Partners Networking to Advance South Island Dairying
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).
Weekly Update as at week ending Wednesday 13 January 2021
CO Comment
Hopefully, everyone has had a great Christmas and New Year and managed to get a little break over the holiday. If you did not manage to get a break, then I hope there is one planned or at the very least you managed to enjoy yourself by eating your weight in Christmas goodies possibly gaining a body condition score (BCS) in the process!
Whilst we are on the topic of BCS, we must preserve this (in the cows) as we have another 8-10 weeks of this year available before body condition score thresholds will start becoming important for next seasons production.
Vulnerable cows (young, old etc) will be the first to show signs of BCS loss. Consider a change in milking frequency for this group of animals. If this is not an option, make sure that passengers in the herd are not eating feed that could be prioritised for these animals. Identify and remove culls to preserve feed for the ‘core’ milking herd. If considering moving your pregnancy testing forward to identify empty cows it is important to discuss this with the vets first.
Planning for winter is paramount. Keep in touch with suppliers to ensure the availability of winter feed, if needed.
Taking a bit of time to reassess the plan (or make one) for the coming months is time well spent.
Farm Summary
|
|
Mawheraiti |
Kowhitirangi |
|
Average cover (kg DM/ha) |
2111 |
1968 |
|
APC (16 December) |
2149 |
1911 |
|
Rotation length (days) |
23 |
26 |
|
Stocking rate |
2.3 |
2.5 |
|
Percentage in milk |
100% |
100% |
|
Milksolids kg/cow |
1.71 |
1.71 |
|
Milksolids kg/ha |
4.0 |
3.6 |
|
MS/cow (season to date) |
266 |
250 |
|
MS/ha (season to date) |
623 |
539 |
|
|
|
|
|
N (kg/ha) year to date |
150 |
153 |
|
Current N application rate kg N/ha |
22 |
- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
30 Nov |
2 Dec |
|
DM% |
16.3 |
15.4 |
|
Pasture ME |
11.9 |
12.0 |
|
Pasture NDF |
44.5 |
42.0 |
|
Pasture CP |
19.3 |
26.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
Target Intake (kg DM/cow/d) |
18 |
18 |
|
Supplement (kg/cow/day) |
0 |
2.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
Soil temperature (°C) |
20.0 |
21.0 |
|
Growth Rate (kg DM/day) |
38 |
18 |
|
Rainfall |
5 |
18 |
|
Conditions for farmwalk |
Very hot |
Very hot |
NB: pasture quality data are for 1 sample collected from each farm
Click here for the full weekly summary - 13 January 2021
2021
| 13 Jan |
2020
2018
2017
| 29 Sept | 30 Mar | ||||||||||
| 22 Dec | 24 Nov | 26 Oct | 21 Sept | 24 Aug | 29 Jun | 25 May | 27 Apr | 24 Mar | 24 Feb | 26 Jan | |
| 15 Dec | 16 Nov | 20 Oct | 14 Sept | 17 Aug | 20 Jul | 19 May | 20 Apr | 17 Mar | 17 Feb | 20 Jan | |
| 8 Dec | 9 Nov | 12 Oct | 7 Sept | 10 Aug | 9 Jun | 12 May | 13 Apr | 9 Mar | 10 Feb | 11 Jan | |
| 1 Dec | 3 Nov | 6 Oct | 1 Sept | 3 Aug | 2 Jun | 4 May | 6 Apr | 3 Mar | 2 Feb | 4 Jan |
2016
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