dairy news 12 mar 2013

RetiRing LiC Chief Looks baCk

Ready foR the 6-week ChaLLenge?Free for all farmers7

fonteRRa heLPs dReam Come tRueBusiness owner at 10 Page 10

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

“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

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

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Dai ry News march 12, 2013

news // 3

news ��3-21

oPinion ��22-23

agRibusiness �� 24

management �� 25-29

animaL heaLth �� 31-34

effLuent & wateR management ��35-45

maChineRy & PRoduCts �� 46-50

Synlait Farms shares its recipe for success. Pg.06

Ploughing enthusiasts show their stuff. Pg.47

Fewer cows mean more profit? Pg.14

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GDT price hike too late for output

Willy Leferink

it wouLd be good if last week’s leap in dairy 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 predic-tions 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 large-scale 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 con-struction 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 pos-itives 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 Zea-land 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

andRew swaLLowandrews@ruralnews�co�nz

drop “quite sharply”.Growth in the US economy and an end to quan-

titative easing would help drive that, he says.

Green light for new Westland planthokitika-based west-Land Milk Products has the con-sents it needs to build at Rolleston, Canterbury.

Last week the co-operative held strategy meetings with sharehold-ers 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 “offi-cial notification” came through late last month that the coopera-tive 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.

The recently commissioned nutritional powder plant at Hoki-tika has “made a very good start” and is helping Westland deliver on its strategy to move into the added-value nutritional product market. “We’re very pleased with that investment and the way the plant is operating.”

@dairy_newsfacebook.com/dairynews

DAi ry NEws march 12, 2013

4 // news

Drought losses mounting up

THE NEXT four weeks will deter-mine 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

quite big implications through into next sea-son because we know that cows never milk as well in the spring if they have gone into the win-ter in poor condition.”

Woodford says dairy farmers will prob-ably not be as badly affected as sheep farmers. He points to positive signs on the international dairy market in the coming twelve

months with prices looking reasonable and China still buy-ing product.

“As well as that nobody in the world is in a position to ramp up their pro-duction quickly. I can see that American production will ramp up in 2014, but I can’t

see that coming through over the next nine months.”

‘next fouR weeks aRe CRuCiaL’

Keith Woodford

the Cost of the drought look sets to exceed $1 billion, says Primary Indus-tries 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

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 reduc-tion 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 con-sidered.

DairyNZ’s Craig McBeth told Dairy

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 farm-ers are in extreme situations and others are a little more comfortable but they could both be in the same district. Farm-ers must assess their own situations and make informed decisions, get help

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 expen-sive, 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 finan-cial 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

PeteR buRkepeterb@ruralnews�co�nz

“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

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

McBeth says Fonterra’s supply from

the lower half of the North Island is ahead on a season-to-date basis com-pared 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.


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

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news // 5

Banks offer drought helpbanks 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 agribusi-ness 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 feed-ing 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 deci-sions while they protect livestock and look after themselves and their fam-ilies.”

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 lim-ited 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-cus-tomers 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 direc-tor commercial & agri, says

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

SI also starting to feel the pinchwest 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 irriga-tion 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 correspond-ing 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-a-day or drying off completely… That’s

unheard of for us.”Westland general manager oper-

ations 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 coopera-tive’s suppliers were already on once-a-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 pas-ture 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.


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 suffer-ing. “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.

southLand getting dRy too

Banks are moving to help drought-stricken farmers.


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6 // news

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Michael Woodward, contract milker on Synlait Farms’ Robindale Dairies talks cow strategies.

Capture ideas and act on them

daiRying and New Zealand agri-culture in general needs to be more innovative if it is to retain its place as a world leader, an award winning farm-ing company’s leader says.

“If we don’t start innovating more effectively New Zealand’s advantage is going to slip away,” Synlait Farms’ chief executive Juliet Maclean told the crowd gathered last week for the Lincoln University Foundation South Island Farmer of the Year winner’s field day.

“For us to be the B team is not good enough. We’ve got to be the A team.

We’ve got to be there or we will die.”Synlait Farms, which milks 13,000

cows producing 5.4mKgMS/year off 3900ha, won the 2012 Foundation title for ‘doing the basics extraor-dinary well’, a banner used to flag the field day. The farms, 14 of them, mostly around Te Parita, central Can-terbury, are run under a six “pillar” business strategy.

“If the things we are looking at doing… don’t fit into one of those key areas then it’s likely we shouldn’t be committing any time to them,” said Maclean, introducing the field day which was divided into workshops on ‘pillar’: cows, grass, people, profit, environment and innovation.

Michael Woodward, Synlait’s contract milker on its original prop-

erty Robindale, presented the cow pillar where the core aim is to have the herd produc-ing its liveweight in milk-solids every season. With an average liveweight of 475kg and historical average output of about 400kgMS/head “we have a fair way to go,” he acknowl-edged.

However, it seems strides towards that 1:1 milk-to-live-weight goal have already been made through better body condition scor-ing and action, and splitting herds. For example, heifers have their own mobs. “They always struggle up against the big eaters.”

Making a late-calving mob – those due in October – at the start of winter so they have at least 90 days dry and are in “fantastic condition” come calving has also paid dividends: 55% are back in the early calving bracket for next season.

Mixed age cows are split into high and low production herds throughout the season with the mobs redrafted after every herd test to make most efficient use of feed. The opportu-nity to transfer cows between farms if there are surpluses and deficits on different properties is also taken.

Supplement use isn’t high: Wood-ward told Dairy News this season they’ll use about 350kgDM/cow in total – silage and grain. Despite that modest input over grass, and a budget of 418kgMS/cow, “this season we’re on track for 460kgMS,” he told the field day.

It’s not all about quantity across the farms either: running an A2 herd, and other herds producing special-ist milks for (now separate business) Synlait Milk, mean cow-driven qual-ity traits add value to the volume.

Woodward says he believes this season’s output is “a direct result of that body condition scoring”, reflecting on last season’s February shift of anything below BCS 4.0 onto a 16-hour milking roster, which saw them gain 0.6 of a condition score in three months. With herds in even better condition this year, “next year I think we’ll see a huge rise in per cow performance,” he added.

Weekly feed budgets for next year are already drawn up, as Woodward’s colleague Brett Walter explained in the grass workshop.

These are monitored weekly against actual covers throughout the season, and even more frequently during spring.

Walter outlined the detail that goes into their spring pasture plan-ning, and stressed the importance of getting it right so cows hit their potential peak, and consequent sea-son-long production. “It’s about doing the planning and putting it into action and monitoring.”

Maclean threw that back at the audience. “The Synlait challenge to you is if you’re not using a spring rota-tion planner now, have a go at it and let us know if you have a better spring because of it.”


Synlait FarmS FactS❱❱ 13,000 cows producing

5.4mKgMS/year off 3,900ha❱❱ 14 farms totalling 4749ha,

mostly around Te Parita, central Canterbury

❱❱ 85 staff, including contract and sharemilkers

❱❱ Separate company to Synlait Milk

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, ex-cellence 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. Syn-lait’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 innova-tions 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 pre-pared 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!”

