STOCK BODY CONDITION SCORE
Body condition score driving results For Ashburton sharemilkers Stuart and Sara Russell, Body Condition Score is critical, Dianna Malcolm writes.
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ocusing on Body Condition Score (BCS) has lifted Stuart and Sara Russell’s six week in-calf rate from 75% to 83%, and given them the confidence to use sexed semen. The couple are 50/50 sharemilkers with Sara’s parents, Richard and Diana Bourke, in Ashburton, Canterbury. They are milking 760 cows (including their registered Jerseys, Ngatimaru Jerseys) on 280 hectares (which also carries all the young stock) through a 54-bail rotary. They do most of the work themselves, and have installed technology and use their farm consultant to help stay on top of everything from cow health and compliance right through to putting together their sharemilking agreement. They are part of their processor Synlait’s Lead With Pride™ programme, which recognises and financially rewards suppliers who achieve best practice. It also adds another layer of administration for Sara, on top of the tough environmental compliance rules. Another challenge for Ngatimaru Farming Co. is that it is shaped a bit like
the map of England, which has made the centre pivot irrigation conversations a little more challenging. They have five of them to get around every corner and sharp edge on the property.
Without labour, technology is vital
None of their production and cow-health goals could happen on a busy farm without labour or technology. Stuart, 39, and Sara, 37, have chosen technology, and put their own shoulders to the grindstone. Rumen boluses have been used on the whole herd for heat detection, health and individualised in-shed feeding. The herd is almost 90% Jersey with an average production of 485kg milksolids (MS) per cow, based on 700kg of supplements per cow a year.
Body condition score anchor to performance
BCS anchors everything at this farm. Sara is a credited BCS evaluator and she and MilkMap consultant Andrew Trounce score the herd four times a year. Sara says the BCS results are linked with the herd
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2021
