1/11/2021

Week ending 1-11-21 farm notes:

FARM PERFORMANCE

With 19.8 hectares cut for silage this week, cover has dropped down to 2182 kg DM/ha with a whopping growth rate of 96 kg DM/ha/day. We received a welcome 42 mm of rain this week (almost reaching field capacity on Friday) and plants have responded well. With all grass paddocks officially back into the rotation we return to 131.8 ha grazing platform and a stocking rate of 3.1 cows/ha.

We are still offering the cows 20 kg DM/ha/day, but with reducing ME (average 11.7) and increasing NDF (43% DM) the cows are starting to leave higher residuals.  We are returning cows back to paddocks and shifting them between milkings to help clean up.  We also pre-graze mow paddocks that didn’t achieve residual targets on previous grazings (approximately one-quarter of paddocks)

Half of our spring fertiliser was applied this week (320 kg/ha SurePhos with 50 kg/ha SustaiN).  We use Ballance Surephos as a slow release phosphate fertiliser to ensure more is retained in the soil and less lost to the environment. We will apply the remaining spring fertiliser after the silage is picked up. This brings total N use to 70 kg N/ha. This will be the last of our spring N until late December to push cover into the summer and the remainder is for autumn recovery and new pastures.

For crops sown on the 3^rd October we are aiming for roughly 30-40 turnip plants/m². Not every plant makes it, but now that plants are at a stage where they can be sprayed with both insecticides and herbicides our technical expert Greg from PGGWrightsons will come out this week to set a spray plan based on current insect and weed pressure.

We have finished 6 weeks of mating and are still using the last of the Wagyu straws; we will then use SGL semen until the 17^th December.  This has the effect of reducing the gestation length by 8 to 10 days.

ANIMAL WELL-BEING

We have approximately 2 weeks of MgO left for dusting, then we will use MgCl only through the Dosatron.

Calves are on a 50/50 split of PK and Grower 20 in preparation for transitioning them onto chicory with PK and silage. This allows our 10 t of meal to last longer and keep Coccidiostat Bovatec in the diet for a longer period of time.

We have had 37 lame cows so far this season.  This is higher than last season (21 cows) but better than the 111 that we had in the 2019/20 season before implementing Healthy Hoof changes. Mating puts extra pressure on cows’ feet so keeping the yard clear of stones and identifying cows early is a priority.

BUSINESS HEALTH

With Fonterra’s announcement of an increase and narrower milk price we are set to receive an extra $70k in milk income.  With the increase in Nitrogen fertiliser prices we are looking at a $10k increase in product price over budget (set in March 2021).

Our PK budget was $53k for 160 t at $330/t including cartage. 

We secured 120 t on contract at Fieldays for $324/t plus $17/t cartage, with 30t scheduled for each of the months July, August, December and January. We left 40t uncontracted in the hope that we could purchase cheaper on the spot market to reduce our average cost.  We have purchased 17t on the spot price at $375/t plus cartage, and this week we agreed to secure the remaining 30 t at $384/t plus cartage scheduled for 10t/month. With little hope of the PK price falling, security of feed is a big risk to our production target. With a covered PK bin we can push stored feed through to February/March when we can cull empty cows to reduce demand.

So our PK spend has gone from $53k to $59k.  Our purchased grass silage is 2c/kg DM more expensive than budgeted, adding another $1.6k to our feed expenses. Average cost of PK is 39.7c/kgDM and cost of purchased silage is 38c/kgDM. Not so cheap anymore!!!

Our original budget for the 2021-22 season was set at $5.21/kg MS.  This is made up of baseline production system at $4.09/kg MS + $0.19/kg MS of inflated input prices + $0.67/kg MS for increasing industry standards + $0.27/kg MS for future proofing investment based on the 2021-22 payout. You can see more detail on the website here: 21-22 budget showing the breakdown of expenses

With the bulk of our imported feed and crop costs now secured, along with most mating expenses, we can now revise our budget for the remaining 6 months from December to May.

Product supply is critical this season; we have booked in our zinc for the FE season and also discussed next season’s magnesium requirements with Dom at Farm Source.

ENVIRONMENT

With the effluent area extension we have had to invest a further $1400 to install a repeater to communicate with the unit at the shed.

QUALITY WORKPLACE

Hours worked for the week was 161 with the bulk of time spent mowing. Gardens and plantings have also been tended to on the nice days.

COMMUNITY

As a school demonstration farm we are following ministry safety guidelines.

With that in mind we have made the decision to postpone our November Farm Focus Day until after school finishes in December, to ensure we can welcome you all safely back to the farm.

We will be offering multiple two-hour sessions where we can take up to 25 participants around the farm to visit cows, calves, crops and chicory, and cover off seasonal results to date. More details to follow soon.

PLANNING FOR THE MONTH AHEAD:

• Weaning second mob of calves
• Crop monitoring and spraying

Cheers from Jo & Tom