Thursday, 10 March 2016 07:55

Winning the contest was a bonus

Written by 
Te Pahu farmer Noldy Rust. Te Pahu farmer Noldy Rust.

Te Pahu farmer Noldy Rust entered a pasture competition late last year only because the organisers were looking for more entries.

As chairman of Smaller Milk and Supply Herds, he was asked at a SMASH conference to urge members to enter the pasture renewal persistence competition, run by the DairyNZ-led pasture renewal leadership group.

Rust also entered the competition and won the best pasture more than three years old, picking up $1500 of grass seeds and pasture renewal products.

Last month Rust hosted farmers to talk about his winning paddock, a 10-year-old mix of Alto and Arrow ryegrass.

He told Dairy News his main aim in entering was to give his new farm worker exposure to the judges.

"When the judges came to inspect our paddock I picked a good one that I knew was always growing well," he says. "When I knew I had won, it was pretty humbling."

Rust told farmers at the field day that he was not doing anything different from them. "I told them they all have paddocks which could have won; we just happened to enter the competition and had a good paddock that lasted well for a number of reasons."

Rust and his wife Bev bought the 52ha eff farm in 1996. For the first 10 years they ran it as a low input system; only a small amount of baleage was bought in each year and heifers were grazed off-farm.

The farm ran 170 cows at 3.3 cows/ha and averaged 60,000kgMS, equivalent to 1165kgMS/ha or 353kgMS/cow.

Rust says after 10 years they decided they needed another challenge. "We got as far as we could with system 1 so we thought of building a feed pad and importing maize.

"The idea was to lift cow numbers to 200 and gain more profit."

In 2006 they increased stock numbers to 200 cows and bought maize silage and PKE; they also built a feed pad.

For the next five years the farm averaged 75,500kgMS -- 1466kgMS/ha or 378kgMS/cow.

In 2011 they bought a 24ha runoff in partnership with another farmer. This is used for growing maize silage which is brought back to the milking platform. The farm now averages 90,000kgMS with 200 cows, taking its per ha yield to 1750kgMS/ha or 450 kgMS/cow.

Despite home grown maize silage and contracted PKE making half of the total feed, pasture remains king for Rust -- feed conversion efficiency utilising grass.

"We use supplements only when pasture runs out; we are not substituting grass. To do this we must have good paddocks; good pasture management requires dense sward and proper residuals. We do this with a high stocking rate, by avoiding both overgrazing and pugging."

Rust follows a sound grazing management plan. In the summer, morning milking is finished by 7am. Cows stay in the paddock until noon and then move to the feedpad. After they have finished at the feedpad they move to the standoff paddock under the trees.

If it is still dry and the hot months have finished, cows will stand off in next season's maize paddocks, he says.

"As soon as the autumn rains arrive the cows go out to a 70 day rotation for three weeks to allow average pasture cover to increase, then onto normal autumn rotation lengths."

More like this

Musical chairs

OPINION: DairyNZ's director elections has seen scientist Jacqueline Rowarth re-elected for another three-year term.

DairyNZ levy to increase?

Retiring chair Jim van der Poel has used his final AGM to announce the intention to increase the DairyNZ farmer levy for the first time in the industry-good body's 17-year history.

Tributes to retiring 'Jim the farmer'

Doing what is right, not what is easy, has been the hallmark of Jim van der Poel's leadership of, and advocacy for, the dairy industry, attendees at the DairyNZ annual general meeting heard last week.

Featured

New ag degrees at Massey

Changing skill demands and new job opportunities in the primary sector have prompted Massey University to create a new degree course and add a significant major into another in 2025.

The show is on!

It was bringing in a new Canterbury A&P Association (CAPA) show board, more in tune with the CAPA general committee, that has ensured that Christchurch will have a show this year, says CAPA general committee president Bryce Murray.

National

'Quite a journey'

Former Synlait chief executive Grant Watson says the past two years have been quite the journey.

DairyNZ levy to increase?

Retiring chair Jim van der Poel has used his final AGM to announce the intention to increase the DairyNZ farmer…

Former Fonterra CEO dies

Former Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings passed away in the Netherlands over the weekend.

Machinery & Products

Milk Sustainability Centre launched

The recently announced Milk Sustainability Centre – a collaboration between global giant John Deere and milking and feed specialists De…

Data connection made easier

New Holland and Case IH are introducing new advancements in their precision technology stack to make farming easier and more…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Feed from farmers

OPINION: The country's dairy farmers will now also have a hand in providing free lunch for schools.

Brighter future

OPINION: The abrupt departure of Synlait chief executive Grant Watson could be a sign that Chinese company Bright Dairy, the…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter