Lincoln University Dairy Farm Farm Walk notes

Transcription

1 Lincoln University Dairy Farm Farm Walk notes Tuesday 23rd September 2014 LUDF focus for 2014/15 Season: Nil Infrastructure, low input, low N loss, high profit. Farm system comprises 3.5 cows/ha, 150kgN/ha, 300kgDM/cow imported supplement, plus winter most cows off farm. FWE of less than $1.12million and Target production of 500kgMS/cow. Critical issues for the short term 1. Monitor and identify calving cows, tag and collect calves promptly. 2. Check all cow mobs for springers, closely observe cows for any signs of mastitis and metabolic conditions. 3. Achieve target grazing residuals and cow intakes while managing average pasture cover, shape of the wedge and maintaining pasture quality (especially in paddocks at the top of the wedge). 4. Use back fences on all herds whenever paddock grazing takes more than 36 hours. 5. Manage ground conditions to minimise damage to soil and pastures. 6. Ensure magnesium supplementation occurring 7. Proactively monitoring cycling cows ahead of mating Key Numbers Ave Past Cover 2419kgDM/ha Past Growth Rate 47 kgdm/ha/day Ave Milk Production 2.26 kgms/cow* No Cows Calved 527 * Based on cows milked in last 7 days Herd Management 8. Late calvers and springers: There are all still at the East Block (33 cows total). 9. We continue managing three milking herds, a. the colostrums + lame herd (9 colostrum cows + 6 lame cows, all on OAD) b. the small milking herd with all the heifers + cows below 4.5 BCS (138 animals) c. the main herd with mixed aged cows (380 animals). 10. BCS was done last Wednesday, 82 cows (15%) were below 4.5 CS. The herd average is 4.6. Further results are below. 11. SCC is at 157,000. No new cows diagnosed with mastitis this week 12. Eligible cows have been metrichecked on Thursday 3rd september and 27 were identified as having metritis and have been treated accordingly (6% of presented animals). They ll be re checked tomorrow. Second round of Metricheck will be done in about 10 more days. 13. Looking towards mating, the whole herd has been tail painted orange and will be checked for signs of heat on a weekly basis. Those cows that have cycled will be re painted blue and recorded. 14. This Thursday, the R2 heifers will be drenched, BVD vaccinated, weighed, copper bulleted and given a B12 plus selenium shot as part of their pre mating set up. 15. Calving rate is holding similar to the proportional change in stocking rate. See the graph below: Page 1 of 7

2 Figure 1: calving spread at LUDF comparing last season s, expected 2014 and actual calvings Cumulative No Cows Calved historical, predicted, actual Average Predicted Jul 29 Jul 5 Aug 12 Aug 19 Aug 26 Aug 2 Sep 9 Sep 16 Sep 23 Sep 30 Sep 7 Oct Growing Conditions and Pasture Management 16. Soil Temperature: 9 am average soil temperature for the week was 8.4 degrees (.5 degrees below than last week). Figure 2: Soil temperature history for the last 2 weeks 17. Rain fall: 12.6 ml for the week, mostly yesterday 18. Irrigation: none this week. 19. This week fertilizer has been applied as follows: a ha have received 25 kgn/ha b ha have received superphosphate at a rate of 500 kg/ha in non effluent areas and 300 kg/ha on effluent areas. Also 0.5 kg/ha of Selenium prills. 20. Gibberellic acid has been applied to a total of 31.1 ha (pdks N4, S3, S5 and S6). 21. Soil moisture levels have held due to the rain yesterday. Page 2 of 7

3 Figure 3: Soil Moisture history for the 2 weeks 22. The current feed wedge is below. This feed wedge presumes pre grazing target level of 3320 kgdm/ha and a target post grazing of 1700 kg DM/ha. On a 25 day rotation, this provides for 18.5kg DM/cow/day. (3.5 cows/ha x18.5kgdm/cow/day x 25 days = Pregraze target = 3320kgDM/ha) Figure 4: This weeks feed wedge: Feeding Management 23. The first grazing round of the farm has just finished (as per the SRP)and is summarised below. In general we believe holding to a longer first rotation has worked well for LUDF this season. It has enabled the farm to push feed ahead of us (from the start of calving), while still staying on top of quality and controlling the allocation of supplements. It has also allowed the farm to largely keep all paddocks in an actively growing stage (see the shape of the wedge above). 24. The additional pasture cover at start of calving plus the ground conditions (dry) and subsequent utilization has allowed the farm to feed 90 kgdm/cow less supplement than what was budgeted. Page 3 of 7

