NZ Dairy Exporter August 2021 by NZ Farmlife Media

Learn, grow, excel

August 2021

Bobby calves - bane or bonus?

PASTURE SUMMIT CONFERENCE Diagnosing your down cows

$12

AUGUST 2021

$12 incl GST

THE DIET

Protect your farm and your family from Salmonella

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Salmonella is widespread on New Zealand dairy farms and cases are increasing nationwide1. Striking without warning and spreading quickly, Salmonella can pass from your stock to the ones you care about most. Vaccinate today to reduce the destructive impact of an outbreak.

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

34 SUSTAINABLE FARMING SPARKS EXCITEMENT

CONTENTS MILKING PLATFORM 10 Say G’day to NZ Dairy Exporter’s new contributor Hamish Hammond 11 Trish Rankin ponders why farming is so hard right now. 12 Richard Reynolds reflects on a great SIDE conference

UPFRONT 14 The opportunity of alternative proteins 18 How Brazil combined intensive land use with rainforest protection 42 TORUNUI FARM ON EMISSIONS REDUCTION PATH

22 Ireland has developed a Grass-Fed Standard. What are the ramifications for NZ? 23 Sustainable sourcing the trend for dairying 25 China’s demand for dairy speeds up

BUSINESS 26 ‘Pure magic’ making raw milk cheese 30 Resilience shines over West Coast flooded waters 33 Focus on your workers during busy times 34 Sustainable farming sparks excitement 39 SIDE: Cost control and the five ‘nahs’

SYSTEMS 10 A FAMILY FARMING TEAM 4

Torunui farm on emissions reduction path

All hail hay bale grazing Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

50 Fodder beet pulling nitrogen out of the soil 52 An alternative pasture solution

SPECIAL REPORT 56: Feed tactics win the profit battle 60: Transition management prevention better than cure 62: Efficiency from amazing maize 66: Feeding the cow and the rumen 68: Cows energised on winter diets 70: Combating milk fever with diet changesa 73: Don’t let cows go hypo 74: Fortify supplement with P

SPECIAL REPORT: Balancing the diet 56

Feed tactics win the profit battle

60 Transition management 62 Efficiency from amazing maize 66 Feeding the cow and the rumen 68 Cows energised on winter diets 70 Combating milk fever with diet changes 73 Don’t let cows go hypo 74 Fortify supplement with P

ENVIRONMENT 76 Dung beetles could be environmental godsend 79 What dung beetles do

THE DIET

80 Council staff grappling with legislative changes 82 Big idea leads to native plantings SPECIAL REPORT

STOCK 84 Bobby calves an emotive but profitable product 86 Oyster season in beef land 91 Vet Voice: Diagnosing your down cow 94 An eye on the future

YOUNG COUNTRY 96 Whakapapa win inspires finalist

RESEARCH WRAP 98 Nitrogen system trial drawing to a close

62 EFFICIENCY FROM AMAZING MAIZE

WELLNESS 100 Running away from grief

DAIRY 101 102 Tech comes to the farm

SOLUTIONS 104 Agribusiness diploma programme “life changing” 104 The downlow on the Lowline 105 MSD move into monitoring tech 105 Stop wasting feed 105 The Ready to Mate App

OUR STORY 96 WHAKAPAPA WIN INSPIRES FINALIST Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

106 The Dairy Exporter in 1971

DAIRY DIARY August 15 – Entries close for the 2022 Nuffield NZ Farm Scholarships. Chosen scholars embark on a global learning experience with opportunities for collaboration, networking and mentoring to fast-track thinking and grow their leadership skills to the next level. To find out more and to enter visit https://ruralleaders. co.nz/application-nuffield/. August 15 – Entries open for the AgriWomen’s Development Trust Escalator 2022 Programme, after taking a break for 2021. The leadership and governance programme is aimed at women in primary industries and rural communities. To find out more about the programme visit https://www.awdt.org.nz/ programmes/escalator/. August 24 – DairyNZ and industry supporters host Breakfast On Us around the Waikato through spring, beginning in Gordonton. It’s a chance to get together over a cooked breakfast between 10am and 12pm. Locations/ dates: August 25, Ngatea; August 26, Tatuanui; August 31, Te Rahu; September 1, Kio Kio; September 1, Putaruru; September 2, Hinuera. For more details about locations, visit https:// www.dairyevents.co.nz/. August 26 – Harness the power of a board for your agribusiness with robust processes and good decision making through a oneday course run by the Institute of Directors NZ in Christchurch. The course covers governance, charters and protocols through to succession planning. Visit https://www.iod. org.nz/governance-courses/rural-governanceessentials/# or call Juanita Hudson on 021346132.

September 8 – DairyNZ hosts a late calving catch up for Otorohanga South. The annual lunch and quiz is being held at the Thirsty Weka between 11.30am and 1.30pm. Visit https:// www.dairynz.co.nz/events/waikato/otorohangasouth-late-calving-catch-up/. September 13 -14 – Decarbonising New Zealand is a conference being held at Te Papa in Wellington that is designed to provide a roadmap for organisations seeking to optimise decarbonisation. It has been organised in response to the increasing pressure on industries and businesses to accelerate decarbonisation pathways. For more about the conference go to https://www.conferenz.co.nz/ events/decarbonising-new-zealand. Workshops follow the conference on September 15. September 14 – Focus Mastery – Communication Power is a live webinar aimed at understanding and tailoring your communication. From delivering a message well, to the power of good listening. The Dairy Women’s Network webinar has Sara Keenan from the ASB Bank speaking between 1pm and 2pm. To register for the webinar go to https://register.gotowebinar.com/ register/6614919653629420048.

aimed at helping you respond to pressure and uncertainty with positive, meaningful action. Responding to challenges such as regulation and market changes. The course begins with a 90-minute online workshop and then a 2.5 hour face-to-face workshop. Courses are being run in Pahiatua, Invercargill and Lake Karapiro. To find out more visit https://www.awdt.org.nz/ programmes/know-your-mindset-grow-yourinfluence/. September 28 – Northland’s Extension 350 Project is holding 10 public field days across the region. The project is a long-term farmerto-farmer extension programme designed to help Northland farmers succeed financially, environmentally and as a community. Farmers involved in the programme talk about their goals and plans for achieving them and it is a chance to join their journey and learn from their experience. This field day is at Stuart Thomson’s farm on the Kaipara Flats between 10.30am and 1pm. Visit https://www.dairynz.co.nz/events/ northland/extension-350-public-field-daythomsons/. September 28 – October 2 – World Dairy Expo in Madison, United States. Visit https:// worlddairyexpo.com/.

September 15 – Owl Farm holds its spring focus day on the Cambridge demonstration farm. Visit https://www.owlfarm.nz/. September 22 – The Agri-Women’s Development Trust is running a Know Your Mindset, Grow Your Influence course. The two-part personal development programme is

TALK TO THE EXPERTS FOR FARMING SUPPORT 07 858 4233 farmservices.nz info@farmservices.nz

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tor’s note Editor’s note SUBS

C R IB

WIN!

calves bane or bonus? STRONGER

E AN D

Bobby WE ARE ALL TOGETHER

WEBER CHAISE LOUNGE, RRP $3499 See pg 99 for more details.

re the bobby calves on your farm a bane agree with their right to protest, and don’t want to diminish and a bother or a bonus that you could the pressure they must be feeling, I can’t see the Government taying strong onfarm portrays anbeinnovative growing into a premium seasonal beef changing their direction of travel in the policy space because programme run by Reporoa dairy farmer and product, with a once-yearly marketing many of the things they are focused on need to get done. But cancer survivor Sarah Martelli, who helps other release with all the hype of oysters or the there is always more than one way to do things and hopefully women find their balance and build strength and latest beaujolais? (a French wine that wine timelines or policies can be evolved to make the changes more wellbeing to be the best they can be. buffs go crazy for on its release on the of a win:win, without slowing down the outcomes needed for Strong Woman isthird an online community for women Thursday of November every year). the environment, biodiversity and climate change challenges. to work on their fitness a workout do at home, Beefwith consultant BobtoThomson says farmers should be rearing There is always something positive to learn from the find quick and easylean healthy recipes, goal rather planners and to (p42). alsohecover thefarmers Heald family of Norsewood tender dairy beef than bobbying calvesWe - and we profile in the Dairy Exporter. Glenn Jones and connect with othersays women on the same journey. (p52) who have transitioned to organics, results of the Dairy Beef Progeny Test show which sires Sarah Brett spoke OAD at theand Julyregen Pasture Summit. Operating Her philosophy farmers is to help women create healthy, philosophies and are enjoying the less intensive and should use to come up with the goods. And that an environmentally sustainable and progressive dairy sustainable habits when arounddairy moving andare feeding their resilient have moved to,and along withexcitement in this couple farmers forced not to bobbymore any calves duesystem they business energises sparks bodies and their families. improved profitability. who are sharemilkers and equity partnership farm owners to pressure from overseas markets, if the meat companies If women can prioritise their own health and fitness, There is more be done in Through the NZ farm don’t develop markets for the oysters of the beef world, thenresearchintoCanterbury. improving pasture production and they can inspire their partners, their children and their system context, says MPI’s chief scientist Johnhave Roche, to purchased nitrogen surplus Fonterra should add it to their portfolio of low-carbon and utilisation the couple driven community around them, Sarah says (p82). figure out what will and won’t work, but he encourages high value proteins (pg86). down while cutting supplement and improving milk solids She is an inspirational woman creating a moment of study,farmers to engage and learn more, and to are embrace On the flipside, during his Kellogg’s Greg Hamill production. They excited for the opportunities and say lift for many women. regenerative as a verb saying all farmers could work togoes a long way to reducing investigated the markets for bobby calf products and found understanding GHG emissions In this issue we take a look at the regenerative agri be more regenerative, more resilient, lowering carbon every part of the calf is used and appreciated - with an income anxiety about the issue (pg34).loss journey some NZ farmers are already on, and that the and building carbon storage. of $172 million from blood products alone. He suggests a full Check out our special report on Balancing the Diet - we government has signalled want others to in on, the economic If you are and interested inhave getting intorange farm of ownership or experts along with some hot industrythey review is needed tojoin understand a great farmers and in our Special Report. getting out but retaining an interest, read about George social benefits bobby calves give, before any moves are made to science on the matter. The regen debateunpick has divided the farming community Moss’ innovative idea for a speed-dating weekend for the industry (pg84). in a big way - many scientists are affronted that NZTrish would potential partners Milking Platform contributor Rankin is feeling under (p11). We think it could be a winner! NZ Dairy Exporter need regenerative methods from overseas countries with the pump, and says whether it is onfarm infrastructure, offhighly degraded soils - would that inferpolicy that our farm strategy or then national and regulation, some days it @YoungDairyED NZ Dairy Exporter conventional methods were degenerative? feels like it is all so hard (pg11). There must be lots of farmers @DairyExporterNZ @YoungDairyED They say the methods won't work, and that research out there who agree with her, judging by the numbers who @nzdairyexporter has already shownturned that, and our Howl farmers already @DairyExporterNZ outalso for the of are a Protest Rally. While I totally following regenerative practices. Others say that the @nzdairyexporter methods are not prescribed and each farmer can take out of it what they want. It has been called a social movement rather than a science and the claimed benefits of improved soil and stock health and building soil carbon through diverse species, use of biological fertilisers and laxer and less frequent grazing practices along with JULY 2021issue: ISSUE In the next September 2021 less nitrogen is something that resounds emotionally SpecialReport: report:Farming/business There’s an App for that! Weportfolio take a look at what’s hot in the •• Special investment with many. space. –farm if youtechnology are startingapplications out or bowing out. We have taken a snapshot of thinking by scientists in 150 years of dairy co-operatives in New Zealand. We celebrate the history •• Wildlife onfarm MPI and DairyNZ (p46) and portrayed what farmers using of setting up dairy co-ops, why it was needed and where it all started. •• Ahuwhenua winners the practices are finding, including ongoing coverage of Northland Agricultural Research Farm - The next four years of research the comparative trial work by Align Group in Canterbury • Sheep milkingcow conference coverage investigates performance using alternative pastures and reducing

Sneak peek

emissions on three different farming systems.

rter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | June 2021 Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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NEW ZEALAND NEW ZEALAND

ONLINE

NZ Dairy Exporter is published by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740, Toll free 0800 224 782, www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

New Zealand Dairy Exporter’s online presence is an added dimension to your magazine. Through digital media, we share a selection of stories and photographs from the magazine. Here we share a selection of just some of what you can enjoy. Read more at www.nzfarmlife.co.nz PODCASTS: STAYING STRONG ONFARM Sheryl Haitana chats to Sarah Martelli about her Strong Woman programme.

Ronlyn Duncan Interview with former Landcare Research senior researcher Ronlyn Duncan. Ronlyn is discussing how farmers are using the primary industry advisory services offered to them and how this service could be improved to support farmers through change and improving sustainable practices. Fraser McGougan Interview with dairy farmer Fraser McGougan, who is also a climate change ambassador with DairyNZ. Fraser is talking about his approach to farming and how he is helping others in this area. Find these episodes and more at: buzzsprout.com/956197 8

Sub-editor: Hamish Barwick, P: 06 280 3166 hamish.barwick@nzfarmlife.co.nz Reporters Anne Hardie, P: 027 540 3635 verbatim@xtra.co.nz Anne Lee, P: 021 413 346 anne.lee@nzfarmlife.co.nz

WHAKAPUAWAI PROGRAMME

Karen Trebilcock, P: 03 489 8083 ak.trebilcock@xtra.co.nz

The Dairy Exporter visited the Stewart family of Ashburton when they had a big job on - planting 8000 native trees, shrubs and grasses along 2 kilometres of waterways in just three days in partnership with their milk company Synlait’s Whakapuāwai programme. Three generations of the Stewart family on hand in late April were helped out by keen Synlait staff and ecological contractors Brailsfords – with their innovative planting methods.

Delwyn Dickey, P: 022 572 5270 delwyn.d@xtra.co.nz Phil Edmonds phil.edmonds@gmail.com Elaine Fisher, P: 021 061 0847 elainefisher@xtra.co.nz Design and production: Lead designer: Jo Hannam P: 06 280 3168 jo.hannam@nzfarmlife.co.nz Check out the video on YouTube ‘Dairy Exporter’ channel.

MILK PAYOUT TRACKER:

Average $7.95/kg MS

2021/2022 Fonterra forecast price 9

8.75

8.75 8

7.70

$/kg MS

Grant Bunting Interview with general manager of systems and supply at ANZCO, Grant Bunting. Grant is discussing the New Zealand beef sustainability Proof of Concept project.

Deputy Editor Sheryl Haitana M: 021 239 1633 sheryl.haitana@nzfarmlife.co.nz

DO YOU HAVE A NEW TEAM? Take a look at this insight into the quiet power of an introvert. The neuroscience might give you that aha moment. Take a look... www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/ the-quiet-power-of-introverts/ p080fdnp Story page 22

nzfarmlife. co.nz/stayingstrong-onfarm

Factum Agri is dedicated to New Zealand’s primary industry, working with the Rural Support Trust. Each week Angus Kebbell talks with farmers, industry professionals and policy makers to hear their stories and expert opinions on matters relevant to both our rural and urban communities.

Editor Jackie Harrigan P: 06 280 3165, M: 027 359 7781 jackie.harrigan@nzfarmlife.co.nz

7.90

7.80

7.78

8.00

Mid 7.99

7.75

7.25

Emily Rees emily.rees@nzfarmlife.co.nz Partnerships Managers: Janine Aish Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty P: 027 890 0015 janine.aish@nzfarmlife.co.nz Tony Leggett, Lower North Island P: 027 474 6093 tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz David Paterson, South Island P: 027 289 2326 david.paterson@nzfarmlife.co.nz Subscriptions: www.nzfarmlife.co.nz subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz P: 0800 2AG SUB (224 782)

6 5 4

Fonterra forecast

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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MILKING PLATFORM WAIRARAPA

A family farming team Say G’day to NZ Dairy Exporter’s new contributor, Hamish Hammond, of Greytown.

’day, my name is Hamish Hammond and I am a dairy farmer from Greytown. As from now I am also a newbie contributor to NZ Dairy Exporter. It has been a fair while since I have written anything of real substance, the last thing was a 100+ page thesis which is now gathering dust on the bookshelf, so we will see how this goes. For my articles, I hope to provide some insights on what is happening onfarm in the Wairarapa and tell you a bit about my farming journey. To start an introduction, my wife Rach and I both left university in 2017 with newly-minted masters degrees, big student loans and, most importantly, motivation to make something of ourselves and put all we learnt into practice. With that in mind, after a quick trip to Europe, we started our first season contract milking on my family’s 600-cow dairy farm. We are now heading into our fifth season on the same farm and this will be our fourth season milking once-a-day (OAD). This will also be our third season running a beef block which we lease to sell and finish dairy cross beef calves which are purchased from the dairy farm. Rach and I are both working hands-on together alongside my dad (who we employ fulltime) and one other full-time worker. We are a predominantly family farming team and I like to think this gives us strength as almost all of us have a vested interest in seeing it succeed. 10

Top: Brilliant sunshine at Hamish and Rachel Hammond’s property in Greytown, Wairarapa. Top right: Hamish and Rachel Hammond’s dog Mac is their number one farming companion. Hamish writes “He doesn’t do any farm work, just loves running around with us.” Bottom left: Hamish and Rachel Hammond keeping warm. The couple are expecting a child in September. Bottom right: Hamish and Rachel Hammond run dairy cows and a beef block.

“. . . I hope to provide some insights on what is happening onfarm in the Wairarapa and tell you a bit about my farming journey.” Currently onfarm, we are looking after all our own dry stock (and likely to be in the midst of calving once this comes out), so the day mainly consists of feeding out hay and break feeding for each mob. The autumn here was a bit stop/start, we got some decent early rain but lacked a good follow up to really build decent pasture covers at run-offs. Some areas missed most of the rain entirely and irrigators were running into mid-May. Subsequently, some farmers had their dry cows on the milking platform longer than usual biding time to let the run-offs grow. Thankfully, last spring proved to be a good one for silage and hay making. These feed stores have either been used to make late season milk or utilise for putting condition back on the girls while

they are dry. Yet another example of nature providing in anticipation of seasonal change. June has come and gone, bringing with it the first southerly of the year. A good reminder not to get comfortable and to expect a bit of water and mud as it is winter. Our plan for calving is really simple and that is to Keep It Simple Stupid (the KISS approach). We generally divide the jobs amongst the small team and focus our efforts on specific jobs like milking, feeding out, calf rearing and animal management. The flexibility of an OAD farm really comes to the fore during this busy period and we can generally be in just before dark after a leisurely 5am start. All going well we should reap the rewards of a well-planned mating (thanks Rach), a mild summer and stress-free dry off. For the most part, our plans are a rinse and repeat of the previous two years, although, there is one big change for us. This year we are expecting our first child come September! Not the greatest timing but it should make for an interesting start to spring. And with that, my fingers and toes are crossed for a smooth calving for every girl in the team.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

MILKING PLATFORM TARANAKI

What does it take to curb the anti-farming rhetoric in our urban friends or these organisations?

Feeling under the pump Some days have Trish Rankin wondering why it is all so hard for dairy farmers right now.

s it just me or… Are farmers feeling more under the pump than ever? I like to consider myself and our farming business pretty adaptable and forward thinking but over the last few weeks I have been left wondering. Whether it is onfarm infrastructure, off farm strategy or, national policy and regulation, some days it feels like it is all so hard! Yes, Taranaki weather has been good for winter, growth rates above average. A little chilly but nothing too bad. Some rain fronts have come through - but nothing too arduous.The cows are in good knick and good health. For us, moving to two new farming business locations has had its challenges. We are flat tack now trying to sort calf sheds, dairy sheds that need a lot of TLC and fencing and water systems that are new to all staff. We are grateful our kids

have stayed at the same schools, rugby clubs, hockey teams and surf life saving clubs etc. However, the headspace to get your head around two lots of everything as well as unpacking over June/July definitely had a tiring effect on us all. I salute all share farmers or farmers who moved this season - it isn’t easy and you’ll now be in the thick of calving likely in new sheds, new systems or new locations! On a NZ scale though is where I feel farmers are feeling even more under the pump. We have heard about how the silo effect of regulation is affecting farmers. Where the left arm doesn’t necessarily know what the right is doing when it comes to legislation and regulation. What will work in Southland, likely won’t work in Northland. How we do things in the ‘Naki will be different to how things need to be done in Canterbury. However, our consumers are the same and want the

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

best product we can produce - this is the conundrum. Then we have the anti-farming groups, who we have got used to over the last few years where every year there is some farming activity that is photographed or videoed that makes social media. Disappointingly Oxfam seems to have joined this anti-farming movement. Oxfam, an organisation touted as being for a more just, inclusive and sustainable world, which hosts its Trailwalker series here in Taranaki, launched a petition on June 30 to ensure ‘farmers curb climate pollution’ with the following quote… ‘The Government gives unsustainable farming practices a free pass to pollute, and props up an intensive model that treats farms like factories…’ Source: www.oxfam.org.nz/news-media/ oxfam-aotearoa-launches-a-petition-tohelp-farmers-curb-climate-pollution This is from an organisation that relies on farmland to conduct its Trailwalker event to raise substantial funds used to alleviate poverty and provide much needed resources around the world. Well, I’m not sure about others, but I don’t feel like we are getting a ‘free pass’ in our farming business. We are doing more, being better and striving to do our best for our people, animals and environment day in and day out. What does it take to curb the antifarming rhetoric in our urban friends or these organisations? Do they realise if we don’t feed the world with the world’s lowest carbon footprint dairy product - that another country with a worse footprint profile will? I genuinely seek an answer to how we can reach organisations like Oxfam. Or will we keep losing more and more people to the anti-farming movement? 11

MILKING PLATFORM WEST COAST

New Dairy Exporter columnist Richard Reynolds (back) with his family, Christina, Iris and Tavis from Punakaiki

Reflecting on a great SIDE NZ Dairy Exporter welcomes a new columnist from the West Coast, Richard Reynolds.

i, I am Richard Reynolds, and along with my partner Christina and two children, farm on the West Coast just below Punakaiki - home of the Pancake Rocks. Our farm is between the beach and the Paparoa Ranges. After attending the South Island Dairy Event (SIDE) I have been given the honour of contributing to NZ Dairy Exporter. This is helped by knowing Anne Lee for years when I used to be dairy chair for Federated Farmers on the West Coast and being rung to find how Westland was going. I did comment to Anne that after the sale to Yilli that she hasn’t rung me since, so she told me to do this column. Fortunately where I farm we have not been affected by the flooding. It has been a major event to farmers that are affected, mainly along the Buller river but also a few on other rivers. The clean-up will be ongoing and couldn’t have come at a worse time. Our hearts go out to those affected both onfarm and in town. SIDE came at just the right time for 12

me, I was feeling in a bit of a hole and conferences are an excellent reason to have to go and see people. I enjoyed catching up with friends and colleagues that I had not seen for years. There was a really relaxed feel to the event which was hosted by Julia Jones, one of my heroes as she swears on stage and gets invited back. The biggest highlight had to go to Logan Williams who among other things has invented wool plastic and handed around very sharp knives for everyone to look at.

“. . . conferences are an excellent reason to have to go and see people.”

This presenter was epic and you must look him up on the Internet. He has all the self-belief and confidence of my 11-year-old son. He was out there doing it,

changing the world one hard working idea at a time. It is so refreshing to see people with boundless energy and self-belief. This got me thinking about what dairy will look like in 10-20 years time, because things are going to be different. This year we have seen that change can come very quickly with immigration changes leading the labour shortages and with the Zero Carbon Bill. One of the changes that I have made for the last three years is to use homebred yearling bulls over all my cows at the end of artificial insemination (AI). There were a few reasons for the change. It happened at the start of M Bovis when a closed herd became a more important idea. We also had a few safety problems with the bulls that we used. I had to rescue a worker from a paddock and I had a toe-to-toe with a bull in the backyard, as witnessed by my partner. She was not too keen on bulls after that. Our neighbour had also been attacked by a bull that year, so there were some real concerns on that front. I also got a bit tired of buying bulls from stock agents, being promised something quite different from what turned up and still having to pay large sums for them. This one was really grating. So, the results have been very pleasing. I have learnt to use crossbred to Friesian types that are well grown, if you look at a yearling and 2-year-old bulls side by side there is not a lot of height difference. For my 350 cow herd I use 10 bulls instead of eight to make up for their lower servicing ability. After using them I sell them to the freezing works before April and depending on the schedule aim to average $1000 a head. I haven’t managed the averaging but with dropping the Jersey cross looking ones and selecting earlier born calves I think it is achievable. My in-calf rates have not changed sitting around 5% empty for a once a day herd after four weeks AI. Also by only taking the stock through one winter as calves, you greatly reduce the wintering cost and also reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) production. This is an issue that beef farmers are going to have to look at and maybe with all our industry good bodies working together, we could solve our issues around GHG and bobby calves in one go.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

BACK UP.

GOOD CALL. At FMG, we know that more than 10% of our milk claims are as a result of power loss. It’s this kind of specialised rural knowledge that allows us to pass on valuable advice to farmers to help manage risks. Like making sure you always have a back-up generator on a dairy farm. At the end of the day, if we can help you avoid loss, it reduces stress, lost production and downtime. So why not get in touch with FMG to see how we can help you make some good calls on your farm. Call us on 0800 366 466, or go to fmg.co.nz

We’re here for the good of the country. FMG0915NDEFP_B

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

INSIGHT

UPFRONT ALTERNATIVE PROTEINS

45c/l

$3/l Cost of production for alternative milk protein = 6.7 x cost of milk production.

The opportunity of alternative proteins Fake meat and other alternative proteins are growing in popularity as consumers take into account climate change. But Phil Edmonds finds reasons to doubt the threat of alternative proteins and sees the opportunity for New Zealand food producers.

vidence has emerged recently suggesting NZ food producers are losing interest in the threat posed by alternative proteins, and the impact their further development could have on demand for our pastoral agriculture. This diminishing concern (if it ever was elevated) comes despite no let up in the global investment in ‘new food’ designed to reduce the need for animal protein, along with relentless enthusiasm for its climate change-busting qualities. Are we right to rest easy and accept the threat is misplaced or overblown, or should we instead be thinking how alternative proteins present NZ farmers with an opportunity to diversify, and build resilience in their business? The answer might come down to how much the government can be convinced that alternative proteins align with its vision of growing the value of New Zealand’s food production. Each year in June KPMG publishes 14

Golden Bay dairy farmer Wayne Langford has planted a wheat crop as part of a push to be more sustainable onfarm.

its Agribusiness Agenda which, based on responses from industry players and stakeholders, identifies the most important issues facing the sector. The Agenda ranks the issues and compares the results with previous years. Noteworthy in this year’s findings was ‘tracking the global evolution of alternative proteins’ experienced the second largest decrease in priority among all issues considered.

The explanation given by KPMG was the fall in priority might simply be due to the sector coming to terms with the emergence of novel foods and the new competition for traditional commodities does not pose the same sense of fear as it has done in the past few years. It may however be that farmers and the wider food producing sector feel like they have more immediate concerns than the pressures posed by new alternative foods. Not only have there been Covid-19related to disruptions to deal with (access to imported materials and labour), but the Government’s legislative programme to address climate change and water reform is also an increasingly pressing preoccupation. And on top of that, the current robust demand for New Zealand’s existing agricultural output is not helping to train thoughts on a world where pastoral production is under threat.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

`Based on an understanding of what drives consumer behaviour, new foods will need to be cheap, have an appealing texture and be convenient.’ FEEDING OUR FUTURE

There are also other reasons why farmers might be feeling justified in ignoring the perceived danger. A recent ‘dialogue’ hosted by Massey University’s Riddet Institute on ‘Feeding our Future’ included presentations of now familiar arguments on why alternative proteins won’t take hold anytime soon. Monash University biotechnology professor Paul Wood suggested that cost of production rather than consumer curiosity would determine the potential for plant fermentation and cell-based meat to take hold. Wood said the cost of facilities (pharmaceutical grade, in ultra clean, air filtered rooms) for fermented proteins means a litre of ‘product’ could cost $3 for the protein alone (before components to make it ‘consumable’ are added). This compares with the global average cost of producing ‘ready to consume’ cow’s milk currently sitting around 45c. Similarly, for cell-based meat, Wood estimates using high-spec production facilities at a large scale (10 kilo tonnes of output for example) would cost $133 per/

kg, compared with a global price of beef production at around $2 per/kg. There is an obvious counter argument to this challenge – once upon a time computer chips started out with similar cost deficits, and they did eventually fall. However, Wood says computer chips are physical products, not biological. “Can costs come down closer to livestock production? Personally, I don’t think it will happen.”