Juliet Maclean

“The Synlait challenge to you is if you’re not using a spring rotation planner now, have a go at it and let us know if you have a better spring because of it.”

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news // 7

Co-op, DOC unite on clean-upfonteRRa PLans to spend $20 million to improve important water-ways.

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 Fon-terra and DOC will work together to make these waterways examples of how dairy farming and natural New Zealand envi-ronments can work along-side 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 ongo-ing 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 work-ing together, we can [make] gains in some of our most sensitive catch-ments.”

Initially, Fonterra and DOC will work with com-munities on the Kaipara Harbour, Firth of Thames, and at Waikato peat lakes, Te Waihora-Lake Elles-mere and Awarua-Wait-una.

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

Monaghan says the work with DOC will build on Fonterra’s Catch-ment 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 commit-ment we are making to do what’s right for the land and waterways in their communities,” he says.

Monaghan acknowl-edges the dairy indus-try still has work to do. “This initiative with DOC is part of our determina-tion 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.

MPI seconds Fonterra officermPi has seconded a Fonterra technical officer from Hamilton, Melanie Chong, to the position of senior advi-sor dairy, animal products group.

Her secondment is intended to foster understand-ing 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 stan-dards integration pro-gramme in an effort to “de-clutter some of the confusion industry has because of an array of rules that exist as a result of legis-lative and organisational changes over time”.

Chong has worked 13 years at Fonterra. She is a great-granddaughter of pioneer Taranaki butter manufacturer Chew Chong, who exported butter to Australia and Eng-land 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 opportu-nity to see how MPI ticks and to get a better understand-ing of government processes.”

Melanie Chong

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news // 9

No time wasted in growing LIC

Mark DewdneymaRk 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 organ-isation whose sole focus is ‘industry good’. That organisation is DairyNZ, the transfer enabled by the Anderson Review. The LIC database (which con-tains 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 exec-utive Tim Mackle to effect the trans-fer. We’ve signed the deal and the next few months will be spent dot-ting the I’s and crossing the T’s.”

Handing over LIC’s reins to acting chief executive David Hemara, Dewd-ney 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 chal-lenge I was looking for.

“In order of importance, we needed to re-set the strategic direc-tion of the business; improve prof-itability so we could invest more in people, research and product devel-opment; enlist new expertise with external experiences and perspec-tive 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 invest-ment and growth.

Dewdney says the co-op knew farmers had unmet needs and that it needed to create some new busi-nesses 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 rev-enue 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 spend-ing 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 busi-ness, or is paid back to the dairy farm-ers and staff who own the business.

Modest about his own achieve-ments, 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 phi-losophy 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 gen-erations of farmer customers who invested in this business. Coopera-tives invest for the long-term pros-perity 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 busi-ness. 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 discover-ing 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 interac-tions with dairy farmers.

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

about dairying or dairy farm-ers; our reason for being is to improve the prosperity of dairy farming and we’ll keep on driving improvements and investing in science, research, technol-ogy and product development because New Zealand dairy farmers deserve the best.” On the positive front, Dewdney says LIC has done a huge num-ber 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 discre-tionary 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 agricul-tural companies to improve their performance and profitability.

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10 // news

Helping hand from Tip Top

Jay Verry

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 Reinik-kala says they were so impressed by his enthusiasm, they decided to help make his dream come true by set-ting 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.

Drifting from co-op ethos

fonteRRa’s fiVe point plan “to give farmer shareholders more flexi-bility” moves the company further from cooperative principles, says a leading New Zealand-based coop-eratives 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 complica-tions of TAF (trading among farmers), says Alan Robb, adjunct pro-fessor of accounting at St Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada and an indepen-dent financial commen-tator 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 trans-fers is very costly, he adds,

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 div-idend reinvestment scheme takes Fonterra

further from coopera-tive principles and values by encouraging farm-ers and the board to think of shares as an invest-ment instead of an equi-

table contribution to the assets of the cooperative, he says.

New Zealand Cooper-atives Association exec-utive 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 Fonter-ra’s announcement, he pointed out the USDA definition of a cooper-ative 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 defini-tion, given that unit hold-ers now reap dividends from Fonterra without using its milk processing and marketing service.

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 coop-erative as an extension of their farm or their orchard or their vine-yard, their other business – rather than something

completely separate – would ensure they maxi-mise those benefits,” he told Dairy News. “They would put all their busi-ness through their cooper-ative, not just part of it, for instance.”

That means having a strong understanding of the cooperative busi-ness model, he adds. “Like everything else, the coop-erative 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 inves-tor-owned firm? This is something that members of a cooperative undergo-ing change need to decide for themselves.”


Alan Robb


“The bonus issue is described as giving the farmers ‘free’ shares. The reality is that the farmers get nothing they don’t already own.”

www.ruralnews.co.nz

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news // 11

Basking in light of higher pricesthe Latest Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auc-tion 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 contrib-utor – 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. Austra-lian milk flows are likely to come in below expec-tation 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 hemi-sphere, November data shows EU milk produc-tion continuing to slide down 1.4% for the month of February. Slower pro-duction is matching sub-dued product purchasing activity, preventing a sig-nificant build-up of inven-tory. Over the other side of the Atlantic, US data for January shows milk pro-duction reached 7.8 billion litres – up only 0.5% at the same time last year which in all shows a flat US pro-duction figure. Global imports of dairy prod-ucts are showing growth in

key markets also. Chinese dairy imports for 2012

were up 26% on 2011. Smooth Chinese lead-

ership transition and plans to significantly lift domes-tic consumption should support ongoing demand. Younger Chinese consum-ers are driving cheese con-sumption growth with imports up 36% in 2012. Demand for infant for-mula 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 Singa-pore 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 con-sumption growth con-tinues to outpace local

production, and imports during 2012 increased 8% to an estimated 220,700t.• Francis Wolfgram, BA (Econ.), is an indepen-dent financial analyst with 15 years experience in the financial markets working for some of the world’s larg-est financial institutions. [email protected]

in brief

Pasture renewal winDaIrY FarmEr Nick van der Spek is one of three winners in the Pasture renewal chari-table Trust’s recent ‘Win a Free Paddock’ pro-motion.

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 prop-erty 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 co-operative’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 re-sponse.”

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


12 // news

‘Take action’ theme for SIDE

Corrigan Sowman

THe TIMe for talk is over; it’s time to take action on the challenges dairying faces, says South Island Dairy Event organ-ising committee chairman and Nelson dairy farmer,

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

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

new regional council regu-lations.

“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 understand-ing about how each of our

AnDRew [email protected]

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

The event will have the usual menu of practi-cal workshops dovetailed between keynote speak-ers. The requirement to meet environmental regu-lations, and to make sure the sector’s interests are fairly represented in for-mulation of those, will be a recurring theme.

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

“The whole confer-ence theme has evolved to being about the business side, so it was very hard to isolate a separate Business SIDE programme. How-ever, 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.”

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

“While the confer-ence theme is very much about being ready for the impending environmen-tal regulation, it’s also about the environment we’re farming in: the vola-tile economy and the long road to recovery.”

Practical issues such as calf rearing, efficient milk-ing, grazing principles, lameness and other stock-manship issues will be available on the menu of workshops as usual.

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

crowd and limited spaces in some workshops.

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

Hughes is emeritus professor of food mar-keting at London’s Impe-rial College and a fantastic speaker, says Sowman.

“He has an unparal-leled 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 enter-tainers and have done some pretty interesting

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

Sowman stresses the event is run by farm-ers, 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

SIDE is a joint venture between Lincoln Univer-sity, DairyNZ and South Island dairy farmers, supported by sponsors ASB, LIC, Rabobank and Ravensdown. Organisation chairman and South-land 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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“We all need to gain a real understanding about how each of our businesses is positioned with the regulations that are coming our way.”


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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 Univer-sity Research Dairy Farm (LURDF).

As part of the industry and Government funded Pastoral 21 project (see panel) the farm is com-paring two systems: high stocking efficient (HSE) and low stocking effi-cient (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 dem-onstration 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 rep-licating that,” DairyNZ principal scientist David Chapman told a recent focus day crowd as he out-lined 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 sea-sonal conditions – finan-cial and physical.

While he didn’t go into costs of the various sys-tems on the day, he later told Dairy News the profit figures use actual costs where these were repre-sentative of a larger farm’s, for example with fertil-iser 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, admin-istration, rates and insur-ance.

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

$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 graz-ing, $393/ha more on fer-tiliser, and $268/ha for a run-off lease.

It seems the cost dif-ferential 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 fertil-iser 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 Chap-man’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 Febru-ary we had used our 150kg of N for the season and there was still not enough

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

In contrast this season nitrogen was limited to early season such that only about 70kg/ha had been applied to the end of Janu-ary. “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 notice-ably paler and manage-ment staff have had to resist the temptation to

“correct” the lower nitro-gen 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 remain-ing 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

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 pre- or post-graze. “Our prior-ity 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 main-tain our pasture quality through the season,” notes Dalley.

PAsTORAL 21

DairyNZ, Fonterra, Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand, Beef + Lamb New Zealand and the Ministry of Science and Innovation are the part-ners 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 Re-search.

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

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ARe yOu GAMe?

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 Otoro-hanga.

Over the last year, he has worked with farm advisors to monitor cow condition after they calcu-lated the value of having the herd calving in good condition to be worth about $37,000 to the busi-ness, 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 hold-ing 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 diag-nosis (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 in-calf rate, the more cows we have in-calf early so that means more days in milk at the start of the season and before Christ-mas.

“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 num-bers compared to big farms, maybe 15 cows a day but it means we’ll have production up-and-run-ning so the farm is making money again. It also means I’ll get good qual-ity 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

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,

when I’m only going to get a bit more milk out of them anyway and I know it’s gonna cost us much more in the long run.”www.6weeks.co.nz Dan Brice


18 // news

Brothers scoop titlewHAnGAReI bROTHeRs Ian and Tim Douglas have won the pre-mier award at the 2013 Northland Dairy Industry Awards.

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

The brothers col-lected cash and prizes worth $26,100, and the opportunity to com-pete for further hon-ours in the national finals.

The night’s other big winners are Niall and Delwyn McKen-zie, the 2013 North-land Farm Managers of the Year, and Jake Thomson, winner of the 2013 Northland Dairy Trainee of the Year title.

The Douglas brothers have been involved in the farm’s management for as long as they have understood farming, but have only been in the partnership for the past three years after returning to the farm following work in other sectors.

“We are stronger together than

we would be apart, and as the root of success in any business is the people we have a real emphasis to grow people within our business.”

They have a solid business plan

with good systems and financial monitoring. “This gives a consis-tent return for all stakeholders and allows for growth.”

It was the first time the broth-ers, aged 28 and 29, had entered the awards and as well as the win they won five merit awards. They plan to grow the business to 2500 cows (currently 950) and to expand a

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 North-

land 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 Flem-ing.

They entered the awards for a third time. “One of our strengths is our low environmen-tal 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.

Family farm restored to lifeTAuRAnGA DAIRy farmers Dennis, Judith and Gordon McFetridge have been named Supreme Winners of the 2013 Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Envi-ronment Awards (BFEA).

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

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

But 32 years ago it was a much differ-ent 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 Lin-coln 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 full-time 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

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

Judges said the properties are “aes-thetically pleasing and highly produc-tive” 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 shelter-belts. Riparian plantings protect and enhance waterways. Native bush has been fenced and now contains a diver-sity of species. A specimen tree plant-ing 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 pro-duction. This has been achieved by improved feeding, better grazing man-agement and a strong focus on animal health.

About 8-10% of the farm is regrassed annually with improved pasture spe-cies. 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 man-agement system, which utilises pond storage, eco pumps and travelling irri-gators.

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

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

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.

Ian (left) and Tim Douglas.

Dennis, Judith and Gordon McFetridge.

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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 earn-ings to purchase Austra-lian currency to bring back to Australia, leaving less available for meeting oper-ating expenses (including raw milk purchases) and retaining profits.

To quantify the impact, Dairy Australia model-ling suggests that at cur-rent commodity prices, a reduction of US$0.05 in the value of one Austra-lian dollar would mean a potential A$0.32/kgMS or 2.4c/L increase in farm-gate pricing for a ‘typi-cal’ 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 pro-cessor’s exchange rate hedging position, but suf-fice to say the effect is sig-nificant.

The AUD has been kept high relative to the USD for much of the past decade by the mining boom, as elevated min-eral commodity prices and strong purchasing by China and other major trading partners drive demand for Australian currency. More recently, despite falls in commod-ity prices and interest rates, the AUD remains at high levels due to its status as a ‘safe haven’ cur-rency – 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 experi-ence recession or a slow and shaky recovery. Cur-rency devaluation efforts by some countries such as the US and Japan are weakening their own cur-rencies relative to others –

including the AUD. Whilst the above fac-

tors 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 export-ers, with the index based at January 2010. Higher values indicate a relatively weaker currency, while lower values a relatively

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

The advantages of a rel-atively stable economy and strong currency should not be downplayed how-ever. 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 Bloom-berg survey of 46 financial institutions producing an AUD range of US$0.90-1.10 by July. Whilst this is a broad range, a growing number of analysts favour a depreciation of the AUD over 2013, based on expec-tations of a strengthen-ing US recovery, lower iron ore prices and fur-ther 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 indus-try analyst with Dairy Aus-tralia.


20 // wORLD

Promising signs for Oz payoutwe ARe rapidly approaching the final quar-ter of a season many Aus-tralian dairy farmers will want to forget. The com-bination of a drought-induced grain price spike and lower farmgate milk

prices has savaged mar-gins, 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 chal-lenges combine with diffi-

cult production economics in key global exporting regions.

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

gate returns will be the exchange rate at which contracted commodity

prices in US dollars are remitted to Australian-based exporters in Austra-lian 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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wORLD // 21

Floating beds take Oz cows to cloud nineCOw HeALTH and con-tentment 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 install-ing floating beds in a new free-stall barn so the cows can chew their cud in com-fort. This is an Austra-lian 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 pro-cess. 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 indus-try ahead of the launch of Scenic Rim 4 Real Milk which aims to sell 7000L/day produced on the family farm at Tamroo-kum, south of Beaudesert.