4 Table 1: Spring Rotation Plan for 2014 plan vs actual Week Ending Planned area grazed per week Planned Cumulative area grazed Planned Cumulative Suppl. fed (kgdm/wk) area grazed per week Cumulative area grazed per week Supplts fed (kgdm/ week) Cum. Suppl fed (tot kgdm) 5/08/ /08/ /08/ /08/ /09/ /09/ /09/ /09/ Grazing residuals are plating around 1700 kgdm/ha but are low and consistent, with few obvious clumps. Residuals will continue to be monitored, taking heading dates into account so we can proactively manage quality through the next round. 26. Feeding management for the next week will be based on a 25 day round length (119 m2/cow/day). We will allocating the available area for 24 hr breaks and top up with silage as required. 27. During this first week of the second round, residuals and feed allocation will be consistently evaluated and reviewed if necessary kgdm/cow/day of (baled) grass silage on average has been fed all week to the large herd as total pasture offered was not adequate for demand. No silage was given to the small herd as they have been grazing to demand. 29. Currently, higher cover paddocks are initially grazed by the small herd with the large herd allocated the rear portions of these paddocks to achieve the desired post grazing targets over the whole area. This allows us to adequately feed young and lower BCS cows, as well as achieving post grazing targets. 30. Area grazed this week has averaged 108m2/cow/day. 31. Below is our average pasture cover track, the budgeted track reflects our expectation of APC from the Spring Rotation Plan, based on extending the first round out till late September. Figure 5: Average Pasture Cover LUDF AUTUMN - SPRING 2014 FARM COVER TRACK Apr 15-Apr 29-Apr 13-May27-May10-Jun 24-Jun 8-Jul Target 22-Jul 5-Aug 19-Aug 2-Sep 16-Sep30-Sep 14-Oct Page 4 of 7

5 BCS of the whole herd 32. The whole milking herd was BCS on Wednesday last week. 33. The average BCS for the whole herd presented (519 cows) is 4.6 (0.2 BCS form last scoring 2 weeks ago with 349 cows presented for scoring) a. Large herd average: 4.58 b. Small herd average: 4.81 Results are below. The table shows numbers of cows/each BCS. 250 BCS changes over time 200 Head count BCS 34. The herd, as an average has lost about 0.5 of a BCS since the end of July. The numbers above reflect the condition scores of the calved cows, of which there were 274 on 20 August, and 520 condition scored last week. CS loss to date is meeting our expectations given feeding and milk production. However, monitoring this during this time of the season, specially heading towards mating will be a priority. 35. The herd will be BCS again in 1 week. Young Stock 36. All calves are in the East block (out of the calf sheds) across the road. 37. All calves are still receiving milk as 700gr/head/day of reconstituted curding milk powder on OAD feeding. 38. Older calves are now consuming up to 0.6 kg of calf meal. 39. Weaning will start as calved reach a minimum weight of 75kg LW together with consuming more than 1 kg of meal/head + evidence of a functioning rumen. Page 5 of 7

6 Data sheet LUDF Weekly report 26-Aug-14 2-Sep-14 9-Sep Sep Sep-14 Farm grazing ha (available to milkers) Dry Cows on farm / East blk /Jackies/other 0/84/100 0/110/0 0/80/0 0/42/0 0/30/0 Culls (Includes culls put down & empties) Culls total to date Deaths (Includes cows put down) Deaths total to date Calved Cows available (Peak Number 560 ) Treatment / Sick mob total Mastitis clinical treatment Mastitis clinical YTD (tgt below 64 yr end) Bulk milk SCC (tgt Avg below 150) Lame new cases Lame ytd Lame days YTD (Tgt below 1000 yr end) Other/Colostrum Milking twice a day into vat Milking once a day into vat Small herd Main Herd MS/cow/day ( kg / Cows into vat only) MS/cow to date (total kgs / Peak Cows MS/ha/day (total kgs / ha used Herd Average Cond'n Score Monitor group LW kg WOW early MA calvers Soil Temp Avg Aquaflex Growth Rate (kgdm/ha/day) Plate meter height - ave half-cms Ave Pasture Cover (x ) Surplus/[defict] on feed wedge- tonnes Pre Grazing cover (ave for week) Post Grazing cover (ave for week) Highest pregrazing cover Area grazed / day (ave for week) Grazing Interval Milkers Offered/grazed kg DM pasture Estimated intake pasture MJME Milkers offered kg DM Grass silage Silage MJME/cow offered Estimated intake Silage MJME Estimated total intake MJME Target MJME Offered/eaten (includes 6% waste) Pasture ME (pre grazing sample) Pasture % Protein Pasture % DM - Concern below 16% Pasture % NDF Concern < Mowed pre or post grazing YTD Total area mowed YTD Page 6 of 7

7 Supplements fed to date kg per cow (630 peak) Supplements Made Kg DM / ha cumulative Units N applied/ha and % of farm 25units/ 25units/ 0 25units/8.3% 25units/34.8% 14.6% 18.8% Kgs N to Date (whole farm) Rainfall (mm) Aquaflex topsoil relative to fill point target 60-80% Farm walks occur every Tuesday morning. Farmers or their managers and staff are always welcome to walk with us. Please call to notify us of your intention and bring your plate meter and gumboots. Phone SIDDC Peter Hancox, Farm Manager, Natalia Benquet, Charlotte Westwood. Page 7 of 7