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

A further reason to doubt the immediate threat of alternative foods was delivered by Massey University food science academic and Riddet Institute chair in consumer and sensory science Joanne Hort, who says consumer acceptance of new foods can not be assumed. “If you look at the marketing of new foods, you might assume there has been a strong uptake. But what consumers say and what they want doesn’t translate into behaviours.” Based on an understanding of what drives consumer behaviour, new foods will need to be cheap, have an appealing

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texture and be convenient. These factors rank more importantly than any values (such as animal welfare and the environment) that consumers hold. Hort said consumer decision making is not rational. “95% of decisions are driven by instinct, not values or attitudes. Any effort to make sustainable diets more attractive would need to make new foods more appealing (tasty), effortless to access and consume and be ‘the norm’ rather than the exception.” Collectively, awareness of these arguments might have contributed to more complacent attitudes, but are they enough to prohibit further thinking on how New Zealand can participate? For a start, Fonterra has accepted that plant-based milks are here to stay and are not just a Silicon Valley thing. Fonterra has

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recently reported it is actively working out how it could participate in the plant-based milk space. And publicly at least, it sees no point in starting a defensive ‘bovine-milk good, plant-based milk bad’ campaign. Fonterra clearly sees growth potential, and importantly, as a key global player in milk products, does not want to be left behind. While KPMG has reported falling industry interest in alternative proteins, the consultancy firms’ manager for agrifood research and insights Jack Keeys is keen to project their importance and promote the potential for New Zealand to play a role in their future development. In the Agenda, Keeys suggests this could be possible with evolved thinking on the demand for alternatives. Rather than alternative protein, he says we may be better served by focusing on delivering ‘alternative nutrition’, a more complex deliverable than simple protein requirements. Whatever the nuanced terminology, those with an eye on the future are steadfastly convinced NZ still needs to plan ahead and take note of the likes of Impossible Foods founder and CEO Pat Brown, who in July told the Washington Post his company has pledged to “eliminate animal agriculture in the next 15 years… put it on your calendar, Impossible Foods is going to do it.”

EMERGING PROTEINS

With a glass half full attitude, and to help better understand the opportunities, government and industry-funded food science and innovation hub FoodHQ published a report Emerging Proteins in Aotearoa New Zealand in April. The Government as much as food producers and manufacturers wants to understand if the ‘potential to play’ exists, and like Fonterra, does not want to be left behind should that be the case. Among nine observations made in the report, the emerging proteins sector was seen as a potential solution for farmers and growers. This was based on farmers looking for opportunities to futureproof their businesses through enabling better financial and/or environmental performance. The report said, “For many animal farmers, interest has been stimulated as part of an evaluation of potential responses to tightening environmental limitations 16

$2/kg

$133/kg

Cost of production for alternative beef protein = 66 x cost of beef production. (either now or expected in the future).” There is certainly evidence of this, although it is still for the most part, at an experimental stage. Golden Bay dairy farmer Wayne Langford has planted a wheat crop as part of a planned introduction of farming practices to help run his farm more sustainably. Planting the crop was undertaken based on its potential financial viability, with the wheat destined for use at a local bakery. Both these motivations align with the anticipated interest identified in the report. While the wheat crop is not part of a strategic decision to produce alternative proteins, Wayne has a pragmatic rather than dismissive approach. “We are going to have a shortage of protein in the world as the population increases, and it doesn’t matter if it is plant-based or animal protein. As the world grows and changes, we will be given different opportunities, and this will be one of them.” Beyond experimenting, the FoodHQ report notes there will be a right and wrong way to enhance the potential of success of an emerging proteins sector. This includes only proceeding when a clear market exists that will return enough to make it profitable and avoiding growing a crop ‘just because you can’. Producing ‘at scale’, which to date has been recognised as a prerequisite of success, certainly seems out of reach at the moment, and this still poses reasonable doubt over whether NZ can ‘play’. But the report also notes that NZ has a long tradition of taking on the world despite the odds. One final thought that should keep

KPMG manager for agrifood research and insights Jack Keeys.

farmers’ minds open – the Government’s willingness to support an emerging proteins industry. Where the Government is concerned, all public investment starts by ticking boxes in its ‘Fit for a Better World’ vision for the future of NZ’s food and fibre production. If alternative proteins can play a role in helping to define NZ’s regenerative farming system, measurably reduce primary sector carbon emissions, be exported as high value products to a well identified consumer market, make farm businesses more resilient and increases the attractiveness of the primary sector as a career pathway, then… apply for funding now! Ultimately, the decision will come down to whether you believe, like Monash University’s Paul Wood, that based on the high costs, alternative proteins will be a ‘niche product’ likely to serve discerning middle to high income consumers, (in which case watch this space), or Impossible Foods bullish commitment to create affordable food for everyone.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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GLOBAL DAIRY BRAZIL

How Brazil combined intensive land use with rainforest protection Words by: Wagner Beskow

“Brazil preserves more than 632 million hectares of native vegetation, equivalent to 43 countries and five territories in Europe .”

he first fact-based call to preserving native forests in Brazil was “A Cultura dos Campos” (The Farming of Grassland Areas), an 1898 technical book by J.F. de Assis Brasil. In this book, he argues that government promotion of settlements and deforestation of hill country areas was a mistake that would show its effect in the future and detailed how productivity of the vastly available rolling country could be increased by 50 fold through better agricultural practices and technology. He then went on to set up an 87ha demonstration dairy farm that was exactly 50 times smaller than the beef cattle stations of the South, where he introduced the first Jersey cows into the country, the first Eucalyptus trees, imported the first haymaking equipment as well as seeds of many pasture species and produced the first maize hybrid, well before anyone else nationwide, to name a few of his novelties. The farm was a success, becoming a

TABLE 1. LAND USE IN BRAZIL COMPARED TO THE USA (% OF TOTAL TERRITORY) Type of land use

Brazil

USA

BR/USA

Total preservation areas

66.3

19.9

3.3

Legally preserved (excluded) areas within farms

20.5

0.0

Preservation units (parks, reserves, etc)

13.1

8.9

1.5

Native peoples’ preserved land

13.8

2.3

6.0

Native vegetation on unusable/waste land

18.9

8.7

2.2

Agricultural and horticultural areas

30.2

74.3

0.4

Cropping and horticulture

7.8

17.4

0.4

Commerical forestry

1.2

27.9

0.0

Grazing (cultivated and natural grasslands)

21.2

29.0

0.7

Urban areas, roads and other infrastructures

3.5

5.8

0.6

demonstration unit for two agricultural faculties and was visited by many famous figures. The new Constitution of 1934, partly influenced Wagner Beskow. by Assis Brasil’s work and ideas, established that “the preservation of natural resources is an obligation of both the Union and the States”. In the same year, the first national “Forest Code” legislation was formalised by President Getúlio Vargas, a personal friend and admirer of Assis Brasil. Still in 1934, Vargas created the “Waters Code”, the “Hunting and Fishery Code”, and the “Animal Protection Code”. Soil and water conservation principles were introduced through these pieces of legislation, good and bad practices were defined, as well as what resources and species could or could not be exploited. The Forest Code established what was then a flat minimum of 25% of the native vegetation to be preserved on every rural property as well as the preservation of native forests alongside streams, so nearly everyone living today grew up with some notion of limits to land, water, native wood and game exploitation, through education, legal penalties and fines.

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME

Since then, legislation was updated in 1965, 1988, 1998 (defined “environmental crime”, e.g. killing native animals, destroying native vegetation as well as their trading, and made it non bailable) and another update in 2012. The year of 2008 was set as a tolerance breaking point, so native vegetation that should be preserved has to remain or be restored to its status found in that year, as per the government satellite imagery Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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Brazil preserves more than 632 million hectares of native vegetation, equivalent to 43 countries and 5 territories in Europe (see map), excluding natural grasslands, also preserved through on-farm Legal Reserves.

records. For this to be possible, every Brazil’s territory is suitable for farming, land owner (5.2 million properties) had but through educated decisions, current All of the was a achieved by acting earlier thancheck most countries. The 25% flat rate and of 1934 to above sit with conservation officer, agricultural horticultural use accounts and the biome-dependent 20 to 80% legal reserve figures of 2012 were proposed when most a multidimensional map on a computer for only 30.2% of total, against 74.3% in properties had not yet achieved such limits. Extensive public hearings took place and all screen and confirm the location and the US. affected parts had ample time and space to manifest their views and concerns. boundaries of its Legal Reserve and Brazil preserves more than 632 million Current legislation did not seek perfection but a compromise between preservation and farm permanent protection (PPA),the in main thisobjective hectares of native vegetation, equivalent to income generation. Stopping furtherareas losses became and recovery plans took social,act economic, cultural, constitutional, scientific and practical aspects consideration. formalising a binding agreement. 43incountries and five territories in Europe BraziliansWhat consider this a be “pacified matter” and proud of what was(see achieved. must preserved: (a)are the Legal map), excluding natural grasslands, Reserve (20, 35 or 80% of the property, also preserved through onfarm Legal Reserves. ENDS depending on type of biome, from natural grasslands to the Amazon forest, All of the above was achieved by acting respectively) and (b) the PPAs. earlier than most countries. Original headline: How Brazil combined intensive farm These include strips of native forests land use and Thegrowing 25% flat rate of 1934 and the income with unparalleled protection of its natural resources and bush alongside streams, ranging from biome-dependent 20 to 80% legal reserve 30 to 500m wide on each side, depending figures of 2012 were proposed when most on the stream’s width (see image), top of properties had not yet achieved such hills, steep areas, springs, marshes and limits. Extensive public hearings took place swamps. PPAs must be fenced off and bear and all affected parts had ample time and screen and confirm the location Reserve permanent protection no buildings, unless madeand in boundaries or before of its Legalspace toand manifest their views and concerns. areas (PPA), in this act formalising a binding agreement. 2008. Current legislation did not seek Allmust of the above resulted in a scenario perfection but a depending compromise What be preserved: (a) the Legal Reserve (20, 35 or 80% of the property, on between thatofmay surprise the reader, shown preservation and(b)farm income generation. type biome, from natural grasslands to the in Amazon forest, respectively) and the PPAs. These include of native forests and United bush alongside streams, ranging from 30 to 500m the table as strips a comparison to the Stopping further losses became the wide on each side, depending on the stream’s width (see image), top of hills, steep States. Extensive devastation did take place main objective and areas, recovery plans took springs, marshes and swamps. PPAs must be fenced off and bear no buildings, unless made in in Brazil in the past, but over 66% of the social, economic, cultural, constitutional, or before 2008. country’s native vegetation is preserved scientific and practical aspects in to date (74.3% if natural grasslands are consideration. Brazilians consider this a included) and most ofinitSouth is found matter” and are proud of what Large dairy farming region Brazil,on showing native “pacified vegetation preserved alongside streams. farms (20.5%). Approximately 80% of was achieved.

AMAZON FOREST FACTS

70%

• Approximately 70% of the original Brazilian portion of the Amazon rain forest remains untouched.

• Fires are also monitored by the same system. Most fires take place in areas that have been opened for years and are now legal. Burnings are discouraged as an agricultural practice and are illegal when related to unauthorised deforestation. According to CAR (government geodata), 95% of the properties light no outdoor fires at any time. • The whole area is monitored 24x7 by an automated satellite based system that alerts against deforestations larger than 25 hectares (smaller ones must be manually reported). • Deforestation rate was reduced by 72% in the last 25 years, and most of it is legal, as per the 80% preservation explained in the text. Some illegal clearings still take place, and are mostly done by outlaw miners and wood traders. When caught, operations are ceased, equipment destroyed and people are prosecuted. • Differently from what is reported overseas, farmers are not clearing new areas illegally, and those attempting it are caught. • Only helicopters can get to such remote places. Huge distances and local conditions sometimes require that police get adequate military support, which needs Congress approval.

A large dairy farming region in South Brazil, showing native vegetation preserved alongside streams.

20 the above resulted in a scenario that may surprise the reader, shown in the table as a All of comparison to the United States. Extent devastation did take place in Brazil in the past, but

• Many complex international illegal trading schemes use “Amazon protection” labels and NGOs to establish in the region and obtain prime wood, rare animals, unique plant extracts, a range of special minerals and gems which they manage to sell overseas, especially in Europe.

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INSIGHT

UPFRONT PASTURE SUMMIT

Trust in

grass-based systems Ireland has developed a Grass-Fed Standard. Anne Hardie reports on the ramifications for New Zealand.

rass-based systems provide a tangible difference in dairy products, but consumers need to have trust in those products which is why Ireland developed its Grass-Fed Standard. Speaking at the Pasture Summit, Ornua chief executive John Jordan said grass-based systems gave both Ireland and New Zealand a real point of difference that was apparent in dairy products. That wasn’t enough without consumers trust in products and brands and he said there was an absolute need for transparency. The Grass-Fed Standard is aimed at providing evidence to back grass-fed claims and Jordan said it is a standard that will stand up to scrutiny. It provides the industry with a standardised and verifiable mechanism that identifies grass-fed products to consumers through the use of a logo. It involves ongoing surveillance audits that can be unscheduled to ensure the scheme’s integrity. Ornua processes milk from about 14,000 Irish dairy farmers on small family farms, turning it into cheese and butter that it sells to 110 countries. It’s Kerrygold brand is it’s crown jewel which reflects its grass-fed origins. Jordan says its American competition is white, hard, brittle and hard to spread, whereas Kerrygold butter is yellow with a soft texture and real taste. “They’re attributes that are real and tangible attributes in the dairy product and they are driven by the 22

“They’re attributes that are real and tangible attributes in the dairy product and they are driven by the fact it is a grass-based system. That is a story we love to tell.”

fact it is a grass-based system. That is a story we love to tell.” Ireland is one of the most carbonefficient places in the world to produce both dairy and beef, though without the Ornua chief executive heavy industries John Jordan. in the country, he said agriculture accounts for one third of its greenhouse gases. The industry does need to make changes to have a positive impact on the climate, but he said those changes have to be tangible. The risk, he said, is whether those changes would have an impact on limiting the herd size and would then have an impact on the grassfed system. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

INSIGHT

UPFRONT PASTURE SUMMIT

Sustainable sourcing

the trend for dairying Words by: Anne Hardie

ultinational companies now talk about sustainable sourcing rather than simply responsible sourcing which means rebuilding nature from water through to biodiversity. That was the message at the Pasture Summit from Robert Erhard who heads corporate agriculture at Nestle and is president of the executive committee of Sustainable Agricultural Initiative Platform. He says there has been a shift in society from wanting to know how farmers produce their food, to the impact their systems have on nature. Pasture systems were natural systems, but farmers still needed to think about the inputs on their farm as well as the biodiversity and how to build that up. “How you nurture them and how can you help capture evidence of how you are driving that forward,” he said. “You are doing a lot of things right, but let it be captured and let it be shared that you are in a regenerative form of agriculture.” The entire dairy industry needed to move toward low-carbon farming or net zero which he said was possible, albeit with challenges. That meant a more natural form of agriculture that was more resilient to the changing weather conditions and had the agility to keep on producing when the weather became unpredictable. More and more policies would come because it required a transformation of the production system. For some, that transformation would be challenging, he said. Animal welfare is an area increasingly analysed and he said the industry needed to find concrete definitions to portray animal welfare because society often had an anthropomorphic approach to animals – they ascribe human attributes to animals. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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stockpiling in Chinese warehouses, as an explanation for the strong levels of imports over the last year. This is a very common concern, and this arises from the fact that we don’t have very good insight into what inventory levels are in China.

INSIGHT

UPFRONT MARKET VIEW

Global competition is another factor currently on the radar too, with the US and EU chomping at production growth as best they can. Nations like Ireland and Italy have made some impressive milk production growth figures over the last 12 months, even in the face of adverse conditions. The US dairy industry is the same, growing at an incredible rate, with over 18 months of very impressive growth figures. The problem with the US milk production growth is that their local consumption is not growing at the same rate, while also being hamstrung with Covid-19. This has resulted in more exports to keep their market in balance. SMP, dry whey and cheese have been their key exports, with the increase in cheaper US produced SMP globally seeing price sensitive buyers swap to this product. China has soaked up all the dry whey the US can produce.

China’s demand for dairy speeds up

As with any market, as prices increase, competition increases until prices correct. Supply and demand epitomised. So in short, for prices to remain high, demand needs to stay above milk supply. Simple.

Words by: Stuart Davison

t this point of the dairy season, milk price volatility is rife, uncertainty around market movements is top of the agenda and Global Dairy Trade (GDT) events are looked forward to with much eagerness. This season is no different. By the end of July, this season consisted of four GDT events with negative price index movements, creating doubt around the top end of Fonterra’s opening milk price forecast. Interestingly, over the last year, as a ● Stuart Davison, dairy analyst at NZX Agri. result of Covid-19, exports of liquid milk 2020. In addition, NZ exporters have and cream out of New Zealand have supplied 29% of that milk and cream, increased significantly. I’m sure you’ve while the biggest supplier, Germany, has read about it, but the Chinese government supplied 32%. Also, it is important to note advised Chinese citizens to drink more that in April, milk production in China milk to boost their immune system. is at its spring peak. I think this category This saw a mass change to the of Chinese dairy imports is key consumption levels of dairy to understanding how quickly in China, and resulted in dairy consumption in China is a massive increase in the changing, which has a direct demand for liquid milk. Over impact on our own industry. the last year, processors in June 2021’s import data out China have directed the bulk of China shows the same trend; of their milk into liquid milk, whole milk powder (WMP) and Stuart Davison. skim milk powder (SMP) imports significantly reducing the volume of milk powders produced. As a lifted 87% and 47% respectively, response to this demand, NZ processors highlighting the demand for milk also ramped up all the ultra heat treatment powders that still exist as consumption (UHT) milk production they had, and changes. This is another stake in the pushed it into China as quickly as possible. ground showing that the overall trend At the same time, the imbalance this looks like consumption is increasing, increase in local demand created away outpacing local production, and leading to from the norm for China’s processors, a higher requirement for imports to meet created a larger demand for imported demand. Which bodes really well for this milk powders, both whole and skim. So, season. a double win for NZ dairy. But in the fastHowever, it is always good to look at moving world of dairy, how does that look the market as a whole, and understand going forward? risks that could bring this all crashing Well, if the current trend of imports of down rather quickly. One worry market liquid milk is any thing to go by, then commentators have at the moment is Chinese consumers aren’t slowing down. stockpiling in Chinese warehouses, as an China’s May 2021 imports of liquid milk explanation for the strong levels of imports and cream were 92% higher than May over the last year. This is a very common Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

concern, and this arises from the fact that we don’t have very good insight into what inventory levels are in China. Global competition is another factor currently on the radar too, with the US and EU chomping at production growth as best they can. Nations like Ireland and Italy have made some impressive milk production growth figures over the last 12 months, even in the face of adverse conditions. The US dairy industry is the same, growing at an incredible rate, with over 18 months of very impressive growth figures. The problem with the US milk production growth is that their local consumption is not growing at the same rate, while also being hamstrung with Covid-19. This has resulted in more exports to keep their market in balance. SMP, dry whey and cheese have been their key exports, with the increase in cheaper US produced SMP globally seeing price sensitive buyers swap to this product. China has soaked up all the dry whey the US can produce. As with any market, as prices increase, competition increases until prices correct. Supply and demand epitomised. So in short, for prices to remain high, demand needs to stay above milk supply. Simple. • Stuart Davison, dairy analyst at NZX Agri. 25

BUSINESS CHEESE MAKING

‘Pure magic’ with raw milk cheese Mount Eliza Cheese Katikati cheese makers Chris and Jill Whalley firmly believe the magic happens at night after they have finished work. Elaine Fisher reports.

hris and Jill Whalley of Mount Eliza Cheese Katikati, may spend up to 10 hours making a batch of raw milk cheese to their exact standards, but they believe the real magic happens when they turn out the lights at night. “The cheese wheels look like they are just sitting on the shelf. We don’t really know exactly what goes on when we shut the cheese storeroom door, but we do know it’s pure magic,” says Jill. That “magic” continues for at least three months for raw milk Mount Eliza Red Leicester and six to 12 months for its cheddar. Mount Eliza also makes the Stilton-style Blue Monkey cheese, from pasteurised milk. All are sold online, at local Farmers Markets and throughout New Zealand to specialist deli and cheese shops. The wheels resting supposedly quietly on the shelves in the storeroom are “alive” with beneficial bacteria converting the milk lactose to lactic acid and breaking down proteins, improving the flavour and shelf life of the cheese. “The milk we use is not heated as heat drives off the aromatic enzymes,” says Chris. And aromatic is exactly what Mount Eliza Cheeses are as evidenced when

Chris and Jill Whalley of Mount Eliza Cheese.

they are cut, and by the rich floral aroma emanating from the storeroom where they mature. “Traditionally cheese making was how milk was preserved as an important source of protein over winter in the days before refrigeration. Hard cheeses are designed to mature slowly and last a long time. We use traditional recipes sourced from cheese makers in the UK,” says Chris.

BLESSED ARE THE CHEESEMAKERS Key to making cheese is the controlled removal of water from milk which concentrates the milk’s protein, fat and other nutrients and increases its shelf life. Like all cheese makers, Chris and Jill’s

process involves coagulating the casein protein in milk and then separating the milk into solid curds and liquid whey. The liquid whey is drained off, and the curds are salted, shaped and left to ripen in a controlled environment. Microorganisms are used in each step of this process and determine the flavour and texture of the final cheese. As Chris says, it is a biotechnology which dates back centuries. Much about cheese making is scientific and carefully measured, but much is not. It’s the blend of art and science which appeals to Chris, formerly an industrial chemist, and Jill, formerly an occupational therapist. They’ve taken the art form a step further by making cheeses from unpasteurised milk; one of just three cheese makers in NZ licensed to do so. The others are Aroha Organic Goat Cheese of Te Aroha and Kervella Cheese in Takaka. To meet Ministry for Primary Industries’ (MPI) super strict quality standards, they needed milk from a dairy farmer prepared to go above and beyond normal industry requirements. They found their man in Carl Williams, a third-generation farmer just a few kilometres away.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Left: Chris Whalley overseeing the curding process. Above: Aromatic wheels of Mount Eliza Red Leicester and cheddar maturing and creating magic in the store room. Right: Popular Mount Eliza Blue Monkey cheese is made from pasteurised milk. (Picture supplied).

‘The wheels resting supposedly quietly on the shelves in the storeroom are “alive” with beneficial bacteria converting the milk lactose to lactic acid . . .’ Carl supplies Chris and Jill with 1000 litres of milk once a week. In order to do so he and his staff have doubled their record keeping and testing protocols and further increased hygiene standards. It’s a lot of work for a relatively small amount of milk but for Carl it’s about more than money or volume. “I want to produce the best product we can, which is why I decided to align with Chris and Jill. I’m also old school in that I like to see small local businesses help each other out. There’s a sense of pride in seeing and eating Mount Eliza Cheeses as the end product. It’s a kind of hunter/gatherer thing I guess, sharing what you have produced with others.” As well as sharing with family and friends, Carl takes some of the cheese Chris leaves him after weekly milk collections, to enjoy with tennis club mates at Waihi Beach.

FOOD SAFETY “Everything we would normally do around food safety and milk quality has doubled. Record keeping is much more detailed, and filters are changed more frequently. We take extra care in washing the cows’ udders and audits have increased from one to two annually. To meet the requirements for Mount Eliza Cheese, somatic cell counts have to be under 200,000, but we are at those levels anyway.” To reassure him of milk quality, Carl has given Chris access to his Fonterra app so he can see the lab results from milk samples taken each time the tanker does a pickup. “We also let Chris know when we are about to start feeding silage, which usually happens in the summer. He often decides to pick up more milk before then, as he can’t make raw milk cheeses from milk from cows fed silage.” New farm manager Jay Harvey, intrigued with the idea of producing milk for locally

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

made cheese, is going to find out how it’s done when Chris and Jill invite him into their cheese making factory. “I can’t wait. I’ve been milking cows for 14 years but never seen the end product that I have had a hand in producing, and I’ve never made cheese before.” Jay is happy to commit to the extra record keeping and strict hygiene protocols. “I can see why it’s important and you have to have all that information for end of year records anyway.” Chris and Jill were not only lucky to find a farmer willing to put in the effort to produce milk to higher standards, but also to find one close by at all. The 298 herd of cross bred cows on the 102 ha (effective) Williams’ farm are almost a novelty in the Katikati district where horticulture is now the dominant land use. “I often have approaches from people wanting to buy the farm for horticulture but I’m just its caretaker for future generations,” says Carl. While some of the farm has been converted to an avocado orchard, there are no current plans to change the rest of the land use from dairying. That’s good news for Chris and Jill, who five years ago, were finally granted

Left: Farm manager Jay Harvey understands the need for meticulous record keeping in order to supply raw milk for cheese making. Middle top: Carl William’s 298 cross bred cows produce milk for Fonterra and for Mount Eliza Cheese. Above: Carl Williams is a third-generation dairy farmer.

permission to produce raw milk cheeses. “We are proud of the milk Carl supplies,” says Jill. “It is of the highest standards from healthy, happy cows.”

PRESENTING TO PARLIAMENT Even though raw milk cheeses are imported into NZ, gaining certification to make cheeses from unpasteurised milk in this country wasn’t easy. So determined were the couple to make the highest quality, best tasting cheeses they could, in 2014, Jill took their argument to a Parliamentary select committee. “It was pretty daunting to be in such a formal setting. We presented our supplementary evidence as two platters of cheese, one imported raw milk cheese and one of our own Mount Eliza Cheese, each labelled to show the different regulations which applied to imported and locally produced cheeses. It certainly got committee members’ attention.” Also making submissions were Anna Tait-Jamieson, a former food manufacturer, freelance writer and the food editor at NZ Life & Leisure magazine and the late cheese maker Biddy Fraser-Davies of Cwmglyn Farmhouse Cheese. Following those submissions, MPI

invited Mount Eliza Cheese and other small cheese makers to a workshop in Wellington to design a food safety template for cheese making. “The result was a basic food safety template for cheesemakers which was a good start and a show of good faith from the regulators that it was going to be possible to make raw milk cheese. “We felt we were breaking new ground and instead of butting heads, there was a willingness to work together and draw on the expertise of small cheese makers,” says Jill. Pleased as they were with the food safety template for cheesemakers which resulted from that workshop, it lacked the detail that they wanted for their own quality standards, so Chris and Jill went even further, developing a risk management programme for their own cheese making. They worked closely with their MPI auditor, drawing on her expertise to finalise their risk management programme. “We had real traction from that point and instead of fighting, we got on with producing our cheeses. At the end of the day, we and the regulators have the same aim which is to produce safe food. The requirements

we have to operate under are still more onerous than those for cheese makers overseas. However, we have managed to work within them,” says Chris.

UNDER THE AUDIT MICROSCOPE Under those requirements, Carl William’s farm is audited twice a year and the cheese factory once a year and the cost of those inspections is significant. “We have to take routine tests of the milk and cheese, with the samples sent to a recognised lab. The required NZ standards demand far lower limits of bacteria than those for European cheese makers. That’s not to say the European cheeses are not safe, but their regulations are nowhere near as onerous. I’ve spoken to cheese makers in the UK who say they could only dream of achieving the low microbiological results we meet,” says Chris. It might have been easier to make cheese from pasteurised milk but easy was not what Chris and Jill wanted. “Our mission is to make the best quality cheese in New Zealand and to do that we need to use raw milk. That enhances the quality and the flavour of the cheese – you can’t compare raw milk cheese with mass produced cheese.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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BUSINESS WEST COAST FLOODING

Resilience shines over flooded waters Farmers on the West Coast were more worried about people in the wider community and how they were affected by recent flooding than their own problems, finds Anne Hardie.

he mighty Buller rose to a onein-a-hundred-year flood that drenched farms bounding the river, but it also brought out the best in the close-knit community that rallied to repair damage. On one flooded Westport farm, a group of neighbouring farmers turned up as soon as the water receded and had the fences resurrected within a few days. Similar stories abound and are indicative of the community spirit in a region all too familiar with torrential rain and fast-rising rivers. Chair of the West Coast Rural Advisory Group, Taane Johnsen, says farms lost fences and pasture, but farmers were more concerned about those living in town who lost homes and possessions. “They talk about the resilience of West Coasters and farmers I’ve spoken to are more concerned about the town. People not having a roof over their heads and seeing all their belongings on the road waiting for the rubbish truck to pick it up. “Yes, we’re on the back foot for a bit of feed and farmers will have to reconcile their stock numbers around that. I wouldn’t be surprised if farmers with room on their farms tell other farmers they will take some of their cows for a few months. “Some crop paddocks were badly affected and balage washed away, but not as badly affected as we thought it would have been. Anyone who lives by a river is a good planner.”

