Feeding maize silage in winter: Setting the herd up for success
As I write this article, we have just had our first frost in the Waikato, a change in weather signalling that winter is upon us.
An agribusiness roadshow on high profit/low environmental impact farming systems will continue through the country from this month with two events at Waikato, says HerdHomes company founder Tom Pow.
Rural professionals from Ballance, ANZ, regional councils, Pioneer, HerdHomes and Headlands are travelling around the country talking about how farmers can lift production and profit on properties while decreasing environment impact in a friendly fashion.
Pow says while New Zealand dairy farmers have traditionally set stocking rates to levels that could be maintained in periods of stress and viewed effluent as a waste product, they could more than double the production of their farms on similar sized sections of land with smart grazing and effluent management. "In Northland the average production is around 500kgms/ha but there are guys out there getting 1000kgms/ha off the same country and it's the same all over the country."
Pow says top producers aren't largely relying on bought in feeds but instead focus on effective usage of on farm resources like effluent. "Effluent is god's gift from the cow to the soil."
Topics for discussion include pasture maintenance, on-off grazing, supplement use, overall management and use of Farm Dairy Effluent (FDE).
Speakers from Headlands NZ and the Waikato Regional Council will also be presenting at the event to discuss the region's changing environmental footprint and how to farm to get optimum results for the minimum environmental impact.
Seminars will be held in the Springdale Hall on June 24 and Tiara War Memorial hall on June 25 from 10am.
Further events will be announced in the near future.
herdhomes.co.nz
07 857 0526
The CEO of Apples and Pears NZ, Karen Morrish, says the strategic focus of her organisation is to improve grower returns.
A significant breakthrough in understanding facial eczema (FE) in livestock brings New Zealand closer to reducing the disease’s devastating impact on farmers, animals, and rural communities.
Farmer co-operative LIC has closed its satellite-backed pasture measurement platform – Space.
OPINION: The case of four Canterbury high country stations facing costly and complex consent hearing processes highlights the dilemma facing the farming sector as the country transitions into a replacement for the Resource Management Act (RMA).
The 2024-25 season apple harvest has “well and truly exceeded expectations”, says Apples and Pears NZ chief executive Karen Morrish.
Through collaborative efforts with exhibitors, visitors, and industry partners, Fieldays says it is reaffirming its commitment to environmental responsibility with new initiatives for 2025.
OPINION: The Free Speech Union is taking this one too far.
OPINION: New national data from The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA), a leading workplace drug tester, shows methamphetamine (meth) use is…