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Weekly Notes - 20th January 2023

The team has successfully pushed the rotation out beyond 30 days for all herds but it has taken a lot of supplement to get there. This week has seen a divergence in pasture supply between the farmlets with the LI FB having the best pre-graze pasture cover and the Std FB the worst. Both Std herds will require more supplementary feed this week to meet demand and hold the rotation....

Weekly Notes - 13th January 2023

After almost three months of chasing our tails to manage what seemed like a never-ending surplus of pasture, growth has dropped below demand and the weather forecast suggests it might not be improving any time soon. This has prompted the decision this week to push the rotation for all herds out to 32-35 days using a combination of in-shed feeding and silage....

Weekly Notes - 4th January 2023

Full-on baking of pasture and soil down here, and once again we'd like to offer our support to Northern buddies by offering to take some water off their hands . Although, we must say - what a season for clover!Big drop in growth rates this week with more intense heat and dropping soil moisture causing areas of pasture to brown off. Soil moisture lower than this time last year.Firm hold on rotation now through summer, and we use all levers to maintain or slow rotation and preserve cover. New gras...

Weekly Notes - 23rd December 2022

Quick update this week as we battle coming off a wave of surplus that had to be harvested and rolling into a few paddocks that may not be quite long enough.The plate meter is still showing paddocks at correct dry matter, however we know part of that is the drier base in the pasture and available covers are still sitting a little lower than the plate shows.Holding rotation, and topping up as needed between all the herds, production is wobbling around a little and is tending to reflect quality of ...

Weekly Notes - 16th December 2022

Another week of crazy pasture growth on the farm has us dropping more paddocks out for conservation so we can get cows grazing the best quality pasture and achieving residual without the need for mechanical intervention. The first new grass paddocks had a nip off graze this week with a few more likely in the next couple of weeks.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 9th December 2022

The farm team have been doing a fabulous job of keeping on top of seedhead with their tactical decisions around topping and conservation. Our adjustment of herd and farmlet sizes to achieve sensible rotation lengths and pre-graze covers is definitely paying off.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 2nd December 2022

With increased seedhead emergence and cooler temperatures growth has slowed this week. Mating is going well with only a small number of cows yet to be submitted for mating.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 25th November 2022

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Weekly Notes - 18th November 2022

Great visit to SDH this week by delegates from the combined NZGA, NZSAP and Agronomy society conference. Lots of good discussion and a few thought-provoking comments and questions around how we plan to measure the impact of our research locally and what we need to do to ensure we deliver on our purpose of "Leading innovation for Southern farmers' prosperity".Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 11th November 2022

Another week of growth above demand and more paddocks stepped over for conservation. Cows continue to cycle well but with less intervention before the PSM submission rates are back slightly on the same time last year.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 4th November 2022

Just like that we are into mating. Good numbers have gone up the first 2 days and with Cidrs coming out yesterday we are expecting a busy weekend.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 28th October 2022

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Weekly Notes - 21st October 2022

Priority activities on the farm are now focused on preparing for mating. Cycling activity is being assessed and the list of candidates for CIDR's will be pulled together next week. I think the one cow left to calve may have already put herself on next year's cull list.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 14th October 2022

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October 2022 Field Day

20 projects in 5 years, wintering infrastructure updateMissed getting to the Field Day?  Download our handout in the link below...

Weekly Notes - 7th October 2022

Our best laid plans to get the baleage off before the weather system came through was thwarted by a significant baler breakdown so our first cut of baleage is unlikely to be great quality and will be kept separate until we can get feed tests done on it. The team utilised the springer paddocks that had freshened up to hold cows off the milking platform through the worst of the weather. Extra in-shed feed and silage were offered to keep them all well fed.Click the link below to download our f...

Weekly Notes - 30th September 2022

Growth has continued to be strong this week as we finish the first round. With growth above demand all farmlets have at least 2 paddocks out for conservation after the farm walk this week. Concentrating on cows going into the correct pre-graze mass to achieve residuals without mechanical intervention.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 23rd September 2022

Grass growth across the farm has exploded this week so as we move into our second round we will be speeding up the rotation to 22-26 days for Std and LI herds respectively. Looking to shut the silage stack and reduce in-shed feeding to the minimum required to deliver the necessary milking minerals.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

Weekly Notes - 16th September 2022

With less than 100 cows to calve the days are not quite so busy for the team with calf pickup and dealing with new mums, however it is pretty busy in the calf sheds with our first group of replacement calves about to head to the support block. We have exceeded our replacement numbers so will have some discretionary culling to do once the DNA results come back.Click the link below to download our full weekly notes...

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...