment for our staff to learn,” Hannah Award, Dairy Farm award. says. Through the networking that Craig’s from Orini near Ealing comes with those awards the couple Hamilton and started was approached to become part out as a farm cadet, of an equity partnership on a new heading to England conversion in Canterbury milking close at just 17 when he was to 1000 cows. awarded a scholarship to After five years the four parties Berkshire College of Agriculture. involved sold up and that’s when Craig When he returned he worked up and Hannah joined with Chris to form the progression ladder to 50-50 Paddock Wood. While they’re 50% sharemilking with an eye on farm owners of the 630-cow farm Paddock ownership. Wood, they’re also contract milkers for He and Hannah met in 1995 when it. Hannah says the milking contract is she was in New Zealand on a working set up to be fair to both parties with holiday from England. their company, CHW Ltd, earning a Hannah has a University of London lower cents per kg milksolids payment degree in business studies focusing on over and above the status quo agricultural food production and once production for the farm. she decided on staying in NZ worked “It means if Paddock Wood decides for LIC and then agricultural specialist to put more feed in, for instance, Craig recruitment and human resource and I aren’t directly benefiting any company Fegan and Co. more than the equity partnership. It’s She now works on the farm Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

TOP TIPS • Develop and nurture strong relationships • Team – Put the effort into recruiting • Attention to detail • Act straight away • Question spending • Zero budgeting • Monitor – cows, grass, finances • Review and act • Share the numbers with the team • Develop a market for stock • Love what you do • Minimise wastage • Repair and recycle • Do it yourself.

very important when we’re wearing two hats here that everything is fair to both parties,” she says. The equity partnership uses FarmRight consultant Colin Crabbe as an independent adviser to bounce ideas off and give a third-party view. Craig says it adds value and this mating he’s suggested they look at using longer-gestation bulls over any top-performing cows that cycle in the week before planned start of mating rather than waiting for their next cycle. “I don’t think there’s any one thing we do that keeps our costs down or our production where it is. We’re just making sure we’re paying attention to the details, acting as soon as you need to act and making good use of the resources we have here,” Craig says. Having genuine, honest, win-win relationships are important to the couple particularly with neighbours and suppliers. One neighbour is a sheep, cropping and grazing farmer who winters the couple’s cows. The farm is adjacent to their western boundary allowing them to transition cows on to fodder beet through the autumn before dry off. They winter on fodder beet and move cows on to kale three weeks before calving, something Craig partially credits their low rates of metabolic issues to over calving. There’s no freight costs moving cows either way but more importantly it’s allowed them to have cows calve there so only milking cows are on the 162ha milking platform. “That makes a huge difference to us. Paddocks don’t get pugged and we keep everything a lot simpler here 59

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Craig Fulton and Paul Williamson – driven by improving on the previous season and fine-tuning.

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when we’re into calving.” “Hannah and I are the ones who manage the calving mob. We do all the night checks and the guys (2IC Paul Williamson and herd manager Alejandro Reiter – Ale) concentrate on everything at the shed. “They get a good night’s sleep and their job is to milk the cows and manage milk quality, because they can focus on that, somatic cells are low and you don’t get mistakes like penicillin going into the vat.” Another neighbour is a mixed cropping farmer and Craig and Hannah source their barley each year from him. “We know we have a ready supply and he knows he has a reliable customer who pays him straight away on the 20th of the month. “We pay a market rate – he’s fair to us and we’re fair to him. We get our straw for wintering there too and I just cart it down to the wintering block in the evenings. “It might take a week but I hate

paying someone else when I can do it myself. It would cost us about $6/ bale and with 500 bales that’s a good saving,” Craig says. The do-it-yourself attitude extends to mowing paddocks for silage or spraying out old grass, allowing those things to be done when they should happen not when the contractor can fit you in. Craig’s handy with a welder and mechanical repairs – skills he tries to pass on to staff. “We don’t have a lot of gear – we’ve got one tractor for example and when you only have one of something you’ve got to make sure it works,” Hannah says. Understanding how things work and the value of things onfarm engenders a greater sense of responsibility and care too, Craig says. “Things like the vet bill, I have at the office in the shed so they see how much things cost. When the urea silo gets filled I let them know that’s $11,000 but I do the same with the milk tanker so

Craig and Hannah Fulton - the Fonterra diary is a lynch pin for communication.

TECHNOLOGY Craig and Hannah like to keep it simple and only invest in technology that will make a real difference to the bottom line by saving time or helping manage data that makes the farm more productive. They use Protrack to record herd information and manage cows at the farm dairy, Minda Land and Feed to manage pasture cover information and set up grazing management plans and Cash Manager to budget, manage cashflows and report. Last month they also invested in a simple GPS system for the tractor, Grass Guide 65, after looking at a neighbour’s drone photos of the farm and noticing differences in pasture covers where urea was being spread. “Three of us had spread the urea on different paddocks and it seems like there are three ways of putting it on – up and down the paddock, round and round. When we saw the pictures we knew we had to get more accurate with it,” Craig says. “I didn’t want anything too expensive or flashy and this should do the trick. We’ve worked out we should save one run up a paddock every time so it’ll pay for itself in a year. “It also gives us proof of placement for compliance.”

they understand what the farm earned that day – they get the yin with the yang,” he says. Craig and Hannah share a passion for the farm and Craig says they’ll review their season or aspects of it as they go through the year and talk about how they did and what they could do better. “It’s how you learn – if we didn’t do as well in one area as we did the year before we ask why? Was it a seasonal thing – climate-induced or was it something we could have done something about?” Craig says. The equity partnership factor of their business structure also helps drive performance, Hannah says. “When we’re spending money we’re aware that it’s Chris’ money too,” she says. “It’s not that we have to justify every bit of spending but it’s there in your mind – that sharemilker mentality again – do we really need that extra silage, what’s Chris going to get out of this decision?” Craig says. The couple keep tight control on the finances, zero budgeting before each season begins – taking some cost centres back to zero, and then adding budgeted costs after thinking about what they really need to get the job done based on their planning and review approach. As the season progresses Hannah codes their spending into Cash Manager and they monitor monthly actual versus budgeted spending. The same applies to cashflow. She prepares a report for the bank, which she calls their third investor, so their bank manager has as much sight over how the season’s progressing financially as they do. The farm’s layout and quality infrastructure – with its wide central laneway, central farm dairy and well set up irrigation to preserve treelines – help with its efficient running. The central 54-bail farm dairy is fitted with Protrack and automatic cup removers. Irrigation is mostly automated with two lateral spray irrigators and two pivots as well as 12 K-line pods. Craig says it’s set up so one person can operate the farm when they need to. The couple’s staff only milk once-aday each – Paul in the mornings and Ale at nights – because that’s how they prefer it. The roster is eight-on two-off. Craig says they’ve had great staff over the years, mainly because they put effort in at the front end with recruitment. He’s not in the milking roster but is

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Grass is king Paul Williamson is in his second season with the couple and is responsible for pasture management. Like Craig and Hannah, he’s driven by improving on the previous season and fine-tuning, making sure allocations are as accurate as they can be and cows are well fed on pasture that’s maintained at the best quality possible. He plates the farm weekly, prepares the feed wedge and sets up the week’s grazing schedule but he doesn’t rely on the platemeter readings from the start of the week alone. He’ll take a ride around the farm two to three times during the week to check on growth and re-plate if he thinks things are changing rapidly. He monitors residuals too which should be even and at about 1600kg DM/ha but he also watches what the cows are telling him each day in the vat and by their behaviour. “Because of the size of the paddocks they generally get a full paddock through the day and half paddock or smaller paddock at night but if we need to move them on we will or we’ll put a few back into a paddock if it needs to be cleaned up,” Paul says.

Craig Fulton getting cows in.

They’re likely to be the first 50-60 cows as they’re the most aggressive grazers. At a stocking rate of 4 cows/ha they seldom have to top but will do if necessary and will take some silage through the peak of spring to manage quality. Grain is fed in the dairy throughout the season with silage usually just fed in autumn to help lengthen the round. In October there were still 146 calves onfarm, six bulls and 2ha out for fodder beet which is being grown on the milking platform this season for the first time to transition cows to it for winter. Over the years Hannah says they’ve made money working the four-legged stock market and they always rear all their artificially inseminated (AI) heifers and have ready markets for 100kg beef calves. “It’s something I enjoy, looking at the market and if we can add value cost effectively then we can boost our top line income,” she says. All the colours of mating.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

They sire prove, which, at $7.50/straw, not only helps to keep mating expenses down but gives their herd a good variety of bulls, some of which are the best future genetics, and adds interest for them and their staff. They use Hereford yearling bulls after five weeks AI and Ezicalve Herefords over their heifers. They’re also looking long-term not just within the season. Performance in one season can have a roll-on effect into the next so autumn management is crucial. Cows go on to 16-hour milkings in April and with feeding levels maintained. “You have to start with the 16-hourly milking before cows start to drop otherwise they’ll start drying themselves off,” Hannah says. Cows go into dry-off groups according to body condition score (BCS) and calving date with BCS never compromised to gain a bit of extra production.Last season wet weather and long walks to the fodder beet crop for transitioning meant late in the season they began to get signs of lameness and the decision was made to dry off a few days early. It’s one of the reasons they’ve put fodder beet on the milking platform close to the farm dairy this season. “We’re always looking forward and when we’re looking back it’s to see what we can do better next time,” the pair say. anne.lee@nzfarmlife.co.nz @Cantabannelee

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on “home detention” over the first six months of wintering calving and mating, picking cows to be put up for AI. For the first six months of the farming year he works in his business and second half on his business. The Fonterra diary in the dairy office is a lynch pin for communications and recordings. “The guys write everything they’ve done in the day in there. It’s a good record, helps motivate them because it shows them just what they have got through in a day and helps the person coming off days off catch up with what’s been happening,” Craig says.

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‘WE PROVED TO THE FARM SHAREHOLDERS THAT OKAIHAU HAD A SYSTEM THAT WAS PROFITABLE AT $3.90 FONTERRA PAYOUT.’

Jenima and Joe Foster, shareholders and managers of Okaihau Pastoral.

High-input profitability Hugh Stringleman Northland’s showplace high-input dairy farm, Okaihau Pastoral Ltd, was profitable in the 2015-16 season when most dairy farms nationwide made a loss. It generated $1429/hectare operating profit ($455/cow) and made 3.2% return on capital (ROC), when the Northland average was only 0.2%. That was the season with the lowest inflation-adjusted payout of modern times ($4.30/kg averaged across Fonterra, Westland and Tatua), Dairy Business of the Year competition manager David Densley said. Okaihau won the best Northland farm performance award for a second, consecutive time, was the highinput farm with the best financial performance and runner-up dairy business of the year nationally. Farm managers and newest shareholders Joe and Jenima Foster said the winners were their staff members, rural professionals and shareholders. Scenarios were modelled and budgets done to cut supplementary feed inputs, reduce cow numbers and go back to all-grass farming, Okaihau’s 62

farm advisor Paul Martin said. But they didn’t match the projected profitability of continuing with system 5 management, when 40% of cow inputs did not come from pasture. The farm has two covered 500-cow feed pads with grey water washdowns feeding into twin weeping walls and effluent storage. Supplementary feeding is homegrown maize, palm kernel, and waste bread, with occasional waste fruit from nearby Kerikeri, and cows are also fed high-protein chicory in the summer, grown in the re-grassing programme. Joe Foster has been farm manager for four years, during which time half of the 367ha effective farm has been re-grassed. Densley and Martin are representatives of Intelact, the pastoral dairy consulting company and one of four gold sponsors of the annual Dairy

Farm System

Business of the Year competition. This year the farms entered were judged 70% on the profitability of the business, and 15% each on people management and environmental management. All financials used were from the 2015-16 season, although the field day held at Okaihau, in the Bay of Islands, was also provided with the 2016-17 financials, and both sets of accounts benchmarked against the Northland averages. “Dairy Business of the Year doesn’t favour any farm system but recognises excellence and the ability to remain profitable through the ups and downs,” Densley explained. “We proved to the farm shareholders that Okaihau had a system that was profitable at $3.90 Fonterra payout,” Martin told the field day. “Peak cow numbers were reduced by taking out the bottom end, from 1186 down to 1056, 3.45 cows per milking hectare down to 3.12. “We debated dropping feeding and dropping production, but that didn’t show a big plus for profitability.” Martin was responding to the sceptics in the crowd of farmers who wondered how Okaihau bucked the industry wisdom that all-grass feeding and cost-cutting was the best route through tight times. “We already had enough control of expenses and low-to-moderate cost of production (farm working expenses $3.93/kg MS versus $4.30 Northland average). “Breakeven costs were constantly analysed and the management and board had many debates, seeking to safeguard the shareholders.

Okaihau pastoral 2015/16

Northland average

Northland top 10%

Total hectares

447

Effective hectares

367

184

178

Effective milking hectares

339

181

174

Peak milking cows

1056

461

515

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Farm: Okaihau Pastoral Ltd Owners: Equity partnership Managers: Joe and Jenima Foster Location: Bay of Islands, midNorthland Milking platform: 367ha (447ha total) Cows: 1100 Holstein Jerseycross, 800 spring calving, 300 winter calving. Production: 520kg/cow MS, 1650kg/ha (2016-17) Pasture harvested: 11.3t/ha DM Feed consumed: 60% pasture, 40% supplementary. Cropping: 36ha chicory onfarm, 80ha maize off-farm

People productivity

“If the projections had showed lack of profitability, different decisions would have been made. “To continue with high feed inputs not only utilised the facilities we have, but it also required high cashflow inputs and the bank was supportive.” Martin agreed the consensus approach may have changed in a second year of $3.90 payout, but Okaihau had weathered the financial storm, as it had done with past Northland droughts, and bounced back strongly in 2016-17 when the payout rose again. Last season it more than doubled operating profit per hectare to $3287 ($1037/cow), kept COP to $4.22, 30c below the Northland average, and generated ROC for shareholders of 6.1%, versus 5% as the Northland average. Total revenue was up $1 million compared with the year before but gross operating expenses were only up $400,000. Representing the 16 shareholders,

Profitability

Okaihau pastoral 2015/16

DBOY national average

Northland average

Northland top 10%

Staff costs per cow ($)

489

360

438

358

Cows per full time equivalent (50hr FTE)

154

171

145

180

Training spend per FTE in dollars ($)

16.18

4.09

Training spend per FTE in time (hrs)

10.64

4.91

Unplanned cost per FTE ($)

367

162

Unbudgeted days lost per FTE ($)

2.04

4.00

Labour turnover Management staff (%)

Labour turnover Non-management staff (%)

chairman Cam Holmes spoke about the factors behind the Dairy Business of the Year success and the steady improvement in profitability for Okaihau Pastoral. The initial syndicate of 23 investors was formed by MyFarm in 2007 and for the first five years shareholders had to hang in through some low returns and capital expenditure. Recently it had been possible to offer a share buyout and the number of investors had reduced to 15, subsequently joined by the Fosters recently. MyFarm had set up an owners’ committee of all investors, but that proved to be too large and ineffective, so a board of five from diverse business backgrounds now received the monthly reports and met regularly. “The strengths of Okaihau lie in

Okaihau pastoral 2015/16

Northland average

Northland top 10%

Return on capital (%)

3.20

0.20

2.50

Return on assets (%)

2.80

-0.10

2.20

Operating profit margin (%)

-6

Operating profit per hectare ($)

1420

-252

816

Gross operating revenue per hectare ($)

8422

4488

5891

Gross operating expenses per hectare ($)

7003

4740

5075

Gross revenue per kgMS ($)

5.12

4.93

4.87

Farm working expenses per kgMS ($)

3.93

4.30

3.50

Operating expenses per kgMS ($)

4.26

5.21

4.20

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

its people, and the good day-today practices that Joe and his team implement. “The shareholders have also been very happy with the input from Paul Martin and Intelact, providing the link between management and the board. “We have the extensive feed pad and effluent storage facilities so that dictates to some extent our system 5 management. “We also have a strong set of skills and experience around the board, driving the business with regular reviews. “Finally, the shareholders have been very supportive over the past 10 years. “This has been a good example of a successful equity partnership in Northland dairying.” The Fosters showed their detailed daily and weekly rostering system for seven staff members, all of whom were rotated through the different areas of responsibility, thus gaining broad skills in dairying. Okaihau operated a 12-day on and three-day off roster, ensuring each person milked 2.5 times in four days, using a staggered start from 4am. Cows walked themselves to the feed pad and dairy in the early morning when alerted by latch gates and noises. “All staff members are home by 5.30pm, showing that having a big farm doesn’t mean endless hours in the cow shed,” Joe said. “Our system allows all employees to learn every aspect of the farm, so when 63

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Key facts

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Ten traits of high performance farmers Jackie Harrigan Performing at a top level is all about optimising outcomes, not maximising them – and that’s where the most profitability lies, Julie Rickman says. For Rickman, a consultant who worked alongside the Ministry for Primary Industries team on research into high-performing farms for the MPI Farm Systems Change project, a number of factors stood out across the farmer group, despite the huge diversity of the operations and their farm systems. 1. COMMITMENT TO CONTINUAL LEARNING “Each of those dairy farmers without exception was committed to continual learning, to keep trying to find new ways to improve the way they farmed and better-understand the factors that impacted on their performance,” she says. “They are always constantly looking around themselves and taking concepts from others, adapting them to their particular circumstances and then continually looking to lift the bar in terms of their performance. They don’t see themselves as top

Julie Rickman.

