40 | nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Chris and Pauline Prattley World Ayrshire conference first for couple Richard Loader The opportunity to network with likeminded Ayrshire lovers is high on the agenda for Canterbury dairy farmers Chris and Pauline Prattley who are preparing to attend the 2024 World Ayrshire Federation Conference. The event, which is held every four years in a different part of the world, will run during the month of July in the United Kingdom. “This is the first time that Chris and I have attended,” says Pauline. “There are about ninety people attending from all over the world, of which about six will be from New Zealand. Networking with all the Ayrshire breeders will enable us to learn about what genetics they are using and also about their farming businesses. We will visit herds all over England, Scotland & Ireland, sightseeing along the way, and of course Scotland is the home of the breed.” As well as attending an auction of high quality Ayrshire embryos, the conference attendees will visit the Great Yorkshire show, renowned as an iconic four-day event and one of the biggest agricultural events in the English calendar. “We think the agricultural shows in New Zealand are getting big, but this is massive. The other thing that we will do is reconnect with people who have worked for us through the RENZ (Rural Exchange New Zealand) programme.” The Prattley’s 196-hectare effective farm is nestled on the Canterbury Plains in Killinchy and is home to 750 cows including 200 Pedigree Ayrshires. The balance are Friesian and Friesian Jersey cross. A 54-hectare run off is used for yearlings and up to two year olds about to calve, while a 24-hectare run-off used for replacement heifers. Sharemilker Gordon Lu with Chris and Pauline Prattley. 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 is that there are limited genetics available to us,” explains Pauline. “To supply A2 milk you can only have the A2:A2 gene. All cows had to be DNA tested and from that we selected our A2:A2 herd, selling everything else off. We only use A2:A2 bulls, using AI from Semayr, the Ayrshire Association’s breeding company. “Semayr are importing genetics from Scandinavia at the moment and that will give us a better outcross from some of the New Zealand genetics. Semen can be imported from England, but their fat test is a lot lower than what we are wanting. Attending the conference will help understand what they are breeding for. We don’t want to use overseas semen that won’t give us the profitability we need in New Zealand.” Motivated by security of grazing, two 250-cow herd homes, were completed in time for winter of 2022, with the balance of cows grazed on kale at the Prattley’s run-off that year. “We had been grazing cows off-farm and with regulations that were due to come on it was getting more difficult to winter graze on kale in the wet weather. Another herd home completed in 2023 winters 130 cows plus 200 yearlings. The yearlings had been out in the mud, and yet we had to get them up to puberty and cycling, ready for October mating. This season we have had our best in-calf rate.” Through the Allflex collar system, Chris and Pauline could see the cows were under heat stress during the summer months and in 2023 added shade cloth to the herd homes. “The cows come off the paddocks into the herd homes around 11.30am during the summer. We have found their temperature stays right down, and the cows just love going in there.” Effluent from bunkers underneath the herd homes is spread on the runoffs and farmland across the road to reduce solid fertiliser. “We had been grazing cows off-farm and with regulations that were due to come on it was getting more difficult to winter graze on kale in the wet weather.” FERTILISER SPREADING | FARM MAPPING GPS TRACKING | VARIABLE RATE SPREADING LIVESTOCK CARTAGE | DAILY FREIGHT CONCRETE SUPPLIES | GRAIN CARTAGE SHINGLE SUPPLIES | FERTILISER SUPPLIES Leeston: 03 3248 070 | Dunsandel: 03 3254 039 reception@ellesmere.co.nz
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=