NZ Dairy Exporter November 2018

Learn, grow, excel

NEW

Global dairy column

Water from MARs? Managed Aquifer Recharge

REGIONAL PLANS how are you affected?

NOVEMBER 2018

$12

$12 incl GST Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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Why BVD vaccinate for 6 months when * you can Bovilis for 12?

BVD is a common and costly disease in New Zealand.

Biosecurity and preventing PI cattle from entering your herd are critical to managing the risk of the disease.

Vaccination is a control measure that you can take that allows you to protect your cattle and unborn calves from BVD. Bovilis BVD is the only BVD vaccine that can prevent the formation of PI cattle for 12 months.* For peace of mind all year round, ask your vet for it by name.

BovilisÂŽ BVD

*

Following a third dose (annual vaccination) Bovilis BVD provides 12 months fetal protection (ACVM no: A8237)

AVAILABLE ONLY UNDER VETERINARY AUTHORISATION. ACVM No: A8237. Schering-Plough Animal Health Ltd. Phone: 0800 800 543. www.msd-animal-health.co.nz NZ/BOV/0918/0009 Intervet International B.V. All Rights Reserved.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018 Š22018

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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CONTENTS

BATTLING THE ELEMENTS 26 ONLINE 10

Dairy Exporter’s online presence

MILKING PLATFORM 11

Martin Orange goes back to the future at Feilding High

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Paul Burt tops up his half-full glass

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Charlie McCaig welcomes a return to normal

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Gaye Coates orders a warts-and-all check-up

NOTEBOOK 15

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PASTURE 56

It’s showtime

UPFRONT 16

Brexit: Heading for a hard landing?

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Lincoln University Dairy Farm focusing on future

23

DWN: Sharing the knowledge across sectors

24

Market View: Confidence key to industry growth

GLOBAL DAIRY 26

Australia: Battling the elements

SEIZING THE DAY 28

BUSINESS

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28

Seizing the day

34

Bridging the media gap

37

CO Diary: Finding future farmers

39

Regional plans change

OUR COVER: Let it rain – Ben McKerchar and daughter Ella, getting the most out of every drop of water.

Photo by: Johnny Houston

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

SYSTEMS 42

Soil biology: Alternative tested

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Hard season at Southern Dairy Hub

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Making the most of mating

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It’s all about the pasture

SPECIAL REPORT | SMART WATER USE TAKING TECH TO THE TROUGH 76 SMART WATER USE 62

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Going with the flow

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Attention to detail

67

Learning from leaky ponds

71

Irrigation: Benefits of hindsight

74

Irrigation: Learning from Nebraska

76

Taking tech to the trough

78

Woodchip to mop up nitrate?

ENVIRONMENT

SPECIAL REPORT

80

Making the most of a challenging climate

86

Fighting facial eczema on the farm

STOCK

62 66 67 71 74 76 78

Dairy lessons for Super Fund farm

91

Vet Voice: Animal welfare not a stretch

93

Keep on trucking – carefully

YOUNG COUNTRY

Going with the flow Attention to detail Learning from leaky ponds Benefits of hindsight Learning from Nebraska Taking tech to the trough Woodchip to mop up nitrate

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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94

Timing is everything

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Education key to a great career

COLUMNS 61

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Market view

37

CO Diary

91

Vet Voice

98

RESEARCH WRAP: A little fat in the system

102 FARM GEAR: Silage – inoculate or not?

104 DAIRY 101: Business plans: Charting your course 106

DIRECTORY

DAIRY SOLUTIONS 109 Allflex, Nestlé to monitor dairy cows’ wellbeing 110 Open Country goes organic

PROPERTY TIMING IS EVERYTHING 94 Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

111 Snapshot: Vendor expectation still high 112 Dairy subdivision heads for horticulture 114 Farming on the flat at Maruia 5

DAIRY DIARY

BROUGHT TO YOU BY FONTERRA FARM SOURCE

NZFARMSOURCE.CO.NZ/STORE | 0800 731 266

NOVEMBER November 14 – FarmIQ is running sessions to show a range of digital tools to help with staff management and planning, pasture management, and health and safety. Dates/locations: November 14, Kerikeri; November 15, Wellsford; November 21, Pukekohe; December 6, Gordonton. For more details visit www. dwn.co.nz/events/farmiq.

November 15 – DairyNZ and Bay of Plenty Regional Council are holding a series of informative and interactive workshops in the Eastern Bay of Plenty that cover how and where water is used on the farm, and the on-farm implications of Plan Change 9. Each workshop runs between 11am and 1pm. Dates/locations: November 15, Te Puke; November 21, Matata; November 22, Opotiki. To find out more visit www.dairynz.co.nz/events.

November 15-16 – Contract milking workshops in Taranaki will cover the agreement and how to get the right role and the best start. Six workshops are being held at different days and times in Opunake, Hawera and Inglewood. For further information visit www.dairynz.co.nz/events.

November 19-22 – Gain control of infectious diseases on farms is an interactive session with qualified vets to help participants understand diseases such as BVD, Mycoplasma bovis and Johne’s disease, and practical approaches to managing them. Dates/locations: November 19, Balclutha; November 20, Gore; November 20, Atiamuri; November 20, Selwyn; November 21, Winton; November 21, Feilding; November 21, Ashburton; November 22, Carterton. For further details and to register visit www.dwn.co.nz.

November 21 – Focus day at Waikato’s demonstration dairy farm, Owl Farm,

between 10.15am and 1pm. For information on the farm visit www.owlfarm.nz.

November 26-27 – North Island Pasture Summit in Hamilton has plenary sessions at Claudelands Event Centre on day one, then workshops at Lye Farm on day two. The South Island’s Pasture Summit on November 29-30 has its plenary sessions on day one at the Ashburton Trust Event Centre and day two workshops at Ashley Dene Farm near Springston. To register and view the programme, visit www.pasturesummit.co.nz.

November 27 – SMASH is hosting a field day on covered shelters in Manawatu, with another in Taranaki on November 29. The day examines whether shelters are feasible for smaller herd farmers and the returns both economically and for lifestyle. Neil Chesterton will also talk about bedding and lameness management in covered shelters. For further information visit www.smallerherds.co.nz.

November 27-28 – The two-day Effluent Expo at the Mystery Creek Events Centre near Hamilton showcases effluent solutions from conception to completion, including storage, solids separation, recycling and spreading, with seminars running throughout the expo. Visit www.effluentexpo.co.nz.

November 29 – Irrigation New Zealand is running the bucket test workshop in Darfield to show how to check irrigators’ performance, avoid unnecessary wastage of water and prevent problems with the system. It includes the Bucket Test app to carry out the assessment, how to use the test results and when to call in an expert. The workshop runs between 9am and 12pm, followed by an afternoon workshop on soil moisture monitoring. Visit www.irrigationnz.co.nz for more details.

DECEMBER December 4 – Northland Dairy Development Trust (NDDT) takes the Northland Agricultural Research Farm (NARF) on the road with a Farm Systems for Profit field day, beginning in the Tomarata Hall at 10am and followed by a farm visit.

For further information visit www.nddt.nz.

December 12 – Taranaki Organics Group visits the Fleming farm to discuss summer management and other issues. For more visit www.dairynz.co.nz/events/ taranaki/taranaki-organics-group/.

ONE SOURCE FOR ENSURING YOU NEVER RUN DRY. Ensuring water systems are up to spec is key for a constant water supply. Whether you are planning an upgrade or stocking up on system essentials, we have you covered.

Talk to your TSR or visit us in-store or online today.

NZFARMSOURCE.CO.NZ/STORE

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0800 731 266

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Editor’s note

W

ater scarcity always ranks high on the list of any future threats to the world. While the level of threat here, where we have plentiful rainfall and annual snowmelt is relatively small compared to Africa and even our near-neighbour Australia, it is obvious that both population and export growth puts pressure on the allocation and therefore cost of this precious resource.

Our special feature looks at how a number of top farmers are making changes to their irrigation systems to make the most of their water (P61). Applying the right amount maximises pasture growth and minimises runoff and leaching events from overwatering. A no-brainer with double benefits both making farm businesses more sustainable.

In Southland, FarmRight is using lessons learnt on its dairy farms to develop and manage a large beef finishing and bull breeding operation for the New Zealand Super Fund to grow out bobby calves and breed their own beef bulls for producing those calves. Once again, better use of a precious resource to boost returns and be sustainable, ethical and environmentally sound (P88).

The whole world is talking about better use of precious resources and doing more with less (except the really rich – I haven’t noticed the Russian oligarchs cutting back on superyachts or holiday mansions). The modern mantras of reduce, recycle, reuse, use less plastic, eat less meat, consume less, move more… it seems an endless

tirade, but we are starting to realise we live on a planet with limits and it is actually everyone’s responsibility to try to make better use of resources to sustain the planet for the next generation, and many more after that.

This issue we farewell Glenys Christian who has been writing for the Dairy Exporter magazine since 2005, many of those years as the editor. Glenys is moving on to a role editing a couple of horticultural magazines, and we wish her well for this new venture and thank her for the great stories she has filed for this magazine over many years.

Her moving on leaves a hole in our team of contributors, so we will be looking for new writers who have a great knowledge of dairy farms systems, a tertiary agri qualification and a good network of contacts – particularly in the northern or southern reaches of the country.

Email me for a job description if you are interested. It’s a fascinating job, with loads of flexibility and so many interesting farming people out there to meet and write about.

As one door shuts, another opens

NZ Dairy Exporter

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

and we welcome a new suite of writers contributing to a Global Dairy column, with monthly insights from major dairying regions of the world, starting with Simone Smith from Australia (P26).

Leaving the most exciting till last, in autumn 2019 we are launching the first of our anmual Dairy Exporter international study tours – first to Victoria, Australia. In conjunction with Farm to Farm Tours we are hosting a study tour (with opportunities for touristy add-ons) for our subscriber family learning about the challenges and opportunities Australian dairy farmers are facing. More info to come soon – make an early expression of interest if you are keen on a 2019 dairy escape!

Jackie

Sneak Peek - Next Issue: SPECIAL REPORT: • SUPPORT BLOCKS: To lease or buy, getting the best out of your support land.

• DAIRY 101: Climate change, what you need to know and think about.

@YoungDairyED

@DairyExporterNZ

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Automatic refrigeration, automated alerts – you don’t need to think twice Never forget to turn on your refrigeration again. In fact, with Vat Manager Auto, the latest technology from Tru-Test Dairy Solutions, you will never need to remember either! After all, we are all striving for good business and environmental practices. And milk down the drain or sold for stock feed from a moment’s forgetfulness is money down the drain as well as an unnecessary blight to our reputation as good custodians of the land.

Vat Manager Auto is the only product on the market that can turn on both your base and side wall refrigeration by accurately detecting the level of milk in the vat.

Competitors, even the most popular names, only offer a monitoring solution.

This clever technology, with MPI’s NZCP1 approval for its level sensor hot off the press, measures pressure change in the vat and signals the refrigeration to turn on. It also lets you know when the vat is at capacity.

Why pressure detection? Our research and development team has worked alongside farmers

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Find out more at tru-test.com/dairy

to work out and fine tune the most reliable automation technology. We’ve tested pressure and laser detectors thoroughly. It’s taken us a good part of the last few years because automation is nothing if it’s not reliable. Pressure activation was a clear winner, providing the most accurate readings in all circumstances. Lasers on the other hand don’t cope with steamy environments of washing procedures and can end up giving a false reading if a hot wash is carried out prior to milking.

One of our favourite features of Vat Manager Auto and Vat Manager Plus is the easy-read display face. You don’t need a smart phone or any other a digital device.

Your vat milk temperature is displayed in real time, large and clear, and is easily seen at the shed. Both models have a large display screen which can be read at a distance, an advantage if you are riding or driving by and need a reassuring glance. Even some high spec smart phones can be difficult to read in bright sunlight, but with our backlit technology, Vat Manager Auto and Vat Manager Plus screens are clear and bold in low light or extreme brightness.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Both the Vat Manager Auto and the Vat Manager Plus control vat refrigeration and agitation while monitoring incoming milk and vat milk temperatures. If there are any issues, both models can notify staff and owners with automated alerts. Milk cooling alerts can be sent to a several dedicated mobile numbers at once via 3G text messaging and via email to let everyone know what’s up. From milk which is too hot, too cold or slow to cool, as well as to wash, power and hardware fault notifications. (See the adjacent list of alerts).

You don’t need a smart phone or any other a digital device. Your vat milk temperature is displayed in real time, large and clear, and is easily seen at the shed.

Audit requirements are sorted with easy to view and downloadable temperature history.

Let us help you keep your milk at top quality.

Whether you have staff forgetting to turn on the vat refrigeration, unexpected power outages or mechanical failure, our Vat Manager Auto and Vat Manager Plus models can keep you in control.

Farmers with Vat Manager Plus can upgrade easily to the premium Vat Manager Auto.

While Vat Manager Auto is available to all farmers suppliers to Fonterra will need permission from their local On Farm Asset Manager.

To find out more, talk to your local Area Manager or call us on 0800 878 8378.

Vat Manager Auto Alerts Slow cool, milk in too warm, vat nearly full and vat full alerts are exclusive to the Vat Manager Auto model.

Slow cool: Your rate of milk cooling is not sufficient to meet the targeted temperature/ time profile.

Milk in too warm: Milk inlet temperature is higher than usual.

Vat nearly full: Your vat is reaching capacity.

Switch over to your second vat to avoid spillage.

Vat full: Vat is at capacity. Switch now to avoid overflow.

Vat Manager Auto and Vat Manager Plus Alerts Vat too hot, milk too cold, wash temperature, hardware fault, too long to cool and mains lost are alert features for both Vat Manager Auto and Vat Manager Plus.

Vat too hot: Refrigeration cannot be turned on until vat has cooled. Alert will usual activate after a hot wash to avoid damage to equipment.

Milk too cold: Vat temperature has fallen below the minimum setting.

Wash temperature: Wash water has not reached the minimum temperature setting.

Hardware fault: Fault code provides diagnostic information to Tru-Test technical services.

Too long to cool: Milk is not down to temperature within the set cooling time.

Mains lost: Mains power supply has failed.

Temperatures will be monitored for 24 hours. Investigate and restore power to the refrigeration unit and agitator as soon as possible.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

How are you tracking?

Let’s talk.

0800 TRUTEST (878 8378)9

NEW ZEALAND

Learn, grow, excel

ONLINE New Zealand Dairy Exporter’s online presence is an added dimension to your magazine. Through digital media, we share a selection of stories and photographs from the magazine. Here we share a selection of just some of what you can enjoy.

NZ Dairy Exporter is published

by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740, Toll free 0800 224 782, www.nzfarmlife.co.nz Dairy Exporter Editor Jackie Harrigan P: 06 280 3165, M: 027 359 7781 jackie.harrigan@nzfarmlife.co.nz Deputy editor Sheryl Brown, P: 021 239 1633 sheryl.brown@nzfarmlife.co.nz Lead sub-editor: Andy Maciver, P: 06 280 3166 Reporters Anne Hardie, P: 027 540 3635 verbatim@xtra.co.nz Anne Lee, P: 021 413 346 anne.lee@nzfarmlife.co.nz

COW TO CONE A pair of Nelson dairy farms are adding value to their milk with prize-winning ice cream that’s set for export.

See Dairy Exporter YouTube channel.

FLORAL HARVEST A pair of Nelson dairy farms are adding value to their milk with prize-winning ice cream that’s set for export.

See Dairy Exporter Facebook page.

Karen Trebilcock, P: 03 489 8083 ak.trebilcock@xtra.co.nz Kate Robinson, P: 021 358531 kate.robinson@farmside.co.nz Senior designer: Joanne Hannam jo.hannam@nzfarmlife.co.nz Junior designer: Cassandra Cleland Social Media::Charlie Pearson, P: 06 280 3169 Partnerships Managers: Janine Aish Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty P: 027 890 0015 janine.aish@nzfarmlife.co.nz Tony Leggett Lower North Island P: 027 474 6093 tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz

SORT YOUR S**T Going to the the Effluent Expo was the start of a journey to a new effluent management system for Jacques and Vanessa Le Prou check it out in our video.

See Dairy Exporter YouTube channel.

Connect with us online: www.nzfarmlife.co.nz NZ Dairy Exporter

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DAIRY BANTER Dairy Exporter is moving with the times and has launched its own podcast channel.

To kick things off Anne Lee interviewed the five candidates standing for the Fonterra elections.

See www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

@DairyExporterNZ

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) Printing & Distribution: Printers: PMP, New Zealand Distributors: Gordon & Gotch (NZ) ISSN 2230-2697 (Print) ISSN 2230-3057 (Online)

NZ Dairy Exporter Sign up to our monthly newsletter www.nzfarmlife.co.nz/e-newsletter

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

MILKING PLATFORM MANAWATU Martin Orange instructs Feilding High students on tree planting.

Back to the future Feilding High School farm manager Martin Orange went time-travelling as Marty McFly to see where we’ve been and where we’re going.

I

recently attended a Red Meat Profit cows has almost doubled from two million Partnership workshop where the to more than four million but the number discussion was about farming into the of herds reduced. The average milk solids future, what has changed in 30 years production increased from 259kg to 381kg and what will need to change to continue per cow. into the next 30 years.

The way we treat our animals, the way A lot of discussion was around different we feed our animals, how much money we aspects of change that have occurred, and make. All points that can be discussed with everyone in the room had been around varying views good and bad. I think as a longer than me so I didn’t have a lot to country and as an industry we have come add. When I told them the biggest change a long way and can be proud of what has for me was been achieved. milking cows So many advances in I think as a country and with a robot technology have been made, as an industry we have they looked this was one of the most at me as if I talked about topics, with come a long way and was Marty varied points of view on can be proud of what McFly coming the yellow notebook being has been achieved. back from the replaced by an app. You can future. control your irrigator with This may an app, the cheque book has well have been the case as the weekend been replaced by an app – I can even milk before a mate and I had the opportunity my cows with an app. to do just that, step back in time, dressing But when we look at what has changed, up as the Back to the Future duo Marty for me one thing stands out and looking McFly and Doc Brown for our friend’s 30th forward into the next 30 years is going birthday party and what a journey that to have a big impact: the way that our was. consumer views us.

When we step back in time it is Thirty years ago no one cared about something to be celebrated, we are bloody where their food came from or how it good at what we do and our number got there. Nowadays when I go to the eight attitude has come a long way and supermarket with mates they are checking achieved a lot of things. The number of every label, wanting to know where it Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Martin Orange, left, as Marty McFly, with his mate as Doc Brown.

came from, what chemical is in it, was anything harmed in the making of it, is it good for me. Personally, I just want to know how much it costs and does it taste good.

I think the biggest challenge for us as an industry and as a country that relies so hugely on the primary industries, is how to show what we are doing is sustainable.

We are not cruel to our animals and we are looking after the environment.

When big names like Taika Waititi are coming out and slamming our country on environmental issues, the rest of the world listens and that hurts us as an industry.

I farm in a fish bowl so it is easy for me to think about how people see what we do, everyone is watching. We recently planted 1000 native trees on our farm – we want to show that we do care.

You are good at what you do. Be proud of it and show it off.

See you in 30 years’ time celebrating that we are still the backbone of New Zealand’s economy and we haven’t gone anywhere.

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Topping up the half-full glass What happened to the idea once floated of making New Zealand the Switzerland of the South Pacific, Paul Burt asks?

D

o we have a problem with attitude in this country? It seems an inescapable part of the aging process is to reminisce about the past and harbour a growing dissatisfaction with much that is modern.

The media is full of the problems that beset society but how many are selfinflicted? I accept that it is a different world now but during my childhood New Zealand was at or near the top of the world living standard index.

Is it a coincidence that in this indulgent age, few speak about good manners and self-control or has the rest of the world simply left us behind.

The lack of either of these attributes causes so much personal grief and the consequences consume so much effort and money we should all be concerned.

I could drone on about the state of personal accountability where company directors face court action for negligence and government decisions revolve around being re-elected rather than a greater good.

Are egos bigger than they ever were, are reputations less valuable and has power become more seductive.

I sympathised with comments made recently by expatriate philanthropist Owen Glenn, regarding our national outlook.

What I think he was saying was that in the many years since the idea was floated to make NZ the Switzerland of the South Pacific we have gained no traction. But oh, what we can do when we try.

A non-compromised 100% effort to have the best rugby team in the world has borne fruit and is a matter of national pride.

The agencies responsible for improving our social statics could only dream of that commitment and that result.

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Why is it proving so hard to put a stick in the spokes of this wheel of averageness on which we are spinning.

On the employment front we describe blue collars and white collars but what do the self-employed wear.

MILKING PLATFORM BAY OF PLENTY

to become involved and apply this skill to the industry at large. This lack of passion for the extended industry has produced the averageness that is holding us back.

Food and communication are basic human needs. Unlike the other, the industry we’re involved in suffers from a lack of excitement and glamour which translates into a lack of capital. We’re hamstrung into doing the same things we’ve always done and it shows. By comparison, Apple and Microsoft re-invent

Since the idea was floated to make NZ the Switzerland of the South Pacific we have gained no traction.

What- ever shade it began I expect it’s a bit grubby by now as most selfemployed people I know succeed because they possess an inner Steve Hansen.

Smaller of course but just as driven and tough.

Conviction, determination, selfdiscipline and resilience. We celebrate (demand) these attributes from our sport heroes but many ordinary people find it so hard to apply them to life.

As farmers we know our business inside out. Staying viable requires skilled and strategic responses to the extent that our grassland livestock models are the best in the world. However, too few of us (myself included), have the willingness and ability

themselves every couple of years and the results say it all.

I think the only way we can change attitudes is by raising the sights of young people. It’s our duty as adults to foster an appetite for learning both academic and practical. There is a greater need than ever to teach financial literacy and life skills in general.

It’s a tragedy to let loose on the world so many young people who have yet to (or may never) build their self- esteem. It’s a tragedy that so many lack the ability to cope with disappointment. If each of us can change a perception that some-one’s glass is half full rather than half empty we will have achieved much.

Paul Burt farms at Matata, Bay of Plenty, and writes a n occasional column for Country-Wide magazine.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

MILKING PLATFORM TARANAKI

Mt Taranaki: a welcome sight during spring.

Smiles welcome a return to normal Taranaki equity farmer Charlie McCaig reckons this season’s calving may not be the best he’s experienced, but it feels like it.

F

inally, after three miserable, wet calvings in row, Taranaki is back to its normal self with a calving season that’s put smiles back on everyone’s faces. It’s not the best early spring period I’ve experienced but by comparison to last year, it certainly feels like it.

We’ve used the budgeted amounts of purchased feed, shut up lots of early silage, hit production targets and generally come through the last 12 weeks unscathed. The cows have fared much the same with a significantly better premating than last year and higher body condition scores all round. Boy did we need it.

This is our third season in our equity partnership and, surprisingly, the first time we’ve stayed on one property for more than two seasons.

We’ve often joked that if we were looking at our own CVs we’d possibly not hire ourselves due to that fact that we seem to move around quite a lot. Luckily though, all of our shifts have been about progressing on to a bigger and better opportunity and we’ve been fortunate to have supportive employers and farm owners along the way.

That extra experience on this property should be a plus, so long as it doesn’t breed complacency. Repeating the same

ideas year after year is an easy trap to fall into. There is truth to the mantra “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” but it’s also true that often you don’t know if there’s a better way of doing something unless you try it.

Our general approach is to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly after each major milestone in the season and try to apply the lessons next time around.

It’s important, I think, to keep innovating and trying new things. Aside from the obvious benefits you get if you find a better way of doing something, variety is the spice of life and I think I’d get bored just doing the same thing over and over.

Having the head space to review what you’re doing and come up with a better plan for next time is probably the most challenging aspect of the Plan, Implement, Review cycle for me.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been a

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

bit slack in attending discussion groups as I had begun to find them quite repetitive.

But a new higher-level group that has formed locally out of the Tiller Talk programme has been a good opportunity to create time for thinking about new ideas again.

The focus of the group is around discussing the numbers behind various aspects of what we are all doing with the aim of gaining some insight into different approaches to familiar problems. I always find attending groups like this generate new ideas and we’ve already implemented a change to our cropping policy after someone (thanks Rob) pointed out a way we could grow more feed by making a simple change to our approach.

Another way we try to improve things is to include our employees in the process.

They have to carry out the implementation stage after all so it seems only fair that they should be able to have some input in the planning and review stages.

Our general approach is to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly after each major milestone in the season and try to apply the lessons next time around. I am always impressed how they engage and even the most junior members of staff have come up with some excellent suggestions.

So, moving forwards with the lessons of the last two years in our heads, we’re very optimistic for the season ahead of us.

It’ll be one with rain when it’s needed, a payout in the high $6s, low empty rates and record production. That’s not too much to ask, right?

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Riding out.

Warts-and-all check-up

MILKING PLATFORM WEST COAST

Following the accidental death of a young friend, Gaye Coates decided to get her West Coast farm’s health and safety system checked out.

I

enjoy farming most of the time. I like the familiarity that comes with having worn out a few pairs of gumboots.

I’m challenged in a positive sense by the mix of science, business and practical skills. I enjoy the constant exposure to new knowledge and the process of achieving a job well done. But, every now and then I encounter an aspect of the job that unhinges my confidence.

In recent years, I have wrestled with my employer responsibility of health and safety. It’s not because I haven’t seen it as important and it’s not that I haven’t done anything, because I have. Our team is small and close-knit; like family. The thought of not having done enough to guarantee their safety unnerved me.

Back at the beginning of being an employer, I confidently wrote a health and safety manual and proudly sat it on a shelf in the office. I felt that we had ticked the compliance box and had “done” health and safety.

Then, in keeping with a revamp of the legislation, our industry had the volume turned up on health and safety. Farmers were besieged with opportunities to attend courses, employ consultants, trial apps and follow prototypes.

Our culpability was emphasised in the advertising; the risks of not getting it right highlighted. I looked at our health and safety manual with the dust on the cover and the crisp pages within, and I began to experience some doubt that we were doing it right.

I attended a course and came home with guidelines and templates. I became overwhelmed with the feeling that the execution of health and safety was no less in its requirements for our farm than it was 14

for a large corporate business that had a whole department delegated to ensuring the job was done well.

Coerced by others’ reassurance that they had “done” health and safety, we signed up with one of the many options of health and safety companies providing resources and the promise of ongoing support. But the standardised forms didn’t seem to replace the accountability to have a process working behind the words.

Last year my uncertainties came to a tipping point. I attended the funeral of a much-loved young man who was killed very tragically in a workplace accident and afterwards over a cup of tea and shared tears, there were loud voices accusing employers of not doing enough. I carried the echo of those voices home, worried and then I contacted WorkSafe and requested a visit.

The temptation to hurriedly put up some of the glossy forms that I thought we needed and to hide some of the things I thought may be lacking was great. But I decided to really get some certainty about how we measured up, I needed to take a “warts-andall” approach; even share an incident that had happened onfarm in the week before their visit. The visit proved incredibly Our version of the positive; the glossy forms. advice offered was gentle and

clear. There were a few things to work on but we were doing okay. In fact we have a safety culture in place that we own and that walks with us daily on the farm.

On our farm, we’re not big on written words, certainly not lots of them; they’re not our primary form of communication.

We’re all about showing and working alongside and being on the end of the twoway should anyone need help.

At night no one goes home before we are certain everyone is accounted for. We don’t have all the standardised forms but we have the important things written in our farm team notebook. And that’s okay; our system is unique and intimate to us.

I doubt we will ever be able to tick the “job done” box for health and safety; it is ongoing. I suspect we can never guarantee an accident won’t happen on our farm, but I am confident we have a safety culture and a structure in place for now that lives outside a pamphlet.

That has to be enough to settle my mind to move health and safety to a happy place for me. Thanks WorkSafe NZ.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Stanley Avenue, Te Aroha.

More? tearohaaph@gmail.com

More? www.chbshow.co.nz

Waihi Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 10, Cornwall St, Waihi.

More? marilyn@ktd.co.nz

Canterbury Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 1416, Canterbury Agricultural Park, Christchurch. More? www.theshow.co.nz

Egmont Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 16, 17, Burnside Avenue, Hawera.

More? www.egmontshowgrounds.org.nz

Courtenay Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 24, Showgrounds, Kirwee.

More? www.courtenayshow.org.nz

Manawatu Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 3, 4, Manfeild Park, Feilding.

More? www.manawatushow.co.nz

Marlborough Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 9, 10, A&P Park, Blenheim.

More? www.marlboroughshow.co.nz

Bay of Islands Pastoral & Industrial Association’s 176th show, November 8 and 9, Showgrounds, Waimate North, Northland.

More? www.bayofislandsshow.co.nz

Stratford Agricultural & Pastoral Association (Royal Event - Equestrian), November 23-25, Flint Road East, Stratford.

More? www.stratfordshow.co.nz

Nelson Agricultural & Pastoral Association (Royal Event - Equestrian), November 24, 25, A&P Park, Richmond, Nelson. More? www.richmondpark.nz

Clevedon Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 17, 18, Showgrounds, Monument Road, Clevedon.

More? www.clevedonshow.co.nz

Wanganui Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 9, 10, Wanganui Racecourse Oval. More? wanganuishow@gmail.com

Cambridge Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 24, 25, Cambridge Raceway, Taylor Street, Cambridge.

More? mandymcwha@hotmail.com

Waverley Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 13, Dallison Park, Waverley. More? bdsimson@ farmside.co.nz

NOTEBOOK FARM CHAT

SHOWTIME A&P shows are in full swing through November as New Zealand agriculture puts itself on display.

Te Aroha Agricultural, Pastoral & Horticultural Association show, November 3, Boyd Park,

Central Hawkes Bay Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 9-11, Showgrounds, Waipukurau.

Southern Canterbury Agricultural & Pastoral Association show, November 24, 25, A&P Showgrounds, Waimate.

More? info@scshow.co.nz South Otago Agricultural & Pastoral Society show, November 23, 24, Glasgow Street, Balclutha.

More? soap@unifone.net.nz West Otago Agricultural & Pastoral Society, November17, Tapanui-Raes Junction Highway, Tapanui.

More? show@yrless.co.nz

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15

INSIGHT

UPFRONT BREXIT

Heading for a hard landing?

As the United Kingdom prepares to leave the European Union, the effects on trade for New Zealand are still being worked out. Bob Edlin looks at possible implications for the dairy industry.

ew Zealand dairy farmers would have had none of their burning questions answered by an article on the BBC website in midOctober headed Brexit: All you need to know about the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.

The article canvassed a raft of issues involved in complex negotiations for the UK’s split from the EU. But there was no mention of the implications for NZ’s dairy exports or the prospect of the EU and UK splitting 50:50 the tariff-rate quotas that regulate NZ export volumes to the UK and EU. NZ dairy industry leaders were hoping differences on key issues would be sorted out by the time the UK leaves the EU on March 29 next year to avoid what otherwise would be a “hard Brexit”, something that would be disruptive for dairy markets.