USE OF TOOLS PROVIDES ACCESS TO TIMELY INFORMATION FOR DECISIONMAKING – ANOTHER FACTOR IDENTIFYING HIGHPERFORMANCE FARMERS. performers rather as on a continuum to an ever-more-sustainable farming model. 2. WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE AND ADAPT “Each farmer will have a different level of tolerance to risk, and therefore understanding where that level of risk

they leave here they are not just milk harvesters.” Courses were provided through Taratahi, local vets and representatives from the service companies. DBOY analysis showed Okaihau’s staff costs per cow were higher than the contest national and Northland averages. Densley told the field day that cost-cutting during the payout Joe Foster, left, and the Okaihau Pastoral downturn was not done to achieve chairman, Cam Holmes, with some cows in profitability at the expense of people. one of two large milking herds. Okaihau has an effluent irrigation on a daily basis. It therefore spreads system covering 90% of the farm both nitrogen and potassium loading and managing that system is a across a very large area, and uses solid full-time job for one staff member, effluent for chicory fertiliser. rotated through the full staff force

tolerance sits is important.” In the life of business, Rickman says it is common for a younger farmer to have a higher-risk appetite, and the older farmers less so, as they are mindful of having less time to make up for any losses. Even within those bands, different people also have varying risk tolerance.

Other features of the system include a Mono pump, three cannons and one new travelling irrigator. The feed pads are floodwashed with grey water. All waterways are 100% fenced and Okaihau has a boundary with Lake Omapere with a 50-metre riparian zone. The Headlands Environmental Impact Assessment done for the contest highlighted high risk of nitrogen loss per kilogram of milksolids and through leaching. Martin explained that a 3500mm annual rainfall was always going to pose a risk of high leaching, according to Overseer.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

3. ACCESS TO A CLUSTER OF KEY ADVISORS Top performers have key advisers who are involved in the planning and monitoring of their farming business. Those advisers are used to seek varying perspective, which brings to the decision-making a greater diversity of thought. While the farmers use those perspectives in their decisionmaking, they still make their own decisions. 4. FORWARD LOOKING High-performance farmers look forward – they don’t look back. Rickman says it’s like the ‘fail quick’ methodology – if a strategy is working well they build on it, if it isn’t working, they know they won’t do that again and move on or they adapt quickly and find a way of making it work. The key advisers are a really important sounding-board through this process, providing guidance and support. 5. DEDICATION TO THE DAIRY SECTOR “All those farmers demonstrated a very keen need to develop the next generation of dairy farmers. They had a long-term outlook to training people within their businesses and were fantastic at developing and growing the capability of those working with them. “A number of these farmers have fantastic capability in terms of developing people and creating effective farm teams.” They had a similar commitment to looking after their animals and their environment and Rickman says it’s a whole commitment to sustainable farming and making a positive commitment to their farming community. “I think it’s because they are good at working with their people and explaining why things need to be done. These farmers want to grow the capability of the next generation, building on their own base by developing people who are better at caring for animals, monitoring pastures and capturing

Use of tools provides access to timely information for decisionmaking – another factor identifying high-performance farmers.

production and understanding that it is possible to integrate environmental management within the wider farm system. 6. ATTENTION TO DETAIL Great attention to detail by topperforming farmers overrides all other attributes, Rickman says. They have the ability to do what they need to do exactly when they do it. It is about focusing on the critical success factors that make or break a good result and doing it every season. It requires planning, consistency and grit. “Getting the key things done right at the right time is the thing that sets them apart.” 7. USE OF TOOLS AND ACCESS TO TIMELY INFORMATION New technologies have enabled farmers to validate their level of intuitive farming. “Back in the day when I was milking cows I learnt everything from my father and I didn’t know if I had chosen the right paddocks until I saw the docket on the vat from the tanker driver the following day. Now there is so much technology available to farmers which can be used to assist their decisionmaking. Using a platemeter to measure the grass so you know the covers, being able to measure the temperature of the milk in the vat, soil moisture probes so you know you are putting on the right amount of water through the irrigation system, heat detection systems to know when the cows are cycling, DNA testing for calves – all these are part of the increasing plethora of tools to help farmers improve their performance. The tools compliment the skills and experience of farmers in being aware and responsive to what is happening on the farm, Rickman says.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

8. NETWORKS AND COLLABORATION Top performers are farmers who like to network, chat and collaborate – they relish the opportunity to have conversations with other farmers, learning and sharing, and taking little things back to their own operation to trial and see how they go. 9. MONITORING AND MAKING CONNECTIONS Rickman says top farmers understand what needs to be done in different scenarios and they are always monitoring their surroundings and making decisions to respond to the conditions. The changing weather patterns, particularly the wet weather in the past 12 months has tested the capability of even the best farmers. “We all know that during wet and cold weather cows need more feed to keep warm and keep producing, however really good farmers are also thinking of the hot summer weather and how cows need shelter from the heat and extra water to maintain both cow health and production.” 10. FOCUS ON THE AREAS IMPACTING PROFITABILITY Farmers can’t control the weather or the payout, Rickman says, but if they measure, monitor and optimise performance from the things they can control – feed costs, pasture management, animal performance and farm team capability – that’s how they can achieve sustainable profitability. Again the attention to detail provides an opportunity to build a “war chest” during the good times so there is cash or access to cash if it is needed in the not-so-good times. “These farmers recognise the dairy sector is changing; alongside other farmers they are leading the way and see a clear opportunity for wider change,” Rickman says.

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Although the risk tolerance may generally attach to financial risks, there are also other risks such as access to feed, cost of feed and so on, all of which have to be considered as ultimately these impact upon financial risk.

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Strategic benchmarkers The top 10% of New Zealand dairy farmers generally have a better understanding of their financial position and are strategically benchmarking themselves to further improve. These standout farmers are people who generally know their business well and can make well-informed decisions quickly, DairyNZ senior economist Matthew Newman says. “One of the key metrics of top farmers is around financial understanding – budgeting and benchmarking. Top farmers are doing this more regularly and probably more vigorously than the rest.” One in six NZ farms – 2100 – are now registered with DairyBase and using it to benchmark their business. In DairyBase farmers can benchmark their operation over time against their own farm performance, benchmark themselves against other farms in their region or district, or against farms running the same system as them. More dairy farms could be benchmarking to improve their financial position, he says. “The key thing is you want to know how your performance has been, identify areas for improvement so you can develop a plan for the future,” Newman says. To improve one’s financial position, farmers must first understand the numbers involved in their business, he says. DairyBase is a full analysis of not just cash, but a farm’s full balance sheet. The process standardises key information giving farmers a clear

Break-even milk price timeseries

‘MEASUREMENT IS THE FIRST STEP THAT LEADS TO CONTROL AND EVENTUALLY TO IMPROVEMENT. IF YOU CAN’T MEASURE SOMETHING, YOU CAN’T UNDERSTAND IT. IF YOU CAN’T UNDERSTAND IT, YOU CAN’T CONTROL IT. IF YOU CAN’T CONTROL IT, YOU CAN’T IMPROVE IT.’ – H. JAMES HARRINGTON

indication of where they sit compared with their peers. Cash budgets are most useful when progress is monitored against the targets regularly throughout the season. It provides a complementary set of full data that farmers can use alongside any cash flow programmes they use, Newman says. DairyBase is broken into four groups of key performance indicators; physical, cash, profit and capital/wealth creation. During the last couple of seasons with the downturn in milk price, farmers understandably concentrated on cash because they were focused on survival, how they were going to pay the bills and what additional borrowing was required, he says.

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17e

Farm Working Expenses

4.13

4.33

4.07

3.64

3.82

Interest & Rent

1.39

1.29

1.36

1.35

Tax

0.25

0.38

0.21

0.05

0.10

Drawings

0.65

0.77

0.69

0.49

0.55

Total cash expenses

6.42

6.77

6.33

5.53

5.82

less livestock & Other Dairy Cash Income

0.44

0.42

0.56

0.60

0.57

Break-even milk price

$5.98

$6.35

$5.77

$4.93

$5.25

e = estimate

Source: DairyNZ Economics Group, Economic Survey, DairyBase

But now the payout has climbed back up it is a good time for farmers to focus back on their profit measures and get a summary of where their asset base is now. Farmers borrowed about an extra $1/kg milksolids (MS) on average during the downturn so their equity position may have changed. “It’s good to focus on cash and monitor your cost, including expected surplus/loss. For benchmarking purposes the profit measures are the best indicators of efficiency. They will also indicate what debt could be reduced by if required.”

Break-even price In the last three seasons farm working expenses have reduced from a peak of $4.33/kg MS in 2013/14 when the average breakeven price was $6.35/kg MS. Farmers dropped their costs by almost 70c in the downturn to $3.64/ kg MS. It would be hard to imagine that average cost on farms could go much lower, Newman says. The costs have started to creep back up again as payout has recovered, and looking long term at an average milk payout of $6.50/kg MS farm working expenses would be expected to sit around $4/kg MS.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

1,500 1,000 500 0

Taranaki have had a difficult couple of seasons, and farmers in the Bay of Plenty and parts of the Waikato have recently had floods to contend with, Newman says. Marlborough-Canterbury has an average herd size of 750 cows and generally has higher milk production/ ha due to irrigation and being able to get water on to grow grass more steadily. However, the region’s operating expenses tend to be bit higher due to the costs of irrigation, including high nitrogen use and depreciation

OtagoSouthland

New Zealand

-‐5 00

New Zealand

MarlboroughCanterbury

Otago-‐Southland

WestcoastTasman

Marlborough-‐Canterbury

Northland and the West Coast-Tasman regions continue to have a lower average milk production, primarily due to naturally difficult climate conditions for pasture production and as a result lower stocking rates. The rest of the North Island is typically on par, with Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki and lower North Island reaching similar production and profit margins per hectare.

Lower North Island

Westcoast-‐Tasman

Regional themes

Taranaki

Lower Nort h Island

Source: DairyNZ Economics Group

Bay of Plenty

Taranaki

Waikato

Bay of Plenty

Northland

is about 10c higher largely due to the expensive irrigation pivots that depreciate quickly. Otago and Southland have an average herd size of 570 cows, with higher costs for winter management than many other regions. • DairyNZ will publish the New Zealand Dairy Statistics 2016-17 in November. Read more about trends in the dairy industry and what that means in our December issue.

Life at the top

Traits of the Top 10 percenters – as told by rural professionals: • Are good at managing and utilising pasture first. • Grow more feed than the average for their area, and utilise more. • Understand the value of good staff, treating them as an asset rather than a cost. • Understand the cost of capital, and take advantage of changes. • Have good financial control. • Monitor and react. • Act immediately – don’t put off till tomorrow. • Anticipate and are prepared. • Understand they have to protect the margin between what they get for their milk and what it costs to produce it. • Don’t get into the trap of thinking that if they can lift production it’s okay to spend a bit more.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

• Systems two and three – have, as a minimum, either average costs and above-average production or average production and belowaverage costs. • Systems four and five – are good at diluting their higher fixed costs. They achieve high production and farm income to do that. • If they have scale they use it to their advantage. • They make best use of all the resources available to them – support block is well utilised. • Pay attention to the right details but doesn’t sweat the small stuff. • Have people in their businesses who complement their skills. • Respect their team. • Create a positive work environment.

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2,000

Operating Profit per hectare

Milksolids/ha

2,500

Waikato

1,600 1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0

Northland

Milksolids per hectare

Dairy Operating Profit $ /ha

ENVIRONMENT │ PLANTINGS Gary and Adrienne Dalton with seedlings raised at the Tui Glen nursery they lease in Pukekohe.

