NZ Dairy Spring 2021

| 87 nz dairy for Kiwi farmers tilisers, and you have the horticulture and viticulture sectors putting on a lot of fungicides. The humic acid in humates is probably the best stimulator of fungal activity in the world.” Steve explains that by adding humates to the fertiliser the amount of nitrogen applied can be reduce because humates hold the nitrogen in the soil, leaving it more plant available. Ultimately nitrogen leaching is significantly reduced. Other benefits include increased water holding capacity, improved nutrient uptake, and improved soil structure. “The key thing is the stimulation of the microbial activity in the soil, and without that your soil is dead. A lot of people are now applying humates as a stand alone soil conditioner to kick along the biology. “If you can get your microbial activity working you get your nutrient cycling working better and you get your fungi mining minerals from the earth, improving the nutrient uptake in your plants. With the humic and fulvic acids working, it is holding onto the nutrient in the soil longer so the plants are more readily able to take it up.” Steve says humates are powerful pre-biotics that stimulate the existing intestinal flora in the animal. “We have a developed a product called Stock Humate, which has been very successful in helping with calf rearing. “By adding it to the feed it helps to stabilise the intestinal flora and improve nutritional uptake in the animals. It has also been shown to help reduce somatic cell count in dairy cows.” Southern Humates’ Malcolm Sinclair at the mine. Tests found that the humates had high levels of humic and fulvic acid and that it was rich in carbon — all good inputs for soils and animal health. The Waitaki district’s milking machine pros Kelly Deeks • to page 88 New effluent pumping solution. DAIRY SERVICES » Southern Humates / Ahoy Engineering Proud to be associated with Southern Humates Suppliers of - WPP Bags - Hessian and Jute Bags - Onion Bags - Bulk Bags - Baler Twine - Netwrap - Silage Film - Woolpacks - Paper Sacks - Flexible Films “Ongoing research & development results in superior products & performance advantages including; more yield, faster milking, no slip and no teat end damage.” O amaru’s Ahoy Engineering is the milking machine specialist in the Waitaki district, providing sound and honest advice as well as milking machine testing, drafting repairs, mainte- nance and general engineering. Owner/operator Callum Hoy has spent the past 20 years in the trade engineering industry. He started out in viticulture, building processing equipment at a range of New Zealand wineries be- fore his experience took him to the UK and France to do the same. Returning to Invercargill, he joined Nind Electri- cal’s newly established Nind Dairy Services, helping to build up the new firm’s core services in all aspects of engineering in the dairy industry. He gained 12 years of dairy engineering experience during his time with Nind, then started looking for an opportunity of his own. Well-known in Southland, Callum was invited to work for Donald Engineering at Edendale, install- ing the range of Read Industrial Milking Systems. Through this association he picked up the Read dealership for the Waitaki district, and set up in Oamaru in 2017. Callum says the New Zealand designed and manufactured Read milking systems are known to be simple, efficient, and low maintenance. Manufactured in Rangiora, Read milking systems are backed by 100 years of specialisation in dairy milking technology.