While the move into marketing milk might seem a logical extension to the dairy’s public engage-ment, Dennis is more san-guine. He has big bills to pay and the poor returns on offer through tradi-tional 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 capi-tal outlays committed to

rebuilding the business.Dennis’s father Dar-

rell 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 prop-erty 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 com-mercial hay growing busi-ness.

Dennis says when the decision was made to come back into dairy-ing 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 recom-missioned an old her-ringbone dairy and began rebuilding a herd of qual-ity-registered Holsteins.

Dennis admits it took some convincing for his father and uncle to con-sider 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 sta-tions 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 specifica-tion. The cows don’t have much waiting time and it’s a lot less stressful. They can also milk more often

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 automat-ically drafted off daily for inseminating to help achieve a flat milk produc-tion cycle. A Lely Calm calf feeding system is also linked to the robot milk-ers.

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 graz-ing until 4am when cows are directed to the feed-pad area.

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 pro-tein, 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 chic-ory have been introduced to the planting mix.

“Our summer graz-ing 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

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.

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 differ-ence to our productivity and herd health, particu-larly during the summer months. ”

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

Greg Dennis feeds his cows.

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22 // OPInIOnDai ry News march 12, 2013

Lending a helping hand

what transparency?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, “sup-port and grow milk supply” – it turned journalists away at the door then discon-nected some who tried to dial into a teleconfer-ence. 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 unob-tainable.

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

Townies must also step up THE SUSTAINABLE Dairy-ing 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 clean-ing up waterways is not solely the responsibility of dairying. Councils must also step up to improve wastewater plants strug-gling 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 own-ership rather than just one part of it?

Corporate slogan skew-whiffJOURNALISTS WHO missed out on Fonterra’s media briefing last month due to telecommunica-tion 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.”

Townie tosh underwhelmsTWO OTHER corporate slogans dreamed up by advertising agency wal-lies 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 un-able 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 North-land 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 Govern-ment’s drought declarations have triggered action by Rural Sup-port 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 earth-quakes 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 commu-

nicate 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.

Head Office: Top Floor,29 Northcroft St, Takapuna,Auckland 0622 Phone 09-307 0399. Fax 09-307 0122

Publisher: Brian Hight ...................... Ph 09-307 0399 Managing Editor: Adam Fricker .................. Ph 09-913 9632 Editor: Sudesh Kissun ................ Ph 09-913 9627 Reporters: Neil Keating .................... Ph 09-913 9628 Tony Hopkinson ............. Ph 07-579 1010 Peter Burke ....................... Ph 06-362 6319 Andrew Swallow ............ Ph 021-745 183 Pamela Tipa...................... Ph 09-913 9630 Subscriptions: Jo Ngaamo ...................... Ph 09-307 0399 Production: Dave Ferguson ............... Ph 09-913 9633 Becky Williams ................ Ph 09-913 9634 Website Producer: James Anderson ............ Ph 09-913 9621

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.

ABC audited circulation 27,478 as at 30.6.2012 ISSN 1175-463X

Postal Address: PO Box 3855, Shortland St, Auckland 1140 Published by: Rural News Group Printed by: PMP Print Contacts: Editorial: [email protected] Advertising material: [email protected] Rural News on-line: www.ruralnews.co.nz Subscriptions: [email protected]

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER:Ted Darley ........................... Ph 07-854 6292, 021-832 [email protected]

AUCKLAND:Stephen Pollard ................... Ph 09 913 9637, 021 963 [email protected]

TAURANGA:Tony Hopkinson ................ Ph 07-579 1010, 021-949 [email protected]

WELLINGTON:Mark Macfarlane ............... Ph 04-234 6239, 021-453 [email protected]

SOUTH ISLAND:Kaye Sutherland ..............Ph 03-337 3828, 021-221 [email protected]


OPInIOn // 23

Tail now wagging the dogIsn’T IT ironic: we had a cooperative structure that simply made us the preferred company to supply; now we need five-point 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 pro-portion as a farmer. 100 years of farmer investment in an integrated supply-to-market 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 eco-nomic rights. Worse, one broker said Fonterra is sig-nalling they may do regular share issues.

While it might make farmers feel good to think they got something for free, I hope they under-stand 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 contri-bution 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 opin-ion. 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 institu-tions? 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 coop-erative of a high share price on future growth of the cooperative?”

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

Meanwhile our council watches on and scrambles to support the board’s spu-rious 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, Fon-terra 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 Fon-terra 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 con-trol 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 Fon-terra must purchase them? So we sell them at $5.50 at launch (farmers capi-tal), 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 Fon-terra 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 inves-tors in our cooperative earnings that benefit from dividends and share appre-ciation. The lower the milk price, the better off those

investors are. As a farmer shareholder I feel com-

pletely powerless to stop this ugly circle of long term value destruction for farm-ers 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 deci-sions seem now to depend

on the share price, dis-tracting us from coopera-tive purpose.

The tail is most cer-tainly 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 cooper-ative, that doesn’t dis-

enfranchise suppliers; governance can focus full-time on maximising profit on-farm to farmer mem-bers, rather than chas-ing milk. Not so now. Who is protecting the farmer interests now?• Leonie Guiney is a Canter-bury farmer and Fonterra shareholder.

Leonie Guiney

LeOnIe GuIney

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24 // agribusiness

Schools want free milkHaLF 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 regis-tered 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 coun-try.”

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, represent-ing about 143,000 children, and the South Island has attracted interest from 347 schools, equal to 47,000 eli-gible milk drinkers.

“Because [this] is such a big under-taking, 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 infor-mation 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.

Uni’s dairy studies vision to unite post-graduate students

uniVersiTY OF Auckland genet-icist Professor Russell Snell has been appointed director of the Joint Gradu-ate School for Dairy being opened at the university this year.

Snell has long been associated with the dairy industry through LIC and Via-Lactia 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 man-agement 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 mas-ters 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 and we’ve started enroll-ing 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 stu-dents working in areas including envi-ronmental issues on farm, electronics for dairy sheds or pasture/grass assess-ment 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 indi-vidually 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 indus-try to those students.

“The most likely path we are going

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 opportuni-ties 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 mas-ters students are drawn from interna-tional markets so we would expect that to be part of the picture,” he says.

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

pam Tipa

Eric Hillerton


managemenT // 25

New tool supports one-on-one chat to solve problemsa Free DairyNZ scheme which helps farmers share knowledge one-to-one is to be launched in Northland after a success-ful 12 month trial in Waikato.

Louise Wilson, Dairy Connect North-land coordinator, says people are more likely to initiate or to successfully trouble-shoot 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 deci-sions,” says Wilson.

“Farmers may be too busy to attend workshops or trawl the internet for infor-mation. Dairy Connect finds farmers willing to chat about a particular topic, a challenge they have overcome or some-thing 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 Wom-en’s Network and DairyNZ events to pro-mote Dairy Connect. Initial feedback about Dairy Connect in Northland has been pos-itive.

