dairy news 9 june 2015

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JUNE 9, 2015 ISSUE 336 // www.dairynews.co.nz

BRAND POWER

‘Leaping deer’s’ heritagePAGE 44

MILKING MADE EASYParallel parlour launch PAGE 32-33

Lower global milk production brings hope. PAGE 3

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BRAND POWER

‘Leaping deer’s’ heritagePAGE 44

MILKING MADE EASYParallel parlour launch PAGE 32-33

Lower global milk production brings hope. PAGE 3

JUNE 9, 2015 ISSUE 336 // www.dairynews.co.nz

New initiative to help farmers deal with the stress of farming. PAGE 5-6

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FONTERRA IS expecting milk production worldwide to slow as the low price makes it unsus-tainable to milk cows.

Fonterra chairman John Wilson says New Zea-land milk production has on average jumped 4.6% every year for five years. However, he expects the growth to taper off.

He says with the average global dairy price hov-ering at US$2200-2400/tonne it is uneconomic to get milk from farms to global markets.

“We believe at the low price [milking] is unsus-tainable and farmers will respond by cutting pro-duction,” he told Dairy News.

According to Fonterra’s latest global dairy update, EU production in February decreased 1% compared to the same month last year. February was the first month since June 2013 to see a fall in milk production. This decrease was widespread in all the major EU dairy producing countries includ-ing Germany, France, Netherlands, UK and Poland.

Fonterra’s milk collection in Chile is cur-rently down due to seasonality of production and drought in the south.

Milk production in Russia is also down as poor profitability has caused a contraction in the dairy herd, in particular on small farms.

The drop in milk production will eventually squeeze supply and help prices rise.

But Wilson cannot say for sure when prices will start to turn around. “We said in December that prices would turn around now but this hasn’t hap-pened; now we think it will take another six to 12 months.”

Wilson says Fonterra’s opening milk fore-cast price of $5.25/kgMS is the best estimate of how dairy prices will play out in the next 12 to 18 months.

Demand for dairy is holding reasonably well despite an influx of milk over the last 12 months. Wilson says there is no real build-up of stocks around the world. “Our customers are holding well, there’s a lot of demand for milk.”

Wilson agrees that even with an opening fore-cast of $5.25/kgMS, many farmers will be struggling to break even.

“We know there is more pressure on the already tight cashflows on farms, but farmers understand the level of volatility out there. Last season was a very difficult one and hopefully we will have a

better season.”Federated Farmers Dairy chairman

Andrew Hoggard agrees with Fonterra that there are some signs of the overseas markets picking up.

He believes Chinese buyers will be back in the market a bit more vigorously than before, as they need to restock inventory.

“But there are few signs the Russian trade standoff with the United States and Europe over Ukraine is going to end any-time soon. At some stage the Russian government will be looking at alternative dairy supplies which may not come from Europe or America because the Russians won’t put up with going without dairy products for ever. That will help interna-tional prices for all producing countries,” Hoggard says.

“The critical long term factor in our dairy industry is that world dairy consumption is continuing to rise steadily. That fact gets obscured by the violent fluctua-tions brought on by war and pol-itics.”

He says the huge price vola-tility over the past two seasons

makes planning and budgeting for farmers hugely difficult.

“Farmers used to be somewhat protected from the ups and downs of the marketplace when we had producer boards to smooth our farmer pay-ments. That’s all gone now and farmers are on their own.”

Hoggard says that means it’s vital for individ-ual farmers to get good advice from many quar-ters. “Not just advice on how much fertiliser to use, or whether to get in supplementary feed,

but also taking care of y ourself, your family and farm staff. It’s going to

be tough times ahead and people need to look after each other.”

Hoggard says the banks need to appreciate their interests lie in a long term view of the indus-

try.“That price volatility is a fact

of life, not an aberration. Everyone, and

especially the banks, needs

to under-stand

this and work

with it.”

DAI RY NEWS JUNE 9, 2015

NEWS // 3

NEWS��3-20

OPINION��22-23

AGRIBUSINESS��24-27

MANAGEMENT��28-34

ANIMAL HEALTH��35-38

SOUTH ISLAND DAIRY EVENT�� 39-40

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS��41-46

Young inventor still glowing. PG.26

No headache with dehorning. PG.35

OAD milking works a treat. PG.28-29

Milk yield down, hopes up for price upturn

GDT DOWN, AGAIN

LAST WEEK’S Global Dairy Trade auction saw the average dairy price index drop 2.2% to US$2,412/tonne, its sixth con-secutive drop.

Whole milk powder, New Zealand’s premier dairy export, dropped 3.1% to US$2,309/tonne.

All other commodity offerings were also impacted- skim milk powder drop-ping 1.3% to US$1982/t.

Butter saw the biggest drop- down 10% to US$2619/mt.

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4 // NEWS

NEW GUIDES for migrant dairy workers and their employers have been re-released by the Govern-ment.

First published in 2012, the guides – Living and working on a New Zealand dairy farm (a guide for migrant dairy farm workers) and Are you recruiting migrant workers? (a guide for dairy farmers) – were devel-oped to help migrant dairy workers and their employers work better together.

Immigration NZ’s national man-ager settlement, Judi Altinkaya, says the guides have led to better produc-

tivity on farms. “They have helped dairy farmers

and New Zealand-born dairy work-ers gain an insight into why migrant workers may work in a different way from them and how best to support their migrant colleague to settle into living and working on a dairy farm.”

New information in the second editions of the guides is based on the feedback INZ collected from migrant dairy workers and their employers.

The updated guides include new information on getting ready to move to New Zealand, visas, work-

place communication skills and the Kiwi rural lifestyle. There are also lift-out quick reference informa-tion cards – popular in INZ’s guides for the aged-care and construction sectors.

The reference cards include ‘a checklist to plan ahead’, useful com-munication tips and a list of settle-ment support services.

“These cards enable a migrant to have essential settlement informa-tion readily available to them, and they are easily portable for ready-reference,” says Altinkaya. “Some users put them on their fridges.”

Guide on employing migrants

Concern for lower order sharemilkers

A LEADING dairy farm consultant says he’s worried that this season’s low milk price will tip some young innovative dairy farmers out of the industry.

James Allen of AgFirst, Waikato, says the most vulnerable are new variable or lower order sharemilkers just starting in the industry.

Allen did a study some years ago for DairyNZ on the state of sharemilking and is widely regarded as an expert in this area.

He says variable order sharemilkers in the 2013-14 season would have had the benefit of the higher $8.40 payout and the resulting retrospective payments. But he says those starting out in the past year and this new season wouldn’t have had the benefit of a good year.

“I feel very sorry for them because they have started out with an extremely low profit and in some cases a cash loss this year. My concern is how those guys are going to manage their cashflows to survive. We don’t want to lose good prospective farm owners.”

Allen says the key issue with a variable order sharemilker agreement is that it is a percentage based agreement, many of them negotiated well in advance of the season, when payout expectations were very good.

There is a limited number of costs these people are in control of, which limits what they can do. Their best option is to maximise production with the resources they have and look hard at their cost structure, he says.

The option of re-negotiating a contract is limited.

“The short answer is probably ‘no’, but there is no harm in bringing up the situation with the farm owner

and seeing what capacity there is to renegotiate the contract. Of course the farm owner is going through the same issues with the drop in payout so he will be equally affected. [It will depend on] the capacity and willingness of the other party to look at some sort of contract renegotiation but there are no guarantees or legal requirements to renegotiate.”

Allen says people who go sharemilking need to understand that by doing so they are accepting risk. The only alternative for mitigating such risk is to go contract milking where people are not caught with the low prices.

“Last year many of the contract milkers were feeling quite aggrieved about missing out on the $8.40 payout but this year they are pretty happy about life. The key message is ‘expect more volatility’. We are going to get more of these fluctuations…. If people manage that [by shifting] to a contract milking

arrangement they take the risk factor out, but if they go sharemilking they need a financial buffer to manage the highs and lows.”

Meanwhile DairyNZ’s Mark Paine says a lot of variable order sharemilkers are in Taranaki and he says through their various programmes they will target these people.

Sharemilkers lack security with

the banks and are often highly geared because they are aiming for farm ownership.

He says they can get hit very hard in times of low prices.

Paine says DairyNZ will do all it can to help sharemilkers because they are the young and progressive farmers and represent the future of the dairy industry.

PETER [email protected]

Lower order sharemilkers joining the industry over the last 12 months would be struggling to survive, says consultant James Allen.

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MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS // 5

Rural GP Dr Tom Mullholland.

Dealing with the stress of farming

FMG INSURANCE chief executive Chris Black says while farmers have plans and systems in place to manage their land, stock and machinery, they generally lack a plan for their own per-sonal wellbeing.

He made his comments at the launch of Farmstrong, an initiative supported by FMG and the Mental Health Foundation aimed at improv-ing the wellbeing of farmers and their families.

A new website – farmstrong.co.nz – offers help for farmers to deal with the stress of farming.

Notably, the website shows sem-inars by Dr Tom Mulholland, a rural GP, but better known for wellbeing programmes for employers such as Google and Microsoft. He will visit remote rural areas and offer health checks to farmers.

Farmstrong will also run a farmers’ cycle tour of the country next March.

Black says Farmstrong is intended to put the farmer front at the centre of his business plan, says Black.

“Its essence is if you are strong and resilient mentally, physically and emotionally it’s good for you, the farmer, because you are the most important asset on your farm. It’s also good for the business.”

In the process of putting Farm-strong together, 400 farmers were surveyed and dozens were inter-viewed face to face. A key finding was farmers’ desire for information and advice on how to get off the farm.

“It’s not about taking two-week

holidays all the time, it’s just utilising little techniques, ideas, small steps that can make a difference. It’s about having different habits to deal with fatigue and manage nutrition and all those things that add up and make a difference.”

Black says the programme will be monitored over the next year, with a close watch on a key performance indicator – a positive difference to the wellbeing of 1000 farmers nation-wide. This will be achieved by mea-suring farmer participation in various events they will stage and by farmers’ use of the website.

The chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, Judi Clements, says farmers can feel stressed because they feel isolated and struggle to achieve a balance in life because the farm dominates their lives. She says it’s also hard to get mental health sup-port in some rural areas.

“We don’t want to diminish the focus on the farm but focus more attention on the farmer. We want to be working with them to look after their own wellbeing so they make better decisions, especially in such

situations as adverse weather and the lower milk payout, [to give them] bounce-back capability and resil-ience.”

Clements says they also want men to feel that talking about prob-lem issues is an ordinary thing to do.

Mulholland agrees farming can be a stressful occupation with many things farmers can’t control such as weather and prices for their products. School teaches how to read and write, but not how to manage our emotions, he points out.

“There’s quite a simple pro-cess… just explaining to people that thoughts are what create emotions, so while you can’t necessarily con-trol your emotions you can control your thinking.

“Most of the thoughts that make us feel bad aren’t actually true and they don’t help us achieve our goals. [Farmstrong is to give] farmers prac-tical tools to deal with these situa-tions.”

Mulholland says he’s had a good response to the first workshop he is running for farmers, getting to people who want to be involved. As well as his workshops he plans a road trip in a mobile medical centre – a modified 1988 ambulance loaded with state-of-the-art equipment.

“Farmers have difficulty getting access to doctors and they say they don’t have time to do this. So we’re going to places where there aren’t any doctors, and we’ll set up up pop-up clinics. On the way to the National Fieldays we’ll stop outside the Whan-gamomona Hotel in Taranaki to do blood pressure, diabetes and choles-terol tests.”


Chris Black

Freephone 0800 10 22 76 www.pggwrightson.co.nz Helping grow the countryFreephone 0800 10 22 76 www.pggwrightson.co.nz

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Feds chief glad to see Farmstrong

WHAT IS FARMSTRONG?

■ A NON-COMMERCIAL give-back initiative founded by rural insurer FMG and the Mental Health Foun-dation of New Zealand, with fund-ing support from the Movember Foundation.

■ Helping to shift the focus of mental health in rural communi-ties from depression and illness to wellbeing.

■ Helping to highlight that farm-ers are the most important asset onfarm, and that by proactively looking after their mental and physical heath they’re better prepared to run their business

and support their family, staff and community.

■ A ‘brand’ launching with a website and a social media presence. Two of its programmes are Dr Tom Mulholland’s ‘Healthy Thinking’ workshops and the Farmstrong Fit4Farming cycle tour.

■ Based on extensive research of the wellbeing of farmers and farming communities. This identi-fied wellbeing and quality of life as being top of mind for farmers, who also said they wanted more information on how to look after themselves and their families.

FEDERATED FARM-ERS president Wil-liam Rolleston, himself a

doctor, is full of praise for the Farmstrong initiative, saying it’s great to see the approach to mental health being treated in such a positive way.

It helps lift the rural

community and is useful in building resilience in the rural areas, he says.

“All businesses have stress, but we have too many farmers committing suicide and it’s something

Federated Farmers has to have a close look at. Feds has run the ‘life’s a bitch campaign’ and that, with the work of Doug Avery – who has been the sort-of Sir John Kirwan of the rural sector – has helped make a difference.

“Federated Farmers is very supportive of the Farmstrong initiative and is keen to be involved.”

Rolleston says it’s hard for farmers to get off farms especially if they are owner-operators. Some farmers do get out, but too often their boats get left in the shed collecting bird shit instead of being used.

“The best time to go away is when it’s busy on the farm – spring, summer and even autumn. It’s only in late autumn and early winter when people have

a bit more time that they can actually get off the farm, but if they want to go somewhere warm it’s expensive.”

Rolleston says of the many retired farmers, some would be interested in doing ‘farm locum’ – looking after a property so its owners can take a break. This would be good for farmers who could have someone they trust running their farm.

At the launch, Bryce and Kylie Barron, share-

milking 450 cows in Wair-arapa, spoke about the benefits of the Farmstrong concept. They were asked to promote and trial the idea and are very positive about it, though Bryce was sceptical at first.

Says Kylie, “We are pos-itive people… not looking at the negative but focus-ing on the positive. You can only control what you can control so there are a lot of stresses but it [mat-ters] how you deal with those stresses.”

Bryce says now that they understand the pro-cess for dealing with stress they don’t put their heads in the sand. Rather, they deal with it immediately.

Kylie says she is involved in sporting activ-ities and both she and Bryce now have a good work-life balance. She adds that while women deal with thoughts better, men have a different way of dealing with them. When Bryce gets stressed he goes for a run.


Sharemilkers Bryce and Kylie Barron spoke at the launch.


NEWS // 7

DairyNZ ramps up farmer supportDAIRYNZ IS throwing its support behind farmers suffering from the downturn in milk prices.

A boost to its Tactics for Tight Times campaign will help farmers cope with a “very tough and grim season,” says chief executive Tim Mackle.

Fonterra’s opening milk forecast of $5.25/kgMS for this season will “by our calculations translate into an aver-age farmer’s milk income dropping by $150,000 for this next season,” says Mackle.

“We’ve worked out that the break-even milk price for the average farmer [will be] $5.70 kgMS, yet under this forecast scenario they’ll only be receiv-ing $4.75 farm income including retro payments from last season and divi-dends.

“Annual farm working expenses will need to be reduced to minimise increas-ing debt levels further. The flow-on impacts on the local economy will be significant as that money gets spent on things like feed, fertiliser, repairs and maintenance. There will also be less capital spending in our sector.”

Most farmers will likely have nega-tive cashflows for much of the next 12 months leading to an increase in debt

and overdraft expenses to get their busi-nesses through another low milk price season.

DairyNZ will advise and support farmers to help them cope with the decisions they will have to make, says Mackle. “We don’t know when milk prices will pick up so we planning for the worst but hoping for the best.