FARMERS HELPING OTHERS The flooded Nine Mile Rd near the Buller River 30

West Coast Rural Support Trust chair, Carol

Keoghan, told a similar story of farmers turning up to help other farmers in both physical work and supporting their mental health. She says most farms and farmers would be ready to tackle the new season. “The farmers are more concerned about the people in the town,” she says. There was one farm that lost a substantial number of cows after the Buller River flooded land not previously flooded and no access to remove the cows. At least one other farming family was removed from a flooded farm by helicopter on the order of Civil Defence. National Emergency Management Agency communications manager Anthony Frith says a state of emergency enables Civil Defence to remove people for their own safety. He says it can be distressing and difficult for those forced to leave their home or farm, but the aim is to keep them safe. He says they try to get people back home as soon as possible, especially onto farms where stock needs to be fed. In most cases the force of water left little silt on the paddocks which usually causes the most damage. Bede O’Connor and his partner Angela Leslie farm at the entrance to the Buller Gorge near Westport weren’t so lucky, with 30ha under silt once the floodwaters resided. Bede says it will take a year to get those hectares up and running again for dairying, so they would be selling some cows. Wearing his West Coast Federated Farmers’ president’s hat, Bede says it has been invaluable having an MPI person living on the coast to provide expertise and

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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“They talk about the resilience of West Coasters and farmers I’ve spoken to are more concerned about the town.” an important link in the chain. Straight after the flooding, a group was formed that included Westland Milk Products, DairyNZ, Rural Advisory Group, MPI, Rural Support Trust and Federated Farmers which enabled the groups to work together. He also says the community spirit has played a big part in getting flood-affected farmers up and running again in time for calving which usually begins within the first two weeks of August on the Coast. “As soon as the water dropped, other farmers were helping farmers affected because they recognised the time constraints.” Angela is the DairyNZ consultant for the region and says it has been heartening to see everyone helping each other, both on the farms and in the town. “It’s the people who have made the whole response, both urban and rural, work,” she says. “I’ve had people in town asking if there is something they can do to help onfarm. There’s crews going into farms and getting the work done and some take their machinery and post drivers with them.” Angela and Bede watched the power poles to their farm fall into the river as the waters rose and because they are at the end of the line they thought they would be without power for possibly weeks. But Buller Electricity had a helicopter flying the lines over the river and power was restored within two days, which she says is part of that community spirit. In similar spirit, Bathurst Resources that owns the nearby Stockton mine told 200 or so employees to take the week off with full pay and work on their flooded homes or go out and help the community. Angela says many of those employees were part of the numerous people from 32

Paddocks under water near Westport.

the community that joined crews to rectify flooding damage on farms. She says the flood added more jobs to the list farmers usually faced going into calving and some would have to find extra feed to replace what they had lost. A coordinator had been appointed to assist farmers who needed to find supplementary feed and those who wanted to farm stock elsewhere. But sourcing the usual supplement would be a challenge after other flooding events in Canterbury where feed was also needed. “It won’t be the smoothest calving and there will be some holes in the feed budgets and it’s about how to fill them.” Farm assessments have been carried out on about 30 affected farms which had damage to varying degrees. Bede’s advice to those who were short of feed going into the new season was to make good decisions early, which may include selling some stock.

RIVER MAINTENANCE NEEDED While Westport copped the most damage, the storm also caused havoc on dairy farms in Murchison, Golden Bay, Rai Valley and further east in Marlborough. In the Opouri Valley near the Rai Valley, Tim Harvey measured 440mm of rain on the farm and that was after the rain gauge overflowed. The wind was so extreme during the storm that he couldn’t walk forward into it when he was trying to move the reel for the fence break.

With just a couple of weeks to go before calving, he and his brother Matthew employed a team of people to fix the fences that were taken out by floodwaters. He says river maintenance needs to be carried out along the river or farmers won’t have farms to farm any more. Traditionally that worked, but regulations have stymied any river work and he says that is causing more damage and creating more sediment during flood events. “You cause a lot less sedimentation if you do river maintenance,” he says. Farmwise consultant Brent Boyce says farms throughout the top of the south were left with considerable infrastructure damage in the wake of the storm, including tracks, culverts, troughs and fences. So many diggers were busy clearing roads, that few were available to help on farms. Though most inundated pastures had little silt left on them, he says the flooding had exacerbated porina damage in pasture on some farms. Despite the effects from the flood, he says most farmers would have enough feed for cows going into the new season – as long as they could get the infrastructure fixed. “It’s just longer hours – they keep working until the headlights run out of batteries.” He says cow condition took a hammering through the rain and farmers would have to feed them as well as they could which may mean buying in extra feed such as palm kernel.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Nedap CowControl™ BUSINESS CO DIARY

Focus on your workers during busy times responsible for. To support this, consider having regular catchups, even when it’s armworker Appreciation Day busy, as in the long run this can save time on August 6 is a reminder to and support staff morale. employers to acknowledge As an employee, I really the great work their value when my manager employees do and contribute to takes an active interest in the farm business. me. This includes knowing This year has been a full-on what I like and what my one already and I am aware of goals are both at work, and at many farmers across the country home. It makes me feel more Ashley Primrose valued by my manager, which struggling to get the staff and support they need onfarm. makes me more motivated to So, focusing on thinking about our do a good job. I have also seen some great current employees and ourselves, and things farmers have been doing to support taking the time to reflect on their staff throughout Taranaki. what we are doing onfarm, This includes making sure the calving is important. roster gives everyone time off during Think about what you are calving, having a cow shed lolly jar, and currently doing to support team breakfasts during calving. They your staff and if there also have a focus on encouraging social is anything that can be activities off-farm, or doing some fun adjusted to support a great team-building activities. work environment. While farmers are coming up with No matter the business, creative and fun things to support team employees feel more morale, they are also keeping on top of valued when they are paid the day-to-day key aspects of supporting a competitively and have a positive work environment. good work-life balance. With my discussion groups I have Also never underestimate also set up a wellbeing challenge during the importance of calving. This can be for themselves or simple things that shared with their team and includes things can sometimes get like a random act of kindness, trying a new overlooked like saying recipe, giving your favourite cow a pat and ‘thank you’ for a job having a meal with your farm team. well done or celebrating There is a wide range of things we can milestones. be doing to support our people throughout Good this busy season, especially since our communication is also people are our biggest asset. key, so staff have clear expectations on what • More information about being a good boss is needs to be done, available at dairynz.co.nz/goodboss what is expected • Ashley Primrose is DairyNZ consulting and what they are officer South Taranaki.

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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BUSINESS SUSTAINABLE PASTURES

SUSTAINABLE FARMING

sparks excitement

Canterbury sharemilkers Glenn Jones and Sarah Brett are embracing sustainability while making a profit. Anne Lee reports. Photos by Johnny Houston.

perating an environmentally sustainable and progressive dairy business energises and sparks excitement for Glenn Jones and Sarah Brett. The Canterbury sharemilkers and newly minted equity partnership farm owners are enthusiastically looking forward to the future and aren’t deflated by what some can see as a myriad of challenges. “We need to embrace these challenges and weave them into the way we farm and to continue to do what we love,” Glenn says. The pair brought their effervescent drive to the fore when they spoke at last month’s Pasture Summit, which was held simultaneously in

Ireland and New Zealand and was also livestreamed to more than 150 viewers worldwide. Cutting nitrogen loss from grazed farm systems is a challenge faced in both countries. “Purchased nitrogen surplus is easy to calculate and strongly correlated to N leaching. The biggest way to reduce it is to reduce nitrogen fertiliser and supplement use – so the future is grass,” Glenn says. Managing pasture well, hitting residuals and getting stocking rate right have to be part of a farm’s DNA so that pasture eaten is lifted to push profitability while addressing environmental challenges, he says. The couple are strong advocates that when it comes to achieving

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Left: Plantings – about 1000 trees are planted every year on farm. Above: The ’ Why’ for Glenn Jones and Sarah Brett is definitely family: James, 2, Alfie, 8-months, Esmé, 4 and Ruby the dog.

“The biggest way to reduce it (N) is to reduce nitrogen fertiliser and supplement use – so the future is grass.”

profitability and sustainability goals, one doesn’t have to come at the expense of the other. “A profitable system allows us to be sustainable and exceed our environmental targets. “If you’re profitable you have options – whether that’s being able to afford payments in an emissions trading scheme (ETS) or making changes in your system. “We’re benchmarking against ourselves and others all the time – looking at how our own KPI’s (key performance indicators) are tracking from year to year to make sure they’re going in the right direction and seeing where we sit against others. “We’re using DairyBase and we’re also in a discussion group of likeminded sharemilkers where we share a lot of

information and we’ve got a close circle of top farmers who are open and happy to get into the numbers. “Benchmarking that way is really very powerful because you can see the areas you need to improve on. “It gets us asking questions so we go in behind the numbers and find out how they’re achieving their results – you’re learning all the time – it’s very motivating,” he says. When you’re setting budgets and targets - whether they’re financial or physical – monitoring those budgets, learning and taking action, you’re in the driver’s seat. The pair came to dairying in their late 20’s. Although Glenn’s dad and now deceased mum were dairy farmers Glenn was more interested in having a team of dogs and getting out into wider spaces so, when he completed his Bachelor of Agricultural Commerce majoring in farm management at Lincoln University, he headed off overseas to Canada. It wasn’t until he’d been back home for a while that he realised the high-country life wasn’t going to propel him towards goals of farm ownership fast enough. He looked to dairying and made a list of people with good reputations that he’d

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

want to work for, people he could learn from. Then he started knocking on doors. He secured a job with Camden Group – owned by the Donkers family – happy to go in as a dairy assistant but with a determined eye on climbing the ranks quickly. In six months, he was 2IC on the group’s 1050-cow Willsden Farm and within a year was managing their 650-cow, Camden Farm. He’d met Sarah a little earlier while she was home from her OE in London where she was nursing and it was while at Camden she joined him.

‘BRIGHT’ FUTURE FOR PASTUREBASED DAIRYING Sarah sees a “fantastically bright” future for pasture-based dairying in NZ regardless of regulation and environmental challenge. The opportunities to forge new pathways using NZ’s natural advantages and the myriad of new science and innovation are exciting, she says. During the four years they spent with Camden Group Glenn sharpened not only his practical onfarm skills, he also honed his financial skills. “They gave us exposure to the business 35

hased N surplus (Kg/N/ha)

…

Doing it for the next generation: Glenn and Alfie.

Table 1: Operating profit vs Purchased N surplus

a Operating profit ($/ha)

7,500

2021/22 Waterton Agricultural

6,500

2019/20 Waterton Agricultural

5,500 4,500 3,500 2,500 1,500 500 0.0

100.0

50.0

150.0

250.0

200.0

Purchased nitrogen surplus (kg/N/ha)

G: Enteric methane (TCO2 om eq./ha)

Driving down N applied reduced Purchased N surplus from 162kg N/ha in 2019/2020 to 120kg N/ha for the 2021/22 season - shifting the farm performance (blue blob) into the A quadrant with high operating profit, and low purchased N surplus (red blob).

…

Table 2: 2019-20 operating profit vs methane 7,500

9/20

Operating profit ($/ha)

2019/20 Waterton Agricultural

6,500 5,500

FOCUSED ON THEIR FAMILY

4,500 3,500 2,500 1,500 500

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

11.0

Methane (t CO2 eq./ha)

12.0

13.0

Aiming for the high profit low emissions quadrant (blue blob in A quadrant) gives the farm choices.

so I was involved in the budgets and could see how we were going through the season by looking at the variance reports. “I knew what things cost - I could see the effect on the finances of what we were doing onfarm and Leo and Terry were always open to me asking questions, wanting to learn.” By 2017 the couple were ready for their next steps and the 50/50 sharemilking job at Rakaia Incorporation’s 650-cow, 175ha Te Pirita farm came onto their radar. “It was a tough interview process, but we got the job,” Sarah says. From a short list of CV’s, a small number of candidates were selected with each going on a farm walk as part of the interview process. Each candidate then had to present a report to the farming company’s board to show what their plan would be to enable the farm to win the Ahuwhenua Trophy competition. The couple had been buying calves and trading stock, making the very most of an opportunity to rear animals but not pay the grazing costs until the animals were sold. They took up any other staff’s calf rearing opportunity if they didn’t want it and pushed hard to make the most of the opportunity. By the time they secured the sharemilking job they had about 300 cows leased out. Now in their fifth season they’ve already ticked off big goals for both their own business and their farm owner’s. On June 1 they took over a 1100 cow farm near Methven which they have bought with six others as an equity partnership. They’ve remained in their sharemilking job and one of their partners has taken the equity manager role. Four of the partners are first time owners while three are more established farmers.

14.0

Sarah and Glenn had previously spent time on strategic planning. They’re very focused on their ‘why’ – their family - and have written down their goals, their values and farming philosophies. Sarah says it’s a document they referred to when they were considering who to partner with and one they look to whenever they’re evaluating any opportunity. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Great communication and planning to make sure everyone is up to speed as the new season dawns – from left Juan Lozano, Ruth Ramirez and Filipe Montoya with Glenn.

Over the last two years they’ve put in four offers on farms with their partners. Glenn has focused on the due diligence work so the group could fully understand what the farm’s potential opportunities and challenges could be. Environmental targets, possible infrastructure upgrades, consent conditions and water were big parts of that due diligence and had to be factored into any price offers. They had to be prepared to walk away if their price wasn’t accepted and that’s where the wise heads of their established farmer partners helped. “You just had to take the emotion out of it but we’re there now,” Glenn says. They have high expectations for the farm’s financial and environmental performance too. The pre-purchase work, great communication and alignment among the shareholders, not to mention the calibre of the people involved give it the best chance of achieving its goals. Glenn says having the governance well set up in advance is imperative and he’s enjoyed learning more about that aspect of the business. Their sharemilking job is returning results for them and their farm owners

CUTTING N LOSS The Te Pirita farm is in the Selwyn/Te Waihora zone.

FARM FACTS

• Farm Owners: Proprietors of Rakaia Incorporation Ltd • Sharemilkers: Glenn Jones and Sarah Brett • Area: 175ha effective • Cows: 650 crossbreed • BW: 153 PW: 191 • Six-week in-calf rate: 71% • Empty rate: 12% after 10 weeks mating • Production: 280,000kg MS • Pasture harvested: 16t DM/ha • Supplement: 400-500kg DM/ha grass silage • Operating profit: $1795/ha (sharemilking business) • Enteric methane: 10.3tCO2e/ha • Farm dairy: 40-aside herringbone

By January next year dairy farms in that zone must cut nitrate loss by 30% from their baseline loss figure (the average of their annual losses from 2009 – 2013). They’ve already achieved that with a 38% drop thanks, in part, to a change in 2017/18 from Rotorainers to pivot and fixed grid irrigators and closely managed irrigation application using soil moisture monitoring. Their water comes from the Central

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Plains Water irrigation scheme which is more expensive relative to many other, older schemes, making water use efficiency not just an environmental but a financial imperative too. Their share of irrigation costs is $473/ ha compared with the benchmark for sharemilkers in the region of $211/ha. They’ve had an approved, audited farm environment plan for the past five years and are Synlait Lead with Pride Gold Plus accredited. Best practice is business as usual. Glenn says they’ve been reducing their nitrogen application rates over the past few years and will comfortably come in under the 190kg N/ha cap this season. They have a nitrogen fertiliser plan set up before each season and don’t simply follow the cows. The first application goes on as ammonium sulphate with nothing applied until the soil temperature is over 7 deg Celsius and rising. The March application also goes on as ammonium sulphate. The effluent areas receive lower rates of nitrogen and the GPS controlled spreading equipment on precision applicator trucks means the fronts of paddocks where cows gather near the gate also get treated like effluent areas. In January and February, when hotter 37

Above: Esme and James: be curious, don’t be afraid of the challenges. Right: Helping out dad on the farm.

temperatures reduce the response rates, the effluent areas get no or very reduced rates of urea and the rest of the farm gets just one application. The farm has a grass fed contract with Synlait and uses up to 500kg/cow of bought-in pasture silage – 1/3 fed through spring and 2/3 fed over autumn. Through April, cows are transitioned onto fodder grown on the milking platform.

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF PASTURE Maximising pasture harvested is a key way to boost profit while bringing down nitrogen loss if stocking rate can remain steady and production improves. “We’re still feeding the same amount of supplement as we were in the first year but we’re producing 34,000kg milk solids because we’re growing and harvesting more higher quality pasture, using newer cultivars that are giving us a better response to nitrogen.” They’ve been re-grassing up to 20% of the farm a year and will be able to cut that back in the future as most of the farm is in improved pasture. They’ve used a “double cropping” method to help get rid of persistent older species by spraying out and direct drilling a shorter-term Italian tetraploid ryegrass, Shogun. It’s quick to establish and has high growth rates from the get go, especially the cooler months. Those paddocks are then sprayed out 38

and cultivated with a permanent diploid/ tetraploid mix sown along with 4kg of two clover cultivars. Clover content is strengthening in the sward as nitrogen fertiliser levels drop. The spring rotation planner is strictly adhered to with all staff part of the pre-season planning meetings to ensure everyone is on the same page. When it comes to people, Glenn and Sarah say their wages bill is higher than the benchmark average. “Some of that is the nature of the farm with two herds going through a 40-aside herringbone with no automation,” Glenn says. They put the effort into training quality people and expect a return on that investment with cows well looked after, attention paid to detail and everyone capable of tasks such as loading and operating the feed out wagon, allocating feed and treating cows. “We want to be employers of choice and we work on building our brand,” Sarah says. It’s working – they haven’t had to advertise for staff with people instead contacting them.

UNDERSTANDING GHG EMISSIONS

equivalent/ha based on the 2019/20 season and the benchmark Canterbury average is 11.3 so we’re sitting on the right side of that.” Methane emissions are highly correlated to feed intake so having efficient converters of feed to milk is important. Again, having the data to make breeding decisions is essential to that so they herd test four times a year and G3 DNA Profile calves and weigh heifers coming into the herd. Continuing to limit bought-in supplement, manage pasture well and focus on maintaining or increasing profit will help push them further into the high-profit, low-emissions quadrant of the equation. “Reducing our nitrogen losses and managing nitrogen fertiliser better pushes down nitrous oxide emissions. “We might not be able to move our methane emissions profile much with the current technology but we can make sure we’re at the lower end of the benchmark group and keep profit up there. “It’s like everything – if you measure it and monitor it you can manage it. “You have to be learning all the time, actively asking questions – there are opportunities when you look,” he says.

Understanding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions goes a long way to relieving anxiety about the issue, Glenn says. “The key thing is to know what your number is and look at where they (the emissions) are coming from. “Our enteric methane is 10.3tCO2

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

BUSINESS SIDE

Cost control and the five ‘nahs’ Words by: Anne Lee

ith the sparkle of a high milk price still glinting in the distance it could be easy to get a little distracted from keeping a grip on cost control but don’t do it was the clear message at the South Island Dairy Event (SIDE). Three proponents of tight cost control, all experienced in the roller coaster of milk price volatility shared their tips on how to set up and run an operation capable of withstanding the lows and still achieve profitability, equity growth and farm ownership. Carlos Cuadrado, featured in last month’s Dairy Exporter, came to New Zealand from Argentina in 2002 with his wife Gisella. From a dairy assistant role and with no family financial backing they’ve grown their business and achieved farm ownership of a 430-cow, 120ha property near Oamaru with a cost of production at $3.97/ kg milksolids (MS) for the 2020/21 season while retaining their 860-cow, variable order sharemilking job in Canterbury, where that farm has a total cost of production of $4.21/kg MS. “You must know the difference between needs and wants.” In their household Gisella has the answer when Carlos is contemplating a purchase, he says. “It’s called the five nah’s – I ask, she says nah so I think about it and come back again a few weeks later with why it’s a good idea and she says nah so I think about it some more and so it goes on.” Eventually if he puts up a good case, usually a revised plan, it might get a yes

Carlos Cuadrado speaking at the SIDE conference in Ashburton.

but the process of rethinking creates discipline. He’ll also scout around and try and get it for 20% less. “If others talk about holding every cent a prisoner – well, for us that cent dies in the dungeon.”

OTHER TOP TIPS FROM CARLOS: • Learn to manage grass well and don’t rely on costly supplements. • Make use of industry resources to learn all you can, identify and talk to top performers and learn from them so you’re working smarter to get top results. • Have a do-it-yourself mentality so learn other skills – welding, how to build, for example.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

• Don’t buy equipment you don’t use often – hire it, borrow it, come up with a sharing scheme with a neighbour. • Don’t buy new - avoid overcapitalisation. • Work hard - your kids will learn that too. • Record every expenditure, monitor and analyse all the time. • Question the need for every item and even scrutinize the need for some farm practices – don’t just do it because you always have. • Use what’s around you.

THE FULTON’S STORY Hannah Fulton and her husband Craig are 50% equity partners in Paddock Wood, a 160ha effective, 625-cow Canterbury irrigated farm that they also contract milk. They featured in the November 2017 Dairy Exporter and have progressed through the sharemilking system, winning the 2007 Waikato Sharemilker of the Year Award. Their first year in Paddock Wood coincided with the payout crash from $8.40/kg MS to $4.40 with no retrospective payments coming in. “I worked out that for every tanker going down the track we were losing 55cents/kg MS,” she recalls. “We can’t control the price of milk so we 39

Craig and Hannah Fulton.

have to control what we can – our cost of production, production and creating extra income.” Write everything down, she says. Goals, budgets – financial budgets, feed and production budgets and then monitor them. Benchmark them too – because that’s a powerful tool, she says. But when making a plan, make it achievable. “There’s nothing worse than having a carrot you’re never going to get a bite of.” Although they don’t have a lot of machinery or depreciating assets, Hannah says she analyses interest payments and repairs and maintenance costs and would rather pay interest on good gear than be repeatedly fixing breakdowns that so often come when you really don’t want them.

OTHER TOP TIPS FROM HANNAH: • Shop around for products and services – hold people accountable for the prices they are charging you. • Record everything – they have a red notebook especially for supplement where they have records dating back years on what they paid for what, when. It also has how much silage they’ve made in each paddock and when it was taken. • Check off invoices as they come in – if you budgeted for 50 bales is that what

Blair Robinson, Carlos Cuadrado and Hannah Fulton speaking at the SIDE conference in Ashburton.

“If others talk about holding every cent a prisoner – well, for us that cent dies in the dungeon.” came? What was the price compared to expectation? • Monitor and analyse as you go through the season so you can make adjustments rather than waiting till the end when there’s nothing you can do about it. • Try and create extra income if you’ve got costs down – beefies can be an option but do the analysis every year. • Go back and fine tune frequently. • Keep it simple.

FEED BIGGEST CONTROLLABLE COST Blair Robinson is Dairy Holdings Ltd (DHL) chief operating officer and says feed cost is the single biggest cost centre the company can have control over. The 54,700-cow operation also has 28,600 young stock and 1500 bulls on 60 dairy farms and 20 support blocks (support blocks both owned and leased). The dairy farms are run under a mixture of contract milking and sharemilking contracts. The farms produce about 17million kg MS/year using 20kg drymatter (DM)/cow of bought-in silage. Keeping the system simple has allowed it to be repeatable and helps ensure

consistent performance across the largescale business. Imported supplement is only used to “feed the wedge” rather than chasing production. The operation is self-contained for grazing which limits exposure to market price increases and risks around animal targets as well as disease.

OTHER TOP TIPS FROM BLAIR: • Limit depreciating assets. • If you’re buying, look at fixed costs such as irrigation scheme costs. DHL has purposely bought with this factor in mind - $300/ha/year average compared with some schemes more than $800/ha/ year. • Stick to your knitting – keep it simple and do it well. • Maximise pasture harvested – DHL has lifted that by 2t/ha in the last six years. • DHL is an early follower of technology – understand it, make sure it’s proven, make sure it gives benefits to major cost areas. • Include people in early budget setting – a sense of ownership makes them more likely to stick to it.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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SYSTEMS REDUCING EMISSIONS

Torunui farm on emissions reduction path Hopkins Farming Group, the owners of Torunui farm near Palmerston North, have a strategy to reduce emissions while making a profit. Jackie Harrigan reports. Photos by Brad Hanson.

orunui farm is a high performing dairy farm in the Opiki Basin, but farming at 1 metre below sea level is not without its challenges. Faced with the changes to nitrogen application rules and the coming targets to reduce Greenhouse Gases (GHG) by 10% by 2030, Torunui farm owners Hopkins Farming Group have set out to find practices that will reduce emissions and maintain profit. As a Partner Farm in the Dairy NZ Stepchange programme, a field day was held in June to review the farm performance and run through possible strategies for change. The farm runs a highly-stocked pasture predominant system where imported feed accounts for 25% of total intake in the form of winter grazing off (600kg DM/ cow) and as maize and palm kernel (675kg 42

DM/cow). No crops are grown on the farm and a small amount of plantain has been added to pasture renewal mixes. Nitrogen application is currently 280kgN.ha. When benchmarked against other lower North Island farms on DairyBase the farm is above average for dairy operating profit but also above average for methane emissions. (Figure 1). When considering operating profit vs. purchased N surplus the purchased N surplus for the 20187/19 season is high at 220kgN/ha/yr. Purchased N surplus is a measure efficiency of N use, identifying the difference between N inputs (N in fertiliser and supplements = purchased N) and N outputs in products (milk, meat, crops) and is related to the risk of loss to the environment. Torunui farm is located within the Horizons regional council, but is not in a

priority catchment under the One Plan. Current N loss has been modelled using Overseer at 22kgN/ha which is well below the limit set for priority catchments. Under the peaty soils is a hardpan of clay that the drainage water does not permeate and so the N is more likely to literally go sideways.

SOIL TYPE, WATER THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES Farm manager Riaan Lamprecht says the soil type and water are the biggest challenge on the farm. In a wet spring and winter the pasture gets wet due to the high water table on the peaty soils and the cows have a 20-25 day later balance date due to the wet. “We can’t cut silage in the spring because it is too wet.” “Water literally comes out of the ground, and we have an extensive drainage system

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

TABLE 1. TORUNUI FARM Total farm size

204ha, 194ha eff

Irrigation area

Centre pivot 150ha

Nearest town

Palmerston North

Annual rainfall

1500mm/yr

Soil type

Makerua peaty silt loam

Terrain

Flat

Labour

4.2 FTE

Shed type

38 a/s Herringbone

CURRENT FARM SYSTEM

Left: An aerial wide view of the Torunui farm. Above: Farm team: Troy Walton, Riaan Lamprecht (farm manager) and Phil Willis (2IC).

When benchmarked against other lower North Island farms on DairyBase, the farm is above average for dairy operating profit but also above average for methane emissions. to cope, along with a water table and soil water monitoring system.” The peaty soils dry out in the summer so that they resemble marbles, he says , and on the other hand the silts get very friable. The ryegrass struggles after a dry summer and gets ripped out by the cows but the irrigation helps prolong its life. “The 150ha of irrigated area is also shut down early in the autumn to go into the winter with drier soils, which sacrifices grass growth,” Riaan says. Drainage water from the property is

Goals under the Partner Farm Project • Reduce the farm’s footprint (water quality and GHG) and maintain farm profit • Allow other farmers to follow the journey of this farm as it implements changes to reduce its environmental footprint.

Herd size, SR

689cows, 3.5cows/eff ha

Breed

Friesian cross

Milksolids production

1400kg MS/ha, 435kg MS/cow

Planned start of calving

20 July

BW/PW

BW 103 PW 125

Young stock

R1 replacements grazed on farm until 1 December. July-July grazed off, return in calf.

Wintering

400 MA cows graze off-farm for 8 weeks

Purchased feed

200t DM maize silage, 240t PKE

System

System 3-4, no crops

drained to a pump station and pumped over the bank into the Tokomaru river, as long as the river is not too high. Effluent is irrigated over 90ha, roughly half of the farm, but the irrigation is high risk and is monitored by GPS and shuts down if there are any issues.

