Farmer Focus Livestock: Tom Rawson studies the Kiwi dairy system
By the time you read this, with any luck myself and my mate Ollie will be in South Island New Zealand at the start of our three-week holiday. Sorry, I mean dairy study tour.
It should be interesting, as the Kiwis are a couple of months further into the downward cycle on milk prices than we are.
After the Christmas break all the guys on the farm have had at least one “cow-free day”. Andrew attended the Positive Farmers conference in Ireland, Mike joined myself at the Pasture to Profit conference and Tom attended a busy LAMMA farm machinery show.
The thirteenth of February marks the start of calving, so I hope everybody will have their batteries fully charged. As the in calf heifers have arrived home, it takes us over the 300-cow mark for the first time quite a milestone, as four years ago we only milked about 100. We are now hoping to go to 350 cows by the end of the 2009/10 season.
The big revelation this winter is “SOP”, a lime-type of product that is dusted on to both the straw yards and the cubicles once a week. Cell counts in the tank have dropped, but it is monthly recordings that paint the true picture. On 6 November the herd count was a heady 414, by 6 December it was down to 274 and by 6 January it was down to 222. The last tank sample was 197, giving us plenty of room to play with, as 400 is our band A limit.
Lastly, thanks to William’s godfathers, Curly and Neil, for forcing me to drink so much at the christening that, in Catherine’s words, “I had tested her patience”.
- More from Tom Rawson