The key issues include how much money the UK owes the EU, what happens to UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU and EU citizens living in the UK, and what happens to the Northern Ireland border (the focus of talks at time of writing).

Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand executive director Kimberly Crewther, who has been monitoring developments, says there is “an element of uncertainty” about whether the outcome will be a hard or soft Brexit.

NZ’s dairy sector has an interest in what

N

16

transpires because the UK is the world’s second largest dairy importing country and the EU is the world’s largest dairy exporter, sending significant volumes to the UK. Without a deal there will be a default to World Trade Organisation-bound tariff rates, many of them trade-prohibitive.

“This will result in significant trade diversion,” Crewther says.

In other words, product will be shifted to other markets, as happened when the Russia import ban was imposed a few years ago.

Operating within a common market for 40 years has led to a high degree of integration between the EU and UK dairy industries, Crewther points out, such as milk collection zones crossing the Irish border.

More ominously, the EU has proposed a splitting of EU and UK market access quotas.

A split would deny NZ the flexibility it now has to use the full quota volume to try to meet demand wherever it exists within the EU or UK. This would have adverse impacts for the 74,693 tonne New Zealand butter quota, the 11,000t of NZ cheese quota access, and a range of WTO (any country) quotas.

NZ is challenging the proposal in the WTO, whose rules state that any adjustment of the relationship between the UK and EU should not leave other countries worse off.

DCANZ executive director Kimberley Crewther is concerned for the future of New Zealand’s access rights to UK and European markets.

“We strongly support the NZ Government’s engagement in Geneva to ensure NZ’s market access rights are maintained,” Crewther says.

The DCANZ, whose 11 company members account for 98% of the milk processed in NZ, set out its concerns in submissions presented in July as part of EU consultations.

Among the points made in the submission: • The trading relationship between the EU and NZ has expanded in recent years to incorporate two-way investment on each other’s dairy sectors. The European and NZ companies involved in these investments benefit from the flexibility to move products in both directions between their processing sites.

• As significant dairy exporters, both NZ and the EU have a mutual interest in a global trading environment without barriers and distortions.

DCANZ has welcomed the initiation of bilateral trade negotiations between NZ and the EU, aimed at building on the trading relationships and market access,

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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17

New Zealand dollars (year to June) yet “the EU has unilaterally put forward a TRQ apportionment proposal that would appear to cut New Zealand’s access to the EU market for dairy products”.

Because of the relatively small size of the quotas in question, DCANZ said “we see limited need for the volumes to be broken up between the EU and UK”.

There was “absolutely no risk that the EU market will be ‘swamped’ with imports under the quotas.”

For example, even if the full volume of butter available under most favoured nation and country-specific butter quotas was imported this would be: a. no more than 5% of the EU’s 2015 2.1 million tonnes of dairy consumption; b. equivalent to only about a third of the EU butter consumption growth that has been forecast for the next 10 years; and c. only a fraction of the butter consumption growth since the Uruguay Round.

Furthermore, splitting up the volumes for several of the tariff quotas in question would result in volumes that are commercially unviable and impractical.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials, too, are monitoring the Brexit negotiations and are working with the UK and the EU to protect this country’s interests.

Because of the implications for all involved, the ministry welcomed news in mid-October that the UK and the EU – at a Brussels Summit – had made clear the importance they attached to avoiding a “cliff edge” outcome when the UK leaves the EU. But because of “the still-fluid nature of negotiations”, NZ businesses that trade with or between the UK and the EU are being urged to assess how they might be affected by a range of different possible Brexit outcomes and to ensure they had contingency plans if no deal could be reached.

NZ has established a bilateral trade policy dialogue with the UK to address a range of issues arising from Brexit and to strengthen future trade relations with the UK, a ministry spokeswoman said.

Both governments have signalled their interest in negotiating a high-quality, comprehensive bilateral free trade agreement once the UK is free to do so.

The UK launched a public consultation on a future FTA with NZ in July.

The spokeswoman acknowledged that issues of most concern to NZ’s dairy sector are the continuity of regulatory 18

Description

2016

2017

2018

71,293,331

64,822,668

73,005,690

76,739,171

61,581,874

49,926,335

73,422,311

36,643,852

38,220,739

21,811,667

28,120,598

34,803,976

50,179,397

47,587,847

24,082,400

46,051,657

5,595,708

12,387,322

4,285,329

6,878,427

9,066,593

3,449,340

3,221,031

7,618,052

19,530,777

6,418,803

4,985,284

3,031,921

4,000,538

4,264,092

2,912,438

4,420,323

4,264,092

3,844,470

2,620,480

3,604,696

118,312

286,277

2,940,004

247, 615

169,592

235,783

16,155,886

4,402,099

127,651

1,336,722

59,195

85,331

-

-

54,785

Buttermilk/kephir/curdled fermnted acidified mlk and cream

3,866

149,590

23,485

Ice cream and other edible ice, with cocoa or not

132,409

275

20,921

39,402

37,285

14,127

701

303

4,176

394,587,914

277,016,763

269,528,216

Peptones, other proteins and derivatives Casein Fats and oils derived from milk Butter Caseinates and other casein derivatives; casein glue Cheese and curd Food preparations for infants, retail sale Milk albumin, including concentrates of 2 or more whey proteins Milk/cream concentrated

Lactose and lactose syrup containing 99% more lactose by weight Whey and moditied whey

Food preparations

Products of natural milk constituentsi Malt extract; flour, meal, milk etc Yogurt, sweetened, flavored Milk and cream, sweet, powder

Milk & cream, sweetened, concentrate

Cocoa preparations, not in bulk form

Milk and cream, not concentrated or sweetened TOTAL

arrangements underpinning NZ’s trade and of current WTO market access commitments.

She said good progress was being made towards confirming continuity with the UK on regulatory arrangements, such as the veterinary agreement between NZ and the EU, which covers the export of animals and animal products.

On WTO market access commitments, NZ has insisted the proposal to split EU and UK tariff rate quotas would not

properly honour WTO commitments and would disadvantage NZ exporters.

“While we are not seeking to gain from Brexit, we have been clear that NZ should not be disadvantaged either,” the spokeswoman said.

“These matters are still under discussion, with NZ continuing to urge the UK and the EU to re-think their quota splits approach and, instead, to work with concerned WTO Members to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

PASTURE November 2018

Getting the very best out of your 501 Chicory crop this summer

Set pastures up for summer

A lasting benefit of sowing 501 Chicory for summer grazing is the chance to get rid of persistent grass weeds before putting your chicory paddock(s) back into new pasture in autumn.

Yellow Bristle Grass (YBG) now affects many farms in the North Island, and summer grasses are also becoming a big issue. These species can dominate summer grazing, reducing feed quality and compromising persistence of the following pasture.

Late spring/early summer is the best time to spray both grass weeds and broadleaf weeds out of 501 Chicory.

Aim to spray before the first grazing, while weeds are still small, and chicory has 2-3 leaves showing.

When it comes to grazing, wait until 501 Chicory has 7 leaves and passes the ‘pull test’. By this stage the plants won’t get damaged at grazing. They will also have welldeveloped taproots which support

regrowth, overall DM yield and drought tolerance through summer and autumn.

Once it is established, rotationally graze the crop typically every 2025 days, depending on growth. Pregrazing covers should be 25-30 cm (Red Band gumboot height); postgrazing residuals should be 5 cm or approximately 1000 kg DM/ha.

Try to avoid grazing 501 Chicory in very wet conditions. This reduces the risk of plant crowns being damaged by hooves, and potentially becoming infected with disease.

Chicory lifts cow appetite on hot summer days, increasing their intake compared with pasture only, so it’s a good idea to graze crops during the day before afternoon milking.

Extended dry periods can be hard on pastures, so from now on it’s important to do what you can to make sure they are in the best shape possible heading into summer.

A key part of management is keeping consistent residuals, removing seedheads as early as possible, so the ryegrass plants revert to producing daughter tillers.

The quicker you do this, the thicker your population of daughter tillers, setting it up better for summer.

Another tool which helps strengthen pastures at this time of the year is a pre-Christmas N application.

Moisture permitting, this can be applied in late spring/early summer to increase late spring tillering, thickening pastures and improving covers to help protect summer post-grazing residuals.

High quality, cost effective summer feed.

Finally try to avoid over-grazing in the dry.

Dairy Exporter For | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz November 2018 further information| freephone: 0800 449 955, email: mail@agriseeds.co.nz or visit: www.agriseeds.co.nz

19

INSIGHT

UPFRONT LUDF

Farm focusing on future Anne Lee talked to key figures at Lincoln University Dairy Farm, and discovered change is in the air.

F

armers could reasonably expect to see some significant changes at the Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF) as the farm’s governors look to a 2030 farming model as a guide for charting the farm’s next steps.

South Island Dairy Development Corporation (SIDDC) chairman Corrigan Sowman says the board hasn’t yet been able to find a general manager as successor to executive director Ron Pellow and in the meantime is having a rethink about where the highly successful demonstration farm should head next.

The farm’s been unusually quiet so far this season, with its traditional October focus day cancelled in favour of two open farm walks, prompting some to ask what was going on.

Sowman says the farm is still carrying on as normal and, with farm manager Peter Hancox ably at the helm of its day to day operations, has had an exceptionally good start to the season. (see story page 50).

It’s apparent in looking for Pellow’s replacement that some of the difficulties in the search stemmed from the fact the farm’s future strategy wasn’t fully finalised or quite set to the aspirational levels SIDDC board members thought appropriate.

So rather than rushing an appointment, the board is taking the opportunity to pause, reset its strategy and think about what an efficient, productive, sustainable dairy farm will look like in 2030 given the challenges that are already signalled and those that may be over the horizon.

A reference group of experts has been charged with identifying what the future

farm model would need to contend with and a strategy will then be developed to move the LUDF towards that model as fast as possible.

In the meantime, two short-term appointments are likely to be made – one for a farm consultant and one for a consultant or facilitator to help pull the future plan together.

The aim will be to look further ahead so the farm could be equipping farmers for the opportunities and challenges of 10 years out, Sowman says.

Climate change, water quality and adjusting farm practices so milk production can be targeted at consumer preferences are all factors to take into consideration.

The Lincoln University Dairy Farm is looking towards 2030, SIDDC chairman Corrigan Sowman says.

So too are community engagement, biosecurity, animal welfare, technology and profitability. better lines of communication with the Lincoln wider public and regulators as well as University farmers is also a priority. assistant viceThe farm’s strategy should be about chancellor and leading the way not just about responding professor of dairy to challenges, he says. production Grant Sowman says LUDF has been good at Edwards says the identifying the immediate challenges, farm’s strength looking to research for solutions, proving is its ability to and demonstrating them at a commercial demonstrate best level. practice and its “But the pace of change is getting faster next iteration and we have to look beyond one or two would continue years out,” Sowman says. to build on that.

Continuing to move at its current pace “We want to identify what future best no longer provides the degree of value practice will be, based on what a farm farmers need, he says. of the future will look like, and show The advent of the Lincoln Hub leadership in terms of demonstrating that and strategic review also presented future best practice,” Edwards says. an opportunity to review the SIDDC Future technologies, automation, partnership. precision agriculture and the collection, “Fifteen years on from its formation monitoring and analysis of data will all it’s probably timely to see who might be affect how decisions are made on the missing from the table,” Sowman says. ‘future farm’ so thought also had to be SIDDC’s current partners are Lincoln given to what those technologies might be University (owners of the farm), DairyNZ, and the capabilities expected of farm staff.

LIC, AgResearch, Plant and Food, Using the farm to educate and develop Ravensdown and SIDE.

We want to identify what future best practice will be, based on what a farm of the future will look like, and show leadership in terms of demonstrating that future best practice.

20

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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21

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

INSIGHT

UPFRONT DAIRY WOMEN’S NETWORK

Sharing the knowledge across sectors

Words by: Sheryl Brown

T

he Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) wants to branch out and be inclusive of other primary sectors in the future, new chief executive Jules Benton says.

There is a real opportunity to share knowledge and innovation across the different primary sectors, including dairy, sheep and beef, horticulture and viticulture.

DWN will start opening its doors to other sectors and invite people from other sectors to come along to their events, she says.

The DWN conference in Christchurch next May will also be an excellent opportunity to reach out because the programme is focused on innovation as well as wellness and wellbeing, which is applicable to people from any sector.

Sharing knowledge between sectors is key to advancing in innovation and overcoming challenges in the future, especially around the technology and sustainability aspect, she says.

“We will never forget where we have come from, and our number one is looking after women in dairy.

“But one of our values is inclusiveness and what we do with the DWN, would also impact sheep and beef, horticulture and viticulture. Why not include those sectors as well? This is how we can support each other.”

The DWN plays a key role in education and propelling leaders to success and including all agribusinesses is an excellent opportunity to show the career opportunities across the primary sector, she says.

Benton joined the DWN in May amid the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak and says some friends thought it was a bad move for her to enter an industry at such a terrible time.

“But this is the best time to take the role on. When you’re in there, knee-deep, supporting your members, it cements who you are as an organisation and the important role that you play.

“It’s a challenge, but just like farmers you get in and you roll up your sleeves. What we say to members, and continue to say on a daily basis, is ‘what do you need and how can we help’?”

That’s the role the DWN has played in the last 20 years and will be the role the network continues to play in the next 20 years and beyond, she says.

Farmers and industry need to get better at telling its story and promoting what a good job they are doing, she says.

“In the next 20 years I hope that we are showcasing NZ as the world’s leading dairy producers, and that we are seen as superb operators in that space.

“I’m bloody determined to make sure we celebrate these women and give them the recognition they deserve.”

In the next 20 years Benton hopes it will be business as usual for farmers to be looking after the land, the people and animals.

They are doing a good job, but there are opportunities to improve, and move from good to great, she says.

The DWN is committed to the Dairy Tomorrow strategy and through education and connections, play its part in helping the industry meet its commitments and goals.

‘One of our values is inclusiveness and what we do with the DWN, would also impact sheep and beef, horticulture and viticulture. Why not include those sectors as well?’

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Jules Benton – including other primary sectors is key to strengthening the industry.

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS Dairy Women’s Network’s recent AGM painted a positive picture for the future with the network celebrating its 20th year of connecting, educating, and celebrating dairy women in New Zealand.

Benton gave particular thanks to the founders, partners, volunteers and members driving the success of the network.

“We are grateful to four incredible women, Hilary Webber, Robyn Clements, Willy Geck, and Christina Baldwin for their passion, foresight, and hard work in setting up the Dairy Women’s Network in 1998,” she says.

“These founding women laid the groundwork for a Network that, 20 years later, is 10,000 members strong, hosts thousands of attendees at more than 175 educational events every year and encourages dairy women to thrive through shared knowledge and connection.”

23

INSIGHT

UPFRONT MARKET VIEW

Confidence key to industry growth

Uncertainty is sapping confidence in the future of the dairy industry, Susan Kilsby, NZX head of dairy data and insight, writes.

I

nvestment in dairy farms is expected to be limited in the coming years.

This in turn will restrict the volume of milk being produced.

This is one of the key outcomes from research undertaken for the ‘NZ Dairy Outlook – to 2023’ report recently released

by NZX. Industry confidence is driven by potential profits and the certainty of achieving these profits.

The formula to make a profit is simple – ‘earn more than you spend’ – but ensuring that happens is more complicated.

Dairy farm income levels are primarily determined by the global dairy markets which as a farmer you have limited control over. Global markets have always been volatile and this certainly isn’t going to change in the future. You can gain a degree of certainty of your future income by using milk price derivatives, but use of these products is not yet widespread.

As a farmer you do have some control over your farm costs but the uncertainty of future costs is sapping confidence.

Traditionally New Zealand farmers have cut costs to manage low income periods.

But as debt levels have risen on farms and operating structures have moved from the small family farm the ability to cut costs has decreased.

Interest and wages are basically fixed costs. When farms were run by family labour only drawings were simply restricted during low income years. But that isn’t an option when you are paying staff. Interest costs associated with high debt levels are a burden for many farms.

High debt restricts the ability to cut costs.

24

Farmers need to be really efficient if they also have high levels of debt.

Milk prices are expected to remain above the average cost of production. So it is not so much low incomes sapping farm confidence but rather the fear of the unknown. Will the cost of operating a dairy farm increase substantially in the coming years?

How costs will change will vary between farms depending on how farms are being managed and where farms are located.

Sustainable operating systems in tune with local community and consumer expectations of environmental and animal welfare expectations is what is required.

The challenge for the industry and regulators is defining exactly what those systems look like. And it is the uncertainty associated with the ‘unknown’ that will limit industry investment in the shortterm.

There is no need to restrict the number of dairy cows in NZ or the quantity of land being used for dairying as market signals are already effectively doing this. If we over-regulate our industry, we limit its ability to innovate.

We are already seeing innovative solutions to manage the environmental impacts of dairying being developed by private enterprises.

This is supported by scientific and extension work by industry-good and publically funded organisations. For the industry to be sustainable we need to see more solutions developed and need a high uptake of new systems, and adoption of ‘best practice’.

To be successful in any business you

need to continually evolve business practices as the environment you are working in changes. Change can be viewed as a threat or an opportunity – it’s your choice. Continual improvement and reacting positively to change is something we can all strive to do.

Our dairy industry has always faced uncertainty in income streams. But we now also see a greater level of uncertainty of future operating costs, as the environment we will operate in continues to evolve.

As a farmer you have greater insight into how well your land is suited to dairying than most. You will have walked over every inch of land, observed how your land copes during wet and dry periods, you will know which paddocks are better suited to cropping, or spreading effluent on.

By combining your knowledge of your own farming system and thinking about the future environment that you will be operating in, you will be well positioning to adapt and evolve your farming business.

• This is my final column for NZ Dairy Exporter. After 12 fantastic years at NZX I now have a new role as ANZ rural economist. I’m looking forward to the challenges and opportunities.

For more information about the ‘New Zealand Dairy Outlook – to 2023’ report email data@nzx.com or phone 04-471 4390

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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25

GLOBAL DAIRY AUSTRALIA

Battling the elements This month we start a new column, Global Dairy, to take an insidethe-country look at the mood and challenges of dairy producers in the world’s major milk producing and exporting regions.

Words by: Simone Smith

A

ustralia’s milk production has taken a battering this season as dairy farmers battle with dry conditions and high feed costs.

At the end of August, national production was down 5.1% compared to the same time last year, according to Dairy Australia statistics.

Justin Johnston, a dairy farmer near Sale in Victoria’s east, said in October he was paying inflated feed prices just to maintain his herd.

A downpour in the middle of last month delivered some relief in what has been an expensive year for milk production. This particular rain event delivered 27mm. It has been one of the driest years on record for the region. Only 472mm had been recorded from October 2017 to September this year, down 180mm on average.

“It hasn’t been very good,” Justin said.

“We will need about 9 inches (225mm) of rain to get to the lowest average yearly rainfall total here before Christmas.”

Milking 850 Holsteins, calving 40% in autumn and 60% in spring, Justin said margins this season would be non-existent.

The herd received a “pick-of-grass” from what was irrigated as well as hay and 6kg/ cow/day of whole wheat. In the middle of October he was buying wheat for $485 a tonne. This time last year it was $28026

$290/tonne. The 73% hike is symptomatic of a feed shortage which has gripped a lot of Australia’s east coast.

Victoria supplies about 66% of Australia’s milk production.

Cereal hay delivered to south west Victoria early October was A$300-A$350/t, it was A$350-A$400/t in northern Victoria and A$420-A550/t into Gippsland, eastern Victoria, according to Dairy Australia statistics. This represents increases from 59% to 400% o,n the same time last year.

and in the gullies it is green where there has been moisture, but on the ridges, it is dust,” he said.

“There’s a hill we over-sowed five months ago, now it is a like a desert.”

But not all milk production regions are in drought.

South West Victoria and other parts of Gippsland have received reliable rainfall

‘Our production is about half and our feed costs, well it is not viable, but we have to keep the animals going, hopefully it rains.’

“Our production is about half and our feed costs, well, it is not viable, but we have to keep the animals going, hopefully it rains,” Justin said.

Justin and his family have a 100% irrigation water allocation, but most local farmers use 200%. This allocation gets topped-up throughout the season with rain and as snow melts on the Victorian alps.

But he feared this wouldn’t occur this year.

“We have been irrigating with the centre pivots, they have been going non-stop Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Simone Smith is an agricultural reporter in south-west Victoria. She grew up on a dairy farm in South Australia.

Simone has worked as a rural reporter in South Australia, Victoria and NSW including a decade as the dairy writer at Australia’s largest rural weekly newspaper The Weekly Times.

An employee at a farm near Colac in south west Victoria pushes cows to the dairy. In the middle of October this area received about 25-30mm and will help boost regrowth following silage harvest.

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in recent months and harvest’s in full-swing. But farmers in these regions weren’t immune to the effects of drought. A late and/or poor autumn break and little summer rainfall meant slow pasture growth and many summer crops failed. Hay and silage stocks were sucked dry and as the drought-stranglehold grew tighter, dairy farmers had to compete with Australian dairy journalist Simone Smith. other livestock industries in New South Wales and Queensland for diminishing fodder supplies.

In recent weeks, dairy processors increased farmgate milk prices, which has assisted with cash-flow. The average annual price for the two largest milk processors, Saputo and Fonterra, is A$5.95/kg milksolids (MS) and A$5.98/kg MS. At the end of August, the number of cull dairy cows sold through saleyards in Victoria was up 33% for the year.

The outlook for fodder remains unknown. Many failed crops have been baled, but there’s no sign of a price reprieve. In the middle of October a band of rain crossed Victoria delivering widespread rain. This helped temporarily buoy dairy farmers who have otherwise had a tough battle with mother nature.

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27

BUSINESS DAIRY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

Seizing the day Richard and Davina Syme have maintained farm performance at a high level while living off-farm, taking on new challenges and having some great family adventures along the way. Sheryl Brown reports.

ichard and Davina Syme have a history of being open to new opportunities and this hasn’t stopped since they took up dairy farming 10 years ago.

In recent years they have taken on new challenges off-farm with a move to run a large-scale farming business in the Manawatu, spent 10 months travelling overseas with their children and, as

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evidenced by being finalists in the 2017 NZ Dairy Business of the Year (DBOY), have been able to do this while maintaining farm performance at a high level.

Richard hadn’t milked a cow until they took up dairy farming in 2007. He grew up in urban Southland, with some exposure to sheep and beef farming through family, and had a love of the outdoors. He studied a Bachelor of Commerce (Agriculture) at Lincoln University and landed a graduate role with ENZA, which gave him a great introductory view of the apple and pear industry in NZ. After time spent travelling around America and Canada, he returned to work for ENZA in NZ before taking on a sales and marketing role for them based in North America.

Davina, who grew up on her family dairy farm in Te Aroha, studied accounting at Massey University and worked for KPMG

before leaving for her own OE to the UK. She then moved to Whistler, Canada, for a working holiday, where she met Richard.

The couple moved to Melbourne where Richard studied towards an MBA while Davina worked in the energy sector.

Richard took on operational and then general management roles in the consumer goods sector. After five years working in both Melbourne and Sydney, and with two young children in tow, they decided it was time to move home and be closer to family.

An opportunity came up to work on Davina’s family farm at Te Aroha. Davina’s parents, Gordon and Bev Schell, were still active on the farm, but handed them the opportunity to step in as farm managers.

“I had never dairy farmed before, but Davina had done the usual relief milking and feeding calves growing up,” Richard says.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Richard and Davina Syme, with children Hannah (left) and Josh (right) are finding a balance between farm performance and family time.

learn the basics and another 1-2 years to get the farm performing well.

“On reflection, the things I thought would be hard about dairy farming before we started were easy, like animal health. The vets provided great advice and were happy to share their knowledge which meant I could build up basic skills quickly.”

The opposite held true as well. Richard thought pasture management would be easy, but still sees it as one of the most challenging parts of farming today.

“In striving for top performance you never feel like you ace pasture management. There are so many variables that you are taking into account in decision-making such as season, weather, animals and paddock variations. It’s challenging but is also one of the most rewarding aspects to farming.”

After four years on the farm they wanted to benchmark KEY FACTS themselves against similar farmers Owners: Richard & Davina Syme in their region and entered the Location: Te Aroha DBOY competition in 2012, Area: 63ha becoming finalists and winning 2018-19 production target: 100,000kg MS the best financial performance for a medium input farm.

Cows: 220 “It was a great opportunity. In Farm System: Dairy NZ system 4, feeding addition to diving deeper into our maize and palm kernel own physical and financial results, Nitrogen leaching: 33kg N/ha we got to spend time with other Pasture harvested: 13.6 TDM/ha like-minded people in a finalists Farm dairy: 24-bail rotary; ACR, automatic workshop session, discussing the teat spraying results and comparing to other businesses.”

Business opportunities “The opportunity gave us a 1-2 year After another year spent onfarm, kickstart in the industry as we got the couple went looking for their next to manage the farm with no direct challenge. In assessing their strengths and experience.” industry dynamics they decided to merge Richard threw himself into the role, their dairy experience with Richard’s reading all the farming information he management roles and seek out a role in a could get his hands on, and attending larger-scale business. nearby dairy discussion groups, DairyNZ Richard took on the chief executive events and talking with neighbours. role at Hopkins Farming Group, based “I did heaps of reading and asked lots in Manawatu. Founders John and Elaine of questions. It’s easy to learn if you’re Hopkins had transitioned their own family inquisitive and you’re not too proud to farming business through multiple equity ask.” partnerships into a majority shareholding They consider it took them 3-4 years to of a single company.

TE AROHA

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

With a strong base comprising 10 dairy farms, 10,000 cows and support blocks, Richard’s goal for the group was to be in the top 10% for farm performance through doing the basics really well – something he emulates in his own farming business.

“We had an aspiration to be as good as a top owner-operator. We set about doing the basics really well around pasture management, animal health, our people, the environment and being disciplined around financial management.”

The business environment had changed which made this easier to introduce.

“John had been really successful in identifying opportunities to acquire land, grow the business and bring investors and staff along with him. The challenge I saw for the business was how to remain successful in a changed environment post the global financial crisis with land prices flat and changed expectations around environmental and health and safety management.”

While Richard was leading the Hopkins Farming Group through a transition from the founder to external management and bringing in a more modern approach, the couple continued to run their Te Aroha farm remotely.

After five years in that role and having achieved what he set out to do with Hopkins Farming Group, Richard and Davina left Palmerston North and spent 10 months travelling around Australia with their children before heading back to Te Aroha.

They purchased a 4WD and an off-road caravan that had enough water and food storage to allow for two-week gaps between needing to restock supplies.

“We wanted to be set up to spend time in some of the more remote outback and coastal parts of Aussie.”

The trip took them on a 30,000km circuit from Melbourne up the Victoria and New South Wales coastline before heading inland and up the middle through Alice Springs to Darwin. At the top end they headed west out along the Gibb River Road and other iconic routes before travelling down the West Australian coast, through South Australia and back to Melbourne.

“It was a such a neat family experience.

We had an opportunity given the age of Josh (12) and Hannah (10) to head off for an extended adventure without impacting their education and while the kids still wanted to hang out with us.”

Financially the trip was within their projected budget and a small price to pay for the memories they created and the 29

Above: Richard and Davina Syme, with children Hannah (left) and Josh (right) are finding a balance between farm performance and family time.

Top right: Farm manager Blair Fine (left) and Richard meet regularly to discuss finances and to help Blair achieve his KPIs.

DBOY 2018 KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS – Syme Ag Ltd (2016-17 season)

time they had together doing something different.

“The main cost of the trip was having no off-farm income for that period. Our living costs were very similar to what we would have had back at home, we sold the caravan for the same price we paid for it and bought the 4WD back to New Zealand.”

Since arriving back home earlier this year they have been managing another small farm owned by Davina’s family and getting the kids settled back into new schools. The 70ha farm is 10km down the road from their own farm, milking 100 cows once a day and running young stock.

Between managing the small farm and oversight of their own farm, there is still time to take on new challenges and from early 2019 Richard is taking up a role with the Headlands Group, working as a farm consultant.

“It’s a logical next step and something that I’m really excited about. I really enjoy helping people and teams achieve good results.”

He will be drawing on his own track record in managing small and large-scale business within and outside the dairy sector.

“Depending on what clients need I’ll be supporting them around business strategy, management, governance or succession.

These are the areas I have had a direct experience in and can bring practical ideas 30

that will add value to their business.”

Milk production: 431kg MS/cow, 1621kg MS/ha

Maintaining good farm performance with absentee ownership

Return on capital: 4.8%

Being off farm for much of the past six years Richard and Davina have had to implement new ways of thinking to ensure their farm business remained profitable.

The couple have been DBOY finalists twice for their 220-cow operation at Te Aroha. The most recent result was achieved as absentee owners.

Richard believes there are four key things that have helped their farm performance remain strong while they have been living off farm.

“We realised early on for the move to Manawatu to be successful we had to recruit really good people, step up the governance of our own business, set in place clear goals and build on our systems and processes.”

Recognising that a farm management opportunity on their small farm was not necessarily going to attract a lot of job applicants, they created a role with true management responsibility.

“We spent time thinking about what the role could offer applicants, what we needed and what we had enjoyed about farming ourselves.”

“There is a huge range of responsibility

Operating profit margin: 38.7% Operating profit/ha: $4377 Cost of production: $3.61/kg MS Operating expenses: $4.28/kg MS Pasture harvested: 13.6t DM/ha Pasture % of feed: 66.5% Core cost per cow: $565 Labour efficiency cows/FTE: 113 Environment Score: 10/15 HR Score: 6.2/15

in manager roles,” Richard says.

“Many roles have herd manager type responsibilities with a manager title. Given we were living away we needed a manager who would thrive on the responsibility of managing feed, contractors, staff, working to a budget and approving invoices. We thought it could be a great stepping stone into larger scale management roles, or contract milking.”

They had a proven farm system and a farm consultant who had been involved with the farm over several years.

Staff do a weekly farm walk which farm consultant Chris Pike has access to. Chris has been a consultant to the farm for 15 years and has a great understanding of the property to fine-tune feed budgets, offer

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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CR02151

advice and feedback to the farm manager.

“Chris provides feedback and suggestions to support the manager to get a good result. It’s good for us to have an independent set of eyes over the farm and good for the manager to have a sounding board.”

The DBOY competition has been an opportunity for their staff to be involved and boost their own career development.

Their manager during the 2016-17 season, Marion Reynolds, has gone onto to manage a farm for her partner’s family milking 850 cows near Otorohanga.

The DBOY competition analyses farm performance including physical and financial outcomes. It’s an opportunity to compare yourself as an owner/operator and then have a good conversation with staff about the farm business, Richard says.

Richard and Davina catch up with their current farm manager Blair Fine for

were off work for any reason. We weren’t going to be able to step in and help out.”

