| 15 Kim Newth Herd improvement brings gains After four seasons as 50/50 sharemilkers for the NZ Rural Property Trust on a 141ha dairy farm in Otautau, Cameron and Cassandra Spencer are seeing the bene ts of their work on herd improvement. This season they had their best mating results ever from the herd with an 80% six week in calf rate and 8% empty rate. The couple’s hard work over recent years has not gone unnoticed. As rst-time entrants in the 2020 Dairy Industry Awards, they were named runnersup for the 2020 Southland-Otago Share Farmer of the Year Award and also won merit awards for LIC Recording and Productivity, and Pasture Performance. At the time of the awards, they were peak milking 420 cows but have since dropped that by around 20 cows. “We’re doing the same overall production though as we’re milking better cows,” observes Cam. They are milking a very crossbred herd. Gains are being made by not breeding from the bottom 10% of the herd, (based on BWs). “Rather than trying to get the best out of the top end, we prefer to tackle the lower end and not breed there. It’s bringing the average up. “With the mating side, we keep it simple. To get cows in calf we make sure they’re fully fed every day of the year. We’re doing things like running a OAD mob, keeping light cows separate and using body condition scoring to nd the cows that need a bit of help.” Rather than applying set dates for drying off, theirs is a more nuanced approach where cows are managed in sections according to condition. Last season they installed a Protrack drafting system. The cows still mix together for milking, but groups can be drafted off as required for preferential feeding or to join a mob being mated with a bull. It has been a very dry year for Southland, so they have had to buy in a lot of extra feed. On top of this, costs are going up across the board. “For us, it’s painful but we try to keep on top of our budget and understand where we’re at.” Cam rst got a taste for dairy farming while at school. In the holidays, he’d stay with grandparents in Taranaki and help them out on their dairy farm. After leaving school, he gained experience on his cousin’s farm in Te Kuiti before moving onto farms in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty. Opportunities further south then led him to Southland. “I’d only been here a year when I met Cass, who was working as a travel agent at the time. She picked up on farming really quickly and did primary ITO training. Sharemilking provided a good opportunity for both of us.” While the way of life has its stresses, they love running their own business and sharing the rural environment with their children, Mackenzie, 6, and Sienna, 3. The couple are expecting their third child at the end of July. Cam says the NZ Rural Property Trust, which owns seven dairy farms, is great to work for and very supportive of their decisions. With two more years to go at Otautau, the couple are focussed on running the farm as ef ciently as possible while also continuing to improve the value of the herd and grow equity for their next venture. RURAL PEOPLE » Cameron & Cassandra Spencer Family fun: Cameron with daughter Sienna, 3, (top) and with Mackenzie (6), Sienna and Cassandra. BALEAGE &STRAWBALING • EFFLUENT SPREADING&UMBILICAL SLURRY SYSTEM • FERTILISER SPREADINGVIAONE SYSTEM • BULKY CULTIVATION • DIRECTDRILLING&PRECISIONPLANTING SERVICES • PASTURE RENOVATIONS • DIGGERWORK • NO JOB TOOBIGOR SMALL
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