104 | nzdairy ON FARM » Dairy Holdings Irrigation focus Shaun Wise at Tata Dairy with CropX sensor. • from page 103 OFF-ROAD LIVIN’ PROUD TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH DAIRY HOLDINGS LTD ashburtoncanam.co.nz 445 West Street, Ashburton, 7700 64 3-307 4846 james@ashburtoncanam.co.nz BALCLUTHA | GORE | WINTON | INVERCARGILL | LUMSDEN OTAUTAU | CLYDEVALE | TAPANUI 0800 VETSOUTH vetsouth.co.nz VETSOUTH ARE PROUD TO SUPPORT DAIRY HOLDINGS LTD We thought with these little reductions people would still be confident to grow and harvest the same amount of grass.” Blair and the team of farm advisors have been concentrating on Irrigation, Fertiliser and the Breeding programme over the past five years. The CropX agronomic farm management system which uses data from soil moisture probes, have been fixed in position under the centre pivot irrigators. “We’ve moved away from border dyke to pivot irrigation with the view that little and often is the best approach. Having the moisture sensors is another tool for our farmers to work with in order to apply the optimum moisture and no more when it is most needed.” Dairy Holdings Ltd’s breeding programme is in its sixth season now. A programme with LIC is focussing on the fertility of the bulls. LIC are supplying high-fertility and high breeding worth bulls. As a result of the combined initiatives the six-week incalf rate has increased from 67% to 75% over the past three seasons. “The six-week rate is very important to us because we don’t bring in any additional feed and also by having more cows incalf you need less replacements. We’ve been using our good reproduction rates to grow our herd numbers.” A very simple approach is taken to mating, which extends for 10 weeks with no intervention. All these measures are creating resilience within the clusters of Dairy Holding farms, located in Canterbury, Waitaki and Southland. “I believe we have positioned our farm management practices in a way that future-proofs the business. Our achievements to date have been impressive,” Blair says. Proudly supporting Dairy Holdings Ltd
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