Dairy News 12 Mar 2013

Co-op investing $20 million to improve waterways. Page 7

fonterra helps dream come true Business owner at 10 Page 10

ready for the 6-week challenge?

Free for all farmers Page 17

march 12, 2013 Issue 286 // www.dairynews.co.nz

Retiring LIC chief looks back “People sometimes ask why we have to make ‘so much money’ and the answer lies in our cooperative philosophy which is all about investing today, to deliver the innovations tomorrow’s farmers will need.” – Mark Dewdney PAGE 9

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

news // 3

GDT price hike too late for output ANDREW SWALLOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

IT WOULD be good if last week’s leap in dairy Synlait Farms shares its recipe for success. PG.06

Fewer cows mean more profit?

PG.14

Ploughing enthusiasts show their stuff.

PG.47

News ������������������������������������������������������ 3-21 Opinion ���������������������������������������������22-23 Agribusiness ����������������������������������� 24 Management ������������������������������ 25-29 Animal Health ��������������������������� 31-34 Effluent & Water Management ������������������������������35-45 Machinery & Products ������������������������������������� 46-50

prices translates into a payout increase but it comes too late to affect New Zealand production, says Federated Farmers Dairy chairman Willy Leferink.

Reflecting on Globaldairytrade’s 10.4% gain, following five smaller rises in every auction since December 4, Leferink told Dairy News he’d been waiting for the markets to react to shifts in supply.

“Drought has killed off a very good start to the year… it’s too late to press the supply button but if we get a few extra cents [on the payout] in a month’s time it would be most welcome.”

Fonterra has to be prudent in its payout predictions so no knee-jerk response to the latest GDT result is understandable, he adds. “I know people would love to have it but it’s prudent for Fonterra to be a bit careful there.”

As it is, the nationwide dry means few, if any, farms would be in a position to push production through an extended season or increased feeding in response to an increased forecast, he says.

The impact of the dry is being felt even on irrigated Canterbury properties due to water

restrictions, which highlights the need for largescale water storage, he adds.

“It’s time all these [anti-storage] groups realise there is an economic cost to not having it. An event like this will put a clear $ value on that.”

The drought situation in the North Island alone could be enough to briefly put the nation into recession, he says.

BNZ economist Doug Steel acknowledges agriculture will go into recession for at least the next couple of quarters but he doesn’t believe the impact will be so great it outweighs the “positives” of the Christchurch rebuild and resurgence in construction and the housing market elsewhere.

The bank’s position is for modest GDP growth to continue as a result, although he admits to being nervous about that. “There are some very big positives and some very big negatives as well. It’s a question of which is going to dominate.”

BNZ’s pick is that the firming global dairy prices, but stubbornly strong New Zealand dollar, will see this season’s payout raised 10-15c and next season’s forecast at about $6.40/kgMS. However Steel stresses there’s a long way to go to next season and while they believe the New Zealand dollar will remain firm for the rest of this year, at some point in 2014 the growing current account deficit will come home to roost and the dollar will

Willy Leferink

drop “quite sharply”.

Growth in the US economy and an end to quantitative easing would help drive that, he says.

Green light for new Westland plant HOKITIKA-BASED Westland Milk Products has the con-

sents it needs to build at Rolleston, Canterbury.

Last week the co-operative held strategy meetings with shareholders to discuss whether or not it should go ahead with the first of what could be three 6t/hour driers

capable of producing nutritional products on the site.

General manager operations Bernard May told Dairy News “official notification” came through late last month that the cooperative would be granted consent for up to three driers capable of making products such as infant formula on

the site. “It gives the cooperative a lot of options”.

But options are all that is being discussed at this stage, rather than a definite building plan. If the decision is made to build at Rolleston it will be one drier at a time, and it won’t preclude further investment at Hokitika, he adds.

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The recently commissioned nutritional powder plant at Hokitika has “made a very good start” and is helping Westland deliver on its strategy to move into the addedvalue nutritional product market.

“We’re very pleased with that investment and the way the plant is operating.”

Dairy News march 12, 2013

4 // news

Drought losses mounting up peter burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

THE COST of the drought look sets to

exceed $1 billion, says Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy. Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay have been officially declared as ‘medium scale’ drought regions. Manawatu, which extends into the central North Island, has also asked to be declared a drought region and this

News the big problem with this drought is that it is widespread and nationwide.

Some farmers are more affected than others, depending on their supplies of supplements, how they have been set up and how they have been managing the situation.

“We have to recognise some farmers are in extreme situations and others are a little more comfortable but they could both be in the same district. Farmers must assess their own situations and make informed decisions, get help

“We’re not going to get rain now to carry us through autumn. The grass that grows when the rain comes is going to be needed for wintering and spring feed for next season, so let’s set about making next season as good as we can.” – Craig McBeth, DairyNZ is expected to made official this week.

The East Coast of the North Island, Wairarapa and Taranaki are also being monitored.

The situation is getting worse and its impact is just beginning to be realised, DairyNZ says. The effect on North Island farmers could be catastrophic, affecting farm profits for the next two seasons if it continues. Milk production January-March 2013 is forecast at about 50 million kgMS or 545 million litres less than the same period in 2012. (Note that 2012 was a bumper season and certainly not typical).

DairyNZ says the immediate reduction in milk revenue resulting from lower milksolids production is about $215 million, but once final payments are included over the next six months the reduced income from lower milk production in January-March 2013 will be about $275 million. For the average North Island farmer the loss in income is already over $30,000, before extra spending on supplementary feed is considered.

DairyNZ’s Craig McBeth told Dairy

around them and have a plan to act on.”

McBeth says this season is pretty much at an end. “We are not going to get rain now to carry us through to the autumn. The grass that grows when the rain comes is going to be needed for wintering and spring feed for next season, so let’s set about making next season as good as we can,” he says.

The feed situation is tight with PKE in short supply and increasingly expensive, McBeth says. Some dairy farmers are frustrated seeing arable farmers in Canterbury burning straw when they feel it could be used to feed their cows.

But he notes Federated Farmers have set up a ‘feed line’ to help connect farmers who need feed with those who have it.

Farmers need to focus on their financial situations and accurately quantify their positions. They must talk to their accountants about tax and talk to their banks. “As an ex banker [I know] you need to be a bit philosophical about these things. Some years you’ll make no money at all, you may even lose money; but in other years you’ll recoup that when the payout coincides with a

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy talks to the media on a drought-stricken farm in Northland last month.

‘Next four weeks are crucial’ THE NEXT four weeks will determine how bad this drought will be, says Professor Keith Woodford, Lincoln University. He says the 2008 drought went on a lot later into autumn and that was bad.

“If the rain comes in, say, 10 days we’ll say ‘phew, this was nasty, but we’ve escaped a lot of what it could have been’. Whereas if it’s still around in another month then we’ll say ‘this is a nasty one’.

If it goes through for another six weeks then I think it does have

good production season. So I used to look at these things over five to tenyear horizon.”

McBeth says Fonterra’s supply from

quite big implications months with prices through into next sealooking reasonable son because we know and China still buythat cows never milk as ing product. well in the spring if they “As well as that have gone into the winnobody in the world ter in poor condition.” is in a position to Woodford says dairy ramp up their profarmers will probduction quickly. I can ably not be as badly see that American Keith Woodford affected as sheep production will ramp farmers. He points to up in 2014, but I can’t positive signs on the international see that coming through over the dairy market in the coming twelve next nine months.”

the lower half of the North Island is ahead on a season-to-date basis compared with last season and 2% down on a daily basis. But in drought-declared

regions production is down by about 20% on a daily basis. @dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

news // 5

SI also starting to feel the pinch

Banks are moving to help droughtstricken farmers.

Southland getting dry too

andrew swallow andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

WEST COAST dairy farms in the

South Island are desperate for rain and the situation isn’t much better elsewhere.

Even some irrigated properties are starting to feel the effects of the big dry as restrictions on water supplies intensify. “We’ve got about a week left with somewhere to put the cows,” Federated Farmers Dairy chairman on the West Coast, Richard Reynolds, told Dairy News.

If it doesn’t rain soon his herd near Greymouth will be dried off at the end of the month and some farms will be biting that bullet even sooner. “In some cases they’re already feeding 80% supplement.”

Up the Grey Valley just about all farms other than the few with irrigation are brown. Feds national adverse event spokeswoman Katie Milne late last week flew over the region to get a better picture.

“It’s really about to hit home for the dairy company. They were down about 9% [on the corresponding week last year] last week but this week they’re going to take a massive hit. People have done all the culling they can and are moving to once-aday or drying off completely… That’s

FEDERATED FARMERS Dairy Southland chairman Alan Baird says the region’s “not really in drought yet” but inland areas are drying out rapidly.

“A good number in central and northern Southland have increased their milking interval to 16 hours or gone once-a-day… everyone is feeding silage or PKE or grain.”

In Otago, David Wilson says traditional dairy areas such as the Taieri Plain are holding up but areas such as Clydevale are suffering. “They feel it more than we do.”

However, even on his farm he’s feeding supplement owing to reduced grass growth and for those buying in PKE, the price has spiked to $330/t spot.

unheard of for us.”

Westland general manager operations Bernard May told Dairy News cumulative West Coast production was still 3.5% ahead of last year and Canterbury milk 7% ahead as of the beginning of March.

However, the drought could see the season end on par with last year.

“We could certainly lose that uplift.

People are saying it’s now the most significant drought event they can remember.”

One supplier with good weather records in the Grey region had nil rain in February, where 150-200mm is the norm.

The 500km length of the West Coast is affected and half the cooperative’s suppliers were already on oncea-day last week, or in the process of

going there, he says.

While little rain was forecast when Dairy News spoke to May, he says even if they do get a soaking in the next few weeks there will be little time for pasture covers to recover before winter sets in.

Reynolds notes the real worry is next season. “We’ve not got time on our side to get the grass growth back before winter. A lot of pasture cover is at one tonne [per hectare] and we might get 5-6t/ha of [winter feed] crop, if we’re lucky and it rains.”

Getting cows in condition for next season will be a struggle for many and there could well be a knock-on impact on production, he predicts. @dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews

Banks offer drought help BANKS ARE moving to help drought-stricken farmers. BNZ and ANZ have announced assistance measures.

BNZ front-line staff may offer immediate overdraft approval of up to $100,000 at 6% interest and immediate ‘emergency family funding’ of up to $10,000. Extra cash is available through normal approval channels.

BNZ head of agribusiness Richard Bowman says while the drought hasn’t been officially declared in many areas, farmers and their families are finding it tough now.

“Right now farmers need fast access to funds as they’re coming under enormous pressure with the challenge of feeding their stock,” Bowman says. “This could result in increased feed costs, reduced production and reduced stock prices as they offload surplus stock, placing further strain on cash flows.

“We want to offer them

breathing room to make the right business decisions while they protect livestock and look after themselves and their families.”

The bank will donate $5000 to each local Rural Support Trust chapter in a declared a drought zone and has developed a financial planning tool, available via the Rural Support Trusts and BNZ Partners, to assist farmers to assess their own requirements.

The help is not limited to declared drought areas and is open to BNZ agri-customers adversely affected by the dry weather.

Bowman estimates most of the bank’s agri-customers in drought affected areas will be affected in some way.

The funding can be used as working capital to meet drought costs or loss of income.

ANZ Bank is offering farm drought assistance to customers in North Island

regions declared in drought by the Government.

Graham Turley, ANZ Bank’s managing director commercial & agri, says

ANZ may help farmers with short-term cash and to re-establish their farms to full performance when conditions improve.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

6 // news

Capture ideas and act on them erty Robindale, presented the cow pillar where the core aim andrews@ruralnews.co.nz is to have the herd producing its liveweight in milk❱❱ 13,000 cows producing DAIRYING AND New Zealand agri- solids every season. With 5.4mKgMS/year off 3,900ha culture in general needs to be more an average liveweight ❱❱ 14 farms totalling 4749ha, innovative if it is to retain its place as a of 475kg and historical mostly around Te Parita, central Canterbury world leader, an award winning farm- average output of about ❱❱ 85 staff, including contract 400kgMS/head “we have a ing company’s leader says. and sharemilkers “If we don’t start innovating more fair way to go,” he acknowl❱❱ Separate company to Synlait effectively New Zealand’s advantage edged.

Milk However, it seems strides is going to slip away,” Synlait Farms’ chief executive Juliet Maclean told towards that 1:1 milk-to-liveIt’s not all about quantity across the crowd gathered last week for the weight goal have already been made Lincoln University Foundation South through better body condition scor- the farms either: running an A2 herd, Island Farmer of the Year winner’s ing and action, and splitting herds. and other herds producing specialFor example, heifers have their own ist milks for (now separate business) field day.

“For us to be the B team is not good mobs. “They always struggle up Synlait Milk, mean cow-driven quality traits add value to the volume. enough. We’ve got to be the A team. against the big eaters.”

Woodward says he believes this season’s output is “a direct result “The Synlait challenge to of that body condition scoring”, you is if you’re not using reflecting on last season’s February a spring rotation planner shift of anything below BCS 4.0 onto a 16-hour milking roster, which saw now, have a go at it and let gain 0.6 of a condition score us know if you have a better them in three months. With herds in even spring because of it.” better condition this year, “next year I think we’ll see a huge rise in per cow Making a late-calving mob – those performance,” he added.

Weekly feed budgets for next year due in October – at the start of winter Juliet Maclean so they have at least 90 days dry and are already drawn up, as Woodward’s We’ve got to be there or we will die.” are in “fantastic condition” come colleague Brett Walter explained in Synlait Farms, which milks 13,000 calving has also paid dividends: 55% the grass workshop.

These are monitored weekly cows producing 5.4mKgMS/year off are back in the early calving bracket against actual covers throughout the 3900ha, won the 2012 Foundation for next season.

Mixed age cows are split into high season, and even more frequently title for ‘doing the basics extraordinary well’, a banner used to flag and low production herds throughout during spring.

Walter outlined the detail that the field day. The farms, 14 of them, the season with the mobs redrafted mostly around Te Parita, central Can- after every herd test to make most goes into their spring pasture planterbury, are run under a six “pillar” efficient use of feed. The opportu- ning, and stressed the importance nity to transfer cows between farms of getting it right so cows hit their business strategy.

“If the things we are looking at if there are surpluses and deficits on potential peak, and consequent season-long production. “It’s about doing… don’t fit into one of those key different properties is also taken.

Supplement use isn’t high: Wood- doing the planning and putting it into areas then it’s likely we shouldn’t be committing any time to them,” said ward told Dairy News this season action and monitoring.”

Maclean threw that back at the Maclean, introducing the field day they’ll use about 350kgDM/cow in which was divided into workshops total – silage and grain. Despite that audience. “The Synlait challenge to on ‘pillar’: cows, grass, people, profit, modest input over grass, and a budget you is if you’re not using a spring rotaof 418kgMS/cow, “this season we’re tion planner now, have a go at it and environment and innovation.

Michael Woodward, Synlait’s on track for 460kgMS,” he told the let us know if you have a better spring because of it.” contract milker on its original prop- field day.

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Standing out for doing basics well THE CHAIR of Lincoln University Foundation, Ben Todhunter, says competition judges noted Synlait Farms stood out for doing the basics uncommonly well.

“A classic example of that was their response to their feed regime and the care of their cows in a difficult spring. They demonstrated innovation, excellence and attention to detail to produce a feed wedge that worked.

“There’s always a lot of talk in any industry about getting the basics right, but for various reasons people often find that

hard to put into practice. Synlait’s innovation and excellence of practice is embedded in its attention to the basics so they are done very well.”

Maclean notes an essential element of the South Island Farmer of the Year Competition is that it is a vehicle for sharing knowledge and growing New Zealand’s success in agriculture.

“We strongly support this ethic. If what we do and how we do it helps other farmers and industry players lift their game, that contributes to the success of the industry as a whole and we all benefit.”

At last week’s field day she reiterated that, saying innovations at Synlait Farms will be shared with the wider industry.

