Data makes decision easy

Date: 2008-05-01 | Category: Dairy News

Running a year-round, all-grass system is the objective of the owners of Acerna Pastures, a 173ha dairy farm near Geraldine in South Canterbury. The property was converted and resown for dairying from mid-2006 to early 2007 for milking to begin last August.

Owned by farming partners Alvin and Judith Reid and Milne and Christine Horne, the farm is being managed as an intensive grazing unit following the principles of pasture management practised at the Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF). For this first year of production 260,000-270,000kg of milksolids (MS) has been budgeted for from 710 crossbred cows, run at a stocking rate of 4.3 cows/ha.

During winter, the cows are grazed off-farm, returning in late July for calving to begin in August. “There are three distinct areas on the farm which are being managed according to their natural abilities,” Alvin said.

A crop specialist has assisted with decision-making. The wetter area of 75ha was sown in triticale for silage and harvested in January 2007. Spraying and cultivation followed before a diploid perennial ryegrass with two clovers was sown in March 2007. This area performed well under the spring grazing rotation of 21 days and some silage was cut off as well.

These paddocks were grazed down to around 1400kg of dry matter (DM)/ha from 3000kg. Additional nitrogen (N) was applied during spring and summer as a development tool. Superphosphate was also applied in spring 2007 at a rate of 750kg/ha over the farm.

Another 65ha was sown with a tetraploid perennial ryegrass with two clovers in December 2006.

“This land produced a tremendous amount of feed in late spring and the focus is now on building up the organic matter in this area and encouraging more tillering. The dairy effluent is applied to this area to boost organic matter
and the grass vigour is clearly obvious,” Alvin said.

Some weed-spraying was undertaken later on both areas and no pest problems have occurred.

The remaining 25ha effective has been sown in a short-rotation tetraploid ryegrass with two white clovers. This is the first area of the farm that will be renewed following the development of an irrigation storage pond during the coming winter to supplement the consented supply from the adjacent Te Moana River.

“With pasture growth regularly monitored weekly, and a feed production wedge created, knowing which paddocks are the lowest producers is easy,” said farm manager Rodney Herrick.

“Monitoring is the key to maintaining this system and having two centre pivots in operation makes for very effective watering with minimal waste.” Alvin said that when the records show DM production is falling off in particular paddocks it would be a straightforward and objective decision about which ones to renew.

Published courtesy of Dairy Exporter - May 2008

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