| 41 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Paul Franklin Each farm runs to the same farm management system making the conversations at monthly meetings when he sits down with the collective of farm managers a really productive space. Paul is able to concentrate on ensuring the resources are in place to support each farm to operate to its potential. This can mean considerable time tending to the growing of supplements. The business is also supported by long-term associations with support businesses, such as fertiliser providers and, in the case of the human resources, an immigration HR business that ensures workers from overseas are supported well. “It’s really at our scale the only way to operate.” And as for the weather-gods Paul says the farms have been enjoying a most unbelievable season with grass silage still being chopped in February. “Before Christmas we were looking incredibly dry and for the first time in five years I had to draw water from our dam as we were cut out of the river. This is our fourth wet season and the mild temperatures means crops just keep growing.” A bridge destroyed during Cyclone Gabrielle opened six months ago, however Paul says disappointingly, Council haven’t done anything to the river itself. “I have areas of land which flood quickly when levels get up.” These days very few bobby-calves are sent away to the works, instead a key income stream is in the rearing a beef. And when prices fetched for spring calves extends upward of $900 per animal, it’s a serious trading activity. Autumn calving of approximately 1,000 was about to get underway and while the day to day is a busy enough space, a large new composting barn will soon be the new addition to the business’s infrastructure. “I want to provide the best care for the stock, especially through calving, so this barn will mean our cows can calve down in a dry sheltered space. It will also be much better for the staff doing animal checks. We zero graze the cows before calving and they’re fully fed on the feed-pad so they’ve very well looked after.” While there have been some frustrations in the planning of the barn, with Council requiring a consultant to complete an environmental impact report, an unnecessary expense, Paul says, he knows the new barn once operational will bring lasting benefits to the farming operation. B.B.S., C.A. We’ll help you ONLYCLAAS FORGRASS
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