Dairy News Feb 28 2012

Feds back new vote on Fonterra’s share trading plan Page 3

meanmachineSouthern Field DaysPage 39

hands uP for milkNorthland schools rollout 4

February 28, 2012 issue 263 // www.dairynews.co.nz

act now on taf“It’s important farmers must see TAF as going down a slippery slope.” – Damien O’Connor PAGE 4

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news // 3

federated farmers is backing calls for Fonterra shareholders to get a second vote on the cooperative’s TAF (trading among farmers) pro-posal.

However, dairy section chairman Willy Lefer-ink says this should not be interpreted as a signal that Federated Farmers is against TAF proceed-ing.

Rather, it is an acknowledgement of the grow-ing concern among Fonterra shareholders and Feds dairy members about possible consequences of TAF, and that Fonterra needs to address those concerns and give its shareholders a final say.

But the Feds’ proposal has been knocked back by Fonterra Shareholders Council chairman Simon Couper. He says a group of farmers have been asking a second vote all along.

“We’ll never know until we talk to all the Fon-terra farmers. The proposal for another vote from Federated Farmers is from their dairy sec-tion executives. The executives should find out what their members think,” he told Dairy News.

Couper says the council is yet to receive the final TAF structure from the co-op board there-fore he cannot support a call for another vote.

A Fonterra spokesman says it will meet the Feds dairy leaders soon to discuss their concerns.

“We are keen to resolve the TAF issue within the Fonterra family,” he says.

In a letter to Fonterra following Feds Dairy Council meeting in Palmerston North earlier this month, Leferink details concerns, and relays a remit passed by the dairy council strongly recom-mending Fonterra’s board put TAF, once finalised, to an all shareholder ballot.

Leferink told Dairy News the remit was “endorsed by the full council” which “represents members from all districts”, an indication con-cerns with TAF are widespread, he acknowledged.

However, he says the council is only worried

about certain aspects of the shareholders fund and he is “pretty confident they [Fonterra] can resolve that”.

“We do not want to judge Fonterra or its direc-tors, but we are raising these concerns and await-ing answers. We just want our concerns nullified.”

Leferink refused to go into detail about the points put to Fonterra, despite the letter to Fon-terra being leaked to media and partially relayed last week.

A media statement following the council meet-ing hadn’t mentioned those concerns, or even the remit, because he felt it appropriate to talk to Fon-terra’s board and chairman about its content first.

“It is sad that somebody betrayed our trust [in leaking the letter] and made our relationship with Fonterra more difficult. I hope the board will still

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Feds back call for second TAF voteandrew swallow & sudesh kissun

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Primary Industries Minister David Carter and Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden at the Feds Dairy meeting.

feds’ dairy council remit

ThaT Federated Farmers Dairy strongly recommends the board of Fonterra take the finalised TaF [trading among farmers] proposal, inclusive of proposed DIRa [Dairy Industry Restructur-ing act] TaF provisions, back to shareholder suppli-ers for another vote.

It is our view that the evolution in detail and complexity inherent in the TaF proposal, and yet to be released information, relative to what was initially voted on, deserves further consultation, understanding and debate among

shareholders before it is advanced fully.

It is the Federation’s view that the current TaF proposal compromises the cooperative values and presents real risks to sup-plier shareholders main-taining 100% control and 100% ownership.

to page 4

*More from Feds Dairy Council meeting – pages 5, 7 & 8


fonterra farm-ers have been told they have two months to stop TAF (trading among farmers) from reaching Parliament for ratifica-tion. Once the regulation reaches Parliament, the co-op will be on a “slip-pery slope to demutuali-sation”, says opposition primary industries spokes-man Damien O’Connor.

He warns the debate around DIRA and raw milk regulations is overshad-owing TAF. This is play-ing into the hands of the Government, which wants to set the co-op on the road to demutualisation, he says.

He says farmers are expressing concerns to him on DIRA and TAF is “flying under the radar”.

“My big worry is that DIRA is a smokescreen for TAF to be rammed through,” he told Dairy News.

“Farmers who con-tact me are under the perception DIRA is the main issue and TAF is ok. I believe the release of DIRA consultation docu-

ment was timed to over-shadow TAF.

“It’s important farm-ers see TAF as going down a slippery slope. I hope I am proven wrong after 20 yrs. If this does get forced through I would like to think I am proved wrong.”

O’Connor, who chaired the select committee that oversaw Fonterra’s forma-tion, believes the co-op should always remain 100% controlled and owned by farmers. Fonter-ra’s board assurance that it will remain farmers owned and controlled is ‘lip ser-vice’, he says.

“We all know that the Prime Minister and the National Govern-ment is keen to have Fon-terra listed and so are the people at NZX. The PM is a trader and he believes in benefiting by trading shares rather than trading milk powder,” he says.

“Fonterra is the biggest commercial game in town. Investors are disappointed they can’t access the dairy industry directly. But TAF is the start of the demu-tualisation process of the co-op.”

O’Connor says inves-tors are keen to have the

sudesh kissun

4 // news

find a space to talk to us, because we don’t want to work through the media.”

Leferink believes dairy farmers are “starting to understand the negatives” of TAF but despite Fon-terra’s efforts, the positives have not been clearly explained.

“This is one of the biggest chapters in the evolu-tion of Fonterra but it is an issue between Fonterra and its share-holders.”

Opposition primary industries spokesman Damien O’Connor says it’s about time Federated Farmers got involved in the TAF debate.

“I am pleased to see Federated Farmers starting to take a lead on this issue on behalf of the growing number of concerned farmers,” he says.

South Canterbury dairy farmer Leonie Guiney, who has lead calls for a second all-shareholder vote on TAF, says she’s delighted with Feds’ endorsement.

With what, she understands, was unanimous sup-port from the 60 farmers that make up Feds’ Dairy Council, and suppliers representing over 65 million kgMS having already backed a petition for a second vote, Fonterra will be forced to listen, she believes.

“I look forward to another vote following honest and open dialogue from Fonterra with a full and intel-ligent analysis of benefits and risks of the misnamed ‘shareholders’ fund that sits alongside the misnamed TAF,” she told Dairy News.

“I still hold the majority of our board and all of our management in the highest esteem and believe we have all been let down by our chairman over the TAF debacle.

“Our board, with van der Heyden as chair, navi-gated Fonterra through the worst credit crisis of this generation to a position where we are an extremely strong cooperative, with measures to manage redemption risk in place. They need to be congrat-ulated for this.”

Guiney’s personal view is that Fonterra sharehold-ers, through TAF, shouldn’t expose themselves to the risks of non-farmer investment and Government reg-ulation of a shareholder fund would bring.

“A sensible retention policy allows us to move for-ward. The sooner the farmers are asked for their opin-ion on this fundamentally different proposal to what they were originally consulted on, the better. It’s not for me to make their choice. We all deserve a second vote.”

Feds support second vote

From page 3

Time running out on TAF

Leferink lividfederated farmers Dairy chairman Willy Lefer-ink says he is “livid” about the leak that saw parts of his letter to Fonterra’s board published in mainstream news-papers.

“It’s sad when people betray your trust,” he told Dairy News.

Adding to his concern was that the letter circulated to Feds’ Dairy Council was still a draft and was accompanied by a string of internal emails, a morsel of which was also published.

“It was just lucky the letter was as it was sent.”

new website

FONTERRa FaRMERS, unhappy with TaF, have set up a website.

The website (www.ourco-op.co.nz) has been set up by shareholders concerned they’re not getting the full story from Fonterra about TaF.

“Fonterra has presented all the perceived benefits but has failed to balance that with the negatives or risk attached to it,” says South Canterbury dairy farmer Leonie Guiney.

“We’ve set up the website to provide that balance, analyse the risks, and get the farmer comments that have been put forward at the TaF meetings with board members present, out there.”

value added business in Fonterra and leave the “crumbs” to farmers.

He says MAF officials, who proposed the disas-trous deregulation of the wool and apple indus-tries, want to see the dairy industry deregulated.

“MAF analysts think Fonterra can be more effective by deregulation. In the past select commit-tees they said the same thing about the wool and apple industries. Look where these industries are now.”

O’Connor is deputy chairman of the primary production committee in the new Parliament. National’s Shane Ardern is chairman.

But O’Connor believes the Government is keen the get the TAF legislation through the commerce

select committee to avoid scrutiny.

He is urging farmers to contact their respec-tive Fonterra Sharehold-ers Council members and lobby for TAF to be blocked.

The Shareholders Council holds the key

because once TAF reaches Parliament, it will be too late, he says.

Council chairman Simon Couper says it has a clear view on the TAF leg-islation and the milk price legislation. “We’ll make those views known to the Fonterra board,” he says.

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federated farmers dairy meeting // 5

Fighting fund for One PlanPeter burke

federated farmers is setting up a fighting fund to appeal some parts of Horizons Regional Council’s conten-tious ‘One Plan’.

The 1500 members in the region are being asked to make a donation of $50 each to raise $75,000 in additional money to help fund the federation’s court action.

The proposed plan was notified in September 2010 and since appeals have been lodged and a mediation process gone through.

With all these options exhausted, the unresolved issues will be left to the Environment Court to decide.

Manawatu/Rangitikei president, Andrew Hoggard, is a dairy farmer who has been deeply involved in the One Plan process.

He estimates he’s personally spent three months of full time work over the years on trying to get a One Plan that farm-ers could live with.

“What we are hoping to do by taking court action is to keep the One Plan as close to the ver-sion put out by the inde-pendent commissioners. We could live with the commissioners’ version, but most of the parties

are trying to get back to the original plan promoted by Horizons staff and we feel that we need to be there to stop this happening,” he says.

Hoggard says one key aspect to the Feds’ appeal is to ensure farming in the region remains a ‘permitted’ rather than a ‘controlled’ activity.

They have talked to Fonterra and are very close in what they both want.

Up until now, Hoggard says the main cost of fighting the One Plan has been time. However he says there’s been a price to pay for this as well.

“It’s meant that local policy staff haven’t been able to focus on other local issues. They have devoted most of their time to the One Plan so other issues have been put on the back burner,” he says.

In addition to the $75,000, the Feds hope to raise locally, they will also get some funding from head office and the

national ‘fighting fund’. “Actual cash wise, it’s the Environ-

ment Court that going cop the money through the need to hire expert wit-nesses, a lawyer and planner and all that stuff,” he says.

Meanwhile Fonterra says it is also appealing the One Plan. Like Feder-ated Farmers, it could have lived with the One Plan put out by the commis-sioners.

Sustainability production manager, John Hutchings says the fact that other parties have opted to appeal this in an attempt to get back the original One Plan promoted by staff has forced Fon-terra to appeal part of the plan.

Horticulture New Zealand is also appealing parts of the One Plan.

andrew Hoggard

China market precious – co-op

FONTERRa ChaIRMaN henry van der heyden says Fonterra needs to connect better with what he calls NZ Inc.

The co-op has to invest in the community and do a lot more for the environment. he says images showing cows in streams let Fonterra and all farmers down.

he says Fonterra is focus-ing on getting farmers to fence off their waterways within the next 18 months. a long time he agrees, “but we need to be seen to be reasonable with our

farmers,” he says.Van der heyden says Fon-

terra ceased taking milk from farmers who have repeat-edly broken the terms of their contract by causing harm to the environment and says the co-op will do it again if the situ-ation arises.

he’s also concerned about the image of the dairy industry resulting from the row over the price of milk and also the fall in milk consumption. he says milk needs to be “accessible and affordable”.

“It’s about getting kids onto milk early with the milk in schools. Other things such as kick-start breakfasts and we are also looking at different channels to market such as putting milk into RD1 stores,” he says.

Fonterra needs to invest year after year and be very smart in what it does.

“I think our farmers now realise that we do have to care about our environment and to actually invest and care for our communities.”

connecting with the grassroots

Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden makes a point at the meeting.

china is a ‘must win’ according to Fonterra chairman, Henry van der Heyden.

He told delegates China now accounts for 20% of New Zealand’s dairy exports and that Fonterra needs to ‘protect’ the Chinese market.

Van der Heyden says the Chinese market is important, not only in its own right, but because it is growing the overall global demand for dairy prod-ucts.

Each year about 20 mil-lion Chinese move from rural areas to the larger

cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. There is a rap-idly rising wealthy middle class which is gradually gaining a taste for dairy products. Ten years ago Chinese per capita con-sumption of dairy prod-ucts was just 10kg per annum – now it’s over

25kg and rising. Fonterra brands feature

in supermarkets – even such Kiwi foods as Main-land Cheese.

Other ingredients are used in hotels and res-taurants. He says these trends have forced Fon-terra to become much

more focused on where it wants to go in China. And the way of protecting the exports is to invest in China.

The investment to date has been in the form of two large dairy farms with a third already under con-struction. This move has raised the ire of some New Zealand dairy farmers who see it cutting them out. Not so, says van der Heyden.

“China is a coun-try where the value of our exports there has increased immensely. China has its own dairy industry so the consumers there want our product. But there is an expecta-tion for us to do business in China that we bring modern ideas, technology and know-how to the Chi-nese dairy industry. That’s the balance,” he says.

Van der Heyden says the strategy of Fonterra

expanding its farming operations in China will continue, but he’s not saying exactly how.

“Do we need strate-gic or financial partners? That’s for future discus-sion. This is all about pro-tecting the exports out of New Zealand and grow-

ing our business in China,” he says.

He says China is a must win.

“We want an integrated supply chain there because then we’ve got control of the supply right from the milk production through to the consumer.”

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federated farmers dairy meeting // 7

Innovation on display

in conJunction with Federated Farmers Dairy Council, a pre-con-ference tour was organ-ised to showcase some innovation in the dairy industry taking place in the Manawatu. The tour included the Fonterra Research Centre.

The busload of dele-gates and journalists were given a brief tour of the Fonterra Research Centre, adjacent to the Massey University campus. While much of the work is top secret, farmers had an opportunity to be briefed by the scientists on the general nature of their work. All were impressed and especially by the obvi-ous enthusiasm of the staff.

The tour also included a visit to Stephen Barr’s dairy farm near Feilding. Aerials bristle on his dairy

shed giving a clear indica-tion to all the technology he uses to make his farm easier to manage and more profitable. The touring farmers were amazed at the information that can be collected automatically.

Barr runs 800 cows and says technology is a means to seeing things happen. He uses Farmworks tech-nology which includes ‘Farm Net system’.

Farm Net is a wire-less system a bit like what you’d have in the house but this network covers the whole farm. Into that are channeled any devices that have outputs such as a weather station, soil moisture and the effluent monitoring system. “We can also monitor the use of water in one of the cow sheds plus irrigation and bores as well,” he says.

