18 | Rearing extra calves to lease back Alan Da Veiga of Oakdale Farm. Bernadette Cooney DAIRY PEOPLE » Oakdale Farm Pleased to be associated with Oakdale Farm FERTILISER SPREADING | FARM MAPPING GPS TRACKING | VARIABLE RATE SPREADING LIVESTOCK CARTAGE | DAILY FREIGHT CONCRETE SUPPLIES | GRAIN CARTAGE SHINGLE SUPPLIES | FERTILISER SUPPLIES Leeston: 03 3248 070 | Dunsandel: 03 3254 039 reception@ellesmere.co.nz E: john@ruralcoach.co.nz | sarah@ruralcoach.co.nz | chris@ruralcoach.co.nz • Business Planning • Farm Team culture and development • Leadership Development • Succession Planning Proudly Supporting Oakdale Farm www.ruralcoach.co.nz Oakdale Farm Leeston contract milker, Alan Da Veiga of Oakdale Farm, a 260-hectare Dairy Holdings Ltd operation, has had his best calving season yet and is steadily progressing toward his goal of owning his own sharemilking herd in five years’ time. Alan has been growing his herd since 2021 when he began with just 32 calves. Now, he has around 275 high value breeding cows, made up of 170 mixed age cows and 105 rising two-year-old (R2) heifers and is expecting to add another 120 calves’ next season. His strategy involves purchasing cows from the farm’s holdings and rearing extra calves each year to lease back to Dairy Holdings, which allows him to replace older cows whilst gradually expanding his herd. “At the end of this season I want to buy another 150 cows,” says Alan. “So that next season I would start with 400 cows and my 120 R2 heifers and then 2028 would be the purchase of a final 300 cows to become a herd under a sharemilking model.” Alan aims to add 100 extra calves to his herd year upon year until he achieves a 1000 cow sharemilking herd. Originally from Brazil, where he had an army career, Alan emigrated to New Zealand in 2012, as a non-English speaking dairy worker. “I started on a dairy farm, and I started to love working with the animals and helping them, so it became a passion and now I love dairy farming and can’t wait to become a sharemilker and work hard and maybe one day put deposit on a farm and have a house I can call my home.” Alan has been contract milking at Oakdale Farm since January 2020, and before that, managed a dairy farm in Hororata. He considers this his best season so far at Oakdale, with his Dairy Holdings pasture fed dairy herd in excellent condition. “It’s exciting because I can see good results in the calves. The cows body condition scores are looking pretty good as well and we had a remarkable 92% of them on heat within the first three weeks of mating. That’s 920 cows from 1000,” says Alan. Oakdale Farms dairy herd is made up of a combination of Friesian, Jersey, and Kiwicross, all pasture-fed on high grass. Alan notes that the focus on managing high grass effectively has enabled him to keep his herd productive and healthy. The farm’s milk production is expected to reach 330,000 kilograms of milk solids this season, an increase from the previous season. Three fulltime workers assist Alan’s on farm responsibilities. Alan is intentional about developing the skills of his team and creating career opportunities and from next March he will take on the regional manager role for the Canterbury and North Otago NZ Dairy Industry Awards. An award, Alan himself won six merits at in March this year. Alan still finds time to make content for 3000+ Tik Tok social media followers, under the handle of his milking company name, Maromba Farm.
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