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Weekly Notes - 9th September 2022

Pastures across the farm are looking pretty good for this time of year and it is nice to see regrowth in the paddocks that have been grazed. Cold wet conditions saw an increase in the incidence of metabolic issues but the team did a great job caring for these animals.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 2nd September 2022

All herds are at least 75% calved so things are quietening down on the calving front. As of Monday all cows will be off crop and we will consolidate our springer mobs. Pasture growth is similar to budget and APC tracking close to the feed budget targets. With declining pre-graze covers 5-6 kg of supplementary feed is being offered to hold our SRP area allocations.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 26th August 2022

With 60-70% of all the herds calved we are hoping to see the continuation of settled weather and increasing pasture growth rates. This week sees an increase in supplement allocation so we can hold our SRP areas and fully feed cows at our current pre-graze mass.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 19th August 2022

We seem to be flying through calving this season with between 49 and 59% of the individual herds calved. The team are doing a great job managing all the different mobs and ensuring we stay on track with our feed allocation. We have continued to consolidate dry and springer mobs this week which has allowed us to split into individual farmlet milker mobs and move to twice a day milking meaning we still have 10 mobs to contend with each day.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 12th August 2022

We are in a good position with regards average pasture cover and area available to graze from the SRP. With the quick calving rate we have already split into kale and fodder beet milker mobs and next week will likely split into farmlet mobs. Mobs on winter diets have been consolidated to simplify feeding for the farm team.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 5th August 2022

As of today we have 96 cows (13% of the herd) calved which is not bad for only being at our official calving start date. We will start supply on Monday and most likely be splitting into farmlet herds in a couple of weeks time.We currently have x3 springer mobs, x1 pre springer mob, x2 mobs on fodder beet, x1 mob on swedes, x4 mobs on baleage/grass and x1 milker/colostrum mob so keeping track of feeding is keeping everyone on their toes.We hope you have all had a restful winter and look forward t...

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...