One of his dairy sheds has the latest ADF tech-nology which Barr says has saved a huge amount

of time by automatically dealing with mastitis prob-lems. Barr installed the ADF system about two years ago and the Farm Net system about the same time. He says he’s progressively added to this system. While the tech-nology investment might be big, Barr only spends about quarter of an hour at the computer each day.

The tour also visited

the New Zealand Agri-cultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre – on the AgResearch campus at Massey. Here farmers were briefed by the direc-tor, Dr Harry Clark and later taken on a tour. It was an opportunity to see sheep and cattle in special pens where scientists are trying to figure out a way to mitigate methane emis-sions from farm animals.

fonterra is well placed to capitalise on changing demo-graphic trends especially in Asia, according to board member, Nicola Shadbolt.

Speaking to Dairy News at Feder-ated Farmers Dairy Council meet-ing recently, she noted the world is moving away from a point where the young dominate the older age group. She says the long term pro-jection is for equal proportions of numbers in each age group.

She says in China the ‘one child’

policy has been a major contributor to this trend and it’s now acknowl-edged China has a greater ageing problem than Japan which has always been held up as the case study for this issue. It’s also been said ‘China will get old before it gets rich’.

“What that means in terms of product is that you’ve got more people in an older age group and more people concerned about ageing related issues, and that for Fonterra is a positive,” she says.

Shadbolt says Fonterra has dairy products that can help people address some ageing issues.

These include muscle wasting, digestive problems and a major one for Asian women – osteoporosis. Anlene is a well established Fonterra brand in China that addresses the problem of osteoporosis.

She says another world-wide phenomenon is more people are taking notice of new products, but it tends to be age related.

“So a lot more people are taking notice but the ones that tend to do something about it are the older ones.

“They may tend to be wealthier but in many cases it appears that they want to capture those last years of their life in a good state.

“I am not sure that they have any more time, but maybe it’s because as they get older they are trying to pack more in and we know that to do that, they have to be fit and healthy,” she says.

Fonterra technical manager, sensory and consumer science, anne abraham, in one of the small tasting booths at it’s research centre.

Fonterra products comes of age

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8 // federated farmers dairy meeting

Feds tell NGOs to back offPeter burke

federated farm-ers Dairy chairman, Willy Leferink wants

bureaucrats and the non-governmental organisa-tions (NGO’s) involved in agriculture and dairying to back off. He’s also taken a pot shot at the parliamen-

tary press gallery.Addressing the dairy

council meeting in Palm-erston North this month, he warned that farm-ers are being forced by bureaucrats into unpro-ductive processes “driven by a bunch of white lies”. These, he says are cost-ing the country millions of dollars in undesired out-comes and Environment Court hearings.

“It has now gone as far as having Environment Court judges writing dis-trict plans. Also the way Fish & Game put the dairy industry in its crosshairs with two words I know you don’t wish me to say. This campaign is whipped up the media by pander-ing to what it ‘thinks’ dairy farming is. We know the picture they created is a far cry from reality,” he says.

Leferink says drag-ging people in front of the Environment Court and turning them into a criminal two years after a breach of an event is totally dysfunctional.

“Instant punishment is a real deterrent. If you know you are going to face a $20,000 fine if you put poo into a creek, you make darn sure you don’t. It’s like when you see flash-ing blue lights in your rear-view mirror followed by a large fine. It tends to make you stick to the speed limit,” he says.

Leferink says he chal-lenges bureaucrats and the NGO’s to stop thinking about how to slow down or block progress and ask them instead to find a better use for their time and energy.

“Some regional coun-cils think they can stop pollution by writing thou-sands of pages of policy to constrain farming. What

we need instead is new thinking where we all work together like the Canter-bury Water Management Strategy, which is creat-ing solutions for all parties involved. In several years Environment Canterbury has gone from loathed zero to a business part-ner hero. If they can do it, Southland and Horizons can as well,” he says.

Leferink also launched into the parliamentary press gallery for failing to take up an offer to attend a tour before the council meeting. (Dairy News did attend)

“They’ll be the ones who’ll follow politicians’ every word but they won’t come out with farmers to see innovation, effluent planning and even climate change response in action.

“I guess we can be thankful we haven’t been blamed for the Black Death or the Gulf Wars, at least not yet. As it stands in the media, over the past year we dairy farm-ers apparently paid no tax, played havoc with the environment, shafted the public when it comes to what they have pay for milk and don’t allow the rest of New Zealand to share in ‘our’ prosperity. Yeah right,” he says.

He says the main-stream media focus almost entirely on the 10% of dairy farmers who fail – not the 90% who succeed. “If we dairy farmers have an accident we’re instantly criminals. If a council does the same thing its bad luck.

“Don’t get me wrong. Deliberately putting poo in a creek should be pun-ished. But that needs to be equal between farm-ers, factories, councils and other members of the public,” he says.

Primary Industries Minister David Carter chats with Willy Leferink at the meeting.

Willy Leferink has criticised the RMa say-ing it opposes people working together. he believes working together is the answer in the modern world.

“The RMa is 21 years old and is all about submissions, objections, hearings and fur-ther submissions and objections until you hit the Environment Court.”

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news // 11

Crafar saga drags on$25m dairy farm share offer launch when and to whom

the Crafar Farms will be sold still remains in limbo.

As Dairy News went to press the Government had not received a revised report from the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) taking into account the ruling by Justice Miller. His decision requires an

overseas bidder to show that they can provide greater benefit to New Zealand than a local pur-chaser.

The OIO had to recal-culate the bid and said it would take a matter of days. Over a week has lapsed and there has been no word from the office.

In the meantime the Michael Fay led consortium have lodged an appeal against another aspect of Justice Miller’s judgment in which he effectively said an overseas investor did not need to have farming experience to own farm land.

The Fay group says they should. No one spoken to by Dairy News was prepared to put a time frame on when any deal might be settled.

Meanwhile, Shanghai Pengxin, says its purchase of the 16 farms will bring many more economic ben-efits to New Zealand than

a “phantom” bid by the Fay-led group.

They included an injection of more than $200 million of foreign exchange into the New Zealand economy, $18.7 million upgrading of the 16 North Island farms and a significant increase in milk production, it says.

Pastoral dairy Investments (PDI), which is asso-ciated with MyFarms, last week launched a an initial public share offering aiming to raise $25 million to buy and run New Zealand dairy farms.

A further $50m will be sought from high-wealth indi-viduals or charitable organisations, as co-investors.

The company will buy, without debt, eight to nine larger dairy farms in the 600 to 1000 cow range, mainly in the South Island and already has a number of farms in mind.

After 18 months investors will be able to vote at the first annual general meeting on whether to become fully listed on the stock exchange.

PDI is offer-ing 25 million shares at an issue price of $1/share, partly paid to $0.30/share with a minimum commitment of $20,000.

The com-pany is to be chaired by Mal-colm Bailey, Dairy Companies Association chairman and a Fonterra director. Bailey says PDI gives ordinary Kiwis an oppor-tunity to invest in what New Zealand does best.

PDI will be managed in partnership with MyFarm led by Andrew Watters and Grant Rowan, directors in MyFarm, with professional directors Neil Craig and Brian Cloughley.

“We intend to use the regular monthly milk payments from Fonterra or other dairy companies we supply milk to, to pay quarterly dividend payments rather than paying interest on debt used for farm acquisitions,” says Wat-ters.

“We will be looking to only buy farms that are well priced, have a development angle, and the potential to be top quartile milk producers.”

andrew Watters

in brief

lic offers credit

FarMerS WHO used new genomic technology from their cooperative, LIC, in 2008 and 2009 will shortly receive a credit for the premium they paid for the product in those two years.

LIC general manager genetics, Peter Gatley, says the credit is a gesture to the farmers “who came with us as early adopters of a technology poised to advance genetic gain more than any other in the history of dairying”.

“Data collected from our Sire Proving herds indicates that the breeding Worth averages of the ‘DNa Proven’ sire teams used in 2008 and 2009 were lower than originally estimated. This observation is very much in line with interna-tional experience, and we now have appropriate adjustments in place, but we can’t turn back the clock on the estimates we provided for the 2008 and 2009 teams.

“The average of all DNa Proven insemina-tions has delivered a modest advantage over the traditional alternative, so the rate of genetic gain has been maintained, but the result is well short of our original prediction. The credit is a gesture of appreciation for the support of our early adopters who paid a premium for the service.”

The value of the credit is estimated to total $4.7 million and will be processed next month.

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12 // news

Farmers cheer Canty’s first Effluent Expo

Visitors mingle at the expo.

andrew swallow

farmers and exhibi-tors alike were enthusiastic about Canterbury’s first-ever Effluent Expo, held last week on the outskirts of Christchurch.

“It’s good; a good learn-ing curve and good to have it all under one roof,” Geoff Donald, Leeston, told Dairy News.

He was there look-ing at storage options for his 300ha, 800-cow unit with his farm worker Chris Tukaki.

“It’s given me a few ideas about which way we should go.”

Mid Canterbury farm-ers Greg and Rachel Road-ley were also looking at storage.

“One farm needs a bit of an upgrade. It’s got three days’ storage so it’s com-pliant, but only just,” said Greg.

Rachel Roadley echoed Donald’s comment about the convenience of the event, as did non-dairy farmer Mike Chaffey.

“Having everything under one roof makes it

easy. To do all this on my own would take me the best part of a week by the time I’d travelled to all the differ-ent firms.”

As a sheep, crop and dairy grazier, he’s consider-ing conversion of his farm at Te Parita, on the north bank of the Rakaia.

He also found it a good opportunity to buttonhole dairy farmers about what’s working, or not, with their effluent systems.

Westland field officer Rob Pieper had travelled over Arthur’s Pass with four suppliers to see what

was on show.“It’s been a really good

event to bring farmers to, to keep them in touch with the latest developments and also just to put some dol-lars to the various options, and learn a bit more about the detail.”

Pond lining was a partic-ular focus.

“The ball-park figure seems to be about $10 per cubic metre of storage. That’s a lot more expen-sive than just digging holes but as an industry we need to maintain certain stan-dards.”

While lining ponds isn’t necessarily a consent requirement on the West Coast, Westland is keen to ensure its suppliers’ efflu-ent management is best practice for the soil and climate they operate in, he adds.

“If we’re going to achieve a premium payout we’ve got to earn that.

We’ve got ISO 14001 right across the factory. It would be really good if we could extend that down to the farm as well.”

Synlait’s Lucy Bowker, one of the event organisers, echoed that ‘keeping ahead of compliance’ theme.

“If you do the minimum to meet current regulations you’re probably not future

proofing your business.”Under Canterbury’s

Natural Resources Regional Plan a minimum of three days’ storage for effluent and storm water is required but many at the event, such as the Roadleys, and Donal, were looking at more.

“We’re looking at put-ting in 10 days’ storage,” said Donald.

EFFLUENT EXPO exhibitors were upbeat about the inaugural Canter-bury event, despite its back-to-back scheduling with Southern Field Days, Waimumu, which closed on the Friday night before�

“I did manage to see my family briefly at the weekend,” Bridgit Hawkins of Wellington-based farm information manage-ment company Regen told Dairy News.

“But it’s been really good� The advan-tage with something like this is everybody here is interested in effluent�� It’s quite an efficient way of getting in front of farmers who want info�”

Much of the enquiry was about storage - “they’ve got one or two days but need more” – and Regen’s systems could help them make efficient use of that�

“Our systems let them know if they should be irrigating [effluent] or not so they only divert effluent to storage on days they can’t irrigate�

“We also do pond monitoring� Owners can set targets for the pond to be below certain levels at certain

times of year� It’s surprising how many ponds you see full when there’s no reason for them to be,” she notes�

While Hawkins was in the main hall, outside Hansen’s Irripod market manager, Barry Wallace, was equally pleased with the event�

“There are a good number of suppliers and quite a few farmers too�

It’s a good venue as well�”

David Ogilvie, of Anderson & Rooney, said the Expo was “very good, actually”�

“We didn’t know what to expect and Waimumu has only just finished, and this is a new event, but it’s turned out better than we expected�”

Most of the enquiry he’d handled had been about effluent application, an area De Laval has only recently added to its offering in New Zealand, meaning it now has “the whole package” from milking machines and structural steel, to management of the effluent when the shed (and or barn) is up and running�

exhibitors smiling

bridgit Hawkins

effluent expo visitors Geoff Donald and Chris Tutaki.

41

0

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news // 13

Milk tsunami no threat to payoutPam tiPa

nine billion more litres of milk will flow on to the world markets annually when Europe lifts quotas in April 2015, says Rabobank’s senior global analyst dairy, Kevin Bel-lamy.

But it won’t be the ‘tsu-nami’ that everyone fears because world dairy con-sumption is also predicted to rise annually by 2.4% - 26-27 billion L - driven mainly by China but also India and South East Asia. Current world production is about 150 billion L.

Bellamy was in the country last week to discuss this and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe with Fonterra and other agricultural leaders.

Some of the extra Euro-pean production will be soaked up by local mar-kets which are stagnant at present because of the economic situation but Rabobank believes they will pick up.

Europe has some popu-lation growth and “people in Holland eat about as much cheese as any-body is going to eat but as you go into the Eastern

Europe there’s still a bit of growth.”

Dairy is tipped to pick up by about 0.6% annually in Europe. That will soak up about 3.5 billion L of the extra 9 billion, leaving 5.5 billion L to flow onto the world markets.

The increased demand out of Asia over the next five years should

absorb that.Bellamy says New Zea-

land production is up 9% this year, the US has increased its exports from 7% to 13% of total produc-tion and Europe and Aus-tralia have also had good season.

“But world prices have softened but they haven’t nosedived,” he

told Dairy News.The Chinese infant for-

mula market is support-ing the world markets and, from a European point of view, so is Russian demand for dairy.

The message to the New Zealand dairy farmer is that “we are relatively confident of that com-pound annual growth rate

of world demand of 2.4%”.Whole milk powder

should hover in the range of $US3300 to $US3800 per tonne in the next few years.

“That should give New Zealand farmers the confi-dence that the current rate of expansion is sustainable for the next few years,” he says.

Streams fencing heads to court

Peter burke

the environmental Defence Society (EDS) is con-sidering going to the Environment Court to get a ruling on whether or not regional councils have the power to make farmers fence streams.

This follows revelations in Northland where cows were seen grazing on the banks of a large stream and images shown on television of a dead cow in a particular waterway.

