Dairy News 11 July 2023

Farm Source review faces backlash

Another Waikato farmer says she spoke recently with a Fonterra director.

consulted on proposals between Fonterra and its staff.

A REVIEW of Fonterra’s Farm Source retail business that could reduce the co-op’s face-to-face interaction with farmer shareholders is causing concern.

Fonterra shareholders are unhappy with moves to reduce the number of Farm Source area managers, who work with farmer shareholders inside the farmgate.

On the New Zealand Dairy Farmers Facebook page, which has over 30,000 members, farmers have been venting their frustration on possible reduction of face-to-face support.

The Facebook page claims Fonterra intends to reduce the number of area managers from 45 to 20.

“I don’t think reducing the number of area managers is a good decision in the current time given how much uncertainty we are all dealing with,” complained one farmer.

“There have been more calls to him on this management move than any other issue he’s had while on the board,” she says.

Another dairy and beef farmer from Waikato warns that reducing the number of area managers will be a step backwards.

“Face to face is paramount with all the issues and regulations coming our way. Online is not the answer at this time.

“Smaller teams are not more agile, not more available: smaller senior management works but feet on the ground is essential.”

Fonterra farmers are also raising the issue with board members and the Fonterra Co-operative Council.

Council chair John Stevenson told Dairy News that questions on specific details of the proposal should be directed towards Fonterra management.

Stevenson says the council is not

“We are not part of the decisionmaking process. Our role is to represent Fonterra farmers,” he says.

But he confirmed that councillors have received a considerable amount of feedback from Fonterra farmers recently.

“Council has heard that Fonterra farmers are passionate about their co-operative, the level of support that they expect and the people that directly support them.

“Council is actively communicating that farmer feedback and sentiment to the board.”

Stevenson says over the last 18 months, the council has regularly provided feedback to the board and to management on the importance and expectation of face-to-face support for Fonterra farmers.

He says support for Fonterra farmers is critical, especially during the current period of significant change.

“Council will continue to rep-

resent the interests of members and will pass on any further feedback received. Council is awaiting the outcome of this process before it can comment publicly in more detail,” he says.

A Fonterra spokesperson told Dairy News that the proposed changes are subject to consultation with their team.

“No decisions have been made yet, so it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this stage.”

Farm Source has 68 stores around the country. It also employs area managers and sustainability and farm management advisors who interact with farmers.

The Farm Source website says it is “all about connecting with and supporting our farmers”.

“In the community, on farm and in store, we bring the collective strength of the Fonterra co-op to help our farmers get the products, service and advice they need to run their farms successfully.”

SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

Fonterra farmers don’t want Farm Source to reduce face-to-face interactions on farm.

Time for new generation to take over – King

OUTGOING LIC chair-

man Murray King says the time is right to pass the baton to the next generation.

King, who steps down from the role later this year, has chaired the farmer-owned genetics company for 11 years. He joined the board in 2009.

But King’s connection with LIC goes beyond his board tenure. He served on the Shareholders Council and worked as a LIC AB technician before that.

“It’s been a fantastic journey and a most enjoyable one,” he told Dairy News

“We are a genetics company, and every generation is better than the last one. So, if you believe in genetics I should get out of the way and let the next genera-

tion come through.”

King says that LIC has been around for over 100 years and done a lot for the dairy industry.

“I think we often forget how much we have

achieved. Year by year we think we are not making progress but in the long term if you look at it, we are doing things now you wouldn’t have thought possible many years ago,” he says.

He points out that 20 years ago, LIC was inputting data manually, herd records were sent backwards and forwards after herd tests for input into Minda. These days, farmers have apps on their mobile phones.

“Farmers are wondering around the paddock and making decisions on the spot, looking at animals and entering dates – that stuff is quite revolutionary,” he says.

Real advances have also been made with herd

testing.

LIC collects about 11 million milk samples from farms every year and until now the samples have been manually tested. The tests, done four times a year on farms, help farmers judge the performance of each cow and also test the disease status of each animal.

LIC has been doing the work for the last 50 years. After many years of trying, LIC installed robots to do the task two years ago.

“Now robots automate the weighing and sampling process at our Hamilton and Christchurch laboratories,” says King.

King pays tribute to LIC’s workforce for their passion in serving farmers and the dairy industry.

“At the end of the day, it’s a team effort. It’s more than one person.”

King has dairy farms in North Canterbury and Nelson and won’t be sitting idle – there’s work to be done on the farms. He is also a cornerstone

shareholder in Appleby Farms Ice Cream and serves on the boards of Waimea Community Dam Ltd, Waimea Irrigators and Cawthron Institute. Corrigan Sowman, a farmer director on the LIC board, has been appointed chair-designate and will succeed King at the conclusion of the annual meeting.

Chief executive David Chin said King’s longserving contribution will leave a lasting legacy at LIC and in the wider dairy sector.

Sad ending for Happy Valley

AFTER STRUGGLING for years to secure capital, a proposed greenfield milk plant project in King Country has collapsed.

The Happy Valley Nutrition board went into voluntary administration last week.

Advisory and restructuring firm McGrathNicol says the Happy Valley board has appointed Andrew Grenfell and Kare Johnstone as voluntary administrators.

It says the administrators are undertaking an urgent review of HVNL. Further updates will be provided in due course.

The first statutory meeting of creditors is expected to take place on July 18.

“A meeting notice setting out the

time and location for the first meeting of the creditors will be distributed to HVNL’s creditors over the coming days,” it says.

HVNL was set up in 2016 to develop the milk plant.

While the company had acquired land at Otorohanga and had obtained resource consents from the Otorohanga District Council and Waikato Regional Council, it failed to secure funding for the project.

One of HVNL founders and key backer Randolph van der Burgh, who resigned from the board in May, wouldn’t comment.

“I am no longer an HVN director and therefore I am not able, nor authorised, to comment,” he told Dairy News

SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz

Rural vote scramble

PETER BURKE

THE LEADERS of Labour and National took up the challenge to win rural voters in a head-to-head clash at last week’s Federated Farmers annual conference in Wellington.

Politics and trade were the two major themes of the conference and as keynote speakers the pair offered quite different perspectives on these subjects. Luxon chose to mostly attack Labour’s track record in dealing with the rural sector, while Hipkins, just back from the successful trade mission to China, waxed lyrical about this and spent time congratulating the efforts of the primary sector over the last couple of years.

For the politicians in an election year, a captive audience of farming leaders from around the country and other rural professionals provided an irresistible opportunity to get on their soap boxes, and for Feds members it had an element of entertainment.

Hipkins’ opening line was that he wanted NZ to be seen as the greatest little trading nation in the world. He praised the sector for its performance in the past years, having to deal with a string of adverse weather events, not to mention Covid, and noted that many people were still hurting and that he felt their frustrations.

But the focus of his speech was on his recent trade mission to China where he noted the relationship between the two

TRADE TALKS

countries is in a good position, but importantly the business-to-business relationship is thriving and has the potential to grow even more. He says one of the Chinese government objectives is to double the number of middle-income earners over the next decade or so.

That means more consumers looking for the quality produce and product that NZ has to offer.

“There is nothing quite like going into a supermarket in a far-flung place in the world such as China and seeing so many NZ products on display, whether it be kiwifruit, beef, lamb, or some of the manufactured products. It was a bit of buzz for me as the PM,” he said.

Obviously encouraged by the success of the China mission and FTAs with the UK and the EU, Hipkins pointed out that one of his key foreign policy priorities is trade with a goal of securing more FTA’s. He made a promise to lead more such missions if elected.

By contrast, Luxon wasted little time in rolling out the slogans he’s used many times in the past months, such as red tape, scrapping the ute tax, allowing genetic modification, and stating that National won’t allow farming to be run out of Wellington. The latter, an open attack on the plethora of regulations that Luxon says have been thrust on farmers.

“l made a list of every new regulation or major change that’s occurred since 2017. This shows that twenty-three programmes have been

FEDERATED FARMERS president, Wayne Langford says it was good to hear from the politicians and to learn more about international trade and consumer trends from other keynote speakers.