Okaihau dairy farmer and Fonterra Shareholders Councillor Terence Brocx says one of the strengths of the dairy indus-try is how farmers help each other with advice. “Dairy Connect is another step in making mentoring and knowledge trans-fer 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 initia-tive such as Dairy Connect is a great way of sharing ideas, knowledge and providing support within our rural communities.” Tel. 09 401 9331 or 021 148 [email protected]

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.

in brief

TAG AND slaughter levies that fund NAIT have been reduced.

The NAIT tag levy on cattle re-duced 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 farm-ers 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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26 // managemenT

Early action helps farm weather dry

KiKuYu is regarded by farmers in the northern half of the North Island, and in Northland partic-ularly, as a grass that can

withstand the dry. But what do you do

when it’s too dry even for kikuyu? That question is being asked in Northland now as the region faces its third drought in four sum-mers and ground water

gareTH giLLaTTlevels are now so low that dams are drying up.

The management team at the Northland Agricul-tural Research Farm is putting its money on plan-ning 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 research-ing 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 fall-ing 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 deci-sion was made to go OAD in this herd sooner. “Mid-February was our trig-ger 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 pro-duced 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 non-return rate of 74% at the end of AI. Wynn attributes this to care taken of indi-vidual 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 cal-vers. 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 indi-vidually. “All figures are based on an individual cow basis not on the herd average.”

Dry conditions have taken their toll on pas-ture covers as well. Wynn says it isn’t as dramatic for kikuyu but can be incred-ibly 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 facili-ties to stand stock off can avoid this by allowing ani-mals to graze down to pasture covers of about 1500kgDM/ha but admits this is not always possible. The research farm limits this by providing supple-ments 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 stand-off 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 chal-lenge will be making sure there’s enough supple-ment 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 forgot-ten during this period and actually get some form of supplement.

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28 // managemenT

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

N cost-effective for autumn productionDairY Farmers wanting to maintain pro-duction into late autumn will find the best economy lies in the use of N, says Ballance science extension manager Aaron Stafford.

“As a feed source, home-grown pasture remains your best bang-for-buck and with supple-mentary feed prices now averaging $50 a tonne more, farms that are not battling the dry condi-tions will find N an even more competitive tool for extending autumn lacta-tion and maintaining herd

condition.”Stafford says products

such as Ballance’s Sus-taiN Green, which reduces ammonia volatilisation, offer farmers more flexibil-ity to apply nitrogen when

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

He says the product also stacks up well in farm budgets by minimising nitrogen losses so farm-ers 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 addi-tional 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 supplemen-tary feeds such as maize or cereal silage present a sim-ilar picture, usually cost-ing 30-40 cents/kg DM. In addition, without use of a feed pad, high wastage and

pasture damage can fur-ther reduce the econom-ics of these alternative options.

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

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

Ballance-funded stud-ies by AgResearch scien-tists 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 interna-tional research.

Other research also supports autumn pasture as a cost effective choice for maintaining herd con-dition 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 high-energy concentrate sup-plementary 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, espe-cially when wastage of the later options is taken into account,” he says.

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managemenT // 29

Contented cows make happier staff

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 manage-ment 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 cov-ered 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 3247969www.dairynz.co.nz

sTOCKmansHip sKiLLs need more emphasis for the benefit of the growing numbers of workers entering the dairy industry from urban back-grounds, says an animal husbandry expert.

Chris Leach, of DairyNZ, and farm dairy-ing specialist Mel Eden, share a passion for inter-preting cow behaviour and helping farmers “get inside the cows’ heads”. By understanding ani-mals, farmers will improve job satisfaction for staff and their financial results, these men say.

In March they will pres-ent a workshop – ‘Inter-preting cow behaviour’ – at the Dairy Women’s Network annual confer-ence 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 ani-mals.

“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 produc-tion and mastitis control. He has worked in South America and Fiji, and pre-sented in Australia and the UK. He is an indepen-dent 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 dif-ference to the entire milk-ing 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 expe-rience for the cow and a totally different experi-ence for you.”

The ‘Interpreting cow behaviour’ workshop will

provide practical learning including handling bulls and recognising unusual behaviour that requires closer attention.Tel. 0800 396 748www.dwn.co.nz

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animaL HeaLTH // 31

New FE treatment for larger cowsagriFeeDs LTD’s Time Capsule 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 Cap-sules 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 Frie-sian 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.

Developed by AgResearch specif-ically for New Zealand conditions,

the Time Capsule is a controlled slow release capsule providing animals a consistent daily dose of zinc for at least four weeks protection in cattle and six weeks in sheep.

Dead and dying pasture litter combined with dew is a haven for fungus which causes FE.

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.

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animaL HeaLTH // 33

Jail time for tail twistinga WesT Coast dairy farmer was sen-tenced last month in the Christchurch District Court for serious animal wel-fare 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-

ate pain or distress in 230 injured dairy cattle under Section 11 of the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

Jackson was sentenced to 300 hours community service, reparation of $223 worth of veterinary costs and was banned from owning cows for five years.

Cow senses tuned to sights, sounds, smells

HeiFer nuTriTiOn trials by Altum (Ballance) involving its Crys-talyx lick-block will add to the “good scientific data generated overseas with this lick block,” says the com-pany.

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 pro-ductive 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 energy-deficient 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 replace-ments 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 prog-eny which can be reared as replace-ments.”

Aveling recommends a focus on replacement stock growth rates, especially when dry weather con-strains 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 sea-sonal dips can occur in certain regions, so tests will determine quality,” Aveling says.

Replacement heifers needs quality feed

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 Morrins-ville 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 har-vesting 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 con-sistent. 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.

pam Tipa

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34 // animaL HeaLTH

Free scheme to help lift returnsa Free scheme to help dairy farmers lift the reproductive performance of their herds and get more cows in-calf within the first six weeks of

mating is being launched this month.

Developed by LIC with support from Dairy NZ and other industry part-ners, the ‘6 Week Chal-

lenge’ will inform farmers to help them improve their 6 week in-calf rate and overall profitability.

LIC chief executive and dairy farmer Mark Dewdney says the aver-age 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 in-calf in the first six weeks

of mating can have a big impact on their bottom line through increased milk production, fewer empties and tighter mating and calving peri-ods.

“It also allows them to get more from their genet-ics and artificial breed-ing investment with more cows carrying high BW calves and therefore increased selection pres-sure 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 Chal-lenge was developed after research identified repro-ductive performance to be one of farmers’ top con-cerns, 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 effec-tive management of these areas will set the cow up and give her the best pos-sible chance of getting in-calf quicker.

Farmers are also

encouraged to seek fur-ther support and advice from their vet, farm con-sultant or coach to help them achieve their goals and stay focussed – much like a sports player would, he said

“Today’s dairy cows are better than ever before, they’re different from what we milked 20 years ago, with different demands; farming is dif-ferent too. It’s much more intense and on a larger

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 encourag-ing a whole farm approach, and [a year-round focus] because it is the herd man-agement practices all year that ultimately impact on its success.”

Farmers can regis-ter to take the challenge at www.6weeks.co.nz and in return will receive an information pack about the challenge, the repro-duction year on-farm and areas to focus on at differ-ent times of the year.