EDS chairman Gary Taylor says he was staggered to see an official from the regional council saying he didn’t have the power to do anything to prevent the cattle being in the stream. If there’s a lack of understanding or agree-ment about the law and what the powers of regional coun-cils are, then it is appropriate to get to the court to clarify what the law is.

“I just think they (councils) misunderstand the RMA. We’ve done some legal research and we are quite clear that under some specific sections of the Act they have the power to get farmers to fence streams,” he says.

Taylor says cattle shouldn’t be in streams. “They dis-turb the bed of the streams which can have adverse envi-ronmental effects including causing pollution. In an ideal world we would have riparian margins and fences along all streams and particularly the lowland ones where we have the worst pollution,” he says.

Kevin bellamy

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14 // news

success in Australia has boosted specialist New Zealand-based milk pro-ducer A2 Corporation’s (A2C) sales by 50%. It has helped the fledgling com-pany achieve an after-tax profit of $3.1 million for half-year to December, 2011.

After-tax profit for the previous comparable half was $893,517 and $2.1 million for the financial year ending June 30, 2011.

Sales revenue for the six months to December 2011 was $28.3 million, an increase of 48.7% on the previous half.

Chairman Cliff Cook says the result was pleasing in the face of continuing

price discounting in fresh milk in Australia.

“Whilst the Australian supermarket chains are going head to head in discounting standard milk, a2 brand sales have continued to accelerate with no change in our pricing. The current market share by value of a2 brand fresh milk in the grocery channel is now estimated to be 4.7%.

“Our success in Australia gives us confidence for our international expansion. The formation of a joint venture with the largest fresh milk dairy company in Britain, Robert Wiseman Dairies, is a major milestone and will

open a market three times the size of Australia.”

A2 is pure dairy milk from selected cows that produce the A2 beta casein protein rather than A1. Many people who have issues drinking standard milk find they can switch to a2.

Managing director Geoffrey Babidge says a focus on marketing and management of costs ensured earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the 2012 half year of $2.27 million (2010:$1.58m) grew broadly in line with sales. Settlement of a legal dispute with a former Korean licensee contributed

$1.1 million, underscoring the strength of the company’s intellectual property.

“Increasing sales in Australia demonstrate that consumers in this market understand the a2 brand proposition and are willing to pay a significant premium over standard milk for our products.”

The company will launch its fresh milk into the UK later this year with further expansion into new markets planned.

An a2 brand infant formula is being development, commencing with a market in Asia.

A2C will commission its own new

fresh milk processing facility in Sydney later this month. Initially, the $A8.4 million plant will produce product for New South Wales allowing contract processors to support growing demand in other states of Australia.

Babidge says: “Consumer awareness of a2 brand dairy products is increasing. Our recently introduced “Thank-you a2” media campaign, successful PR and social media activities, consumer recommendation, health care professional endorsement and support from our business partners are all helping to drive further growth in sales.”

in brief

nait bill welcomedDaIryNZ SayS the passing of the National animal Identification and Tracing bill (NaIT) is a milestone in bringing animal traceability for the dairy industry to reality.

The NaIT bill paves the way for the scheme to “go live” on July 1 this year as planned, with the requirement for all beef and dairy cattle to be tagged before they can be moved or sent to slaughter.

The scheme has a long history of partner-ship between industry groups, Government and more recently the NaIT implementing organi-sation, it says.

DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle, says the passing of the NaIT legislation is wel-comed. at the same time, the industry will be watching carefully to ensure the final scheme works effectively and efficiently and is not overly costly.

Half-year profit boost for a2 milk

Milk for schools ‘a bold move’

Fonterra’s Craig Irwin with one of the first pack’s off the production line.

fonterra’s move to supply free milk to schools was “bold and coura-geous”, says the health executive who kicked off debate about milk pricing last year.

“They didn’t have to do it. People have accused them of being cynical about it – but they have come from the right motives,” says Chris Farrelly, of Manaia Health PHO, based in North-land where the Milk for Schools scheme will kick off next month.

He hopes Fonterra’s move will prompt others to help with children’s nutrition.

“As a country we really need to acknowledge Fonterra for what they have done.”

At Fonterra Brands New Zealand’s (FBNZ) Takanini site, the first Fonterra Milk for Schools packs make their way down the production line last week and into the coolstore to wait for their ride to school.

FBNZ business manager beverages, Craig Irwin, say the production run has been much anticipated by the team.

“We often have new products on the line, but they never create as much excitement as the Anchor packs’ debut has. Fon-terra Milk for

Pam tiPaSchools is an incredible initiative and we’re all honoured to be involved,” Irwin says.

So far 81 Northland primary schools have signed up for the scheme sched-uled to kick off on March 19.

“Milk is a fundamental building block of good health and I’m thrilled that we’re doing what we can to make it a part of our kids’ diets,” says Irwin.

Farrelly says Northland has 133 pri-mary schools, and he expects virtu-ally all of them to be signed up by the

end of the month. Fon-terra is now installing refrigerators into the

schools which is a “huge logistical

thing on their part”.

Fonterra will be mon-itoring the

Northland pilot over the

first three terms to establish how to

best introduce Milk for Schools to primary

schools nationwide and

iron out practical details such as get-ting the milk to schools, serving it cool and recycling the packaging.

Farrelly says research shows chil-dren are drinking less milk

“Parents or families replacing by cheaper fizzy drink substitute,” he says.

Nutritionists said this was affecting learning in schools – “which is why the free milk in schools rather than the free milk in homes”, says Farrelly.

“If they were eating a rounded bal-anced diet in vegetables and what have you… but when that’s not there – we have got milk, it’s easily available, it can be given every day. Its (nutritional) value increases dramatically when other foods are not available.”

Studies show 25% of our children are living in poverty and many to to school without breakfast and many don’t have lunch, Farrelly says.

“Milk is not the salvation … but given we are a milk producing country we can start with that.”

To find out more or register a school go to www.fonterramilkforschools.com.

“Milk is not the salvation … but

given we are a milk producing country we can start with that.”

– Chris Farrelly

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world // 17

oz milk production soarsaustralia’s milk production is making a steady climb with total output for 2011-12 fore-cast to be between 9.4 and 9.5 billion litres, up on last season’s total of 9.1 billion litres.

According to Dairy Aus-tralia’s Situation and Out-look February Update, milk production in Victoria, New South Wales and Tas-mania remains strong.

Dairy Australia man-ager, strategy and knowl-edge Joanne Bills says Australia’s milk produc-tion was up 3.6% on last season for the six months to December at 5.6 bil-lion litres and expects the trend to continue.

“Generally favourable seasonal conditions, lower feed costs, good soil mois-ture levels and high water allocations should sup-port profit margins and make this season one of consolidation for most dairy farmers in south-ern exporting regions,” she says.

“Northern and west-ern Victoria, and southern NSW are enjoying the best conditions for many years, and Tasmanian produc-tion remains strong.”

However, she cautions milking cows remain in short supply and reten-tion rather than export of heifers would be criti-cal to maintaining future production growth. Live cattle exports have slowed, down 4% to 73,900 in the 12 months to December 2011.

On the global scene,

while dairy markets have been remarkably stable, the wider economic situ-ation remains uncertain. Currency movements are impacting the competi-tiveness of exporters.

“The high Austra-lian dollar will con-tinue to limit returns to local exporters, while EU exports are becoming increasingly competitive and exports more attrac-tive for US manufactur-ers,” says Bills.

Dairy Australia model-ling indicates an increase in the Australian dollar from US105c to US110c would reduce farm-gate prices by A2.2c/L. Exchange rates will have an impact on 2012-13 farm-gate prices, as export-ers have hedged a large proportion of current season sales, but will be more exposed to high and changeable exchange rates in the coming year, it says.

Analysis undertaken as part of the Situation and Outlook Update sug-gests a likely final aver-age southern Australian farmgate milk price range of $A5.20 to $A5.30/kgMS this season.

While Australia’s pro-duction is on the rise, so too is production across the US, UK, Germany, France and the Neth-erlands. It is a different picture compared to 12 months ago when global dairy supplies were lim-ited. Bills says the out-look for the international dairy market was critically dependent on demand for

dairy products continuing to absorb additional milk supply.

“Demand has been resilient in key Asian mar-kets and the Middle East. There have been concerns that US and EU dairy con-sumption would fall as a result of their continued economic woes, however, product sales have increased or

remained steady.”Chinese WMP imports

slowed in the second half of 2011, finishing the year down 1.8% on 2010. How-ever, this is still around twice as high compared to three years ago.

Total Chinese dairy imports have increased more than 20%.

Bills says the Austra-lian dairy market had been

fairly positive over recent months, despite ongoing consumer cautiousness.

“Domestic sales vol-umes have lifted for all the key dairy categories; but only very margin-ally for cheese and yogurt. While domestic sales vol-umes for milk have grown, value has been under-mined by lower supermar-ket prices.”

australian milk production is up by almost 400 million litres this year.

UK dairy collapsesa uk dairy company has gone bust owing farmers up to $9.5 million.

Farmright Group, the company behind the Dairystix milk pouches, was placed into administration this month with its subsidiaries Quadra Foods and Farmright Ltd.

NFU chief dairy adviser Rob Newbery says it will have a devastating impact on a large number of people includ-ing many dairy and livestock farmers.

“The NFU is in contact with Grant Thornton, the appointed administrators, to make representations on behalf of affected members and to gather information on the administration for members as it progresses.

“The NFU has been working on behalf of affected mem-bers last week and over the weekend, and will continue to press the case for members who are adversely affected”

Based in Gloucestershire, Farmright Ltd has 11 staff, and buys milk from farmers across the UK, before selling it on to dairy processors.

Founded in 2008, Farmright Group had, only five months ago, announced plans to expand overseas into markets including South Africa, America and the Middle East, mainly on the strength of its Dairystix sales. It had predicted a need to take on an additional 40 staff by the end of this year.

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18 // oPinion

editorial

milking it...

18 // oPinion

Head Office: Top Floor,29 Northcroft St, Takapuna,Auckland 0622 Phone 09-307 0399. Fax 09-307 0122

Publisher: Brian Hight ...................... Ph 09-307 0399 Managing Editor: Adam Fricker .................. Ph 09-913 9632 Editor: Sudesh Kissun ................ Ph 09-913 9627 Reporters: Neil Keating .................... Ph 09-913 9628 Tony Hopkinson ............. Ph 07-579 1010 Peter Burke ....................... Ph 06-362 6319 Andrew Swallow ............ Ph 021-745 183 Pamela Tipa...................... Ph 09-913 9630 Subscriptions: Fiona Siketi ...................... Ph 09-913 9626 Production: Dave Ferguson ............... Ph 09-913 9633 Becky Williams ................ Ph 09-913 9634 Website Producer: James Anderson ............ Ph 09-913 9621

Dairy News is published by Rural News Group Limited. All editorial copy and photographs are subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions or comments expressed within this publication are not necessarily those of the staff, management or directors of Rural News Group Limited.

ABC audited circulation 27,332 as at 31.12.2011 ISSN 1175-463X

Postal Address: PO Box 3855, Shortland St, Auckland 1140 Published by: Rural News Group Printed by: PMP Print Contacts: Editorial: [email protected] Advertising material: [email protected] Rural News on-line: www.ruralnews.co.nz Subscriptions: [email protected]

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SOUTH ISLAND:Kaye Sutherland ..............Ph 03-337 3828, 021-221 [email protected]

FEDERATED FARMERS regularly fires out media releases offering opinions on all sorts of spurious matters but it has been strangely silent on what is, for Fonterra suppliers at least, the biggest challenge for their cooperative since its for-mation.

After its Dairy Council meeting in Palmerston North ear-lier this month the Federation said it had “spent some time on TAF (trading among farmers)” and that it is “a very big decision and will be a defining point in Fonterra’s evolution.”

But that was it. Four paragraphs for, to use Feds’ own words, a defining point in Fonterra’s evolution. This after the Dairy Council had heard from, and questioned, Minister David Carter and Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden over TAF and DIRA.

The media statement said Feds would be meeting with Fon-terra’s board in the next few weeks to go through points raised at the Dairy Council meeting. With DIRA submissions closed February 24, that’s too late.

Dairy News understands there was a much more detailed media release planned, but a last minute deal was done with Fonterra’s top brass to keep Feds’ concerns out of the media on the grounds it would be damaging for Fonterra’s image.

Granted, that’s probably true, but how else are 10,500 sup-pliers, not to mention all those associated with them, going to hear how the Federation will be representing them? Will Feds be e-mailing all its dairy members with the detail? Doubtful. Will Fonterra put it out on FencePost. Not a chance.

Federated Farmers is ideally, if not uniquely, placed to relay an independent concensus of opinion on this pivotal issue, but it failed to do so. Federated Farmers Dairy mem-bers should be asking why.

As it was, the letter from Feds Dairy chairman, Willy Lefer-ink, to Fonterra, was leaked to media, prompting a belated statement from the Federation.

The fact it was leaked suggests some within Feds Dairy Council were far from happy with the agreement to keep things quiet.

The Feds had been surprisingly quiet on TAF despite dis-content among some Fonterra farmers. It has finally sat up and taken notice. Sadly, it took a leak from within the organ-isation to get things going.

Leak pull Feds back in line

aussies love kiwi milk

AT THE Australian Dairy Conference in Victoria last week, Aussie dairy farmers and delegates were be-ing served flavoured milk drinks� Very nice they were too� Our man on the spot says they were made in New Zealand�

Political headache

TAF is not only causing problems for Fonterra’s board and Federated Farmers� Politicians are also feeling the heat�

Milking It understands the National Government is keen to channel the TAF legislation through a select committee with less farmers� This is because an increasing number of farm-ers are raising eyebrows on TAF� There is also talk of one MP ready to cross the floor to vote against TAF� With National’s wafer-thin majority in Parliament, anything is possible�

internet for cows

You may have heard of the Internet of things� Now researchers in the U�K� are trying to build the Internet of animals�

The University of Strath-clyde has begun a $US2�2 million project to equip cows with a “smart collar” that will allow their own-ers to keep tabs on them via cell phone�

The collar uses the same 3D sensor found in Wii video game control-lers to detect shifts in the cow’s head position� The data is then sent wirelessly over the cell phone net-work or a local network�

When a cow lowers its head, it’s a sign of possible illness� The sensor can also detect when a cow is com-ing into heat, which would allow farmers to optimise insemination� Researchers expect farmers would be notified by a text�

Penicillin pain

ARE NEW Zealanders taking their anti-dairying stance to a new level?