Taking a holistic approach Setting up a trust to help welfare-dependent people into the workforce is a win-win for a north Waikato couple. Glenys Christian reports.

hen Miranda dairy farmers, Gary and Adrienne Dalton see a need they don’t leave finding a solution up to someone else. This determination saw them set up Te Whangai Trust 11 years ago to take on the challenge of getting welfare-dependent people back into the full-time workforce. Its activities now involve four different nursery operations which grow more than 600,000 seedlings a year, employing 25 staff. More than 50 trainees pass through every year with a further six to eight working on the Daltons’ farm, learning all they can about dairying. Their unswerving belief that everyone has something to offer society contributed to them receiving the Hill Laboratories Harvest Award in the Auckland Ballance Farm Environment Awards, with the judges saying the trust had a real focus on creating community good. The trust operates to meet quadruple-

bottom-line goals, measuring economic, social, environmental and cultural returns Miranda “We take a holistic approach because communities are facing social issues such as our appalling suicide rate, which the Government can’t fix,” Gary says. “It’s a win/win because people are being taught life skills and we’re using a latent resource for the betterment of society.” Gary’s family has a long history in the Miranda area, farming there since 1868. He and Adrienne, who have been married for 47 years, bought another 60 hectare dairy farm in the 1980s, running 150 cows. They then took on another neighbouring block which had been owned by Landcorp to expand their operation to 270ha. “It was really boney country where the

trees had been cut down and ragwort had taken over,” Adrienne says. Despite the fact it was only fenced into four paddocks they could see the benefits of developing it to use as a support block which means they now have 250 effective hectares. They graze 200 cows which are milked through a basic 16-aside dairy, producing 60,000kg milksolids a year. About 100 bulls are also run. When Fonterra’s Clean Streams Accord was agreed on they realised they would need to carry out a lot of re-fencing and riparian planting around the three streams on the property. Task Force Green workers came on to the farm to carry out some of the work, a number of them direct from Waikeria Prison. And Adrienne, who has been a Justice of the Peace for more than 30 years, as well as being a former special needs adviser, could see there was a lot to

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Gary and Adrienne Dalton with son Marc, who manages their Miranda dairy farm. Trays of seedlings at Tui Glen Nursery ready to be planted out.

be done to build their self-esteem which required dealing with a range of personal problems. They worked with Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) to find permanent jobs for the workers with their positions quickly being “backfilled” by Task Force Green. In 2007 they set up Te Whangai Trust, honouring the memory of their daughter Leigh, who died in the accident the previous year. “The trust’s all about her environmental push,” Gary says. “She was about 50 years ahead of herself in her thinking so we set the trust up

based on her principles and things have blossomed since.” Their idea was to have self-supporting enterprises where people still on the unemployment benefit could contribute and feel part of a community. “We’re growing plants and grounding people,” he says. “They have to turn up four days a week. They can interact with others and become team leaders and that really brings them out of themselves.” The Te Whangai Trust is a registered charity and social and environmental enterprise, operating as a pilot programme established in partnership with the

Living Waters Gary and Adrienne Dalton are deeply involved in the Living Water Pukorokoro/Miranda catchment initiatives right on their doorstep in the Firth of Thames/Tikapa Moana. This catchment flows into an internationally significant 8500ha coastal wetland that’s protected under the Ramsar Convention, and is also one of the country’s most important coastal ecosystems, giving many opportunities to improve biodiversity. It’s home to around 40 different migratory birds and features one of the world’s finest examples of a rare coastal landform, a plain made up of a series of ridges formed from marine shells. Te Whangai Trust environmental manager, John Walters, who is the Daltons’ son-in-law, has used their property for an in-depth study of local dairy farming practices. This will be incorporated into a programme to encourage dairy farmer collaboration to get the best environmental outcomes for the Western Firth Catchment Group, made up of the Miranda/ Pukorokoro, Kaiaua and Waitakaruru/Mangatarata catchments. Onfarm work is already underway to develop farm biodiversity plans and support restoration activities around stream beds and riparian margins. “It’s a whole-of-catchment responsibility not just that of one farmer because of something that’s happening on their land,” Gary says. “We are better together rather than being divided.” Living Water is a 10-year, $20 million partnership between Fonterra and the Department of Conservation (DoC) who are working together to improve biodiversity and water quality across the country. Its teams are focusing on four other sensitive catchments as well; the Hikurangi catchment bordering Kaipara Harbour, Waikato peat lakes Areare, Ruatuna and Rotomanuka, Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere in Canterbury and the Waituna catchment in Southland. They aim to improve biodiversity and water quality at the catchments where intensive dairying exists through engaging with local communities. Projects include pest and weed control and riparian restoration that benefit freshwater and coastal environments and show sustainable dairying can be part of healthy functioning ecosystems.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Ministry of Social Development, which is designed to be replicated throughout the country. As well as mentoring 50 at-risk people through a structured and safe workplace, it provides them with life and work skills as well as educational opportunities.

‘It’s a win/win because people are being taught life skills and we’re using a latent resource for the betterment of society.’

New Zealand Steel, which operates the Glenbrook steel mill south-west of Auckland, was the trust’s first corporate partner and that led to establishment of a nursery on land adjacent to its factory. Here trust staff train the nursery workers in plant propagation and planting techniques while they undertake New Zealand Qualification Authority (NZQA) qualifications. With increased skills, training, selfesteem and experience of employer expectations they then find it easier to move into employment in the commercial sector. More than 600 people have participated in Te Whangai’s programme with two more nurseries established, one on their dairy farm. Adrienne admitts it was hard at first to fit the new enterprise in with dairying operations, with Gary sometimes disappearing from the dairy to the nursery at short notice. But three years ago they went a step further and set up a sharemilking arrangement whereby 69

Te Whangai receives 60% of the farm earnings, while they get 40%. Their son Marc oversees both the dairy farm and the nursery infrastructure and the trust employs a farm manager and 2IC who train between six and eight workers every year, who all live onfarm. All ages are employed so workers get used to the idea of dealing with people across the generations. They work four days on and two days off to get them used to the system. Part of that is the discipline of their families realising they will be unavailable at certain times. The Daltons are transitioning to winter milking in order to give workers a better chance of experiencing a calving and also moving to more biological farming practices to train them in minimising use of chemicals. “It’s very much a learning process,” Gary says. “It’s all about being proactive and where there’s an issue we deal with it as a team management issue.” Because mistakes are made they keep systems simple and don’t use any motorbikes onfarm because of the accident risk. “We don’t do a lot of theory. It’s all hands-on learning,” Gary says. He estimates about half of those who enter dairy training opt out. “We give them a chance,” he says. “But they can’t hack the early mornings or the hard work.” However, there have been a number of success stories with trainees going on to work in other dairying operations with their new bosses being pleasantly surprised at the amount of knowledge they’d acquired in areas such as pasture metering.

Gary and Adrienne Dalton in front of one of the glasshouses at the Pukekohe nursery they lease.

Advancing social procurement The Daltons leased Tui Glen Nursery near Pukekohe two years ago, encouraging other groups to use the facilities there at no cost. Using this model of a business hosting a business enables them to take care of yet another sector of the community which would otherwise miss out (see box). More than one million seedlings have been raised at the three nursery sites but recently the Daltons set up another hub at Wesley Intermediate in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill to advance Auckland Council’s social procurement policy. “Ratepayers need to pay for trees and that can mean jobs for people who don’t have jobs,” Gary says. “Profit is about getting people back into work.” But they aren’t stopping there – their 10year plan is to have seven sites taking care of 12.5% of the Franklin area’s long-term unemployed until jobs can be found for them. “We like to get them into jobs where they are really taken under the employer’s wings,” he says. “Once they get used to employment discipline and if they are managed properly the employer will get results. They need a safe place where they know they belong and someone is watching their back.” Individual employees are matched to a position and an industry the Daltons believe will be suitable for them. They then go through a process to make sure they are safe to employ, with the trust putting together management strategies so there are no surprises on either side. Aftercare is provided for 18 months with the trust being engaged with both worker and employer. “Social success is one member of the family bringing another one in to the trust,” he says. “The workers are so willing as they’ve had no hope and nothing to do. They want to help and they deserve a chance. Everyone deserves an opportunity to be included.” The Daltons say they are humbled by what some of the trainees are able to achieve and the support they are getting from a range of corporates. For example Microsoft is helping out with the development of an app which Gary says will allow trainees to measure their own progress. “They are following their own journey and the power is in their hands.” And there have been many donations of discounted supplies or payment for them

Jess Griffin and Elese Atkins.

Blooming One of the organisations benefitting from the Te Whangai Trust’s generosity in letting community groups use its nursery facilities is Bloom. The Pukekohe group working with around 20 youth with learning disabilities has been given space in a reskinned glasshouse at the Tui Glen Nursery it leases. Collected seeds are grown and planted ready for sale at markets in the town, giving them more horticultural knowledge as well as community interaction. It will open to the public later in the year with the aim of attracting more community involvement and raising funds so more people can become involved. The hope is that it will then be able to give some profits back to Te Whangai as well as making some plants available to shoppers. One of Bloom’s regular attendees is Elese Atkins who has completed Level 1 and 2 horticulture courses at the Manukau Institute of Technology as well as a barista course. She dreams of one day running a shop and is looking forward by the end of year to taking an order for her first cup of coffee. to attend collaboration courses to further their work. Their latest trial involves farmers being able to use their Farm Source card to buy plants which Te Whangai workers will come and plant on their property. Sometimes they admit they have wondered how they will carry on, but usually within half an hour there’s a phone call with an offer of help or a cheque arrives in the mail that restores their optimism. “If you do the right thing for the right reason the right thing will happen.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

ENVIRONMENT │ ECOLOGICALLY SPEAKING

Catch a good feeling – build a wetland Alison Dewes

The wet season has shown all of us the super boggy places on our farms. What a great year to work out where all the flow paths go. Many of these are called ephemeral streams –where the water flows across the land in rapid rainfall events and when the soil is saturated. Where water collects, is likely an old wetland. These make up a huge network of arteries that feed the more substantial drains and streams. It is the collection points of water from these smaller flow paths (before reaching the waterway) that are very important to manage. More than three-quarters of the nutrient load in waterways comes from those exempted from fencing, AgResearch has found. Under water quality standards streams not wider than a stride are not required to be fenced. But “wider than a stride and deeper than a Redband” might not prove a sufficient standard if the pastoral sector is to continue to achieve water quality gains. When you look at your farm, many of these are places stock shouldn’t be anyway: they are boggy, wet, oozing water on a regular basis and in a former life were invariably a wetland. When they are at the bottom of a gully

or on a seepy hillside, it makes sense to retire them. Where stocking rates are heavy in these areas, they result in critical source areas (CSAs). When stock interact with seeps and wetlands, we get hot spots of nutrient – pathogen and sediment runoff. If these small collection points are retired into a wetland they will significantly reduce pollution and act as a kidney for runoff before it reaches a waterway.

Creation of a wetland is like building a kidney for your water runoff filtration system.

Creation of a wetland is like building a kidney for your water runoff filtration system. These areas will not be making any significant contribution to the farm economic surplus and in fact may be costing you in disease and stock losses. Retiring these areas can work well, there can be stock misadventure, and when cattle drink from them it may be doing

Identify “critical source areas” • Get a Land and Environment Plan done, or ask the regional council land advisers to help you. Some milk companies offer this service. • Understand the costs early, and be clear how much funding you are eligible for with your local council. • To get funding you will need stock-proof fencing and maintain it, there will need to be site preparation, spraying, weed and pest control and planting, then freeing up of plants as they establish. • Plants need to be ordered about 10-12 months ahead of start date, so this is a staged and planned process. • The planting rate per hectare can range from 1100-2500 plants – this drives the cost. • It is likely when you designate to retire these seeps or wetlands, you won’t need to adjust stock rate at all as they will generally be costing you through animal health misadventure and disease spread.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

more harm than good. Boggy areas cause cattle to defecate more as they can’t see where they are putting their feet. This means they can be a source of disease transfer – from cow to cow via faecal oral pathway (faeces get into contact with ingested water). Diseases like Johnes, Salmonella and Yersinia are typical bugs easily transferred this way. These seeps can also be a habitat for liver fluke. Some farms have managed these areas as part of a Johnes control programme, as it is clear avoiding this pathway between animal faeces and water sources is an important mitigation. Other farms that have gradually retired or excluded these areas have noted better animal health especially where cows depend on reticulated water supply for year-round minerals and animal health treatments. There are plenty of win-wins. You also can beautify your farm over time, most regional councils will fund this. The great thing is that you will enjoy doing it and your farm will thank you for it. My experience around New Zealand indicates this can be in a range from 25% to 75% of the total cost to retire and plant these areas. This is why farmers need financial assistance to plant. Cost is a factor of plant density. At $2/ plant 1x1 spacings = $20,000/ha whereas 3x3 spacings = $2300/ha. Use Manuka as primary cover on sidlings. If serious weeds are not a factor (if this land is in pasture) then plant at lower density and allow time to establish the wetland. At the very worst simply fencing off the CSA will provide significant benefits. Mature trees can be planted among the manuka once it is established. This reduces losses. This approach can halve the price if it is done well. So a win-win is established: for animal health, for farm asset values, and for ecological health. Most farms will have several CSAs. Once you have done one you will want to carry on – it is infectious in a good way. • Alison Dewes is a fourth-generation dairy farmer, second-generation vet and ecologist. 71

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STOCK │ ONFARM

Camera keeps the score

Matt Bartleet – Trusting in new technology in his farming business.

A body condition scoring camera is making life easier for Matamata dairy farmer Matt Bartleet. He told Sheryl Brown about the accurate technology and how it is helping his decision-making onfarm.

unning a DairyNZ System 1-2 operation with minimal supplements puts more emphasis on making a timely decision when it comes to drying off cows based on their body condition score (BCS). It’s harder to put condition on later if you push them too far, Matt Bartleet says. Using the DeLaval BCS camera has taken the job of body condition scoring off Matt’s hands and is doing an accurate job of it, he says.

“It has added value to our operation, it hasn’t changed the way I make decisions, but it’s made it easier to make them and perhaps make better decisions.” Matt and Karen Bartleet milk 690 crossbred cows on their farm five minutes out of Matamata. They supply Open Country Dairies and as such have a strong emphasis on providing milk in the shoulder periods. “If you don’t make milk in the

Key facts Owner: Matt and Karen Bartleet Location: Matamata Area: 192ha effective milking platform Runoff: 50ha Farm dairy: 40-bail rotary, DeLaval BCS Camera, Protrack EZ Heat camera ACRs, auto drafting, auto teat sprayer Cows: 690 peak crossbreds 2016/17 production: 262,000kg milksolids 2017/18 target production: 275,000kg MS (increased palm kernel) DairyNZ System: 1-2 Stocking rate: 3.5 cows/ha Pasture grown: 18t/DM/ha Crops: 15ha turnips Grass silage: 50-70ha Pasture grown: 18t DM/ha

shoulders for Open Country you don’t make the money.” As a spring-calving operation they will Matamata never compete with a split-calving set up, which means that being able to milk cows into the winter months for as long as possible before drying them off adds to their cash flow. It is a balancing act to get the extra milk in the vat and ensuring that cow is in a good nick for calving and mating later in the season. “As a System 1.5 I know what I can achieve, we can’t just turn a feed dial later on.” Matt and Karen bought a farm at Matamata next door to Matt’s 130-year family dairy farm, which they have also since purchased, combining the two farms into a 192ha effective milking platform. When they combined the operations they needed a bigger farm dairy and bought a second-hand rotary platform and transported it via crane to their farm. They had contracted some automation technology to install at the same time, but when the payout dropped significantly they had to make concessions. With a recovery in the milk price, Matt trialled the DeLaval BCS camera last year and is going to buy it because he has seen the value of the technology. “I was really interest in the technology of it. There are really critical points when I will score the herd, June 1 through, the start of calving and then a few weeks before mating. From March 1 all cows are dried off based on BCS. “With the camera, I started out still doing my own scoring, but I soon realised

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

‘With the camera, I started out still doing my own scoring, but I soon realised there was no point. The technology was accurate.’

