Since then there hasn’t been any major breakthrough that has dramatically increased productivity. Instead we’ve had incremental improvements.
With our traditional pasture-based system, these improvements have come from three sources;
• An increase in pasture production and quality
• New and better skills and knowledge for managing and operating the farm
• Improved and permanent increases in animal productivity.
Let’s look at these possibilities.
In the 1970s annual pasture production at the Stratford Demonstration Farm was about 12,000kg drymatter (DM). Now it’s about 15,000kg DM. This isn’t a big increase, especially when a lot of it would be because of increased nitrogen use. In the past 40 years a considerable proportion of the farm has been resown in new ryegrass species. While this has given some increase, the overall long-term contribution to increased production from new pasture species has been minimal.
Despite the expectation that every generation would be better educated than the previous one, since the 1980s the contribution to productivity from this source has been minimal. The flow of information from research and advisory establishments to the farm, characteristic of the 1960s and 1970s, has dwindled to a trickle.
This leaves only an increase in animal productivity as the reason for big production advances over the past 40 years and it is here we strike gold.
The statistics tell the story. The accepted level for per-cow milk production in the 1970s was 150kg milkfat (MF) with 200kg seen as the ultimate goal that could possibly be reached by a handful of exceptional farmers and herds. This remained the situation right through the 1980s, where the range was 138-157kg MF/cow/year.
In the 1990s there was a significant change. From an average per-cow annual production of 148kg MF/cow in 1990-91 there has been a steady improvement to 210kg MF, equal to 371kg milksolids (MS), in 2013-14.
Is it a coincidence that the rate of genetic improvement from an intensive breeding programme has been estimated at 1.5-2% per year?
Surely this is the future direction for the industry – breeding and selecting high-producing pasture-based cows and acquiring the skills and knowledge to successfully feed and manage them. One 500kg cow will need 6300kg drymatter (DM)/year to produce 500kg MS.
A lower-producing cow will require less feed (4400kg a year) to produce the 1970s standard 250kg MS, but it’s not rocket science to see that to equal the production of our present-future high-producing cow would take two 1970s standard cows using a feed consumption of 8800kg DM, and a greater environmental footprint. The way ahead is obvious.
I can hear my critics gleefully proclaiming I have provided evidence in favour of intensification. That’s because the early 1990s also saw the first significant use of bought-in supplements – notably palm kernel – and their use has steadily increased, effectively paralleling the increase in per-cow production.
This is a compelling argument and there’s probably an element of truth in it. However unlikely this is the sole reason for the post-1980s increase in cow productivity. It’s also a classic example of treating the symptoms rather than the disease. Our strength and comparative advantage lies in our ability to produce quality pasture at low cost. If pasture develops limitations, we should work to overcome them, rather than hunting for alternatives.
Compare this with the practice of induced calving. It was originally introduced for short-term expediency, but over time became a useful farm management tool. Many farmers began giving less attention to mating management. The common attitude was “If things don’t go right we’ll just tidy up with inductions”.
If cows aren’t performing as they should on pasture the problem probably lies with the pasture, not the cow.
On analysis of the critical components of feed quality, quality pasture is generally superior to palm kernel, so if a cow is capable of producing 500kg MS/year, she should be able to do this on quality pasture alone. I’m concerned the trend to intensification is shifting attention away from pasture as the critical driver in dairy production.
If cows are dropping production the easy solution is to throw more palm kernel at them.
If pastures are under-performing the easy solution is to throw more urea at them. All this addresses symptoms, not causes. So what is to be done?
First, find the answer to the question “Where has all the clover gone?”
I was taught the ideal dairy pasture would have at least 40% clover. I think today as much as 10% would be a rarity.
More clover in the pasture would not only add a very beneficial component to pasture feed quality but also help address the overuse of urea. Second, continue developing and introducing improved pasture species. Third, continue developing, introducing, and educating in skills and knowledge in pasture management.
The future of dairying in NZ, especially in times of low product prices, is to continue to develop and exploit our strengths and successes in pasture production and pasture management. It is not to inadequately manage pastures and then denigrate them as a second-class feed source.
We must always remember that, first and foremost, we are pastoral farmers.