Police are investigating claims a 3500-litre batch of fresh milk was delib-erately sabotaged with penicillin on a Buller dairy farm, on the West Coast�

The tube of penicil-lin, normally used to treat cows, was allegedly dropped into the milk at an Inangahua dairy farm� The antibiotic’s presence was picked up by testing at the Westland Milk Products factory in Hokitika�

The farmer has laid a complaint as he believed someone had come on to the property and deliber-ately contaminated the milk� There are no suspects at this stage, police say�

“It’s a hard thing to prove unless you have seen it happen�”


oPinion // 19

amy adams

Broadband vitalit seems to me that we’ve moved beyond a time when anyone seri-ously argues with the vital importance of high-speed broadband for economic growth and better out-comes.

We know faster broad-band has the potential to lift GDP by about 1.5%, and we know that broadband penetration is now seen as a key economic indicator.

While good progress has been made in major cities upgrading broad-band availability, I have long advocated the need to bring faster broadband and better connectivity to rural communities. I’m equally convinced of the benefits it will bring to other sectors of our econ-omy and society. Over our first term, the Govern-ment made excellent prog-ress toward the delivery of faster broadband services. We delivered on our com-mitment to provide $1.35 billion for ultra-fast broad-band and $300 million for the rural broadband ini-tiative.

We began the digital switchover and re-stack-ing projects, and planned allocation of the 700 Mhz band to enable better data access on the go, a move that has the potential to bring even faster speeds and better coverage to rural and provincial areas. A key focus for me for this term will be making sure the spectrum is available

for industry use as the dig-ital switchover is com-pleted, and that the digital dividend will be commer-cialised in the way that is of most benefit to New Zealand.

In many ways, it can be said that the preparatory work has been done. My focus now is on making sure uptake of UFB and the RBI is maximised to deliver the productivity gains and other benefits the Government expects to achieve from its invest-ment.

We see little point in laying fibre optic cable in the ground or build-ing new cell towers if the infrastructure doesn’t ulti-mately deliver produc-tivity gains and better outcomes.

I have commented pre-viously that if Steven Joyce was the Minister of getting the infrastructure built, I aim to be the Minister of making it productive, real-ising of course that deliv-ering on the potential of UFB involves a 5-10 year outlook beyond the build cycle.

A host of factors will influence the success of the initiatives – includ-ing retail pricing, the qual-ity and speed of services, access to content and innovation applications, along with effective pro-motion and encourage-ment in key areas.

None of these are a silver bullet on their own.

COMMUNICaTIONS aND Information Technology Minister amy adams spoke at the Commerce Commission conference last week and touched on the need for high-speed broadband for economic growth. here are excerpts from her speech:

However, I’m confident that, together, government and industry can deliver on the potential of fast broadband. Overseas experience tells us that the greatest ben-

efits are to be gained from encouraging early uptake by schools, health provid-ers, government agencies and businesses.

That is why these sec-tors are the focus of the

Government’s five-point broadband action plan and are a priority for deploy-ment. They are also the areas where the Govern-ment has the greatest abil-ity to influence uptake.

Do you think Fonterra’s board is stifling debate on TAF (trading among farmers) ● Yes● No

Have your say at: www.dairynews.co.nz

ONLINE POLL


20 // agribusiness

in an exclusive agreement, RD1 will sponsor the Dairy Womens Network regional groups.

The partnership aims to grow the reach and effective-ness of these groups over three years.

RD1 chief executive Sarah Kennedy, now a leading woman in the dairy industry, sees some direct correla-tions between the two organisations.

“RD1 and the Dairy Womens Network aspire to add value to dairy businesses. We also both have nationwide networks with a strong regional focus” says Kennedy.

“The Dairy Womens Network regional groups are not only the heart of that organisation, they are the grassroots of our industry, much like the RD1 store network.

“RD1’s staff is now 45% female, a clear indicator that women have a strong role to play in the industry.”

Dairy Womens Network chief executive, Sarah Speight believes several benefits will come of the partnership. “We currently have 27 active regional groups operating across the country and plan to grow this to 30 over the coming year.

“It is these forums where women in dairying can net-work and learn from each other on a regular basis. They are also essential support systems for many of our women.”

Kicking off the partnership between RD1 and the Dairy Womens Network, Kennedy is a keynote speaker at its 2012 conference in Rotorua, March 21-22.

rD1 supports dairy women

Skim milk eases gout flares – study

auckland Medical School researcher Dr Nicola Dalbeth.

helP could shortly be on the way for the millions of gout sufferers in the

form of skim milk. A cutting-edge medical

trial in Auckland last year showed that introducing enriched skim milk to suf-ferer’s diets reduced both

the severity and frequency of their gout attacks.

The trial was run by Auckland University’s Medical School and Fon-terra. The results mean

benedict collinsthe co-op is now proceed-ing with plans to commer-cialise its enriched skim milk formula.

The gout-fighting for-mula was enriched with both a specific peptide and milk fat which occur natu-rally in milk.

Fonterra’s premium ingredients director of innovation and ventures, Joanna Mobley says the results mean gout suf-ferers could soon have a dietary intervention.

“We know that inci-dence of gout is grow-ing in adult populations all over the world, so we expect this discovery to play an important part in our innovation strategy to support healthy ageing through advanced nutri-tion,” Mobley says.

The commercialisa-tion process is expected to take between one and two years.

Dr Nicola Dalbeth, Auckland Medical School’s bone and research group, says the trial of 120 patients was the first in the world to look at a dietary intervention for the nutritional disease.

The patients were fol-lowed over a three month

period – and those who received the enriched skim milk, on the whole, expe-rienced half the number of attacks, in addition to a reduction in the amount of pain they suffered.

For centuries gout, an inflammatory arthri-tis associated with extreme joint pain, has been labelled “rich man’s disease” thought to be induced by excessive con-sumption of rich foods and booze.

However, Dalbeth says genetics also play a huge role in the disease and that New Zealand and America have the highest rates of gout per capita – at around 4% of the population.

However, Maori and Pacific Island men have the highest rates of gout in the world – between 10 and 15% are sufferers, Dal-beth says.

“I think that the pat-terns of disease have changed a lot with gout. So, now in fact gout is common in all walks of life – it is strongly associ-ated with obesity, strongly associated with kidney disease, heart disease and there are certainly genetic risk factors.”

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agribusiness // 21

Good days ahead for night milk

synlait milk plans to market a powder made with cows’ production during the hours of darkness, and promises to pay suppliers a premium for the raw material.

Dubbed Night Milk it contains higher melatonin levels.

“Melatonin plays a key role in help-ing humans regulate day-night cycles, and by selectively collecting milk pro-duced by cows during the night we can create a 100% natural sleep aid,” says SM research manager Simon Causer.

“Having determined the feasibility of production and that the change of routine has little effect on the behav-iour of the cows, the next step in the process will involve carrying out a clinical trial to demonstrate effi-cacy of the product when taken by a study group comprising patients with insomnia.”

SM general manager for market and product development, Tony McK-enna, says products such as Night Milk command a substantial pre-mium over conventional milk pow-ders, and offers a means of capturing additional value for Synlait Milk and its suppliers.

“We have identified a significant market for such products in Asia

and Europe, with key consumers likely to be professional people, the elderly and international travellers, all of whom can experience a high incidence of sleep disorders... [and] because much of the value is created on farm, our milk suppliers for this product will share in the premium, just like our colostrum suppliers do.”

McKenna told Dairy News what premium Night Milk suppliers will earn is “in discussion and yet to be finalised. It is also commercially sen-sitive.”

Baby and infant products are a possible future development as they are also an obvious demographic for such a product, however such mar-kets are “sensitive and strictly regu-lated,” he notes.

“We need to work through more of a detailed process with key customers in this area.”

Rather than patents to protect the concept, McKenna says the IP (intel-lectual property) is “in the how we do it”.

“Our facility is set-up to allow us to do special things on the farm and then to keep these milks segregated through manufacture...

“Special milks produced on farm are central to our strategy for the very reason it takes advantage of the great farm-processor-customer supply

chain we operate with.”As for whether a concentrated for-

mula is planned, to avoid the poten-tial pitfall of Night Milk users getting to sleep well, only to wake up need-ing the loo an hour or two later, McK-enna told Dairy News “we are working on a number of product options and applications”.

Product trials will involve patients drinking a glass of Synlait Night Milk 30 minutes prior to going to bed, with various measures of sleep quality taken during the course of the night to demonstrate the effectiveness of the product compared with conven-tional milk.

The Night Milk programme is part of a suite of initiatives Synlait Milk is working on to develop its nutritional products business, a cornerstone of which has been the opening of a $100million infant nutritional plant in November 2011.

Bright Dairy & Food, China’s third-biggest dairy company by volume, bought a 51% stake in Synlait Milk in July 2010.

Last year Synlait Milk commis-sioned a second drier and packaging plant at its Dunsandel site allowing it to produce high value milk powders including infant formula for the Chi-nese market where Bright Dairy has an extensive distribution network.

andrew swallow

Synlait appointmentsynlait milk has appointed Mat-thew Foster as its new general man-ager supply chain. Foster will report to chief executive John Penno.

Foster has spent much of his work-ing life with New Zealand agricultural businesses both in New Zealand and overseas.

He spent one year as commercial manager with international shipping line Tasman Orient/Swire, before joining transport and logistics busi-ness NZL Group.

Prior to this Foster spent 18 years with the New Zealand Dairy Board (and Fonterra) in various finance and management roles. Foster’s appoint-ment follows the planned retirement of John Roberts on March 30.

During a 42 year career in the dairy industry, Roberts has spent more than 10 years in chief executive roles with several cooper-

ative dairy companies including Westland Milk Products, and Alpine Dairy Products which merged to form South Island Dairy Cooperative. Roberts was general manager at Bonlac Food, Mel-bourne, and has also

spent several years working as a con-sultant, including time with Fonterra Brands in Auckland.

Night milk markets have been identified by Synlait.

Matthew Foster

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management // 23

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Peter burke

simon walker was keen to ride the milk wave, but he wasn’t willing to convert his sheep and beef farm at Mokomoko near the town of Pahiatua in the Tararua District.

But in the best tradition of Kiwi ingenuity, Walker has found a way of being part of the success story of dairying, without making a lot of changes to his existing farming oper-ations.

He and wife Louise run 3000 romney breeding ewes and 100 angus beef cows on his property called Ross na Clonagh. They are the fourth gen-eration to farm the property.

It has an interesting history and its name dates back to Walker’s great grandfather who left Ireland in the 1880’s at just 17 and soon found him-self gaining the property initially by way of ballot.

The place is as beautiful as the name Ross na Clonagh sounds.

But about 12 years ago he decided to diversify and as he puts it “got to be part of the great white milk wave with-out milking a cow’’. He has succeeded and his method is pretty simple. He buys in 3-month-old weaner heifers, mainly jerseys, from a local farmer, mates them and sells them on as in calf heifers 18 months later.

“I was also sick of farming fresian bulls. They used to annoy me. The

profitability went out of it and about this time the nuisance factor went up. So I made a change. I buy the wean-ers from a very reputable local farmer. He’s a neighbour who’s got a very high performing jersey herd. I use a bull to mate the heifers rather and AI them. This is because mating usually occurs at docking time which means we are very busy,” he says.

The heifers are mated in mid-October and are then sold in May of the following year when they are about 18 months old. Walker says while most of weaners he buys are jersey he’s also bought fresians and some of these have been sold to Fon-terra for their newly developed farms in China.

“For the most part we sell mainly locally. We’ve got a stock agent who’s

become a mate and he’s worked here and has got pretty good connections locally so most of the animals are sold in this district,” he says.

A key factor in the success of his operation is feeding the heifers. “They have taken priority for many years because they have been the most profitable class of stock. We feed them like dairy farmers do – it’s not rocket science. However there are a bit of conflict at the moment with lamb finishing, because lamb prices are so good,” he says.

Walker says the move to raising the heifers has been good, especially given the expansion in the dairy industry.

He says the market has been both strong and profitable and made it worthwhile to be a part of the “milk wave’’.


management // 23

Riding the wave

Simon Walker and son Hamish.

raising heifers on his sheep and beef farm is paying dividends for Simon Walker.

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24 // management

Ready for maize harvestmaiZe silage harvest is fast approaching. Now is the time to ensure you have a management plan that will allow you to max-imise maize silage qual-ity and reduce storage and feed-out losses.

Maize silage contains a high concentration of

starch and sugars. This makes it more prone to

heating when the stack or bunker is opened at feed-out time. When silage heats it loses valu-able nutrients which could have been used by the cow to produce milk. There are two main ways you can reduce heating in your maize silage - apply the

right silage inoculant and use good harvest, storage and feed-out management techniques.Silage inoculants

Aerobic stability is a measure of how long silage stays cool when it is exposed to the air at feed-out time. A recent

paper presented at the New Zealand Grasslands Association conference1, compared the aerobic sta-bility of eight different maize silages inoculated with three commercially available silage inoculants. Harvest management

Good harvest, storage and feed-out techniques can also reduce silage heat-ing.

Best-practice guidelines are as follows:

■ Harvest your maize silage crop when the drymatter is between

30-38%. Crops which are >38% drymatter are more difficult to compact resulting in a slower fermentation and greater losses when the stack is exposed to the air at feed-out time. Some of the potential negative outcomes for very dry crops can be reduced by chopping the maize shorter and spreading it into thin-ner layers as the stack is being formed.

■ Chop to 10 – 15mm. This is a theoretical chop length and you will find some parti-cles that are shorter or longer in your silage. Some longer particles are beneficial as they stimulate the rumen of the animal that is being fed. If your silage is very dry (greater than 38% drymatter), decrease the chop length to 5-9 mm. In the case of very wet crops (less than 30% drymatter) chop length may be increased up to 20 mm.

■ Use a plant proces-sor to ensure that 99% (target minimum 80%) of the kernels are broken into at least four pieces. A plant pro-cessor will also break down larger pieces of plant material (e.g. the core of the maize cob) assisting the compac-tion process and reduc-ing feed-out wastage.

■ Spread the maize in thin layers and com-pact it well. Compac-

tion is a function of vehicle weight, rolling time and the depth of the layers of chopped maize that is being compacted. Thin layers (100-150mm) compact to a higher density than thick layers.

■ Seal the stack or bunker completely. Compac-tion removes air from the forage and sealing keeps it out. Ideally the stack should be covered and sealed immediately after harvest as this will speed the fermenta-

tion process and reduce losses. Tape holes and joins and weight the cover down using tyres that are touching, sand bags or lime. Sand or limestone should be used to seal around the edges of the bunker or stack.