“We’re very open to sharing what we’re doing. If we don’t, how can we expect to learn from others if we’re not prepared to share as well?”

But coming up with an idea or seeing it in practice elsewhere is one thing; implementing and executing it on your own farm is another, she added. “You will all take away different ideas from today, and some will do absolutely nothing with them!”

Dairy News march 12, 2013

news // 7

Co-op, DOC unite on clean-up FONTERRA PLANS

to spend $20 million to improve important waterways.

Fonterra’s Living Water initiative was launched last week by Conservation Minister Nick Smith and director John Monaghan at Lake Areare, a peat lake in Waikato. It will begin with five catchments in key dairying regions.

Monaghan says Fonterra and DOC will work together to make these waterways examples of how dairy farming and natural New Zealand environments can work alongside each other. “Our streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands are important to every New Zealander,” he says.

The $20m will be spent over 10 years “so that we can all enjoy our natural environment at its best and ensure this can occur alongside a sustainable dairy industry”.

DOC director-general Al Morrison says quality waterways are pivotal to maintaining the healthy environments which pro-

tect native wildlife and underpin a sustainable dairy industry.

“We all realise our waterways need ongoing support and it makes perfect sense for DOC to be working with New Zealand’s largest dairy co-operative to improve water catchment health,” Morrison says. “By working together, we can [make] gains in some of our most sensitive catchments.”

Initially, Fonterra and DOC will work with communities on the Kaipara Harbour, Firth of Thames, and at Waikato peat lakes, Te Waihora-Lake Ellesmere and Awarua-Waituna.

The work will involve DOC, Fonterra, and locals such as iwi and farmers planting trees alongside streams and rivers, killing pests and weeds and making sure of habitats for native fish and birds.

Monaghan says the work with DOC will build on Fonterra’s Catchment Care work on 200ha of land and waterways

through planting, weeding and other volunteer work over three years.

“Working together with DOC is part of Fonterra’s Living Water initiative and the long-term commitment we are making to do what’s right for the land and waterways in their communities,” he says.

Monaghan acknowledges the dairy industry still has work to do.

“This initiative with DOC is part of our determination through all of our Living Water initiatives to work together, and engage with local communities to make a real difference to the health of waterways.”

Fonterra is spending $20 million on the clean-up of waterways.

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MPI HAS seconded a Fonterra technical officer from Hamilton, Melanie Chong, to the position of senior advisor dairy, animal products group.

Her secondment is intended to foster understanding of the regulatory and commercial drivers of MPI and industry, to improve the knowledge base and technical competency of MPI and Fonterra and to help develop partnerships between the organisations.

To start off with, Chong will focus on MPI’s standards integration programme in an effort to “de-clutter some of the Melanie Chong confusion industry has because of an array of rules that exist as a result of legislative and organisational changes over time”.

Chong has worked 13 years at Fonterra. She is a greatgranddaughter of pioneer Taranaki butter manufacturer Chew Chong, who exported butter to Australia and England in the 1880s. He also installed arguably the first freezing machine in a New Zealand butter factory and his Jubilee factory was described as ‘the palm among the butter factories’ by a government dairy inspector in 1888.

Says Chong, “It’s a big change of scene for me stepping outside of the industry but I see it as a one-year opportunity to see how MPI ticks and to get a better understanding of government processes.”

Talk to your DeLaval dealer today, call 0800 222 228 or visit www.delaval.co.nz

Dairy News march 12, 2013

news // 9

No time wasted in growing LIC MARK DEWDNEY officially retires

in June as chief executive of LIC, but in late February he stepped step aside from the operational aspects of the role to concentrate his energies on the transfer of the core database to DairyNZ. Helping effect that transfer is one of the things he is most proud of during his time heading the company.

“LIC developed the database in the 1980s when we were, essentially, an industry-good body. In 2001 we returned to farmer ownership as a cooperative and while everything we do has an industry-good spin-off, we have always believed the industry database should sit with an organisation whose sole focus is ‘industry good’. That organisation is DairyNZ, the transfer enabled by the Anderson Review. The LIC database (which contains the cooperative’s IP) remains with LIC.” Dewdney is quick to stress that his hand is “just one of a number involved in achieving the transfer of the core database to DairyNZ. “There have been a number of people, over the years, who have worked to maintain the integrity and sustainability of the database. I was simply in the right place at the right time to work with DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle to effect the transfer. We’ve signed the deal and the next few months will be spent dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s.”

Handing over LIC’s reins to acting chief executive David Hemara, Dewdney revisited some of the challenges and achievements of the seven years since he came into the role.

“When I first joined LIC in May 2006 I felt I’d joined a good business, which had the potential to be a very good business. It was the career challenge I was looking for.

“In order of importance, we needed to re-set the strategic direction of the business; improve profitability so we could invest more in people, research and product development; enlist new expertise with external experiences and perspective to help us break-out of a sheltered and introspective way of thinking and working; establish some new growth platforms and speed up!

“I recall telling the chairman at the time (Stuart Bay) that I intended to be in the role for six or seven years, so we didn’t have time to waste.”

In 2006 LIC began strategising to strengthen its product and market leadership positions, and to raise profitability by focusing on investment and growth.

Dewdney says the co-op knew farmers had unmet needs and that it needed to create some new businesses to diversify risk which was heavily concentrated into three core products (genetics, herd testing and herd recording).

“We also had to improve the way our products performed and the way we sold and serviced them. This was going to cost a lot of money, so we had to increase profitability to be able to afford it.”

In 2006 LIC made about $5 million annually from sales revenue of just over $100m; today EBIT is about $20-25m from

sales revenue of about $185m.

The cooperative today employs nearly 200 more staff than in 2006, through businesses in New Zealand and around the world. Annual spending on R&D has almost doubled, and capital investment is twice what it has historically been. The value of LIC assets has doubled over the past six years, and a shareholder who invested $1000 in May 2006 has seen a 34.5% annual return over the last six years from dividends and share price increases.

Every dollar LIC earns goes back into running or improving the business, or is paid back to the dairy farmers and staff who own the business.

Modest about his own achievements, Dewdney is unashamedly proud of the company, saying LIC is the most successful, profitable and innovative dairy herd improvement business in the world.

“People sometimes ask why we have to make ‘so much money’ and the answer lies in our cooperative philosophy of investing today to deliver the innovations tomorrow’s farmers will need.

“The products and services which deliver prosperity to today’s dairy farmers are a legacy of previous generations of farmer customers who invested in this business. Cooperatives invest for the long-term prosperity of the organisation and its members, not for short term gain.

“Our technology reinvestment programme is a great example – close to $40 million over the next four years.”

Value in hindsight – Dewdney MARK DEWDNEY says with the benefit of hindsight there are a few things they would have done differently.

“We tried to replicate the animal recording we had done so successfully in the dairy industry to the red meat sector. Technically we could have delivered a solution, but we couldn’t find a way for LIC to profit from the investment required, so in the end we didn’t proceed but the overall process delivered some real benefit to our core business.

“Equally, our investment in technology company Tru-Test was at a level which didn’t give us the influence we needed to advance our automation business. At the point we concluded we could use the money invested elsewhere, we exited by selling our stake to Gallaghers.”

What became known as ‘the Matrix issue’ was one of the more challenging ones during his time with LIC. “It was a frustrating time. On

the one hand we began hearing about calves being born which were unusually hairy but on the other hand we didn’t know the exact cause and didn’t want to create undue alarm. Instead we devoted our efforts to discovering the cause; then we contacted affected farmers and offered to help them manage the situation, but for some it was too late. All they had experienced was our silence, and they interpreted this as a lack of empathy with the frustration the problem was causing on their farms. That perception couldn’t have been further from the truth, but it was their reality and in the end that’s what counts. It’s been a valuable lesson.

“Every day of every year LIC people are out there working hand-in-hand with our farmer customers – I doubt any other New Zealand company has more direct relationships and interactions with dairy farmers.

“You won’t find anyone within this business who is ambivalent

about dairying or dairy farmers; our reason for being is to improve the prosperity of dairy farming and we’ll keep on driving improvements and investing in science, research, technology and product development because New Zealand dairy farmers deserve the best.”

On the positive front, Dewdney says LIC has done a huge number of things well.

“When the global financial crisis hit in 2009 we reacted quickly, freezing prices and giving farmers interest-free deferred payment terms; we cut discretionary expenditure, delayed capital expenditure and froze staff wages.

There has been significant growth in the range of products and services LIC offers today, compared to 2006.

Dewdney is a director of Tatua Dairy Cooperative, and says he is interested in other directorships and working with other agricultural companies to improve their performance and profitability.

Mark Dewdney

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

10 // news

Drifting from co-op ethos ANDREW SWALLOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

FONTERRA’S FIVE

point plan “to give farmer shareholders more flexibility” moves the company further from cooperative principles, says a leading New Zealand-based cooperatives expert.

While it makes sense for Fonterra to be more flexible in its terms for farmers to share up, it could have been achieved without the complications of TAF (trading among farmers), says Alan Robb, adjunct professor of accounting at St Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada and an independent financial commentator and cooperatives consultant here.

“The bonus issue is described as giving the farmers ‘free’ shares. The reality is that the farm-

ers get nothing they don’t already own,” he told Dairy News.

Accounting for bonus issues and share transfers is very costly, he adds,

“The bonus issue is described as giving the farmers ‘free’ shares. The reality is that the farmers get nothing they don’t already own.” something he knows from share registry work for a public company. “This is a cost that is coming out of the farmers’ pockets.”

Meanwhile the dividend reinvestment scheme takes Fonterra

further from cooperative principles and values by encouraging farmers and the board to think of shares as an investment instead of an equitable contribution to the assets of the cooperative, he says.

New Zealand Cooperatives Association executive director Ramsey Margolis says it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to comment on internal matters of an association member’s business.

However, when asked about Fonterra’s announcement, he pointed out the USDA definition of a cooperative is: “A user-owned and controlled business from which benefits are derived and distributed equitably on the basis of use.”

Without saying as much, Margolis appears to be hinting that Fonterra

no longer fits that definition, given that unit holders now reap dividends from Fonterra without using its milk processing and marketing service.

Alan Robb

What he did say is that all cooperatives, and their members, would be far stronger if the members understood where their benefits came from.

“Seeing their cooperative as an extension of their farm or their orchard or their vineyard, their other business – rather than something

completely separate – would ensure they maximise those benefits,” he told Dairy News. “They would put all their business through their cooperative, not just part of it, for instance.”

That means having a strong understanding of the cooperative business model, he adds. “Like everything else, the cooperative business model doesn’t stand still. It is evolving as people attempt to make it fit their needs.

“The question in my mind is: when is the boundary crossed which makes a member-owned cooperative no longer a cooperative but an investor-owned firm? This is something that members of a cooperative undergoing change need to decide for themselves.” @dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews

Jay Verry

Helping hand from Tip Top WITH A can-do attitude and a bit of Kiwi ingenuity, Belmont Primary School (Auckland) student Jay Verry (10) has fulfilled his dream of becoming an ice cream vendor for Tip Top. When Jay drove past Tip Top corner late last year, he knew he wanted to sell ice cream, so he put together a business proposal for Tip Top outlining why he would be the best man for the job.

Tip Top Group marketing manager Minna Reinikkala says they were so impressed by his enthusiasm, they decided to help make his dream come true by setting Jay up with an ice cream bike.

“This has been a special case where a young Kiwi kid showed great initiative and had the courage to approach us and present his business idea,” says Reinikkala.

As a result, Jay has been granted permission by his school to sell ice creams once a week for one month.

On his first day in business he sold 220 ice creams, the Popsicle Blasta selling out in 10 minutes.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

news // 11

Basking in light of higher prices THE LATEST Global

Dairy Trade (GDT) auction on March 5 shows that the rise of 10.4% on the trade weighted index (TWI) puts the TWI up a whopping 18.9% for 2013 and an increase of 21.3% for the last six months.

The whole milk powder (WMP) price has been the biggest contributor – up a massive 33.6% since the first auction of the year on January 2.

Over the six months the WMP price is up 39.1% so it’s clear to see most of the price activity for WMP has been in 2013. Butter milk powder (BMP) has also been a strong performer during 2013 and over the last six months with prices up 16.7% and 29.9% respectively.

Among the other major product groups, skim milk powder (SMP) also has good gains with the price up 10.5% for 2013 and 17.4% over the last six months. Cheese has been quite volatile but the strong showing in the latest auction has cheese up 9% for 2013 and 10.1% over the last six months.

Supply concerns due to the North Island drought and low global supplies appear to be the driver of the recent price hikes.

These concerns won’t erode overnight so New Zealand dairy prices look to be well supported in the near term at least. This comes as a sweetener to those dairy farmers doing it tough. In addition the Kiwi dollar has come back over recent weeks and this will increase net returns allowing the probability of larger payouts. Australian milk flows are likely to come in below expectation towards the end of the season with floods having a negative impact in New South Wales and Queensland; a heat wave in southern Australia is also expected to impact milk yields.

In the northern hemisphere, November data shows EU milk production continuing to slide down 1.4% for the month of February. Slower production is matching subdued product purchasing activity, preventing a significant build-up of inventory. Over the other side of the Atlantic, US data for January shows milk production reached 7.8 billion litres – up only 0.5% at the same time last year which in all shows a flat US production figure. Global imports of dairy products are showing growth in

in brief Pasture renewal win DAIRY FARMER Nick van der Spek is one of three winners in the Pasture Renewal Charitable Trust’s recent ‘Win a Free Paddock’ promotion.

Van der Spek’s name, with those of sheep and beef farmers Carl McDonald, Marton, and Bruce Kiihfuss, Pahiatua, were drawn last week.

“This win is a great boost to getting new pasture species established on the new property so we can boost production from the 320 cows we will be running next season,” says van der Spek, who takes on a 162ha farm in the Rai Valley, Marlborough, this winter.

As a CRT shareholder he’ll work with the cooperative’s Blenheim branch on variety choice and other inputs he’ll have access to with his $8000 winner’s package.

PRCT project manager Nicola Holmes says the campaign was an excellent chance to encourage farmers to do something about the difference between farms’ best and worst producing paddocks.

“Over 345 farmers entered the national competition and we are delighted at the response.”

LATEST STORIES EVERY DAY Get upto date news at www.ruralnews.co.nz

key markets also. Chinese dairy imports for 2012

were up 26% on 2011.

Smooth Chinese leadership transition and plans to significantly lift domestic consumption should support ongoing demand.

Younger Chinese consumers are driving cheese consumption growth with imports up 36% in 2012.

Demand for infant formula is still strong, there

are more than one million internet searches for ‘milk powder/formula’ per day, backed by a 17% increase in infant formula imports in 2012. South East Asian dairy imports were mixed during 2012, Malaysian and Thai imports are up, but Indonesian and Singapore import volumes have decreased.

Against the trend total Russian dairy imports were down 5% for 2012; primarily lower SMP, WMP, cheese and butter purchases. However, infant formula and milk imports rose by 25% and 13% respectively.

Brazilian dairy consumption growth continues to outpace local

production, and imports during 2012 increased 8% to an estimated 220,700t.

• Francis Wolfgram, BA (Econ.), is an independent financial analyst with 15 years experience in the financial markets working for some of the world’s largest financial institutions. franciswolfgram@gmail. com

Dairy News march 12, 2013

12 // news

‘Take action’ theme for SIDE ANDREW SWALLOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz

THE TIME for talk is

Corrigan Sowman

over; it’s time to take action on the challenges dairying faces, says South Island Dairy Event organising committee chairman and Nelson dairy farmer,

Corrigan Sowman. Hence the theme ‘Take Action’ for this year’s SIDE at Lincoln, June 24-26.

Sowman told Dairy News that while the sector’s long been conscious of its public image, that perception has become reality and is rapidly “coming home to roost” in

new regional council regulations.

“We used to talk about where we need to be with our businesses in ten years but now we’re talking about where we need to be tomorrow with things like water quality. We all need to gain a real understanding about how each of our

businesses is positioned with the regulations that are coming our way.”

