Dairy Farmer October 2023

OCTOBER 2023 | $14.55

Dairying to be different

New research farm finds its feet

PLUS:

➜ Humble beginnings for industry leader

➜ Kiwis’ dairy farming venture in India

➜ Four Canterbury farms rich in history

October 2023 | $14.55

View from the Cowshed

By Jim van der Poel

Farmers have set out what they want political parties to think about leading up to the election.

Like all Kiwis and small business owners, dairy farmers have been feeling the effects of rising costs. Coupled with the recent forecast cuts in milk price, many will now be thinking about their business viability.

With the general election around the corner, DairyNZ’s 2023 View from the Cowshed survey highlights what farmers want political parties to think about leading up to the election, to support them now and into the future.

The survey shows farmers being very concerned about the impact of inflation and regulations for some time now.

The recent fall in the farmgate milk price will have only added to their concerns.

In the View from the Cowshed survey, almost 75% of dairy farmers report experiencing cost increases of over 20% in the past year alone.

Many farmers will be struggling to make ends meet and are focused on minimising losses this year. Therefore, it is important for the forthcoming government to keep tight control of its own spending and avoid contributing to inflationary pressures.

It’s vital we support farmers to succeed, given their significant contribution to local communities and economies, with dairy projected to generate over $25 billion in export revenue this year alone.

Sixty-five percent of dairy farmers say changing

regulations are a key challenge.

They’re concerned about impractical regulations (72%), too much change at once (69%) and the speed of change (64%).

Excessive and impracticable

regulatory requirements are negatively impacting farmers wellbeing and their farming businesses. They are creating real frustrations.

DairyNZ is calling on all political parties to commit to an independent regulatory review panel, made up of experienced farmers from across the primary sector, to review proposed regulations that impact farmers and ensure they are necessary, practical and cost-effective, and will achieve desired outcomes.

The survey findings also emphasise the pressing need to resolve workforce challenges, including staff shortages and retention. A total of 26% of farmers say they don’t have enough staff to meet their needs, while

29% are never or rarely able to find staff with the skills and experience they need.

DairyNZ wants policymakers to continue collaborating with sector organisations as we work to improve recruitment and retention of farm staff.  This includes supporting flexible immigration policies and our sector’s Great Futures in Dairying Plan (designed to build great workplaces and workforce).

In many ways, we want the same things as other Kiwis – a solution to the crippling rates of inflation and workers to fill vacancies.

We want solutions that work for the people in our rural communities, so they can thrive and continue contributing to a positive future for New Zealand. n

“Many farmers are focused on minimising losses this year. Therefore, it is important for the forthcoming government to keep tight control of its own spending.”

It’s vital we support farmers, who make a significant contribution to New Zealand’s local economies, says DairyNZ chair Jim van der Poel.

A fresh eye on farming

From the essential oils in the wildflowers to the shape of the land, every aspect of farming on a Canterbury farmlet is being scrutinised and analysed in the service of finding a better way.

Lincoln University Professor Pablo Gregorini says he wants the Health Farm to challenge the notion that a choice needs to be made between production and the environment.

Photos: Tony Benny

By Tony Benny

Lincoln University

Professor Pablo

Gregorini would like New Zealand dairy farming to be redesigned as a system that puts health before production, thereby changing the minds of farming sceptics while helping farmers to make more money.

“What we are trying to do is change our general mindset,” Gregorini says.

“We are changing the way we are thinking of farming, changing paradigms, going from pure productivism to more a holistic approach

where we are still making money.”

Practically, that means taking a new close and scientific look at everything on the farm – the soil, plants, animals and people as well as the environment and the wider community – and using proven research from New Zealand and overseas to design and test a radically different way of dairy farming.

“We started with a white canvas and spent almost a year with a multidisciplinary and international design team comprising landscape ecologists, landscape

architects, animal, plant and social scientists, academics and youth to determine what are the demands, who are the stakeholders in the new system — the university, the animals and plants, the farmer and society — and what are the primary and secondary requirements of those to design a transformational farm focused on health,” Gregorini says.

The idea was to design a way of farming that better addresses the multiple needs of all those stakeholders, enhances farming’s standing in the community and satisfies an increasingly picky market.

“We evaluated all the requirements democratically, so the requirement of a cow is as important as the requirement of the farmer or the requirement of the soil or the environment, and only by that could we then provide solutions and tools we can use to fulfil that demand and get into the position of a farm that produces health rather than a simple commodity, milk.”

The Integral Health Dairy Farm project is led by Gregorini with Dr

FARM FACTS

• Farm size: 43ha

• Herd size: 100 cows

Pasture your neighbours will envy!

Anita Fleming as research manager. Gregorini describes himself as “a Kiwi with an Argentinian accent”.

He’s been in New Zealand for 16 years, and previously worked for Wageningen University in the Netherlands, the Department of Agriculture in the United States and the Institute of Grasslands and Environmental Research in the United Kingdom, as well as DairyNZ.

He is now professor of livestock production and agricultural systems at Lincoln University, as well as

Continued page 10

HYBRID RYEGRASS FORGE

The phenomenal 3-5 year pasture, with environmental benefits too.

A university farm is creating global interest as it works towards the sort of dairy farm even a vegan could love.

The Integral Health Dairy Farm’s moo loo. In the middle are trees that will provide shade and browsing for the cows while the bark chip collects, spreads and slows the percolation of cow urine.

the director of the university’s Pastoral Livestock Production Lab and head of Lincoln’s

Centre of Excellence for Designing Future Productive Landscapes. He also serves

on the boards of a variety of international agricultural scientific organisations.

“We have projects here in New Zealand with all farming systems, beef and lamb, deer

Lincoln University Professor Pablo Gregorini says he wants the Health Farm to challenge the notion that a choice needs to be made

and the environment.

and dairy. We have project in the States, Norway and in Brazil with the same story, looking at future productive landscapes and integrative agricultural systems.”

Gregorini says he’s open to pretty much any idea, as long as it’s based on published scientific research and Māori knowledge. He’s quick to distance himself from comparisons between regenerative and conventional agriculture proponents.

“My team is way beyond the futile discussion between being regen or conventional. I think it is a waste of time and there are a lot of egos involved.

“Saying, ‘I am this and you’re that, I’m good, you’re bad’, in my opinion is a futile discussion that only wastes farmers’ time and investment and funding to prove or disprove something. We all want to help our environment; we all want to make money and we all want to motivate youth to go farming.”

Cube, focusing on all the faces at the same time rather than one single one because if we do one single one, the silver bullet approach, we are not going to win the game and we probably will stop playing.”

Gregorini describes the 43ha, 100-cow farmlet as “one place, many stories” and says his team is looking at everything, from bottom to top, through different lenses.

“The first lens we look through is the soil. We’re building health from the ground up. The second lens is the plant, then the animal, the human and the society – and only by looking at that place through all those lenses simultaneously you can have a really multi-dimensional approach ... you can see health.”

Health is firmly at the centre of the project – health as defined by the World Health Organisation: “A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

The Integral Health Dairy Farm is being set up on Lincoln’s Ashley Dene Research and Development Station.

Ashley Dene was depopulated in 2020 because of Mycoplasma bovis, and on that clean slate, new research projects have been launched.

philanthropists who are sponsoring various parts of the project.

set in a way that is more functional for the animal.

The goal is a farm with health as its core value, way ahead of production for production’s sake, and that means it will be quite different from a conventional farm, but Gregorini believes it will provide answers for farmers facing changing market demands and environmental challenges.

“We are playing Rubik’s

Work has started on a five-year project to develop and implement the farmlet, with the planting of native and exotic trees and shrubs that will grow beneath centre pivot irrigators and provide shade and shelter, as well as browsing (medicinal, nutritious and prophylactic) plants for the cows to selfmedicate.

Alongside them will be “moo loos”, bark chip that will collect urine, spreading it and slowing its percolation to lower levels where it can be taken up by the trees’ roots.

The scientists are working with about 15 private companies and

“But we all have an agreement this farm is not to promote particular products. They all buy into the vision and want things to change. This is where we can try things and we can fail too. That’s cool because that means we can say to farmers, ‘We tried this way, maybe we should change and go to a different technique’, and that’s the purpose of the university in these sorts of things,” Gregorini says.

It’s hoped that by autumn next year all the new pastures will have been sown over the whole farmlet. The new pastures won’t be only standard ryegrass and white clover but comprise a much wider range of biochemically rich and functional plants

“We have developed and are implementing the concept of functional diversity in space and time.”

“We are even incorporating plant species like medicinal wild flowers to test aromatherapy. There is already data that demonstrates some of the aromas can get into the bloodstream of the cow in three seconds with a potential impact on the cows’ wellbeing.”

The functionally diverse pastures won’t just be mixed, as recent research has shown that “mixed salads” do not work for cows as well as offering them salad components separately.

“The animals struggle to form their own diet. It’s like a

Continued page 12

Lincoln University Professor Pablo Gregorini works closely with Ashely Dene Research Development Station manager Riki Burgess on the day-to-day running of the Integral Health Dairy Farm.

“My team is way beyond the futile discussion between being regen or conventional. I think it is a waste of time and there are a lot of egos involved.”

Prof Pablo Gregorini

putting a mixed salad in front of them with a spoon to eat it.

“We’re talking about more functional diversity and discernible, different species, but in strips so the cows can go, ‘Oh yeah, I’m gonna go there ’cos I’m going to eat that and then I’m gonna come here’.”

Scientific data shows that the functionally diverse pastures will not only benefit the soil but also increase animal (dairy, beef, lamb and venison) production by an average increment of 25%.

“On this farmlet we reduced the stocking rate from 3.4/

ha to 2.8/ha and we are producing the same.”

Already, cows on this farm ruminate longer, which Gregorini says is an indication of welfare and wellbeing.

Other system components include a “mootel” – a covered area for calving – as well as multifunctional cropping strategies, variable milking frequencies, intelligent ear tags and developing a resilient and multifunctional animal biotype.

The breeding programme incorporates earlier Lincoln research that shows that cows with lower levels of urea in their milk also have less

nitrogen in their urine. The finding will be continuously used in the selection process.

“Moreover,” Gregorini says, “these cows produce milk that is better for humans.”

Everything tried on the farm will be intensively scrutinised by the scientists using the most cutting-edge technology they can lay their hands on.

“This is the first dairy farm in the world that has and reports real-time data on carbon balance, so we know [an estimate of] how much carbon we are emitting by the minute. We are using and want to evaluate new technology to help our

farmers have more time.

“Artificial intelligence could potentially make decisions for the farmer rather than the farmer having to cope with a million apps and spend hours in front of the computer trying to make a decision.”

While the scientists are focused on creating a healthcentred farm, commercial reality and practicality are also central to the project.

“The manager of this dairy farm is in constant contact and all the changes we are making are scrutinised honestly by him, the farm staff and the technicians. They say, ‘This is a pain’, or, ‘This is good’, so we want always to pay attention to that,” Gregorini says.

“We don’t want put in something that complicates the life of the farmers or the workers on the farm. We want everything to work

The farm’s 100-cow herd eating winter kale. Pablo Gregorini hopes it will be the last time the herd is given a crop when it is in bare mud.

“We don’t want put in something that complicates the life of the farmers or the workers on the farm. We want everything to work harmoniously if you like.”

Prof Pablo Gregorini

harmoniously if you like. We’re always changing and pushing the envelope to change the mindset of people.”

While he’s leading the project to transform dairy farming, Gregorini says he’s not criticising the old ways of farming.

“The good old ways have provided us wealth but now society is demanding other things.

“It’s not only wealth and milk. They are demanding environmental protection and animal wellbeing, they’re demanding functionality and aesthetics so we cannot fix a computer with a hammer anymore, we need to have this holistic, systems approach.”

Instead of productivity, they’re looking for “ecological profit”, Gregorini says – but adds that nobody wants the farm to lose money.

“Everybody acknowledges farmers will be facing more complex situations with government regulation and so on, so what we are trying to do is to put together something for real, with a farm of the university for farmers and community too to be involved and we all learn together.”

Building bridges with the

non-farming community is an important part of the project. Ashley Dene farm is in a peri-urban area, where the expanding towns of Rolleston and Lincoln are getting ever closer and it’s conceivable that lifestyle blocks will soon be neighbours.