■ Control rats and mice. Keep the stack area free of weeds that can provide cover for rats. Place rat baits in bait stations around the stack and ensure they are checked and replen-ished on a regular basis.

■ Feed out carefully. Keep the stack or bunker face tight throughout the feed-out period and remove loose material on a daily basis.

■ Remember silage heat-ing will cost you pro-duction. Applying the right inoculant and using good harvest management, stor-age and feed-out tech-niques will help keep your maize silage cool and put more milk in your vat this season.1Kleinmans et al, 2011.

Using silage inoculants to improve the quality of pasture and maize silage in NZ. Proceedings of the NZ Grassland Association 73: 75-80. For maximum aerobic stability benefits, silage must ferment at least 30 days before feeding. • Ian Williams is a Pioneer forage specialist. Contact him at [email protected].

Pioneer® brand 11C33 inoculated silage stayed cool 55.5 hours longer than the untreated control. There was no statistically significant difference between other products and the untreated control.

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management // 25

milking shed power savings achievabledairy farms could reduce electricity use by about 10% - the equiva-lent of power use by about 7100 households, a pilot programme has shown.

Cost-effective annual energy savings of at least 68.4 million kilowatt hours (kWh) in the dairy shed are achievable, the pilot scheme says.

Individual farms could cut milking shed electric-ity consumption by 16% and a post-pilot survey shows 46% of farmers will adopt savings technolo-gies if their costs can be recouped within three years.

Commissioned by MAF, the Energy Effi-ciency and Conservation Authority (EECA) and Fonterra, the pilot was run across 150 dairy farms in the Waikato, Lower North Island, Canterbury and Otago/Southland in the

2010-11 season.“Dairy farms account

for 2.3% of New Zealand’s total electricity consump-tion and the average farm spends over $14,000 on electricity a year,” says Jim Miller of Fonterra’s energy efficiency team.

“Reducing consump-tion can have a consider-able impact on farm costs as well as the greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy generation.”

The pilot found that including irrigation, the average farm milking oper-ation in the sample used 112,100 kWh of electricity in the 2009-10 season.

Audits of participating farms covered water heat-ing, milk cooling and vats, vacuum and milk pumps, lighting, irrigation and effluent systems. Water heating accounted for 24% of consumption, water pumping 22%, refriger-

ation 17% and vacuum pumps 15%. Each par-ticipating farm received a comprehensive report with farm-specific energy saving recommendations with paybacks of five years or less.

“We found that over 70% of the savings oppor-tunities were related to water heating, although how those savings could be achieved varied from farm to farm,” says Miller.

“In some cases chang-ing to one hot wash of the milking plant each day was recommended. In others pre-heating water with heat recovered from refrigeration plants, or solar water heating was a viable option.”

Miller says its encour-aging farmers in the pilot were quick to take up sav-ings recommendations with 23% having already adopted at least one rec-

ommendation, delivering an estimated 161,000 kWh of total annual savings.

With 42% of pilot par-ticipants reporting they would likely adopt recom-mendations over the next three years, savings from the audits could rise to 297,000 kWh.

“We’re also encour-aged by the good feed-back which showed almost 80% of farmers found their audit valuable. Costs are a factor and farmers are generally looking for a payback of capital costs within three years or less.”

With the pilot com-plete, Fonterra is now also acting on feedback that showed farmers would undertake an energy audit on-farm so long as the price was right.

“We are now look-ing at how we can set up a system to deliver audits,” says Miller.

“Audits contracted individually can cost between $1500 and $2000, but we are looking at achieving economies of scale by clustering audits in districts to reduce travel time and costs. If farmers take up that opportunity and group together to have area audits, there’s a real opportunity to bring costs down.”

As a result of the

report, EECA has released a Request for Proposal to enhance electricity effi-ciency in New Zealand dairy sheds. The pro-posal focuses primarily on heat recovery technol-ogy. EECA is seeking to facilitate efficient transfer of heat from milk cooling process to the water heat-ing process and thereby reduce dairy farm electric-ity use.

“The report clearly highlights that there is a significant energy saving to be made on New Zea-land dairy farms. This is a great opportunity for farms to become more energy efficient and bene-fit from the increased sav-ings,” Rod Treder, EECA industrial programme manager says.

See: www.eecabusiness.govt.nz

gareth gillat

farms milking on a once a day (OAD) system, with cows specifically bred for that purpose, can pro-duce more than farms on a twice a day (TAD) system, says Colin Holmes.

Holmes, retired Massey University pro-fessor, made the com-ment at a Smaller Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH) workshop in Northland

this month. He told the Hikurangi event that farm-ers he worked with were now producing more on OAD than they ever had with TAD. One farmer, who irrigates his farm and has milked 580 cows on a once a day system pro-duced 330kg/MS per cow, just 5% behind the farm-ers’ best season on a twice a day system with mark-edly lower on-farm costs.

This is likely to improve as farmers breed

for cows better suited to OAD, Holmes says

He described the TAD cow as a volume-only milk production unit, designed to turn food into milk with little consideration of other factors like somatic cell count or udder health.

These types of cows don’t do well in OAD where udder integrity and longer metabolism peri-ods are just as important.

Farmers should start selectively breeding for

these attributes, he says.“Farmers should be

looking for cows that do well in the once a day system and then start cull-ing cows that don’t.”

He predicts a once a day grading system may be started where semen from bulls known to produce cows better suited to OAD farming were sold as such.

Cows likely to do well at OAD are Jersey and Jersey Friesian-cross cows, says Holmes.

OAD breeding next step Colin Holmes explains the benefits of OaD milking at the SMaSH event.

a pilot programme shows dairy farms can reduce electricity use by 10%.


26 // management

OAD for yield and profitgareth gillat

once a day milking is more productive, and can be more profitable than twice a day systems says Hukerenui dairy farmer Chris Lethbridge.

Chris and his wife Wendy milk 360 cows on their 120ha farm just north of Whangarei and have milked OAD since they bought the farm in 2007, except for twice a day milking for just one year in the 2010-11 season.

The couple have been mainly running a once a day operation ever since they were lower order sharemilkers after seeing some severe empty rates in the herd they were man-aging.

Lethbridge says a Northern Wairoa farm he was on was getting

production figures of 360kgMS per cow, but the animal’s health was suf-fering.

“The end result was

that we had 30% empties in the autumn and 20% empties in the spring,” Lethbridge told a Smaller Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH) field day on his farm recently. “That was probably a reasonably good driver (to start once a day milking) through the wastage of all of those ani-mals.”

Lethbridge now gets an average of 100 heifers out of a regime of six weeks AB (artificial breeding) and six weeks natural breed-

ing from his 360 cows. An average of 75% of his herd get in calf in the first three weeks.

This is even though

he doesn’t use CIDRS or induction of any kind.

“My idea of once a day is that if the cows are going to have it easy, they are going to need to prove that they can do it easy,” says Lethbridge. “They have to do the work not me.”

Farm working expenses are also incredibly low, with the four year aver-age for each kgMS costing $3.31 compared to the dis-trict benchmark cost of $4.12 and the MAF

benchmark of $3.68.Lethbridge says

reduced costs haven’t resulted in a drop in pro-duction with the farm pro-ducing more than when they took it over in 2007.

In fact when the Leth-bridges went back to twice a day for a season in 2012 to handle a feed manage-ment problem they saw their production fall while farm working expenses climbed steeply.

It cost $3.74/kgMS from 2010-12 with the farm pro-ducing 91,486 kgMS, less than their first year on the farm.

The current season is heading towards 93,000 kgMS with production fig-ures already running at 1% higher than where they were at last year.

Lethbridge says it will also be a more enjoyable year.

“Last year was probably the hardest year ever on my marriage,” says Leth-bridge.

Milking OAD has allowed the Lethbridges to use their replacement policy as another form of income.

The couple buy in 120 in-milk empties every year,

milk them for a year, get them in calf and then sell them on as in-calf empties.

Lethbridge says the only downside is a slightly higher somatic cell count from the imported cows.

However, this hasn’t been a huge issue with the average SCC count falling from 310 in 2007 to

233 this season.Lethbridge says he

wonders if people don’t go once a day because they think they can’t afford it or be because of cell count.

“You’ve probably already got a SCC prob-lem, milking once a day is not going to make it worse,” he says.

Chris Lethbridge talks about OaD at the SMaSH field day in Northland.

“My idea of OAD is that if cows are going to have it easy, they are going to prove that they can do it easy.”


animal health // 27

Time for dry cow management rethink?farm nutrient company, Altum is encour-aging dairy farmers to challenge their traditional dry cow management sys-tems in preparation this winter.

The advice comes on the back of a recent independent trial on the effects of the magne-sium and micro-nutri-ent enriched crystalline molasses block Crystalyx Dry Cow on the dairy cow transitioning from calving to lactation.

New Zealand expert in ruminant physiology and reproductive biol-ogy, Dr Mark Oliver, Lig-gins Institute, University of Auckland, says the trial demonstrated that Crysta-lyx Dry Cow provided ben-efits above those delivered by traditional mineral sup-plementation.

These include lower rates of mastitis and reductions in retained placentas, along with an added benefit of a lighter workload for farm staff.

“Farm staff appreci-ated the comparative prac-ticality of the molasses block and its performance in poor weather compared to more traditional sys-tems which use dusting or water trough dosing. Anecdotally, there was a perception that cow mood and ease of handling was also superior in the Crys-talyx supplemented herd. These preliminary stud-ies suggest that Dry Cow is suitable for use on New Zealand farms representa-tive of the one used in the trial.”

The trial, overseen by Oliver was carried out on a commercial Tokoroa dairy farm operating two herds on adjacent properties. It was undertaken for Altum, who exclusively distrib-utes the Crystalyx range of dehydrated molasses blocks in New Zealand.

Altum animal nutrition manager, Jackie Aveling, explains that calving and the start of lactation is a time of extreme metabolic stress for dairy cows.

“Energy deficits occur, but more commonly the demand for key miner-als often outstrips supply especially in the case of magnesium, which is a

factor in maintaining blood calcium levels and in the prevention of milk fever.

“A common strategy to avoid this problem is to supplement pregnant cows 6 to 8 weeks before calving with magnesium and other micro-nutrients. Usually, this involves dust-ing of supplementary feed or trough treatment.

“While overseas trials have shown us the ben-efits of using Crystalyx, we have trial work here in New Zealand which val-idates its use domesti-cally.”

During the trial cows in the control herd were supplemented with mag-nesium and micro-nutri-ents using traditional methods while the other herd was supplemented with access to Crysta-lyx Dry Cow two months before projected calving. Observations on common metabolic and post calving complications were made on 210 cows from the con-trol group and 156 cows from the Crystalyx supple-mented group.

As part of an agreed health monitoring pro-gramme veterinarians conducted blood sampling on a subset of cows from each group before sup-plementation began, five weeks after it started and five weeks later, at the tri-al’s completion.

Crystalyx supple-mented cows had an esti-mated uptake of 190g/day of Dry Cow.

Oliver reports that cases of treated milk fever were no different between the groups and did not exceed 7% of either herd.

“Similarly there was no significant difference in observed cases of assisted delivery or inductions between groups. However in control cows, incidence of retained placentas was 11% compared to 2.6% in the Crystalyx supple-mented group while mas-titis incidence also tended to be higher at 9 % in the control herd versus 3.9% in the cows provided with Crystalyx.

“In this particular trial, supplementation by either method resulted in suit-able plasma concentra-

tions of key nutrients in the vast majority of ani-mals,” says Oliver.

Aveling says that in addition to providing a simple and effective alter-native to traditional min-eral supplementation, other ruminant experts believe that Crystalyx Dry Cow can play a role in cor-rect management of the

dry cow period in prepa-ration for the next season, assisting to maintain good body condition scores and keeping the rumen in good health.

“This was confirmed at an international confer-ence on rumen function in Germany last year by Professor Jim Drouillard, Kansas State University.”

Trials demonstrate Crystalyx provided bigger benefits.

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28 // animal health

FE outbreak triggers warningaustralian dairy farmers are being urged to act immediately to prevent facial eczema (FE) in their herds.

Dairy Australia says current and forecast weather con-ditions put cows at risk. The recommended action is to either monitor spore counts on farm paddocks weekly or begin preventative strategies such as zinc supplementa-tion if this isn’t already in place.

Dairy Australia’s Feed2Milk programme leader, Dr Steve Little says this month the FE spore monitoring pro-gramme had detected increasing pasture toxicity levels across Gippsland, Victoria.

“The average spore count is now more than 20,000 spores per gram which is the trigger level for farmers to take action,” Little says.

Continued exposure of animals to pasture containing more than 20,000 spores per gram of pasture can result in liver damage for which there is no specific treatment.

“The greatest cost of FE to dairy farmers is from the 80% of cows with liver damage but no skin lesions. These cows will have lower milk production and fertility,” says Little.

Dairy Australia introduced a spore monitoring pro-gramme this summer/autumn, prompted by a widespread outbreak across Gippsland last season, with the likelihood of favourable conditions again this year. Its website has the latest spore monitoring results and information on pre-venting the disease. The industry-good organisation is also offering tips to farmers to tackle FE.

When the FE spore monitoring programme indicates spore counts in an area are trending upwards of 20,000 spores per gram, Dairy Australia recommends monitoring pasture spore counts on paddocks weekly or starting pre-vention strategies such as zinc supplementation.

FE is caused by toxic levels of spores from the fungus, Pithomyces chartarum.

Commonly mistaken for a skin disease, it is caused by ingestion of spores of the fungus Pithomyces chartarum which lives mainly on ryegrass. These spores release a toxin in the cow’s gut which damage the liver, and in some cows, cause skin lesions (photosensitisation).

The greatest cost of FE to dairy farmers is from the 80% of cows which have liver damage but no skin lesions. These cows will have lower milk production and fertility.

The risk of FE is greatest in late summer and autumn when periods of rain or high humidity occur in combina-tion with high night time minimum temperatures. How-ever, weather alone is not an accurate way to predict pasture toxicity.

The recommended management is to monitor pasture spore counts and take preventative action when levels reach 20,000 spores per gram.

Zinc supplementation can be effective for preventing facial eczema if well managed. The most commonly used approach for milking cows is the inclusion of zinc oxide in the grain/concentrate fed in the dairy.

BCS trialdairynZ is piloting a new approach in the Manawatu and South Waikato to help farmers achieve their cow con-dition targets by calving.

“Farmers, researchers, and advisers all agree that get-ting cows in the right condition at calving is critical for milk production and reproductive performance - two key drivers of farm profitability,” says DairyNZ development team leader for productivity Rob Brazendale.

“Yet every year we see large numbers of cows calving at below target condition and consequently achieving below potential production and profitability.”