The event will have the usual menu of practical workshops dovetailed between keynote speakers. The requirement to meet environmental regulations, and to make sure the sector’s interests are fairly represented in formulation of those, will be a recurring theme.

Such is its over-riding importance that the committee has axed the usual conference within a conference – ‘Business SIDE’.

“The whole conference theme has evolved to being about the business side, so it was very hard to isolate a separate Business SIDE programme. However, we will have some longer workshops that are a similar format to the Business SIDE event in the past just by the nature of their content.”

crowd and limited spaces in some workshops.

Keynote speakers already on the bill include: Dairy NZ strategy and investment leader for sustainability, Rick Pridmore; Rabobank senior analyst, dairy, Hayley Moynihan; and world-renowned food and agri-business expert, David Hughes.

Hughes is emeritus professor of food marketing at London’s Imperial College and a fantastic speaker, says Sowman.

“He has an unparalleled knowledge of global issues and opportunities and we are fortunate to secure such a sought-after speaker.”

First Crossings TV show stars Jamie Fitzgerald and Kevin Biggar will provide a lighter note, though still highly relevant.

“They’re great entertainers and have done some pretty interesting

“We all need to gain a real understanding about how each of our businesses is positioned with the regulations that are coming our way.”

Other tough topics to be tackled by the line-up of speakers include succession, and the economic climate we’re farming in.

“While the conference theme is very much about being ready for the impending environmental regulation, it’s also about the environment we’re farming in: the volatile economy and the long road to recovery.”

Practical issues such as calf rearing, efficient milking, grazing principles, lameness and other stockmanship issues will be available on the menu of workshops as usual.

“That’s the unique thing about SIDE. You can build your own event programme within the event – provided you register early,” he adds, alluding to the usual near capacity

stuff. There’s a parallel between the pioneering things they’ve done and meeting some of the challenges we’ll be facing in the dairy industry in the next few years.”

Sowman stresses the event is run by farmers, for farmers, and says he believes the lower payout forecast is even more reason for people to attend. He’s particularly keen to reach out to those who might not have been to such events in the past.

“Often those are the very people who need to ‘take action’ most, and who will reap the biggest benefit from attending.”

Full programme and registration forms will be available later this month on www.side.org.nz @dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews

about side SIDE is a joint venture between Lincoln University, DairyNZ and South Island dairy farmers, supported by sponsors ASB, LIC, Rabobank and Ravensdown. Organisation chairman and Southland dairy farmer David Holdaway says this year’s theme reflects the need for dairy farmers to be informed on, and prepared to meet the oncoming issues of increased compliance costs, succession planning, nutrient management and associated environmental regulations.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

14 // news

Fewer cows for more profit?

Milking fewer cows per hectare could prove more profitable but it isn’t necessarily an easier life, judging by comments at a recent Lincoln University Demonstration Farm focus day. Andrew Swallow reports.

MILKING FEWER cows

per hectare can be more profitable than a higher stocking rate but don’t think it’s going to be any easier to manage, seems to be the message emerging from an ongoing farmlet study at Lincoln University Research Dairy Farm (LURDF).

As part of the industry and Government funded Pastoral 21 project (see panel) the farm is comparing two systems: high stocking efficient (HSE) and low stocking efficient (LSE). The HSE system, with 5.0 cows/ha, is described as traditional intensification through more cows and inputs while LSE focuses on high per cow production from

3.5 cows/ha with increased pasture intake.

Lincoln’s 630-cow demonstration farm is between those stock densities, running 3.9 cows/ha this season and last, though in 2007/8 and 2008/9 it was up to 4.25 cows/ha.

“There’s no point replicating that,” DairyNZ principal scientist David Chapman told a recent focus day crowd as he outlined first year results from the project. “We wanted to go either side of that [LUDF stocking rate] and see where that gets us to.”

Both systems were highly productive and highly profitable at a milk price of $6.05kgMS/ha, as was the demonstration farm (see table). Chapman

says the aim now is to test this under a range of seasonal conditions – financial and physical.

While he didn’t go into costs of the various systems on the day, he later told Dairy News the profit figures use actual costs where these were representative of a larger farm’s, for example with fertiliser and feed, and derived from DairyNZ’s Economic Survey of costs such as labour, shed expenses, electricity, animal health, breeding, weed and pest control, vehicles, administration, rates and insurance.

The resulting farm working expenses (FWE) for the LSE system were $6208/ha and the HSE

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$8859/ha, or $3.43/kgMS and $4/kgMS respectively.

The main drivers of the higher HSE costs were feed, including silage making, at $1337/ha more, a $411/ha increase in grazing, $393/ha more on fertiliser, and $268/ha for a run-off lease.

It seems the cost differential could be higher this season as no grain feeding facility in the research farm’s shed last season, and a herd unused to grain feeding limited grain intake to 123kg/head – lower than anticipated.

In-shed feeding is now available.

Meanwhile in the LSE system, which is testing N loss mitigation measures such as diverse pastures and a restricted fertiliser nitrogen budget of 150kgN/ha/year, an extra round of nitrogen had to be applied taking the total to 171kg/ha.

“One of the learnings of last year was how to use that 150kg/ha of N on the LSE farm,” notes Chapman’s colleague Dawn Dalley.

“Last year we maybe panicked a bit and put a reasonable amount on early which just grew us a bigger surplus – remember we’ve got fewer mouths on the LSE, trying to get a higher intake. By February we had used our 150kg of N for the season and there was still not enough

David Chapman explains the high and low stocking vote efficient farmlets trial.

Pastoral 21 DairyNZ, Fonterra, Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand, Beef + Lamb New Zealand and the Ministry of Science and Innovation are the partners in Pastoral 21.

The project’s two goals are: a $110/ha/year increase in average dairy profit with a 30% reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus loss to water; a 3% annual meat productivity increase with contained or reduced environmental footprint.

Collaborating research organisations in Pastoral 21 projects aimed at meeting those goals include AgResearch, DairyNZ, Massey University, Lincoln University, NIWA, Plant & Food Research, Landcare Research; On-farm Research.

grass to push through to the end of the season so we took the decision to go one more round with the nitrogen.”

In contrast this season nitrogen was limited to early season such that only about 70kg/ha had been applied to the end of January. “So we’ve got some N up our sleeve to use in the next two rounds,” Dalley told the focus day.

Pastures in the LSE farmlet have been noticeably paler and management staff have had to resist the temptation to

“correct” the lower nitrogen status causing it, she adds. “Often during the farm walk we had to really steel ourselves not to put the fertiliser truck out there.”

Being able to maintain better pasture through autumn with the remaining nitrogen should help keep this season’s LSE production going and lay the foundation for next season, says Dalley.

The lower surplus should also see silage costs tumble on the LSE farmlet this season as only about

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10% of pasture area has had a cut for silage this season, down from about 80% last year.

However, the mower has been out topping preor post-graze. “Our priority has been to maintain pasture quality, not so much to increase intake [with pre-graze mowing].”

On the HSE farmlet only a couple of paddocks have needed topping.

“We’ve been able to use the animals to maintain our pasture quality through the season,” notes Dalley.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

news // 17

Ready for the challenge KEEPING A close eye

on cow condition has paid off for one Waikato farmer who says it helped him get more cows in-calf quicker and drop his empty rate, reports LIC. Says Dan Brice, “For me it’s about getting the most out of my cows, and for that they need to be in optimum condition all year around; and if they’re not we do something about it, whether it’s feed more or dry off.” Brice, a 50/50 sharemilker with his wife Michelle, milks 210 cows on 59ha near Otorohanga.

Over the last year, he has worked with farm advisors to monitor cow condition after they calculated the value of having the herd calving in good condition to be worth about $37,000 to the business, with more days in milk, more AB calves and fewer empties.

“We worked hard to ensure they calved in good condition last year, because no matter how much you feed them their condition will drop after calving so then it’s about managing that loss so they still enter mating in good condition.

“With more weight on they will cycle better and have more chance of holding the pregnancy and that will ultimately deliver good milk returns too.

Last year we lifted our submission rate to 93%, and we couldn’t have done that if the cows weren’t in such good condition.”

But it wasn’t easy and it cost them a bit extra in feed but Dan says seeing the latest pregnancy diagnosis (PD) results makes the hard work worth it – with an 82% 6-week in-calf

rate and only 8% empty after 11 weeks of mating last year.

Despite the recent weather setbacks, he’s pretty excited about the season ahead. “We’re stoked about that because the higher our 6-week incalf rate, the more cows we have in-calf early so that means more days in milk at the start of the season and before Christmas.

“It looks like this year we’ll have about 80% of the herd calved in six weeks which means we’ll be busy but it’s better that way, because we’ll be through the bulk of it before we get tired, and now we can plan to have the systems in place to manage it.

“It’s only small numbers compared to big farms, maybe 15 cows a day but it means we’ll have production up-and-running so the farm is making money again. It also means I’ll get good quality young stock born early, so I can rear as many as possible to grow my herd and I can choose to sell some of the bottom ends.

They’re still fully recorded AB calves so someone will want them.”

Brice says the days in milk before Christmas will be especially important this year after the summer they’ve had and having to dry-off earlier than planned. He had hoped to milk through to the end of April but says the season and cow condition will ultimately determine that decision, with a drought management plan in place.

“They need to be in good condition for calving, and milking them too long now will impact on that

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so I’ll keep reviewing how fat they are and how much feed we have, to decide how much longer we milk because I don’t want them losing more weight now,

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

18 // news

Family farm restored to life TAURANGA DAIRY farmers Dennis, Judith and Gordon McFetridge have been named Supreme Winners of the 2013 Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA).

The McFetridges, who farm two separate dairy units on Omanawa Road, just outside Tauranga, received the region’s top environmental prize at a BFEA ceremony last month.

BFEA judges described the family’s farming business as a well-rounded operation “meeting economic, social and environmental objectives”.

But 32 years ago it was a much different story. In 1981 one of the McFetridge farms was submerged under millions

of tonnes of sludge after a canal on the Ruahihi power scheme collapsed. This was a devastating blow for Dennis and Judith and it has taken many years of hard work to rectify the damage.

They now run the operation with the help of their son Gordon, a Lincoln graduate, who returned to the farm after five years in rural banking.

He manages the farms, leased from the family trust, with the help of two fulltime staff. Casual workers, including university students, are also employed when required.

McFetridge Farms Ltd milks 260 cows on the 70ha (effective) ‘Top Farm’ and 180 cows on 60ha effective ‘Lower Dennis, Judith and Gordon McFetridge.

Cream of the crop Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards 2013 winners: Supreme Winner, LIC Dairy Farm Award, Massey University Discovery Award, WaterForce Integrated Management Award and Meridian Energy Excellence Award: Dennis, Judith and Gordon McFetridge, McFetridge Farms Ltd. Ballance Nutrient Management Award: Ian and Georgina Lawrence, Braewood Holdings Ltd and Snowhill Trust.

Beef+Lamb New Zealand Livestock Farm Award: Landcorp Rotomahana, Matthew and Annabell Lane, Landcorp Farming Ltd. Hill Laboratories Harvest Award and PGG Wrightson Land and Life Award: Ben and Heidi Rosewarne, Blueberry Corner.

Donaghys Farm Stewardship Award: Karl and Maggy Buhler, Pukemarama.

Zespri Kiwifruit Orchard Award: Jeff and Shirley Roderick, Kytui Orchards.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Environmental Award 1: Jeremy and Sharon Cotter, Te Kominga.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Environmental Award 2: Walter and Mary van Rossum, Exlo Jersey.

Farm’. The rolling-to-steep contour on Lower Farm is well suited to younger cows; the Top Farm, which has flat-torolling contour, is better suited to cows four years and older.

Judges said the properties are “aesthetically pleasing and highly productive” and the challenging topography has been wisely developed for dairy farming. Difficult sidlings and gullies have been left in native bush or planted in woodlots.

Both farms have extensive shelterbelts. Riparian plantings protect and enhance waterways. Native bush has been fenced and now contains a diversity of species. A specimen tree planting scheme continues.

BFEA judges were impressed with

the McFetridges’ approach to farm management. Instead of increasing cow numbers they aim to run a lower stocking rate while lifting per cow production. This has been achieved by improved feeding, better grazing management and a strong focus on animal health.

About 8-10% of the farm is regrassed annually with improved pasture species. Poorer performing paddocks are cropped with turnips.

Judges also noted the McFetridges’ excellent financial control, well-kept herd records and sound relationships with staff.

They said the family’s experience and acquired skills in areas like rural banking and water management had

been of great benefit to the farming operation.

The McFetridges demonstrate a good understanding of their soils. Their low stocking rate helps to sustain soils and pasture. Regular pasture walks are used to assist with grazing management and cropping decisions. Erosion issues have been addressed with assistance from the regional council.

Judges were also impressed with the family’s “very effective” effluent management system, which utilises pond storage, eco pumps and travelling irrigators.

The McFetridge family have farmed in the district for three generations.

A BFEA field day will be held on their farm on March 26.

Brothers scoop title we would be apart, and as the root and Tim Douglas have won the pre- of success in any business is the mier award at the 2013 Northland people we have a real emphasis to grow people within our business.”

Dairy Industry Awards.

They have a solid business plan The pair manage a 300ha family farm in which they are shareholders with their parents Murray and Marcelle Douglas.

The brothers collected cash and prizes worth $26,100, and the opportunity to compete for further honours in the national finals.

The night’s other big winners are Niall and Delwyn McKenzie, the 2013 Northland Farm Managers Ian (left) and Tim Douglas. of the Year, and Jake Thomson, winner of the 2013 Northland Dairy Trainee with good systems and financial monitoring. “This gives a consisof the Year title.

The Douglas brothers have been tent return for all stakeholders and involved in the farm’s management allows for growth.”

It was the first time the brothfor as long as they have understood farming, but have only been in the ers, aged 28 and 29, had entered the partnership for the past three years awards and as well as the win they after returning to the farm following won five merit awards. They plan to grow the business to 2500 cows work in other sectors.

“We are stronger together than (currently 950) and to expand a

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farming business they have in Brazil.

Wellsford 50% sharemilkers Johann and Jemal Guitry gained second in the Sharemilker/Equity Farmer contest, winning $6500 in cash and prizes.

The 2013 Northland Farm Managers of the Year, Niall and Delwyn McKenzie, who won $12,400 in cash and prizes, are managing a 320-cow farm near Wellsford owned by Andrew and Angelea Fleming.

They entered the awards for a third time. “One of our strengths is our low environmental impact by having sustainable systems. We also enjoy farming… profitably and love what we do.” Their goal is to grow within the business and to buy a small coastal winter milk farm.

The 2013 Northland Dairy Trainee of the Year, Jake Thomson, says entering the awards has been an “awesome” way to gauge his career and personal development.

Mike Wilson – Product Manager, Premier Sires

At LIC we take very seriously our responsibility for genetic gain in your herd. As a result we have taken a hard look at the performance of our DNA selected teams. We still believe strongly that genomics is the way forward, but we think there is a better way to apply this technology.

That’s why we’ve created a new team, a team that we think more effectively balances reliability and potential. A team modelled on the success of Premier Sires. We’ve called it Premier Sires Forward Pack and it features a selection of the very best Daughter Proven bulls combined with a selection of the most highly ranked Genomically Selected bulls backed by solid pedigrees – strong cow families and outstanding ancestry evaluations.

Traditional Premier Sires Daughter Proven continues to offer the ultimate in team reliability. Premier Sires Forward Pack delivers the next generation years earlier. The science of genomics is continually evolving and there are risks with any new science but we are delighted to offer you the choice.

www.lic.co.nz

Dairy News march 12, 2013

20 // world

Promising signs for Oz payout JOHN DROPPERT

WE ARE rapidly

approaching the final quarter of a season many Australian dairy farmers will want to forget. The combination of a droughtinduced grain price spike and lower farmgate milk

prices has savaged margins, while Mother Nature has done little to extend a helping hand.

On a more positive note, dairy commodity prices have trended upwards in recent weeks on the back of a broader slowdown in supply, as climatic challenges combine with diffi-

cult production economics in key global exporting regions.