The session on trade agreements saw senior officials from the embassies of China, the UK, Australia and the EU talk about the opportunities for trade with their respective countries, and was an eye opener to many. This session was particularly timely given it’s expected that NZ and the EU will sign off the longawaited FTA in the coming days when Chris Hipkins and Damien O’Connor are in Europe.

Over the two days, many topics were canvassed, including the latest consumer trends and the need for NZ to meet the new demands.

Overall, a stimulating, interesting election year conference.

directed at farming and that’s a lot of tennis balls coming over the net at the same time. Even Roger Federer would struggle to hit any one of them, yet that’s what you have had to endure over the last six years. In my view, regulation has been weaponised against the sector to make farm-

ing life as difficult as possible.”

On the issue of red tape, Luxon claimed that some farmers are spending up to 30% of their time in their office doing paperwork. As per National’s recently announced agriculture policy, the National leader promised an end

to farmers having to supply the same information separately to different central and local government entities.

“Certainty is crucial for the rural sector. We want stable, predictable consistent rules, and regulators should not be telling farmers how to run their farm,” he said.

Set

• New Zealand’s trusted and most popular monitoring solution.1

Accurate heat detection, including insemination timing.

• Integrations available including, seamless automatic drafting with Allflex® Intelligate or Protrack® Draft Gate.

• Health and rumination data customisable to NZ pastoral farming.

• Subscription and finance options available.

• World-class training and technical support from a local team.

• Backed by global research and development that is heavily invested in what’s coming next.

Visit

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, just back from the successful trade mission to China, was keen to talk about it at NZ Primary Industries Conference last week.

Strong supply, weak demand soften prices

for whole milk powder (WMP) from China.

DAIRY PRICES have fallen to three-year lows thanks to strong supply and weak demand, mainly

Last week’s Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction saw prices drop across the board, with butter and skim milk powder recording slumps

of 10% and 6% respectively. WMP price was down 0.4% to US$3,149/ MT.

ASB economist Nat Keall notes that dairy prices are back to threeyear lows on the back

THE BULL-FREE SOLUTION

of three factors: a lack of strong demand from China for milk powder imports, weaker dairy demand in most other parts of the world, and a comparatively bettersupplied market than last

season.

“Not much has changed of late to dissuade us of our longheld conservative view on dairy prices,” says Keall.

He says the bank’s below-market $7.25/kgMS milk price forecast has rested on three legs, all of which are still in play.

“For the last six months or so, GDT prices have largely travelled in line with, or perhaps even slightly below, our forecast track.

“Of note, China continues to be largely absent from recent auctions. ‘North Asia’ took just 15% of the WMP sold at this auction, which by our count looks to be its lowest proportion in nearly a decade.

“As we’ve noted in earlier reports, Chinese WMP production remains strong at the same moment that domestic consumption is still soft.”

With recent Chinese economic data underperforming, Keall isn’t envisaging a big change to this story on the demand side here.

“Additional mone-

tary stimulus has been signalled, but nothing dramatic, and with consumer confidence weak, there’s a risk that households simply horde cash in the event of interest rate cuts.

“For now, Southeast Asia is helping prop up demand, though the economic outlook isn’t rosy there either. And finally, broad strength in the USD continues to make things tricky for many dairy importers.”

The supply-side story is much the same too. European production closes its peak period with decent year-onyear growth. NZ production experienced a record May with milk production jumping 8% year-on-year and while climate indicators are looking mixed for later in the season, output starts with a bit of momentum behind it, notes Keall.

“Softer WMP prices for contracts two and three suggest that buyers are feeling comfortable with the supply outlook for NZ’s peak production months.”

A weaker New Zealand dollar future may offer some respite.

Keall says Fonterra will end up with a more favourable exchange rate than anticipated when the season began, but that’s comparatively small fry compared with the underlying weakness in prices.

“What’s more, there will be progressively less scope for further weakness in the Kiwi to lift our forecast as the season wears on.”

Westpac economist Paul Clark notes that last week’s GDT results does little in terms of setting the direction for prices over coming months.

“For now, still soft global dairy demand and soft global dairy production are weighing on prices,” says Clark.

“That said, an expected rebound in Chinese demand later in the year will hopefully provide some price support.”

Westpac is forecasting a milk price of $8.90/ kgMS for the season.

@dairy_news

facebook.com/dairynews

NZ milk production experienced a record May, jumping 8% year-on-year.

Bulls weighing your feed supply down? Across New Zealand, dairy farmers are switching to 100% AB, removing bulls from farm. With the benefits of CowManager, a slightly longer AB season becomes a breeze, and you can confidently say goodbye to retaining bulls on farm.

Engaging better with Maori farmers

DAIRYNZ IS working on a project to engage better with Māori dairy farmers and in a way that has meaning to them.

Its special advisor on Māori issues Clinton Hemana has been running a series of ‘Kai and Korero’ meetings around the country, but mainly in the North Island, to meet with Māori dairy farmers.

DairyNZ farm performance manager Sarah Speight told Dairy News that Māori are very important to the dairy sector and the Kai and Korero sessions were developed to engage with Māori at the Trustee level to identify the key things that they wanted to know from DairyNZ.

She admits that in the past, DairyNZ probably hasn’t engaged as well as it should with Māori and there are now several initiatives planned to change that.

Speight says the Kai and Korero sessions have been good because they enabled both parties to state their needs –DairyNZ to make Māori aware of the DairyNZ priorities and Māori to put their view forward, which Sarah Speight says was about getting more of their people into the dairy industry and back on the land.

“I have attended a few of the Kai and Korero sessions and the overall feedback is that Māori haven’t felt that DairyNZ has been particularly applicable to them, but they are now pleased that we want to engage with them. The thing I enjoy with Māori farmers is they are not afraid to say what they think, and they raise some really good points about how do we get our young people back on the land and what can DairyNZ do to help,” she says.

Speight says the issue going forward is to make sure that DairyNZ engages with Māori in an authentic way and in a way that fits in with their

culture and expectations. She says the starting point is for field staff to have the skills to do than and ultimately to recruit more Māori staff. She says they are very lucky having Hemera to assist them as he is a member of a number of trusts and is highly skilled in dealing with Māori.

The feedback DairyNZ is getting is that the Kai and Korero sessions are a good start – but what next?

Speight says the next phase of Clinton’s work is to develop further plans to take this forward and this may include special field days for Māori farmers.

She says this will likely be done in conjunction with some key Māori farms, such as Pouarua Farms near Ngatea on the Hauraki Plains – a Māori trust which was a finalist in the Ahuwhenua Trophy for the top Māori farm.

“So, we can look at a Māori business in a more in-depth way and see how the DairyNZ programmes such as ‘step change’, which is our increasing profit - reducing footprint programme, can be applied and work in a Māori business,” she says.

A key factor for DairyNZ is recognising that many of the Māori trusts that run dairy farm are very large and often have thousands of beneficial owners. For example, Wairarapa Moana in the central North Island runs 10,500 cows on its 12 farms while Parininihi ki Waitotara (PKW) in Taranaki runs 7000 cows over 12 farms and has 11,000 shareholders.

There are many others on this scale.

But Speight says the scale of Māori farms is not that different to some of other large levy payers to DairyNZ. The difference however is in the governance structure with trustees acting as board with a management team reporting to them.

“We have to work with their operations manager level staff to ensure that we understand the drivers of their business and how

we might support them to have the best information at their fingertips to share with their teams,” she says.

Speight says when running any courses, for example on condition

scoring cows or calving smart, their job is to ensure they do that in an environment that makes those people on the farm feel included, feel supported and get the skills they need.

WHO WILL YOU CALL WHEN YOUR PUMP FAILS?

first time in a couple of months and their pump has failed. Regular pump servicing and upkeep is your best bet to avoid this and if you’ve missed out on getting a service, we recommend you run your pumps and make sure everything is working as it should be before you’re in the thick of milking.

Why choose a Davey pump?