“Urban people want to have a say so whether we like it or

not, we have to pay attention. Ultimately, they are, here or abroad, our clients and there are ways of fulfilling their desire while making money and keeping farming.”

The herd is milked separately so researchers can closely monitor what effects on-farm changes are having.

Gregorini is in talks to see

if the milk from the Integral Health Farm can be supplied to the university campus and, in time, to the local community so people can have access to the health coming from the farm.

“In that way we establish that close connection with the community around us. While you’re consuming milk it would be nice to know where it comes from, it would be nice for you to be happy with the system that the milk comes from.

“It’s kind of a terroir thing; wine is not wine, cheese is not cheese, you have the particular wine or particular cheese that you like. In our case we want the community and the people who consume this milk to relate it to the farm.”

Gregorini was encouraged by the level of interest shown at a recent field day. Despite cold, wet conditions, there was scarcely a spare seat in the large meeting room next to the cowshed. Most attendees braved the weather to have a look at the initial plantings on the farmlet.

Lincoln University Professor Pablo Gregorini teaching students out on the Integral Health Farm. The barked ‘moo loo’ areas are designed to collect cow urine, spread it and slow its percolation to lower levels where it can be taken up by the roots of newly planted trees.

Ashely Dene Research Development Station manager Riki Burgess, Pablo Gregorini and Sara Arrojave Jaramillo, a research field technician originally from Colombia. Continued page 14

He says there’s plenty of interest in the project internationally too, with requests for him to help efforts to try something similar in other countries.

“This is an effort of our team and literally everything we use to set up the farm, is based on scientific research and publications,” he says.

Gregorini wants the farm to challenge the notion that a choice needs to be made between production and the environment and he says it’s not enough to concentrate on solving single issues without considering the bigger picture.

“Now we have carbon-vision, it’s all about carbon and that’s okay, but it’s not like if you fix carbon then everything will be alright. Yeah, you need to fix carbon, but you also need to increase biodiversity and you need to have healthier production.”

Gregorini accepts conditions on the Canterbury farm are different from properties in, say, Waikato or Southland, but says the principles they’re using can help farmers in other regions

to have a similar approach and slowly transition to healthier farming.

Taking a holistic approach will also make farming more resilient, Gregorini argues, because by focusing on efficiency only, farmers can be very exposed if anything goes wrong in the system. Efficiency leads to system fragility.

“Imagine the systems – just

two things, grass and the cow: three colours, black and white and green.

“What if we have black and white, green, red, brown, pink, blue, we have different shapes, different plants, we have diversity, that’s a more resilient system rather than a superefficient system based on two species.”

The ultimate goal is a system that is healthy for all the stakeholders, the soil, the plants, the animals and the people, that also makes money for the farmers as well as addressing community and market concerns about animal welfare and the environment. Gregorini envisions a livestock operation that even a vegan will be happy to visit.

“We want this approach to appeal to everybody, it’s a mindset change, so if a vegan walks through the farm they should be comfortable with what’s going on on the farm rather than propose for the sake of health to take the animal off the plate.”

A committed meat-eater himself, Gregorini reckons that vegetarians who give up animal protein to reduce their

carbon footprint have got it all wrong.

“The animals not only provide nourishment and concentrate nutrients into nutrient-rich food, they also provide other ecosystem services. If you want to go to a vegan/vegetarian diet, we need to produce more plants so that they’re produced industrially.

“There is no silver bullet. Even if we all stopped eating meat, you can only reduce your carbon footprint – and we’ve reviewed 400 articles about this – by a world average of 4% for vegetarians and 6% for vegans.

“Most of the carbon footprint comes from transport, housing, so diet per se is not a thing. Taking the animal off our plate won’t give us the solution.”

But a new way of farming can be the solution, he says.

“Let’s try to get something we’re all happy with. Of course, some will be happier than the other ones, but overall we need to help that mental state of mind.

“We don’t want to be an exemplar; we want to catalyse

Health is a core value at the Integral Health Dairy Farm, way ahead of production for production’s sake, meaning it will function quite differently from a conventional farm.

“We are playing Rubik’s Cube, focusing on all the faces at the same time rather than one single one because if we do one single one, the silver bullet approach, we are not going to win the game.”

Prof Pablo Gregorini

change and that should be really clear. Ultimately, the only constant in life is change!”

It’s planned to have an annual field day on the farm, most likely in December, with a couple of workshops in between.

Gregorini wants to hear from as many people as possible, be they farmers, rural professionals or members of the wider community.

“We want to hear from people, we want to do this democratically. We have a design process and selection but it’s a real co-design, a co-investment of willingness to participate, of funding and headaches as well because we have to admit when we try new things some of them will work and others may not.

“We are thinking of complex adaptive systems, complexity by diversity, redundancy to

create resiliency. Efficient systems are fragile so we are escaping from the concept

of being more efficient. We want diversity, complexity, redundancy and that is

the only thing that makes landscapes and farming resilient.” n

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Lincoln’s Integral Health Dairy Farm includes sowing new pasture mixes that include chicory, ryegrass, plantain, lucerne, white clover and red clover.

Price lifts bring cautious optimism

By Gerald Piddock

Each month the Milk Monitor delves into the dairy industry and gives us the lowdown on the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between.

Two GDT jumps over September have all but wiped out the 7.4% price drop back in August, putting whole milk powder within spitting distance of US$3000 a tonne.

The 4.6% lift on September 19 brought it up to $2799/T. That, along with gains generally across the board, brought the average price to $2957.

Fonterra lowered its forecast twice through August in response when the GDT fell sharply through those months. The question is, will it now adjust it up if the upward trend continues through October.

Most of the analysts are maintaining a wait-and-see approach to the outlook.

ASB senior economist Chris Tennent-Brown said prices are lifting off three-and-a-halfyear lows.

“We still believe a sustained recovery in Chinese demand is a necessary precursor to a substantial recovery in prices.

“On that front, it was pleasing to see a significant lift in the quantity of WMP purchased by China at this event. China’s share of WMP purchases at this event spiked, with the proportion on offer purchased not seen since April.”

While the bank retained its $6.60/kg MS forecast, he said he was pleased to see some upside risk develop in this auction.

“We look forward to October’s auctions to see if the improved demand from China is sustained.”

Likewise, Westpac’s Nathan

Penny said it is still too early to know if prices have turned a corner.

“To make that call we will need to see further price lifts over October and into November. Indeed, the recent price rises may have more to do with the fact that low prices have brought buyers back to the market rather than any fundamental change or improvement in global dairy demand,” he said in the bank’s fortnightly Global Dairy Update.

He pointed out that in annual terms, WMP and overall prices are still down by 25% and 24%, respectively.

He kept his forecast at $6.75/kg MS but sees the risks to this price as balanced.

“On the upside and as well as the better auction results over September, the NZD/USD has weakened recently and is providing an additional boost the milk price.”

On the downside, there are still the unknown factors of what peak milk production

will do to prices and exactly when demand in China will pick up again, he said.

While there will continue to be some short-term financial pain for farmers, it will not last forever, Rabobank’s latest Global Dairy Quarterly report says.

“There is an increasing possibility a demand resurgence could emerge well before milk output can recover creating a whiplash effect in global markets and a bullish run in 2024.

“On the supply side, we are now starting to see Chinese milk production begin to slow, and we do expect this trend to continue in the remainder of 2023 and into 2024, but a complete market rebalance in China is still a way off.”

However, if buyers think prices have bottomed out and come back to the market and buy en masse, the world may be short of milk again, report co-author and senior agricultural analyst Emma Higgins said.

Rabobank is also keeping its $6.75/kg MS forecast for this season, in line with what Fonterra has said.

It’s also worth remembering what Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell said in late August – that he expects demand to pick up again in the early New Year when the last of the New Zealand-China free-trade agreement milk powder duties are removed.

This 10% duty will come off on January 1, giving him confidence that demand will lift.

Even a modest lift will help farmer incomes if this summer’s El Niño is a bad one. According to WeatherWatch, it means a spring and summer dominated by westerlies and hotter-than-average weather in some areas.

“More high pressure may also bring calm spells – but longer dry spells. More airflows are expected out of central desert parts of Australia where it’s super-heated. If we get a nor’wester in mid-summer out of this part of Australia it could push temperatures in eastern parts of NZ over 40degC under the right conditions,” it says.

It’s going to make for a busy month ahead as farmers and contractors mow grass for silage and get their summer crops in the ground to start building that feed bank as spring pasture takes off.

It could also properly firm up milk price direction with the current cashflow pressures and the possibility of a hot, dry and windy summer having the potential to hold off any large production gains.

It’s going to be a busy month ahead as farmers try to make the most of their spring surplus to maximise peak milk production ahead of what could be a dry summer.

Growing your own pays off

By Gerald Piddock

A new study looks at options for reducing the country’s reliance on imported feed.

Anew study has found that New Zealand could be less reliant on internationally produced feed by growing more domestically and reducing the dairy industry’s demand for it.

The year-long study by AgFirst, funded by Our Land and Water, examined how NZ farmers could reduce their reliance on imported feed. Its findings were outlined by AgFirst consultant Raewyn Densley at the company’s annual Financial Survey release at Mystery Creek in August.

It found that modelling shows that while cropping on farm led to a slight decrease in milk production, it led to a slight increase in profitability on North Island farms and significantly decreased biological GHG in all regions.

The survey also found a significant opportunity for Māori farmland, with 1.47 million hectares of land in iwi ownership.

“Why Māori land? It’s currently an under-utilised resource. They are small,

fragmented blocks that aren’t really suited for livestock operations and the owners lack the capital to develop them for horticulture,” Densley said.

The study found there are a number of farms that are on the cusp of needing a major infrastructure upgrade and in that circumstance, it may be better to reduce cow numbers and crop a proportion of the farm, she said.

Using modelling based on DairyNZ data, the study looked at two scenarios: if all feed is imported and if all feed is grown on the farm in different regions in NZ.

The feed chosen for the modelling was maize silage. In the North Island, there was an increase in profitability if all of the feed was grown on farm despite a slight fall in cow numbers.

While milk production decreased, the reduction in feed costs was larger than the reduction in milk income, she said.

“We saw slight rises in profitability in these farm systems from actually cropping on farm.”

GHG emissions were reduced by 6-13% (averaging 10%) due to less total feed being used and less milk

produced. When the scenarios for the Waikato model were put through a payout and feed price sensitivity analysis, it was found that it became more economic to buy in feed only when the payout hit $8-$9/kg MS and feed was about $400$450 per tonne, which she acknowledged rarely happens in reality.

NZ is a net importer of grain and concentrates. Last year people consumed 5.8 million tonnes of concentrates and grew 2.1 million tonnes.

In 2022, NZ farmers produced 900,000t of grain from 107,000ha.

While our favourable growing conditions mean average crop yields are some of the highest in the world, the cost of production is high too, due to the small scale of the agriculture and high input costs.

“It’s almost always cheaper to get grain from Australia into the North Island than it is to bring it up from the South Island up.

“That is a major limitation for New Zealand to be less reliant on IPF.” n

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India, dairy’s next frontier

By Richard Rennie

Early Rattray has hands-on experience of India’s dairy sector, where, he says, expectations are lifting and the narrative is changing.

When Earl Rattray started thinking about the potential for dairying in India, he took a step back in time to consider the origins of his own industry in New Zealand to get an indication of where things might go.

“We had seen a transition over about 120 years from an informal to a formal industry. India is on the same journey. Same story, different place, but on a massive scale,” Rattray says.

He realised the risk in participating in India’s progression was not as great as many may have thought.

“In many ways, you can say we know what’s going to happen next, and so far it’s been right on target.”

India has millions of small household-scale farms, with the vast majority of farmers having fewer than 10 cows, and 80% farming less than 2ha.

Many of them will cease over the next decade as the

pace of India’s economic growth accelerates and greater income opportunities open up.

Rattray could see that any growth would be incremental. He understood the risks of trying to plant a modern Kiwi farming system in another country.

“Here, we knew we were talking 1970s-style herringbone dairy sheds run with basic technology no more complex than Read slides. It is quite simple, bullet-

proof stuff. Even this was revolutionary innovation when we started it, starting small and taking baby steps.”

It has been 11 years since he kicked off his odyssey in the world’s largest dairying nation. Today he and wife Joanne are in partnership with another Kiwi couple and three Indian families, running a farm averaging 220 cows milking all year round, combined with a direct-to-home delivery model.

