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.
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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
