NZ Dairy Winter 2021

96 | nz dairy Stars line up for ‘magic’ dairy season Russell Fredric DAIRY PEOPLE » Chris & Donna Harvey I t’s not often most of the stars line up in agricul- ture, but Taranaki dairy farmer, Chris Harvey, is marking a “magic” dairy season. With the weather having been kind, the farm flush for feed and a favourable Fonterra payout, Chris is happy about how the season has rounded out. “We’ve had a pretty magic year for summer production especially. We couldn’t have asked for better climactic conditions for coastal Taranaki where we live and I think we were really lucky this season compared to other years,” Chris says. Milk through the vat for the season totalled 221,000kgMS compared to 200,000kgMS for the 2019 season. Chris and his wife Donna, who have five children aged nine to 28, have been equity partners and sharemilkers on Chris’ parents, Allan and Barbara Harvey’s farm near Opunake, but are currently working towards ownership of the farm. The 180 hectare farm peak milks 520 cows and has a contract milker. Allan and Barbara retired off the farm five years ago. It was originally bought by their parents as a smaller property in the 1930’s. The family also owns a 240 hectare, 580 cow farm which also has a contract milker. The home farm milks jersey cross cows and Chris is aiming for a J12/F4, three quarter jersey/ friesian herd in order to capitalise on higher milk fat payments. “Also we believe that if we breed a big enough jersey animal, it’s as big as as big as a lot of the smaller cross breed animals. A fully grown-out jersey is a reasonable size. I think they’re maybe a slightly more versatile cow with (potential) once-a- day options.” “We put a big effort into the rearing of our young stock.” Chris describes Donna as an excellent calf rearer; there is a strong focus on this aspect of the farm’s “We’ve had a pretty magic year for summer production especially. operation. “We do everything pretty much by the book with colostrum (regarding) looking after the calves.” One thing they do differently to some is saving colostrum 12 hours in advance to feed it the next day so the calf rearers can start at 5am. Chris and Donna are fans of Queen of Calves nutrition programme which the manufacturer says promotes early, rapid, lean growth during the first 12 weeks. The claims are supported by a BERL report which is based on a Massey University trial. The product provides the calves a lot of extra nutrition, Chris says. “We’ve gone from an ad-lib system to a once-a- day system at quite a young age and they’re getting a full value of nutrition in one feed and hopefully go for the meals and hay in the afternoon for the scratching factor of developing the rumen. “The aim is to have them at 100 kilos on the first of December and we’re averaging probably close to 120 kilos. We have really fantastic results with our young stock.” Chris is also positive about the level of the farm- gate payout level and believes Fonterra has done well overall, but has concerns about other areas of its management. “Fonterra’s management of the assets has been poor I believe and they need to perform better and it goes right through to the current capital restructur- ing, but I think there’s an attitude change within the top end of the management structure and the board.” Photo: Taranaki farmer Chris Harvey with his son’s ex-school calf. Chris gives wife Donna a helping glove with her bee hives. The Harvey boys playing in the river on the farm – a daily walk for the family during lockdown.