NZ Dairy Summer 2020

58 | nz dairy STOCKFOODS 0800 457 927 www.jswap.co.nz P: (07) 888 3556 M: 027 433 8808 E: kaiser@kaiserag.co.nz SILAGE: Loader Wagon • Bales EFFLUENT SPREADING: • Kaiser Q DOG Pump • Muck Spreader • GARANT Tankers with Booms PIPE JETTING • SUCTION UNITS ON FARM » Rex Butterworth Animal welfare above all else Natalia Rietveld A s the weather warms up in Matamata, and around the country, dairy farmer and local rural real estate agent Rex Butterworth knows his cows will be feeling the heat. It used to be that they’d become a little more sluggish and their food intake would decrease. As a result, production would take a hit. Now, they’re sitting pretty in the shade of their herd homes, a welcomed reprieve from the sum- mer’s intense rays. Rex says they installed two herd homes on the property nearly nine years ago and he wouldn’t want to farm without them ever again. The homes were installed purely for welfare reasons, they couldn’t have anticipated the flow-on effect. “We wanted to get them out of the heat in the summer and off the paddocks when it is too wet and give them shelter. We have heaps of trees on the farm which are good but there is no food under those trees and there is no direct access to water under those trees. By bringing them into the herd home they have shade, shelter, water and food. We can manage our pastures better, we can look after our cows properly.” In saying that, Rex never thought his cows were under any abnormal stress before installing the herd homes, they looked after them well with what they had available. He says it wasn’t until they could offer them something better that they realised how much they were affected by the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter. “We didn’t realise how little feed you use in • to page 59 Rex Butterworth can’t praise his herd homes enough – his cows are happier and milk production is up.