Dairy News 11 Mar 2014

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Nestle inspectors to audit Southland farms. PAGE 5

MARCH 11, 2014 ISSUE 308 // www.dairynews.co.nz

BATTLE OF BRANDS

“It’s a journey and we’re making good progress.” – Judith Swales, Fonterra

Australia managing director. PAGES 3 & 4

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PAGE 38

DAI RY NEWS MARCH 11, 2014

NEWS // 3

NEWS ��3-18

OPINION �� 20-21

AGRIBUSINESS ��22-23

MANAGEMENT ��24-27

ANIMAL HEALTH ��28-30

EFFLUENT & WATER MANAGEMENT ��31-44

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS �� 45-50

Could milk pooling work? PG.07

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FONTERRA IS pushing back against growing competition in the Australian market.

The co-op aims to lift milk supply by 100 mil-lion litres annually with a marketing campaign based on its global reach.

Fonterra Australia managing director Judith Swales says the co-op is targeting Australian farm-ers. “We know from surveys we have done that Australian farmers increasingly want to be part of the global scene,” she told Dairy News.

“That’s where we see Fonterra being able to win in this marketplace. Obviously with our footprint around the globe we are able to give broader access for our farmers through that global market, so we feel we are better placed to satisfy farmers than anybody else in Australia.”

Last season Fonterra collected 1.57b L of milk from 300,000 cows milked by 1300 farmers. While it has enough milk to process at its 11 plants, it is always looking for more, says Swales.

“We are looking to grow our milk by about 100m L per year and we think we can do that given the strength of the Fonterra brand and the global strength of the Fonterra footprint, not only with the brands we have but with our manufacturing footprint in this market.”

Fonterra is also banking on its R&D capabilities in Palmerston North to win new suppliers. Swales says the co-op has innovation other players in this market won’t have.

At the recent Australian Dairy Conference in Geelong, Gary Helou, managing director of rival Murray Goulburn, played the farmer cooperative card.

Helou emphasised that MG was the only remaining major dairy co-op in Australia following the takeover of Warrnambool Cheese and Butter by Canadian processor Saputo. He claimed that commercial processors preferred higher profits at the expense of a milk payout but co-ops aimed for maximum payout to farmer shareholders.

Swales says for some Australian farmers, being part of a co-op is important. But “an increasing majority” want to be part of the global food scene. They want to be part of this food bowl to Asia con-cept. “This is increasingly what they are looking for and we have that access.”

Swales agreed Fonterra had challenges in Aus-tralia but it was here to stay.

“It’s a must-win market for us. The Australian milk pool is valuable locally and globally and we need to find a way to win.”

FONTERRA ISN’T paying too much atten-tion to Saputo’s acquisition of Warrnam-bool Cheese and Butter, says Australian managing director Judith Swales.

The co-op needs to remain focussed on its business, she says.

“They bought that for some strategic rationale. But I see a huge amount of po-tential in our Fonterra Australian business. Although there are a number of challenges, we are working through those.

“We have to give ourselves a solid foundation to build from and when I look at this business I see no shortage of opportu-nities.”

Meanwhile Saputo says it is hungry for further acquisitions and has singled out Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and the US as its targets.

Speaking at a press conference to dis-cuss quarterly results, chief executive Lino Saputo gave no indication that further big purchases are imminent, however, noting that the company had considered a play for Warrnambool for the past 10 years.

“Now with Warrnambool, we have a strong, solid platform in Australia, perhaps there could be other small, tuck-in busi-nesses in Australia,” Saputo says.

The acquisition expands Saputo’s

operations beyond Canada, the US and Ar-gentina, giving it a platform to tap growing Asian demand.

Saputo holds 88% stake in WCB. Japa-nese beverage giant Kirin Holdings Co Ltd, which owns a 10% stake in WCB through its local unit Lion, poses the last hurdle for Saputo to take full control of Warrnam-bool.

Saputo says Warrnambool will be a strong subsidiary of Saputo Inc.

“Whether we have 100% or 90% or 80%, we’re still delighted with this trans-action and think as a subsidiary, this could be a good platform for us.”

SAPUTO BUYOUT NO CONCERN OF OURS

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Fonterra wants extra 100m L milk in Oz

Fonterra Australia supplier, Wayne Weller with Judith Swales shifting dry cows as the sun rises in East Victoria.

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4 // NEWS

Fonterra in Oz battle of brands

AS A schoolgirl in York-shire, northern England, Judith Swales delivered milk to neighbours before heading off to classes.

The daughter of a milkman, Swales grew up around dairy farms although she admits not having to wake up every morning to milk cows. Today, she lives on a dairy farm near Melbourne and as Fonterra Australia man-aging director she heads a business that collects nearly 1.6 billion litres of milk from 1300 farmers, runs 11 processing plants and supplies leading dairy products to Australians.

The principle of deliv-

ering a quality dairy prod-uct on time is an enduring memory from Swales’ childhood, but running a consumer business in the highly competitive Aus-tralian market has a lot more challenges. Swales was appointed in June 2013 to turn around the co-op’s Australian busi-ness, reeling from the effects of heightened competition for lower milk volumes and con-tinuing margin squeeze on consumer brands.

