| 61 nzdairy ‘The whole package’ A radical life change Graham Wallace James Wallace is just beginning his ‘ third year 50:50 sharemilking on a 118ha farm at Ngatea owned by the Fox family. The business is run as Gayley Wood Farms Ltd, a joint venture between James and his parents Graham and Marian, with the herd prefix being ‘Gayleywood’. James runs a herd of 330 cows with Jerseys being the dominant breed. A breed James describes as ‘the whole package’ when bred and fed well. If you’ look after a Jersey they will look after you’ is what James says. There are also Holsteins and Ayrshires for interest and variety. The herd was put together from James’ parents cows from their previous 50:50 contract, added to James cows acquired while contract milking for Mark and Diane Townshend’s Crescent herd, and a few other purchases. The breeding policy is aimed at producing big capacious cows with well attached functional udders, that milk well. AB is done for 8-9weeks followed up with our homebred top quality bulls. These also run with the heifers first. “We look for bulls with proofs showing good rump width, a low pin setting, and decent chest width and good udder traits. Five years on, Matthew and Katherine Spartaro are pleased their sheep milking business, Innesbrooke Farm, is settling into a steady rhythm. The couple are running a venture milking 950 sheep on a 95 hectare Te Awamutu property owned by Katherine’s parents, Grant and Barbara Rushbrooke. Prior to making a radical life change and moving to the farm, Matthew and Katherine Spataro were Aussie city dwellers respectively working in project management and business marketing. Innesbrooke Farm supplies Spring Sheep which has been a crucial support partner. After an initial steep learning curve and a bedding down period, the farm is trending in the right direction, Matthew says. “We’ve actually grown in [sheep] numbers over the last couple of years so the flock size has gone up, our payout has in fact only gone up over the years, production’s going up; things have been good on that side.” Last season’s production of 340 litres/58kilograms of milk solids per ewe, which compares to 250 litres per ewe in the first season, was a record. “Our profit per hectare is good, it has gone up over the years, but we’ve changed the model. We have also approximately 150 cows on the farm and we don’t milk them. I buy then as empty dairy cows and I get them in calf, before selling them as autumn calvers. “They help with the system of controlling grass but also they’re like another revenue stream for us. Both with the cows and the sheep on the farm, it’s a good ecosystem.” Managing animal health is especially vital with sheep because they are “a bit more fickle” than cows and can get ill or die quickly, but because of the experience and knowledge base built during the past five years, vet visits are much less frequent. Lambing is a very busy time. DAIRY PEOPLE » James Wallace - Ngatea / Innesbrooke Farm These traits we feel give us the type of cow we are looking for.” A trait recently added is Polled, which is a longterm project, but already a lot of R1 heifers are polled. No specific AB company is used but as James says ‘no matter which catalogue we are looking at we are picking the same sort of bulls’. There is a feeling that the Jersey breed in NZ is trending to narrow rumps and high pins, and in pursuit of BW, the size of Jerseys is biased towards small cows. James says that most folks seem to prefer a bigger cow and the ’BW small’ has potentially over the years led farmers to move to crossbred, as has farmers being mislead that crossbred is best. “We feel when calves hit the ground it is important to give them top notch management and feeding to maximise growth. This starts with colostrum feeding and the use of Nutrinza Mighty Max calf grower which has been used for a few years. This is fed for the first 12 weeks before moving onto another meal”. An additional product used when saved milk is used up or need stretching out, is’ Blossom’ milk powder from Nutrinza. This mixes well and gives good growth. Certainly, these Nutrinza products are giving us value in our heifer growth. “We feel when calves hit the ground it is important to give them top notch management and feeding to maximise growth. This starts with colostrum feeding and the use of Nutrinza Mighty Max calf grower which has been used for a few years. This is fed for the first 12 weeks before moving onto another meal.” The farm employs three full-time staff and an additional 2.5 to three full-timers to cope with the 2000 lambs being born in the space of a month, and while sheep milking is not more difficult or complex than a bovine operation, it can be more labour intensive. The sheep are milked through a 30 a-side parlour with automatic cup removers, milk meters and inshed feed, installed in an existing shed ready for the start of the first season in 2020. The milk metering is an important tool, along with other factors such as udder scoring, for helping decide which ewes need to be replaced each season. “We pick the top half and these get mated with a Zealandia ram which is our milking breed and the bottom half gets mated with a Suffolk or something like that with a black face. We’ve been doing that for a couple of years now. “In the last couple of years we’ve seen a big jump in production because we’ve focused on that genetic gain.” Another key change has been employing the third staff member instead of relief milkers which has helped with continuity and simplified rosters, while hiring a manager this year is a gamechanger for Matthew personally. “I’ve got a young family, I’ve taken a step back, trying to work on the business a bit more and my days are spend doing things for the farm instead of chasing sheep and my manager’s doing the rest.” Russell Fredric 5055 State Highway 2, RD1, Ngatea 3597 Call 027 278 7421 - and we’ll get right on it. • Grass Stacks • Maize Harvesting • Baled Silage & Hay, Round & Square • Spraying • Ground Cultivation • Maize Planting • Under Sowing • Fert / Lime Spreading • Surface Drain Spinning • Track & Trailer - Cartage of Metal, Lime, Fertiliser, Stock, Silage, Hay & Maize TRACTI CO G Only the best equipment & always excellent workmanship Nutrinza has a range of blended ingredients, feed additives andminerals available tomeet the speci c nutritional needs of your herd. Contact Nutrinza today to place your order. 0508 768 723 | www.nutrinza.com Maximise your herd’s production PROUDLY SUPPORTING INNESBROOKE FARM
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