8 Lincoln University Dairy Farm Farm Walk notes Tuesday 16th September 2014 LUDF focus for 2014/15 Season: Nil Infrastructure, low input, low N loss, high profit. Farm system comprises 3.5 cows/ha, 150kgN/ha, 300kgDM/cow imported supplement, plus winter most cows off farm. FWE of less than $1.12million and Target production of 500kgMS/cow. Critical issues for the short term 1. Monitor and identify calving cows, tag and collect calves promptly. 2. Check all cow mobs for springers, closely observe cows for any signs of mastitis and metabolic conditions. 3. Achieve target grazing residuals and cow intakes while managing average pasture cover, shape of the wedge and maintaining pasture quality (especially in paddocks at the top of the wedge). 4. Hold to the Spring Rotation Plan to finish the first grazing round in late September. 5. Use back fences on all herds whenever paddock grazing takes more than 36 hours. 6. Manage ground conditions to minimise damage to soil and pastures. 7. Ensure magnesium supplementation occurring Key Numbers Ave Past Cover 2433kgDM/ha Past Growth Rate 44 kgdm/ha/day Ave Milk Production 2.3 kgms/cow* No Cows Calved 522 * Based on cows milked in last 7 days Herd Management 8. Late calvers and springers: There are all still at the East Block (42 cows total). 9. Milking herds on the platform: We continue managing three milking herds, the colostrums (15 cows in the first 4 days post calving) and two milking herds: one small herd with heifers + cows at 4.5 BCS (133 animals) and a large herd with mixed aged cows (360 animals). There s also a small treatment herd milked once a day (12 cows; 6 with mastitis and 6 lame cows) 10. The herd is due for BCS tomorrow 11. SCC is at 199, new cows were diagnosed and treated for mastitis this week 12. Eligible cows have been metrichecked on Thursday last week and 27 have been identified as having metritis and have been treated accordingly. They ll be re checked in 2 weeks time. Re checks will happen next Monday. 13. Calving rate is holding similar to the proportional change in stocking rate. See the graph below: Page 1 of 7

9 Figure 1: calving spread at LUDF comparing last season s, expected 2014 and actual calvings. 700 Cumulative No Cows Calved historical, predicted, actual Average Predicted Jul 29 Jul 5 Aug 12 Aug 19 Aug 26 Aug 2 Sep 9 Sep 16 Sep 23 Sep 30 Sep 7 Oct Growing Conditions and Pasture Management 14. Soil Temperature: 9 am average soil temperature was 8.9 degrees (0.4 degrees warmer than last week). Figure 2: Soil temperature history for the last 2 weeks Page 2 of 7

10 15. Soil moisture levels have held due to the rain and small amount of irrigation that has been applied. Figure 3: Soil Moisture history for the 2 weeks 16. Rain fall: 8.8 ml for the week (during the weekend) 17. Irrigation: North block was irrigated for 1.5 days and South block for 0.5 of a day. The average rate was 5.5 ml/ha. Pivots were turned off Friday morning. 18. This week fertilizer has been applied as follows: a ha have received 25 kgn/ha b ha have received superphosphate at a rate of 500 kg/ha in non effluent areas and 300 kg/ha on effluent areas. Also 0.5 kg/ha of Selenium prills. 19. Gibberellic acid has been applied to a total of 24.9 ha (pdks N5, S10 and S9). 20. The current feed wedge is below. Figure 5: This weeks feed wedge: Page 3 of 7

11 Feeding Management kgDM/cow/day of (baled) Lucerne silage on average has been fed all week as total pasture offered was not adequate for demand. This allows the farm to hold to the spring rotation plan, and offer sufficient feed to allow an acceptable loss of BCS and optimise milk production. 22. Feeding management for the next week will continue based on allocating the available area for 24 hr breaks (as per the spring rotation planner) and topping up with silage as required. The spring rotation planner allows for 110 m2/cow/day in the week ahead. 23. Some second round paddocks have had really good growths and have caught up with first round paddocks. We expect to continue grazing first round paddocks as much as possible and aim to keep them from dropping in quality. We will, though, keeping an eye on long second round paddocks (e.g.n10) to avoid quality issues with them too. 24. Currently, higher cover paddocks are initially grazed by the small herd with the large herd allocated the rear portions of these paddocks to achieve the desired post grazing targets over the whole area. This allows us to adequately feed young and lower BCS cows, as well as achieving post grazing targets. 25. Below is our average pasture cover track, the budgeted track reflects our expectation of APC from the Spring Rotation Plan, based on extending the first round out till late September. Allocation will continue largely on the basis of wanting the milkers to graze all they can, while leaving low and consistent residuals and staying within the Spring Rotation Planner (on area grazed to date). Figure 4: Average Pasture Cover LUDF AUTUMN - SPRING 2014 FARM COVER TRACK Target Apr 1-May 1-Jun 1-Jul 1-Aug 1-Sep 1-Oct 26. The Spring Rotation Plan is summarised below. The total cumulative area grazed is now slightly behind the SRP and the planned area grazed for the week is also slightly behind. Silage fed is well below the planned supplement fed. This is a reflection of the higher than budgeted APC through August (as in the cover track above (figure 4), and higher pregraze covers for much of August. Page 4 of 7