Seasonal planning tools will also be issued for farmers to set specific tasks or goals and iden-tify 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 regis-ter on the website so their clients can easily nomi-nate 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 farm-ers can speak with their local customer relationship man-ager.

The challenge will help farmers lift 6 week in-calf rate.

The ‘6 week challenge’ initiative is all about lifting reproductive performance of herds.

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eFFLuenT & WaTer managemenT // 35

A fresh accord for dairying

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

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 com-prehensive commitment than the previous Clean

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

“It also includes com-mitments 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 account-able for its commitments

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

grammes.“We’ve been discuss-

ing this new accord for months with various farmer groups including Federated Farmers and the dairy companies to get pan-industry agree-ment. The Dairy Environ-ment Leadership Group has also been involved in

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

Along with each indi-vidual dairy company, the Dairy Companies Asso-ciation 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 stan-dards farmers will have to meet no matter who they supply or where they farm.

“Dairy companies will be discussing these com-mitments with farmers over the coming months to explain them and talk about why measures are being taken and what sup-port is being put in place. Fonterra, supported by DCANZ, is planning 50 meetings with its suppli-ers from March 4-15. Other companies, supported by DairyNZ, will also be talk-ing 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

next dairy season and will be a key action for imple-menting a new strategy for sustainable dairy farm-ing that will be released in May.

Federated Farmers Dairy chairperson, Willy Leferink, says Feder-ated 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 support-ing partners.

“This accord is differ-ent 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

will deliver it by meet-ing 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

stepping up as an indus-try with this new accord to take responsibility for driving change and mea-suring progress towards our environmental goals. There’ll be annual report-ing and a third party independent audit of those reports to ensure transparency and robust-ness.”

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 moni-toring 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 water-ways –

90% by May 31, 2014; 100% by May 31, 2017.

FiVe KeY areas

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

– Willy Leferink

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36 // effluent & water management

System has everyone smilinggOOD 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 reli-ably:

■ Store effluent until conditions are suitable to apply it to land, and

■ Apply effluent to land in a con-trolled way – at a depth and inten-sity which match the soil moisture and infiltration conditions and topography.

■ On-farm benefits of good effluent management include:

■ Fertiliser savings by using the nutri-ents in effluent, and reducing nutri-ent 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, includ-ing 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 assis-tance of experts who are qualified and experienced in the field. Communica-tion with the system designers, install-ers 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 per-form

■ guarantees and producer state-ments

■ after-sales care, service and sup-port, and

■ farm team training on the oper-ation 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

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:

■ 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 poten-

tial changes to the farm system, espe-cially intensification, including an increase in cow numbers, greater use of stand-off and feed pads or the addi-tion 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

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

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 util ise 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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effluent & water management // 37

Less risk, more value in effluent

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

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 farm-ing systems manager, Alan Campbell, says ways of maximising the nutrient value of effluent on farm while mini-mising the risk of being non-compli-ant 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 com-plied with,” says Campbell.

“Having adequate storage

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

It is crucial to have the right stor-age, 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 proper-ty’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 regula-tions 365 days of the year.

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

A new approach to monitor-

ing compliance with effluent man-agement rules is being trialled by the council this season. Instead of random helicopter monitoring of compliance, with ground-based fol-low-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 prac-tice, and accredited farm dairy efflu-ent system design companies, allow farmers to get good advice.

Effluent irrigators on display at the expo last year.

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Challenge aplenty on edge of towntOny HOpkInSOn

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 replace-ment stock.

They are seasonal suppliers of Fonterra and their best produc-tion 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 per-manent staff and helps McKay with milking and other farm duties. Full-time 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 technologywItH 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 hold-ing 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 over-filling and a valve to stop over pres-surising the tank.

The spreading nozzle at the rear is operated hydraulically and remotely and there is auto coupling to the suc-tion 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 bolt-protected and the PTO has an over-run 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.

Geoff Taft (left) and farm manager Noel McKay.

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Apply it evenlykeepIng effluent ponds well stirred is cru-cial for extracting maxi-mum benefit from spread effluent, says Nevada.

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

“Effective efficient stirring is the key to even spreading,” it says. “And to achieve maximum ben-efit the effluent must be applied evenly to the tar-geted paddocks.

“Whilst Irrigators and applicators have been the

centre of much attention, many farmers little under-stand the value of stirring the effluent mixture to ensure it is of even consis-tency.“

Nevada says it has searched the world for stirrers with the following attributes:

■ Efficient in creating a swirling action to thor-oughly mix the ingre-dients 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.The Nevada machines

have strong gusseted ‘A’ frame headstock, heavy wall pipe construction, efficient 3-bladed propeller and unique greaseable hardwood bearings.Tel. 0800 464 393www.nevadanz.co.nz

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More farmers are choosing More farmers are choosing More farmers are choosing Nevada Nevada Nevada for their for their for their dairy effl uent equipment.dairy effl uent equipment.dairy effl uent equipment.

Nevada Fertigators off er an aff ordable effl uent irrigation solution for New Zealand dairy farmers. These top quality irrigators are manufactured in New Zealand, especially for New Zealand farming conditions, and are built with reputable components to ensure reliable operation for many years.

The Fertigator was developed by Nevada in response to requests from dairy farmers for an irrigator that would spread effl uent 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 fl at 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 Effl uent Equipment online at www.nevadanz.co.nz

Farm Dairy Effl uent (FDE) is now regarded as a valuable on-farm resource. If managed well, effl uent can enhance soil fertility and signifi cantly 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 effl uent causes some paddocks to become overloaded with black nutrient-rich effl uent, while others only get an application of water. Farmers and contractors prefer using Nevada stirrers because of their ability to quickly mix effl uent 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 effi ciency propeller.

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

Effl uent irrigation just got easier!Improve pasture, reduce fertiliser costs!

Treating effluent and growing pasturewaIkatO farmer James Houghton is happy with trials done with a new product shown to reduce nitrate leaching and boost pasture growth while cut-ting odour from effluent.

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

“We got better response in terms of pas-

ture growth than our neighbour who has a simi-lar herd size,” he says.

Houghton has a 114 hectare dairy farm with a further 60 hectares leased. With 530 crossbred cows

the farm produces over 200,000kgMS each year.

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

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 pad-docks. Tests by Water-Care 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 con-trol ponds by the farm staff showed a reduction of odour from the treated pond.”

Soil sampling of pad-docks before and after effluent application on both farms was by Stuart Lumley, Altum. Soil test-ing of the sam ples 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 cali-brated plate meter, Cooper says. “It was observed that the treated effluent pad-dock achieved an average growth rate of 95kgDM/day, compared to the con-trol paddock average growth rate of 68kgDM/day.

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

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 applica-tion showed virtually the same amount of total nitrogen (as N) in both

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

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

James Houghton

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. Propri-etary ingredients including enzymes and growth accelerators speed this microbial process to maximise the rate of treatment and throughput of manure.

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A partnership never seen beforeall 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 indi-vidual companies. Companies will also arrange for nutrient loss model-ling and regular assessment of farm dairy effluent systems.