They decided their business would be more resilient with permanent employees rather than casual staff, a move they believe has paid dividends.

As a result they have a relatively high labour cost and a low number of cows/ labour unit compared to other finalists on larger scale properties. The farm has a labour efficiency of cows/full time equivalent of 113, with a farm manager and fulltime farm assistant, working out at $1.20/kg MS labour cost.

Added to their decision about staffing levels is the value they place on offering a role that provided good balance between work and play.

“We want our team to enjoy the lifestyle of farming and be rewarded for good performance.”

Everyone is motivated by different Richard and Davina are always looking for their next business opportunity.

monthly meetings to go through farm and financial management. Blair has an interest in improving his financial skill set so spending the time involving him in the farm budgets, forecasts and having him approve invoices helps him have a better appreciation of the business aspects of farming.

They were not willing to compromise on performance and wanted a culture of no excuses.

“We needed to consider risk and how we could keep the farm running well if staff 32

things, so rewarding for performance has changed over time. The current structure is a cash bonus based on a number of KPIs that can be objectively measured. There is a sliding scale rewarding for ‘at’ and ‘above target’ performance.

For example, the target for the average somatic cell count is 100,000. The top bonus is for getting the somatic cell count under 90,000, but there is also a bonus for being under 100,000 SCC. The KPIs cover everything from weekly farm walks, the effluent pond being empty

at certain times of the year, to the six-week in-calf rate.

“We like to make the KPIs achievable so they are motivating. We set them with the manager and review them at the end of each year for changes to ensure they are fair and reasonable.”

Another key part in driving the business success has been implementing good governance practices. During their time in Palmerston North Richard and Davina completed the DairyNZ Rural Governance programme.

“Earlier on we had been too busy working in the business and always found excuses for not setting aside time for formal governance. We didn’t have any debt and weren’t accountable to anyone else which made it easy to put it off (governance).”

They recognised this as a weakness in their business and set about making change. Doing the DairyNZ course together has been of real benefit. They are now much clearer on their longer term business and family goals, and have put in place simple processes that provide the discipline and some really effective tools that improve decision-making.

“We are focused on performance and having a sustainable business that is resilient and can survive in the future.

Having an annual governance calendar, and regular meetings focused on the business makes us feel like we are more in control of our journey.”

Having goals and objectives in place for the business and staff keeps the focus on what’s important in achieving good results. For the 2018-19 season the business goals are to (1) run a sustainable business on a $4.50/kg MS cost structure, (2) achieve 75% 6-week in calf rate, and (3) consistently use third-leaf grazing principles in pasture management decisions.

Their operating expenses are creeping up, which is a concern.

The cost of production keeps going up largely because they are spending more money on pasture renovation in an effort to improve pasture harvest, Richard says.

“We are spending more money to stay still, it feels like we are treading water.

Pasture harvest is the one we are struggling with the most, it’s our biggest challenge and our biggest opportunity.

“The pastures appear not to be lasting.

They look good for the first two years, but they’re only lasting three or four years before needing some intervention. We are harvesting about 13.5 tonnes drymatter/

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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Pasture is the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity when it comes to farm performance.

ha, but we believe the farm has potential to harvest another 1t DM/ha.”

The farm has fertile sandy loam soils and a favourable climate, catching the rain off the Kaimai Ranges in the summer. They soil test every two years and put on regular maintenance fertiliser based on the soil test results.

They follow DairyNZ advice for best practice when it comes to pasture renovation, as well as pasture management which is critical to maintain pasture quality and quantity. Farmers are always aiming to ace that pasture management.

When you get pasture management right it’s like catching a perfect wave when you’re surfing, Richard says.

“If you go to early or too late the wave is hard to catch, but when you get it right it feels easy, like you’re on the top of the wave.”

If your round is too slow and pre-grazing covers too high then residuals are really hard to hit, impacting next-round quality.

Likewise if the round is too fast, covers decline and growth is impacted which, if you don’t react quickly, can lead to a long hard climb out of the hole back to good average covers.

Developing good systems and processes has helped transfer their own knowledge and retains knowledge from other staff.

They have a planned approach to areas such as budgeting, forecasting, cropping management plan, financial reviews, and machinery maintenance.

Having a plan and keeping records helps keep the knowledge in their business rather than leaving it with staff or relying on memory.

“We have an approach around key activity where we like to plan and then after the fact, do a review. That way we are keeping the knowledge for what works updated and current. A recent example of this is our cropping plan. It’s a step-by-step guide to what needs to be done and when around our maize and chicory crops. Having just finished planting, we have reviewed what worked and updated it to reflect changes around how we apply slug bait.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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33

BUSINESS MEDIA Welsh journalist Anna Jones has studied the rural/ urban disconnect in media around the world.

Bridging the media gap Farmers are often unhappy with media coverage of agricultural issues. Jackie Harrigan spoke to a Welsh journalist who’s trying to do something about it. nna ‘Jones the Journo’ calls the gap between urban expectations and rural realities a disconnect rather than a divide, and the Welsh journalist and broadcaster has spent the last couple of years investigating it through a Nuffield scholarship.

With a whakapapa of growing up a farmer’s daughter in the Welsh border country and 12 years spent working as an agricultural journalist for BBC and Radio 4 on well-known programmes Country File and Farming Today, Jones is well-placed to understand the disconnect from both sides.

And it’s a disconnect she sees as having blame on both sides, particularly in the United Kingdom, but she found similar situations in other parts of the world during her Nuffield travels, where she looked specifically at the role of the media.

‘There is a real locking of horns – a defensiveness on the side of the farmers that no one understands them, and the media saying farmers are out for special treatment, and they need to be treated the same way every other industry is – and sometimes not appreciating what farming already has. There is no other

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Anna Jones has started a programme called Just Farmers, to help media understand agriculture better.

industry that has a dedicated radio programme on Radio4 every single day – there is not Carpentry Today or Teaching Today.”

Speaking recently in New Zealand, she said the UK was incredibly urbanised, with by far the majority of people living in cities and knowing nothing about agriculture.

Other than eating the food farmers produce, the sector is completely irrelevant to urban folks’ lives.

“There is an easily explained geographical disconnect and also a cultural divide – there is an inability of urban and rural people to understand each other or really see where the other is coming from.”

Winning a Nuffield scholarship in 2015 allowed Jones time to travel the world and

see what was happening in other countries – an eclectic mix of countries with varying economic, cultural and social connections to agriculture.

“Unsurprisingly, the urban/rural disconnect is a very western phenomenon – a condition of the developed world where our pockets are deep and our bellies are full.”

Countries where agriculture was a very small part of the gross domestic product (GDP) and where only a small percentage of the population was employed in the sector. like the UK where agri makes up 0.5% of GDP and the United States with agri GDP of 1%, had the widest disconnect, Jones found.

Ireland is still very agriculturally minded, with the average urban person only 1-2 generations removed from the farm, so they have retained a close cultural connection to the industry, but Jones says their media coverage, while strong, is ghettoised.

“Anything about agriculture tends to be siloed off into technical publications and the mainstream broad approach to covering sector issues was missing, which I think is a mistake – this starts to grow the disconnect.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Anna Jones in the shearing shed at home in Wales.

FARMERS PROBELMS: • Lack of transparency • Overdefensive • Industry voice is too dominant (media perceive industry groups to be lobbyists with an agenda rather than the trusted, authentic, grassroots voice of agriculture

MEDIA PROBELMS: • Urban bias • Lack of specialisation – media don’t understand technicalities of farming The only country where Jones found no disconnect was Kenya, because most Kenyans still make part of their living from agriculture and the commercial media sees a market there so they supply it, in the form of hugely technical supplements in the mainstream newspapers.

‘It shows the connection is still very, very strong.”

The US, where Jones found the disconnect to be the strongest, served as a warning to the rest of the world about what happened when you siphoned off the agricultural areas away from the urban population, she said.

“Unsurprisingly, the urban/rural disconnect is a very western phenomenon – a condition of the developed world where our pockets are deep and our bellies are full.”

“The disconnect is geographical obviously, but also cultural, social, economic and religious.”

A lot of educated US consumers, particularly those interested in where their food comes from, have lost trust in their countrymen who produce their food.

Jones said this could be plainly seen in the urban media’s coverage of conventional agriculture.

The intensification of agriculture – scaled up to feed a growing population – has not taken the masses on that journey with them, Jones said.

“When the two things collide –when an urbanised metropolitan media covers the stories of intensive agriculture – that’s where the real locking of horns happens, not just in America but across the developed world.”

Jones said there were faults on both sides of the debate.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE? Jones was surprised to see the disconnect alive and well in New Zealand, where she envisaged the contribution of agriculture to our GDP would insulate the country from the disconnect existing in other countries.

“While the disconnect obviously exists here, I do think that mainstream media here is much more sympathetic to agriculture, more so than it is in the UK.” Jones suggested a few strategies to lessen the disconnect in this country.

“We need to encourage specialisation of journalism students so there is a greater number of people upskilled and able to comment on industry processes and technical matters.”

Matching mainstream media with agricultural journalists could help brief them on the issues faced by the agri sector and to understand the processes used on farm and the reason for them, she said.

Journalists should be encouraged to look beyond the low hanging fruit of lobbying organisations and to go to farmers for a credible and authentic voice.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

• Lack of time and resources with massive cuts in newspaper journalism

JUST FARMERS Jones has established a programme in the UK called Just Farmers to fill the gap in case studies for mainstream media when they need some context around rural issues. The non-commercial programme recruits two groups of 12 diverse farmers each year to form a pool of case studies.

The farmers are upskilled in media education to help them to be good sources for journalists looking for a credible farmer voice in a story.

“We invite a couple of guest journalists to a workshop to cover interview exercises and how a story works – trying to get the farmers to think like a journalist.”

According to the Just Farmers website, the aim is to build confidence among farmers and growers and improve their communication skills; while helping journalists and programme-makers find independent case studies willing to talk when a story breaks; even if the context is negative or controversial.

“I noticed in my BBC role how much harder it was to get farmers to go on the record and say anything about their farms, so Just Farmers aims to fill that void with people who are willing to open their farms and businesses and hearts to tell others of their role.

“We need farmers who understand how important open communication is and who can champion their own farm without criticising others and speak in an authentic way, so we are finding and giving them experience.”

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us Coast the foc on the West e ple farming t can sur viv r Rotor ua cou business tha For a forme sustainable a s. g ort cin du rep pro Hardie has been on years. Anne s parents, low-payout with Damien’

ek Dairy er: Clear Cre • Farm own ien and tners: Dam • Equity par ot Emma Gro Settlement, Taramakau • Location: West Coast e hectares : 290 effectiv • Farm size s crossbred cow : • Herd: 600 7 on 282.3ha 6-1 201 • Production MS/ha cow; 850kg 400kg MS/ 30.4% gin: mar fit pro • Operating ha 36/ $1,4 profit/ha: • Operating /kg MS duction: 3.53 • Cost of pro 3.86/kg MS expenses: • Operating /ha DM 9.7t harvest: • Pasture 84.2% % of feed: • Pasture cows/FTE ciency: 211 effi our • Lab capital: 4.9% • Return on

ners line as equity part It sits in a ette Groot. ers Damien Rens and Ann beside the est Coast farm king s on river flats Groot are mil dairy farm of by a no-exit and Emma r, accessed when opens makau Rive cows than that h Tara bus st 100 fewer makau West Coa to the Tara road through they moved ade ago, valley. farm a dec st to the wide Settlement the West Coa ter profit. g down to grea k” and din buc and Hea for our duction l “best bang d for more pro worked wel provided the r saw Westlan ula that has this that first yea It is a form e finalists in $8.29/ even though ple who wer out fall from pay and ’ r for the cou ucts Yea the 0/kg MS, Milk Prod Business of year to $4.5 rd. ious Awa year’s Dairy prev hip ders kg MS the stment in People Lea rable e a 24% inve won the Best ch was a conside they now hav ek Dairy, whi ed finalists that s, Clear Cre Being nam r r milk payout the busines return on thei t when thei ) a reasonable achievemen ksolids (MS own gives them ut $1/kg mil couple also abo The . was of 4.9% season s investment er region. the busines oth by ght any bou orua less than in a runoff a house former Rot ght 24% the bou e ago Ten years ly they hav th with a 15% and separate rs headed sou 2018 y farm sharemilke | October -hectare dair 306 the rmlife.co.nz in | www.nzfa investment y Exporter

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to been dug over er hollows have ABOVE: Wett to the surface. farm a bring gravel to 13% of the ts regrass up LEFT: The Groo winter crop. of 20ha the year, including

as it in concrete t to invest more he is reluctan aper to buy ked out che , their usually wor tion. Instead ease produc of grass land to incr nes ton growing 13 more focus is on ng to grow er than tryi cheaper, rath ally grass. docks actu wetter pad k stoc Some of the less graze s now and grow less gras a decided it ien and Emm Dam docks use pad beca those ble to stock aina sust wasn’t tely higher. are delibera paddocks we ’ve “On some ien says. “We grass,” Dam them, so growing less system on ost er-c low n on gone for a s of nitroge three dressing we only do ts for the year uni 75 ut is abo because them which tely grow less to delibera . You and that’s stocking rate handle the you they can’t ise and then them otherw . them just wreck fix of trying to ogen at nitr have the cost of ts ck 250 uni “I could chu

“Running a simple system with fewer cows means they have dropped costs so that during the 2016-17 season which was assessed for the competition, their production costs were $3.53/kg MS (farm working expenses $3.09).”

27

ober 2018 .nz | Oct

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

BUSINESS CO DIARY

Finding future farmers

Words by: Heather Donaldson

I

t never ceases to amaze me seeing kids’ reactions to new experiences.

As the mum of two young children I’ve seen my fair share, but it was great to recently be a part of a school visit to one of my local dairy farms in Omakau.

Most of the 100 students, aged 10 to 11 years old from The Terrace School in Alexandra, had never set foot on a farm before.

They were interested in everything, and I mean absolutely everything. Even the things that those of us who live on farm, grew up on one, or spend a lot of time on them, can sometimes take for granted.

The calves were a huge hit, but even the electric fences, cow poo and walking the track to the dairy was entertaining and a novelty.

They also had question after question.

It was great to see their passion to know more about dairy.

And it got me thinking – if it wasn’t for school visits like these, when else would kids like this get a chance to spend time on farm?

It seems to me that nowadays fewer children get a chance to spend time on a farm.

I mean apart from A&P shows, how often does town really meet country?

Unfortunately, for some children, or adults for that matter, perhaps not that often, if at all.

That’s why I believe these school visits are so important – not only to educate children about where the milk they pour on their cereal comes from, but also hopefully inspire them to perhaps consider a career in dairy when they grow up.

And from what I could see on the day, I think they do. My heart melted hearing one of the boys say he wanted to be a dairy farmer. It doesn’t get much better than that.

But these school visits, which are part

of DairyNZ’s Rosie Education programme, are only possible thanks to farmers like Amanda and Mike Williams and Jonathon Rowe, who hosted the children on Heather Donaldson their farm.

The trio are no strangers to opening their farm gates. Last year they invited their local school to take a tour of the farm.

“We wanted to give the children, teachers and parents a chance to see happens on farm and tell our side of the story.

“We’re really proud of what we do and want to show that to the

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

community,” Amanda says.

The group have their sights set on hosting even more schools. In fact, their goal is to have every primary school in Alexandra through their gates. Inspiring stuff! Amanda encouraged other farmers to consider opening their farm gates.

“Put your hand up and give it a go, we’ve found it really rewarding.”

I was impressed to find out that over the past year, DairyNZ has helped 7553 children, along with their teachers and parents, visit a dairy farm through our Find a Farmer programme.

If you’re interested in finding out more about hosting a school visit on your farm, visit dairynz.co.nz/education.

Heather Donaldson is a DairyNZ consulting officer based in Timaru.

Farm owners Amanda and Mike Williams with their children Kate, 10, and Sam, 7, and Jonathon Rowe.

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BUSINESS REGIONAL PLANS

Plans change

Each region is developing its own distinctive set of rules on water and its quality.

Resource engineer Keri Johnston reports on what’s been developed so far. egionally, the development and implementation of rules relating to water quantity and quality are moving at different paces and are all at different stages in the process.

In an overview of where some of the larger regions are at, you will note that each region has its own approach to rule setting. Some would argue that this is because each region is unique and has its own issues (and I don’t disagree), but perhaps the scale of the disparity we are seeing is not needed.

The Government has indicated it will attempt to come up with high-level guidelines or a framework to try and reduce the large variation that we see, but this does have to be balanced with the need to address issues at a local level. Watch this space.

R

OTAGO

CANTERBURY Canterbury is well advanced in the development and implementation of its rule frameworks, and in 2017 Environment Canterbury (ECan) introduced Good Management Practices (GMP) into its Land and Water Plan framework, known as Plan Change 5.

Plan Change 5 also introduced the Waitaki-specific nutrient management rules. The decisions on the plan were appealed by a number of parties, particularly in relation to how the irrigation and fertiliser GMPs were being treated in the Farm Portal (the online tool developed to determine exactly what GMP is at a farm level). The appeals have now all been resolved and it is anticipated Plan Change 5 will be operative early in November 2018.

Plan Change 1, specific to the Selwyn-Te Waihora area; Plan Change 2, the Hinds Plains region; and Plan Change 3, the South Canterbury Coastal Streams area, are all now fully operative. These are known as sub-regional chapters and the rules in these plans override the rules in the main Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan.

The next phase of sub-regional plan development is underway with the Waimakariri and Orari-Temuka-Opihi-Pareora zones both in the initial planning stages. The indication is that the sub-regional chapters for these zones will be notified in mid-2019.

ECan has also made a big push in the areas where a consent to farm is required, to encourage those who need one to go through the process. There has been a good response as the process is new to many and requires professional help and a change in mindset for some.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Otago’s nutrient management rules are now about 18 months from kicking in (the date is April 1, 2020). Otago Regional Council has encouraged farmers to get their Overseer done. They have also taken the initiative in the more sensitive catchments such as the Kakanui and have provided resources and funding to assist. Otago’s rule framework is an attempt at taking a more permissive approach (ie: you do not need consent provided you meet certain conditions). However, one condition is a fixed nitrogen loss rate calculated using Overseer, and since the plan’s inception, Overseer has changed many times. For a large number of Otago farmers, this has put them further from the permitted line, and will make compliance with the rules problematic.

39

HORIZONS

SOUTHLAND Decisions on Southland’s Land and Water Plan were released in April 2018, and it was subsequently appealed. The council is expecting appeals to be resolved at some stage in 2019, so an operative plan is still some way off.

Southland’s rule framework split the region into physiographic zones based on water origin, soil type, geology and topography. This meant that each zone was essentially classified by risk to contaminant build up, runoff and leaching potential.

The plan also targeted further land use intensification including dairy conversions, intensive winter grazing and cultivation on steeper land.

Horizons One Plan struck a major hurdle in early 2017, with the Environment Court deciding the way the council was implementing its plan was not what the plan actually said. This has left the council with a plan that effectively doesn’t practically work as it was written and wondering what to do now.

Implementing the plan as written creates a massive cost to farmers and other consent holders and doesn’t necessarily achieve the desired water quality outcomes.

In August 2017, the council voted to investigate the possibility of a partial plan change. However, this will not be a quick or easy process as it is both a legal and public process. The aim was to have this plan change notified by the end of 2018. Still nothing yet, and 2018 is disappearing before our eyes.

HAWKE’S BAY Irrigators in the Tukituki catchment are left high and dry (literally) after the Ruataniwha Dam project was put on the shelf indefinitely. The Tukutuki River minimum flow is still going up, and without the dam to augment and flush the river, the increase in minimum flow will mean the possibility of severe restrictions for irrigators in this catchment.

Effectively, the rise in minimum flow was coupled with the dam, but the impacts of de-coupling are now being realised.

There are also the Tutaekuri, Ahuriri, Ngaruroro and Karamu (TANK) catchments in the Hawke’s Bay, neighbours of the Tukituki catchment. A project on these catchments began in 2012 with the creation of a stakeholder group consisting of 30plus members. In August 2018, the draft TANK plan was presented to the council’s regional planning committee for the first time.

Ironically, the TANK catchments are facing very similar issues to the Tukituki catchment, and as the implications of the failure of the dam come to light, perhaps the council would be wise to look at all of these catchments together and how water might best get to where it is needed.

GISBORNE

WAIKATO

Gisborne’s Freshwater Plan decision was released in August 2017, and was subsequently appealed. The appeals are still to be worked through and there is no timeframe at this stage on when appeals are likely to be resolved.

Gisborne’s Freshwater Plan was actually pretty kind from a nutrient management perspective when compared to Canterbury, for example. There is no requirement for onfarm limits using Overseer, and they have adopted a Farm Environment Plan approach to managing water quality.

However, it does have some issues with water quantity.

As horticulture, and kiwifruit in particular, looks set to increase, those looking in the Gisborne area for plots to develop are soon realising there is basically no water available for allocation unless you are prepared to take high-flow water and store it. This is limiting the potential for the region.

Plan Change 1 to the Waikato Regional Plan for the Waikato and Waipa river catchments hit a snag when it was first notified in 2016 with one of the local runanga claiming it had not been consulted in the manner required by the Resource Management Act 1991.

Variation 1 to Plan Change 1 was notified in April 2018 following the consultation process with iwi. The plan change, and its variation set out to reduce the amount of contaminants entering these rivers with the goal of making the Waikato River swimmable and viable for food gathering along its entire length.

Hearings are due to commence in February 2019.

40

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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SYSTEMS SOIL BIOLOGY

Alternative test After 15 years conventional dairy farming, Miah and Jenny Smith are embracing a new direction which they hope will make their business more profitable and sustainable for the future. Sheryl Brown reports. Photos: Emma McCarthy. iah and Jenny Smith have witnessed a significant improvement in soil and pasture quality since they embarked on a trial comparing biostimulants and fertiliser applications.

The couple have always followed conventional best practice methods when it came to industry fertiliser recommendations and pasture management. But despite following this advice they felt their Atiamuri dairy farm, which was converted from forestry 10

M

42

years ago, was struggling and showing no improvement.

There was minimal top soil on the farm, the soil was lacking in organic matter, nitrogen, calcium and boron and it had low pH levels.

The farm was harvesting just 10kg drymatter (DM)/ha and had a tendency to go dry quickly in the summer because the plant roots were short, Miah says.

There was bad infestations of grass grub and no worms to be found, despite the couple importing tiger worms and putting

on compost products over the years.

Miah, who has been farming conventionally for 20 years, found the status quo wasn’t working on this property.

“All the buildings, races and fences had been done. But there will still a lot of piles of wood, a lot of pasture had to be resowed, there were a lot of weeds, and we inherited a lot of grass grub.

“We were putting on 150kg N/ha, heaps of DAP, super phosphate, potassium – the works. But we were always chasing our tails and running out of grass. It was stressful.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

COSTS OF INPUTS PER ANNUM PER HA

TREATMENTS - Average inputs per annum per hectare

AgriSea Biostimulant $188/ha/pa Conventional Fertiliser

AgriSea Biostimulant Liquid applications per ha

N 124

P 58

K 26

S 58

Ca 44

Mg 30

15Litres concentrate SOIL NUTRITION

15Litres concentrate PASTURE NUTRITION

Miah and Jenny Smith are embracing a new direction on their Atiamuri farm.

Average increase or decrease in pasture performance drivers from 2015 to 2018

$387/ha/pa

$199 Per hectare savings Average Olsen P Conventional sites

pH

QT Potassium

Potentially Total S available N 150mm

Metabolisable Energy of Pasture

Grass Gub incidence

AgriSea Biostimulant

Increase 0.33

Increase 1.7

Increase 25

Increase 42

Increase 0.5

-18

Conventional Fertiliser

-0.2

Increase 1.7

Increase 15

Increase 150

0

-9

Average Root Depth history, and each (mm) site was split into Average Olsen P AgriSeaMiah sitesattended an AgriSea workshop with 180 Australian Dr Christine Jones and he came conventional fertiliser and biostimulant

Summer testing

KEY FACTS 64 units/ha P

Autumn 2015

Conventional Fertiliser Nutrient input per ha

53 units/ha P Conventional • Equity owners: Miah andConventional Jenny Smith, Alister and Glenys Wilson, Spring 2015 Summer 2016 2016 Autumn 2017 John and WendyAutumn Wilson

• Equity managers: Miah and Jenny Smith • Location: Atiamuri

back completely converted, Jenny says. programmes.

Conventional Fertiliser AgriSea Biostimulant The change of thinking to looking after “I gave the biostimulant treatment the soil biology first and135 foremost was like a shittiest block (of the farm), the really steep light coming on, Miah says. parts with low pH and browntop grass,” “One of my ‘hippy’ mates took me to the Miah says.

90 workshop. I came home and I was excited The alternatively treated paddocks had that something different could work. It’s three applications of seaweed and herbal about starting with the soil first not your mixture products Liquid Soil and Pasture 45 cows first. It’s how to feed soil biology.”

Nutrition per year while the conventional 0

May 2015 2016it. There Maywas 2017 no gap May 2018 ‘We really wanted toMay test in pasture production after three years, and the biostimulant paddocks came at less than half the cost.’

Spring 2018

Autumn 2018

• Area: 260ha effective • Cows: 535 Jersey crossbreds • Production: 2018/19 target: 200,000-210,000kg milksolids • Farm dairy: 74-bail rotary, ACR, Protrack, auto teat sprayer, indairy feeding • Pasture harvested: 10t DM/ha • Supplement: 400t

The couple discussed a plan with Jones and decided on a three-year trial with an AgriSea biostimulants treatment, a mixture of vitamins, minerals and trace elements brewed from a renewable NZ seaweed species and selected herbs.

Three paired sites were chosen that were comparable in contour, aspect and fertiliser

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

paddocks had capital and maintenance fertiliser of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, magnesium and calcium.

The couple went cold turkey and didn’t apply any nitrogen to the biostimulant paddocks during the trial and consequently the pasture growth was stunted 43

COSTS OF INPUTS PER ANNUM PER HA

TREATMENTS - Average Conventional Fertiliser Nutrient input per ha

AgriSea Biostimulant

N 124

P 58

K 26

S 58

Ca 44

Mg 30

$188/ha/pa Conventional Fertiliser

Average increase or decrease in pas

$387/ha/pa

significantly in the first year. However, by year three the alternative treatment and conventional paddocks were growing similar pasture cover.

“We really wanted to test it. There was no gap in pasture production after three years, and the biostimulant paddocks came at less than half the cost.

“There is more available N in our AgriSea product paddocks, where clover is actually fixing nitrogen, than the paddocks that had N fertiliser put on.”

AgriSea’s transition recommendation is to reduce nitrogen by 20-25% in year one, and again in year two, and further recommendations after that if that is desired.

Miah and Jenny have taken that advice onboard and will follow that gradual reduction in N as they extend the AgriSea biostimulant programme across the rest of their milking platform. Miah is going to keep one paddock dressed with only conventional to continue to monitor the difference.

The scepticism from other farmers has been continuous, but people can now see the results of how well the paddocks are performing under the programme, he says.

“The topsoil is definitely getting better – it’s what’s happening underneath that’s important. The grass grub just all died, they all went yellow. Yet they’re still in the conventional paddocks.”

The soil pH has gone up 0.33 on average in the biostimulant treated paddocks, without applying any lime. At two of the three conventional sites, there had been no 44

$199 Per hectare savings Average Olsen P trends 80

Average Olsen P Conventional sites

pH

QT Potassium

AgriSea Biostimulant

Increase 0.33

Increase 1.7

Conventional Fertiliser

-0.2

Increase 1.7

Average Olsen P AgriSea sites

180

Summer testing

60

Conventional 135

40

90

20

0

64 units/ha P Conventional Autumn 2015

Spring 2015

Summer 2016

change to pH, on one site there had been a decrease in pH. Potassium levels fluctuated with the seasons. At two of the three monitor sites, the treated paddocks had higher availability of potassium after three years.

Plant tissue magnesium levels increased in the biostimulant-treated pastures over the three years. The biggest change was seen in the clover-only samples.

There was a slightly higher metabolisable energy measured in those paddocks and root growth and soil building activity had also increased in these paddocks.

Aside from the soil and pasture improvements, there have been additional benefits with their animal health. The herd’s somatic cell count is down from 250,000SCC to 128,000. That is also down to being able to cull more freely this year,

45

53 units/ha P Conventional

Autumn 2016

Autumn 2017

Spring 2018

Autumn 2018

0 May 2015

and they have giving the cows an Agrisea animal health tonic, containing minerals, vitamins and bioavailable nutrients, Miah says.

The empty rate has dropped from 1215% to 7%. Their empty rate did go back to 11% last year because they cut two weeks off their mating period to shorten their calving spread. One of the biggest winning factors for the AgriSea programme was also profitability. It cost $200/ha less to produce the same amount of drymatter with better quality, Miah says.

That is a savings of $50,000 across 250ha in fertiliser inputs.

Everything they’d learnt in the past has been turned upside down, but if they can make money and look after the environment at the same time it’s a winwin, the couple say.

“We are trying to look after the land,

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

that is what looks after us,” Jenny says.

They are convinced that this approach is going to not only improve their soil and pasture, but they also feel they have Jenny and a more sustainable operation. With new Miah Smith have planted environmental regulations coming on to 18 species in dairy farmers a more biological fertiliser their worst regime will mean having less nutrient paddock and leaching from their milking platform, are trialling regenerative Miah says. grazing.

“I thought I was doing a good job and looking after the environment, but by doing this we won’t have any (fertiliser) runoff and it takes the pressure off.”

It is all trial and error for Miah and Jenny and they are prepared to give it a go. If they need to they will still apply conventional fertilisers when and where necessary, Miah says.

They are not trying to go organic and they will still be using sprays to keep control of weeds.

Weeds have been a huge challenge to get on top of.

Jenny’s dad inputs Alister hasper beenannum per hectare TREATMENTS - Average spraying up to five tanks in a paddock, Miah and Jenny are taking a step further now he’s down to five paddocks to one over the next two seasons and are trialling Conventional Fertiliser AgriSea Biostimulant tank. regenerative grazing and multi pasture Nutrient input per ha Liquid applications per ha “Alister would have to stand on top of species. the quad bike to be able to spray theconcentrate top of TheyNUTRITION

will be grazing pastures at 4000kg N 124

15Litres SOIL P 58

some of the thistles.”

DM cover down to about 2500kg DM K 26

concentrate PASTURE NUTRITION They have also invested in15Litres a tow and fert residuals.

Growing the pastures longer S 58

2800 sprayer to apply biostimulants with allows the leaves to grow bigger, giving the Ca 44

pasture seeds. plants greater sunlight accessibility, Miah Mg 30 They still cop some flack for going down says. a different path, but the couple can see the “Our goal is to capture the sun. People results and they want to act now before can grow up2015 to 40% more grass.”

Average increase or decrease in pasture performance drivers from to 2018 they are made to by new regulations.