Nine months into the role Swales is confident the reshaped Australian operation is making prog-ress. It’s no secret Austra-lia is a tough market and there are challenges but we are focussed on turning the business around, she

told Dairy News.“We are making good

progress. It’s a journey and I think we’ve got the right team on board.

“We have a billion dol-lars tied up in working capital and like any other

business we need to make sure we give our share-holders the return on the capital invested. That’s where we are focussed at the moment – making sure we are an integral part of a winning supply chain

where farmers and cus-tomers are profitable and growing.”

As part of the busi-ness reshape, Fonterra is putting the lion’s share of its Australian adver-tising spend into five

IN BRIEFLandcorp forecasts profit

LANDCORP’S HALF year result of $12.2 mil-lion to December 31, 2013 reflects the season’s favourable growing conditions and record milk prices, says chief executive Steve Carden.

The state-owned enterprise expects a full year net profit of about $35 million barring any sharp reversal in conditions or market prices.

master brands: Western Star butter, Perfect Ital-iano cheese, Mainland cheese, Bega cheese and Ski yoghurt.

The focus is on making the brands bigger and better, Swales says. “Part of this is transitioning sub brands underneath these master brands to add reach and scale.”

In the yoghurt and dairy desserts market Fonterra is trying hard to regain the market leader status it recently lost to Yoplait. Swales says the yoghurt category is much changed: small gourmet yoghurt brands have eroded the market share of bigger interna-tional brands like Ski and Yoplait.

It’s early days but Fon-terra hopes its recent pur-chase of Tamar Valley Dairy, which has pouch and single serve facili-ties, will help it regain the number one spot.

In the cheese category, Fonterra remains the top cheese with 24% market share. Its Perfect Italiano cheeses are a big success.

With consumers now watching food shows like Master Chef and My Kitchen Rules, everybody wants to be culinary hero, Swales says.

“What we are doing

with Perfect Italiano is helping them cook like a master chef but making sure they have the right cheese for the right occa-sion. So, if you’re making a pizza, putting shredded cheddar on it will not give you the right outcome; making sure you have the right mozarrella will abso-lutely give you the right outcome.

“So, we’re tying in with big cooking shows and making sure our Per-fect Italiano and Western Star brands are supporting that kind of changing con-sumer trend.”

Fonterra’s Western Star butter has 18% market share and the co-op leads the spreads market with 26% share. It sells one tub of Western Star butter every second.

Fonterra also supplies the food service industry – about 7500 restaurants, pubs and clubs – and is alongside chefs nation-wide.

The main thing is not the number of brands but the right brands for each category, Swales says.

“We are starting to be clear about the role brands play in each category: growing the category and our brand in the process. It’s a journey and we are making good progress.”

Judith Swales on her Melbourne farm.


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DON’T TAKE Chinese consumers lightly – they are just as sophisticated as New Zealand consumers.

That’s the message from Fonterra’s general manager New Zealand policy affairs, Carolyn Mortland, who says Chi-nese consumers want to know if their food is safe and reliably produced, as do New Zealand consum-ers.

Increasing wealth and greater urbanisa-tion in emerging markets are causing a huge global trend in the demand for food, Mortland says. The trigger point is when people go from earning $2 a day to $10 a day they

start wanting animal pro-tein and better fruit and vegetables.

“So there is grow-ing demand for dairy and consumers want to know where and how their food is produced. This means there is a big empha-sis on traceability back to the origin of the prod-uct, including food safety – in other words, knowing your food is reliable.”

Linked to the issue of traceability is the advent of social media and the connectivity of the con-sumer to the production of food. The internet and mobile devices enable consumers to hear a story about your business within minutes of it hap-pening

“For example when we found out last year that

there were traces of DCD in the milk, we apparently had 400,000 hits on the Chinese social media in the first hour. That’s the kind of response we get.

“Recently in Chile with the hitting of bobby calves over the head the story went viral and it came back to us, asking how we treat our cows in New Zea-land. There is now a much stronger connection from consumer to farmgate demanding food safety, traceability and responsi-ble production.”

The Chinese are now looking hard at environ-mental issues and this is embedded in their ‘five year plan’, Mortland says.

They are dealing with air pollution and are con-cerned about water qual-ity, she adds.

“If they start to impose regulations on their oper-ators they are going to look to us to do the same. They have a big and grow-ing dairy market but they are not going to be able to keep up with the growing demand and they will have to keep importing.

“But [with] these requirements on their own dairy industry in terms of production they are going to be looking to make sure it’s an even playing field in the other countries they importing from and this has implications for New Zealand.”

NEWS // 5

Roadshow on sustainability

FONTERRA SENIOR executives have just spent a week on the road, holding 60 ‘shed’ meetings nationwide.

They told farmers about global developments in sustainability and the demands and sophistication of consumers in emerging markets, says spokes-woman Carolyn Mortland.