DairyNZ has also committed to signing the accord. It has commit-ted to developing a riparian plant-ing guideline, an audited nutrient management system for use by dairy companies, industry capacity in efflu-ent management and other initiatives to ensure this accord can be imple-mented successfully. Many of these initiatives will be in partnership with other industry participants and com-munities.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 impor-tant.

In addition, farmers are encour-aged to exclude stock from all wet-lands 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 per-formance.Effluent Management

All effluent systems must be capa-ble of being compliant with the rel-evant 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.

All dairy companies are supporting the new accord.

For more info about Nevada Fertigators, talk to your local dealer or call 0800 464 393

For more info about Nevada Pond Stirrers, talk to your local dealer or call 0800 464 393

More farmers are choosing More farmers are choosing More farmers are choosing Nevada Nevada Nevada for their for their for their dairy effl uent equipment.dairy effl uent equipment.dairy effl uent equipment.

Nevada Fertigators off er an aff ordable effl uent irrigation solution for New Zealand dairy farmers. These top quality irrigators are manufactured in New Zealand, especially for New Zealand farming conditions, and are built with reputable components to ensure reliable operation for many years.

The Fertigator was developed by Nevada in response to requests from dairy farmers for an irrigator that would spread effl uent 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 fl at 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 Effl uent Equipment online at www.nevadanz.co.nz

Farm Dairy Effl uent (FDE) is now regarded as a valuable on-farm resource. If managed well, effl uent can enhance soil fertility and signifi cantly 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 effl uent causes some paddocks to become overloaded with black nutrient-rich effl uent, while others only get an application of water. Farmers and contractors prefer using Nevada stirrers because of their ability to quickly mix effl uent ponds into an even slurry.

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Feed pad systems

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.

applyIng effluent SOlIDS tO lanD

StanD-Off areaS and feed pads should include an effluent man-agement system provid-ing:

• sealed storage areas for any solid effluent scraped off the area (e.g. sawdust, manure)

• sufficient capacity in your storage and applica-tion system for additional

liquid effluent• sealing, bunding and

collection of liquid efflu-ent from the pad so that it cannot drain into ground-water 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

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 ‘sacri-fice paddocks’ should be avoided.

Different surface mate-rials (such as concrete, limestone, wood chip, bark or sawdust) require differ-ent management.

Some wood-based products are highly absor-bent 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 efflu-ent is reaching ground-water.

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 remov-ing the solids and fibrous material from the effluent before irrigating

• a plan for handling and spreading solid efflu-ent products (including access to land and machin-ery)

• 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 sur-face 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 fre-quency 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 weep-ing wall structure

• removed with mechanical solids sepa-rators

• settled out in a sepa-rate pond with a baffle or T-piece outlet to retain the solids.

Settling ponds receiv-ing effluent from a feed pad will need to be sealed, and will require more fre-quent desludging.

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

Feed pads should include an effluent management system.

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

Matching application to soil water deficitSOIl 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 typi-cally 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 evapo-transpiration, and decreases with rainfall or irrigation.

Deferred irrigation means irri-gation 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. trav-ellers vs. sprinklers), the greater the SWD required for irrigation. It may be inappropriate to proceed with efflu-ent 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 over-irrigated.

Measuring soil water deficitThe most accurate way to measure

the SWD is with soil moisture tech-nology. 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 condi-tion of the applicator. Sprinkler sys-tems and oscillating applicators have a more even spray pattern than stan-dard travelling irrigators. A fast trav-eller speed will have a more even pattern than a slower one.

Ensuring the applicator is in good condition through on-going mainte-nance (e.g. cleaning, greasing, cor-rect gearing, check rubberware and tyre pressure) will get the best per-formance out of the system.

A regular servicing and mainte-nance programme with your local ser-vice 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 trav-elling 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 instanta-neous 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 over-lap on the outer edges. – DairyNZ


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Working closely with contractorstHe DaIrYnZ Compli-ance Toolkit has templates for creating health and safety induction sheets for contractors. Most contrac-tors have health and safety plans, but be sure to point out hazards on your farm and turn off power and pumps while anyone is working on the system.

No matter who is applying the effluent, con-sent conditions and per-mitted activity rules still apply. Farm owners and contractors can both be liable for non-compliance.

It is important to tell the con-tractor what is required in writing. Make the following clear:

■ health and safety consider-ations specific for your farm

■ care with pond liners

■ maximum application depth (depending on solids and nutrient con-tent of the effluent)

■ no ponding or runoff to waterways

■ all regional council rules or consent condi-tions (refer to the com-pliance checklist for more detail about the rules).It is recommended not

to apply solid effluent to any soils not suitable for liquid effluent irrigation. Spreading effluent solids should follow the same distances from waterways

and buildings as liquid effluent. Ideally solid effluent should be applied uniformly across the area covered. Make your expec-tations and requirements about this explicit to con-tractors.Employment contracts for services

When employing casual or contracted ser-vice providers, farmers should seek legal advice for drawing up contracts. This can help to ensure the contractors are suit-ably qualified to do the

work and have insurance and good operating pro-cedures. Federated Farm-ers has contract templates available for purchase on their website (fedfarm.org.nz).Communication

To complement the employment contract, there is a DairyNZ efflu-ent spreading contractors’ communication template for farmers to use with contractors (included on the compliance tool-kit website). This is a way to provide contractors with important instruc-tions and any special care

requirements such as what type of pond liner is present. Providing clear instructions in writing can help ensure you get the exact service you are expecting. The commu-nication template can be used to meet some of the points listed above.Calculating the depth and volume of effluent solids to apply

For high-solids efflu-ent such as sludges and slurries at the bottom of ponds, and weeping wall solids, the application

depth will need to be less than normal effluent to account for the additional nutrient loading.

Good prac-tice is to test the nutrient content of effluent prior to application to

calculate a suitable depth. For example, an effluent consent may state that effluent can be applied to a depth of 20mm, but based on nutrient testing an appropriate depth of application for solids may be 5mm.

DairyNZ has developed a calculator to help you find the suitable applica-tion depth or volume/ha for effluent solids for your farm. This uses either your own lab test results or a good estimate based on lab test results from other samples. To download the tool go to: dairynz.co.nz

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

No matter who is applying the effluent, consent conditions and permitted activity rules still apply. Farm owners and contractors can both be liable for non-compliance.

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Dairying water accord – what you should knowwHO Has commit-ted to signing this agree-ment?

The accord is pri-marily a set of commit-ments 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 sign-ing 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 account-able for its commitments, meaning all dairy farm-ers across the country are covered by its commit-ments. The previous Clean Streams Accord covered only Fonterra suppliers

and ended in 2012. ■ More areas like plant-

ing of waterways, envi-ronmental standards for converting a farm to dairying and improv-ing water and nutrient use efficiency have been included that weren’t in the previous accord.

■ Dairy companies are already incorporating standards and commit-ments from the new accord into supply con-tracts with farmers e.g. Supply Fonterra.

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

How will dairy compa-nies support these com-mitments?

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

ers meet these commit-ments. Some companies have already signalled that many of the accord com-mitments will be condi-tions 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 commit-ments?

