8/11/2021

Week ending 8-11-21 farm notes:

FARM PERFORMANCE

Another good growing period following rain this week.  So far this season we have had 564 mm of rain vs 416 mm last season.  PGR was 82 kg DM/ha/day with APC stable at 2167 kg DM/ha.

All paddocks have received their spring fertiliser (320 kg/ha SurePhos with 50 kg/ha SustaiN) to keep them growing strong.

Cocksfoot has bolted this round and we are dealing with seed heads while still having ryegrass at a tidy 3-leaf stage ideal for grazing. Pre-mowing was required for one day only this week.  We have used cropping and silage making to keep APC within our target of 2000-2400 kg DM/ha. Farmax budgeting shows that we expect to take another cut of approximately 10 ha silage by the end of the month and then 4-5 ha for hay.

With all grass paddocks returned from silage we were on a 21-day rotation with a pre-graze target at 2800-2900 kg DM/ha.  While we are still offering the cows 20 kg DM/day in the hope that their intake won’t be restricted, they appear to be dropping down to around 18-19 kg DM/day now.  Milk production continues to decline as pasture quality reduces and temperatures increase. Cows produced an average of 1.84 kg MS/day for the week. SCC is 89,000 and we have supplied 122 days of excellence quality milk (98%).

Greg Zuren of PGG Wrightson Seeds visited to help us plan our spray programme.  The chicory paddocks got sprayed on Friday with Valdo and Sequence for weeds.

The turnips and kale both got sprayed today with Sparta (insecticide), SeQuence (grass weeds) and Prestige (this is the first year we’ve included a spray for nightshade).

Because our brassica crops are close together, once we spray the turnips we spray the kale as well, because the insects will tend to move on to the nearest source of feed.

We are grateful for our relationship with Spraylink which means that they are aware of our annual spray plan and are able to get on farm quickly when the need arises.

Tom also applied a side dressing of 150 kg N/ha for both the turnips and kale.

We can now enjoy watching these crops grow and are just monitoring for a second insect spray up until the 5^th December for the turnips.

The chicory will receive a nitrogen application after its first grazing.

ANIMAL WELL-BEING

The remaining 59 unweaned calves were weighed on the 4^th November, averaging 108 kg.  We weaned all of the calves over 105 kg (with the average weight being 114 kg) leaving 28 still on milk at an average weight of 95 kg.  Each group has a progressively higher weaning weight target to help them catch up with the earlier-weaned calves. We had 14 bags of milk left to last them 12 more days before weaning, drenching then onto chicory.

Cows had individual BCS carried out on the 3^rd November.  Herd average was 4.5 with 2-year-olds at 4.6 and 3-year-olds our lightest group at 4.4.  This is 0.1 BCS drop from the 24^th September – a pleasing result during mating.  Last season the herd dropped from 4.9 to 4.5 during a similar timeframe.

BUSINESS HEALTH

Nothing to report this week.

ENVIRONMENT

Did you know that St Peter’s students, with the support of Lincoln University, carried out an Ecoblitz at Owl Farm in 2015 and 2017?  They discovered that over 43 bird species, 185 insects, 325 plants and 8 different mammals call the farm home.  We continue to build on this biodiversity list via iNaturalistNZ where anyone visiting the farm can take a photo and get identification of a species added to our projects.  Visit https://inaturalist.nz/projects/st-peter-s-school-ecoblitz-sept-2017 to see what we have found already.  Maybe you could start an iNaturalistNZ project for your own farm and watch your recorded biodiversity species grow over time?

QUALITY WORKPLACE

Vaccinations and testing have become part of our work environment to ensure continued access to the farm for students.  We are incredibly proud of how the team has been willing to support a return for students to the farm so eagerly in this ever-changing environment.

Big hours from the team this week with 194 hours required to weigh, sort and wean calves, make silage and spread fertiliser, along with spraying races, boundary and wetland fences.

COMMUNITY

We are gearing up to return to having farm and public visitors in mid-December, once students finish at school.  At this stage we are postponing our November Focus Day to provide a series of more intimate on-farm sessions during the 16^th and 17^th December.  More details to follow.

PLANNING FOR THE MONTH AHEAD:

• Wean remaining calves
• Herd test
• Identify and harvest any late November surplus

Cheers from Jo & Tom