Dairy Focus August

An Ashburton Guardian Supplement

There’s still room for growth in dairying

Pages 2-3-4

August 2012

Dairy Focus August 20122


An advertising supplement of the Ashburton GuardianOpinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Ashburton Guardian Publication date: August 21, 2012 Next issue: September 18, 2012We welcome any correspondence to either:Amanda Wright, phone 307-7927 email: [email protected] Clarke, phone 307-7971 email: [email protected]

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Nearly 60 per cent of the Mid Canterbury plains land is now in dairying or dairy support, says Ashburton farm consultant and valuer Bob Engelbrecht.

Many conversions are continuing by default. Farmers are opting for dairy cows over crops and sheep, to improve profits.

Bob, a trusted advisor to farmers in this district for 45 years, says he can’t blame them. He thinks the district is not yet at saturation point for dairying either, though he says Mid Canterbury has traditionally been a strong farming region because of its diversity.

“I have farmers who said five years ago ‘only over my dead body’. Now they have been milking cows for a couple of seasons.”

Poor financial rewards for arable farmers top the list of reasons to convert.

“The alternatives of dairy farming are relatively good compared to other land uses, subject to appropriate debt levels. But diversification has been our strength, with mixes of sheep, beef, deer, arable and dairying.”

He said arable farmers were the most skilled in the business and faced big risks growing any crop. But weather and market prices did not consistently reward them.

Dairy farmers, on the other hand, are less affected by the weather and can still milk in the rain, calve in the mud and keep going. “And once they have milk in the vat they don’t have to worry about it. The tanker collects it and it is marketed mostly by an organisation working on their behalf.

“Not so for arable guys.”Bob said dairy farming and irrigation

had buffered Mid Canterbury from the

global recession.

“Ashburton is clearly the best place in the country to go dairying. Canterbury has the

largest dairy farms, the highest production per cow and per hectare in New Zealand. Herds here are an average 840 cows, compared to a New Zealand average of 386.”

Irrigation that fuelled the conversion wave has also been a passion for Bob, who says he feels privileged to have had a front seat to such a major change in farming systems.

“But in the end it is the farmers who have led it. We provide assistance to help them, but it is farmers who usually lead changes.”

Farming’s importance to the nation also needs to be re-stated, he said. Land-based exports make up nearly 70 per cent of the country’s total exports, yet 88 per cent of New Zealanders live in towns or cities. “We are dominated by urban attitudes, yet agriculture makes New Zealand’s way in the world.”

Bob says urban dwellers would do well to remember that.

“Tourism was, and never will be, competitive against agriculture. We have some great scenery but New Zealand cannot survive on tourism, though it is a useful contribution. We should focus on the things we are good at and agriculture is one of those.”

In his future, New Zealand may need to consider growing crops genetically-engineered to withstand weed, disease and other challenges, and store more water for irrigation and other uses.

Bob could easily have been a farmer, but chose not to. He was born in Oxford and lived there on the family’s 200 acre farm until he left high school for a job as a land survey cadet.

The best place in New Zealand to go dairying

The farm ran sheep and a few dairy cows and Bob was called back to help out when his father became ill.

“It was an uneconomic farm in those days. I shudder to think I could easily have ended up there, and how naive I was. I would not have survived.”

By accident almost, he ended up going to Lincoln. He enrolled in 1964 for a Diploma in Agriculture, a two-year course with student numbers in that course that year breaking 100 for the first time. There were 400 students in total attending the agricultural college back then, including 11 women. The university now supports more than 3000 students.

Bob completed the diploma course then followed it with a Diploma of Valuation and Farm Management (nowadays it is a degree course).

He took a job with the Lauriston Farm Improvement Club after graduation and two years later teamed up with fellow farm

advisors Bryan Royds, Dick Smith and John Tavendale to run their own consultancy business.

The year, 1967, was an interesting start to business. Wool prices had collapsed and farmers were battling a major porina outbreak.

Clients were many and varied, from farmers on 90 acres to 1400 acres, spanning arable, sheep and beef, dairying and horticulture. Bob says the farmers ring from 7am until 10pm and in many situations he is treated more like a member of the family.

On-farm development over the years has been driven by irrigation, a subject Bob has been passionate about for 40 years.

“Ashburton has gone from being one of the least desirable farming districts to being most of the most desirable.

“The town is now regarded as the most dynamic rural town in New Zealand. I am told that by people who come here from other

districts and really it is the consequence of three things. Primarily it is irrigation availability; second, the versatility of our soils and third, Ashburton town is a very good farm servicing town.”

