“It provides an interesting way to look at a farm business and exactly what makes it competitive.”
In a high payout year it’s easy for weaknesses to be hidden, then exposed when the payout drops. But he said there are key ways to ensure a farm business is competitive:
Pastures
A key question is whether the farm grows the maximum amount of grass possible and uses it to the greatest extent before supplements are added.
Pasture monitoring and using feed budgets will help in timing inputs and grazing management, but farmers shouldn’t forget:
* Soil fertility and fertiliser policy. Is it possible (economically and environmentally) to make more use of nitrogen?
* Are the pasture species appropriate for the area?
* Is the pasture management appropriate? Look at rotation length, pasture residuals and avoidance of pasture damage by overgrazing or pugging.
Animals and production
Are cows performing at the level they should so maximum production is achieved?
This includes cows:
* being well grown and meeting target liveweights.
* Having high Breeding Worth (BW) and Production Worth as a high BW animal has the potential to produce more milk.
* Empty rates, mating and calving targets eg, 78% of the herd should be in-calf after six weeks of mating, and submission rates should be 90% after the first three weeks of mating.
Cows must be condition score 5 and heifers 5.5 by calving. This needs to be met by early June as increased pregnancy demands combined with reduced feed utilisation makes it difficult to achieve after this time.
What production is being achieved by the end of December?
The top 10% of farmers only have a production fluctuation of 2% from the calving to Christmas period, while the bottom 10% will fluctuate by 40%.
Supplements
Quality and price are key and when making supplement onfarm quality should be the focus. Purchased supplements should fit the farm system for feeding out, storage and availability. Farmers need to do their homework on cost.
It’s also important to avoid substitution with cows eating supplement but leaving grass.
Infrastructure
Farm infrastructure is important. Are the AB facilities safe and workable, and do cows flow well on the races or are there issues with lameness?
Water must be good quality and meet cows’ drinking requirements of 70-100 litres/cow/day in the milking season and 40l/cow/day when they are dry.
Labour
Without adequate labour the farm business risks under-performance. Facilities will go some way to attracting and retaining labour, but make sure there is a robust selection process, and staff are treated well and adequately remunerated. Make sure they understand their roles and get adequate training and support.
Benchmarking any business through schemes like DairyBase will ensure any areas where improvements are needed are quickly identified and fixed.
