The inaugural winners of the NZ Dairy Awards’ CowManager Experience prize say it will be a no-brainer to keep the technology in their farm business after experiencing the results.
Walking around the Fieldays this year, expected most of the conversations to be about machinery purchases and farm infrastructure upgrades. Instead, one topic seemed to keep cropping up more frequently with farmers – the price of PKE.
It's easy to look over a lush spring paddock and assume cows are getting enough usable nutrition. But while fast-growing pasture can give plenty of volume, in high moisture, variable dry matter and uneven mineral profile can leave real nutrition gaps when cows need it most.
For Taupiri dairy farmers Logan and Sian Dawson, their involvement in the NZ Dairy Industry Awards has been a key catalyst in the growth of their business - the experience helping shape how they approach the farm ownership pathway they are pursuing today.
Clean and comfortable calf sheds help create a nurturing environment for calves, reduces the risk of disease and encourages high growth rates.
Signing up to a benchmarking tool is not about competition, but about improving collectively, says Ximena Puig and Alvaro Luzardo who are 50-50 sharemilkers at a 164-hectare (effective) dairy farm in Eketāhuna in the Lower North Island.
The transition period is the make-or-break window for your entire season. If this period is poorly managed, you don't just see a few downer cows, you see a downward spiral that affects the cow's health, production and reproduction long into the season.
Farmers can now get a more reliable view of pasture covers across their farm, thanks to a combination of three data sources.
Logan Hewlett is milking 500 cows, split into two herds on 405 hectares of land, up on a farm in Mata, fifteen minutes from Whangārei. His neighbour completely changed the way he manages his effluent.
Increased competition for water means the whole community is looking at how irrigators use water.
Analysis of decades of research has revealed the implementation of good farming practices plays a critical role in reducing nutrient losses to improve freshwater outcomes.
Dairy farmers need to be high quality partners to the beef industry, says Prem Maan, the co-founder and executive chairman of the dairy corporate Southern Pastures.
The bumpy road you travel on teachs you a lot, believes Don Watson. And that’s the message he and wife Kirsten, supreme winners of the Auckland Ballance Farm Environment Awards, aim to pass on to their three sons.
There's a common assumption that effective transition cow management is only practical for high-input farms, as controlled rations can make delivery simpler.
The transition period (typically defined as the three weeks prior to and the three weeks immediately after calving) sets the biological and productive trajectory for the entire lactation by determining how well the cow adapts from pregnancy to peak milk production.
A young man just five years out of his Lincoln University degree already has his foot in the door of farm ownership, as equity manager of a large new dairy conversion now taking shape in Mid- Canterbury.
Topping grass with a mulcher is one of the simplest yet most effective ways New Zealand farmers can lift pasture performance, improve soil health, and increase overall productivity.
As spring calving cows head into dry-off, the priority shifts to one thing: setting cows up to calve at the target body condition score (BCS).
Tru-Test collars are "the best investment I've ever made in farming," says South Otago sharemilker Kevin Louw. "I absolutely love them."
New Zealand dairy farmers are making more informed, strategic breeding decisions, and it’s paying off, according to CRV managing director James Smallwood.
A bull on a freight plane sounds like the start of a joke, but for Ian Bryant, it is a fond memory of days gone by.
Keeping cows happy and well fed at home this winter just got easier with the launch of a prolific new annual ryegrass bred to jump out of the ground even faster than its popular predecessor.
Tararua district farmer Jamie Harris milks around 400 cows using a split calving system on his farm, Crossdale Dairies.
Water management is an integral component of sustainable farming practices, according to Watermetrics.
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