Monitor Farms

West Coast Monitor Farm

Westland has some unique challenges such as high rainfall and seasonal dry peroids which are variable across the region. There is debate on how pasture growth rates and annual production on dairy farms throughout Westland compares to that collected from three years of monitoring on the Landcorp Kotuku Focus Farm. Westland has now been collecting data for 6 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 four 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: Westport (C Gallagher, Victoria Rd) Upper Grey Valley: Ikamatua (A Mirfin, Mirfins Rd) Greymouth: (A Robb Coal Creek, Taylorville Rd) Hokitika: Kowhitirangi (T&R Little, Whitcombe Valley Rd)

Weekly Update - 4th May 2017

CO comment

On the whole, pasture growth rates have been very good since the long, wet period ended, but be careful not to take the continued growth for granted. With some areas having already experiencing frosts, soil temperatures will be declining. Continue to revise and update your autumn feed budget to reflect the situation on your farm and ensure you have sufficient feed to continue milking if that is what you choose to do. Revisit your winter feed budget to confirm feed availability. If winter feed levels are going to be tight, consider setting your wintering mobs up based on BCS and feed individual groups according to the BCS gain that is required. Your focus now should be on setting up the farm for next season and achieving target pasture covers and body condition score at dry off and calving. If drying cows off in smaller groups make sure they are adequately marked and there is no opportunity for them to re-enter the milking herd, especially if dry cow therapy is being used. If you are interested in viewing the Expanded Weekly Summary of the monitoring results, follow this link West Coast Monitor Farm Full Summary.

Farm Summary

	Westport	Ikamatua	Greymouth	Kowhitirangi
Average cover (kg DM/ha)	1989	2124	2227	1860
APC (27 April)	2036	2133	2236	1912
Rotation length (days)	23	28	30	43
Stocking rate	2.4	2.5	2.3	2.0
Percentage in milk	81	95	91	85
Milksolids kg/cow	1.40	1.46	1.09	1.00
Milksolids kg/ha	3.3	3.6	2.5	2.0
MS/cow (season to date)	371		285	312
MS/ha (season to date)	1085		718	744

N (kg/ha) year to date	170	222	209	50
Current N application rate kg N/ha	20	25	30	None

	3 April	4 April		5 April
DM%	15.1	11.7		15.1
Pasture ME	12.1	>12.7		12.1
Pasture NDF	52.2	48.1		52.2
Pasture CP	27.6	33.9		27.6

Target Intake (kg DM/cow/d)	18	18	18	16
Supplement (kg/cow/day)	1.5	1.5	6.0	1.0

Soil temperature (°C)	12.0	13.0	12.4	13.6
Growth Rate (kg DM/day)	42	48	44	8
Rainfall	34		31	100
Conditions for farmwalk	Fine. Cold start, close to frost	Fine, cold		Heavy rain
Comments

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

Click here for the full weekly summary - 4th May 2017

Previous Weekly Summaries

2017

		30 Mar
	27 Apr	24 Mar	24 Feb	26 Jan
	20 Apr	17 Mar	17 Feb	20 Jan
	13 Apr	9 Mar	10 Feb	11 Jan
4 May	6 Apr	3 Mar	2 Feb	4 Jan

2016

			30 Sep
23 Dec	25 Nov		22 Sep	26 Aug		30 June	26 May	28 Apr			28 Jan
16 Dec	17 Nov	27 Oct	15 Sep	19 Aug		23 June	19 May	21 Apr	18 Mar	25 Feb
8 Dec	10 Nov	14 Oct	8 Sep	12 Aug	22 Jul	9 June	12 May	14 Apr	11 Mar	18 Feb
1 Dec	3 Nov	7 Oct	1 Sep	5 Aug		3 June	5 May	8 Apr	4 Mar	11 Feb