Friday, March 29, 2024

Taking the cuts

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Staying within the expectations of Canterbury’s proposed regional plans will cost Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF) about $100,000 this season.
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South Island Dairying Development Centre (SIDDC) executive director Ron Pellow said LUDF elected to cull cows and dry off empties to allow the farm to meet demand from pasture only for the rest of the season, minimising the amount of bought-in supplement for the season.

The proposed rules have effectively capped farms in red zones to levels based on a four-year average from 2009-2013 – now set as their baseline. That restriction remains until 2017 in the Selwyn Waihora zone, where LUDF is located. From 2017 new limits must be adhered to based on good management practice, with the overall aim of the zone’s proposed rules to cut nitrate leaching loads further again across the entire catchment by 2037.

For LUDF, already operating under a self-imposed restriction on nitrate leaching this season, the proposed rules align with their previous goal not to increase the whole business’ total environmental footprint.

Pellow said LUDF’s approach, while not a blueprint for other farms, would show the impacts on production and profitability of adhering to restrictive nitrogen limits.

Its only real option this season was to not buy in or feed any more supplement and so reduce stocking rate to match feed supply. In early March this had an immediate impact, slashing about 1kg milksolids (MS)/ha/day from production.

It’s expected the loss will only get bigger compared with potential production given the payout and supplement prices.

Through March it meant a milk income collapse of about $10,000/week, again likely to increase as the season goes on.

From peak cow numbers of 630 the farm is now back to 531.

The lighter herd had also been put on to once-a-day milking to help achieve condition score targets, and decisions on drying off cows now depend on growth rates through the autumn.

Pellow said the farm would continue with nitrogen applications at 25kg N/ha through the earlier part of the autumn because of good response rates and would use gibberellic acid to help increase available pasture. LUDF has used eco-n, but not since mid-way through last season when it was withdrawn from sale.

That decision, and holding this season’s environmental footprint steady, means LUDF was already struggling with lower pasture production.

Next season it could decide to cut the stocking rate further so the farm imports no supplement. This season imported feed consumed by the end of February was 506kg DM/cow.

For LUDF its 41.5kg N/ha/year baseline leaching limit comes from four seasons at 38, 38, 45 and 45kg N/ha/year.

Once the Matrix of Good Management (MGM) numbers apply from 2017 the farm could well be operating at or even below previous leaching limits and still faces the possibility it will have to slash them to achieve MGM minus 30%, based on the proposed plan as it stands.

“As a demonstration farm we have to start looking at our options now, to identify some of the possibilities, costs and opportunities,” Pellow said.

The preference from the SIDDC board is not to invest in infrastructure if alternatives can be shown to be equally viable.

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