The DeLaval BCS Camera is making it easier to make decisions based on cow condition.

there was no point. The technology was accurate.” The camera takes a 3D image of each cow’s lower back every time they pass under the camera in the out race, and farmers can see graphs of individual animals, groups or the entire herd with the DeLaval DelPro Farm Manager or LIC’s MINDA management system. Matt says he quickly learnt to not look at the snapshot BCS of a cow from any certain day, but instead study the weekly trend. “The trend over a week is excellent. I look at trends of who is losing condition or gaining condition.” Matt and Karen are part of the LIC Sire Proving Scheme the heifers were weighed and condition score and the scores were very similar to the camera results. “It gives you more confidence. I find

myself confident scoring in the 3.9 to 5 band, anything below or above that I can get a bit hazy probably because I don’t see enough of it and the camera is much better at it. “It gives me confidence to dry cows off based on the number of days it will take them to put on enough weight before calving.” Matt has also installed a Protrack EZ Heat camera, which sits alongside the DeLaval camera to identify standing heats by reading EZ Heat patches. They typically do 5-6 weeks of Artificial Insemination and then use bulls until 20 December. “I’m a minimal intervention, apart from the vets metric checking the cows, I don’t use drugs or CIDRs.” The herd had an 8% empty rate last year after a pretty difficult season, Matt says. This year has been going more smoothly with a 88% submission rate after 22 days when the Dairy Exporter visited. Before mating Matt will usually draft out a lower BCS mob which includes mostly heifers and younger cows. It’s important to be able to separate those at-risk cows before critical periods like calving and mating does help to make sure they are in good condition. “The first couple of days all they did was sleep – I think they used up a lot of energy by spending all of the day avoiding being hen-picked by other cows. “The reality is they don’t get fed anymore they just get the chance to eat what is being offered to them.” Matt typically runs a two herd operation, but says it would be ideal to run more mobs all year round to balance out cows to suit their social behaviour, but it becomes more challenging to manage. Matt aims to keep to a DairyNZ System 1 as much as possible, but does buy in up to one tonne per cow of palm kernel if the price is right and the payout reflects added profit. “If I buy in supplement it has to be able to stack up. Last season the milk price was high and the palm kernel contract price was low – it was an easy choice.” Matt, a former Ballance fertiliser rep, went sharemilking 20 years ago. He and Karen bought into their first equity partnership in a farm at Manawaru before buying their first 70ha farm outright at Wardville. At Wardville they milked 300 Jerseys at more than four cows/ha in a DairyNZ System 1 operation. At Matamata Matt has decreased the

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

stocking rate from 3.5 and wants to bring it down to between 3 and 3.3 cows/ha. “We are trying to do better production per cow. What has changed is my outlook to environmental compliance, and learning how to do better per cow knowing there is less tolerance with N leaching.” In the past with his high stocking rate he usually put his cows on once-a-day from late December, but declining stocking rates and supplying Open Country has made that more difficult to make work, he says. The changes in philosophies in the dairy industry is changing outcomes and farmers have to adjust and learn with it, he says. Matt has continued to do some contract work for Ballance and was involved in doing nutrient management plans for other farmers. On his own block he prefers to use highanalysis products so he can spread it with the tractor or motorbike spreaders, such as DAP and SOA. He bases all his fertiliser spend on biennial soil test results. He typically puts lime on a third of the farm every year at 2.5t/ha. The farm is mostly Waihou sandy loam soil, with half being higher sand levels and the other half lower sandy silt. “It’s complimentary. This spring I’ve had a two-stage farm, one half the balance date was August 20, but the other half was more like October 10. “This farm is generally strong growing over winter and we have been able to milk the later-calving cows all winter for the last two years which suits our system.” As farm owners their time is being more and more sucked up by compliance and paperwork. Matt’s goal is to be able to step back from more of the onfarm role. Matt and Karen employ three fulltime staff on a six-on three-off roster or sevenon two-off depending on the time of year. Having reliable tools in place such as the BCS camera makes it easier to pass the responsibility of important onfarm decisions over to those staff and having the data available will make it easier to still oversee those decisions from off farm, Matt says. “It will give me the security around the decisions being made.” It’s still important staff are given the skills and tools to body condition score cows on their own, Matt says. Sheryl Brown sheryl.brown@nzfarmlife.co.nz @sherylbrownnz 75

STOCK │ ONFARM Tom and Fran Bennett, left, with Fran’s parents Linda and Geoff Deane.

All for the love of cows Alongside the complexities and challenges facing dairy farmers, having a passion for working with cows makes it a lot easier to bear. Mother and daughter Linda and Fran name every one of their Holstein Friesians. They told Sheryl Brown about the love they have for their cows.

inda Deane has always had a love for black and white cows. When she was 12 her father would drop her at the Kopu saleyards with $2 in her pocket to buy a pie for lunch and instructions to buy Jerseys, but she usually brought home Holstein Friesians. “I just had an obsession for black and white cows. I used to name them all and brush them. I was the mad farm girl.” Visiting the Auckland Royal Easter Show with her parents as a young girl she was never interested in going on the rides. “I only wanted to watch the cows.” Linda grew up on her parents’ farm at Omahu, where her father milked 50 cows.

careers advisor and told her I wanted Her mother didn’t have work on the farm to be a dairy farmer. and her father didn’t love the cows – it She told me off and said if I was a job he did because his father had Tahuna didn’t have anything relevant been a farmer. to say I could leave. I told her But the passion for cows was instant for again I wanted to be a farmer and Linda. Farming also seemed to provide she kicked me out.” a good life. Not deterred, Linda left school and The neighbours had a nice dairy trained as a registered nurse at Thames farm and they seemed to be better Hospital but her first love was still with the off, their kids always had nice cows, so with her now husband Geoff they clothes and school bags, bought a herd of Holstein Friesians and Linda remembers. went sharemilking. By the time she turned The couple later bought their 14 she had made up her 100-cow farm at Waikino when their mind – she wanted to be a first daughter Jessica was 18 months old. dairy farmer. “I wanted a farm where I could have my “At school I remember going to see the

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Fran and Tom with their award winning Holstein Friesian Cleo.

Key facts Owners: Geoff and Linda Deane Lower-order sharemilkers: Tom and Francesca Bennett Location: Tahuna, Morrinsville Area: 140ha, 125ha effective Runoff: 15ha Cows: 280 Holstein Friesians, split calve autumn and spring Production: 140,000kg MS Supplement: 16ha maize grown on runoff and on farm, 150t grass silage, 200t palm kernel, 80t DDG, 80t meal Stocking rate: 2 cows/ha DairyNZ System: 3

‘They live and breathe what you do, they get a grounding and they can appreciate a good day and a bad day with you.’ kids and still be out on the farm,” Linda says. All four children, Jessica, Gabrielle, Francesca and Alexander, were born there, before they bought their current farm at Tahuna where they could be closer to Hamilton and have access to good schools. One of the privileges of being a farmer has been the opportunity to include her children in the work onfarm and give them the experience of working with animals, Linda says. “They live and breathe what you do, they get a grounding and they can appreciate a good day and a bad day with you.” As a girl Linda was never allowed to take calves to calf club, so being able to share that with her children has been a highlight. “I’ve been lucky with my kids, they’ve all enjoyed calf club and then the A&P shows. Calf club was always a great family day out – we would take a bacon and egg pie and have a picnic. It’s a great way to involve the children in what you do.”

Next generation Linda and Geoff’s youngest daughter Francesca and her husband Tom are now lower-order sharemilking on the home farm, with Fran sharing her mother’s

passion for Holstein Friesian cows. Fran always loved working on the farm and particularly calf club and remembers being upset when she finished primary school and had to go to high school with no calf club competition to look forward to. That was when she started taking calves and cows to A&P shows. It’s a hobby she’s continued with vigour. Fran always knew she wanted to be a farmer. After school she studied for a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at Massey University. When she finished her degree she worked on a farm at Ngahinapouri for a year where she met Tom, who got a job on the same farm while he was in New Zealand on his OE. Fran then won a Semex Holstein Friesian scholarship to visit Canada for three months. Tom is originally off a drystock farm in Devon, England, where he used to show sheep and beef cattle. The couple travelled back to England to work for two years, where Fran got a farm consultancy job, before returning to Fran’s family farm three years ago. “We knew our best hope to go farming on our own was to come back to NZ,” Tom says. They managed the farm for six months initially and have been lower-order sharemilkers for the last three seasons

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

with the goal of going 50:50 sharemilking within the next couple of years. For now, mother and daughter are farming alongside each other and enjoying their cows. “The cows are your extended family – I know their mothers, their daughters, where they were born. We have cow families with fifth and sixth generations in the herd,” Linda says. “All our cows have names – many of them are named after events they were born, like Storm and Hailstorm or Snaggle Tooth got her name because she used to consistently bite Fran when she was teaching her to drink. They all have their own characteristics and personalities.”

Show girls Breeding 700kg-plus Holstein Friesians means their operation is focused on maximising per-cow production with a low stocking rate. They run at a stocking rate just over two cows/ha on their clay soil. “Holstein Friesians have a great temperament – they’re easy to work with and milk really well,” Fran says. “You definitely can’t run as many as Jerseys or crossbreds, but you don’t expect to run as many. If you are willing to feed them and push them along you’ve 77

got the potential to do the production so you don’t need as many of them.” Tom and Fran are focused on breeding a good functional cow to stay in the herd for 12+ years, with udders that last and fewer lameness issues. “We are using 100% overseas genetics across the herd mostly from North America and Canada. “For our show cows we use more high-type bulls with better conformation, whereas the main herd we use more commercial bulls, which are a little bit smaller, focusing on key traits like production, confirmation and fertility.” Fran and Tom are slowly building up their herd, having flushed 34 embryos from six of the top herd cows this year. They bought a junior yearling last year whose dam won the national mature onfarm competition for $9000. The plan is to breed some full sisters and sell them, but it’s more a passion than a financial investment, Fran says. Fran’s 21st present was Tronnoco Talent Carla ET, who won Holstein Intermediate Champion at the Royal Show in 2011. Carla’s daughter Te Hau Windbrook Cleo ET has won All breeds Reserve

Fran, Linda and one of their pups Pearl.

Intermediate Champion NZDE (New Zealand Dairy Event) 2017 and the All NZ junior cow HFNZ (Holstein Frisian New Zealand) photo competition 2017. Cleo also won first place two-year-old National Semex onfarm competition 2017 and 2017 Broomfield competition recipient, a prize awarded to the top twoyear-old in-milk heifer based on TOP scores, protein BV and heifer ownership.

“We are so proud of these achievements and are planning on taking the girls to Waikato Show this year to celebrate their 125 years, NZDE 2018 and also the Royal Easter show in April to finally fulfil mum’s dream to be able to exhibit there,” Fran says. Sheryl Brown sheryl.brown@nzfarmlife.co.nz @sherylbrownnz

Proud of your plants? NIWA is doing a nationwide survey, supported by DairyNZ, to discover what makes the best riparian projects. We want to know about as many riparian projects as possible – where they are located and a few other details. Help us give you the knowledge to make the best riparian management decision possible by taking our short survey at: riparian.niwa.co.nz 78

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

STOCK │ VET VOICE

DAIRY FARMING: do Kiwis or Scots do it better? Katie Mason

A recent move to Scotland has prompted me to reflect on 12 years of dairy vetting in New Zealand and how the systems and farming practices differ from those in Scotland. The Scottish dairy cow population is relatively small, 176,000 cows out of the total 1.9 million in the United Kingdom, compared with NZ’s almost 5 million. Herd sizes in the UK and Scotland are also smaller, 133 and 192 cows respectively, compared with NZ herds of 420. The emerging Asian middle class has led to a significant rise in trade of NZ milk powder and liquid milk. NZ exports 95% of its dairy production, and produces around 20 million tonnes of liquid milk, but in the UK many farmers have direct contracts with supermarkets to supply local consumption as only 3% is exported. Despite excellent milk-producing credentials (14 million tonnes) the UK has the second-largest net dairy deficit in the world, behind China. This deficit is largely driven by cheese imports and significant quantities of infant formula, butter, yoghurts and buttermilk. NZ dairy farming is held in high regard globally. We have a perceived ‘clean, green’ ethos and our happy cows live outside and munch fresh grass year round. We also run a subsidy-free farming industry and there is a concerted effort to attract young, business-minded farmers to dairy farming. The average age of Kiwi dairy farmers is about 16 years younger than their UK counterparts, in part due to a strong reliance on migrant workers in NZ. UK dairy farms operate within a very complex subsidy system, more recently simplified into the ‘single farm payment’. Subsidies were originally a political ploy to secure food production by encouraging farmers to increase production and the ‘basic farm payment’ was an attempt to pay farmers on measures such as environmental sustainability and animal welfare, uncoupling subsidies from production per se. A spate of low farmgate prices and a perceived ‘unfair’ price for produce means many UK farms would ostensibly not survive without government support. UK dairy production is measured in litres of milk produced and the average UK dairy cow produces something in the order

Cubicle housing on a Scottish dairy farm.

of 7200 litres a year. NZ dairy cows each produce 4200 litres a year. Milk prices, depending on contract, hover around 30p per litre, about $6.40/kg milksolids (MS) equivalent. Despite the milk price being comparable on a kg/MS basis, the land price for dairy farms in NZ is almost three times higher than in Scotland, making successful succession planning problematic for many NZ family farms. The seasonality of the NZ system is hugely beneficial. This lends itself to the ‘plan, do, review’ process and drives constant improvement. Conversely, allyear-round calving in the UK makes it more challenging to follow a ‘plan, do, review’ process. This in turn makes it more challenging to measure parameters and make changes to improve farm management. NZ farmers are more receptive to preventive veterinary advice and more likely to benchmark themselves locally, regionally and nationally. The influence of DairyNZ-led initiatives such as InCalf, championed by local veterinarians, has accustomed many Kiwi farmers to consultative advice and a mindset of planning for improvement. While dairy herd health planning does exist in Scotland, it is not industry-driven. Supermarkets develop their own plans and requirements resulting in a fragmented approach. There is a strong emphasis on individual cow medicine, in particular high-value animals. Housed dairy cows inevitably result in a more-substantial environmental footprint, but effluent management systems are far superior and subject to more-stringent rules in the UK. Sustainability of farming

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

systems in Katie Mason NZ, with particular respect to water quality management are continually improving, but the UK is definitely ahead of the game, driven by EU rules. It may be assumed housed animals have less opportunity to display natural grazing behaviour and so their welfare is compromised. On the flip side animals indoors may be more closely observed allowing for improved stockmanship. They are certainly more prone to lameness and particular foot conditions from time spent standing in manure. Despite cows being pasture-based in NZ, many farmers manage their cows well and are in tune with their animals. The question of how many NZ cows would benefit from adequate shelter from sun in the summer and wind and rain in the winter is being answered by many NZ farmers erecting herd shelters. In both NZ and Scotland there is a spectrum of successful farming businesses and others who would do better to get out of farming. There are farmers who are benchmarking themselves in a cycle of continual improvement and those that would rather not. All farmers face similar issues of cost of production, questionable returns on investment and relatively high labour costs, but farming is a lifestyle choice for many and many make it work to their advantage. 79

ONFARM

Moving

south After six years dairying Southland Jess Goodwright is leading the local Dairy Women’s Network. Karen Trebilcock reports.

eing shoulder-tapped for a voluntary role is one of the best things that has happened to southern dairy farmer Jess Goodwright. She and her young family moved six years ago to a dairy farm between Invercargill and Riverton from Otaua in North Waikato and after about a year she started going to Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) events. “I needed to get off the farm and meet people. We didn’t know a lot of people down here.” Katrina Thomas wanted someone to be a DWN co-convener for the area with her and she asked Jess if she wanted to do it. Three years later she is now the DWN Central Southland Regional Group leader and loving it. “There is lots of young people dairying down here and everyone wants to learn and share ideas. “We’re also pretty social. No one wants to be stuck onfarm so we do a lot of things together and that side of it is just as important,” she says.