12 Week Ending Planned area grazed per week Planned Cumulative area grazed Planned Cumulative Suppl. fed (kgdm/wk) area grazed per week Cumulative area grazed per week Supplts fed (kgdm/ week) Cum. Suppl fed (tot kgdm) 5/08/ /08/ /08/ /08/ /09/ /09/ /09/ /09/ /09/ Area grazed this week has averaged 85m2/cow/day. 28. Cow intake: Back calculating total intake from milk production and allowing a small loss in condition estimates a total intake of 19.7 kgdm/cow, based on silage intake ( MJME/kgDM) and pasture intake at 13 MJME/kgDM. Intakes based on pre and post grazing residuals on the 85 m2 allowed in the SRP estimate that the grass portion of the diet amounts to 16 kgdm/cow/day. This calculation presumes pre grazing covers of 3495 kgdm/ha and post grazing of 1600 kgdm/ha. This difference in pasture intake figures has been noted over the past weeks and has not been explained yet. However it appears that the difference is decreasing gradually being about 5 kgdm/cow/day down to 1.6 kg DM/cow/day. Whichever the case, cows still seem to either find more grass than plated or being more efficient at using the feed eaten, or both. 29. A quick calibration cut done 2 weeks ago suggested the plate meter readings were similar to calibrated cuts. 30. BCS of the whole herd is due again tomorrow so we will know better what sort of BCS loss we are having. However cows are holding live weight as per their daily weighing. 31. Looking towards the start of the second round, if growth rates maintain at 44kg DM/ha/day or higher, we anticipate having pre graze covers of over 3000kgDM/ha. This will mean little silage should be required to fully feed the cows. 32. Latest feed quality results taken on the 4 th September reported averages of DM of 19.2% with an ME of 13 MJME/kgDM, and visually the high covers appear to be holding quality. There is minor decay in the base of the clumps of some higher cover paddocks. See the SIDDC website for the pasture quality details. dairy farm/pasture quality/ 33. The R2 s and cows on the neighbouring grazing land are being fed a diet of grass and silage, allocation: 14kgDM/cow offered. Young Stock 34. All calves are tubed when collected from the paddock. In wet weather calves are picked up throughout the day. 35. Bobby calves are fed colostrum until sold. Heifer calves are fed colostrum and penned into groups of 20, and normally moved out to paddocks after 10 days. 36. We now have 200 calves debudded, DNA tested and blood tests taken for BVD.These are all now out in the paddock calves have tested positive to BVD. They were re checked through bloods and culled. Page 5 of 7

13 Data sheet LUDF Weekly report 19-Aug Aug-14 2-Sep-14 9-Sep Sep-14 Farm grazing ha (available to milkers) Dry Cows on farm / East blk /Jackies/other 0/142/110/0 0/84/100 0/110/0 0/80/0 0/42/0 Culls (Includes culls put down & empties) Culls total to date Deaths (Includes cows put down) Deaths total to date Calved Cows available (Peak Number 560 ) Treatment / Sick mob total Mastitis clinical treatment Mastitis clinical YTD (tgt below 64 yr end) Bulk milk SCC (tgt Avg below 150) Lame new cases Lame ytd Lame days YTD (Tgt below 1000 yr end) Other/Colostrum Milking twice a day into vat Milking once a day into vat Small herd Main Herd MS/cow/day ( kg / Cows into vat only) MS/cow to date (total kgs / Peak Cows MS/ha/day (total kgs / ha used Herd Average Cond'n Score Monitor group LW kg WOW early MA calvers Soil Temp Avg Aquaflex Growth Rate (kgdm/ha/day) Plate meter height - ave half-cms Ave Pasture Cover (x ) Surplus/[defict] on feed wedge- tonnes Pre Grazing cover (ave for week) Post Grazing cover (ave for week) Highest pregrazing cover Area grazed / day (ave for week) Grazing Interval Milkers Offered/grazed kg DM pasture Estimated intake pasture MJME Milkers offered kg DM Grass silage Silage MJME/cow offered Estimated intake Silage MJME Estimated total intake MJME Target MJME Offered/eaten (includes 6% waste) 0 Pasture ME (pre grazing sample) Pasture % Protein Pasture % DM - Concern below 16% Pasture % NDF Concern < Mowed pre or post grazing YTD Total area mowed YTD Supplements fed to date kg per cow (630 peak) Supplements Made Kg DM / ha cumulative Units N applied/ha and % of farm 25units/ 25units/ 25units/ % 14.6% 18.8% 25units/8.3% Kgs N to Date (whole farm) Rainfall (mm) Aquaflex topsoil relative to fill point target 60-80% Page 6 of 7

14 Farm walks occur every Tuesday morning. Farmers or their managers and staff are always welcome to walk with us. Please call to notify us of your intention and bring your plate meter and gumboots. Phone SIDDC Peter Hancox, Farm Manager, Natalia Benquet, Charlotte Westwood. Page 7 of 7

15 Lincoln University Dairy Farm Farm Walk notes Tuesday 9th September 2014 LUDF focus for 2014/15 Season: Nil Infrastructure, low input, low N loss, high profit. Farm system comprises 3.5 cows/ha, 150kgN/ha, 300kgDM/cow imported supplement, plus winter most cows off farm. FWE of less than $1.12million and Target production of 500kgMS/cow. Critical issues for the short term 1. Monitor and identify calving cows, tag and collect calves promptly. 2. Check all cow mobs for springers, closely observe cows for any signs of mastitis and metabolic conditions. 3. Achieve target grazing residuals and cow intakes while managing average pasture cover, shape of the wedge and maintaining pasture quality (especially in paddocks at the top of the wedge). 4. Hold to the Spring Rotation Plan to finish the first grazing round in late September. 5. Use back fences on all herds whenever paddock grazing takes more than 36 hours. 6. Manage ground conditions to minimise damage to soil and pastures. 7. Ensure magnesium supplementation occurring Key Numbers Ave Past Cover 2510kgDM/ha Past Growth Rate 40 kgdm/ha/day Ave Milk Production 2.3 kgms/cow* No Cows Calved 484 * Based on cows milked in last 7 days Herd Management 8. The later calving mob has been moved to the East Block across the road with the dry and springing heifer s mobs. 9. Calved heifers are brought to the platform as they calve. 10. We continue managing three milking herds, the colostrums (15 cows in the first 4 days post calving) and two milking herds: one small herd with heifers + cows at 4.5 BCS (122 animals) and a large herd with mixed aged cows (326 animals). There s also a small treatment herd milked once a day (13 cows; 7 with mastitis and 6 penicillin cows) 11. Colostrums are milked OAD for the first 4 days then moved to the milking herd. The farm began supplying on the 9 th August. 12. The herd was BCS last Wednesday. Average BCS for the herd is 4.8. A total of 7 cows have been moved to the second herd as they were 4.5 or below. 13. SCC is at 203, cows have been diagnosed and treated for mastitis 14. This week 1 cow has been treated for lameness. 15. Eligible cows have been metrichecked on Thursday and 27 have been identified as having metritus and have been treated accordingly. They ll be re checked in 2 weeks time. 16. Calving rate is holding similar to the proportional change in stocking rate. See the graph below: Page 1 of 7