In recognition of these difficulties DairyNZ is piloting a new approach in the Manawatu and South Waikato to help farmers achieve their cow condition targets by calving.

“We have trained advisers in the body condition score assessment and feed planning to support farmers one-on-one and to develop plans to address below target cows,” says Brazendale.

Funded by DairyNZ, these advisers will work with farm-ers to identify cows that are unlikely to reach BCS 5.0 by calving without some intervention and find workable solu-tions to get these cows back on track.

“We are seeking expressions of interest from Manawatu and South Waikato farmers interested in taking part in this pilot initiative.”• If you would like to find out more about this opportunity contact your local DairyNZ consulting officer or phone the DairyNZ Farmer Information Service on 0800 4 DAIRYNZ (0800 4 324 7969). Also register online at dairynz.co.nz/bcsinitiative.

australian farmers are being warned to tackle Fe in their herds.

Chris Young, who sharemilks close to 700 Freisians and Freisian crosses in South Taranaki, had never had milk graded for SCCs. But as his herd had grown, and there’d been small changes in milking practice, he’d noticed an overall increase in cell counts.

Towards dry off, he was becoming uncomfortable with how high the SCCs were getting. “It was starting to limit my options. I couldn’t just go to once a day at the end of the season.”

After consultation with his vet, Chris opted for whole-herd treatment, with Cepravin®. It has certainly paid off, in terms of less mastitis and better milk quality. Says Chris, “Our BTSCC is 100,000 less than the same time last October.”

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animal health // 29

Better cow fertility means more money in the bankimProving their six-week in-calf rate by just 10% means the average New Zealand dairy farmer (386 cows) stands to benefit from an additional $15,440 (based on a $5.50/kgMS payout).

And according to veterinarian, dairy farmer and LIC reproduction solutions advisor, Joyce Voogt, the majority of farmers have the ability to do this. Farmers reap the benefit of a high six-week in-calf rate in more ways than purely by extra days in milk, she says.

“Farmers would also benefit from improved empty rates as there is a direct relationship between them.

“The more cows there are calving early, the less empties there tend to be.

“Cows which calve in the first three weeks of the calving period have more time to recover and start cycling before the next planned start of mating.”

Cows already on their second or third cycle when first mated have better conception rates than cows on their first cycle. These factors all have a positive and cumulative effect. “Research shows that reproductive performance

in New Zealand dairy herds has declined in recent years with six-week in calf rates dropping from 68% 10 years ago, to an alarming 62% in 2011” says Voogt.

Although genetic gain has a part to play in the fertility and reproductive performance of both individual animals and a herd, it is only one of eight key ingredients needed to get the mix right. About 90% of the variation in reproductive performance in a herd is due to farm management practices while only 10% is genetics. The “bigger fish to fry” include heat detection efficiency, body condition score at calving and young stock growth and management, she says.

The eight ‘ingredients’ needed to maximise herd fertility are:

■ A compact calving ■ Good young stock rear-

ing and heifer manage-ment

■ Body condition and nutrition

■ Effective and accurate heat detection

■ Identifying and dealing with non-cyclers

■ Cow health ■ Genetics and AB prac-

tices

■ Bull management All these

fundamental principles are covered in the DairyNZ InCalf book, says Voogt.

“This invaluable resource is available free of charge to all levy paying farmers. Industry wide we are all aware of the gradual decline in reproductive performance of the national herd, and the impact this has on farm performance – fewer days in milk, declining six-week in-calf rates, increased empty rates and increased calving spread.

“It’s a simple fact, though our cows may not be much larger today than they were 10 years ago – they sure are hungrier – and they need to eat more because they

produce more milk.” The national breeding

objective of “identifying the most efficient

converters of feed into profit” means that New Zealand has bred cows which will do just that, even at the expense of reproduction.”

Appearances can be deceiving. It may seem dairy farms operate in much the same way as they have for the past 10 to 15 years – but is that really the case?, she asks.

“Even if management practices have remained the same over the past 10 to 15 years, where artificial breeding (AB) has been used then the cow’s/

herd’s breeding worth and production will have increased and resulted in a higher producing more

profitable animal that needs more feed to perform at its best.

“Many farmers have increased their feeding regimes – and introduced supplementary feed, for example palm kernel, to replace feed shortfalls on farm, however, high BW (breeding worth) cows need to be fed well. If they are not fed enough, these high performing

animals will condition-strip to put milk in the vat.

“But drying off early enough to achieve target body condition scores is crucial as well.

For improved six-week in-calf rates and empty rates, we need to ensure heifer and 3-year-old cows are well grown and calve down at body condition score 5.5, while the rest of the herd need to calve at body condition score 5.”

Voogt says today’s cows are producing 80kg more MS than those of 20 years ago.

“Managed well we can ‘have our cake and eat it’ with regard to our cows, but we need to be constantly mindful of the feed demands on them for both production and reproduction.

“More cows in-calf quicker” means thinking about herd reproduction throughout the year, and not just at mating time, says Voogt.

Recent LIC data indicates about 70% of first calvers entering our dairy herds have not been grown to their full

potential. “I believe this is a major

contributor to low six-week in-calf rates and high empty rates in our 2 and 3-year-old cows.

“Cows continue growing until they are 5 years old and when these youngsters are entering the herd smaller and lighter than their mature herd mates, they really struggle to compete.

“In a well managed herd a more condensed calving means more days in milk, more money in the bank,” Voogt says.

“It’s a simple fact, though our cows may not be much larger today than they were 10 years ago – they sure are hungrier.”

Farmers reap the benefit of a high six-week in-calf rate in more ways than purely by extra days in milk.

Joyce Voogt

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It’s time to get your NAIT numberNAIT will be mandatory soon. If you are in charge of cattle and deer, register to get your NAIT number now.

There are three ways to register:

1. Online at www.nait.co.nz or

2. Call NAIT on 0800 624 843 or

3. Use a NAIT-accredited information provider to complete your registration on your behalf. Ask your local livestock company, meat processor or rural services provider if they can help.

Make sure you have your AHB herd number handy when you register.

King

St10

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_B_N

AIT

To find out more go to www.nait.co.nz or call 0800 624 843


breeding/animal health // 31

Judge shares tips on ranking cowscanadian dairy cattle expert Brian Carscadden shared his knowledge with breed-ers and potential farm-ers during his recent trip to New Zealand. Carscad-den was a judge at the New Zealand Dairy Event.

Holstein Friesian New Zealand (HFNZ) and international breed-ing company Semex arranged for Carscad-den to teach up-and-com-ing dairy farmers different aspects of showing and judging dairy cattle at an all-breeds youth judging day. He spoke to breeders about the changing role of a sire analyst with the introduction of genomics.

Cascadden has judged in 20 countries before coming to New Zealand to judge at New Zealand Dairy Event at the end of last month. He grew up on a dairy farm and started showing cattle himself at the age of seven. As he grew older he worked his way around the world fit-ting (preparing the cattle for showing) and traded cattle to pay his way through university. He is a sire analyst for Semex selecting Holstein Frie-sian sires that are sold all around the world.

HFNZ says 30 young participants took advan-tage of Carscadden’s knowledge. They learnt about what a dairy cattle judge looks for in a cow when she is presented in the show ring. He explained a judge is look-ing for a cow with correct, functional type, describ-ing the different traits and linking them back to the cow in the farm dairy.

“I am looking for a dairy cow and when I judge I look with an emphasis on the udder, but I still look at other traits such as rump angle because we still want this cow to get back in-calf,” Carscadden told partici-pants.

Judging cows made available for the day, Carscadden was able to predict their reproduc-tive and productive abil-

ity, which he verified with host breeder Craig Rowe of Maire Farms, Palmer-ston North.

He offered the par-ticipants tips on show-manship, how to present the cow at its best to the judge in the show ring and explained how to halter train a cow.

He then brought together a line-up of cows for the participants to judge, explaining the dif-ferent highlights of each animal and tips to look for.

“You should be con-fident in your decisions and reasons when you give them and always stand by your judgment,” he says.

In the genomics sem-

inar, Carscadden did a presentation to a group of interested breeders about the introduction of genomics and how it has affected his job as a sire analyst. He explained his role has changed over the last three to four years, but still the outcome is to get the best proven bulls.

“Genomics is the biggest change in the AI industry since the advent of frozen semen,” Carscadden says.

“Genomics is a mea-sure of their transmitting ability not their pheno-typic measure.”

In other words genom-ics is not a measure of the bull daughters’ actual per-formance, he says.

He explained under the Semex system, bulls are given a genomic proof in both USA and Canada. The company has genotyped an increasing number of bulls every year, in 2011 they genotyped 2900 bulls with 200 selected for market, “The great-est thing about genomics is that it tells us what bulls to leave at the farm. It doesn’t tell us which bulls are the best bulls.”

Carscadden said he felt there was still a need for sire proving as there was a misconception that genomic bulls will take over the breeding world.

He talked about an impending date, March 2013, up until that date

only breeding compa-nies in North America have been able to have animals genotyped, how-ever after that time, any breeder will be able to test animals through the

Canadian Dairy Network (CDN) or the United State Department of Agricul-ture (USDA) and he fears breeders may then choose to sell their genetics to the highest bidder.

“When I judge I look with an emphasis on the udder.”

brian Carscadden (left) shares judging tips at Palmerston North.

It’s time to get your NAIT numberNAIT will be mandatory soon. If you are in charge of cattle and deer, register to get your NAIT number now.

There are three ways to register:

1. Online at www.nait.co.nz or

2. Call NAIT on 0800 624 843 or

3. Use a NAIT-accredited information provider to complete your registration on your behalf. Ask your local livestock company, meat processor or rural services provider if they can help.

Make sure you have your AHB herd number handy when you register.

King

St10

786_

DN

_B_N

AIT

To find out more go to www.nait.co.nz or call 0800 624 843

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32 // Pasture renovation & cultivation

Turns of worms vital to soilbala tikkisetty

the twists and turns of the humble worm have a major positive effect on the chemical, physical and biological properties of farming soils.

This impact is a com-bination of the burrowing, feeding, digestion and the castings of worms.

The Waikato Regional Council’s soil quality reports show only 34% of sites sampled in the region have fully met national soil quality targets. One key indicator of the bio-logical health and condi-tion of soils is the number of earthworms found in them.

Worm population density and species are

affected by soil proper-ties and management practices. Promoting good soil health and limit-ing damage in winter are important factors in sus-taining earthworm popu-lations. There are nearly 200 species of native and introduced earthworms in New Zealand, but only a few introduced spe-cies are actually beneficial to agriculture. The most commonly found species arrived in New Zealand with early European set-tlers.

Earthworms shed and decompose plant residue converting it to organic matter and mineral nutri-ents. Compared with un-ingested soil, these earthworm “casts” can contain five times as much

plant-available nitro-gen, three to seven times as much phosphorus, 11 times as much potassium and three times as much magnesium. They may also contain more calcium and plant-available molyb-denum and have higher pH, organic matter and moisture content.

The breakdown of organic matter by worms through digestion also results in increased fer-tility as it provides for faster nutrient recycling and makes soil nutrients more available for plants. It assists in a significant increase in pastoral pro-ductivity, faster decompo-sition of organic matter, increased plant growth, and better mixing of nutri-ents, fertiliser and lime

through the soil profile.Worm movement

through, and feeding on, soils also results in improved soil structure. It provides for better mixing of soil layers, creates aer-ation and drainage holes and allows for better plant root development. Less water run-off, less erosion and better drainage and water holding capacity are other benefits.

The disposal of organic wastes from domestic, agricultural and indus-trial sources is causing increasing environmental and economic problems. Earthworms can be used to process these wastes. Most of these wastes con-tain considerable amounts of inorganic and organic contaminants, such as

heavy metals, pesticides, aromatic hydrocarbons and sulphur compounds, as well as human and animal pathogens.

There are three types of earthworms, epigeic, endogeic and anecic. Epi-geic earthworms (Lum-

bricus rubellus) feed on organic matter on the soil surface and do not form permanent burrows. Endogeic earthworms (Aporrectodea caliginosa) ingest topsoil and its asso-ciated organic matter, forming semi-permanent

burrows. Anecic earth-worms (Aporrectodea longa) take organic matter from the soil surface into their deep, permanent burrows to feed on. In an ideal soil all three types may be found.

to page 35

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Marton farmer Vern McDonald bought his Berti TBM Super 2.2m mulcher two years ago and says it’s “bullet-proof”.

Part of this is a sand block, which was completely undeveloped and required to winter cattle almost immediately.

“We just got into the job with the mulcher. We had to put a front guard on the tractor and cleared the land,” McDonald says.

After going over the area with the mulcher, they planted seed and within three months his land was a lush pasture.

“From three metre-high gorse to pasture in three months, the cattle were on it by winter, it was great.”

McDonald says he chose the Berti from Farmgard because people had said the machinery was pretty much indestructible.

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‘Grass is your bread and butter’Pasture manage-ment is where the farm-ing system starts, says Morrinsville dairy farmer Johan van Ras.

He believes it comes before animal health. “Because if you haven’t got this right, your busi-ness can’t perform,” he says.

“Grass is your bread and butter, and it’s the cheapest form of food so you’ve really got to moni-tor it.”

And a new software tool means that he’s now able to do this more quickly and easily than ever before.

LIC, is adding an exten-sion to its MINDA suite of farm improvement prod-ucts called Land & Feed Basic.

It’s a free tool for recording pasture covers and creating a feed wedge, and will be available to

farmers later this month. Van Ras has been one of a small group of farmers who have tested the pro-gram on their farms and he’s delighted with it.

“Poor quality pasture, or not enough, impacts on production and that affects profitability so understanding where your

farm is at is really impor-tant.

“You need a feed wedge to know what you need to do to get it right and to make decisions, because

if you get it wrong, then you’ll have to buy-in more feed,” he says.

The majority of New Zealand dairy farmers use

MINDA to improve their herd’s performance, and LIC’s general manager of Farm Systems, Rob Ford, says it is a logical exten-sion to provide farmers

with tools that make it easier and more efficient to monitor their grass growth.

“Farmers want to

manage every aspect of their farm operations; they trust MINDA to manage their herd records – now it does their land as well,” says Ford.

“With MINDA Land & Feed they can quickly see how each pad-dock is track-ing and which are growing, which aren’t, and all com-pared to pre and post-graz-ing targets.

“They just need to add data from the last farm walk, and MINDA does the rest

avoiding all the time nor-mally taken to collate and interpret the data.”

It’s this ease which has van Ras enthusiastic about

Land & Feed – and what’s to come.

