Its Bay of Plenty regional head Lisa Payne, who is leading farmer consultations on the new FEI grading system, said the date was changed to give farmers, particularly winter milkers, more time to review their FEI results and adjust onfarm practices.
This season 32% of Fonterra’s winter milk was over the threshold in June, dropping to 12% in July.
Payne said Fonterra recognised the issue was not a one-dimensional one and knew some farmers would be making decisions now about silage and crops for next year.
“While the key factor affecting milk fat composition is the amount of palm kernel fed and its oil content, many factors influence the FEI,” she said.
“These include other supplemental feeds, breed of the cow, genetics and weight of the cow, stage of lactation and the environment. Even a 100% pasture diet will register an FEI result.”
Federated Farmers dairy chairman Chris Lewis said there was still a lot more work to do with the FEI now in the testing phase.
While some farmers appreciated the carrot rather than stick approach it was challenging for others who might need to move away from a cheap, widely accessible feed.
“It will be good to have more information in front of us,” he said.
“Now’s the time if farmers have concerns to make them known.”
They should approach their supply manager then their Fonterra Shareholders Council member before going to the federation if they were not happy with the response they received.
Payne said farmers were being consulted on the grading framework, which would be finalised by the end of the year and was getting some good feedback.
“Farmers agree that the overall objective of the co-op should be to maximise returns for our farmers,” she said.
“To do that we must have the right milk fat composition to produce the products that our customers demand.”
Fonterra would work with farmers to make sure they had the information and tools they needed to produce high quality milk as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Two years ago Fonterra set out a voluntary guideline of feeding no more than three kilograms a cow a day of palm kernel because of concerns it was affecting milk fat composition.
A screening method was developed and since May farmers had received their FEI results on their tanker dockets.
But there had been anomalies in some cases where farms feeding no palm kernel received high FEI results and testing done by the co-op last season showed 100% variability in oil content of palm kernel shipments.
Fonterra told farmers in early June it would introduce a demerit-based grading system from the beginning of June of next year and proposed a farm would receive a demerit after its milk tested outside the acceptable FEI levels three times and it failed a fourth, confirmatory test.
No demerit points would be allocated without the co-op having total confidence in the results of its testing and in the case of extreme weather or an animal welfare event it could use its discretion when applying demerits.
Federated Farmers vice-president and Fonterra supplier Andrew Hoggard said while there was a degree of complacency among some farmers they needed to fully understand the onfarm practices that would contribute to a high FEI result.
“Before it goes live Fonterra needs to be 99.99% there on what can happen and have contingency plans if something comes out of the blue.”
