42 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Raetea Holsteins Improving herd quality and lifting production Calf Raetea Havenofear Like. Sue Russell Situated about 30 minutes south of Rotorua in the Waikite Valley lies Pat and Shelley Schnuriger’s Holstein stud, a breed the couple have nurtured through the import of genetics in order to improve the quality of the herd and to lift production. Semen is sourced from the USA and Canada, with a view to breeding an outstanding type and confirmation animal. This the couple have achieved for some years now, as they have presented their specially selected show calves, heifers and cows, around the show circuit, an activity both enjoy. When NZ Dairy spoke with Pat and Shelley in February they had just returned from the annual Te Puke show, having also attended NZ Dairy Event in Feilding, three weeks prior. “We’ve done extremely well. At NZ Dairy Event if was our best performance ever, with a calf who took out Champion Junior Holstein and Champion Junior Interbreed titles, while at Te Puke in the weekend it was a clean sweep across Senior, Intermediate and Junior Championships and Supreme Champion.” The only show left ahead was in Morrinsville and Pat said the intention was to take cows, along with a couple of yearlings and four calves. This event was scheduled for March 7 and Pat was looking forward to seeing if the fine standard achieved to dates at earlier shows would be replicated. “You know our quality of animals are just getting better and better. Breeding is like a gamble, you choose the best bull to put over the best cow but you just never know what the progeny will throw up. Pat and Shelley have been attending shows long enough to also understand there’s an element of pure luck on the day when the judge likes the quality of your animals. “For Dairy Event however, we had international judges and its always great to present your animals for assessment by them.” Life on the farm is ticking along well, with production very high. Favourable weather have allowed Pat to cut more silage; a bumper season. The prize herd stands at 100 and has been at this size for the past three years. Each year Pat says he sees small incremental improvements which, as a breeder, is what he’s looking for. “Our bottom cows now would have once been considered further up the chain in the herd.” Empty cows are milked through winter while the spring calvers are dried off by the end of May. Halter collars are up and running fully within the farm’s management system and Pat says he’s been ‘blown away’ with what the technology has enabled. “At my age it takes something pretty special to get me excited and I’m excited about Halter. Even this time of the year it’s saving 1 ½ hours a day not following cows to the shed or putting up fence reels.” Pat says when they were off farm in Feilding, the farm animals could easily be managed remotely. “It meant we could keep a good eye on them from a distance which was wonderful. The three big key benefits are flexibility, certainty and freedom.” Halter also ‘talks’ to the automatic drafting system on board during mating and Pat says it was introduced on the farm at the perfect time. The farm has an effective milking platform of 72ha and is not a large farm in terms of the standard in the area. Cow numbers per hectare track less than the average, given the quantity of milk each animal produces. Pat says his approach with the herd is to be giving each cow the attention it warrants. “We treat each cow individually and hope to achieve the best performance that cow is capable of.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=