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 water-ways and wetlands within a year, and 100% by mid-2017. And we’ll be aiming to get there quicker if we can. We’ll also start encouraging dairy farm-ers 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 commit-ments?

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

in the future. We expect there will be regional dif-ferences 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 prac-tice industry standards for environmental per-formance. But farmers may have to go beyond these industry standards

if that’s what communi-ties/catchments decide is needed to implement stat-utory responsibilities and improve water quality.Will the accord make a difference to water qual-ity?

In some areas, compli-ance with the accord com-mitments will make a big difference to the quality of water for swimming, fish-ing and other important

needs. How much differ-ence will depend on what other activities are affect-ing the water quality as dairying is only one pres-sure on water quality.

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

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

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46 // macHInerY & prODucts

Scraper makes big jobs easygaretH 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 prop-erty 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 cost-ing $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 exer-cise.”

Newman Engineering’s mini-De-Crap-It scraper was closest to what he was looking for but Bellamy says with a face of 1.8m it didn’t have enough sur-face 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 sur-prisingly 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 actu-ally 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.” Tel. 09 439 5065www.landplane.co.nz

John Bellamy (right) says the quad scraper has been a time saver.

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

Ploughing enthusiasts enjoy day out

tHe manawatu Vin-tage Machinery Club Inc held its qualifying event on March 2 and an instruc-tion/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 sup-ported with many local and visiting competitors travelling from Waikato, Reporoa, Napier/Hast-ings 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 competi-tors did not plough deep. There was strong compe-tition for the top positions with only one point sepa-rating 1st and 2nd in the vintage class.

The day was well attended with instruction offered by several expe-rienced ploughman and judges. The improvements made by some of compet-itors were noticeable and appreciated by the plough-man involved.

There was a BBQ lunch

tOnY HOpKInsOnsupplied and sponsored by Claas Service Centre which was appreciated by everyone.

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).

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There are now 88 qualified spreadmark operators in the country.

Spread well with Spreadmark

Kia dealer prize goes to Manawatumanawatu 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 Zea-land.

“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.

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.

tHe fertIlIser Qual-ity Council (FQC) says there are now 88 Spread-mark accredited spreading companies in New Zea-land.

FCQ chairman Neil

Barton says the 88 quali-fied operators work in all parts of rural New Zea-land.

“Using a Spreadmark operator is a no-brainer” Barton says. “Massey

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 Spread-mark accredited, a com-pany must have their machines regularly tested by qualified, independent auditors. The drivers are

trained to a high level in classroom and on pad-dock.

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

Spreadmark is accu-rate; in conjunction with Fertmark it utilises quality product and it is environ-mentally friendly, Barton says.

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Silage block cutter keeps stack fresher, eliminates wastagegaretH gIllatt

Difference in silage stack has been remarkable, says Nelson Pyper.

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

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 supple-ments to the young stock is a useful way to maintain pasture quality, especially in early summer when the region is prone to wet con-ditions. “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 dete-riorate; 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 effec-tively cutting out all that waste.”

In contrast to stan-dard 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-scis-sor action, preventing air from getting to the rest of

the stack.Webbline says with this

method, there is no lever-ing 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 sys-tems.

Pyper says the farm’s

90hp Merlo loader barely breaks a sweat when load-ing silage. Tel. 0800 932 254www.webline.co.nz

Beat the seasons Redpath’s clear roofing lets the light in for a clean, dry healthy floor

“The shelter eliminates rainfall washing effluent from the feedpad – and the clear roof keeps the cows warm and the floors dry and disease free” Waikato

“The soft floor system is easy on the cows and I can hold them inside for as long as I want, I mix the litter into my feed crop when finished” Gore

“I feedout along the sidewalls of my Redpath shelter, it saves me a lot of time and my feed waste is almost nil” Waikato

“Protects my herd and my pasture during extreme weather and lifts my farm production as a result” Northland

FREEPHONE 0508 733 728email [email protected]

www.standoffshelter.co.nz

10-year life from

all new Super-Heavy

duty Durashelter roof

membrane.

WHAT FARMERS ARE SAYING

JH0037380©

A Redpath Dairyshelter takes the stress out of what to do with your herd when the weather packs up! Redpath clear roofed deep-litter shelters protect your cows

in comfort and are an on-going asset that future-proofs your business

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Six key awards for innovationnew 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 self-propelled 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 capac-ity 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 pat-ented 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 operator-control 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

monitor. The MFH provides

fingertip control of all header adjustments, including a return-to-cut 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 full-width feed assist roller with paired overshot-undershot augers at both ends to pull in material to ensure complete pick-up of crop for baling.

It has S-shaped side

THE NEW Holland T9 Series (homologated option) is the world’s first articulated 4WD-class 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 sys-tems, 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.

bIg tractOr OK fOr eu rOaDs

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

ensuring square-edge bales with balanced side-to-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

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 straight-line 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.

The new NHT9 series

NH Big Baler

C B Norwood Distributors Ltd

PHONE 0800 476 868 or visit www.kinghitter.com

UNLIKE MIKE, A KINGHITTER POSTDRIVER IS A CHAMPION WITH A GOOD RECORDWhen you need a hard hitting world ranking postdriver choose one that won’t get turned away!

Working closely with contractors and farmers world-wide for over 35 years, we have revolutionised postdriving technology to produce the champion of champion postdrivers. We have models to suit all requirements and have a broad range of accessories. Why support the amateurs when you can beat the odds with the KINGHITTER.

THE HEAVYWEIGHT IN POSTDRIVERS

Seed advice from the specialists.

freephone 0508 SEED FORCE

for pastoral advice tailored to your property, contact us today

(0 5 0 8 7 3 3 3 3 6)

or visit www.seedforce.co.nz

Seed Force seed is available from leading seed retailers

Otago/Southland Liam Donnelly 027 618 5499 [email protected]

forage specialists available nationwide:

Nth Otago/Canterbury David Walsh 027 861 7219 [email protected]

Nth Sth Island/West Coast Nick Appelman 027 399 7995 [email protected]

Sth Taranaki/ManawatuKerry Davidson 027 225 5125 [email protected]

Hawkes Bay/WairarapaPaul Holden 027 626 1313 [email protected]

Nth WaikatoBen Leong 027 861 7437 [email protected]

B.O.PBrian Percy 027 864 0427 [email protected]

Waikato/TaranakiBruce Hume 027 329 5028 [email protected]

NorthlandRobyn East 027 837 2200 [email protected]

This high strength (570g/L) formulation delivers more muscle than ever before. And with the breakthrough technology of In-Take3 you’re guaranteed superior uptake, low foam and low viscosity. All with a short rainfast period that lets you get the job done faster.

More information? Visit realfarmers.co.nz, call 0800 683 276 for a copy of the brochure or scan the QR code to learn more.

Get faster brownout and a quick turnaround with powerful new Roundup TRANSORB® X

® Roundup TRANSORB is a registered trademark of Monsanto Technology LLC, used under license by Nufarm Ltd. ® Priority Partnership is a registered trademark of Nufarm Ltd. ™ In-Take3 Technology is a trademark of Nufarm Ltd.

dairy news 12 mar 2013

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