Times weren’t always good though. Economic reforms introduced by the Labour Government in 1984 left farmers seriously exposed to massive debt levels. By the autumn of 1986 land values had dropped by 70 per cent, lamb and crop prices were low, and the district was in a drought. Interest rates were as high as 30 per cent and lenders were worried about their money. “We had a lot of meetings with banks. It was a stressful period for all in the farming community.”

He says for most farmers at least one of those stressors, drought, is a thing of the past thanks to irrigation.

He knows careful irrigation works. It improves the soil capability and creates a more confident farming community. Irrigation

was also a magnet for businesses like South Pacific Seeds, Five Star Beef, CMP and Talleys to come to the district.

Environment Canterbury’s proposed Land and Water Plan may threaten that continuing development though. Farmers should be alert.

Bob says farmers will be seriously limited by the recently-notified plan, though many will not have had time to read or understand the 233-page document.

“Some of the things in the LWP if taken to conclusion will mean that agriculture will have to back off its intensity. It means a lower stocking rate of cows and that has huge consequences for this district and parts of New Zealand.”

Policy writers seemed blind to the fact almost every farmer wants to improve the land, so it can produce profitable crops now and for future generations, he said.

Story continues next page

Linda Clarke,rural reporter, Ashburton Guardian

Story continues on page 4



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Synlait Milk has grown its supply base to over 150 Canterbury farms since its inception in 2008 and has plans for further expansion this season.

“A key pillar of the Synlait Milk’s business strategy is to become the processor of choice for New Zealand dairy farmers,” says David Williams, milk supply manager for Synlait Milk. Synlait says its milk suppliers are as important as its global customers and has developed a new campaign to strengthen that partnership.

“Committed partnerships acknowledges the trust and commitment our suppliers have put in Synlait Milk by actively choosing to supply us,” says marketing and communications manager Michael Wan.

Part of the campaign involves delivering

consistent, informative and professional communication and services to suppliers.

Synlait has taken an integrated approach to developing the committed partnerships story and has recently undertaken several projects to improve supplier communication and service. The most noticeable is the recent rebranding of the Synlait tankers.

“We were increasing the numbers in our tanker fleet and needed to brand the new tankers. At the same time we have taken the opportunity to update all the tankers while the fleet is still relatively small,” Mr Wan said.

The new tankers are capable of carrying 34,000 litres of milk and will create supply chain efficiencies for the company. The new design incorporates a strong use of the

corporate colour palette and the company mission statement ‘making more from milk’. It also features a dynamic swish, which is an adaptation of the Synlait Milk logo and also represents the movement of milk within the tankers.

The Synlait tankers have also gone high vis, meaning at night they reflect, increasing the visibility of the tankers for other drivers on the road.

“This will make our tankers more visible in low light, in the early morning and late evening when our tankers are often visiting supplier farms,” Mr Wan said.

In addition to the new tankers, all Synlait suppliers have received updated supplier packs. The content of the new pack features current industry information and has

been designed to work together as a suite of information rather than stand alone individual information sources.

“Over the coming months and year we will be applying best practice and our new campaign to our supplier communications and service delivery. We have identified key projects and initiatives to enhance our service delivery in a cost-effective manner to our suppliers,” Mr Williams said.

Synlait processes 550 million litres of milk per year, from which 95,000 metric tonnes of milk powder is produced. Synlait products are exported to over 50 countries, while the company employs over 130 staff and has an expected revenue of over $360 million for the 2012 financial year.

Synlait - it’s about growth

“It upsets me that many of the urban population don’t understand farmers. The perception many city people have, even some in Ashburton, is that farmers are poorly educated, have far too much wealth and income and they play golf three days a week. It is nothing like that.

“Farmers here, particularly arable farmers are without question the most skilled farmers in New Zealand. They have had to be to survive. Especially in the pre-irrigation days, they would have one good year, one average year, one bad one. If you were not thinking constantly about how to respond to the widely-variable weather, you would not survive.”

Bob has been a driving force in Irrigation NZ, formerly the New Zealand Irrigation Association, over the years and water continues to be a passion.

He remembers in the pioneering years, driving out to Pendarves where farmer and irrigation pioneer Brian Cameron was banging 6 inch pipe in the ground. “Some people thought he was crazy but he found water and it is really when the deep well irrigation in New Zealand started.”

He and Brian joined forces, though the irrigation association struggled and went into recess in the 1980s, when farm development stopped under Rogernomics. With the late John Young and other enthusiasts, Bob revived it and reformed the group in 2001 as Irrigation New Zealand. Since then it has flourished, tackling technical and political issues.

Bob says environmental opposition to irrigation development is frequently sparked by misinformation. It is frustrating.

