| 75 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Sherraine Holsteins Isaac Kelsen with Sherraine Solomon Evie - Supreme Holstein Canterbury Show 2022. Olivia, Jared, Tom and Isobel. Peter with Sherraine Solomon Lime. High fertility and production combined Russell Fredric Ohoka dairy farmer and breeder Peter Sherriff has been voted onto the board of directors of the Holstein Friesian Association NZ (HFNZ). A third generation Holstein Friesian dairy farmer, Peter runs his family’s 140ha effective farm, Sherraine Holsteins, with his wife Rhonda, their daughter Olivia and her husband Jared. “We all have input into what we decide to do, and the whole operation and breeding programme; it’s a combined effort,” Peter says. The farm split calves to qualify for Fonterra’s winter milk premium and supports in total about 300 cows and young stock. It is fully self-contained and grows 14ha of maize that is chopped and stored for use in the winter. Embryo transfers have been central to fast-tracking Sherraine Holstein’s genetics programme since the 1980’s. We breed capacious cows with North American genetics that produce a high volume of milk equating to more than 100% of their body weight in milk solids. “Our cows are averaging over 600 kilos of milk solids per cow per year.” Peter was appointed in June last year and is candid about some of his industry perspectives. He has been “very critical” of the New Zealand BW (breeding worth) system that operated in the past, he says. “The old BW system that was implemented by LIC penalised overseas genetics.” Now Dairy NZ run a new BW system independently and under the new system a number of overseas bulls now appear in the Dairy NZ RAS list. “Prior to Animal Evaluation facilitating the BW system, there’s never been an overseas bull that could make the list, let alone top it.” This anomaly led to Sherraine Holsteins being assessed as a high minus BW herd, despite a long track record of leading genetics and outstanding results at competition events. However, the restructuring of the BW system now enables Holstein Breeders to have more genetic input into New Zealand “which is a real positive for the industry going forward”, Peter says. Although there is a constant push to improve cow production and efficiency, this needs to be in balance with fertility, he says. The New Zealand industry as a whole has tried its best to produce highly fertile cows and this has necessitated cross-breeding or using lower milk volume bulls, he says. New Zealand has got one of the highest fertility rates in the world, but the cows are actually some of the lowest productive cows in the world. We’ve got to find a balance. “Our goal is to achieve high fertility and production combined; we have been doing a lot of work here on the farm to find out how we can improve fertility.” Peter exhorts farmers to have the levels of selenium and iodine checked in their cows. “We found a number of years ago that our iodine levels in our cows were extremely low and we’ve been doing a lot of work to increase this and we’ve found a dramatic increase in fertility.” “I do believe that iodine is a major contributor to fertility.” He has been surprised he has been unable to find any evidence or clinical studies within the industry on the relationship between iodine and low fertility, he says. Sherraine’s not-in-calf rate is currently around 12%. “Our goal is to achieve high fertility and production combined; we have been doing a lot of work here on the farm to find out how we can improve fertility.” 39 George Street, Timaru 7910 | PO Box 125, Timaru 7940 | Email: hcmail@hcpartners.co.nz Phone: 03 687 9222 | Website: www.hcpartners.co.nz Partners: Paul Wolffenbu�el | Craig Copland | Nick Krivan | Kalpesh Hari |Mark Evans Consultants: John Stark | Duncan Brand Are proud to provide accountancy, tax and business advice services for Sherraine Holsteins SHERRAINE H O L S T E I N S We at Sherraine are striving to breed the most productive cows Peter Sherriff 0272781295 sherraineholsteins@xtra.co.nz Sherraine Holsteins Canterbury’s Valtra Agent On site repairs & maintenance of all makes and models of tractors • G-Series 100-135 Horsepower • N-Series 135-201 Horsepower • T-Series 155-271 Horsepower • S-Series 290-405 Horsepower Sales: Simon Moir 027 431 3404 | simon@northerntractorservices.co.nz Service: Richard Bowler 027 478 7682 | Workshop: 03 313 2133 www.northerntractorservices.co.nz See Simon for Indent orders & demonstrations. Three fully equipped service utes for on site maintenance & repairs. Extremely competitive labour & mileage rates.
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