NZ Dairy Autumn 2021

| 67 nz dairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Pamu Waitepeka: Justin Pigou Successful compost barn pilot drives further investment Kim Newth S outh of Balclutha, Pamu’s Waitepeka Complex is home to 1350 cows on two dairy units – Dunns (270ha) and Landsdown (258ha) – where compost barns are on track to transform how cows are farmed through the wet winter months. A compost barn for 150 cows, built as a pilot on Landsdown dairy unit, was used to over-winter cows for the first time last year. It operated so well that plans now in place to build a larger compost barn for 400 to 450 cows at Landsdown in time for winter 2022 and, ultimately, a similar barn for the Dunns dairy unit too. “Our compost barn pilot has been very success- ful – the cows stayed warm and dry all winter,” says Justin Pigou, business manager for Waitepeka complex. “As well as having the barn, we’ve also been using transitional minerals. We reduced our calf and cow mortality and calving health costs have really come down.” The barn is next to a concrete feed pad with food troughs operating a OAD silage feed system. It has proved to be a very efficient system with better feed conversion. Lighter cows – those scoring well below 4.5 on body condition at dry off – were selected to go in the compost barn last winter. The results have been impressive. Justin says the cows gained one condition score on average – for example, moving from a 4.2 condition score to 5.2 or even better. On-farm costs have gone down too. “It costs us $25 or $26 a week to winter those cows on farm, whereas sending them off to grazing with transport costs is $40 a week and with the intensive winter grazing restrictions coming in my gut feeling is grazing costs will only increase further.” Justin is also confident of being able to house more cows in future. “We budgeted on nine square metres per cow but we can comfortably go to seven or eight square metres.” Virtually all of the effluent produced by cows resting in the barn gets absorbed by bedding saw- dust that goes through a composting process. It can then be spread on paddocks in spring and summer, cutting fertiliser costs in the process.“It’s a far bet- ter environmental outcome all around, compared to intensive winter grazing.” With a cost estimate of around $1.6 million, the new compost barn planned for 2022 is a big invest- ment but will boost animal welfare further and pave the way to higher production and better utilisation of feed. “I’m convinced that this is the best option for cow comfort – it’s far better than a rubber mat in a concrete free stall … at the moment we have two herd homes on Dunns but they’re not particularly good from a cow comfort perspective so we want to put in a compost barn for 450 cows there as well.” The longer term plan is to extend the milking season by a few weeks at either end and Justin also sees compost barns as a potential mitigation measure against flooding events. Being able to bring cows off grazing and into barns could help reduce the impact of such events, he says. Justin sees a strong future for compost barns throughout Otago, Canterbury and the West Coast. Sourcing sufficient bedding sawdust at a reason- able price will become a key priority. At Waitepeka, the next step is to try and produce bedding material ‘in house’ through coppicing different timber types. Advanced Dairy Barns has over 16 years’ ex- perience in the building of wintering barns and with26,000 cows housed have seen many changes. These include larger stalls to cater for increased cow size, wider feed lanes to cope with larger feed wagons, increase in natural lighting and inside calving areas. Not being tied to one product allows us to pur- chase a wide range of top products from around the world to suit the client’s individual needs. With Advanced Dairy Barns Ltd parent com- pany Winton Engineering Ltd undertaking all the engineering side of the project this enables us to easily deliver a turnkey package for the whole job including shed, silage bunkers, effluent processing and ponds. The company has always adopted a policy of building what the customer requires. In the case of the Parmu Farms shed this involved building a sawdust composting style barn which has suited their needs well. This year Advanced Dairy Barns Ltd are building four more barns with a capacity for 3650 cows.. Advanced Dairy Barns The compost barn at Pamu’s Waitepeka complex near Balclutha. • Turn key packages for complete design & build of shed • Hot-dip galvanised structural steel • Chain effluent scrapers • Full concrete placement • Full range of latex and rubber bedding • Stall dividers • Cow brushes Phone (03) 236-6077 or (027) 411-2805 53 Great North Road, Winton “Cow barn design and building specialists with 25000 cows comfortably housed” Full dairy farm solutions • Electrical • Plant • Water • Refrigeration • E uent systems Proud to support Dunns and Landsdown dairy units Allanton 2 Peel Street 24hr Ph: 03 425 9306 E: allanton@cedp.co.nz Gore 4 Huron Street 24hr Ph: 03 208 0500 E: gore@cedp.co.nz Balclutha Cnr Elizabeth & James St 24hr Ph: 03 418 3851 E: balclutha@cedp.co.nz NDREW AULAGE 2011 Ltd A H Phone 03 418 1299 For professional friendly service: • Effluent Ponds • Site Preparation • Roading • Root-Raking • Dairy Conversions • Aggregates & Topsoil • Trucks • Dozers • Graders • Rollers • Diggers • Bulk Wood Chipper • Drainage • Underpasses • Excavation • Forestry Roading • Supplying Concrete