“I remember when I first came down here I was at the supermarket and someone called out my name and I didn’t turn around because I knew it wasn’t me, but it was. That feeling that I had bumped into someone who knew me was great so we really try to get people together so no one has that feeling of isolation.” A calf-rearing day she organised this year had about 60 people attend and it was supported by the DWN partners ASB, LIC, Ballance, Riverton SealesWinslow, Deosan , Crowe Horwath, Xero, Primary ITO, CashManager Rural, Meridian, Figured, Allflex, Fonterra, DairyNZ and MSD. “All our partners are amazing and are always offering us speakers and any support we need. Making sure we run to time is usually my biggest problem because everyone wants to talk and learn more.” Jess also goes to DWN annual national conferences and other training and events including this year two days of DWN

training at the Fonterra headquarters on the Auckland Viaduct. “It was such an informative few days. We had great speakers and we learnt so much and got taken on a tour through the building and found out more about Fonterra. I wouldn’t have been there if I wasn’t part of DWN. “And it’s amazing the people you meet. The networking is great and the people are so inspirational, so passionate about dairying. “You end up sitting next to industry leaders and meeting them for the first time and getting to know them. “Being part of the DWN Southern Regional Hub is a real honour. You work with such a supportive team of amazing ladies. We were all honoured to see Katrina winning the Dairy Community Leadership Award at conference this year. The emotions that our team felt for her when she won made us all feel like we are part of a family.” The DWN modules which were on a variety of topics and held throughout the

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

‘Before the payout started to go down we decided to winter at home and to cut numbers from 1000 to 800. Then when it really went down the following year we were okay.’

Jess Goodwright with the kids (from left) Austin (1), Olivia (6) and Lilly (8) in the calf shed.

country were great to organise, she says. “They may sound a bit scary to farmers because you’re coming to an event to learn something but it’s not like going back to school. It’s really friendly and everyone shares their knowledge plus we always make sure we have great food. “At one of them last year a husband dropped off his wife and we encouraged him to stay, or at least come for the lunch and stay for the afternoon. And he did. The next time we had one he stayed for the whole day.” Jess and her husband Lyall contract milk 800 cows for a family friend and are progressing towards buying a third family farm. The extended family already owns two dairy farms in Southland, one next door and the other in Tuatapere which Lyall’s two brothers manage. They moved down after Lyall’s parents sold the family dairy farm in North Waikato and decided Southland was where they

could expand their business and help each son into their own dairy farm. “Lyall’s parents are still very much involved on the three farms and without their ongoing support we all wouldn’t be able to have the dream of owning a farm,” Jess says. When the dairy downturn hit, the family had already made the tough decisions and were ready. “Before the payout started to go down we decided to winter at home and to cut numbers from 1000 to 800,” she says. “Then when it really went down the following year we were okay.” Wintering at home and reducing the herd size to do it made sense and not just economically. Instead of having to travel to Te Anau regularly to winter the cows, they were on the platform grazing fodder beet. And the reduced numbers took the stress off the couple and their staff. “Calving 800 cows is so much easier than 1000. It’s only 200 animals but it seems a

Lilly (8) helps mum Jess Goodwright with an unruly new calf.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

lot more when there are that fewer calves to pick up in the paddock, and fewer calves to get used to the feeders. “We have a great team that works with us on farm, some have been with us for years and we consider them all a huge part of our lives. Without them we couldn’t do what we do.” Jess rears the calves, including the 200 to 250 replacements, and helps out on the farm as needed, milking, shifting stock and setting up breaks. She also does the paperwork and looks after their farm-mad kids Lilly (8), Olivia (6) and Austin (1). “When they’re not at school they go with us everywhere, do everything with us. They love it. It’s such a great way to bring up kids.” As well, she also works for DairyNZ DairyBase and is finishing a diploma in Agribusiness with Primary ITO. “Working for DairyNZ is another great opportunity to be a part of the dairy industry and meeting farmers to collect data for benchmarking,” she says. “For DWN I usually do about 10 to 15 hours a month but when we are busy calving everything stops which is how you want it. Everyone is busy onfarm and no one has time to go to anything, or have me for DairyBase so it all works really well.” She doesn’t miss the muggy heat of the North Island and her side of the family has also slowly followed her to Southland with two sisters moving a few years after her and now her mum in the last year. “It was a hard decision to move so far away from family and friends but now with almost all of our immediate family here it’s a lot better. We only have to convert Lyall’s sister and a few cousins.” 81

TRAINING Words by Lynda Gray

Well hung

egging washed clothes on to a line is a simple, straightforward household chore, right? Wrong, especially if you’re afflicted by CRAP (clothesline routine and peg) disorder, a little talked about but widespread condition in millennial males. Casual observation will not immediately reveal those affected; typically these young males can and sometimes do, without repeated nagging, get washed clothes out of a machine into a washing basket and out to a clothesline. Most would regard the final step of pegging the clothes an easy done-deal but for the CRAP-afflicted the brain and associated thought processes goes AWOL at this point, resulting in some outlandish clothesline antics. Take, for example, the extreme one-armed-wallpaper manoeuvre where the said male places their right hand deep into the pocket of their jeans before attempting to peg out a washed item

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using only their left hand. At best the end result is an indistinguishable blob of clothing straddling the line with the anchor of a single peg; more usual however is a line weighed down by randomly hurled and unpegged clothes which end up on the ground, wrapped around the fence or both when an afternoon breeze takes hold. Reasoning with the CRAP-afflicted is a wasted effort. Explaining that well-hung clothing is not about how it looks but more about how it dries and that pegging to reduce the fabric layers to expose a greater surface area so that sun rays and air flow can penetrate and dry the garment in a timely and efficient way invariably falls on deaf ears. There is no known cure for CRAP disorder which appears to be brought on by a rush of oxygen to the male’s brain at precisely the wrong time leading to an apparent loss of normal dexterity and problem-solving skills. It’s a distressing condition, especially for family members forced to look on and eventually retrieve musty dank clothing items from the far corner of the lawn or out behind the dog kennels. However, repetition of clothesline activity and the following of a 101 Peg It Pointer and Code of Conduct should help alleviate the CRAP disorder and wash-day blues.

No need to get too carried away but sort dirty clothes into likewith-like heaps. Jeans and work gear in one pile; light-coloured shirts and tops in a second pile and darker-coloured shirts and tops in another. Keep woollens separate and follow the recommended washing instructions.

Get it on

Place all the similar stuff in the machine and don’t exceed the maximum load weight. Add powder or laundry liquid following the recommended dosage. A lot of laundry detergents are highly concentrated meaning only a capful, rather than a cupful is required.

Don’t walk away

The Wet and Forget man says to ‘Wok Away’ but that’s exactly what not to do with a load of washed clothing that if left for one, two, three days will be musty and fusty. Deal to it within a day and get it on the clothes line.

Be well hung

• Jeans and pants: match the inner leg seams together and peg the hems of the legs to the line with the waist hanging down. • Shirts and tops: peg by the bottom hem at the side seams. • Socks: put together in pairs and catch one corner of the pair with a peg so the socks dangle open for quicker drying • Sheets and blankets: Fold in half and clip the corners of the open ends to the clothesline. Use one or two extra clothespins in the middle if it’s sagging or is windy. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

VIEW FROM THE TOP │WINSTON

New frontier for dairy: the ageing population Leon Fung

ew Zealand dairy companies and suppliers often talk about the difficulties of doing business with China. In China, the business community may find the New Zealand business environment just as challenging. As someone with a foot in both camps, I have some perspective on the cultural commercial divide separating both countries. Over 25 years in the dairy and nutrition markets in China and NZ I have built a practical working knowledge about what works and what doesn’t, so I sincerely hope to be of some service to our dairy community here as we all grow and develop our export markets in China and beyond. I have worked for the NZ Dairy Board (now Fonterra) and the Kiwi Northland Dairy Co, as well as Tetra Pak China, Anhydro China (now SPX Flow Technology) and more recently Yashili

New Zealand Dairy Co prior to my present role as general manager of Winston Nutritional. While it is never easy conducting business in a new country with different rules, regulations and culture, NZ is in a unique position to leverage its special relationship with China, particularly around dairy and its myriad nutritional products.

From Asia to Europe, ageing populations are driving the development of new product categories to support active and healthy lifestyles.

When it comes to food and beverage, there is a marked consumer distrust in China of domestic sources for reasons everybody understands. Imported items are increasingly preferred and that trend will continue with NZ a beneficiary disproportionate to its size.

Aside from the strong consumer preference for imported food and beverage, the Chinese government has also been explicit about how the country’s nutrition needs cannot and will not be met by domestic production alone. In order to feed the population, it has implemented a core strategy of developing ‘trusted source’ producer-nation relationships in order to provide for the future. NZ is a highly trusted source in China for a wide range of agricultural produce but in dairy and dairy-related nutritional products, we have the lead status. This is an inestimable competitive advantage and one we must all seize. The pie that is China’s food and beverage market is exponentially growing and also ageing, an important point to grasp for those who manufacture products in the VMHS sector (vitamins, minerals and nutritional and herbal supplements). We all know that the rapidly growing middleclass across the world is a key demand trend for the NZ dairy sector. Even so, it is startling to realise that around 2020, the middle class are forecast to become the majority of the global population. An overwhelming majority of the new entrants – more than 88% – will live in Asia.

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An equally significant shift though is the commercial paradigm of ageing. From Asia to Europe, ageing populations are driving the development of new product categories to support active and healthy lifestyles. Demand is based around ensuring diets are supplemented correctly to manage both the general effects of ageing and to satisfy individual health and dietary needs. This demographic segment is older for longer than ever before and the desire and need for better-managed nutrition stretches from Western baby-boomers to China’s pre-one-child generation. It is a huge food segment and I believe NZ can become a world leader in this space if we are prepared to invest in and support research and development to create and manufacture new products to satisfy market demand. Age-specific dairy-based supplements will be an increasingly large category on global supermarket shelves, online and in the proliferating numbers of seniorfocused specialist retailers. This is not a fad. Dairy-based supplements offer high protein with broader nutritional advantages than other age-related nutritional supplements.

Winston Nutritional’s factory in Mt Wellington, Auckland.

Consumer feedback shows a clear preference to abandon the ‘pill-popping’ aspect of many VMHS products, while the flavour and experience of something that is food, not medicine, is also driving consumer demand. At Winston Nutritional, we have invested heavily in research and development, and innovation and product development is a core function of our operations at our headquarters at Mt Wellington, Auckland. We are also committed to partnering

with suppliers, producers and exporters in raising the bar on what the NZ dairy sector can achieve in these rapidly growing mass market sectors. I am a proud New Zealander and I’m looking forward to producing innovative NZ nutritional products for a global audience. • Leon Fung is general manager of Winston Nutritional, a new innovative manufacturer and exporter of dairy products and nutritional foods.

Buying or selling livestock? Forward contracts available for 100kg Friesian bulls, heifers and x-bred heifers Andrew Leggett: 022 038 3216 leggett@progressivelivestock.co.nz Luke McBride: 027 304 0533 luke@progressivelivestock.co.nz

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

RESEARCH WRAP │ SOUTHERN DAIRY HUB

SMART SYSTEM = peace of mind Karen Trebilcock ak.trebilcock@xtra.co.nz @KT_at_Exporter For the Southern Dairy Hub farm manager Jason Phillips, the Yardmaster HALO effluent system means peace of mind. On his smart phone, or from a tablet at the dairy, he can see exactly what the system is doing, stop it, start it or change it. “As well, it sends me text alerts, which just come through as normal texts, telling me if there is a problem.” But just because the information is on his phone, he can still get a sleep-in or take days off farm. If he doesn’t reply to the texts, HALO then sends the same alert to the next person on the team and so on until the problem is fixed. And at the main pump by the effluent pond, where everyone can see it, a green light means all is well. A red light shows something is wrong. The Yardmaster HALO system was installed when the farm was converted and has run from day one of milking this spring, Southern Dairy Hub business manager Guy Michaels said. “We’re pretty happy with it especially as it means no more scraping the yard and hauling around heavy high-pressure hoses to clean up after the cows every milking,” he said. A scraper on the bottom of the circular yard’s backing gate, and jets which pour green water on as well, keep everything clean. “We’re really busy on this farm so time is valuable. Not having to have someone take half an hour at least to clean the yard is a big saving for us,” Jason said. And because the Yardmaster HALO system uses green water, direct from the

effluent pond, there is a saving in water too. “The green water is not allowed to go into the dairy, it’s just to clean the yard. We do have a yard hose as well, in case we need it, and that is clean water because someone has to handle the hose. That’s the regulations.” System installer WaterForce’s Tim Campbell said the Southern Dairy Hub was saving 40,000 litres freshwater each day by using green water to wash the yard. The readings from flow meters on the bores are also reported on the cloud-based HALO dashboard, showing how much the cows are drinking each day and if the usage spikes, Jason said, he will know to go looking for water leaks. “If the yard wash was using the same water it would be harder to tell that. It could be just someone taking longer to wash the yard.” From the yard, effluent goes into one of two weeping walls. “We’ve got two so they can be cleaning one out while still using the other,” Tim said. The ponds have gravel on top of 300mm of clay which is on top of a non-permeable liner. “The gravel layer is there so the digger driver, when cleaning out the ponds, knows they’re at the bottom when they bring up gravel. That way, hopefully the clay walls won’t be damaged.” Monitors in the ground make sure the ponds are not leaching to groundwater. The weeping walls are made out of treated timber with slots of 4mm. With the solids removed, the effluent is pumped to the 3.5-metre-deep main pond

Standing in front of the Southern Dairy Hub’s twin weeping wall ponds are (from left) Yardmaster South Island rep Angus McLean, WaterForce designer Tim Campbell and Southern Dairy Hub business manager Guy Michaels.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

A green light on Halo at the effluent pond means all is well.

which can hold 6.4 million litres, more than 100 days of storage for the 850 cows. But it’s stored there to be used, either circulated back to the dairy yard for the green water wash or to the Southern Dairy Hub’s two travelling irrigators which are also both part of the Yardmaster HALO system. Yardmaster’s representative in the south, Angus McLean said both irrigators had GPS units on them. “With the GPS units and the flow meters, proof of placement is recorded in real time and stored in the cloud,” he said. “Part of the system design was also installing the Yardmaster multi-stage pump which, with HALO, can be used for differing flows and pressures meaning the same pump can be used for the backing gate or the travelling irrigators. “As well there is the ability via HALO to remotely monitor pond levels and available free board as well as the irrigator location and travel speed. “If anything strays out of parameter for a determined time, the system shuts off before any environmental damage can occur.” The system also monitors milk temperature and valve position to ensure milk is kept at optimum temperature levels. “It makes compliance very easy. We have all the records showing how much effluent we put on when at what rate and the spread,” Jason said. “And the information is not just for Environment Southland and Fonterra for compliance, it’s also for us. “We can look at the nutrient loading in the paddock on the 140ha used for effluent and use the information for when we put fertiliser on. “Nothing is guesswork anymore.” Moisture probes in the soil show when effluent can safely be applied without affecting groundwater and the farm’s weather station monitors wind direction and speed. Again all this is reported through the smart devices as part of the HALO dashboard.

FARM GEAR â&#x201D;&#x201A; VAT INSULATION Photo supplied by Dairycool. When electricity charges increase, the savings associated with silo insulation increase. Indoor silos are unlikely to benefit significantly from a silo wrap and the return on investment would be marginal.