• Made down under for the Kiwi market and conditions

• Reliable, tough-going pumps that last longer and run better

• High quality means less maintenance and repairs over time (if you service it regularly)

The winter months are peak season for shed maintenance and our Davey Dealers are flat stick making sure farmers’ pumping equipment is good to go when the cows come in, including servicing pumps and replacing filters. When calving season hits, our Davey Dealers get a lot of calls from farmers because they’ve turned their sheds on for the

If your pump does fail, you’ll need to act quickly to get your shed up and running efficiently. Davey operates in the heart of farming country and has a range of pumps and pumping equipment designed especially for farms and farmers’ needs. Don’t be tempted to cut corners when it comes to your pump. Here’s why you should choose a Davey pump.

• Local Davey Dealers who know farming and can help select the right pump for the job and offer you after sales support

• WaterMark Certification and quality tested to AS/NZS 4020 standards to ensure you future proof your farm and protect the quality of your milk

DairyNZ farm performance manager Sarah Speight says Maori are very important to the dairy sector.

One of the biggest frustrations dairy farmers tell us about is when they turn their pumps on for the first time when calving kicks off and something goes wrong.

The Davey farm range

Vat wash pump – The Davey CY series stainless-steel pumps are rugged, compact and provide durability through a complete, single stage offering.

Circulator pumps – The Davey XF Series transfer pumps are robust, compact centrifugal pumps made from corrosion resistant components.

Shed wash down pumps - The Davey CD Series single stage centrifugal end suction pumps have a high efficiency design for lower operating costs, ideal for hosing down of sheds.

Inspection flights ‘box-ticking exercise’

ing exercise”.

well ahead of the regulations.

SOUTHLAND FARMERS

says forced rules enforcements around winter grazing is just a “box tick-

Dairy farmer Jason Herrick, Southland Federated Farmers winter grazing spokesperson and junior vice president, told Dairy News that most farmers in the region are

“Implementing the forced rules is still just a box ticking exercise that has absolutely no positive effects to outcomes because farmers

are already doing it,” Herrick says.

His comments came as Environment Southland announced its first aerial compliance inspection of the winter grazing season last month, identi-

fying 21 potential sites of interest.

Herrick, who has been on previous aerial inspections, says he wasn’t invited on the trip and puts this down to Federated Farmers taking that stance against inspections.

“We will however not defend poor practice but still encourage the regional council to inform industry bodies of problems as together we have a better chance of positive outcomes from issues found,” he says.

Herrick says as far as he knows the council hasn’t informed them of potential high-level breaches.

Environment Southland resource management manager Donna Ferguson says they are now following up on the sites, checking consents, and identifying if further action needed to be taken.

The flights were an opportunity to see if the good preparation observed during cultivation flights in late January was being followed by good practice, she says.

The flight was also the first aerial inspection since the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater rules around intensive winter grazing came into effect on May 1.

Staff looked for crops that had little or no buffering from waterways, were on steep slopes, and crops planted within critical source areas.

The sites identified for follow up were a mixture of crops being grazed on what appeared to be

critical source areas, and some with slope issues.

Flights are planned for the start of each winter month and follow paths guided by known areas of concern and incidents reported, as well as locations noted during the cultivation flights.

“We will be undertaking further aerial and roadside monitoring and responding to complaints through the winter grazing period,” says Ferguson.

“The roadside work is an extension this year to ensure we are checking more paddocks and reaching out to more farmers.”

The council says anyone who sees something they’re concerned about environmentally should get in touch with Environment Southland directly.

Farmers who are unable to undertake intensive winter grazing as a permitted activity, according to the new rules, are required to have either applied for a resource consent or deemed permitted activity. It’s not too late to apply for a consent or deemed permitted activity if you need one.

Environment Southland consents manager Bruce Halligan says intensive winter grazing consents were granted for between five-to-eight-year terms. Deemed permitted activity notices will be valid until 1 November 2024.

Meanwhile the council says by June 20 there have been a total of 50 winter grazing applications received.

Inspection flights by Environment Southland have been labelled box-ticking exercise by farmers.

“Implementing the forced rules is still just a box ticking exercise that has absolutely no positive effects to outcomes because farmers are already doing it.”

100% IN NEW ZEALAND MADE

As a 100% NZ-owned mutual, we’re not here for the bank accounts of overseas owners. We’re here for the New Zealand farmers and growers who are our members.

Ask around about us, or give us call on 0800 366 466.

We’re here for the good of the country.

The race for rural votes is on

IT WAS Federated Farmers’ turn last week to play host to another round in the battle for rural votes in the upcoming October elections.

But the perceived battle between the two Chrises – Chris (Hipkins) and Christopher (Luxon) – was a bit of a fizzer.

Only Labour and National leaders were invited to speak – the potential coalition partners and the gaggle of political nobodies were left off the programme. To have ACT there might have been something of an embarrassment anyway given former president Andrew Hoggard’s defection to ACT.

Sad ending

THERE WILL be a few happy and relieved Fonterra farmers in Ototohanga.

Last week, owners of a planned greenfield dairy plant in Otorohanga went into voluntary administration after struggling for years to secure capital.

The project had rattled farmers in the area, who mostly supply Fonterra. The co-op was bracing to lose suppliers to Happy Valley. Some Fonterra farmers had made public submissions opposing consent applications lodged by Happy Valley.

Farmer debt

WE RECENTLY stumbled upon a very old copy of the New Zealand Herald, dated May 21, 1952.

The lead headline was “State owes vast sum to farmers”. The story went on to say how the New Zealand government of the day was in debt to Kiwi farmers to the tune of more than 55 million pounds Stirling (about $1.8b in today’s money), held “in reserve” from beef and dairy receipts collected presumably through state-controlled producer boards.

Fast forward to today, while the funds no longer get funnelled through government coffers (thank goodness) nothing much else has changed, it seems.

The Government of today still remains indebted to farmers for generating billions for the economy without any subsidies or financial assistance!

Job offers

FORMER DAIRYNZ chief executive Tim Mackle apparently had a dozen job offers in the past few weeks – all from farmers offering him farm assistant jobs!

Mackle stepped down as the head of DairyNZ last week after 15 years in the role.

In his final media interview, Mackle told Dairy News that one of those job offers was particularly inviting.

His brother has offered him a job as farm assistant on the family farm in Kaikoura and it could be the first cab off the rank for him.

Mackle says he plans to take a break before deciding on his next move.

A real cold war

ONE OF the world’s biggest ice cream companies is accused of selling ice cream in Russia thereby helping finance the country’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Unilever, owners of Wall’s, Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum ice cream brands, is operating in Russia more than a year after the country invaded Ukraine.

Unilever said that exiting was “not straightforward” as its operations would be taken over by the Russian state if it abandoned them. The company had been unable to find a way to sell the business that “avoids the Russian state potentially gaining further benefit, and which safeguards our people”.

But the Moral Rating Agency – a watchdog organisation set up following the invasion of Ukraine – accused the firm of helping fund Russia’s treasury by continuing to trade there.

“Unilever must stop hiding behind its balance sheet and excuses to face the reality that selling an ice cream can allow Putin to pay for a bullet,” says MRA.

Fonterra pulled out of Russia shortly after the invasion.

Publisher: Brian Hight Ph 09-307 0399

General Manager: Adam Fricker Ph 021-842 226

Head Office: Lower Ground Floor, 29 Northcroft St, Takapuna, Auckland 0622 Phone 09-307 0399.

Editor: Sudesh Kissun Ph 021-963 177

Machinery Editor: Mark Daniel Ph 021-906 723 markd@ruralnews.co.nz

Reporters: Peter Burke Ph 021-224 2184 peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

Subscriptions: Julie Beech Ph 021-190 3144

Production: Dave Ferguson Ph 027-272 5372 Becky Williams Ph 021-100 4831 Digital Strategist: Jessica Marshall Ph 021 0232 6446

Hipkins’ speech saw him bask in the success of his recent China trade mission and the importance of trade agreements to NZ. He promised to make getting more of these a high priority. In relation to this he did emphasise the need for NZ to have strong environment credentials if it wants to get more such agreements.

