Waikato Business News May/June 2017

CAMBRIDGE BOOMS
Many highlights in
Owl Farm’s season
Wet weather seems to be the order of
the season every time Owl Farm tries to
hold some form of Focus Day or Open
Day in the last 12 months. Once again the
weather gods set out to ensure there was
no risk of drought for the Focus Day held at
St Peter’s on May 17.
WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS May/June 2017
49
Despite the inclement
weather it was great to
see farmers turning out
to share the next chapter of our
journey and hear about the news
from the farm.
Our farm manager Tom
Buckley kicked off the day
with a season-wrap and covered
some highlights and some
lessons from the 2016-17 dairy
season.
Big highlights were the increase
in milk production of 1.4
percent, along with a 6 percent
increase in home grown feed
harvested. The regrassing programme
and the planned use of
chicory as a crop has been really
successful this year with more
than 13.3T of Chicory grown/
ha by using best practice at establishment
to minimise weed
burden. The feed works out to
cost 14.6c/kgDM, that’s even
after you allow for the grass not
grown while the chicory was in
the ground instead.
A big lift in performance
by individual cows up to
421kgMS/cow this year can be
attributed to the farm being able
to feed cows better for longer
with homegrown feed, and less
reliance on supplements being
purchased in.
Another highlight was the
reduction in number of lame
cows needing hoof work and
treatment due to lameness. Tom
attributes this in large part to the
strong team of people on-farm
who are really focused on minimising
the people impact on
lameness, along with spotting
lame cows early. In addition the
purchase of a lame-cow Wrangler
crush has allowed them to
quickly, easily and safely examine
the feet of lame cows,
making it a 10 minute job and
easy to do right now, rather than
being put off.
A reduction in costs of
$161,000 is another major highlight
for the season with large
savings in the total amount of
purchased feed, efficiency in
the application of fertiliser and
reduction in the total number
of people required throughout
the year to run the farm. We do
note however, this also includes
a reduction in expenditure of
$72,000 for maize silage used
within the year, but paid in
Demonstration manager
at Owl Farm, Louise Cook.
the previous dairy season. Allowing
for this still sees a cost
reduction of $89,000 or 10 percent.
The way I see it, that is still
a great result from a really challenging
year, and we‘re excited
to crack into next year and see
what else we can achieve in improving
our performance.
We also used some new
technology, with a live, online
quiz with participants to get
their thoughts on some of our
choices this year and for the
coming season. We also asked
what they want Owl Farm to
focus on the future that will add
the most value to their business.
The day then concluded with
a rather damp farm walk, where
the attendees were invited to
complete a pasture measuring
circuit of the top block of the
farm. This is the first in what is
now a weekly open activity for
people at 11am every Tuesday
from the farm office.
P 07 823 4407 E office@camex.net.nz
W www.camex.net
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