Another innovation – quite

a controversial one – was breeding to a local version of Kiwi-cross cows.

“We’ve got cows of all colours in our India herd, and I’m proud of every one of them,” he says.

The farm’s “Indian-Kiwicross” herd of compact cows can cope well with the hot and seasonally humid conditions, are efficient feed converters as well as being robust and relatively disease resistant, and get in calf regularly – a rarity in India, he says.

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Earl Rattray and wife Joanna, in partnership with another New Zealand couple and three Indian families, run a 220-cow farm in India.

PRECISION.

“India does not have bovine genetics import protocol with New Zealand, so we are having to make do with what we have.”

The feed regime is based on as much high-value ME green-feed fodder as can be grown, limiting the brown feed, and using high-quality maize. North India is one of the world’s most productive cropping regions.

“While the farm itself is modest scale, which will probably top out at around 1.5 million litres a year, it’s enough scale to make it work, and be replicable. The locals here can relate to it,” Rattray says.

Establishing their own farm, making it work and establishing a channel to a rapidly formalising market has given reach to a much wider network of farmers who supply milk, all of whom want to produce milk to similar quality metrics as in NZ.

“So we are now procuring twice as much milk as we produce ourselves, processing and delivering under the farm’s own Binsar Brand.

“The cows are milked in the evening, milk processed overnight and in 6000 Delhi kitchens by 8am the next day. It must be one of the shortest supply chains I have ever seen.”

The home-delivered product range now includes ghee, lassi and buffalo milk.

“What we have developed is definitely scalable, and we know from our own history that farming and food standards will lift.

“We now have multiple business-like bakeries and confectionery manufacturers chasing us for milk and now some big and famous processors are chasing us for milk as well.

“Expectations are lifting, and the narrative is changing.”

He says India is not short of milk – it is short of traceable, formal milk.

Rattray’s insights on India are well worth listening to, as someone who has extensive NZ and international dairy experience in both a governance and advisory role.

He holds interests in several NZ and off-shore farming ventures, and he and Joanne also retain the original family farm in Ōtorohanga.

“We are seeing an economic miracle unfolding here. India has just put a rocket on the moon and no one should underestimate the contribution this country will make to the future, as a social, cultural and economic centre of the world.”

A gold-plated free trade agreement with India is not a goal that should be demanded by NZ at all costs, he says, and he is optimistic that NZ is starting to recognise this, and that it is open to the collaborative opportunities India’s development can offer. “Improved trade will come in time, make no mistake about that.

“Now is their time, and they are only just getting started.” n

“We can utilise regional pasture analysis, diet check and tracker to identify gaps, set targets, create plans and monitor results, for real time, fact based decision making.”

“While the farm itself is modest scale, which will probably top out at around 1.5 million litres year, it’s enough scale to make it work, and be replicable. The locals here can relate to it.”

Earl Rattray

Good neighours for 100 years

By Annette Scott

Robinson, Stalker, Stewart and Tull are four farming family names synonymous with the small rural town of Waikuku in North Canterbury.

The neighbouring families boast a proud history of farming the same land since the early 1900s when the then Coldstream Estate near Rangiora was cut up and sold.

“We chased the moas off,” jests 91-year-old Barry Tull.

“And we have all been farming as neighbours since, more than 100 years.”

At the time of its subdivision and sale, Coldstream had been farmed by just one family, which acquired the land from the provincial government of Canterbury in the 1880s.

On March 31 1921, the subdivided lots of the Coldstream Estate were put up for auction at the Choral Hall, Christchurch, described in the newspaper advert as “without any possible doubt one of the very choicest bits of country anywhere in New Zealand”.

The families who put in

the winning bids – several of whom had been farming in the area for decades by then – embarked on a journey that over the years has seen them farming as “one big happy family”.

“We have grown up together, lent a hand, shared the good times, and the bad times, celebrated milestones, made memories – you name it, we have done it together,” the families say.

The Stalker family is into its sixth generation on the same land, going back to the late 1800s when the family farm was converted from sheep to dairy.

“A lot of what we do now is done with the stories of the past going round in your head as we take on debt and we take on more debt, and more debt,” fifth-generation farmer

Richard Stalker says.

“I think of Dad and his father with the struggles in the 1930s to hold onto the land in the depression.”

Richard has two daughters rearing calves this season, clocking up six generations working on the farm.

His father, Russell Stalker, 92, and mother Eila still live on the farm.

Russell says that “it was tough back then, but farming is tough today too”.

“We have been here since the 1890s when my grandfather bought the first 100 acres [40.4ha].

“We were mixed farming, wheat and barley, the cows and a few sheep.

“I remember as a child we supplied the local cheese factory taking the milk by horse and cart and bringing

In North Canterbury is a pocket of history-rich farmland that has been owned by four neighbouring dairy farming families since the days when their ancestors about ‘chased the moas off’.

The Stalker family is into its sixth generation on the same land, going back to the late 1800s when the family farm was converted from sheep to dairy. Pictured are Russell and Eila Stalker.

back the whey for the pigs,” Russell says.

He say he lost his father when he, Russell, was just 19. He has “milked for almost 70 years, only 30-40 cows at the start, though” and has lived in the same house on the farm for 60 years.

“Richard is a vet. I am very lucky that he came back to the farm and took over in the early 2000s. I was struggling to do it,” he says.

“I am very proud of our family history on this land.”

Richard says he “looked over the fence and saw more in farming”.

When he and his wife, Keren, took over the farm it was milking 120 cows.

“It was not economically viable. Today we have more land milking 650 cows, supplying Fonterra.

“Dad made more off his 120 cows with value-add to town supply than I sometimes do now with 650 cows.

“We are always looking at options, the only way we got ahead is leasing land, family support and more cows,” Richard says.

For third-generation farmer Graham Stewart, Holstein Friesians have long been in the game, with his Cresslands Farms known for the stud’s founding pedigree stock.

Graham, the newly elected president of Holstein Friesian NZ, and his wife, Nicky, have two sons and grandchildren, taking the generational game

out to five on Cresslands Farms.

The farm went to dairy under his grandfather Arthur Stewart.

“Grandad tried to grow crops but they kept getting washed out. Granny tried milking cows for a bit of income and that was the start of dairying,” Graham says.

“There are good pockets of land to grow grass in summer. Milk has been a massive driver of profitability and survival of this land and much of that is because of irrigation.

“Grandad was the pioneer of irrigation, the first to put in spray irrigation in the district in the 1930s.”

Nicky says: “Those were the days they made money. We don’t.”

Graham and Nicky milk 400 cows year-round, supplying Fonterra.

“It all started on 49-acre

[19.8ha] block and it was added to and added to and went up and up in cow numbers.

“We are on the third milking shed in 100 years, the first a walk-through, now a herringbone.”

At 91 years of age and still living on the farm, Barry Tull has many a tale to tell.

“Grandad started cropping and had four cows. We delivered the cream to the local creamery by horse and cart. There were 600 creameries in NZ in the 1920s, one on about every corner.” Over the years Barry has acquired machinery and plenty of vintage tractors and these days he’s wanting to build more sheds to house his treasured collection, every vehicle with its own story.

From his father’s first tractor and every one of his own since, they are now parked

The Robinson, Stalker, Stewart and Tull families are synonymous with Waikuku in North Canterbury. Back, from left, Alastair Robinson, Richard Stalker, Neil Tull, Graham Stewart. Middle, Bridget McIntosh, RobynTull, Nicky Stewart. Front, Doreen Robinson, William Robinson and Barry Tull.

up, with his collection having moved on to trucks, “and anything else I am allowed to keep”.

“Talk about a man’s shed or cave. It keeps me going, that’s for sure,” Barry says.

His son, fourth-generation Neil Tull, is now at the helm of the family land.

“I started small, milking 90 cows and over 32 years have made it to 500,” Neil says.

“We were year-round but converted to seasonal supply to Fonterra in 2003 and while I recall the old walk-through, I managed to stay out of that. It was 10-a-side when I started and now we milk in a 30-a-side herringbone.”

The Robinson team, with fourth-generation Alastair Robinson, his partner Bridget McIntosh and fifth-generation young son William, goes back

Continued page 24

to 1905 when the first 129 acres (52.2ha) was purchased at Waikuku. The ongoing purchase of neighbouring farms grew this to 221.3ha by 1926.

Over the years the land has continued to be sold within the family, with more than half of the Robinsons’ current farm having been in the family for up to 118 years.

One block was sold outside the family in 1953. It was bought back, in 2013, and is part of the 396ha now under Alastair’s stewardship.

The Robinsons originally farmed sheep and wheat, and kept horses. They are part of the Holstein Friesian Association, with Alastair’s grandfather David having registered his Royal Oak herd in 1928.

The family has wintermilked since the early 1930s and still does today.

Their farm has had just three milking sheds in 100 years, from a walk-through shed, operational from 1920 until 1997 and still standing on the farm, to a 30-bale rotary used to milk 650 cows until 2013, and the latest, a 70-bale rotary, milking the 1080-cow herd today.

The family initially suppled Canterbury Dairy Farmers, which merged to become

South Island Dairy Farmer, and Kiwi Dairy, which merged into Fonterra in 2001.

Alastair’s mother Doreen, 83, continues to live on the farm.

“I came onto the farm in 1971. I was the book worker for 52 years. I still help a little bit, but I let the accountant do the GST,” she says.

All agree that technology has brought the biggest changes over the years, with head collars, centre pivots, auto drafting and electronic ID being cited as recent learning curves.

Rules and regulations and environmental compliance “have become a nightmare”, they say.

“There’s always something to grumble about, but there’s plenty of good times,” Richard says.

“Really the milk price is not that bad,” Alastair says. “It’s

Reduce antibiotic usage by 23%

the increase in inputs – every time we get the highest payout, inflation takes it and it’s cyclable, then it crashes all over again.”

The families have worked together for more than a century, making hay and silage together, helping each other through floods and storms, sharing sheds and loaning gear when someone breaks down.

Do they see that being the case for the next 100 years?

“We would like to think so, but we don’t think so. We expect some of the farms will be pushed out,” the families said.

“We are a pocket of farmland surrounded now by four local towns, Waikuku, Rangiora, Pegasus and Ravenswood.

“Very sadly, it seems urban development is on the horizon.”

are spending a lot

on antibiotics by identifying the bug and saving on milk withhold. You would struggle to find a better ROI than Mastatest, we will be using it to test every mastitis case going forward.” Andrew Lord, Waikato Farmer Andrew Lord, Waikato Farmer

“Grandad tried to grow crops but they kept getting washed out. Granny tried milking cows for a bit of income and that was the start of dairying.”

Graham Stewart

Fonterra measures tread into India

By Richard Rennie

The dairy co-op is excited by the India market, but prepared for a long game.

While excited by the India’s growth potential, Fonterra’s intention is to take a softly-softly approach on the market’s development in the absence of a free trade agreement with New Zealand.

Justine Arroll, Fonterra’s general manager for trade strategy, was one of 50 delegates who attended the India-NZ Business Council trade summit in New Delhi in late August.

With 75 million dairy farmers holding political sway in India and the country being largely self-sufficient for milk supply, dairying has proven to be an obstacle between the two countries in any discussions about a free trade agreement (FTA). The most recent discussions broke down four years ago.

However, Arroll says the market is far from devoid of opportunity for the cooperative, even in the absence of an FTA, and there is a strong incentive to play the long game in developing links with the country.

“For us the numbers speak volumes on the size of the opportunity in India. Dairy is a large part of the diet, urban growth is increasing, they have a young population, strong GDP growth, and a growing middle class,” she says.

Estimates are the Indian middle class will surge from its present 350 million to 700 million by 2030, and with it greater demand for higher quality, protein-dense food sources.

As a predominately Hindu nation, vegetarianism features strongly, and for many dairy will always be the key source of protein in their diet.

Taking a longer term view on India’s supply-demand balance, general expectations are the country will require imported product within five to eight years to meet this growth.

“India’s current supply and demand profile is finely balanced. They are the world’s largest producers and largest consumers. Assessments are that over time the rate of domestic consumption will grow at a rate greater than

what local producers can meet,” Arroll says.

“From our perspective the investment by government and industry is more over a long term and will set us up well for an FTA in future.” Shorter term, the promise in India lies in high-value, nichetype ingredients, including WPC-80 whey powder concentrates, which is not produced in India. Lack of hard cheese production there means the whey byproduct is not commonly found locally.