His key message seemed to be that he wanted NZ to be the ‘greatest little trading nation’.

There was certainly no hard-line talk about regulations, which he surely knew would raise the ire of the audience.

Luxon’s pitch was one that he’s given at just about every meeting he’s attended in recent times and there was no sign of any new policy initiatives in the wind. Maybe a missed opportunity. But cutting red tape, the ute tax and stopping Wellington running rural NZ certainly resonated with farmers. However, he continued his quest to get into the Guinness book of records for being the politician who has used the word ‘outcomes’ more than anyone else. Maybe he needs a new media coach or speech writer.

The question perhaps is, will speeches by the political leaders at such events influence voters and how accurate and important are the current polls anyway? Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger famously said “bugger the polls” when they showed he was behind Labour. He went on to win that election.

AUCKLAND SALES REPRESENTATIVE: Stephen Pollard Ph 021-963 166 stephenp@ruralnews.co.nz

WAIKATO SALES REPRESENTATIVE: Lisa Wise Ph 027-369 9218 lisaw@ruralnews.co.nz

WELLINGTON SALES REPRESENTATIVE: Ron Mackay Ph 021-453 914 ronm@ruralnews.co.nz

SOUTH ISLAND SALES REPRESENTATIVE: Kaye Sutherland Ph 021-221 1994 kayes@ruralnews.co.nz

Advocacy is a team sport - Langford

Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford delivered his annual report at its annual meeting in Wellington last week. Here’s what he said:

THEY SAY the only constant in life is change, and that’s certainly proven to be the case in recent times, not only for Federated Farmers as an organisation but for farmers in general too.

We’ve had it all this year, from cyclones and flooding to regulation and cost pressures.

I know it hasn’t been easy. Let me start by addressing the elephant

Later this month we will also be farewelling Gavin Forrest after a massive 20 years with the organisation, albeit in two separate stints. Gavin’s impact on Federated Farmers policy is totally unrivalled, having worked his way up from the shop floor to lead our policy team for seven years. He signs off from the organisation as our first, and probably last, chief advi-

better as we get closer to the election. Finally, I’d like to thank all our board, provincial presidents, senior management team, staff – and

most importantly our members right across the country – for their continued support of our organisation.

Advocacy is a team

sport, and we all have different roles to play, but if we keep working together, I have no doubt we will get the results farmers need us to.

in the room: You’re reading a president’s report being written by an acting president.

This is because in May this year we farewelled Andrew Hoggard from his role, slightly earlier than both he and the organisation would have liked.

Andrew has been an absolute stalwart of this organisation for more than 18 years, working his way up from the Young Farmers rep on the Manawatū executive to be the national president, and I have nothing but admiration for the hard work he put in on behalf of farmers.

He can be immensely proud of the huge contribution he made during his time with the organisation and the legacy he left behind – and I have a feeling it won’t be the last we see of him.

This year has also seen significant change to our senior management team as we farewelled Leigh Catley from her position as general manager of communications after more than six years in the role. During her time in the role, Leigh made a huge contribution and was a great ‘phone a friend’ to have on the end of the line when you got a tricky media enquiry.

sor. We’ll miss your wise counsel around the office, chief.

The good news is that we’ve started the rebuild already and have made a couple of strategic appointments to key roles as we continue to advocate strongly on behalf of farmers. Both Paul Melville (GM policy & advocacy) and Aaron Letcher (GM communications) have joined us from recent roles with DairyNZ and Parliament.

I’m confident we’ve got the right team in place to help lead us forward as an organisation – because the work Feds does has never been more important. We’re starting to see some real progress and it does feel like we’ve turned a bit of a corner when it comes to the big issues impacting farmer confidence with the recent release of our election platform.

For the first time in a long time, it feels like there’s a bit of momentum going forward for farmers as the Government starts to walk away from things like fertiliser taxes and tighten up on farm forestry conversions, and the Opposition starts to pick up on Feds policy priorities.

It’s only going to get

The good news is that we’ve started the rebuild already and have made a couple of strategic appointments to key roles as we continue to advocate strongly on behalf of farmers.

Incoming Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says it feels like there’s a bit of momentum going forward for farmers.

Saving a million feed bags from landfill every year

MORE THAN one million calf feed bags each year could be saved from landfill as SealesWinslow becomes one of the first animal nutrition companies in New Zealand to join Agrecovery.

From this month, farmers will be able to recycle SealesWinslow’s 20kg and 25kg feed bags through Agrecovery at no cost. If every bag was recycled, it would prevent more than 1 million or 85 tonnes of calf feed bags going to landfill each season.

The initiative is one way SealesWinslow says it is helping farmers reduce waste to meet dairy company requirements and environmen-

tal regulations. The news is timely with an industry wide product stewardship scheme for agricultural plastics expected to come into force in 2024 as part of the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Act.

Along with some dairy companies, Fonterra has also signalled that participation in the Agrecovery scheme will be a priority for its farmer suppliers, making it part of its Co-operative Difference programme, which pays farmers a premium for achieving targets around milk quality, sustainability, animal welfare, and health and safety.

“As our global customers continue to demand

sustainably produced dairy products and we take steps to do the right thing by our environ-

ment, our entire agricultural sector is stepping up to find innovative solutions to minimise waste.

This responsibility rests with all of us, not just our farmers,” says SealesWinslow general manager

Grant Jackson. “Farmers already have a lot on their plates, so we want to make the recycling process as easy as possible.”

Agrecovery national scheme manager Felicity

Mitchell says the company’s Woven PP Product Stewardship Scheme plays a crucial role in providing New Zealand farmers with a practical solution for managing this type of plastic packaging.

“The success of this voluntary scheme relies heavily on the leadership of the scheme’s founding brands. These companies have all shown commendable commitment by joining the

scheme from the outset and taking responsibility for the plastic packaging they put into the sector,” says Mitchell.

“Their active participation enhances the scheme’s overall effectiveness and reach by inspiring other brands to join. It also highlights the importance of collaboration and shared responsibility in addressing plastic packaging management challenges.”

The company’s partnership with Agrecovery is part of a larger sustainability project by SealesWinslow to introduce an eco-friendly packaging solution for its 20kg bagged calf feed from the 2024-25 season.

Agrecovery’s Tony Wilson and Seales Winslow’s Grant Jackson celebrate the deal.

Reviewing 50 years of N use

NITROGEN IS an essential nutrient for plant growth, and nitrogen fertiliser has long been critical to maintaining the high productivity of grazed pasture systems in New Zealand.

For several decades research has been done on establishing the scientific basis for nitrogen management and fertiliser application in ryegrass and clover pastures. However, with so much research going on across various locations over the years, it hasn’t always been easy to step back and see the full picture.

That is what prompted AgResearch senior scientist Dr Col Gray, with the backing of the Fertiliser Association of New Zealand, to take a closer look at the research undertaken over the last 50 years. He set out to provide an overview of this research, to raise the awareness of key findings, and importantly to provide a pathway for decision makers to find and access the research on nitrogen fertiliser use and management. Identification of knowledge gaps for new avenues of enquiry was another focus.

The result of this review is now published in the New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research. The full open access article, Nitrogen fertiliser use in grazed pasture-based systems in New Zealand: a summary, can be viewed at: https:// www.tandfonline.com/ doi/full/10.1080/00288233.

2023.2198719.

The key research findings from the paper

are as follows:

■ Even well managed grass/clover pastures remain deficient in nitrogen for much of the year. As a result, it has been shown that grass/clover pasture responds readily to the application of nitrogen fertiliser.

■ The response to nitrogen fertiliser application is variable and depends on the rate, timing, carry-over effect of nitrogen fertiliser, and site conditions such as slope, aspect, soil fertility status and pasture composition.

■ The best time of year to apply nitrogen fertiliser to grazed pasture depends on when extra feed is required by the animal, and the ability of the pasture to respond to the application of nitrogen.

