| 95 nzdairy Dairy cows have been generations in the making Will and Louise Bailey with Stella and Blake. Karen Phelps On a family-owned farm north of Christchurch, Will and Louise Bailey are working with dairy cows generations in the making, yet they’re still managing to leave their mark on them too. The husband-and-wife team milk 640 pedigree Holstein-Friesian cows on 225 hectares at Swannanoa. It is a true family affair. Will and Lousie purchased the property seven years ago together with Will’s grandparents and Louise’s parents, crop farmers in Clarkville. Will’s grandparents are no strangers to farming either, and their dairy legacy continues on the farm today. “The cows originate from my grandad’s herd,” Will says. “It’s 60 years of breeding as he registered his first pedigree Holstein cow in 1965.” But nothing stands still, and Will and Louise are constantly working to improve genetics, using innovative tech not available to previous generations of farmers. Four years ago, they started genomic testing all their young stock. “Genomic testing analyses a cow’s DNA to predict it future performance,” Louise explains. A small tissue sample is taken from the cow’s ear and sent away for testing. “It helps us to identify cows with the best genetic potential and improve the accuracy of our breeding decisions. “We can use the data to breed animals for more desirable traits such as milk production, increasing productivity and profitability, as well as type traits, so we get a more balanced and overall correct cow.” Will says the improvement to their herd as a result is obvious. “The genetic gain is getting better and better every year at a much faster rate.” Growing cows at Swannanoa is balanced with growing a family – Will and Lousie are parents to five-year-old Stella, and 21-month-old Blake. “They are a big part of our day to day on the farm,” Will says. “They love being out on the farm, doing what we’re doing.” While Will is more hands-on around the property, Louise takes care of all the office work, and rearing the calves when needed to fill the gap. PEDIGREE HOLSTEINS » Will and Louise Bailey “We don’t see it as a job. It’s more of a lifestyle,” Will says. “I was brought up on a dairy farm, so cows were in the blood. I was always going to be a dairy farmer.” Despite growing up on the cropping farm – which her older brothers now work – Louise says she “always had a thing for black and white cows”, since way back as a youngster. “I’d go to my cousins on the weekend and they taught me to milk cows. I had a year at uni and then after that I managed to get a full-time job on a dairy farm.” Which dairy farm? Well, the very one that Will and Louise now own. After seven seasons of hard slog, they reckon the farm is getting closer to where they want it. They’ve been re-grassing, as well as growing a bit of kale and maize on the dairy platform. But last autumn, they decided to invest more into the farm to utilise silage better. “We started building a feed pad,” Will says. “That was a big thing for us, and obviously a big cost – but it’s also obviously a big silage saver as there is a lot less wastage. With winter as well we feed a lot of supplements out.” Nigel Hodges 0274 270 557 It also means “less pugging out in the paddock,” he says. In addition to the farm at Swannanoa, Will and Louise own a 24-hectare run off block in Clarkville, which they bought more than a decade ago. “The young stock go down there and we just grow grass and maize silage for the dairy farm,” Will says.
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