“This will be the lowest milk pay-ment [this side of ] Christmas since 2006-07… challenging for a lot of farmers but also an opportunity to strengthen the resilience of our indus-try if we can use it to become more effi-cient in how we farm. Ultimately this challenge could make us more com-petitive if we use it to drive efficiency in our businesses.

“Many of our farmers have coped with low milk prices in the past, and so this isn’t new for a lot of people, or even too unexpected given where global milk prices have been heading.

“Farmers have been preparing for the worst case scenario – and this is pretty much it – so now it’s a matter of everyone pulling together to cope with it. We’ll particularly need to support farmers who have just bought farms or who are first year sharemilkers as they

will have more debt to manage. Lower order sharemilkers are also under immense pressure as they have little wriggle room.”

DairyNZ intends to shift its Tactics for Tight Times campaign to a seasonal calendar of advice on ‘farming funda-mentals’ that will look to give farm-ers targeted advice on key decisions, Mackle says.

“We want to give them the right advice at the right time when they will be making the big calls. We’ll be work-ing with our case study farmers and other farmers to help shape that sup-port and share tips and tactics around the regions on getting through a low milk price cycle.”

DairyNZ’s whole farm assess-ment approach will be used to map out where a farmer can make the most cost-efficient gains onfarm.

“This kind of thinking helps cus-tomise actions to an individual farm-er’s particular situation. It’s a good way of working out how you can take costs out of your farming system in the short term without affecting your long term plan or profitability too much.

“We’ve been planning to run this ramped up support approach for at

least the next 18 months. We know that the payments farmers will get through the winter will be particularly low and that’s why we’ve been pushing everyone to do a cashflow budget. Farmers have got to know their situa-tion if they are going to develop a plan to cope with it. You’ve got to know how low you will go and how long you will stay there.

“Keeping things in perspective [is crucial]. Farmers will be looking for help to make smart choices. It can be

hard to think straight and make good decisions if you are under stress

and pressure. We’ll be bringing all our industry together – the rural support trusts, the banks, the Dairy Women’s Network and others – to co-ordinated the effort.

“We need an industry safety net around our farmers to

look after their mental wellbe-

ing too,” says Mackle.

Tim Mackle

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8 // NEWS

Smashing time could be what farmers needSMALLER MILK and Supply Herds (SMASH) will open its annual conference in mid-June, hosted by Northland, Taranaki and Waikato.

The organisers are in the final stages of planning the one-day event, says SMASH chairman Noldy Rust.

“The programme has

come together well, with heaps of opportunities for learning something new, whether from our excellent speakers or from other farmers.

“The SMASH concept has been hugely successful in bringing people together to network, share and learn… a break from our busy schedules… fun, learning, sharing and last but not least, eating.”

The day, with the theme ‘Farming with Vision’, begins with a different opening speaker in each location: John Roche, DairyNZ, in Northland; Danny Donaghue, Massey University, in Taranaki; and Jason Minkhorst, Fonterra, in Cambridge.

Peter Kemp, Massey University, will speak about research at Massey’s No.1 dairy farm. This farm is trialling a variety of methods for increasing profitability without degrading the environment.

Sarah Dirks, DairyNZ,

will look at heifer management and how to get the best out of off farm grazing. She will lead a local farmer panel discussing the impact of undergrown young stock, local challenges and management to grow animals well.

Marloes Levelink, an expert at reading cow behavioural signs, will show attendees how to interpret what cow signs mean so they can improve their stock sense, and increase cow longevity and productivity.

The day will end with a session by Country Calendar presenter Frank Torley.

The SMASH conferences will be held in Whangarei, Stratford and Cambridge on June 15, 17 and 19 respectively. www.smallerherds.co.nz.

Noldy Rust

Lock your price inFONTERRA IS again calling for applications by its farmers to lock in a guaranteed milk price (GMP) for the season.

The co-op says there are two opportunities in the 2015-16 season to secure a GMP on 60 million kgMS – up to 40 m kgMS is available in June, and up to 20 m kgMS will be available in December.

Farmers looking for a GMP can now apply to supply some of their estimated milk production at one or more of five prices ($5.25, $5.15, $5.05, $4.95, and $4.85) at and below the 2015-16 forecast farmgate milk price. Last month the co-op announced an opening forecast milk price of $5.25/kgMS for the new season.

Applications close 5pm June 19. Allocations will be made based on the prices at which milk solids were offered from the lowest price up and the GMP will be determined at the highest price at which a total quan-tity of milk solids in a specified range is reached.

Fonterra’s head of origination, Arron Atkinson, says farmers have the option to apply their volumes at one or more of five prices at and below the 2015-16 fore-cast farmgate milk price. This process allows for the prioritisation of allocation in the event that the GMP is oversubscribed.

“All accepted applications will receive the same guaranteed milk price. However, depending on the total milk solids offered at each price, some farmers may not get all or any of the volume they offered,” he said.

For applications made in June, farmers can apply to fix a GMP for between 10-75% of their estimated milk production for the 2015-16 season.

The second GMP opportunity will be available in December for production supplied December 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016.

Applications can be made online via Farm Source or request an application pack from Fonterra’s supplier services team on 0800 65 65 68.

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10 // NEWS

Get involved in fight against TBTHE BOVINE Tubercu-losis Pest Management Plan is under review and farmers are urged to have their say.

Since the start of 2000, New Zealand has spent $1.2 billion fighting bovine TB and killing the pests -- especially possums – that spread the disease.

Independent chair

of the plan governance group (PGG) Chris Kelly says to protect the health of farmed cattle and deer and our good international trade reputation in animal products, it is critical we maintain low TB rates.

“Equally important are the biodiversity gains achieved by pest [control] funded via the national

TB plan.” “This year, we need to

decide how we continue to do this work. To ensure we get it right, I urge dairy, beef and deer farmers and other interested parties to get involved in the review consultation process. We want to hear people’s views on what the future plan should include.”

During June and July, review workshops will be held in about 30 locations to discuss proposals and get feedback for later anal-ysis. The consultations will begin late June with the release of a public dis-cussion document. Lim-ited farmer surveys will also be done to help get a full range of farmgate

views. Submissions will close on July 31.

The discussion doc-ument will be seeking feedback on whether the programme to eradicate TB should be faster or slower or kept the same. Views will also be sought on containing the disease at current or lower levels.

Says Kelly, “Because

the programme is a signif-icant cost to farmers we want them to understand the issues. Bovine TB has the potential to drastically impact New Zealand cattle farming and international

trade. We need to ensure we remain committed and deal with the issue in the smartest way with the ulti-mate goal being eradica-tion.” www.tbplanreview.nz

Blocks will help clear metabolic disordersIN THIS calm before the calving season a bit of plan-ning now will help herds get through without the risk of metabolic disorders, such as milk fever, says rumi-nant feed company SealesWinslow.

It cautions that milk fever can lead to downer cows or affect future milk production.

The disorders are prevalent just before or after calving, triggered by an inability to mobilise enough calcium. Subclinical cases of milk fever can be hard to pick up, and industry data indicates that for every downer cow it is likely that 10-15 others in a herd will have early-stage milk fever symptoms.

“It’s estimated that the cost of a clinical case of milk fever can reach up to $1500 per cow – including lost milk production, reduced fertility and increased likelihood of culling due to other diseases such as mas-titis. Not only is the risk a costly one, it’s also unnec-essary,” says the company’s product development manager, Jackie Aveling.

Aveling explains there is a clear link between nutri-ents and vitamins, and reproduction and lactation in dairy herds.

“Using supplements pre- and post-calving is a good preventative strategy for metabolic diseases and sets up cows well for lactation post-calving. What’s impor-tant is ensuring supplements are readily available well before the calving picks up from July.”

Dehydrated molasses blocks, such as Crystalyx Dry Cow can be used as a sole source supplement, and need to be available to stock for 60 days prior to calving and then throughout the colostrum period. The dehydrated molasses helps to ensure cows get the right intake, and the minerals and vitamins help to improve the general immunity of the cow.

Other options include SealesWinslow’s Cattle High Magnesium Block or the Cattle Winter Crop Block. Both are suitable for farmers who want cost-effective pre-calving magnesium supplementation as part of a programmed approach, and will help ensure stock receive the minerals and trace elements they need.

Chris Kelly

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NEWS // 11

Beetles to work ‘eight days a week’

THE FIRST major com-mercial release of dung beetles to New Zealand farms will occur this spring, says Dung Beetles Innovations co-founder Shaun Forgie.

Further species of beetle are also being brought into the country from Western Australia to give year-round coverage.

A new company called Dung Beetle Innovations has been formed which has a facility at South Head in the north-west Auckland region where mass breeding is being carried out of several spe-cies which have already imported.

“Those should fill all the standing orders we have at the moment with the main releases next spring,” Forgie told Dairy News.

“We have been doing some releases already via Dung Beetle Innovations but the main bulk will commence in spring once we’ve got the numbers up to maximum carrying capacity at the facility.

“We have got these key species being mass reared but there are several spe-cies yet to be imported and they will fill the gaps in seasonal activity, so we have some in summer and some for winter.

“We have yet to bring in the species that will complement those that are already here, to make sure we have a presence of dung beetles year-round on our paddocks. Basically the process now is putting those species into contain-ment facilities.”

All are coming from

Western Australia and the first is Onitis alexis alexis.

“We have disease tested it, it has worked out clean and well and we’ve got approval to release it from containment. So that is in a process now of emerging because we brought them as brood balls, as eggs and larvae, and they are start-ing to emerge as adults.

“So hopefully those will start producing a new breeding colony of an additional species.”

The species is a prolific burier of livestock dung from spring to autumn

in an array of different soil conditions particu-larly clay and sand based loamy soils throughout much of NZ. One hun-dred eggs and larvae were brought in from Australia in February.

Forgie says in about a month the company will look at a second spe-cies called bubas bison, a winter active beetle, fol-lowed a month later by another species Copris hispanus. They are spe-cialist beetles for partic-ular areas in the country and both will also come from Western Australia.

“The main releases in spring will be the ones they have mass produced at the moment – we have orders all around the country and they are bulk releases on both organic and conventional farms,” says Forgie.

“They will be released from mid to late spring onwards.”

Dung Beetle Innova-tions has a waiting list and has deliberately not advertised and promoted because they did not want to keep too many people waiting. They want to clear the list of those people

who have been waiting for a while before they start loading on more.

“We will start loading more people on as the bee-tles come on line through the summer onwards.”

He says they will start advertising because they will be capable of filling those orders from summer onwards. “We are not dis-couraging people from asking. If people are very interested in dung beetles then we simply put them on the list and they are the next in line for receiving beetles.”

Forgie says he sees dung beetles as signifi-cant part of the solution on farm for effluent man-agement.

“From what the latest studies from people at Landcare Research show

is that fencing plus dung beetles contribute perhaps the most significant com-bined effort for reducing the amount of contami-nants entering our water-ways. We use E.coli as an indicator and we know, from models at least, that we can significantly reduce that by fencing plus dung beetles.

“Dung beetles offer a

year round solution but they are part of the solu-tion. They do a significant lot of things in terms of improved benefits how-ever they are part of the solution.

“There’s riparian plant-ing, there’s fencing but dung beetles in my mind would probably be the most significant of all of those,” Forgie says.

The Dung Beetle Release Strategy Group was established in New Zealand by a group of farmers and other interested parties in 2008 with the objective of importing and releas-ing dung beetles to assist with the removal of pastoral dung of agricultural livestock.

An application by the group to release 11 species of dung beetles in New Zealand was approved by the Environmental Risk Manage-ment Authority in February 2011, and a project to import and breed up these beneficial insects was funded by the Sustainable Farming Fund with Landcare Research providing science and technical support.

Dung Beetle Innovations was established for the commercial release of the beetles.See dungbeetle.org.nz

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12 // NEWS

When the going gets tough...

WE’VE HEARD the disappointing news on payout levels. Fonterra has updated its milksolids price down to $4.40 for this past season.

With two co-ops announcing a higher payout figure for 2015-16 though, it gives me a little bit of confidence things might get better a lot quicker as we go into next year. Time will tell and I can only budget on realities at this stage.

We talk a lot about what is causing the payout to be so weak. There are the Russian issues, a growing Middle East war and ISIS disrupting supply lines, Europe having a great production year and the US output trucking along nicely.

And of course here in New Zealand we have been seeing a massive volume increase of 3-4% each year, sustained for the past few years.

Short term, there is a question about what pressure our production is putting on the remaining firm markets. Part of the present market weakness is because of Chinese importers miscalculating world dairy supply. They thought there was going to be a shortage and bid up to secure supply. They now have to refrain from bidding to let their overstocked

inventory run down.A few years ago, when we had a

big drought in Waikato, and supply dropped, the markets were paying

more. So maybe farmers will decide to tighten their belts this year, buy less supplement and milk fewer cows – their own individual decisions, albeit with

the bank manager looking over their shoulder. It will be interesting to see how and if the markets respond to any production fallback.

They do keep a close eye on us. When I was overseas a few years ago, on a supply chain look at products, the traders and overseas buyers and sellers of products told me they read all our rural papers online and got reports on the latest dairy statistics in New Zealand every day. That was their job.

They had to work out how to make a dollar from doing business with us and pick where our industry was heading with the weather, milk supply, grass growth, business trends, environment issues, water rights and so on. I was surprised how much they knew and in their interest in the minute details of our industry from offices thousands of miles away.

Of course there are the acknowledged macro drivers in the market. Cheap oil is now leading to even cheaper grain because it is no longer needed for biofuel in the US.

And there is the growing appetite for animal protein in many parts of Asia. Dairy markets will multiply, not just increase, during the next few decades.

The contrary pushes of these big influencers make for increasing volatility. Ten years ago volatility was 5% change a year. Nowadays you need

50% change for it to be regarded as truly volatile.

How do we budget for that? How do we plan our farming systems in the face of such big unknowns?

The next six months are going to be tough. The cost of production is a lot higher than we

are getting paid to cover. I don’t need reminding of the issues, as I and many other farmers know them full well. We just need to hunker down and deal with it as best we can, painful as it is, and somehow come out the other end stronger for it.• Chris Lewis is chair of Waikato Federated Farmers.

CHRIS LEWIS

“We just need to hunker down and deal with it as best as we can, painful as it is, and somehow come out the other end stronger for it.”

Chris Lewis, Federated Farmers.

@dairy_newsfacebook.com/dairynews


NEWS // 13

MANY PEER-REVIEWED studies show that the early (lean, not fat) growth in calves is a major factor in future milk production.

LIC’s analysis shows that 73% of NZ heif-ers are underweight by an average of 14% at herd entry (22 months). The study at Massey showed the Queen of Calves herd was on average only 0.7% below the target weight at herd entry, researchers claim.

The survival rate of the Massey University Queen of Calves herd through to third lacta-tion was 13% greater than the control group, which in turn had a higher rate than the Friesian herd nationally. The average survival rate to third lactation for the national herd is 62%; for the control group it was 84%. The Queen of Calves survival rate was 95%.

95% SURVIVAL IN TRIAL

Feed supplement tipped to boost GDP by $340m

Jean Margerison, Massey University.

ECONOMIC BENE-FITS worth up to $340m in GDP could accrue from a science-based and inter-nationally peer-reviewed calf nutrition programme if adopted by 10% of the national herd, new research shows.

Economic research agency BERL has analysed the results of a seven-year ongoing study by Massey University into the efficacy of the Queen of Calves feed supplement, which uses marine and land plant extracts to enhance the nutritional value of milk fed to calves.

BERL’s analysis of dairy systems leader Dr Jean Margerison’s research shows the nutritional sup-plement boosts milk solids (MS) production, poten-tially increases herd sur-vival rate and can reduce the grazing footprint and herd size without lowering output.

