Bruce and his wife Judy have been farming at Otakiri in Bay of Plenty for 40 years. They designed and built the barn in 2012.
Always looking to expand their business, it was the best investment to increase productivity while remaining sustainable, Bruce said.
“Farmers have a real issue with sustainability and we have to think outside the box for ways to keep farming. It’s not intensive farming. It’s a tool in the box to grow more grass while being sustainable.”
The couple had received a positive reaction from the award win, with praise coming from the non-farming community, he said. They’ve donated the money from the award to establish the Dreamfields Farm Agricultural Scholarship worth $1000 to allow a secondary student from the Whakatane district to study agriculture at Massey University.
The 4200m2 barn, which cost $1.3 million to build, had already added value to the farm system. Milk production had increased 20% in the first season from 140,000kg milksolids (MS) to 174,000kg MS and the 460-cow Jersey herd is on target to produce 200,000kg MS this year. This increase was also due to increasing the water irrigation area by 19ha two years ago, but incorporating the barn into the farm system had been the major driver as it had helped increase pasture cover and minimise feed wastage, Bruce said.
“We utilise about 95% of our supplement now.”
The farm had a no-pugging policy so there was no over-grazing during summer or winter, which ensured they were able to grow more drymatter (DM) and keep the feed supply constant, which was a big issue for most farmers.
“The cost of pugging a paddock is enormous, from the cost of having to regrass to waiting a few years for the pasture to mature to get the same amount of drymatter out of that paddock.”
The long-term target was to harvest 20 tonnes DM/ha and the barn was one of the tools that would help them achieve that, he said.
Other benefits were the shade provided for cows during hot summers and a warm, sheltered location for calving. Spending time in the barn had also made the cows quieter, more content and easier to handle.
With the cows in the barn for several hours every day, nitrogen was reduced in the paddock, going instead on to the barn’s 1m thick bedding, which included layers of clean pumice, wood pulp and sawdust. The majority of the effluent was caught in the sawdust and any liquids that did pass through ended up in the effluent storage ponds.
The minimal effluent that filtered out of the barn had no trace of nitrogen, he said.
“The carbon in the sawdust is binding it all up.”
The sawdust and wood pulp layers had been replaced in April and the 1000m3 of compost would be spread on the cropping block, taking the nitrogen and phosphorus out of the dairy operation.
