Robert reckons his sharemilker roots were showing when he initially set the stocking rate after expanding their Rangiotu farm. After buying the neighbouring block and growing the platform from 92 hectares to the current 158ha in March 2011, they initially wintered 450 cows and peak-milked 440, yielding 180,000kg milksolids (MS).
The new addition had not run lactating cows since 1982, instead operating a four crop rotation with pasture sown in autumn and cows grazed every winter. This treatment meant soil structure was not ideal and soil organic matter was low.
Robert was pleased with the 180,000kg MS and it made their budget look better.
“We’d promised the bank 155,000 milksolids – under-promise and over-deliver and you’re everybody’s mate. We produced more solids and didn’t really increase our expenditure – everybody was happy. It made the wheels turn easier.”
But wintering 450 cows on the farm was a struggle. Protecting the soil against pugging damage is a priority that often sees the cows being stood off the paddocks over winter.
A large part of the farm is nestled in a tight U-shaped bend of the Manawatu River. Seventy hectares of the original block can be flooded within four hours of receiving the river warning – they budget on it happening once a year but in reality it occurs more like once every two years. Other parts of the farm are submerged in higher flood flows, occurring every seven to eight years.
They decided to cut back on the number of cows wintered and peak milked 425 in 2012-13. Better per cow production meant they increased overall production to 188,000kg MS.
They dropped slightly down to 420 cows for the 2013-14 season.
“We were smoking along – in October-November we were probably on target for 200,000 solids. But we finished up with 167,000 kilos because of the drought.
“Then the repercussions started to follow through. It was the big payout year and I had had a gut feeling in November that things weren’t going well with the weather so had taken out some contracts on palm kernel for extra feed. We finished up feeding astronomical amounts of palm kernel, nearly 400 tonnes.
“We associated that with less milksolids, more feed – all of a sudden we spend $4.50-$4.60/kg MS on farm working expenses. We used to do it for under $3.30/kg MS – how did that happen?”
At the end of that season the warning bells were ringing. Robert had been keeping a loose track on things with the bi-monthly GST returns, but was still surprised with the final amount.
“It was a shock to realise that we were into a system all of a sudden that in a $4.70 payout we were only just better than break-even. That certainly didn’t fit with how I wanted to be.”
Change was on the cards.
Robert dropped the cow numbers further for the current season, settling at 400 peak-milk. This reduced demand meant they could grow maize on the milking platform rather than contract it in.
“What a brilliant year to choose to grow our own maize. From a cashflow aspect, it is simply less cash spent. We’ve got no gear so it was all done by contractors, but it was a great crop, 22t drymatter DM/ha.”
Growing the maize at home cost meant the silage was in the stack for about half the cost of previous years.
Reducing expenditure on feed is a major focus and it is likely they will drop the stocking rate further to milk 380 cows next season.
“It’s probably more economic, given the ways things are going,” Robert says.
“We’ll purchase less bought-in feed – when you analyse all of these tactics for tight times historically, the one cost on all dairy farms that has risen astronomically has been purchased feed.
“But times have changed – as a sharemilker we used to do 300kg MS per cow and think we were doing well. I now expect to do 450 kilos otherwise I don’t think I’m doing well enough. That cow’s eating half as much more feed as she was eating 10-15 years ago, but there’s a balance somewhere.”
That balance is what they are trying to find. With body condition score targets and protecting the soil non-negotiables in the Ervine’s system, a feedpad will always have a role to play.
Over winter they are targeting intakes of 12-14kg DM/cow – 7-8kg DM of maize silage and palm kernel on the pad, with the rest as pasture grazed in situ.
A chicory-white clover mix is the cornerstone of their summer feed budget.
After an initial crop of 23ha, for the past couple of seasons they planted 15ha each spring, with each crop kept for two years so 30ha was available, split between a first- and second-year crop. In the second autumn the chicory mix was direct drilled back into permanent pasture.
It was a revelation for a non-irrigated system, bringing high-quality feed with growth rates capable of supporting a 14-day grazing round.
“What an abundance of an amazing feed. I credited it with 30-50kg MS extra per cow production in a season.”
Robert reckons with dry summers becoming the “new normal” in Manawatu, the chicory will only become more important in his drive to use more home-grown feed.
They will tweak the system next year, expanding the area to 22ha and keeping the chicory-white clover for a single season, drilling back into permanent pasture in mid-March. All costs are under the microscope.
This season they have managed to pull back spending by 10% on budget, year-to-date.
As well as feed costs, repairs and maintenance is another area of expenditure under review. They were also able to make savings on labour costs after expanding the herringbone dairy last season from a 22-a-side to a 33-a-side, significantly shortening milking times.
Next season they are targeting farm working expenses of $3.57/kg MS – closer to Robert’s comfort level, learnt in the 1990s as a sharemilker in Taranaki.
“We finished up with black ink in the budget eventually but not until well into next year – it’s going to take some careful management.”
• The Ervine’s are a case study farm for DairyNZ’s Tactics for Tight Times programme.