It is ironic to hear, he says, Land and Water Plan promoters praising plans in the North Island for water storage with combined hydro-generation and irrigation.

“We tried to do that 25 years ago at in the high country. It could have happened but the greenies said ‘no’. We don’t have to save all of New Zealand in the way it used to be.”

He says the district’s fertile soils and the town are better for irrigation.

If not for that precious water, the population would be lucky to be 10,000 and mostly low intensity sheep farms would dominate the landscape. As it stands, nearly 60 per cent of the Mid Canterbury plains is in dairying or dairy support.

Bob says the rift between town and country has deepened in the past few years and he tries to challenge that thinking as much as

he can, showing people the good work farmers do and how it adds to the national economy.

“In 1967 when I left Lincoln, the land-based contribution to exports was 67 per cent. Today it is the same. So in spite of government and other leaders in the last 45 years trying to change our focus, our income from agriculture is still the same percentage as it was.” Hardly a sunset industry, as suggested by Prime Minister David Lange in his day.

Bob does worry about bureaucracy taking over and political correctness becoming a substitute for commonsense.

“It is much more complicated to get and retain resource consents for water or effluent disposal now compared with what it used to be. There has to be a balance between moving forward and people trying to ‘save the world’.”

For New Zealand to keep going forward on a farming front, the country may need to look at growing genetically-engineered crops, he said. Farmers are not currently rewarded financially for their GE-free status.

Bob said that at the end of the day people around the world will continue to buy food mostly based on how much it costs. “People who say no are trying to stop the tide because eventually these things will happen. We need to keep these things in mind. Never close the door. It may be the best answer to our future.

“If someone cut the rope tonight and New Zealand slipped into the sea, most of the world wouldn’t notice, let alone care. As a country, we are not as important as many New Zealanders think.”

► Bob’s services to Lincoln University over the years will be recognised by the institution next week, when he will be presented with a medal for long and meritorious voluntary service to the educational institution. He says it will be something to share with wife Dianne, who has uncomplainingly loaned him to the important business of farming for four decades.

Bob is one of three to receive university medals this year, alongside South Canterbury farmer Alvin Reid and Lincoln valuer and farmer John Ryan.

While he does not yet know the specifics of his citation, Bob said he had tried to help the university and its students over the years. His ties with graduating classmates remain strong, 45 years on.

And he still lives by the philosophy that when you stop learning, you stop living.

1. You need to be better than

average – and you need to be

better still in a year’s time.

2. Attention to detail is most

important.

3. Good “timing” is everything.

4. Be well informed – read, ask

questions, learn. Keep ears and

eyes open.

5. Measure and monitor – if

you don’t measure, you can’t

monitor and you can’t know

what changes to make.

6. Focus on the important

factors, don’t get hung up on

trivial issues.

7. There is no such thing as a

low-cost farming system in the

Ashburton district.

8. Use a conventional farm

programme – avoid “odd-bod”

or “fringe” crops or seeds, on

average they will let you down

and disappoint.

9. Farm programme and

management – need continual

monitoring and review

throughout the season.

10. Self-deception is often

(usually) the biggest stumbling

block. Be totally honest with

your analysis of crop and seed

yields and animal performance

results.

11. Scale and size of farm

operation can help – but can

have the reverse effect if not

well controlled.

12. Top farmer performers eat,

drink, sleep and breathe their

farming business. But don’t

despair, they approach their

family, recreational and sporting

time with the same enthusiasm.



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Canterbury suppliers of increasing importance to Westland

New Zealand’s second biggest dairy cooperative Westland Milk Products, which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, is hailing its foray into Canterbury as a success.

In 2010 the company began to court supplier shareholders in the Canterbury region and now has 14 farms signed up, mostly in the Ashburton area. As proposals for further developments at its Rolleston plant progress, Westland Milk Products will continue to look for additional suppliers this side of the mountains.

Chief executive Rod Quin says that Canterbury dairy farmers are appreciating the easy entry into Westland Milk Products and the attractions that a full cooperative model can offer. He said the advantage of

being a smaller company means farmers have the confidence that as shareholders they have influence and ready access to the board and staff.

“It’s also fair to say that while we’re a smaller player in the dairy industry, we’re still big enough to count and have a real impact. Westland is one of the top 100 companies in New Zealand, with a turnover in excess of $525 million. We market to more than 70 customers in more than 40 different countries around the world.”

Mr Quin said Westland is growing its share of the important nutritionals markets, especially in areas like China, and that’s where the future lies.

“These value-added products have tremendous prospects for us as a smaller,

flexible company with a reputation for innovation. It is through a greater focus on nutritionals markets that we can compensate for the volatility of the bulk commodities market and give our shareholders a more secure and stable future.