“It’s really simple to use, I just scanned in an aerial picture of my farm, marked all the paddocks and it was ready to go,” van Ras says.

“Now after every farm walk with my plate meter, I just plug in the pas-ture cover readings for each paddock, and it’s all recorded, and I get a feed wedge which shows me if I’m hitting the target line and where I need to be for grass cover.

“I can just look at the feed wedge and I know what I need to do with spe-cific paddocks like apply-ing urea, slowing down the round, or nothing.”

MINDA Land & Feed Basic is the first of a suite of pasture management tools coming to MINDA.

A ‘Pro’ version will follow later this year with

more enhanced tools for planning, forecast-ing and feed budgeting, and then MINDA Map will also be added to provide a detailed visual of the farm.

MINDA Land & Feed joins another recent addi-tion to MINDA - MINDA Milk - on the new web-based platform at www.minda.co.nz.

Van Ras says having this information in MINDA makes farming easier, and being web-based means he can share it with others and log-in from anywhere with the internet.

“It’s best if it’s all in one system, so you can make better decisions based on profit; and if I can use it on my iPad then that’s even better.”

MINDA Land & Feed Basic is free for all MINDA customers and available now at www.minda.co.nz or on MINDA Home.

Johan van ras believes pasture management is paramount.


Pasture renovation & cultivation // 35

Turns of worms vital to soilFrom page 32

Precise identification of earthworm species is difficult but for most pur-poses it is only necessary to be able to distinguish between native and intro-duced species. When matured, most introduced worms have a visible “collar”, called the clitel-lum, about one third of the distance along the body

from the head, and often a pair of white glandular swellings on the under-side between the head and the clitellum. In the native worms, this collar is close to the head, and there are no glandular swellings on the underside. Immature worms do not have a cli-tellum and are therefore harder to identify.

The introduced earth-worms mentioned are essential to the develop-ment of fertile productive soils.

Soils without earth-worms are usually poorly structured and tend to develop a turf mat or thatch of slowly decom-posing peat-like mate-rial at the surface. They are also less productive, having a harsh unhealthy appearance with old dung and dead plant material lying about on the surface.

Other features of such soils can include the fact that lower pro-ducing grasses are often more evident than rye-grass, and pasture growth is slow to start in spring and stops early in autumn.

Plant nutrients can remain locked in the organic layer and there is no mixing of applied fertilisers. Plant roots are relatively shal-low and therefore pastures are susceptible to drought. Water tends to run off the pasture rather than being absorbed into the soil, thereby increasing water quality problems.

So some of the ways

farmers can increase the volume of worms in soils include:

■ boosting soil calcium levels to near seven as calcium promotes earthworm reproduc-tion

■ maintaining soil pH between 5.8 and 6.2

■ limiting use of fumi-gants and other pesti-cides

■ reducing ammonium-based fertilisers as they make soils acidic.Moist soils promote

earthworm spread and activity, and more earth-worms will remain active in the topsoil in summer under irrigation. Use direct drilling/no-tillage rather than conventional cultivation.

Mould board or disc ploughs should be used rather than rotary hoes, while cropping farms should include a phase of pasture in their crop-ping rotation to increase organic matter returns.

As a general rule, the weight of earthworms below healthy produc-tive pastures is equivalent

to the weight of animals grazing above ground. So building up worm popu-lations will help support a healthy stocking regime and boost the bottom line.

• For further information and advice, please contact Bala Tikkisetty, sustain-able agriculture coordinator, Waikato Regional Council, on 0800 800 401.

bala Tikkisetty

“One key indicator of the biological health and condition of soil is the number of earthworms found in them.”

Soils without earthworms impact pasture growth.



Three feeds a day lift yieldresearch and farmer experience in Aus-tralia has confirmed that a three-way grazing system works better on farms with automatic milking systems (AMS) than the traditional approach of

offering cows two fresh pasture breaks a day.

Nicolas Lyons, a researcher FutureDairy, an organisation help-ing improve Austra-lian farm productivity, found that offering feed

in three allocations every 24 hours increased aver-age milk production by 20%, increased milk-ing frequency by 42% and improved AMS unit utili-sation by 17%.

Experience on com-mercial AMS farms sup-ports these findings, with all pasture-based Aus-tralian AMS farmers cur-rently using a three-way grazing system.

FutureDairy project leader, De Kendra Kerrisk, said a three-way grazing system was relatively easy to manage, as long as the laneways and farm layout were designed for it.

“It is really important that farmers who are plan-ning an AMS, design the farm layout to allow for three-way grazing,” she said.

“It is not particularly expensive, or difficult to include at the design stage

but it’s much harder if you have to go back afterwards and rearrange the farm layout.”

Three-way grazing could include three fresh breaks of pasture a day, or two pasture breaks and a feedpad with a loafing area. Kerrisk explained that three-way grazing is central to motivating cows to move regularly and vol-untarily around the farm, taking themselves to the dairy to be milked, and walking back to the pad-dock afterwards.

“The labour, lifestyle and management benefits associated with an AMS are best achieved if cows move on their own.

“Researchers around the world have tried a variety of ways to moti-vate cows to move around the farm, and there’s no doubt, food is the most reliable incentive.”

Cows in an AMS are just as well fed as cows in a conventional system, where they typically have access to two fresh pad-docks a day.

The only difference is that AMS cows are offered their daily feed allowance in three smaller ‘portions’ each day.

Trials conducted by Lyons found offering cows feed in three fresh por-tions a day meant they vis-

ited the dairy and were milked more often, and there were fewer cows that went for an extended period (18 hours or more) between milkings.

This resulted in more milking sessions per hour and more evenly distrib-uted cow flow through the AMS units during the day and night.

The combined effect was a large increase in operational efficiency of

the AMS units.These gains occurred

in cows at all stages of lac-tation. In contrast, in a two-way grazing system, milking frequency tended to drop off towards late lactation.

“More frequent move-ment of cows allows the farm manager to be more selective about which cows are drafted for milk-ing and when this occurs,” Kerrisk said.

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Pasture management, quality and quantity, has direct links to productivity and with grass being the cheapest form of food, says LIC general man-ager of farm systems Rob Ford. He says farmers need to be sure they are making the most of their supply.

“Often the most successful farmers, with the highest pro-duction, are the ones who are paying careful attention to how

their pasture is tracking too.” And a new addition to the dairy farmer coop’s herd recording soft-ware, MINDA, makes it simple, Ford says, with the launch of LIC’s new pasture management tool this month.

Known as MINDA Land & Feed Basic, the new fea-ture is free for MINDA cus-tomers, with a simple tool for farmers to record their grass covers and create a feed wedge.

A feed wedge gives a farmer a clear picture of their feed supply, and allows them to see what likely changes may be ahead, Ford says.

“They just need to add data from the last farm walk, and MINDA does the rest avoiding all the time normally taken to collate and inter-pret the data.

“They can quickly see how each of their paddocks is tracking, from shortest to longest, all compared to pre and post grazing targets.

“Then they can use this infor-mation to make decisions about which paddocks to graze next, harvesting silage, re-grassing, applying nitrogen, purchasing or feeding supplement and cull-ing cows or increasing numbers.” MINDA Land & Feed Basic is the first of a suite of pasture manage-ment tools coming to MINDA, as the traditional herd management software moves to be a full farm management system.

New tool to measure grass cover

FutureDairy researcher, Nicolas Lyons, found a three-way grazing system in australia works better on farms with automatic milking systems.


the range of Kuhn precision seed drills is evolving. The new Planter 3 seed drills are replacing the Planter 2 seed drills.

Drilling precision and low seed drop height (below 10cm) always ensure the best seed positioning in the seeding row, the company says.

The Planter can distrib-ute a wide variety of seed types such as rape seed, beet, maize and sunflower, or even zucchini or mus-tard.

The new fertilisation system fea-tures a spline distribution row by row, resulting in a homogeneous seed growth with a continuous fertiliser distribution in the row and an even

distribution between the rows. The fertiliser hopper range is reinforced with new capacities of 2x190 litres, 2x260 litres, 950 litres and 1,350 litres for a volume adapted to the work out-

puts and required applications.KMS208 and KMS412 control

boxes enable controlling that the seeding operation is progressing smoothly. The control boxes can now receive hopper bottom sensors

(fertiliser hoppers and microgranu-lator). For optimum seed distribu-tion particularly on field angles, the KMD112 enables disengaging the row distribution independently in order

to avoid an overlap of two seeding rows.

The seed hopper design has been reviewed and now delivers a 47L capac-ity while preserving a row spacing of minimum 25cm. This volume provides a large operating range espe-

cially when sowing maize.The manufacture of the closing

wheels has been completely reviewed, to increase the machine service life; the Planter 3 features double sealing systems with nylon flanges.

machinery & Products // 37

Precision evolves in seed drills

■ PLANTER 3 M (Single bar) 3 to 18 rows ■ PLANTER 3 TS (Telescopic simple) 6 to 8 rows ■ PLANTER 3 TI (Telescopic with indexing) 6 rows ■ PLANTER 3 R (Foldable) 8 to 12 rows

the new range

Hassle-free transportthe increasing widths of Rotowiper machines have caused a rethink for managing director Dougal Lamont.

With the models up to 4.5m used widely throughout New Zealand, transporting between paddocks and properties had its hassles, he says

On show for the first time at South Island Field Days this month was the Rototrailer, their new transport trailer.

It can take models from 2.8m up to 4.5m. The Rotowiper is loaded by backing onto the trailer, disconnect-ing the quad bike and folding the wiper draw bar with the removal of one pin, storing the ramps and con-necting to the transport trailer.

It can also alter previous models of wipers to suit trailers.

“With little effort wiping to trans-

port should only take 30 seconds.”The Rotowiper is also used in Aus-

tralia and 9m and 12m-wide models are being exported to US.

“I have just received an order from

Australia for a 24m-wide machine for a specialist crop,” says Lamont.

Price: $2200.00 + GSTwww.rotowiper.co.nzTel: 03 308 4497

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38 // machinery & Products

Nothing beats a homemade ploughtony hoPkinson

sometimes a com-mercial competitive plough does not quite deliver what you want so the only alternative is to build your own and get the best bits from various machines.

This is the path John and Lynda Guy have fol-lowed over recent years. John is a competitor as well as chairman of the organising committee for the New Zealand Plough-ing Championships to be held at Cambridge on April 14-15.

Lynda qualified and ploughed at the New Zea-land Championships when they were held at Palmer-ston North 14 years ago.

She has not ploughed

for some years but kept her interest by becoming a steward, ensuring all the rules are being followed during a ploughing match. One steward checks three ploughmen and she has been a steward at a world championship.

Both got interested in ploughing in the days of the Young Farmers Club (YFC) in Te Awamutu which held regular events.

“I located a plough from under a hedge and, with a borrowed tractor, ploughed my first match in 1974 when it was held on the Waikeria Prison Farm,” says John.

He has since ploughed at 17 New Zealand cham-pionships held in both islands.

“We really enjoy the sport, have made lots of

friends and been to parts of the country we would never have gone to.”

John and Lynda mar-ried and farmed in the Te Awamutu area milking cows and then spent seven years managing a sheep, beef and arable block.

In 1986 they came to Hamilton milking cows and then to where they now live at Horsham Downs.

He works for a family that has several farms in the area doing repairs and maintenance, check-ing effluent systems, fenc-ing and building including new dairy sheds.

The furtherest farm is 24km away and as a jack of all trades he just keep the farms ticking along for the owners.

Guy says his home-

made plough has the best features of the four orig-inal ploughs he canni-balised and modified to get his present machine.

“I stress that it is all kosher and passes all the requirements of the New Zealand Ploughing Organ-isation.”

It has several short parts of measuring tape permanently attached so Guy does not have to use a tape to make the many small adjustments to the plough when competing.

Guy has been using plastic mould boards for four years because he believes they give a better finish on the furrow and are flexible in that differ-ent soils do not stick.

“A lot of ploughmen are changing to plastics for these reasons.”

Guy has been chairman of the Waikato Ploughing Association for a number of years and four years ago the association put its hand up to run this year’s New Zealand Champion-ship.

Once land was found and the stamp of approval

obtained from the New Zealand association, Guy says it has been sheer hard work.

He says everything is coming together. As well as the ploughing with stubble on the first day and grass on the second, the committee has organ-

ised trade sites, a vintage tractor and machinery expo, classic cars and dis-plays by the YFC and the Search and Rescue organi-sation.

Admission is $10 per adult, children under 12 no charge, with free parking.

John Guy and his homemade plough.

Keenan’s unique mixing and presentation of feed not only releases more energy by better rumen digestion, supplements are fully utilised too. A Keenan ration is best described as a “bird’s nest” threaded with goodness.

Just like other farmers, you might find with a Keenan Mixer Wagon you’ll feed less while still increasing production. Check out our website to find out more.

To reduce expensive feed waste and improve profit, call Keenan’s product specialists on 0800 453 3626.

Keenan Mixer Wagon Does It Best!

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0800 833 463www.veehof.co.nz

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Join us at Central Districts Field Days to find out howCome and visit us at the Central Districts Field Days,

Palmerston North, 15-17 March, Site 061. Grab yourself a FREE Hoofcare DVD and learn the proper way to treat lame cows. While you are at it, bring along your hoof knives for a free sharpen and watch our

live trimming demonstration. We have new products we are launching as well – with sizzling hot intro deals. We look forward to seeing you there!

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Ideal for slopes, rough terrainattracting a lot of interest at the South Island Field Days, even if only for its appearance, was this reversible, articulated quadtrack made by Antonio Carraro imported from Italy by Doug McFarlane Ltd.

The importer says it’s ideal for use in steep vineyards and it works well on wet grounds.

“It exerts 2.84 lbs/sq.inch ground pressure which is less than the human foot,” said managing director of Doug McFarlane Ltd, Stuart McFarlane.

As well as having three point linkage and six hydraulic ports, it is licensed to travel at 40 km/h on the road. The motor is rated at 87hp and with a synchronised inverter it has 16 forward and 16 reverse gears.

It is capable of climbing a 41 degree slope vertically and travelling around a 38 degree side slope. The steering is articulated and the machine can work on beaches, snow and soft/peat ground where bigger machines cannot work. The console rotates 180 degrees.

The engine has a reversible fan for self cleaning the radiator.

Optional extras include a factory mounted CAB with air conditioning system.

POA due to specifications.Contact: 07 847 6734

Strainrite pigtails (above) that have suffered cracked insulation and Strainrite’s new outrigger with a replaceable insulator.