NITROGEN USE HIGH Nitrogen use has been high to grow an offering of 15.9t/ha pasture - with a small application after each grazing, but the 280kgN/ha has generated a purchased N surplus of 216kg N/ha. To transition down to the new level of below 190kg N/ha the team at Hopkins Farming Group plan to replace some of the N with gibberellic acid (a naturally occurring hormone or growth-regulating chemical that is found to varying degrees in all parts of plants and stimulates both cell division and elongation.) Nitrogen application will be cut from the effluent areas (which has been increased from 25ha to 90ha) and no N will be applied if effluent has been applied in the preceding 45 days, otherwise the area will have one application at the start of spring.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Riaan plans to GPS the effluent spreading area to better account for the nutrients and make more effective use of the stand-off area to reduce pasture damage when the soils are wet. The team have come up with two scenarios - the first will see N reduced to 190kgN/ha and three ProGibb applications, one in spring and two in autumn. This strategy represents a 90kg N/ha reduction of nitrogen. Research shows the ProGibb will deliver 300kg DM/ha additional per application of ProGibb (x3) which will cover the 900kg DM/ha anticipated shortfall in pasture with 90kgN/ha drop, at an average response rate of 10kg DM:1kg N applied. The second scenario sees a similar reduction in N applied (-90kgN/ha) but just one application of ProGibb in the spring and the remaining shortfall in pasture made up with an added 80t DM maize silage.(See Table 2.) N leaching drops to 17kg N/ha/yr and profit is similar but Purchased N surplus reduces to 136 or 141kgN/ha and while NO2 reduces, methane remains the same, 43

Opportunities for Torunui Short term: • Replace applied N with gibberellic acid • More effective N application (best bang for buck) • GPS effluent spreading • More effective use of stand-off area to reduce pasture damage Medium Term: • Improved drainage • More pasture renewal • Plantain in pasture mix • N protect

A series of pumps clears the water from the back of Torunui into the Tokomaru River, manager Riaan Lamprecht demonstrates the pressure of water rising up from the watertable. TABLE 2 SCENARIO COMPARISONS COMPARED TO CURRENT 2020/21 Base

Scenario 1

Scenario 2

Peak cow

660

Total kg MS

262940

262918

262948

Imported feed

240t PKE, 200t DM maize silage

240t PKE, 240t DM maize silage

240t PKE, 320t DM maize silage

ProGibb

nil

3 applications to whole farm

1 application to whole farm

N fert kgN/ha

270

190

SPREADING THE FORAGES

TABLE 3. CURRENT AND FUTURE FARMS SCENARIOS N LOSS, GHG, PROFIT Current 2020/2021

Scenario 1 (ProGibb x3)

Scenario 2 (ProGibb x1)

Total N loss (kg)

4401

3306

3334

N leached (kg/ha/yr)

311

261

268

216

136

141

Operating profit/ha (Farmax)

$2582

$2580

$2522

Methane (CH4) t CO2e/ha

9.16

9.18

Nitrous oxide (NO2) t CO2e/ha

3.12

2.75

Total GHG t CO2e

2899

2754

2782

N surplus OverseerFM (kg/ha) Purchased N surplus (kg/ha)

(Assumptions used: milk price $7/kg MS, maize silage $350/t DM, PKE $400/t on farm, urea $650/t, ProGibb $44/ha.

so total GHG CO2 equivalent only drops very slightly. (see Table 3.) All of the Hopkins Farming Group dairy farms (seven farms in the Manawatu) are transitioning to reducing nitrogen fertiliser and beginning ProGibb once in autumn and twice in the spring, as a trial. “We will apply less nitrogen and in smaller amounts and add in the ProGibb between day one and day five post 44

Longer Term: • Improved cow quality • Optimise stocking rate and per cow performance (450kg MS/cow)

grazing,” said farm supervisor Ian SinclairBlack. “Using a smaller amount of N plus ProGibb in the peak growing phase will mean we can make the increased forage into silage and reuse it from the silage stack when we get short of grass.” “We have used ProGibb in autumn 2021 and were pleased with the very good response rate, so we developed a plan to try it in the spring as well.”

Growing more white clover is an important component of the pasture, using a mix of large and mid-sized leaf clovers and while the team have not thought that chicory is necessary due to the ability to grow grass under the irrigation, some plantain has been added into the pasture mix to help limit N loss. “We have been sowing plantain for the past 5-6 years for environmental reasons but there is an issue with maintaining it within the pasture,” Riaan said. The target is to have 20% of plantain in the pasture and up until now it has been oversown onto the pasture, but Riaan is now looking to put it into the seed mix. Outside of the pivot irrigation area a short rotation ryegrass has been sown to give pasture growth a boost. Between 10 and 15% of the farm is regrassed each year as pastures have been damaged in the wet or need renewal.

MEETING N CONSTRAINTS: AT HOPKINS FARMING GROUP • Lower all rates of N • Apply N with gibberellic acid • Less summer application • Use when less leaching potential • Use when there is a better response.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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SYSTEMS WINTER GRAZING

“. . . at the last minute we bought hay and fed it out on grass and it worked.”

All hail hay bale grazing

Mark and Madeline Anderson on their Clinton dairy farm.

Clinton-based once-a-day farmers Mark and Madeline Anderson have switched from growing winter crops to buying winter bale grazing. Karen Trebilcock reports.

ark and Madeline Anderson now spend about the same amount of money buying hay for winter bale grazing that they used to spend on growing winter crop. The 690-cow, once-a-day farm near Clinton in South Otago used to winter conventionally on swedes and kale, switching to fodder beet and then mixed species crops. But for the past three years they have been transitioning to hay bale grazing on long grass covers with this 46

winter being the first they haven’t had winter crop on bare soil. And the results speak for themselves. Paddocks aren’t pugged, cows have clean coats and are not wandering up and down the break, costs are down and earthworm numbers are up. “About 7.5km of our boundary is the Waiwera South River and we knew we were losing sediment into it every winter with winter cropping and through the process of regrassing,” Mark said.

“It’s a stony river and the council’s water testing was showing the numbers of macroinvertebrates were declining rapidly due to sediment loading. “The paddocks after winter cropping needed full tillage because of the soil compaction and pugging to get them back into grass so we were losing our soil structure every time we did that. “After spending many childhood days roaming the length of the river, and now doing the same with our

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

own children we were seeing the effects.” As well, they bought neighbouring land which had been growing cereals for years and was worn out plus for two years they had end-on-end extended dry spells. So they started looking for a different way of doing things. “We were forced into it the first year,” Madeline said. “Because of the extended dry, the winter crop hadn’t grown as much as we needed it to so at the last minute we bought hay and fed it out on grass and it worked.”

Mark Anderson checks the soil for root depth and worms where a bale had been fed the previous winter.

MAKING HAY WHILE THE COWS FEED They now make about 500 round bales of hay and buy another 2000 in from local farmers. The bales are placed out on 60ha after each paddock’s last grazing for milking. Cows are dried off at the end of May with body condition scores ranging between 4.5 and 6. Split into mobs of 100, they go into three-day breaks of 4000kg DM/ha cover

on 4000sq metres with about 14 round bales of hay which equates to 18kg DM/ cow/day depending on the hay and pasture composition. “The covers are high on these paddocks and we could have had another milking off them in the autumn,” Mark said.

“But at least they haven’t been out of the ground all season which they would have been if they were growing fodder beet.” Bales are left on their sides so they don’t absorb as much moisture. There are no bale feeders to roll around the paddock but the plastic netting still has

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Calf Sheds

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to be cut from each bale before the cows are let into the break. “We cut the wrapping right at the ground level and then you only have to roll it a little way over to get the rest of it,” Madeline said. Portable water troughs are used and most of the pugging that does occur is around them. “We try and put hay around the troughs to stop it as much as possible.” The cows are back fenced so they only have the three-day break unless wet weather threatens and then they are allowed more space to move around. Resulting covers are about 1500kg DM/ha. “They eat about 90% of the hay,” Mark said. “But they also lie on it and on a wet day they’ll stand on it. “It’s their hoof action that we rely on to break down what they don’t eat to put it into the soil. “In late spring, where the bale was, the soil is a degree warmer than the rest of the paddock and that is because of the hay composting down. “Most of it is gone by early summer.” A year later it is easy to see where the bales were. Clumps of thick, dense, shiny green grass are everywhere with sparse grass in between.

“We’re getting a lot of seed from the hay as well. Timothy, plantain and red clover, so that is giving us a diverse mix of plant species in the paddocks.

BUYING QUALITY HAY “We focus on buying quality hay.” “Weeds are not an issue. That’s a summer grazing issue. Overgrazing will promote bare soil and that’s where weeds fill that niche.” Cows are calved on bark and sawdust pads with silage so it’s easier to pick up calves with the planned start of calving on August 15. By October, the paddocks which were bale grazed through the winter are back in the milking round without a seed drill or discs required. “I actually sold most of my tillage gear just so I’m not tempted,” Mark said. Besides contented cows and staff not having to shift fences every morning through winter in the mud, the real winner is the soil. “We wanted to increase our resilience in the summer dry patches. If we can hold more water in our soils through increased carbon and roots reaching down deeper then we can hold on for longer. “Our organic matter in our soil is

Madeline Anderson checks a mob of cows on their winter break.

increasing as well as our fungi. Too much of our dairying soils are bacteria driven and the fungi is needed too. It’s the fungi that produce the glue that keeps the soil structure. “The last test showed our soil organic matter had increased by 2% over three years which is impressive. “That’s just not from the bale grazing, we do mob grazing during the summer with high covers.”

INTEGRITY SOILS Integrity Soils has been analysing the soil on the farm for the past three years and is finding increasing root depths (down to 400mm), higher water infiltration rates and pastures have increasing brix (nutrient) levels. About 85 worms are found in each spade full of soil which equates to four tonnes per hectare. “We’re farming more worms by weight in the soil than cows on top of the soil which is pretty mind blowing.” They’re also seeing less animal health problems and fatter cows. Transitioning on and off crops is now a thing of the past. This year they also haven’t used dry cow therapy hoping the lack of mud through winter will see them through with no increased mastitis problems. Young stock are wintered on a pad with silage but Mark and Madeline are thinking of trying them with bale feeding next year too. The aim for the Andersons is to make more of the hay onfarm and further decrease cow numbers, making the farm a closed, circular unit. “At the moment we are importing fertility and carbon from other farms, we know that, and the aim is to be selfsufficient.” They had hoped for per cow production to be at 370kg MS/cow for the past season but the long late summer dry saw them only reaching 345kg MS/cow on oncea-day. The average for South Otago in a normal year twice-a-day milking is 385kg MS/cow/year. They’ve decreased cow numbers from a high of 850 and think they can lower them further still while increasing production and profit further. “We’re wanting a really healthy cow with good fertility and having good soil health and diverse pasture forages is part of that.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

SYSTEMS FODDER BEET SCIENCE

Fodder beet pulling nitrogen out of the soil A study by Lincoln University Bachelor of Agricultural Science honours graduate Alexander Koops has found that fodder beet roots will soak up nitrogen. Anne Lee reports.

Lincoln University study is pointing towards a surprising catch crop for fodder beet – itself. The study found that following even a high yielding, intensively grazed crop with another crop sown without nitrogen inputs will result in a lower yielding crop that can be lifted but importantly will take up all of the nitrogen deposited in winter plus some. It’s raising more questions over the validity of a cut-off date for sowing a catch crop after winter grazing and again prompts the query – is the nitrogen that moves below 60cm really lost? Bachelor of Agricultural Science honours graduate Alexander Koops carried out his study last year under the supervision of Lincoln University’s Dr Jim Gibbs, before travelling to Germany to undertake a Masters in Dairy Science at ChristianAlbrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU of Kiel), while working also on a top German dairy farm called “Milchhof Rodenwalde KG”. The research project systematically worked through some of the key characteristics of what makes a good catch crop, checking off how fodder beet stacks up. He then used robust modelling to determine what a double cropping system could achieve. Firstly, he looked at what was going on in the early growth phase of both fodder beet and oats – given oats is already used as a proven nitrogen catch crop because of its ability to get established soon after a winter crop and to grow in cooler temperatures. 50

Lincoln University honours student Alexander Koops is in Germany embarking on a masters in dairy science.

Alexander applied two different nitrogen fertiliser application rates (200 or 350kg N/ha) to fodder beet plants to mimic common establishment methods. He then measured the rooting depth of the fodder beet plants as well as the rooting depth of oats, established using standard industry practice. They were all grown under cooler ambient temperatures and the measurements took place at 75-days post sowing, so just 2.5 months into the crops’ growing phase. The oat roots made it down to 1.5m in that time but what may be surprising to many is that the fodder beet did too. Alexander’s findings are in line with similar international results for 50 years that have measured beet tap root depth right down to 3m in some cases. “Fodder beet roots can extend a long way down past the bulb with that taproot structure,” he says. He found the oats and fodder beet sown using 200kg N/ha had similar root mass but when 350kg N/ha had been applied the fodder beet root mass almost doubled. Those roots aren’t just good at quickly

getting to depth - Alexander’s research showed fodder beet roots appear to be hungry foragers for nitrogen. He used a nitrogen isotope – N15 – to monitor the plant’s uptake of nitrogen from three depths – 75cm, 35cm and 0cm. “We only allowed the 75 day old plants a seven-day period in which to pick up the N15 and didn’t look below 75cm in this study but we found the fodder beet took up 60% of the N15 at each depth. “In the normal crop situation the plants have months to pick up nitrogen. So it’s likely it would have taken up much more if the pick-up period was extended,” he says. He then went on to use modelling to find out what was likely to happen to nitrogen and organic matter levels after a large fodder beet crop, grown using 300kg N/ha, was grazed and then followed by one of four different scenarios where the catch crops were grown using no fertiliser

fodder beet scenarios

The four scenarios that followed winter grazing of a large fodder beet crop were:

Sow another fodder beet crop as a catch crop and then graze it.

Sow another fodder beet crop as a catch crop and then harvest it.

Sow an oats crop as a catch crop and graze it.

Sow an oats crop as a catch crop and harvest it.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

TABLE 1: Nitrogen balance in the soil with fodder beet grazed/harvested or oats grazed/harvested as a catch crop the second year after fodder beet is used as a winter feed crop (kg N/ha).

N fertiliser year 1

N removed by plant year 2

N returned through N change (+/-) excreta or non-utilised year 1 + 2 plant year 1 and 2

Fodder beet grazed

300

-1394.0

985.1

-108.9

Fodder beet harvested

300

-1394.0

617.6

-476.4

Oats grazed

300

-1037.5

722.2

-15.3

Oats harvested

300

-1037.5

621.5

-116.0 Fodder beet roots – hungry forager for nitrogen down to 3m.

nitrogen inputs. The amount of nitrogen available in the soil after the first winter was calculated using a nitrogen budget knowing the percentage of nitrogen in the winter crop, the number of animals grazing it, the amount of nitrogen being removed by the animal and the amount being returned to the soil as urine and faeces excreta. “Then we looked at each scenario and calculated what the net nitrogen loss or gain was with each, again knowing the amount of nitrogen in the crop, the amount removed by the animal and in milk and the amount being returned in excreta. “We found with beet crops that in each instance, even if the crops were being grazed the net nitrogen balance was negative – so it was taking nitrogen out of the system.” If fodder beet was sown as a catch crop and harvested the net removal of nitrogen

was 476.4kg N/ha over two years in the form of animal products and plant material, down to soil depths of three metres. The combined dry matter (DM) yield of the two fodder beet crops was about four times that of the oats. Even when the cows grazed the second crop of fodder beet the following autumn the net result for nitrogen in the soil was negative. “It was taking nitrogen out of the system, not putting more into the soil.” Organic matter returned to the soil over the two-year period as animal excreta and plant material when the cows grazed the fodder beet catch crop was estimated to be 11.35t/ha, so a net gain of that amount. “No other crop can sequester that amount of carbon in the soil,” Jim says. An increase in carbon from increased organic matter could mean more inorganic nitrogen is immobilised as carbon/nitrogen ratios are maintained meaning the net nitrogen value was even more deeply

negative. “New Zealand research to date says the maximum distance nitrogen deposited on the soil surface in autumn will travel in a year is one metre,” Jim says. “We know the fodder beet and the oats can get down to 1.5m in just 75 days so having a cut off date like October or November for sowing a catch crop just isn’t based on science,” Alexander says. “The idea that it’s lost to ground water if it’s below 60cm also doesn’t make sense – beet crops can clearly take up nitrogen from below that level,” he says. A beet catch crop planted in December is going to take up more than the amount of nitrogen deposited onto the soil during winter grazing, Jim says, and the deep, hungry roots can take up the nitrogen of the past three years. This work is being expanded in 2021 to further quantify nitrogen uptake and soil carbon gains under beet crops.

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SYSTEMS ALTERNATIVE PASTURES

alternative pasture solution

Tall fescue and cocksfoot are proving a game changer for Northland farmers as climate change impacts their pastures. Delwyn Dickey reports.

s more Northland farmers watch their ryegrass pastures wither under the increasingly hotter and drier summers and autumns, many are weighing up their options with alternative pastures. After using alternative pastures for around 10 years, Murray Jagger has no doubts about their effectiveness. Having watched their own ryegrass pastures struggle over 40 years, even after changes to various modern cultivars and their associated endophytes, he and wife Helen changed their game plan and moved to mixes using new cultivars of tall fescue and cocksfoot. This alongside learning to live with, and get the most out of, that bane of northland pasture – kikuyu. It probably helps that Murray’s family have farmed the same area for 150 years and have a 52

long-term understanding of the seasonal cycles of the land. The willingness to try new things may also be rooted in his family history. They were among a group who left the western highlands of Scotland in the early 1800’s for what is now Nova Scotia in Canada, and became boat builders. A generation later many sailed on to New Zealand in the 1850’s, some in boats they had built. While some families stayed with boat building, others became farmers.

SUMMER STRUGGLES Dry summers have always been an issue for ryegrass pasture in the north, Murray says, and the ubiquitous kikuyu wasn’t seen as a viable economic option back in the 1980’s. This saw Murray and Helen start to experiment Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

“These resilient pastures have the ability to generate three times the clover population compared with our traditional perennial ryegrass pastures.”

Left: Helen and Murray Jagger at their Whangarei Heads farm. Above: Stuart Thomson with both tall fescue and white clover.

with alternatives 35 years ago in the shape of a triple mix of cocksfoot, fescue and white clover. It wasn’t a popular mix with many farmers, with management changes needed. The resulting dissatisfaction still remains a hindrance to many farmers trying newer versions of these alternative species, Murray says. Twenty five years of learning to manage kikuyu pastures better, and using Italian ryegrass as a management tool, followed. But issues with ryegrass in the dry heat continued, as they did for many more other northern farmers. Lack of persistence saw shallow-rooted perennial ryegrass only lasting three to four years before kikuyu became dominant again. There was constant reseeding as the ryegrass struggled and died. On top of that was the cracked soil in the summer and autumn which became home to pest crickets and which was prone to washing away, including into the waterways, after rain.

PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF However, the couple also persisted in trying alternative pastures and around 10 years ago found success with new modern tall fescues and cocksfoot. “A noticeable advantage we are observing in our resilient pastures based on the deeper root systems and thicker roots and root mass is the preservation of soil structure. Where ryegrass swards allow the soil to open, dry out and crack creating large voids and soil movement, the cocksfoot and fescues swards do not open up unless the conditions are extreme.” “This holding of the soil structure not only maintains moisture but reduces cricket infestation and soil degradation and movement. These are significant environmental benefits,” Murray says. “These resilient pastures have the ability to generate three times the clover population compared with our traditional perennial ryegrass pastures.” “This is primarily due to the less aggressive establishment of the pasture sward compared to our perennial ryegrass pasture mixes, allowing the clover population to establish at the same rate as the fescues and cocksfoot compared to the aggressive shading effect that takes place with the modern high yielding ryegrasses.” This has a positive knock-on effect of fixing more nitrogen with the increased clover growth and a reduced need for manufactured nitrogen.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

SPRING MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES Murray manages the pasture in the same way as traditional ryegrass through the winter but says spring brings challenges that farmers looking at converting need to be aware of. “There needs to be a greater observance on growth rates and leaf maturity stage. The cocksfoot and fescues grow faster in the spring and you need to be ahead of that as you can lose quality and palatability.” The optimal leaf grazing stage is about four to five leaves as opposed to ryegrass at two to three. The modern grasses are highly palatable but quickly lose that if they are allowed to get out of hand, he says. This means unlearning set round length and managing by observation. With this in mind he suggests any trial blocks for someone wanting to try out the new mixes should be close to where there is a lot of activity so they are easily observed rather than scattered about the farm. This is good advice says Stuart Thomson, who along with partner Rose Philpott has converted around half of their 50:50 sharemilking farm at Kaipara Flats, near Warkworth to alternative pastures. “Start with a paddock you’re going to drive past each day so you can see what it’s doing. If you have one down the back of the farm, chances are you’ll forget about it and it’ll get out of control.” Originally from Mangakino, near Taupo, Stuart had previous experience with fescue. Over the past five years Stuart and Rose have converted the hill slopes of the farm to fescue, cocksfoot and white clover mix pastures. They were looking for persistence. “The ryegrass just dies off after a long dry summer.” Stuart says. Like Murray, experience has shown him there are some big changes needed to management. “You need a whole change of mindset around grazing it. You can’t stick to the old set rounds. If it needs grazing, you graze it.” he says. “Also, don’t shut up the best-looking pasture – which will be the fescue and cocksfoot – for silage. If you’ve got too much feed, shut up your ryegrass for silage.” Stuart also advises being especially diligent in spring. “It’s easy to be caught out by the speed of the growth which sees about a 15 day round compared to about 20 for ryegrass.” Wet springs can increase growth rates further 53

and this has seen him end up topping some paddocks or parts of paddocks that are more fertile. “In summer the round lengthens to 25 to 30 days which is also fairly normal for ryegrass.” But he also advises care in winter. “You don’t want to let it get too long as the palatability drops off. Once it gets to 3000kgDM/ha you need to graze it.”

Rose Philpott, Stuart Thomson and son Elliot at the Kaipara Flats farm.

ALTERNATIVES ESTABLISHMENT Stuart has used a 30kg/ha mix to establish pastures, with 22kg fescue, 8kg cocksfoot and 5kg white clover. The cocksfoot grows particularly well in autumn and this sees some farmers opting to put more in their mix or drop the fescue and go solely with the cocksfoot and clover, he says. At Whangarei Heads, Murray has separated the two and uses 20kg/ha for cocksfoot with red and white clover, and 30kg/ha for fescue and red and white clover. Newcomers need to be aware they are slower to establish so ensure the seed bed is good and don’t drill too deep, he says.

While grazing pressure needs to be maintained to avoid the plants going to seed, he also cautions on overgrazing in summer and autumn even though the pasture will be in better condition than ryegrass paddocks. Murray and Helen’s proven success recently saw Murray as a guest speaker at the Resilient Pastures Symposium. Organised by the NZ Grasslands Association, the symposium saw

farmers and researchers share their latest findings. Concerns around climate change were a common theme said organising committee chair and principal scientist at DairyNZ, David Chapman. “For farming everywhere south of Auckland, look at what people are doing in Northland. That’s what much of the North Island will be like in the future, so that’s where the answers lie.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

SPECIAL REPORT 56: Feed tactics win the profit battle 60: Transition management - prevention better than cure 62: Efficiency from amazing maize 66: Feeding the cow and the rumen 68: Cows energised on winter diets 70: Combating milk fever with diet changes 73: Don’t let cows go hypo 74: Fortify supplement with P

THE DIET SPECIAL REPORT

SPECIAL REPORT

Feed tactics win the profit battle Grain and fodder beet are tactically used on the Everest family farm to help achieve profit, production and environmental goals. Anne Lee took a look at how they do it and reports back on some of the analysis.

here’s always a whole lot of learning going on at the Everest’s 226 effective ha Flemington Farm, a few kilometres south east of Ashburton. It’s where science is applied, where it’s put through its paces by a family ever eager to be truly sustainable for people, animals, environment and profit. It’s also a place where they’re happy to share the outcomes – what worked, what didn’t quite hit the mark but more importantly in both cases the why. Phill and Jos Everest converted their Canterbury farm, now managed by their son Paul, just over 10 years ago. It’s atypical of most conversions because of the farm’s heavier soils which make it less at risk from nitrate leaching. Phill’s well known in the region and amongst his peers as a successful farm consultant and both he and Jos relish the opportunity the farm affords for applying well researched practices and then analysing the outcomes. They’re part of DairyNZ’s Meeting a Sustainable Future project that’s sharing best practice and investigating options for high performance low footprint farms. While Flemington doesn’t have a typically “leaky” soil, local regional council plans still require nitrogen (N) loss reductions of 36% from baseline losses (the average annual nitrogen loss from 2009-201) by 2035, 25% 56

Phill and Jos Everest – farming with applied science in action.

reductions by 2030 and 15% by 2025. To date, they’ve achieved a 24% drop mainly through improved irrigation management and lower nitrogen fertiliser application but the supplements they use are also having an influence. “Fodder beet has become a really important autumn feed for us on the platform for a few reasons. “It means we start transitioning cows here over autumn when it’s dry and we have more time,” he says. However, he cautions that although it’s easier, it’s still imperative to follow the rules to an exacting standard so cows are safely managed up to 5kg DM/cow/day by the end of May when they go to winter grazing and move up to ad lib allocations.

FEEDING STARTS IN APRIL They start feeding out fodder beet in April, feeding 1kg DM/cow on the first day going up 1kg/cow every second day. During the early transition stages two people are involved with half the cows coming onto a measured area of crop on the first day for 10 minutes before they’re walked off quietly using a wire held by two people. The second half of the herd then gets the same treatment after they have been milked. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Grain is fed in the farm dairy.

FARM FACTS Area: 273ha total Milking platform: 226ha Support area: 31ha Cows: 750 crossbred A2 Production: 380,000kg MS Production: 506-510kg MS/cow Supplement: 250-270kg grain Farm dairy: 54-bail rotary with Protrack and in-shed feeding Purchased N Surplus: 78kg N/ha (2020/21) Methane emissions: 9.19t CO2 equivalent/ha (2019/20)

Variable rate irrigation helps optimise irrigation.

The allocation and time is then carefully increased over coming days. The face is 600-800m long which makes allocation simple as daily intakes are increased. The fodder beet is used to lengthen the round through autumn instead of silage or grain. “If we’re feeding 11kg DM/cow/day of grass and 5kg DM/cow/day of fodder beet instead of 16kg DM/cow/day of grass and 2kg/cow/day of grain there’s a big reduction in urinary nitrogen output because of the lower crude protein. “Over 30 days that’s equivalent to a reduction of 5.17kg N/ha or 2.5t of urea.” Bought in supplement is relatively low at 250270kg/cow of wheat. It’s fed in the farm dairy mostly during the spring and in late autumn to lengthen the grazing round. The heavier soils mean feeding out silage is a no go during the shoulders of the season and grain, readily available in Canterbury can be fed with high utilisation and low wastage. A feed budget is set before the start of the season with a plan clearly set out so there’s no creep in grain use. Phill says they rarely feed more than 3kg/cow/day with 2kg a more typical allowance. Pasture comes a definite first and supplement is only used as a way to manage round length, Jos says. “It’s a tool to manage pasture not to push production,” she says. This mating though, they are going to continue feeding supplement through the mating period where normally they would dial it back as pasture takes off.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

“It’s a bit of an experiment but we’re going to see if it has an effect on mating results,” Phill says. Over the last five seasons six-week in-calf rate has improved from 67% to 71% but empty rate has climbed from 11% to 18% in the 2020/21 season. It was 16% in 2019. They’ve tightened up the mating period over the five-years too which will account for some of the increase. “Getting replacement rates down to 20% is a tactic for lowering greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) so we have to do a lot better if we’re going to have any room for selective culling.” Most of the milking platform is watered by centre pivots with 50% fitted with variable rate irrigation (VIR) technology. Phill says they’ve managed soil moisture a lot more actively and maintained it at a lower level than previously because of the good water holding capacity indicated by its high profile available water (PAW) which is 135mm. Effluent is injected into the irrigators after it’s been through a weeping wall, recycled through the yard as green wash and back through the weeping wall to a 50-day storage pond. It can be applied across half the farm and can be applied with or without irrigation water. The VRI allows a programme to be set so that nozzles switch off near the drains, over troughs or lanes or over a triangular area in from gateways. Effluent can be applied at low application rates of 1mm through the pivots which equates to 5kgN/ha. Phill says the effluent pond is kept low through the summer and autumn but it’s not emptied prior to winter because that’s when nutrient losses can occur thanks to higher rainfall. “We’re getting it right down through the spring when plants are growing rapidly and can better use the nutrients.”

