No red band for Skellerup
Rising sales of dairy consumable products helped Skellerup deliver a record net profit of $48 million last financial year.
Filling the vat with the best milk you can produce is a financial advantage, says milking liner maker Skellerup.
Studies have shown hefty production gains from maintaining good milk quality, the company says. For example, halving bulk milk somatic cell counts (BMSCC) from 300,000 to 150,000 is estimated to increase total season milksolids by 2.1%
In general, the lower your somatic cell count (SCC) and the fewer grades incurred during lactation, the more efficient and thorough is your milking process.
Attention to detail and a preventative approach go a long way towards improving milk quality, and this is the ideal time of year to review your system, says Skellerup. A key question to ask is: when did we last replace the liners?
Milking liners are the one item in direct contact with the cow. During each lactation she typically spends 50-100 hours attached to the machine, via those liners.
“Milking liners are hidden inside the shells, so you can’t see what happens to them when they wear out,” says Skellerup national manager Perry Davis.
“The first thing you might see instead is a cow kicking the cluster off, damaged teat ends or a surprisingly high BSCC on the milk docket.”
Worn, poor-fitting liners can leave milk in the udder, slip off the teat and/or leave permanent rings at the top of the teat. And any internal cracks in the rubber are an ideal environment for bacteria.
Skellerup offers an easy way to check if milking liners are due for replacement: go to www.2500change.co.nz and fill in the required fields or use a calculator to work out how many times they’ve been used since they were installed.
If it’s 2500 or more, it’s time to change, Davis says.
Rural trader PGG Wrightson has revised its operating earnings guidance, saying trading conditions have deteriorated since the last market update in February.
It's been a bumper season for maize and other supplements in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
Leading farmers from around New Zealand connected to share environmental stories and inspiration and build relationships at the Dairy Environment Leaders (DEL) national forum in Wellington last month.
AgriZeroNZ, a joint venture fast-tracking emissions reduction tools for farmers, is pouring $5 million in a biotech company to develop a low emissions farm pasture with increased productivity gains.
Fonterra is teaming up with wealth app provider Sharesies to make it easier for its farmer shareholders to trade co-op shares among themselves.
Te Awamutu dairy farmers Doug, Penny, Josh and Bayley Storey have planted more than 25,000 native trees on the family farm, adding to a generations-old native forest.
OPINION: Talking about plant-based food: “Chicken-free chicken” start-up Sunfed has had its valuation slashed to zero by major investor Blackbird…
OPINION: Synlait's financial woes won’t be going away anytime soon.