Miah planted his worst paddock in 18 pH QT won’t change Potentially Metabolisable Grass Gub clovers, “Most people unless Total S different species, a third grasses, Potassium available N Energy of incidence they’re forced to change. Most people will and herbs. It’s called the salad paddock.

150mm Pasture wait and come back in another three years “When the cows go into the ‘salad’ AgriSea Increase Increase Increase paddock Increase -18 litres. I’ve always and see howIncrease we are going. they 0.5 go up 300 Biostimulant 0.33 1.7 25 42 “A lot of people have said our soil will be been told if cows go into long grass they’ll depleted after three years,Increase well it’s not.”

Conventional -0.2 Increase Increase drop0– but that hasn’t -9been the case.

Fertiliser 1.7 15 150

NEW GRAZING APPROACH

Average Root Depth (mm)

ea sites

ng 2018

180 Conventional Fertiliser

AgriSea Biostimulant

135

90

45

Autumn 2018

0 May 2015

May 2016

May 2017

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

May 2018

“It’s a massive mentality thing – it’s going against the grain. People might think we’re mad.”

The difference in the salad paddock’s topsoil and root depth has been phenomenal, Miah says.

“This farm had no topsoil, it had been bulldozed off. You can see it changing in the salad paddock. The roots were only going down two inches, now they’re growing up to a metre.”

Miah has been testing the brix levels of the pasture, and it’s three times higher in the salad paddock, he says.

“That means the cows are getting more energy from less drymatter.”

There is also a flurry of insect activity, including lots of bees.

They have a plan to slowly regrass the entire farm into multi species and are approaching it as a trial and error decision, Miah says.

They have grown maize, turnips, kale, chicory and oats crops in the past, but cropping is something they want to get away from.

“Hopefully the multi species paddocks there will be everything the cows need.”

The plants are all perennials, apart from chicory. Because the plants are left to grow, they will seed and regenerate which will help with pasture persistence.

They soil test four times during the year, which gives a clearer picture of mineral levels in the soil going forward.

Miah and Jenny own a third of the farm in an equity partnership with her parents, and aunty and uncle. They want to pay off their debt and will be looking for other opportunities to grow their business in the future.

45

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Phone: 0800 224 782 or 06 280 3161 Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

SYSTEMS SOUTHERN DAIRY HUB

New Southern Dairy Hub farm manager Shane Griffin, from Ireland, in one of the hub’s calf rearing areas.

Hard season at the Hub Words by: Karen Trebilcock conomics has interfered with research at the Southern Dairy Hub. A 40-tonne deficit in kale grown on the farm was filled with palm kernel this winter as balage was too expensive to buy, farm business manager Guy Michaels said at a field day at the Hub on October 10.

The cows fed palm kernel were part of a DairyNZ multi-year study into the short and long-term effects of wintering on either kale or fodder beet.

Cows on kale this year were given between 4 and 5.1kg drymatter (DM)/cow/ day of palm kernel as well as balage and crop. Cows on fodder beet were given beet and balage.

DairyNZ senior scientist Dawn Dalley said preliminary results from the trial showed little difference in production post calving this season but cows on fodder beet had slightly lower body condition scores throughout the winter.

Colostrum from both groups was also similar with about 80% failing to have 22% or above in the Brix range indicating poor quality which Dalley said was not uncommon to find on New Zealand dairy farms.

Calves from the kale cows were on

E

average slightly heavier and taller than AgResearch and southern farmers for cows wintered on fodder beet and commercial-scale research, is into its weighing every two weeks until weaning second season of milking and falling short showed the fodder beet calves have not of its spring milk targets. caught up.

“We’re only doing about 2kg milksolids The death rate in the kale cows was (MS)/cow/day and we were hoping to about 2% but in the fodder beet cows was be doing a lot more than that by now,” 8%.

Michaels said.

Autopsies showed metabolics “Calving has also been slower than we (phosphorus and calcium deficiencies) was expected from the calving reports.” the main cause of the deaths in the fodder August production had been budgeted beet herd, she said. at 15,500kg MS but the farm had only Cows on fodder beet had been done 11,076kg MS resulting in milk solids supplemented with phosphorus during revenue on budget being down almost the winter but $33,000 (at a $6.70 when calving payout). started staff “We’re not happy ‘Production to date did not have where we’re at. this spring has been the time to Production to date challenging and when we continue it, this spring has been get the chance we will pull Michaels said. challenging and when everything apart to find out Most deaths we get the chance we what has happened.’ occurred in the will pull everything cows calving in apart to find out what week three and has happened.” four.

Staff retention has also been a problem Dalley said there was also no time for on the farm which milks 700 cows divided staff to transition cows from fodder beet to into four herds for research purposes. grass.

Shane Griffin, the new farm manager, Springer mobs were taken off the crop grew up on a dairy farm near Dublin and and from then on offered only grass and immigrated to New Zealand in 2011. He balage. was managing a 500-cow irrigated farm at The Invercargill farm, set up by DairyNZ, Five Rivers in northern Southland before

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

47

coming to the hub. Michaels said the number of cows with Staph aureus mastitis was also disappointing this spring.

The Hub had culled 35 cows with the infection at the end of last season and now had a similar number again with Staph.

“We were told to expect a few this season but we didn’t expect this many.”

The highly contagious infection seemed to come from the herd which was from the Southland Demonstration farm.

“We have been very diligent identifying cows with it and we thought we had found them all last season.”

The farm would keep the infected cows through the calving period and then decide whether to cull them or not.

“Our somatic cell counts were at about 200,000 to 220,000 last year so we could potentially milk these cows into the vat.

“But we would have to have them as a separate herd so we could milk them at the end to stop them passing on the infection through the milking equipment to other cows. This would mean having five herds on the farm instead of four.”

Also at the October field day AgResearch senior scientist Ross Monaghan updated farmers on research into nitrogen leaching losses on the farm.

One of the four herds at the Southern Dairy Hub at the October field day.

AgResearch is also part of the kale versus fodder beet wintering with Monaghan measuring nitrogen leaching from both crops wanting to see how they compared and if they validated Overseer estimates.

Early results show soil mineral nitrogen in kale paddocks (which had palm kernel fed in them in troughs) was 71kg/ha while fodder beet paddocks in May was 74kg/ha and July 54kg/ha.

Monaghan also said monitoring water quality in the stream that drains the terrace at the Hub to see how farming practices affected nutrient levels had been ruled out.

A year of study into the hydrology of the waterway has shown it’s too complex and drains far too large an area.

“The stream seems to be gaining and losing water along its flow path and flows appear to likely include drainage discharges from surrounding farm land, including historic landfill sites, which we can’t control,” Monaghan said.

Tile drains which end at the stream are discharging as much as 25kg nitrogen/day which he said was equivalent to a 40kg bag of nitrogen fertiliser.

“Potentially we can look at ways in the future to reduce this using some form of end-of-pipe technology.”

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49

SPONSORED CONTENT | CLOVERZONE

Pushing the feed for summer

A

s we head towards Christmas it’s time to think about pushing some higher-quality feed forward into the summer. Applications of nitrogen (N) late November to early December can be very effective if there is enough moisture around to ensure all the N is utilised to grow grass and none is lost to either volatilisation, runoff, or leaching, in thunderstorm downpours.

Increasing the overall cover of higher protein grass and clover before the pasture dries out shortens up the gap to autumn and keeps those valuable supplements saved for a bit longer. If little or no potassium has been applied in the spring then it’s advantageous to add this to the N for a double benefit; increasing cover and feeding the clovers. Clover plants have a much higher requirement for potassium than rye grass and it is often one of the main limiting nutrients.

Remembering that the fertiliser programme is to reduce limitations for clover growth and enhance the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen.

The benefits of applying N to recently cut silage paddocks are in the speedy recovery of the pasture to full dense leaf before the summer kicks in. This reduces the bare patches and resulting invasion by flat weeds in the coming autumn.

The problem with applying N at this time of year is the unpredictable nature of the weather; even if rain is forecast it may not eventuate or there may be 100mm in a few hours. Fertco’s NSmart is a polymer-coated nitrogen that overcomes the weather risk and ensures N will only be released when soils are moist. So if you want to head to the beach secure in the knowledge if it does rain you’ll be growing grass and if it doesn’t you haven’t wasted your time or money, then NSmart maybe just the ticket.

50

Fertco NSmart’s polymer coating is made from vegetable oil so leaves nothing negative in the environment once the N is exhausted.

In moist conditions it takes a couple of weeks for the hard granules to imbibe water, swell to roughly twice their original volume and start leaking out N by osmosis. This process continues for about 90 days unless there is a dry spell and the granules dry out, shrink and stop releasing N. Once it rains again the release process continues.

Five field trials were conducted over two years in which the effects of single applications of different rates of a controlled release nitrogen (N) fertiliser, Smartfert, on pasture production and pasture N concentration were measured, relative to the same rates of SustaiN. The 2016 trials also compared multiple applications of SustaiN with a single application of Smartfert. Pasture responses to SustaiN relative to the control generally occurred within the first one to three harvests following application and then declined and became negative in the later harvests.

The pasture responses to Smartfert developed more slowly and were greatest after the third harvest. In terms of total production significant (P<0.05) responses to Smartfert relative to the same rate of N applied to SustaiN occurred in three trials. SustaiN significantly Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

SPONSORED CONTENT | CLOVERZONE

increased pasture production at one site relative to Smartfert.

In three trials pasture production from single applications of Smartfert applied at 100kg N/ha were the same and in one case better (P<0.05) than three consecutive applications of 33kg N/ha of SustaiN. The soluble N fertilisers, urea and SustaiN, elevated the mixed-pasture N concentration relative to control and to Smartfert in the first harvest following application. The nitrogen use efficiency (NUE, kg DM/kg fertiliser N applied) of Smartfert was significantly greater (P<0.05) than for SustainN in two trials.

Mixed pasture N concentration The mixed-pasture N concentrations, expressed as the difference from the control, for the seven trials in which this parameter was measured, including the three trials completed in 2014, are presented in Figures 3, 4 and 5.

In 2014 and the 2015 trials the soluble N fertilisers, urea and SustaiN, significantly increased the mixed-pasture N concentrations in the first harvest relative to the control and relative to Smartfert. This effect was not apparent in the three 2016 trials.

Most of the nitrate N leached from intensive dairy systems originates from the urine patch (Shepherd & Lucci 2013) and it has been shown that there is an almost linear relationship between N intakes and excreted urinary N (Dijkstra et all. 2013). There are two factors which affect N intake – the amount of DM consumed and the N concentration of the DM (Shepherd & Lucci 2013). They calculated that modest increases in pasture N concentration of 5-10% could increase N leaching by 1-5kg N/ha.

Based on the 2014 and 2015 results (figure 3) the average difference in pasture N concentration in the first harvest following application of either Smartfert N or soluble fertiliser N ranges from 12-18%. This suggests that replacing soluble N fertiliser with Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Smartfert may reduce N leaching by 5-10kg N/ha per grazing (M. Shepherd pers. Comm). This calculation assumes that the pasture N concentration for Smartfert was 4.2%, that the pasture on offer was 1000-1500kg DM/ha and that relative to Smartfert, soluble N increased pasture production by about 200kg DM/ha.

• Extract from Journal of New Zealand Grasslands 79: ‘Further field evaluation of the controlled release nitrogen fertiliser Smartfert®, D.C Edmeades and R.M McBride.

Take home message: It has always been a good option to apply some nitrogen late spring/ early summer to increase cover of higher protein and thus higher quality pasture going into the summer but results varied depending on rainfall or the lack of such. Now thanks to technology there is an option to take advantage of this opportunity without the risk of N loss by using Fertco’s NSmart.

On its own or combined with potassium NSmart is easy to apply with traditional spreading equipment and mixes with just about anything without risk of chemical reaction; so no gooey mess should it have to sit overnight in the spreader.

For a risk-free approach to improving feed quality and quantity give Fertco a call on 0800 FERTCO (0800 337 826)

www.fertco.co.nz

51

LUDF – an exceptional spring has meant more milk and no supplements.

SYSTEMS MATING

Making the most of mating Changes to pasture management and mating systems have made significant changes to milk flow so far this season on Lincoln University Dairy Farm. Anne Lee reports. he Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF) has, like many others in some regions of the country, had an exceptional start to the season.

A mild winter and spring have been major contributors to increased milk production thanks to the ability to utilise good pasture growth.

But so too have decisions made more than a year ago, leading up to mating, as well as decisions made in autumn when it came to grazing the last round.

A tighter, earlier calving has meant more cows (88%) calved by the end of August, boosting the amount of milk flowing into the vat at the outset of the season, and a decision to drop the average pasture cover at dryoff to 1900kg drymatter (DM)/ha has meant pasture in the first grazing round has been high quality.

By the end of September, the farm was 54% ahead on production compared with the same time last season and by midOctober was sitting at 34% ahead.

T

52

The farm’s manager, Peter Hancox, hosted open farm walks in mid-October in lieu of LUDF’s traditional focus day, partially so as not to compete with the Pasture Summit being held in November (www.pasturesummit.co.nz ).

He says paddocks were grazed hard during the last round with residuals even and down at 1500kg DM/ha, resulting in winter saved pasture being high quality.

issues in the first grazing round that had resulted from starting the new season with an average cover higher than 2600kg DM/ ha.

Good growth rates through recent winters have mainly been a result of milder conditions but a greater proportion of the farm is now sown in more winter-active grass varieties – particularly the tetraploids and hybrids such as Shogun.

Managing quality through late spring and early summer, when grasses were trying to head, was important not just for milk production but to maintain intakes of high-quality feed through mating.

Pasture quality tests through spring have consistently been around 13 megajoules of metabolisable energy (MJ ME)/kg DM. Lowering the average farm cover by about 200kg DM/ha to 1900kg DM/ha at dryoff aimed to overcome pasture quality

Even with the lower cover at dryoff requiring a growth rate of 11kg DM/ha/day to achieve the target 2600kg DM/ha, this year’s mild winter saw the farm grow an average of 17kg DM/ha/day through June and July and an opening season average

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

pasture cover of 2670kg DM/ha.

Unlike last season’s wet spring, which made utilising pasture difficult, this year’s excellent spring conditions meant cows were able to make full use out of what was offered.

That had in turn meant no supplement was fed to milking cows through the spring at all.

Cows had been wintered on pasture and rape and, while their body condition scores (BCS) were similar at calving to where they’d been at the same time the previous season when they’d been wintered on fodder beet for the first time, they’d held condition better after calving this season.

The previous season’s winter was wet.

By early October this season the farm was on a 25-day grazing round and cows were eating about 19kg DM/cow/day, going into pre-grazing covers of 32003000kg DM/ha, Peter says.

Although pre-grazing covers were up to 3400-3600kg DM/ha by the end of the first round, the predominance of tetraploids and hybrids in the sward and the previous lactation’s grazing management meant quality wasn’t reduced significantly.

Quality assessments even into the second round were showing relatively high drymatters at 17-19%.

That meant platemeter readings, calculated on 15% DM, needed to be monitored against cow behaviour to ensure allocations were accurate to support peak milk production on pasture alone.

Peter had used the mower pre-grazing twice by mid-October and had also mown behind the cows twice to maintain quality after rain events meant residuals weren’t quite hit.

“We’re trying to get 500-520kg

milksolids (MS) out of these cows and if we got them to achieve a 1500kg DM/ha residual every single grazing we wouldn’t be able to achieve that production.”

Pasture quality had to be high and conditions dry enough for pre-graze mowing to be effective.

“We don’t actually mow a lot – it’s probably only 200-260ha a year and if you think we will be grazing 2000ha by the time we’ve been round this farm 10-12 times (160ha milking platform) it’s actually only about 10%, and that’s including silage.”

Managing quality through late spring and early summer, when grasses were trying to head, was important not just for milk production but to maintain intakes of high-quality feed through mating.

Some of the winter active grasses also struggled more in the heat of summer and it was important now to make sure they were set up as well as they could be – at even, 1500kg DM/ha residuals.

Peter says given indications are for a hot, dry summer, being extremely disciplined now is particularly important.

“But the way the season’s gone you couldn’t really ask for a better one,” he says.

MATING HEIFERS – NO BULL

The risk of Mycoplasma bovis has pushed LUDF to a no-bull mating policy this season and, for mating heifers being grazed more than 70km away, it will mean an intensive CIDR programme.

Previously the farm has used a progesterone (PG) programme successfully followed by bulls with 67% of heifers in calf to AI. The CIDR programme involves three to four rounds of CIDRs with the first round inserted on October 2 and removed a

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

MASTITIS The only thing marring the great start has been an increase in mastitis cases, with a Staphylococcus aureus infection now identified as a culprit.

The early season spike in mastitis cases initially proved hard to treat, creating a sense of nervousness given it can be a sign of Mycoplasma bovis.

But culturing of the bacteria showed the infection, thought to be Streptococcus uberis, was in fact Staph aureus and a change in antibiotic treatment for clinically infected cows has since proven effective.

Peter says the late September herd test found 27 cows with somatic cell counts (SCC) greater than one million cells per millilitre and 22 cows with SCC counts of more than 500,000c/ml.

Of the 27 cows, 16 were diagnosed with Staph aureus infections.

The bacteria had never been identified as a problem on the farm before and Peter suspects that a high empty rate restricting the ability to cull cows has meant in-calf, higher SCC cows have been carried through.

In line with suggested best practice, and as a way to help combat antibiotic resistance, the farm moved to a dryoff policy at the end of the last lactation that meant only cows over a threshold SCC received dry cow therapy, with the rest receiving teat seal only.

Out of 440 cows wintered from the main herd, 120 were treated and the remainder received teat seal only.

But that wasn’t responsible for the increase in mastitis cases.

Peter says all the cows with the infection were among the higher SCC group.

Mastitis cows, even those cycling early, will be artificially inseminated (AI’d) to short-gestation Hereford with the high likelihood they would be culled at the end of the season.

53

week later on October 9. Three days later all 140 heifers were AI’d.

The process was then repeated to enable mating again three weeks from the previous insemination.

It involved all heifers being CIDR’d again but instead of AI’ing every animal, mating was carried out based on visual heats.

Two weeks later or 35 days since the first insemination, heifers will be pregnancy tested and a third round of CIDR’s will be inserted into heifers not in-calf to that first insemination.

Some of these may be in-calf to the second insemination but there’s no way of knowing that.

Insemination for the third round will again be done based on visual heats.

A fourth round is possible but Peter is hoping it can be avoided because it would be scheduled for December 12, pushing those heifers well into the main herd calving period.

The aim of heifer mating at LUDF has been to have them calving well before the main herd to give them more time to cycle before their second mating.

The planned start of calving for the heifers will be July 16.

Peter says the plan for this year’s heifer mating had been discussed at the end of last season and, given the risk of a higher empty rate in the heifers because of the no-bull policy, 35 young empty cows were held over as carryovers.

They’ll go through the same CIDR programme but will only have two rounds.

COWS ALL AI – NO BULL It’s no secret LUDF has struggled with empty rates and last season’s mating was no exception at 19% empty.

However, indications are that last season’s plan has worked to condense calving and, based on this season’s

54

Hitting residuals and maintaining high intakes of top quality pasture – no problem this spring.

premating heat detection, the hope is for further improvements.

Peter says 87% of the herd cycled in the third week before planned start of mating, which is an average of 23 cows per day and double the rate of the previous year.

The aim last season had been to bring mating forward to give cows more time to get back in calf and that’s been achieved with 88% of the herd calved by the end of August this year, five weeks into calving.

Mating usually began on October 25 to give an August 1 planned start of calving

but last season mating started a week early.

The farm was part of a frozen sexed semen trial for the first week with 70 of the 143 cows put up for mating then inseminated with sexed semen.

Thirty-one cows (44%) conceived to sexed semen compared with 42 animals (58%) put to conventional Premier Sires semen. The overall LIC trial found a 12.5% drop in conception using frozen sexed semen.

Last year’s mating plan was: • Week one – Starting October 18 Frozen sexed semen

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Staying on top of pasture quality – Peter Hancox, centre, with Erica Taylor, left and Tom Chapman, right.

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• Then three weeks Premier Sires • Then three weeks short gestation length (SGL) • Followed by four weeks with bulls to give total mating of 79 days (11 weeks two days) • The sexed semen programme combined with heifer mating added to the Premier Sire mating period resulted in 160 heifer replacements. A total of 167 heifer calves were born but seven weren’t fully proven.

• The three-week SGL programme brought calving for those cows forward by 14 days.

• Six-week in-calf rate was improved to 68% last season - the aim is to be above 78%.

This season’s mating plan with no bulls.

• Start one week early again on October 17 and AI with frozen sexed semen for a week only on cows which have already had one heat to improve chances of conception. Other cows will be AI’d to Premier Sires.

• Then three weeks with Premier Sires.

• Weeks five to 11 will be AI’d using SGL semen.

Peter has used pre-mating heat detection as a way to train staff for heat detection duties during mating so they can step in towards the end of mating to relieve him.

The farm uses no intervention on the main herd and the farm has never used induction.

Cows were metrichecked twice with 33 cows treated from the first check and nine treated in the second.

With cow condition holding well this year after calving, high quality pasture and cows cycling exceptionally well the LUDF farm team is hoping this is the year mating results improve and that the no-bull programme doesn’t stymie that.

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Exporter www.nzfarmlife.co.nz O N EDairy NA M E C| O V E R S I T A L| LNovember 2018

55

SYSTEMS ONFARM

It’s all about the pasture A focus on pasture first, keeping costs low and driving profits through strong cashflow means a dairy operation has been able to grow not only their own business but partner with others to help grow theirs. Anne Lee reports.

A

t this time of the year one of the main topics of conversation on farms around the country is what cows peaked at or what production’s doing compared with last season. Not so on Roadley Farms.

The conversation – no matter what time of the season – goes straight to pasture.

“I don’t turn up and ask managers what their per cow is – that’s just not what we’re interested in.

“We’re more likely to 56

get straight into a discussion about what’s happening with pre-graze (covers), what’s happening with residuals.

“I’ll have an eye on what the trajectory is with milk flow but that’s not what the guys are looking at every day, they’re looking at what’s going on in the paddock. We just don’t have a production focus,” Greg Roadley says.

Greg and Rachel Roadley own three dairy farms and support blocks north east of Ashburton and are shareholders in an equity partnership that includes current and former staff.

That partnership owns two dairy farms – one that’s close to their own farms and one just north of Oamaru.

All-up the operations milk 3100 cows.

Greg is speaking at the Pasture Summit later this month – www.pasturesummit. co.nz The couple’s ethos of being pasture farmers first and foremost, keeping costs low and driving profits through strong cashflow means they’ve been able to grow not only their own business but partner with others to help grow theirs.

Their Canterbury equity partnership

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Greg and Rachel Roadley – the profit-focused system has allowed the couple to fund growth and achieve a high return on equity.

“That drives a high profit that then allows us the free cash to improve the equity position and grow.

“But each growth step is taken on the basis of thorough analysis and expectation for return on capital – so we aren’t just growing for growth’s sake, we are growing because we can grow the share price,” he says.

Greg and Rachel’s philosophy lies in understanding that New Zealand’s competitive advantage is in the ability to grow perennial ryegrass cheaply and harvest it at a low cost through a dairy cow.

‘I’ll have an eye on what the trajectory is with milk flow but that’s not what the guys are looking at every day, they’re looking at what’s going on in the paddock.’

FARM FACTS Roadley Farms • Total effective area: 570ha • Total support area: 172ha • Total cows: 2060 • Average production: 15501600kg MS/ha, 420-440kg MS/ cow • Supplement: Nil • Farm working expenses: $3.20$3.40 including market rate for support costs • Return on capital: Aiming for minimum 9% on any investment.

• Return on equity: Long run ROE 18%.

Winters Farm is in its 7th season and is run with real disciplines around return expectations, costs and delivering for shareholders. Greg says at the outset with any partnership it’s imperative to make sure everyone is strongly aligned in values and that expectations for the business are well understood.

They have a clear understanding of the delineation between governance and management something Rachel says has come from Greg’s involvement as a director over the years on large scale Canterbury, Southland and United States dairy farming company Grasslands.

Greg says their equity partnership farms follow the Roadley philosophy which is to focus on maximising the margin on each kilogram of milksolids by running a simple, low-cost, pasture business.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

“We try and focus on a simple, repeatable system, something that can be articulated in a quarter of an hour to someone who doesn’t know anything about grass farming.

“I think that’s what’s allowed us to scale – we don’t have the complexity – we’ve got a farming system that’s all grass so there’s not a lot of levers and places to deviate from a simple plan.”

The couple’s propensity to analyse and monitor both their financial and physical data closely is what led them to pull bought-in fed out of their system altogether.

“What we have done really well since we started is monitor and measure our farming system and, because we’ve analysed that, we really understand what the profit drivers are for our business.

“We’ve learned what does and doesn’t drive EBIT for our business.

“Bought-in feed has a zero to negative correlation with profit for our business and that’s effectively driven supplement out,” he says.

As Rachel says they weren’t feeding high levels of bought-in feed – about 300-350kg drymatter (DM)/cow but they tried several types of feed and growing it themselves on support blocks – feeds such as maize, barley and triticale.

Despite pulling out supplement, production hasn’t changed.

57

TABLE 1. EBIT VS. IMPORTED FEED/COW 500

$9000

EBIT/ha

$8000

Imported supplement/cow

$7000

400

300

$5000

250

$4000

200

$3000

150

$2000

100

$1000

50

$

kg DM/cow

350

$6000

0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

“I think that tells us we had a higher degree of substitution than we thought – even though we thought we were doing a pretty good job.

“It means our productivity has increased with less input so our grass harvested must have lifted,” Greg says.

Stocking rate hasn’t really changed over time and sits at about 3.6cows/ha with milk production per cow at 420-440kg milksolids (MS) and 1550kg MS/ha.

Greg agrees production can’t be ignored and it’s important stocking rate is set so that cows can be well fed on pasture alone through the front half of the season and a normal autumn season.

If conditions mean pasture targets can’t be met through the autumn, then other tools such as early culling and drying off are used rather than bringing in supplement. Again their aim is to maximise the margin by focusing on the cost part of the equation.

58

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EQUITY PARTNERSHIPS • Total effective area: 233ha • Total cows: 1010 • Average production: 420kg MS/ cow, 1600-1700kg MS/ha

“We avoid any kind of solution that aims to push that margin by diluting costs with extra production.

“If we’re weighing up a decision that may or may not produce more milk we’ll opt for the decision that may mean less milk but always means less cost.”

Greg says the first step in pulling feed out was to consistently achieve 1500kg DM/ha residuals and train both the people and cows in achieving that.

“Every paddock, every day – it had to be fine-tuned.”

It meant using the feed wedge closely and people spending more time in the paddock with cows monitoring their progress getting through their allocation.

“It meant breaking down the grazing schedules into half-hour intervals and ensuring cows were never hanging around at a 1500kg DM/ha residual. They’d get shifted the minute they hit it. If they didn’t they’d go back into that paddock until they did,” he says.

If they hit their residual target by 11am, Greg says that would set off a trigger and start questions going in the team’s minds.

“It sort of sets off an alarm and they come to the contract milker and the contract milker will mention it to me and we’ll look at what’s happening – have we got the paddock selection right, where’s the deviation and what should we do about it?

“It’s a sort of feedback loop that’s operating. We do a lot of informal email

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Greg and contract milker Steve O’Sullivan – aligned on pasture focus.

comms where every two or three days I’ll put up the KPIs around the group and we’ll look at whether we’re going too fast, too slow, have we got the right paddocks shut up at the right time?”

Greg has spent hours walking paddocks with staff, talking about and estimating covers, discussing pre-graze and postgrazing levels, growth rates and average covers – everyone needs to be on the same page and be calibrated.

Greg and Rachel’s contract milker, Steve O’Sullivan is on all three of their own

farms. He’s also a partner in their equity partnerships.

Steve’s been in their business for 18 years and staff turnover is virtually non-existent.

That means consistency over how staff view and estimate pasture covers and makes the by-eye approach accurate.

That accurate assessment includes taking into account cow behaviour and interpreting what they’re telling you about your estimates of pasture cover, Greg says.

“If you solely rely on a platemeter you’re going to come up with some wonky

information,” he says.

It’s good for setting up the wedge but you need to be considering other factors such as drymatter percentages when making the assessment on cover.

“During farm walks they’ll be saying ok what do we think this is, how many metres have the cows had, how much have they harvested, what’s the residual and so what did the pre-graze have to be?

“Those are the sorts of questions we’ll run through when we’re out in the paddock together too.

TABLE 2. PRODUCTION VS. IMPORTED FEED 1700

700

600

1500

kg DM/ha

400 1100 300 900 200 700

500

Average kg MS/ha kg imported feed/cow

kg/ha N & Imported feed

500 1300

100

0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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MANAGING A NIL INPUT SYSTEM Greg starts his 101 Guide to Managing With No Inputs in the autumn because that’s when the next season is set up.

“We use targeted average pasture covers that are non-negotiable through the autumn so that we end the season exactly where we want farm average cover to be.

“We won’t compromise a single kg of grass to eke out a little more milk.”

They have 5% of their milking platform in fodder beet and use half of that for autumn transitioning cows. Their average farm cover, dryoff target is 2000-2100kg DM/ha.

“The flex will be what our winter feed situation looks like,” Greg says.

When the new season rolls around they are disciplined in using a simple spring rotation planner to allocate a specific area to cows based on a square metre rate per cow calved.

They’ve made it clear though that if they were to get a severe weather event over that time they’d purchase feed in.

“We have that backstop because when you get close to the edge you have to give the guys confidence that they’re not going to tip over.”

During that time, they’re monitoring both their daily allocation closely and weekly pasture covers so they have the spring rotation planner and target pasture cover graphs for the farm teams to track too, with the graphs driven from the feed budget.

“So they have two points of reference and we won’t act unless there’s an issue with both.”

From balance date on, the average pasture cover and pregrazing covers are the key KPIs and with weekly pasture cover monitoring for each paddock across the whole farm they use a simple feed wedge to show any impending feed deficit or surplus.

At times of rapid or variable growth they’ll walk the farm every five or six days but they’re also assessing paddocks as they’re going into them each day.

The aim is for a pre-graze cover of between 2800-3000kg DM/ha which translates to a 2100kg DM/ha average cover across the farm and a grazing interval of about 21 days.

The farm is mostly in diploid ryegrasses and Greg finds 21 days gives the right balance between getting close to a three-leaf stage and maintaining quality.

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Greg Roadley and farm manager on the Roadleys’ Batley Farm Dado Belza – conversations quickly turn to pasture management not production KPIs.

“I want the guys to be thinking about what they’re seeing and assessing the whole picture every time. If you empower them to think about it and justify their reasoning, it becomes first nature.

“If they’re just going by the platemeter reading they’re not going to have those skills.”

