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Weekly Notes - 28th July 2022

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Weekly Notes - 14th July 2022

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Field Day 6 July 2022

Plan B in wet weather and strategies to manage cow lying times, innovative new loafing surfaces, does crop establishment technique affect pugging depth, infrastructure concept updateMissed getting to the Field Day?  Download our handout in the link below...

Weekly Notes - 2nd June 2022

Cows are transitioning well onto crop and the farm team are definitely enjoying a few less mobs on crop this year with the adoption of baleage wintering for 3 mobs.Soil temperature has dropped to 8.6 deg C this week.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 26th May 2022

Milk production finished 3% down on last season but we fed a lot of supplements to achieve this result. We still have 39 culls on farm waiting for killing space. On a positive note strong grass growth in late April/May has set us up well for next season. Cows are now all transitioning onto the winter diets.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 19th May 2022

All cows will be dry by the 24th May and starting transitioning onto their winter diets a few days later. With strong late autumn growth APC is above target but the plan is to get all farmlets as close to 1900 kg DM APC by the time animals going onto crop.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 12th May 2022

The countdown to the end of the season is well and truly on with only 12 more milkings. Soil temperature is currently 6 deg above the same time last year i.e. 13 deg C compared with 7, which helps explain the above average pasture growth rates we are seeing.With growth rates above demand, we are bringing the heifers back onto the milking platform to help pull the cover down and using the dry cows to clean up any untidy residuals left by the milkers to ensure we achieve our pre-winter APC targets...

Weekly Notes - 5th May 2022

The count down is now well and truly on to the end of the season. 104 cows in total dried off so 500 still in milk, including about 40 culls that we are still waiting to get away.Good solid grass growth in the last week and drying off some cows has meant we have been able to significantly reduce the amount of supplement to all herdsClick the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 28th April 2022

Seeing the pasture finally responding to the recent rain and nitrogen fertiliser earlier in April is nice. Soil temperatures are currently sitting 3 deg C above the same time last year so hopefully, we will have a few more weeks of grass growth.This week we have focused on our N decision-making rules and the use of gibberellic acids for increasing pasture production. If you want more information on these topics the links are below:https://www.dairynz.co.nz/.../managing-nitrogen-fertiliser/https:...

Weekly Notes - 21st April 2022

Still waiting for the pasture to respond to the recent rain and N applications. With the window for good growth rapidly closing as the days shorten and soil temperature drops our focus is on minimising the impact of the dry on next seasons performance.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 14th April 2022

The 25 mm rain this week was a nice follow-up to the 20 mm last week. Following the rain and nitrogen applications, the pastures have responded in terms of colour but the growth rate has been slower to respond. Soil temperature is currently 13.4 C and very similar to the same time last year so hopefully, we will see a lift in growth next week.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 7th April 2022

We were one of the fortunate areas to receive rain earlier this week. While 23 mm was less than we were hoping for anything is a bonus at the moment, especially for our winter crops. Diets are still 40-50% supplement and the Std and LI FB herds are now grazing fodder beet.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Field Day March 2022

Repro focus, mating results between herds, LIC HoofPrint, Reduced GHG emissions and the Cow-lympics where we crown our top farmlets in all key areasMissed getting to the Field Day?  Download our handout in the link below...

Weekly Notes - 31st March 2022

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Weekly Notes - 24th March 2022

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Weekly Notes - 17th March 2022

Supplementary feeding has been increased to all herds this week however we are close to maximum in-shed feeding as FEI for both kale and fodder beet farmlets are in the orange band, despite the kale herds receiving a 50:50 barley: PKE blend and the FB herds straight PKE. All herds are getting 3-4 kg DM baleage on top of their in shed feeding.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 10th March 2022

Growth rates improved slightly this week and APC is holding, but only with 4-5 kg DM of supplementary feed. Between 50 and 70% (herd dependent) of our culls have now left the farm, significantly reducing our feed demand. We will work to get 'works' culls away whenever space becomes available. Decision-making now is all about setting up for next season and making sure the impacts of our dry summer/early autumn only impact this season.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 3rd March 2022

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Weekly Notes - 24th February 2022

The pasture situation has started to turn following 20mm of rain last weekend, however, we are not out of the woods yet.If you have any feedback on our new look weekly notes we would love to hear from you.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 17th February 2022

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Weekly Notes - 10th February 2022

Key Decisions:Feed:• Despite the lack of rain over the last week pasture growth has continued to meet or exceed demand at the current pasture allocations for each herd (range 14-15 kg DM/cow) resulting in small increases in average pasture cover• Visually pasture quality appears to have improved and with 3 herds grazing new grass paddocks this week we have seen a lift in milk production.• We are observing significant differences in the colour and evenness of pastures between the Std and LI...

Weekly Notes - 3rd February 2022

With 25 mm of rain in the last 2 weeks, less wind and some N on our standard paddock, we have growth again this week! While still below demand for a full pasture diet in both the low and standard farmlets, growth is allowing us to offer approximately 15 kg DM as pasture.Key Decisions:Feed:• Pasture samples taken last week came back with crude protein (CP) levels between 12% and 16%, except for the new grass paddocks which were >25%. These low crude protein contents will be one reason behind...

Weekly Notes - 27th January 2022

The first scan of the herds was completed last week for all herds and at a farm level 6 weeks in-calf rate has lifted again on last year's results, sitting at 73.8%. All the hard work and dedication from the farm team has paid off.Key decisions this week:Feed:• Managing pasture quality and allocation continues to be a priority as we struggle to hold milk production across all farmlets.• Both kale farmlets and the LIFB farmlet have paddocks that are long days post graze and losing quality. Th...

Weekly Notes - 20th January 2022

Our critical focus is on keeping cows in the pasture of the correct length and best quality this week with any paddocks above pre-grazed target being earmarked for baleage.Key Decisions this week:Feed• The 12-month-old grasses are going through a period of quite uneven growth potentially due to compaction issues. These paddocks are a high priority for aeration once conditions allow. In the Std farmlets these paddocks will continue to get N after grazing, however for those in the LI farmlets th...

Weekly Notes - 13th January 2022

Key Decisions this week:• Feed:Based on residuals from the last couple of paddocks in each farmlet the inshed feeding has been removed from the Std FB and reduced to 1 kg DM/ha for all other herds. Kale herds are back on a 70:30 PKE: barley blend and the LI FB on PKE only.o 1 paddock in each of the standard farmlet was identified as surplus on Thursday and mown for baleage and will be baled before the weekend.o Nitrogen applications will resume this week to the std farmlets at an application r...