The couple have enjoyed good rainfall this summer at Opotiki where they milk 420 cows as 50% sharemilkers for Tom and Tony Trafford.
They are on target for record pasture intake and record production of 155,000kg milksolids to top off their win in the Dairy Industry Awards.
Building their pasture intake to improve production has been a key focus for the last three seasons.
“We’re trying to utilise as much grass as possible. We’ve lifted from 10.4 tonnes drymatter/ha eaten in our first season to be on target for 12t this year.”
Entering the competition had made them improve the amount of recording they do onfarm, including their pasture growth, Grant said.
The 140ha milking platform is 60ha steep contour, 20ha rolling and 60ha flat, and maintaining pasture quality across the farm can be difficult.
They increased cow numbers from 355 to 420 after the first season, used palm kernel supplement to fill any gaps, and cut the grazing round to 17 days.
The cows are wintered on, but are kept on the hills from May, with the flats saved for calving.
Recording pasture covers is difficult on the hills so Grant makes feed decisions based on growth rates.
“It’s about using your brain. Once the quality is gone it’s gone for the season. You are at the gate hungry, you’ve done something wrong and they need shifting.”
The couple had always intended to enter the awards when they got their first sharemilking opportunity. They entered for the first time last year and won the Farm Dairy Hygiene award.
The feedback they received from the judges had helped them to improve onfarm policies and have a more professional business approach to areas such as human resources and health and safety.
“Our health and safety was nonexistent – our policies were pretty casual,” he said.
The competition had also helped to build their confidence and got them ready to take the next step, Karley said.
This year they are buying out their silent partner and will be 50% sharemilking 400 cows at Kiwitahi.
‘You need to go on your instinct. If the cows are at the gate hungry, you’ve done something wrong and they need shifting.’
It’s a move closer to home for the couple. Karley was raised on a dairy farm at Matamata and Grant on a sheep and beef farm at Whakamaru.
Grant first entered the dairy industry after Telford when he got a job as trainee herd manager at Tokoroa and quickly realised the long-term opportunities if he stayed in dairy.
“The progression pathways are just not there (in sheep and beef) like they are in dairy. Getting to farm ownership is a lot quicker.
“Once you’re a dairy farmer, you’re always a dairy farmer.”
Grant stayed at Tokoroa for three years then moved to Cambridge to work for Mike and Maxine Davey, who offered him opportunities for progression.
He went from farm manager to contract milker, during which time he met Karley, then the couple became 25% lower-order sharemilkers with 280 cows.
“You need a boss like that to keep you on the right path. Mike encouraged us to progress and move on to a bigger job,” Karley said.
The couple left and spent two seasons at Waitoa on a 440-cow lower-order position before spending the last three years at Opotiki.
They hope to own their own farm within the next 10 years. To do that they need to focus on paying off debt and growing their equity by 25%, Grant said.
“We’ve always focused on debt reduction – to have money there to make the next move.
“We grew our equity by 115% last year with the payout and good production.”
Selling surplus replacements had been key to building their equity. The Opotiki farm includes a 30ha block specifically for young stock, which Grant and Karley use to rear stock.
They have 135 rising two-year-olds this year and 79 rising one-year-olds. Karley reared an extra 61 calves which were sold as surplus once they secured their new job.
Strong herd reproductive performance with excellent replacement rates had put them in the position to have surplus stock to sell, Grant said.
They have compacted calving from 14 weeks to 11 weeks this year and aim to get it to 10 weeks next season.
The whole herd is treated with dry cow therapy and uses teat sealant on the milkers and incoming heifers. The somatic cell count is 118,000 and dropping every year.
The pair hope to stay at their next job for a few years until they fi nd a bigger sharemilking job or an opportunity to enter an equity partnership.
Second place went to Te Puke sharemilkers Jeff and Ryn Going, and Whakatane lower order sharemilkers Bevan and Lyndell Jones were third.
