Just 8% said they would reduce the cost of supplements while none intended to increase stock sales.
A further 8% voted for other strategies, such as increasing off-farm income by letting their bach.
AgFirst consultant Dave Miller asked for responses to eight questions at a field day at Owl Farm, Cambridge, a joint venture between St Peter’s College and Lincoln University.
He handed out 50 keypads on which farmers selected their answers which were immediately tallied on his laptop.
He found the result that 27% of farmers would keep scrutinising supplement costs in coming seasons surprising.
“That’s higher than we thought,” he said.
There were 23% intending to keep their focus on improving pasture utilisation but only 2% said they would maintain a reduced stocking rate.
And 33% of the farmers believed their farm working expenses (FWE)/kg milksolids (MS) would drop by 20% while 15% would cut them by 50 cents/kg MS. There were 7% who said the fall would be larger than that.
Worryingly, 24% didn’t know how much their FWE would drop by but 22% thought the figure would be the same as last year.
A further 8% voted for other strategies, such as increasing off-farm income by letting their bach.
Asked about buying in supplements, no farmers said their purchases would go up while 30% said they would be the same as last year. Just 11% went for a 10% drop, 33% a 20% decrease and 26% opted for a 50-100% reduction.
Almost half intended to grow the same amount of crop as they did last year, 37% more and 16% less.
Miller said the number of farmers intending to increase their cropping area was surprising because it was expected that would be where cost reductions would be sought over the next few seasons.
There were 41% who said they intended to spend the same amount on fertiliser other than nitrogen, 20% estimated it would be 25% less and 19% said 50% or less, 9% opted for 75% less and 6% went for 100% less.
Miller said there was quite a lot of value gained from the survey and after discussion with Owl Farm demonstration manager Doug Dibley he was keen to repeat the exercise at future field days it held.
“It will be interesting to see what transpires.”
And the eighth question found 35% of farmers believed the All Blacks would play England in the final of the World Rugby Cup while the next favourite at 29% was a trans-Tasman clash.
