60 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » John & Nicola Guy Pivot irrigation ups the ante for couple Kelly Deeks Jersey farmers John and Nicola Guy will be running a bigger business next season, with the addition of centre pivot irrigation to replace the relatively ineffective border dykes allowing for a further 50 cows to be run on the Waimate farm they have sharemilked on for more than 15 years. There is a busy winter ahead for the Guys and farm owner Doug McIntyre as they work to redevelop paddocks, lanes, and fences in order to con gure the layout of the farm for optimal utilisation of the new pivots. John has increased cow numbers from 760 to 810, predicting an increase in grass growth of 10% to 15% for the rst year with pivot irrigation, and up to 20% to 25% more growth in the coming years. “We are going to end up with a more effective area,” he says. “With the border dykes we only grew around 11 tons of dry matter per hectare, so the pivots will help us to increase that, without doing a ridiculous amount of regrassing.” On regrassing, the Guys will continue using the same varieties, but will see a quicker response from it as it will be irrigated as soon as it is planted. The regular and even application of water from the pivots will then bring even more increased growth. Growing their herd this season, John and Nicola held back on culling some cows that has had mastitis or a high cell count, but John is con dent they will still be able to produce like the rest of the herd. “I’m expecting great things!” With an average BW of about 230, John and Nicola’s herd is up in New Zealand’s top 2%. John says the biggest driver for increasing BW is mating the bottom 25% of the herd to a beef bull. “That’s the easiest way to get genetic gain,” he says. “We AI all of our young stock after picking the best bulls from LIC and CRV and using a mix of everything. That gets us more daughters, so we can select a few more of our lower breeding cows.” For the past two seasons, the herd has been wearing All ex Livestock Intelligence collars, a monitoring solution which monitors animal health including rumination and heat detection. John says the system has already proven its worth as it picks up health issues days before the showing of any visual signs, and its heat detection capabilities helped to increase the six week in calf rate from 69% before the collars were applied, to 77% this season. Proud to be associated with John & Nicola Guy David Marsh LIVESTOCK AGENT 027 492 0875 The Guys’ local vet, Ryan Luckman of the Veterinary Centre’s Waimate branch, has signi cant interest in and enthusiasm for All ex collars, so John chose this brand for the synergy it would bring to his operation. “I’m not that great with computers so with Ryan having the enthusiasm and knowledge he has of All ex collars, they are more of a bene t to me.” “We are going to end up with a more effective area. With the border dykes we only grew around 11 tons of dry matter per hectare, so the pivots will help us to increase that, without doing a ridiculous amount of regrassing.” Georgia and Ashley Guy are the centre of attention on the Waimate farm sharemilked by their parents, John and Nicola.
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