“Our success has been driven by the inspiration and adaptability of our farmer shareholders, who willingly stepped into the independent company arena in 2001. Since then they have embraced new technology, on farm and in the factory. As a united co-operative we have surrounded ourselves with practical and passionate people who are committed to the same principles that applied 75 years ago and which remain our foundation.”

Contributed by Westland Milk Products

Story continues over page

The company’s plans for Canterbury further enhance its appeal to potential shareholders in the region.

Its reverse osmosis plant at Rolleston currently handles around 120 million litres of milk annually. The milk is concentrated by 50 per cent before being transported by train to Hokitika for processing. This process is a highly efficient way of moving milk between Westland’s sites.

Eventually, though, transporting milk across the alps might be reduced or even

become unnecessary. As Westland Milk Products’ presence grows in Canterbury it plans as to expand its manufacturing capability in Canterbury by building a dedicated nutritional products plant at Rolleston. As well as utilising more Canterbury milk, this new plant will provide employment opportunities in the area.

“The backbone of Westland Milk Products will always be the magnificent dairying land on the West Coast with its unique, lush, climate,” Mr Quin says. “But the

opportunities in Canterbury are exciting and by developing them we give the company greater flexibility and resources that will strengthen our position in the market and enhance our resilience and adaptability. That’s good news for farmers both sides of the Main Divide.”

Anyone interested in finding our more about supplying Westland Milk Products can apply for further information and an Investor Statement at [email protected] or 03 371 1600.

Photo suPPliedMt Somers dairy farmer Alan Smith is one of Westland’s new suppliers this side of the alps.



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Glen Coffin marvels at the contrast between her calf rearing operation at Klondyke Dairy in Mid Canterbury, owned by Margaret and Murray Turley, and the farm she used to work on in England.

“There I had done a good season if I had reared 50 calves. Here it is sometimes closer to 50 calves a day!”

She and husband Charlie are dairy migrants from Dorset who have spent the past four years at Klondyke Dairy near Ashburton, relishing the opportunity Canterbury’s scale and the industry’s support provides them compared to the UK.

Charlie manages the 2000-cow operation that is stepping up to 2300 this season. Glen oversees the intensive and demanding job of rearing 1300 plus calves, dairy replacement and the beef calves. In an industry where a number of larger scale commercial calf rearing operators have dropped out in recent years, her role is as vital in replenishing the beef industry with young stock as it is rearing healthy, productive dairy replacements for the dairy operation.

Recent shortages of beef stock reflect the lower numbers of calves reared over the past three years. It comes just as the planets are aligning with low global supplies, strengthening demand from non traditional markets, and positive grass supplies.

While Glen is confident rearing numbers that would daunt many, she also admits being open to learning new methods to get the best results in the operation. Last year saw her make a major shift in her approach to rearing which, despite her open mindedness, she admits challenged her views.

“Of the three of us, Murray, Charlie and myself, presented with the new approach, I have to admit, I was probably the most sceptical. I tended to take the if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it view.”

That approach, after speaking with ATS, was to move to the Queen of Calves rearing programme, developed and marketed by Bell Booth. First launched in New Zealand in 2001, the programme aims to have calves raised on the programme converting energy more efficiently into bodyweight, ultimately consuming less milk, more lower cost cereal based feed and benefitting from better rumen development.

The programme sees young calves fed twice a day on whole milk, including the addition of X Factor probiotic compound to the milk. The probiotic puts “good” bacteria into the calves’ stomachs, populating it and preventing “bad” bacteria building in numbers.

The key benefit is in the early rearing phase. Over the first 18 days the X Factor will help knock back bacteria often collected by the calf from its environment, and even its mother, that make it more susceptible to infection and poor health. After that first three-week period the heifer replacements will continue to receive whole milk twice a day, with the addition of Queen of Calves compound, while the beef calves go to straight whole milk powder replacement.

Glen says a focus of hers, based on her UK experience, had always been to try and build up the amount of “hard” feed, such as straw and meal, the calves receive as quickly as possible from an early age, given the cost benefit and value to helping rumen development.

Her first hand experience is supported by research conducted at Massey on the Queen of Calves programme.

The university has conducted three trials on the programme, and dairy nutrition specialist Dr Jean Margerison says it is no great secret that straight whole milk for calves has its deficiencies.

The desired growth rate can be limited, and while milk input can be lifted to try and counter that, it reduces rumen development, and also comes at greater expense compared to lower cost cereal based feeds.

The Queen of Calves probiotic supplement compound added after the first three weeks helps overcome the limitations in whole milk. It contains marine plant extracts and beneficial bacteria, creating a high carbohydrate addition to the natural benefits of whole milk.

Massey researchers found the programme delivers increases in growth rates of between 50 to 100g a day, while feeding X Factor in the early stages made “significant” differences with respect to calf health. Three research projects have achieved higher growth rates with Queen of Calves compared to traditional milk programmes.

Glen believes she managed to shave a week off weaning times without sacrificing weaning weight, with the calves appearing content and developing well on the programme.

“We would probably have cut back on the whole milk by about a litre, averaging four litres a day in two feeds. “

The calves also seemed to suffer less from overfeeding and getting nutritional scours, and were keen to tuck into the hard feed on offer. “I did find it was important to make sure there was plenty of water on offer to them, they seemed to need that with the hard feed they were taking in.”

An encounter with cryptosporidium last season was unwelcome and challenging, with the calves having to be treated with antibiotics. However she put them back onto X Factor after the treatment and found they bounced back a lot quicker and healthier from the setback.

The Massey research has found early growth before three months of age is a spring board for ensuring overall better performing animals once they hit their

productive stage in life.

Better feeding using a system like Queen of Calves in the early stages improves mammary development in young heifers through ensuring higher growth rates. Maintaining those growth rates right through to first calving ensures improved milk production, and as importantly improved reproduction.

Dr Margerison has noted if heifers are well grown in the early phase and it cannot be achieved with milk alone, supplementing milk with Queen of Calves will minimise having to grow calves faster, later in life.

Glen has a proven system combined with good facilities and routine for moving calves through. The operation comprises two large sheds split into 12 pens, where the calves will spend three weeks. Once put outside into rearing paddocks in mobs of 40, they have access to shelter sheds for the bad days, and continue to be fed once a day.

After the all-year-round routine Glen and Charlie worked with in the UK, Glen says she finds New Zealand’s seasonal dairy pattern a welcome change.

“It is possible to just focus on each stage of the year, from mating to drying off to calving, to rearing calves and back to mating, it helps get your staff focused and skilled

at each area, rather than dealing with everything on the go at once.”

Glen a Queen of the calves Contributed by ATS

Photos suPPlied

Glen and Charlie Coffin.



An Ashburton Guardian Advertising feature

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Since having the ADF (Automatic Dipping and Flushing) milking system installed on his Mid Canterbury dairy farm in February, Jeff Gould has no doubt he has finally found the solution to an ongoing problem with mastitis.

Developed in the UK, ADF Milking has been operating since 2005. The system, designed to disinfect the teat immediately after milking and sanitize the cluster between cows, had already proven itself popular with farmers overseas and was being used on farms throughout Europe, the US and Canada before its introduction into New Zealand and Australia two years ago.

In an equity partnership with Wyvern and Beth Jones, Jeff and his wife Kelly milk 1130 cows on their 300ha property near Ashburton. As milk production increased Jeff noticed so did the incidence of mastitis and, although they had no problem with somatic cells, they were averaging about 20 cows with clinical mastitis, something he describes as "milk

down the drain and a big cost"."I was sick of the amount of mastitis

we were getting and I knew what it was costing us. We were also wasting so much teat spray we just couldn't spray properly with the system that we had unless we did it manually and that wasn't an option."

Since having the ADF system installed by local ADF agent Laser Electrical Ashburton, Jeff said it was performing better than he ever imagined it would.

"It's brilliant; it's reduced the mastitis by approximately 75 per cent and the amount of teat spray we use. I worked it out the other day and I think we will probably use about three drums of teat spray a year now, as opposed to the 16 we were using in the past, that's a huge difference. The saving in teat spray pays for the interest alone on the cost of the installation it's working perfectly and the teat condition of the cows now is better than ever.

"It's a brilliant system that I'd recommend to anyone, I really don't know how to explain just how good it is; the

system is faultless."Since taking on the ADF agency 12

months ago Laser Electrical Ashburton have installed more than six systems and already has more than six signed up.

Laser’s rural and dairy division manager Phil Moore, has two teams of guys working on the installations which he says take approximately five days. Laser’s trained technician then spends another couple of milkings at the shed completing the final commissioning to ensure optimum coverage of the teat.

Phil and his team are very impressed with the automated maintenance system. At 2000 milkings lining and injectors are sent to the farm prompting farm owners to complete maintenance themselves, then at 6000 milkings Laser Electrical performs a complete service and maintenance.

“The ADF system is very good and, with having more than 15 years’ experience in the industry, I can’t see how you could go wrong. It is the ultimate teat spray and flushing system.”

ADF system is brilliantArticle Supplied

Mid Canterbury dairy farmer Jeff Gould has reduced the incidence of mastitis by 75 per cent since the installation of the ADF milking system on a 300ha dairy farm, resulting in reduced teat spray costs and greater milk yield.

