SYSTEMS AUTUMN CALVING
Transition to autumn calving pays off Tracee Judd and Alastair Snowden moved their herd to autumn calving and winter milking in 2018 and say the benefits have been worth it. Jackie Harrigan reports.
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esponding to poor performance and falling production in late lactation, Tracee Judd and Alastair Snowdon transitioned their entire herd to autumn calving and winter milking in 2018 and say they would never go back to spring calving. The couple farm 200 Kiwicross cows at Inaha in coastal South Taranaki and say the effects of longer, drier summers and warmer winters caused them to overhaul their system. “From Christmas onwards milk solids were dropping, we were culling cows both pre- and post-Christmas and contending with skinny heifers. “Once we had fed out all our silage we were drying off by April 20 and always felt we were missing out on 30 days of lactation.” A comparison of pasture growth rates from 2009/12 and 2013/17 (Graph 1) when they started using autumn ProGibb to help recover from the summer dry highlighted to Tracee the true seasonality of their pasture growth. “With climate change, we felt we were getting longer summer dry periods and warmer winters. “The response to the ProGibb showed we were almost doubling our growth rate in the April-May period. “But what was more interesting was that growth rate in the February-March period was very similar to that in June and July – so we thought to ourselves if we calve in March and put our feed into the deficit in June-July in mid-lactation, we would get a better response from the cows rather than trying to fill the deficit at the end of the lactation. “That was really the decision we came to.” Tracee Judd on her ATV.
‘The early results from the Dairy Taranaki Trust Kavanagh farm autumn vs spring calving trial has also confirmed the advantages of autumn calving for us. It’s really encouraging.’
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FARM FACTS:
• Farm owners: Tracee Judd and Alastair Snowdon, third generation, 101 years • Farm: Riverwind Farm, Inaha, Manaia • Size: 56ha eff, support block: 24ha • Cows: 200 Kiwicross cows • Stocking rate: 3.5 cows/ha • System 4, in-shed feeding Custom blend from BHL and PROLIQ
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | March 2021
