| 13 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Carse-O-Fern Holsteins Annie and a group of five other young Kiwis traveled to Belgium to compete against 26 other countries via the Holstein Breeders Association. Doug’s farm is 56ha of rolling land with 140 cows, milking twice a day; last season the herd producing 68,000 kilograms of milk solids. The soil is fairly free-draining and stock can easily be rotated to avoid certain paddocks in times of heavy rainfall. Water is sourced from a bore and 2-3 ha of maize is grown on-farm each year and about another 70-tonne is brought in. “I cut grass silage bales when I have the surplus feed in the late spring and we buy in about about 65 bales of hay for the winter-early spring and 100 square silage bales, but that gets split between the home farm where our cows are and - if our heifers are short – we send some bales down to them.” In August last year, Annie and a group of five other young Kiwis traveled to Belgium to compete against 26 other countries via the Holstein Breeders Association at the European Young Breeders school. That experience allowed her to meet a lot of farmers and other young breeders based in Europe and Annie has recently returned from a five week trip with her partner Eoin, making their way through England and Ireland where Annie worked on show strings and visited farms along the way. “It was a great experience. They had had so much rain that they were a month behind getting crops in the ground. They are far too wet to have cows outside all the time. Having them inside is also very labour intensive, but it’s the only way they can do it there.” People who have helped Annie on her farming journey over the years include Roly and Briar Rogers, who gave Annie her first farm job where she worked for three years; she then worked for Dan and Michelle Brice; she’s also enjoyed and appreciated support of Warren and Michelle Ferguson and Wendy and David Harker. Annie aims to be 50-50 share milking by age 30 and loves farming for the variety of problem solving skills it requires. With this latest accolade under her belt, her future is looking bright in 2024 and beyond. TRACTOR PARTS DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR HIGH QUALITY NEW AND USED PARTS FOR MOST TRACTOR MAKES & MODELS Delivered to your farm within 2-3 days NEW TRACTOR PARTS ENGINE PARTS TRACTOR DISMANTLING All The Common Brands & Complete Engines www.agspares.co.nz Fertilisers • Organics Soil Testing & Fertiliser Recommendations Lime • CalciMag • CalciCrop 0800 40 10 40 | www.rorisons.co.nz Proudly supporting Carse-O-Fern Holsteins helping you grow
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