| 67 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Landseair Agriculture John and Dean Wilkes reach out. Simon and Natasha are now into their fth season 50/50 sharemilking. Emerging tech fertile ground for couple Kelly Deeks Taranaki share farmers Simon and Natasha Wilkes are proud to be contributing to a more sustainable and ef cient future for dairy farming as they uptake emerging technologies that help to reduce their farm’s impact on the environment. Simon and Natasha are now into their fth season 50/50 sharemilking on their family farm in Hawera, where they milk a fourth generation herd of 300 jersey cows. Every season, they aim to make their operation more ef cient than the last. “We’ve reduced mating from 13 weeks to nine, and reduced our calving spread by 33 days,” Simon says. “Our empty rate last year was 8%, and we put that down to using short gestation Angus semen on the bottom 25% of our herd, as well as our later calvers.” The Wilkes’ use sexed semen for the rst two weeks of mating on the top 25% of the herd which guarantees the majority of their heifer replacements at the start of calving. Sexed semen is a relatively new technology and the Wilkes’ are embracing it. They’re looking forward to seeing how technology progresses as their three-and-a-half-year-old twin boys, John and Dean grow up. As winners of the 2020 Taranaki Share Farmer of the Year competition, Simon and Natasha were invited to look around Dairy NZ HQ in Hamilton, where they got to see rst hand a lot of the research and trials underway. Natasha says it was really interesting seeing what is ahead in the area of methane research while visiting the Dairy NZ research farm. The Wilkes’ recent LIC herd test shows a herd average BW of 263/49 and PW 249/61, putting the herd in the top ve per cent in New Zealand for BW and PW. This top herd has been built by multiple generations making good mating and culling decisions. Natasha’s grandfather, who’s cows would have all been mated by the bull, was a member of the Taranaki Jersey Breeders Club, and her father, who had a passion for young stock and genetics, did a lot of work with embryo transfers from his top cows and had multiple bulls in the LIC Premier Sires team. “They set the foundation of the herd, and we’ve been very fortunate to have inherited these top genetics. It’s up to us to maintain them and keep them in the top percentage.” This season, Simon and Natasha are further improving their HR ef ciencies, with staf ng and staff retention a really hot topic throughout the industry and beyond. “We try to create a farm where our boys would want to work, and where we would want them to work,” Simon says. “This year we have a really good assistant manager who we found through the Dairy Industry awards. Without the networking of the awards, I think we would have struggled to nd someone. The dairy industry is about 4000 people short, so a lot of people are struggling.” The Wilkes’ are providing weekly breakfast meetings, dinner during calving, and a exible roster of ve days on, two days off. They and their staff are sharing their business and personal goals, getting everyone on the same page so they can all help each other to achieve and be their best. Proudly supporting Landseair Agriculture Ltd 06 278 5006 Dan 027 556 6811 Susan 027 479 5360 admin@danstractorrepairs.co.nz FairlaneVeterinary Services is an ambulatory veterinary practice specialising in equine and dairy cowhealth Proud to support Landseair Agriculture 027 976 1283 SouthTaranaki
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