That’s a promising sign for 2013-14 opening prices, however for the remainder of 2012-13 – with most of this season’s manufactured production already sold and prices locked in – a key driver of final farm-

John Droppert

gate returns will be the exchange rate at which contracted commodity

prices in US dollars are remitted to Australianbased exporters in Australian dollars.

International dairy trade is carried out in US dollars – as is the case for many commodities. As anybody involved in an export industry is well aware, the US dollar (USD)

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value of the Australian dollar (AUD) is very high in historical terms, having spent most of the past two years above parity.

A higher AUD means exporters must pay more of their USD sales earnings to purchase Australian currency to bring back to Australia, leaving less available for meeting operating expenses (including raw milk purchases) and retaining profits.

including the AUD. Whilst the above factors are causing pain for Australian exporters, our New Zealand counterparts face a similar problem.

Figure 1 (below) plots an index of the USD against the currencies of other four biggest dairy exporters, with the index based at January 2010. Higher values indicate a relatively weaker currency, while lower values a relatively

To quantify the impact, Dairy Australia modelling suggests that at current commodity prices, a reduction of US$0.05 in the value of one Australian dollar would mean a potential A$0.32/kgMS or 2.4c/L increase in farmgate pricing for a ‘typical’ export manufacturer.

Take the exchange rate down US$0.20 and the price differential is more like A$1.50/kgMS or 11c/L. Short term changes would naturally be filtered by a variety of other factors – not least of all each processor’s exchange rate hedging position, but suffice to say the effect is significant.

The AUD has been kept high relative to the USD for much of the past decade by the mining boom, as elevated mineral commodity prices and strong purchasing by China and other major trading partners drive demand for Australian currency. More recently, despite falls in commodity prices and interest rates, the AUD remains at high levels due to its status as a ‘safe haven’ currency – a low risk asset for the RBA’s international equivalents and sovereign wealth funds to invest in as economies such as the US, Japan and Europe experience recession or a slow and shaky recovery. Currency devaluation efforts by some countries such as the US and Japan are weakening their own currencies relative to others –

stronger currency. The chart clearly shows that the Kiwis (whose currency has also seen significant inflows from overseas central banks) are at a similar competitive disadvantage, whilst the Europeans and Argentineans – with economic problems aplenty – are relatively well placed to sell USD priced commodities.

The advantages of a relatively stable economy and strong currency should not be downplayed however. A stable economy means credit is more freely available and domestic demand remains strong, while a strong currency reduces pricing pressures on imported inputs such as fertiliser, machinery and milking plant.

Currency analysts remain divided over the path the AUD is likely to take for the remainder of this season, with a Bloomberg survey of 46 financial institutions producing an AUD range of US$0.901.10 by July. Whilst this is a broad range, a growing number of analysts favour a depreciation of the AUD over 2013, based on expectations of a strengthening US recovery, lower iron ore prices and further interest rate cuts by the RBA. Needless to say, such an outcome could provide a welcome boost to incomes and a helpful springboard to season 2013-14.

• John Droppert is industry analyst with Dairy Australia.

Dairy News march 12, 2013

world // 21

Floating beds take Oz cows to cloud nine COW HEALTH and contentment are important in a Queensland dairy farm positioning itself in the public eye. And the farmer, Greg Dennis, reckons he also gets a bottom line reward because his happy cows are more productive.

Dennis says he will recoup outlays such as the A$120,000 spent installing floating beds in a new free-stall barn so the cows can chew their cud in comfort. This is an Australian first. Also, the farm’s robot milkers take the daily hustle and bustle out of milking.

The new dairy was built with a viewing platform so busloads of visitors can watch the milking process. And from May those visitors will be able to buy full cream milk from the on-farm processing plant under construction.

Dennis has taken to the social media airwaves and has become a public ambassador for the industry ahead of the launch of Scenic Rim 4 Real Milk which aims to sell 7000L/ day produced on the family farm at Tamrookum, south of Beaudesert.

While the move into marketing milk might seem a logical extension to the dairy’s public engagement, Dennis is more sanguine. He has big bills to pay and the poor returns on offer through traditional channels left little choice but to explore the direct sale option. The latest processor contract offer of a 25% price cut was the final clincher.

The family has set out to quit dairying before but don’t see this as an option because of the large capital outlays committed to

rebuilding the business.

Dennis’s father Darrell and uncle Ray had a long tradition of dairying before the family decided to exit the industry at the end of 2003, disenchanted with a price of 35c/L. A modern rotary dairy was built in 1992 and at its peak the 153ha property was milking 360 cows, then one of the biggest herds in Queensland.

The rotary was cut up and sold to a Darling Downs farmer and the Dennis family diversified into beef production and built a substantial commercial hay growing business.

Dennis says when the decision was made to come back into dairying on improved prices being offered in 2007, it was intended to be on a smaller scale, retaining other income streams, including his work in the entertainment industry as a disc jockey. They recommissioned an old herringbone dairy and began rebuilding a herd of quality-registered Holsteins.

Dennis admits it took some convincing for his father and uncle to consider robot milkers, but after a tour of facilities in Victoria in 2010 the slab for the new dairy was poured later that year.

Three Lely milking stations were installed and a fourth has since been added. This gives them a capacity to milk 280 cows and herd numbers are building towards 250.

“I prefer to run the system below specification. The cows don’t have much waiting time and it’s a lot less stressful. They can also milk more often

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and the average now is about 2.8 times a day,” he said. “The cows are a lot more relaxed not being pushed up for milking in a big mob twice a day and foot health has improved.”

The computerised monitoring of a cow’s movements gives a good guide to heat detection and animals are automatically drafted off daily for inseminating to help achieve a flat milk production cycle. A Lely Calm calf feeding system is also linked to the robot milkers.

Fresh pasture is still an important component of the diet with twice a day grazing available year round, complemented by access to a feedpad.

Drafting gates change automatically every eight hours and cows have quickly grown used to the routine. The system allows the herd access to one grazing block from noon until 8pm. A fresh paddock offers night grazing until 4am when cows are directed to the feedpad area.

The free-stall barn is fitted with a gel-filled membrane bedding system.

had decided to invest about $700,000 in a large free stall barn which was completed last December.

The open-sided structure measures about 100m by 20m with 240 individual cow stalls. The roof is 4.2m high at the sides and with an 18% pitch, rises to almost 8m.

A ration of cracked grain is bail fed at a rate matched to the level of production and stage of lactation, averaging about 4kg. Another 5kg is fed in a mixed ration with protein, minerals and hay or silage. “We aim for a feed intake of 21-22kgDM/day between the pad feeding and grazing,” Dennis says.

Ryegrass pastures are established annually in March-April and herbs such as plantain and chicory have been introduced to the planting mix.

“Our summer grazing performance has been much better since we started direct drilling millet each year into the established pastures, a mix of kikuyu, Rhodes grass and paspalum,” Dennis says.

Dennis says that after a series of extremely wet summers and a battle to keep mastitis cell counts under control, the family

The shed is on a natural slope of about 4.5 degrees, which helps draw good air flow through for cow comfort during the hottest months of the year.

Cows rest contentedly on a gel-filled membrane bedding system imported from Canada. They are the first Gel Mats installed

in Australia.

Manure is scraped from the shed laneways daily and a flood wash system is being considered.

“We expect the shed will make a big difference to our productivity and herd health, particularly during the summer months. ”

Greg Dennis feeds his cows.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

22 // OPINION Ruminating

EDITORIAL

Lending a helping hand

milking it...

What transparency?

Townies must also step up

FONTERRA’S EXTERNAL communications are shoddy of late, and our co-op is poorly served by its highly paid consultants.

Having invited journalists to a briefing on its latest scheme to grease the slippery slope to corporate ownership – sorry, “support and grow milk supply” – it turned journalists away at the door then disconnected some who tried to dial into a teleconference. Those who hung on were reconnected by the overseas operator, getting ten minutes more air-time – only to be cut off again.

Those trying a third time found the number unobtainable.

And the co-op says TAF and its NZX listing demonstrate transparency and accountability.

THE SUSTAINABLE Dairying Water Accord, a joint industry effort to make our waterways cleaner, should be applauded. But not all are giving credit where it’s due. Forest & Bird is one, saying “Dairy polluters still a problem a decade on”.

But it forgets that cleaning up waterways is not solely the responsibility of dairying. Councils must also step up to improve wastewater plants struggling to service 1.6 million households and almost 500,000 businesses.

Given that urban wastewater mostly ends up in rivers or the sea, isn’t there a need for whole communities to take ownership rather than just one part of it?

Corporate slogan skewwhiff

JOURNALISTS WHO missed out on Fonterra’s media briefing last month due to telecommunication issues got an apology from Gen-i, Telecom’s IT subsidiary, whose slogan reads; “We’re all about outcomes. We just happen to use technology to bring them about.”

We think it should read: “We’re all about outcomes.

We just use overseas call centres to muck them up.”

Head Office: Top Floor, 29 Northcroft St, Takapuna, Auckland 0622 Phone 09-307 0399. Fax 09-307 0122 Postal Address: Published by: Printed by: Contacts: Advertising material: Rural News on-line: Subscriptions:

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ABC audited circulation 27,478 as at 30.6.2012

Townie tosh underwhelms

ISSN 1175-463X

TWO OTHER corporate slogans dreamed up by advertising agency wallies underwhelm us. New Zealand Herald urges “the more you know the better”.

And Telecom suggests that “faster” is the cure for most ills.

We give the last word to the French thinker Pascal: “It has struck me that all the misfortunes of men spring from the single cause that they are unable to stay quietly in one room.” He deals decisively with the twin modern evils of rushing mindlessly about town – or country – and cramming one’s head with trivia.

DAIRY FARMERS in the North Island are facing a stern test.

Most regions haven’t had decent rain for two months, pasture has disappeared and milk production is at a trickle.

Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay and Bay of Plenty are officially in drought.

One-third of New Zealand’s export receipts come from dairy.

So, economists are already talking about a severe blow to our economy.

Northland milk production during February 2013 was 20% lower than February 2012. In the wider Waikato, production for the same month was down 15%. Dairy farmers in Northland will have $13 million less income from milk produced in the month of February 2013 than in the same month a year ago.

About $8 million of this cut results from lower milk production, the remainder from lower milk prices.

The world is now also taking notice of our weather woes.

Global Dairy Trade prices rose 10%, the biggest rise since June last year.

Farmers in drought-affected regions are drying off cows and keeping a close eye on cow condition.

And there’s more to it than looking after animals: there’s the financial and psychological strain on farmers. The Government’s drought declarations have triggered action by Rural Support Trust chapters in affected regions.

Farmers are not necessarily asking for financial assistance; what they need is someone to turn to. The best help can be a neighbour’s listening ear and his recounting of what he and others are doing to cope. DairyNZ is facilitating this via its farmer networks.

Dairy farmers are a resilient lot. They will work through this as through previous droughts, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes But they need all the support industry partners and communities can provide.

DairyNZ’s advice: ■■ Look after yourself and talk with other farmers in your area ■■ Monitor and record your cow body condition. Make sure you know how to do this or get expert help ■■ Focus on milking on with a core group of cows until it rains ■■ Assess how you can destock ■■ Have a plan for feed, financials and stock, and communicate the plan to your team (family, staff, consultant, banker). Don’t be afraid to change to Plan B if things change ■■ Manage young stock on and off the farm ■■ Talk to your grazier ■■ Attend a DairyNZ dry summer field day ■■ Make best use of your rural professionals.

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Dairy News is published by Rural News Group Limited. All editorial copy and photographs are subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions or comments expressed within this publication are not necessarily those of the staff, management or directors of Rural News Group Limited.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

opinion // 23

Tail now wagging the dog leonie guiney

ISN’T IT ironic: we had a cooperative structure that simply made us the preferred company to supply; now we need fivepoint plans to attract and retain milk supply.

And in order to achieve that, which is fundamental to our future and our true intrinsic value, we must apparently dilute farmer capital and give bonus units free to offshore investors such as the CBA bank. CBA holds 7% of the fund and just received a unit issue in the same proportion as a farmer. 100 years of farmer investment in an integrated supply-tomarket chain and we now have to give away bits, slice by slice, in a thinly veiled attempt to suppress the share price and get our milk supply back.

This proposal increases the pool of dry shares which applies upward pressure on the fund size, trying to give incentives to farmers to trade their economic rights. Worse, one broker said Fonterra is signalling they may do regular share issues.

While it might make farmers feel good to think they got something for free, I hope they understand the true implications of money printing games and strategy that can only lead to increasing the leak of earnings away from the farm in a steady stream.

The biggest winners in this share issue are the offshore banks and institutional investors. They never made any historical contribution to that capital, the earnings of which we have just diluted.

Fonterra makes the announcement on Wednesday afternoon, and claims on the radio at 6am Thursday that “most farmers are happy with the announcement”.

That must have been a fast survey of farmer opinion. That summarises for me where our co-operative is at: farmer consultation is a thing of the past.

Fair questions to ask farmers would be: “When you voted for TAF did you understand it would result in the issuing of free units to investors like the CBA bank and offshore institutions? Did you understand

the unit traders would value your co-operative share, even though your board told you it wouldn’t?

Did you understand the implications for the cooperative of a high share price on future growth of the cooperative?”

And the outgoing chairman is claiming value has been “created”. Value isn’t created out of thin air – temporarily yes, by traders valuing our share as something it isn’t, but not intrinsic value.

Meanwhile our council watches on and scrambles to support the board’s spurious argument that this is all for flexibility. The price of that flexibility, if we can’t stop our board doing regular share issues, is simply death by a thousand cuts of our co-operative.

At the IPO launch, Fonterra issued almost the entire 500M in units to the investors as farmers didn’t want to trade. They issued them at a discount, $5.50, when in the past they had asked farmers to pay up to $6.79 to buy a share to supply the co-op. The units then immediately traded at $6.80 because the IPO had been so hyped by Fonterra itself. That was over $100M of farmer capital gifted to non-farmers. It was lauded by the markets and Fonterra as a raging success.

That was the first waste of farmer capital.

Now we have dilution of earnings to try to control share price. The unit holders must be issued a ‘free’ unit at the same rate farmers are issued ‘free’ shares. Thirdly, the fund is fully allocated (because of the first share issue), so if farmers do choose to trade the economic rights of these spare shares they have been allocated, doesn’t that mean Fonterra must purchase them?

So we sell them at $5.50 at launch (farmers capital), then buy them back if farmers want to trade at $7 (farmers capital)?

So the farmer who trades the economic rights he has just been given gets paid out probably up to $1.50 more than Fonterra brought in when they issued units, and the rest of the co-op subsidises the difference. That’s a redemption cost Fonterra has created on our balance

sheet. Unless, of course, they relax the fund size limits.

Relaxing the limits on the fund size just increases the proportion of investors in our cooperative earnings that benefit from dividends and share appreciation. The lower the milk price, the better off those

Leonie Guiney

investors are. As a farmer shareholder I feel com-

pletely powerless to stop this ugly circle of long term value destruction for farmers and short term killings for savvy investors – all in the name of ‘flexibility’.

Our cooperative is no longer behaving like a cooperative. Planned or not, our governance decisions seem now to depend

on the share price, distracting us from cooperative purpose.

The tail is most certainly wagging the dog.

Unit holders driving the share price to where it is are the direct cause of this need for a ‘five-point plan”.

In a simple cooperative, that doesn’t dis-

enfranchise suppliers; governance can focus fulltime on maximising profit on-farm to farmer members, rather than chasing milk. Not so now. Who is protecting the farmer interests now?

• Leonie Guiney is a Canterbury farmer and Fonterra shareholder.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

24 // agribusiness

Uni’s dairy studies vision to unite postgraduate students pam tipa

UNIVERSITY OF Auckland geneticist Professor Russell Snell has been appointed director of the Joint Graduate School for Dairy being opened at the university this year.