■ The response to late winter/early spring application of nitrogen fertiliser is generally higher and more reliable than nitrogen applied in autumn.

■ The application of nitrogen fertiliser can negatively affect the clover content in grass/clover pasture due to reduced stolon number and length,

less stolon branching, inhibited biological nitrogen gas fixation, and increased competition for moisture and nutrients by the grass component in the sward. Therefore, a critical management practice to maintain adequate clover is tight grazing to control pasture cover, particularly in the spring.

■ Nitrogen derived from the application of fertiliser can be lost directly or indirectly (nitrogen excreted from animals) from soils under grazed pasture through nitrate leaching, ammonia volatilisation and nitrous oxide from denitrification.

■ Direct leaching from the application of nitrogen fertiliser is low if application rates are not excessive and are synchronised with active growth of the pasture.

■ Urine excreted by animals is the main factor affecting nitrate leaching losses.

■ Ammonia volatilisation losses from fertiliser are typically less than 15% of the nitrogen applied, while emissions of nitrous oxide from nitrogen fertiliser are approx-

imately 4% of total agricultural emissions in New Zealand.

■ New technologies such as coated nitrogen fertiliser products, plant growth regulators, advances in precision agriculture and digital technologies have potential to be applied

to grazed pasture systems to optimise nitrogen fertiliser use and minimise environmental impacts.

The review concludes:

“With increasing expectations from consumers and constraints by regulators on the impact of using nitrogen fertiliser,

it is likely there will still need to be innovation in the future to develop new nitrogen fertiliser products and technologies to further minimise environmental impacts and improve the efficiency of nitrogen fertiliser use”.

@dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews

Even well managed grass/clover pastures remain deficient in nitrogen for much of the year.

Two robotic milkers do the trick

MARK DANIEL markd@ruralnews.co.nz

TWO ROBOTIC milkers on 29ha platform are not the norm in New Zealand, but that’s the case for the Comins family that farm at Kihikiki, south of Te Awamutu where they milk 100 cows.

Carmen and Ian’s robotic journey started back in 2018, when they moved from a 10-a-side herringbone set up milking 85 cows, when they installed a single Lely Astronaut robot. This was followed in 2020 with

a second unit, that saw cow numbers increase to 110, but more lately settle back at 100 animals.

Alongside the dairy farming operation Ian also runs a general contracting business locally, so the autonomous milking process allows him to spend long days away from the farm.

Both Carmen and Ian agree that the robots haven given them time to do other things on or away from the farm, but more importantly as Carmen says, “they remove the 4.00am starts, the drudgery and

the heat and flies during the summer months”.

Having produced 40,000 kgMS during the 2022 season, the enthu-

siastic couple now have an annual production target of 45,000kg in their sights, driven by better feed utilisation,

a more holistic animal health regime and a slight increase in cow numbers.

In terms of practicalities of robotic milk-

ing, the farm is split into three areas, accessed by individual races, with the cows getting a move to the A, B or C areas every eight hours. Cows typically visit the robots around 2.6 times each day, where they will receive a pre-determined meal feed. Carmen notes, “The cows are happy, calm, not rushed and largely do their own thing. The cows adapted to the new system quickly and typically prefer one of the two robots, often waiting for access to their preferred unit, even if the other is empty.”

Ian freely admits that the original decision to move into robotic milking brought with it big questions about financials. “Investing around $500k into two robots for a 29ha milking platform may seem like a lot, but spreading that amount over 10 years and the results we have achieved means we are more than comfortable with the reducing debt,” he says.

The Lely Astronaut system is said to realise a substantially lower cost of production, thanks to features like its unique hybrid robot arm, using the power of air, without any air consumption, while also lowering detergent and water consumption and reducing energy usage by up to 20%.

As part of the system, the robots’ user-friendly touch screen interfaces are said to make it easy to move between milking or cleaning functions as required, while settings,

information and generating reports are easily accessed.

As part of the package, the system also picks up on cell counts, delivering corresponding alerts, while also monitoring an animal’s general animal health, heat cycle and overall activity. Said to offer 100% accuracy of detection, several days before clinical evidence of mastitis is apparent, the system has helped the couple realise a significant reduction in antibiotic use.

“An early notification has the two-fold benefit of making sure we don’t get any downgrades on our milk, but equally importantly we can treat cows earlier with more holistic and natural products, without going down the antibiotic route,” says Carmen.

Indications of problems like ketosis can also be spotted early, meaning animals can be treated well in advance of becoming very sick, losing condition and production.

Integral to the robotic system, the Horizon management function works in the background to collect data and produce comparative reports for clearer choices and best optimisation.

It also lets the user “talk” with other agricultural data providers or third parties to bring all the information required into a single app, reducing workload, time in front of a computer screen and the number of mistakes.

From left: Carmen and Ian Comins with Lely FMS Advisor Villingi Young.

Holstein Friesian breeders rewarded

HOLSTEIN FRIESIAN

cows from the South Island of New Zealand were well-represented at the 2023 Holstein Friesian New Zealand-Semex NZ Ltd On-Farm Competition prizegiving, held in Nelson recently.

This year, 661 Holstein Friesian cows from 89 herds were judged across eight regions, evaluated for their inherent structural correctness using specially developed linear scoring.

Of the six Champion cows, four were from down south, and the other two from the Waikato.

The competition was part of the 2023 HFNZ annual general meeting and conference.

Flay Farms’ (Keith and Caroline Flay, Leeston)

two cows Keilyn Fitz Katie and Keilyn Stan Cup Halo S3F took the Champion titles in the Hanoverhill Raider –Five-Year-Old Cow and Comestar Laurie SheikVeteran Cow classes.

The Parkes family also had an exceptional competition, with six animals owned by Parkes Brothers

Farming Ltd (Picton) and Johnson & Parkes Partnership (Hawera) placing in various categories in the national competition.

Tahora-bred cows placed first, third and sixth in the ConantAcres Jy Broker - Mature Cow class, with Tahora McCutchen Alissa (K & MK Singh Farms, Hamilton) taking out the Champion title in that class.

It was also a great competition for Waipiri Holsteins (Hamilton) and the recently-dispersed Rock View (Stratford), with Rock View cows placing second in both the Maughlin Storm - Two -Year-Old Cow and Townson Lindy – FourYear-Old Cow classes.

Waipiri Sidekick Maggie took the Champion title in the Maughlin Storm - Two -Year-Old Cow class, and Waipiri Mogul Kristy (A Dreadon/A & D Fullerton Partnership, Hamilton) the Reserve Champion title in the Conant-Acres Jy Broker - Mature Cow class.

Raetea Holsteins (Schnuriger Family Trust,

Rotorua) also had three animals place in the national competition, including Raetea Pegment Sweety-Red placing Reserve Champion in the Comestar Leader – ThreeYear-Old Cow class.

This year, the Semex On-Farm Competition celebrated 20 years. Special prizes were awarded to the Most Successful Breeder 2004-2023 (Deloraine – AM, BV and JJ Sherriff, Canterbury, who entered 18 class-winning animals, plus two other winning animals bred by Deloraine but entered

by other members) and Most Successful Cow 2004 -2023 (Okawa Tony Serenity, owned by Tim and Jo Barclay of Okawa Ltd, Waikato) who won her category in 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021.

A special award was also presented to Dylan Lynch and Nata-

sha Maybee (Lyncrest Dairies Ltd, Invercargill) for Comestar Leader – Three-Year-Old Cow Champion Lyncrest Sidekick Lucy-ET being the highest pointed animal in the 2023 competition.

The annual competition is aimed at attracting entries from members

and non-members alike to promote the Holstein Friesian breed. Individual cows are judged on type at their home property in natural conditions without being fitted or halter led.

Six in-milk age groups classes are open to all Holstein Friesian cattle. Breeders enter their cattle for regional judging and the top two animals in each class in each region then move on to the national competition to compete for the Champion and Reserve Champion titles for each class. The top animals are judged again by a national judge – in 2023, Corey Ferguson of Otorohanga – with the results announced at the Holstein Friesian New Zealand Annual Conference.