SPECIAL REPORT

The team: each person just does one milking a day – from left Dennies Dacquel, Paul Everest and Ang Kaji

NITROGEN FERTILISER DOWN

Table 1: Operating profits vs. Purchased N surplus

Operating profit ($/ha)

Nitrogen fertiliser use has been dramatically 7,500 cut over recent years with a big drop last season that wasn’t completely successful. 6,500 They set up a nitrogen fertiliser plan which 5,500 dropped use from 270kg N/ha the previous Flemington farm 2020/21 season to 168kg N/ha although it had another 4,500 20kg/ha available for use if it looked like it would be needed. 3,500 “We didn’t use it and we should have because 2,500 we ended up getting short of grass and that cost us in extra supplement and less milk 1,500 production. 500 “It was a net loss of $45,000 all up in extra 50.0 150.0 100.0 0.0 cost and less milk but we can’t say that was all Purchased nitrogen surplus (kg N/ha) down to lower nitrogen because we did have some issues with irrigation too during the summer – but realistically nitrogen was a factor,” he through breeding is ongoing. Breeding practices are says. also being employed that could help lower GHG The plan uses sulphate of ammonia as the first emissions with sexed semen used over the top 30% application in spring followed by urea and then urea of the herd. coated with a urease inhibitor through the summer to The aim is to increase the likelihood of getting reduce volatilisation losses. replacements from top cows, speeding up the rate of Their purchased N surplus has dropped significantly genetic gain to improve the herd’s overall performance from 185kg N/ha to 78kg N/ha with the reductions in faster. fertiliser N use given supplement levels haven’t been Over the years the couple have planted more than increased to compensate. 16,000 plants along fencelines and drainways in an They’re paying close attention to what’s happening effort to improve water quality and increase biodiversity. in pasture composition and Phill’s hoping to see more “All of these things are ongoing – there’s always work clover coming in with lower rates of nitrogen. to do and new science coming our way. They’ve been sowing clover and plantain into “The thing is to keep going – be open to new practices paddocks when they’re renewed and have been quite and science and really you’ve got to be a bit courageous successfully adding plants to the sward by including to get on and make changes where you can. seed of both in spring capital fertiliser dressings. “We can make a difference with the practices and “It’s pretty simple to do that and we are getting some technologies we have now but we have to be upfront success at 1kg/ha of seed for plantain and 1-2kg/ha for with what doesn’t work and what it costs. clover but we’re not getting plantain levels back up to “That said though I’m really optimistic from 30%.” what I’ve seen going on that there are new The farm is already run at a relatively low stocking technologies coming too that are rate for Canterbury with cows producing about 510kg going to help towards meeting milksolids (MS)/cow from relatively low bought-in many of those environmental feed but the couple says striving to increase efficiency targets.“

Flemington farm 2019/20

200.0

250.0

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

SPECIAL REPORT

Transition management - prevention better than cure Identify your at-risk cows before calving starts advises DairyNZ scientist Jane Kay. Sheryl Haitana reports.

f more than 2% of a herd is having difficulty calving or going down with metabolic disorders, farmers need to reassess how they are taking their cows through the transition period, DairyNZ scientist Jane Kay says. The success achieved during the transition period will impact a cow’s milk production for the rest of the season, her health and ultimately her reproductive success. Often one of the main reasons a cow will exit the herd can be because of an unsuccessful transition period, she says. “It’s a short period, but it’s incredibly important.” Transition management is complicated, it can be impacted by the season, and farmers can hear mixed messages. It’s also difficult to dissect what the issue is when farmers are in the thick of calving and things are not going well. Ultimately, prevention is easier than cure and farmers need to be looking at their system and talking to their veterinarian and consultants to make sure they have a good plan in place. “There are practices we can put in place to reduce the risk of problems during that transition period. “Prevention is much more favourable than trying to treat cows with calving difficulties or down cows with milk fever or ketosis.” Ideally farmers need to identify at-risk cows in January or February, who are not on target to reach an ideal body condition score (BCS) by calving. Coming into calving, first and second calvers should be a BCS 5.5, and mixed-age cows 5.0. “Sometimes we forget about our three year olds, our second calvers. They are the ones who can have the poorest reproductive performance and struggle the most in the herd.” The other cows to watch out for are those who have had an ailment throughout the season, so might be more vulnerable, and any cows who have had metabolic 60

problems in the past. “We need to look after them, feed them well before calving. If we think they’re going to have a problem, a starter drench can be good to give them once they’ve calved. “Treat them with kid gloves, look after them, give them calcium after they’ve calved, make sure they have high energy feed after they’ve calved.’”

DairyNZ scientist Jane Kay is advising farmers to check their at-risk cows before the calving season starts.

PUT THEM ON A DIET On the flip side, if there are cows in the herd who have too much condition on them, they are also at risk and should be put on a slightly restricted diet the last few weeks leading into calving. “If we have animals that are 5.5 and above at calving, one of the recommendations is to restrict their intact 2-3 weeks before calving.” When talking about a restricted diet, it’s only reducing a cow’s energy levels slightly to get her body prepared, Jane says. “If we can restrict their energy intake by only about 1kg drymatter (DM), it primes up the liver to start to mobilise some body tissue. Then when she actually calves she’s much more able to cope with that challenge.” Straw or hay works well as a lower energy feed for cows to keep them full. “I’ve seen it work really well on a lot of farms, where they have cows that are over-conditioned and they’ve had trouble with Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

During transition period • Identify at-risk cows • Aim for all cows to be correct BCS • Allocate correct feed pre-calving • Use appropriate minerals magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium • Understand how dietary cation anion difference works in your system.

Managing feed intake during the dry period can help ensure all cows are the correct BCS at calving.

milk fever. It’s been a cost-effective strategy to put into place that has some really positive effects.” Once a cow has calved, making sure she has unlimited access to feed and getting as much calcium into her as possible is two of the most important things any farmer can do, Jane says. As a cow transitions from pregnancy to lactation her requirement for calcium goes up by 400%, as such, getting as much calcium into colostrum cows as soon as possible after calving is critical. Make sure to not overfeed calcium before calving, as this will help cows quickly absorb more calcium after she calves. Magnesium is essential to help make calcium available to cows to prevent milk fever and grass staggers. Cows can’t store magnesium, so they need daily magnesium supplementation (4% of DM) for about one month leading into calving and up to four months post calving. Whether it’s dusting pasture with magnesium, going in troughs or in supplement feed, be aware of what products are being used and use a combination of delivery methods to ensure enough magnesium is going into the cows, she says.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Another mineral to consider is phosphorus. High levels and low levels of phosphorus can increase milk fever, so it’s important to be aware of high phosphorus feeds such as palm kernel or distiller’s dried grain or low phosphorus feeds such as fodder beets. Phosphorus levels should be 0.25-0.45% of DM in the diet of springer cows. Milking cows once a day is another excellent strategy for colostrum cows to help get successful results through that transition from calving into lactation. “Colostrum cows are really vulnerable and farmers have to look after them well.” During the colostrum period cows will produce 20% less if being milked once a day, yet their feed intake doesn’t change. “What we see is an animal that is able to partition that extra energy into herself to look after herself. We’re also reducing the calcium demand on that animal by 20%.” If farmers milk once-a-day (OAD) for more than three weeks then milk production can be very slightly reduced over the whole season, but anything less than three weeks on OAD will have minimal impact on seasonal production. Milking OAD also gives people on the ground more time. More time means more attention to detail which can have other flow-on benefits, she says. • For more information visit www.dairynz.co.nz 61

SPECIAL REPORT

Efficiency from amazing maize Waikato dairy farmer Paul MacKenzie is growing 43% of his milking platform in maize. Maize silage is an ideal component for his highly stocked winter milking system, but he told Sheryl Haitana there is always more efficiency to be found. Photos by Emma MaCarthy.

hen Paul MacKenzie got the opportunity to purchase 47ha of land next door to his sharemilking job at Waharoa, he jumped at the opportunity. He initially incorporated the land into the sharemilking operation, but when the sharemilking job finished he was left with 47ha and not so many options. After visiting a few different operations he decided he wanted to build a 50-bail rotary and two Herd Homes and milk intensively on the 47ha with the possibility of a 39ha lease block next door. Surprisingly, the bank manager agreed. It was a relief to later be able to purchase the lease block during their five year lease period, otherwise he would have been left with that capital infrastructure and milking a lot of cows on 47ha. Moving to a high input intensive system wasn’t always on the cards for Paul, but he quickly saw the benefit of feeding 62

cows to their fullest potential. Within two years, production lifted from 340-400kg MS/cow to 500kg MS/cow. “I couldn’t believe how quickly we got there.” The cows are now producing north of 600kg MS/cow with a diet of 40% pasture, 25% maize and the other 35% made up of complementary feeds including straw, palm kernel, brewers grain and molasses, distiller’s dried grains (DDG), soya or other sources of protein. “Maize is a great balancer to the volatile variability of grass. We feed it every day; it’s easy to grow, easy to store, it’s very economical and it is a consistent feed. “Because we could grow maize cheap and a lot of it, we were able to put more maize into the diet and overall create a more cost-efficient higher quality diet. “It was basically working out the maximum we could put in the diet to ensure Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Left: Paul MacKenzie in his pantry, with supplements. Above left: Paul with Pioneer’s Ian Williams. Above right: Good infrastructure is key to keeping a high input farm manageable.

“Maize is a great balancer to the volatile variability of grass. We feed it every day; it’s easy to grow, easy to store, it’s very economical and it is a consistent feed.”

the herd performed at their best - I think we’re about there now.” They fed potatoes for a number of years but had issues with cows suffering from rumen acidosis, the potential for sick cows was too high. “You can undo a lot of savings in feed with one mistake.” The efficiency of the cows and the fact they are producing 2900kg MS per hectare makes the farm highly profitable. With the maize grown onfarm costing just 11c/kgDM, they are not as vulnerable to price hikes for a good chunk of their feed. In the two consecutive low payout years of $4.40kg MS and $3.90kg MS, when farmers were cutting out feed and labour they chose to keep the system the same and add someone to the team, charged with driving costs out of the business. This responsibility was given to their son Rhys, who joined the team on a casual basis of one day/week. Rhys challenged and analysed every spend Paul wanted to make ensuring there was a return or saving behind every decision and quickly paid for himself. Apart from taking the Fonterra loan, they were able to cashflow their losses without adding any further debt.

PLANTING THE MILKING PLATFORM IN MAIZE When Paul initially started down the road of a high input system, he bought all his maize silage in, but got caught out one year when a contractor was unable to deliver. To fill this gap he then found himself in Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

the market, buying expensive feed. To reduce their exposure to this risk they planned to grow a small percentage of the maize needed (3ha) on the milking platform and watched for impact. With no negative impact the 3ha became 6ha, then 9ha, 12ha, 16ha, 21ha, 25ha and now sits at 36ha - 43% of the farm. “We just kept doing a little more each year. I think we are probably near our maximum now. “With the amount of feed we were buying, plus the ability to feed high levels of maize whenever during the season, it made sense to winter milk and collect a premium. “This also works well with the maize growing. We control our spring growth by taking paddocks out for maize. “The second half of the maize growing season, when summer/drought comes and grass can slow right down, maize with its deep roots and high water use efficiency, continues to grow. Also at the same time when grass growth is diminishing, the farms demand for grass drops as cows are dried off for autumn calving.” Paul used to rotate the maize around the farm, but now has a designated area of the farm which is drier, where they can plant the maize earlier, get it off earlier and get the annuals planted and growing, ready for the autumn calvers. “We have had as many as four grazings before June 1 on the annuals.” They grow 6-7t drymatter/ha of annuals between maize crops. The last three years Paul has been trialling oats (double cropping), trying to further optimise drymatter grown/ ha. The flat Waharoa farm is vulnerable to wind and drought, so they grew Pioneer’s P0362 63

SPECIAL REPORT

hybrid last year, which averaged a yield of 2122t. “Growing maize on the milking platform works exceptionally well for us, otherwise we would be milking more cows. Instead, the maize crop mines nutrients and reduces our environmental footprint. “The cheapest way to harvest grass is with cows’ mouths. We made grass silage one year (prior to growing maize on farm), added it to the mixer wagon, it wasn’t perfect, the cows left some of it behind in the feed bins, cleaning it up was just another job. “Our goal is to only put feed in the feed bins that we can guarantee the cows will lick clean.” Paul was always reluctant to get into high input farming, because his first impressions were that the systems were labour intensive and typically owner operated where owners were tied to their farms. With this in mind when he set out he was determined to build a simple system which could be run with minimal staff, which he has achieved. Paul and Chris employ a contract milker, who employs a 2IC and each of these covers the others weekends off, annual holidays and leave. 64

HERD HOMES All of the infrastructure is well set out to make the daily operation seamless. The Herd Homes are able to double as effluent storage from the farm dairy as well and the effluent from the Herd Homes is spread over the maize paddocks, prior to planting and when the maize comes off, which works well. Paul surrounds himself with top rural professionals, including nutritionist Sue Macky and Pioneer’s Ian Williams to keep analysing the system and improve efficiency. “I don’t care how good it gets - there is always more efficiency to be found,” Paul says. “I rely a lot on my rural professionals, and credits a lot of our success to them - bankers, accountants, farm advisors, technical reps and others.” The big question over the farm operation now is the environmental footprint, with a nitrogen surplus of 294kg N/ha and GHG emissions figure of 21,300kg CO2 – eq/ha. Paul is waiting to see where the dust settles with regulation before making any major system change. The numbers have changed significantly over the years as the Overseer model has continued to change. Paul wants to see more consistency in the

FARM FACTS Owners: Paul & Chris MacKenzie Location: Matamata, Waikato Area: 87ha (83ha effective) Cows: 380 Friesian crossbreds Production: 240,000kg MS. 630kg MS/cow, 2900kg MS/ha System: DairyNZ System 5, split calving, winter milk contract (800kg MS) Supplements: 2t maize/cow, palm kernel. straw, brewers grain, molasses, DDG, soya or similar Farm dairy: 50-bail rotary, ACRs, Protrack, CowManager, two Herd Homes N Surplus: 294kg N/ha GHG emissions: 21,300kg CO2 - eq/ha Operating expenses: $5.88/kg MS

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

DAIRY & CALF

SHELTERS FF O NDEDS A ST SH

Left: Paul MacKenzie and some of his 380 Friesian crossbreds. Above: Paul shows some of the maize feed.

numbers and more research, incorporating milk urea numbers and ruminant nitrogen models. He believes the potential of maize to pull leaching out of the system also needs to be taken into account. “Back when we were rotating our maize ground, we were annually soil testing every paddock and each time where the maize had been grown, fertility levels had dropped. Maize was definitely mining nutrients.” The part of the farm with the highest N loss under Overseer is always the maize cropping paddocks, Pioneer’s Ian Williams says. “This is despite the fact that the maize is known to take nutrients out of the soil rather than losing them through leaching,” Ian says. “Every tonne of drymatter you take off with maize, you take off 12kg of nitrogen. So if you take off a 22t crop, you’re removing the equivalent of over half a tonne of urea.” A Pioneer trial looking to measure N loss from maize silage/catch crop systems is showing the full capability of maize to reduce nitrogen leaching, Ian says. Two-year results show that the nitrogen leaching loss is as low as 6-8 kgN/ha per year. “There are a number of reasons for the low leaching losses. Maize produces high drymatter yields and therefore has a large nitrogen requirement. Its deep rooting structure allows it to take up nitrogen from depth. A winter catch crop utilises any excess N left over after the maize and reduces drainage by transpiring any excess soil water.” • More information on this trial will be published in next month’s Dairy Exporter.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

NG I ER DS T IN E W SH

LF ERS A C LT E SH

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SPECIAL REPORT

Feeding the cow and the rumen How much and what nutrition does a cow need for superior milk production? Sue Macky finds out.

eeding dairy cows is complicated as two entities with differing nutrient needs are involved; the cow and the rumen microbiome. It is the health and function of the rumen that determines what actually feeds the cow, in what form, and how

efficiently. Determining nutrient requirements for milk production is usually determined backwards, i.e., if we want a cow to produce 35 litres of milk or 2.5 kgs MS per day, what amount of energy, protein, minerals does she need to be fed? Most ration software programmes attempt to balance those needs against feeds available. There is an underlying assumption that ‘this’ ration is what the cow consumes in every mouthful, i.e. a total mixed ration (TMR). When grazed pasture is fed, true balance rarely occurs. Pasture is a living changing feed, not of consistent composition or supply. Any supplements fed to make a complementary balanced diet are only fed once or twice a day, in conjunction with milking. It is not possible to have true synergy between all nutrients in the rumen at all times, so balance may be on paper only. If the diet has the required amount of energy/ kg DMI (MJME/kg DM), this is no guarantee of the outcome. ME is not a nutrient – it is a mathematical equation that allows us to determine whether a certain outcome is possible or not. It is how the rumen microbes deal with feed that determines what

energy and nutrients the cow gets. Maximising daily dry matter intake (DMI) is the first priority. For lactating cows, we should aim to at least offer the equivalent of 4% of DM on a liveweight basis (20kg DM for a Kiwicross, 500kg mature cow). Cows can eat much more than this, but most NZ cows don’t get this much. Cows cannot regularly collect even 18 kgs DMI from grazed pasture, and much less in many parts of the country, for much of the year. This only meets the intake needs of a small Jersey cow. Feeds must meet the needs of an optimally functioning, healthy, high capacity rumen – a system developed to extract nutrients from the tough bits of plants that we humans cannot digest, and which performs best as designed if it gets enough physically effective fibre and has synergy between crude protein and fermentable carbohydrate.

Sue Macky.

A BALANCED DIET An important component of ‘balance’ is ensuring that what is fed promotes the largest possible, hardest working, rumen microbial population, and delivers nutrients to the cow she can use. She will get most of her ‘fuel’ from glucose made in the liver from the volatile fatty acid byproducts (VFAs) of the rumen microbial fermentation of fibre, sugar, and starch, but

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

“We have enough feed in NZ to produce the same amount of milk from a lot less cows.” if fermentation rate exceeds the ability of the rumen to manage pH, feed conversion efficiency will decline. She gets most of her usable protein – metabolisable protein (MP) – from the bugs washed out of the rumen, both dead and alive, but this will be compromised if complementary fermentable carbohydrate is lacking. As production per cow increases, the quantity and quality of MP becomes more important. Synergy of fermentable carbohydrate intake (fibre, starch, and sugar), and crude protein, and provision of limiting essential amino acids, to maximise production of metabolisable protein leaving the rumen will determine potential productivity (and urinary nitrogen). Achieving best feed conversion efficiency with minimal environmental wastage of either methane or nitrogen, on a diet that maximises use of pasture requires more than a simple ration software programme based on the assumption that every mouthful of feed will contain all the nutrients needed by the cow every time. We need to ensure that both cow and rumen are fed appropriately. The rumen microbes feed the cow best with a consistent intake of a constant composition suited to their needs. At all levels of production, regardless of ration and intake, it is the nutrition and management of transition cows pre and post calving, cow comfort and rumen health that will determine feed conversion efficiency (FCE), i.e. what is actually produced. Feed conversion efficiency determines how much milk is produced per

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

kg of DMI/year. and per kg of liveweight/year, and how much methane and nitrogen will be ‘wasted’ into the environment. FCE is not fixed, nor is it guaranteed by ration balancing or genetics. No one would expect 100 people of the same age and gender, eating the same food, to be able to run 1000m in the same time. Conversion of energy (food) to output is not fixed. In cows, feed always goes somewhere – the where and how well it gets there varies a lot between cows and farms. For most NZ dairy farms, having skeletally fully grown first calving heifers, cows that meet all condition score targets on time, all the time, optimising cow comfort and offering milkers a daily DMI of at least 4% of fully grown mature cow liveweight, to be processed in a healthy rumen operating as designed, would achieve more milk than prioritising ration balance. Both cow and pasture management must be excellent to achieve these targets. For herds averaging around one kg MS per 1 kg of mature cow liveweight or more, the actual nutrient mix of the ration becomes more important, as well as achieving better intake. At greater than 1.1kg MS/1 kg LWT, all nutrients can become limiting, especially essential amino acids. So, what is a balanced ration for your dairy cow? It’s how you best use the feeds you have available to get best cow DM intake and best rumen function to provide your cows with the best energy and nutrients possible from those feeds, alongside optimum cow comfort and management, so as to maximise production, health and reproduction. Starting point – do you have enough total feed and where might it go if not into milk? Why? Sort those issues first. We have enough feed in NZ to produce the same amount of milk from a lot less cows. • Sue Macky is a principal dairy consultant for Dairy Production Systems Ltd.

SPECIAL REPORT

Cows energised on winter diets Lincoln University Agricultural Science graduate George Letham’s study into dairy cows feeding on high energy crops has earned him a leading graduate award. Anne Lee reports.

ows wintering on high energy winter forage crops are unlikely to suffer from cold stress with new research showing that as long as they’re getting a full intake, temperatures could drop as low as -20.4 deg C before they would even start to shiver. Lincoln University Agricultural Science degree honours graduate George Letham has recently been awarded the 2020 NZ Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science (NZIAHS) Leading Graduate Award for Lincoln University. The award recognises his honours study which looked into heat production from cows fed six common wintering diets. The modelled heat production information was then used to find the lower critical temperature (LCT) based on two internationally accepted approaches which ultimately allowed for the development of an index for LCT’s and heat production representing most of New Zealand wintering systems. It’s the first time LCT’s have been modelled for NZ’s outdoor grazing, winter forage crop systems. “An LCT is the lowest temperature a cow can be in before it has to start using energy to stay warm.” George explains that once large ruminants such as dairy cows have eaten enough to meet their energy demands for maintenance and pregnancy the excess energy is used for weight gain and dissipated as heat. In cold temperatures the heat is retained to maintain the animal’s required body temperature. “A lot of the work done previously was done 30 years ago and was done internationally – there’s never been a study looking at animal welfare and cold stress in a New Zealand context or our wintering context.” George’s extensive modelling found that the higher the energy of the diet the greater it’s cold tolerance. 68

FODDER BEET PRODUCES HEAT Fodder beet for instance produced unexpectedly high heat production and corresponding tolerance to very low temperatures. A high intake fodder beet resulted in the highest heat production figure for the study of 83.2megajoules (MJ)/day. “Most people don’t have a reference for that kind of heat production but it’s equivalent to wrapping a cow in a household double bed 60-Watt electric blanket on its highest setting for 16 hours and 40 minutes. “The lowest heat production of 33.8 MJ/day was the equivalent of six hours and 30 minutes in the same kind of electric blanket. “It’s very unlikely cows wintering on high energy winter forage diets will ever reach their

Above: Lincoln University Agricultural Science students Alexander Koops (left) and George Letham.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

COMMON WINTER FEEDS

• The six common winter feeds modelled included: • An all-grass system (10kg DM/cow/day) • A high fodder beet diet (11kg DM/cow/day) • A low fodder beet diet (8kg DM/cow/day) and straw (5kg DM/cow/ day) • A kale diet (9kg DM/ cow/day) plus straw (2kg DM/cow/day) • A swedes diet (9kg DM/cow/day) and grass silage (4kg DM/ cow/day).

Cows on fodder beet.

lowest critical temperature or be challenged by cold stress for extended or significant periods of time.” George’s modelling study used a range of liveweights to represent both smaller Jersey cows with liveweights of about 450kg through to large Friesian animals weighing 600kg. The model also accounted for a range of liveweight gains to look at scenarios where body condition scores were being lifted. He modelled various stages of gestation too across the different diets so that a wide range of production demands could be included and studied, better reflecting typical situations onfarm. George worked out what the maximum intake was for each of the feeds for cows at the various liveweights giving him a range of energy intakes and compared these to the energy demands to then give him the heat output from each animal.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

“The crux of it was to find out how much heat the animals produced on the different diets and from there work out the lower critical temperatures – so how cold it could get before the animal has to use its own stored energy to keep warm.” At those lower critical temperatures, the animal will shiver and after some time will use it’s own fat deposits to stay warm – the lower critical temperature isn’t the temperature below which it will die, he points out. “It’s when it starts to feel cold.” However, George did find that for some scenarios that included weight gain the all-grass diet and the kale diet didn’t meet energy requirements for the last stages of gestation. “So that raises the point that farmers should be aware they must be feeding high intakes of those diets during extended periods of very cold, wet, windy weather when the wind chill can bring the temperature down very low.” 69

SPECIAL REPORT

Combating milk fever with diet changes Adjusting feed can alter the pH of your affected cow’s blood, explains Dr Jim Gibbs. Anne Lee reports.

f milk fever is an issue there are two or three more important factors you should look to before going down the, often expensive, route of using anionic solutions and treating it as a dietary cation anion difference (DCAD) problem. Lincoln University senior lecturer and veterinary scientist Dr Jim Gibbs explains that DCAD refers to the difference between the positive cations and negative anions in the feed. By altering the feed so the difference is slightly negative it’s possible to alter the pH of the animal’s blood which in turn helps the natural parathyroid hormone system to pull calcium out of the bones – necessary post calving when the cow begins lactating and there’s a huge increase in the need for calcium. Managing blood pH to reduce hypocalcemia (milk fever) using feed can be effective in total mixed ration (TMR) diets but in New Zealand’s pasturebased system it’s virtually impossible. Overseas studies show the best way to control 70

DCAD is to limit potassium (K+) at 1% of drymatter (DM) and sodium (Na²+) at 0.1%. “That’s impossible for us in our pasture-based system. Our grass often has K levels above 3%DM and can have Na levels at 1% - so we have a lot of positive cations to contend with that TMR systems don’t have.” “The only way we’re going to get DCAD at the slightly negative level is to feed something with a lot of negatives and all we have available in our feeds are chlorine (Cl¯), phosphorous (P³¯) and sulphur (S²¯). “You can’t feed a lot of these – or certainly not the amount that would be needed to offset the K and Na without causing other major health problems or worse. “People do turn to anionic salts but you have to feed a lot of them – and they’re expensive – but it’s still almost impossible to get around the amount of K in the grass so to do it properly you really need to be feeding them what amounts to a total mixed ration for the springer mob for up to a couple of weeks. “To be frank - even if you could get it completely right the relative significance of DCAD in preventing milk fever here is several steps down the list.

“Get cows off beet 10 days before calving and manage their feed allocation, especially their access to grass because it’s high in K.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

SPECIAL REPORT

High potassium (limits magnesium and interferes with ability to pull calcium from bones ) can lead to → hypocalcemia K↑ means Mg↓ Mg↑ helps

which means Ca↓ Ca ↑

Combat high potassium by reducing grass allocation in springers and add magnesium.

“We have other factors at play. In almost every instance where I’ve been called out to a train wreck when it comes to milk fever it’s never yet been because of DCAD. “It will be because cows are fat or that springer ration hasn’t been managed well and there’s just too much grass in the daily diet so the K is high and/or something’s gone wrong with getting the magnesium into them. “Our issue with high K isn’t DCAD, it’s because it’s blocking the magnesium uptake and we use magnesium to get that parathyroid hormone system working to pull the calcium out of the bones.” In terms of rankings, Jim says its: • Get body condition score (BCS) right. • Make sure there’s enough magnesium going to springers. • Have enough metabolisable energy (ME) for maintenance or just under, for the springer ration. Farmers are generally managing cows going into winter better and feeding them well over winter but they can have too much of a good thing and more cows are hitting calving at BCS 5 or more than in the past.

MONITOR YOUR COWS Monitoring cows through autumn and winter and making sure they’re in mobs of similar BCS going into winter so feed allocation can be well managed is important. “Now we’re in spring the big issue is precalving, springer management. “Get cows off beet 10 days before calving and manage their feed allocation, especially their access to grass because it’s high in K. Hay, straw and silage are all lower in K, and ME, so help keep both magnesium and ME intakes down in the springer ration. “As long as they’re getting maintenance or just under – which is going to be about 90-100 72

megajoules (MJ) of ME per cow per day for that typical Kiwi-cross animal they’ll be ok.” The temptation in a year where there’s been good grass growth through the winter is to increase the pasture allocation and dial down the straw or hay for springers but that’s a recipe for disaster, he says. Pay close attention to getting enough magnesium into cows through the springer period. “It won’t be a perfect science but getting causmag across their feed has to be done well every day.” Can you give them too much magnesium? No, very unlikely, Jim says. There are claims for excess magnesium associated with sporadic Salmonella outbreaks, but given most of the South Island feeds it above the level claimed, clearly it is not the primary driver. Cows will just pee out what they don’t need and at very high doses it may cause some diarrhoea and can act like lithium for cows causing them to be slow and “chilled out”. Once calved, supplementing the diet with calcium – often through lime flour application to feed, will help boost calcium levels but keep going with the magnesium too. Once they’re 72 hours post calving you’re usually out of the danger zone and the parathyroid hormone system has kicked in well but Jim says most farmers will keep magnesium going in through the water – which they’ll start to drink more of once milking – until December and some right through the season. If you are removing it, do it gradually, don’t just stop overnight, he says.

