NZ Dairy Spring 2021

| 55 nz dairy Murray tells it straight DAIRY PEOPLE » Murray & Lynda Holdaway • Silage • Hay • Maize • Direct Drilling • Balage • General Cartage • Cultivation Proud to support Murray and Lynda Holdaway Specialising in livestock cartage & general freight transport in the lower North Island region 61 Short Road, Pahiatua, New Zealand, 4982 brandfmurdoch@xtra.co.nz PH. 06 376 7181 MOB. 0274 778036 For example, if it’s quite wet and it’s going to be raining we might take the cows off the paddock late in the afternoon and put them on the feed pad and give them their supplements on there, and the next morning we’ll feed out the next day’s supplements as well and leave them there until lunch time when we send them off to the paddock. That means there’s one less walking to and from the dairy. “It actually allows us to run a lower grass cover (average residual dry matter cover of 2000-2200) because we know we can use the pad, and get good utilisation of the supplement. It also means we can keep all our grass in a growth state because we have that feed pad to fall back on in wet times.” Most of the time the herd is split in two (three if they need to) based on Body Condition Scores (BCS). In-shed feeding for the future The in-shed feeding system for the rotary is an environmental response. “I’m pretty certain that in the not too distant future there is going to be additives we can put into feed to reduce methane gas emissions,” Murray said. “And, I think they will be such that they need to be put in on a daily basis and hence we will need the in-shed feeding.” He is very mindful about the environmental foot- print their farm is leaving, and a little prickly about the term “regenerative farming”. “I get a quite annoyed with some regenerative talk that assumes that soils in New Zealand have got no carbon in them. Because that’s not the case,” he said. “All dairy farms in New Zealand will have high carbon because cows only eat 85% of feed grown and the rest rots down into the soil. Regenerative agriculture is really appropriate in some of those overseas countries where they continually cultivate and grow crops.They will soil test and put nutrients on that the crop requires but all the while breaking down the organic matter and the structure of the soils. “Whereas our farming systems with grass- land farming, where cropping is minimal it’s just not an issue for us. We are looking after the soils just by doing the practices we’re doing every day.” Kiwis are already farming regeneratively In saying that, he does think New Zealand has gone too far into monoculture pastures. He is part of a Dairy NZ, MPI and Nestle-funded research project looking at Plantain in Rygrass mixes and its role in reducing Nitrogen leeching and Methane emissions. “I’m not sure if it’s been a deliberate decision or not but the progress New Zealand plant breeders have made in terms of our ryegrass yields have been quite spectacular. But they have come at the expense of everything else, like clover, for example. “I am not against having a varied sward and I’ve been involved in that project at all levels as well as using Plantain on our farm for 10-12 years. The information from the project so far shows there is no deterrent to the amount of feed that I can grow, or the milk that I can produce by including plantain in my pasture.” Murray doesn’t shy away from tackling the elephant in the room when it comes marrying a shortage of labour with capable solutions. “Dairy farming in spring time in New Zealand is extremely physically and mentally demanding. The second half of calving is when the fatigue sets in. You have to do so much every day. “One point that is often overlooked – especially with the shortage of people wanting to work on farms – is that theoretically you could say we will employ another labour unit for that period. But re- alistically all of the jobs on the farm are really quite skilled. You can’t just take someone off the street and let them lighten your workload.”He said the compromise was always the balance between hav- ing enough hands on deck of people who have the knowledge to pick up on animal health challenges during a cow’s highest transition risk-period of the year. He said, “The job of a manager becomes re- ally significant at that time of the year as well.” “I get a quite annoyed with some regenerative talk that assumes that soils in New Zealand have got no carbon in them. Because that’s not the case. All dairy farms in New Zealand will have high carbon because cows only eat 85% of feed grown and the rest rots down into the soil.” Demand for sexed semen surges in NZ LIC is preparing to inseminate around 200,000 cows with fresh sexed semen this Spring, up from 110,000 the previous year. T he number of New Zealand dairy cows mated to sexed semen is set to double this year as farmers look to capitalise on the technology which delivers a 90% chance of producing a female calf. LIC, the largest supplier of artificial breeding services in New Zealand, is preparing to inseminate around 200,000 cows with fresh sexed semen this Spring, up from 110,000 the previous year. Malcolm Ellis, LIC General Manager NZ Markets, says the increased demand is driven by a deeper understanding and realisation among farmers that if they aren’t going to be milking more cows in the future, they will need to be milking better cows. “Using sexed semen helps farmers accelerate the rate of genetic gain by effectively guaranteeing female offspring, their next generation of replacements, from their highest genetic merit cows.” Ellis says its pleasing to see farmers applying additional focus on the offspring of their superior cows and avoid retaining female replacements from the tail-end cows - a critical aspect of the herd improvement equation. “Farmers don’t need to leave the gender of their calves to chance. “By knowing sufficient replacements will be generated from their best cows, farmers are able to consider alternative beef AB options for their poorer performing animals, enabling them to significantly reduce the number of bobby calves leaving the farm.” Otorohanga farmer Marian Numan used sexed semen for the first time last season to help reduce the number of bobby calves their herd produced. “It was always disappointing to see some of our lovely crossbred bulls going on the bobby truck. Using sexed semen across our top-tier cows has allowed us to produce roughly 30 heifer calves that would have otherwise been bobbies. It’s a win-win - we can retain more of our good genetics with less waste overall.” LIC has been supplying sexed semen to farmers for over a decade, but interest in the product has grown significantly in the past two years. “With farmers proactively looking at ways to mitigate consumer, environmental and animal welfare concerns, sexed semen is a useful tool for them to have in their toolbox,” Ellis said. To meet the increasing demand, LIC has repurposed an area within their Hamilton headquarters to accommodate a new laboratory facility solely for the production of sexed semen. The state-of-the-art lab sits alongside LIC’s bull farm and semen processing lab and is the world’s biggest fresh sexed semen sorting facility. The lab will host Sexing Technologies, a US- based company who is contracted to sex-sort semen from LIC’s top dairy and beef artificial breeding bulls. “The lab is significantly larger than Sexing Technologies’ previous laboratory in New Zealand, which will ensure we are set up to accommodate the growing demand for fresh sexed semen from our farmer shareholders,” says Ellis. LIC is the only provider of fresh sexed semen in New Zealand, which delivers a noticeably better chance of getting a cow pregnant than the frozen alternative. Ellis says combining LIC’s long last liquid semen processing technology with Sexing Technologies’ expertise produces a sexed semen product with a near normal conception rate to that of conventional semen. “Getting cows in-calf is one of the most important parts of any dairy farmer’s seasonal focus, so it’s critical we deliver a sexed semen product that doesn’t notably compromise that goal.” Having Sexing Technologies onsite also means LIC’s fresh sexed semen is available to more farmers. “As we no longer need to transport semen offsite to be sex-sorted, we have significantly reduced the downtime between collection and the sorting process, enabling longer use in the field which ultimately gives more farmers the opportunity to tap into its value,” says Ellis. Sexing Technologies CEO, Juan Moreno, says the company is pleased to strengthen their decade-long relationship with LIC. “LIC is a much-respected world leader in pasture based dairy cattle genetics. We’re excited to continue to work closely with them to further empower New Zealand dairy farmers to improve the sustainability and profitability of their farming operations.” The new sexed semen lab is open in time for the peak Spring mating season which sees LIC artificial breeding technicians inseminate around 4.5 million cows between September to December. “Using sexed semen helps farmers accelerate the rate of genetic gain by effectively guaranteeing female offspring, their next generation of replacements, from their highest genetic merit cows.”