Semex NZ’s Ryan Lett said this year’s event was a special night, celebrat-

ing the 20th year of the HFNZ-Semex NZ OnFarm Competition.

“It’s a great achievement, not only for the 20 years but because it is still such a big part of ours and Holstein Friesian NZ’s calendar,” he says.

“It’s a competition that we look forward to every year and value, and the members that enter every year hold it in that regard, too.”

Overall final judge Corey Ferguson says the quality of the cows entered in the competition was second to none.

“All the cows we saw throughout the competition were pretty impressive,” he said. “It was interesting to see that there are some pretty good cows out there that don’t come to the shows. It would be a pretty good spectacle if they did.”

Three-Year-Old Cow Champion Lyncrest Sidekick Lucy-ET (Lyncrest Dairies Ltd, Invercargill) was presented a special award for being the highest pointed animal in the 2023 competition.

Plan now to reduce stress

PLANNING AND preparing for calving with the farm team will reduce stress when calving is in full swing, and help keep everyone safe and healthy, says DairyNZ.

Calving is one of the busiest times of the year.

“Spend time with your team prior to calving to create a plan that works for everyone and the results will follow,” it says.

Achieving the best team performance during calving

Here are some simple suggestions from DairyNZ to help build the platform for successful calving:

■ Get your team involved - make sure they know why you do things, how you’ll do it together and what you are trying to achieve. Also, work with them

to identify injury risk areas on your farm and potential solutions.

■ Make sure your roster is achievable - Making sure staff have adequate and regular time off to rest and recharge helps to prevent fatigue which can lead to mistakes or compromise health and safety. If casual or relief staff are part of your plan, make sure you have access to them when you need them. Check out some different types of rosters.

■ Discuss and plan any upskilling your team members will needthis includes introducing new staff to your systems and processes.

■ Ensure all the appropriate PPE and tools are available for your

team - this includes having the right footwear for the job with good grip, support and comfort. Also think about the best equipment to use for calf pickup, and for trans-

ferring heavy loads of milk and feed to calves.

■ Make sure the whole team is eating wellensure everyone has 3 nutritious meals a day and access to snacks

to maintain energy levels.

■ Share what goes through your head as a manager - create a list of items you need for calving, and daily/ weekly tasks to be

completed, so everyone can help achieve them.

■ Hold regular team meetings - 5-minute stand-up meetings are most useful at this time of year so

that everyone gets the same message and any minor frustrations can be dealt with. Use a simple agenda of ‘what happened yesterday’ and ‘what’s happening today’.

■ Work as a team and lead by example.

■ Watch for signs of stress and fatiguethis includes in yourself and in your staff. If you do notice any stress or fatigue, be proactive in dealing with it.

■ Keep timesheets for all employees - it is good practice, and you can reflect on them later to plan for next season.

■ Keep talking, coaching, and providing feedback – celebrate success!

@dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews

Calving can be one of the busiest times of the year on the farm.

Give bobbies same respect

ON THE farm, bobby calves must be given the same degree of care as every other calf on the farm.

According to Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), the following guidelines should be followed:

■ Colostrum – all calves must be fed colostrum (2-4 litres/calf) within the first 24 hours of life, preferably within 6 hours. To aid local immunity, colostrum should be fed to them twice daily.

■ Handling – handle calves gently and with care always.

■ Weather protection –all calves must be protected from extremes of weather, especially wind, rain, cold and heat. They should be moved to a sheltered, draught-free calf shed

as soon as practicable after birth.

■ • Housing – a comfortable lying area that is well drained, covered with comfortable material and free from unpleasant odour should be provided for calves.

Exposed concrete and bare earth are not acceptable. There should be enough room for all calves to lie down and no hazards likely to cause injury to the animals e.g. sharp objects, slippery floors.

■ Water – calves must always have free access to clean drinking water.

■ Age at presentation –calves must be at least four full days old (96 hours) before being transported off farm.

■ Fit for Transport –calves must be strong

FIT FOR TRAVEL

How do I know if my calves are fit for transport?

To be fit for transport calves must have the following signs:

■ Healthy – eyes are bright, not dull or shrunken. Ears are upright. No visible disease (e.g. scours), deformity, injury, blindness or disability.

■ Strong – able to bear weight on all four limbs – not slow or unsteady. Able to rise from a lying position and move freely around the pen.

■ Hooves – firm and worn, not rounded or soft.

■ Navel – dry and withered, not pink/red, raw, or fleshy.

■ Fed – at least half the day’s ration of colostrum (or colostrum substitute) is given not more than two hours before pick-up. Stomach must not be concave (sunken).

SELECT WISELY

You are responsible for selecting and presenting animals for transport.

■ Do not present calves that are unfit for transport.

■ Make sure the truck has easy access.

■ If holding calves in a large pen, provide a means of controlling animal movement e.g. boards or a moveable gate, so that animals are easier to catch.

■ If you can, be there for pick-up to help with loading and to ensure calves are handled with care.

■ Have appropriate, loading facility, e.g. ramp or raised pen.

and healthy. Calves should be warm and dry. Take prompt action to treat or humanely destroy sick, injured or premature calves.

Our unique Ancalf™ formulation delivers nutritional consistency to ensure your calves get off to a strong healthy start – delivering high levels of casein and milk fat just as mother nature intended.

By using Ancalf™ you can not only be confident your calves are getting exactly what they need from every feed to reach their performance potential, but you’ll also receive the financial benefits of leaving your milk in the vat.

Chat to our team to see if Ancalf™ is right for you or visit nzagbiz.co.nz for more answers to your calf rearing questions.

Bobby calves must be given the same degree of care as every other calf on the farm.

Time to start preparing calf sheds

AS FARMERS start calving, it’s time to think about preparing calf sheds. Here are some tips from NZAgbiz’s Calf Rearing Guide on preparing calf facilities and what good practices for setting up your calf shed are.

Rearing facilities should be set up and maintained well to ensure calves stay healthy. Young calves should be housed for at least four weeks to ensure they stay warm and are using their energy for growth.

Housing

Must be dry and draught-free for calves to regulate body temperature. Calves should be protected from wind and rain in a structure twice as long as wide.

Cover the floor surface with dry materials such as sawdust, shavings, straw, post peelings or wood chip to a depth

of at least 200-300mm. Avoid dusty materials. Ideally the floor should be lower at the front to help drain effluent and water. Regularly muck out and top up the bedding so it is clean and dry.

Good ventilation is essential and is best situated where the walls meet the ceiling. It’s easier to ventilate across the shed, not down the length. Ventilation should be adaptable, so the use of boards, shutters or wind cloth is recommended.

Spacing calves

Calves are less stressed and have higher intakes in smaller groups. The shelter should provide a minimum of 1.5m2 per calf and, where possible, minimise calf contact between pens. The best approach is 10-20 calves per pen.

Depending on how

many calves you are rearing, having more than one shed separated into pens allows for easier separation of age groups and feeding levels. Having more pens also provides a safety barrier between calves in case of disease

outbreak and will allow a pen/shed to be rested for cleaning and sanitation between different batches of calves.

Feeding facilities

Each pen must have clean, quality water, which should be checked,

cleaned and refreshed daily. In hot conditions, high meal/fibre intakes or scours, an additional 2-6L of water per calf per day is required.

Meal troughs should have enough space for feeding at least half of

the calves at the trough at any one time. Provide a minimum of 300mm of trough space per calf. Keep meal feeders free from moisture and clean weekly to avoid fungal growth.

Keep milk lines as

short as possible and ensure there is no stale milk left in hoses between feeds.

Cleaning

Ensure all feeding equipment is regularly cleaned and treated with disinfectant. Bottles or cafeterias should be cleaned between feeds and automatic feeders (mixing bowls, lines and teats) should be cleaned and calibrated at least weekly.

