The hub does research in the southern region’s climate and soil types but business manager Guy Michaels said the crop research will be invaluable to dairy farmers nationwide.
The hub winters its crossbred herd on kale and fodder beet to find the effects of each crop on the total farm system.
The property has 104 paddocks split into about 2.9ha each with about 44ha planted in crops each season.
The farm is further split into four farmlets with each having its own herd for research.
Two herds are wintered on fodder beet while the others are fed kale.
Michaels said the research into fodder beet will solve once and for all whether it is harmful to dairy farming systems.
There are theories it is negatively affecting cow performance and health.
“One of the drivers of having fodder beet is that it’s been widely used in other areas before Southland and a number of early adopters of beet have moved away from it and no longer use it in their farming systems,” he said.
Farmers tend to be ahead of research in their farming practices so the research is trying to catch up to what farmers are learning on their farms and establish the exact effect of fodder beet.
When the hub brought in its stock, two-thirds came from the North Island and had never been wintered on crop. Along with locally sourced cows about 700 cows were split evenly into the four herds by a statistician, mixing them by age, breeding weight, breed, live weight and calving date.
“The cows on the fodder beet will always be fodder beet cows. Their calves will always be wintered on fodder beet,” Michaels said.
Kale cows will also always be fed kale.
It is not a 50:50 split between the crops, with more kale planted this season because they had to plant crop according to herd requirements.
The stock are brought in for testing regularly with blood and milk tested, as well as cow measurements. Any animals that die on the hub are sent for an autopsy.
“The things that they are interested in are what effect, if any, has diet had on that animal? Is there a difference between a fodder beet cow and a kale cow?”
Michaels said there is extra interest in bone structure, with samples taken in every autopsy because fodder beet is low in phosphorus, which is not supplemented into any of the herds’ diets.
While there is a focus on the lifetime effect of crops on the farming system, youngstock have been singled out in a trial to see what effect wintering replacement heifers on crop has on the animals.
With the hub in only its second season, it is still early days for the winter crop study but the long-term results will help farmers make choices about what crops to use in their farm systems.
The hub has a focus on research but as a business there have to be considerations made to mitigate both business and environmental risk when it comes to winter crops.
The hub has a top terrace with a quite heavy soil and a lower terrace with much heavier soils.
From next season they will begin wintering on the lower terrace as well as the top terrace. However, there has to be some risk management in place.
There is about 1.8km of stream running through the property on the lower terrace and the neighbouring Makarewa River poses a flood risk.
“If we have all our crop on the bottom then chances are we’ll get caught out.”
As a result there are three paddocks neighbouring the stream that are off-limits for cropping because their narrow and sloped topography has too much of a sediment run-off risk to be used, even with buffers.
The fenceline along the stream has been expanded to provide a greater buffer zone for future crops and there are plans for plantings along the stream to further minimise risk, Michaels said.
When paddocks are selected for cropping existing pasture is killed off with a double spray before any drainage issues are identified and fixed then work begins with a conventional cultivation plough before crop seeds are sown.
In between the crops the paddocks are deep ripped as soon as the tractor can get in then the paddock is either resown in crop or pasture depending on where it is in the cycle.
Each paddock designated for cropping will be in crop for two seasons before being replanted in grass.
There are tentative plans to do research into catch crops.
Catch crops are grown in the space between growing main crops and are used as a tool to reduce sediment loss on paddocks.
Michaels said they are still working out the science of what will be possible in a southern climate and on southern soils, which are heavier and wetter than in other parts of the country.
“We can’t replicate stuff that’s successful where the soils are lighter and they can get onto them sooner.”
The hub’s reason for being is to replicate conditions on southern farms to find out what is and isn’t feasible in the area, he said.
“If the traditional use of catch crops won’t work because of our heavy soils, soil damage and late season frosting then what can we change to try and get the same benefit from catch crop?”