New insulatorcheaP, knock-off pigtail fence insulators, whose material rots in sunlight, have brassed off farmers buying them and prompted a response from Strainrite (Robert-son Engineering).

Principal Brian Robertson says he has been “besieged by farmers and retailers with pigtail standards whose insu-lation material has deteriorated in a relatively short time.” This is “frustrating for his business” given his products are made to last 10 years, he says.

The company says it found the products in question were not theirs but an import. The insulation material was found to lack the UV stabilisers that would ensure a long life for the plastic component.

“The plastic is cracking,” Robertson says. “Due to our harsh climate – as much the cold and wet as the unforgiv-ing heat – the plastic deteriorates. It can be a minute split that allows or causes the power to be earthed through the steel standard, which makes the fence useless as an elec-tric barrier.”

Strainrite says it has looked at “the whole insulator issue and come up with a new idea and design giving farm-ers another option in the fencing arsenal.”

The compny’s newly designed outrigger, with a replace-able insulator, means if an insulator is damaged by man or beast it can be quickly and easily replaced without having to change the whole assembly.

It mounts easily on a fence and wire.www.robeng.co.nz

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Record turnout at Waimumutony hoPkinson

after a drought by Southland standards organisers were a trifle apprehensive what the 2012 Southern Field Days would bring.

They need not have worried as the weather gods were kind and the crowds poured in with record attendance over the three days.

The number of sites has increased so the bigger crowds had plenty to see.

Reports from around the sites were positive.

Sales manager of Cork-ill Dairy Systems, Vaughan

His quiet comment was that for the last two Field Days most of the farmers had gorse in their pockets.

Excellent sales results from the site and good potential from follow ups to be made were reported from the sales and market-ing manager of Fairbrother Industries and Hooper

The Southern Field Days attracted a record crowd.

Machinery, Ken Lawson.“These were good

Field Days and were well attended,” said Lawson.

Another who reported lots of interest in their

product range was Web-bline sales manager Glen Malcolm.

“We had steady sales in what you would call our cash and carry items and

interest in our larger gear, with a lot of enquiries to follow up with trades and the like to negotiate, said Malcolm.

He says the Field Days were getting bigger each time they were held in Southland and that augured well for the future.

Situated at one end of the Field Days was the Tractor Pulling Compe-tition with 70 entries. It always had a large crowd especially when the super modifieds lit up, with the noise and smoke appreci-ated by all.

“Entries were up, to 70 tractors, with two new super modifieds having the first competition runs,” said chairman of Tractor Pull New Zealand, Vaughan Coy.

Coy reported inter-est in competitive tractor pulling is growing and the last four events he has pro-moted have had increased entries.

Tractors in action at Waimumu.

Tractor Pull New Zealand chairman Vaughan Coy.

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Coxhead, reported they had a great Field Days with a lot of sales from on site with installations to follow and contacts to visit on farm.

“There has been a great turnaround in attitudes since the last time we were here and it shows in sales and enquiries.”



Innovation spins out double-rotor rakes for forage harvestinglely is introducing a new range of central deliv-ery double-rotor rakes.

For the time being, the line will be two models: the Lely Hibiscus 745 CD Vario with a 7.40m working width and the Lely Hibiscus 915 CD Vario with an 8.90m working width. Both rakes have a comprehensive specification and stand out due to their compact and rugged construction.

The rotors of both models have a universally jointed suspension to the chassis whereby the cross-shaped pivot point is configured before the rotors. Consequently, the pivot point can be positioned as low as possible so that the rotors have a smoother action as well as following ground contours more effectively.

The new units are engineered so that the suspension of the front wheels to the front of the rotor carriage can swivel as well as pivot. The wheels are positioned very

close to the tines to allow a very accurate working height adjustment. Swivelling eliminates damage to the sward as a result of ‘wriggling’ wheels in sharp bends. The rear wheels of the carriage of the Lely Hibiscus 915 CD feature tandem axles instead of a single axle to ensure optimum stability; these tandem axles are optional for the 745 model.

As standard, both rakes feature hydraulic working width adjustment. During the raking operation, the working width and, hence, the swath width can be adjusted by means of a double-acting spool valve. The spool valve for pushing the arms in and out is also used to lower the machine for transport.

Several operations - folding the machine, adjusting the working width as well as the exceptionally ample and fast headland manoeuvres - are set up in such a way that they can all be controlled through a

double-acting spool valve. There are no more ropes for folding out the rake as the machine locks and unlocks itself.

Lely says due to the compact construction of these models, road transport is made easy.

The width of the Hibiscus745 CD Vario is no more than 2.50m and this - combined with the steered rear wheels - provides a major benefit when driving on narrow roads and when negotiating narrow passageways. On the 915 CD model, the tine arms can be removed to achieve a transport/storage height of 3.65m; transport height is 4.30m with the tine arms fitted.

Lely says after a decade of developing cam rakes, the two new Hibiscus models are a fine example of Lely innovation.

“These surprising rakes are the concrete

result of a constant quest for improvement aimed at harvesting the best quality forage. Both rakes have everything it takes to ensure the cleanest possible delivery of

optimal swaths under all circumstances,” it says.

Lely Hibiscus 915 CD Vario.

Lely Hibiscus 745 CD Vario.

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Check your herds from anywherethe days of worrying about your herd while on holi-day may be over. CRV Ambreed is introducing its new web-based recording program CRV INSIGHT-Web. It’s the only entirely web-based recording program which allows you to enter and retrieve your herd information from anywhere, says the company.

“CRV INSIGHT-Web is designed to make data entry as easy as possible and can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. Unlike other herd recording pro-grams you don’t need a dedicated program installed on your computer to enter, review and report data, you can be on holiday in Fiji and see at a glance how your cows are performing on your iPad,” it says.

Its web-based functionality also allows multiple users accessing your herd information at the same time. You can set access permission rights making it much easier to share information and also manage multiple herds in a secure manner.

CRV AmBreed says another feature which sets this

program apart from the rest is its usability. CRV INSIGHT-Web is broken down into five key sections to make the entire herd recording process much easier:

■ Home – here you can see how your herd is performing in key areas through a dash-boarding function where you can pre-set the information important to you and your farm operation.

■ Animal Data – This takes a snap shot of every cow and allows you to easily see an overview of their vital information i.e. matings, calvings, lactation, events and more.

■ Enter Data – Entering data and in particular bulk data has never been easier; with CRV INSIGHT-Web you can upload bulk matings and treatments for example, in minutes.

■ Herd Information – An extensive range of standard but flexible lists to help you understand the data and make effective decisions about your herd. These lists can be printed, saved or exported for future refer-ence.

■ Manage Data – This program makes it easier to manage the data with the ability to create your own groups based on your farming system. Make up Cow Groups where a cow may be required to be in more than one group and sub herds where you want to separate your herd into defined and more distinct groups. CRV INSIGHT-Web was trialled in December with

a test group of 20 farmers and internal users. The most common feedback from the trial was how easy the pro-gram is to use and in particular how easy it is to enter data, the company says.

To launch this new web-based recording program, CRV is offering CRV INSIGHT-Web for only $180 per annum, excluding per cow maintenance fees.

amazon is 50

at the time of its launch –February 17, 1962 – the Volvo Amazon was described by the company as “a comfortable and elegant five-door sedan with extra load capacity and many more practical features”.

The Amazon began a long line of car-based Volvo estates, or station wagons, which continues unbroken to today’s V50, V60 and V70s.

In 1962 for the family with children, the more modern Amazon made life much easier, the travelling salesman could travel in more style and the craftsman got much better access to the luggage compartment through the rear doors and the split tailgate.

“The new estate is a new Volvo model, for which the existing components of the Amazon have been used to the largest possible degree,” says Volvo.

“The result is a fast and roomy passenger car with an extremely good load capacity. Four doors and a split tail-gate enhance the positive character just as the design, the quality, the road manners and the overall economy. The aim has been to create a spacious family car for long-dis-tance travelling and leisure needs - a functional car which can also be used professionally.”

This is the 1962 description which - except for the tail-gate - also characterises a 2012 Volvo station wagon.

In true Volvo fashion the fact the passenger compart-ment could be turned into a sleeping compartment was also highlighted. But the word comfort was mentioned before the word luggage compartment since the Amazon was the first Volvo estate based on a passenger car rather than a delivery van with a separate frame like the Duett.

CrV ambreed’s new web-based recording program allows farmers to check their herds from anywhere.

For more information Call 0800 LELY NZ (0800 535 969) www.lely.com www.thenaturalwayofmilking.com

You can rely on the robot and on us, 24/7… It’s a Lely!

LELY CaLm LELY CompEdEs LELY LuNa LELY juNo

We proudly present Lely Astronaut A4just like all our solutions for dairy farming, the new Lely astronaut a4 milking robot has also been developed from a clear-cut starting point: the cow. The robot guarantees the highest achievable milk quality and thanks to its unique management tools you are in full control of your herd.

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slurry fertiliser applicator ticks all boxes

Handling urea is easy with a loading bin - 500kg is easily mixed into the Tow and Fert patented pre-mixer

Free up your tractor and use a 4WD ute! The Tow and Fert being used to apply Fine Lime.

Notice how every plant has guaranteed droplet cover across the entire 18 metre swath.

Apply liquid suspended Magnesium oxide with the Tow and Fert with an even 18 metre cover

The Tow and Fert is “NOT just-another-sprayer”, George Freeman of Metalform emphasises. It provides every farmer the freedom and independence they need when it comes to managing their fertiliser and animal health programme effectively.

With the ability to mix and apply nearly every type of fine particle fertilisers, liquid fertilisers, bio fertilisers, humates, animal health products and weed control products - the Tow and Fert is no toy! Metalform of Dannevirke, New Zealand have been developing fertiliser application products for over 30 years from fine particle slurry applicators for helicopters to particle grinders for ground spread trucks. The newest addition after 4 years of R&D, is the versatile Tow and Fert Multi 800. Don’t be fooled by the size of the Multi 800. To put it in perspective, one load can cover up to 10 hectares with a typical 50 kg/ha of Urea - in just over half an hour. Everything about the Tow and Fert is simple - from planning and executing your desired mixture through to cleaning and maintaining the machine with no tools. It is designed so that any employee can quickly learn how to operate and utilise all the features of the Tow and Fert without any hassle. The most important thing about the Tow and Fert is the cost benefits you can achieve in your fertiliser programme, by being able to manage the exact amount of product going on your pastures and applying it when you want rather than waiting for contractors to do large areas.

A versatile machine Imagine being able to apply all products related to nitrogen (urea and gibberellic products), animal health products (mag oxide, fine lime, selenium, copper, iodine and zinc), fine particle fertiliser (including phosphorus, potassium and sulphur), liquid fertilisers (seaweed and fish based products) and soil conditioning products (humates) - all whenever you want to and the amount you need to. The Tow and Fert has made this possible. Now, if you need to do a light cover of mag-oxide before you bring the cows into the paddock - you can! If you require a small dose of weed spray mixed with nitrogen after the cows have been in the paddock - you can! Not only can it mix and apply products for your pasture, the potential uses are endless. “I use it for mixing up my whole milk powder to feed the calves” says Mark Warren of Oamaru who milks 1500 cows. With the ability to self fill out of a creek, David Miller of Pokeno who milks 650 cows was happy to tell us, “During this dry season up in the north, I’ve been spraying out water onto my row of trees along my drive and pumping water into my supply tank thanks to the Tow and Fert” .

Cost benefits are immediate With great results emerging, the Tow and Fert customers are reporting paybacks on their Tow and Fert of fewer than 12 months. When this is coupled with Metalform’s easy financing option, owning the Tow and Fert and removing the cost of a 3rd party to apply fertiliser and saving on actual fertiliser amounts - can often make this a cash flow positive purchase making the decision a real no-brainer. The Tow and Fert’s multi role ability means you will be saving money in fertiliser, application costs, timely applica-tion of animal health trace elements, application of herbicides (thistle, dock spray etc) while simultaneously applying lime, urea etc.

Designed with simplicity in mind The Tow and Fert was designed for tool-less maintenance and cleaning. Every fitting can be removed in the paddock using the robust ‘cam-lock’ hardware. This means, for whatever reason, you need to clear a blockage - you can do it down the back paddock of your farm. Nozzles that offer different application rates can be switched on-the-fly giving you full flexibility of your require-ments.

Coupled with the specifically designed software package by Metalform, the Tow and Fert is so easy to use. The software programme lets you choose the product combina-tion you wish to apply, rate per hectare and estimated speed of travel and the program will give you exactly the amount of product and water required. This eliminates all guess work of your mixtures.

In summary The Tow and Fert offers flexibility in your busy schedule to apply products you know and want, in a timely and effective manner. Don’t wait until you have 60 hectares to spray and call in a Helicopter - get the Tow and Fert so you can mix and apply any product at any time.

Like being in control? If you like the concept behind slurry, dissolved or bio fertilisers but want to know how many kg/ha of nutrient you are getting on your pastures and want to guarantee timely applications then call Metalform on 06 374 7043 or freephone 0508 747 040 to organise a no-obligation demonstration of the Tow and Fert. Then you can make your own mind up! Visit www.towandfarm.com to find out more or watch the video.

The ability to quickly and easily apply zinc to treat a facial eczema out-break, gives an obvious cost saving in vet costs and lost production. Zinc is one of the many animal health products that can be applied with the Tow and Fert.

After analysing your soil and herbage tests, you may find that different paddocks require different nutrients. With the Tow and Fert, it is easy to blend a custom mix for each area and change it at different times of the year - try doing this with your bulk spreader.

Loading the Tow and Fert from a silo is easy!

Customer Support Centre 0800 731 266 Email [email protected]

64 STORES naTiOnwidE – aLL wELCOME, nO JOininG FEE

FOR THE FaRMYaRd and BaCKYaRd

7″ V9 TaBLET

7″ touchscreen

The tablet comes ready

with your favourite

Google services, so

you’ll have tools like

search, maps and mail

at your fingertips

3.0 megapixel camera

3G and Wi-Fi

Buy water products from RD1 and get connected with a FREE Telecom V9 tablet & more^

Simply spend $1,700

wORTH $325

Or more on any of the participating products during February and March and get a:• Telecom V9 Tablet

• SiM card

• Jelly case

Or more on any of the participating products during February and March and get a:• Telecom V9 Tablet

• Prepaid $300 SiM card

• Leather case wORTH $660

or spend $7,500

^Terms and conditions apply. Limit one Telecom V9 tablet package per RD1 Account or per cash customer. See WWW.RD1.COM/promotions for details.

Dairy News Feb 28 2012

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Transcript of Dairy News Feb 28 2012