Lincoln University senior lecturer and veterinary scientist Dr Jim Gibbs.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

SPECIAL REPORT

Don't let cows go hypo successful transition from the dry period to lactation is one of the most critical moments in the life of a dairy cow. Dr Jesse Goff, a professor at Iowa State University Veterinary Medicine College, discussed how farmers can optimise their dairy herd’s transition period, focusing on hypocalcaemia and milk fever in cows. He said: “I often think of hypocalcemia as a gateway disease, because it has fairly substantial effects on the immune system of the cow. It affects dry matter intake, which is

eventually going to cause, or exacerbate, negative energy and protein balance. “And we know that hypocalcaemia is a risk factor for mastitis, displaced abomasum, retained placenta, and metritis of cows. So I think anything we can do to prevent hypocalcaemia will help minimise a lot of these secondary diseases of the cow.” When cows begin to calve and lactate they lose a large amount of calcium from the bloodstream to the mammary gland which often causes a substantial drop in blood calcium concentration. Dr Goff discussed various methods of adding lacking minerals to diets at different stages of the cow both before and after calving. He said: “Now pre-calving, if you using an anionic product, almost every

BRED FOR BALANCE.

one of them has magnesium sulphate or magnesium Iowa State University chloride in them. Veterinary Medicine And these are anions, College professor Dr but they’re also going Jesse Goff. to supply magnesium in a readily available, very soluble form. So you don’t have to worry about pre-calving magnesium. “The problem arises post-calving, when most nutritionists are going to switch that cow to magnesium oxide as the source for magnesium. The problem is, magnesium oxide is not all the same. “Also, farmers need to keep dietary phosphorus close to the cow’s requirements, about 0.23 percent,” he added.

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SPECIAL REPORT

Fortify supplement with P Phosphorus is an essential mineral for calving cows. Ensuring your fodder beet crops are well maintained can help to “fortify” P, advises Dr Jim Gibbs. Anne Lee reports.

hosphorus (P), like calcium (Ca) is in high demand at calving with cow requirements for the essential mineral climbing during the last two weeks of pregnancy so ensuring supplement is “fortified” with P if it’s low in the wintering diet is a must. Lincoln University senior lecturer and veterinary scientist Dr Jim Gibbs says Ca and P are stored together in bones as hydroxyapatite, but the control of P in the blood is very different to that of Ca. “The most important driver of P status of the cow is the % uptake from the diet – this can be very low (<20%) when P is in surplus, and high (>70%) when P is low.” If blood P is low after calving, there are two tell-tale signs farmers may see: • Usually, more milk fever cases in general • In extreme deficiency cases, ‘creeper cows’ are seen – these are down cows after calving, but mentally brighter than milk fever cases and just can’t get up. They respond poorly to Ca. If both of these are seen, it is likely that P intakes across winter have been low. Jim says higher production herds are more likely to be at risk. In fodder beet wintering, P is largely held only in the leaf, and only ‘green’ supplements have high P content. “Therefore, in poor crops with low leaf, when the herd is fed hay/straw/cereal silages as a supplement, the diet P can fall below recommended levels (0.24% drymatter). “In well managed crops with good leaf, and where grass silage or pasture makes up the supplement, P intakes are almost always above P requirements according to the internationally accepted feed reference standards.” Where P content of the beet and supplement total diet is below requirement, the best supplement to supply P is DiCalcium Phosphate (DCP), an inexpensive and easily available mineral powder, he says. The addition of 50g/cow/day supplies about 9g of P, and is easily spread across supplements to be fed every day. 74

More than 50g DCP/day is never required, he says. For those poorer crops with low leaf or when low P supplements are being added DCP should be fed every day in winter, and then continued in the springer ration to calving. Don’t rely on methods of supplementation of P that involve cows voluntarily accessing it. Licks, blocks and crumbles are all voluntary supplements and it’s impossible to know if every cow has used them. This can leave a significant % of the herd exposed to P deficiency – often 35%, he says. You can’t rely on dosing cows via water either. “In winter, beet crop fed cows are highly overhydrated because beet is a low DM% feed, and cows can be eating 100+L of water a day – so many will not drink at all. “Relying on water soluble P sources is useless and dangerous,” he says. In fodder beet crops where a high proportion of the bulb is in the ground the amount of P in daily intakes of cows feeding on well leafed crops is more unlikely to be below requirements. A large-scale study currently underway looking at the proportions of bulb and leaf being eaten will shed more light on feed characteristics of cow intakes in New Zealand.

Above: Dr Gibbs holding fodder beet crop examples.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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ENVIRONMENT RECYCLING NUTRIENTS

The paua beetle: (Geotrupes spiniger) reaches a size of 25mm and tunnels as deep as 45cm, burying dung. (Supplied)

DUNG BEETLES

could be environmental godsend

‘Janitors’ of the insect world can clean up waterways and pastures, finds Elaine Fisher.

I NO Dung-Burying Beetles nsects revered by the ancient Egyptians could gain celebrity status in New Zealand if enough of them - millions in fact - are given the opportunity to help clean up our environment, waterways and pastures. Egyptians credited the dung beetle (Scarabaeus sacer) with rolling the disk of the morning sun over the eastern horizon to begin each new day. Despite its godlike status, this family of beetles has a lifestyle many people find unsavoury because they harvest, eat and lay their eggs in dung. These of course are the very qualities which make them ideal for the task of solving some of pastoral farming’s biggest issues, clean water and sustainability of pastoral soils. “When we introduced livestock and grasses to New Zealand around 150 years ago, we forgot to bring in the janitors, the dung beetles,” says Andrew Barber, committed dung beetle enthusiast and 76

managing director of Dung Beetle Innovations (DBI). “Every year more than 100 million tonnes of cattle, sheep and horse dung pile up on pastures. The run-off is steadily degrading our waterways, while the residual mess is infecting our animals and impoverishing our pastures. “Dung beetles offer a remarkable natural sustainable solution to revitalise our soils and pastures and can rehabilitate New Zealand’s waterways in as little as 23 years – if we act now.” And, thanks to campaigning by farmers and scientists, 11 years of research, public consultation and environmental scrutiny, dung beetles are here, ready to get to work.

RELEASE THE BEETLES

So far, DBI has released just over half a million dung beetles in 1200 colonies on

Wit Life cycle

farms throughout the country. As much as those sound like big numbers it is a small start and Andrew is encouraging more farmers to add dung beetles to their “livestock”. Dung Beetles are attracted to John Vosper of Jersey Girl Organics at Matamata is one farmer who has done just fresh livestock manure. that. In 2017 he released dung beetles on

Fact File: •

• There are 11 different kinds of

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

dung beetle approved for

the family’s 85ha farm, where 220 cows are milked. It was something of a leap of faith. John had listened to an address from Dung Beetle Innovations at a Beef + Lamb NZ seminar and bought the beetles there and then. He understood it would take time for the insects to make an impact, but the wait was a little worrying. “For the first couple of years I saw virtually no signs of their activity and then, from patches of disturbed soil next to manure spots, saw some evidence that they were working. “This year it’s quite exciting because the evidence is all over the place and I’ve seen some flying. They were released near the front of the farm but now they are from the front paddock to the back paddock, a distance of about 1.54 km. My staff think I’m crazy because I get so excited when I see beetles or evidence of them working.” In addition to the beetles quickly cleaning up cow dung, burying it underground, enriching the soil, improving pasture and reducing nutrient runoff to water ways, John is also hoping the actions of the insects will help improve animal health. “With the removal of dung, there should be fewer intestinal worms and another benefit is the reduction of flies in summer which I hope will reduce fly strike in our sheep.” John’s optimism around fewer flies is legitimate. Blowflies associated with sheep flystrike do not breed in animal waste, but females use it as the nutrient source for maturing eggs. In NZ, other nuisance flies such as biting stable flies, house flies, and flesh flies are known to breed in livestock dung.

Since the first release, John has added more beetles to his farm and now has three species, including the quite large and impressive ‘paua beetle” (Geotrupes spiniger) so named because of its colouring. “Different species are active at different times of the year and tunnel to different depths from 15 cm to 45 cm beneath the soil.” John, who was a sustainable agricultural advisor for the Waikato Regional Council, now has a similar role with WSP – formerly Opus. He’s an advocate for council funding of dung beetle introduction to help mitigate climate change and enhance freshwater quality. “Councils are happy to fund trees for riparian plantings which is great but one of the barriers to the introduction of dung beetles is that you can’t see immediately what they are doing.” Andrew says DBI has had some success in working with councils to fund the release of beetles. “The Greater Wellington Regional Council and Marlborough District Council have carried out catchment releases, sharing the costs 50/50 with farmers. We are in talks with other councils to establish similar schemes. “It’s madness for councils not to do so. An NZ scientific paper has shown up to an 80% reduction in overland flow of rainwater when dung beetles are present. With any form of waste mitigation, the further away from the source of the problem, the more expensive the clean-up becomes. The cheapest way to deal with dung is in the paddock, using beetles. “A catchment approach, involving a number of neighbouring farms, is the best way to make a significant impact.”

John Vosper enjoys finding evidence of the work of dung beetles on his organic dairy farm.

DUNG BEETLE FACTS

• Dung Beetles are attracted to fresh livestock manure. • There are 11 different kinds of dung beetle approved for release in NZ. • Beetles make tunnels beneath the manure and bury it to make food balls for their young. • Different beetles bury at different depths and make different food balls. • Their young develop into new beetles from 6 weeks to 6 months depending on the species. • Nearly 2/3 of each ball remains in the soil after the new beetle emerges.

Available now Boost your profits. Improve water quality. “This year it’s quite exciting because the evidence is all over the place...” John Vosper – Dairy Farmer, Matamata. John released dung beetles in 2017.

Shaun 021 040 8685 | shaun@dungbeetles.co.nz For more information or to order online go to www.dungbeetles.co.nz

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Strategy Group. By 2011 the group received approval from the Environmental Risk Management Authority (now the EPA) for the importation of eleven species of dung beetle. This was followed by importing and mass rearing, lots more research and talking to farmers. In 2013 the first dung beetles were released in New Zealand and by 2014 Dung Beetle Innovation was in operation, breeding and supplying beetles to farmers. DBI was founded by Andrew Barber and Dr Shaun Forgie. Andrew became involved with dung beetles through Tiny janitor: One of the dung beetles found on John project managing the Dung Beetle Release Vosper’s organic dairy farm. The beetles eat cow Strategy Group; the Ministry for Primary manure, meaning fewer flies hatching from the manure during summer. Industries SFF farmer lead project that was granted approval from the Environmental PUBLIC IMAGE PROBLEM Protection Agency (EPA) to import dung Andrew, unashamedly a dung beetle fan, beetles. acknowledges they have an image problem. Shaun is an internationally recognised “I think some politicians are concerned entomologist, with PhD and MSc (Hons) they will get the mickey taken out of them degrees specialising in dung beetle if they promote dung beetles and releasing reproduction, ecology and evolution. In them doesn’t present the same kind of his previous role as a research scientist photo opportunity as planting trees with for Landcare Research, New Zealand’s children does.” foremost environmental research institute, The beetles also don’t meet the funding he received a science excellence award for criteria for many environmental projects. his key role in the Dung Beetle Project that “The application forms ask how many ultimately led to DBI. people will be involved. With dung Today DBI has developed at Whenuapai, beetle releases that is hardly any. However, the largest dung beetle breeding facility in Life groups which have recently gained the world. There, seven different species cycle funding for trees and fencing, report not of the beetles are separately raised on cow being able to find fencers or people to plant dung in one cubic metre, mesh covered the trees. It would be great if some of that bins. funding could be redirected to dung beetle “We collect the dung from a nearby releases.” dairy farm and use a front-end loader to Dung beetles are found in every part of move it around. We need to get on with Fact File: the world, except Antarctica. New Zealand’s it, move quickly and at a large scale if we • Dung Beetles are attracted to native beetles have evolved to live in the hope to achieve our mission of rebalancing fresh livestock manure. bush, processing bird droppings, not in NZ’s pastoral farming systems for the Theregoal are 11 kindsof of open pasture with massive amounts of next generation.• Our isdifferent to be out dung beetle approved for livestock dung. business within 20 years. Job done,” says release in NZ. The introduced species pose no threat to Andrew. • Beetles tunnels beneath native populations as they won’t colonise When orders come in make for the beetles, the manure and bury it towill the bush, says Andrew. farmers are advised on which species “They won’t eat anything other than best suit their soil make typesfood and climates and balls for their young. dung because they have sucking, not from November •toDifferent March, colonies beetles bury atof the chewing, mouth parts.” insects are sent by different courierdepths to farms all over and make Nonetheless, gaining approval to import the country. different food balls. the insects was a long, arduous process. DBI has permission to import up to 11 • Their young develop into new Increased: Reduced: “New Zealand has the most stringent different species of beetle, most of them beetles from 6 weeks to 6 • foragein foul structurevia & Australia, where they have border security system the world when it• soil coming months depending on the • surface runoff health comes to introducing new bio-organisms. • nutrient been conditioned to Southern Hemisphere • water pollution recycling species You quite simply• can’t in anything • infiltration seasons.rates Previous to that they have been microbring organisms • Nearly 2/3 of each ball remains earthworm effect.” biomass & depth • pasture which will have •a negative collected from the wild in Southern Africa, productivity the soil after the new beetle • water & nutrient conservation NZ is the last country in the world to South-west Europe,in the Mediterranean, • water quality – leachate & non • grass root emerges. approve the introduction Southern England. biomass & depth leachate of dung beetles. The push began in 2009 when a group of farmers formed the Dung Beetle Release • To find out more visit: dungbeetles.co.nz

NO Dung-Burying Beetles

NO Dung-Burying Beetles Life cycle

Fact File:

• Dung Beetles a fresh livestock

• There are 11 di

dung beetle ap release in NZ.

• Beetles make t

the manure an

make food ball

• Different beetle

different depth

different food b

Increased: • • • • • • •

forage foul surface runoff water pollution micro organisms earthworm biomass & depth water & nutrient conservation water quality – leachate & non leachate

Reduced: • • • • •

soil structure & health nutrient recycling infiltration rates pasture productivity grass root biomass & depth

With Dung-Burying Beetles

Increased: • • • • • • •

pasture productivity plant nitrogen content, protein levels, height & biomass soil structure & health water & nutrient conservation organic carbon capture nutrient recycling earthworm biomass & depth

• • • •

micro organisms grass root biomass & depth water quality – leachate & non leachate profit - Internal Rate of Return 18% +

Reduced: • •

forage foul surface runoff

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

• Their young de beetles from 6

months depend

species

• Nearly 2/3 of e

in the soil after emerges.

ENVIRONMENT DUNG BEETLES

What dung beetles do Words by: Elaine Fisher

ung beetles – the janitors of farmland, perform many beneficial functions for farmers, as a result of their own quest for food and reproduction. Beetle tunnelling leads to increased aeration of the soil allowing better water penetration. Tunnelling and dung burial also result in increased grass root growth and biological activity in soils under and adjacent to dung pats. Dung beetle activity, therefore, leads to reduced run-off of rainfall and better retention of dung and urine in the soil. This, in turn, results in reduced microbial contamination in runoff, less leachate pollution and reduced eutrophication of our freshwater. Stock will not graze around dung pats unless forced to by high stocking rates or having restricted access to pasture. Dung burial by beetles enhances grass growth through nutrient recycling, improved soil structure, and increases the amount of pasture available, improving long-term sustainable productivity. Dung beetle activity reduces reinfection of livestock by parasitic worms. This is achieved by dung beetles directly or indirectly killing the eggs and young larvae of the parasitic worms. They do this in several ways. Firstly, the dung pat dries out faster as it is broken up by dung beetles – this kills parasite eggs and larvae faster than in dung pats without beetles. Secondly, the processing of dung into brood balls by the adult beetles and direct feeding by dung beetles and their larvae kill parasite eggs and larvae. Thirdly, deep burial of dung reduces vertical migration by parasite larvae back up to the soil surface.

DEATH TO THE FLIES

Blowflies associated with sheep flystrike do not breed in animal dung but females use it as the nutrient resource for maturing

eggs. In New Zealand, other nuisance flies such as biting stable flies, house flies, and flesh flies are known to breed in livestock dung. When dung burying beetles and dung breeding flies compete in dung, the beetles win. Survivorship of fly eggs and larvae is significantly reduced by rapid conversion of the dung resource and mechanical damage during dung manipulation by the beetles. Many laboratory and field experiments confirm significant reductions in the numbers of dung breeding pest flies because of dung beetles. The burial of animal dung and improved infiltration of urine into topsoil will likely reduce the production of methane and nitrous oxide, and is therefore likely to decrease the emission of greenhouse gases associated with animal waste. While adequate quantification of the influence of dung beetle activity on nitrogen emissions remains to be done, some studies have shown dung beetle activity during feeding and nesting will stimulate aerobic conditions, altering the microorganism fauna in dung pats, brood balls, and associated soils to reduce methane production. And when compared to unburied dung, the speed at which freshly

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

deposited dung is buried by moderate to high numbers of dung beetles is also likely to reduce methane production. Economic benefits from dung beetle activity will arise from enhanced forage palatability, nutrient recycling, and a reduction in pasture pests (nuisance flies and livestock parasites). Dung beetles are a long term 10-year investment. This is due to a combination of it taking time before beetles reach a farm’s full carry capacity and changes in soil chemical and physical structure is a slow process. Based on a pasture response, and therefore higher milk or meat production, there is a positive Net Present Value and an internal rate of return of over 18%. From a national perspective, conservative estimates from the US suggest that by burying cattle dung alone, dung beetles are worth approximately US$380 million annually to the US economy. In Australia dung beetles are worth a billion dollars a year to their economy. Primarily that’s because they contribute to carbon sequestration, mineral and nutrient recycling, and also the important value they have in reducing the pest burden. • Source: dungbeetles.co.nz/benefits 79

ENVIRONMENT LEGISLATIVE CHANGES

Council staff grappling with changes Words by: Karen Trebilcock

f farmers feel they’re having trouble keeping up with legislative changes, spare a thought for regional councils. Landpro executive director Kate Scott said, at a recent Otago Dairy Environment Leaders’ Forum, regional council staff were given no more time than farmers to understand the changes. “Just like for farmers, it’s not business as usual for them either. They are trying to grapple with the new legislation and most are suffering from a lack of staff at the same time.” She said Landpro, an environmental consultancy company set up in 2007, was working with farmers to help them become compliant with all of the changes and she urged people to work together. “My advice to you is to participate in the process. Put in submissions to regional council plans, join catchment groups, understand what your regional council is proposing, go along to hearings and tell your farming story.” She said Otago Regional Council (ORC) would be spending much of the year and

STOP FEED GOING TO WASTE

Landpro executive director Kate Scott.

the next in the Environment Court as Plan Change 7 and 8 went through the process of notifications, submissions and hearings to meet the Government’s national policy statement objectives. The ORC has also recently notified their proposed Regional Policy Statement. “It’s a moving beast that doesn’t really ever land. “And the science is still catching up so there is not always clarity on how to achieve what the Government wants.” She said many farmers were already trying to do what was needed, before regulations came in. Her view was it was

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better to make a start and have to change it than not starting at all. “This is our generation’s challenge. To get through this. Just like the last generation’s challenge was the removal of farming subsidies in the 1980s. “Some farmers did leave the land back then but those who stayed built more resilient, more efficient and more profitable farming systems than ever before. “When there is change there are always opportunities.”

“They are trying to grapple with the new legislation and most are suffering from a lack of staff at the same time.” She urged farmers to prepare farm environment plans and nutrient budgets. “You have most of this in your head but you need it written down. Don’t worry that it’s not perfect. It’s a start and these documents should be living documents – they should always need updating and changing. “You know your farm better than anyone so if you have written down what you are doing then you know how legislative change will affect you when it’s announced and what you have to do to meet those requirements. “And most of all stay positive. I know it feels like at the moment we’re having everything thrown at us but keep your passion for farming because that is what is going to get us through.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

SPONSORED CONTENT

BVD stealing dairy herd profit

ovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) is estimated to be costing the New Zealand dairy industry at least $150 million a year in animal health costs and lost production, yet experts agree with a focused campaign it could potentially be eliminated in a matter of months, not years. Dr. Greg Chambers has been working closely with vets and farmers this year to help raise the profile and understanding of BVD. He says despite what farmers may often think, BVD is both contagious and common among dairy herds. “It is far from being random or rare. But often BVD is mainly a subclinical disease, and its symptoms get lost amid the usual health outcomes farmers see quite regularly within their herd. “These can include immune suppression causing more infectious disease, early embryonic death, abortion, elevated somatic cell counts, birth defects – all can appear random, but can actually all be tied back to BVD, such is the wide range of conditions it can create.” But despite being such an insidious background disease, BVD can be controlled with a few steps revolving around testing, culling, vaccination and farm biosecurity. Testing for BVD is a well-established practice in New Zealand dairy herds. Bulk milk sampling provides a good pathway for vets and farmers to determine its presence, then commence identifying and culling individual infected herd members. “Testing and culling to get a clear result is good. But often no further action is taken once that is achieved, and only when the next BVD-infected animal is detected is the disease addressed again. “It is a bit like using your smoke detector to tell you your house is on fire - by the time that alarm has gone off the fire has got hold and the damage is already done.” He has been focusing on reinforcing the need for farmers to build biosecurity and vaccination into their animal health plans to prevent the test going positive. “As a farmer, you really need to use the twin tools of vaccination and good farm biosecurity to keep BVD out, otherwise your efforts are going to be constantly eroded

Vaccinating cows for BVD prior to mating will break the cycle of infection and eradicating the disease will save New Zealand $150 million Dr Greg Chambers says.

with it returning - it’s like trying to build a sandcastle when the tide is coming in.” Vaccination wraps a layer of insurance around the herd’s health. “It’s really like investing to fireproof the building, to stop fire taking hold again and the alarm going off again.” Research looking over the past decade at BVD infections indicates over time more and more herds that may have contracted BVD and been cleared become naïve to the disease, and once again are susceptible. “We have had infected herds drop from about 15% to 5% in only a few years, which is good. But it also means without vaccination those herds are sitting ducks for becoming susceptible again.” Amid heightened concerns over M. bovis, more farmers have been careful about where they send young stock, and many also vaccinate that stock against BVD. “But while protecting your young stock is worthwhile, focusing on your breeding herd is probably even more important.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

“It is from them you get your Persistently Infected (PI) calves, from where it can spread quickly.” Timely BVD vaccination of cows prior to mating will ensure no PI calves are born that spring, helping break a cycle of infection. Both the symptoms and the $150 million cost to the dairy sector of BVD are difficult for affected farmers to identify. “The cost of at least $150 million is an average of $32 a cow a year, but it can seem to be a zero-cost disease if you are just interpreting the many different symptoms as unrelated health issues in the herd.” The per head cost of BVD far outstrips the cost to vaccinate, and Chambers says vaccination could play an invaluable role in helping New Zealand eradicate the disease. “If as a country we can deal to Covid-19, and as an industry deal to both M. bovis and BVD, it will do much for New Zealand’s biosecurity standing and enhance the dairy sector’s profitability.”

ENVIRONMENT NATIVE PLANTINGS

hen Gore dairy farmer, and Southern Field Days volunteer, Chris Giles comes up with ideas they are usually big – the Hokonui Hills to the Mataura River big. His aim, quickly embraced by the Hokonui Rūnanga, is for plantings of natives along two tributaries of the Mataura River, the Charlton and Waimumu Streams, to form a wildlife corridor between the hill range and the world-renowned brown trout fishing river. With Environment Southland land and water services team leader Megan Bates also keen, he got the regional council on board and, after a year of planning, the Charlton Waimumu Riparian pilot programme is underway. Environment Southland is now looking to extend the project across the region, albeit with a different approach to funding. Planting of 10,000 native plants started in November on more than 20 farms along 20kms of waterways including the Giles’ farm and at the 57ha Southern Field Days site which borders the Waimumu Stream. Dairy, dry stock, arable, deer and small block farmers are part of the project and to be eligible they must have an Environment Southland farm plan completed and the stream must be stock-proofed and fenced off.

“We certainly hope visitors to field days will enjoy the native plantings.”

Big idea

leads to native plantings Gore dairy farmer Chris Giles was keen to get a wildlife corridor going along the Charlton and Waimumu Streams. Riparian plantings are now underway. Karen Trebilcock reports. 82

The Hokonui Rūnanga is sourcing the seed for the plants locally and the plants are grown at the Milton and Invercargill prisons as part of a long-term programme started by the late Rewi Anglem. “As the stream boundaries on farms are fully planted, those farms will then leave the scheme and others will become part of it,” Chris said. “There are 120 farms on these two streams and after that we could do the other tributaries of the Mataura River as well.” As part of the pilot, Environment Southland organises the planting, including the plant protectors to stop the local hares damaging the seedlings. However, farmers are responsible for the follow-up spraying, maintenance and replacement of any plants that don’t survive. Pittosporum, kanuka, lancewoods, cabbage trees, tree fuchsias and others have been carefully chosen for their ability to withstand, once established, floods as well as seasonal wet and dry periods. Left: Jo Brand, of Hokonui Rūnanga, and Waimumu dairy farmer Chris Giles with the native plantings on the banks of the Waimumu Stream at the Southern Field Days site, near Gore.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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“This area used to be swamp once and where the field days site is was gold dredged,” Chris said. Jo Brand, who looks after education and community development at the Hokonui Rūnanga, said the plants grown at the two prisons could not be sold commercially. “One of our volunteers, Rodney Trainor, collects the seeds for us. That’s his passion. And at the prisons they gain NZQA credits for growing the plants. “We also involve schools in what we are doing, through Enviroschools, so they can learn about the mana whenua and become involved in the local projects.” “These plants are eco-sourced – the right plant for the right place,” Jo said. As part of the pilot, the success of the plantings would be monitored both culturally and ecologically and a regional riparian programme is likely to be scoped following the completion, Environment Southland land and water services manager Fiona Young said. Chris said the project would not only lower the impact of farming on waterways by creating buffer zones but also create corridors for native fish, birds and insects. There were also plans for walkways and cycle tracks in the areas. “We certainly hope visitors to field days will enjoy the native plantings.”

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1. Chris has organised the planting of a number of native species such as kanuka. 2. Plantings such as lancewood (pictured) were chosen for their ability to withstand, once established, floods as well as seasonal wet and dry periods. 3. Pictured is mingimingi. The plantings are along two tributaries of the Mataura River, the Charlton and Waimumu Streams. 4. Pittosporum planted in the Charlton Waimumu Riparian pilot programme.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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STOCK BOBBY CALVES

Bobby calves an emotive but profitable product The processing of bobby calves is banned in almost every country now. How has New Zealand responded to this change? Karen Trebilcock reports.

ew Zealand is caught between the world’s ethical stance on bobby calves and its need for the products manufactured

from them. As part of the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, Greg Hamill, LIC’s genetics business and strategy manager, sought to get a better understanding of the consequences of removing bobby calves from the industry. The report, released last month, focused on what NZ, and the world, would be giving up if bobby calves were phased out. The slaughter of young calves is banned in almost every country which has increased the demand for products from NZ’s calves. Although almost all of what comes from bobby calves can be produced from an adult animal, the quality of the products is often reduced. Among those products is blood serum which, according to one of the report’s sources, was likely to have been used in the past 18 months in the development and manufacture of the many vaccines against Covid-19. Blood serum from a four-day-old calf is used as it contains few antibodies which would inhibit its usefulness. Besides a multitude of other human and animal vaccines, from polio to canine parvovirus, animal serum is also used in DNA testing. But it is not just the calf’s blood that is in demand. Every part of a bobby calf is used and will end up in products as diverse as perfume and paint to glue and cake mix. The meat will grace the best restaurant tables in the world and also your cat’s food bowl. 84

Above: The slaughter of young calves is banned in almost every country which has increased the demand for products from New Zealand’s calves. Left: LIC’s genetics business and strategy manager Greg Hamill.

And although artificial or synthetic replacements were available for some of the products, there was increased consumer desire for natural choices, Greg said. European cheese makers under the Protected Geographical Status in European law source rennet from New Zealand as synthetic rennet can’t be used for authentic cheeses. Rennet comes from the fourth stomach, the vell, of a calf and almost every calf slaughtered in New Zealand has the vell removed for processing into rennet which is exported.