BERL suggests that raising 10% of the national herd (500,000 cows) on the supplement pro-gramme would achieve the following:

■ Produce 25m tonnes more milk solids than at present on the same grazing land

■ Generate extra farm income of $150m a year from the same graz-ing land

■ The extra $150m in farm income would multiply up to a value chain increase in GDP of about $340m a yearAlternatively, farmers

could maintain the present levels of production, and produce that on a 13% less

grazing land, reducing the environmental impact

Present level of produc-tion would be produced by 46,000 fewer cows.

Margerison’s test-ing of the feed supple-ment on a group of calves over five lactation cycles demonstrated Queen of Calves delivered, on aver-age, an extra 30kgMS/lac-tation compared to the control group and same-age heifers. She claims the seven year on-going study was exhaustive and proved that significant gains for calf and heifer weight gain, milk produc-tion and longer productive life resulted from the use of the nutritional supple-ment.

“Currently in New Zea-land, more than one in five of the national dairy herd will not survive past the second lactation phase,” says Margerison. “This is hugely inefficient, and represents a significant cost to the farmer. In a depressed payout environ-ment such as farmers face today, the financial mar-gins to be able to sustain this simply do not exist.

“What our research shows is that the Queen of Calves feed programme is not just an opportunity to mitigate existing herd replacement costs, but also to realise long-term economic gains for dairy farming.”

Once all of an average 400-cow herd had been raised on Queen of Calves and had reached peak pro-duction, the revenue ben-efits could be $72,000 per season above that

achieved by a similar farm not using the supplement, analysis of her findings by BERL shows.

Stephen Bell-Booth, whose company is behind the development of the programme, says it has

been a long and robust process to establish the benefits, including a seven-year longitudi-nal study, that still con-tinues. “About 5% of the national herd is already using Queen of Calves and

we’ve proved its efficacy. We succeeded because we focussed on the milk-feed-ing phase, the importance of which has not until now been generally recognised, in determining the future output of dairy cows.”

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14 // NEWS

First the South Island then new products – creameryEIGHT MONTHS after taking the chocolate milk market by storm, dairy company Lewis Road Creamery has set its sights on ice cream and coffee milk.

However, the company is working on getting more of its record-breaking product to existing retail-ers in the North Island, and is planning to launch it in the South Island.

Lewis Road in October 2014 joined with Whittak-ers in launching chocolate milk that caused a frenzy in North Island supermar-kets; most supermarkets still ration sale of the milk.

About 40,000L of chocolate milk is pro-cessed weekly at the Green Valley plant in Man-gatawhiri, south of Auck-land; a new plant will be commissioned there later this year.

Lewis Road managing director Peter Cullinane says “With the new plant we can meet demand in North Island’s existing stores and supply other stores; and most impor-tantly go to the South Island.”

He wants to “crunch” a five-year pipeline of new flavoured milk and ice cream products into 12 months to maintain

momentum.“We are keen on a

coffee equivalent – coffee milk and a range of fla-voured milks,” he told Dairy News. “Our view is to release the products and test the waters; if it works, it works.”

Lewis Road is also dis-cussing with other parties “a spectacular ice cream we believe should come from us”. But the company is keen to extend choco-late milk supply nation-wide before releasing new products.

Cullinane says choco-late milk is about 20% of Lewis Road’s business; the company also makes organic and conventional fresh milk and artisan butter.

Lewis Road is happy with the processing arrangement with Green Valley and has no immedi-ate plans to bottle its own milk in the South Island.

Cullinane believes the country doesn’t need more stainless steel; it needs better dairy prod-ucts.

“We are not keen on building plant ourselves, that’s not what we do. However, the more cer-tain you are of demand, the more likely someone will be willing to step up, so I think there will be a South Island-based solu-tion down the line.”

Cullinane says Lewis

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NEWS // 15

First the South Island then new products – creamery

Road will do whatever the market demands.

“Our focus is to get our chocolate milk to every retailer who wants it; we don’t want any new prod-ucts until we meet demand. There’s no point in coming out with new fla-vours at this stage if retailers can’t get the chocolate milk they want from us.”

The choco-late milk became the market leader three weeks after its release. It has doubled the size of flavoured milk segments; almost all sales have been incre-mental.

Cullinane says the product proves that New Zealanders love good products and are prepared to pay for them.

“That’s where Lewis Road Creamery started;

it’s not about the cheap-est product and lowest price. There will always be a market that needs

that, but there is another market that wants good products and is prepared to pay for that.”

Cullinane says the quality of milk supplied to Green Valley from farmers in Mangatawhiri is another reason for its success. The

milk is “lightly processed” by Green Valley, retaining its good qualities.

As a result, lactose-intolerant consum-ers are finding Lewis Road fresh milk pal-atable.

“A lot of feed-back we get is that lactose-intolerant do not appear to be so when they drink our products.” Changed protein structure in other milk causes people’s reaction to it, he says. “That’s why you don’t mess with milk during the processing stage.”

At this year’s Champion of

Cheese awards in Auck-land, Lewis Road Cream-ery won three medals for its three entries. An inau-gural Champion Butter Award went to Lewis Road Creamery’s Pre-mium Butter lightly salted, made with churned full-fat

KIWIS FIRST, THE WORLD LATER

LEWIS ROAD Creamery is looking at exporting its chocolate milk, but perhaps as a UHT product with a greater shelf life, says Lewis Road managing director Peter Cullinane.

“We question whether we could have a long life version of chocolate milk; we are trying to get our heads around that.”

Cullinane was in China last month to look into this.

However, he says New Zealand remains the main focus of its com-pany.

“While exports remain tempt-ing, we want our firm base here,” he says. “As a country we are so focussed on exports that our mar-kets get leftovers; we think it should be the opposite. [Local customers] should get the best of everything before we export.”

cream from a mixed herd by Canary Food Innova-tors in Te Rapa, Hamilton.

The judges said the Premium Butter lightly salted is a perfect balance of texture and flavour. “It doesn’t get any better than this,” they said.

Cullinane says the rec-ognition for its butter was “pretty cool”. “Lewis Road Creamery started with butter and I have a soft spot for butter.”

The firm has started exporting small quantities of butter to Australia and Cullinane’s vision is to sell it in UK’s upmarket Wait-rose supermarkets.

New Zealand’s best butter from Lewis Road Creamery.

Peter Cullinane

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16 // NEWS

Farmers will now be held responsible for any accidents involving visitors to their farms. Keep lawyer on

speed dial – farmer

ANY FARMER unlucky enough to have an employee, visitor or family member seriously injured

onfarm should call their lawyer as soon as the injured person is on their way to hospital. That is the advice of a Northland farmer whose employee had his arm

GARETH GILLATTcrushed in an incident. The farmer says he was alarmed when he arrived back at his house to find the worker had crushed his arm between a silage grab and a feed wagon. He helped to stabilise the bleeding and saw his worker safely off to the hospital then called his lawyer, a step that paid off in a big way, he says. “Because I’d talked to the lawyer I had a good idea of what to say.”

The farmer had train-ing procedures in place, had set procedures for tasks, discussed safety con-cerns at the start of every meeting and had a main-tenance register in place. Some things like the train-ing weren’t recorded and he believes he would have forgotten to mention it when Work and Safety inspectors called. “Call-ing the lawyer was pretty important.” WorkSafe NZ (then Occupational Safety and Health) told the farmer he would not be prosecuted as he had taken all the correct steps to prevent accidents, though their reply was six months coming.

Hazardco national sales manager for agri-culture and horticulture Jamie Potter says this will be especially so once new legislation is passed this October. Potter told audiences at a Far North Beef + Lamb NZ field day and a Dargaville DairyNZ, Federated Farm-ers and FMG risk manage-ment workshop that fines will skyrocket and more people will be liable for prosecution under new legislation. Maximum fines are expected to go from $200,000 to $3 million, and more people will be liable for fines – managers, directors, farm owners and sometimes lesees. “Work-Safe is looking to hold a wider range of people accountable. Directors for example can’t just say ‘we don’t get involved in the farm’, or ‘we knew about that issue but deferred it this season because we didn’t have enough money’.” Potter says WorkSafe investigators will look

at contributing factors to the accident before asking people involved in the operation of the farm if that factor was known about or discussed. “In cases of mechanical fail-ure of some kind they’d see if the piece of equip-ment was listed or if the farmer would have known about it. “If it was known by the worker but not the farmer, in today’s environment the worker may find them-selves getting a call from WorkSafe.” However he says the pro-cess can be broken down into five main catego-ries: hazard identification, health and safety policies, suitable staff training, doc-umented procedures for tasks and suitably main-tained equipment. “If farmers can tick all those boxes then there is a good chance they won’t face any prosecution.” Worksafe inspectors car-rying out random farm-ing inspections are likely to look for the same level of details, according to Potter. Inspectors will rate adoption of principles over the ability to produce doc-uments. Farmers at both meet-ings expressed concerns about liabilities with visi-tors and contractors on the farm. Potter says there are two types of visitors: those invited onto the property and those the farmer had no knowledge about. He says while those invited onto the property need to be told of any haz-ards not normally expected in a farming environment, the farmer will be held accountable for accidents involving these hazards, but there is a much lower indemnity for visitors the farmer didn’t welcome on. Putting in procedures and improving safety is about more than meeting rules, says the farmer; it is ensuring that everybody on the farm is taken care of.

“That accident still haunts me. If he was stand-ing a little differently or the silage grab and had fallen a different way it could have taken more than his arm.”


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NEWS // 17

NINE MONTHS since reports of cows collapsing on swede crops in Southland, the exact cause of the casualties is still uncertain.

However, there are good reasons why the inquiry is taking so long and most farmers have already taken steps to reduce risk of the problem repeat-ing this spring, says Federated Farmers Dairy provincial chair, Allan Baird.

“Initially the data [on the cases] just wasn’t available,” he told Dairy News after DairyNZ’s May 29 release of pre-liminary results from a farmer survey in the wake of the problems.

The survey itself was delayed

because of the time it took to identify and contact graziers involved; the dairy farmer side was completed in good time, notes Baird. By the time the gra-zier list was compiled many were into their peak spring workload so weren’t surveyed until the turn of the year, he explains.

Then an April deadline for prelimi-nary results slipped into May and even now those preliminary results are sub-ject to further analysis and peer review.

“DairyNZ is apologetic, but it is what it is,” says Baird, who is part of a cross-industry working group on the problem.

Analysis of plant samples also remains on the ‘to do’ list as Crop and Food Research, which had “some capac-ity” to do the job, said it was “too close”

to seed companies to get involved, says Baird.

“DairyNZ’s been trying to develop a process so that, should we require tests again, that facility will exist in New Zea-land.”

DairyNZ’s Southland/Otago region leader, Richard Kyte, says the plant analysis results are expected late July and will be “an important piece in the puzzle”. “We can then focus on pulling together our final consolidated report on all the elements of the work we have done on the issue.”

Baird says even then it needs to be recognised the samples taken last spring are only a “snapshot in time” and draw-ing conclusions on such limited infor-mation “would not be particularly helpful”.

“The study of glucosinolates is going to be ongoing…. There’s not just one but lots, and we’re still not sure why the animal gets a toxic reaction to some of them.”

Late grazing of swedes, particularly by springers or early lactation cows, was a common factor in many of the cases last spring and that’s recognised as a risk by Southland’s dairy sector; kale or fodder beet has been grown instead for

when the cows come home this year.“No one has chosen to put HT

swedes on the milking platform. Every-one’s aware now that that’s a risky period,” notes Baird.

The HT cultivar – HT standing for ‘herbicide tolerant’ allowing use of broad-spectrum herbicide chlorsul-furon for in-crop weed control – was a frequent but not universal factor in last year’s problems but Baird doesn’t believe the cultivar should be con-demned.

“It wasn’t the only crop or brassica where farmers experienced issues, so to hang that variety would not be help-ful and would be premature. A lot of it comes back to how you use your crop.”

An unusually mild winter last year

meant that by August or early Septem-ber many early-sown crops were bolt-ing.

Kyte says all swede cultivars “carry a risk of adverse health effects” by the time they’re bolting and the glucosino-late chemistry thought to be to blame changes with swede variety, maturity and growing conditions. Changes to glu-cosinolates during eating and digestion further complicate the picture.

“If farmers plant swedes, and many have this season, then they need to manage how and when they feed it to their cows.”

Transitions need care, even from swede crop to swede crop, over a min-imum of a week and the proportion of swede in the diet should be limited.

ANDREW SWALLOW

SWEDE SURVEY:❱❱ 134 dairy farmers and 34 graziers surveyed.

❱❱ More problems the more mature the crop and greater % of diet.

❱❱ Cows “under pressure” of late pregnancy, calving or early lacta-tion more susceptible.

❱❱ Warm winter increased leaf % and bolters.

❱❱ HT cultivar common but not universal factor.

See www.dairynz/swedes for more.

Swede answers slow to emergeFarmers are being urged to manage how and when they feed swedes to cows.


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18 // WORLD

India seeks Oz dairy expertiseAUSTRALIAN DAIRY expertise and services are set to play a key role in

developing a modern, high quality milk production sector in India.

The northern Victorian consultancy Profitable Dairy Systems has com-

GORDON COLLIEpleted a feasibility study for a 250 head pilot farm on a greenfield site just south of New Delhi.

The new dairy is expected to be a forerun-ner to multiple 2500 cow units built by a major pro-cessor keen to source high quality milk for middle and upper class Indian consumers.

Project leader Philip Chamberlain, a Queensland veterinary dairy specialist, is work-ing closely with Austrade in the emerging market which he said held enor-mous potential for Austra-lian businesses.

“There is great com-mercial opportunity for a range of Australian exper-tise from the provision of tropically-adapted genet-ics to nutrition, animal husbandry and farm man-agement. Training and other ancillary services will also be required – they need a complete package,” Chamberlain says.

“Until now India has not known a lot about the dairy expertise Australia has to offer.”

A diverse group of 12 potential Australian sup-pliers has come together following the success of a mission led by Trade Minister Andrew Robb and Parliamentary Secre-tary for Agriculture, Sena-tor Richard Colbek, which attended Australian Busi-ness Week in India in Jan-uary.

“It makes sense to pool Australian resources as one person or company couldn’t do it alone,” says Chamberlain.

Anirban Deb is an expe-rienced Austrade business development manager in India who has a key focus on opportunities in the growing dairy sector.

“India is actually the largest fresh milk produc-ing country in the world with production of 130 million tonnes per annum. The national milking herd comprises about 122 mil-lion cows and 90 million buffalos.”

Speaking during a visit to Australia in May, Deb said the Indian indus-try was struggling to keep pace with a 7% annual

growth in milk demand.“The animal-to-land

ratio had reached satu-ration point which has caused the focus to shift from low input-low output to high input-high output production systems to increase milk yield,” says Deb.

“This change in market dynamics is encourag-ing the development of large new intensive dairies which will lift efficiency and productivity.”

There was signifi-cant interest in large scale projects by corporations, entrepreneurs and pro-gressive farmer associa-tions.

Deb said a new national 15-year dairy plan still has a major focus on small scale farmers with produc-tion aggregated in a coop-erative system.

A key outcome of the plan is improving milk yield per animal with a sci-entific approach to animal breeding and nutrition.

“Milk quality is also becoming an issue with demand rising for value added products includ-ing cheese and yoghurts,” Deb says.

New feedlot dairies were coming up with inno-vative sales and marketing models, including direct supply of pure milk direct to consumers.

With an assured cool chain, this premium milk was bringing almost double the price of regular retail product.

“Milk has tradition-ally been a cheap source of protein for the masses in a country in which the slaughter of cattle is against the law,” Deb said.

Chamberlain says Indian producers have looked to source Holstein dairy genetics from North America in their quest for improved production.

“But significant diffi-culties have been experi-enced with herd fertility in the hot and humid Indian environment.

“In our feasibility study, we have recom-mended the sourcing of tropically adapted Austra-lian dairy genetics.

Austrade business development manager Anirban Deb with project leader Philip Chamberlain.