Use a broom to remove any excess material in laneways. Do not use a high-pressure hose inside the shed, as this will aerosol bacteria and viruses to calves in other pens. Spray the rearing area, feeding utensils and teats with approved virucidal at least once a week, daily during a disease outbreak. Rodents and birds must be controlled.

Housing must be dry and draught-free for calves to regulate body temperature.

Look out for coccidiosis

WITH CALVING underway, dairy farmers are being urged to be vigilant for coccidiosis by planning their calf feeding regimes and using nutrition to combat the potentially fatal disease.

Coccidiosis can attack calves from four weeks old, causing scours and can result in death. The disease is prevalent throughout New Zealand and thrives in warm, moist conditions. It often surfaces during periods of stress, like moving

spices. Their extracts help stimulate appetite and offer antimicrobial properties. Prebiotics foster the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the gut to make sure it’s working efficiently.

“Gut health diseases and coccidiosis highlight the need for calf-rearers to get their calves onto a good feed as soon as possible,” says Paul. “It not only helps prevent disease, but it will also help fire up the rumen and get calves to their target

fire up the calf’s rumen and drive the development of its absorptive area improving nutrient utilisation.

“Pellets ensure consis-

tency in every bite meaning there’s no chance additives or minerals are lost at the bottom as in the case of a loose blend,” he says.

or regrouping calves or when calves face reduced immunity.

SealesWinslow nutrition and quality manager Paul Drew says while no vaccine is available for the coccidia parasite that causes the disease, a good nutrition plan can help prevent it and improve calf growth rates.

“Any farmer who has had coccidiosis knows it’s a disease that needs to be avoided,” says Drew.

“A big part of prevention comes down to using a calf feeding programme that includes a coccidiostat fed at the correct daily dose. To reduce the risk, it’s important to keep feeding a meal with coccidiostat until calves have built up their own immunity.”

Maintaining good gut health by encouraging beneficial bacterial development in the calf’s gut through feeding prebiotics and phytobiotics is also important to minimise gut health challenges and reduce scouring, says Drew.

“Calf-rearers should be aiming to get calves onto a good calf feed containing prebiotics and phytobiotics as early as possible to develop good rumen function and gut health.”

Phytobiotics are compounds from herbs and

weights faster.”

A good feeding plan that graduates calves onto calf muesli or pellets as soon as possible, not only helps fully develop a calf’s rumen, but it also improves digestion and feed efficiency.

“The faster we can develop that rumen, the faster we can get the calf consuming more and fully utilising solid feeds, improving digestion and its daily weight gain,” says Drew.

“This is crucial to meet body weight targets and to the calf’s future productivity.”

While farmers are watching increasing feed costs closely, products like high quality calf muesli and calf pellets mean more energy is available to the calf to achieve growth rates. This means less feed is needed to achieve target weights and help the calf reach its full potential.

“The higher the quality of feed, the better the weight gain,” says Drew. “There are certainly efficiency gains to be had by feeding a higher quality product and providing protein and energy that is more available to the calf.”

Drew explains that using a compound feed like calf pellets with effective starch levels helps

“Calf-rearers should be aiming to get calves onto a good calf feed containing prebiotics and phytobiotics as early as possible to develop good rumen function and gut health.”

Coccidiosis can attack calves from four weeks old, causing scours and can result in death.

Calving cows need starch, energy

WHILE MOST dairy farmers are heading into spring calving with lush grass cover, cows may need more starch and energy to compensate for pasture deficiencies

this season. Unusually high rainfall and warmer temperatures across the country this Autumn have resulted in exceptional grass cover for many areas. However,

SealesWinslow nutrition and quality manager Paul Drew says pasture testing carried out by the company shows there could be nutritional deficits in pasture this season that

need to be addressed.

“While pasture may look good, it may not give cows the energy they need to set them up for calving. Some of our farmer customers dried off early because they couldn’t sustain production as well as meet body

condition score targets for next season.”

While grass will always be king, Drew says there are times when the cow’s unique nutritional needs cannot be met by pasture alone.

“Best practice is to make sure body condition

score targets for calving are met at dry off. Given the poor pasture quality on some farms, it has been difficult to achieve those targets on pasture alone. Most farmers have needed a supplement to make sure cows have enough energy and starch to keep the rumen working and better utilise the pasture available.

“If farmers do find themselves in the unfortunate position of not having met body condition scores at dry off, it’s essential they prepare the cow for her following lactation by optimising body condition now. This is more difficult to do during the dry period. But complementing pasture and available farm feeds with a good amount of starch and energy can help.”

Drew says a lot of farmers still think they can feed 2kg per cow per day of palm kernel and they will be fine. But they need to consider how best to fire up a cow’s rumen and get it working efficiently. “It’s not just about gut fill. A balanced approach to starch, fibre, energy, and protein will optimise rumen performance and provide the best value from the cow’s entire feed ration, including grass.”

Drew says how farmers feed their cows heading into calving can have the single biggest impact on farm profitability, not just this season but next.

“It has a flow on effect. If you’re not keeping up the energy levels of your herd at this time of year and meeting those body condition scores you will be constantly

playing catch-up.

“Achieving body condition targets is key to driving production and reproduction performance during the following season. So, it’s important to get nutrition right. Focusing on nutrition just prior to calving in the ‘close-up’ transition period is key to reducing metabolic disease at calving and giving the cow the best possible start to the next lactation cycle.

“This is a difficult time to ensure the cow is consuming enough energy and protein for her and her growing calf. It is just as important to have a strategy to promote calcium mobilisation post calving to avoid the likes of milk fever.”

Drew is encouraging dairy farmers to make informed nutritional decisions to give them confidence they are meeting the nutritional needs of their herd between now and calving. He recommends getting expert nutrition advice to make sure they have the right solutions to complement feeds available on farm.

“As herd nutrition has become more precise in recent years, many farmers have seen firsthand the benefits of taking a more scientific approach to feeding their cows. This makes sense now more than ever,” he says.

“With production costs at an all-time high, farmers need to see a return on their feed investment. It’s not just about grabbing ingredients, blending them, and feeding cows for the sake of it. Farmers need to think more technically about the return on the investment they’re getting when they buy feed.”

Drew says if cows are converting feed into milk in the most efficient way, they also emit less methane and nitrogen – something that should be on every farmer’s radar right now.

“It’s complex and scientific, but this is the approach to nutrition we need to help farmers take, especially as they look for ways to start reducing their on-farm emissions and satisfy dairy company and global customer requirements.”

SealesWinslow nutrition and quality manager Paul Drew says pasture testing carried out by the company shows there could be nutritional deficits in pasture this season.

Giving calves a good start

AS PART of its strategic choice to lead in sustainability, Fonterra places a strong emphasis on calf wellbeing.

A big part of this is ensuring that all dairy calves have a useful life and this is why Fonterra says it introduced a new clause in the Terms of Supply relating to calves.

Most Fonterra farmers won’t need to alter their current practices because of the change to our Terms of Supply. However, Fonterra says it understands the change may be a challenge for some, so it is working to help find more options through each region across the country.

From 1 June this year, Fonterra suppliers will need to record information about how many calves are born on-farm and where they go.

Farmers may/will be asked to show these records during future Farm Dairy Assessments. Article sourced from Farm Source

“This year on 1 June, our Terms of Supply will change to update clause 6.3 for calf wellbeing. This clause states that you can only euthanise calves on farm if it is required on humane grounds, or if the calves are not able to be raised on farm and there are no options for thirdparty sale or processing.

“Animal wellbeing is important to Fonterra’s farmers, customers and consumers and Fonterra references the Five Domains as well as the Five Freedoms when describing our animal welfare approach.

“The Five Domains model of animal welfare is a framework which focuses on how animals feel and allows us to look beyond minimising suffering to strive for a good life for animals. Our farmers strive to provide positive experiences for cattle in all four physical domains to ensure their cows and calves are wellfed, comfortable, healthy, and content.”

Customers and consumers continue to indicate that a high standard of cow and calf wellbeing is expected. Global markets are also making changes, for example in the United Kingdom, the Great British Dairy Calf Strategy has been developed which commits to rearing all calves with care and eliminating the practice of euthanasia of calves by 2023.