GROWING MORE GRASS As well as utilising more, Greg and Rachel have increased the amount of drymatter grown on the farm by reviewing and upgrading irrigation, soil moisture monitoring and being more precise with their soil fertility.

“Irrigation is a big expense line item so it gets a fair bit of notice. Just like any other component the more you monitor and measure it the more control you have over it,” Greg says.

Soil moisture monitoring via Aquaflex tapes and telemetry of that data along with data on evapotranspiration and weather forecasts means they can be a lot more accurate with irrigation scheduling.

“We’ve been trying to operate at the lower end of the soil moisture band.

“Back in the early days the view was you couldn’t put too much water on and once the machines were turned on they had to stay on just to keep up.

“But we’ve found by investing in enhancing the irrigation systems and monitoring we’ve been able to move a little close to the cliff in terms of soil moisture

levels and we’ve been able to do that without detriment to pasture yield.

“At the same time, we’ve reduced water use and loss to ground water of both water and nutrients.

“The return on capital for soil moisture monitoring is very high. Irrigation costs us (across the four farms) about $1500/day so we only have to turn it off for two or three days and it’s paid for itself.”

About 95% of the water for the farms is sourced from ground water bores so pumping is a significant cost.

The other 5% is from the BCI scheme and two of the couple’s farms have storage ponds to increase reliability of that water.

Greg and Rachel have moved to soil testing every paddock and have a good paddock-by-paddock data set on soil fertility. While he knows it’s a multifactorial issue Greg’s analysis, correlating yields with Olsen P values, found a pretty poor relationship and while being careful to make sure paddock yields aren’t being affected by any other major issues, it’s led him to reduce his target Olsen P level to 25.

“I’m trying to position that fertility close to the top of the steepest part of the response curve and that’s meant we’ve been able to save on fertiliser costs.

“Moving to whole farm testing has been very powerful in terms of being able to mine your top end, put it on where it’s needed and get good responses.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

SPECIAL REPORT

62 66 67 71 74 76 78

Going with the flow Attention to detail Learning from leaky ponds Benefits of hindsight Learning from Nebraska Taking tech to the trough Woodchip to mop up nitrate

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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SPECIAL REPORT | INFRASTRUCTURE

Getting the most out of every drop of water is essential for Canterbury farmer Ben McKerchar.

Anne Lee took a tour of his irrigation system.

N

othing creates efficiency like a scarce resource.

When that resource can be the biggest single driver of profit and environmental sustainability the case for investment into improving its efficiency can be a mighty strong one.

For Larundel Dairy Partnership’s contract milkers Ben and Tracy McKerchar, water is that resource and while it’s not necessarily scarce it’s not guaranteed to be on-tap, in full flow every day of every season.

The 625ha operation, which includes 390ha of owned land and 235ha of lease blocks, is half-way along Tram Road on the north bank of the Waimakariri River.

Larundel taps into the Waimakariri Irrigation Scheme – a run-of-river scheme

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currently going through what’s proving to be an arduous process of attempting to get consent to build large scale storage at the top of the scheme to improve reliability.

The run of river nature means the scheme can be prone to restrictions, limiting and cutting the flow of what is essentially the lifeblood of pasture production.

Before the scheme Larundel drew groundwater from bores and, while it surrendered some of those consents when it joined the scheme, it’s retained two takes for the home block and maintained the connection to mainline infrastructure.

That allows enough water to fully irrigate 60% of the farm but in reality they move it around the farm and will play

catch-up in some areas when restrictions are lifted.

They can also draw on limited bore water on some of the lease blocks, although two have no backup.

“If we can get through to the back end of January on limited restrictions we can generally get through to the end of the season but we have to manage it pretty carefully,” Ben says.

Managing the water resource and getting to the point where pasture production and profitability aren’t unduly penalised in a hot, dry, water-tight year has been about improving and investing in water infrastructure.

Eking out water use efficiency to take out wastage and having machines and systems in place to put water on where and when it’s needed in just the right

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Ben and Ella McKerchar – irrigation technology the way of the future

amounts has been key to the farm’s continued improvements in productivity and profitability.

It’s well proven that pasture eaten has the strongest correlation with profit and, with Ben a proven utiliser of pasture, every extra kilogram of drymatter (DM) he can grow has an influence on the bottom line.

It’s not just his and Tracy’s business that benefits, it’s their farm owners and even the owners of leased support blocks.

The farm was converted in 2001 and was well set-up with three pivots that irrigate 300ha of the 360ha milking platform area.

The lease blocks were a mix of Rotorainers, big guns and K-line sprinklers. Now 180ha of the 235ha support area is also watered by pivots.

Larundel Dairy Partnership • Total area: 625ha • Milking platform: 360ha • Cows: 1320 • Production: 470-480kg MS/cow • Supplement: 600kg DM/cow – 400kg DM barley, 200kg DM pasture silage • Operating costs: $3.69/kg MS • Operating profit: $4513/ha DairyBase 2016-17 study • Farm dairy: 70-bail rotary with Protrack and mating camera • Irrigation: Nine pivots, one gun and 30ha of laterals • Wintering: cows wintered on support land on fodder beet • Young stock: Grazed on leased support land

In one case, the upgrade was carried out and paid for by Larundel and in two others the lessors have made the investments and increased the lease rate.

Since 2011 the process has meant six new pivots on support areas including three small pivots and fixed grid sprinklers on a 25ha block of adjoining land the farm partnership bought last year. They replaced a Rotorainer on a 10day return interval that would have been putting on about 50mm/ha at a time – well beyond the soil’s water holding abilities.

Pivots can put on as little as 5mm/ha over a larger area every 24 hours.

“We start from the analysis of how much extra feed we will grow and the return on investment we think we’ll get.

“We’re relatively conservative when we do that but we know (from experience and close pasture and crop monitoring) that we can get an extra 5t DM/ha if we go to pivot irrigation from long lateral sprinklers or K-line. It’s about 3.5t DM/ha from a Rotorainer.

“When you put 22c/kg DM on that extra feed grown the return on investment stacks up no end,” Ben says.

On one lease block a pivot covering 54ha replaced a Rotorainer on a 14-day return interval and in 2015 K-line on a 50ha block was replaced with a pivot which covers 46ha.

In 2016 a Rotorainer on a 12-day

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

return interval was replaced with a pivot covering 76ha.

Getting the lessors on board has typically been a matter of working through the numbers with them and striking an increased lease payment rate that then gives them a good return on capital of 8-10% but still leaves room for Larundel to capture gains too.

All of the costs of the upgrade including any re-fencing, corner sprinklers and power installation along with the cost of the new pivot are included in the analysis on the lessor’s side.

On the farm’s side the analysis will put a value on the expected lift in feed grown as well as savings in repairs and maintenance (lower tractor costs if going from a Rotorainer), labour and power savings.

Ben says the analysis is based on realistic figures with the increase in lease set to give both parties a fair share of predicted returns.

The same or even greater depth of analysis is used with all investment and management change decisions, including a shift a couple of years ago to being more self-contained.

“The ability to use water more efficiently and grow more drymatter – whether that’s pasture or home-grown fodder beet – has meant we’ve been able to become more self-contained, wintering cows ourselves on those support blocks, rearing all our own youngstock and cutting silage.

“It’s meant we’ve been able to do that profitably so we’ve taken a lot of risk out of the business,” he says.

The system change has cut 44c/kg milksolids (MS) of costs out of the budget and when milk production is budgeted at 650,000kg MS that’s a significant saving.

Over the whole farm, Ben says the irrigation changes mean they can grow 2.5t DM/ha more each year.

They’re still working on increasing that additional drymatter production with long laterals still used on close to 40ha.

“We’ll replace those with small pivots or fixed grid,” Ben says.

If the whole operation was still with its original irrigation set-up Ben estimates he’d require an additional full-time staff member.

“So we’re talking another $50,000 which is 8c/kg MS but a labour unit is more than the cost of salary – it’s housing, gear, bikes.

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“Not having to physically get out there and move irrigators all the time means people can be doing more productive things with their time.”

Having the right infrastructure to maximise water use efficiency is one thing but knowing when to apply the water to ensure only what’s needed goes on at a given time means soil moisture monitoring is a must.

Ben says they’ve always used it but they’ve recently increased the number of soil moisture monitoring sites to seven from three and use Regen to manage the data and make irrigation scheduling suggestions. Waimakariri Irrigation holds the consents for its irrigators and as part of its compliance and proof of good management practice it requires irrigators to use the Regen system.

Both Ben and his 2IC, Matt Suckling, can use the app on their phones and the log-in site on PCs. The Regen system analyses the soil moisture data and uses weather data from local weather stations and weather forecasts to make the irrigation scheduling suggestions.

It’s only been installed in time for this season but so far Ben says he’s been very impressed with what it can do and how they can use it.

Irrigation gets a bad rap from interest groups and the general public but Ben says technology can mean irrigated systems can do even better than nonirrigated areas.

“What we have here is the ability to manage soil moisture and drainage down into the groundwater a lot better than those who rely solely on rainfall I think.

We’re only getting 600mm of rainfall a year and we apply the other 600mm little and often so we don’t get drainage.

“If you’re getting 1200mm of rainfall a year you can bet some of that’s coming in

ABOVE: Ben McKerchar and 2IC Matt Suckling – a simple text via the Regen system installed for effluent management as well as irrigation gives peace of mind and informed decision-making.

BELOW: The upgraded effluent system includes a solids separator that allows the liquid to be sprayed out evenly through an underslung system on the pivot.

30mm, 50mm or even 80mm events that you have absolutely no control over.”

Larundel has also added effluent monitoring and scheduling to its Regen package to go alongside a significant investment in the effluent system.

Each morning Ben receives a text that will tell him whether soil moisture conditions are right to apply effluent or not.

The system can also let him know how full the storage tank is.

Come and see us at our outdoor Site 30

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Ben and Ella McKerchar – let it rain (but when and where and how much we want.

“We’re very driven by return on investment and profit but hand in hand with that, when the board’s making decisions on investment, is the effect on the environmental footprint – what effect will a spending decision or change in way we do things have on our farm environment plan, what will it do to our nutrient losses?”

“Getting that wrong is a big risk to the business but getting it right is also just the right thing to do,” he says.

Last season they were plagued by a 17-year-old pivot rusting out and blowing holes in the metal structure.

It was also the pivot the effluent gun was attached to. It was underslung and manually repositioned along the pivot.

“It didn’t give us an even spread in the paddock. The nozzle is the same no matter where it’s sitting on the pivot so there was a higher application rate when it was at the middle of the pivot.”

The new system is underslung too but the effluent is sprayed on at regular intervals through nozzles set specifically to give a uniform distribution, so from an application depth of 12mm-plus with the gun the system now evenly puts on up to 5mm.

Back at the farm dairy the system has undergone an extensive upgrade too with a larger concreted apron, new concreted wedge, concrete pond and a solids press effluent separator.

The system feeds into a Humes Tank installed six years ago with enough storage for 20 days.

Solids are stored on a concreted bunker with a weeping wall, allowing any further liquid to drain back across to the concrete storage pond that holds the effluent before it goes through the separator.

“The next step is to test the effluent we’re putting out so we can combine that with our soil test results and be even more precise with our fertiliser and nitrogen use.”

Investing in upgraded infrastructure, whether it’s to apply water or effluent, will give a win-win return in productivity and environmental outcomes, he says.

“Too often people see it as just compliance but we know you get both.”

What Ben would love to see now is Fonterra farmers rewarded financially for achieving high operational standards.

In Canterbury all farms must be operating at good management practice as defined and agreed by Environment Canterbury and farming sector groups.

Those who don’t will be picked up when their farm environment plans are audited and could risk breaching their consents.

That’s the stick but Ben believes farmers also respond to incentives and for those who have invested heavily in infrastructure and systems and go beyond good management there’s a great story for Fonterra to be leveraging off in the market place.

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65

SPECIAL REPORT | SMART WATER USE

Words: Anne Lee Irrigated farms may be able to slash nitrate leaching losses by managing their irrigation differently but it will mean paying more attention to the detail when it comes to irrigation scheduling.

Dr John Bright of Aqualinc Research has led a desktop study into how improving irrigation efficiency can reduce drainage and associated nitrogen losses and found it’s possible to achieve an average reduction of 27%.

He’s used real data from 12 dairy farms in Canterbury with a range of soils and combined it with more than 40 years of weather data.

That allowed him to analyse the effect on nitrate leaching losses and pasture production of lowering both the soil moisture trigger point, or point where irrigation is started, and the target soil moisture level the irrigation is aiming for.

There was a big range in nitrate leaching reductions from 4% to 58% with absolute drops of 3-39kg nitrogen (N)/ ha/year across the farms but the average drop of 27% was equivalent to a fall in nitrogen loss of about 19kg N/ha/year in the farm’s Overseer loss to water figure.

Pasture growth was reduced slightly with 2-3% less drymatter production.

Bright says the nitrate loss reductions were achieved by lowering the irrigation trigger point over the shoulder periods – September and October in spring and

February to April in autumn.

That meant allowing the soils to dry out further than they traditionally would before irrigation was applied.

Typically, the irrigation trigger point has been 50% of soil water holding capacity or plant available water capacity (PAW) throughout the irrigation season but Bright’s modelling allowed it to fall significantly lower in September and April to 20%, 30% in March and 40% in October and February.

At the same time the targeted soil moisture level achieved by the irrigation was also dropped to 80% of soil moisture holding capacity allowing more room in the soil for rainfall events that are more likely through those periods which in turn reduces the frequency of drainage events. Bright says farmers might be nervous about using the lower trigger and target levels but expects some will be willing to take a risk and try it out on parts of their farm.

However, he says it’s likely farmers will want to see real-world testing of the parameters before taking it up generally.

The bonus in terms of seeing the reductions in nutrient budgets is that Overseer already has the right input settings for the decision rules to be applied to the model so farmers are recognised for the reductions.

But Bright warns there are requirements for the strategy to be implemented successfully. First, soil moisture has to

Irrigation management strategy Month

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Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Irrigation Trigger (% of soil water holding capacity

20

40

50

50

50

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30

Irrigation Target (% of soil water holding capacity)

80

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be measured properly using reputable soil moisture sensors or a soil moisture monitoring service provider.

The irrigation system itself must be able to be adjusted to apply relatively small amounts of water – for example 15mm with the depth dependent on the soil type and its soil water-holding capacity.

The irrigation system also must have a relatively short return period of about three days although this depends on the amount of water applied and the evapotranspiration rate.

Water supply for irrigation must be reliable. Schemes or takes where reliability is low and there are frequent restrictions or shutdowns make running such a deficit irrigation model much riskier to pasture production.

But Bright says about 72% of irrigation application systems in use in Canterbury are very likely to be able to meet the application depth and return period requirements.

Another 19% could meet the criteria but would probably need a comprehensive irrigation design review and some capital investment in irrigation equipment. The balance would almost certainly require replacement of the existing irrigation system.

Bright says an irrigation survey found 60% of those surveyed had soil moisture sensors installed but somewhat surprisingly fewer than half used them to guide day-to-day irrigation scheduling despite economic benefits from doing so. Regulations requiring nitrogen loss reductions may be the April May incentive which will change 20 20 that though particularly given the available loss reductions 80 80 indicated by Bright’s study.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

SPECIAL REPORT | SMART WATER USE

A seemingly simple, but hydrologically complex process is offering a means to reducing Canterbury nitrate levels and restoring groundwater levels. Anne Lee reports.

It looks like a smaller version of an onfarm storage pond – fenced off and sitting on a corner site just west of Tinwald at Laghmoor.

But the innocuous pond has already proven a valuable tool in the search for ways to help solve what’s become one of the biggest, if not the biggest challenge to dairy farming’s future on the Canterbury plains – nitrate levels in groundwater.

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is a seemingly simple, but hydrologically complex process that at its most basic takes clean water and adds it to the groundwater system.

American-born hydrologist Bob Bower explains that the clean water can be transferred into the underground system by building what are essentially leaky ponds, injecting it into bores or allowing it to filter down through constructed wetlands.

It’s a process used worldwide to tackle a range of problems – often to replenish groundwater flows or reserves depleted by over-allocation or because the natural

recharge processes are prevented by factors such as urban sprawl.

In the case of the MAR project, now in its third year in Canterbury, it’s been both a water quality and water quantity solution that’s been sought.

The project stemmed from the fact that bore monitoring in the Hinds/Hekeo area, just south of Ashburton, were showing ever-increasing levels of nitrate to the extent some are significantly above World Health Organisation drinking water standard levels.

Groundwater levels were also falling.

The problems extended to the east of State Highway 1, too, but surface water – in streams and drains – was also facing problems with water levels dropping, causing habitat degradation and a decline in fish and eel numbers.

Somewhat ironically, as farming has intensified, irrigation systems and management have improved so that groundwater recharge has declined.

Flood or borderdyke irrigation and high-application rate spray irrigation has been replaced by low-rate systems,

irrigation scheduling using soil moisture monitoring and a shift to reticulated stock water supplies have combined to reduce recharge.

Hinds area deer, sheep and arable farmer Peter Lowe is chairman of the MAR governance group.

He says the MAR pilot site at Laghmoor had three aims – to raise groundwater levels east of the site, boost drain and stream flows to improve in-stream habitats and to reduce nitrate levels in the groundwater.

It’s ticked two of those boxes, dramatically reducing groundwater nitrates and lifting groundwater levels and as the project goes into its third year it’s expected the increased water flows will reach the lowland drains and streams helping improve their habitat health.

The original pilot site is on just 0.9 hectares owned by the Ashburton District Council.

Bob says the Laghmoor site is constructed so that the clean water, carried by the MHV water irrigation scheme – part of the Rangitata Diversion

Mark Saunders and Peter Lowe at the trial MAR site.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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Mark Saunders throws up some of the crystal clear water the site is fed through the RDR (Rangitata Diversion Race) from the Rangitata River which is one of the main snowfed rivers through the Canterbury Plains.

Race (RDR) scheme, flows into a small forebay that acts as a settling pond for any sediments.

It then flows into the larger “leaky” pond or main basin constructed of gravels over gravels.

Over its first two years that basin received about 17,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water or about 4.3 million cubic metres.

In some nearby bores the nitrate levels have dropped from 17g/cu m to 7g/cu m with concentrations at the adjacent bore sites generally dropping from 15-17g/

cu m to where they’re hovering around 2-3g/cu m.

Groundwater at the site was sitting about 27m below ground level and is now about 10m below ground level.

With results like that the words silver bullet are likely already forming but not so say the experts and the farmers (now also arguably experts) involved in the project.

“This is only going to be part of the solution. The reductions farmers make at a paddock level by how they’re farming must happen too if we’re going

to achieve the nutrient reductions the community has said must happen,” Peter says.

There’s just not enough water, sites or money to completely solve the nitrate issue with MAR. MAR governance committee member, dairy farmer and MHV director Mark Saunders says farmers will still have to find ways to slash 36% off their nitrate leaching losses onfarm by 2030 even with MAR. Without MAR the reductions and changes to farm systems would be greater.

“The uninformed visitors we get to the site start out thinking this is a get-out-ofjail-free card for farming and it’s not.

“It’s just one of the tools in the tool box. We’re never going to be able to get enough water in the ground to fix all the nutrient problems,” he says.

While not a dairy farmer, he sees the benefits dairying has brought to the community.

“The shops in Ashburton are full, the schools are full because guys like Mark and his family have come to the area.

“I’m old enough to have farmed through the late 1980s when people walked off their farms – I don’t want to see that happen again.”

Monitoring of bores is showing the flume of water with lower nitrate concentrations is extending eastward and out from the pilot site at a steady rate and, spurred on by those results, another 16 smaller test sites have been installed

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How the groundwater recharge system works.

to identify the best locations for larger installations and help draw up the plan for the future.

They’ve been operating since the end of last year and are also showing good results.

A business case is in the process of being established to scale up the project and while 173 sites have been identified Bob says it’s likely about 100 will be needed to add the required 125 million cubic metres of water to the groundwater in the area to achieve the zone committee’s goals.

Still to be resolved is where all that water will come from.

While it will mostly come from the Rangitata River via the RDR - fed schemes the water itself is largely allocated to irrigators and for power generation.

The water used in the pilot MAR site and test sites is water allocated to the Ashburton District Council for stock water that’s no longer used.

Both Mark and Peter agree a lot of discussions are taking place and still to be had.

While the water has been hard fought for there is a sense of willingness among

parties to come up with a solution for the MAR project’s future.

It is likely to come at a financial cost on top of the cost to construct the recharge sites.

A community trust will be formed to take over from the governance group and will include stakeholders such as farmers, environmental groups, Iwi and community members including experienced governors such as Sir Graeme Harrison.

While other water infrastructure solutions such as large-scale storage have taken years and been bogged down in lengthy battles between interest groups Peter and Mark are confident the expansion of MAR in the area will happen at pace.

“In three years we’ve taken this from gaining understanding of the concept, proving it and now working on taking it wider,” Peter says.

There’s a sense that all parties are now getting behind it as a necessary tool and with in-stream and habitat enhancement also addressed by MAR sites such as the one built at the upper reaches of the Hinds River, the benefits allow MAR to speak for itself.

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

SPECIAL REPORT | IRRIGATION

Getting ready for the bucket test – Kieran McCall and son Harrison, aged four.

Experience has taught one farmer an accurate idea of his soils’ water-holding capacity would be the best guide for improving his irrigation systems. Anne Lee reports.

Mid-Canterbury dairy farmer Kieran McCall would go right back to ground level – actually below ground level – if he was starting again upgrading irrigation.

“If I could start back at the beginning I would pick out a handful of sites and use neutron probes to get a much more accurate idea of water-holding capacity.

Then I’d set up the irrigation systems,” he says.

“Knowing what I know now you’d never set up a Rotorainer on an 11-day round with some of these soils, you’d just never do it.”

On one area he’s found water-holding capacity is twice that indicated by the soil mapping system S-Maps and on other areas it’s very accurate but in areas where soils are light, low rate, spray irrigation is a must to avoid soaking the soil profile and creating drainage.

Kieran and his wife Erin are lower order sharemilkers on the 162-hectare Winslow farm just South of Ashburton.

They’re also equity partners in the family owned property.

As a trained and experienced civil

• Area: 162ha effective area • Cows: 620 crossbreds • Production: 460kg MS/cow • Supplement per cow: 550kg DM/cow • Irrigation: three centre pivots, K-Line, Long lateral sprinklers, Rotorainer • Soil moisture monitoring: Soil moisture probes used for irrigation scheduling

engineer Kieran could be excused for wanting to go big and up-spec everything but he’s replaced Rotorainers and long laterals with two small pivots and gone for the simple fixes first.

“In general we’ve aimed for the low hanging fruit. You can actually achieve a lot, pretty simply that way and, in just about every case, you improve environmental and financial outcomes at

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

the same time.”

The couple are environmentally focused and last year took out the Meridian Energy Farm Environment merit award as part of the Canterbury/North Otago Sharefarmer of the year.

Kieran’s also been active in the Hinds area with the Canterbury Dairy Environmental Leaders Group.

Earlier this year he spoke at the South Island Dairy Event and pulled no punches when he said that as farmers they all needed to invest time in understanding the local issues, others’ points of view and the risks to their businesses when it came to water and environmental impacts on it.

Doing nothing ran the risk of existing problems getting bigger, the regulatory stick getting bigger, a change to inputbased controls and a negative effect on public perception that could lead to upset consumers.

In his area, near Hinds, regulations require farmers to farm to industry and regional council-agreed good management practice and to ensure their nitrogen losses don’t exceed what they

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would have been leaching if they’d been farming to those practices from 2009-2013 (their baseline period).

But by 2025 farmers in his area must cut nitrogen losses by 15% on those levels, slash them by 25% by 2030 and radically reduce them by 36% by 2035.

Kieran and Erin have been farming their property since 2011 and over that time have lifted pasture eaten by a whopping 25% or 3.4-3.5 tonnes drymatter (DM)/ha so their pasture-eaten figure now sits at 17t DM/ha.

They’ve done that by a combination of growing and utilising more pasture thanks to irrigation infrastructure and irrigation management changes along with a strong focus on pasture management and herd improvement.

Production has increased by 15% to 1750kg milksolids (MS)/ha and 460kg MS/ cow while total imported feed has dropped from 16% to 8% of the farm’s total feed supply.

Kieran says one of the first things he did when he arrived on the farm was to work out a system for lateral sprinklers that were set up in the corners where the pivot didn’t reach.

“We created zones and put up pegs to create the boundaries they should be placed within and we made maps and a pathway for where they should be moved each time.

“It’s not as technical as GPSing the exact locations but it’s made moving them a lot more efficient and we don’t have patches that are getting under or over-watered.

“When you’ve got a triangular patch or funny shaped paddocks it’s hard to judge areas accurately when you’re out there.

“Now that people know where they’ve got to go we can move them twice a day and get back again within seven days.”

The difference in pasture production has been significant with more even watering and shorter return intervals.

By testing Kieran also found the long lateral sprinklers were putting on water well in excess of what was needed but by buying 20 cheap nozzles he cut flow rates from 0.5 to 0.4 litres/second.

“We pulled three litres per second out of that set up which was water we could spread elsewhere.

“We had one pivot at the start so our best piece of equipment, the most efficient was putting on the least amount of water because all of the other systems on the farm were so inefficient – they were sucking all the water.”

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Soil moisture monitoring is a must.

By making the changes they were able to lift the pivots’ application depth from 4mm to 4.5mm – a significant lift.

When they started on the farm they had one pivot and a Rotorainer which had 11 runs to do.

Some of that Rotorainer area was light soils, where the water holding capacity was about 30mm.

The irrigator though was putting on 4550mm at a time.

“It was a pure waste of 15-20mm every time.”

Kieran says they put two small pivots on enabling them to cut the Rotorainer area down to 30ha.

“It has half the work to do now and that gave us the opportunity to re-nozzle it down so the whole machine operates at a higher pressure. It means it’s not affected by the wind as much and the distribution is a lot more even.

“We were also able to lower the minimum application depth. On full speed it used to be 28-30mm, now its 17-18mm which fits better with the soil’s water-holding capacity.”

Another early investment was the installation of soil moisture monitoring – something he says is a must.

The probes are telemetered with the information accessed via a website and irrigation scheduling is based on the aim of keeping soil moisture levels at 60-80% full through the shoulders and 80-90% full during the heat of the summer.

Flow metres are installed on the pumps at the wells with the data also telemetered so Kieran can be confident he knows how they’re tracking relative to their total annual volume allocation on their consent.

“In some years we’re pushing that allocation use right up to the limit and we wouldn’t be able to do that without telemetry,” he says.

Kieran’s advice is to sit down and ask plenty of questions from the experts when it comes to making the most out soil moisture monitoring.

“You can go along irrigating to keep your soil moisture where you want it – between the two lines – refill and full point, but there’s a lot more you can get out of that data. Understanding your soil’s waterholding capacity for instance – you can do a lot with that information around the systems you’re running and how you’re running them.”

He also strongly advises farmers to check their machines are doing what they’re supposed to be.

“We’ve actually had more trouble with new machines than older ones so make sure they’re tested by the installers and ask to see those tests.”

Bucket testing at the start of every season to check application depths, uniformity and that the irrigator is delivering water as it was designed to is another low cost/free way to potentially save money and water.

It’s a good management practice standard from a financial and environmental stand point.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Irrigation NZ has a Bucket Test app that steps farmers through the process which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.

Bucket testing and checking irrigators has allowed Kieran to adjust his older, larger pivot by re-nozzling to bring down application rates at the outside of the 530m machine.

The outside nozzles were getting pretty marginal when it came to infiltration rates and applying too much too fast but it was a simple fix in the end to get that right, he says.

They’ve also made changes to their effluent system to make better use of nutrients and the liquid component.

A system underslung along the pivot was blocking and putting effluent on at a higher application depth than Kieran wanted.

So they increased their storage using an 800 cubic metre, above-ground tank and went back to a travelling irrigator that could put the effluent on at a low rate and over 37% of the farm’s effective area compared with 11% previously.

Cut out switches and text alerts for pressure and speed mean he’s confident if he needs to run the system at night and greater storage capacity means they can put effluent out over a whole paddock at a time reducing the need for nitrogen fertiliser.

Kieran’s plans include looking in to using cut-out switches on K Line and long laterals to limit application depths, investigating the installation of solid set sprinklers (on posts set out in a grid pattern), GPSing sprinkler positions, and having records for effluent application recorded in precision tracking to combine with fertiliser applications so the data can be automatically entered into Overseer.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Simple savers – pegging out long lateral areas so sprinklers can be moved to accurate locations has saved water and lifted pasture production.

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SPECIAL REPORT | UNITED STATES

Irrigated agriculture is vital to the mid-western US state of Nebraska.

Keri Johnston reports on the challenges farmers there face.

In September, I was part of a 24-person group who went to Nebraska on a study tour organised by IrrigationNZ. It was an amazing opportunity to go and see how another part of the world deals with similar issues to what we have here.

The tour focused on two issues â&#x20AC;&#x201C; regulation and technology. This month, I will focus on the regulatory side of things.

Nebraska is a conservative state, in the heart of Trump country. The church was often the largest building in the rural towns we visited. The importance of agriculture to the state economy, with the irrigation of almost four million hectares of corn and soy beans grown, is well understood by all.

Despite the widespread use of intensive farming methods, and the water quality and quantity challenges facing Nebraska, the one issue not facing farmers at the state level is pressure from the anti-farming lobby or environmental groups.

The University of Nebraska research

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and extension service runs an outreach programme to attract the next generation to agriculture. This interacts with one in every three school-age children in the state, providing an agriculture â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;101â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and highlighting the exciting career opportunities that exist within it.

Governance of water The governance of water in Nebraska is really complex. There is federal legislation, such as the Endangered Species Act, which the state must abide by. Alongside this, other federal agencies control most of the surface water through storage and diversion

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

infrastructure. The state then sets its own laws around how it will manage its water.

In Nebraska, surface water is managed at state level by the Department of Natural Resources, but the groundwater, which accounts for more than 80% of water abstracted, is managed by the Natural Resource Districts (NRD) at a local level. For a number of surface water bodies, there are also interstate pacts that determine how much water must remain in the river to reach downstream states.

The NRDs have a board that is democratically elected, and the boards are often dominated by rural people including farmers. Despite this, the boards have been proactive in driving change amongst their peers – very similar to the Good Management Practice approach being implemented

by the primary sectors in New Zealand.

Both of the NRDs we visited had invested heavily in science to help them better understand their resource.

They also look to a range of solutions – both farm and catchment based, the latter including raising capital to build environmental infrastructure, and therefore, river augmentation and managed aquifer recharge projects are common.

Managing water quality Nitrates in groundwater are of significant concern in the heavily irrigated districts of central Nebraska. In some areas over 50% of the land is now under irrigated crop-farming.

Historic poor nutrient management and poor irrigation practice resulted in nitrate concentrations being frequently

observed over 30ppm – well above the United States drinking water standard of 10ppm.

