NZ Dairy Winter 2021

| 69 nz dairy Only A2 Ayrshire herd in NZ • from page 68 “There are about three of four of us all battling for top production and all about a kilogram within each other,” says Pauline. Supplying Synlait, Chris and Pauline had the honour of having the first A2 herd in the country, which remains New Zealand’s only A2 Ayrshire herd. “Being A2, the downside of the Ayrshire breed for us is that we have had limited genetics that we can use,” explains Pauline. “To supply A2 milk you can only have the A2:A2 gene. All cows have to be DNA tested and from that we selected our A2:A2 cows and sold everything else off, and we only use A2:A2 bulls, using AI from Semayr, the Ayrshire Association’s breeding company.” Testament to the quality of the Friesian herd, both LIC and CRV have contracted cows from the Prattley’s herd from which to breed bulls from. “We have three bulls up in LIC at the moment for progeny testing, and one with CRV. Both LIC and CRV have contracted quite a few of our cows this year for more breeding.” Chris and Pauline are focused on protecting the environment and nearby Lake Ellesmere. “Part of the farm is drained to Lake Ellesmere,” says Pauline. “The drains are open and we have been busy doing riparian planting around them. What ever we do on farm is always looked at closely to ensure the environment is protected.” DAIRY PEOPLE » Stewart Riley ‘The Ayrshire is a great perfomer’ Sue Russell G olden Bay dairy farmers Stewart and Marice Riley have had a long connection with the Ayrshire breed. The couple bought their mainly pedigree herd from Stewarts father, Ivan Riley. Today they milk 435 pedigree Ayrshires. “We have had other breeds, but I’ve found the Ayrshire is a great performer. They are quiet, have great conformation and take care of themselves well,” Stewart explains. Stewart was involved with Ayrshire NZ for 18 years; his way of giving back to the breed. They farm the 200ha farm with son, Ashley and his wife Kayla and their three children, Laken, Hudson and Amara. Their 200ha, 150ha effective farm, near Colling- wood, can get wet, at any time of the year with parts of the farm prone to flooding. When flooding is likely, warnings come from Council who monitor the Aorere River which flows next to the farm at one end. The farm is split into three terraces, a 110 ha river flat and two others with Pakihi soil under- foot. Traditionally there’s been a strong regime of fertilising several times a year to mitigate the heavy rainfall. Fertilising this season has been an application of Amino36 in August followed by three applications of a spring mix (N30,p9,K18,S9) at 150kg/ha. Then finally two application of Ureammok (N30, K9, S4) at 100kg/ha during summer/autumn. One Pakihi terrace had capital dressing of Super- phosphate at 250kg/ha this season while the other Pakihi terrace had capital dressing of 15% Potash Super at 300 kg/ha. Lime went on the Pakihi soil at 1t/ha and a small block on the river flats at 3t/ha. When NZ Dairy spoke with Stewart a large efflu- ent upgrade project was getting underway. “We’re doing this to keep ahead of the standards. Our current system has had its day. Our options are limited given council don’t want ponds in the ground, so we’re assessing where the best place is to have above ground tanks placed.” Milk is produced through a 40-aside herringbone shed with automatic cup removers and while the shed itself is beginning to show its age the plant itself is in good order and performs well. Calving is due to get underway from August 5th and is generally all over mid-October. They usually milk until 31st may when Fonterra stops collecting milk in the district. Last season the farm produced 170,900kgs, however, this season will be back from that by 6% or 7%, due to the extremely wet October and November. “We plant about 15ha of chicory each season, the cows are break fed on the chicory each afternoon before milking. The cows really like it and produce well off it. Those paddocks are then put back in permanent pasture in the autumn. Ducks can cause damage to the crop when present in large numbers.” The 200ha effective run-off is located 30km away from the dairy farm. The runoff boarders the Whanganui inlet and backs onto the Kahurangi Na- tional park therefore it naturally has a lot of native bush, wetlands, mudflats and a pine plantation. The runoff is managed by Justin McCleely. The runoff is used for heifer calves, yearling heif- ers, dairy beef, and dairy bulls. “We rear around 220 to 240 calves a year which about 130 are heifer replacements. Some of which are Ashley and Kayla’s that they sell as in-calf heif- ers. The remaining are steered calves and bulls. The steers are grown out to prime, averaging 270kgs and the bulls are used on the heifers as yearlings and then on the dairy platform after AI. The steers are straight Ayrshire, Hereford Cross or Angus Cross breeds. After the first winter they are run on the hills and rougher country,” says Stewart. All calves go to the runoff at weaning. Heifers will remain at the runoff until just before they are due to calve. Two hundred cows are also trucked to the runoff for winter where they are grazed on rape. The run off produces supplement hay and bailage for both the runoff and the dairy platform. “We are self-sufficient for all our grazing; supple- ment needs and service bulls.” The herd feeding on silage at Stewart and Marice Riley’s Golden Bay farm. In-calf heifers (bottom) grazing at the run-off. We specialise in farm management services incl. baling, hay, straw, silage & cartage, all cultivation work, harvesting crops and much more! 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