2018/19 Season HUB Weekly Farm Update as at 27th July 2018

And so it starts! First AB heifer has arrived at SDH

Week summary:

• Pasture drive due next week, then weekly
• Draft springers twice weekly

SDH took possession of a new Pioneer 700 this week thanks to Ewan Allan Honda Gore

Farmlets Feed Wedges 20^th July 2018

Blue = Lower intensity kale

Green = Standard fodder beet

Red/Pink = Standard kale

Yellow = Lower intensity fodder beet

Brown = Support block (not measured this week)

Herd & Production

• Four herds split evenly on age, BW / PW and on the winter crop trial treatment groups to ensure the herds are as even as possible.
• Each herd allocated a farmlet corresponding to their herd tag colour Green, Blue, Yellow and Pink.
• Farmlets have paddocks allocated so each herd has equal walking distance from the shed and the same proportion of each soil type and equal proportions of pastures in the FVI trial (forage value trial – refer web site section on research).

Comments:

• Data suggests that the BCS of the R2 animals in all but one herd has slipped slightly in the last 2 weeks which may be the result of redrafting the animals into calving mobs 2 weeks ago. As a result, the R2’s have moved from a mob of predominantly their own age group to one with a higher proportion of mixed age cows which they will be competing with.

R1 calves on fodder beet

Feed Management

• The four herds are to remain on their allocated farmlets always.
• Decision rules for Cows of BCS 4 or less are that they can be fed extra supplement in the shed as required by the farm team and be milked OAD but will remain in their allocated herds for research purposes.
• The concentrate in the shed is to be determined for the 2018/19 season

Comments:

• PKE feeding in the kale diet has finished and the proportion of kale in the diet increased
• Feed allocation to kale cows has been reduced based on BCS targets being achieved. Estimated ME intake is now 120 MJ/cow/day 
• Feed allocation has remained the same to the fodder beet herds as a higher proportion of the herd was less than BCS 5 at the last assessment. Estimated ME intake of 135 MJ/cow/day is targeted.
• Fodderbeet residuals from the R1 herd have visually reduced suggesting their intake has improved.
• APC across the farmlets continues to increase with growth rates between 7-10 kg DM/day in the last fortnight.

Mixed age cows grazing kale

Land, Pasture, Crop & Silage Management

• Total area is 327ha(eff), 32.5ha(eff) young stock block and 294ha(eff) platform. Winter crop is grown on both blocks for all stock.
• Crop rotation is two years in crop then re-grass. PGG Wrightson grass cultivars used are Rely, Platform and Excess, all diploids.
• Where target residuals are missed, topping after grazing is the tool the farm team use as needed.

Comments:

• The kale paddocks currently being grazed are averaging 14.2 T DM/ha which is an improvement from the 12.0 T DM/ha in the earlier grazed paddocks
• Fodder beet yields have remained very similar 21-22 T DM/ha but the proportion of leaf has declined from 25 to 20% between mid-June and mid-July.

Fertiliser & Nitrogen

Stock Reproductive Performance

People Management

We welcome Caitlin Crack to the team as a new DairyNZ research technician to assist Nicole S. Hammond on farm, welcome on board.

We also welcome Uere Kaarere to the SDH farm team on a permanent basis after starting here on a casual basis through Enterprise Recruitment and impressing us with his start on farm. Great to have you on board to join the team.

Research Proposals

The SDH welcome research proposals for any sampling or research on the SDH, these are assessed by the Research Advisory Committee (RAC). Just send your request or ask for information via guy.michaels@southerndairyhub.co.nz

For more information check out the DairyNZ link:

https://www.dairynz.co.nz/about-us/research/research-farms/southern-dairy-hub/