Snell has long been associated with the dairy industry through LIC and ViaLactia Biosciences, and with dairy cattle genetics, says the university’s dean of science, Grant Guilford.

Eric Hillerton, at DairyNZ, has been appointed chairman of the joint management committee of the school. The remaining members of the committee are drawn from the university including Guilford himself and other partners in the graduate school – LIC, DairyNZ and AgResearch, the latter represented by

Warren McNabb.

Guilford says they are currently bringing together PhD and masters students already at Auckland University working on dairying.

“We’re bringing those together so we’ve already got a good foundation of post-graduate students Eric Hillerton and we’ve started enrolling new ones as well,” Guilford says.

“With the work they’ve done to date they believe they have about 40 students from different faculties.” He says those are drawn from among agri-science students working in areas including environmental issues on farm, electronics for dairy sheds or pasture/grass assessment in respect of seed budgeting, com-

puter science in on-farm applications, and, in the medical department, psychology students studying mental health on dairy farms.

“When we look around we’ve already got a big cohort of students already underway. But they are working individually and not part of a focused dairy school,” Guilford says.

“That’s the plan, to bring them together to feel a sense of belonging to a school and we are going through the process of identifying who those are and what we will be doing to bring the knowledge of the broader dairy industry to those students.

“The most likely path we are going

Geneticist Russell Snell is the new director of the Joint Graduate School for Dairy.

to take there is to use some of the short courses available with our partners in the joint graduate school and also through the Fonterra board to make sure these students understand the pressure issues but also the opportunities of the industry when they are doing their research projects.

“It’s a way of lifting their vision up to understand the wider industry rather than just their area of research.”

Guildford says they hope to “pull

it all together” for the joint graduate school over the course of the year. They are not currently advertising overseas for students because they want to have all the structures in place before they do so.

But advertising overseas is their long-term intention. “At the Auckland University a lot of their PhD and masters students are drawn from international markets so we would expect that to be part of the picture,” he says.

Schools want free milk HALF OF the country’s eligible

schools have now expressed interest in Fonterra Milk for Schools.

At least 1100 schools, representing about 191,000 children, have registered their interest. About 110 schools are participating in Northland.

Interest is rising, says Fonterra spokeswoman Carly Robinson. “As the programme rolls out… more Kiwi kids will get the chance to drink a healthy, nutritious product at school each day.

“Expressions of interest have come from a range of schools across

all deciles from throughout the country.”

One of the first schools to log on to the Fonterra Milk for Schools website during the start-up in December was Howick Primary.

The principal, Leyette Callister, says while she knows the programme won’t start in Auckland until the end of the year she wanted to register interest early.

“I’ve already had a parent get in touch asking me to take up the free school milk programme and it was great to say that I expressed interest

the day it was announced.”

In the North Island 784 schools have expressed interest, representing about 143,000 children, and the South Island has attracted interest from 347 schools, equal to 47,000 eligible milk drinkers.

“Because [this] is such a big undertaking, we’re asking primary schools to register their interest to help us determine the potential uptake,” says Robinson. As we [start] in each region we will then send application information to those schools that have been in contact with us.”

Howick Primary Principal Leyette Callister gives three of her students a preview of the Fonterra Milk for Schools milk.

Dairy News march 12, 2013

management // 25 Balanced trace element formulation

Seaweed concentrate enriched

Pakaraka dairy farmer Alec Jack (left) discusses the benefits of Dairy Connect with Dairy NZ regional leader Tafi Manjala and Dairy Connect Northland coordinator Louise Wilson.

New tool supports one-on-one chat to solve problems A FREE DairyNZ scheme which helps farmers share knowledge one-to-one is to be launched in Northland after a successful 12 month trial in Waikato.

Louise Wilson, Dairy Connect Northland coordinator, says people are more likely to initiate or to successfully troubleshoot a problem if they can talk it over with someone who has ‘been there, done that’.

“Essentially it’s a free tool, funded by DairyNZ, that can assist farmers to make well-informed farming or business decisions,” says Wilson.

“Farmers may be too busy to attend workshops or trawl the internet for information. Dairy Connect finds farmers willing to chat about a particular topic, a challenge they have overcome or something new or special they have on their farm.”

The Dairy Connect supports or ‘buddys’ farmers with particular strengths or recent experience. These include animal welfare, on farm facilities, work/life stress balance, staff and business management tools, or pasture and crop management.

Illustrating the reach of the scheme, some participating farmers have said ‘Well actually, while we’re here, I’d like a boost in another area myself’.

“One support farmer has enquired

about feed pad design, another has asked about riparian fencing in flood zones,” said Wilson.

“So while DairyNZ initially thought the scheme would mainly be used by newer or career-change farmers, that has not been the case. Dairy Connect can assist a wide range of people – from those new to the industry to third generation farmers – looking to improve their business.”

Wilson has been attending Dairy Women’s Network and DairyNZ events to promote Dairy Connect. Initial feedback about Dairy Connect in Northland has been positive.

Okaihau dairy farmer and Fonterra Shareholders Councillor Terence Brocx says one of the strengths of the dairy industry is how farmers help each other with advice. “Dairy Connect is another step in making mentoring and knowledge transfer easier.”

Dairy Women’s Network mid-North co-convenor Megan McCracken also sees a niche for Dairy Connect. “Dairy farmers often work in isolation so having an initiative such as Dairy Connect is a great way of sharing ideas, knowledge and providing support within our rural communities.”

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TAG AND slaughter levies that fund NAIT have been reduced.

The NAIT tag levy on cattle reduced from $1.10 per tag to 90 cents (GST exclusive). The NAIT slaughter levy for cattle also dropped, from $1.35 to $1 (GST exclusive) per carcass.

Both reductions follow a levy consultation process that called for submissions from the primary and related sectors.

NAIT chief executive Russell Burnard told Dairy News the cuts are possible because of a better than expected financial position.

“The costs are slightly lower than budgeted but mainly it’s been a faster purchase rate of tags by farmers than anticipated.”

Feds Dairy chair Willy Leferink says any cut is “very good news” but that dairy remains “hard done by” under the scheme given dairy farmers’ contribute 53.5% of the industry cost of the scheme, to beef’s 44.5%, and deer’s 2%, yet get less value from it, given traceability is less important for grinding beef.

NAIT became mandatory for cattle on July 1 2012.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

26 // management

Early action helps farm weather dry gareth gillatt

KIKUYU IS regarded by

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levels are now so low that dams are drying up.

The management team at the Northland Agricultural Research Farm is putting its money on planning and playing the ‘long game’ and regional science manager Kate Wynn says it is paying off.

About 245 cows are being milked on an 84ha milking platform – down from 270 cows normally.

The property is split into two farmlets researching the effectiveness of mulched kikuyu pastures versus rye grass pastures in Northland conditions.

However, with rain not falling on the property for two months – in contrast to 173ml and 337ml falling in the same periods in 2012 and 2011 respectively – not much pasture, if any, will grow.

Wynn says 115 cows are currently being milked twice a day on the 40ha rye grass farmlet, and 130 cows on the 44 ha kikuyu farmlet. Wynn says cows on the kikuyu farmlet were losing condition faster and producing less (MS/ cow 0.9 cf 1.2) so the decision was made to go OAD in this herd sooner. “MidFebruary was our trigger point to stop worrying about production for this season and start looking ahead to making sure the cows are in good condition for next season.”

The property has produced 1000kgMS/ha over the last three years despite having to deal with the last big drought in 2010 and produced 99,000kgMS in the 2011-12 season.

The farm also achieved submission rates of 97% within five weeks this season getting a nonreturn rate of 74% at the end of AI. Wynn attributes this to care taken of individual cows at this time of the year.

Any cows with a body condition score under 3.5 went on to OAD milking from early January; any cows producing less than 0.6kgMS were dried off from the end of February, says Wynn. “This is mainly the heifers and second calvers. This is policy even if it not a drought.”

While a high somatic cell count can be an indi-

cation that it is time a cow is dried off, Wynn says cows with a somatic cell count of up to 600 can be milked so long as there are enough cows being milked into the vat to dilute the total bulk milk SCC; but somatic cell count and body condition score are taken into account individually. “All figures are based on an individual cow basis not on the herd average.”

Dry conditions have taken their toll on pasture covers as well. Wynn says it isn’t as dramatic for kikuyu but can be incredibly damaging for ryegrass pastures. “It takes longer for the plant to recover and some plants will die, leaving bare patches and areas for weeds to hang out.”

Farmers with facilities to stand stock off can avoid this by allowing animals to graze down to pasture covers of about 1500kgDM/ha but admits this is not always possible.

The research farm limits this by providing supplements to animals on the ryegrass property, says Wynn.

In fact Wynn says stock on ryegrass get markedly more supplement than those on kikuyu. Cows on ryegrass get 5kgDM of PKE and 3kg of turnips a day on top of the 2-3kgDM of rye pasture still available to them.

The herd on the kikuyu pastures get 6-8kgDM of PKE a day with 3-4kgDM kikuyu pasture still being available.

PKE is fed out in two lots: the first on the standoff pad before morning milking and the remainder in trailers in the paddock.

The ryegrass herd goes onto turnips following the morning milking.

Wynn says the challenge will be making sure there’s enough supplement stored away for the two weeks after droughts break. “Pasture will rot during this period and you need to give it a chance to recover.”

Wynn also says it is important that young stock don’t get forgotten during this period and actually get some form of supplement.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

28 // management

N cost-effective for autumn production DAIRY FARMERS

wanting to maintain production into late autumn will find the best economy lies in the use of N, says Ballance science extension manager Aaron Stafford.

condition.”

Stafford says products such as Ballance’s SustaiN Green, which reduces ammonia volatilisation, offer farmers more flexibility to apply nitrogen when

“As a feed source, home-grown pasture remains your best bangfor-buck.” – Aaron Stafford “As a feed source, home-grown pasture remains your best bangfor-buck and with supplementary feed prices now averaging $50 a tonne more, farms that are not battling the dry conditions will find N an even more competitive tool for extending autumn lactation and maintaining herd

it’s needed most or when it suits them better, even if the weather or soil conditions often experienced during autumn are not optimal.

He says the product also stacks up well in farm budgets by minimising nitrogen losses so farmers can get the most out of their fertiliser spend.

“Taking an average autumn N response of 7kg extra pasture DM/kg N applied, and including $120 per tonne for application and cartage, using SustaiN Green to grow additional pasture means each additional kgDM grown costs about 29 cents. Whereas PKE, at 90% DM, comes in at 35 cents/kg when the average spot price is $300 a tonne, and as these prices rise N becomes even more competitive.”

Stafford says other alternative supplementary feeds such as maize or cereal silage present a similar picture, usually costing 30-40 cents/kg DM. In addition, without use of a feed pad, high wastage and

Ballance head of research and environment, Warwick Catto (left) and science extension manager Aaron Stafford discuss pasture quality.

pasture damage can further reduce the economics of these alternative options.

“With autumn applied N, it is important to get this on earlier rather than later to ensure soil temperature does not limit the size or timeliness of the N response, but as all farmers know, you need to watch the weather if using standard urea. Without rainfall

within 24 hours of application, ammonia volatilisation losses from standard urea can be significant – in excess of 10-15% of the N applied.”

Ballance-funded studies by AgResearch scientists show that in pastoral conditions, using SustaiN Green instead of urea will result in an average 50% reduction in volatilisation losses. This is in agreement

with results from international research.

Other research also supports autumn pasture as a cost effective choice for maintaining herd condition ahead of calving, the company says.

“A cow body condition score of 5 at calving should be targeted to maximise milk production, and there are many feed options to achieve this,” says Stafford.

“However, research by DairyNZ has shown that with the exception of highenergy concentrate supplementary feeds, there is little difference between autumn pasture and cereal silage, grain or PKE for increasing rate of gain in cow body condition score leading up to calving, especially when wastage of the later options is taken into account,” he says.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

management // 29

Contented cows make happier staff STOCKMANSHIP SKILLS need more

emphasis for the benefit of the growing numbers of workers entering the dairy industry from urban backgrounds, says an animal husbandry expert.

Chris Leach, of DairyNZ, and farm dairying specialist Mel Eden, share a passion for interpreting cow behaviour and helping farmers “get inside the cows’ heads”.

By understanding animals, farmers will improve job satisfaction for staff and their financial results, these men say.

In March they will present a workshop – ‘Interpreting cow behaviour’ – at the Dairy Women’s Network annual conference in Nelson.

Leach says farm policy is what dictates practice.

“Understanding that a cow is hardwired as a prey animal, which makes it naturally fearful and influences how it sees and reacts to the world around it, is a fascinating subject , and we can use that infor-

mation to help us become better stock handlers and have happier staff and animals.

“Research shows that happy cows produce more milk and decrease farm working expenses. If a cow is stressed in the yard, her milk let-down can be affected for as much as 30 minutes.”

Co-presenter Mel Eden has travelled the world helping on dairy shed design to improve animal welfare and production and mastitis control.

He has worked in South America and Fiji, and presented in Australia and the UK. He is an independent farm consultant and also works closely with DairyNZ on its Milksmart programme.

“Some of the changes farmers can make are small but make a big difference to the entire milking experience for both animals and people,” says Eden.

“For example, cows remember clothing, not people – so if you are

doing a job that is going to cause discomfort or pain for the cow, like calving, don’t wear the clothes you wear to the milking shed, or suddenly milking is

going to be a fearful experience for the cow and a totally different experience for you.”

The ‘Interpreting cow behaviour’ workshop will

provide practical learning including handling bulls and recognising unusual behaviour that requires closer attention.

Chris Leach

Tel. 0800 396 748 www.dwn.co.nz

Managing the big dry gareth gillatt

SETTING targets for next season and knowing what support networks you can turn to will help farmers manage their way out of a drought, says Lower Northland DairyNZ consulting officer James Muwunganirwa.

DaiyNZ will hold workshops on dry weather management strategies during March. Muwunganirwa says there will be particular focus on planning to get through the period. “You need to have two plans: what do we do if it doesn’t rain in the next two weeks; and, if it was to rain next week what would we do.”

If dry weather continues, Muwunganirwa says either feed demand must reduce or supply increase.

Most farmers in dry locations have already eliminated culls and empty cows from the herd and Muwunganirwa says the best time to dry-off completely must now be decided. “[What’s needed is] a good farm tool like the DairyNZ Body Condition Scoring reference guide and using that and calving dates to work out whether a farmer should be drying off this cow at this time.” Detail on this will be covered at the workshops.

Muwunganirwa also suggests farmers should have started supplementing stock with zinc to preclude facial eczema outbreaks should rain fall soon and spore counts rise.

Tel. 0800 4 3247969 www.dairynz.co.nz

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

animal health // 31 A healthy liver (left) compared to a liver affected by FE.

A healthy cross section of liver (left) compared to a liver affected by FE.

New FE treatment for larger cows facial eczema-prevention product is now available in a single bolus for larger cows.

Marketing manager Debbie Schrader says, “In the past farmers have had to dose larger cows with a combination of smaller Time Capsules and other zinc products to get full protection.

“A new Time Capsule bolus for 400-600kg cattle means farmers now need only apply one capsule to cows weighing up to 600kg, saving labour, time and money.

“With the average Jersey cow weighing 400-450kg, the average Friesian 500-600kg and the average Kiwi Cross 450-550kg, this is good news. It means farmers only have to apply one capsule to each cow for four weeks protection against facial eczema at

times of high risk, and five weeks at times of low risk,” she says.

Facial eczema causes damage to the liver which can lead to serious health and production losses in cattle, including reduced fertility and milk production, if preventative treatment is not applied.

With the option of ‘one cow, one capsule’, the application is simpler and protection adequate, Schrader says. She advises not to be fooled by hot dry conditions. “Dead and dying pasture litter combined with heavy dew is a haven for the fungus which causes facial eczema.

“Not all animals show physical signs and farmers may not be aware stock have a problem until it is too late,” she says.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

animal health // 33 DairyNZ’s Aidan Bichan explains better milking techniques at the workshop.