However, in recent years there has been a significant declining trend, and this has largely been brought about by a non-regulatory approach.

Incentives, knowledge and enabling peer to peer learning in combination with environmental infrastructure is currently seen as the way forward for water quality. The widespread move from flood to centre pivot irrigation has been instrumental in reducing nitrate losses to groundwater. This has enabled soils to be irrigated on an ‘as and when’ basis to minimise nitrate leaching. There is now also a push towards the more widespread adoption of fertigation, as it allows ‘as and when’ nutrient applications – significantly reducing the risk of leaching from rainfall events.

Next issue I will look at the technology focus of the tour.

• Keri Johnston is a natural resources engineer with Irricon Resource Solutions.

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SPECIAL REPORT | MONITORING Mitchell has developed a way of identifying water leaks in farm reticulation systems far earlier than in the past.

Long hours spent trying to find leaks in the water system inspired Mitchell Coleman to find a better way to identify problems quickly. Jackie Harrigan took a look at this trial system.

Growing up on a dairy farm gave Mitchell Coleman a great understanding of how frustrating random and elusive water leaks are to find on a farm with thirsty cows and old, or unrecorded, piping and pumping infrastructure.

The Manawatu 21-year-old student chose to develop a fault detection system for farm water flow as a final year project during his four-year Massey mechatronics degree and the concept is about to be prototyped and commercialised by Palmerston North fuel, milk and water monitoring company Levno.

“For my individual research project I started to think about what problems farmers have that I could help out with,” Mitchell said.

Relating that to his childhood, he 76

remembered his parents Debbie and Darryl Coleman trying to find water leaks on the farm. If a cow had damaged a trough, no one knew until the water had leaked out all night, draining the tank, tripping the pump into constant use and wasting expensive minerals or bloat oil that had been added to the water.

“It used to be a process of elimination – running around turning off taps, searching for puddles and trying to identify where the leak occurred.”

“It struck me as not a very smart way of finding leaks.”

The question Mitchell asked himself was whether he could teach a computer to identify when the system sprung a water leak.

Mitchell quotes a DairyNZ statistic of 26% of all water used on a farm

being lost to leakage, and when that is factored with loss of minerals and bloat oil and pumping expenses, innocuous water leaks become very expensive and compromise cow health.

Mitchell investigated existing water monitoring systems but found they mainly look for maximum flow where it exceeds a defined threshold and are usually aimed at monitoring water usage for irrigation resource consent compliance. Triggering an alert when the threshold is breached could be because the pump is tapped out at a busy time of day, Mitchell found, not because of a leak.

Some products also monitor tank levels, he says, but once the tank falls below a safe level and alerts the farmers, it is often too late for the stock drinking supply to be safe. He thought the first improvement could be looking at the consistent overnight consumption, identifying slower leaks which may be hidden during the daytime demand.

No current system on the market can intelligently analyse water usage over time and use it to identify faults in the system, he said.

To prove the concept he installed flowmeter sensors across all the different waterlines across his parents’ Kimbolton dairy farm, where Debbie and Darryl Coleman farm a dairy platform milking 550 cows made of four amalgamated blocks, with 200 water troughs, 21km of water lines and just six taps for turning off parts of the farm.

“The only way to find a leak here is by isolating 1/6th of the farm and going out to look – it’s very difficult and frustrating,” Mitchell said.

“And with 550 cows drinking up to 70 litres each per day, a trough can be drained in an hour if a leak is affecting the recharging time.”

Mitchell says the whole point of the research was to understand if a computer could analyse the water consumption on a farm and identify the presence of a fault before it caused an issue for the farmer. The farm had a consistent overnight flow but variable flow during the day, so he had to teach the computer to figure out what was normal before expecting it to recognise abnormal flows that could be a leak.

Mitchell has always been a keen problem-solver and was drawn to mechatronics – a mixture of mechanics, electronics and computer programming.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

Graph showing Average flow over time for the separate lines makes it easy to see spikes where faults occurred.

Engineering and agriculture is where Mitchell sees his future.

The flowmeters he installed in midJuly collected data over winter through calving (which finished in late September) when two herds were milked twice daily.

This provided an ideal scenario for data collection because both winter and summer consumption (and the transition over calving) were recorded from midJuly to mid-October. The pulse data from the sensors is processed into an average flow rate by a microcontroller running custom firmware, then sent to a PC in the farm dairy office. Mitchell wrote software to convert the 250,000 data points he collected into basic graphs, presenting a curve of daily usage once it had been smoothed to account for the cycling nature of the pump.

The theory was that faults in the water system (damaged ballcock, split pipe, faulty fitting or a tap left on) will affect this consistent curve, which are clearly shown

on the graph and therefore should be able to be detected automatically.

Two faults occurred during the period (red circles marked on the graph). In the first a trencher was driven through a main line, causing the pump to switch on, causing a spike. Later a calf stepped on a 20mm alkathene joiner causing a slower leak, which would be totally undetected by any of the existing limit-based fault detection systems on the market, Mitchell noted. However, they are immediately obvious as being abnormal on the flowmeter graph when compared to the surrounding days. Four later faults were also picked up quickly and successfully fixed.

Mitchell’s next step was to develop an algorithm to track usage and to create dynamic trip thresholds as the season progresses. His algorithm is able to automatically generate a model from

the latest data added, tracking seasonal changes.

Having proof of concept, Mitchell is keen to add in parameters like temperature and rainfall and work on incorporating automatic alerts for the farmer. Once he finishes his Massey degree he starts working at Levno in Palmerston North where, among other things, he will be working on a prototype and taking the water fault detection technology to commercialisation, improving Levno’s existing water monitoring offering and joining their suite of other milk and fuel monitoring products.

“It combines engineering and where I have come from, my interests and what I love to do at the weekend,” he said.

“It’s exciting. Once we get this technology going, chasing slow leaks or waking up to empty water supply tanks should be a thing of the past.”

Mitchell and Debbie Coleman: Mitchell’s water leak detection system prototype is based on his parents’ dairy farm at Kimbolton where 21km of water lines and 200 troughs makes finding a leak time-consuming and frustrating work.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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SPECIAL REPORT | NITRATES

Words by: Andrew Swallow A passive water treatment technology that should cut nitrate concentrations in farm drainage water by a third is about to be trialled in South Canterbury.

Crown Research Institute ESR, with the support of dairy farmer John Saywell, will install an in-stream filter composed of woodchip down one of several open ditches taking spring and drainage water from Saywell’s 220ha (effective), 850-cow property near Geraldine.

The farm is partially irrigated and located in what Environment Canterbury deem to be a red zone for nutrient allocation. Throughout 2016 ESR used automated monitors to measure drainage nitrate concentrations and flows on Saywell’s farm. From that data nitrogen load in the main drain was calculated at about 1.2t/year with an average nitrate concentration of 6 mg NO3-N/L. Now, the drain is to be fitted with a woodchip denitrifying bioreactor. ESR’s Lee Burbery, who is leading the trial, says the technology has been proven in other countries, notably the US where such filters have become standard practice for taking nitrate out of water from tile drains in corn-growing areas of Ohio, Iowa, and South Dakota. A handful of other trials with the technology are underway in New Zealand but this will be the first in a spring-fed, dairy-farm situation where the water flows year-round.

“The project will assess whether such end-of-pipe water treatment systems are a viable nitrate mitigation tool for New Zealand agricultural landscapes,” he told Dairy Exporter.

The bioreactor is made of coarse woodchip, enclosed in a liner, that will part-fill a 75m length of the main drain.

As water filters through the woodchip nitrate in it will be converted to harmless dinitrogen gas by denitrifying bacteria that feed off the woodchip. It’s expected to remove 403 kg of N/year, with an effective life of 10 years.

Burbery stresses the concept is not without risk.

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“The bioreactor works on the basis of creating an anaerobic environment that itself can be detrimental to the environment, in particular aquatic life living downstream of the bioreactor.”

It’s also possible pollution-swapping phenomena may occur, including phosphorus mobilisation, and/or emission of greenhouse gasses nitrous oxide and methane.

ESR plans to monitor these issues in the field trial, and because of the uncertainty, manage the discharges of the bioreactor to mitigate risk of harming the local aquatic environment.

No particular type of woodchip is needed, although Burbery recommends

• 75m-long lined bed of woodchip.

• Sited in spring-fed ditch, South Canterbury.

• Should remove 1/3 of nitrate from normal 6-8 litre/second flow.

• Cost ~$45,000 (installation and materials).

• 10-year effective life expected.

willow or poplar should be avoided because there is some evidence to suggest woodchip from these species can leach nitrogen.

“We’re using radiata pine because it’s cheap and readily available.”

Whether woodchip cleared out of calfsheds could be used was to be part of the study but that has been parked for now. Burbery says he expects materials and installation to cost about $45,000.

Clogging of the bioreactor with sediment is the greatest threat to its performance so a series of sediment traps have been built into the design.

Once proven, such installations could be made by farmers, he believes, but care would be needed to get the design right so they work and do not have unintended downstream consequences.

More detailed costings form part of a paper on the project just published in the journal Ecological Engineering. In that, Burbery and his ESR colleague Theo Sarris predict nitrate removal will cost $9.70/kg of N, assuming a 10-year life.

Saywell, who’s provided the site for ESR’s work, says he hopes the trial will add to scientific and practical knowledge on ways to cut nitrogen reaching waterways.

“We always try to be one step ahead of things.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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ENVIRONMENT SUSTAINABILITY

Making the most of a challenging climate Once-a-day milking takes pressure off animals, farm and people, Anne Hardie reports. priority on Peter and Margaret Brooker’s Maruia farm is good animal welfare management which results in less pressure on the environment.

That is why some of their pasture is more than 40 years old and still performing well, they have less runoff around the yard and less sediment is lost from paddocks.

For the past nine seasons the Brookers have contracted sharemilkers to milk cows on the farm and selecting couples with the same philosophy toward animal welfare and the environment has always been paramount. The couple bought the farm from Peter’s parents in 1990 and today it has grown to 450 hectares with 300 effective including a 210ha milking platform and a 90ha neighbouring support block.

A

and regrassing to bulk silage, grass conservation and track maintenance.

As farm owners they are pedantic about soil and pasture at home, with sharemilkers Chris and Stacey Hatfield on the same page and managing it according to its challenging climate. The farm sits right on the boundary between Tasman and Buller districts with a rainfall of about two metres, an occasional snow fall and scorching summer temperatures. In last year’s “mother of all droughts”, they were sometimes milking at 7.30pm when

‘We wouldn’t have a twice-a-day herd on the farm again. It would put undue pressure on cows and tracks and our farm just isn’t suited to twice-a-day milking We could probably do more production but I doubt if we’d make more money.’

An interest in machinery and cultivation led to a passion for regrassing and fertility which benefited the farm and became a business. These days they run a contracting business for local dairy farmers from growing winter feed crops 80

it was still about 26C after reaching 35C during the day – and up to 37C one day.

Peter concedes they have always run the farm conservatively to look after the cows and the environment for a sustainable farming operation.

“We’ve always had well-fed animals and always leave slightly higher residuals than most dairy farms when it’s wet. Some farmers have to nail the 1500 residual no matter what the paddock and trash the paddock. But one size doesn’t fit all and milking cows here isn’t the same as milking cows in Culverden. If we grazed to 1500 here in very wet weather, we wouldn’t make any money because there’s no money in mud. We’ve got pastures over 40 years old and still going really, really well.”

The farm is milking 580 cows once a day (OAD), where they are split into two herds that are milked either morning or

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

KEY FACTS • Farm owners: Peter and Margaret Brooker • Sharemilkers: Chris and Stacey Hatfield • Location: Maruia, West Coast • Farm: 300 effective hectares including 210ha milking platform • Herd: 580 cows on once-a-day milking • Production 2017-18: 193,000kg MS; 919kg MS/ha • Reproduction: 84% in calf within six weeks • Average age of cow: seven, with 12% replacements this year.

Margaret and Peter Brooker (left) with sharemilkers Chris and Stacey Hatfield and their young family.

night. Last year in the drought they actually produced more milk and ended up with 193,000kg milksolids (MS) which works out at 919kg MS/ha.

One of the key aspects of the farm business is animal welfare and Peter says OAD takes pressure off animals, farm and people, plus there’s the lifestyle factor which can’t be underestimated.

They still have the cups on the first cows by six in the morning to beat the tanker and then 2pm for the afternoon herd, but there’s flexibility in the system and during the heat of the drought Chris pushed the afternoon milking back to 7.30pm some

days rather than walk the cows to the dairy in 35C heat.

Reproduction reflects less pressure on the herd, with 84% of the herd in calf within six weeks.

That led to 45 calves being picked up from the paddock in just one day and 93 heifer calves tagged in one week of calving. Production also responds to less pressure and Peter says they are on target to achieve 2kg MS/day at the peak on OAD. “We wouldn’t have a twice-a-day herd on the farm again. It would put undue pressure on cows and tracks and our farm just isn’t suited to twice-a-day milking. We

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

could probably do more production but I doubt if we’d make more money.”

Another advantage of milking once a day is they don’t have the cesspool that develops around the yard that they experienced back in the days they were milking twice a day and that means less likelihood of runoff, Peter explains. Plus the tracks need less maintenance and lameness is no longer an issue with the cows.

One of the cost benefits of OAD has been longevity in the herd and this year just 12% of the herd will be replacements, while the average age in the herd is seven.

Peter says that enables more selection pressure in the herd, means surplus heifers can be sold at weaning and heifer calves from older cows are the ones that they want to keep in the herd because they are the ones producing well, longer. Longevity gives them choices when it comes to selection and surplus replacements.

Chris says older cows still producing well pay dividends into the system. It’s only achievable by feeding the cows properly and having high-octane grass all the time, he adds, which is where the partnership between farm owners and sharemilkers is crucial.

Chris and Stacey were really looking for a 200 to 300-cow herd when they applied for the sharemilking contract with Peter and Margaret and after their new baby screamed throughout the interview, they never expected to hear back.

But in between the screams, Peter and Margaret thought they had similar ideals for dairy farming and forwarded a list of phone numbers so Chris and Stacey could talk to other people about their farming style and the community.

“That way they can ask people about the 81

RIGHT: Well-fed cows put less pressure on the environment.

ABOVE: Worms reflect the health of the soil.

area and the community,” Peter explains.

“It’s not just the worker going through the interview process but the owner as well.”

Their farm milks nearly 600 cows though, so Peter and Margaret bought half the cows for the herd and leased them to Chris and Stacey so they had like-minded people looking after the farm and animals.

The cows were from three different herds and the goal is to achieve 400kg MS/cow on pasture including silage or balage, with palm kernel used as an extra rather than a feed replacement.

A two-metre rainfall usually guarantees good grass growth – about 14 tonnes/ha/ year – and they build up a big bank of grass supplement mainly from the support block which is especially useful in wet weather when the cows are on standoff pads to save the paddocks and pasture. One of those standoff areas drains naturally into a large

pakihi swampy hollow which acts as a filter and reduces runoff.

During last summer’s drought the bank of grass supplements kept the cows going and by the end of the season they had munched through 600t of supplements that included 600 bales of balage, two large silage pits and 90t of palm kernel.

One of their problems – if you call it a problem – is deciding which paddocks to put into summer crop because they’re all performing well. Usually 15ha is sown in turnips for summer and last season they just happened to plant the three wettest paddocks which ended up with exceptional crops of 14-16t/ha despite the drought. In winter they grow 10-12ha of brassica crops such as swede and kale on the home farm support area for 100 cows and 20ha on their neighbouring drystock property for about 500 cows, with both

herds fed balage and silage as well.

The days of winter crop on the farm are numbered, though, and Peter would like to head in the direction of green feed options such as Italian ryegrass which would be environmentally more sustainable.

“The sediment loss from pastures and especially winter crops is a biggie and I am concerned about winter cropping. I think longer term we’ll move away from brassica crops to large areas of green feed.

We don’t grow fodder beet for that reason.

It can work well for some people but I don’t think we’d ever grow it here because there’s too much pressure on the land.”

To lessen the pressure on the land, the cows are often offered a whole paddock as if they are spread out there’s less chance of treading damage.

Keeping the cows full takes some pressure off pastures because if they’re full,

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they’ll lie down rather than mill around, Chris adds.

Though Chris is in charge of the dayto-day management of the farm and has one staff member, it’s very much a team approach with Peter and Margaret who help out when necessary which he says is akin to having a farm advisor come in the gate every day.

“It’s a team thing; Peter does the

fertiliser and I can continue putting milk in the tank.”

Every paddock was soil tested last year and it’s the third time that has been done to reach optimum soil conditions in each paddock with a target pH of six.

“Our super application ranged from 150kg/ha to a tonne/ha in some areas and lime ranged from 750kg to 6t/ha in places,” Peter says. “Our fertility is pretty good now and we’re at the point of

750kg to one tonne of lime (per hectare per year) and between 30 and 40kg/ha of phosphate.”

Nitrogen (about 200kg/ha), sulphur and potassium are spread through the season a little and often and phosphate tends to be in autumn as a super product.

Porina is a constant battle on the farm and every year they need to spray areas with Dimlin which they trialled for three years before it came onto the market. The pastures are proof that it keeps the bug under control.

Pasture that is more than 40 years olds still performs well in some paddocks.

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Proactive recycling Peter and Margaret buy about seven tonnes of plastic wrap each year for their contracting business, so they try and lead by example to recycle all the plastic they use on their own farm.

“We need to be a lot more mindful of recycling what we can,” Peter says. “To be sustainable we’re going to have to be proactive about it.”

They’re one of about a third of New Zealand farmers who are recycling their plastic waste from largely silage and balage wrap.

Agpack-owned Plasback recycled 2100 tonnes of waste plastic last year and scheme manager Chris Hartshorne says 90% of that is the stretch film and cover used as wrap around grass supplements.

That amounts to about 30% of the plastic sold into the market.

The scheme began recycling farm plastics in 2006 and Hartshorne says there has been considerable growth in recycling since then, especially in the past couple of years.

A team on the same page for animal welfare and the environment.

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Leading by example and recycling plastic.

“Traditional methods of burning or burying materials on farm is not good and farmers have embraced recycling,” he says. “In general they’re very good at selfregulating and see their neighbours doing the right thing and think they should be doing that as well.

“In the last year we’ve seen a huge amount of discussion on plastics in the environment and people are concerned about it and farmers, like everyone else, want to do the right thing. We can’t replace those plastics with non-fossil-fuel

products and the plastics do a good job. It’s how to dispose of them at the end.”

He says a recent survey in NZ showed waste was the third biggest concern for the average Kiwi and recycling was a way to reduce that waste. The plastic can’t be recycled back into wrap, but instead gets recycled into products such as Tuffboard, Tuffdeck and Plaswood.

The key to recycling success is creating demand for the products which will in turn keep the costs down for farmers, he says.

Farmers pay $17 for a bin liner that they fill with plastic wrap and then $40 to have it collected. Recommended but not essential is the $560 bin which makes it easier to pack the liners.

Incorporating the recycling costs in the purchase of plastic would require government intervention as he says each part of the chain that deals with the product has to pay into any scheme.

“There is potential for it and the Ministry (for the Environment) is talking about mandatory stewardship schemes – and plastics for agriculture is high up on the list.”

Now that nearly a third of farmers are recycling plastic wrap, Hartshorne says the goal is to get the next third recycling.

One of the best ways to achieve that is through industry-led programmes and he points to Synlait’s ‘Lead with Pride’ programme which rewards farmers financially for a set of farm practices that includes waste management.`

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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Ross said with market intelligence feeding in from across the global network, the ADM sales team could provide local farmers with timely

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Fighting facial eczema on the farm Words by: Chris Glassey

With no cure, the best way to protect your herd is through ummer is just around prevention. the corner and with There are a couple of different that comes the risk of approaches you can take. Both facial eczema (FE). include monitoring pasture spore Chris Glassey counts and either dosing animals If you have treated cows for this disease, you will know how unpleasant with zinc or spraying pastures with it is. Unfortunately, the damage it causes fungicide. to cows’ skin is just a symptom of If you notice an upward trend in your what’s occurring internally to the own farm spore counts, that’s a clear sign animal’s liver. you should begin using your preferred FE Now is a good time to get a plan in place prevention method. Anything over 15,000 to make sure you’re prepared to mitigate is considered a risk, and over 60,000 a high the risk of FE. risk. Aside from using zinc or fungicide, The disease is most prevalent in January another good approach to protect your to May, when warm, moist conditions are cows is to avoid grazing below 4cm pasture ideal for growing the fungus (Pithomyces height and using supplements when chartarum) which produces the toxin in appropriate. the pasture that causes FE. It’s important to note, FE is just like an

S

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STOCK FACIAL ECZEMA

infestation. If one cow has FE symptoms, it’s likely more are affected, even if they’re not showing signs.

Some indicators to look for in your cows include restlessness, seeking shade, licking their udder and reduced milk production.

Breeding cows that are more tolerant to FE is a long-term solution, and some farmers who have gone down this path are already reporting the benefits. This is probably our best strategy to manage this challenging disease in the long-term.

The sheep industry has been breeding for FE tolerance for the last 30 years with great success. I think it’s something for us to aim for.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could put an end to this nasty disease once and for all?

Now that’s something I would love to see happen in my lifetime.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

FARMER FACES FE CHALLENGE Waikato dairy farmer Gavin Fleming and his family have battled facial eczema (FE) on their Otorohanga farm for the past 50 years.

Gavin says for as long as he can remember FE has been a challenge on the farm his father bought 62 years ago, some years worse than others.

He puts this down to the farm’s northfacing position. North-facing areas tend to have higher spore counts than south facing.

However, over the last five years he and his son Paul have managed to get on top of the disease.

Up until then, despite following best practice – closely monitoring pasture spore counts and regularly drenching zinc – the pair struggled to prevent the disease.

Determined to get to the root of the problem, they did some research and worked with their local vets, who ran blood tests which revealed the issue.

They discovered they had been underdosing zinc.

“It just goes to show it’s critical to get your levels right,” Gavin says. “We drench our milking herd daily to keep their zinc levels up.”

However, Gavin finds zinc bullets (which slowly release a consistent dose) a more practical option for their young stock.

His key advice for farmers is to be vigilant about monitoring spore counts.

The farm was one monitored in the FE study and found none of the cows sustained any liver damage.

STEPS TO PREVENT FE: • Monitor pasture spore count on your farm from the same four paddocks every week: When the spore counts start to rise to trend upwards to 30,000 spores/g pasture start your management programme.

Do not stop your management programme until the spore counts are consistently low across those paddocks for at least three weeks.

• Zinc dosing: Weigh a representative sample of at least 20 cows from each mob to calculate the correct dose of zinc required which can be administered as a drench, dose water or in feed. Start your zinc dosing programme when the spore counts start to rise. After two weeks, check that your cows are receiving enough zinc by blood testing 15 cows and checking for zinc concentration. Work with your vet to tweak your management system if they are not receiving enough zinc.

Vet William Cuttance from VetEnt counts FE spores.

• Pasture spraying: A fungicide will slow the development of the fungus and subsequent production of new spores. Apply only when you are sure that spore counts from multiple paddocks are below 20,000 on your farm and pasture is green and growing.

Gavin says it was great to be a part of the study and get confirmation that everything they are doing is right. Like many farmers, he can’t wait to see what developments lie ahead to prevent the disease.

“I’d really love LIC to breed some FEresistant bulls. Over time, I’m sure it will happen. Until then we’re stuck with trying to prevent it.”

• Pasture management: Avoid grazing below 4cm pasture height during summer months.

For more information on facial eczema, how to prevent it and treat it, visit dairynz.co.nz/facial-eczema.

Chris Glassey is a DairyNZ farm systems specialist.

New facial eczema research

New research shows facial eczema (FE) may be an even bigger problem than we first thought.

VetEnt veterinarian and researcher Emma Cuttance who led the study, which involved eight dairy farms who had cows with evidence of liver damage across Taranaki, Waikato, Northland and Bay of Plenty in autumn this year, found there was a lot of unseen damage that farmers didn’t know about.

Generally, it was thought that there wasn’t a lot of FE seen last season.

However, the study found there was substantial damage, even in herds attempting prevention.

Emma found 41% of the cows studied were impacted by FE, despite only 3% showing symptoms.

This goes to show that just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

She also measured the impact this had on loss of production by comparing the average amount of milk collected from healthy cows and cows with FE.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

She found cows with liver damage produced about 8% less milk per day.

Another study also measured the impact of FE on young stock growth. It found 19% of the 1050 heifer replacements at 17 various locations were found to have severe liver damage. Another 21% had some liver damage. Damaged animals were 15kg lighter on average at first calving compared to their peers. This can have a long-lasting impact including lower in-calf rates, later calving and lower milk solid yields.

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STOCK DEVELOPMENT

Dairy lessons for Super Fund farm Stopping stock wastage of bobby calves and increased biosecurity are behind a beef and bull breeding unit developed in Southland. Karen Trebilcock reports.

F

armRight is using lessons learnt on its dairy farms to develop and manage a large beef and bull breeding operation in Southland for the New Zealand Super Fund (NZSF).

The 1222-hectare former sheep and beef block at Kaiwera near Mataura was bought in March this year and between then and May underwent $1.25 million development in fences, stock water and yards. The farm is to work with the NZSF dairy farms in the area, also managed by FarmRight, raising calves for beef that would otherwise have been bobbied and to supply service bulls to the dairy farms.

At a field day at Kaiwera on October 9 FarmRight farm investment manager Tony Cleland said the purpose of the farm was to stop wastage from the dairy units and to increase their biosecurity.

“It’s just not Mycoplasma bovis that has made us think of this, it is Johnes, BVD and every other disease that cattle movements can bring on to a dairy farm,” Cleland said.

88

Kaiwera farm managers Sam and Renata Woodford with their children Nia (9) and Louis (7).

NZSF has been diversifying its $900m portfolio into dairy, beef and a vineyards with $400m of those assets managed by FarmRight.

As well as needing a 7% return on

investments, the NZSF also wanted to be sustainable, ethical and environmentally sound, Cleland said.

More than 300ha of the Kaiwera farm has been retired by FarmRight from grazing

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

with gullies, steep slopes and all waterways fenced off.

Working with regional council Environment Southland, phosphate and sediment traps have also been incorporated into the farm plan and with the winter cropping area reduced from 110ha (80ha kale and 30ha fodder beet) in 2018 to 70ha of fodder beet planted this spring for next year, nitrogen losses have been reduced.

As well, by using only fodder beet which has a low protein content, nitrogen from urine patches will be reduced even further.

Steeper areas will be planted in trees in future to further reduce nutrient runoff from the top paddocks.

“Between the first of March and the end of May we did 100km of fencing creating 220 paddocks.

“We put in 500 gateways, laid 48km of water pipe, putting troughs in each paddock and put in a yards with drafting and weighing in what used to be the covered sheep yards,” Cleland said.

“We had a lot of people working here on the development and it’s been one of the most exciting projects I’ve worked on.

“It will be a win-win investment for us in many ways.”

With waterways fenced off, stock water is pumped to tanks at the top of the farm from a creek using a solar 4kw, three-phase pump powered by 17 270W solar panels with no battery storage.

On cloudy days the pump doesn’t work

FARM FACTS • NZSF Kaiwera • Location: Mataura, Southland • Area: 1222ha (900ha effective) • Altitude: 220m-500m • Contour: rolling to steep • Cattle wintered: 2800 mix of steers, bulls and heifers • Calves raised: 1700 (from three weeks) but enough storage is at the top of the farm to meet stock water demands.

Troughs are in the centre of each fourto-five-hectare paddock with reels and standards set up to divide the paddocks in four over the troughs.

“We’ve done it that way to make shifting the mobs easy. We’ve got 26 mobs of cattle on this farm which is a lot of shifts,” Cleland said.

The farm is managed so every mob is shifted every two days with no back grazing.

Round lengths are determined by the calendar month with the shortest rounds in October through to December at 27 days stretching out to 60 days in May and 70 days in August.

In June and July all 2800 cattle still on the farm will be on crop.

FarmRight consultant Blair Hamill said

Some of the two-year-old bulls on the farm.

Environment Southland land sustainability officer Karl Erikson (left) and FarmRight farm investment manager Tony Cleland talk at the October field day on the farm.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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paddocks would be grazed to residuals of 1500kg drymatter (DM)/ha and stock would go into them at 2800kg DM/ha which, dairying had taught them, was the ideal covers for maintaining pasture quality, quantity and persistence of grass species.

“We can do this with the refencing and we should increase growth from the nine tonnes DM/ha/year that has been grown here to 11t DM/ha/year and produce an extra 27,900,000 megajoules of metabolisable energy justifies the cost of this development,” Hamill said.

Stock, including calves following weaning, are weighed every six weeks to make sure the weight gain is reflecting the extra MJ ME being produced on the farm.

Two full-time staff are employed, farm

managers Renata and Sam Woodford, with casuals for wintering and calf rearing. The Woodfords were managing a NZSF runoff at Mossburn in northern Southland for FarmRight before taking on Kaiwera.

Cattle will be fed grass only, with all balage (2200 bales) made on farm.

Wintering will be on fodder beet.

“The aim is to get most of the cattle up to weight before their second winter to lower wintering costs but there will be a percentage we are expecting to have to carry through as twoyear-olds,” Cleland said.

Also on the farm are 200 empty dairy heifers from NZSF dairy farms. Of them 170 were inseminated with wagyu semen and 115 were scanned as pregnant due to calf in January and February.

‘We had a lot of people working here on the development and it’s been one of the most exciting projects I’ve worked on.’

FarmRight and the NZSF are working with Alliance Group to develop new meat markets including marbled beef using the wagyu breed.

The farm has also bought 185 Angus heifers from nearby Mount Linton Station which will be used to produce bulls for mating on the NZSF dairy farms.

“We’ve chosen Mount Linton Angus because of their proven ease of calving.

“We’re going to be using these genetics on our dairy farms to produce beef animals which we can take to weight at Kaiwera instead of sending them on the bobby truck from the dairy farms.”

Bought-in cattle on the farm include 500 26-month-old bulls and 360 26-month-old heifers or steers, as well as 1100 yearling beef bulls and a further 500 yearling beef heifers.Total cattle on the farm in October was 4695.

“While we were fencing the farm in April and May some of these stock were arriving.

They certainly didn’t respect electric fences then. We’re hoping by next winter they will,” Cleland said.

A solar water system has been installed to pump stock water up the hill.

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

STOCK VET VOICE

The new regulations reflect the best-practice standards most farmers follow.

Animal welfare not a stretch Katie Mason took a look at the new animal welfare regulations, and she has good news for farmers.

H

ow will the new animal welfare These new regulations join a host regulations affect me? of other recent new regulations on We already have a strong calf transport and humane slaughter international reputation introduced in 2016 and 2017, and will be for animal welfare in New Zealand. followed by new regulations on disbudding Our international trading partners and and dehorning to be introduced in October consumers are increasingly discerning, 2019. making animal welfare a top priority.