Fonterra exited its jointventure Dreamery product range in India early last year, a victim of covid-related issues, and has no plans for similar projects in the immediate future.

“Our focus will be on the ingredient side of things and growing the valueadded products, identifying customers that require the products, expanding the range and applications.”

As long as tariffs of 30-60% remain in place for most dairy products, and with no FTA, Fonterra is not expecting significant surges in product volume any time soon.

Nor are there be any processing ventures on the horizon, as the co-operative continues to focus on the strengths of its NZ-sourced milk supply.

Nonetheless, says Arroll, “we are certainly still wanting to play our part in the NZ Inc effort in India”. n

GRAVEL BAGS SILAGE

General expectations are that India will need to start importing dairy products within five to eight years to meet growing demand.

More to it than motorbikes

By Sam Jaquiery

Dairy farming offered Hayden Goodall everything he needed – and motorbikes too.

Dairy farming seemed like a sweet gig to Hayden Goodall. He loved being outdoors and thought farming meant riding motorbikes around all day. It was also an attractive option after his daughter was born and he knew it was time to settle into a career.

Until then, he had spent a few years concreting and installing insulation in Tauranga after leaving school early.

“I didn’t think I’d go anywhere in the labour jobs I had been doing and I wanted to pursue a career,” Goodall says.

“Being an outdoors guy, there were two career paths that ticked my boxes: commercial fishing and farming. But fishing would mean a lot of time away, which wouldn’t work with a young family, so farming was my best bet.”

He applied for a job on Trade Me in February but had no response until April when

he was offered an interview.

The farm owner and the manager came to Tauranga one morning and although they were after someone with experience, Goodall made an

impression with his attitude. They invited him to come to see the farm that afternoon and he met them just before milking. He had never milked a cow before

and made a shambles of it his first attempt. But it was his attitude that sold him.

“I had the attitude ‘If you teach me, I’ll learn quickly’, and that was important to them, so they were willing to give me a chance.”

He and wife Chelsea and their daughter Amelia moved to the farm in Whakatāne. Chelsea was studying social work so commuted back to Tauranga four days each week to complete her degree.

Goodall quickly realised there was more to farming than riding motorbikes.

“When I started in June it was really cruisy but calving came around quick and I was really in the deep end.

“My concept of farming was completely wrong. I thought you just chucked cows in a paddock and that was it, and I remember watching the wash go through after milking and asking if they did it every day, it just seemed bizarre.”

It was also the year when there was a $3.90/kg milk solids payout and he sensed

Hayden Goodall’s goal for the next 10 years is to buy a support block while he and his wife are sharemilking.

the stress everyone was under. The farm was also hit hard when the herd was infected with Theileria.

But Goodall maintained his appetite to learn and tried to absorb as much as he could, despite feeling like the majority went over his head. He started studying through Primary ITO.

managing position.

He left on good terms with the Gows and spent two years managing another farm before returning when a management position became available.

Now he and Chelsea are in their third season contract milking, with Chelsea rearing calves. She has also completed an Agribusiness Diploma.

“We are both on the same page, although she was a city girl who swore she would never milk a cow and didn’t own a pair of gumboots for the first four years I was farming. She’s come a long way.”

Amelia is now 12, and the Goodalls have two more kids –Lilla, 8, and Lincoln,4, and they all love the farming lifestyle.

With farm owners Matt and Laura Gow being strong advocates for the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, Goodall entered, winning the trainee section in 2017 for the Bay of Plenty region. In 2021 he won the farm manager section for the same region – going on to finish second in the national finals.

“I was fortunate to have such good farm owners supporting me, they really helped kickstart my career,” Goodall says.

The farm milked 700 springcalving cows with a team of three operating a system three operation. Goodall spent four years working for the Gows before leaving to seek a

your staff

They also try to go hunting and fishing together whenever they can.

Their ultimate long-term goal is to buy their own support block while 50:50 sharemilking on this farm within the next 10 years.

That sharemilking opportunity should become available in the next five years as the Gows look at their future farming options.

Goodall is pleased he chose his farming pathway. It fuels his outdoors passion and he gets a lot of job satisfaction from doing things right.

He sees huge progression opportunities in dairy and promotes it as an option for others.

“I wasn’t good at school. I didn’t have any qualifications and I started as a farm assistant earning $32,000 – and I could have the opportunity to own a farm one day.

“And there are all the perks,

like being provided with housing, which reduces living expenses not having to pay rent and drive to town.

“And I just love the variety. I can play vet and play plumber on the same day, no day is ever the same.” n

Hayden Goodall’s three children Lincoln (in his arms), Amelia, left, and Lilla love the farming lifestyle.

“I just love the variety. I can play vet and play plumber on the same day, no day is ever the same.”

Hayden Goodall

Jessie Chan has learnt over the years that every farmer is different and even the grumpiest ones have something to contribute once you get past the gruff exterior.

Chan can

On her journey from scruffy kid dealing with family pain to the ag powerhouse she has become, Jessie Chan can trace where her strength comes from.

By Tony Benny

Widely recognised as a leader in the dairy industry, Jessie Chan attributes much of her success to her humble beginnings. She was raised with three siblings by her sawmiller father after her mother left when Jessie was 10 years old.

“We grew up pretty quick. We spent a lot of time with Dad on farms, picking pine cones and helping him stack timber. I did my first GST and PAYE when I was 14 because we helped him run the business.”

Chan laughs, adding, “So I got exposed to business pretty early on.”

Though they didn’t have much as kids, Chan says her mother’s early life had been far tougher. She was dropped

off at a Hong Kong orphanage aged only three months. When she was 12 years old she was adopted by an Invercargill couple.

“But they decided they didn’t want her and she spent her teenage years through different foster homes,” Chan says.

“It was awful and she didn’t get a good education either. She was treated pretty badly from what I can understand. She has some mental health issues as a result of her childhood, so when we were young she just couldn’t cope and even now, we’ve always looked after her.”

Though she may have at times resented her mum’s absence as a kid, Chan now believes that experience helped her become the woman she is today.

“I get asked to go and talk to groups about leadership and my mum’s experience has taught me a lot, not necessarily about leadership, but about unconditional love and that everybody’s different and people’s experiences shape their behaviour.”

“Her experience is quite extreme but even when I’m around a board table, when I’m doing my work, I always take that with me: actually everybody comes from a different background and experience and those experiences shape their behaviour.”

Today Chan is a director on a variety of boards, including NZ Pork, AgResearch and AgriZero, and previously served on other boards including Ngai Tahu Farming, Alpine Energy and RuralCo. In her early career she worked for Federated Farmers in a corporate role and later became a Feds delegate when she and her then-husband were dairy farmers and she was a member of the Fonterra

Continued page 30

“We grew up pretty quick. We spent a lot of time with Dad on farms, picking pine cones and helping him stack timber. I did my first GST and PAYE when I was 14.”

Shareholders Council and an associate director with DairyNZ.

“I guess I just try to contribute where I can and it takes me to different places.”

Chan says rather than sitting back and waiting, if it’s an opportunity and it interests her, she will make the effort and put her name forward.

“But equally I get a lot of phone calls saying, ‘I think you’d be really useful here’.”

“Sometimes I might get a call, ‘We’re looking for a rural woman, of colour, who’s a bit different’, and I’m like, ‘I’m not your person because I don’t want to be on your board for that reason. I want to be on your board because I have some skills that you need’. I don’t want to be the token diversity person and other people don’t want to see token diversity people on their boards either.”

Growing up, Chan knew she was different from other kids. She and her siblings were brown-skinned while her dad

with his Scandinavian heritage was blonde and blue-eyed.

“If people didn’t know us they’d look at us and say, ‘Who are those four Māori kids you’re carting around?’ And people thought he was our granddad because he looked really old because he smoked all his life and worked out in the sun. People thought we were somebody else’s Māori kids, not his progeny.”

But she says she learnt leadership skills from her father.

“He didn’t lead any organisation or anything but he was a really humble man and he led people. He was really compassionate and patient and he was never afraid to speak the truth and he encouraged that in us as well.

“I aspire to the way Dad operated and leading by example was a massive thing as well, actually putting his money where his mouth was. He raised four kids – it wasn’t easy for him and he could

As well as her many directorships, Jessie Chan is also a ‘silent’ equity partner with friends in a dairy farm at Springston in Canterbury.

have just walked away.”

Chan says she and her siblings grew up like kids of the 1950s, eating plenty of mutton cooked on the coal range and homegrown veges, but facing ’80s attitudes in hometown Palmerston North.

“School wasn’t fun at times because it wasn’t cool to be half-Chinese back then. It wasn’t that long ago but there was a lot of racism about.

“People used to call Mum a mail-order bride and all that sort of thing and we were scruffy kids ‘cos in the early days Dad was busy working and Mum didn’t know how to look after us, so we were the scruffy brown kids,” she laughs.

At school Chan loved science and when she was 17 she got a job in Fonterra’s research lab in Palmerston North and learnt about product development.

more interested in biology so studied for an animal science degree, graduating with honours.

She considered carrying on to do a PhD but after four years of study was ready for something else and went to Wellington, where she had various primary sector jobs, eventually heading a Federated Farmers’ policy team.

“It was quite an exposure at an early age to industry challenges and also my managers rightly always drummed it into me, ‘Make sure you go back to the voice of the farmer and listen to what the farmers want and communicate that to decision makers’.”

Then she met dairy farmer Hayden, a Cantabrian, and life took a different turn when they married and took a sharemilking job at Dorie, just south of the Rakaia River in Mid Canterbury.

They started milking 750 cows on half the farm but when the property was sold to Italian owners they took over the lease of the whole 420ha property and grew their herd to 1700 cows.

It was an intense system. All wintering was done off farm and they bred big Holsteins with overseas genetics.

“A benevolent senior scientist really pushed hard to get me in. He saw something and he said to me at the time, ‘I had to convince them to take you because usually you need a bachelor’s degree for this job’.

“I thought, ‘You’ll get 100% from me and I’ve always had that attitude I guess, and that’s what Dad taught us, to give everything 100%.”

Fonterra encouraged her to study food science at university but Chan was

“But it was hard on everybody, the cows and the staff, and the costs fluctuated, so we came down to 900 cows and went fully selfcontained. We did all our own wintering, all our young stock and even grew a bit of barley.”

They also had two boys, Adam, now 10, and Noah, 4, but the couple have since separated. Jessie lives quite close by in Rakaia and shares their care with Hayden.

“Our boys had the privilege of being exposed to the farming life and I think that’s a pretty great start to have.”

She’s now an equity partner with friends in a dairy farm at Springston in Canterbury.

Continued page 32

“Sometimes I might get a call, ‘We’re looking for a rural woman, of colour, who’s a bit different’, and I’m like, ‘I’m not your person because I don’t want to be on your board for that reason’.”

“I decided to invest because I still love the industry and I’m still involved with my various directorships.

“I’d call myself a silent partner but I guess I’ll help with the strategic side of it. We bounce stuff off each other and that works quite well and I think they were quite keen to have equity partners who understood the journey and for us it’s a pretty big deal, our first piece of dirt.”

The journey Chan mentions is the road to ownership that hundreds of New Zealand dairy farmers have embarked on, something that separates them from their intergenerational peers.

“Someone who’s an intergenerational farmer who has this massive pool of capital that they still have to work hard to manage or grow can often come across quite differently, because of their attitude to business, to a sharemilker who worked their butt off through the ranks, took some big risks to buy cows and eventually bought land.

“That person’s mindset or skill set or risk appetite can be quite different to someone who’s got an intergenerational farm.

“I’m not judging any of that, it’s just different and it’s what we work with across our farming spectrum and we’ve got to cater to all of those needs in terms of how our industry’s set up.”

Chan learnt early that every farmer is different and even the grumpiest ones have something to contribute.

“When you get talking, actually they’ve got some really important nuggets of thought and ideas to give, it’s just getting past that gruff exterior to find those gold nuggets.

“There might be some racism or there might be some, ‘Everyone is out to get me’ kind of attitude but once you get past some of that anger and get to the nub of

Jessie Chan says farming has to change to meet environmental challenges, but she also understands why spirits in rural New Zealand are low at present, blaming uncertainly over regulation and disconnection from the food production system.

what it is that’s bothering them or their piece of wisdom that have to impart, then actually there’s some gold there if you actually listen.”

