| 11 Making optimal use of pasture cover Dayne holding Millie, alongside Jorja. Sue Russell RURAL PEOPLE » Dayne and Sophia Addison When they made the decision to introduce Halter technology into their herd, South Waikato dairy farmers Dayne and Sophia Addison always said the would reserve judgment for a year before reflecting on their investment. That four-seasons had just about rolled around when Rural North caught up with Dayne in November. He was full of praise for the smart collars, having seen in action the difference they have made to cow health, pasture management, staff work-life balance and for himself. “For the first time ever I’ve spent really good time away from the farm down south and haven’t worried about what is going on and how the team are doing. That, in itself, is a huge plus,” Dayne admits. Operating a large-scale dairy unit, home to 1100+ mainly F10-F12 cows, across two milking platforms, was always going to be a busy undertaking, so for Dayne, any carefully researched ‘tool’ he could introduce, had to prove itself in the day to day reality – halter certainly has! “I had never taken into account the impact shifting cows had on what else we could achieve in a day. Typically in the winter we’d start at around 7.30 am and by the time we shifted seven or eight mobs of cows to new pasture it was 11-11.30 am, so the morning was pretty much gone.” With halter, shifting the cows is done remotely and in a controlled, calculated way, making optimal use of pasture cover. Providing a given mob of cows with exactly the amount of pasture they need, not only impacts pasture use efficiency but supports cow health. If needed, any cow/s that require more feed can be shifted on to new pasture at the push of a button. “We now break the day during winter into two periods – 8am – 12pm and 1.30pm – 4.30pm. These solid chunks of time given to farm maintenance work means we achieve a great deal, while the cows are happily managed.” Dayne reckons he has jumped ahead as much as 3 years on some background projects given this new regime. Other benefits have flowed as well. The collars health monitoring capabilities means that cows identified as coming into heat can be separated through the automatic drafting from the rest, for mating purposes and any other health pre-cursors can be picked up and dealt with before issues escalate. Staff have also benefitted through learning how the technology operates and more fully coming into management-level responsibilities, something Dayne and Sophia say is great to see. “We’ve always wanted our team to progress professionally and feel they’re more a part of holding responsibilities. Halter has allowed this progress to happen. The young ones take to the technology well and its just meant they’re more engaged in their work because they can make decisions without reference to me.” Dayne acknowledges looking back that for the first two weeks or so he was somewhat sceptical, however as quite an analytical person, Dayne says he’s thrived on the easy access to data and the empowerment that comes with having information Phone: 07 873 7772 | DEPOT: MAIN SOUTH ROAD, PO BOX 251 OTOROHANGA OLIVER'S TRANSPORT PROUDLY SUPPORTS DAYNE ADDISON SPECIALIZING IN: LIVESTOCK CARTAGE HAY & SILAGE WOOL GENERAL FREIGHT ∙ Project management ∙ Natural habitat consulting, planning & restoration ∙ Pest plant/animal surveillance, control and monitoring ∙ Aerial, amphibious & ground based operations ∙ Site preparation, planting & releasing ∙ Landscape property management - rural & urban To protect, preserve and restore our natural and native history. 0274 404 052 ben@aotearoarestoration.co.nz 683 Maihihi Rd, Otorohanga | 027 483 9052 | n.disher@yahoo.com.au DISHER CONTRACTING CULTIVATION • DIRECT DRILLING • EARTH MOVING • FARM DRAINAGE / DRAIN CLEANING HAY & SILAGEMOWING • SPRAYER • SPRAYING EXTERNAL PARASITES at his finger-tips. He’s also circumspect about its place in the overall farming management system, saying he hasn’t changed anything drastically, just used Halter to farm better. “Having the ability to do my farming better which is great. In a few weeks time I have a big analysis with my Vet to really go through the data and what the technology has helped achieve.” Dayne says he and Sophie had been interested in the technology for some time and found the support from Halter advisors second-to-none. “They understand it’s a big decision and they’re there each step of the way to ensure your questions are answered.” Willy Philip 102 Laws Road, Dannevirke 027 450 9398 06 374 8857 anui@xtra.co.nz George Philip 923 Mangatuna Road, Dannevirke 027 306 2369 06 374 2861 gwphilip@hotmail.com OU R DOR S E T DOWN R AMS W I L L PROV I DE : - Genetics with exceptional growth - Well muscled and great eating lambs - Strong lambs with thick skin that survive and thrive - Good framed lambs to pack lots of meat on are palpated and vetted prior to sale.
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