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20 // NEWS

INTERNATIONAL DAIRY markets remain depressed, with abun-dant supply and lacklus-tre demand continuing to weigh on pricing.

On farm however, the results of Dairy Austra-lia’s 2015 National Dairy

Farmer Survey (NDFS) indicate that confidence in the future of the Australian industry has remained high over the past year.

Almost three quar-ters of dairy farmers (74%) reported feeling positive about the industry’s future – 1% fewer than 2014.

A total of 79% of farm-ers anticipate a profit

in the current season, while 41% have increased herd sizes and 52% have increased milk production (implying yield gains have also played a part).

Stable sentiment is translating to investment on farm: 52% of respon-dents indicated intentions to invest in their enter-prises over the next 12

months.There are some differ-

ences in trend by region however, with more wide-spread confidence (up from 31% in 2013 to the current 5-year high of 55%) evident in the Subtropical Dairy region (Queensland and northern NSW) amid fewer concerns about farmgate milk price.

In Victoria (partic-ularly western) confi-dence has been eroded slightly by unease regard-ing whether current prices will be maintained into the coming season and beyond.

More broadly, cost pres-sures are mixed. Grain and hay markets have taken note of the Bureau of Mete-

JOHN DROPPERT

Oz farmers positive about futureorology lifting their ENSO indicator to ‘El Niño’ in mid-May.

With limited supply concerns globally at the time of writing, devalu-ation of the Australian dollar and the dry out-look have seen a gap open-ing between international benchmark and domestic wheat prices.

Hay prices remained relatively static due to slow demand through early 2015, though the downside production risk posed by an El Niño is likely to dis-courage producers from selling early as far as this season’s harvest is con-cerned.

Against a backdrop of stable farmgate prices and generally favourable weather conditions, Aus-tralian milk production has tracked ahead of expec-tations for much of the season.

With two good years behind them, many farm-ers are well placed to take advantage of the opportu-nities a third would pro-vide.

Should current proces-sor milk price forecasts be borne out and El Niño impacts remain moderate, further growth is likely in the southern states.

Western Australia will see more milk change hands as processors adjust their strategies, while the Queensland production sector searches for stabil-ity in the face of severe and ongoing cost and climatic pressures.

Internationally, most farmers in major export regions are enjoying favourable weather and global milk supply growth has rolled on, despite a darkening farmgate price outlook for many.

Production expecta-tions continue to reflect a slowdown during 2015, but at the moment, this seems a long way off.

Buying interest for powders out of China remains relatively quiet, and assessments of the timeframe for a significant recovery in activity are increasingly being pushed into early 2016.

There is also growing expectation that Russia’s import ban will outlast the initially announced 12-month term, possibly with a wider set of excep-tions for selected coun-tries.

A prolonged period of low prices has seen double digit volume growth in exports to Southeast Asia, Mexico and the Middle East, but this growth is now moderating as supply pipelines are refilled.

On a positive note, a firm US domestic market is helping soak up that coun-try’s surplus milk; while dairy exports to Japan for the 12 months to February were at their highest since 2007, after the strongest growth since 2005.

Back home, the most recent update to Dairy Australia’s ‘Food Ser-vice Index’ shows strong growth in spending through both the food service and supermarket channels, though the pace of growth has slowed in recent months. Australian supermarket sales of major dairy categories continue to tell an essentially posi-tive story.

Dairy spreads remain the star performer, outpac-ing all other major dairy categories for both volume and value growth.

Milk sales are increas-ing slowly and steadily. Despite shrinking sales volumes, higher average per kilo prices for both the cheese and yogurt/dairy snacks categories are reflected in continued cat-egory value growth.

Considered something of a ‘handbrake’ on indus-try returns through the buoyant 2013-14 season, the Australian domestic market (which consumes around 60% of milk pro-duction) has helped cush-ion the industry through a volatile 2014-15.

Maintaining an appro-priate balance between the pursuit of potentially lucrative new opportu-nities, and securing sus-tainable returns in more mature and stable markets, will be no less important in 2015/16 and beyond.• John Droppert is a market analyst with Dairy Australia. Dairy Australia’s full June 2015 Situation and Outlook will be released on June 17.

John Droppert

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RUMINATING

EDITORIAL

MILKING IT...

22 // OPINION

THE MOST important asset on a farm is the farmer; a healthy farmer means a healthy business.

Therefore, the joint initiative by rural insurer FMG and the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) to focus on the wellbeing of farmers is commendable.

No one will argue that dairy farmers are under pressure; the low payout is straining cashflow on farms.

The Farmstrong initiative launched last week emphasises to farm-ers that they need to put themselves and their wellbeing in their busi-ness plans.

Farmstrong is based on extensive research of the wellbeing of farmers and farming communities. This research identified well-being and quality of life as being top of mind for farmers who also said they wanted more information on how to look after themselves and their families.

At least 400 farmers were surveyed, online and in face-to-face interviews. Further analysis and scientific findings on wellbeing then led to the creation of Farmstrong.

Nearly half the respondents to the survey wanted advice on how to achieve better work-life balance and over a third wanted to know more about managing tiredness and fatigue.

The main source of information will be hosted on the Farmstrong website - www.farmstrong.co.nz.

The website contains practical tips and strategies proven scientifi-cally to improve mental health and wellbeing. These include healthy thinking strategies, physical activity, good nutrition, staying con-nected with friends, getting a good night’s sleep and spending time away from the farm. Research shows that action in these areas helps build resilient people better able cope with the pressures of farming.

Being resilient doesn’t mean the hard knocks will go away. But it does mean people are better placed to deal with these hard knocks when they come.

Behaviour change in which farmers come to see themselves as the most important asset on the farm will take time. To be success-ful, this way of thinking needs to be farmer-led and supported by the rural sector.

We urge farmers to visit the new website. Farmstrong can help improve the lives of anyone living in a rural community, and in turn help make the agriculture sector a more attractive place to work.

Research shows that healthy thinking and healthy living hold the key to increasing productivity, wherever you work.

Sleep, diet and exercise, for example, have a huge bearing on a farmer’s ability to manage a farm successfully. When people are not functioning well, decision-making becomes difficult, relationships deteriorate and productivity suffers.

Farmers need to realise this too.

Self-help for better wellbeing

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

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Not all badTHE PAYOUT news has been pretty average re-cently, so no surprises that confidence in the industry isn’t at an all-time high.

However, if Rural News Group’s Fieldays Previews are any indication, the mood is not overwhelm-ingly negative; extensive previews in Dairy News and its stablemate Rural News are well supported by advertisers.

Dairy News ran a 20-page preview highlight-ing the Fieldays themes, activities and exhibitors; Rural News did a 27-page preview along the same lines, complete with a glossy lift-out map.

These sorts of fea-tures and their level of advertising well indicate how bullish or bearish the service and supply side of the industry is about the outlook for agriculture. While no one is pretend-ing the short term outlook is a bit flat, these Fieldays previews suggest agribusi-ness is confident in the medium-long term story for farming.

Even less love for co-op

NOT EVERYONE loves Fonterra, let’s accept that.

Some farmers are cheesed off with the co-op for its performance, consumers are unhappy with the high price of milk and motorists are fed up of milk tankers clogging our roads.

However, one Northland man has taken his dislike of the co-op to a new level. The man (52) appeared in Whangarei District Court charged with shooting at the co-op’s Kauri plant; he was remanded in custody for a mental health as-sessment.

He faces charges of unlawful posses-sion of a restricted firearm (an SKS 7.62/39 calibre), reckless discharge of a firearm and importing a restricted weapon.

Fonterra says the man has no direct connection to the co-op.

Honourable regardlessTHOSE FORTUNATE enough to make it into the annual Queen’s birthday honours list deserve the accolade, we believe.

However, this month’s honours list had no one from the pastoral sector. Could it be that the Gov-ernment is turning a blind eye to farmers because dairy is now contributing less to the nation’s coffers? Let’s hope not.

Not gay after allAN IRISH bull famously saved from slaughter even though his owners thought he was gay has now surprised them by trying to mate with cows.

Benjy the bull from County Mayo faced the chop last year because he showed more interest in other bulls than in cows.

However, after the Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon (deceased) stumped up the money to buy him, Benjy was moved

to Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norwich, England.

Hillside staff noted that after castration

Benjy showed a special interest in some of the cows he was housed with.

His story has run in Pink News, Europe’s largest gay news service.


OPINION // 23

‘Games’ affecting oz dairy income

WE MIGHT harp on about the increas-ing volatility and interconnectedness of commodity trends and forces. But these days the commodities affecting the short-term outlook for dairy mar-kets aren’t simply those related to farm inputs or competing foods such as palm oil and soybeans.

The bigger arm-wrestles being played out – and affecting the $A return for dairy exports – are in oil and iron ore.

The price of crude oil sank like a stone between July 2014 and February this year after the OPEC cartel (12 coun-tries that control 80% of oil production) colluded in lifting production, creating an over-supply to flatten prices and try to run higher-cost oil producers out of business. OPEC hopes to reverse the US moves towards energy self-sufficiency and push it back towards greater import dependence.

How has oil knocked onto the dairy market? At first glance it looks like good news: in theory it cuts the cost of fuel onfarm, and the cost of freight.

In the US, cheaper oil has a double-edge effect but the jury is out on the

result. When ethanol is less attractive at lower fuel prices, it creates a glut in feed supply, cuts the value of corn and soy-beans in global trade and keeps a lid on world feed grain prices. Only weather can mess things up after that.

Lower feed costs flow into better margins for US milk producers and sustain a better rate of output growth. But lower fuels prices should also mean more people drive out to family res-taurants and eat more cheese! Indeed, foodservice sales in the US are boom-ing right now.

But if you step back further this isn’t playing out so well, and in fact is giving a push to the imbalance in global dairy markets. Most of those big high-cost oil producers are important dairy import-ers that are fairly sensitive to prices. This summary, produced by the Wall Street Journal paints the stark reality.

In 2013, the combined markets of Russia, Venezuela and the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region were critical to dairy trade. The losses in oil margin are helping break the Rus-sian economy, already deep in rancid brown stuff from the effects of West-ern sanctions over its foray into the Crimea. Some speculate that the Rus-

sian dairy import embargo might end in a few months, but the poor financial sit-uation and weak rouble means traders have no money to buy product; either way imports are not an option.

Venezuela was, a few years ago, a market for 200,000 tonnes of whole milk powder. But it got into strife before oil crashed, so a recovery in that once-huge powder market would be a miracle at current oil prices.

Algeria, the largest MENA importer, is a critical market for the EU and New Zealand, especially since Russia and China have taken a breather.

Dairy exporters are now anxiously watching it and other MENA markets to see how long before the slump in oil starts to cut into consumer spending and import volumes.

Oil prices have cautiously drifted up since their bottoming in lower than $A50/barrel in late January and have peeped over $A60, while most forecast-ers suggest it won’t pass $A70/barrel by the end of the year. This game has some way to play out unless OPEC blinks.

While the oil game is being man-aged by big suppliers, the other big game playing out is being managed by a key buyer.

What has emerged more clearly in recent weeks is how China is seeking to take major steps to lock in a lower-cost supply of iron ore to fund the next stages of nation-building, i.e. projects to build vast shiny towers of steel that will hopefully stabilise economic growth and stimulate better consumer spend-ing. Not all of the supposed next round of stimulus spending needs doing at home. China’s investment leaders have reckoned that by putting capital into a number of overseas iron ore producers in South America and by possibly rescu-ing Twiggy and Fortescue, it can keep supplies flowing, competition healthy and prices down – and in fact save much more money in buying the next slew of iron ore.

Money markets have long empha-sised mineral commodities as a key driver of Australian fortunes, hence the value of the $A has tracked the falling value of iron ore closely after shipments to China slowed. The oversupplied iron ore market has helped pull the value of the $A down, at a crucial time given the oversupplied dairy market.

If a $A6/kgMS milk

price is going to be a reality next year, the iron ore game needs to keep run-ning, and the game in oil probably needs to change direction. Oh, and China’s stimulus should get going to spur more milk consumption.• Steve Spencer is a director of Fresha-genda, a Melbourne consulting and anal-ysis firm.

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24 // AGRIBUSINESS

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Free buses will take you to Mystery Creek

A&P Show draws big spendersTHE 2015 two-day Wanaka A&P Show directly ben-efitted the region by almost $10.9 million, says Opin-ions Market Research Ltd.

Of this, non-locals spent about $8.14m – 75% of the total, “representing the ‘new money’ brought into the Wanaka economy because of staging this event,” the researchers say. Locals spent about $2.72m (25%).

Average length of stay in Wanaka was 2.6 nights. “Special events such as the Wanaka A&P Show are

important recreation for local residents and a funda-mental component of the destination’s tourist attrac-tions,” the researchers say.

The show, on March 13-14, attracted a record 35,000 people and was the largest-ever in the event’s 78-year history, in size and entry numbers.

The research report reinforces what the Upper Clutha A&P Society has believed for a long time, show coordinator Jane Stalker says.

“Every year the Wanaka A&P Show attracts people from all over New Zealand…. We are proud of our nationally recognised community event and that we got a 97% satisfaction rating from our visitors.”

After last year’s show the society gave $80,000 to community groups.

VISITING THE Fieldays this week? It may pay to leave your car home.

With the help of Busit!, run by the Waikato Regional Council, National Fieldays is running free buses to and from Mystery Creek.

Between June 10 and 13, Fiel-days ticket holders will also be allowed to travel free on all Ham-ilton buses when they present their Fieldays ticket, enabling free door-to-door travel between home and Mystery Creek.

Fieldays and Busit! aim to reduce traffic congestion in Ham-ilton and parking problems at the Fieldays site.

“More people using public transport will help to relieve con-gestion across the city and espe-cially in the vicinity of Mystery Creek. It also encourages more people to use our buses,” says Andrew Wilson, Waikato Regional Council public transport opera-tions manager.

Buses will depart the Hamilton Transport Centre between 8:30am and 10:30am on Wednesday and Thursday, 8am and 11am on Friday and 8am and 10:30am on Saturday.

They will travel via Knox Street car park, Anglesea Street, Palm-erston Street, Pembroke Street, Ohaupo Road (State Highway 3), and Airport Road to Fieldays.

There will also be a service from Fieldays to the transport centre in the afternoons, starting at 2pm and running to 5pm daily, depart-ing from the bus depot at Gate 1.

The Waikato River Explorer will again be operating this year, travelling along the Waikato River between the Hamilton Gardens jetty and the Mystery Creek jetty.

For more information, visit waika-toexplorer.co.nz.

There is a designated helicop-ter landing zone located beside the Waikato River jetty, near gate seven.

Helicorp will be flying from dif-ferent locations to Fieldays; visit helicorp.co.nz/fieldays for more information.

It might pay to leave your cars at home when you visit Mystery Creek this week.


AGRIBUSINESS // 25

Technology firms hook-up offers easier fert, spray managementFARMERS CAN now order, initiate and record fertiliser and spray appli-cations on their farms at the click of a button.

Precision Farming and TracMap Sys-tems have joined forces to enable con-tractors with TracMap Systems in their vehicles to seamlessly receive applica-tion requests and send proof of place-ment records direct to the Precision Farming management software.

With TracMap fitted to about 70% of fertiliser spreading vehicles and many spray vehicles, and Precision Farming managing farm maps, it made sense to the two firms to set up the link, to make life simpler for farmers and their con-tractors.

“We didn’t see why contractors run-ning TracMap Systems couldn’t provide the data they collected to Precision Farming customers whenever farmers wanted that,” says Colin Brown, Trac-Map founding director. We support Precision Farming in offering a more complete picture of onfarm activity to their clients.”

TracMap markets precision guid-ance systems to food producers origi-nating in agriculture.

