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Weekly Summary 27 March 2025

Hold rotation length of 32-35 daysMaintain a minimum of 18 day return time for new grass paddocksHave narrowed the list of paddocks for aeration - criteria include season to date pasture growth, soil structure, year of establishment and notes from farmwalks in springWill close the silage stack and use PKE to top up any shortfall in the Standard herdsMove copper sulphate mat to the exit race and assess if it stays cleaner than in the entrance to the platform Purchased baleage to be distributed ev...

Weekly Summary 21 March 2025

Requested quality analysis on potential silage to purchaseHold rotation length aroung 32-35 daysMaintain a minimum of 18 day return time for new grass paddocksPasture DM% ranging between 15.8 and 20.7%Pasture quality range 11.1-12.5 MJ ME/kg DM: 18-25% crude protein; 38-45% NDF; 18.3-25.7% Non structural carbohydratesPrioritising paddocks for deep aeration as wont be able to do all potential paddocks this autumn; will use the ground hog on lower priority paddocks...

Weekly Summary 14 March 2025

The team will be doing a count of all baleage bales on farm to ensure we have sufficient to meet winter and spring feed budget requirements Plan to stop feeding DDG in the grain blend in the next load - with pasture crude protein in the mid to high 20's and nitrogen requirements there is no shortage of protein in the diet; DDG is also more expensive than barley Looking to extend the rotation out to 35 days for both farm systems Started aerating paddocks damaged during spring utilising a borrow...

Weekly Summary 7 March 2025

C-dax vs plate and visual comparison still to be completed Identifying paddocks requiring N fertliser based on applications season to date and current growth conditions Completed second scan - waiting on results to be uploaded into MINDA but comments from the scanner suggest the results are disappointing Visited calves at grazier; all going well and grazier commented on how even the line is Empty R2 culls have gone Silage for spring feeding harvested and in the stack Identifying springer paddock...

Weekly Summary 28 February 2025

Farmwalk data suggests an increase in average pasture cover but cows are suggesting there is not as much available as we are estimating from the plate meter. Quite a lot of dead in the base of many paddocks and pugging makes plating challenging.Looking to heavy roll badly pugged paddocks to smooth them out.Proposing to compare c-dax estimates of pasture mass with plate meter and visuals this week to try and identify opportunities to improve our estimations of available pasture.Identifying paddoc...

Weekly Summary 21 February 2025

GeneralLatest pasture DM results: New grass 15.2%; Italians 13.6% and normal pastures 20%Final new grass paddock to be grazed this week when soil conditions allowHerd test completed, including screening of all cows >250000 SCC for staph aureus N applied and maintenance fertiliser applications have started 2% empties in the heifers and 1 freemartin identifiedHeifer liveweight gain has slowed in the last month so reassessing feeding levels with the grazier; average weight 390 kg (323-...

Weekly Summary 14 February 2025

IntroductionLatest pasture quality results: Crude protein ranged from 17.1 to 25.4% helping explain the swings in milk urea nitrogen we are seeing the vats; NDF from 44.1 to 51.8%, metabolisable energy from 10.8 to 12 MJME/kg DM and soluble sugars from 1.9 to 9.4.We are continuing to graze new grass paddocks, which will offer as a full feed between am and pm milkings rather than 1-2 hours immediately before the pm milking to get them grazed off faster. We're putting them onto paddocks full ...

Weekly Summary 7 February 2025

We increased supplementary feeding to Standard herds as pre-graze covers have dropped again and cow behaviour and residuals have indicated they have been tight for feed this week - target 3 kg DM/cow inshed, 2.6 kg DM/cow/day PKE in trailers and 1.8 kg DM/cow/day baleage. Our Future herd is being offered 2.3 kg DM/cow/day inshed feed.First new grass paddocks will be nipped off this week, and to reduce risk of nitrate issues cows we will graze half a paddock for 1-2 hours each day on the way to t...

Weekly Summary 31 January 2025

Started feeding baleage (2 kg DM/cow/day) and PKE (1.5 kg DM/cow/day) in trailers to standard herds to meet daily intake targets with reduced pasture growth rates and lower pre-graze covers; also receiving 3 kg DM inshed.Increased inshed feeding by 0.3 kg DM/cow/day to Future herd, average intake of 2.4 kg DM/cow/day and will top up with baleage as required. Started planting new grass paddocks ahead of first nip off grazing.Potential early culls have been identified and will be checked for ...