16 Figure 1: calving spread at LUDF comparing last season s, expected 2014 and actual calvings. 700 Cumulative No Cows Calved historical, predicted, actual Average Predicted Jul 29 Jul 5 Aug 12 Aug 19 Aug 26 Aug 2 Sep 9 Sep 16 Sep 23 Sep 30 Sep 7 Oct Growing Conditions and Pasture Management am average soil temperature was 8.5 degrees (1 degree warmer than last week). The farm had 0.2 mm rain over the last week. Figure 2: Soil temperature history for the last 2 weeks 18. The estimated average daily pasture growth rate for the last week has been 40 kg DM/ha/day. 19. Current average pasture cover is estimated at 2510 kgdm/ha up slightly, from last week. This is still theoretically higher than required but no pasture shows major signs of deterioration. 20. This week fertilizer has been applied as follows: a ha have received 25 kgn/ha b ha have received superphosphate at a rate of 500 kg/ha in non effluent areas and 300 kg/ha on effluent areas. Also 0.5 kg/ha of Selenium prills. 21. Gibberellic acid will be applied to paddock N5 on Thursday. 22. Soil moisture levels continue to drop. We expect to start some irrigating on Thursday. Page 2 of 7

17 Figure 3: Soil Moisture history for the 2 weeks Feeding Management kgDM/cow/day of (baled) Lucerne silage on average has been fed all week as total pasture offered was not adequate for demand. This allows the farm to hold to the spring rotation plan, and offer sufficient feed to allow an acceptable loss of BCS and optimise milk production. 24. Feeding management for the next week will continue based on allocating the available area for 24 hr breaks (as per the spring rotation planner) and topping up with silage as required. The spring rotation planner allows for 90 m2/cow/day in the week ahead. 25. Currently, higher cover paddocks are initially grazed by the small herd with the large herd allocated the rear portions of these paddocks to achieve the desired post grazing targets over the whole area. This allows us to adequately feed young and lower BCS cows, as well as achieving post grazing targets. 26. Below is our average pasture cover track, the budgeted track reflects our expectation of APC from the Spring Rotation Plan, based on extending the first round out till late September. Allocation will continue largely on the basis of wanting the milkers to graze all they can, while leaving low and consistent residuals and staying within the Spring Rotation Planner (on area grazed to date). Page 3 of 7

18 Figure 4: Average Pasture Cover 1900 LUDF AUTUMN - SPRING 2014 FARM COVER TRACK Target Apr 15-Apr 29-Apr 13-May 27-May 10-Jun 24-Jun 8-Jul 22-Jul 5-Aug 19-Aug 2-Sep 16-Sep 30-Sep 14-Oct 27. The Spring Rotation Plan is summarised below. The slight increase (3ha) in area grazed over planned cumulative area includes the deliberate grazing of S2 by the dry cows (early August), and the grazing of the new grass (N6) by milking cows (10 days ago). Higher pre grazing covers have allowed us to recover from the position we were in last week (8 ha ahead). Week Ending Planned area grazed per week Planned Cumulative area grazed Planned Cumulative Suppl. fed (kgdm/wk) area grazed per week Cumulative area grazed per week Supplts fed (kgdm/ week) Cum. Suppl fed (tot kgdm) 5/08/ /08/ /08/ /08/ /09/ /09/ /09/ /09/ /09/ Area grazed this week has averaged 65m2/cow/day. 29. Back calculating total intake from milk production and allowing a small loss in condition estimates a total intake of 19 kgdm/cow, based on silage intake ( MJME/kgDM) and pasture intake at 13 MJME/kgDM. Intakes based on pre and post grazing residuals on the 65 m2 allowed in the SRP estimate that the grass portion of the diet amounts to 11.9 kgdm/cow/day. This calculation presumes pre grazing covers of 3450 kgdm/ha and post grazing of 1600 kgdm/ha. The difference in pasture intake appears to come from the cows eating more than we have estimated using the plate meter, or higher efficiency with the feed they are eating, or both. 30. A quick calibration cut suggested the plate meter readings were similar to calibrated cuts. 31. BCS of the whole herd was done last Wednesday. On average, BCS of the herd is 4.8 (only a 0.1 BCS below previous scoring on 20 th August). See below for further details. Page 4 of 7