Jail time for tail twisting A WEST Coast dairy farmer was sentenced last month in the Christchurch District Court for serious animal welfare offences after failing to take care of his herd when 230 of his cows’ tails were injured or broken.

Michael Joseph Jackson pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to allevi-

SAME LEADER. NEW PACK.

Cow senses tuned to sights, sounds, smells pam tipa

BY BETTER understanding how a

cow senses what’s going on, you can reduce her stress levels and make her life easier, say the organisers of a milk harvesting workshop.

DairyNZ told a recent Milksmart ‘Cow Senses’ workshop at Morrinsville that cows, with their wide field of vision, see much more than humans.

The Milksmart workshop will be repeated this week at Geraldine (March 12) and Lincoln (March 14).

Encompassing the whole milk harvesting process, the workshop allows a farmer to assess his operation and compare his performance against other farmers.

Able to see more than humans, cows take in lots of information, and they need plenty of time to do so – especially if the farmer is introduc-

ing something new. Pertinent advice: avoid working in a cow’s blind zone behind them, because it will turn to see you.

Cows can only see a small area in front of them with both eyes. They cannot judge distance or depth well.

They must be given time to check steps, changes in surfaces, etc.

Cows are designed to look down.

If they lift their heads they can’t see where they are placing their feet.

Don’t push cows too hard, let them move at their own pace so they can place their feet safely.

Because cows don’t have good colour vision, they see more contrast – dark looks darker and light brighter.

Avoid shadows at the dairy entry and make slow deliberates movements around cows.

They don’t like high-pitch or loud noises so talk quietly in low tones.

Avoid whistling when around cows.

Cows can detect odours 8km away.

They can detect fear from dung and urine of other stressed cows so make sure milking remains calm and consistent. Stressed cows will send a smell warning message “Don’t come in here”.

The smell of blood can stress cows so watch out for blood from home kills/humane slaughter. Even the smell of blood and bone fertiliser can upset cows.

Cows have two to three times as many taste buds as humans and it is believed this helps them avoid eating bitter toxic plants. Be careful if you are grazing on pasture that has been sprayed out as toxic plants become less bitter as they wilt.

Cows will try to hide pain but they are sensitive to touch and feel pain in the same way we do. Try making every interaction with cows positive with a stroke, scratch or light patting.

Replacement heifers needs quality feed Altum (Ballance) involving its Crystalyx lick-block will add to the “good scientific data generated overseas with this lick block,” says the company.

It recommends a close watch on the quality of feed for replacement heifers so they maintain growth rates and get the best start for a productive life.

Says Altum, lick blocks such as Crystalyx can help keep heifer diets up to par during periods of poor pasture quality by providing the energy and protein which could be deficient, as long as quantity is not limiting.

“We know you can get a response to Crystalyx in a protein- or energydeficient situation, but our trials

are also indicating that you can get a good response in a well fed-heifer grazing situation,” says animal nutrition manager Jackie Aveling.

Both rising one and rising two dairy heifers are being monitored on farm. The work includes beef bulls and heifers as well as dairy.

“The quality of a heifer’s diet now can have a direct influence on conception rates and therefore first lactation date,” says Aveling. “Both of these are the immediate return on investment for rearing replacements and are also closely linked to their productive life.

“The aim is for the heifer to calve well within the first four to five weeks of the calving cycle so she can be included in the first few weeks of artificial insemination, get back

in calf quickly and produce progeny which can be reared as replacements.”

Aveling recommends a focus on replacement stock growth rates, especially when dry weather constrains pasture growth.

“When pasture quality tapers off, metabolisable energy (ME) declines along with digestibility, so heifers as well as yearlings need to eat more to get the same energy to achieve their growth targets. They also need access to key trace elements including cobalt selenium, copper and iodine.

“Protein levels in rye grass are generally adequate but some seasonal dips can occur in certain regions, so tests will determine quality,” Aveling says.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

34 // animal health

Free scheme to help lift returns A FREE scheme to help

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LIC chief executive and dairy farmer Mark Dewdney says the average 6 week in-calf rate on New Zealand dairy farms is 65%, which is below the industry target of 78% and this gap represents an opportunity for many farmers.

“Getting more cows incalf in the first six weeks

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The challenge will help farmers lift 6 week in-calf rate. of mating can have a big impact on their bottom line through increased milk production, fewer empties and tighter mating and calving periods.

“It also allows them to get more from their genetics and artificial breeding investment with more cows carrying high BW calves and therefore increased selection pressure for culling which will speed up genetic gain.

“Whatever the farm’s focus – growing, higher BW, more days in milk or selling stock – you’ll get there quicker by getting more cows in-calf in the first six weeks.”

The 6 Week Challenge was developed after research identified reproductive performance to be one of farmers’ top concerns, and an area where they want more help.

With a seasonal approach, it supports the DairyNZ InCalf Programme and encourages farmers to make incremental changes throughout the year to ultimately get more cows in-calf quicker at mating time. It lists opportunities and areas of impact for each season, including heifer rearing, body condition and nutrition, heat detection and bull management.

Dewdney says effective management of these areas will set the cow up and give her the best possible chance of getting incalf quicker.

Farmers are also

scale across the board; so what we did 20 years ago won’t necessarily work today.

“Mating only happens once a year on [most] dairy farms, but with this challenge we’re encouraging a whole farm approach, and [a year-round focus] because it is the herd management practices all year that ultimately impact on its success.”

Farmers can register to take the challenge at www.6weeks.co.nz and in return will receive an information pack about the challenge, the reproduction year on-farm and areas to focus on at different times of the year.

Seasonal planning tools will also be issued for farmers to set specific tasks or goals and identify key areas to focus on.

Ongoing information and support will be provided and farmers will have the ability to benchmark themselves against others in their area.

Rural professionals, such as veterinarians and farm consultants, are also being encouraged to register on the website so their clients can easily nominate them to be part of the challenge with them.

He says farmers can find out their current 6 week in-calf rate from their Fertility Focus Report in MINDA or other herd recording software.

For more information visit www.6weeks.co.nz or farmers can speak with their local customer relationship manager.

Dairy News march 12, 2013

effluent & water management // 35

A fresh accord for dairying THE NEW Sustainable

Dairying Water Accord will soon be presented to farmers before being finalised and formally launched in time for the 2013-14 dairy season.

The new accord updates and succeeds the Clean Streams Accord developed in 2003 with commitments that ended in 2012. It has been agreed between DairyNZ and all dairy companies, with the support and input from a wide range of industry stakeholders.

DairyNZ chairman John Luxton says it is a broader and more comprehensive commitment than the previous Clean

Streams Accord as it will cover all dairy farmers, not just Fonterra suppliers.

and farmer uptake will be supported through supply contracts and support pro-

“This accord is different because we are making commitments right across our industry to ensure farm improvements happen.”

– Willy Leferink “It also includes commitments to targeted riparian planting plans, comprehensive standards for new dairy farms and measures to improve the efficiency of water and nutrient use on farms.

All dairy companies and DairyNZ will be accountable for its commitments

grammes.

“We’ve been discussing this new accord for months with various farmer groups including Federated Farmers and the dairy companies to get pan-industry agreement. The Dairy Environment Leadership Group has also been involved in

five key areas Riparian management: exclude dairy cattle from important waterways and drains (1m+ wide and 300mm deep with permanent water) and wetlands (identified by regional councils) within a phased timeframe; develop of riparian planting plans ■■ Nutrient management: improve management of nitrogen and phosphorus loss from dairy farms by industry-wide monitoring and support.

■■

Effluent management: comply with regional council effluent management rules and contin-

ue spending on fit-for-purpose systems.

■■

Water use management: improve water use efficiency in irrigation and at cowsheds.

■■

Conversions: good practice standards for all new dairy farms.

■■

Specifically the dairy industry is committing to a number of key timeframes including:

Exclude dairy cattle from waterways – 90% by May 31, 2014; 100% by May 31, 2017.

a governance role. This group includes Federated Farmers as well as central and regional government officials and representatives from iwi and environmental groups. We’re now releasing the accord [to] farmers and other stakeholders over the next couple of months.”

Along with each individual dairy company, the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) is also involved.

DCANZ chairman and Fonterra director Malcolm Bailey says the new accord requires the industry to set good-practice standards farmers will have to meet no matter who they supply or where they farm.

“Dairy companies will be discussing these commitments with farmers over the coming months to explain them and talk about why measures are being taken and what support is being put in place.

Fonterra, supported by DCANZ, is planning 50 meetings with its suppliers from March 4-15. Other companies, supported by DairyNZ, will also be talking through the details of the accord with their farmer suppliers over the coming months.”

The agreement will be in place for the start of the

Complying with regional council effluent management rules is one of the five keys of the new accord.

next dairy season and will be a key action for implementing a new strategy for sustainable dairy farming that will be released in May. Federated Farmers Dairy chairperson, Willy Leferink, says Federated Farmers and other farmer groups have been consulted throughout the development of the accord.

Federated Farmers has committed to be one of the new accord’s supporting partners.

“This accord is different because we are making commitments right across our industry to ensure farm improvements happen. Farmers are not only going to be involved in supporting change but

stepping up as an industry with this new accord to take responsibility for driving change and measuring progress towards our environmental goals.

There’ll be annual reporting and a third party independent audit of those reports to ensure transparency and robustness.”

will deliver it by meeting these targets. This includes the irrigation and fertiliser sectors too. Dairy farmers have made a lot of progress in a short time but this is the biggest step yet in getting everyone in our industry to work together by agreeing some common standards.”

Luxton agrees. “We’re

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

36 // effluent & water management

System has everyone smiling GOOD EFFLUENT management is a

combination of having a well-designed effluent system and processes for people that make sure the effluent the system collects is applied to pasture in the right amount at the right time.

To achieve this, the system must reliably: ■■ Store effluent until conditions are suitable to apply it to land, and ■■ Apply effluent to land in a controlled way – at a depth and intensity which match the soil moisture and infiltration conditions and topography.

■■ On-farm benefits of good effluent management include: ■■ Fertiliser savings by using the nutrients in effluent, and reducing nutrient losses off the farm.

■■ Preventing animal health issues such as milk fever which can be caused by a build-up of potassium (K) levels in the soil.

■■ Improved soil condition from the addition of organic matter, including microbial and worm activity, as well as aeration, drainage and water holding capacity.

■■ Complying with council rules or

resource consent; this may lead to less frequent compliance visits and reduced monitoring fees.

Planning the right system for your farm The design and construction of an effective dairy effluent system is a complex process. It requires the assistance of experts who are qualified and experienced in the field. Communication with the system designers, installers and contractors will be crucial to ensure the end result is fit-for-purpose in your farming situation.

A good effluent service provider will offer: ■■ certainty their product will perform ■■ guarantees and producer statements ■■ after-sales care, service and support, and ■■ farm team training on the operation and maintenance of the system.

Designers and installers should be involved in the project from start to finish supervising the quality and standard of workmanship during the installation and commissioning of the

A well-designed effluent system is critical to good effluent management.

system. They should be willing to stand by their work.

Make sure the system will be up to the job A poorly designed system will be expensive and frustrating in the long term, particularly for the farm staff. Like milking too many cows through a dairy, it can be done, but it takes longer and the likelihood of fatigue, breakdown and general frustration is extremely high.

A system which is poorly designed may result in problems such as:

DON’T WASTE NUTRIENTS.

■■

■■

■■ ■■ ■■

■■

■■

high risk of non-compliance with regional council requirements no contingency for adverse weather events, staff absence or system breakdown high demand on labour and time expensive to operate and maintain the need to irrigate on days when ponding, runoff, and leaching risk is high additional pressure on the farm staff during calving or wet weather unrealised investment in the

system if it is not user-friendly or doesn’t achieve compliance, and ■■ little room for future expansion.

It is important to think about potential changes to the farm system, especially intensification, including an increase in cow numbers, greater use of stand-off and feed pads or the addition of wintering facilities. If these are desired but finances don’t allow you to accommodate these now, plan for a staged expansion to the system as you require it. – DairyNZ

Without an effective and efficient dairy effluent system you are not only running the risk of hefty compliance penalties, you are also wasting the opportunity to utilise the valuable nutrients your cows are producing every day.

At Hi-Tech, we have been designing and installing dairy effluent systems for 21 years. In that time we have found the products that work, and work hard.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

effluent & water management // 37

Less risk, more value in effluent MAXIMISING THE value of farm effluent on-farm, while reducing the environmental risk it poses, will be canvassed at the ‘Effluent Expo’ next month at Mystery Creek.

At least 40 exhibitors have booked for the event on Tuesday March 26, 9am to 3.30pm. It is run by Waikato Regional Council and DairyNZ. The council’s environmental farming systems manager, Alan Campbell, says ways of maximising the nutrient value of effluent on farm while minimising the risk of being non-compliant with regional council rules will be discussed.

“Effluent is a major nutrient resource for farmers but needs to be managed well to maximise its value on farm, whilst ensuring that regional council rules designed to protect ground and surface water are complied with,” says Campbell.

“Having adequate storage

designed into effluent systems, and systems that meet the industry-developed farm dairy effluent design code of practice, are key themes for this year’s expo.”

It is crucial to have the right storage, the right pumps and irrigators, matched to soils and rainfall – and designed for available labour – so they work together and complement each other.

That way farmers can get “the best bang for their buck from their property’s effluent and always comply with the rules”, Campbell says.

“The dairy industry’s own target for farmers is to have full compliance with regional council effluent regulations 365 days of the year.

“Having enough storage so that farmers can efficiently manage effluent irrigation is one of the particular keys to achieving this.”

A new approach to monitor-

ing compliance with effluent management rules is being trialled by the council this season. Instead of random helicopter monitoring of compliance, with ground-based follow-up as needed, the council has been using helicopters to inspect up to 500 farms in areas with high risk soils, where effluent irrigation is more likely to contaminate waterways.

Properties not complying are followed up promptly. But council staff are also doing ground-based follow-ups with all farms in the flight area to identify compliance risk factors and discuss with farmers whether they need to improve their effluent systems to manage those risks.

This approach is helped by the fact that the new effluent code of practice, and accredited farm dairy effluent system design companies, allow farmers to get good advice.

Visitors learn about a solids separator at the expo last year.

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The average dairy farmer takes about 30 minutes to hose the yard after milking and uses between 10,000 and 20,000 litres of water.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

38 // effluent & water management

Challenge aplenty on edge of town tony hopkinson

Geoff Taft (left) and farm manager Noel McKay.

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WHEN THE land you are farming is barely above sea level, prone to summer dries, exceptionally wet in the winter and is close to houses at a popular Bay of Plenty beach resort, you are not short of challenges.

Geoff and Lynette Taft, Seaspray Farms, have 155ha (eff ) of flat land at Pukehina Beach 15km south of Te Puke and have farmed it for 26 years.

They also have a 35ha run-off used to grow lucerne, 13ha for growing maize for silage which is all brought back to the home property. Another 30ha of run-off is used for grazing replacement stock.

They are seasonal suppliers of Fonterra and their best production was 279000kgMS equating to

545kgMS/cow at 512 cows.

When visited by Dairy News in early March the farm production was 6% ahead of last season in spite of the drought. At the peak this season they were milking 520 head of Friesian cows, now down to 506. They have a 40-aside herringbone dairy shed with a Milker Ware milking plant.

Geoff and Lynette do the daily running of the farm, working closely with herd manager Noel McKay. Lynette also does the book keeping.

Simon Davies has just joined the permanent staff and helps McKay with milking and other farm duties. Fulltime tractor driver, Craig Simpson does the mixes and spreads effluent and urea.

Geoff says he always stresses to staff that pasture is the best and lowest cost feed so maximum utili-

sation and quality is paramount.

“I consider our feeding grass based,” says Geoff.

The feed pad areas can hold up to 600 cows and with the adjacent wet weather standoff area with access to the feed troughs there is plenty of room for all stock. There is also a calving pad with access to the feed troughs.

Simpson is kept busy mixing and filling all the feed troughs. The farm uses a Kuhn 18.5m3 mixer wagon loaded from a JCB Telehandler and the feed recipes vary throughout the season. The stock are fed twice a day, all into bins.