DEVELOPMENT, DESIGN, COMPOSITION Early wraps were glued to the silo, so when a wrap was to be removed and fitted to another silo, it could take a day for one person to remove all the glue (a requirement by most dairy companies). Now dairy companies prohibit gluing to the silo, so modern wraps strap to the silo and are easily removed to be fitted to another silo of the same diameter. Some early silo wraps were marketed by fly-by-nighters with poorly fitting wraps that were not properly waterproofed and not vermin proof. Silos that have a refrigerated section on their lower sides also have insulation in this area, so wraps do not cover this section. Most of the heat exchange to the milk is through the wetted surface. The transfer of heat from the silo wall to air is not as high measures taken to meet the new as that from the silo wall to milk. While ith the new milk cooling regulations, does not increase peak power the air in the head space does become regulations coming in to demand, which is critical in some areas. warmer, it rises and goes out the vent at effect in June 2018, there has Where insulating the silo is enough to the top of the silo. So wrapping the top of been a lot of interest in how their sitecooling an online tool which allows assess energy savings by meet the web new milk regulations, the silofarmers cannot beto justified. to meet these requirements. EECA have on insulating silo, understanding of how much faster be chilled in an canand savean spending a considerable The wraps milk from can Dairycool and Tru-Test While many farmers will have to invest thethis on upgrading cooling systems. consist of three layers. The outer a significant amount to upgrade cooling silo.amount insulated By entering the silo size, electricity cost, and farming region, thePVC calculator will an uninsulated a milk deposit provides protection from damage systems, others will comply by display making money In saved per year,silo, electricity saved permaterial year, silo chilling time saved as a per tide mark which the CIP system cannot and the elements. The middle waterproof their existing system more efficient. This cent, estimated insulation cost, and payback time. See remove, can build up over time. This closed cell foam provides the bulk of the starts with primary cooling. But improving https://www.eecabusiness.govt.nz/tools/milk-vat-insulation-savings-calculator/ potential source of grades does not occur insulation. The inner aluminium foil acts the system with a silo insulation wrap with an insulated silo. as a vapour barrier to stop moisture getting may get some farmers across the line, be There is less heat loss of cleaning into the foam. comparatively cheap, reduce refrigeration solutions during the CIP wash, meaning There are two common silo diameters, running costs, and help to maintain milk Chart 1: Electricity savedcleaning. per annum for selected silos to for 28,000 more-effective with from wraps 4500 available both. litres capacity, quality. About 80% of New Zealand dairy based on the EECA calculator. Data selected for the Canterbury region, paying 20c/kWh. farm silos are uninsulated and silo Chart 1: Electricity saved per annum for selected silos from insulation wraps have been around for 4500 to 28,000 litres capacity, based on the EECA calculator. at least 10 years, so are they a worthy Electricity Saved PA with Silo Insulation, (kWh) for 4500 to 28,000 L Silos investment? Data selected for the Canterbury region, paying 20c/kWh. for Canterbury Region, paying 20c /kWh The obvious benefit of silo insulation is less energy required to chill and store 4500 milk. Energy Efficiency and Conservation 4000 Authority (EECA) data suggests farmers 3500 can save up to 25% of the energy used for 3000 refrigeration and speed milk chilling by up to 20% in summer months. They estimate 2500 the payback time to be between three and 2000 eight years. 1500 On a national scale, according to EECA, 1000 the uninsulated silos on NZ farms waste up to $7 million of electricity (about 3000 500 households); and emit about 4000 more 0 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, (similar to 4500 9100 14000 16000 18000 22000 24000 28000 1800 cars). Silo Volume Silo insulation, unlike some other

Wrap your vat

Electricity Saved (kWh)

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

FACTORS AFFECTING FEASIBILITY

Chart 2: Chilling time saved and payback time with silo insulation, based on the EECA calculator. Data selected for the Canterbury Chilling Time Saved and Payback Time with Silo Insulation region, paying 20c/kWh. for Canterbury Region, paying 20c/kWh

% and years

The feasibility of a silo insulation wrap is dependent on the average milk volume, silo refrigeration, milk temperature, milk 18 collection time, variable electricity price 16 and the outside air conditions. Outside 14 air conditions include the effect of shading versus direct sunlight, ambient 12 temperature, and wind speed. Chilling time saved (%) 10 Jim Miller of Millbridge Consulting Payback (years) 8 provides independent advice to dairy 6 farmers on energy requirements including 4 milk cooling. 2 “Farms on skip-a-day collection get a much bigger return on investment of a 0 4500 9100 14000 16000 18000 22000 24000 28000 jacket”, Miller says. “And wind has just as big an effect on heat transfer as average Silo Volume temperature. Somewhere like Taranaki “Farmers who have wrapped their that doesn’t have particularly high Note that the silos of 21,500 litres and silos report thatwall where refrigeration hasthe temperatures but does have a prevailingNote that greater have refrigerated wall sections, the silos of 21,500 litres and greater have refrigerated sections, and so been running for 25 totime 30%saved wind, is a case where the heat transfer can so the evidentsilos for the smaller Therepreviously trends and evident fortrends the smaller changes. is less electricity and chilling theistime on abelow hot day maintaining the by be more than people expect.” due to silos insulation, a significant proportion milk stored the level protected change.as There is less electricity and of the of chilled temperature, withaffected insulation will as the sidechilling wall refrigeration padtowhich is already insulated. Payback is not asitmuch, Because the outside air conditions and time saved due insulation, as the siloawraps are smaller andoftherefore collection time are beyond the control of significant proportion the milk ischeaper. run for a very short time if at all,” Murray Hollings of Dairycool says. “The general farm staff and can vary significantly, the stored below the level protected by the gains in cooling EECA calculator are forthe a sunny afternoon. consensus is that wrap will pay for But a financial benefit of a silo wrap can also “I believe sidethe wall refrigeration padspeed whichinis the already needPayback peak refrigeration forasthe morningitself milking when the gains not soofgreat, in two to three seasonsare in terms vary widely and be difficult to predict. lot of farms insulated. is not affected much, temperatures, less wind, and power less direct sunlight. I work normally work on saved.” Situations where a silo wrap is likely to with lower as the silo wraps are generally smaller and therefore 10% saving in chilling time over all,” Miller said. Dairycool insulation wraps range in be more beneficial include where there about is cheaper. price from $2888 for a 11,500 litre silo to marginal cooling of milk prior to entry “I believe the gains in cooling speed $3950 for a 30,000 litre large silo. Prices into the silo, hot windy days, and night or in the EECA calculator are for a sunny Meeting the NewBut Milk Cooling include fitting, and are GST exclusive. skip-a-day collection. afternoon. a lot of farmsRegulations: need peak “Farmers who are only just meeting the current milk cooling standards an extra Smaller wraps to 2000 will litresneed are made to 35 to refrigeration for the morning milking 40% more cooling capacity new regs,”order. Miller said. “You can get a gain of about when the gains are notto someet great,the with lower EECA TOOL: 10% with a jacket, but won't be to get the line. are pretty Tru-Test PolarFarmers Wraps arewho a product line close temperatures, generally lessenough wind, and less you over to meeting new regs may find theon 10% gain with fitting jacket will be enough. them, that wereaacquired by Tru-Test with For Dairy directthe sunlight. I normally work about EECA have on their web site an online its a really and over it willall,” also generally pay for itself in energy savings in four to Technology Services. 10%good savinginvestment, in chilling time tool which allows farmers to assess energy Tru-Test provide a no-obligation milk Miller says. savings by insulating the silo, and an six years'. cooling assessment service. Data loggers “Farmers who are only just meeting the understanding of how much faster milk NZ Market: record milk temperatures for four milkings, milk cooling standards will need can be chilled in an insulated silo. By On thecurrent Silo wraps are 35 supplied Newcooling Zealand by Dairycool and Tru-Test. Theyeffective are all milk made in New allowing the most cost an extra to 40%in more capacity entering the silo size, electricity cost, and Zealand, and are by the companies or their agents. cooling solution to be recommended. This to meet the fitted new regs,” herespective says. “You can farming region, the calculator will display may include fitting a polar wrap or one of get a gain of about 10% with a jacket, but money saved per year, electricity saved per Dairycool have been making wraps the agricultural hot bed of Ashburton for systems. 12 years, with the other Tru-Test milk cooling won’t be enough to get you overin the line. year, silo chilling time saved as a per cent, ones still service and of wear. Improvements in materials and polar wraps, Tru-Test provides Farmers who areinpretty close to showing meeting no signFor estimated insulation cost, and payback the earliest design the mean latest andgain are with expectedato last at least 20 years. nationwide service, with a one year newthe regs may products find the 10% time. See: make wraps isbe white or grey. While whitewarranty. should be a better with respect to Prices rangecolour from $2343 for a fitting a jacket will enough. For them, www.eecabusiness.govt.nz/tools/milk-Dairycool reflecting radiation, some customers wrap is less evident on the silo. 3400the litre vat to $4279 for a 30,000 litre it’s solar a really good investment and it willprefer that vat-insulation-savings-calculator Dairycool nation wide, with a turn around time five prices days. include freight and silo.of These alsosupply generally pay for itself in energy fitting and are GST exclusive. savings in four to six years’. Tru-Test farm trials monitored chiller Silo wraps are supplied in NZ by running times for a 16,000 litre silo with Dairycool and Tru-Test. They are all made and without a Tru-Test polar wrap. Average in NZ, and are fitted by the respective day ambient temperature for the trial companies or their agents. period was 18C, and tanker collection was Dairycool have been making wraps during the day. Over a 24 hour period, in the agricultural hotbed of Ashburton with the polar wrap fitted, the chiller for 12 years, with the earliest ones still ran for 109 minutes less. This equates to in service and showing no sign of wear. a savings of about $4 a day under these Improvements in materials and design conditions. During hotter periods and with mean the latest products expected to last night or skip-a-day collection, the savings at least 20 years. would be considerably greater. Dairycool make wraps in white or grey. It appears insulating milk silos is a While white should be a better colour worthwhile investment in some situations, with respect to reflecting solar radiation, with benefits beyond reducing electricity some customers prefer that the wrap is less There is a trend of increasing effectiveness of evident on the silo. costs. Each case must be judged on insulation wraps on single skinned silos with its merits. The EECA calculator is an Dairycool supply nationwide, with a increase in silo volume. (Photo: TruTest) appropriate place to start. turnaround time of five days. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

DAIRY 101 │ BOBBY CALVES

Not the waste product we are often led to believe.

Little bobby’s many end uses Karen Trebilcock ak.trebilcock@xtra.co.nz @KT_at_Exporter

y now you have probably waved goodbye to the last of your bobby calves for the season. After giving them four days (and probably more) of milk to drink, a warm and dry place to live out of the weather and as much care and love as you have time to give, they have been loaded on to a truck and their very short lives have ended. But have you ever thought about what happens to them after that? Is that really comfortable pair of calf-skin leather shoes made in Italy that you own possibly your bobby? Or is he now your leather sofa that you sit on with your kids to watch TV? Well, he could be. And a whole lot of other everyday goods that bobby calves are processed into. Young calves destined for the processing plant because they are not going to be raised as dairy herd replacements or for beef are called bobbies because farmers used to get a bob for them, which is what a shilling was called long ago. When decimal currency was introduced in 1967, a shilling became 10 cents and with inflation some farmers probably feel they don’t get paid a lot more for their calves today.

But they are far from the industry’s waste product we are often led to believe. They are, instead, an important part of the meat industry and one the Alliance Group at least, don’t want to lose. Alliance process bobby calves every spring with plants from Dannevirke in the north to Lorneville in the south and group key account manager Murray Behrent says the timing of the bobby calf season works well for the company. “They are very important to Alliance’s product range as they provide additional processing options in a period of the year when we have processing capacity,” he says.

European furniture production tanned with the hair on,” he says. Loin cuts are sold to various countries where they end up on the plates of restaurant diners who have probably never seen or thought about bobby calves and the legs are sold to the European Union and the United States where they become escalope of veal, again mainly to be served in expensive restaurants. Those chowing down on a burger in the US, EU and the Middle East also get to enjoy the meat as the trunk is marketed for manufacturing and usually made into ground beef.

‘Calf skins are highly sought after for their strength and high quality and for many years they were predominantly sold to Italian tanners for high-quality women’s shoes.’ And not only is every part of the calf useful, he said some of the products were unique and could only come from bobby calves. “Calf skins are highly sought after for their strength and high quality and for many years they were predominantly sold to Italian tanners for high-quality women’s shoes. “However, we now have increasing numbers of skins going to high-quality

“We’re also seeing some demand from China for whole carcases or a six-way cut,” Murray says. Waste and bones go to rendering plants for the production of meat and bone meal. Even the calf blood is collected and made into new-born calf serum which is one of the most valuable products from the calf and can’t be replicated or made any other way. It’s used as a growth medium for tissue

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Farmers used to get paid a bob once for calves, hence the name bobby calves. and cell cultures and also in vaccines, dietary supplements and even cosmetics. Yes – that’s right, bobby might also be in your makeup. And then there are the stomachs (which is the abomasum of the calf), also known as vells, which are used to make rennet for cheese. On one Greek food company’s website, Aristomenis D. Phikas and Co, it says it hand-washes the stomachs “of young New Zealand milk-fed calves” then inflates, ties them and dries them “as gently as possible in special air chambers”. If you want to know what a dried calf stomach looks like I suggest you Google vells and you will find some (what I would call) interesting pictures. In other words, we’re not going to show you because they don’t look very nice. According to Wikipedia, traditionally the dried stomach is then sliced into small pieces and put into salt water or whey, together with some vinegar or wine to lower the pH of the solution. After it is left either overnight or for several days the solution is filtered. What remains in the filtered solution is rennet which is used in cheese making to separate the solid curds from the whey. Of course, you can make cheese using rennet from other sources but it seems the Europeans have a thing about tradition and NZ vells. Our disease-free status and national traceability scheme helps SLASH YOUR DAIRY SHED all of these exports plus the fact that we don’t give our calves OPERATING COSTS! destined for the meat works antibiotics. Gear up for incoming compliance Ideally, Alliance would like calves to be more than 16kg SLASH DAIRY andYOUR keep more money in yourSHED pocket! Gear upenergy-saving for incoming compliance and keep more money carcaseweight (CW) but if they are heavier than 30kg CW they fall Consider and silo wrap. OPERATING COSTS! in your pocket! Consider energy-saving silo wrap. outside of the market’s specification, Murray says. The losses from the average uninsulated milk silo on a hot day are horrendous. Gear up for incoming compliance up to 8Kw of energy loss from some uninsulated milk silo’s on a hot north-westerly When calves arrive at processing plants, they are inspected by aand keep Atmore money in your an pocket! $1000 plus on electricity each year to run your day you losses could be spending The fromsilo theadditional average uninsulated milk silo on a hot day are energy-saving wrap. refrigeration unit. Ministry for Primary Industries veterinarian to ensure they meet Consider and horrendous. In addition there will be more wear maintenance costs. on atear hotand dayhigher are horrendous. the required standard under the Animal Welfare Code which is The losses from the average uninsulated milk siloand At up to 8Kw ofAt energy some on a hot north-westerly uploss to from 8Kw ofuninsulated energy milk losssilo’sfrom some uninsulated milk silo’s on a hot that they must be healthy and alert, able to bear weight on all day you couldMilk be spending an additional $1000 plusup onto electricity each year to run your silo insulation gives you 28% annual return on capital north-westerly day you could be spending an additional $1000 plus refrigeration unit. four legs and at least four days old (they have to have a dried In addition there be more wear and tear and higher onwillelectricity each year to maintenance run yourcosts. refrigeration unit. navel cord). InItaddition beamore and tearwith the makes goodthere sense towill install milk silowear insulation blanket gives you up to 28% annual return on capital The code also states that calves must be slaughtered as quickly Milk silo insulation following features: and higher maintenance costs. • Top quality materials with up to 5 years warranty on exterior PVC fabric ensure a long as possible once arriving at a meat plant and within 24 hours of lifespan and good looks even after many years their last feed on farm. Easily removed asa there aresilo no adhesives used and the with blanket is strapped on It makes good• sense to install milk insulation blanket the “Are you marginal for milk • Locally made products with an excellent reputation following features: They also can’t be trucked for longer than 12 hours and • Reduces daytime refrigeration maintenance running times by as much as 80% • Top quality materials with up to 5 years warranty on exterior PVC fabric ensure a long cooling compliance? Eliminates hard to clean sunbaked definitely not across Cook Strait. lifespan and• good looks even after many years tidemark on internal silo walls at high milk level • Easily removed as there are no adhesives used and the blanket is strapped on Murray says he has been impressed with the standard of calves This may do the trick!” • Locally made products with an excellent reputation delivered to Alliance plants this year so give yourselves a pat on • Reduces daytime refrigeration maintenance running times by as much as 80% “With a high exchange rate, • Eliminates hard to clean sunbaked tidemark on internal silo walls at high milk level the back. We’ve done okay. low margins and low bank deposit And if you are not feeling too squeamish by all of this, it might rates now is a good time to buy!” Call Leerate, today be a good time to think about remembering to give bobby a hug “With a high exchange low334 bank deposit and some extra love next season and thank him for the beautiful low margins and027 4365 Call usistoday - 03 time 307 8903 rates now a good to buy!” shoes, the vaccines, your lippy and of course, the cheese. 24/7 Service Phone: 0274 748 489 Sales Enquiries: 027 3344 365

SLASH YOUR DAIRY SHED OPERATING COSTS!

