Friday, March 29, 2024

Getting back to growing more grass

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South Auckland dairy farmer Brian Gallagher has boosted milk production by 100,000kg milksolids by feeding more supplements. He told Glenys Christian he’s now planning to extract even more milk out of his DairyNZ System 4/5 property by applying fertiliser little and often, growing more grass and making sure his cows utilise it.
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Brian Gallagher says he treats his pasture as money in the bank and through rigorous platemetering he knows exactly what he grows rather than guessing.

“Grass is the cheapest form of feed so if you learn to utilise that first it makes your use of supplements more cost effective and profitable,” he says.

Brian’s parents employed 50:50 sharemilkers on the farm at Patumahoe, 40km south of Auckland, from 1980 with about 250 cows producing 60,000kg milksolids (MS) annually. It was an all-grass system with a small amount of nitrogen applied.

Brian grew vegetables including potatoes and onions when he first left school and continued while he completed an agriculture diploma at Lincoln University.

He then spent eight years overseas, where his first job was driving a bulldozer. That led to him becoming project manager for a company which developed golf courses.

“I saw the world and didn’t milk cows until I was 30,” he says.

But he did meet his Finnish wife Pirkko in the Middle East and eventually tired of spending 300 days a year away from home.

Brian Gallagher is committed to platemetering his farm every 10 days.

The 80-year-old pastures on the farm grow similar amounts of drymatter to those sown with the best new species available when kikuyu was eradicated from a block at the front of the property 10 years ago.

“I find that interesting,” he says.

But in a new move, instead of applying 400kg/ha of potassium super in two applications every year he’s changed to applying 130kg/ha of a nitrogen, phosphate, potassium and sulphur mix every month from March to December.

“That’s certainly grown us more feed,” he says.

“It’s like lettuce growers using fertiliser little and often.”

Pasture growth rates were boosted to 13.5 tonnes DM/ha last year compared with the usual 11t DM/ha. And because the cows are eating more pasture and supplements they’re drinking 20% more water, meaning that for the first time in 15 years a small block ran out.

He admits he struggled to convince his bank manager and accountant that trying to increase production with supplements was the right way to go.

“But the guys who do it well do it really well,” he says.

He believes another season of the new fertiliser regime is required to prove its worth.

Then the next step might be to increase his stocking rate from three to 3.2 cows/ha, and cut back on supplements, probably maize silage.

“If we reduce inputs a little bit we will be more profitable,” he says.

“We’ve driven production up and we’ve done it efficiently. We’ve taught the cows to eat more grass by putting more feed into the system.”

While Brian hoped for 165,000kg MS this season he’s reassessed that to 160,000kg MS with the drier season. But next season he’s hoping to produce 175,000kg MS by adding 20 cows.

“I believe we can make the jump to the next challenge,” he says.

“The extra 40,000kg MS we are doing is our most profitable milk.”

Key points
Location: Patumahoe, south west of Auckland
Owners: Brian and Pirkko Gallagher
Area: 130ha (115ha effective)
Herd: 350 Friesians, BW 121, PW 115, recorded ancestry 97%
Production: 2013-14 season, 149,891kg MS (2013-14); 2014-15 target 160,000kg MS
Supplements: 420 tonnes drymatter (DM) maize silage, 300t DM palm kernel, 165t DM dried distiller’s grain and canola, 20t DM hay and straw
Dairy: 20-aside herringbone
Staff: Two full-time
Runoff: 100ha leased under long-term agreement.

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