NZ Dairy Summer 2020

| 41 nz dairy Your Baleage Specialist NM & TW Roy Contracting Ltd Nathan: 027 224 3801 or 03 415 9556 Tony: 027 441 6830 or 03 415 9291 • For all your Round Bale requirements • Full cultivation services now available. For Further Enquiries Contact: Proud to support Creekside Pastures New & used ATVs & Motorcycles Genuine Parts & Accessories We service all makes & models Ph: 03 418 4672 or 027 228 7957 12a Elizabeth St Balclutha Email: powerzonesuzuki@xtra.co.nz www.powerzonesuzuki.co.nz Proud to be associated with Creekside Pastures Proud to be a supplier to Creekside Pastures Secure a deal with Proudly Supporting Creekside Pastures Peter O’Neill M. 0274 347 352 Livestock Representative ON FARM » Creekside Pastures “We had to start improving the herd because our figures were staying the same and we were going nowhere.” M ilk production is on the rise for Creekside Pastures, owned by the Stirling family in Clydevale, South Otago and Chris Stirling says DNA profiling their herd could have a lot to do with it. Chris says they began DNA profiling the herd through LIC about five years ago. “It’s taken a while for that to come through but I think that potentially has a lot to do with the results we are seeing now.” In terms of milk production, last year was the best season the farm had seen Chris explains, “the cows really pumped the milk out in February and March and we ended up 20,000kg/MS better off.” This season, if they maintain momentum, they’ll do better again, already up 8% on last year’s production. As well as an increase in production the herd’s Breeding Worth (BW) has nearly doubled in five years and their Production Worth (PW) has doubled in five years. Chris says DNA profiling resulted in some tough calls in the early years, judging purely from PW they sold off the bottom 10% of their cows or killed them depending on the market. “We got rid of a lot of good cows that had done well, say, for the current season but over four-five seasons it was variable, so we had to just grin and bear it and sell off some of the bad data. You have to start somewhere so you’re left with some pretty good cows by the end of it… hopefully,” he laughs. They continue to sell off 8-10% of their lowest PW cows every year. With five full time staff members, four on the dairy farms and one on the runoff block, Creekside Pastures has two milking platforms, totalling 380ha milking 800 cows. “To start with we just had the one shed with a heap of cows going through it, we were trying to build another dairy shed and we were still in the process of converting so had laneways to do, troughs to set up – we did it all ourselves, the fences, everything.” As well as trying to milk 640 cows at the time Chris says they needed to start to improve their herd after being so caught up in everything else. “We had to start improving the herd because our figures were staying the same and we were going nowhere. There was no gain to what we were do- ing. By DNA profiling everything we were getting the calves that we were supposed to be getting rather than guessing.” They breed replacements from the top 60% of their herd and the bottom 40% are crossed with Hereford for their beef herd which are housed on Creekside Pature’s 400ha support block. In total Chris says they run 100 R1 beef, 150 R2 beef, 150 R1 dairy heifers and 180 R2 replace- ments as well as 250 Wiltshire ewes which make the most of some of the steeper country. On the dairy platform, cows are milked three times in two days, from January which Chris believes aides in production as well. “We switch to 3-2 milkings before things turn to custard so to speak. The years that we haven’t DNA profiling shows positive results Natalia Rietveld switched to 3-2 and have milked twice a day through to March we have produced less milk.” He says there is a lull for about a week in milk produc- tion but then they settle into the routine and they’ve seen good gain in other areas such as condition, and calving success. Creekside Pastures is very much a family busi- ness, Chris’s parents, Gary and Allison, are very hands on and everyone has their jobs that they do. Sarah, Chris’s wife, works on the farm during the spring otherwise she’s busy at home with their chil- dren Alice, 6, and Hazel who is nearly 2. Alice loves helping out on the farm and would give up school to spend a day in the yard. “She’s my right-hand girl,” Chris says. Usually tied up with projects or developments on the farm, Chris says they’re enjoying a year of “normality” where they can purely focus on growing feed and milking cows without something else on the go. The past five years of DNA profiling is finally paying dividends and Chris says it’ll be interesting to see where they are at in the next five years. “We are going quite well at the moment but I don’t want to speak too soon!” PHOTOS: Young Alice Stirling is a great help to dad Chris Stirling on the farm; Starting them young – Sarah Stirling in the calf shed with daughter Hazel; Cultivation work underway (below).