Photos suPPliedLaser Electrical’s Dairy and Rural Services Manager Phil Moore (right) and Craig Kelly from ADF Milking undertake commissioning of an ADF milking system previously installed on a Mid Canterbury dairy farm, part of the excellent after-sales service from Laser Electrical and ADF.

Fertigation emerging as a complementary technology

An Ashburton Guardian Advertising feature

As farming continues to change, with pressures from all angles, fertigation is an emerging technology which can counter some of those pressures.

Fertigation involves applying fertiliser through the irrigation system, allowing famers to control the timing, amount and concentration of fertiliser applied. The technology has been used in intensive horticulture and orchards for many years with great success.

Fertigation Systems Ltd owner Graeme Pile says the bottom line is that operators can retain production, while lowering costs, resulting in better profitability.

“Fertigation has been used on some Canterbury farms for the past 5 years – and those operations have also seen the benefits of reduced costs and increased profitability.

“At the moment, farmers using fertigation employ it as an integral part of their nutrient programme.

It combines seamlessly with the application of granular fertiliser in promoting pastoral and crop production. It’s the icing on the cake by applying nitrogen when and as required once the soil has good nutrient levels.

“It’s is an efficient way to apply the correct nutrients at the correct time to optimise plant growth.”

Mr Pile says fertigation benefits farmers through:

• Reducing costs of applying fertiliser • Less soil compaction• Reduce nutrient leaching by

applying the nutrients little and often, and easier to manage grass production.

In some areas with reduced Nitrogen leaching limits, fertigation is one way to mitigate “N” lost to the environment. By only applying what the plant requires there is less nutrient to be leached.

When fertigation is combined with

tools, such as soil moisture sensors, precision irrigation and nutrient budgeting, farmers will find it easier to farm sustainably, Mr Pile says.

“There will be no fertilisers being applied to sensitive areas, such as creeks, springs or rivers, or to roads and tracks that are on the farms.

“Farmers can apply fertiliser when the soil is able to hold the nutrients, as the moisture level is below field capacity.”

With the new Precision irrigation systems, farmers can automatically change fertiliser application rates and fertilised areas on their computer. The fertigated area is highlighted on the screen and the amount applied is automatically recorded in the database for future reference for the Nutrient budget and pasture management. How easy is that!!

Just give us a call to find out more about fertigation and how it can help you save money.



The Hispec 9500ltr vacuum effluent tanker comes equipped with large flotation tyres and a specially shaped deflection plate to create a fan of effluent spreading up to 12metres wide. The downward directed plate not only increases controllability, but also decreases air pollution and unpleasant smells.

With the XCEL’S unique spreading system the manure is shredded by 24 flails to ensure maximum decomposition and is then evenly discharged across the full working width of 18 metres. It carries a load of 12 tonne and discharges it within 3-5 minutes depending on application rate.

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Cattle are being bred with genes from their African cousins who are accustomed to hot weather. New corn varieties are emerging with larger roots for gathering water in a drought. Someday, the plants may even be able to “resurrect” themselves after a long dry spell, recovering quickly when rain returns.

Across American agriculture, farmers and crop scientists have concluded that it’s too late to fight climate change. They need to adapt to it with a new generation of hardier animals and plants specially engineered to survive, and even thrive, in intense heat, with little rain.

“The single largest limitation for agriculture worldwide is drought,” said Andrew Wood, a professor of plant physiology and molecular biology at Southern Illinois University.

On his Kansas farm, Clay Scott is testing a new kind of corn called Droughtguard as his region suffers through a second consecutive growing season with painfully scarce precipitation.

“These are products I really need,” Scott said. “I couldn’t be any happier that they are working on these products.”

The urgency is also evident in Texas, where rainfall has been below normal since 1996. Crops and pastures were decimated in 2011 by a searing drought, and some got hit again this year. Ranchers have sold off many animals they couldn’t graze or afford to feed. Cattle inventory, at 97.8 million head as of July 1, is the smallest since the US Department of Agriculture began a July count in 1973.

At least one rancher is now breeding cattle with genes that trace to animals from Africa and India, where their ancestors developed natural tolerance to heat and drought.

Ron Gill, a rancher who also heads the animal science department at Texas A&M University, said research has been under way for years to develop cattle that can withstand heat and grow on lower-quality forage.

Last year, he started incorporating into his herd Beefmaster cattle, a cross between Brahman cattle, which originated in India, and European breeds that include Herefords and Shorthorns. He’s also experimenting with the appropriately named Hotlanders, a Texas breed developed for its heat tolerance using genetics from Senepol cows bred in the Virgin Islands.

