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Fortnightly Summary 13th July 2023

And just like that, we are well and truely into the depths of winter! 🥶🥶Despite the cold and wet periods over the past 2 weeks, the cows continue to improve in BCS overall and are coming close to pre calving targets with a few weeks left until calves arrive. The team have also been out to weigh and bolus the R1s out at grazing and their weights are well in line with industry target for their age 🐄🐄Our crops continued to grow above and beyond any other year and are yielding between 28...

SDH June field day notes

It was great to see so many people at our Winter field day last week. The event doubled as a field trip for the SIDE Conference so we also welcomed attendees from outside the region. While the weather didnt allow a walk to the crop paddocks, a few hardy souls did brave the elements for a walk to the cowshed for a look around. For those who missed the event the handout is now available on the website. ...

June Field Day 2023 - Kale vs Fodder beet

Download our handout in the link below...

South Island Dairy Event (SIDE)

The South Island Diary Event (SIDE) is a two day conference for farmers, led by farmers.Visit the website HERE for more information ...

Weekly summary 24 May 2023

Weekly update 24 May 2023 (I know it is the 26th today but it has been a busy week so we are running a bit late summarising the data!!)What a phenominal autumn we are having for pasture growth!! We averaged 30 kg/DM/day for the last week - double what we had in the autumn feed budgets. While it would have been nice to milk on longer a number a things dictated our decision to dry off on the 25/26th as planned. The high APC has created some headaches, but we have a plan to get it down before all t...

Weekly Summary 17 May 2023

Weekly Update 17 May: With just over 1 week to go of the season, a number of things are keeping the team on their toes at the moment. The heifers are being utilised well on the platform and transitioning onto fodderbeet has started for them in the last few days. We are doing our best to get all milkers, dry cows and heifers eating the same level of fodderbeet before the end of next week to ensure the smoothest transition into winter possible. Checks are being undertaken on the water supply ...

Weekly Summary 10th May 2023

Weekly update 10 May: This weeks' cold snap will helping us get on top of our average pasture cover with herds being given fresh pasture mid afternoon rather than topping up with silage. The autumn feed budgets have been updated and with heifers back on platform from Sunday and minimising supplementary feeding to all herds for the next week we are on track to hit our dry off APC targets for all farmlets.Our shout out this week goes to the farm and tech team for getting all the heifers collared a...

Weekly summary 3 May 2023

Planning, planning, planning is the priority for us at SDH at the moment with lots of changes required across the farm prior to winter. As we moved to the new farmlet wedges for grazing this week our meeting focused on ensuring we had robust plans for achieving target pasture covers in our winter baleage, pre-springer, springer and colostrum paddocks and that everything was balanced across the new farmlets. Fodder beet lifted out of our transition zones will be used to transition milkers from mi...

Weekly Notes - 27 April 2023

Public holidays are playing havoc with our weekly scheduling of farmwalks & weekly meetings at the moment but next week we should be back to normal with posting of information.This week the SDH family held a farewell function for Louise as she counts down to her last day as GM on the 2nd May. She is definitely going to be missed by all involved at SDH.On farm we are concentrating on managing the run to the end of the season and to help with this have pulled together a calendar of events that...

Weekly Notes - 20 April 2023

While still in a strong feed situation, increasing lameness and the need to increase the rate of BCS gain to achieve our dry off targets we will move all herds to OAD milking today. At the same time we will lengthen the rotation by increasing inshed feeding and topping up with silage to meet intake targets.Paddocks are being sequentially dropped out of rotation so they can be set up for baleage wintering and springers. With the re-randomisation of paddocks for next season the wedges are starting...

Weekly Notes - 13 April 2023

Sorry we are a day late with the update this week. Farmwalk was done Wednesday to accomodate staff time off for Southland anniversary!.First mob of 22 cows dried off today and next group of culls scheduled for departure next Tuesday. Noticing a slight increase in lameness following the wet weather so will be assessing all herds carefully and will reduce milking frequency if required to minimise lameness risk. Still lots of high quality pasture around but with paddocks dropping out for wintering ...

Weekly Notes - 8 April 2023

Weekly update 6th April. Autumn pasture growth has gone crazy at SDH to the point where we have had to drop paddocks out for baleage to try and get our pre-graze mass and residuals under control. We have no levers to pull to increase demand at this stage of the season so will be focusing on managing supply through conservation and post graze mowing as required to tidy residuals. Paddocks for winter baleage are now being dropped out of the rotation and nitrogen fertiliser applications have fini...