Email: enquiries@dairycool.co.nz Web: www,dairycool.co.nz  www.facebook.com/DairycoolCanterbury

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Refrigeration Innovation

Call us today - 03 307 8903 24/7 Service Phone: 0274 748 489 Sales Enquiries: 027 3344 365 Email: enquiries@dairycool.co.nz Web: www,dairycool.co.nz  www.facebook.com/DairycoolCanterbury

Refrigeration Innovation

DairySolutions

Learning governance

Allflex wins at World Dairy Expo

wo of Allflex Group’s SCR products were awarded innovation honours at the World Dairy Expo held in early October in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. The SenseTime cloud-based electronic cow monitoring system and the eSense ear tag were both named as winners in the 2017 Dairy Herd Management Innovation Awards – World Dairy Expo Edition. The awards recognise the top 10 dairy industry innovations introduced over the previous year, selected for their ability to help producers manage their herds better and more cost-effectively. A panel of nine judges, including six farmers and three technology experts from leading universities, determined the winners. The criteria considered were the products’ usefulness, uniqueness, return on investment and ability to improve herd performance or day-to-day dairy farm management. The SCR products were the only cow monitoring products that made it into the top 10. SenseTime is a sophisticated, modular cow-monitoring solution that delivers actionable information on the reproductive, health, nutritional and wellbeing status of individual cows and groups. With SenseTime, dairy farmers can make data-driven decisions for maximised productivity. The eSense Flex ear tag is designed

for long-lasting performance in vastly varying farm environments and temperatures. It is made of a UVresistant material, for high durability, and has a special shock-absorbing head that increases resilience. The eSense tag transmits actionable information back to the SenseTime system. “We are very honoured that our SenseTime system and eSense tags have been singled out by the prestigious Dairy Herd Management Innovation Awards,” Matteo Ratti, Allflex VP Group Livestock Intelligence says. “Dairy farms of every size and type can benefit greatly from adopting innovative technologies to help them improve their management, productivity and outcomes, but it’s not always simple to know which ones will have the most benefit. Awards such as this provide third-party endorsement and help highlight where to prioritise limited investment resources.” More? www.scrdairy.com

Looking for a clear path to a stronger business? Governance has got your back. Summer months in the jam-packed dairy farming calendar are a prime time for farmers to assess both their businesses and themselves strategically – strengths, weaknesses and resilience to meet challenges that lie ahead. While the need for strategic personal and business development is easy to recognise, figuring where to start is often difficult when you’re in the middle of it. In 2013, DairyNZ recognised this problem and sponsored the creation of a tailored learning programme for dairy businesses. Designed by governance expert Peter Allen of Business Torque Systems, along with James Lockhart and Justine Kidd, the Rural Governance Development Programme exists to help dairy farmers throughout New Zealand build sustainable, profitable business performance through governance assessment, education, and practice. Since the start of the programme, hundreds of participants have seen groundbreaking, measurable results from this training. Peter believes in tailored learning, learning by doing and measuring progress over time. The principles of governance covered in the programme include acting with a purpose in mind, working with people, decision-making, risk management and compliance – factors vitally relevant in the constantly evolving dairy market. The first of these principles – acting with a purpose in mind – is vital for growing businesses, yet it is especially difficult to practice on a strategic level while swamped with the day-to-day challenges of dairy farming. The Rural Governance Development Programme helps businesses define and articulate purpose, values and vision in a way that informs strategic planning, builds leadership confidence and gets your team excited. To find out more about 2018 programmes starting in April, visit www.businesstorque.co.nz

SUPPLEMENTARY FEED Maxammon Maize and Maxammon Maize blends • Palm Kernel & blends

0800 SEAWEED

Barley, Wheat, Maize & Soybean Meal (forward contracts available).

Custom made Dairy Mineral Pellets To join our Palm Kernel Pricing Text Service. Please text your name and area to 027 214 9761 Palm Kernel Pricing Text Service

Call Susanna at Intergrain NZ 0800 244 744

Intergrain NZ LTD 90

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FARM NUTRITION SOLUTIONS

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

PROPERTY │ MANAWATU

Trophy farm on top unirrigated soils

ombining 284 hectares of some of the most fertile, productive land in the Manawatu with a long-term lease of a 96ha block next door, an immaculate 80-bail rotary dairy and an impressive home covering 838 square metres, has created a trophy farm, Cheltenham Dairies. Just 15km north of Feilding, the dairy farm with its leased block milks up to 1200 Friesian cows and has a sixyear production average of 451,000kg milksolids (MS) on unirrigated land that covers three flat terraces. The farm is for sale for the first time in three decades and in that time its owners have used the fertile soils to successfully grow potatoes, carrots, process peas, sweet corn, squash and oil and rape seed. A bounding neighbour on similar soils runs a mixed-cropping operation and paddocks have often been swapped as part of a pasture renewal programme. Those versatile soils, along with the immaculate presentation of the dairy farm has produced an outstanding property that Peter Barnett of NZR says is the best unirrigated dairy farm – and possibly the best of all dairy farms – in the region. “It’s an outstanding farm and genuinely a trophy farm. A really great property like this only comes on the market once in a while.” The main terrace has about 70% of the farm area made up of predominantly Kiwitea loam which is a top-quality soil for a diverse range of intensive cropping

Cleaning up water Aquafier IM water filtration systems, by Matamata’s FORSI Innovations, are designed to filter out all contaminants to bring water back to a high standard. It is a fully automated water filtration system specifically designed for use on dairy farms. The company also produces and installs potable water treatment plants, effluent screening solutions for dairy shed and municipal waste. “We are market leaders in the innovation of water filtration. Not

regimes. The bottom terrace is completely Manawatu sandy loam and silt loams, largely stone-free and very free-draining for wintering stock. This terrace has been sown in annual chicory crops as well as fodder beet which was grazed by milking cows last winter for the first time. That allowed it to be sown in fodder beet again in early October. In recent years, the farm has calved a third of the herd in summer as it fits well with the soil types and climate on the property and takes the pressure peaks out of the operation at key times of the year. At the heart of the farm is the 14-yearold 80-bail rotary dairy with a circular yard capable of accommodating 900 of the owner’s Friesian cows, while alongside is a 500-cow feed pad. The effluent system from the dairy and feed pad is simple and low cost, with no pumps and gravity fed from the settling ponds to lower paddocks where the travelling irrigator plugs into various underground hydrants.

Another low-cost, simple system is water pumped to a high point on the farm before being gravity-fed to paddocks, houses and back to the dairy. “They’ve also done the simple things really well and it is exceptional quality in all respects.” Most impressive of all, is the 10-year-old homestead with its six bedrooms, office and various large living areas and defined accommodation spaces in different wings which were designed for homestay and small conferences. The home sits on its own 7.9ha title in the corner of the dairy farm and can be sold separately, or with the farm. Three more houses offer further accommodation, plus another house on the leased block that has a 10-year lease in place with the right of purchase.

many filtration companies can offer the technology, quality and expertise we can,” FORSI operations and marketing manager Craig Hawes says. Studies have shown that if dairy cows drink quality water, their milk production will increase. Dairy cows are extremely sensitive to the taste of iron and/or manganese in the water supply, more so than humans. Increased water quantity and quality equates to increased profit on the farm, he says. FORSI continues to improve its effluent recycling system, one of which is in No1 Dairy at Massey University. The system takes dairy shed waste water and filters

it to a clean, clear state ready to reuse however and whenever the farmer wants. The technology is creating a lot of interest both in New Zealand and overseas, Hawes says. With its effluent filtration system fully commercialised, the company plans to offer next year a chemical-free water treatment that will substantially cut the running cost of any water treatment. If you need clean water on your home, farm or industrial waste issue then you need to talk to FORSI Innovations today.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

Tenders for the farm close on December 8. For further information contact Peter Barnett on 06 323 4434 or 027 482 6835.

More? www.forsi.co.nz 91

PROPERTY │ MID-CANTERBURY

Immaculate near Ashburton

boundary available to lease to a new owner. Productive soils form the essential base for the dairy farm’s success and reinforced by irrigation water from the Mayfield Hinds Irrigation Scheme as well a groundwater consent. Three pivots, rotorainer, K-line and sprinklers cover the farm when needed. Vital to the operation is the 54-bail rotary Read dairy with Waikato plant that has everything from automatic teat spray and automatic cup removers to Protrack

VENDORS EXITING SOUTHLAND

drafting, heat detection camera and an in-shed feeding system. Five staff homes cater for family and staff, including the main four-bedroom homestead. “The farm has been developed to an exceptionally high standard, allowing the incoming purchaser to reap the rewards.” It has a deadline sale date of December 7. For further information contact Mike Preston on 03 307 2400 or 027 430 7041.

233.82 HA FH

$8,390,000 + GST (IF ANY) Excellent location that is renowned for reliable pasture growth, and is handy to both the amenities of Invercargill and Winton. This is great for all family members, both for schooling and sporting activities. Comprising of three homes, with the main homestead having an amazing outlook over the majority of the property. Farm buildings include a 50 bail rotary dairy shed, large calf shed, plus numerous other good quality buildings. Currently milking 550 cows, estimating 240,000kg MS this season. This is an opportunity to purchase a productive, low cost property in a sought after location. Wayne Clarke 0274 325 768

Paula Laughton 0275 331 268

WEB ID: SWI1535 & CC20036

JH0089724©

Seldom has a dairy farm of the calibre of ‘Barnswood’ in Mid-Canterbury been available to purchase, not just because of its impressive production, but also immaculate presentation. The 268-hectare farm is 28km from Ashburton and last season produced 456,463kg milksolids (MS) from 909 cows which equates to 1894kg MS/ha and 502kg MS/cow. Mike Preston from Bayleys says he has not seen a dairy farm of such high quality on the market for the past few years, with everything from soils and water to infrastructure, irrigation and housing of the highest standard. Barnswood, complete with trimmed hedges and specimen plantings, has been a stand-alone operation that is in its eleventh season of production, with a 127ha irrigated support block on the

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

PROPERTY │ HOROWHENUA

All set up in Foxton farm has a very good race system laid out in a double ‘H’ pattern on each side of the dairy, allowing easy management of the two herds and ensuring the cows walk the shortest distance. Soils are a mixture of some light sand ridges with Pukepuke sand flats and rich river-silt flats which have been well fertilised over the years to reach very good nutrient levels. On this, the farm milks 1120 Friesian cows which have achieved a four-year production average of 553,000kg MS and has exceeded 600,000kg MS. A substantial five-bedroom family home is one of five houses on the farm, while a good range of farm amenities cater for the farming operation. Cain says the farm’s owners have

BUY THE BEST SOIL

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

For further information contact Les Cain on 0274 420 582.

DAIRY SCALE PLUS SOME

• Your opportunity to own this quality large scale dairy farm in the Northern Horowhenua. • Currently milking 600 Friesian cows. • Modern 60 bail rotary dairy with circular yard and adjacent 400 cow feed pad. • Two very good three bedroom family homes, one of which is on its own title. • Has produced up to 285,000 kgs/ms. • This is your chance to own this excellent dairy farm now for 1st June 2018 takeover. • Purchaser has first right of refusal to own the current dairy herd. • This property represents a great opportunity to buy some of the Manawatus’ best silt loam soils. • For sale at 9,500,000 land and buildings. • Act now and call Les to inspect.

Sallan Realty

decided it is time to retire from a life dedicated to dairy farming and that creates an opportunity for a new owner to capitalise on their life’s work. A new owner will have first right to purchase the herd as well to have a turnkey operation that produces an abundant quantity of feed and milk.

Google ‘Sallan Realty’ Your Farm Sales Specialist

• Your opportunity to own this quality large scale dairy farm. • Very good layout with central laneways and currently milking 1100 cows. • Has produced up to 600,000 kgs/ms from the 425ha effective milking platform. • Facilities include a centrally located 60 bail rotary dairy with in bail feeding and a protrak system. • Five houses including a substantial main home set in its own private location. • Our vendors are looking to retire and have priced this property to sell at $16,250,000 land and buildings. • They would consider selling herd with takeover date to suit. • Act now and call Les to inspect.

JH0087831©

A large-scale lower North Island dairy farm encompassing 425 hectares and has produced more than 600,000kg milksolids (MS) is for sale at $16.25 million. Les Cain from Sallan Realty says the owners of the Foxton farm have continued to develop it for the past 14 years to produce a “seriously good farm” and there is still room to develop it further. The farm is northeast of Foxton in northern Horowhenua and is made up of several titles originally divided into three separate properties before being developed into one large-scale unit. A central dairy complex combines a 60-bail rotary with a 600-cow yard, while adjacent to the dairy is a 600-cow feedpad. The dairy is set up with an in-shed feeding system including a disc mill. Cain says the

LES CAIN 0274 420 582

Licensed Agent REAA 2008

PROPERTY │ SOUTH CANTERBURY

Fairlie large-scale operation State-of-the-art irrigation and a large storage lake are key features of a 712-hectare property on the edge of Fairlie in South Canterbury that milks two herds for a target this season of 837,768kg milksolids (MS). Wainono Dairy Farms includes 467ha of freehold land that is now for sale, plus 245ha of leased land that provides a good return for the business. The farm operates as adjoining dairy units and was established 12 years ago by three investors who have had a successful equity partnership.

