West Coast Monitor Farm

Westland has some unique challenges such as high rainfall and seasonal dry peroids which are variable across the region. Westland has now been collecting data for 10 years and continues to building on the information currently available.

This project funded by Westland Milk Products, DairyNZ, CRV Ambreed, ARL-Ravensdown and Rabobank aims to generate reliable pasture growth and quality, and soil temperature information, over the next 12 months, on two commercial dairy farms in Westland.

Farm walks schedule for this season are weekly from August to May, and monthly over the winter period.

Each week we will provide a Weekly Summary of information from the following regions:

Buller: Mawheraiti (Stu and Deb Bland), Westland: Kowhitirangi (Anna and Jeremy Hart).

Expanded farm summary for the week ending 1 April 2020

CO comment 

By now we should have had some time to come to grips with some of the ways Covid-19 may affect our businesses.

Dealing with COVID-19 is unlike anything we have dealt with before. And we need to change the way we do things on dairy farms whether we are two people or 10 - there must be nowhere on farm that facilitates the spread of COVID-19.

The key things to remember are 2m separation at all times and wash your hands.

Keeping everyone in the farm team informed about the new way of doing things is critical. Work through the template at https://www.dairynz.co.nz/business/adverse-events/coronavirus-covid-19-information/ with your team (outside, with a 2m gap between each person or using technology such as Skype, Facetime or Zoom), then put it up where everyone can see it in the farm dairy. The important thing is to have the discussion and agree the new rules.

It is important to use your judgement with jobs on farm. Think about how essential the task is to your business, remember farming is an essential service, but that does not mean business as usual. Ask yourself if you can undertake the task and stay within the Government guidelines with the activity. This applies when bringing contractors and staff into the equation, particularly when they are not in your ‘bubble’.

Keep safe and remember you can contact the West Coast DairyNZ team if you need a chat.

Farm Summary

  NB: pasture quality data are for 1 sample collected from each farm

* Result outside normal range. Will be reviewed with next week’s data

 Previous Weekly Summaries

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016