The system makes it easy to initi-ate jobs such as fertiliser spreading in targeted paddocks and have the driv-ers complete the work accurately and without mistakes.

Precision Farming offers an inte-grated fertiliser ordering, recording, placement and NPK system using pre-cision guidance, and it integrates other key information required by farmers to optimise pasture and crop perfor-mance.

Integration with TracMap will pro-vide extra data and value to the Preci-sion

Farming onfarm picture for farmers who request it, without requiring extra effort on behalf of contractors using the TracMap system.

Brendon Cane, managing director of Precision Farming, himself also a groundspread operator, says “Technol-ogy today enables much more value to farmers than having to go from system

to system for bits of farm information. This collaboration with TracMap means now farmers and their agronomists can get complete access to pretty much all fert data in New Zealand regardless of who does their spreading, including self-spreading.

“And yet while fertiliser is one of the main cost centres in the operating expenses of a farm, it’s only part of the picture. Being able now to link fertil-iser input costs with pasture produc-tion output value is a boost.”

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26 // AGRIBUSINESS

Hub gets go-ahead from partners

Matthew Richards

THE PROPOSED Southern dairy hub has got the go-ahead from partners DairyNZ and AgResearch.

Southern Dairy Development Trust chair Matthew Richards says the trust this month updated the directors of DairyNZ and AgResearch on their fundraising, and sought their approval and

financial backing. Farmer pledges

numbered 516, amounting to $1.3 million.

The target was $2 million in farmer pledges, but because a majority of southern dairy farmers pledged money a decision was made to proceed.

“DairyNZ and

AgResearch were pleased with the number of farmers prepared to back the proposal, especially in a low milk payout time. Both boards wanted to see strong farmer commitment… and this was a key to going ahead. Both boards know how important the hub project is for our

region. Their support means we can move to the next phase of the hub development.”

The next step will be to buy a suitable farm, Richards says. “We have been looking at some properties that could meet our needs.”

Then consents, design and planning will go ahead.

“It’s going to be a tight timeframe to be ready for milking cows in June next year, but our team is ready and focused.”

The pledging website will remain ‘live’ until the day the hub is completed, to receive any more pledges. www.southerndairyhub.co.nz

Patrick Roskam

Young inventor still glowingYOUNG WAIKATO inventor Patrick Roskam (14) will celebrate a milestone at Fieldays: one year since he launched his Gudgeon Pro 5-in-1 gate hanger at the 2014 event.

Gudgeon Pro’s ‘birthday’ will be celebrated in the main pavilion with cake. “I’ve done a deal with mum to do the baking; mind you I think we will need a few cakes,” says Roskam.

All buyers of a Gudgeon Pro at Fieldays will get a free Gudgeon Pro keyring designed and printed by Roskam on a 3D printer he bought with his prize money.

Roskam invented the Gudgeon Pro for a science fair three years ago. Raised on a dairy farm, he con-ceived the device after his father bought a new farm and had to rehang all the gates on the race.

The tool allows straight, accurate drilling of holes for gudgeons -- especially the lock-through type. And it makes the job faster and less frustrating. “It replaces lots of tools to do the job, so reducing cost and inconvenience.”

Chiefly the tool is a drill guide for gudgeons and can be adjusted for different gates. It also has a level and two sets of wire placement guides to ensure the accuracy of a wire fence.

Winning the Agri Innovation Award for farm aids and tool/farm inventions was amazing, Roskam says. “There were 13 other entries in this category. I had to talk to five judges about the Gudgeon Pro which was a bit stressful.

“I was up against Dow Agrosciences and Te Pari Products so I was [expecting] to get a merit award. I was blown away when they announced I had won that class.

“The award also came with a big surprise of $1000 but I think the award was more important.”

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AGRIBUSINESS // 27

High input hill farm wins top award

Greig and Rachel Alexander.

IF YOU asked the aver-age Queen Street office worker to describe a high input high, output farm they’d probably describe an operation on the flats whose owners relied on PKE and thought little about the environmental impact of their farm.

This year’s supreme winners of the Northland Ballance environmental awards, Greig and Rachel Alexander, have done exactly this on their 486ha mixed function property in Pakotai, a rural commu-nity 50km northwest of Whangarei.

The couple run Waiko-pani Holdings, an oper-ation that combines a radiata, eucalyptus and lusitanica farm forestry block with a high input dairy farm and an inten-sive dairy beef farm. Of the 486ha, 150ha is river flats used for drystock.

Despite this the Alex-anders run 2.8 cows/ha – 0.3 cows more than the

regional average, and pro-duce 183,000kgMS per season.

They do this without pugging paddocks even though cows are usually resting on a steep slope most of the time, with the property resting on Waiotira soils, well known for draining poorly and being very errosion prone, especially during winter.

Alexander attributes this to feeding policies, the main reason the couple have worked towards a high input, high output system. “If cows are full when they go onto a pad-dock they’re just going to find somewhere to lie down. They only tend to move about when they’re hungry.”

Animals get fed 4% of their liveweight on a daily basis during spring, the rest coming from a mix-ture of pasture, maize silage, clover silage and PKE, and supplementary feed given on a feedpad.

While system five oper-ations traditionally import 25-50% of the cow’s daily

energy input, the Alexan-ders have managed to do this while only import-ing 10% of their budget, largely in the form of PKE. Supplementary protein requirements are instead made up with red clover silage grown on 13.5ha of the farm.

They looked for an alternate supplement source after the PKE price hikes and supply shortages in the post-2011 summer droughts in Northland and Waikato pushed demand for PKE much higher than supply.

The couple recog-nized the danger of rely-ing on an energy source outside their control and found an alternative in red clover, with protein levels of 20-22% and a yield of 16-18 tonnes DM/ha. Alex-ander says red clover has proved to be a strong per-former, growing well in the summer despite facing two droughts and two sub-stantial floods in three seasons.

To protect crop cover stock are kept off the field,

GARETH GILLATTwith the couple taking four cuts off the crop each season between October and April, four-six weeks after a round of weed con-trol.

Clover is fertilised after each cut with a focus on potassium and they do herbage tests on all crop cuts to see if any other supplements are needed to prevent mineral defi-ciencies. The clover is also a useful nutrient source for other crops.

Plant roots have nitro-gen-fixing nodules that take nitrogen from the atmosphere and fix it in a stable form in the decay-ing plant tissue. Alexander says this can dramati-cally reduce the amount

of nutrients for maize crops, something they cal-culate by taking 600mm core soil samples and run-ning results through the crop modeling software Amazin.

Regularly taken soil samples are used to track soil fertility and nutrient levels and ensure effective fertiliser use.

Meanwhile the farm’s forestry blocks and high intensity beef farm also require care.

Beef calves are sourced from the dairy farm and

from sales and are likely to be the operation’s top per-formers this season.

While the dairy payout is low, beef prices are stay-ing strong and may stay 20-30% above histori-cal averages, Rabobank director of dairy research for NZ and Asia, Hayley Moynihan, predicts.

The couple raise stock to 100kg before send-ing them to the beef unit. They grow beef to target weights averaging 460kg, which takes around 20-22 months.

Helping with the farm’s planting is Alexander’s father, Bruce. He has given sage advice on plantation planning. “Dad always said that for forestry you need to harvest the trees eco-nomically so it’s no good putting them on your steepest, most remote cor-ners.

“With all our plantings we actually put in tracks before we plant so that the infrastructure is there when it is time to harvest.”

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28 // MANAGEMENT

Less focus on milk production pays dividends

THE BOURKE farm is situated just south of the township of Patea perhaps most famous for its Maori Club which recorded the

song Poi E in 1996 with the great Maori entertainer, Dalvanius Prime.

But of course the area is equally noted for being

a great dairy farming area and Robert Bourke’s ancestors were among the first to set up a dairy farm here. His great great

grandfather came to Taranaki in 1873 having originally emigrated from Ireland to Australia where he worked in the gold

This week the annual once-a-day milking conference will be held at Hawera in Taranaki. It’s a chance for OAD famers to hear about the latest scientific data on this aspect of dairy farming and also for people to see other OAD properties. Peter Burke recently met Robert and Verna Bourke two of the organisers of this year’s conference and whose farm is one that delegates will be visiting as part of the programme.

Robert and Verna Bourke are happy with 200 cows and $1.90/kgMS cost of production.

ELEVEN YEARS ago Robert and Verna took the plunge and went OAD. They had talked about it for a while with friend and moved to OAD in December in 2004. That short trial went well and the next season they converted over to OAD.

The only regret that Verna Bourke has about this decision was that she wishes they had made the move much earlier when their children were young. She points to another couple not far away who have young children and have just gone OAD. She says they have the joys of being able to spend quality time with their children and go to sports and the beach. Verna says the afternoon milking was a real killer.

For Robert it was also about lifestyle and being able to stay on the farm longer. It’s been bril-liant he says.

“Looking back I wonder how I managed to do as much work as I did when I was milking twice a day (TAD). Interestingly the repairs and maintenance budget went up in the first two years of OAD because I had more time do such tasks. Then there is all the paperwork that Fonterra require and that takes time,” he says.

With eleven years experience behind them, Robert and Verna Bourke are happy to pass on

their learnings to those new to or contemplating OAD. The biggest learning says Robert was under-standing the cow.

“The day before we started OAD she was a TAD cow she still needed to be fed just as well. In the early days we were told to put on 15 percent more cows which we did but we probably didn’t feed them well enough. Over five years we came back 200 cows. This year’s 62,000kgs/ms was almost as good as the best we did on TAD,” he says.

Verna adds a key target has been having cows with high BW and low somatic cell counts. She says it’s also important to be patient with OAD cows.

“With OAD you have to be patient with cows at that morn-ing milking. It’s going to take longer because you have got to get all that milk out if them. You have to make sure that have all milked out otherwise they’ll get mastitis. You also have to be observant as you only see them once every 24 hours,” she says.

The other focus for Robert and Verna has been succession planning and their daughter and son-in-law came back to the farm three years ago and since then have been working as lower order sharemilkers. This com-ing season they have bought

the cows and will become 50/50sharemilkers, much to the delight of Robert and Verna.

“This hast enabled us to stay where we are. We have got a nice house which we have spent money doing it up. My daughter and son-in-law have got a job and nice lifestyle and we have got to stay here and of course I have got something to do,” says Robert.

This year the Bourke’s have directed their efforts to helping to organise the OAD confer-ence which will take place on the 10th and 11th of June at the Hub in Hawera. As experienced OAD farmers there will be a lot of interest in their farm from the conference delegates who are coming from throughout the country to attend the event.

Robert and Verna are very passionate about OAD and points to its many advantages such as lower costs – especially animal health and less stress on the cows.

“Those cows on some TAD farms walk two marathons a day. They are like athletes. I also question why Fonterra has got farmers producing so much milk and they can’t sell it. We should be having less milk so the pay-out can go up. Fonterra have got it horribly wrong,” says Verna Bourke.

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MANAGEMENT // 29

Less focus on milk production pays dividendsfields. He followed the gold to South Otago where he struck it lucky. On hear-ing that land was being sold in Taranaki he headed there and bought 600 acres of land.

“When he arrived and had just come off the road and he looked pretty rough and the auction-eer questioned whether he could pay for it. So he came and as the story goes he dumped his few bags of gold on the auctioneers table and asked would that do? They said that was fine and so he got and land then started the huge job of clearing it,” says Robert Bourke.

Over the years the land was split up and given to the sons of the new gen-erations. When Robert Bourke ended up coming back to the farm full time in 1978 he bought out his two uncles and also

bought some land from a cousin.

Today the farm consists of 73ha’s – 58 ha’s effec-tive on which he and wife Verna run 200 Jersey cows and produce about 62,000 kgs/ms. They have been on OAD for eleven years. The farm might be small in comparison to most, but unlike most dairy farmers at present they have set themselves up in such a way that they can weather the present low pay-out. In fact they are still making money.

Before taking over the farm he was sharemilking on a nearby farm and deci-sion to buy into the family farm arose when Rob-erts father died in 1977. He admits the decision to move from sharemilk-ing to owner operator was quick, but it was a case of the time being right.

When his father was

running the farm he milked about 90 cows, initially through an eight bail walk through shed which was progressively upgraded when in 1990, Robert reconfigured the shed to a 20 aside herring-bone and also upgraded the yards, milk room and overall plant.

“We’ve don a huge amount of work includ-ing re-fencing, upgrad-ing stock water, put in new races and done up all the buildings. Over the past fifteen years we have fenced off all the gul-lies and riparian planted the stream. This was long before Fonterra came along waving their big stick,” he says.

Unlike many farm-ers, the Bourkes have resisted the temptation to expand. Part of that is lack of suitable nearby land, but mostly it’s because

they have focused on profit rather than produc-tion. They run an all grass system, cut their own silage and produce some hay but buy in about 80 percent of their annual requirements. They also graze all their stock on the property – none is sent off says Verna Burke.

“There is too much focus on production these days. All the big boys talk about is their production but you can do all the pro-duction you like but if it’s costing you $6 to get that production on a $4.40 pay-out the answer is obvious. Whenever you go to a dis-cussion group the white board goes up and it’s the production that goes on - what it really should be is profit. Our costs are just $1.90kgs/ms whereas some are at $4.50, $5.00 or more. We are not pro-ducing as much as the big

fellows but with costs at $1.90 in a $4.40 pay-out year we are making money, even though it’s not a huge amount,” she says.

Another reason why the Robert and Verna have not expanded their oper-

ation is they thought the cost of buying a run-off was too expensive and expending would result is extra labour costs.

“I have looked at the options of growing maize and shed feeding systems

and crops and bits and pieces, but I would have had to build more infra-structure. Also we couldn’t afford extra labout and so it would have meant more work for Vern and myself,” says Robert.

Cows have high BW and low somatic cell counts.

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MANAGEMENT // 31

Watch fodder beet levels, farmers urgedDAIRYNZ SCIEN-TISTS are urging farmers to take care when feeding fodder beet to their dairy herds this winter.

The caution comes as vets report increased issues with cows becom-ing ill or even dying as a result of problems expe-rienced on fodder beet crops.

Beets have become increasingly popular over the past two years because they are high yielding and are suitable as a supple-ment for dairy herds. They are particularly popular in Southland and Canter-bury, but are now being grown in North and South Island.

Despite being an excel-lent source of metabo-lisable energy, there is concern that some cows are getting too much of the high sugar crop in their daily feed intake or are not getting sufficient time to adapt to fodder beet as part of their winter diet.

“We have had reports of farmers offering cows unlimited access to fodder beet. Because of its high concentration of sugars, fodder beet is a feed that should not be offered in this way,” says DairyNZ nutritionist Dr Jane Kay.

DairyNZ senior sci-entist Dr Garry Waghorn says fodder beet’s high sugar component means that excessive intake of beets can lead to lactic acid production in the cow’s rumen, and cause acidosis.

The transitioning stage for fodder beet becoming part of the cows’ winter diet is critical to ensuring that cow health and the nutritional value of fodder beet are optimised.

Waghorn and his asso-ciates at DairyNZ have run trials on the impact of fodder beet feeding. They have found that even fol-lowing the recommended transitioning over 14-21 days some cows could not cope with high levels (>70%) of fodder beet in the diet.

“Cows vary in the rate at which they adapt to a new feed type and in the amount they can eat. Move too quickly or feed them too much and you will kill some of them,” Dr Wag-horn says.

The DairyNZ trial work found that cows need to be transitioned carefully onto the crop over a 14-21 day period.

A typical transition would involve ramping up the fodder beet input by an additional 1kg DM/cow every second day, from a starting base of 2kgDM/cow/day.

DairyNZ trials at Lin-coln transitioned cows at an average of 0.5kgDM/cow/day, taking 17 days to get them up to their 8kgDM/cow/day alloca-tion.

Waghorn said it was critical to ensure that cows were also offered sufficient silage, hay or straw before feeding the fodder beet, to slow down their intake of fodder beet.