‘The irrigation is very state-of-the-art with variable controls to adjust water on different soil types. All the milking platform and some of the support land is irrigated.’ Dave Finlay from PGG Wrightson says its sale provides an opportunity to purchase a large-scale dairy unit in two productive units with lease land additional to obtain high production and returns. The larger dairy unit, Wainono, has a 339ha milking platform including 94ha that is leased and milks up to 1075 cows at the peak for a target of 495,768kg MS this season. The other unit, Te Ruahete, has a 223ha milking platform including 94ha leased and milks up to 735 cows for a target of 342,000kg MS. Both have a stocking rate of 3.44 cows/ha and supplements bought in are typically 600kg drymatter/cow. During the past eight seasons, the business has given an average EBITDA return (earnings before interest, tax and depreciation) of $1.87 million, after allowing for the cost of all leases and excluding Fonterra dividends. The projected EBITDA for this season at $6.75/ kg MS payout is $2.5m. One of the real features of Wainono Dairy Ltd is its irrigation which covers 388ha under pivots and 207ha under rotorainers at low cost. Combined with the property’s soils, Finlay says sustainable production at higher levels is realistic. “The irrigation is very state-of-the-art with variable controls to adjust water on different soil types. All the milking 94

platform and some of the support land is irrigated.” Shares are owned in the Opuha Water Company and Canfield Trust, with a large lake storing about 200,000 cubic metres which provides reliability for the irrigation. Infrastructure caters for the large scale of the property, with a 60-bail rotary on one unit built in 2006 and a 54-bail rotary on the other built in 2009. Both are Read dairies with Waikato plant, automatic cup removers, as well as grain and palm kernel feeding. Similarly, accommodation caters for the property’s size with three houses, including the original five-bedroom homestead, plus

two attached staff quarters and another house in nearby Fairlie. Finlay says the farm’s location is another great feature of the property as it is right beside the golf course on the edge of the town which is the gateway to the Mackenzie country. The deadline for offers on Wainono Dairy Farms is December 7. Stock, plant and Fonterra shares will be available at valuation and sold separately. To view visit www.pggwre.co.nz ID OAM26757 and for further information contact David Finlay on 027 433 5210, Peter Crean on 027 434 4002 or Robin Ford on 027 433 6883.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

PROPERTY │ NORTHLAND

Beach beckons for long-time owners

Retirement at the beach beckons a Northland family now selling their 220-hectare dairy farm which is considered one of the best milk production units in the north. Lin Norris from Bayleys challenges anyone to find a better investment in dairying – 200 effective hectares with top-producing flats producing more than 200,000kg milksolids (MS) through a stateof-the-art 50-bail rotary dairy for sale at $4.6 million. Plus, it’s close to some of the New Zealand’s best beaches to add desired lifestyle into the equation. The Buckingham family has owned the core of the Kaitaia farm since 1953, adding neighbouring properties over the years to expand the operation and building the infrastructure to reach today’s standard. Norris says the farm is already producing more than 1000kg MS per effective hectare with scope for further increases, especially if a stand-off pad was added to assist winter management and add potential for a split-calving operation. Two-thirds of the farm covers topproducing flats and the entire farm is well set up, with lanes to 135 paddocks and the near-new dairy. Inside, the dairy is a oneperson operation with fully-automated milking, feeding and drafting systems. The

automatic three-way feed system caters for palm kernel, meal or molasses and has air injection to assist palm kernel and meal feed. Machines have an automatic backwash system, while outside the backing gate has hoses and scraper to clean the yard on the reverse travel. The farm is operated by a 50:50 sharemilker who has a contract expiring at the end of this season. They follow a farming regime that winters 550 cows which calve from July 20 and go on to twice-a-day milking through the season. A hundred replacements are usually reared, plus a few beefies, with young stock grazed on a 22ha support block nearby that also winters up to 50 cows. About 180 tonnes of pit silage is made on the support block and stored on the dairy farm, with some balage made when there is genuine surplus. Each year, 25ha of chicory is sown on the dairy farm and the balance of 175ha is oversown with annuals. A disused dairy, large implement shed used for calf rearing and two half-round barns cater for the farm’s needs, plus two sound homes. To view, visit www.bayleys.co.nz/1050138 and for further information contact Lin Norris on 021 959 166, Alex Smits on 021 273 6975 or Steve McNally on 027 497 8633.

www.pggwre.co.nz

Fantastic Opportunity

Dargaville

The Complete Package

Southland

147 hectares productive fertile land. Large three bedroom modernised and renovated Kauri Villa plus three bedroom Villa. 27 ASHB cowshed, five and four bay calf implement sheds, feed pad. Milking 310 cows with three year average production of 116,000kg MS. A productive dairy farm with excellent location to town only 3km. Offers to be presented on or before 2.00pm, Friday, 15 December

$3.2M

• Productive 151.2747ha dairy unit in a reliable area • Converted to a high standard with the 40 aside shed built in 2009 • A new 230m2 four bedroom home built 2015 plus two other homes • Large calf rearing shed • 2016/17 production 162,200kg MS • The farm has excellent lanes and all new internal fencing • This unit is really starting to fire

$5.2M

www.pggwre.co.nz ID: DAG26992

Plus GST (if any)

Megan Browning B 09 439 3344 M 027 668 8468

www.pggwre.co.nz ID: INV22802

Plus GST (if any)

Andrew Patterson B 03 211 3144 M 027 434 7636 H 03 230 4426

PGG Wrightson Real Estate Ltd, Real Estate Agent, REAA 2008

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

PROPERTY │ MARLBOROUGH

Self-contained near the Sounds Twelve years ago Nigel and Lynley Fox found the lifestyle they sought in Tunakino Valley in the top of the South Island where they could milk a herd of Jersey cows once a day throughout the season. It’s a quiet, peaceful location with “awesome” hunting on the boundary, a short drive to get the boat in the water at a selection of bays in the Marlborough Sounds and a dairy farm operation that allows them to have a lifestyle they enjoy. Time for a change of pace means their 581 hectare property is now for sale – a property that encompasses not only an 85ha milking platform on productive river flats that milks 220 cows, but also ample support area, 35ha of forestry and 380ha of native bush. It allows the farm to be completely self contained, so all replacement stock are under their watchful eye and the milking herd wintered at home, with the help of a 3ha crop of kale. All balage is cut on the farm with their own equipment and contractors are only brought in to wrap bales and sometimes spread fertiliser. They

usually make 300 to 400 bales of balage each year and 1000 conventional bales. When they bought the farm it was milking 220 cows on twice-a-day milking and today they still milk 220 cows and production on once-a day milking is the same. The farm’s five-year production average is 64,500kg milksolids (MS) and that is after rearing 150 of their own calves on milk. Each year the bull calves are raised and sold on contract at 90kg. The herd is milked through a 16-aside herringbone dairy which is in good

condition and numerous sheds cater for calves, implements, hay, workshop, cars and storage. “You can never have too many sheds. Hence quite a few on the farm.” A substantial three-bedroom home was extensively renovated in 2008 and sports a large country kitchen and spacious outdoor decks to enjoy the peaceful surrounds. “Native bush on the boundaries gives us solitude we value so highly and a great backdrop. It’s a very quiet and peaceful place to live. The hunting is awesome if that is what you are into, with deer often grazing on the upper paddocks. Okiwi Bay or Tennyson Inlet are both about 40 minutes away, so we usually have the boat in the water within 50 minutes of leaving home and blue cod or snapper shortly after.” The farm has a deadline sale, closing November 23. To view the farm, visit www. pggwre.co.nz ID BLE26789 and for further information contact Joe Blakiston on 027 434 4069 or Greg Lyons on 027 579 1233.

www.pggwre.co.nz

NEW LISTING

Wainono Dairy Farm - Quality Productive Property • • • • • • • •

Freehold area - 467.64ha, Leased area - 244.98ha Milking area - 562ha, Production - 800,000 kgMS Cows wintered 1868 Reliable irrigation supply, 596ha irrigated, 388ha pivot Operated in two units, 339ha and 223ha Two rotary sheds, good farm buildings and homes Freehold for genuine sale and leased land can be assigned High sustainable cash yields

www.pggwre.co.nz ID: OAM26757

South Canterbury DEADLINE PRIVATE TREATY (Unless Sold Prior) Closes 4.00pm, Thursday, 7 December

Dave Finlay M 027 433 5210 Robin Ford M 027 433 6883 Peter Crean M 027 434 4002 PGG Wrightson Real Estate Ltd, Real Estate Agent, REAA 2008

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

PROPERTY │ SOUTHLAND

Low-cost at Mokotua Costs are low on a 337-hectare Southland dairy farm which follows a grass-only regime to produce more than 300,000kg milksolids (MS) from the 825-cow herd. The farm is for sale by tender and Tony Paterson from PGG Wrightson Real Estate says the grass-only system allows room to increase production if a new owner wants to put more inputs into the system. To date, any silage made from surplus growth is used on the milking platform and no

additional inputs are used. Based at Mokotua, 20km from Invercargill, places the farm in a reliable farming area that is drought-free and Paterson says it has been a consistent performer across the seasons. “It’s an established dairy unit that has been going for more than 20 years and so the pastures are in good heart, with reliable soil types and a strong fertiliser history.”

About 10% of the farm is regrassed annually and a 16ha crop of kale was put back into grass this spring. Tile drainage throughout the farm has been well maintained on soils which are mostly Waikiwi and Mokotua with the balance Woodlands and Tisbury. Inside the 60-bail rotary dairy, information is gathered via MilkHub and a Gateway milk vat monitor, while milking is made easier with automatic cup removers. Although the farm now operates on a grass-only system, the dairy is set up with an in-shed meal and molasses feeding system. Outside, effluent heads through two weeping walls to a clay-lined pond with storage for 90 days and up to 1050 cows, before it is pumped via a 90mm mainline to hydrants covering 120ha. Beyond the dairy is an assortment of farm facilities for every need, from a large workshop and nine-bay stables to three different calf sheds, four-bay hay shed and a two-bay fertiliser bin. Accommodation is abundant and Paterson says the five dwellings offer an excellent range of housing for staff. Tenders for the farm close on November 29. To view, visit www.pggwre.co.nz ID INV26683 and for further information contact Andrew Patterson on 027 434 7636 or Tony Paterson on 027 594 8341.

Beach nearby for Himatangi dairy Himatangi Beach is just a few kilometres away from a 252-hectare dairy farm which averages 300,000kg milksolids (MS) and is for sale by tender. The area’s coastal climate differs from the rest of the Manawatu and Peter Barnett from NZR says it has more sunshine hours, less rain and warmer temperatures. Location is one of the appeals of the farm, not just for the climate, he says, but also the nearby Himatangi Beach with its long, sandy beach and small coastal community. On the farm itself, a good balance of heavier and lighter soil types works well, as the heavier sands tend to hang on well through the drier months, while the lighter sands are fantastic for wetter periods. “Farmers who have no experience with this type of country don’t appreciate the benefits it offers. While it has been extremely wet like everywhere else, you don’t get mud. Even without irrigation, the heavier sand country generally hangs on longer than the clay country in a drier year, particularly after a normal winter. “The owners have commented that they have noticed over the years they have been

irrigating that the soil profile has really developed with a greater depth of organic material and a much more resilient sward.” The flat farm has 160ha irrigated by three pivots, with water sourced from two consented bores that have a plentiful supply. It was one of the first farms in the area to adopt irrigation and since then irrigation has become widespread. Well-mounded, wide sand races around the farm minimise cow hoof problems and lead to the eight-year-old 60-bail rotary dairy which is centrally located to limit the longest walk for the herd to 30 minutes. An in-shed feeding system was installed this year as the simplest way of providing strategic supplementation for the herd and production to date has been with low levels of bought-in feed. Five homes provide a wide range of accommodation on the farm and the homestead has a separate title which has a small olive orchard behind extensive hedging. Tenders close December 13. For further information contact Peter Barnett on 027 482 6835.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

November Events Find out what’s on near you For information on all the dairy industry events happening in your area, visit

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D A I RY

CONSULTING OFFICERS – CONTACT DETAILS Northland Regional Leader

Chris Neill

027 499 9021

dairyevents.co.nz

Far North

Denise Knop

027 807 9686

Lower Northland

Mark Forsyth

021 242 5719

New! Facts & Figures App

Whangarei West

Chris Neill

027 499 9021

DairyNZ has made an app of its popular Facts & Figures book. Access the facts you need on everything from cow feed requirements to pasture growth data for your region. Download today from the App Store or Google Play.

Discussion Groups Interested in farm systems, reproduction, progression, pasture management, budgeting, people management, or milking smarter? We hold a range of different discussion groups on specialist areas of interest as well as other topical field days and road shows around the country. Find out what’s on near you at dairynz.co.nz/events or phone your local consulting officer.

Dairy farmers share their budgets DairyNZ’s budget case study farmers have provided a summary of last season, sharing insights into what was a challenging time for many. They have also updated their 17/18 forecast budget. Visit dairynz.co.nz/budget-case-studies

Take an EnviroWalk DairyNZ has created the EnviroWalk app, an easy-to-use tool to help farmers quickly identify areas of environmental risk. Use the app to create a customised action plan. Find out more and download the app at dairynz.co.nz/envirowalk.

Change of Address If you’ve shifted farm or changed your supply company, make sure you’ll still receive your copy of Inside Dairy – visit dairynz.co.nz/address and let us know your new details.

North Waikato Regional Leader

Phil Irvine

027 483 9820

South Auckland

Jamie Haultain

027 486 4344

Hamilton North

Jaimee Morgan

021 245 8055

Matamata/Kereone

Frank Portegys

027 807 9685

Morrinsville/Paeroa

Euan Lock

027 293 4401

Hauraki Plains/Coromandel

Annabelle Smart

021 242 2127

Regional Leader

Wade Bell

027 285 9273

Te Awamutu

Stephen Canton

027 475 0918

Otorohanga

Michael Booth

027 513 7201

South Waikato

Kirsty Dickins

027 483 2205

Regional Leader

Sharon Morrell

0274 922 907

Western Bay of Plenty

Wilma Foster

021 246 2147

Central Bay of Plenty

Kevin McKinley

027 288 8238

Central Plateau

Colin Grainger-Allen

021 225 8345

Eastern Bay of Plenty

Ross Bishop

027 563 1785

South Waikato

Bay of Plenty

Taranaki Acting Regional Leader

Simon Sankey

021 228 3446

South Taranaki

Ryan Orchard

021 246 5663

Central Taranaki

Sarah Payne

027 704 5562

Coastal Taranaki

Michelle Taylor

021 276 5832

North Taranaki

Lauren McEldowney

027 593 4122

Regional Leader

James Muwunganirwa

027 499 9020

Horowhenua/Wanganui/South Taranaki/Southern and Coastal Manawatu

Scott Cameron

027 702 3760

Lower North Island

Wairarapa/Tararua

Tim Ferguson

021 244 3428

Hawke's Bay

Gray Beagley

021 286 4346

Central/Northern Manawatu/Rangitikei

Jo Back

021 222 9023

Top of South Island/Westland Regional Leader

Wade Bell

027 285 9273

Nelson/Marlborough

Mark Shadwick

021 287 7057

West Coast

Angela Leslie

021 277 2894

Canterbury/North Otago Regional Leader

Virginia Serra

021 932 515

North Canterbury

Teaghan Lourie

021 246 2775

Central Canterbury

Natalia Benquet

021 287 7059

Mid Canterbury

Stuart Moorhouse

027 513 7200

South Canterbury

Virginia Serra

021 932 515

North Otago

Trevor Gee

021 227 6476

Southland/South Otago Regional Leader

Richard Kyte

021 246 3166

South Otago

Mark Olsen-Vetland

021 615 051

Central/North Western Southland

Nicole E Hammond

West Otago/North Eastern Southland Liam Carey

0800 4 DairyNZ (0800 4 324 7969) I dairynz.co.nz Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017

021 240 8529 027 474 3258

Eastern Southland

Nathan Nelson

021 225 6931

Western Southland

Teresa Anderson

027 702 2219

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2017