Chan understands well why spirits in rural New Zealand are low at present, blaming uncertainly over regulation and disconnection from the food production system for much of that.

“There’s a whole range of things at the moment where

it’s really affecting morale because it’s not a clear playing field and meanwhile you have to run a business and figure out what that looks like in 10 years’ time.

“It’s really hard to secondguess that when you don’t know what the politicians are going to do with it.”

But Chan does believe farming has to change to meet a range of challenges, including environmental and

climate change, and believes many of the answers will come from science, something close to her heart.

She’s on the board of AgResearch and also the public/private partnership AgriZero, which brings together MPI and Synlait, Fonterra, Silver Fern Farms, Anzco and Rabobank, looking to kick-start science solutions.

AgriZero recently made an investment with research partners to build more methane chambers where the effectiveness of products designed to reduce cows’ methane output can be tested.

“Methane chambers are labour and capital intensive and we want to speed up the ability to test, and the ability to register a product in New Zealand.”

Some amazing science and nous have made the New Zealand dairy industry what it is today, Chan says, and she wants that work to continue.

“Let’s keep combining that science piece with that entrepreneur piece that goes, ‘Actually we can take that science and apply it on farm this way and get a really good outcome’. I think we all want to move forward and do better for the land.”

“Someone who’s an intergenerational farmer who has this massive pool of capital that they still have to work hard to manage can often come across quite differently ... to a sharemilker who worked their butt off through the ranks.”

Jessie Chan says the amazing science and nous that has helped shape the dairy industry into what it is today has to continue.

Waikato council chips away at effluent compliance

By Gerald Piddock

Officials carried out more than 500 inspection of region’s thousands of dairy farms last season.

The Waikato Regional Council undertook 571 inspections of the 3900 dairy farms in its region last season, resulting in 46 abatement notices, 66 formal warnings and 12 infringement notices for breaches under the Resource Management Act for dairy effluent discharges.

Five court actions were also completed in the 2022-2023 season.

Waikato Regional Council (WRC) compliance manager Patrick Lynch said it had not been an exceptional year either positively or negatively in terms of the level of compliance seen among Waikato dairy farmers.

“We’re just chipping away, we’re after that behaviour change ... and we’re engaging with these farmers who are really not wanting to change and invest in infrastructure.

“Those are the ones we are having to engage with one on one.”

While it is difficult to assess how many farmers in the region fall into this category, Lynch estimated there are several hundred farms without adequate infrastructure in the region.

“That means on any given day if the weather conditions are not helpful or something else is happening on the farm, they will be unlawfully discharging into the environment.”

There are a sizeable number who respond to suggestions for better effluent management, but there are

others who the council have to closely monitor because of the risks their systems pose.

“You get the same interaction – no change. Those are the ones we have to keep going back to.

“We’ll keep working with that farm until they do change so there will be a little bit of a ramping up of feeling for those – particularly where they have got poor infrastructure.”

He said it is difficult to gauge whether there are any patterns among the inspected farms because of the sheer number of farms in the region.

“We don’t have a snapshot on what they look like on any given day. It’s very hard to give a snapshot or trend – we got to over 500 this year, and we can tell you how those 500 look on that day.”

An inspection of another 500 would be vastly different, he said.

“We go on some farms and there’s really good improvement and we go on other farms and there’s been no change – some are improving, some aren’t and we’re having to ramp up our attention on those ones.”

Many are also repeat offenders.

The WRC is committed to making sure all farms are visited at least once every five years.

“If we haven’t seen you on five years or if we know that you have got pretty significant infrastructure or you have had significant compliance issues in the past, you can expect to see us again.”

This season has also seen farm plans being phased in as part of the government’s freshwater regulations. From August 1, farmers in the Waipa catchment will have 18 months to submit their plans for certification.

Lynch was optimistic that these plans will help lift compliance levels in the region.

“It’s another mechanism to get that behaviour change on the farm so we’re hoping they will have an effect.”

The council will also ramp up its communication to farmers over the next two years as these plans, along with other regulations including the nitrogen cap and intensive winter grazing rules, come into force.

“It will be about making sure people are aware of their obligations and making sure it

is easy for them to engage.”

Despite the new regulations being brought in, dairy effluent compliance remains the “low-hanging fruit” for farmers, Lynch said.

“You can see it, you can quantify it, and there’s an entire industry set up to help manage it for you.”

On-farm inspections will continue into the new season and Lynch said he is fully aware of the difficulties many farmers have had this season with the wet weather. It is always taken into account when an inspection is carried out.

However, farmers who were non-compliant last season were more often than not found to have inadequate infrastructure; that was usually the cause for their non-compliance, rather than any weather issues, he said.

The Waikato Regional Council completed five court actions against dairy farms for non-compliance around effluent management in the 2022-2023 season.

The power of small habits

Focusing on daily habits helps manage pressure when the going gets tough, says Farmstrong ambassador Sam Whitelock.

Farmstrong was set up in 2015 to help farmers and growers cope better with the ups and downs of the industry. I’ve been its ambassador since 2016 and what I like best about the programme is that it’s so practical.

I think of Farmstrong as a verb, it’s something people can actually do to increase their wellbeing. I’ve seen firsthand how well its solutions work for rural people when they choose to adopt them.

Last year, over 17,000 attributed an increase in their wellbeing to Farmstrong. Why are farmers and growers making these changes?

Because they know to get the best out of your farm or orchard, first, you need to get the best out of yourself. That’s true of any results-driven business, whether you’re a farmer or a rugby player like myself.

Farmstrong’s all about making your wellbeing a priority in a mentally and physically demanding job. It takes a proactive, strengthsbased approach to mental wellbeing and resilience by focusing on simple, daily habits and thinking strategies that are known to increase

wellbeing and alleviate stress, especially during tough times.

Farmstrong is the “ambulance at the top of the cliff”. Our main message is one of empowerment – that as individuals and workplaces there is always something within our control that we can do to make today and tomorrow better, no matter how difficult the circumstances might be.

Farmstrong creates tools and resources, based on the science of wellbeing, specifically designed to help farmers and growers manage workload, stress, pressure, change, uncertainty and challenge. These resources are available for free from the Farmstrong website or on request.

There’s even a 150-page book, Live Well, Farm Well, that tells the stories of 29 farmers and growers who navigated challenging times and share what they did to get through. It’s a great toolkit for anyone going through a challenging time.

It helps to think about your wellbeing like a bank account and make regular “investments” in things that boost your wellbeing so you have something to ‘draw on’

when times are tough. A little bit like a piggy bank, the idea is to make small deposits on a regular basis rather than waiting until our wellbeing is so low that we’ve got a crisis on our hands.

The best approach is to build in simple wellbeing habits into our working lives, on a daily basis. The science of wellbeing tells us that people with a strong sense of wellbeing share five simple habits – staying connected with others; keeping the body moving whether it’s yoga, gardening or playing sport; taking time each day to enjoy the simple pleasures rather than focusing on the big picture all the time; learning new things to stay fresh; and giving back to their friends and community.

You could tick them all off by organising one enjoyable activity a week, like coaching kids’ sport or catching up with your neighbours or getting off farm to go hunting or fishing or attend a community event.

I’ve made the 5 Ways part of my life and I encourage you to do the same. They definitely help to provide balance, support and a sense of perspective when the going gets tough.

The idea is to make small deposits in your ‘wellbeing bank’ on a regular basis rather than waiting until you feel so low you’ve got a crisis on your hands, Farmstrong ambassador Sam Whitelock says.

We need to start focusing on the positive – the zero to plus five – so we start building people’s resilience.

If more businesses and communities can start being proactive like this, we are going to have a much more sustainable and successful approach to improving mental health. Not just as businesses, but as a country. n

MORE:

Farmstrong is nationwide rural wellbeing programme. To find out what works for you and lock it in, visit www.farmstrong.co.nz

To find out what works for you and ‘lock it in’, visit farmstrong.co.nz

Sam Whitelock Farmstrong Ambassador

Keeping in shape mentally and physically helps you put the best into the farm, so the farm can give the best back to you.

A year when every decision counts

Sarah Speight

It’s been a tough start to the season for dairy farmers, as we feel significant pressure from recent milk price forecast reductions.

These announcements came during the busy calving season and when our sector was already facing rising inflation and on-farm costs, which is difficult for even the most experienced farmers to handle.

I am aware that currently many dairy farmers are skating a fine line financially, with the national average break-even milk price of $7.51/kg milksolids above expected income for many farms.

We know farmers are focused on “hunkering down” and reining in their expenditure to minimise cash losses.

Right now, we simply encourage farmers to focus on growing and using as much pasture as possible, as it remains our cheapest source of feed.

Attention to detail and a focus on financial outcomes ahead of production will drive better outcomes for your business.

This is especially important at this time of year, when pasture cover and getting cows back in calf will determine financial and production outcomes, not just for this season but into next season too. This focus is critical in a year when every decision counts.

The members of your farm team play a huge role in these tasks too. Spend time sharing the plan, helping them understand their roles and, importantly, sharing success as a team.

I’ve been through times like this, and I know that when you’re in the depths of a difficult season, it can be hard to remember the successes of our sector and why dairy is a good place to be in the medium to long term.

Positively, dairy sector debt has decreased by $5.4 billion, from $41.7bn

in 2018 to $36.3bn in 2023, putting many farmers in a better financial position for the current season.

Our farmers have long been known as the backbone of New Zealand, and we provided $11.3bn in value add to the economy in the year ending March 2023. Dairy also generated $25.7bn in exports, which is one in every four export dollars that New Zealand earned.

with DairyNZ

Milk prices fluctuate, so while it is currently low, this will pass. We have been here before and made it through. I know that with the right approaches on farm, we can do it again.

However, that doesn’t change the fact that current challenges will be creating stress for many. I want to acknowledge those struggles and the fact this is going to be 12 to 18 months of hard times, as we deal with lower income and the challenges we face around the climate and relentless regulation.

Even in the tough times, we should be proud of what we continue to do, day in and day out – providing for our families, our communities and our country. We do this all while caring deeply for our land, animals, and our people.

We are lucky to have a great climate for growing grass, supporting our unique pasture-based system, and allowing out animals to be outdoors year-round.

DairyNZ remains focused on working alongside farmers, supporting them through these challenges, including the regulatory environment and economic climate. We encourage farmers to connect with their teams and neighbours and reach out for advice and support when needed.

Dairy farming is a great business to be in long term, and we provide a great product to consumers internationally. We just need to get through the present hurdles and focus on the things within our control and that we are good at. n

DairyNZ general manager farm performance.

Focusing on growing and utilising as much pasture as possible will be critical this year as it remains the cheapest source of feed on farm.

“Right now, we simply encourage farmers to focus on growing and using as much pasture as possible, as it remains our cheapest source of feed.”

Feed plans more crucial than ever

Decisions made now will have season-long impacts on animal health and production.

Tough times, be they due to bad weather, lack of feed or poor payouts, can strip farmers of profitable margins and rob them the luxury of complacency that high payouts can sometimes provide.

Vigilance in these times with clear direction and a plan that focuses on efficiencies can help protect margins and safeguard your farming future, GrainCorp animal nutrition technical feed partner Ken Winter says.

“Analysing your spending, avoiding unnecessary expenses and thinking not only about short-term goals, but considering the long-term effect, is good advice.

“However, underfeeding your cows, often referred to as ‘controlled starvation’, is not helpful for the health of your herd or your wallet.”

Consultants, advisers, meal companies and even bankers need to be cautious about the advice they give farmers right now.

“We know cash flow is tight, but cow dry matter intake and energy alone aren’t the only things we need to consider. It is more than just the price per tonne of feed that needs to be considered at this crucial time.

“Right now, farmers with spring calving herds are setting the ceiling on what production they can achieve for the whole season by the actions they take right now.

“Decisions made now will have season-long impacts on animal health and condition, production and profitability.”

Stimulating appetite, improving ‘rumen burn’ and activating milk-secreting cells is all about gearing cows up to be able to harvest more feed

and convert that feed more efficiently.

Winter says this needs to be done now to capitalise on the feed when farmers get to balance day.

