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Weekly Notes - 10th March 2023

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

Weekly Notes - 3rd March 2023

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March Field day 2023 - Nitrogen Use and Cost of wintering

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

Weekly Notes - 28th February 2023

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

Weekly Hub Notes - 24th February 2023

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

Weekly Notes - 24th February 2023

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

Weekly Notes - 14th February 2023

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

Weekly Notes - 10th February 2023

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

Weekly Notes - 3rd February 2023

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

Weekly Notes - 25th January 2023

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

Weekly Notes - 20th January 2023

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

Weekly Notes - 13th January 2023

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

Weekly Notes - 4th January 2023

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

Weekly Notes - 23rd December 2022

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

Weekly Notes - 16th December 2022

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

Weekly Notes - 9th December 2022

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

Weekly Notes - 2nd December 2022

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

Weekly Notes - 25th November 2022

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Weekly Notes - 18th November 2022

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

Weekly Notes - 11th November 2022

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

Weekly Notes - 4th November 2022

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

Weekly Notes - 28th October 2022

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Weekly Notes - 21st October 2022

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

Weekly Notes - 14th October 2022

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October 2022 Field Day

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