| 3 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Aiden & Jody Wards Aidan Wards with children Melah and Beran (holding Gus). Organics a ‘personal health journey’ Ange Davidson It’s been a wet winter in Taranaki with an extra half of metre of rain falling in July and August compared to last year. Like many dairy farmers in the area, organic farmers Aiden and Jody Wards at Kaponga, inland Taranaki, are dealing with signi cant pasture damage from pugging, and delays to reseeding paddocks due to the water-logged paddocks. The couple recently hosted Dairy NZ’s Taranaki Organics Spring eld day, an event that attracted organic farmers from around the district plus consultants from Massey’s Veterinary Science School, Dairy NZ and numerous business reps. “It’s a great opportunity for organic farmers to get together and talk about problems you might be having with your cows and pastures. They get to have look around your place, enjoy a lunch together and learn something new,” says Aiden. “The biggest challenge for an organic farmer depends on where they’re at with their farm conversion so it’s great to tap into the knowledge around you and learn from each other’s experiences and industry knowledge.” At present, Aiden’s biggest challenge is winter mastitis. Having made the switch to organics seven years earlier, Aiden has tried many remedies to shift the mastitis, and the cows are regularly tested so Aiden knows exactly what he’s dealing with. Animal health issues are steadily improving and testament to this is an annual improvement of the herds AI submission rate which is now 91% in three weeks. It can be dif cult to buy good organic cows from other farmers, and Aiden is raising more cows and holding over more dry cows to provide more options for the farm. They have had a 77% six week in calf rate this year using AI for the rst four weeks of cycling, then bulls. Animal health starts from the soil up and Aiden believes that the key to farming organically is about preventing diseases before having to nd a cure. That comes down to good soils and Aiden has his soils and herbage regularly tested by IFert to grow quality grass. IFert will recommend a fertiliser plan using Bio-Gro approved products such as Phostak and guano and ef uent is applied over the whole farm. “We have to be really good grass farmers which can mean being more conservative with our stocking rate. We’re a bit more old-school in our approach and run 2.5 cows to the hectare and we Chartered Accountants who speak your language Proud to be working with Aiden and Jody Wards to help them understand their numbers and achieve their goals Phone 07 888-7089 20 Arawa Street, PO Box 192, Matamata | www.candygillespie.co.nz TALK TO THE EXPERTS FOR FARMING SUPPORT FARM SERVICES HOMEOPATHIC farmservices.nz info@farmservices.nz 07 858 4233 @HomeopathicFarmServices don’t send any of our stock away for grazing,” says Aiden. Aiden milks on 79 hectares of the 90-hectare farm with young stock on the remaining pasture. The milk goes to Fonterra’s Hamilton plant for organic milk powder and speciality products. Fonterra pay a premium price for organic milk solids and Aiden’s farm is averaging 74,000 milk solids a year. “You can’t grow as much grass organically as you would using urea, plus it’s harder to buy in supplement feed in times of drought or de cit,” he says. “The core reason to convert to organics was a personal health journey and we’ve experienced great improvements to our health by eating organically. We wanted to stop using harmful chemicals on our land and to improve our animal health naturally. We now produce a top-quality product because of these changes.” 06 278 4160 • 027 456 7875 141 Glover Road, Hawera
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