Friday, March 29, 2024

Challenging conditions will remain despite rain

Avatar photo
Dairy cows in drought areas could be as much as one condition score below calving target and boosting those scores should be the priority, DairyNZ Northland regional leader Tafi Manjala says.
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Farming conditions in drought-affected areas remained challenging, with low pasture cover, no pasture growth, high reliance on increasingly expensive feed supplements and the low condition scores, Manjala said.

However, most regions of the country appeared likely to get rain before and during the Easter holiday period.

Quick calculations showed that even with rain likely pasture growth in April and May would be enough for only maintenance of livestock, not improvements in body condition score (BCS) or pasture cover heading into winter, he said.

Therefore supplementary feed would be required for the foreseeable future.

Feed demand could be reduced by drying off earlier calvers and young cows or drying off the entire herd and priority feeding the early calvers and the younger, thinner, and at-risk cows (below 3.5 BCS), he said.

“While there was a temptation to keep milking to take advantage of the high milk price, by allocating more feed to milking cows the focus should now go on reaching BCS targets at calving.

“Cows need feed and time to regain body condition and lactating cows do not put on condition easily.

“Protect pastures from overgrazing. All of the autumn pasture growth will be required to restore pasture cover on farms, or fill gaps when supplements are not available.”

If not in place, contracts should be signed for palm kernel supply through late autumn and winter.

AgFirst Waikato consultant Phil Journeaux said drystock farmers in drought areas had fewer options and they were going to be dealing with the consequences through winter and into next season.

“Assuming regular rainfall is resuming, the objective is to build a feed wedge going into winter.

“Do a budget from now until spring and if you are going to be short of pasture stick to the destocking plan or maintain supplementary feeding, or both.

“Adjust the stocking rate and grazing management to build up winter feed and consider the use of nitrogen while it is still warm.”

Patchy and run-down pastures might need renovation using high-endophyte ryegrasses, Journeaux said.

Where that renovation could be combined with a crop, perhaps short-rotation or Italian ryegrasses would be appropriate to get good pasture growth on easier country during the winter.

“Hardship is out there among Waikato farmers after the second year of drought but fortunately the dairy payout is high and returns from sheep and beef are higher this year.”

His AgFirst Waikato colleague Steven Cranston said rain over Waikato had been patchy, with rainfall from former cyclone Lusi a month ago ranging from 60mm in some areas to just 20mm on the parched western coast.

“Urea is going to be needed within the next week or two in order to make the most out of the remaining warmer temperatures before winter,” Cranston said.

“While there was a temptation to keep milking to take advantage of the high milk price, by allocating more feed to milking cows the focus should now go on reaching BCS targets at calving.”

Tafi Manjala

DairyNZ

NZ Grazing Company principal Ian Wickham said the season had been unusually dry in the west and wetter in the east, instead of the other way around normally.

He had places offered for 5000 heifers on Hawke’s Bay farms, which he expected to be taken up by Taranaki, King Country, and Manawatu farmers keen to reduce stock.

Federated Farmers adverse events spokeswoman Katie Milne said recent rainfall had not dented soil-moisture deficits yet in northwestern regions.

Having been through drought last year, she said she understood why farmers in the north would like to trade weather with those in the South Island.

“They are desperate for a rain maker to show up because it will take up to six weeks before there is good pasture recovery.

“Even that assumes good rain, followed by sunshine.

“Given it’s now mid-April, in six weeks we will be on the cusp of winter, so time is not exactly on our side.

“The risk now is what we call a green drought. That’s where you get the appearance of green but there’s no substance to the pasture.

“As roots will be close to the surface they become vulnerable to either heavy rain, an absence of rain, or, dare I say it, frost.”

Milne wondered whether this was the new normal, which underscored the need for research, water storage, and new pasture varieties.

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading