“We are going back to the future, back to the seventies and eighties and Arnold Bryant and his team’s fundamental grazing research that became known as the Ruakura model, although we now have the benefit of improved analytical software,” Nico Mouton of AgFirst Consultants says.
A strategy to purchase less bought-in feed and feed fewer cows was confirmed in AgFirst’s January update of its financial survey of 25 Waikato-Bay of Plenty dairy farms that showed a 46% reduction of bought-in feed.
“Since the last payout drop announced at the end of January there’s been a fast focus on getting more from grass.”
The near halving of bought-in feed has resulted in a 20% drop in farm working expenses, which is in response to another loss year for dairy farms.
The survey report’s model farm analysis concludes there will be a loss of 83 cents for each kilogram of milksolids (MS) produced and a total loss of $102,000 for its model farm milking 348 cows on 122 ha to produce 125,000-130,000kg MS, with heifers grazed off, and servicing a debt of $21/kg MS.
One of 10 Waikato-based AgFirst consultants, Mouton says the survey confirms the view farmers are rethinking their options.
“The operators of intensive farms are questioning the sustainability of high feed inputs while the intermediate group of system 3 and 4 farmers are thinking ‘are we doing the right thing when importing 500kg of palm kernel per cow?’.”
“It’s amazing how quickly people have decided to think about their options and the cost before picking up the palm kernel phone.”
The one bright spot in the survey was a 10% lift in nett cattle income because of good beef prices paid for culled cows, although at the start of the season many had planned to increase cow numbers rather than cull out 4% overall, within a range – 16% to +13% compared with the previous year.
“There’s increasing concern about the structure of the farm system, the amount of feed purchased and what to do next,” Mouton says.
He’s a director at AgFirst where huge potential is seen in the company’s involvement in developing near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to aerially map pasture and crop content on individual arms.
While the platemeter is a proven ready-reckoner of drymatter yield, Mouton sees its role primarily as a tool to help farmers calibrate their eye appraisal of pasture cover.
“You can get false readings, especially in dry conditions when the cows won’t eat what’s left over unless they are very hungry.”
Pasture wastage has been assessed at about 500kg drymatter (DM)/ha – a significant portion to take into account when the average for summer pasture cover across the farm might only just exceed the post-grazing target of 1500kg DM/ha.
He says high temperatures, humidity, water supply and bullying in the herd’s pecking order will also limit a cow’s appetite and consequent milk production so shade, water and herd management have to be considered alongside the quality and quantity of grass grown.
AgFirst consultant Steven Howarth, previously the product manager for farm analysis software company Farmax, says farmers can consider a raft of options for improved feeding of the herd “and one size doesn’t fit all”.
AgFirst consultant and chairman James Allen says his company has been working on its NIRS farm scanning project for two years with a development partner and hopes it will be “close by the end of this year”.
“It will be transformational. No one else is doing this.”
The basic requirement is that a NIRS camera or sensor is mounted on a drone or aircraft and relays images of pasture and crops across the whole farm in rapid time – less than the time for morning tea.
“But there’s a lot of variation and technical stuff to consider when looking at pasture content as well as volume. It is solvable and combined together will form quite a bit of intellectual property.”
The technologies globally used for crop measurement have advanced over the past five years and a normalised difference vegetative index offers near infrared values for vegetation features.
However, it’s more difficult to accurately interpret NIRS images of pasture than for a standing monocultural crop like maize and with the strong influence of moisture, light and regional variations “it’s a bit harder to crack”.
“Farmers are not afraid of applying new technology and we see this being of great benefit.”