19 32. Note the planned area grazed is slightly ahead (see above) but the silage fed is well below the planned supplement fed. This is a reflection of the higher than budgeted APC through August (as in the cover track above (figure 4), and higher pregraze covers for much of August. 33. Looking towards the start of the second round, if growth rates maintain at 40kg DM/ha/day or higher, we anticipate having pre graze covers of over 3000kgDM/ha. This will mean little silage should be required to fully feed the cows. 34. The current feed wedge is below. The demand line is was calculated presuming pre grazing covers were 3300 kg DM/ha as per the SRP and post grazing of 1650 kgdm/ha as occurring. Figure 5: This weeks feed wedge: 35. Latest feed quality results reported averages of DM of 19.2% with an ME of 13 MJME/kgDM, and visually the high covers appear to be holding quality, though there is a marked difference from the drier North end of the farm to the wetter South end of the farm. There is minor decay in the base of the clumps of some higher cover paddocks. See the SIDDC website for the pasture quality details. dairy farm/pasture quality/ 36. The R2 s and cows on the neighbouring grazing land are being fed a diet of grass and silage, allocation: 14kgDM/cow offered. Young Stock 37. The yearlings have continued to grow well over the winter, growing 765g/day in June and 413g/day in July. 38. All calves are tubed when collected from the paddock. In wet weather calves are picked up throughout the day. 39. Bobby calves are fed colostrum until sold. Heifer calves are fed colostrum and penned into groups of 20, and normally moved out to paddocks after 10 days. 40. We now have 180 calves debudded, DNA tested and blood tests taken for BVD.These are all now out in the paddock and we have another 20 getting debudded, DNA tested and blood tests taken for BVD tomorrow and they will go outside on Thursday calves have tested positive to BVD. They were re checked through bloods and culled. Page 5 of 7

20 Cow Condition 42. The herd was body condition scored on 3rd September. The average CS was 4.8 (including the heifers) with 14 animals below BCS 4.5 Figure 6: Average BCS as at 3 rd September 2014 and historic BCS from 20/08/ There is an increase in the number of cows at BCS 4.5. However, there were 75 more cows BCS in September than in August. There are 16 cows below BCS 4.5. Data sheet LUDF Weekly report 12-Aug Aug Aug-14 2-Sep-14 9-Sep-14 Farm grazing ha (available to milkers) Dry Cows on farm / East blk /Jackies/other 58/176/114/0 0/142/110/0 0/84/100 0/110/0 0/80/0 Culls (Includes culls put down & empties) Culls total to date Deaths (Includes cows put down) Deaths total to date Calved Cows available (Peak Number 560 ) Treatment / Sick mob total Mastitis clinical treatment Mastitis clinical YTD (tgt below 64 yr end) Bulk milk SCC (tgt Avg below 150) Lame new cases Lame ytd Lame days YTD (Tgt below 1000 yr end) Other/Colostrum Milking twice a day into vat Milking once a day into vat Small herd Main Herd MS/cow/day ( kg / Cows into vat only) MS/cow to date (total kgs / Peak Cows MS/ha/day (total kgs / ha used Herd Average Cond'n Score Monitor group LW kg WOW early MA calvers Soil Temp Avg Aquaflex Growth Rate (kgdm/ha/day) Plate meter height - ave half-cms Ave Pasture Cover (x ) Page 6 of 7

21 Surplus/[defict] on feed wedge- tonnes Pre Grazing cover (ave for week) Post Grazing cover (ave for week) Highest pregrazing cover Area grazed / day (ave for week) Grazing Interval Milkers Offered/grazed kg DM pasture Estimated intake pasture MJME Milkers offered kg DM Grass silage 3 2 Silage MJME/cow offered Estimated intake Silage MJME Estimated total intake MJME Target MJME Offered/eaten (includes 6% waste) Pasture ME (pre grazing sample) Pasture % Protein Pasture % DM - Concern below 16% Pasture % NDF Concern < Mowed pre or post grazing YTD Total area mowed YTD Supplements fed to date kg per cow (630 peak) Supplements Made Kg DM / ha cumulative Units N applied/ha and % of farm 25units/ 25units/ 25units/ % 14.6% 18.8% Kgs N to Date (whole farm) Rainfall (mm) Aquaflex topsoil relative to fill point target 60-80% Farm walks occur every Tuesday morning. Farmers or their managers and staff are always welcome to walk with us. Please call to notify us of your intention and bring your plate meter and gumboots. Phone SIDDC Peter Hancox, Farm Manager, Natalia Benquet, Charlotte Westwood. Page 7 of 7

