2025/26 Season Weekly Farm Update, as at 29 August 2025
Your weekly glimpse into research in action at Southern Dairy Hub.
Insights
High pre-graze pasture covers continue to drive herd management decisions. We will continue with a combined milking herd for another week to eat through high mass paddocks quicker, rather than splitting into Future and Standard mobs that will required more grazings in individual paddocks.
With soil temperatures above 7'c for 3 weeks, ammo 31 will be applied at 100 kg/ha to all grazed paddocks and three at the bottom of the wedge that are not growing.
A full herd BCS this week gives a baseline to track individual cow condition between calving and mating.
Calcium boli are now being given to all cows five years and older after a small run of down cows earlier in the week; down cows responded quickly to treatment.
Replacement calf discussions this week have included options for the oldest calves going outside after disbudding and DNA testing and transitioning to milk powder; straw left over from our winter contingency plan is now being used over the bark chips in the calf shed.
New mastitis cases this week have all presented with the same clinical signs and have all come back positive for Steptococcus species; discussions have started to develop protocols for determining whether all cases need testing.
Standard herd
Average BW Southland herd stocked at 3.2 cows/ha at peak, up to 180 kg N/ha and wintered on swedes.
Future herd
Higher genetic merit herd (127 BW difference) stocked at 2.5 cows/ha at peak, up to 180 kg N/ha and wintered on baleage.
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