The basis for the rations is straw with maize silage and grass thrown in.

Cotton seeds and up to 300 tonnes of PKE are fed during lactation as is the lucerne.

Nice merging of technology WITH THE large dairy yard, feedpad

area and area used for holding stock in wet weather, a lot of effluent has to be disposed of.

Effluent from the milking yard is directed to a large concrete holding tank where it is pumped direct to pasture. They have council approval to spread this on 35ha. The pump is a Numedic with a chopper on the head to break down straw and the like.

“Because the farm is flat we did not need a high power pump and the 90mm delivery line takes the liquid effluent up to one kilometre from the dairy shed.” If needed there is storage for up to two months for use in times of prolonged wet weather.

The amount spread, times and paddocks used are all recorded by Simpson.

Effluent from the feed pads is

scraped clean every day to an 80m3 holding wedge. This is a drier material and when possible is spread daily on pasture or cropping land. Any rainwater is diverted to a separate holding tank. With both materials there is plenty of spare capacity.

Seaspray Farms has two Buckton machines for shifting and spreading their effluent.

For disposing and spreading the liquid they have a Buckton 12000L slurry tank with a vacuum pump for sucking in effluent and pressurising for spreading.

There is a float valve to stop overfilling and a valve to stop over pressurising the tank.

The spreading nozzle at the rear is operated hydraulically and remotely and there is auto coupling to the suction hose.

For the drier material they have a 20m3 Buckton effluent spreader.

This has two vertical rotors that spin at 450rpm. They are PTO driven from the tractors PTO operating at 1000rpm. The shafts are shear boltprotected and the PTO has an overrun clutch “If the material is wet the spreader is almost waterproof and depending on consistency it can spread up to 18m.”

The rear door is hydraulically operated as are the floor chains. The chains have a pressure relief valve for protection.

“With the close proximity of the homes, thought has to be given to the wind direction when spreading.”

Taft politely points out that they were farming here a long time before most of the residents.

Dairy News march 12, 2013

effluent & water management // 39

Apply it evenly KEEPING EFFLUENT

ponds well stirred is crucial for extracting maximum benefit from spread effluent, says Nevada.

The company sells the German-made Nevada Farmerstir and Turbostir PTO pond stirrers. Electric shore mounted mixers arriving soon. The German principal has made effluent pond stirrers for 50 years.

“Effective efficient stirring is the key to even spreading,” it says. “And to achieve maximum benefit the effluent must be applied evenly to the targeted paddocks.

“Whilst Irrigators and applicators have been the

centre of much attention, many farmers little understand the value of stirring the effluent mixture to ensure it is of even consistency.“ Nevada says it has searched the world for stirrers with the following attributes: ■■ Efficient in creating a swirling action to thoroughly mix the ingredients in the pond or tank.

■■ Strong enough for the loading of crusted sludge.

■■ Corrosion resistant.

■■ Reliable with a bearing system not dependent on oil seals.

■■ Affordably priced for

New Zealand dairy farmers.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

40 // effluent & water management

Treating effluent and growing pasture WAIKATO FARMER

James Houghton is happy with trials done with a new product shown to reduce nitrate leaching and boost pasture growth while cutting odour from effluent.

ture growth than our neighbour who has a similar herd size,” he says.

Houghton has a 114 hectare dairy farm with a further 60 hectares leased.

With 530 crossbred cows

Houghton says the Farm-Aid trial on his farm at Pukeatua, southern Waikato, showed positive results.

“We got better response in terms of pas-

the farm produces over 200,000kgMS each year.

Local Farm-Aid franchisee Mike Cooper says FarmAid has been shown to achieve a 25% increase in pasture growth and to

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reduce nitrogen leaching into a water table. Trial results are posted online at the firm’s website.

During trials in Waikato, Farm-Aid was applied to effluent paddocks. Tests by WaterCare Services, Auckland, showed “significant enhancement of the potassium and sulphur fractions in the treated effluent compared with the untreated control,” Cooper reports.

“Physical observation of the treated and control ponds by the farm staff showed a reduction of odour from the treated pond.”

Soil sampling of paddocks before and after effluent application on both farms was by Stuart Lumley, Altum. Soil testing of the sam­ples was

by Hill Laboratories Ltd. Hamilton.

Effluent, treated and untreated, was applied to designated paddocks on the same day at the same rate of application (13 mls) well within the local body allowable application rate.

Grass growth after seven and fourteen days was measured on both paddocks by using a calibrated plate meter, Cooper says. “It was observed that the treated effluent paddock achieved an average growth rate of 95kgDM/ day, compared to the control paddock average growth rate of 68kgDM/ day.

“Soil sample analysis of treated and control paddocks showed that Nitrate-N + Nitrite-N* in the treated effluent pad-

James Houghton

How it works FARM-AID USES specific hybrid microbes to promote faster degradation of effluent, reduce odour and improve handling characteristics.

First, odorous compounds are absorbed to reduce volatilisation. Then a blend of nine selectively adapted microorganisms including proprietary species of yeast, fungi and bacteria degrade the offending compounds.

Degradation also consumes nitrogen and phosphorous, converting it to biomass. Proprietary ingredients including enzymes and growth accelerators speed this microbial process to maximise the rate of treatment and throughput of manure.

dock was nearly four times as great as the untreated paddock (42 mg/kg dry wt. as opposed to 11.2 mg/kg dry wt.).”

The analysis of the treated and untreated effluent before application showed virtually the same amount of total nitrogen (as N) in both

samples. Therefore, it can be assumed that nitrogen in the treated effluent has been modified and is more readily taken up by the pasture which results in improved grass production, Cooper says.

Both farmers involved in the trial are said to have been impressed.

More farmers are choosing Nevada Improve pasture, reduce fertiliser costs!

Farm Dairy Effluent (FDE) is now regarded as a valuable on-farm resource. If managed well, effluent can enhance soil fertility and significantly reduce synthetic fertiliser requirements, with the organic matter improving soil water-retention, aeration and drainage.

For the best results, FDE ponds should be well-stirred before application. Unmixed effluent causes some paddocks to become overloaded with black nutrient-rich effluent, while others only get an application of water. Farmers and contractors prefer using Nevada stirrers because of their ability to quickly mix effluent ponds into an even slurry.

Developed and manufactured in Germany, Nevada pond stirrers are built to last with very strong galvanised frames and reinforced slide bearings. The stirrers homogenise the strongest surface crusts due to the enormous mixing performance of the 3-blade high efficiency propeller.

Find out more about Nevada Dairy Effluent Equipment online at www.nevadanz.co.nz

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

effluent & water management // 41

QUALITY THAT’S PROVEN

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A partnership never seen before ALL DAIRY companies have com-

mitted to signing the new Sustainable Dairying: Water Accord. They have taken on responsibility for ensuring the on-farm practices specified above occur. How that is done is up to individual companies. Companies will also arrange for nutrient loss modelling and regular assessment of farm dairy effluent systems.

DairyNZ has also committed to signing the accord. It has committed to developing a riparian planting guideline, an audited nutrient management system for use by dairy companies, industry capacity in effluent management and other initiatives to ensure this accord can be implemented successfully. Many of these initiatives will be in partnership with other industry participants and communities.

What does the accord mean for a dairy farmer?

Mandatory stock exclusion from streams on the milking platform.

A permanent fence must be used to exclude dairy cattle from rivers, streams and springs over 1m wide and 300mm deep that permanently contain water. Stock must also be excluded from lakes and wetlands if they are identified by your regional council in its regional plan as important.

In addition, farmers are encouraged to exclude stock from all wetlands and smaller streams where practical, and to apply these stock exclusion practices on any land used for grazing dairy cows.

Mandatory stock crossings All points on a waterway where cows cross and return more than once per month must be either bridged or culverted.

Riparian planting All dairy farms must prepare a

riparian management plan that sets out where riparian planting is to occur.

Planting is to be completed by 2030.

Nutrient management Each year farms must supply their dairy company with information that will allow for the modelling (using Overseer) of nitrogen loss and the nitrogenconversion efficiency and will commit to enhancing nitrogen management performance if in the lower end of benchmarked peer performance.

Effluent Management All effluent systems must be capable of being compliant with the relevant regional council rules and/or their resource consent 365 days per year.

Water Use All farms must comply with all regional rules controlling water takes.

85% of farms must install water meters by 2020.

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The Fertigator was developed by Nevada in response to requests from dairy farmers for an irrigator that would spread effluent straight from the pond or sump. Simple, low-cost and easy to move, they can also be used in conjunction with travelling irrigation systems, utilising one or several on both flat land and steeper areas. Risk of run-off and ponding is minimised with a low application rate.

BEAT THE HEAT! EFFLUENT IRRIGATION ALSO RETURNS WATER CONTENT TO PASTURE TO COMBAT DRY-SPELLS. Find out more about Nevada Dairy Effluent Equipment online at www.nevadanz.co.nz

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

42 // effluent & water management

Feed pad systems STAND-OFF AREAS

Feed pads should include an effluent management system.

and feed pads should include an effluent management system providing: • sealed storage areas for any solid effluent scraped off the area (e.g. sawdust, manure) • sufficient capacity in your storage and application system for additional

liquid effluent • sealing, bunding and collection of liquid effluent from the pad so that it cannot drain into groundwater or surface water.

Sealing means that the pad does not leak; sealing is usually achieved with fit-for-purpose synthetic liners such as concrete, rubber or plastic. Drains

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underneath soft surfaces should have a sealed layer below them and should direct effluent to a storage system.

The use of unsealed stand-off areas or ‘sacrifice paddocks’ should be avoided.

Different surface materials (such as concrete, limestone, wood chip, bark or sawdust) require different management.

Some wood-based products are highly absorbent and can be scraped and composted or spread to land. But you may still be asked to show you have an appropriate seal and collection system beneath the pad to ensure no effluent is reaching groundwater.

When adding a feed or stand-off pad to your farm, you will need to upgrade the effluent system to cater for the higher volume, nutrients and solids content. Plan your effluent system around a high-use scenario to allow for future flexibility.

To cope with the increased load on your effluent system, you may need: • extra storage for liquid and solid effluent • a means of removing the solids and fibrous material from the effluent before irrigating • a plan for handling and spreading solid effluent products (including access to land and machinery) • more irrigation area to deal with the extra volume and nutrients.

A pad can generate up to ten times the effluent coming from a farm dairy, depending on: • the size of the pad and cow numbers • the time stock spend on the pad • the feed given, and any lost feed • cleaning methods (scrape vs. wash) and wash-down frequency • exposure of the surface to rainfall.

You can reduce effluent volume from the pad by: • using a stormwater diversion system when the pad is clean • covering the pad • designing the pad for scraping to reduce the frequency of wash-down • using recycled yard water for wash-down.

Effluent from pads includes coarse solid materials and grit which can cause blockages and wear in the effluent system.

Solids washed off the pad can be: • held behind a weeping wall structure • removed with mechanical solids separators • settled out in a separate pond with a baffle or T-piece outlet to retain the solids.

Settling ponds receiving effluent from a feed pad will need to be sealed, and will require more frequent desludging.

Retained solids can be dried on a sealed surface and spread on land at a suitable rate to avoid nutrient overloading.

Applying effluent solids to land

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EFFLUENT SOLIDS need to be spread at a much lower depth than normal effluent to account for the increase in nutrient value, and the high solids contents will blind the soil surface.

Effluent sampling prior to application, use of the DairyNZ FDE spreading calculator and your nutrient budget will help to work out the area you will need to spread solids to comply with council rules and good practice.

Rest pasture for at least ten days, or as long as possible between application of solids and grazing for stock health and pasture palatability reasons.

Treat effluent solids as a fertiliser asset and consider incorporating them into cultivated land for crops.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

effluent & water management // 43

Matching application to soil water deficit SOIL WATER deficit (SWD), mea-

sured in mm (sometimes %), is the amount of available water removed from the soil within a plant’s active rooting depth. It is also the amount of water required to refill the root zone to bring the soil moisture conditions to field capacity.

Field capacity refers to the amount of water held in the soil after excess water has drained away. This is typically a day after soil saturation (e.g. from rain or irrigation). Adding water/ effluent at this point will result in ponding, runoff or leaching. A SWD increases with drainage and evapotranspiration, and decreases with rainfall or irrigation.

Deferred irrigation means irrigation is delayed (or deferred) until there is a big enough SWD to allow for more water to be added to the soil without causing runoff, ponding or leaching.

The greater the application depth and intensity of the irrigator (i.e. travellers vs. sprinklers), the greater the SWD required for irrigation. It may be inappropriate to proceed with effluent irrigation if: ■■ the soil is too wet following rainfall or irrigation – effluent may pond, run off to waterways, or leach through to groundwater, ■■ the soil is very dry and cracked, especially over tile or mole drains – effluent may travel through soil cracks to underground drains and then flow into waterways, ■■ the soil is compacted or frozen.

■■ Take care when applying effluent at the same time as fresh water irrigation. The SWD principles

still apply, and total water application should be considered otherwise there is a risk of leaching or ponding if soil is overirrigated.

Measuring soil water deficit The most accurate way to measure the SWD is with soil moisture technology. Getting good advice before investing in measuring devices is vital.

Get a qualified technician to calibrate the system for your farm and provide a soil moisture deficit range for safe irrigation. Make this system simple for the farm team to use.

Here are some different methods for measuring soil moisture: ■■ handheld instantaneous probes are the cheapest option. They need to be calibrated to your soil type and situation by a qualified technician, ■■ permanent in-ground sensors can be read either by hand-held devices or via telemetry and software systems.

Telemetry systems allow for remote monitoring ■■ An integrated system which monitors climatic data, effluent pond level, soil moisture levels, soil mapping, irrigator positioning and run recording and can be used for full irrigation scheduling, with remote monitoring. You can be sent text alerts and recommendations based on your farm’s irrigation system. These systems are more costly but allow for precise monitoring and are particularly good for large operations or absentee owners. Staff training in

these systems is essential.

Evaluate your applicator spray patterns Spray pattern uniformity varies depending on the type and condition of the applicator. Sprinkler systems and oscillating applicators have a more even spray pattern than standard travelling irrigators. A fast traveller speed will have a more even pattern than a slower one.

Ensuring the applicator is in good condition through on-going maintenance (e.g. cleaning, greasing, correct gearing, check rubberware and tyre pressure) will get the best performance out of the system.

A regular servicing and maintenance programme with your local service provider can save you money and hassle in the long run.

The effect of uneven spray patterns Travelling irrigators have a ‘donut’ shaped spray pattern, increasing the load applied to certain parts of the paddock.

Areas at the outer edge of a travelling irrigator’s spray pattern receive effluent for longer periods, so there is a band of heavier effluent loading on each side of the irrigator’s run, with a lighter loading in the middle.

Uneven spray patterns can result in ponding or runoff, if the instantaneous application at certain parts of the spray pattern is higher than the soil can absorb.

Travelling irrigator runs must be wide enough apart so there is no overlap on the outer edges. – DairyNZ

Take care when applying effluent at the same time as fresh water irrigation.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

44 // effluent & water management

Working closely with contractors Farm owners and contractors can both be liable for non-compliance.