22 Lincoln University Dairy Farm Farm Walk notes Tuesday 2 nd September 2014 LUDF focus for 2014/15 Season: Nil Infrastructure, low input, low N loss, high profit. Farm system comprises 3.5 cows/ha, 150kgN/ha, 300kgDM/cow imported supplement, plus winter most cows off farm. FWE of less than $1.12million and Target production of 500kgMS/cow. Critical issues for the short term 1. Monitor and identify calving cows, tag and collect calves promptly. 2. Check all cow mobs for springers, closely observe cows for any signs of mastitis and metabolic conditions. 3. Achieve target grazing residuals and cow intakes while managing average pasture cover, shape of the wedge and maintaining pasture quality (especially in paddocks at the top of the wedge). 4. Hold to the Spring Rotation Plan to finish the first grazing round in late September. 5. Use back fences on all herds whenever paddock grazing takes more than 36 hours. 6. Manage ground conditions to minimise damage to soil and pastures. 7. Ensure magnesium supplementation occurring Key Numbers Ave Past Cover 2490kgDM/ha Past Growth Rate 29 kgdm/ha/day Ave Milk Production 2.18 kgms/cow* No Cows Calved 452 * Based on cows milked in last 6 days Herd Management 8. The later calving mob has been moved to the East Block across the road with the dry and springing heifer s mobs. 9. Calved heifers are brought to the platform as they calve. 10. We continue managing three milking herds, the colostrums (33 cows in the first 4 days post calving) and two milking herds: one small herd with heifers + 14 cows at 4.5 BCS (108 animals) and a large herd with mixed aged cows (297 animals). There s also a small treatment herd milked once a day (15 cows; 4 with mastitis and 10 lame) 11. Colostrums are milked OAD for the first 4 days then moved to the milking herd. The farm began supplying on the 9 th August. 12. All animals were injected with Selenium and B12 in late July as our Selenium levels were low according to the latest blood samples. 13. The herd will be BCS again tomorrow and animals will swap herds accordingly if required. 14. The whole herd has been stripped at BMSCC was increasing. We found 4 cows with mastitis that have been treated. 15. This week one cow has been treated for lameness. 16. Eligible cows will be Metri checked this Thursday 17. Calving rate through August was slower than expected based on the proportional reduction in stocking rate (compared to last year). See the graph below: Figure 1: calving spread at LUDF comparing last season s, expected 2014 and actual calvings. Page 1 of 7

23 700 Cumulative No Cows calved historical, predicted, actual Average Predicted Jul 29 Jul 5 Aug 12 Aug 19 Aug 26 Aug 2 Sep 9 Sep 16 Sep 23 Sep 30 Sep 7 Oct Growing Conditions and Pasture Management am average soil temperature was 7.5 degrees (0.6 degrees warmer than last week). The farm had 0.2 mm rain over the last week. Figure 2: Soil temperature history for the last 2 weeks 19. The estimated average daily pasture growth rate for the last week has been 29 kg DM/ha/day. We have now returned to more consistent plating hence we ve accepted the growth rate as correct. 20. Current average pasture cover is estimated at 2490 kgdm/ha down slightly, from last week. This is still theoretically higher than required but no pasture shows major signs of deterioration. 21. No paddocks have received any nitrogen fertilizer this week due not having enough area for it to be applied. 22. Nitrogen is being applied to paddocks as they are grazed, and gibberellic acid applications will start when sufficient area is grazed daily to ensure application can occur within 3 5 days post grazing. This is more difficult with the herd split. Page 2 of 7

24 23. We ll start applying the spring maintenance fertilizer now that the farm is dry. This includes Superphosphate going on at 500kg ha to non effluent area and at 300 kg Ha on the effluent area and selenium prills are being added at half Kg Ha. 24. Soil moisture levels continue to drop. If this situation continues, we will start irrigating in the next couple of week. Figure 3: Soil Moisture history for the 2 weeks Feeding Management kgDM/cow/day of (baled) Lucerne silage on average has been fed all week as total pasture offered was not adequate for demand. This allows the farm to hold to the spring rotation plan, and offer sufficient feed to allow an acceptable loss of BCS and optimise milk production. The small herd have been offered 2 kgdm silage/day and the big herd 3 kg DM/day. 26. Feeding management for the next week will continue based on allocating the available area for 24 hr breaks (as per the spring rotation planner) and topping up with silage as required. The spring rotation planner allows for 65m2/cow/day. 27. Currently, higher cover paddocks are initially grazed by the small herd with the large herd allocated the rear portions of these paddocks to achieve the desired post grazing targets over the whole area. This allows us to adequately feed young and lower BCS cows, as well as achieving post grazing targets. 28. N6 the new grass sprayed and drilled in April was at the three leaf stage and has been grazed. It allowed a 30 hour grazing with the large herd and post grazing residual were plated at 1600 kgdm/ha. This has resulted in an additional 4 ha grazed above that on the spring rotation planner. 29. Below is our average pasture cover track, the budgeted track reflects our expectation of APC from the Spring Rotation Plan, based on extending the first round out till late September. Allocation will continue largely on the basis of wanting the milkers to graze all they can, while leaving low and consistent residuals and staying within the Spring Rotation Planner (on area grazed to date). Page 3 of 7