Most dairy farmers already ‘go above How we treat and beyond’ animals says a lot to maximise about our society. cow health If you are already doing the Animal welfare and welfare on right thing there won’t be matters because NZ’s their farms and trading partners and most of the much change, but it pays consumers expect us new regulations to check that what you to do the right thing “reflect existing are already doing meets by our animals. It is standards”, MPI requirements. a matter of personal says. and national pride in Essentially, our farming industry. if you are Forty-five new regulations under the already doing the right thing there won’t Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures be much change, but it pays to check Regulations) came into effect in October that what you are already doing meets 2018, and these cover a range of species requirements. and farm management practices, including The new animal welfare regulations stock transport. are simply documenting what is already Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

commonplace on most farms, making it easier to take action against people who are breaching minimum standards.

In fact the new regulations “bridge a gap” and allow prosecutions to occur at a lower level of offending.

Some of the regulations, which may be worth (re)familiarising yourself with, include: • Stock transport regulations have been refined to include animals with specific conditions such as injured or diseased udders, animals with ingrown horns, lame animals and animals in late pregnancy. Farmers are urged to consult with their vet and get the necessary certification for transport of animals if they are unsure about suitability for transport. (See page 93).

• Cattle should not be allowed (in any situation) to suffer ingrown horns such that the horns pierce the skin.

Farmers should ideally get horned animals disbudded as calves (by trained personnel, using adequate pain relief), or keep horns trimmed by a vet, to prevent the problem.

• No device should be inserted into the vagina to stimulate milk letdown. Anecdotally speaking, many farmers have already moved away from this potentially traumatic practice.

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High standards of animal welfare are essential for the dairy industry.

• Electric prodders may only be used in cattle over 150kg and in wellmuscled areas (not in sensitive areas), and the animal must always have sufficient space to move away from the prodder.

• One regulation, that may surprise some farmers, is a complete ban on tail shortening and docking.

Some farmers have been using tail switch removal as a way to improve their milking experience and improve udder hygiene. There are a number of alternative strategies available including tail clippers and shears to manage the hair at the end of the switch. Of course this will require regular intervention and some forward planning to make sure that tails are trimmed adequately before calving in the muddier, winter months.

• Assisting calving cows with a motorised vehicle, or any other device that does not allow for immediate release of pressure, is prohibited. Farmers are already using calving jacks or pulleys when uncomplicated assistance is required and contacting their vet for difficult calvings.

Other regulations which have recently come into effect, and been adopted with minimal disruption to normal operations include those relating to calf health and welfare (consult DairyNZ website for more detail): • The maximum time that young calves may be off feed before slaughter (<24 hours) • Prohibition on euthanasia of calves by blunt force to the head • Safe loading and unloading facilities for young calves, such that calves

can walk onto and off the transport vehicle.

• Adequate shelter requirements from adverse weather for calves before transport and at point of sale or slaughter.

The Ministry for Primary Industries, in consultation with vets, farmers and industry stakeholders, is constantly reviewing animal welfare regulations and it is likely that regulations will evolve over time. Farmers are encouraged to consult the MPI and DairyNZ websites and to consult with their local vets if they are unsure how the new regulations will affect them.

Everyone responsible for any species of animal are being encouraged to check they are familiar and up to date with new regulations. Find them at: www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/ public/2018/0050/latest/whole.html

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STOCK WELFARE

Keep on trucking – carefully On October 1, new regulations to strengthen our animal welfare system came into effect. MPI looks at why the regulations are important, what they mean for farmers and transporters sending livestock to the meat works, and what MPI has seen in the first few weeks of the new regulations being in effect.

N

ew Zealand’s animal welfare system is well regarded overseas and so is our reputation as ethical food producers. Our export earnings for animals and animal products are worth more than $20 billion to our economy every year.

This all depends on us continuing to produce animal products with strong animal welfare standards.

Ministry for Primary Industries acting director for animal health and welfare, Howard Pharo, says how we farm animals is vitally important to the NZ economy.

“The animals you send to the meat works end up on the plates of diners across the world, and everyone in the supply chain needs to contribute to the quality of that product.

“Consumers want to know their food was produced in animal welfare-friendly systems.”

Pharo says the introduction of the bobby calf regulations in 2016-17 produced significant improvement in the welfare of calves, particularly those sent for processing.

“Compliance with these new regulations has been high, meaning improved animal welfare.”

The new animal welfare regulations target low to medium level offending, so if you’re sending cows to the meat works you need to be aware of the regulations.

It is important to note that the worst

cases of animal welfare abuse will still be prosecuted under the Animal Welfare Act. Pharo says being transported is stressful for livestock and if they’re injured, it can get worse.

“Dairy cows should only be transported when they are fit to withstand the entire journey without experiencing unnecessary or unreasonable pain or distress.

“For example, if they’re late in their pregnancy, transporting can bring on the birth. The stock truck or the yards are not places to give birth, aside from the fact they’re not equipped to deal with it.”

If you’re unsure about an animal’s fitness for transport, consult the free Fit for Transport app or your veterinarian.

As well as restrictions on transporting cows in late pregnancy, keep in mind you should also not transport animals with: • lameness • eye cancer • ingrown or injured horns • injured or diseased udders (mastitis) or udder lesions.

To meet the requirements of the new animal welfare regulations, you need to manage and treat sick or cull stock on the farm. You can transport them when they have recovered.

Transporters, farmers and stock agents are all responsible for making sure cows with horns arrive without causing injury to themselves or others.

If cows arrive at their destination with damage to their horns, or they damage

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

other livestock on the truck, the farmer, the stock agent and the transporter could be fined.

If you need to transport large or horned stock, let your transporter and/or stock agent know well in advance so they can ensure the right unit is available.

If in doubt, leave it out.

In the first two weeks of the new regulations coming into effect, MPI veterinarians at the meat works have identified several cases in breach of the regulations.

These have related to cull dairy cows with lameness, mastitis and other conditions, as well as cows giving birth in the truck or in the yards.

MPI’s team manager for animal welfare and NAIT compliance, Peter Hyde, says there aren’t large numbers, but it is a persistent problem.

“These cases have been referred to MPI’s compliance branch for further investigation, and it’s highly likely the outcome will be the dairy farmer receiving an infringement notice.

“Deal with these conditions on the farm, don’t put them on the truck and make them someone else’s problem.”

For more information about MPI’s new animal welfare regulations, see MPI’s website www.mpi.govt.nz/animalregs

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RELIEF FARMING Photos by Emma McCarthy

Timing is everything

Aaron enjoys the flexibility and variation of relief farming – working at different places makes it feel less repetitive even though he’s doing the same things regularly.

Waikato boy, Aaron Cooper, is enjoying the freedom and flexibility of being selfemployed. Equipped with a range of skills and a great attitude, he’s keeping himself busy and being useful in the local dairying scene. Samantha Tennent reports.

S

etting up his own business took three key ingredients for Aaron Cooper. Varied skills, confidence and a network. He’s now in his second season operating as SRS (Sharp Relief Services) and business is exceeding his expectations.

Aaron mulled over the idea of stepping out on his own for a few years before he finally gathered up the courage.

“I was just too chicken I wouldn’t have enough work.”

It hasn’t been the case.

Freshly 30, he offers a full service of relief-farming. He can milk sole-charge and completes any tasks that need doing while he’s contracted to a farmer. Last season during calving he stepped in for a guy who needed surgery on his back, working alongside the farm manager who would’ve struggled without the help.

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“I had the experience and knew what needed to be done each day during that busy time. It would’ve been hard to find someone on short notice so the timing worked out well for all of us.”

It’s a mixed workload, some days he’s in the milking shed, other days he’s cruising around in a digger levelling earth. He picked up a lot of skills throughout his working career, which started in the dairy shed.

School wasn’t really Aaron’s thing, he left in year 11 and dabbled in roles as a farm assistant on local dairy farms. He had a few skills he’d picked up from his dad, Glen Cooper, he could put into practice.

Glen had managed a deer farm in Karapiro most of Aaron’s childhood and has since settled on a 200-hectare block nearby in Kairangi.

They breed sheep and Hereford bulls with a focus on calving ease, sold to dairy farmers.

Before the deer farm, Glen had been a

contractor and driven fertiliser trucks, and it was this road Aaron headed down.

After a couple of seasons dairying Aaron was floating, doing a few bits and pieces when he landed a role for a local contractor.

“I’d had a lot of experience with tractors on the farm growing up. It was a good role, busy during peak times and we had plenty of maintenance to keep us busy in the off season.”

Aaron likes to keep busy, if work is quiet he’s sure to find something that needs doing or fixing.

After a few years in the contracting scene Aaron went on to learn how to drive trucks while spreading fertiliser with Ron Russo Bulk Spreading where his father had had been an owner-driver.

“Mum has a photo of me sitting in Dad’s truck when I was little, you can only see the top of my head. Then when I worked for Ron Russo she took another photo of me sitting in

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

‘I haven’t had to sell myself, all my work has come from word of mouth. The milking is all repeat customers and people seem to appreciate I can do more than just milk.’ the truck. They still had the same colours so it looks like the same truck!”

While he was spreading fertiliser Aaron would also fit in relief milking for a few extra dollars when he could. There were a few seasons driving trucks and another stint contracting before farming started calling Aaron’s name again. He secured a role on the St Peter’s dairy farm in Cambridge, prior to the launch as industry focus farm, Owl Farm.

He lived on the farm and had the 2IC role milking 540 spring-calving cows. While it was good to be settled Aaron says he was finding the commitment to farming repetitive, so he jumped back in fertiliser spreading trucks for more work-life balance.

With plenty of relief milking opportunities building and evidence farmers needed capable relief staff, Aaron began pondering working for himself. But he wasn’t confident there was enough demand. When he left the farm, he needed to find somewhere to live. He had an arrangement with his parents, they bought a lifestyle block near Lake Karapiro which Aaron rented initially before buying a share.

Spreading fertiliser and relief milking created a good variety for Aaron but the idea of working for himself kept ticking over, taking that step in July 2017.

Despite spending so much time unsure whether the demand would be there, he’s had plenty of work available. His diary is almost booked till Christmas.

With a diverse skillse t, Aaron has seen his relief farming business take off.

“I haven’t had to sell myself, all my work has come from word of mouth. The milking is all repeat customers and people seem to appreciate I can do more than just milk.”

He also helps his parents during the peak times like docking and shearing. Relief milking is nearly half his workload and he covers any annual leave periods on those dairy farms for their permanent staff.

MYOB has been a valuable tool for Aaron to get going. His Mum is an accountant and helped him get his head around it all initially and now he just uses an accountant at the end of the year.

“I do as much as I can all the time, instead of the end of the GST cycle. It makes it easier to keep track of what’s going on.”

He’s earning more than he was on a wage and likes having the bonus of claiming expenses. His initial set up costs were low as he already had most of what he needed.

To cover tax and ACC Aaron puts aside 30% of any earnings which has been more than enough. When he calculated his rates, he was light with including annual leave, but he explains it’s helped keep his rates down while he was getting going.

He uses an hourly rate to produce quotes and some jobs are charged at the fixed amount, where others prefer the per-hour charge as the workload can be variable.

Health and safety compliance is covered at each workplace under their individual plans.

All his gear is washed down and sprayed with disinfectant between farms. Generally, he’ll leave all his gear at the place he’s working until he’s finished.

He has no regrets about going out on his own. The flexibility and variation is exactly what he was after, he explains how working at different places makes it feel less repetitive

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

even though he’s doing the same things regularly.

“It was good timing, I was ready, had the confidence and networks I needed and I knew my experience with trucks and diggers was valuable and would give me options.”

Aaron’s network has also evolved from being part of Cambridge Young Farmers, he’s been involved in the committee for many years and is one of those cruisy, reliable members of the club.

He is conscious of not taking on too much.

“It does come back to whether you want to take the work on but when you’re getting going you are careful not to lose opportunities by declining. It can be very easy to over-work.”

Planning is key, making sure he allocates sufficient time off for himself.

He’s sponsoring his nephew’s rugby team this season and is very proud to see his logo on their uniform, heading along to as many games as he can.

Outside of work he’s a typical outdoorsy bloke who loves heading out for a shoot and attempting to fish. The boat and biscuit get plenty of outings on the lake in summer, being just down the hill from his house.

Aaron is quite content with how life is tracking, claiming he just needs a lady to keep the house warm.

There is no plan to expand SRS, he’s very happy being a one-man band. He may have the odd casual employee in the future but he likes to keep things simple and enjoys the flexibility he can create by running his own business.

He is encouraging of other young people thinking of launching their own business.

“Just give it a go, you will regret it more for not trying at all than trying and failing.”

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DAIRY ACADEMY

Education key to a great career Despite growing up as a townie, Claire Douglas is passionate about agriculture.

She told Sheryl Brown how a Year 10 rural studies course set her on a new path.

D

Claire Douglas doesn’t want to sit back – she’s already got her sights on farm ownership.

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airy farming, hunting and fishing tick all the boxes for Claire Douglas, who is working her way up the career ladder in the dairy industry.

The 22-year-old grew up in Pukekohe without any connection to farming. Her parents had no link to farming, but her father gave her an early passion for the outdoors.

“Since I was a little toddler out with dad, I’ve loved hunting and fishing.”

She elected to take rural studies in Year 10, which involved studying agriculture and horticulture, and it sparked an interest in agriculture that continued to burn.

“I really enjoyed the subject and a couple of my friends were dairy farmers. I spent some time on the weekends out on farms with them, and it just grew from there.”

The following two years she studied agriculture and found a job relief milking near Patumahoe.

The farm owner put her on to Taratahi Institute of Agriculture and Claire left after Year 12 to attend the two-year programme.

Taratahi is New Zealand’s largest agricultural training provider and has been running since 1919.

Students live together at the residential campus in Wairarapa and work alongside each other onfarm. That tight-knit family approach made it easier to be out in the real world, Claire says.

“It was the first time I had lived away from home, away from my parents for the first time.

It was a really nice community, everyone felt like a big team.”

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

People and communication skills were one of the biggest life lessons she took from her time at Taratahi.

“When you’re living with and working long hours with people you don’t know, you quickly learn how to read people and how to get along.”

Taratahi offers an excellent practical skills-based learning environment, where students get to be hands-on doing farm jobs.

“That’s also where most of my practical skills came from.”

After two years at Taratahi, Claire got a job as a dairy assistant on a 270-cow farm in the Central Hawke’s Bay. It was the perfect location, being close to friends and her two passions – fishing and hunting.

“I definitely enjoyed that job. I was living by myself for the first time, but a lot of my mates were close by. That’s why I choose the job, because I knew if I ever felt down or got homesick I could go see my mates.

“It was a really good job and it was really close to my interests – I was half an hour away from the beach to go surf casting, then I was on the foothills of the Ruahine Ranges to go hunting. It was a primo spot.”

She first heard about the Central North Island Dairy Academy when she visited the National Fieldays and applied.

The academy is funded by Theland Farm Group, part of Shanghai Pengxin and run by Taratahi. It is a mid-level development programme designed for people who have goals to become a farm manager within five years.

It’s an intensive 37-week residential programme combining theory, practical training and onfarm experience based around the Massey University Diploma in Agriculture (Level 5).

Clare was looking for the next step up in the industry and was open to going back to studying.

“I felt like I needed to do more study. I wanted to go out and push myself and get the diploma and I had the heart to go back studying.”

She had also met her partner, Jeff Harty, now her fiancé, who was living near Taupo and the academy was conveniently located in the Wairakei District.

The academy was more intensive, but it was an easier learning environment than a typical classroom because there was a small class of 10 students.

Their tutor Dave Horner made the lessons interactive and interesting, which made it easier to learn, Claire says.

“The theoretical side of it was so in-depth, it was a massive step up.

“We never just sat down in class and wrote notes off the board. It was always a discussion. The way he taught, it wasn’t like we were getting taught, it was really different. I really enjoyed it.

“You were actively participating in it all the time, always thinking, everyone had an opinion.”

Claire was the top student at the dairy academy last year and won the DairyNZ Student of the Year award.

“She was an outstanding student, probably my best student to date,” Dave says.

Claire Douglas was top student at the Central North Island Dairy Academy last year.

“She is a natural leader and her whole attitude and the way she conducts herself – she is a manager in the making. I would definitely recommend her.”

Her fellow students have maintained good friendships and offer support to each other now they’re all out working in the industry, Claire says.

“Everyone got on so well, we’re all mates and we all talk still. If anything comes up or anyone has any problems we talk to each other.”

Claire is now 2IC on one of the Theland’s properties near Reporoa.

The 320ha farm milks 860 cows and employs a manager, 2IC, herd manager and two farm assistants.

Her fiancé Jeff has also started dairy farming this year. He is working on a neighbouring farm and is studying through PrimaryITO. The couple want to continue down the road of dairy farming and see what opportunities come up for them in the future. They are both planning to enter the Dairy Industry Awards this year.

“I want to be managing within three years and Jeff wants to be in a senior position too.”

Claire is keen to upskill on human resources because being able to manage people well is key to a management role.

“I want to learn how to work with staff, if I was to step up to manager. Knowing people is a big priority in this industry.”

The couple have contemplated sharemilking, but are interested in getting to be in a position where they can buy an equity share in a farm.

They’re keeping their options open and saving up for a deposit so they can be in a position to take up opportunities in the future.

“We don’t want to sit back, we want to be hands-on and have equity in a farm.

“For the moment we are getting as much experience as we can and learning every day.”

When you’re living with and working long hours with people you don’t know, you quickly learn how to read people and how to get along.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

97

RESEARCH WRAP OWL FARM

Words by: Louise Cook

A

A little fat in the system More, it seems that very few of us have a record at a herd level of our performance, let alone at the individual cow level.

After a disheartening reproductive outcome for the farm last year where we scanned only 67% of the herd in-calf at six weeks (down 6% on previous) and scanned only 83% of the herd in-calf in total (down 5% on previous) we did a little digging on what went on. We know our results were comparable to many other farms locally and nationally, but that didn’t ease the pain.

curious tension seems to exist between driving efficiency and conservative planning here on Owl Farm. These two ideas are often posed in opposition to one another, but they actually go rather well hand-inhand.

This year we know we must take another step forward on driving efficiency harder, as we work towards further increasing our milk yields from homegrown feed. To do this we’ve spent the last six months looking at where and why we need to Figure 1- herd average BCS last 4 seasons keep rather than trim a little fat in the system.

We’ve found over the last two springs that three things are critically important to get right for the start of season; an up-to-date feed budget, pasture cover at start of caving and body condition score at calving – now we’re making sure we talk about the third piece of the puzzle that sets us up for success.

Calving cow condition – the old chestnut is discussed every single year throughout the industry, but is one often missed in small or large part.

What did we find?

We found a very low conception rate throughout mating of around 46% from day one to day 79, across all ages calving dates and CIDR cows (down from 55% the previous year).

We looked at production – cows were producing more throughout spring than previous years, and right through mating – suggesting they were better fed.

We looked at Body Condition Score and despite having the best calving average BCS in the last three years, much of that was eroded through spring. At a herd level, we knew there were a large proportion of cows at or below BCS 4.0 at the planned start of mating, but it was after a torrid September so we knew part of why this was the case.

Big Ginge #455 (left) and Big Ginge’s Daughter #13

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

cows based on risk – any cows who needed more than .66 of a BCS/month gain turned red and were dried off. Below is a selection of cows showing the range of weight gains needed and how a BCS 3.0 cow could stay in milk and one at BCS 4 was at risk of not meeting targets and dried off in the first wave.

This meant 120 cows were dried off in early April, another Louise Cook: Demonstration Manager, Owl farm.

100 on April 25 and the balance of the herd milked until May 9 When you look at the issues and when the feed budget called time on the consider the wealth of research – it became season. obvious that sub-par BCS at mating was This mother and daughter combo seen a contributor and as something we can (left hand page) at BCS 4.0 in February – influence it needed further attention. What are 455 and 13 in Table 1; the same BCS, we lacked was good data on which cows but one calves in early July and one in were at risk, what age, when they cycled, September. Based on the individual data and their reproductive fate. one was dried off in the first group – the other in the last group.

Time is always the largest influencer of body condition score gain, with the In March, we began a monthly process squeeze applied by; the time taken to dry of individually scoring the herd, carried cows off and get them gaining weight, out by Peter Briston an accredited BCS running the gauntlet up to the period assessor at Cambridge Vets. From this where cows stop gaining weight as they data we created dry-off guides in line with near their calving dates. individual BCS targets based on age and However, time has a clear intersection calving date. This included seeing our with the amount of feed available in the incoming first-calvers and rising threefeed budget for weight gain. year-old second calvers each having a Table 1- Body Condition Score risk tool target BCS of 5.5 at calving and BCS 5.0 for Cow Days until the rest of the herd.

Age BCS Exp Calv calving We always have a feed budget running so 7 5 4.5 10-Jul 97 we knew we had enough feed available to add about two thirds (0.66 BCS) of a Body 8 12 4 9-Aug 127 Condition score/month or 1 BCS every 47 199 2 4 3-Jul 90 days/7 weeks. In Table 1, cow 13 needs to 13 4 3.5 6-Jul 107 gain 0.71 of a BCS/month or 1 BCS in 43 455 8 3.5 22-Sep 171 days – six weeks.

11 5 3 7-Sep 156 We created a tool to automatically rank

What did we change?

High feeding rates will shorten the time for weight gain, but high feeding rates in autumn are for many, a luxury that isn’t budgeted. Once dried off for seven days, our cows were offered around 15-17kg of feed (grass, low quality silage and palm kernel) for the remainder of autumn.

The most common question we received from our followers, was: “Why didn’t you feed them more when they were milking, so you didn’t need to gain as much weight in the autumn?” Fair question!

The answer? “We tried!”

Over summer, the heat stress here was considerable. Cows were hot. The intense heat grew a lot of grass, and burned the sugars out of the ryegrass making it high in fibre. It also caused an explosion of nasty C4 summer grasses that were also high in fibre. So our cows that were hot from the outside, were also eating highly fibrous feed that made them hot from the inside.

Offering more, just saw more left behind – which also posed a heightened eczema risk we didn’t want. We eventually made 110 tonnes of silage in February from all the extra grass we had around – three times more than we got out of our meagre spring surplus.

The herd was on once-a-day from Christmas and we had strong summer crops so we could offer up to a third of their summer diet in juicy, low-fibre

Weight gain days

BCS target

BCS gap to target

BCS/month needed

67

5

0.5

0.22

97

5

1.0

0.31

60

5.5

1.5

0.75

77

5

1.5

0.71

141

5

1.5

0.32

126

5

2.0

0.48

Figure 2- BCS distribution of the herd at start of calving and start of mating 2017 vs 2018

Mating BCS Distribution change 2017 vs 2018

Calving BCS Distribution change 2017 vs 2018

BELOW TARGET -40%

-20%

% HERD 0%

20%

ABOVE TARGET 40% 60%

BELOW TARGET -40% -20%

% HERD 0%

ABOVE TARGET 20%

40%

60%

6.0 5.5 5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0

6.0 5.5 5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0

2017 Start of calving

2018 Start of calving

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

2017 Start of mating

2018 Start of mating 99

turnips. But part of the carryover effect of lower BCS premating, meant they were starting behind the eight ball as we rolled into summer anyway.

The other challenge was our system change, meaning for the first time we didn’t have 200t of maize silage on hand as a carbohydrate “helper” to gain autumn weight.

Kg Milksolids production per cow/day compared to prior seasons 2.11

2.20

2.11

2.03

1.95

2.00 1.80 1.60

The results

1.40 1.20 1.00

July 1.74 1.56 1.87 1.95

15-16 MS/cow 16-17 MS/cow 17-18 MS/cow 18-19 MS/cow

August 1.82 1.84 2.09 2.11

September 1.93 1.91 2.00 2.11

Figure 3- Daily milksolids/cow performance last 4 seasons

Table 2- Early season production comparison 2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

kgMS total YTD

62,824

61,560

64,658

65,692

Hectares farmed

160

146

148

147

Peak cows

445

424

418

405

kgMS/cow YTD

141

145

155

162

kgMS/ha YTD

393

422

437

446

Kg Imported supps/cow YTD

507

361

389

257

If we look at BCS average and more importantly range at both planned start of calving and planned start of mating – we’ve October clearly made a little progress.

1.85 Our average BCS has had 1.64 a much healthier start to the season this year, which has 1.93 helpfully carried on so far this 2.03 year leading to no cows below BCS4 heading into mating, compared to 25% of the herd last year. We’re now looking at this as a capital investment in BCS that we intend to maintain year-on-year a little like feed inventory. It’s part of how our system works now and needs to be carefully maintained each year.

When we look at some of the other key statistics for the farm – it’s stacking up there too. Despite making less milk and drying off earlier last year, our profit last year was $50,000 higher than the year

Figure 4- Reproductive performance comparison last three seasons

0%

% calved 6-weeks Calving rate

100

Actively cycling

68%

93%

85%

79%

90%

2018

Late calve yet to cycle

Planned start of mating

CIDR”D

14%

13%

27%

22% 12%

15%

16%

58%

Overdue early “non cyclers”

15%

16%

22%

29%

24%

40% 20%

2017

72%

62%

60%

55%

61%

84%

83%

84%

83%

80%

2016

72%

2015

100%

85%

HERD PRE-MATING CYCLING LEVELS

Naturally submitted

Total submissions

3-week performance Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

GET before (and that is putting both years at a $6.00/kg milksolids (MS) farmgate milk price to remove any effect of payout).

In this season – we’re 11 cows less on farm than last year, and so far we’ve made more milk out the gate (Table 2 and Figure 3). This is in no small part due to the extra “fat on the back” making it into the vat for the herd, plus a real focus on maximising feed intake regardless of the weather – as June, July and August were far wetter this season than last. However, September this year has been much more forgiving than last.

The other pleasing point to note is that we’ve done it with considerably less imported supplements fed.

Lastly, mating performance – the reason that kicked off this whole process for us. So far, the signs are good – though as this is written we’ve to the day only completed our first three weeks. Pre-mating heats this year have been stronger – with more-obvious heats and more of them. This year all the paint is gone, where last year that wasn’t always the case (persistent rain throughout September may have played a part last year though.)

High feeding rates will shorten the time for weight gain, but high feeding rates in autumn are for many, a luxury that isn’t budgeted.

This year’s calving spread wasn’t as bad as we thought in the end, despite the 6% lower six week in-calf rate. Partially due to an 8% acceleration by the first calvers coming in quickly this year and use of a little more short-gestation semen at the 6th and 7th week of mating last year for the mixed age cows. Our six-week calving rate was actually 1% higher this year than last year (the same as two years ago) when it all ironed out, and with better BCS the pre-mating stats are very interesting reading (Figure 4).

Pre-mating we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of cows actively cycling pre-mating, and even more of our later calvers cycling ahead of their “due date” eight weeks after calving. It’s also very interesting to note the comparison between early cycling and submissions four years ago and this year when cows started mating at better BCS than the two years in between.

We have used the same number of CIDRs this year on the herd compared to last year, however this year we inserted those 10 days earlier. Last year we delayed our CIDR insertion to the first day of mating to allow more cows to come on naturally. If we’d inserted 10 days prior like we have in every other year we would have used a CIDR on 69 cows (16% of the herd). Over time it is our aim and therefore pleasing to see the number of CIDRs required, coming down.

Just to compare – remember Mum and Daughter? (Big Ginge – #455 2009 born and BGD – #13 2013 born), well they have both been up in the first three weeks. BGD calved July 25 had three heats pre-mating and was inseminated October 10. Big Ginge calved September 8, had not cycled pre-mating but was inseminated October 11.

All up it feels like progress, and has reinforced to us that sometimes a little fat in the system is a good thing. Stay tuned to our focus day in March for the results and how big the dividend payable is, on this investment.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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Tom Yule harvesting a paddock of Moata. He is driving for Mike Kettle Contracting in Hawke’s Bay who apply either liquid or granular inoculant to all the silage they make.

FARM GEAR SILAGE-MAKING

Silage – inoculate or not?

The use of inoculants in making pasture and maize silage is not standard practice in New Zealand, while some trial work suggests that perhaps it should be. Tim McVeagh reports.

W

ith a lot of pasture silage already in and more to go; and maize silage to be harvested in the new year, a look at silage inoculants is worthwhile.

Silage inoculants come in the form of a spray or granules containing bacteria known to improve the fermentation process of silage making. They may also contain enzymes. There are inoculants specific for pasture or maize, and some which are suitable for both. They are added to silage at harvest, prior to ensiling.

The bacteria include homolactic and heterolactic species.

Homolactic bacteria like Lactobacillus plantarum and Enterococcus faecium enhance fermentation by accelerating lactic acid production, which reduces protein degradation and inhibits the growth of undesirables like enterobacteria and clostridias. But they are not good at enhancing the aerobic stability (shelf life) of the silage.

Lactobacillus buchneri is a heterolactic bacteria and it is useful in silage making because it keeps silage cool after opening the stack.

In storage, it converts lactic acid to acetic acid inhibiting yeast growth. Yeasts cause silage to heat and they make the pH go up.

A low pH is what silage-making is about 102

so increasing the pH is like “opening the door” for spoilage organisms e.g. mould growth. So L. buchneri effectively reduces microorganism that cause heating spoilage losses.

bacteria strains. All of the strains sold are isolated from Pioneer’s own bacteria collection, and they are all patented,” Genetic Technologies Ltd’s Forage and Nutrition Specialist Raewyn Densley says.

How do they work?

Potential benefits:

The silage fermentation process involves the conversion of water-soluble carbohydrates, (sugars) to acid by bacteria which are found on the pasture or crop, and this lowers the silage pH, preserving it. The efficiency in converting sugar to lactic acid, (the acid associated with betterquality silage), varies between bacterial species and how they dominate the microbial population in the stack.

The fermentation process can be accelerated and enhanced by adding a silage inoculant which contains high numbers of specific strains of specific bacterial species which produce lactic acid efficiently.

These take over from the naturally occurring bacteria, to produce efficient quality fermentation. The end result of faster, more efficient fermentation is better silage quality (noticeable as better smell), reduced loss of energy and higher dry matter recovery.

“Pioneer have over 10,000 lactic acid

The potential benefits associated with silage made with inoculants, compared with untreated silage are: • Higher dry matter recovery, (quantity of silage out as a proportion of silage in) through less spoilage and shrinkage.

• Better silage quality; more lactic acid, less butyric acid, less ammonia (= less protein degraded), lower pH • Better digestibility through higher feed energy levels.

• Inoculants containing Lactobacillus buchneri have aerobic stability benefits, so the shelf life is prolonged during storage and feed out, and silage may be fed out a day prior to feeding without excessive heating.

• Less silage degradation by mould and yeast growth.