Weekly Summary 24 January 2025

Dropping in shed feed for mixed age cows 5.0 or greater and R2/R3's 5.5 or greater to 0.5 kg/day; feeding rates to stay the same for the remainder of the cows.No paddocks out for conservation this week as growth was below demand.Reduced target allocation to 19 kg DM/day based on milk production and ongoing challenges hitting residual.Started identifying low producing cows for potential culling as soon as first pregnancy scan is completed early Feb, including one cow to be culled immediately base...

Weekly Summary 17 January 2025

The normal HubWatch Weekly farm update will resume next week when the team is all back on board. In the meantime here are some insights from the farm during the hot weather. I hope everyone had a great break and took some time to recharge the batteries. The farm team (including myself) have enjoyed time out with the family through the holiday break. There was even some sun where the family and I camped!...

Weekly Summary 9 January 2025

Happy New Year. We hope the start to 2025 has been a good one for you all. Some more settled weather has allowed us to get baleage made on the milking platform and a stack of silage earmarked for summer feeding down. Thanks to the team at D Thompson Contracting Ltd. All our regrassing has been completed and now we are concentrating on oversowing paddocks damaged during spring. We are keeping a close eye out for pests in our swede crops and weeds in the new grass paddocks. Milk production is hold...

Christmas Newsletter

As 2024 draws to a close, I want to take a moment to reflect on what has been an incredibly productive year for the Southern Dairy Hub. It's been a year of growth, collaboration and exciting developments. We’ve had the privilege of working closely with many of you, continuing to test new practices and contribute to Southland's dairy sector with vital research.As General Manager, I’m constantly amazed at the work being done here – not only on our research farm but also in how it benefits lo...

Summer Newsletter

Kia ora and welcome to our summer newsletter! We’ve had a busy few months, navigating the challenges of September’s wet weather while making great progress on our exciting initiatives and trials. People are at the heart of our efforts, and I really want to express my gratitude to our dedicated team for their commitment and hard work, and to the wider community for your ongoing support.I’m excited to share some of our recent highlights and what we’re working towards as we head into s...

Weekly Farm Summary 15 November 2024

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Weekly Farm Summary 6 November 2024

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Weekly Farm Summary 31 October 2024

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Weekly Farm Summary 25 October 2024

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Weekly Farm Summary 10 October 2024

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Weekly Farm Summary 4 October 2024

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Weekly Farm Summary: On hold

Weekly notes are temporarily on hold while we review the notes. If you have suggestions for what you'd like included in the notes, or their frequency, please email admin@southerndairyhub.co.nz...

GM Andrea Dixon chats to Andy about the upcoming field day

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Early-spring Newsletter

Kia ora and welcome to our early-spring newsletter! We've had a busy and productive few months, and I'm excited to share some of our key highlights and upcoming initiatives with you. The farm team has had a busy winter delivering the DairyNZ Farm System wintering trials. An early glimpse of our progress is available in the notes from our recent field day (www.southerndairyhub.co.nz/field-days).Last week, we removed the ICE Cubes (accelerometers that measure cow behaviour, including ste...

Media Release: Southern Dairy Hub simplifying their operating and governance model

Simon Flood, SDH Chair, said “the Hub is celebrating its sixth anniversary in June, and it’s an opportune time to take the Hub to the next level. This is a natural evolution, where the original structure, established six years ago, was ready for improvement to provide better management of the business”.The new structure, which comes into effect on 1 June 2024, has the operations of the Hub and ownership of all Hub assets under one entity and one Board (previously two entities and two Board...

Weekly Farm Summary 15 May 2024

Well all good things must come to an end and the time is near for us calling a day on the 2023_24 season. While overall it has been a good season for us, this autumn is bringing its fair share of challenges - sodden ground conditions, increased lameness and average growth rates have made this autumn quite different to the last two. With heifers now back on the milking platform after teat sealing on Thursday our challenge is to manage the feed supply to ensure we don't go below our 1 June APC for...