As well, lipase, an enzyme extracted from the glands at the base of the calf’s tongue, is used as an ingredient in baked products to help keep them fresher for longer, reducing world-wide food wastage.

IRONY OF BOBBY CALVES BAN “It seems ironic to me that the consumers in international countries like China or Europe that want dairy and meat products from countries that do not support a bobby calf industry, are the same countries/ consumers that will pay premiums for the co-products that are generated from the bobby calf,” Greg said. Every year about 1.9 million four-day-old calves are slaughtered in NZ and although strict animal welfare code requirements regulate the transportation and treatment of the calves, he said it was an emotive subject and they were often deemed a waste product of the dairy industry.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Bobby calves provide year-round employment to those working in meat processing plants, as the bobby calf season, from July until September, is in the lull of lamb processing. However, the truth was far from it. Bobby calves provide year-round employment to those working in meat processing plants, as the bobby calf season, from July until September, is in the lull of lamb processing. “If we can keep someone employed all year round it is not only good for us, it’s good for them, the community and the country as a whole,” a commentator said in the report. However, most processors were reluctant to put a value on bobby calves to their businesses or to the country. In national statistics, export earnings from bobby calves are grouped in with those of adult cattle. For example, in 2020, blood products from cattle earnt the country $172 million. Greg said it appeared no one had asked, or were afraid to highlight, how lucrative the bobby calf industry was. “How can we validate the value of new opportunities if we don’t have a benchmark to measure against?” He said options for dairying to eliminate bobby calves had flow–on impacts to the wider industry which needed a full review. “As we move into an era where the environment and animal welfare are at the forefront of consumer minds, many dairy farmers are looking at ways to reduce their bobby calf footprint with a general consensus from the industry that at some point we will no longer be able to send

four-day-old calves to slaughter.” However, raising calves to 21 days before slaughter, or older, merely kicked the ethical can further down the road, he said. “The hard reality is, if a calf born is not destined as a dairy replacement then the life expectancy of the animal in all probability is less than two years.” If all 1.9 million bobby calves were raised to be a viable beef animal they would have to replace other grazing stock or alternative land uses. Farmers would also need to build more onfarm infrastructure to raise the animals to weaning weights, he said.

POSSIBLE VEAL INDUSTRY A veal industry could be a possibility although veal from other countries had dominated international markets for decades and would be hard to break into, Greg said. “I can’t see the overall cost to the industry and society will be more positive, and it is possibly one of the reasons why the industry hasn’t already moved there.” He said the problem of bobby calves should not be seen solely as a “dairy farmer issue”. “The bobby calf industry supports thousands of jobs and communities. The financial implications of removing this industry and replacing it with growing calves out to a greater carcase weight is

unclear and needs further investigation to see if, as a country, we would be any better off.” However, it could only take one bad news story for regulations to be forced on dairy farmers. A 2017 Horizon survey of 1000 members of the “general public” showed half did not know a cow had to give birth to produce milk and more than 80% vastly underestimated the number of bobby calves killed each year. About 60% of those surveyed said they felt killing a four-day old calf was unacceptable. Greg said it’s hard to find a compelling argument for change when no one could articulate the value of the current system and what would be lost if we moved away from it. “While there are solutions being currently investigated by DairyNZ and other parties, my recommendation would be to do a full industry review to understand the financial and social benefits that bobby calves contribute to be used as a benchmark for any proposed solution for their removal.” • The full report can be accessed on the Kellogg’s website: ruralleaders.co.nz/ kellogg-our-insights • The report is the findings and opinions of Greg Hamill and not necessarily the views of LIC.

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STOCK DAIRY BEEF PROGENY TEST

Oyster season in beef land long term fix. When he worked for a meat company in the late 1990s he talked about working with a customer sitting on your shoulder, and seeing the issues through the eyes of someone buying your by our markets, he says. products. “We can bang out our beef to “It’s a different slant that makes non-discerning customers and you far more consumer focused,” it might not worry them, but he says. as we shift our dairy and beef In addition, he says there is a products further up the value rising tide of bad feeling about chain our more discerning killing so many calves so the customers will not want to see industry needs to front up and Bob Thomson. products from a value chain start talking about how they will associated with the bad news story be reared - make it an opportunity not a around bobby calves.” problem. The AgFirst beef consultant says it’s If all of those calves are going to be fantastic how the industry has improved raised for beef the issue is going to fall to handling practices but he doesn’t see it as a dairy farmers to start thinking about how

Well-bred dairy beef calves could make bobby calves history and be a new high value income stream for dairy and beef farmers, Jackie Harrigan reports.

eef consultant Bob Thomson can see a time when it will not be acceptable to kill 2.5 million bobby calves each season and he suggests that time is less than 10 years away. But use of the right beef genetics could see a bobby calf problem turned into a high value young tender beef product commanding a premium in export markets. Limited years for bobby calves is the view of a growing number of dairy and beef industry players and it will be driven 86

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

to produce calves with maximum beef value. If dairy farmers use the right beef bulls to cross with their dairy cows the calves can be a great value proposition, for them and the finisher and we just need to market them as such, Thomson says.

“ . . .our more discerning customers will not want to see products from a value chain associated with the bad news story around bobby calves.”

Farms. Over 150 bulls have now been tested, with genetic DAIRY BEEF PROGENY links between years and TEST links to bulls tested in a Having been involved in the similar Beef Progeny Test Dairy Beef Progeny Test run by scheme. Beef + Lamb NZ with associate The Dairy Beef professor Rebecca Hickson Progeny Test has added from Massey University as information including scientific lead, Thomson says gestation length and calving Rebecca Hickson. there are beef bulls with genetics to weight and Thomson says it is the easily produce dairy-cross offspring to only multibreed analysis in NZ to fit a young, lean and tender product profile deliver to commercial farmers what they with enough rib fat for finish. need to know. Starting in 2015 at Limestone Downs in “The bulls on offer are amazing,’’ he the Waikato, over 30 beef bulls were tested says, “We should be really excited by the each year for two years before transferring potential of them.” the programme to Wairakei Renown dairy Bulls from eight different breeds have unit on the Central Plateau. Up to 21 bulls been tested including carcase data so far, are progeny tested annually by artificial with more breeds coming onstream next insemination (AI) over dairy cows at Pamuyear and Thomson says it is interesting owned Renown, with all offspring finished seven breeds are represented in the top on neighbouring Orokonui Station and carcase weight stats. processed and assessed through Silver Fern “There is a high level of interest in the

Top carcase weight bull in progeny test:

• Carcase weight: 22kg heavier carcase at 600days • Birthweight: +2kg heavier but proven easy calver on mixed age dairy cows • Weaning age: -7.7days to reach 7585kg LWT • Weaning weight: +14kgLWT at 200 days • Yearling weight: +35kg at 400days • Rib fat: +1.3mm test, and beef farmers are paying to get their bulls in and tested. Bulls that do well are often picked up by semen companies to market semen from.” Thomson feels the beef industry has taken the dairy industry for granted in the past, but now proof exists that these beef bulls are a real value proposition for dairy farmers.

T H E D E F I N I T I V E M E AT, M I L K A N D M U S C L E P O W E R

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www.reddevoncattle.co.nz 87

“We can really only find those curve bender bulls through progeny testing, not just through estimated breeding values (EBVs). EBVs do work but they are predicated on an average, but the outlier bulls with low birthweight and good growth rates are in there somewhere - now we are identifying them.” “When you are dealing with dairy cows and the focus is on short gestation and ease of calving, you need progeny tested bulls. We have bulls in the test that farmers can safely use over their heifers but that have progeny that will go through to be top carcase weight offspring.” “There is a huge genetic difference between buying unmeasured beef bulls from an unregistered breeder and these bulls in the progeny test trial.” “And these bulls are available from a breeding company for $13 or $14/straw.”

TESTING GENETICS

Beef on the menu at an awards night.

Rebecca Hickson agrees the dairy beef progeny test has been great to see if genetics were expressed differently in a

dairy beef system. Gestation length and birthweight EBVs matched up really nicely but the growth EBVs, when used in a dairy setting, were more problematic, Massey Unversity’s associate professor Hickson said. “The 400 and 600-day EBVS are still useful but the 200-day weight EBV is not a good predictor as dairy calves tend to be weaned at a fixed weight rather than age, like beef calves.” “But better pre-weaning growth genetics tend to wean faster which is beneficial in the dairy-beef system.” Progeny testing has identified the bulls who are fine for cow or heifer calving but have the potential to get more finishing performance for the same calving performance. The progeny trial is now cofunded by B+LNZ and LIC and breeders pay $1250 for each bull tested with LIC having first right to purchase semen, or $11,250 if the breeder wishes to retain semen rights. “LIC retain first rights to sell semen to the dairy industry from the top performing bulls - and will take 30,000 straws as a first

THINK

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• Bred for performance under commercial conditions • • 450+ females in herd • Easy calving • • Impressive growth • Super conformation • • BREEDPLAN recorded and carcase scanned • CONTACT: DAVID & SUE HENDERSON • David’s Mobile: 021 166 1389 DANIEL HENDERSON • Daniel’s Mobile: 027 753 6669 429 Rukuhia Road, RD2, Ohaupo • Email: craigmore.hereford@gmail.com www.craigmoreherefords.co.nz 88

Annual Yearling Bull Sale Friday 17 th September 2021 ENQUIRIES TO:

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JOHN ALLEN

• Top 1% in calving ease

335 Maurice Road, Glen Murray, RD 5, Tuakau 269

M: 027 440 7504 E: jvmeallen@xtra.co.nz W: mahutastud.co.nz

• 400-day growth EBV top 10% • Negative gestation - EBV top 15% • Carcase weight EBV top 5% • HP Index & DM Index top 5% • Scrotal EBV top 5%

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

“Why not produce a whole new product, with a limited seasonal window of production, like oysters - build an overseas market that appreciates the lean, tenderness of the beef only available in the season.” order for the owner if the bull meets the standard to be included in a semen team.” It’s not a get rich quick scheme though, Hicksons points out. “There is a 3.5 year wait time to see how the progeny of tested bulls kill out, so breeders need to have a long horizon to keep the bull around while awaiting results.” While she shares Thomson’s enthusiasm for young lean beef product, Hickson says she looks forward to seeing more pull through from the finisher to the dairy farmer, specifying the type of dairy beef genetics they want to be processing and marketing. “The more we see the information flowing, the more the behaviour will change.” The project has already produced enough work for two PhD candidates and Hickson has plans for more work, looking at a Dairy Beef Index with a built-in safe calving ease level that is not skewed towards low growth, more work on what the cows’ genetics mean for growth and finishing

Some of the charcuterie range produced by A Lady Butcher. Picture by Churly’s Brew Pub and Eatery.

potential and identifying more heifermating suitable beef bulls.

YOUNG LEAN TENDER BEEF FROM FONTERRA? Bob Thomson can see a future when dairy farmers need to cut cow numbers and dedicate some of their land area to rearing beef. “That would be a win for the environment too - but there has to be the returns in it.” “If it’s the dairy farmers’ responsibility to rear 2.5 million calves, they might have to cut a million cows to free up land to do it, and they will need to be making a good margin from the beef.” Thomson says it would be feasible to get carcases to a ready-to-slaughter product at 170-220kg CWT, finishing them off pasture or crop between November and May, and

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

definitely before the second winter. “We have to accept a lower carcase weight from one winter finishing, because if we go across two winters, three times as much land will be required.” “The feed conversion ratio is very good for finishing over one winter - and therefore the greenhouse gas efficiency is way higher too. With a good beef quality and produced under a high-level quality assurance scheme, the beef will be a product with truly sustainable credentials.”

Key insights from the Dairy Beef Progeny Test report

• There is a huge pool of bulls available that can be used safely over dairy cows and offer an improvement in gestation length and calf value. • High quality beef can be produced from dairy beef calves, improving industry sustainability. • Consideration of finishing traits, as well as calving traits, when selecting bulls, can greatly increase the value of the calf to the rearer and finisher, without impairing calving performance. • The sire has a big impact on growth and carcase traits of dairy-beef calves. i.e. not all white-face or Angus calves are equal. • Calves that are heavy at four days of age are not necessarily heavy at finishing. • Knowing the sires’ EBVs will help judge potential.

“Why not produce a whole new product, with a limited seasonal window of production, like oysters - build an overseas market that appreciates the lean, tenderness of the beef only available in the season.” And if the meat company marketers can’t see through to market opportunities then perhaps the dairy companies should step up and market it as an associated product to their other low carbon, sustainable proteins, says Thomson. “It’s a byproduct of the dairy production industry - why shouldn’t Fonterra market it?” “Offer farmers a decent value-based payment system and a traceable product back to sire and dam and stop making bobby calves a problem - look at them as an asset to be maximised.” “First steps are getting proven semen in the cows, connecting dairy farmers with beef farmers and securing a market.” In the meantime, Thomson says we need to join the dots and realise that planting trees on hill-country that could rear dairy beef will put more pressure on the easy

country when farmers have to rear their own bobby calves. “While there’s an economic argument for production of forestry and carbon farming on the hill country, there is not one for replacement of our dairy farms with beef, or trees and carbon. If we think about NZ as one big business we will be

worse off because dairy farming will beat trees and carbon everyday of the week.” • Results are on the B+LNZ Genetics website, found under: www.blnzgenetics.com/ files/1591244923_2020-04%20DBPT%20 Autumn%20interim%20report-V3.pdf Or bitly link: https://bit.ly/3hCjLNj

Need an Angus bull CONSIDER THIS . . .

lving and Heifer Specialising in Ease of Ca

Fully registered 300 cow herd Specialising in ease of calving and heifer mating All our best bulls offered at our annual yearling sale Full EBVs on all animals AngusGS 72K SNP tested Excellent temperament

Chris & Karren Biddles, RD1, Te Kopuru, Northland P: 09 439 1589 • m: 021 795 929 e: chris@teatarangi.co.nz

Our complete program (all 300 cows) is focused on ease of calving and heifer mating Good selection of bulls with growth and carcass attributes without compromising ease of calving

mating

WHO ELSE IN NZ TICKS ALL THOSE BOXES?

FERTILITY Calve as 2 yr old Only 43 days mating - cows Only 30 days mating - heifers Cull everything that doesn’t rear a calf

100 Yearling Angus bulls at our Annual On Farm Sale and Hybrid bidr Auction

1st Sept 2021, 12.30pm Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

STOCK VETS VOICE

Diagnosing your down cows in what they are doing when they are tasked with treating these cows. own cows are one of those Milk fever (hypocalcemia/low blood frustrating aspects of spring that calcium) is just one of many causes of every farmer deals with. As a down cows. They are the most basic vet by trade, it wasn’t until presentation you will see and are the I worked as a dairy farm assistant fastest to respond to treatment. that I realised how much extra Other common causes of a down time a down cow adds to what cow include hypomagnesaemia are already very long workdays. (low blood magnesium), It was quite a shock to be hypophosphatemia (low blood out in the springer paddock phosphate), infections such as by yourself, in the dark at 6am, toxic mastitis, dislocated hip, and with two metabolic bags, a head Lisa Whitfield pregnancy toxemia (pre-calving). torch and a half-conscious cow for Taking a minute to do a brief company, and with the list of delayed jobs assessment of a down cow will give starting to stack up. I also realised it must you clues to decide on the cause, and be daunting for people who haven’t dealt confidence that you aren’t missing with down cows before, to feel confident something important that might change

Words by: Lisa Whitfield

Beads of sweat becoming visible on the nose of a milk fever cow after treatment.

s “Ju

t Be

Bee tter

the standard milk fever treatment plan or require immediate help from a vet.

SYMPTOMS NOSE: Is the nose wet or dry? With hypocalcemia, the muscles which control the sweat glands in the nose are unable to contract, which results in a dry nose. EYES: Are they sunken? A straightforward milk fever case should not have sunken eyes.

f”

6th Annual Yearling Bull Sale FRIDAY, 24TH SEPTEMBER 2021 1:00 PM AT 43 FINLAY ROAD, CAMBRIDGE Viewing of bulls from 11:00 AM 38 SALE BULLS SIRED BY: • GB FIREBALL 672 • MUSGRAVE STUNNER • MUSGRAVE BLACK LOCH • STORTH OAKS K20

• TAKAPOTO 15/167 • TAKAPOTO 17/11 • HEATHER DELL ATTRACTIVE P20

Follow Takapoto Angus on Facebook Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Visitors always welcome. For all enquiries, contact: Sam LeCren M: 027 474 9989 E: sam@takapoto.co.nz www.takapoto.co.nz

Treating a normal milk fever cow.

The typical S-bend in the neck of a milk fever cow before treatment.

NECK: Is there an S-bend in her neck? Again, alteration of muscle contractility in milk fever characteristically results in an S-bend in the neck, which is seen when the cow is sitting upright. ALERTNESS: Is she sleepy, normal alertness or aggressively alert? Milk fever typically causes a cow to be sluggish and sleepy. If she is fully alert, or aggressively alert, there is probably something else going on. ABDOMEN: Is she bloating? Again, reduced contractility of muscles means a milk fever cow is unable to belch up gas, and can become dangerously bloated. If a cow is flat out on her side and bloating, it is a priority to get her sitting upright and it may be necessary to use a needle or a stomach tube to relieve pressure in her rumen. TEMPERATURE: Does she have a fever? Routine milk fever does not cause a fever so if the temperature is over 39.4 degrees Celsius, there is probably something else going on. CALVING STATUS: Is she calving, or has she calved? If she is still in the springer mob? Check if she is calving – if she went down with milk fever before she was able to get the calf out, it is a priority to consider how you will get the calf out, especially if the cervix hasn’t dilated fully. Call your vet for advice. FAECES: Is the dung dry? Milk fever will typically result in the faeces being very dry, almost like horse manure. This is because the prolonged passage through the end passage of the gut means more moisture than normal is absorbed from the faeces before it is passed. UDDER: Is there any sign of clinical mastitis? – Are any quarters hard, cold or purple? While the udder can be difficult to access in a down cow, it is worth the effort of checking it. A straightforward milk fever cow typically presents with a dry nose, eyes not sunken, S-bend in neck, either already calved, or in the process of calving, temperature normal to low, sleepy/low consciousness, dry faeces, maybe bloating. Essential things to have in your down cow kit – at least two metabolic bags containing calcium (one plain calcium bag and one mixed calcium and magnesium bag), oral calcium + energy bottle, anti-inflammatories, rectal gloves and lube, thermometer, halter, calving ropes and handles. Having blood tubes on hand can also be useful – if you are having problems with metabolic down cows, a red-top or greentop blood tube can be tested to see what the cause is. You can collect blood directly from the milk fever needle when it goes into the jugular vein, before attaching the bag of metabolic fluids. If you are experiencing a lot of metabolic down cows, it is a good idea to involve your vet and nutritionist to see if there are any dietary adjustments which can be made to help the cows cope with the transition back to milking.

BEXLEY HEREFORDS Yearling Bull Sale 0096029

93.6x65

Bexley Herefords - 1/8 vertical

Lisa Whifield is a Manawatu veterinarian with Lisa Whitfield Farm Vet Services, Palmerston North.

Friday 24th September 2021 at 12.00 noon To be conducted at Bexley Station, 3715 State Highway 3, Awakino Gorge, Mokau 4376

LOWLAND PARK GENETICS Australian Lowline beef cattle - Ten days shorter gestation - Low birth weights, average 24kg - Early finishing dairy beef

Registered and Unregistered Bulls comprising of: 47 1yr Herefords, 15 1yr Angus Top yearlings (460kg+) grown to suit heifer mating, cow mating or beef cow mating.

VENDORS: Colin & Carol King P: 06 752 9863 | E: ccking@farmside.co.nz 92

Matt & Tania Wilkinson, Ohaupo 0274 322 448 lowlandparklowlines@gmail.com

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Quiet and easy to handle. Instant white face recognition. Lower birth weights. These are just some of the traits that deﬁne the HerefordX advantage. To ﬁnd out more about buying a registered Hereford bull, view our breeders online sale catalogues at herefords.co.nz.

SEPT 2 3 8 9 10 13 14 15 16 16 17 20 22 22 24 23

Waimaire & Otengi Hereford Studs, Kaeo Matapouri Hereford Stud, Marua Charwell Hereford Stud, Whakatane Maranui Hereford Stud, Waihi Hukaroa Hereford Stud, Te Kauwhata Craigmore Hereford Stud, Ohaupo Kokonga Hereford Stud, Waikareu Valley Shadow Downs Hereford Stud, Waverley Kairaumati Hereford Stud, Thames Mangaotea Hereford Stud, Tariki Mahuta Hereford Stud, Drury Hillcroft Hereford Stud, Huntly Herepuru Station Hereford Stud, Whakatane Gembrooke Hereford Stud, Dannevirke Bexley Hereford Stud, Mokau Riverton Ezicalve Hereford Stud, Fordell

24 27 27 28 29 29

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Maugahina Hereford Stud, Masterton Penny Lane Hereford Stud, Stratford Riverlee Hereford Stud, Kimbolton Ezicalve, Morrison Farming, Marton Bushy Downs Hereford Stud, Te Awamutu Shrimpton’s Hill Hereford Stud, Cave Seadowns Hereford Stud, Oamaru Matariki Hereford Stud, Kaikoura Bluestone Hereford Stud, Cave Orari Gorge Herefords, Geraldine Okawa Hereford Stud, Ashburton Richon, Beechwood & Woodburn Hereford Studs, Amberley Kane Farms Herefords, Tapanui Pyramid Downs Hereford Stud, Gore

www.herefords.co.nz

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

STOCK ALLTECH ONE BIG IDEA

An eye on the future Words by: Chris McCullough

airy farmers today have a lot more on their plate than just milking cows as they also have to keep issues like animal welfare, latest regulations and even carbon production constantly on their minds. During the recent Alltech ONE Big Ideas virtual conference a number of speakers addressed these topics, and more, giving food for thought to the global audience. ‘Happy cows, happy farmers’ is a phrase farmers hear often, and one that speaker Mandi McLeod, farm animal welfare consultant with Systems Insight Ltd, used to headline her presentation. She talked about how producers using innovative strategies can keep their

animals happier and healthier, and how that could improve the sustainability and productivity of their operations. She said: “Animal welfare used to be about the five freedoms, freedom from hunger, thirst, pain, distress and suffering. Unfortunately, as we have progressed, we’ve realised that for animals to be able to thrive, and not survive, they need far more than that.” McLeod highlighted the sterling job

Mandi McLeod, farm animal welfare consultant with Systems Insight Ltd.

“The alternative narrative has been put out by organisations that are anti animal agriculture. They’re not necessarily focused on animal welfare.”

Why choose Speckle Park genetics in your Dairy herd? · Easy Calving with low birth weights · Excellent Temperament · Increased price premiums for beef / dairy-cross calves · Vitality & performance - calves grow fast, they’re strong and resilient.

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

farmers do looking after their animals and ensuring welfare standards are high. But she also touched on the increasing numbers of animal activists. She said: “The alternative narrative has been put out by organisations that are anti animal agriculture. They’re not necessarily focused on animal welfare. They want to end animal agriculture, full stop. “Some of the more reasonable activist organisations are actually saying, we know that it may not end in the next 100 years, so at least let us make sure that while animals are in agriculture, they have a life worth living. “The others, however, and if you look on social media the pictures that are coming up are meant to offend. They’re meant to offend everybody who watches them, and turn them away from animal agriculture. “When you see this and you have no background in agriculture, and a lot of farming now is behind closed doors, you don’t see animals in paddocks. You don’t see them in open barns. So the only sneaky peek that you get, quite often, is at the end of an activist’s camera. And this is what we, as farmers, for the future, need to protect ourselves against.” McLeod concluded her talk by saying that farmers need to educate the public on exactly how they look after their animals and keep them happy and protect the valuable image of farmers.

Dr Saheed Salami.

To do this, she said nowadays people working with animals need to be better educated and trained in low stress livestock handling. She also said farmers need to carry out their own onfarm welfare audits and draw up a list of high standards of production and keep to them.

US FOCUS ON GHG REDUCTIONS In order to lower their carbon footprint in the future U.S. dairy farmers have some work ahead of them to remove the stigma that their cows are high producers of emissions. Dr Saheed Salami, research fellow at Alltech, outlined some of the main sustainability challenges farmers face at the conference. He said: “Greenhouse gas emissions remain a top topic now. And I think with the (US president) Joe Biden Climate Summit recently, that happens to be more

resonating for the industry, especially in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock chain. “It’s very clear that going forward it’s not going to be business as usual, and stricter environmental regulations will come in from the Government, and much of the dairy industry has to adapt to these changes.” Dr Salami recognised that the dairy industry produces the second largest sources of emissions in the livestock sector. He added: “So what we see there is that enteric emission from the rumen and feed use actually contribute the two largest sources of emissions on dairy farms, which contribute over 60 percent of the total emissions. “We still have other sources of emissions like manure, which is nitrous oxide specifically, and also artificial fertiliser and electricity use. But of course, we know that if we have to achieve a more sustainable dairy farm, we need to be able to focus on all of these sectors on the farm to be able to reduce emissions. “More specifically, reducing enteric methane and feed use offer a large opportunity for us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. The answers, said Dr Salami, involved being able to increase feed digestibility, and reduce the use of high carbon inputs in feed ingredients and being able to utilise

TAUMARUNUI YEARLING BULL SALE DAY

Calving Ease Bulls • Monday 27th September • Black Ridge 11.00 AM • Puke-Nui 1.30PM

BULL SALE

ANGUS

BLACK RIDGE ANGUS STUD

TANGIHAU MAXIMUS N458 Inspection and Enquiries always welcome | All bulls BVD vaccinated and tested. Lepto vaccinated. TB C10.

All sale bulls are BVD/Lepto/10 in 1 vaccinated. MONDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER 2021 AT 1:30PM ON-FARM BULL SALE VENUE: 303 River Road, SH 43, Taumarunui

25 CALVING EASE Bulls FOR SALE

Alan & Catherine Donaldson P: (07) 896 6714 E: agcsdonaldson@gmail.com www.pukenuiangus.co.nz Find us on Facebook

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

ON-FARM BULL SALE Monday 27th September 2021, 11am 27 Low Birthweight Yearling Bulls

Dean & Teresa Sherson 675 Taringamotu Rd, RD 4, Taumarunui P: 07 896 7211 • M: 027 690 2033 E: mailto:black_ridge@live.com.au Like & Find us on Facebook

WHAKAPAPA WIN INSPIRES FINALIST Ahuwhenua Trophy finalist Anahera Hale gives Alex Lond an insight into her past, present and future ambitions as a dairy farmer.

n introvert at heart, the last thing Anahera Hale saw herself doing was entering into the prestigious Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer competition. But she now knows the competition is entrenched in her whakapapa, after finding out her great, great grandfather won the Ahuwhenua Trophy in 1936. An extraordinary discovery that made Ana emotional talking about even now, she never knew a family member of hers had achieved something like this. “I went from knowing very little about the trophy and its significance, to researching the history after entering and discovering that my great great grandfather was one of the first winners back in the 1930’s.” After a few bad years of feeling lost and struggling to cope after the death of 96

her grandfather, this discovery gave her confidence that she was on the right path, following in her family’s footsteps and felt even more pride in being a finalist. After Anahera went ahead with a last-minute entry, she had only two days to prepare her application and then two more before the judge’s visit. She was feeling extremely nervous and out of place in the lead up, but always felt the support of her whanau with her. “I always felt I just wanted to be authentically me and allow them to judge me based on that.” Growing up in Edgecumbe with a family history working with horses and dry stock, Anahera knew no matter what, she wanted a job working outside and with animals. Her family had no connections in dairy farming, it was just by chance this profession presented itself to her. After the Edgecumbe floods destroyed her home, Ana and her nan moved into

a cottage on a friend’s dairy farm in Whakatane. It was while living here temporarily her interest in dairy farming developed as she sat at home watching the farmer go past each day to milk his cows and complete day to day jobs. In a happy twist of fate, this is the same farm that Anahera has just started working on as a farm assistant this season, after the farm she last worked on was sold and the sharemilkers moved on from dairy. “It’s really quite amazing actually, that this is the farm that inspired me to start my dairy journey back in 2017, and now four years later I’m back to repay the favour”. After completing a course in Agriculture at Toi Ohomai, the Institute of Technology, in the Bay of Plenty, at the start of 2019 Anahera started working as 2IC farm assistant for Rod and Jacquie McPherson, on their 340-cow dairy farm just outside Whakatane.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Learning new skills: Anahera Hale’s whanau and whakapapa encourage her to be the best farmer she can be.