25 Figure 4: Average Pasture Cover LUDF AUTUMN - SPRING 2014 FARM COVER TRACK Apr 15-Apr 29-Apr 13- May 27- May Target 10-Jun 24-Jun 8-Jul 22-Jul 5-Aug 19-Aug 2-Sep 16-Sep 30-Sep 14-Oct 30. The Spring Rotation Plan is summarised below. The slight increase (7ha) in area grazed over planned cumulative area includes the deliberate grazing of S2 by the dry cows (early August), and the grazing of the new grass (N6) by milking cows (last week). Week Ending Planned area grazed per week Planned Cumulative area grazed Planned Cumulative Suppl. fed (kgdm/wk) area grazed per week Cumulative area grazed per week Supplts fed (kgdm/ week) 31. Area grazed this week has averaged 65m2/cow/day. 32. Back calculating total intake from milk production and allowing a small loss in condition estimates a total intake of 17.7 kgdm/cow, based on silage intake ( MJME/kgDM) and pasture intake at 13 MJME/kgDM. Intakes based on pre and post grazing residuals on the 65 m2 allowed in the SRP estimate that the grass portion of the diet amounts to 11.6 kgdm/cow/day. This calculation presumes pre grazing covers of 3390 kgdm/ha and post grazing of 1600 kgdm/ha. The difference in pasture intake appears to come from the cows eating more than we have estimated using the plate meter, or higher efficiency with the feed they are eating, or both. 33. BCS of the whole herd will be done tomorrow. However, visual appraisals in the paddock would suggest that BCS loss is minimal. Monitoring of cow live weight suggest that cows are holding their weight, however rumen capacity is increasing. 34. Note the planned area grazed is slightly ahead (see above) but the silage fed is well below the planned supplement fed. This is a reflection of the higher than budgeted APC through August (as in the cover track above (figure 4), and higher pregraze covers for much of August. Page 4 of 7 Cum. Suppl fed (tot kgdm) 5/08/ /08/ /08/ /08/ /09/ /09/ /09/ /09/ /09/

26 Figure 5: The current feed wedge is below. The demand line is taken from the Spring Rotation Planner which was calculated presuming pre grazing covers were 3300 kg DM/ha and post grazing of 1500 kgdm/ha. We currently have a surplus of 14 tonnes. 35. The surplus above does not account for our desire to push the end of the first grazing round out till the end of September. 36. Latest feed quality results reported averages of DM of 19.2% with an ME of 13 MJME/kgDM, and visually the high covers appear to be holding quality, though there is a marked difference from the drier North end of the farm to the wetter South end of the farm. There is minor decay in the base of the clumps of some higher cover paddocks. See the SIDDC website for the pasture quality details. dairy farm/pasture quality/ 37. The R2 s and cows on the neighbouring grazing land are being fed a diet of grass and silage, allocation: 14kgDM/cow offered. Young Stock 38. The yearlings have continued to grow well over the winter, growing 765g/day in June and 413g/day in July. 39. All calves are tubed when collected from the paddock. In wet weather calves are picked up throughout the day. 40. Bobby calves are fed colostrum until sold. Heifer calves are fed colostrum and penned into groups of 20, and normally moved out to paddocks after 10 days. 41. We now have 160 calves debudded, DNA tested and blood tests taken for BVD.These are all now out in the paddock and we have another 20 getting debudded, DNA tested and blood tests taken for BVD tomorrow and they will go outside on Thursday Cow Condition 42. The herd was body condition scored on 20 August. The average CS was 4.9 (including the heifers) with 14 animals below BCS 4.5 Page 5 of 7

27 Figure 6: Average BCS as at 20 th August Number of cows per BCS The herd will be BCS again tomorrow. Data sheet LUDF Weekly report 5-Aug Aug Aug Aug-14 2-Sep-14 Farm grazing ha (available to milkers) Dry Cows on farm / East blk /Jackies/other 160/60/265 58/176/114/0 0/142/110/0 0/84/100 0/110/0 Culls (Includes culls put down & empties) Culls total to date Deaths (Includes cows put down) Deaths total to date Calved Cows available (Peak Number 560 ) Treatment / Sick mob total Mastitis clinical treatment Mastitis clinical YTD (tgt below 64 yr end) Bulk milk SCC (tgt Avg below 150) Lame new cases Lame ytd Lame days YTD (Tgt below 1000 yr end) Other/Colostrum Milking twice a day into vat Milking once a day into vat Small herd Main Herd MS/cow/day ( kg / Cows into vat only) MS/cow to date (total kgs / Peak Cows MS/ha/day (total kgs / ha used Herd Average Cond'n Score Monitor group LW kg WOW early MA calvers 0 Soil Temp Avg Aquaflex Growth Rate (kgdm/ha/day) Plate meter height - ave half-cms Ave Pasture Cover (x ) Page 6 of 7

28 Surplus/[defict] on feed wedge- tonnes Pre Grazing cover (ave for week) Post Grazing cover (ave for week) Highest pregrazing cover Area grazed / day (ave for week) Grazing Interval Milkers Offered/grazed kg DM pasture 12.0 Estimated intake pasture MJME 156 Milkers offered kg DM Grass silage 3 Silage MJME/cow offered 10 Estimated intake Silage MJME 30 Estimated total intake MJME 186 Target MJME Offered/eaten (includes 6% waste) 0 Pasture ME (pre grazing sample) Pasture % Protein Pasture % DM - Concern below 16% Pasture % NDF Concern < Mowed pre or post grazing YTD 0.0 Total area mowed YTD 0.0 Supplements fed to date kg per cow (630 peak) 4.9 Supplements Made Kg DM / ha cumulative 0 0 Units N applied/ha and % of farm 25units/ 25units/ % 14.6% 0 Kgs N to Date (whole farm) Rainfall (mm) Aquaflex topsoil relative to fill point target 60-80% Farm walks occur every Tuesday morning. Farmers or their managers and staff are always welcome to walk with us. Please call to notify us of your intention and bring your plate meter and gumboots. Phone SIDDC Peter Hancox, Farm Manager, Natalia Benquet, Charlotte Westwood. Page 7 of 7