She’s one of a group of ruminant nutritionists who formed an alliance and used to meet at one or others’ houses a couple of times a year. That grew into the New Zealand Association of Ruminant Nutritionists, of which Lewis was a founding member two years ago. She is now its secretary, with the organisation’s membership up to 32 and growing. They hold three meetings annually and run a website with a members’ forum so they can swap information and ideas.
“It’s a great way for the younger ones coming into the business to learn from those who’ve been around for a while and have the experience.”
She feels dairy farmers sometimes put too much emphasis on the supplements they’re feeding their herds to the detriment of basic farming principles they should be following.
“Water is extremely important,” she said.
“Cows need water ahead of food. And if they’re being fed dried supplements they’ll need even greater quantities of water. Sometimes I go on to farms and it’s clear the animals are not getting enough water through the troughs. Get the water right, then look at the components of what they’re eating.”
And again she emphasises forage.
“One thing I have been hammering on about for years is the importance of good silage. Quality is more important that quantity.”
Farmers needed to be aware of the amount of fibre their animals are getting from forage by using neutral detergent fibre and their testing.
“The drought really showed this up,” she said.
“The farmers who had good silage when the drought came were in a much better position. Their cows are milking better this season.”
Some less fortunate farmers might still be paying the price for the dry conditions into next year.