As ranchers replenish their livestock, the advice from experts is to breed drought tolerance into herds.

“We’re telling people, ‘Regardless of what you have to buy to restock, your future breeding programs need to target

this new normal and re-establish a different paradigm than what we’ve had in the past,’“ Gill said.

It’s no different for farmers in the nation’s Corn Belt, who are confronting a drought that stretches from Ohio west to California and from Texas north to the Dakotas. Only in the 1930s and the 1950s has a drought covered more of the US, according to the National Climatic Data Centre in North Carolina.

Nearly half of the nation’s corn crop is in poor or very poor condition, as well as a third of soybeans.

The damage would be much worse without the crop science advancements of the last 40 years, said Andrew Wood, a professor of plant physiology and molecular biology at Southern Illinois University.

“This year’s just terrible, but 20 years ago these crops would have been completely burned up,” said Scott, who also grows wheat and raises cattle in Kansas. “This year we’re going to grow a decent crop even with drought.”

Until a few years ago, most research was designed to improve the plant’s overall resistance to a variety of threats, including insects, weeds and diseases. But the effort also helped instill drought tolerance, said Roger Elmore, extension corn specialist at Iowa State University.

Now crop scientists want to go even further. In seed laboratories, they are developing corn varieties with larger roots to absorb more water and smaller tassels that save more of the plant’s energy for making kernels. The new strains also have leaves that use less water for transpiration, the process that releases excess moisture after photosynthesis.

Wood is studying resurrection plants — mosses and ferns that dry up and look dead after being deprived of water for weeks but spring back to life when watered. The goal is to isolate genes that allow those plants to recover quickly from drought and transfer those traits to crops such as corn.

“We don’t want to turn corn into a cactus,” Wood said. His perfect plant would tolerate mild drought and, when it finally rains, quickly resume “normal biology and output.”

Developed by St Louis-based Monsanto and German-based BASF, Droughtguard is a combination of the best drought-tolerant seed.

Scott is among about 250 corn growers who are testing the variety on 10,000 acres from South Dakota to Texas. His final judgment will come at harvest time, but he’s encouraged by what he sees in the field.

“Pollination looks excellent, ear-fill is good,” he said. “I’m excited to see what the yield looks like.”

It’s not clear yet how far this kind of engineering can be pushed and whether seeds can be developed to endure the most severe droughts.

“When you get so severe, basically nothing does well,” said David Lobell, an environmental earth systems science professor at Stanford University.

While corn is the most studied and engineered grain it isn’t the only crop getting attention.

New Mexico State University scientists are working on more drought-tolerant varieties of alfalfa to improve the nation’s hay crop, which is critical for feeding dairy and beef cattle. Shortages have contributed to the widespread livestock sell-off.

At South Dakota State University, plant science professor Bill Berzonsky, announced last week the development of a new hard winter wheat variety he expects will outperform older seeds. It’s not promoted as a drought-resistant

product, but the wheat known as Ideal is designed to be planted in drier areas of the Dakotas, with better yield and more disease resistance.

Weather forecasters are working on their own climate-adaptation strategies, with the goal of helping farmers choose which crops to plant and when.

Eventually, meteorologists might be able to offer more precise seasonal forecasts that predict the number of days of continuous rain or days suitable for fieldwork.

“These are the kinds of things that have a disproportionately large influence on farming,” said Gene Takle, director of Iowa State University’s Climate Science Program.

The National Weather Service predicted months in advance that June and July would be hot and dry in Iowa, Takle said.

“What could we have said back in March that would have given farmers some actionable information to cope with this?” he said.

- AP

Story continues over page

Photo APCattle rancher Ron Gill looks over his herd as he checks his livestock’s grazing pasture in rural Wise County near Boyd, Texas. Gill has been cross breeding cattle with more drought tolerant breeds that can better withstand heat and droughts.

Climate change - better get used to it



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Total nutrition including energy, protein, macro and micronutrients during calving and early lactation is critical to cow health while also determining milk production both this year and next.

Animal nutrition manager from farm nutrition company Altum, Jackie Aveling, says that an energy deficit in this period could impact cycling and conception rates, so it is important to provide a high quality balanced diet to meet nutrient needs.

“One of the best methods to determine if a herd is consuming adequate nutrients is herbage testing to pinpoint any limiting factors in the diet in combination with analysis from other supplementary feeds.”

Dairy pasture data collected over the past five years from thousands of Altum clients has been statistically analysed to a 95 per cent confidence interval by region, element and month to confirm seasonal trends:

• Potassium levels are higher over winter and spring, then trend down over summer.