On most New Zealand farms, 20-25% of the calves born each season are kept as replacement heifers. The remaining calves not destined to enter the milking herd are termed non-replacement calves.

These calves may be reared for beef or sent for processing into meat for human consumption and petfood, as well as valuable co-products used for applications such as vaccine development, cheese production, fertiliser production and manufacturing of fashion items.

From 1 June this year, Fonterra suppliers have to record information about how many calves are born on-farm and where they go.

A big part of this is ensuring that all dairy calves have a useful life.

Cow, calf nutrition go together

THE LEAD up to another calving period means the next few weeks offer an opportunity to meet the nutritional demands of your cows.

Good nutrition ensures optimum levels

of productivity for the cow during the coming lactation and early nutrition for the calf during the final weeks of gestation and the first weeks of life outside the womb.

Supporting your cows’

productivity

Energy demands for cows are at an all-time high as they transition from pregnancy to lactation. A lack of vital nutrients, vitamins, and minerals at this time can

Calving 2023

severely affect health and lactation performance throughout the season. What’s often forgotten is that this period also impacts the future health and performance of the calf.

A successful transition will ensure the cow comes into lactation with higher rumen performance, in effect lowering the risk of developing metabolic diseases such as milk fever and ketosis. A successfully transitioned cow is also more likely to produce a healthier calf.

We all know that wellfed cows hold condition better through lactation. However, it is seldom recognised the role that successful transitioning plays in this. A successful transition will ensure the cow comes into lactation with higher rumen performance, in effect lowering the risk of developing metabolic diseases such as milk fever and ketosis. A successfully transitioned cow is also more likely to produce a healthier calf.

Support lifetime traceability

• Ensure all calves are fitted with a NAIT tag before they reach 180 days of age.

• Register any fitted NAIT tags within 7 days of tagging.

• All calves must be tagged and registered before their first movement. So, if you are sending them off your location, make sure you meet your NAIT obligations.

• Calves must be NAIT tagged correctly.

For more information go to OSPRI.co.nz or 0800 842 463

It is essential that a cow’s digestive system is transitioned to a level where she can digest as much good quality feed as possible during this time to maintain condition, produce milk, and drive the hormones required over the coming months to become pregnant again.

Transition and early lactation require a diet high in calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus, as well as adequate trace element levels. Rumen buffers can also be very useful in stabilising rumen pH over this time, as these allow higher rumen performance without risking sub-acute acidosis, a common problem in early lactation.

Effective supplementation can be determined by feed and soil tests and research on nutrient requirement levels at different levels of production.

Setting your calves up for life

Our goal with calf

nutrition is to develop the rumen so it can absorb and convert nutrients from eating grass and feed once weaned. Calves receiving the correct balance of vitamins and minerals early will achieve growth targets quickly, setting them up for good health later in life.

The quality of colostrum calves receive from their dams in their first 24 hours is influenced by the cow’s nutrition. High quality colostrum is vital as this provides passive immunity to help calves fight off infections for the first months of life as their immune systems develop.

When it comes to hard feeding, high quality feeds and supplements need to be formulated especially for calf growth and health. These should contain trace minerals, vitamins, and key amino acids.

By giving calves a nutritionally balanced diet in the first weeks of their life, you’re setting them up to achieve all milestones as they mature, and much higher production potential when they join the herd. Cow and calf health are inextricably linked, as both rely on optimum nutrition.

A well laid nutritional plan is the most effective way of ensuring superior performance at every stage of your animal’s life.

Article supplied by Agvance

The quality of colostrum calves receive from their dams in their first 24 hours is influenced by the cow’s nutrition.

Tractors power cyclone recovery

generously donated two tractors to facilitate the reconstruction process.

CYCLONE GABRIELE caused significant damage to farming communities on New Zealand’s east coast, with many still dealing with the aftermath.

An inspiring initiative called “Commence the Re-Fence” has been launched to provide support to the most affected farmers in rebuilding their fencing. This collaborative effort brings together Case IH and New Holland, who have

Over the next five months, the Federated Farmers “Farmy Army” volunteers will work alongside the donated tractors to rebuild fencing on 100 severely impacted farms.

Federated Farmers has a strong track record of uniting volunteers and providing assistance to rural communities during times of crisis. Alongside

Case IH and New Holland, Hawke’s Bay dealer Stevenson and Taylor will provide essential post

WITH A history that saw the first Boss bale feeders built in 1999, Taupo-based Feeder Leader has built any army of enthusiastic followers around New Zealand, who rate its performance and reliability.

The Series 2 machines build on that reputation, with a design brief of not to mess with the areas that work well, rather address features or functions that might need to be improved.

Primarily designed to deal with round bales, but also capable of feeding squares with optional attachments, the Series 2 machines are lighter, weighing in at only 490kg, while also incorporating a shorter, yet steeper, feeding tray.

A new, heavy-duty fork frame

drivers to ensure efficient and effective fence installations and repairs.

The “Re-Fence” initiative is aimed at restor-

ing critical infrastructure, allowing affected farmers to resume their agricultural activities and rebuild their lives. To

support the materials required for the fencing reconstruction, a dedicated Givealittle page has been set up to allow indi-

unique, guided roller chain, as are the solid tines/spikes to the box section feeder bars to promote positive movement of the bale. Featuring only four grease nipples for the whole machine, drive is direct from a heavyduty, 400cc hydraulic motor that is fully enclosed to stop any feed material wrapping around moving parts.

viduals, businesses, and organisations to contribute and make a meaningful impact on recovery efforts by providing much-needed resources.

At the end of the fivemonth initiative, Case IH and New Holland say they will demonstrate their commitment to the farming communities by gifting the two tractors to two peer nominated farmers in the most heavily affected areas.

“We are deeply moved by the challenges faced by the farmers affected by Cyclone Gabriele,” said Aaron Bett, Case IH ANZ general manager.

“By donating our tractors and actively participating in the Re-Fence initiative, we aim to assist the farmers in rebuilding their fencing infrastructure and restoring their farms.”

Bruce Healy, NHH Agriculture ANZ general manager, says New Holland has always been committed to supporting farmers in times of need.

“We recognise the vital role that fencing plays in protecting livestock and securing farmland. Through our donation of tractors, we hope to contribute to the recovery efforts and support the farmers as they rebuild their lives.”

Contributions to the Commence the Re-Fence Givealittle page, whether financial or in-kind, will make a significant difference in rebuilding the fencing infrastructure and helping farmers reclaim their livelihoods. www.commencetherefence.co.nz

@dairy_news facebook.com/dairynews

features 63.5mm, solid steel tines to carry the bale cradle, with the added benefit of a new doublecatch locking system for quick demount and capture of the two modules-aided by larger diameter fork recesses.

Attention to detail sees the bale tray/cradle being fully welded, offering increased strength and durability over light-duty layouts that are held together with pop rivets. Feeder bars are also welded to the

Elsewhere around the machine, premium Vesconite polymer bushes are well-suited to wet and muddy conditions typically found on livestock farms during winter, while also offering a typical design life of up to 10 times more than bronze bushes or bearings, requiring no maintenance. www.feederleader.co.nz

Tractors donated by CNHI for ‘Commence the Re-Fence’.

Peach Teats

Calves love ‘em!

THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A CALF FEEDER QUITE LIKE THIS

Fitted with every calf’s favourite, Peach Teats®, the STALLION 5-CALF OPEN TROUGH FEEDER was designed with the health and wellbeing of the calves at the heart of its features:

• open trough, to discourage calves bunting each other off the teat looking for more milk

• extra-wide teat spacings to allow easy, comfortable feeding

• super-strong construction, but light enough to be handled by one person

• multiple feeders can fit closely side-by-side for larger group feeding requirements

• easy to keep clean

The Peach Teat® is the most natural feeding teat on the market. It simulates the cow’s teat so perfectly that it can be milked on a milking machine or by hand.

Available from your local farm supply stockist