Anahera had an excellent relationship with her bosses and loved the opportunities presented to her through the job.

`FARMING IS A LIFESTYLE’ “It’s never been about the money or the time off for me,” Anahera explained. “Farming is a lifestyle and there are so many skills that can be learned and improved on. I love that I am continuously developing my skill set and building a better future for myself.” Anahera’s time on her first farm was limited as the farm was sold at the end of the 2020/21 dairy season, but after being one of three finalists in the running for the Ahuwhenua trophy, she had no problem finding a new job in the area. “After the trophy, people would recognise me everywhere; they would want to shake my hand, congratulate me and ask me what my plans were next season. Before the awards I was not very confident with new people or in big crowds, but now I enjoy telling people about my experience, and found it amazing meeting so many like minded farmers who shared my passion from all different areas.” With more courage and understanding of the industry, Anahera is confident she will stick with dairy for a while longer, despite

earlier reservations and thoughts that she wanted to change to dry stock. Although this is still on the cards, she recognises how valuable dairy farming skills are in all lines of agricultural work and wants to build on these skills before considering a different career path. Anahera is now farm assistant on a similar sized farm to her last job, still in the Edgecumbe area, and is enjoying the slower pace of life with all cows wintered off during the dry period. Very much aware it is the calm before the storm, she sees it as an opportunity to learn more about the farm she lived on for that short period of time in 2017. Despite enjoying the course that got her into dairy farming, she now wants to enjoy the physical benefits of being out onfarm every day. “What you learn in the book isn’t the same as what you learn in the paddock,” she said. “You can know the theory behind everything, but if you can’t physically get out there and get the job done then what’s the point?.”

NEXT STEPS Entering the awards showed her that people from all walks of life are still in with a chance of doing great things if they put

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

their mind to it. It has helped her grow confidence in herself and in her own abilities as a farmer. Although, other people have always believed in her and supported her journey, in particular her nan; in return, family has always been the most important thing in her life, she said. “My hobby is my family, I spend all the time I can with them.” With their continuous support, Anahera is looking to the future with big plans for her dairy farming career. “My next step is to complete an artificial insemination (AI) course this year, as this was already on my mind before the awards, and now I feel like I have the courage and confidence to go out to other people’s farms.” Acknowledging that communication with farmers is an extremely important part of an AI tech’s job, she said she was first motivated by her own AI tech after chatting to him every morning. “They’re just so passionate about their role, not just in getting the cows in calf but also chatting with the farmer. Sometimes, an AI tech is the only person a farmer will see all day during mating, and I want to make a positive impact on people after so many others have helped me get to this point and have these opportunities.” 97

RESEARCH WRAP SOUTHERN DAIRY HUB

Nitrogen system trial drawing to a close Story and photos by: Karen Trebilcock

he Southern Dairy Hub is looking to the future as its first major research project draws to a close. The four-year study comparing fodder beet and kale wintered animals on either a conventional or low input nitrogen system finishes at the end of May so wintering decisions on the 349ha farm near Invercargill have to be made soon. Current thinking is to focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) to see whether the farm can meet the Government’s 2030 target and the 2050 target for all dairy farms. “I think reaching the 2030 targets is doable now,” DairyNZ senior scientist Dawn Dalley said at the Hub field day in July. “But I’m not sure if we have the tools yet to reach the 2050 target.” Studies could include optimising winter cropping with no-till establishment, the use of oats which grow in cold

Southern Dairy Hub general manager of farm operations Louise Cook talking at the July field day. 98

‘. . . the current research is showing fodder beet wintering systems have lower leaching of nutrients than kale.’ temperatures and pasture only wintering. “We may look at feeding fodder beet for the first four to six weeks of winter to achieve body condition scores (BCS) and then no-till kale, oats or Italian and other grass alternatives prior to the springer draft to increase protein intake in late gestation.” Building an off-paddock wintering structure was still “bubbling away”, Dawn said. Plantain in pastures and ways of reducing bobby calf numbers may also be looked at. A secondary focus on animal sentience – how animals responded to different systems, was also being considered. Final decisions would be made after considering research already done or planned in New Zealand and internationally. Fonterra would also have a say to make sure outcomes were relevant to its milk markets. “We can’t do everything but we can drop in and out different research projects as part of a central one,” said general manager of farm operations Louise Cook. Although the final figures have yet to be collated, the current research is showing

fodder beet wintering systems have lower leaching of nutrients than kale. It was easier to put BCS on cows during winter on fodder beet allowing more days in milk as low BCS did not have to trigger drying-off decisions. However, cows on fodder beet had a lower six-week incalf rate, a higher not-incalf rate and a lower peak milk production. Reducing nitrogen fertiliser from 190kg N/ha to 50kg N/ha increased clover content in pastures from 8% to 18%. Cows on the reduced nitrogen fertiliser input system plus fodder beet had a lower hunger drive reducing grazing intensity. Profitability was highest on kale with standard nitrogen inputs and lowest in fodder beet with low nitrogen inputs. Louise said the kale/fodder beet, conventional and low input nitrogen four-way study had proved at times tricky to manage but it was the only place in NZ where such research work was done on a commercial scale. “You might look at us and say we should be doing things better, or our production should be better, but we are trying these things here so you don’t have to. “We will take the hit because we can, so you don’t have to on your farms.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

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WELLBEING CONVERSATIONS

Running away from grief Dealing with grief in your life and helping others deal with the loss of a loved one can be difficult. Harriet Bremner provides some tips.

G Harriet Bremner and Poppy.

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rief smacks you in the face. Hard. Nothing prepares you for the moment when you lose someone, nor the life that faces you moving forward. It is something that we, as humans, are all going to face at some point in our lives, it’s inevitable. However, we sweep it under the rug and pretend that it is not there. I believe this is because of how much it hurts and because as a society we have not learnt how to deal face to face with this particular elephant in our lives. I wrote in my first column about the raw truth of grief and how it feels. Now I want to address how we, as people, deal with it when it comes rushing into our lives in an instant and how to support someone and navigate ourselves through this pain. I have been recording Raw Truth podcasts and through chatting to others while they share their stories of loss, trauma, mental health and physical issues, we all agree - the conversation about grief must start. No one tells you of the nightmares that haunt you all day and night, the physical toll the grief has on your ability to breathe or the inability to think or remember anything, just to name a few. While everyone’s experience is extremely different, they all talk about how important it is to have people in your circle.

Support people who are there through thick and thin, who are not going to walk away when they outgrow your grief and who are not just there for the funeral. It sounds harsh doesn’t it, but it’s true. We all go to funerals out of genuine love and respect for the person and their family but sometimes, days later, we find that we are back into the swing of our own lives and suddenly weeks or months have gone by without having given them a call or gone to see them. That’s one of the many things I have struggled with - the time clock. All you want to do is stop time because you cannot keep up with it, but it and everything else in life just continues to rush past you at lightning speed.This is one of the reasons we all need to have our own close knit group of friends who are our first layer and that is vital because they will still be by your side in years to come. My group knows exactly who they are and are still with me 4.5 years later. There are people who disappoint you and vanish out of your life and people who surprise you with their actions. I used to feel upset and let down by the people who faded away but I now realise that this isn’t about me personally, this is about them and their own story in life. The people who surprise you could be a perfect stranger that you come across two years later as Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

“. . . We all go to funerals out of genuine love and respect for the person and their family but sometimes, days later, we find that we are back into the swing of our own lives . . .” they enter your life and end up being part of your circle. These friends, new and old are all crucial to your surviving this new life in whatever form that may be. Speaking to my guests on my podcast, it became clear that we all tried to bury our grief at some stage, that walking out the door with a brave face seemed like the best thing to do at one time. This, we all agreed, catches up on you at some stage. So how do we learn how to live alongside our grief and walk with it rather than trying to hide it? We learnt to surround ourselves with the right people and put ourselves first, no matter how it affected anyone else. If someone couldn’t handle this then they were someone that was only meant to come and go, in and out of your life, not stay in it forever. Again, it sounds harsh but some people are only in your life for a short time and others are there for a long time. It is inevitable that your grief will come out at some stage and this is the scariest thing in the world. Looking back, my grief came out through back aches and headaches because I refused to let the tears flow. The one time I did break down in front of someone, it was so awkward that I told myself I wouldn’t do that again, simply to avoid making someone else feel uncomfortable. We shut how we really feel down because society expects you to ‘move on’ and be better after a ‘suitable ‘ amount of time this is bullshit!

No time limit

There is no time limit with grief. It rears its ugly head when and where it wants to and we should not hide how we are feeling simply because it may make someone uncomfortable.

One person told me a story about how they lost their sister at a young age of about 30. About six months later, they bumped into someone and got upset. The person asked them “who else died?”. When she told them that she was upset about her sister, the person said, “oh, I didn’t realise you had two sisters”. This is exactly why we need to normalise conversations around grief because we expect someone to be ‘better’ after time has gone past. These people may have not had significant loss in their life or they grew up in an era where you buried it. Through sharing stories and talking about loss we can hope to change the conversation.

Expect an honest answer

If you are prepared to ask someone how they are, you must be prepared for an honest answer. I feel like the greeting; ‘hi, how are you?’ has become a greeting of just hello. I have asked people around me to ask me how are you today? This means that you are acknowledging that every single day is different and allows the person to feel like they can answer you honestly. When someone does share with you that they may be sad or not coping, please don’t shut them down. You may be the first person they have been brave enough to open up to. So you must, in this moment, listen without judgement or comment and acknowledge how hard it must be for them.

It is their grief

Do not tell them you know how they feel because your dog died. Yes, this is also a form of grief but it is not the same thing, nor is your grandma dying. This is their grief at that moment and they need to live it. It is also not helpful to share stories

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Harriet Bremner taking time out on her horse.

about how other people you know died in the same way that the person they lost did. Keep those thoughts to yourself. Every single one of us has a grief experience and we cannot compare or take away from what someone else is going through - for each of us, our own story is the worst thing that we, personally, have been through.

Pushing people away

Some people may push you away when they are struggling - don’t give up! Asking them what they want you to do to help is a really hard question because the person themselves has no idea what will help - as the one thing they want back they can’t have. Arrive at their house, take some food, fill the woodshed, ring, message. Don’t expect a reply but know they love hearing from you.

To hear Harriet’s podcasts about grief and trauma, head over to www.facebook. com/TRAWTRUTH or www.instagram. com/therawtruth_harrietbremner/ 101

DAIRY 101 NITROGEN LEGISLATION

Te ch comes to the farm What is cloud computing and how can it help you onfarm? Karen Trebilcock explains.

emember that time when everyone said jobs would go in farming and we would all be working on computers instead? Computer science, IT, was the only way forward for the nation and we would all be employed by tech companies? Well, in a way it has happened, but not the way people thought it would. Instead, tech has come to the farm. Farming, especially dairy, is one of the biggest users of the cloud in New Zealand. Not bad when you consider some rural households are still struggling to do online banking because of poor internet. So what is the cloud and how do we use it? Firstly, it has nothing to do with those things in the sky that either give us too little or too much rain. Cloud storage simply means data is stored in an off-site facility that can be accessed from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection and a device to access it (your phone, laptop, computer, smart TV). And that data storage area is not even in the sky. It’s here on earth somewhere, usually a lot of somewheres. It’s called the cloud simply because nerdy computer geeks love using cool words to confuse the rest of us. If your neighbour can show you his cows calving in real time on his phone while he’s having a beer with you 102

“. . . unlike Waikato Hospital, farming has so far not been in his sights and there are a lot of measures put in place by providers of our cloud storage to keep our data as safe as it can be.” in the pub then he’s using the cloud. If you’re sharing information with staff and farm partners using Dropbox then you’re using the cloud. If you’re watching City on a Hill (I thoroughly recommend it) on Neon, you’re using the cloud. It allows us to use data without maxing out our computer or phone or TV’s internal data storage – we’re using the cloud instead.

CLOUDY DOWNSIDES

Of course there are some downsides. Because the data is accessible from anywhere, that anywhere could be the laptop of a pimply-faced Russian bored because he can’t go outside because of a Siberian snowstorm ripping through. And he knows how to send an impolite ransom note following his little hack. But, unlike Waikato Hospital, farming has so far not been in his sights and there are a lot of measures put in Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Yes, your cows are things in the Internet of Things.

place by providers of our cloud storage to keep our data as safe as it can be. Besides using the cloud on your farm, you’re probably also using IoT (not to be confused with laugh out loud LOL). The abbreviation stands for another piece of nerdy jargon called the Internet of Things. It’s a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals and even people that are provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over the internet without requiring human-to-human or human-tocomputer interaction. Web-enabled smart devices use embedded systems, such as processors, sensors and communication hardware to collect, send and act on data they acquire from their environments. On the farm, the thing in the IoT could be your milk vat sending a message to the Fonterra tanker driver that your milk is at the right temperature to be picked up or it could be your cow who’s collar or ear tag has figured out it’s on heat. The thing uses, of course, the cloud to get its message to where it should be going – usually your phone. Many of these things use algorithms to figure out what is going on. An algorithm is simply a set of rules that software uses to do stuff. A cow collar knows a cow is on heat not by measuring her hormone levels. Instead it is measuring how far she is walking in a period of time. Cows in the herd that are walking more than others in the same herd are on heat because it’s known that cows on heat walk around looking for other cows on heat or a bull. This measurement, used against the average of the rest of the herd which are not on heat, is the algorithm that says ‘cow number 139 is ready to be mated’. It’s algorithms that will also tell us ‘cow number eight you have calved’. Allowing the IoT to talk to other things about the algorithm it has just worked through, such as your cow collar to your drafting gate, are application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs will make sure the cow on heat is standing in a pen at the end of milking ready for the artificial breeding technician. API connects different devices and software together so your cow’s ear tag can talk to your dairy’s drafting gate or Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

your soil moisture meters can talk to your irrigator without you having to be part of their very technical (and probably quite boring) conversation. Even if different companies installed your cool computerised gadgets and designed how they operate, APIs allow them to all to work together. It’s the warm fuzzy stuff of software and hardware linking hands in the clouds discussing algorithms until the cows come home.

JUST USE IT

If you are feeling a bit bewildered here, don’t worry. None of the above you actually need to know. Everyone can turn on a television but how many of us know how they actually work? It’s the same with our smart technology. The point is we need to start using it. Cloud storage, the IoT, algorithms and APIs all make farming easier. Drafting gates, cow sensors and moisture meters are doing the work we used to have to do and most of the time they do it far better than us. They also measure and record more accurately so we can have records of what happened and when to keep dairy companies and regional councils happy. They allow us to do the right things at the right time. Cows can’t tell us if they have an upset stomach but a collar around their neck can detect she’s no longer moving her jaw from side to side so is no longer ruminating. In addition, technology will help us sort out our labour shortage on dairy farms. We’ve relied on the number eight wire mentality and doing things ourselves for too long. It’s time to lighten the load and let tech take over and that includes milking our cows. Travel through northern Europe and try to find anyone standing in a dairy for hours putting cups on. And if we all embrace tech a little bit more, then it might allow Greenpeace to truthfully have a go at us about industrial dairying in New Zealand.

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SOLUTIONS What’s NEW? PRIMARY ITO

Agribusiness diploma programme

Waikato dairy farmers Emma and Josh Crawford with their children. Emma completed the Primary ITO Diploma in Agribusiness Management over six years.

“life changing”

aikato dairy farmer Emma Crawford says studying for an agribusiness diploma has been life changing for her and husband Josh. The couple are now reaping the benefits of her new skills to run a successful business. The mother of three, and former early childhood teacher, completed the Primary ITO Diploma in Agribusiness Management over six years. Together, Emma and Josh, a qualified engineer, run their own dairy milking herd on 60 hectares of leased land at Gordonton near Morrinsville. Back in 2014 when they were working in other careers, they took an opportunity to go contract milking on Josh’s family farm. “Going to dairy farming was a bit of a shock. I had no experience dealing with the books or GST. Doing the course has

definitely helped,” says Emma. Now with their own herd of 180 milkers and 40 heifers, Emma’s responsible for the finances, human resources, health and safety and networking, while Josh manages the stock and external aspects of the farm. “Without this course we could not have gone from contract milking to leasing a farm. The decisions we make now are based on our goals. I don’t think we could have got to that stage without doing the study.” The Business Planning and Management sections of the course has set them up for success despite the challenges of a seasonal and weather dependent business. “We plan for a drought, so we set the goals of what we want to achieve and plan how we want to get there while building in risks. I never would have had that knowledge without the diploma behind me.”

F The Lowline breed is a descendant of Aberdeen Angus cattle imported to Australia.

The downlow on the Lowline

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rom humble beginnings in NZ in the late 1990’s as a boutique breed, the Lowline is a moderately sized breed of cattle expanding their horizons. So what is a Lowline? Well, it’s not hard to see where the name originated from. These cattle are descendants of Aberdeen Angus imported into NSW, Australia in 1929. An unexpected result of 20 years of trials, these 60% smaller cattle were given the name Lowline. A Lowline demonstrates some remarkable traits that have given them a fond following in NZ. Docile temperament, compact beefy frame, high fertility and breeding longevity, feed efficiency, consistent carcase traits and the one that every Lowline farmer will yell from the top of the hay shed at calving time . . . low birth weight calves that just slip out. This secret is becoming known within the dairy sector and now Lowline bulls are being sought to ease the sleepless nights of exhausted dairy

One of the biggest gains from the course was making contacts and building her networks, which she says is really important due to the isolating nature of farming. Emma also enjoys using what she’s learnt in the Human Resource Management section of the diploma to help others. She shares her learnings with Gordonton farmers who strike challenges with recruiting and managing staff. Her knowledge of employment law, contracts and recruiting has improved the quality of staff she hires and her acceptance as a boss. “When you have got that confidence you get that level of respect as well.” Emma is relieved to have completed the diploma. “We’ve got dreams and we want to do what we can to get there by putting in the extra yards.”

farmers at calving time. Yes these bulls are perfect for dairy heifers providing them with an easy first birth to get them started on their dairy journey. Due to the efforts of some combined studs and the approval of the Australian Lowline Cattle Association, there is now a NZ bred Lowline bull taking part within the Beef + Lamb NZ Dairy Beef 2020 progeny trial. Up against all the mainstream breeds the Lowline should have some standout traits displayed throughout the rigorous assessment period. These calves show hybrid vigor and finish earlier than what is seen as normal in the dairy beef market these days. So the humble Lowline studs within NZ are quietly going about their business of selectively improving the breed for the local market. With ongoing quality semen being available locally the breed is looking well for the future both in purebred and dairy beef markets.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

SOLUTIONS What’s NEW? ACQUISITION

MSD move into monitoring tech

SD Animal Health surprised many in the NZ agribusiness sector with its purchase of the Livestock Improvement Corporation Automation (LICA) business in mid-June. The announcement was perfect timing for spreading the word among the dairy farm owners and staff who converged on National Fieldays. MSD Animal Health made its move into animal monitoring and management technology in 2019 with the purchase of Allflex Livestock Intelligence. Allflex had already made a start on building its own animal monitoring and management business, primarily in the dairy sector, with cow collars, pulsators, cup removers, milk meters, auto-drafting and weighing kits.

However, the latest acquisition is a massive leg-up from more than 2500 customers using LICA’s Protrack in-shed systems. The Protrack systems will integrate with Allflex’s monitoring technologies. Allflex’s NZ general manager Jared Briggs says the purchase created a strong increase in inquiry from dairy farmers at Fieldays. “Both the Allflex and LIC Automation teams had lots of conversations with farmers at Mystery Creek and they were generally positive. Any concerns were usually around ongoing support for the merged business which we were able to answer easily,” Briggs says. For MSD, and US parent company Merck & Co Inc, the LICA acquisition was another step in its global strategy to expand beyond animal health products to include an array

Stop wasting feed

ime and time again, New Zealand farmers say they are frustrated with feed going to waste. Alternative systems like hay and meal feeders can help ensure minimal feed wastage and can protect feed from the elements. Gary and Glennis Wilson from Wilco Engineering are farmers themselves and know the importance of quality products that are practical and last a lifetime. Wilco feeders are user-friendly and easy to move around the farm – saving you valuable time and money. To put the feed savings into perspective, if you are paying $10 per bale, this could amount to $20 per bale if your livestock only eat half of it and the rest gets trampled through the mud. Wilco feeders reduce this problem, helping you to cut costs in the long-term. Whether you have a dairy unit, lifestyle block, alpacas, goats, sheep, or horses, Wilco has a feeder size that will make your life so much easier, so you can feed your stock without having to check on them as often. Feeders come as hanging, skid, or two or three wheeled mobile hay racks (with optional meal bins) sized from one to four bale capacity. Combining your good ideas with their own is Wilco’s philosophy behind product development. All Wilco Engineering feeders, and trailers, are designed for everyday use on the farm or for transporting and are the ideal solution due to their strength and durability. The highly robust frames are made in New Zealand and fully galvanised, to ensure the best quality and performance. • For more information or to order a feeder, contact Wilco Engineering on 07 322 8196. Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

of livestock monitoring and management technologies. The livestock business unit lead at MSD Animal Health NZ, Pauline Calvert, says the LICA acquisition means dairy farmers can now choose one company to deliver their livestock identification and monitoring needs with a range of leading animal health treatments, many developed specifically for NZ farming systems. Calvert says MSD’s business is geared towards developing innovative animal health solutions and preventative animal health treatments, particularly vaccines, so having individual cow monitoring that detects issues in cow performance earlier fits with the wider company strategy. The LICA business has been merged with the Allflex business.

The Ready To Mate App Mating is a busy time so the opportunities to improve six week in-calf rates may be lost if a robust plan is not in place to ensure every cow receives the attention it needs to get back in calf as early as possible. Within a herd, there will be cows that have metabolic issues, cows with uterus infections, and cows that calve later than others, so it is important to keep track of them. What farmers have been missing is a simple reminder system to make sure all the important tasks relating to mating happen at the right time. The new Ready To Mate App from AgriHealth is available to help farmers plan and manage reproductive programmes to lift their six week in-calf rate. It is easy to use - just enter the planned calving date and your repro plan is ready. All of the important programmes are covered – metrichecking, tail painting, treatment of non-cycling cows, and why wait programmes are included with day and date reminders for the chosen events. There is also a tail paint marking system that everyone on the farm can follow. The Ready To Mate app is customisable – you choose the repro programme you want and set the calving date. The app will send automatic reminders of upcoming actions for your farm via text message or email. The repro plan can be downloaded as a calendar to view at the office or multiple accounts can be set up for farms or farm staff, so everyone involved knows what needs to be done and when. It only takes two minutes to set up the programme and you will never miss an event again. • The Ready To Mate app is free and available now for Android and iPhone operating systems. Search for “Ready To Mate” in the app store. 105

OUR STORY 50 YEARS AGO IN NZ DAIRY EXPORTER

50 years ago in the Dairy Exporter August As NZ Dairy Exporter counts down to its centenary in 2025, we look back at the issues of earlier decades. 50 Years Ago – August 1971.

RINGING CALL FOR MAXIMUM MILK

“I have returned from the United Kingdom convinced that the priority aim of the dairy industry must be to produce as much milk as possible.” The Dairy Board Chairman, Mr F. L. Onion, C.M.G., sounded this call for maximum production in an interview with the “Exporter” just after his return from Britain, where he had discussions with Britain’s Minister for Europe, the Hon. Geoffrey Rippon, the British Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. Eric Prior, and senior Government officials. “This will not only ensure that we fulfil our commitments on the British market, upon which our future in that market will depend, but also enable us to take full advantage of the opportunities for expansion of trade in other markets at the attractive price levels now ruling,” he said. “It is in the hands of the individual dairy farmer to maintain and, where practicable, to increase his production and he can do so with full confidence. “After my discussions in Britain I am as confident as ever of the sound future for this industry and my confidence is shared in full by the Board,” said Mr Onion. “This is no time for carping criticism of the terms of the United Kingdom-EEC agreement. It is time for New Zealanders to get on with the job.”

COW NUMBERS

National cow numbers dropped by 2.1 percent between the 1969-70 and 1970-71 seasons, according to estimates from the 106

latest Dairy Board cow census, and the Dairy Board’s Farm Production Division expects a further drop of about 2 per cent this season. The Division estimates there will be about 2.3 million cows in milk.

INCREASE IN STATUS OF FARM WORKERS SUGGESTED

Farm labourer is a dreadful title according to Mr R. A. Dennis, of the Rangitaiki Plains Dairy Company. “A bloke can’t speak with pride and tell his mates, ‘I just got a new job, farm labourer’,” he said. Assistant farm manager, dairy farm foreman, farm supervisor and farm assistant were more inspiring titles. A change in designation and a few extra dollars could make a world of difference.

MILK RESEARCH

Baby foods offer another most encouraging outlet. Dairy products remain the most important ingredient in a wide range of infant foods, for which the world demand is booming. The New Zealand whole milk biscuit, evolved at the Institute, is becoming a major success story. The protein-rich biscuit with a milkfat content of about 24 percent, is achieving spectacular health improvement among undernourished children in many countries. There will be 45 million biscuits (1000 tons) and a substantial quantity of biscuit pre-mix made this season. Cheddar remains the basic export cheese, but New Zealand has established a successful record with other varieties such

Cover photo: Calf rearing time has come round again and as in the National Publicity Studios study on our cover this month, wives and daughters are lending a hand in the nursery department on many dairy farms.

as Colby. Cheshire has been produced on a small scale and Caerphilly has been tried experimentally.

PROPERTY FOR SALE

Hawke’s Bay - Versatile Farming Unit of 527 acres freehold Situated approx. 35 miles from Napier, this property is well serviced, and consists of strong easy to medium rolling hill country, well watered, and sub-divided into 27 paddocks by excellent fences. Stock – 150 milking cows, 150 other dairy cattle, 50 2-year-old A.A. heifers, 1800 ewes, 100 other sheep. Buildings – 2 modern bungalow homes of 3 and 4 b/r, 4 stand woolshed, haybarn (8000 bales), implement shed, 14-aside herringbone cowshed, piggery, excellent sheep and cattle yards. Rainfall – 50-55” per annum. Price - $200.00 per acre Land & Buildings. Comments – This is a well balanced unit suited to both dairying, and sheep and cattle breeding and fattening. It is in excellent heart and equipped with a first-class range of buildings. Inspection recommended. Dalgety N.Z. Limited. • Thanks to the Hocken Library, Dunedin.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

BRAIN

FOOD Nourish your brain with our fat-free, zero-carb, fact-packed podcast.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

Go to dairynz.co.nz/podcast or your favourite podcast platforms.

Talking dairy

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FROM DUSK TILL DAWN.

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futureproducers.co.nz PROUDLY AVAILABLE FROM YOUR LOCAL PARTICIPATING VETERINARY CLINIC. Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health New Zealand Limited. Level 3, 2 Osterley Way, Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand. ECLIPSE®, MATRIX®, EPRINEX®, and the cattle and deer head logos are registered trademarks of Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica GmbH, used under license. Registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997, No’s A007191, A009270, A011151, A011065. © Copyright 2021 Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health New Zealand Limited. All rights reserved. NZ-BOV-0066-2021.

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | August 2021

NZ Dairy Exporter August 2021

Articles inside

The Dairy Exporter in 1971

Tech comes to the farm

Running away from grief

Whakapapa win inspires finalist

Nitrogen system trial drawing to a close

Vet Voice: Diagnosing your down cow

Oyster season in beef land

Bobby calves an emotive but profitable product

Big idea leads to native plantings

What dung beetles do

Combating milk fever with diet changes

Fortify supplement with P

Don’t let cows go hypo

Cows energised on winter diets

Efficiency from amazing maize

Feeding the cow and the rumen

Transition management

Feed tactics win the profit battle

An alternative pasture solution

All hail hay bale grazing

Torunui farm on emissions reduction path

Fodder beet pulling nitrogen out of the soil

Sustainable farming sparks excitement

SIDE: Cost control and the five ‘nahs’

Focus on your workers during busy times

Resilience shines over West Coast flooded waters

‘Pure magic’ making raw milk cheese

Sustainable sourcing the trend for dairying

The opportunity of alternative proteins

Ireland has developed a Grass-Fed Standard. What are the ramifications for NZ?

How Brazil combined intensive land use with rainforest protection

Richard Reynolds reflects on a great SIDE conference

Trish Rankin ponders why farming is so hard right now

Say G’day to NZ Dairy Exporter’s new contributor Hamish Hammond

China’s demand for dairy speeds up