“The longer a cow goes underfed post calving, the more at risk she is at of ‘fatty liver’ and poor feed conversion efficiency. There are also long reaching negative effects of reduced appetite and reduced dry matter intake.”

He believes the challenge farmers and their advisers face right now is understanding what level of production their cows could and should be producing at any given stage of lactation.

“There are numerous factors that can have a big influence on that potential outcome,” he says.

“There is a gap of knowledge and understanding in our dairy industry about how best to get cows to perform closer to their genetic ability. Too many work simply on averages.

“Average production and average performances won’t cut it during tough times like we are experiencing now.”

Feed plans that have been generated with no expected production targets relative to feed input demonstrates this lack of understanding.

“On the other hand, if production targets are identified, but there’s an oversupply or under-supply of energy, it is clear that feed conversion efficiency and

the importance of profitable margins aren’t a priority, nor are they clearly understood.

“Without knowing where your cows should be performing at any given time, it is impossible to accurately estimate or measure energy requirements and profits after the costs of all your feeds, including that grown at home.”

Starting with home-grown feed, Winter encourages farmers to focus on feed utilisation, feed conversion efficiency and utilised dry matter, which ultimately leads to optimal reproduction and profitable production.

He stresses the importance of creating feed plans and budgets based on real-time data.

“Clever use of your milk data from your milk company – in conjunction with your farm set-up, breed of cow, calving spread and peak milk – can give us a very good insight

to existing limitations and potential opportunities.

“Once these are understood, feed composition can be analysed, diets optimised, costs and milk prices considered, a thorough feed and management plan can be developed.

“Calculating costs and margin from filling short-term feed gaps, utilised dry matter per hectare, along with forage analysis and external diet review programmes, form an important part of the process.

“This helps us determine how best to fill feed gaps and to estimate the potential return on investment.”

There are a myriad of tools and services that can help farmers simplify the process of making proactive, factbased, real-time decisions to help meet both short and longer-term objectives. Winter encourages farmers to make the most of them.

“Spreading costs over a higher volume of milk, reduces the production cost per kgMS. Getting cows to produce more from the same amount of feed or less, is all about improving profit. This is more important than ever with a lower-thanexpected payout.” n

The challenge farmers and their advisers face right now is understanding what their cows should be producing at any given stage of lactation, GrainCorp animal nutrition technical feed partner Ken Winter says.

“Average production and average performances won’t cut it during tough times like we are experiencing now.”

Ken Winter

A closer look at lameness

By Samantha Tennent

A significant component of resolving lameness is having systems in place for tracking recovery rates, a new study has found.

New Zealand researchers have embarked on a world-first study of the duration of lameness to understand how quickly a cow can return to the herd after being lame.

The study worked with five farms in Waikato, visiting at four-day intervals to assess the herd.

“The duration of lameness has a huge effect on the impact on the welfare and productivity of dairy cattle,” EpiVets epidemiologist Winston Mason says.

“And to understand the true impact and variations in lameness, we need to know the expected duration and identify treatment and control strategies that are more effective than others.

“So we wanted to understand what is possible and support farmers to understand what they can be doing to reduce the impacts on their farm.”

Mason, who is doing a PhD in lameness, teamed up with researchers from Massey University and VetEnt for the study.

They found that it is possible for cows to recover quickly and that cure rates can differ between farms.

The research used DairyNZ’s locomotion scoring system to assess all cows and monitor their progress after diagnosis and treatment.

They were not trying to determine what farmers should see on their farms, but to understand what is possible with the right systems in place.

They found a significant component of resolving lameness is having systems in place for tracking recovery rates.

“If farmers are able to monitor their lame cows at least once a week, for example, they will have a better understanding of what is happening.

“Like if a cow is still scoring a two or three after a week, it could be worth getting her back in to look at again, and if farms are finding cows are taking 21 days to cure, alarm bells should start ringing.

“And if 50% of animals are still lame after two weeks, something is generally going wrong.”

Mason highlights three issues that could be occurring – lameness is not detected early enough, it is a recurring problem in the same cows, it the treatment methods are not effective.

“It may be that all three apply to the farm, or it could just be one of these issues, but you won’t know which unless you’ve been recording. So once a week get the lame herd in and write down what you are seeing,” he says.

“If it is a detection issue, get the hoof trimmer or vet back to treat and you’ll be back to square one.

“And go back through the records to determine if it’s the same cows, which is a good incentive to record lame cows as you can’t cull on everything but if you don’t record you can’t cull if you need to.”

Hoof blocks have grown in popularity as more of the sector recognises their value in getting cows back to keeping up with their herd mates.

With the proper training, an

To understand the true impact and variations in lameness, we need to know the duration, EpiVets epidemiologist Winston Mason says.

experienced person can apply a hoof block in 60 seconds and getting the cow back in the herd outweighs the cost and time to apply the block.

The information from this study will help to understand the incidence of lameness across the sector. Unlike mastitis, there is little incentive for farmers to record details about lame cows, but it is valuable to provide farmers with evidence of lame cows.

“Knowing which cows have been lame and how long they are taking to cure is valuable for farmers. If we don’t record data we’ll never be able to use it and it’s an uphill battle trying to resolve issues.

“We need to know how long cows are taking to recover to know how to help.” n

MORE:

The article “Lameness recovery rates following treatment of dairy cattle with claw horn lameness in the Waikato region of New Zealand” is open access and available online here: https:// www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10. 1080/00480169.2023.2219227

“If farms are finding cows are taking 21 days to cure, alarm bells should start ringing.”

Winston Mason

Pain relief a game-changer

By Samantha Tennent and Dan Cragg

Lameness poses a persistent challenge in dairy farming, impacting not only cow health and wellbeing but also farm productivity.

Traditionally, the approach to addressing lameness involves corrective trimming of the affected area. For moderate to severe cases, applying a hoof block to the opposite claw is common practice.

Strangely, though, the use of pain relief is often overlooked, even though lameness is undeniably a painful issue for cows.

In fact, lameness ranks among the most agonising conditions experienced by dairy cows. You can easily spot a lame cow as it limps down the track, experiences an immediate drop in milk production, rapidly loses body condition, and faces fertility issues.

The farmer’s primary goal should be to accelerate the recovery of these cows, enabling them to return to normal and regain their productivity. Doing so not only benefits the farm, it also minimises the welfare

concerns for these cows.

A recent study demonstrates the effectiveness of different treatments for lame cows, showing a drastic improvement in cure rates when adding pain relief on top of the standard treatments.

Newly lame cows were given one of four different treatment regimes and assessed to identify their cure rates 35 days after the initial treatment.

When given a corrective trim only, 25% were cured. Of those given a corrective trim and hoof block, 36% were cured. Twenty-nine percent were cured when a corrective trim and three days of pain relief were administered, and 56% were cured when a corrective trim, hoof block and three days of pain relief were applied.

The most successful treatment by a large margin was adding a hoof block and three days of pain relief on top of corrective trimming. And compared to corrective trimming alone, it more than doubles the cure rate.

When the treatment period shortens, the cow will improve her productivity, condition and

fertility faster, and be more profitable in the long run. This is particularly important with lame cows early in the season or during mating.

There is also growing evidence that treating heifers and young cows with pain relief at calving, and when lameness is identified, reduces lameness in dairy herds.

And as consumer awareness regarding the production of dairy products continues to grow, including pain relief in lameness management not only enhances cow welfare but also aligns with the ethical standards expected by consumers.

The best way to incorporate pain relief into a farm practice is to begin by consulting a veterinarian for guidance on selecting the most appropriate pain relief options for the cows and to aid in decision-making for farm staff.

Ensure that your team members receive thorough training in pain relief administration, understand when and how to use it, and can proficiently identify signs of lameness in cows.

Maintain up-to-date records to monitor pain relief

usage and the management of lame cows. Utilise this information to fine-tune your pain management protocols. Continuously assess and adapt pain relief procedures to ensure they remain effective and that they comply with the latest industry standards.

Lameness has serious negative consequences on animal wellbeing and has the potential to reduce the overall lifetime performance of dairy cows due to milk production loss and culling.

By embracing pain relief as a standard practice, we can enhance animal welfare, boost farm productivity, and meet the expectations of a discerning consumer base.

When next you’re treating lame cows, consider using some pain relief to get better and faster cure rates. This is definitely going to become the normal treatment regime over time. Have a yarn to your vet about which type of pain relief is best for your farm system.

Who are we?

Tennent is general manager of WelFarm and Cragg is a VetSouth veterinarian.

Sensor breakthrough

By Sam Jaquiery

Stranded in a London apartment midpandemic, Liam Kampshof found himself yearning for the wideopen spaces of his parents’ farm in the Bay of Plenty back in New Zealand.

He and his girlfriend decided it was time for a change. They packed their bags, secured a quarantine spot, and embarked on a journey towards the freedom of those sprawling pastures.

With ample space and time for reflection, Liam began contemplating how to leverage his expertise and career background to support the dairy industry. Recognising mastitis as one of the primary challenges faced by farmers, he put on his thinking cap, eager to find innovative solutions.

“It was an unanticipated career break, and I’d always wanted to start my own business, so this was the perfect opportunity,” Kampshof says.

“Here I was, back on the farm, surrounded by a herd of cows, and I had industry experience in disease detection and diagnostics so I started wondering how to combine these elements into a business venture.”

Kampshof had previously studied biomedical engineering at Auckland University and had spent four and a half years working in the human medical field in London, developing tools for detecting cancer and septicemia.

He understood that mastitis was the most significant disease affecting farmers, prompting him to investigate how it was currently detected and diagnosed.

“I was quite surprised to discover how outdated mastitis detection methods were for most farmers.

“They were relying on manual techniques, and the available technologies were on the expensive side. I knew there had to be a way to make automation more accessible.”

He embarked on his journey into product development,

leading to the establishment of Bovonic and the creation of QuadSense.

His goal was to develop a user-friendly, affordable solution that dairy farmers could easily install and use.

“QuadSense incorporates a milking sensor in each cup, allowing it to test each quarter individually rather than the entire cluster.

“It’s a small sensor that farmers can install themselves by simply opening the cup and inserting the sensor and it runs on AA batteries, eliminating the need for an electrician.”

The sensors measure the conductivity of the milk, as most milk meters do.

“Our innovation is that we are measuring and comparing quarter conductivity.”

He started working on the project in his garage and recognised that Fieldays would be the ideal platform to showcase his innovation. He had initially aimed for the following year, but a friend

encouraged him to find a way to participate in the 2021 event, which was only a week away.

“We had 150 farmers sign up, expressing their interest in testing the product, which was incredible.

“It truly validated that I was on the right track.”

With both technical and market validation in hand, Liam was ready to accelerate his efforts. He engaged electrical and design engineers and began raising funds.

He joined the Sprout Agritech accelerator programme and, in November 2021, secured investment from a venture capital firm, Pacific Channel, which recognised the potential of his concept. Some interested farmers even paid a deposit to be among the first to obtain the product when it is released.

“On average, mastitis costs a farmer between $60,000 and $80,000 per year and even during a period of low payout, mastitis remains a significant problem and source of stress. There’s a lot to gain from detecting mastitis faster,” Kampshof says.

He and his team have partnered with an Aucklandbased manufacturer to produce the product entirely in NZ. Once they launch domestically, they plan to expand into international markets.

“Mastitis is an even more significant issue overseas, making our product even more valuable to international farmers.”

QuadSense is currently preparing for its launch and eventual global expansion –ready to revolutionise mastitis detection. n

Liam Kampshof created QuadSense, which incorporates a milking sensor on each cup.

“It’s a small sensor that farmers can install themselves by simply opening the cup and inserting the sensor and it runs on AA batteries, eliminating the need for an electrician.”

Liam Kampshof

Seaweed pros and cons

The potential of seaweed to reduce methane emissions from livestock is real, but a balance needs to be struck between maintaining animal health, food quality and sustainable practices, according to newly published research on the topic.

Studies to date with red seaweeds fed to ruminants such as cattle, where the active compound in the seaweed is bromoform, found reductions in the region of 60% to 90%, says the scientific review by AgResearch scientist Dr Goldy de Bhowmick and senior scientist Maria Hayes from the Irish agriculture and food development authority, Teagasc.

Other studies, with brown and green seaweeds, showed reductions in methane production of between 20% and 45% in the lab, and 10% in animals, according to the review carried out as part of the SeaSolutions Project funded by the European Research Area on Sustainable Animal Production.

