46 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Clarence Stolte and Rene Ten Bolscher. / Chad Winke Lindy Andrews Farmers across the country are welcoming with open arms the National-led Government’s moves to repeal intensive winter grazing regulations. Among them are Wairarapa dairy farmers Clarence Stolte and Rene Ten Bolscher. Clarence, like many farmers, had difficulty coming to terms with the current legislation which imposes “blanket rules for everything.” “I struggle with that idea,” Clarence says. “But a case-by-case consenting process is also onerous.” The Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) was introduced to Parliament in May and was expected to be passed into law before Christmas. The low slope map will be removed and stock that are not intensively grazed will no longer need to be excluded from waterways. The waterway crossing rules will also be removed. However, the amendments will see intensively grazed stock - including dairy animals – still excluded from wide rivers and lakes. Farmers will also need to comply with regional plan stock exclusion and waterway crossing rules. Clarence says that New Zealand’s international reputation as a dairy producer is at stake. The industry more broadly will need to be “more self-governing” when the new regulations pass into law. “The image of our industry is incredibly important. I think we need to have clear messaging among ourselves as to what’s okay and what is not acceptable so that animal welfare is not compromised. “We all know that animal welfare has to be really, really good to achieve the level of performance we want from our animals. Cows need to be comfortable to efficiently convert the feed we give them into weight gain and production.” Rene is also wholeheartedly welcoming the changes. Welcoming the change Russell Fredric New contact for Chad “The current Government seems to be going the right way again for farmers.” He has also welcomed the July arrival of some “very cool” technology on the farm - new wearable technology. “It tells us everything from the cows’ rumination and eating times, to whether they are in heat or sick.” While admitting that he is not a “software guy” Rene is coming to grips with the digital future of farming: “It’s very much part of the job now.” Although it’s early days, the new wearables are delivering promising outcomes. “The biggest thing I’ve noticed in terms of efficiencies and improvement is around mating,” Rene says. “We don’t have to do check anything. When the cows come into the shed a signal goes to the computer and if a cow is on heat, it’s automatically drafted to the left.” Milking is now far more enjoyable “because you don’t have to jump up on bars all the time and checking tail paint or scratches.” The technology also means less training is required for staff, who often leave for new opportunities within a couple of years, taking the investment in training with them. “We are happy to prepare people for new opportunities,” he says. “But the technology is of huge benefit. We can spend more time on using and understanding the system better and using it more efficiently to get a higher return.” “Three live on the sharemilking farm and one on the home farm here. One of the team from the sharemilking farm comes here and fills in for our worker when he’s off.” “We did the six on, two off last season with the big sharemilking job and the home farm, and all the staff loved it. They were always fresh and happy – plenty of time off. We map the total amount of hours they work in a fortnight.” Chad and Jan recently leased a 15 hectare block for young stock, grass silage and growing maize on four hectares to support what is now a system five operation on the home farm. The farm is progressively being regrassed with Mohaka AR37, a fast-growing hybrid suited to two to four year pastures. “It grows a massive amount of good feed quality grass. Basically I’ve got a three year rotation. Where the summer crop paddocks were last year, that got drilled in Mohaka, now this is year two, there’s another subset of paddocks that get sown into turnip crop and then drilled in the Mohaka and so on.” “Any of those hybrid ryegrass paddocks, we’re getting 22 to 23 tonnes a hectare of grass growth a year on them from year one and year two. From year three it would peter out a little bit depending on how you look after it – keeping the weeds under wraps and not doing anything like messing it up in the winter time.” This grass production compares to other “average” pastures producing around 15 to 16 tonnes a hectare. “I use that following turnip summer crops to maximize the dry matter the farm can grow to get the milk from my cows.” ORDISH & STEVENS Proudly supporting Clarence Stolte and Rene Ten Bolscher Leanne Southey BBS, FCA Becks Scho�ield BBS, FCA Contact us for a no obligation chat about how we canhelp you today. www.sosa.co.nz E: ca@sosa.co.nz P: 06 3700811 Masterton 5810 110 Dixon Street We can assist you with all your accounting,tax and business needs Proud to support Clarence Stolte and Rene Ten Bolscher Clarence Stolte and Rene Ten Bolscher. Change has been a constant theme for Waikato dairy farmers Chad and Jan Winke during the past 18 months. The couple bought their first farm for the start of the 2023/24 season, a 50 hectare property that initially peak milked about 145 cows, alongside having a sharemilking business immediately across the road from the home farm which split calved and milked 750 cows that they had full ownership of. However, there have been changes to both businesses, resulting in the home farm at Walton now carrying 200 cows, while Chad and Jan have taken on a different sharemilking contract on 126 hectares. “I sold around 300 cows, kept the very top end of the autumn cows, 60 cows, and brought them over to the farm we own. Then the spring calving part of the original sharemilking herd moved two kilometres down the road to a new sharemilking job, milking about 350 cows.” It was not easy to have to sell the surplus cows which were older but perfectly good performers, or to find a buyer and to get an acceptable price as opposed to having to cull them, Chad says. However, the result is a high performing herd that produces 120% plus of their body weight in milk solids. Chad and Jan employ four staff working a six day on, two off roster which the staff love, with Chad moving between the farms as needed and describing himself as “more of a labour unit” than he used to be. Specialising in the supply of Maize Silage to the greater Waikato for over 15 years. Maize Silage available for the 2025 Harvest. 027 241 4148 office@kiwimaize.co.nz kiwimaize.co.nz K M IWITAHI ROWERS AIZE G
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