| 45 “We had thought last year of taking some time off and doing some travelling away but on learning another baby was on the way, we realised this was not the right time.” Clough’s secure sharemilking contract Kieran Clough - with wife Olivia. Olivia and Kieran Clough dairy farm in Taranaki, not far from Eltham and this coming season will see a shift on to a new dairy unit, some 10 minutes away. Sue Russell RURAL PEOPLE » Kieran Clough Olivia and Kieran Clough dairy farm in Taranaki, not far from Eltham and this coming season will see a shift on to a new dairy unit, some 10 minutes away. The couple have secured a 50:50 sharemilking contract on Steve and Astrid Wells’ dairy farm south of Eltham. “The farm is a little hillier than our current situation but it will be just fine and we’re looking forward to the move,” Kieran explains. Their herd of 250 straight Freisian cows serves them well and the size of the enterprise means that at this time they can get by without employing an additional farm worker to help out. In a way, Kieran says, keeping the farm to a size that one can manage, makes sense. “We’ve tended to make any decisions around the fact that we are running this farm ourselves. It’s made things clearer for us as we’ve focussed in on what works best at this scale.” While economic in size and scale, Kieran says this suits the couple well, as they have recently welcomed a second daughter into the family. “We had thought last year of taking some time off and doing some travelling away but on learning another baby was on the way, we realised this was not the right time, so we focussed on taking up a new opportunity. Sharemilking contracts are not so easily found in Taranaki,” Kieran explains. Having Freisians means they can run the farm at a lower stocking rate than other breeds and this suits Kieran fine, as the one milking the cows and tending to all the daily tasks. Production is at 430MS/cow (105,000kg/MS) on the existing farm. “We came in a little bit ahead of the previous season so I’m pleased we’ve been able to keep the volume up.” As an all-grass system, barring a small amount of palm kernel to help sustain cow condition, Kieran very much subscribes to the thinking that a simple system is the best system to operate. They are about to enter a 3-year contract with the Wells’ and Kieran says both he and Olivia are looking forward to the move. “The new farm has a 20 aside herringbone shed with inshed feeding there just in case needed but I don’t expect to use it much. There’s also a new effluent system so its in pretty good shape with nothing requiring attention as we come on to the farm.” And new innovations come with the move! Halter Collars are being introduced to the herd; a development Kieran says will bring meaningful benefits. “We’re leasing the collars and it will provide me with information at arms reach on cow health, heat detection, rumination. It’s also going to save me a lot of time milking the cows because they will bring themselves to the shed.” Each collar is installed with vibration and beeping signals that the cows soon learn to understand. It means they will stay inside a virtual fence line and save Kieran a great deal of time managing the herd either side of milking. Last year Kieran says they got shoulder-tapped to enter the region’s Ballance Farm Environment Awards where they received the Norwood AgriBusiness Management Award. Judges noted they had increased the farm’s Of ce 06 278 0020 Steve Roylance 021 287 5335 Peter Laurence 027 252 2174 WilliamMoynihan 027 279 7099 CLAASHarvest Centre areproud tosupport Kieran&OliviaClough At Lloyd Gernhoefer agricultural contracting, we o er you a wide range of Agricultural services. Call Lloyd now for your 2023 season requirements. 027 446 0443 19a King Edward St, Eltham o ce@gernhoefercontracting.co.nz efficiency and production, reduced use of supplements and improved soil quality through improved soil nutrient monitoring. “When we entered it was quite late in the piece and the judges arrived on the farm the following week to talk with us about how we do things here, so we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare.” Kieran says he and Olivia are pleased with where they are, concentrating at this stage in their farming journey on what is most important. Cow condition is good, with milking once a day from the end of March and three milkings over two days from the end of December. “We’re looking forward to the move and are still staying in the district. This is a good area to dairy in.”
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