Tools to reduce on-farm methane emissions are being urgently sought by farmers to help meet the New Zealand government’s stated methane reduction targets.

Farmers are also facing

the prospect of emissions pricing being introduced that will impose costs based on methane emissions.

The effectiveness of seaweed and seaweed extracts is currently being tested in research involving NZ industries and scientists.

“Benefits of feeding seaweeds to ruminants are seaweed-specific and animal species-dependent,” the review published in the Global Challenges journal says.

“In some instances, positive effects on milk production and performance are observed where selected seaweeds are fed to ruminants, while other studies note reductions in performance traits. A balance between reducing methane and maintaining animal health and food quality is necessary.”

Seaweeds are a source of essential amino acids and minerals, and offer huge potential for use as feeds for animal health maintenance once formulations and doses are correctly prepared and administered.

“A negative aspect of seaweed use for animal feed currently is the cost associated with wild harvest and indeed aquaculture production and improvements must be made here if seaweed ingredients

are to be used as a solution to control methane production from ruminants for continued production of animal/ ruminant sourced proteins in the future,” the review says.

to reduce emissions, further refinement is needed especially considering the associated negative environmental and health implications,” the review says.

Globally, demand for seaweed for use as animal feed has increased in recent years.

It is a recognised source of vitamins and minerals and is often found as an ingredient in dietary supplements for animals, especially ruminants in the form of licks or salt additives.

Recent studies have indicated that the compound bromoform in seaweed species such as asparagopsis has adverse effects on the environment and human health, thereby limiting its widespread use.

This includes potential damage to the ozone layer when released into the atmosphere and the risk of toxicity related to the presence of bromoform residues in the milk or urine of lactating cows.

“Although mitigation of enteric methane (generated from the rumen) seems to be a very promising approach

The review says that in general, consumption of seaweeds for human use does not compete with consumption of seaweed species for livestock use.

De Bhowmick says future research may focus on identifying alternative bioactive compounds in seaweed such as carbohydrates, lipids, peptides and polyphenols. Previous studies and a few initial trials suggest that these bioactive compounds have the potential to inhibit methanogens (microorganisms in the rumen that produce methane). n

MORE:

Read the full research at: https:// onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ full/10.1002/gch2.202200145

“A balance between reducing methane and maintaining animal health and food quality is necessary.”

Era of smart fert beckons

By Jamie Mikkelson

Imagine the pristine pastures of a New Zealand dairy farm, a landscape adorned with healthy cows grazing on nutritious fields, all contributing to high-quality milk.

Now contrast this with the relentless discussions on sustainability, animal welfare, and emissions that farmers have to grapple with. For many in the industry, these two worlds coexist and collide daily.

Yet, the beauty of the NZ dairy community is its ability to confront challenges and emerge stronger.

As someone who has been a part of this sector for over 30 years, I can attest that when it comes to tackling greenhouse gas emissions and the prudent use of fertilisers, our people unite in common cause.

The term “precision farming” has moved from jargon to action for those seeking productivity and cost savings. But can this approach address carbon emissions as well?

Absolutely. In the words of All Blacks mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka, pressure

begets higher performance.

Pressure can come from our customers, our communities, or from within the industry itself. And while the weight of expectations can be daunting, acronyms like TCUP (Thinking Clearly Under Pressure) and NOW (No Opportunity Wasted) offer practical guidance for manoeuvring through these demanding times.

Remember when tractors and GPS controls were the epitome of farming technology? Welcome to the age of sky-borne tractors –drones capable of carrying substantial payloads. These electrically charged aerial workhorses are becoming the vanguards of precision farming around the world, negating the need for traditional planes and helicopters.

In 2018, my experience with Next Technologies in Germany, a company that innovated in-vehicle navigation, exposed me to the transformative potential of autonomous transportation layers.

Technologies like lidar and smart sensors are creating

complex models of our rural environments. Imagine drones guided by intricate algorithms, dispersing precise amounts of nitrogen, reducing waste and cost, all while mitigating environmental impacts.

As advances in technology continue to unfold, those specializing in nutrient solutions, stimulants and biologicals will also need to adapt.

Nitrogen isn’t the villain; the way we’ve been using it is. The ongoing revolution in nutrient application is redefining farming, transforming the industry into a model of sustainability. Technologies like smart fertilisation, which adapt to soil and weather conditions, could become the norm, reducing waste and enhancing yields.

Three to five years from now, we could witness changes in the industry that we can only dream of today. These advances are not just fascinating; they are vital. As an industry, we have the power to both meet the challenges and exceed expectations, illustrating what is possible in modern, sustainable pasture farming.

The next few years may be filled with challenges, but they’re also ripe with opportunities for transformative change, proving yet again that when faced with adversity, the New Zealand dairy community will not only survive but thrive. n

Who am I?

Jamie Mikkelson is Executive chair of Blue Pacific Minerals and Waikato Milking Systems

The beauty of the New Zealand dairy community is its ability to confront challenges and emerge stronger, Jamie Mikkelson says.

Future vision for paddocks

Measuring pasture cover accurately with a smartphone will soon to be a reality for dairy farmers in Waikato.

Launched in September, AIMER Vision, developed by Amier Farming, uses a 360-degree video taken from a smartphone to estimate a paddock’s pasture cover using an app – essentially turning the device into a platemeter.

Aimer Farming founder and chief technology officer Jeremy Bryant says the ability to now measure pasture covers quickly, easily and cost-effectively via Vision is a game-changer for farmers wanting to improve pasture management.

Using machine learning, Vision learns what different pasture covers look like through the video lens of a smartphone camera.

Aimer Farming, a Kiwi start-up, launched AIMER at Fieldays, giving New Zealand farmers nationwide access to an artificial intelligenceenabled digital assistant and operating system for pastoral farming.

AIMER uniquely learns about paddocks on farm and allows farmers to carry out rapid part-farm walks, generates insights to optimise pasture management, and auto-generates paddock grazing and supplement plans for each mob on the farm.

Improving accuracy of pasture cover estimation is a critical first step to increasing farm profitability.

“Every extra kilogram of dry matter intake from improved pasture management has a positive impact on a farm’s profitability,” Bryant says.

“Using pasture first

Aimer Farming founder and CTO Jeremy Bryant with Manawatu dairy farmer Shane True, who helped advise Bryant about the app when it was being tested on farms.

and taking away the pain of generating an optimised grazing plan makes AIMER invaluable to stay on top of pasture quality while optimising feed intakes.” n

FARM PROFIT & SAVE VALUABLE TIME WITH AIMER

“During development in the Waikato, we have achieved accuracies of 80% of pasture covers within 200kg dry matter per hectare of a platemeter measurement, and the rest of covers being within 400kg dry matter per hectare of a platemeter measurement.

“As we add more covers to train Vision, its accuracy will improve even more,” Bryant says.

Work completed by DairyNZ in 2018 showed that regular and accurate pasture cover estimation and better pasture decision making has the potential to improve operating profit by $385-$525 per hectare.

For an average sized farm this is $60,000 to $80,000 of additional profit.

Better decision making includes closer matching of feed supply with demand, grazing the longest paddocks first rather than in a set order, hitting post graze targets consistently, and feeding supplements only when needed and profitable.

“Every extra kilogram of dry matter intake from improved pasture management has a positive impact on a farm’s profitability.”

Jeremy Bryant

HSR expands its team

HSR Maize Seed has announced the appointment of David Muller as its new HSR sales agronomist.

As one of the Waikato and Bay of Plenty region’s most experienced advisers in maize crops, Muller is poised to make a significant impact in his new role, helping New Zealand farmers and growers to achieve even greater success.

HSR Maize Seed national agronomy sales manager Guy Mason says the appointment of Muller indicates HSR Maize Seed’s commitment to providing exceptional service and support to its customers.

“While HSR Maize Seed has existed in Australasia for more than four decades, we are still a relatively new and emerging brand in New Zealand, but we’re growing at pace with farmers seeking proven results with greater cost efficiency.

“David’s career spans over a decade in the maize industry, so he brings a wealth of knowledge and insight to his new role.”

Muller has held key maizefocused positions with companies such as PGG Wrightson and GrainHub.

In these roles he focused his attention on supporting growers to achieve optimal results from their maize crops, while also managing essential aspects like grain contracts and harvest timing in both the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions.

Prior to his involvement in the maize and feed industries, Muller owned and operated his own dairy farm.

“His first-hand experience of progressing from farm manager to share milking and

ultimately farm ownership has given him a unique perspective on the needs and challenges faced by New Zealand farmers,” Mason says.

“This diverse background equips David with the ability to comprehensively understand the requirements of dairy farmers and their specific needs for maize silage crops.

“David’s tenure with companies like Pioneer and Gavin Grain further solidifies his credibility and expertise in the agronomy space.

“His deep-seated commitment to assisting farmers with maize crops aligns perfectly with HSR Maize Seed’s mission to provide superior products and comprehensive support to the agricultural community, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have him join our team.”

Muller began his new role as HSR Sales agronomist in early September.

HSR Maize Seed, distributed by Nutrinza, is a provider of high-quality maize seed. The company offers top-tier products and comprehensive support to help maximize crop yields and overall agricultural success.

David Muller is HSR’s new sales agronomist for Waikato Bay of Plenty.

“David’s tenure with companies like Pioneer and Gavin Grain further solidifies his credibility and expertise in the agronomy space.”

Guy Mason

Managing your soil’s CEC

Cation exchange capacity affects the soil’s capacity to hold vital nutrients.

Improving soil quality and health on farm depends on the cation exchange capacity of the soil being worked on.

The cation exchange capacity (CEC) measurement of the soil’s capacity to exchange nutrients needs to be properly managed to increase that health, Rainbow and Brown’s Grant Morris says.

CEC, whether large or small, affects the soil’s capacity to hold nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and ammonia nitrogen.

“A lighter soil like sandy soil will have a CEC of around 5 and will hold less of everything. It doesn’t take as much fertiliser to get the right nutrient balance for total saturation but the nutrient load can be easily stripped by cropping so it’s something you have to watch after each growing period.

“Another soil may have a CEC of 10, which means it can hold twice as much nutrients for longer periods and doesn’t lose as much nutrients during cropping therefore reducing the need to keep adding more fertilisers.

“So understanding the type of soil you have is very important when trying to make improvements,” Morris says.

Soils with good CEC tend to have higher organic matter, better structure and increased microbial activity, which can reduce the need for costly soil amendments and interventions.

Overapplication of certain nutrients can lead to nutrient imbalances that negatively impact crop health and productivity.

By tailoring nutrient applications and conditioners to the soil’s CEC, farmers can avoid these imbalances and at the same time contribute to sustainable and environmentally responsible agriculture, Morris says.

Potassium humate can act as a soil conditioner. It contains 50% humic acid, 15% fulvic acid and 10% potassium.

Humic acid and fulvic acid are crucial in dissolving minerals and trace elements to make them more available to the plant for uptake.

The addition of fulvic acid acts as a superhighway for nutrients to plant cells. As

Soils with good CEC tend to have higher organic matter, better structure and increased microbial activity, which can reduce the need for costly soil amendments and interventions.

the soil quality improves the need for fertiliser decreases. Humate-rich soil acts as a carbon sink to help keep CO2 in the ground instead of escaping into the atmosphere.

Seaweed is another soil conditioner, containing more than 70 mineral, vitamins and enzymes that feed the microbes in the soil.

“Seaweed fertilisers are especially useful in organic farming. They contain almost

every micro-nutrient in a fully chelated (immediately available) form. Seaweed contains alginates which act as very good soil conditioners.”

The alginates react with metals in the soil and form long, cross-linked polymers in the soil. These polymers improve the crumbling in the soil and swell up when they get wet. They also help soil to hold or contain moisture for a long time, he says. n

Wave pond problems away

By Tony Benny

A floating device uses low frequency radio waves to help clean up effluent systems.

Tell a dairy farmer you could clean up their effluent pond with a device that emits radio waves and you’d likely be met, at best, with scepticism.

But a growing number of Canterbury farmers say locally developed technology that does just that is achieving remarkable results for them.

“We decided to do a trial on one of our effluent ponds and in six weeks you could see the crust breaking up and in 10 weeks it had pretty much cleared,” Brendon Stent, who oversees Pāmu’s five Canterbury dairy farms, says.

