Owner Adrian Frei presented the results to the recent biological farming conference in Rotorua. The study coincided with the final three years of drymatter (DM) monitoring done by Dairy NZ technicians for benchmarking the Southland Demonstration Farm, from 2008 to 2012.
Frei’s Frei Farm was one of six selected for this and the case study recorded all DM intake and fertiliser inputs for three seasons, and all relevant production statistics.
It also made observations on soil structure, pasture density, clover performance, pasture resilience and animal health factors.
The Freis worked with Napier-based BioAg, whose managing director, Steven Haswell, described how it took a whole-systems approach to farms on a case by case basis, rather than adopting a one product fits all view on how conventional farms can adapt biological products.
The company provides treatments formulated to improve soil microbial activity and diversity with its products containing vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes, amino acids and carbohydrates.
The property consists of a 174ha milking platform with a 94ha runoff block and milks 378 cows at peak. The dryland property averages only about 900mm of rain a year and has one of the first wintering barns built in the region.
The key feature of the farm’s biological approach in the last three years has been to reduce the use of fertiliser nitrogen, moving from about 70kg urea a hectare in 2009 down to 35kg urea for this season.
But in some of the years in between that figure has fallen to as low as 6kg, including last season, and has averaged only 11kg N/ha/year over the trial period.
No urea or diamonium phosphate has been used since the 2008-09 season, with the bulk of nitrogen input coming from effluent application averaging 8m3/ha/year.
“We are not zero nitrogen proponents, and when it is needed, it is used,” Frei said.
Haswell said in many years of observing soil tests, the region where the Freis’ farm was notable for its low base soil potassium levels, along with low trace levels of copper, zinc and boron. The feed to milksolids efficiency figures painted a picture of a highly effective pasture conversion unit.
Their 480kg average liveweight cows were averaging 9.8kg DM/kg milksolids (MS), a conversion efficiency factor 50% better than the DairyNZ guidelines of 14.55kg DM/kg MS, putting feed to MS efficiency up to 50% higher than the DairyNZ benchmarks. The stocking rate on the property averages 2.5 cows/ha.
Average production over the three-year period was 1040kg MS/ha/year, varying only from 1063kg MS/ha/year down to 1028kgMS/ha/year.
“There has been no detrimental effect on the farm’s productive capacity going this way, and it has in fact improved,” Frei said.
There had also been a significant reduction in pasture problems, with grass grub, which was once a problem, gone altogether. Clover production and persistence had increased.
“We are also not getting a yellowing at the base of the pasture, and it seems more resilient in dry periods.”
Cases of lameness had been relatively stable despite variances in rainfall figures across the three years.
“Putting aside the numbers, which I do more now that we have been doing this for a while, I feel we are well on the right track with our system.
“Plans from here on in are to consolidate, reducing silage production and increasing hay harvested. We are also very keen to have our children more involved in the farming operation – that is a big part of it all for us.”
