Business Rural Winter 2021

| 13 RURAL PEOPLE » Kelly & Amanda Allison Banking milk solids, fat the name of the game Russell Fredric Proudly servicing Richard, Jared and Tharanga. OTAKIA LTD Large Household Water Tanker Sawdust, Bark & Compost Sand, Soil & Gravel Rock & Crushed Metals Bulk Fer tilizer Sowing Palm Kernel Tip Trucks Stock Trucks Diggers Transporters Loaders 0274-328 697 or 486 2055, Fax 486 2058 Proud to Support Kelly & Amanda Allison Centre Rd, RD 1, Outram Ewan Allan Honda Outram Pleased to support Kelly and Amanda Allison 22 Holyhead St, Outram 03 486 1222 | 027 250 7512 Profile your farm with Business Rural ‘This country is so cool’ Three of the farm’s staff have moved, leav- ing Tharanga to find two replacements in an extremely tight recruitment market. This situation has been exacerbated with New Zealand’s international border being tightly restricted due to the covid pandemic, conse- quently there is a shortage of less skilled staff and employers have to pay a premium for staff already experienced in the industry. While skills are imporant, motivation, a good at- titude and the ability to contribute to a great team environment is crucial in achieving “outstanding results”, Tharanga says. A key tool Tharanga uses in the dairy shed is a Kanban board system which he used at the previ- ous farm and has found to be a simple but highly effective management tool. The board holds Post-It notes for tasks needing to be done, with each task which is given a hierar- chy of skill level and undertaken by the appropri- ate person. The note is moved across the columns (Back- log, To Do, Doing, Done) as tasks are worked through to completion. “It’s fantastic. Staff find it motivating and instead of calling me and asking for a job they just go to the shed and pick a job.” Staff can also place requests for training, for discussion at team meetings, on another similar board created by Tharanga. Cows are milked through a 54 rotary shed with automatic cup removers and mik metres. The farm has a run-off which has its own manager, with the cows wintered on kale. Tharanga loves his work and and readily sings the praises of New Zealand. “This country is so cool. It’s totally different (and) if you love dairy farming, New Zealand is the best place.” • from page 12 B anking milk solids and fat as opposed to maximising production is at the core of the Allison family’s Taieri Plains dairy business. The farm is run by Kelly and Amanda Allison, who are equity partners and lower order share- milkers on Kelly’s parent’s, Peter and Raelene’s Outram property, Bonacord Farms. A pedigree Jersey/Ayrshire stud is part of the business, but it is very much a commercial opera- tion with a herd of 580 cows. These are milked through a 40-a-side herringbone shed which has a feed system which provides meal and minerals. Central to the farm’s operation is feeding the cows well, natural mating and longevity of the cows which are kept milking as long as they are healthy producers and have good udders. The herd’s production, both combined and of the individual cows output paints a picture of good performance when it comes to banking milk solids. Last season’s total production of 260,000kgMS equates to about 465kgMS per cow and about 1550kgMS per hectare which is 8.5% above the 2019/2020 Otago/Southland average surveyed by Dairy NZ. Kelly estimates their individual production to be easily more than 100% of their body weight. “I think our cows are pretty efficient and I think we are right up there with production per hectare. “There are farmers doing more production per cow, but when you add our production plus our stocking rate it means that, overall, we’re pretty good.” “We like to get at least a kilogram of milk solids per kilogram of live weight. If a cow doesn’t do that she probably doesn’t last long here.” Despite this, cows that continue to produce can be assured of a long life at Bonacord. “We look to breed a really functional dairy cow that’s going to have that longevity. We consider that cows should quite easily be able to get to about nine or 10 years old. “We have a real focus on the udder, we like a nice strong udder, well attached, and we want an udder that’s going to last those 10 years.” Not surprisingly, there is also a strong focus on fat and protein breeding value traits in bulls, with temperament also a strong focus. “We don’t want a cow that does big litres be- cause we don’t get paid in litres; Fonterra doesn’t want to be carting tanker loads of excess water around.” Despite this commercial focus, Kelly and his father are passionate about the stud side of the business. “Genetics is definitely a bit of a focus. They’re not just cows to us, they are more than that.” Living on the Taieri Plans means Kelly is well-acquainted with flood events; having been through two major floods during the past five years he easily relates to those affected by the recCanterbury floods. “Basically you just have to feed your cows, you’ve just got to manage it and do the best you can.” “I know we’ve still got a fair way to go with mental health issues, but there are a few support networks now in the rural community and people do understand how farming can be in the best of times and it can be pretty tough when you have an adverse event like this.” Kelly and Amanda Allison are equity partners at Bonacord Farms in Outram. A pedigree Jersey/Ayrshie stud is part of a commercial operation milking 580 cows.