66 | RURAL SERVICES » PGG Wrightson Ltd PGG Wrightson Ltd Technical Expert – Animal Production Andrew Dowling. Identifying the needs of each animal is key The stockfeed industry plays a key role in the future of New Zealand farming says Andrew Dowling, Otago/Southland Technical Expert – Animal Production at PGG Wrightson. “If we want to reduce methane emissions and improve performance per cow, then getting the nutrition side right is critical. It’s about targeting the correct nutrition at the right time of the animal’s production cycle. If we get that wrong, the efficiency of converting feed into product will be lower. “ An animal that’s performing efficiently will have fewer methane emissions per kilo of milk fat, eat less grass and make more money than a cow that has an imbalanced diet. Looking at the sheep and cattle sector, if a farmer gets his animals to perform better, they grow faster, eat less over their whole life, and the farmer makes more money.” Andrew says energy is the first box to fill in an animal’s diet. At different stages of life and their production cycle, the protein, fat, minerals and vitamins demand will vary. “Getting the combination right allows the animal to perform to its maximum. That’s our future; helping our animals perform as best they can.” A veterinarian by profession, Andrew says as a rural veterinarian he found he was often diagnosing issues on farm but unable to solve the problem, which was often the farmer’s system. “Working with Wrightson’s you have access to the touch points to all parts of the farmer’s system. If the farmer is short of feed, you put them in touch with someone to sort it out, rather than saying, your animals are hungry, but I can’t fix that. • to page 67 FOR ALL YOUR DAIRY FEED REQUIREMENTS Purchase GrainCorp dairy feeds on your PGG Wrightson account and unlock FREE access to Tracker™. GrainCorp Dairy feed to suit all GrainCorp Animal Nutrition offers a range of dairy feed options to suit any feed system. Purchase GrainCorp dairy feed through PGGWrightson and unlock free access to Tracker™. Tracker™ is an online milk monitoring tool that helps dairy farmers make proactive, fact-based feed and herd management decisions, to help maximise production and profitability. Data is imported directly from the dairy company and is combined with real-time farm input data to create customised alerts to warn if a farmer is at risk of fat evaluation index (FEI) penalties, shortage of dry matter intake, milk quality issues and abnormal milk quality or composition. The tool also allows farmers to track their progress toward targets set around milk volume, composition, quality and profitability. With the information stored and available on the Tracker programme, and the technical support offered by PGG Wrightson and GrainCorp, our technical team say that hundreds of farmers are increasing their expectations on what they can achieve from their farm and stock. Our Technical Feed partner’s believe some of the best returns on feed comes at the front end of the season when the goal is to get cows to peak in the shortest time while losing as little body condition as possible. To find out more visit your local PGG Wrightson store to discuss feed options for your dairy herd including molasses and how you can access Tracker™.
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