Once transitioned it was also vital that farm-ers continue to pay atten-tion to the proportion of fodder beet in the diet.

“At one stage in our trials we had cows eating 85% fodder beet and 15% straw. Half of these cows became sick, required treatment and had to be taken off the diet.

“This was in a con-trolled environment, and he emphasises the impor-tance of offering enough supplement to a herd to ensure all cows achieve adequate intakes to avoid acidosis.

“This trial work has shown that the herd should not be offered more than 70% of their diet as fodder beet. The remainder of the diet should be a long fibre source,such as silage, hay, or straw, and the cows should be fed this before their beet.”

This is about 8kgDM/cow/day in beets, and 4-5kgDM/cow/day of the other feed(s). “If you go over 70% fodder beet, you could kill some of your cows,” said Waghorn.

Good practice in man-aging a herd on fodder beet also requires that farmers accurately mea-sure the crop yield. This includes knowing the per-centage dry matter offered in each break, and remem-bering that this can vary within and between pad-docks.

It was important that the cows grazed a ‘mix’

of the roots and tops, and care was needed to ensure cows were eating the entire break offered, and uneaten beets were not accumulating behind them.

“Every cow is unique and will adapt to the

fodder beet diet slightly differently. Our trial showed that even a well-planned transition can result in acidosis and if cows are fed more than 70% of their diet as beet, half the herd are at risk of acidosis.

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32 // MANAGEMENT

Cheaper than a rotary, works for high - producing cowsDerek and Catherine Hayward with farm owner Paddy Lockett (right) in the new parallel milking parlour.

A SMALL dairy farm at Cambridge has installed the country’s first paral-lel milking parlour from DeLaval.

The P2100 milking parlour, commissioned last December, is making a substantial difference on the 134ha farm owned by Paddy Lockett, where 50/50 sharemilkers Derek and Catherine Hayward milk 320 cows. They have milked there for eight sea-sons.

Hayward says get-ting rid of a 36-a-side her-ringbone for the 18-a-side parlour with the latest technology was a sound business decision by the farm owner.

He says milking is now handled by one person, allowing the other staff to do other farm jobs

and making the business more efficient; cows are more comfortable in the spacious parlour where they are fed individually. Milking is done year-round and three calvings are planned this season.

Hayward says milking time has dropped though this was never the main reason for switching to P2100. Keeping labour cost down was the main driver.

The herringbone shed was only 13 years old but needed two milkers year-round.

“When we started getting our cow numbers down, milking around 250 cows, it did not justify the expense of a relief miker,” Hayward told Dairy News. “However, with a 36-a-side herringbone you need two people for milking; the idea was to put technology in the shed that allowed 350 cows to be milked by

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one person.” Hayward mentioned

the parallel milking par-lour to Lockett, and asked three companies for quotes.

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looking for something like that.”

Their P2100 comes with automatic cup removers, auto draft and auto wash features; new technology can be added

to the parlour.Hayward says the

P2100 enables high throughput with fast milk-ing and quick changes from one group to the next – exactly what is needed

for a profitable milking system.

Cow comfort and worker safety are important factors for Hayward, and the P2100 is designed for both:

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MANAGEMENT // 33

Cheaper than a rotary, works for high - producing cows

THE DECISION to install the P2100 was made in 2014-15, a high payout year.

However, farm owner Paddy Lockett and sharemilker Derek Hayward say the long term investment will pay off.

The plant was cheaper than a rotary and is getting more milk from the high performing cows, Lockett says. “This would be a waste of time for poor producing cows; our cows are top produc-ers.”

Hayward acknowledges the low payout is a worry. But he says any farmer building a new dairy would not be expecting to pay for it within a season.

“We know the nature of the beast is that the payout will drop and the payout will come back, so essentially we are looking for this investment to pay over a number of years. Sure, we have the outlay now and the payout’s down, but when is the right time?”

LONG-TERM INVESTMENT WILL PAY OFF

Catherine Hayward in the parallel parlour.

cows have easy entry to the milking place and a comfortable, natural position during milking.

Cows are fed while milked; after milking the front gate goes out and 10 seconds later the deck is watered, the flush lasting 10 seconds.

Hayward says by this time every cow has moved off the platform, then the front gates come down.

“And because she can’t turn till she gets to the front because of the sequence gates, she walks out without any problem and the next mob moves in.”

Hayward says he finds the P2100 environment much safer and enjoyable.

“Nobody who walks into the pit says they don’t like it. Everyone who

walks in loves it; there’s so much room in there. It creates an environment where people actually want to go to milk.”

The cows also look happier in the parlour. “We have a mixed herd with various sizes of cows; every cow that comes in is settled.”

Milking has also improved; the auto-matic cups don’t come off until the cow is properly milked.

Young cows get the same feed because they are not pushed around during feeding. During milking the cows get two feeds, including the high-cost Challenge feed, which goes to high producing cows.

Professional Farm Ser-vices installed the parlour.

Physically installing the equipment was a challenge on the year-round milk-ing farm. Contractors first dismantled the roof and removed one side of the old herringbone parlour – a serious disruption. With the 36-a-side reduced by half, milking took six-eight hours.

“One morning the

cows were milked while concrete cutters were working; it wasn’t ideal but we managed.”

Once the P2100 was completed, Hayward found milking times much shorter than with the 36-a-side herringbone. “The cows were wasting less time coming and going from the parlour.”

The front gates lift, allowing cows to walk out after milking.

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34 // MANAGEMENT

BCS app coming on public demandA NEW free body con-dition scoring (BCS) smartphone app will be launched by DairyNZ at Fieldays.

The app incorporates DairyNZ’s ‘Body Condi-tion Scoring Made Easy’ field guide and allows BCS on cows using a smart-phone.

Animal husbandry

specialist Andrea Henry says DairyNZ looked at other apps available and decided none had every-thing farmers were saying they wanted. So it created its own.

“The idea of the app is to help farmers get better and more consistent at scoring their animals,” says Henry. “Using this

app, when you are scoring animals you will be more accurate. And you are more likely to do it often because it’s easier.”

DairyNZ’s field guide has been built into the app so users can compare the field guide’s pictures to the cows in front of them.

She says feedback from farmers showed how

important it was to be able to compare a visual guide to the real cows in the pad-dock.

“But what farmer has the Body Condition Scor-ing Made Easy field guide with them 24/7?

“But they do have their smartphones with them – it’s rare these days for people to be away from

their phone. You’ve liter-ally got the information at your fingertips.”

The app enables a farmer to follow a cow’s progress through the season and to graph the progress of the entire herd.

The app can flag cows and enter their identifi-cation numbers into the

phone. “Let’s say you drive

past a cow and see it is lame or you see three cows in heat. That’s fine, but can you remember which cows they are? Now you can act immediately.”

The entire herd can be identified on the app via their individual IDs. The information gathered by the app on any particu-lar cow can then easily be emailed on.

DairyNZ brand mar-keting manager Andrew Fraser says the BCS app follows DairyNZ’s other app, its farm dairy effluent calculator, but he’s expect-ing the BCS app to be even more popular.

“The dairy effluent cal-culator is something you do every once in a while;

this new one is going to be used all the time.”

The development of more on-farm apps is inevitable, and a pasture assessment app will prob-ably be the next one to be made available after the BCS app, he says.

“Now farmers have a computer in their pocket, we can give them a tool to help them make decisions when they are out and about. Our job is to pro-vide a tool that is nice and intuitive and adds value to their day in these tight times.”

Farmers can down-load the new free app from the Apple or Android app stores from June 10. Farm-ers can also find out more about how to use the new app at DairyNZ’s stand.

Council to help farmers get on front footENVIRONMENT WILL be the focus of Waikato Regional Council at Fieldays.

Council staff in the main pavilion will answer que-ries about, for example, managing riparian areas, soil erosion, plant and animal pests, shallow lake, wetland and bush restoration projects and water use.

“The stand will show how farmers can get on the front foot with environment-related changes, to enable them to operate under new targets and limits designed to protect water quality,” said council chair-person Paula Southgate.

Southgate, and staff from AgResearch, Federated Farmers and University of Waikato will also be on the stand at times, as will other councillors.

Says Southgate, “We’re a big supporter of econom-ically successful and environmentally sustainable farming. Dairying has been facing tough times of late and it’s important we help the sector.”

She stresses that farmers need to be up to speed on such issues given that farming in the Waikato and Waipa rivers catchments are due to face new targets and limits to protect water quality. A proposed plan change is due to be announced early next year.

“Farmers must… prepare for whatever is intro-duced,” she says.www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/frontfoot

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Improved growth rates have been observed in heifers given pain relief at dehorning, compared to heifers that did not receive pain relief. Fur-ther research is required to observe the long term effects of a painful event on production.

In Australia, the biggest obstacles to adopting this multimodal approach to disbudding and dehorning are cost and availability of operators qualified to do this work. Specific training

on the use of sedatives and knowledge of the anatomy to perform local anaesthe-sia is required. Cost per calf will vary by region and operator.

These obstacles should not stand in the way of improved welfare for dairy calves. Ultimately con-sumer awareness puts pressure on the suppliers, who in turn can influence the dairy industry’s code of practice.

The dairy industry needs to adopt routine

procedures such as dis-budding/dehorning, to avert negative public per-ception of these proce-dures. This is 2015; how can putting a hot iron onto a calf ’s head without anaesthesia be OK?• Dr Gemma Chuck is a dairy vet working at The Vet Group in south west Victo-ria. She has a special interest in calf rearing and is work-ing on a PhD in this at The University of Melbourne.

ANIMAL HEALTH // 35

A pen of calves resting and recovering after disbudding. The combination of a sedative, local anaesthetic and an anti-inflammatory minimises the pain and stress associated with the procedure.

Removing the headache out of dehorning

DEHORNING IS consid-ered a routine procedure for dairy calves.

Removing horns from cattle improves animal welfare in the long term by reducing risk of bruis-ing and hide damage, espe-cially during yarding and transport.

Dehorned cattle are safer to handle and they require less trough space than horned cattle. Dehorning also increases the value of the animal and reduces aggressive behav-iour in the herd.

The gene responsi-ble for ‘polled’ is actu-ally dominant and the gene responsible for ‘horn growth’ is recessive. Basi-cally this means the dom-inant ‘polled’ gene can overrule the recessive ‘horn growth’ gene, result-ing in the animal being polled.

In the beef industry, genetic selection of known polled animals or animals carrying the ‘polled’ gene has resulted in nearly half of the national beef herd being polled.

However, transition-ing to a polled herd is slow and can take several gen-

erations for observable results.

Unfortunately, in the dairy industry the ‘horn growth’ gene is pre-dominant and this con-strains the opportunity for genetic selection for polled cattle. Most dairy cattle have horns and cur-rently there is no afford-able test to detect the ‘polled’ gene in the dairy breeds. Therefore the removal of horns in dairy breeds is likely to continue in the foreseeable future.

Calves are born with horn ‘buds’ and the cor-rect term for removal of these is ‘disbudding’. This can be done using a heated disbudding iron. At eight weeks of age the buds have grown sufficiently and have started to fuse with the underlying bone.

Removal of horns after eight weeks of age is called ‘dehorning’. Due to the fusion of the horn tissue with the skull, horns can only be removed by ampu-tation after eight weeks of age. This can be done with scoop dehorners of vary-ing designs or embryo-tome wire for larger horns.

Thus, it is desirable to remove horn buds prior to eight weeks of age as the procedure is quicker and

less painful. Hot iron cautery has

been shown to be the pre-ferred method of disbud-ding. However, regardless of method, there is an acute pain response fol-lowing the procedure which peaks at 30 min-utes and can last for eight hours.

Many studies have measured the effect of dehorning on calves and they have repeatedly shown this pattern of pain and stress response.

As a result, the disbud-ding and dehorning of calves in this way is a wel-fare concern.

Increased social aware-ness of the livestock industry could result in routine procedures, such as dehorning, being nega-tively perceived. In turn, this could impact con-sumer demand for dairy products.

Advances in veterinary medicine and pharmacol-ogy over the past decades have allowed drugs such as sedatives, local anaesthet-ics and analgesics (pain relief ) to become read-ily available for farm ani-mals. Many of these drugs have been used for years to treat sick or injured ani-mals and to enable surgi-

cal procedures to be done. Routine use of these drugs for the purpose of dehorn-ing dairy calves has been embraced in the UK, New Zealand, USA, Sweden, Canada and Denmark.

Regulation and legisla-tion vary internationally but there has been a gen-eral acceptance that dis-budding and dehorning without local anaesthetic is unethical and unneces-sary.

Studies have shown that the best way to reduce the pain and stress associ-ated with this procedure is using a combination of sedation, local anaesthe-sia to the area surround-ing the horn bud and pain relief at the time of the procedure.

Research has demon-strated that the stress/pain response in calves with this combination treat-ment at disbudding was virtually nil compared to calves disbudded with-out the combination treat-ment.

GEMMA CHUCK

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36 // ANIMAL HEALTH

Caring for the newbornTHE LONG term future of a dairy heifer can be influenced by events in the first 24 hours of her life.

We can directly affect these events and on her potential as a production animal. This article dis-

cusses the immediate care of the newborn dairy calf, and identifies at-risk ani-mals and how to manage them.

The ‘normal’ calf It is important to rec-

ognise the behaviour of normal calves in the first few hours of life so that abnormal calves can

GEMMA CHUCKbe identified promptly. Normal calves should:

■ Take their first breath within 30 seconds of birth.

■ Lift their head within 1-2 minutes.

■ Roll onto their chest within 2 minutes.

■ Attempt to stand within 15 minutes.

■ Begin shivering within 30 minutes.

■ Be standing within 1 hour.

■ Be suckling within 2 hours of birth.

Routine procedure for a ‘normal’ calf

PositionIf they haven’t already

done so within a few min-utes of birth, all calves should be positioned on their chest with their hind legs pulled forward on either side of their body. This position provides equal opportunity for both lungs to fully inflate, allowing easier breath-ing for the newborn calf. The traditional method of hanging the calf upside down or swinging the calf by its back legs is no longer recommended. It was originally thought that this practice allowed fluid to be cleared from the lower airways (lungs). In fact, the draining fluid observed is actually from the calf ’s stomach. Fluid in the lower airways will not be cleared this way and instead will be absorbed by the lungs. Airway

Clearing mucous from the nostrils and mouth will aid breathing. The head can also be posi-tioned over a small bucket with the nose to the floor to allow drainage of mucous from the upper airways (nose and mouth). Stimulate

There are many ways to stimulate a calf in order to make it breathe more vig-orously. Pinching the nos-trils, using a clean piece of straw to tickle the nostrils, pouring cold water into the ear, pinching and shak-ing of the windpipe high up in the calf ’s neck to ini-tiate a cough reflex and rubbing all over the calf ’s body with a clean towel are all useful ways to stim-ulate calves to breathe.

The aim is to initiate deeper breaths as these will help clear any remain-ing fluid from the nose and mouth, which in turn

will allow the lungs to be inflated more easily.Temperature

When calves are born their body temperature will be slightly higher than normal. At birth, their rectal temperature should measure 38.8-39.4oC. This will decrease within the first 30 minutes of life to 38.3-38.8oC. In normal cir-cumstances they should then be able to main-tain this body temper-ature. However, calves born in cold weather and a damp environment are at risk of hypothermia. Calf coats, heat lamps and hair dryers can be used to help maintain body tempera-ture, along with a clean, sheltered environment. Absence of shivering is a poor sign and indicates that assistance is required. Navel

The navel (or umbili-cal cord) seen at birth is comprised of the umbili-cal vein and the urachus. The umbilical arteries retract back into the abdo-men and are not seen externally. The function of these structures in the unborn foetus is to allow blood exchange between the dam and the foetus, and to remove waste prod-ucts produced by the foetus. In the newborn calf these structures become redundant and eventually they degenerate. However, at birth the wet ‘open’ navel provides an entry point for infection, allow-ing bacteria to enter the blood stream of the calf with sometimes fatal con-sequences. Heart disease, pneumonia, joint ill and meningitis are some of the consequences of bacteria gaining entry to the blood via the navel.

