They're visiting about a dozen farms in England and Ireland this month, checking out what works and what farmers there believe could be done better. They hope to learn from forward-thinking farmers who have been down the housed cow road, made adaptations or set up hybrid pasture-based/ housed systems. Their aim is to bring that information back to Kiwi farmers, along with their observations on what’s likely to work best here and what shouldn’t be considered.
Millions of dollars are being spent in NZ on animal shelters and regional councils and environmental groups are putting increasing pressure on farmers to change from traditional outdoor winter grazing. There are a range of animal welfare as well as environmental concerns and some areas have resulted in more public outcry than others, especially in the aftermath of adverse weather events.
In England and Ireland farmers have come from intensive indoor systems and moved more of their farming operations outdoors into the paddock. The aim of the visiting group of Kiwis is to bring back to this country what those farmers have learned, do the numbers and offer ideas that will help those pondering the next step make more informed decisions.
Many of the farms they will visit this month are pursuing Kiwi-style dairying and their innovations promise to hold timely and cost-effective ideas for NZ farmers by looking outside the usual Kiwi parameters.
They will be offering Dairy Exporter subscribers and FarmWise clients in-depth analysis, reviews and research gained from the trip, which will help dairy farmers in their decision-making, whether it be building a new shelter or modifying an existing structure.
The group will visit Teagasc, the Irish Agriculture Food Development Authority research centre at Moorepark, County Cork, with information relayed back to NZ farmers in the Dairy Exporter’s February issue.
In the following months there will be more useful ideas and analysis. Watch out for changes to the Dairy Exporter website, where this information will be available online, with video footage and further explanation of farming systems.
