Friday, March 29, 2024

Demonstration Farm – No substitute for farmer expertise

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In the January Dairy Exporter (pages 94, 95) I discussed the inevitable decline in dairy production that occurs as spring moves into summer and summer into autumn. The question was raised as to whether the feeding of palm kernel over the latter part of the season could slow this decline, and I raised the possibility that the trial at the Stratford Demonstration Farm might provide some pointers to this. In this trial the profitability, production, and environmental effects of two dairying systems are being compared. One is a high-stocked, high-cost, intensive system with unlimited access to brought-in feed (primarily palm kernel and maize silage) and the other is a moderately stocked, low-cost, low-input system aimed at feeding solely pasture, or pasture derivatives such as silage or hay. As I reported last month, the high-intensity group was maintaining the production/cow advantage it had held all season. In early December it had a level of 1.75kg milksolids (MS)/cow/day, compared with 1.64kg for the lower-intensity herd. Somewhat surprisingly, by mid-January this gap had widened, with the high-intensity group dropping to 1.61kg MS/cow/day and the low-intensity group dropping to 1.45.
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This meant proportionately and totally the low-intensity group had dropped further and the production difference between the two groups had widened. As mentioned previously, the complicating factor was that the high-intensity herd was in significantly better condition at calving and all the past trial evidence would suggest that much if not all of this superiority would carry over for the rest of the season.

However, if we choose to ignore this the data to date looks fairly compelling. The high-intensity herd, having been consistently fed about 3kg drymatter (DM)/cow/day of palm kernel, while at the same time being grazed as intensely as the low-intensity herd (post-grazing residuals of 2100-2200kg DM/ha), has continued to produce at a higher level and has shown a slower decline from peak production.

This should support the claim that continuing to supplement with palm kernel over the summer and autumn months will sustain milk production at a higher level – and there’s a reasonable body of anecdotal evidence that will support this.

Reservations

However, I have reservations about going too far down this path. Reduced to the basics, we are looking at a comparison between two feeds; pasture, costing less than 5c/kg DM to produce, and palm kernel at, in all probability, more than 30c/kg DM, plus some – admittedly probably minor – feeding-out costs.

It makes sense to ensure that all of the cheaply produced DM, in the form of pasture, is fully exploited, before even considering a higher-priced alternative. This is, after all, the solid foundation of our traditional and successful pastoral farming. Departing from this will have challenges and with challenges will inevitably also come pitfalls.

Going back in history I can see an apt comparison with the introduction and use of the practice of induced calving to concentrate the calving season. When this was introduced it was seen as a short-term measure – late-calvers would be pulled into line, so that a long-term weakness in the system would be tidied up, meaning that in subsequent years there would be little need for it.

We all know that the opposite occurred. The number of inductions carried out escalated rapidly year by year and induced calving soon became embedded as a mainstream farm-management practice. What was happening was a manifestation of laziness – in thinking, planning and working. Instead of putting time and effort, mental and physical, into the management functions that would improve reproductive performance, such as condition at mating, oestrus identification etc, it was easier just to opt out and tidy up all the resultant shortcomings with inductions. Much easier but also much less efficient and much more costly.

The parallel is obvious. It would be easy to get into the mindset of “summer feeding of palm kernel is the way to keep production up in the latter part of the season”. So spend up large on palm kernel to do the job and neglect thinking and acting on the facets of pasture and stock management that will ensure the maximum conversion of pasture to milk.

To carry on with this theme, a digression is appropriate. In my early days as an advisor with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) in Manawatu I frequently shared running discussion groups with Don Johnson, the well respected local Dairy Board consulting officer. Don had a wide range of astute aphorisms and one that has always stuck in my mind is, “any mug can get milk out of a cow in the spring but it takes a good man to get milk out of a cow in the summer and autumn”.

Proof

This statement is just as true today as it was 40-odd years ago, although I suppose in this PC age we should say person rather than man. If proof was needed then with this discussion group all the evidence was there – many kept large-scale graphs, with the individual performance of the group members plotted. The consistent pattern was to have all lines in close proximity until about December and from then the gaps would widen as the season progressed.

Basically the best farmers and the also-rans were being identified. With the advent of summer, as mentioned last month, maintaining pasture quality becomes critical. To help prevent pastures bolting to rank, unpalatable, low-quality grasses a greater or lesser degree of harder, ie, more intensive grazing, is required.

Unfortunately this will be in conflict with the need to maximise the intake of quality feed to sustain the highest level of production possible. It goes without saying that the two objectives of pasture management and stock management are at opposite ends of the spectrum and so it will be impossible to successfully reconcile them.

Often it will be a case of short-term pain for long-term gain.  It is how these opposing management requirements are reconciled and integrated to achieve the maximum possible ongoing production levels that will determine the ultimate success of the season. It is, as summarised all those years ago by Johnston, the key factor in determining the year’s productivity and so the management decisions made over this time are critical. Because there is no one-size-fits-all and there are many complicated actions and interactions, the degree of success achieved in reconciling these conflicting objectives over summer and autumn will be the critical measure of the farmer’s management expertise.

In next month’s issue I will continue with this theme and look at some of the strategies that can be used to resolve the management conflicts and priorities.

  • Brian Hockings is a member of the Stratford Demonstration Farm’s management committee.
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