• Magnesium and calcium — both key elements for the lactating cow — trend lower in winter and spring.

• The majority of trace elements trend lower over the spring period as pasture growth increases, with a few exceptions.

“In a forage based diet, pasture potassium levels exceed the needs of calving and lactating cows.

“Potassium can negatively impact on the availability of magnesium in the cow which increases the risk of milk fever. Identifying pasture potassium and magnesium levels will help farmers plan an effective supplementation programme,” says Jackie.

“A robust supplementation programme includes a combination of methods including high quality magnesium directly provided to the

herd through water, dry cow molasses lick blocks and pasture dusting.”

Sodium can increase magnesium uptake in cows and provides other health benefits.

“For optimal health and maximum production balance is the key. These are just some of the factors that a pre-calf and early lactation herbage analysis can pick up.

“Detailed analysis of the herbage test taken at the correct time will assist in identifying a direct supplementation programme, which then can be implemented to remedy the shortfalls and give the herd a better chance of reaching its optimum production potential.”

Jackie says this can also be linked to a fertiliser programme, which provides a method to introduce a background dose of important elements such as magnesium and selenium for stock.

Herbage testing for herd nutrition assessment

A farmer once made a comment that he didn’t want to get his cows’ feet trimmed in the wet weather - opening up the wound would only create problems. This is an interesting comment, and I can appreciate his train of thought.

Opening a wound would expose it to bacteria which will increase the risk of infection, especially in wet conditions. But, even though an exposed corium is running the risk of getting infected, not opening a wound would increase that risk.

A lame hoof that has a hole needs to be treated. The principle is that the corium needs to be exposed and the weight taken off the damaged claw, that is the key of good hoof trimming. If the wound is not opened up properly, it doesn’t mean that the bacteria are not at the corium. If anything, the bacteria are trapped in the wound and are more likely to go through the corium creating an infection.

Opening it up and letting the air get to it will take a lot of the infection pressure away, and the wound can heal up a lot quicker.

Using a bandage is not advisable as often the bandage is not taken off on time. When you eventually do take bandage off you can smell a

rotten smell. That smell should be enough of an indication that it is not helpful to use bandage.

However, letting the air get to the wound is not enough. The weight

needs to be taken off the wound. This sounds very logical, yet very few people actually do it with trimming. Most people refer to a claw block.

There is nothing wrong with using claw blocks and in many cases using a block is crucial to the healing of the cow, but if the claw is not trimmed properly it can still negatively affect the cow. It does happen sometimes that claw blocks come off prematurely.

If the claw is not trimmed properly the wounded claw is going to carry too much weight again. So how do you trim a cow properly then? The principle is the same as putting a claw block on the healthy claw, but, instead of making the healthy claw higher, you need to make the lame claw lower. You can do this by lowering the sole of the damaged claw on the 2/3 area from the heel side. Lowering this area can sometimes create as much height difference as using a block.

Another advantage is that it is easier to see if the under-run has been eliminated properly and it is much less likely for a hard ridge in the hoof to pinch the wound.

Fred HoekstraVeehof Dairy Services

Trimming an injured claw

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Mid Canterbury people who want to make a difference to farming, food and rural communities are being encouraged to apply for a Nuffield Scholarship.

The prestigious scholarships are awarded annually. One of the three 2012 scholars is New Zealand Young Farmers CEO Richard Fitzgerald of Methven and applications close at the end of the month for next year’s scholarships.

Mr Fitzgerald and wife Ruth run a 253ha intensive mixed cropping farm near Methven. He started working for New Zealand Young Farmers fulltime in 2002, initially as the contest manager for the National Bank Young Farmers Contest, and has been its chief executive officer since 2007.

His scholarship research topic is on the capability development of farmers through farmer networks.

Nuffield scholarships have been awarded to progressive New Zealand agribusiness people since 1950 and give successful applicants the opportunity to travel overseas

to study the latest agricultural developments, and meet leaders and decision makers not accessible to the ordinary traveller.

Applicants must have proven experience in all areas of agriculture, horticulture and agribusiness management and demonstrate an ability and desire to participate in leadership in agriculture and the wider rural community.

Scholarships are for four to six months, and include participation in an international group tour through either Asia, Europe, North and South America for approximately six weeks as well as attendance at the annual Contemporary Scholars Conference, usually in March, where they spend a week with other Nuffield Scholars from around the world.

Normally two or three scholarships are awarded each year. Applications for the 2013 scholarship close on August 31, with final interviews taking place in October in Wellington.

To find out more go to www.nuffield.org.nz

Make a difference with a Nuffield Scholarship

Dairy Focus August

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Transcript of Dairy Focus August