• Faster fermentation allows earlier feeding out after ensiling. With maize silage for example, silage inoculated with some products can be fed out three days after ensiling, while seven days is the accepted

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

minimum time without an inoculant.

Silage without inoculant which is opened soon after ensiling tends to deteriorate more readily as it doesn’t have the same levels of acid to protect it.

The end result is an increase in quantity and quality of silage.

Pioneer’s website includes a “Pasture Inoculant Profit Calculator”, comparing a cost/benefit analysis for pasture silage treated with their 1127 inoculant, and an untreated control. For every 10 wet tonnes of silage, the inoculant cost will be $37.70.

Assumptions made include, for untreated and treated silage respectively: • drymatter recovery of 92.9 and 95.8%; and so feedable silage of 9.3 and 9.6 tonnes.

• milk produced per tonne of silage fed of 279 and 309; and so total milk produced 2,592 and 2,960 litres.

At 8.9% milk solids and a return of $6.75/kg of milk solids, this represents a difference of $208.70. Deducting the $37.70 inoculant cost means there is a difference of $171, representing a return of $4.55 for every $1 invested.

Farmers cannot evaluate silage inoculants. Countries including the United Kingdom and Germany have a forage additive approval scheme, which approves inoculants on the basis of fermentation quality, aerobic stability, effluent run-off, and animal performance. New Zealand has no such scheme. So the recommendations for inoculant selection are: • The most important consideration should be to cite trial results which show the benefits of products being considered. Independent data would be even better but is scarce. From sound trial results, a cost benefit analysis for a particular situation may be provided by the company, indicating the anticipated increase in milk production in volume and dollar terms, the cost associated with this, and so the return on investment of the inoculant.

• A lack of trial data to support a particular product does not give the purchaser confidence in the product. Claims made by one company based on the research of another company whose product has the same bacteria name are not valid, as the strains of bacteria may be quite different. There are inoculants which have been tested and found to have limited benefits.

• Guaranteed minimum application rate of 100,000 live colony forming units (CFU) per gram of fresh forage. This is the industry standard.

“There’s a war going on in the silage stack, and we must put in sufficient inoculant bacteria to outcompete the naturally occurring ones,” Densley says.

“The suppliers of the inoculant must have a quality plan in place to ensure that problems like dead bacteria, do not occur.”

ISO accreditation is one check a farmer can make to give confidence in a product.

Pioneer have such quality procedures in place which include retrieving unused inoculant for testing and disposal if need be.

• Suitable for maize, pasture silage, or other crop? While multi-crop products are available, those specific to pasture or a particular crop are often found to be a better product, as the strains of bacteria have been specifically selected as the most suitable.

• If improved aerobic stability is required, look for a product with L. buchneri. This bacterium is especially beneficial where there is a wide stack face, and a slow feed out rate.

The application method should also be considered, as bacteria don’t move far from where they are placed. Inoculant suppliers may lease, loan, or sell inoculant dispensers to farmers and contractors.

• Competent service and technical backup from the company providing the product.

There are no organic-approved inoculants on the NZ market, as the moisture scavengers included in inoculants do not meet the organic requirements.

• Life of the mixed product. This can avoid waste of surplus ready-to-use product or if there is a breakdown, or more silage is to be made in the near future. Refrigeration may be essential.

• Shelf Life. This may be increased by refrigeration, or it may be essential.

• Granular or Liquid? In terms of effectiveness, there is little difference between liquid and granular inoculants, although some research suggests the liquid inoculants perform better where silage is dry. The application system available may dictate which of these options is chosen. Pioneer can supply their Appli-Pro SLV dispenser, and Grevillia-Ag can supply an “Air-Tech” ULV applicator.

• Water application rate. Water must be clean to avoid blockages, so a low dilution rate can be an advantage. The capacity to carry larger volumes of water on balers is limited, and carrying lower volumes of water, particularly on rolling country, is safer.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

• Dye, to allow inoculant level to be easily seen in tanks.

• Price: This must be weighed up against the benefits, as a cheap product with little benefit is an expensive option.

• Active ingredients. Knowing the active bacteria in a product is of limited value as there are a range of strains of bacteria within each species, and their effect on silage fermentation varies widely.

Where a contractor supplies the inoculant, farmers should check the product to be used, that it is backed by trial data and that it meets his other requirements as indicated above.

As inoculants contain live bacteria, it is important to follow all instructions regarding storage, use, tank mix life, shelf life, as well as general guidelines such as water quality.

Silage inoculants make good silage better, and nothing can make poor silage into good quality silage. So inoculants are not a remedy for poor silage practices.

At best an inoculant may make silage considered not suitable for ensiling, okay to ensile.

“Although there is scientific evidence that silage inoculants can improve silage quality, improve animal performance and keep silage cool, they do not always work,” NutriAssist Nutrition Consultant Dr. Jakob Kleinmans says. “The type of bacteria used, the presence of live organisms at harvest, application techniques and the type of forage they are added to, will determine product efficacy”.

Silage quality testing is carried out by companies like Hill Laboratories and Analytical Research Laboratories.

NZ Products: Silage inoculants are supplied in New Zealand by...

Grevillia-Ag;

grevilliaag.com.au

Lallemand Animal Nutrition

vitecnutrition.co.nz

Naturefarm

naturefarm.co.nz

Nutritech

nutritech.co.nz

Pioneer

pioneer.co.nz

PPP

pppindustries.co.nz

Rainbow and Brown

rainbowbrown.co.nz

A detailed explanation of silage inoculants, “A review of silage inoculants in the New Zealand market,” by Dr. Jakob Kleinmans, is well worth reading, and can be accessed by searching for silage inoculants at www.far.org.nz.

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Having a business plan will help grow your stock as well as your business.

DAIRY 101 BUSINESS PLANS

Charting your course WORDS: KAREN TREBILCOCK

A

business plan needs to be more than a document to convince the bank that your dairy operation will somehow make money.

We can do budgets and planning till the cows come home (and they do come home – usually twice a day) but often it feels like a pointless exercise because in farming, no year is ever a normal year.

Who knows when the tractor is going to blow up, a worker will put the penicillin milk in the vat and then promptly forget about it or, of course, the payout drops yet again.

And then there is the weather – droughts, floods and even earthquakes.

They all affect your bottom line.

But business plans are much more than budgets and forecasts.

They’re a statement of how you got 104

to where you are now, where you are now, and where you hope to end up.

Your analysis of all three should show your knowledge of your farming business.

It’s a document that you should keep up-to-date even if the bank or whoever is not asking for it – this document is about your business, for your business. It’s about knowing what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

And when you get up at 4am every day to milk cows, it’s a really good idea to know the why.

Sitting down to start writing a business plan is probably the hardest part of the whole process. It’s that white piece of paper, that blank screen.

Start with a template instead – one where you just fill in the answers. There are plenty around – either google to find them or ask your accountant, bank or farm consultant for examples.

Most of them begin with how you started out and how you got to where you are today. Add in as much detail as you want – if it’s important to you then write it down.

Then state what your business looks like now – who’s involved, how those people interact, what responsibilities they have.

Include all the things that you own that are part of the business (ute, motorbikes, tractors, cows) and talk about the farm you’re on whether you own it or not, including its good points and bad.

All of this should not simply be a list.

Analyse it, saying whether it contributes to or limits your success. For example your new tractor might be great at doing the job you need it to do and maintenance bills have halved since you got rid of the old one but the interest payments are affecting cash flow.

After writing all of this, start on the

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

financial planning section which is your budget for the season, cash flow for each month and equity growth projections.

Include how much equity you believe you can grow each year and how you are going to do it, and how are you going to use it.

Include benchmarking and explain why some of your figures are better, or worse, than those you have benchmarked against.

Identify areas for growth, opportunities and strengths. A larger than normal calf rearing shed on the farm may allow you to raise more calves for sale or having your own baler means you can go contracting.

Do a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis showing that you are aware of what could go wrong, but also how to mitigate them if they do.

State your risk management – how regional council plans will affect your business, how you can reduce costs if the payout crashes or whether you can sell land and consolidate your business if interest rates rise. If the farm is known to flood put in your contingencies for when this happens.

Doing this makes you think about all the possibilities and makes you put plans in place before the worst happens.

Also include your long-term goals – the where you want to get to. In today’s changing world financial security looks a lot different now to what it will be in 10

years’ time, or 60.

In the 1970s everyone’s dream was to retire at the age of 50, in the 1990s it was to own your own farm. In the 2000s it was the overseas trip in the offseason.

Now it might be just to stay afloat, put the kids through university without too big a student debt and getting them somehow on the property ladder.

Don’t feel bad that your goals change.

Life happens. Children, health issues and the economy all throw curve balls at us.

Don’t be blinkered by them. Learn from them instead. Enjoy the ride.

Include benchmarking and explain why some of your figures are better, or worse, than those you have benchmarked against.

Your goal might have been once to own your own farm but don’t feel let down or guilty or that you have been unsuccessful as a farmer when you realise you are never going to get there.

And hey, if somehow you finally got enough equity to buy a dairy farm would that really be what you would spend all of those millions on right now? (Bach at the beach or milking cows? Luxury yacht or milking cows?

I have so much

Left: The large green tractors (of any make) you own should be included in your business plan.

Right: Starting with a blank piece of paper can be the hardest thing to do.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

money I can do whatever I want to or milking cows? Such tough decisions).

So, if you read your business plan from last year and your goal in it doesn’t mean the same to you as it did then, it’s time to rethink it.

If why you are milking cows is no longer true then alter it, find another reason (or stop milking cows).

Change is always happening. Some of it you can plan for (getting older), most of it you can’t.

Also add into the document your policies and procedures manual, your farm environment plan and your nutrient management plan.

You may not think they directly affect your finances but you need to at the very least show you have them and they are upto-date, working documents.

Also include the purpose of your business – why are you a dairy farmer?

And the answer to this is not “my Dad made me do it”. He might have told you to milk the cows from before you can remember but you could have walked away. Something made you stay so what was it?

Dairy farming might give you and your family a place to live that you enjoy, the opportunity to be your own boss, to decide your own future, work the hours you want to, be part of a rural community or give you equity growth that you couldn’t get on wages.

Or it might be that you like working with animals/big green tractors/ interesting young people that you can give opportunities to.

Or it could be your kids love it and you want to be able to pass the farm on to them one day.

If that’s the case, you’d better include a succession plan in it as well.

105

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

What’s

NEW? SOLUTIONS ANIMAL WELFARE

The SenseHub monitoring solution is already in operation on several Nestlé vendors’ farms.

ALLFLEX, NESTLÉ TO MONITOR DAIRY COWS’ WELLBEING

N

estlé and Antelliq’s Allflex Livestock Intelligence are cooperating on a plan to pilot Allflex’s SenseHub solution to monitor dairy cows’ wellbeing on farms producing milk for specific Nestlé products As part of Nestlé’s commitment on animal welfare, it is piloting Allflex’s SenseHub solution to monitor the overall wellbeing of cows, on dairy farms in several geographic regions.

This collaboration aims to provide Nestlé with full visibility into the wellbeing of individual cows and the herd according to a set of key performance indicators.

The SenseHub solution will in turn deliver actionable information on the reproductive, health, nutritional and wellbeing status of individual cows and groups.

The system has the potential to drive continuous improvement on animal welfare, more efficient farm management and more productive dairy farm operations.

The SenseHub monitoring solution is already in operation on several Nestlé vendors’ farms.

This project builds on Allflex’s longstanding relationship with Nestlé, founded in 2014 when Allflex was chosen to lead the cow monitoring and welfare aspects of

the Dairy Farming Institute (DFI) in China.

“We are very pleased to expand our cooperation with Nestlé, a company that shares our belief in the importance of cow wellbeing as an element in responsible production of milk-based food products,” Antelliq chief executive Dr Stefan Weiskopf says.

The system has the potential to drive continuous improvement on animal welfare, more efficient farm management and more productive dairy farm operations.

“SenseHub enables multiple aspects of cow wellbeing to be measured, and we are excited to be sharing these abilities with Nestlé, to help consumers be better informed and confident in the food they feed their families.”

Allflex Livestock Intelligence, an Antelliq company, is the world leader in the design, development, manufacturing

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

and delivery of animal identification and monitoring solutions.

It brings cutting-edge, practical applications of visual and electronic animal identification, tissue sampling, traceability and monitoring technologies to the world’s livestock industries.

With some 1900 team members worldwide, Allflex says it has a global network of experts built up over 60 years, each with a great depth of experience and unparalleled knowledge who act as a resource to farmers, companies and countries. Allflex has manufacturing and technology subsidiaries in North America, Europe, Israel, South America, China, Australia and New Zealand. Its products are distributed in over 100 countries.

Antelliq is the world’s leading animal intelligence group, providing worldclass devices for animal identification, monitoring, and traceability. It monitoring solutions deliver smart data products and services for the management and wellbeing of livestock, fish and pets.

For over 60 years we have been satisfying customer needs in over 100 countries, supported by 22 production sites, spanning five continents.

More? Visit www.allflex.global or www.antelliq.com

109

OPEN COUNTRY GOES ORGANIC

O

pen Country Dairy tankers will soon deliver the first supply of organic milk for processing.

Its farmers have completed years of transition to become certified organic producers and the Awarua facility modifications are complete to FSSC22000 food safety standard.

As New Zealand’s largest independent milk processor and the second largest exporter of whole milk powder in the world, its milk powder is used in a host of applications, being re-packed into cans or pouches as milk powder, reconstituted milk, yoghurt and baking ingredients.

Open Country Dairy CEO Steve Koekemoer says the decision to diversify

What’s

NEW? SOLUTIONS ORGANICS

into organic milk powder reflects the consumer change in attitude towards ‘clean’ products free from contaminants and pesticides.

“We’re going to be one of the largest organic processors here and we’re very proud of our organic milk and our Awarua facility in the southern-most region of New Zealand.”

Open Country Organic Sales Manager Joe Clark says: “The global organic food market is growing by over 10% a year, it’s now worth NZ $150 billion globally.

“For potential customers, by using organic milk it gives them the opportunity to add organic to their product range.

The Open Country Awarua plant.

Organics is a good way to add value,” Clark says.

“We’ve ensured that from a company and farmer perspective this is a longterm commitment. We have created a sustainable supply of organic milk for our customers,” Koekemoer says.

“I get asked ‘what is your expectation of the organic programme’ and I always reply 100% success. Why would someone not want to buy the highest quality organic milk from one of the best places in the world to source from, in New Zealand?”

MIGHTY RAKE EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS

W

hen contractor Steve Murray first saw the huge 15-metre Kverneland rake at Power Farming’s Canterbury branch he immediately told his son Sam, “that thing is just too big, and it will take some horsepower to pull it!”

But, Jimmy Leigh, Power Farming’s North Canterbury rep could see there was potential. Reluctantly Steve agreed to a demonstration, if only to get 40 hectrares of silage rowed up.

“After experiencing what the rake could do, I formed a different opinion,” Steve, of Rangiora’s B A Murray, says.

“Half way around the paddock I was impressed. It picked up the grass really well, formed a huge, even swath and was dragging in an extra 3m more grass than our 12m rakes. It looked as though the paddock was being swept.

“By the time we had done a whole lap, I’d already bought the machine in my head, it was so impressive.”

Even though Steve was not in the market for a new rake, and he’s tough to please, he has found many advantages of operating the KV97150C. “It’s a robust, well-built rake that’s really 110

The Mighty Kverneland 97150C 15m rake filled a void contractor Steve Murray didn’t know he had.

easy to use. With the sealed, maintenancefree Proline Gearbox, daily maintenance is just down to greasing. The team at Power Farming look after servicing.”

Steve had recognised the need to present his new, high capacity forage harvesters and baler with more grass. Only by creating a bigger swath could he hope to realise their increased potential.

“The paddocks are not getting any smoother, and if you are simply relying on speed to increase the quantity of grass ahead of the machine, then there will be breakages involved.”

The KV97150C could provide vast quantities of grass at lower speeds, with

less wear and tear, less damaging jolting, and a comfortable operator.

“Just because it’s a big rake we don’t have to have five rows going into the baler all of the time.”

The independent, hydraulic adjustment of the working width of each rotor arm, from the cab, while on the go, makes the rake really versatile. When working in a paddock with troughs, wear and tear is reduced through simply withdrawing and extending the rotor arm rather than raising and lowering it.

For a demonstration of the KV9150C, contact your local Power Farming dealership at www.powerfarming.co.nz

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

PROPERTY SNAPSHOT

Vendor expectation still high Volatility and uncertainty in the dairy industry means the value of each property has to be determined by demand and the vendor. Anne Hardie reports. ncertainty in the dairy industry from milk price and debt reduction to biosecurity, environmental regulations and few overseas buyers equals uncertainty in property values this season.

QV property consultant Ian Harvey says rural property values aren’t driven by income alone and numerous other factors that are coming into play in the dairy property market have yet to be fully realised.

Ultimately values will be determined by demand and a vendor’s need to sell a property in a particular region, he says.

At this stage vendor expectation is still quite high and for some it will depend on how much pressure the banks put on them to sell that decides the value of their property.

The effect of Mycoplasma bovis has not yet impacted on the dairy property market, though it has prompted dairy farmers to seek support land to become self-contained units and that creates extra demand for grazing blocks, Harvey says.

The emergence of best practice environmental regulations required under the Government’s national policy statement for freshwater management is prompting significant shifts in how farms will operate in the future and he says it’s uncertain if or how that will affect property values.

U

Tighter constraints around key nutrients including nitrogen and phosphate, along with tighter controls of bacteria levels and sediment losses is still a work in progress and differs between regions and farms.

In Southland for example, it’s difficult to get compliance for a dairy conversion and though that’s more a compliance issue than value issue, with few conversions on the table lately, it’s still a factor that creates uncertainty, he says.

‘There’s certainly uncertainty in the dairy industry and the thing most affecting values is if the vendors want to sell.’

Then there’s the tightening of rules around sales to overseas buyers and Harvey says there are few local buyers for the larger enterprises.

“For those greater than $15 million, there’s not too many individuals that can handle that.”

Some with two dairies and sufficient infrastructure could be split into smaller properties again, but he considers that

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

unlikely for many larger dairy operations.

“There’s certainly uncertainty in the dairy industry and the thing most affecting values is if the vendors want to sell.”

In the past year, figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand show the median OTAGO/ price for dairy farms SOUTHLAND nationally has swung as high as $45,900/ha back in November 2017 and down to about $30,000 in February and March this year. But there’s a lot of unknowns in figures sometimes, Harvey points out. Dairy farms split into lifestyle blocks, for example, will increase their value considerably.

It comes back to each individual area within a region and then demand combined with realistic vendor expectation. Harvey works in Otago and Southland areas and says there are “mini markets” where farms in established Southland dairying areas can sell up to $40,000/ha, whereas those in northern Southland’s fringe dairying areas sell between $26,000/ha to $30,000/ha.

That’s just a guide though because the volatility and uncertainty in the dairy industry means the value of each property has to be determined by demand and the vendor.

111

PROPERTY BAY OF PLENTY

Dairy subdivision heads for horticulture

he subdivision of a 50.3-hectare dairy farm near Katikati in the Bay of Plenty has created five lots suitable for high-return horticulture ventures and the opportunity to use the existing dairy for a boutique business.

Jersey Meadows is 12km south of the town in an area where horticulture crops such as kiwifruit and avocados are expanding due to their high returns, and Aucklanders seek to escape the crowded city for a quieter lifestyle.

Andrew Fowler from PGG Wrightson Real Estate says it is a prime example of how dairy farms can add value to their property by subdividing part or all of the land to create the best options for it.

T

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112

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

About 28ha of Jersey Meadows is premium plateau land for horticulture as it enables frosty air to drain over the sides to lower areas. Lot sizes range from 6ha to 12ha and each has potential elevated house sites as well as natural running water to add that lifestyle character.

Fowler says the subdivision has considered the character and lifestyle aspect of the land by crossing the stream to provide each lot with natural water, as well as house sites and horticulture blocks.

For the past 50 years, Jersey Meadows has run a dairy operation and its 10-aside herringbone dairy is part of a 12.6ha block in the subdivision that Fowler says could be the basis for a boutique dairy business such as yoghurt – using the local kiwifruit or avocado as flavours. As a dairy farm, the pasture and fertility has been well managed to produce a dense sward of clover and ryegrass that is free of weeds.

The dairy block also has the house and a large lockable shed.

Other lots are suited for horticulture, including gold kiwifruit which Fowler says is now selling beyond $1 million per hectare in established orchards, while avocados are a popular choice to plant.

Both kiwifruit and avocado orchards surround the property which is why it has

a number of fruit-handling packhouses nearby and hence the development of potential horticulture blocks.

“The most-searched word on the real estate website is avocados because that’s what a lot of Aucklanders moving out of the city want to know about. This is a very popular area for lifestyle blocks too and a lot of Aucklanders are moving out of Auckland.”

Fowler says planning is important for landowners wanting to maximise the value of their land and dairy farmers can look

at their properties to see how they can create areas that suit both their business and a potential lifestyle block or venture.

He uses wetlands as an example that can be difficult for a dairy farm, but can add character and appeal on a lifestyle block.

Tenders for Jersey Meadows or individual lots close on November 22.

To view the property visit www. pggwre.co.nz ID TAR29142 and for further information contact Andrew Fowler on 027 275 2244.

New Zealand’s leading rural real estate company RURAL

| LIFESTYLE

|

RESIDENTIAL

OPEN DAY

378 Wright Road, Aongatete

Bay of Plenty

‘Jersey Meadows’ is 50.33ha of prime ex dairy land surveyed into 6 lots.

Approx 28ha of premium plantable ‘plateau’ land at 40-80 MASL spread over 4 of the 5 lots, ideal for horticulture.

Lot sizes range from 6-12ha. Look to purchase 1 or more lots.

All lots have beautiful natural running water, adding diversity, interest and value. Each of the lots have potential stunning elevated house sites.

Lot 1 has a house, cowshed (working condition) and a big lockable shed.

Haybarns on lots 2 and 5. Will be useful for dry storage of horticulture gear.

Plant G3 Kiwifruit or avocados, run a horse and a few beefies. You could start up the cowshed and create a niche kiwifruit yoghurt brand.

Lots of space for duck ponds, walking and riding trails. This is paradise!

Further wetland and stream protection with fencing and planting will likely lead to future subdivision potential.

With formed access off Wright Road and Pine Ridge Lane the blocks all have a great address.

PGG Wrightson are very proud to represent this family through the sale of this excellent property, it’s been loved by them for around 50 years.

Contact the agent for a full information pack.

TENDER

Premium Plantable Land and Lifestyle

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November PGG Wrightson Real Estate Limited, licensed under2018 REAA 2008

For Sale Plus GST (if any) (Unless Sold by Private Treaty) Closes 4pm, 22nd November 2018

OPEN DAYS Sunday 28 October 11.15am - 12.45pm Sunday 4 November 12.30pm - 2.00pm Wednesday 7 November 12.30pm - 2.00pm Sunday 11 November 1.15pm - 2.45pm Andrew Fowler B 07 571 5797 | M 027 275 2244 afowler@pggwrightson.co.nz 113 pggwre.co.nz

PROPERTY WEST COAST

Farming on the flat WORDS: ANNE HARDIE range of management systems over the years has proved a 193-hectare dairy farm at Maruia in the Top of the South can perform well with them all.

The farm is for sale at $3.95 million for land and buildings and is near the small community between Murchison and Springs Junction, where it has the good fortune to lie just a couple of minutes from the small rural primary school.

It’s an area of river flats and terraces flanked by bush-clad mountains that distribute 2.5 metres of rain through the year and provide a spectacular working environment for the dairy farmer.

Most of the farm is flat, with a terrace above it and the milking

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NEW LISTING

Maruia 1991 State Highway 65 Versatile 208ha effective dairy unit This 208ha effective dairy unit has been in dairying for 20 years, it has been leased for the last three seasons and had a sharemilker for the previous three. Located at Maruia 65km from Murchison and 2.5 hours from Christchurch. The options are yours, run the property yourself or view this as a great investment. The farm has milked 470 - 540 cows and been run as a OAD and TAD system as well as being a self-contained unit. You have the option of supplying Westland Milk Products or Fonterra. The family are retaining some of the original title and the subdivision process is well underway, approx. 62ha of grazing land will be offered to the new owner for lease. The 36 aside herringbone shed has been modernised and has a 600 cow yard. A full array of barns and calf sheds are on site as well as a separate set of cattle yards. The original homestead has three bedrooms, there is an older three bedroom workers cottage and a ten year old two bedroom cabin.

bayleys.co.nz/558674

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Asking Price $3,950,000 + GST (if any) View by appointment Shari Ferguson 027 266 6850 shari.ferguson@bayleys.co.nz WHALAN AND PARTNERS LTD, BAYLEYS, LICENSED REAA 2008

platform is predominantly river silts and gravels. For the past 20 years the farm has been operated as a dairy farm, initially by the family who then put a manager on, then sharemilkers, before leasing it out for the past three seasons.

Shari Ferguson from Bayleys says each party has had their own management style and the farm has been a consistent performer.

“Since it’s been leased it’s been a once-a-day (OAD) selfcontained system and prior to that the sharemilkers milked twice a day. So someone could run the property themselves or an investor could put a sharemilker on it.”

The owners are retaining 22ha that is part of the milking platform, plus a 40ha drystock block, which will both be available to lease to a new owner. On the total milking platform of 208ha, plus the drystock block, the farm is milking 470 cows OAD this year and has a budgeted forecast production of 170,000kg milksolids (MS). In the past six years it has milked up to 540 cows and averaged 165,500kg MS with its mix of OAD, TAD, leased, sharemilkers and manager.

On average the farm has imported 70-100 tonnes of palm kernel and some straw for calving, but Ferguson says every year is different. Each year it has been growing about 12ha of summer turnips and it has about 25ha of winter swede going in. It has been making about 900 round bales of silage off the milking platform and all the cows and young stock are grazed under the one umbrella.

“It’s got really good soils and the pasture species are well established and in good heart. It’s great for growing crops and they’ve grown them for winter and summer.”

Good lanes access the paddocks and connect to the centrallylocated 36-aside herringbone dairy which has been modernised, has a variable speed milk pump and a 600-cow yard leading into it. A full array of barns and calf sheds work well, as does the underpass to a block of land on the other side of the road.

As well as the original homestead with its three bedrooms, the farm has a three-bedroom workers’ cottage and a two-bedroom cabin.

The property can supply either Fonterra or Westland Milk Products. The sale is land and buildings only, with 162,796 Westland Milk Product shares available to purchase separately.

To view the property visit www.bayleys.co.nz/558674 and for further information contact Shari Ferguson on 027 266 6850.

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

DairyNZ Consulting Officers

November Events

Upper North Island – Head: Sharon Morrell 027 492 2907 Northland Regional Leader

Tareen Ellis

027 499 9021

Far North

Denise Knop

027 807 9686

Lower Northland

Tareen Ellis

027 499 9021

Whangarei West

Tareen Ellis

027 499 9021

Regional Leader

Wade Bell

027 285 9273

Senior Consulting Officer

Phil Irvine

027 483 9820

South Auckland

Mike Bramley

027 486 4344

Hamilton North

Wade Bell

027 285 9273

Matamata/Kereone

Frank Portegys

027 807 9685

Morrinsville/Paeroa

Euan Lock

027 293 4401

Hauraki Plains/Coromandel

Wade Bell

027 285 9273

Te Awamutu

Stephen Canton

027 475 0918

Waikato

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

Otorohanga

Michael Booth

027 513 7201

South Waikato

Kirsty Dickins

027 483 2205

Bay of Plenty

Effluent Expo – Hamilton 27-28 November The one stop event showcasing New Zealand’s; effluent design, storage, containment, application and management. For more visit effluentexpo.co.nz.

Weaned calves and M. bovis

Regional Leader

Andrew Reid

027 292 3682

Central BOP (Te Puke, Rotorua)

Kevin McKinley

027 288 8238

Eastern BOP (Whakatane, Opotiki)

Ross Bishop

027 563 1785

Central Plateau (Reporoa, Taupo)

Colin Grainger-Allen

021 225 8345

Katikati, Galatea, Waikite/Ngakuru

Jordyn Crouch

021 619 071

Lower North Island – Head: Rob Brazendale 021 683 139 Taranaki

Are you planning to buy, sell, and/or move weaned calves to grazing? Stock movements are the highest risk for spreading M. bovis, however there are steps you can take to help protect your animals, check out dairynz.co.nz/mbovis.

Pasture Summit – Hamilton 26/27 November and Ashburton 29/30 November

Regional Leader

Sarah Dirks

027 513 7202

South Taranaki

Sarah Dirks

027 513 7202

Central Taranaki

Sarah Payne

027 704 5562

Coastal Taranaki

Anna Arends

021 276 5832

North Taranaki

Lauren McEldowney

027 593 4122

Kate Stewart

027 702 3760

Lower North Island Horowhenua/Wanganui/South Taranaki/Southern and Coastal Manawatu

DairyNZ is sponsoring the first NZ Pasture Summit taking place in Hamilton and Ashburton at the end of November. Visit pasturesummit.co.nz for more details.

Wairarapa/Tararua

Abby Scott

021 244 3428

Gray Beagley

021 286 4346

Thinking about heifer grazing prices?

Hawke's Bay Central/Northern Manawatu/Rangitikei

Jo Back

021 222 9023

South Island – Head: Tony Finch 027 706 6183

Download the heifer pricing calculator at dairynz.co.nz/heifer-economics and see how your prices compare.

Top of South Island/West Coast Nelson/Marlborough

Mark Shadwick

021 287 7057

West Coast

Angela Leslie

021 277 2894

Canterbury/North Otago

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

Regional Leader

Erin Christian

021 243 733

North Canterbury

Amy Chamberlain

027 243 0943 021 287 7059

Central Canterbury

Natalia Benquet

Mid Canterbury

Stuart Moorhouse

027 513 7200

South Canterbury

Heather Donaldson

027 593 4124

North Otago

Trevor Gee

021 227 6476

Southland/South Otago

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018

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0800 4 DairyNZ (0800 4 324 7969) I dairynz.co.nz

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Regional Leader

Richard Kyte

021 246 3166

South/West Otago

Mark Olsen-Vetland

021 615 051

Central/North Western Southland

Nicole E Hammond

021 240 8529

West Otago/North Eastern Southland Liam Carey

027 474 3258

Eastern Southland

Nathan Nelson

021 225 6931

Western Southland

Leo Pekar

027 211 1389

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November

27 & 28 Talk directly to NZ’s industry experts See effluent management gear in action Topical seminars run by industry professionals Up to 100 exhibitors on site to discuss your requirements

8:30am 4pm

Food and coffee available Optional social function Tuesday November 27 from 4:30pm, meal and drinks (ticket only) and entertainment featuring “The Bitches’ Box”

FREE Visit: www.effluentexpo.co.nz Entry for more information 116

Gold Partners

Mystery Creek Events Centre

Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2018