For new Federated Farmers Dairy chairman and Manawatu dairy farmer Andrew Hoggard, doing things the right way rather than the easy way is the driving farm management philosophy.
The 300ha property – of which 220ha is the milking platform with the balance support land and 20ha of native bush – extends over several terraces next to the Oroua River, north of Feilding. The naturally fertile Kiwitea silt loam soils offered a compelling prospect when the Hoggard family were looking for greener pastures in 1998.
‘Getting the wider public to understand it is not a simple issue of just putting a cap on some pipe that is coming out of our dairy and going into the river.’
Fresh from graduating from Massey University with a degree in agricultural economics and a year spent on a farming OE in Canada, Andrew kicked off his dairying career with a year 50:50 sharemilking on his parents’ 150-cow farm at Kaitoke, north of Upper Hutt. The challenging property – 180ha in total with a 60ha milking platform – had been in the family since the 1930s but was hilly and criss-crossed with gullies.
Andrew and his parents realised the winds of change were coming. Though the Clean Streams Accord had yet to come into existence, the writing was on the wall and riparian fencing would make the farm economically marginal. Andrew wanted to continue dairying so the search was on and the property at Kiwitea fitted the bill.
Initially a 450-cow proposition, the purchase of neighbouring land in 2003 extended capacity to the current 560 cows.
In the beginning, several different family companies owned the different land parcels with Andrew 50:50 sharemilking. In 2008, a desire to streamline the financial and governance processes led to the companies and the sharemilking operation being effectively merged into a single entity, with multiple family members as equity partners. At the same time, an underpass connecting the properties was constructed and automation was built into the 44-bail rotary dairy.
Technology has been embraced. On every second bail milk yield and components – fat and protein – are measured, and on every fourth bail somatic cell counts (SCC) are estimated by DAL CellSense sensors, which measure the DNA released by somatic cells in the milk. With automatic cup removers also in operation in the dairy, Andrew believes the SCC sensors are a key tool in the mastitis prevention arsenal. Cows identified as exceeding the SCC management threshold trigger an alert at cups-on. Before the cow is cupped she is checked for any signs of mastitis, with a single trigger event generating an alert lasting 10 days. If symptoms develop the cow is separated and treated for mastitis.
The system is also set up with other alerts to trigger events or extra monitoring. For example, in the spring, an alert is set to come up 21 days post-calving as a reminder to check for symptoms of endometritis. The alert remains until cleared by the operator.
An in-dairy feeding system is set up that enables tailored feed levels depending on milk production. For the first 30 days after calving all cows are offered 1kg of feed at each milking. Following that, in the run-up to and during the mating period, cows are fed to production with amounts ranging from 1kg up to 3kg/cow/day. Once mating is finished the decision on whether to continue using the in-feed system depends on the forecast milk payout and projected feed costs.
The type of feed put through the system depends largely on price and what Andrew is trying to achieve with it. In the 2013-14 season, they used a palm kernel-based meal with some kibble maize and biscuit meal mixed in.
Andrew Hoggard with wife Audra and daughters Payton, 3, left, and Michaela, 5.
Andrew says they generally fall into a System 3 enterprise, based on the DairyNZ farming system framework, importing 10-20% of their feed for use mainly in the autumn.
They grow about 8ha of maize and purchase another 8ha from a neighbour, netting about 360 tonnes drymatter (DM). They also keep 100-120t DM of pasture silage on hand, either harvested onfarm or bought in, depending on the season.
All cows are wintered on the farm, with 6.5-8ha of fodder beet forming the bulk of the winter ration. This year the late summer and autumn dry impacted on growth, dropping from a potential 32t DM/ha yield to 24t DM/ha yield at grazing.
It’s the fourth year they have used fodder beet as a wintering crop, and Andrew says they have had their best experience yet transitioning cows onto the high-carbohydrate crop. Once the transition period is completed, cows are offered 8kg DM/day of fodder beet and 4kg DM/day of triticale silage. The triticale silage is grown onfarm, being planted as the follow-up crop to the fodder beet before the ground goes back into permanent pasture.
Nine hectares of turnips and a smaller area of chicory help fill the summer feed deficit. Turnip yields vary from 7-12t DM/ha depending on seasonal rainfall, with about 10t DM/ha the norm.
Youngstock are grazed off with a neighbour from weaning until the beginning of the following October. They return to the home farm permanently in time for mating.
Planned start of calving falls on August 1, with first-calvers due to begin a few days earlier.
The Friesian and crossbred herd are mated to artificial insemination for the entire 12-week mating period. Both Andrew and his wife Audra are trained AI technicians, and prefer to avoid having to manage bulls on the platform. Using dairy sires for the first five weeks, they then switch to beef semen. Andrew says given a “normal” calving run, they generally have enough heifer replacements by week three of calving. Any excess are sold as four-day-olds.
First-calving heifers are synchronised using a Why-Wait programme – hormone injections only rather than CIDRs and injections – and based on heat detection aids are inseminated accordingly. Andrew keeps them handy to the dairy during that initial period for ease of access. Tail-up bulls are also used after the initial AI.
Stepping up as the national dairy chairman means Andrew has to commit about three days a week to Federated Farmers duties, a large time commitment that has meant the Hoggards will employ a manager for the first time this season. Two other full-time staff make up the onfarm team, with Andrew rating himself at about half a labour unit.
Like all dairy farms, building a roster that works for everyone is challenging. Andrew has adopted one that guarantees four days off every fortnight, targeting a five-on two-off split, although some flexibility is required to manage workloads and ensure minimum staffing levels are maintained.
No Swiss bank account
New Federated Farmers Dairy chairman Andrew Hoggard understands the collateral damage that can result when the environmental legislation juggernaut builds up momentum. In his role with his local Manawatu Federated Farmers branch, Andrew was involved with the development of the controversial Horizons Regional Council One Plan.
“That whole process lasted seven-odd years,” he says. “It just showed that you have got to have good discussions beforehand, because once the process starts, the process becomes more important than anything else.”
The process Andrew refers to, detailed in the Local Government Act and the Resource Management Act, outlines the steps and responsibilities regional councils must follow when developing plans.
“Despite some people realising we were heading down the wrong path with parts of the One Plan, there was no reverse lever on the train, there was no brake – the train must keep going until it reaches its destination.”
Andrew says one of the key lessons learnt was the importance of farmers engaging early on in the planning process.
He is also looking for the wider community to recognise how much effort and money has already been invested by dairy farmers in improving their environmental performance.
“Getting the wider public to understand it is not a simple issue of just putting a cap on some pipe that is coming out of our dairy and going into the river. I think that’s what some think the problem is – they don’t realise that that pipe does not actually exist, it is the diffuse nutrient loss through urine patches.”
Andrew says people advocating reducing the numbers of dairy cows being farmed need to be aware what the potential effect of that could be on their regional economies.
“It doesn’t matter what level the milk payout is, 80% of that money is spent in the local community,” he said.
“It is not being squirreled away in some Swiss bank account.”
Key points
Owners: Andrew and Audra Hoggard plus family equity partnership
Area: 300ha, 220ha milking platform
Herd: 560 Friesian and crossbred cows peak milk
Production: Average 230,000kg milksolids (MS)
Farm dairy: 44-bail rotary with cup removers, milk yield and component meters, somatic cell count (SCC) meters.