Disinfection of the umbilical cord at birth helps reduce the inci-dence of these diseases. Iodine (7%) can be used as spray or in a teat dip cup. If using a teat dip cup, ensure the iodine is replaced frequently to avoid the dip becoming heavily contaminated with bacteria. Iodine-based teat dip generally contains 0.5% iodine and will be insufficient for navel dis-infection. Teat-dip also contains emollients which can prevent the cord from drying. Colostrum

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ANIMAL HEALTH // 37

Caring for the newborn

of good quality first-milk-ing colostrum (>=22 Brix) should be provided as soon as possible after birth. For example, a 40kg newborn calf should receive 4L of good quality colostrum within 12 hours of birth. This can be split into two feeds, with the first feed within two hours of birth. If only poor qual-ity colostrum is available, then a higher volume will be required to avoid fail-ure of passive transfer of immunity. Observe and Record

All calves should be checked for abnormali-ties at birth. These include congenital deformities and induced trauma (frac-tures of the legs or ribs). All calves should be given a unique identification at birth (Farm ID tag, NLIS tag) and calving details permanently recorded. Such details can include calf ID, date of birth, dam ID, gender, assisted birth, twins and sire (if appli-cable).Resuscitation

Calves requiring resus-citation are more likely to be delivered by farmers, not by vets. All farm staff should be trained in the resuscitation of newborn calves, using the appro-priate equipment. Clean towels (ideally warmed), a hair dryer and a resusci-tator are helpful items to have in the calving area.

Certain calves will be at-risk and are more likely to require resusci-tation than others. These include calves with pro-longed or difficult births due to disproportion-

ate size, malpresentation, malpositioning or multi-ple births. Calves born by caesarean section are also considered at increased risk. All the ‘normal’ observed signs are likely to be delayed in these calves. For example, calves requiring an assisted birth may take 6-12 minutes to lift their head and roll onto their chest.

Attentive staff are crit-ical to recognise these calves quickly. Signs indic-ative of a calf requir-ing resuscitation include swollen tongue or head, blue gums or tongue, slow, weak or absent breathing, flaccid body and poor suck reflex. Inactivity, hypo-thermia and lack of oxygen contribute to accumula-tion of waste products in the blood (acidosis), which further delays absorption of colostral antibodies in the gut of the calf.

Resuscitation begins with the routine for ‘normal’ calves described earlier.

If positioning, clearing of the airways and stimu-lation are insufficient and the calf is not responding, then mechanical ventila-tion is required. This not only delivers oxygen to the calf but will also help reduce acidosis. Mouth-to-mouth ventilation is not recommended due to the risk of transfer of potentially harmful bac-teria. Instead, specifically designed resuscitators are recommended for this purpose.

The mask is placed over the calf ’s nose while the

head and neck of the calf is extended. It is important to close off the oesoph-agus on the left side of the calf ’s neck so that air is delivered into the lungs when the cylinder is depressed and not into the stomach. This technique is not as effective as plac-ing a tube into the wind-pipe to deliver oxygen by cylinder. However, specific training and equipment are required for this pro-cedure.

The main problems with calves post-delivery are inactivity, low blood oxygen, accumulation of blood waste products (aci-dosis), hypothermia, low blood sugar (hypogly-caemia) and poor colos-tral transfer of immunity. Treatment is targeted at the specific problem:

■ Position the calf cor-rectly

■ Clear the airways and assist with mechanical ventilation where nec-essary

■ Stimulate and encour-age movement

■ Provide a warm envi-ronment

■ Routinely disinfect the navel

■ Feed warm colostrum by teat or oesophageal tube

■ Record all calf details. Collectively these

actions will increase the chances of a positive out-come. • Dr Gemma Chuck is a dairy vet working at The Vet Group in south west Victo-ria. She has a special interest in calf rearing and is work-ing on a PhD in this at The University of Melbourne.

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38 // ANIMAL HEALTH

US cows happy in compost

COWS CAN dance for joy or stretch right out

in deep, peaceful sleep because of the comfort of compost-bedding pack barns, says Maury Cox of the Kentucky Dairy Devel-opment Council.

Many barn systems in the US use a compost-type bedding, and in Ken-tucky they are busy trying to perfect their “compost bedded pack barn”, which particularly suits family-type operations.

Dairy News visited, with an Alltech Rebelation Symposium tour, the farm of Bill Mattingly, near Lex-ington, Kentucky, where a compost bedded pack barn was installed recently for their 200-cow family operation.

Their compost bedded pack barn is simply based on sawdust flooring which, when mixed with the efflu-ent and managed well, including frequent turn-ing, becomes a crumbly dry compost. The cows are comfortable on the compost which can even-tually be used for fertil-iser.

Cox says they started this about eight years ago in Kentucky when they realised they had plenty of sawdust for the barns. But the key is to manage it well – and that means plenty of stirring. “You have to aerate it so it will make compost,” he says.

The Mattingly farm stirs it twice a day both ways when the cows come out. “You notice that if it starts to get a bit moist or wet and sticks to the cows, you need to add some bed-ding such as sawdust,” Cox explains. “We have seen that if it is managed correctly there is a lower instance of mastitis, and we have seen an increase in production…. We are seeing cows lasting longer, performing and being a lot more comfortable.”

The compost bedded pack barn methods have been the subject of univer-sity studies. They thought the heat produced by the compost would kill bacte-ria but that is not neces-sarily happening; there is still quite a lot of bacte-ria in the compost. “But if the cows are comfort-able, well-kept and treated properly – cleaned during the prep time for milk-ing, and post dipped – we see a lower incidence, in most cases, of mastitis or somatic cell count levels.

“But if you get it too wet it’s going to blow up and be ugly. So managing it is very important.”

Huge fans keep the air circulating, and the barn also needs to be well posi-tioned for ventilation.

The compost is good underfoot for the cows. If it composts well, the bulk reduces. It may have to be changed every six months but he has seen some farmers with good systems carry on for two or three years “if it’s work-ing right. But if it was not working completely right you would have to bring it out once or perhaps twice a year. For most folks it’s once a year.”

Kentucky used to oper-ate mainly on old stack barns. A layer of straw would be put down, then when it got “nasty” you’d put another layer down. The key with the compost barn is the stirring. To stir it they use a rotor-tiller or a special cultivator. It has prongs like a regular cul-tivator and it gets down about 4-5cm. Sometimes the compost is so warm steam rises up as they stir it.

The system started in Minnesota but they find the Kentucky climate better suited. Israel also uses the technique with a lot more aeration and sometimes can go a year without adding bedding, says Cox.

A great thing about the compost bedded pack barn is it eliminates liq-uids so there’s no runoff, he says. You can clean it out quickly, use it as com-post on your own farm and haul it to a distant field quite easily. He says some farms get a big milk pro-duction boost because the cows are so comfortable.

PAM [email protected]

Cows in a compost bedded barn in Kentucky.

Maury Cox

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SOUTH ISLAND DAIRY EVENT // 39

SIDE conference delegates in 2014.

Inspirational speakers to wow attendeesWHAT DO an entrepreneur, a moun-taineer and a television presenter have in common with dairy farmers?

All are keynote speakers at the upcoming 2015 South Island Dairy Event (SIDE). And all will tell their inspiring stories to motivate the south’s dairy farmers in this difficult farming environment.

SIDE organising committee chair Steve Booker says now is the time to be resilient, and to learn from people who have faced and overcome adver-sity in their own lives.

“We have deliberately chosen motivational presenters including Sir Ray Avery and Mike Allsop who have pushed through hardship to achieve. Their stories are stimulating and uplifting, and we hope SIDE farmers will come away inspired.

“SIDE offers plenty of workshops to provide practical timely advice and information on the things farm-ers should be dong to monitor and improve production, and to manage finances. But it’s also an important time to lift the sights from everyday operations, and to think and plan about how to get through the current downturn and beyond. Resilience is the key.”

The conference speakers are as follows.

New Zealander of the Year 2010 Sir Ray Avery is a well-known and successful pharmaceutical scientist and businessmen whose efforts have made modern cataract surgery avail-

able to very poor people in many countries.

Brought up in English orphanages and foster homes, he knows adver-sity, and has seen hard-ship while working in Africa and Asia. He was determined to use his knowledge of pharma-ceuticals, science, prod-uct management and product design to tackle big health issues endemic in the developing work. His catch-cry is practicality and sustainability.

Avery has received many accolades and awards for his efforts.

Mike Allsop, an airline pilot, Mt Everest mountaineer, adventurer and extreme marathon competitor, also knows about pushing through barriers.

He dreamed of being an airline pilot and pursued this goal, breaking it down into smaller parts then focus-ing on each step in turn. Now an Air New Zealand captain, he uses the same steps to reach goals in physical pursuits, including being only one of a few athletes to complete seven mar-athons in seven days on seven conti-nents.

He is living proof of a philos-ophy “if you believe you can, you will,” and will impart his goal-setting approaches and inspirational think-ing to SIDE attendees.

Ed Timmings, a chiropractor and

‘ironman’, knows about tragedy. He will offer tips for achiev-ing balance in a busy life and reaching busi-ness objectives and personal potential.

Mike McRob-erts, TV3 news pre-senter and reporter from conflict hot-spots such as Afghan-istan, Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza, will share

insights gained while covering natu-ral disasters such as in Haiti and Pak-istan.

Mai Chen, a lawyer and managing partner in Chen Palmer Public and Employment Law, serves on advi-sory boards, is an author and busi-ness leader whose skills have won her awards including Business and Entrepreneur Women of Influence Award 2013.

She has recently founded New Zealand Asian Leaders, connecting top Asian NZ chief executives and emerging leaders with NZ compa-nies trading in Asia.

Rabobank analyst Michael Harvey will speak about the bank’s food and agribusiness research and advisory (FAR) team. This analyses develop-ments in food and agricultural mar-kets and industries, and advises on their strategic implications. Harvey has worked with Dairy Australia as a commodity analyst in the dairy sector.

EFFICIENCIES IN the dairy indus-try will be a key subject at the annual South Island Dairy Event (SIDE) at Lincoln University on June 22-24.

SIDE, organised by farmers, will cover information on improving dairying practices.

The theme this year is ‘UpSIDE’, and organising committee chair Steve Booker says the emphasis will be on the farmer.

“It is more important than ever

to ensure you look after your physi-cal and mental wellbeing when farm-ing in tight times,” he says. “SIDE 2015 will provide ideas, encourage-ment and motivation – all critical to well-being.”

There will be 30 workshops cover-ing practical farming knowledge and global dairying trends: what is topical today, and useful tomorrow.

Booker says with the current low milk price, it is far more important

that farmers find efficiencies in their business than when the payout was over $8. “The SIDE workshops are designed to help farmers find and cap-ture those efficiencies; attendees can customise the conference to fit their interests and needs.”

SIDE is also an opportunity to net-work and socialise with other farmers off-farm who will be dealing with the same issues.www.side.org.nz

Emphasis will be on the farmer

Steve Booker


40 // SOUTH ISLAND DAIRY EVENT

Use N wisely and be productiveIT’S POSSIBLE to meet nitrogen limits onfarm while remaining pro-ductive.

That’s what South Island Dairy-ing Development Centre (SIDDC) executive director Ron Pellow will tell farmers at the South Island Dairy Event (SIDE) at Lincoln University on June 22-24.

SIDDC runs the Lincoln Univer-sity demonstration dairy farm which aims to show best-practice sustain-able, profitable farming.

Research there has shown that an irrigated, low input system was theoretically as profitable as a more traditional system, yet can reduce catchment nutrient loss.

Such tactics as running fewer cows, applying less nitrogen, using very little imported silage and using pasture more effectively were found during the farm’s first season to yield

more milk than the previous season, and with 12% less nitrogen loss to groundwater.

“We had voluntarily modified farm management part way through the 2013-14 production season, spe-cifically to lower the predicted N-loss, but these changes had a significant impact on profitability. A range of farm management practices were then evaluated for their impact on predicted N-loss, farm profitability and feasibility.”

The changes to farm manage-ment for the 2014-15 season sought to regain some of the lost profitabil-ity while further reducing N-losses.

The result, which Pellow will out-line in a SIDE workshop, is a more efficient total farm system. This has lifted expectations of profitability from grazed pastoral systems while meeting environmental obligations.

“Different regions have differ-ent nutrient constraints so how farmers manage their own situation will be individual to their circum-stances. What we’re doing is provid-ing evidence of what can be achieved with the right stocking rate and feed supply.

“The key, after matching stocking rate to total feed supply, is good pas-ture management.”

Pellow says with the spotlight on maximising profitability during the current low returns, this is a good opportunity for farmers to look at their own per cow performance and farm inputs, with the aim to achieve more total feed going out the gate as milk.

Attendees can customise the conference to fit their interests and needs. www.side.org.nz

Farming under pressure can be masteredPHYSICAL AND mental well-being while farming under pres-sure will be a key subject at the 2015 South Island Dairy Event (SIDE) at Lincoln University from June 22-24.

DairyNZ specialist Dana Carver will speak about “the resilient farmer – keeping yourself strong amidst the ever-increasing pres-sures of farming”.

Her talk has been presented widely and is said to be popular across New Zealand.

“People love it because it focuses on real-world and farmer-specific solutions to the practicalities of keeping healthy. Telling someone

they must sleep well is fine, but what are the practical things you can do for yourself when you’re spending half the night awake and worrying?” she says.

Her statistics will show that a lot more farmers are expe-riencing excessive stress, and she will talk about why farm-ing is now more stressful than 30 years ago. “We will look at why the stresses are there, and think about what we can do as an industry to change the culture.”

Carver, herself a farmer, will out-line research about what to do about

stress so farming can be enjoyable. “This is the more exciting research – it focuses on the day-to-day real-ity of what it means to be healthy and is pre-sented with a farming slant.

“I’m after practi-cal questions from farmers on the detail of how to implement change, like how to fit exercise into a busy lifestyle, and what is needed to plan meals for healthy eating.

Dana Carver, DairyNZ

SIDE attendees will hear about minimising nutrient loss.

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For inspiration, motivation and new knowledge SIDE 2015 is a must-see conference.

There will be a wide range of topics that

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SIDE examines the big issues with a local focus. It provides a forum that educates, inspires and motivates.

We are proud to be involved with NZ’s premier dairy event.

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MACHINERY & PRODUCTS // 41

Humble linchpin and global reach holds multi-national together

THE WORLDWIDE spend on agri-cultural machinery amounts to many billions of dollars, and with it creates a support industry for the service and parts required to keep these machines moving.

Manufacturers are duty bound to supply parts for machines no longer in production for ten years after ces-sation, so as in the car and truck indus-tries a swag of companies exist to tap into this huge market.

In 1964, a chartered accountant on a business trip to Denmark came across a business making linchpins from steel bar, so he borrowed 200 pounds and set up business in his grandfather’s garden in Exeter, southwest England.

Sparex was formed with Malcolm Brook at the helm, and the first shipment of 10,000 linch-pins flew out the door to the UK farm machinery trade. Orders increased, and by the end of the first year’s trading turn-over had reached 24,000 pounds. Within a few months Brook began sourcing pins made in the ‘Black Coun-try’, West Midlands, known for its industrial heritage, and as well as sup-plying the UK trade he began shipping parts overseas. By 1968, Sparex was sell-ing an amazing two million linchpins a year, and by the mid 1970s the company was selling 1 million per month.

In 1973 it hit the 1 million pound

turnover figure, with exports to 40 countries accounting for at least 70% of turnover. The product range expanded greatly too, and the business opened subsidiaries in France and North Amer-ica.

In 1982, with export sales to 60 countries and with seven overseas sub-sidiaries, Brook sold the business to the

Wolseley Hughes Group, well known for Lister shearing equipment.

In the 1980’s parts were introduced for tractors, first for Massey Ferguson, then Case and John Deere, and the first ‘wearing’ metal for ploughs was sold in 1996.

The company passed through the hands of a venture capital company

until it settled with its current owner, AGCO, which paid 53 million pounds for it in 2010.

The current managing director, Jeremy Burgess, recently commented “I believe Sparex is successful because of its global thinking, and unlike some of our competitors who cover local areas, we cover the world.”

MARK [email protected]

SPAREX NZ ■ Established in 1987

■ Locations in Auckland, Fielding and Christchurch

■ 20 staff

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■ Serving agricultural dealers in NZ and the Pacific.

Sparex offers over 50,000 products worldwide.

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42 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Auto fert spreader eases mundane job

AUTOMATED FERTILISER spreading with a Vicon RO XL GEOspread is raising accuracy and cutting tedium on a Canterbury crop-ping farm.

Simon Lochhead and family grow cereals – wheat, barley and triticale – plus peas for Watties and small-seed crops such as rye grass, white clover, and brassicas on the 340ha property he works with his father Alan.

It was a dryland farm until recently, but now uses a centre pivot irrigator with GPS control to apply water at variable rates, enabling the Lochheads to have square pad-docks. The areas are set up in multi-ples of 24m to match the sprayer and spreader. The Vicon GEOspread can work wider but Lochhead prefers 24m for spreading light products like urea.

He is no stranger to technology, already using GPS for tractor steer-ing, and yield mapping on the com-bine harvester, so saw the move to variable rate application of fertilisers as the next logical step

A contractor applies base super and lime because of the volumes required, but Lochhead applies nitro-gen and compounds such as mag. oxide and potassium chloride with the Vicon GEOspread during the growing season.

In practice, the Lochheads’ consul-tants Agronomy Solutions Ltd create prescription maps based on inten-sive soil sampling. These are trans-ferred to a USB stick that plugs into the control screen in the tractor cab, and varies the spreading rate depend-ing on the sampling results.

The Geospread arrived late last season, chosen for its ability to use a double overlap spread pattern for a better spread and the Roto-flow system that pre-accelerates the fertiliser before it drops onto the discs; this results in less damage to the fertiliser and the multi-vaned spreading discs that produce a more even spread.

Simon commented “the hardest part of the job now is doing nothing”. The machine switches the flow on as the head-land mark is crossed and adjusts flow in 2m sections to accurately spread on “short” ground, so it’s very easy to operate.

In use the machine uses the inte-gral weigh system to constant re-cal-ibrate and Lochhead uses an app to get guidance on machine setting for any new products being spread. Urea, which is normally applied before rain, is often spread at night, so the GPS and automation are a big help.

With a hopper capacity of 2.5

tonnes (3450L) the machine suits covering large acreages quickly, but if a run has to be suspended for a refill the system will accurately guide the operator back to the resume point.

Lochhead notes that the farm’s annual fertiliser spread costs almost twice that of the machine, and he believes the machine will pay for itself quickly with its accuracy, and make easy a mundane job.

GEOSPREAD FEATURES

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The Geospread allows more accurate spreading of fertiliser.

Roto-flow system pre-accelerates the fertiliser before it drops on the discs.


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Sharon Klaus uses the auger bucket to feed maize with the MF 5460.


Control at fingertipsMATAMATA CON-TRACTOR and dairy farmer Robert Klaus has great partnerships.

The first is with his wife Sharon who loves her cows and runs the dairy farm. The second is with Massey Ferguson, supplier of their new MF 7615 Effi-cient DynaVT for Klaus’s hedge-cutting business.

They bought their first dairy farm near Matamata. They’d been share milking for seven years, working up to managing a 500-cow herd. Now they have their own property where they milk 150 cows on 52ha eff.

It’s a small farm and dairy payouts are look-ing questionable for this coming season, so it is good Klaus has his con-tracting sideline. Besides he loves machinery.

“I’d been working for a mate who owns a con-tracting business for the last eight years and I wanted to do something myself. Sharon enjoys milking, and I could see a gap in the market mulch-ing barberry hedges.”

Klaus looked at second-hand cutters but couldn’t find anything good enough so he had the local engi-neers design and build one for him. It’s like a giant mower tilted on its side with two big blades, and a shroud around it. It mulches the hedges and leaves everything tidy.

Klaus got the Massey Ferguson 7615 in Decem-ber from Matamata trac-tors.

“I needed a six-cylinder machine with a long wheel base because the hedge-cutter is mid-mounted. I got the Dyna-VT variable transmission as it goes down to 0.3km/h. I use it in foot mode. I just take my foot off and it stops. I hardly ever use the brake or clutch. It’s like driving a big forklift.”

The hedgecutter runs off the tractor’s hydraulics and all the operations for the rams on the cutter are controlled from the fac-tory joystick in the cab. “I saved a lot of money, as I didn’t have to fit an after-market joystick,” Klaus says.

The joystick also has a forward/reverse button so he doesn’t have to move his hand during opera-tions. He can constantly look at where he’s going and what the mulcher is

doing.The cutter is mounted

on the left side of the trac-tor, and Klaus says it is “a piece of cake getting in and out the right door. In some other brands it was just about impossible to get out.”

There are dual wheels on the cutter side to help balance the weight of the machine.

“I’ve got a bigger foot-print on the left side, which makes it more stable. Otherwise, if I hit a hole the cutter would drop when I’m trying to keep the hedge straight.”

He doesn’t fit duals on the right side, as it would make the tractor too wide to get through gateways.

The MF 7615 is pow-ered by a 150hp Tier 4a AGCO Power SCR engine, which uses AdBlue to min-imise toxic emissions.

“It’s no problem. I fill AdBlue every third tank of diesel. It’s got a gauge tell-ing me when it’s low, and I always keep a bit on hand.”

He says anyone can jump in and drive the trac-tor. “It’s what I like about them. “They’ve got all the technology but it’s user-friendly. Everything is simply laid out.”

The cab also meets with his approval. “It’s awesome – comfortable and really quiet. That stood out when I first drove it. People ring me and ask what I’m doing because they can’t even hear the hedge-cutter working.”

Klaus says the service-ability is also good. “You don’t have to pop the bonnet to check the oil. And if you need to blow out the radiator, it’s right there and easy to get at.”

The MF 7615 is avail-able in three different specifications: Essential, Efficient and Exclusive. Klaus got the Efficient, buying from Matamata Tractors. “When we were building the hedge-cutter they helped the engineer to shift the diesel, hydrau-lic and AdBlue tanks, and nothing was ever a prob-lem.”

This isn’t Klaus’s first dealing with Massey Fer-guson tractors. They also run a MF5460. They’ve had the MF 5460 for four years. It’s 120hp with a Dyna-4 transmission.

“I always liked Fergies and Matamata Tractors

did a good deal I couldn’t pass up. I just like the trac-tor. It’s got everything we need but is still basic to operate,” Klaus says.

“It’s reliable and noth-ing has gone wrong with it. On the big farm it pulled the silage wagon. Now it has an auger bucket for feeding out on a pad. It also does the mowing and

all the farm work.”He says both the Fer-

gies are quiet tractors, with everything well laid out, at his fingertips.www.agcocorp.com

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What’s in a brand?

THE JOHN Deere logo is probably recog-nised by anyone in agriculture, but a 2014 Top 100 of Global Brands and their perceived values produced by Interbrand showed JD was even recognised by the greater public, coming in at 79th position with a value of $5.12 billion.

Surprisingly, there were no other recog-nised brands with an agricultural leaning other than Caterpillar, probably better known

for its construction equipment, that came in at 61st with a value of $6.8b.

No surprises then to see Apple as the most recognised brand (value $118b), Toyota 43rd ($43b), Mercedes 10th ($34.2b) and Ford down at 39th ($10.8b).

Interestingly, the readily recognised ‘leap-ing deer’ was first registered by Deere in 1876 when it was more locally known as The Moline Plow Company, its core business pro-ducing about 60,000 ploughs a year.

The original trademark showed a deer bounding over a log – a huge mistake by the designer because it featured an African deer

not the Native American white tailed deer that appeared in later versions of the trade-mark.

Deere has updated its logo about six times since the late 19th century. The last change in 2000 was to a deer with its hind legs planted firmly on the ground, signifying the heritage and roots of the company, while the leap-ing deer with raised front legs captured the essence of a company moving boldly into the new millennium.

What’s certain is that the next time this logo gets a tweak it won’t cost $26 million and will always feature the leaping deer.


DEERE AND Co, the owners of the John Deere tractor brand, has reviewed its earnings forecast for the financial year to October, saying it will finish at about US$1.9 bil-lion despite sales having fallen by 19% in the year so far, not 17% as previously forecast.

Earnings Feb-April dropped 30% to US$690.6 mil-lion, on revenues down 20% to US$ 7.40b, much less

than forecast.Samuel Allen, chairman and chief executive, said

“JD expects to be solidly profitable in 2015 despite a pullback in the farm machinery sector. All in all we

remain confident in the company’s direction and our ability to meet our customers’ needs.”

First quarter results were noteworthy in light of the weakness blighting the global

agricultural sector.Deere agricultural sales fell 25% to US$ 5.77b; the con-

struction division gained 2% to finish at US$ 1.63 billion.Lower commodity prices and falling farm incomes put

pressure on demand for agricultural machinery, partic-ularly larger items such as combine harvesters and large tractors traditionally bought by Canadian and North American grain farmers.

Deere predicts the market in Brazil will fall by 15-20% due to economic uncertainty and the high-interest govern-ment loans normally used to fund agriculture.

The Canadian and US markets look likely to fall by only 25% as the the livestock sector show signs of rallying on the back of low grain prices.

Tractor maker’s earnings dip

John Deere is one of the top 100 globally recognised brands.

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Tractor maker’s earnings dip

From left, Tom Welke, senior vice president, global grain and protein, GSI; Given Lubinda, Agriculture and Livestock Minister, Zambia and Rob Smith, senior vice president, general manager Europe, Africa and Middle East at the official opening.

AGCO, backs ‘future farm’ in Africa

New mineral blend targets deficienciesFEED COMPANY BEC Feeds says its new mineral blend, to be launched at Fieldays, offers a cost-effec-tive solution to deficiencies in cows.

Developed specifically for New Zealand dairying by BEC Feed Solutions, the product, called Main Stay Macro Minerals, delivers key nutritional minerals in a convenient, palatable, accurate and dust-free blend.

The company says because it incorporates Boli-for Mag 33 and MGP+ magnesium products, farmers won’t have to worry about pasture dusting again, con-sequently saving valuable time and labour costs.

“We’ve developed Main Stay Macro Minerals specif-ically with New Zealand dairying in mind, on the back of our success with the Bolifor magnesium range” says Trina Parker, country manager, BEC Feed Solutions NZ.

“Like all our products, Main Stay Macro Minerals is scientifically backed, incorporates the highest qual-ity ingredients, and is designed to optimise the nutri-tional health of animals.

“It is a convenient and accurate means of supple-menting herds with the essential minerals magnesium, calcium, and sodium, plus the optional additions of Rumensin and phosphorus…. Farmers are beginning to recognise the importance of adding Phosphorus, but until now the options have been limited,” says Parker.

Main Stay Macro Minerals is dust free, easy to use and ensures accurate dosing. It contains 20g of mag-nesium per cow per day.

AGCO, THE manufac-turer and distributor of MF, Fendt, Valtra and other brands, has opened its Future Farm and Learn-ing Centre in Lusaka, Zambia.

Its aim is to support local and sustainable food production systems and increase farm outputs by using resources more effi-ciently.

The 150ha enterprise grows demonstration crops on land cultivated, planted and harvested by AGCO equipment. Local commercial and not-for-profit businesses lend their support.

As well as the farm’s mechanisation learning centre there will be grain and poultry learning cen-tres, all three a first for Africa.

Around 200 people live in a community around the farm. The entity employs 40 workers, and up to 60 children are in gardening classes. The cropped area covers about

70ha and grows crops such as maize, hemp and sun-flowers.

For AGCO at the recent opening, Rob Smith, senior vice-pres-ident and general man-ager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East com-mented “as Africa’s’ pop-ulation is set to reach 2 billion by 2050 we saw that a need for sustainable mechanisation and train-ing had never been greater. AGCO’s Future Farm will help small and medium scale farmers with basic agronomy, pre-harvest solutions and harvesting. For the larger farmers we will help with best practice techniques in protein pro-duction, grain storage and precision farming.”

AGCO sees Africa offering tremendous growth potential for busi-ness, and so will design products to suit the local environment, and manu-facture locally also. It will also provide training and parts and service support from a Johannesburg base.

Nuradin Osman, direc-tor of operations, com-mented “what we are


building here in Zambia is more than just bricks and mortar, it’s about people and partnerships. Mechanisation is the cru-cial ingredient in raising agricultural productiv-ity in Africa, whilst the

constraints of access to improved seeds and fer-tilisers are subduing the speed of progress. Both sides of the equation need attacking in parallel to enable the country to move forward.”

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An entire tractor life in four weeksUNTIL THE early 1990’s Claas was known as a manufacturer of harvest-ing machinery for the grain and livestock indus-tries, but that changed in 1993.

The introduction of the Xerion systems tractor moved Claas into a whole new sector, with a machine that incorporated the con-cepts of a modern tractor and a specialised systems vehicle. It spawned a new generation of units that

could be pushed, pulled or carried and make the most of the Xerion’s shiftable cabin, load platform and ZF sourced HM8 continu-ously variable position.

More importantly, it signalled Claas’ inten-tion to become a long-line supplier, and break into the conventional trac-tor market. This came about in 2003 when Claas bought a majority share-holding in Renault Agri-culture and, in particular, the Le Mans tractor plant

Claas is well known for its above average spending on R&D, as shown in the

recent commissioning of a new testing and valida-tion facility near Trange, France.

Based on two state-of-the-art test benches, the facility allows designers and engineers to simulate the entire working life of a machine in a few short weeks. Housed in a pur-pose-built 12m structure, the massive test benches are mounted on earth-quake-proof floor pads constructed from 950 tonnes of concrete and 60 tonnes of steel.

The benches are large enough to take the com-

pany’s entire range of trac-tors, combines and forage harvesters. As well as ‘whole’ machine tests they can be used for individual component tests with a high level of precision and, more importantly, repeat-ability.

Working 24/7, data can be generated in a few hours which would have typically taken many months, significantly reducing product devel-opment lead times. New designs can be given pre-liminary tests early in their life, refinements can be made and re-tests carried

out. From the test benches machines will typically move to test tracks before completing extensive in-field testing of up to 40,000 hours.

Used in tandem, the driveline test bench assesses and allows opti-misation of the engine, transmission, hydraulic system and all-important management software. By generating hundreds of combinations of torque, speed and temperature the system can replicate dif-

ferent agricultural prac-tices used throughout the world.

In turn, the massive amount of energy gener-ated by the driveline test-bench is used to power a four-post, test bench which allows research-ers to assess durability, reliability and comfort in order to optimise chassis and suspension settings. It consists of four vibrating hydraulic rams, each with a lift capacity of 25 tons, a maximum frequency

of 25Hz and a maximum height difference of 40cm.

Group product man-ager for CLAAS Tractors, Dave Knowles, says “This technology means cus-tomers can be assured they are investing in high performance machines that not only increase their productivity, effi-ciency and comfort, but are even more reliable.”www.claasharvestcen-tre.co.nz



Claas has commissioned a new testing and validation facility in France.

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dairy news 9 june 2015

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