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requirements such as THE DAIRYNZ Compli- and buildings as liquid what type of pond liner is ance Toolkit has templates effluent. Ideally solid effluent should be applied present. Providing clear for creating health and instructions in writing safety induction sheets for uniformly across the area contractors. Most contrac- covered. Make your expec- can help ensure you get the exact service you are tors have health and safety tations and requirements expecting. The commuplans, but be sure to point about this explicit to connication template can be tractors. out hazards on your farm used to meet some of the Employment contracts and turn off power and points listed above. for services pumps while anyone is Calculating the depth When employing working on the system. and volume of effluent casual or contracted serNo matter who is solids to apply applying the effluent, con- vice providers, farmers For high-solids efflushould seek legal advice sent conditions and perent such as sludges and for drawing up contracts. mitted activity rules still slurries at the bottom of This can help to ensure apply. Farm owners and ponds, and weeping wall the contractors are suitcontractors can both be solids, the application liable for non-compliance. ably qualified to do the depth will need It is important to tell the conNo matter who is applying to be less than normal effluent tractor what is the effluent, consent account for required in writing. conditions and permitted to the additional Make the following activity rules still apply. nutrient loading. clear: ■■ health and Good pracFarm owners and tice is to test the safety consider- contractors can both be content ations specific liable for non-compliance. nutrient of effluent prior for your farm ■■ care with pond to application to calculate a suitable depth. work and have insurance liners ■■ maximum application For example, an effluent and good operating proconsent may state that cedures. Federated Farmdepth (depending on solids and nutrient con- ers has contract templates effluent can be applied to a depth of 20mm, but available for purchase on tent of the effluent) ■■ no ponding or runoff to based on nutrient testing their website (fedfarm. an appropriate depth of org.nz). waterways ■■ all regional council application for solids may Communication be 5mm.

To complement the rules or consent condiDairyNZ has developed tions (refer to the com- employment contract, a calculator to help you there is a DairyNZ efflupliance checklist for ent spreading contractors’ find the suitable applicamore detail about the tion depth or volume/ha communication template rules). for effluent solids for your It is recommended not for farmers to use with farm. This uses either your contractors (included to apply solid effluent to own lab test results or a on the compliance toolany soils not suitable for good estimate based on kit website). This is a way liquid effluent irrigation. lab test results from other to provide contractors Spreading effluent solids samples. To download the with important instrucshould follow the same tool go to: dairynz.co.nz distances from waterways tions and any special care

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

effluent & water management // 45

Dairying water accord – what you should know WHO has commit-

ted to signing this agreement?

The accord is primarily a set of commitments by the industry body DairyNZ , the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand and all dairy companies. They will be accountable for its targets and monitoring progress.

But others are also signing as friends, supporters and partners and making commitments to help. This includes regional councils, iwi, Federated Farmers, government agencies and the fertiliser and irrigation sector.

Is this stricter than the previous accord and how is it a step up?

All dairy companies are now involved and accountable for its commitments, meaning all dairy farmers across the country are covered by its commitments. The previous Clean Streams Accord covered only Fonterra suppliers

and ended in 2012.

■■ More areas like planting of waterways, environmental standards for converting a farm to dairying and improving water and nutrient use efficiency have been included that weren’t in the previous accord.

■■ Dairy companies are already incorporating standards and commitments from the new accord into supply contracts with farmers e.g.

Supply Fonterra.

■■ The industry is also committing more resources to encouraging the improvement of practice and monitoring progress, with an annual third party audit of progress reports to ensure they are robust and transparent.

How will dairy companies support these commitments?

Ultimately it is up to each company as to how they ensure their suppli-

ers meet these commitments. Some companies have already signalled that many of the accord commitments will be conditions of supply specified in supply contracts between companies and farmers.

Support systems are being put in place by DairyNZ and dairy companies to ensure farmers have the support and advice to meet these commitments.

How long will it take to meet these commitments?

Some of the on-farm commitments can involve substantial capital expenditure for some farmers. These farmers will need time to budget for substantial capital items, so the timeframes vary depending on the commitment. Also, for some (particularly new) commitments, companies and DairyNZ need time to communicate effectively with the 12,000 farmers and put in place means of

monitoring uptake.

But 90% of dairy farms will have their dairy cattle excluded from waterways and wetlands within a year, and 100% by mid2017. And we’ll be aiming to get there quicker if we can. We’ll also start encouraging dairy farmers to exclude stock from streams on grazing land they use for wintering dairy cattle.

How does this accord work for farmers who farm in regions that have rules that go beyond these industry commitments?

Farmers will have to comply with any regional rules in place or developed

In some areas, compliance with the accord will make a big difference to the quality of water.

in the future. We expect there will be regional differences in these rules as there are now; but what will be common to all farmers, no matter who they supply or where they farm, is this set of national good management practice industry standards for environmental performance. But farmers may have to go beyond these industry standards

if that’s what communities/catchments decide is needed to implement statutory responsibilities and improve water quality.

Will the accord make a difference to water quality?

In some areas, compliance with the accord commitments will make a big difference to the quality of water for swimming, fishing and other important

needs. How much difference will depend on what other activities are affecting the water quality as dairying is only one pressure on water quality.

Other land uses and discharges from other activities (including city and town wastewater systems and sediment discharges from hill country erosion)) can also impact water quality.

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

46 // machinery & products

Scraper makes big jobs easy John Bellamy (right) says the quad scraper has been a time saver.

gareth gillatt

A MODIFIED quad scraper has made

clearing a 114 x 18m standoff pad a breeze, says Northland dairy farmer John Bellamy.

John and Jan Bellamy milk 618 cows off a 222ha property at Ruawai. Like many farms around Ruawai the property is sensitive to pugging damage, especially during spring and Bellamy had a 114 x 18m two-bay feedpad built in July 2012.

Though Bellamy flood-washes the pad, removing solid debris had become a serious issue, especially as the floor of the pad was lined with rubber costing $80-85/m to increase cow comfort and reduce health problems. “When a tractor starts ripping holes in the rubber flooring, cleaning can be a costly exercise.”

Newman Engineering’s mini-DeCrap-It scraper was closest to what he was looking for but Bellamy says with a face of 1.8m it didn’t have enough surface area to meet requirements. “It would have taken forever to get the floor clean, especially over that area.”

Bellamy asked Newman principal John Bishop to add 1.1m wings to the scraper – a change so successful the company has made the larger quad scraper available on a wider scale.

The mini De-Crap-It is mounted on the front of the quad with a faceplate with support coming from a frame clipped onto the towbar. The 300mm high rubber blade is raised and lowered using a chain at the front of the quad.

The extra wings make an electrical winch necessary which is powered by the bike’s battery but Bellamy says it has been a time saver, especially when cleaning out the feed pad. “It just takes 10 minutes to do the entire feed pad and

that includes the time needed to put the scraper on and take it off. I’d hate to think how long it would take with the original scraper.”

While Bellamy says extensions for the scraper have increased its capacity threefold, power requirements are surprisingly light. “My 500cc Honda quad can handle it quite easily, and I am able to run up and down the feed pad in third or fourth gear. In fact I think you could stick it on a 350cc bike without too much hassle.”

Bellamy has used the scraper for more than his feedpad and says one of the wings can be tilted back to push up silage and grains against the shoul-

der for easier access by cows. “I actually used it on the limestone race next to the cowshed in the springtime when there was 75-100ml of slurry on the

race. I used it to take that away and it did really well and cleared it away.”

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

machinery & products // 47

Ploughing enthusiasts enjoy day out TONY HOPKINSON

THE MANAWATU Vintage Machinery Club Inc held its qualifying event on March 2 and an instruction/fun day on March 3, in a recently harvested wheat stubble paddock on the property owned by Adrian Noaro on Tane Rd, Opiki, Manawatu.

The event was well supported with many local and visiting competitors travelling from Waikato, Reporoa, Napier/Hastings and Wairarapa. There were 26 vintage tractors and ploughs and three competitors competing in the Case IH Silver Plough qualifying event.

There was an entry

by Rebecca Noaro using a Ferguson T tractor and single furrow plough who, with assistance from a Norwegian woman friend, ploughed extremely well and they both enjoyed the

day immensely.

Due to another event being held in Morrinsville, the usual horse competitors were unable to attend; their presence was missed by the many spectators.

The weather was fine and warm, with good ground conditions; the continual dry weather had not affected the peat soil like most of the region.

The ground ploughed well provided the competitors did not plough deep.

There was strong competition for the top positions with only one point separating 1st and 2nd in the vintage class.

The day was well attended with instruction offered by several experienced ploughman and judges. The improvements made by some of competitors were noticeable and appreciated by the ploughman involved.

There was a BBQ lunch

top qualifiers ■■

Paul Henson qualified for the reversible class at the forthcoming National CaseIH Silver Plough event in Lincoln April 7-8.

■■

CaseIH Silver Class winners: Paul Henson (1), John Guy (2), Adrian Noaro (3).

■■

Vintage Class: Elvery Hunt (1), Eddie Dench (2), Paul Houghton (3).

The event was blessed with good weather.

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Country Crawler: Vintage tractors took part in the ploughing qualifiers.

Dairy News march 12, 2013

48 // machinery & products

Spread well with Spreadmark There are now 88 qualified spreadmark operators in the country.

THE FERTILISER Quality Council (FQC) says there are now 88 Spreadmark accredited spreading companies in New Zealand.

FCQ chairman Neil

For Molasses Pricing and to learn how Conedose can increase productivity visit Site 473 at the South Island Field Days.

Barton says the 88 qualified operators work in all parts of rural New Zealand.

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University research has shown in great detail the huge cost to farmers of irregular spreading.

“The accuracy of Spreadmark spreaders ensures farmers get what they pay for – fertiliser on the paddock, at the rate required and not on the neighbour’s farm, in rivers or on the road.”

To become Spreadmark accredited, a company must have their machines regularly tested by qualified, independent auditors. The drivers are

trained to a high level in classroom and on paddock.

The spreading patterns are tracked by GPS and a printout provided showing where the fertiliser has been spread. In addition to this, the company must have robust business systems also independently audited.

Spreadmark is accurate; in conjunction with Fertmark it utilises quality product and it is environmentally friendly, Barton says.

Ross Thurston (right), dealer principal of Manawatu Kia, receives the Kia Motors NZ Dealer of the Year Award from Kia Motors Australasia chief executive Charlie Kim.

Kia dealer prize goes to Manawatu MANAWATU KIA has been named the Kia Motors

New Zealand Dealer of the Year via its “outstanding performance in a range of disciplines,” said Todd McDonald, general manager of Kia Motors New Zealand.

“The team at Palmerston North impressed us with their sales and service performance, along with their attention to detail in ensuring that the Kia brand is properly represented.”

The criteria for the Kia Dealer of the Year Award is judged in three main categories including sales target achievement, global signage compliance and facilities and processes for parts, service and sales.

Manawatu Kia surpassed its sales target in spite of tough competition from other well-known brands. It operates from a showroom dedicated to the Kia brand in Rangitikei Street, recently upgraded to conform to the latest Kia corporate branding.

The Dealer of the Year trophy was presented to business shareholder Bryan McKay at a special awards dinner in Australia, following the Australia Tennis Open where top Kia dealers from around the world were feted.

“We were treated and certainly felt like kings being among 31 of the best Kia dealers worldwide and Kia Motors really spoiled us,” says McKay.

Dairy News march 12, 2013

machinery & products // 49

Silage block cutter keeps stack fresher, eliminates wastage gareth gillatt

A SILAGE block cutter is helping a South Island farmer keep his silage stack fresher and has eliminated wastage, says machine importer Webbline.

Nelson Pyper runs a dairy grazing property in Southland running 450 heifer calves and 450 R2s on 160ha.

Last season Nelson set up a wintering barn, in which he now also houses his heifers during the summer months.

While it isn’t common for dairy grazers to feed heifers in this way, Piper says feeding supplements to the young stock is a useful way to maintain pasture quality, especially in early summer when the region is prone to wet conditions. “Heifers tend to walk up and down a bit when eating, that’s why feeding out supplement in the barn is so much more important. The animals seem to do better as well.”

Pyper grows 130ha of silage, cut three times a

year, and until four months ago was worried about how much of the nutritional value of the stack was wasted by forks. “Forks loosen the stack and let the quality of the silage deteriorate; that’s the biggest problem with silage in the stack.”

“It’s stupid going to the trouble of making good silage then letting it deteriorate because the forks you’re using lets air into the stack because its loose.”

Pyper bought a BvL Top Star silage block cutter to combat this and says the difference in the silage stack has been remarkable.

“It takes a slab out of the stack and the face is still as hard as a rock. It’s effectively cutting out all that waste.”

In contrast to standard shear grabs and silage grabs that dig in and drag feed away from the stack, the BvL Top Star slices a clean block downwards from the top of the stack, using a double blade-scissor action, preventing air from getting to the rest of

The silage stack face is still as hard as a rock.

the stack.

Webbline says with this method, there is no levering action on the loader, resulting in almost zero

wastage on the stack face.

Pyper’s stock manager Alan Pyper says it is a lot easier on the loader and he easily cuts out 1000kg of

silage each time, meaning less trips to fill his mixer wagon.

A 1.65m3 silage block cutter needs very little oil

flow which can easily be supplied by most tractor and loader hydraulic systems.

Pyper says the farm’s

90hp Merlo loader barely breaks a sweat when loading silage.

Tel. 0800 932 254 www.webline.co.nz

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Dairy News march 12, 2013

50 // machinery & products

Six key awards for innovation NEW HOLLAND has won six awards from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) for the fifty most innovative product ideas to go on sale in 2012. These recognise innovation, engineering advancement and impact on the market.

The winners are the 840CD rigid draper head for NH combines, the

advanced operator-control system for the NH H8000 series Speedrower selfpropelled windrowers, the NH BigBaler series, the NH IntelliFill system for the FR series forage harvesters, the NH ABS SuperSteer anti-lock braking system (available on New Holland T7 series tractors) and the NH T9 series tractor homologated option, approved for driving on roads in Europe.

Grain producers can maximise the high capacity of their combine in cereals, grains, rice and other specialty crops with the New Holland 840CD rigid draper head. It is

available in cutting widths 7.5-13.5m and uses the patented SynchroKnife drive.

This centre knife-drive system works the same wqay as the two opposing knife drives used in larger heads, but eliminates the vibrations they can cause by continually keeping the opposing knifes perfectly synchronised.

The advanced operatorcontrol system for H8000 Speedrower self-propelled windrowers is designed to give greater operator convenience and control.

It includes a multifunction handle, software that provides additional operator feedback, and an IntelliView touch-screen

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The MFH provides fingertip control of all header adjustments, including a return-tocut control that allows a double click of a button to raise the header at the headland and a single click to return to the previous cut-height setting.

New Holland’s BigBaler is said to set a new benchmark in baling performance from up to a 20% increase in capacity and up to 5% denser bales. It suits commercial hay operations, straw contractors as well as owner-operators.

The machine’s new pick-up has a new fullwidth feed assist roller with paired overshotundershot augers at both ends to pull in material to ensure complete pick-up of crop for baling.

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The new NHT9 series

shields that work with crop guides to improve crop flow and windrow separation. SmartFill feed indicators use sensors in the precompression chamber to sense incoming crop and guide the operator via the IntelliView display,

ensuring square-edge bales with balanced sideto-side density.

The New Holland IntelliFill trailer-filling system allows the operator to concentrate on achieving optimal crop flow and field progress instead of focusing on

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filling the trailer. It is an option on NH FR series self-propelled forage harvesters. It uses a 3D camera that allows the operator to fill a trailer accurately and with minimal losses.

Deflector position and spout orientation are

automatically controlled, based on the information collected by the 3D camera, to consistently fill trailers to the level specified.

NH ABS SuperSteer (available on NH T7 series tractors) offers the safety and control of an anti-lock braking system with the company’s tight-turning SuperSteer front axle.

The system has the same safety features as ABS fitted to a passenger car: improved stability, especially when braking under load, and safer, more controlled steering while braking.

The system monitors wheel rotation and braking force to eliminate wheel lockup, even on wet or icy roads.

It provides straightline braking if wheels on one side are on a different surface than the other side. ABS SuperSteer allows steering around an obstacle when braking hard or sharply.

New Holland is imported in New Zealand by C B Norwood Distributors Ltd.

big tractor ok for eu roads THE NEW Holland T9 Series (homologated option) is the world’s first articulated 4WDclass tractor to win “full type homologation” approval by the European Union for on-road use on public roads in EU countries.

The NH T9 modifying package acts on the tractor steering and braking systems, vehicle width and height, exhaust and lighting systems, and places extra gear on the tractor to fully meet the laws.

Other tractors of this size must have extra equipment mounted by customers and dealers and undergo a country-by-country approval process to be used on European roads.

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