| 59 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Justin Pigou Three farms that operate in synergy Herd shelter exterior. Justin Pigou is Landcorp (PAMU) Business Manager at its Waitepeka Complex, south Otago. The complex is made up of three farms that operate in synergy with each other, enabling them to act as a self-sufficient operation. Waitepeka farm acts as a support block for the two other dairy units, rearing replacement heifer calfs to weaning, dairy beef stock to weaning and growing silage and kale. Dunns Dairy has 700 cows over 268 ha effective while Landsdown carries 680 cows on 262ha effective. Justin joined PAMU in 2016 and says he enjoys his role as Business Manager, rubbing shoulders with the two dairy farm managers while he also manages Waitepeka farm. All three are within close proximity to each other and while staff are employed to work on one farm, there’s a sense that the team extends to everyone involved on the three farms. It’s been a bumper year for Waitepeka complex particularly Landsdown Dairy with recognition this year by industry peers at the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards for measurable and noteable improvements on the dairy unit. Managing Landsdown is Matt Hamilton who has been at Landsdown 13 years. While Justin says he was mainly responsible for putting together the information to go into the entry in the competition it was a real team effort. “We had a lot of information at Head Office about what we have achieved over the property in terms of environmental benefits, efficiencies and production, so it was relatively easy to get the entry in.” Landsdown picked up four awards: Bayleys People in Primary Sector Award Dairy NZ’s Sustainability and Stewardship Award Hill Laboratories AgriScience Award and Norwood Farm Efficiency Award Asked to provide detail on each of the awards Justin says the People in Primary Sector award related to Landsdown’s focus on Health & Safety. “Matt is particularly good at this aspect of farm management, keeping very good records. Afterall, the focus is to have everyone home safe and sound at the end of each day.” The Dairy NZ’s Sustainability and Stewardship Award gave a nod to the fencing and shelter belt work that began many years ago with the previous Business Manager’s vision for the farm. Sue Russell “We worked with DOC having set aside wetland areas to rehabilitate. Landsdown is one of the picture farms. In PAMU we have a dedicated Environmental Team and people really committed to the environment. It’s about our size and scale as a collective of farms across the country.” 170 of the 680 cows are wintered in a compost barn with the aim to have all cows in barns over the next few years.All the cows on Landsdown are housed in barns through winter. Barning the cows inside provides a far more efficient use of feed and, Justin says, it provides the opportunity to put condition on the cows meaning the milking season can be extended and the cows are in top condition when calving. The Hill Laboratories AgriScience award recognised the improvements made through the use of Omni Eye technology on the exit race which cleverly discerns subtle changes in cow locomotion condition before staff would necessarily see it. “This helps tremendously with detecting lameness. We can pick out cows 2 or 3 days earlier and have them treated with less invasive treatments.” Justin points out that every lame cow costs on average $500/cow with treatments, vet costs and loss of milk. “If you have 20% of a 500 cow herd impacted you are looking at a considerable cost. After mastistis lameness is the most costly condition on dairy farms.” Pushing cows too hard on race-ways is often where the problem starts. When a cow is pushed too hard it raises its head while walking which is an unnatural stance and it can mean they inadvertently step on to stones. At Landsdown, farm gates open automatically and the cows are used to assembling at milking time and taking their time to get to the shed. Finally the Norwood Farm Efficiency award was in part recognition of Landsdown’s machinery operation and how well equipment is looked after. “We have an app we use on farm that monitors machinery fuel consumption. Our machines are not allowed to fall into disrepair.” Justin says that given the very positive result at this year’s competition, the intention is to enter the whole complex into the awards again. “We’re really looking forward to that opportunity because our complex receives so much support from head office and the back-up our own team there provides. It will be great to see how we go.” Compost barn aerial shot.
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