Weekly Notes 28 March 2023

Weekly update 29 March. Well autumn has arrived with a vengeance this week with squally showers, hail and a frost!!! Despite this grass growth has been strong allowing us to increase the pasture allocation.Celebration time for the Pink herd this week who have just ticked over 1200 kg MS/ha for the seasonThree paddocks have been aerated with another 5 on the list when conditions and grazing align. The summer direct drilled new grasses are ready for their first nip off this week.Calves at the graz...

Weekly Notes - 22nd March 2023

Weekly notes 22nd March and autumn is shaping up OK so far. With another 48 mm rain this week, soil temperature at 16 C and N over 60% of the farm the grass is really starting to move. First paddocks scheduled for aeration this week with 8 earmarked for remediation if conditions allow. Herds are now settled on their faster rotation of 28-32 days with minimal inshed feed except to priority cows and no silage. Individual paddock plans for wintering are progressing well. Calves are being weighed an...

Weekly Notes - 16th March 2023

Another inch of rain over the weekend, pre-graze covers coming up, so supplements are coming out of the herds and we're dropping rotation length (39 to 30 days) to keep in-tune with pasture growth. Fodderbeet yields complete and two-thirds of the crop are at 19TDM/ha already! Adjusting baleage supply to those paddocks to ensure our beet/bale ratio is right. New tech Sam here doing the sampling, and a bit of maintenance gravelling gateways at the support block. Click the link below to downlo...

Weekly Notes - 10th March 2023

Pasture quality tests from February pasture show how "average" the summer quality has been, between 9.5 to 10.0 MJME/kgDM. At 11 - 14kgDM/cow of pasture, this is definitely the biggest limiting factor on production right now. Working hard this week to juggle paddocks at varying lengths (thanks to tasty new grasses), adjusting silage needs and for now not yet reducing the in-shed feed. Weighed our R2s at grazing last week 395kg, and brought empty and surplus in-calf animals home. Phew! It's ...

Weekly Notes - 3rd March 2023

Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

March Field day 2023 - Nitrogen Use and Cost of wintering

Missed getting to the Field Day?  Download our handout in the link below...

Weekly Notes - 28th February 2023

We are looking forward to catching up with you at our field day on farm on the 2nd March; registrations from 10.30 am. It is nice to see the farm greening up and pre-graze covers lifting ever so slightly. No change to rotation length or target intake but will be looking to decrease supplementary feed if pre-graze covers continue to lift. The team have enjoyed the move to silage feeding rather than the 20+ bales per day they had been doing. The spring stack was closed today and we will open the a...

Weekly Hub Notes - 24th February 2023

A quiet week for the cows, but a busy week for the land. The silage stack is open and boy does it smell amazing in the ovens for a dry matter sample. No change to rotation length, target intake as cover tends to look healthier and soil moisture heads in the right direction. The final scan is booked for Friday, with a big range of results expected across the herds. Shout out to the team for finding and fixing "the belter", the nasty gate that gave most a "shocking" experience, from some induced c...

Weekly Notes - 24th February 2023

Not without its challenges as grass is in short supply, we are staying the course, with plenty of supplies going in, herds all on 3-in-2 and holding rotation to ration out our grass. A big shout out to the pink herd, the first to crack 1,000kgMS/ha this season.Download the full notes in the link below...

Weekly Notes - 14th February 2023

We are experiencing challenges as grass is in short supply, but we are staying the course, with plenty of supps going in, herds all on 3-in-2 and holding rotation to ration out our grass. A big shout out to the pink herd, the first to crack 1,000kgMS/ha this season.A quick view here summarises our week. New silage stack, pinks new paddock, baleage records and a grazing plan!Click the link below to see this report on our Facebook page...

Weekly Notes - 10th February 2023

Onto 3-in-2 milking from today, 22-44% supplement fed to the herds (16 bales/day) and sticking to our target 39 (ish) day rotation. Stripping herds 1 qtr/day 4 days/week to watch for mastitis and exiting high-risk culls this week.Check out our notes summary in the link below...

Weekly Notes - 3rd February 2023

Key decisions this week include:1. moving to 3n2 milking from 7th February to protect cow BCS; Implementation delayed allowing heat stress measurements to be completed this week and to allow time to develop solid plans for implementation and recording2. will utilise our remaining contracted DDG in the blend over the next couple of deliveries to boost protein content. Aiming for 40% PKE, 30% barley & 30% DDG.3. will utilise all avenues available to decrease feed demand through culling4. next ...

Weekly Notes - 25th January 2023

Herds are now settled on their longer rotation. The priority now is to start setting the farm up for next season by actively managing BCS. Cows have been targeted for either preferential or restricted feeding in the shed based on current BCS, age and expected calving date.See our full notes in the link below...