The first effluent pond in the two-pond system on one of the farms hadn’t been working well, with a thick crust forming on the surface and solids that should have been settling to the bottom getting into the pipe that links it to the second pond and blocking it regularly.

“The guys were leaning out to stick pipes through to it unblock it, which is a health and safety risk, and when we went back to the designer, they said we needed to put gates out there to stop the solids building up. It just wasn’t working.”

HydroBoost co-owner Michael Dennis supplied the farm with a 24V unit that sits inside a raft that floats on the pond, emitting low frequency radio waves. He says these stimulate biological activity in the effluent and accelerate its breakdown.

Before and after photos show a remarkable transformation. On day one the pond is covered in a thick, green crust. Sixty-three days

later the crust has gone and in places bubbles rise to the surface, an indication, Dennis says, of the biological activity happening beneath.

“I just want to ensure that I’m helping to make this planet a bit better and this product got a lot of those ticks for me – it’s low-powered, it’s

stimulating biological activity, we have proven customers, and it’s built and developed in New Zealand,” he says.

“You’ve just seen one on farm – and I can tell you there are other farms like that where we’re seeing the same sort of things.”

The device was developed by retired farmer Michael Richards, who Dennis met at a South Island field day a couple of years ago, when he was promoting it.

“He spent 11 or 12 years developing it, put his own money into it, pretty much blood, sweat and tears, and now we’re seeing the results. It uses radio energy and he did some research and started to put some things together. Being a farmer he’s resourceful,” says Dennis, now a partner in the business.

Asked to explain how it works, Dennis quotes United States academic Dr Gerald Pollack who theorises that water has a “fourth dimension”, different from its liquid, solid or vapour forms, and radio waves can unlock this dimension to create “structured water” that has “similar energy and vitality as rainwater”.

This “activated” water is said to enhance bio-activity.

“Some people believe it, some people don’t,” says Dennis who also sells HydroBoost units to treat water. He’s used to getting sceptical reactions.

“We did an installation in July on a farm down south and I knew one of the people with the installers. I said, ‘This thing is going to help clean that pond up’, and he was looking at the unit and said, ‘That’s really interesting’, but behind his eyes you could see he was thinking, ‘Run away now Michael, don’t embarrass yourself’.

“I saw him again about five weeks later and he said, ‘I didn’t believe you, I didn’t think it would work, but what I’ve seen now is one of the most innovative pieces of technology I’ve seen in the last 15 years’. He was really superimpressed.”

The unit on the Pāmu dairy farm, including the raft, cost about $9400 including GST.

“It’s one tool, it’s not the magic bullet, but it’s one tool that helps make a difference,” says Dennis.

“It actually has solved definite problems, it’s not just a nice-to-have, it’s something that’s working.”

“It’s lowpowered, it’s stimulating biological activity, we have proven customers, and it’s built and developed in New Zealand.”

Michael Dennis

HydroBoost co-owner Michael Dennis says the device stimulates biological activity in the effluent and accelerates its breakdown by using low frequency soundwaves.

A solid system A

large-scale Mid Canterbury dairy farming operation has managed to save thousands of dollars in fertiliser costs by using effluent to create healthy soil and promote pasture growth.

The operation, Klondyke Dairies, milks over 2500 cows through three rotary sheds, meaning a lot of effluent is created in the process.

Effluent is a key part of the farm’s fertiliser plan, farm manager Simon Ferguson says.

Everything at the cowshed and feed pads is collected and goes through a stone trap. From there, it flows into a solids separator and then into a lined pond.

Each of the three farms

SLURRY

is equipped with these separators, which consist of a small sump with a pump in it.

The effluent is pumped through a kind of mechanical sieve, separating the solids out. The liquid flows through into a bigger, lined holding pond.

From there, it is spread on the paddocks through centre pivots.

“We try to spread over as much of the farm as possible, avoiding critical source areas and makes sure we do best practice,” Ferguson says.

Non-effluent areas are targeted by Ferguson to spread out the solids, which is carried out by contracting firm, Central Injection Agri.

“We test every paddock for nutrients every three years

– one farmlet per year – and the paddocks that are low in certain nutrients, we use our solids to lift the potassium and phosphorus (the nitrogen is mainly in the liquid and the solids are mainly potassium and phosphorus).

The paddocks are regularly soil tested with the aim of getting the soil to an

optimum, efficient range.

If the testing shows the soils are above, maintenance is withheld, and any treatment is put on paddocks that have tested lower.

“Our soil testing helps – so we put our colostrums in low K paddocks and that’s really helped minimise down cow issues in the spring.” n

Klondyke Dairies uses Central Injection Agri to spread solid effluent on its paddocks.

Mixing it up pondside

Slurry tankers and pump systems both have benefits.

When it comes to looking for greater efficiency in effluent management systems, there are a few approaches that can be taken.

Both slurry tankers and PTO pump systems have benefits –but the best system is entirely dependent on the farm, the shape of the paddocks, and the type of system that suits the needs of the farmer.

A slurry tanker is a great option for the majority of the year, allowing the farmer to irrigate onto virtually every paddock of the farm.

Slurry tankers are the most flexible approach to effluent management. They are an allin-one system that functions as a pump, piping system and irrigator.

Depending on the equipment needs, different attachments can be sorted to match paddock size and shape.

Slurry tankers are a reliable option for the majority of the

year and are suitable to match council compliance.

It can take an hour to manage three to four loads, equating to up to 80,000 litres of effluent, depending on the size of tanker.

With the ability to pick it up anytime without any major set-up, it can easily be accomplished between milkings or in the evening.

It also comes with the added ability to suck a higher thickness of slurry, allowing you to clean out covered barns or feedpads without the need to add additional liquid to be able to pump it.

Historically slurry tankers may have caused a little damage to paddocks because of their small tyres, but this is not the case nowadays, with tankers fitted with steering axles and large floatation tyres providing excellent weight distribution and minimal scuffing, making this a safe solution to use on paddocks without pasture damage concerns

A PTO pump system takes longer to get set up but can be irrigating for an hour or two without the need of human input.

These systems work efficiently, but operate at a fixed position.

connects with a travelling irrigator, then it will need a farm worker to set up and put into place, and check on it in between other tasks.

Set-up can take up to an hour with the ability to keep the system on for up to three hours, allowing for adequate spreading across paddocks.

If there are limits to the paddocks the farmer can pump to, they may run across the issue of not being able to irrigate effluent if the paddocks are ready for grazing and there is not another solution available.

For one hour of labour, a PTO pump system can handle up to 80,000 litres of effluent, but it will need to be packed back up again or for a travelling irrigator to be positioned in the next paddock.

The set-up is reliant on the amount/length of pipe laid out and still requires regular monitoring while it is running. If a PTO pump utilises a mainline piping system that

A PTO pump system is able to save time on daily operations, and is a suitable supplemental option during the wet months of the year.

n

“Slurry tankers are the most flexible approach to effluent management. They are an allin-one system that functions as a pump, piping system and irrigator.”

‘Loving

Quality Pasture Seeds

One last word …

The election is now just weeks away and the new government, whatever shape it takes, will face huge challenges steering this country over the next three years.

Many of the issues raised in the election campaign over the past few months are not just isolated urban problems but affect us all.

Cost of living, creaking infrastructure, climate change and under-resourced and overworked education and health sectors affect us all. It also feels like as a country we have become more divided and frayed as we struggle with these issues. Interconnected with all of these is farmer confidence and mental health, and it was good to see this raised in the two rural debates held last month.

It was also appropriate, given that September 18-24 was Mental Health Awareness Week.

One exchange on this issue was telling.

In the first debate, moderator Heather du Plessis-Allan asked Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor whether farmers’ mental health was considered when the cabinet was discussing new legislation that affected the sector. He responded with an obvious yes and then lamented farmer suicide statistics, blaming an impatient public, isolation, financial pressure and farmer groups exaggerating the effect of new regulations for the low confidence and mental health issues.

Former Federated Farmers president and now ACT candidate Andrew Hoggard responded by telling O’Connor that saying everything was rosy when confidence surveys say otherwise serves no one and only further undermines farming leadership because farmers know what is happening in their own communities.

do collectively rather than what sets us apart.

NZ First’s Mark Patterson acknowledged how tough farming leadership is at the moment. There is a generational change happening, with the older, Rogernomics-influenced generation bowing out and being replaced by people who are much more engaged in wider societal issues.

“Its going to be a real hard job [for] who comes in next,” he said.

The final word of the debate came from ACT’s Mark Cameron. It’s easy to spend 10 minutes on X (formally Twitter) or watch the nightly news and think we’re poles apart as a country, he said, but he reminded the audience about how collegial our representatives are:

It also discourages the next generation of farmers from entering the industry, he said.

Less than 24 hours later, it was that next generation controlling the debate, this time at Lincoln University, where most of the same players once again fronted.

In a much more genteel affair, retiring Green Party MP Eugenie Sage made a very good point that in such challenging times it is best to focus on what we have all in common and what we can

“We don’t necessarily agree on everything – we agree on some things. Apathy’s a big problem so get out and vote. Celebrate how damnably good our rural people are and I think tomorrow could be a little bit better than today.”

Whoever wins, regardless of if they’re your “team” or not, let’s get behind them as they’ll need the dairy sector to play its part in what is to come.

Like us: farmersweekly.co.nz

Follow us: @DairyFarmer15

Read us anywhere: farmersweekly.co.nz

Retiring Green Party MP Eugenie Sage made the very good point that in such challenging times it is best to focus on what we have all in common.

DAIRY DIARY

October 2023

Succession workshops

The Dairy Women’s Network is holding several workshops throughout the country in October on succession planning.

The workshops are sponsored and run by CMK Chartered Accountants and will cover: What makes up succession planning

• Who the stakeholders are and what their key drivers are  Understanding your current business viability

• Options moving forward  Ownership structures and models

• Ongoing sustainability

• How to work through your options   Details and registration at https://www.dwn.co.nz/events/

Making the most of home-grown feed

Smaller Milk and Supply Herds is holding a field day at previous DBOY Waikato winners Rex and Sharon Butterworth’s farm at Richmond Downs in Waikato. The Butterworths are focused on running a system that remains profitable regardless of the payout, makes the most of their home-grown feed, takes care of staff, and sets their stock up for optimal production. Rex will reveal their strategies for running their system effectively and efficiently.

The field day is on October 12 and runs from 10.15-1pm.

Address: Rex and Sharon Butterworth, 188 Campbell Rd, Richmond Downs

https://www.smallerherds.co.nz/events/

Write a business plan

Step through the process of writing a five-year business plan

Step through the process of preparing and monitoring accurate farm budgets to stay on top of farm finances.  Have confidence in achieving longer-term goals such as self-employment or growing your farming business.

October 31 10am-2pm

https://www.dairytraining.co.nz/courses/write-a-businessplan/

Nitrogen use comparison and optimisation field day

Organised by DairyNZ, the day explores different N usage and how to get the most out of whatever N fertiliser is applied.

Held at Vaughan Webber’s farm at Seaward Downs, it will feature three farmers all using different levels of N fertiliser ranging from 0kg/ha-170kgN/ha. The day will explore the pros and con’ these farmers have found over the past few years, how often and at what rates they apply it and anything interesting they have come across. Also speaking is local Ballance team member Kieran Anderson around how to optimise N fertiliser used, coated vs non coated and the different application rates.

Dr Dawn Dalley will discuss the results from the low input (50kgN/ha) and high input (190kgN/ha) farmlets at the Southern Dairy Hub.

Location: Vaughan Webber, Rimu Seaward Downs Road, Wyndham. SN:10:32014

October 10 11am-1pm

https://www.dairynz.co.nz/events/southlandsouth-otago/ nitrogen-use-comparison-and-optimisation-field-day/

Pasture skills days

DairyNZ is holding pasture skills days in Gore on October 17 and Balclutha on October 19. Both are 90-minute sessions covering:

• Pre and post grazing covers

• Grass leaf stages

• Seasonal differences in grass composition (dry matter and energy content)

• Understanding feed wedges

Locations:

Michael and Ruth Prankerd and managers Jose and Eliana. 323 Gore Mataura Highway, Gore. SN32322

October 17, 11am-12.30pm

Telford Business Unit, Balclutha.

October 19, 11am-12.30pm

https://www.dairynz.co.nz/events/?month=5467,5468,5466

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