The group briefed farmers on the Nestle project and showed a video from a senior Nestle executive about where that company is heading in sustain-ability.

They also talked about water quality issues and new environmental regulations being enacted by regional councils. These pose a challenge and an opportunity for farmers, Mortland says.

Sustainability was also the focus of the 2013 road-show, pushing the target of fencing 100% of farm waterways, now 90% complete. The final 10% often involves difficult parts of a farm, the co-op says.

Dairy farmers have largely got the message about sustainability, Mortland says.

“We have noticed the difference. There is a sense among most farmers that they are on a journey and they are concerned about those who are not.

“I can’t say we have ticked all the boxes but the farmer population is like any population: you have fast adopters, the bulk, then the other end. But gen-erally the message is getting through – from market pull, the community and New Zealand generally – that good sustainable farming is a requirement they have to meet.”

Dairy farmer understanding of nitrogen leach-ing varies around the country, Mortland says. Farm-ers in regions such as Canterbury and Manawatu are highly tuned in to the issues, while farmers in other regions are not so aware.

PETER BURKEpeterb@ruralnews�co�nz

Emerging markets storming ahead in food tastes

Carolyn Mortland, Fonterra, says consumers want to know more about their food.


‘WE’RE FROM NESTLE TO CHECK YOU OUT’

MULTINATIONAL NESTLE – Fonterra’s largest customer – has a spotlight on the New Zealand dairy industry, says Carolyn Mortland.

In the next few weeks as part of a pilot programme called the ‘Nestle responsible sourcing assessment’, contrac-tors to that company will visit 50 randomly selected dairy farms in Southland.

Nestle has done the same for other commodities such as sugar, and is now

moving on dairying. “They will go on-

farm and check the farm’s credentials and will ask questions of those farmers, such as, how do you man-age your environmen-tal footprint? what are you doing about water quality? how’s your animal welfare? what about sustain-able sourcing? It’s not that these farms will get a ‘pass’ or a ‘fail’, but rather that Nestle can assure itself its procurement of dairy is from people on the journey towards re-

sponsible sustainable management.”

Mortland says this is exciting for everyone and Fonterra is thrilled at farmers’ responses. “They are randomly se-lected and are actually

looking forward to it; they are enthusiastic to be involved. Nestlé will collate the outcome and it will take a year or so for the results to come out.”

Fonterra sees this

as an opportunity to showcase what they are doing and get an external perspective on what’s good and what’s not about what they are doing, she says.

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6 // NEWS

Farmers upbeat despite big dry summer

DESPITE THE summer dry, most dairy farmers overall are upbeat about the season, says DairyNZ consulting officer Craig McBeth, who heads a team of consulting officers nationwide.

He’s reflecting on the views of farmers from around the country, and especially 40 farmers who attended a DNZ ‘summer dry workshop’ last week in Waikato.

But some farmers are less than upbeat: those who see their neighbours a few kilometres down the road getting good rainfall while they get nothing.

There are good and bad patches. “Like in North-land where the rainfall maps show the west coast

is dire while the east coast is better off. One is get-ting only the good payout; the other is getting both a good payout and good pro-duction. But that’s farm-ing; that’s what happens,” he says.

Farmers at the work-shop were still milking 80% of peak cow numbers, but feeding a lot more sup-plements; in some cases up to 70% of their cows’ diets are supplements.

“All had some cows on once-a-day (OAD) milking, if not the whole herd. Body condition score (BCS) is hanging in quite well so that was a signal to us that farmers were manag-ing their animals in a way to maintain BCS at 4.0 or better which is very good.

“The farmers at the workshop were engaged…. We talked them through doing a feed budget and

it was good to see them jotting down their own numbers. We then did a hands-on BCS workshop with one of our animal husbandry experts giving a demonstration of scoring animals.”

And a session on sup-plements gave the work-shop farmers information on which to base decisions for their particular opera-tions.

Farmers are overall making good decisions on drying off the cows that are not going to be in the herd next year and looking after the ones they are going to retain. ‘Summer dry’ workshops are continuing through March.

Meanwhile DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle sas milk produc-tion across the country is looking great for most areas, with Bay of Plenty

in particular up 9% on the drought-reduced produc-tion in 2012-13. Production in Canterbury is 7% up on last year, but some of this is from more cows being milked.

Mackle says the increase in the milk price announced recently will boost farmer confidence and allow them to invest in infrastructure on their farms and maybe retire debt. But others may be forced to use the extra cash to manage their way through the dry condi-tions, he says.

“The extremely dry conditions are patchy. Worst affected are Waikato, the west coast of Northland, Gisborne, Wanganui-Rangitikei, Wairarapa, Marlborough, Hurunui, South Canter-bury and Central Otago.

“But generally it’s a

bumper season with pro-duction for the entire country across all milk companies up 6% on last year. For Bay of Plenty

dairy farmers it’s a match made in heaven: bumper production with great growing conditions and a record payout. All we need

now is some rain in those dry areas to make it a truly record season for most dairy regions,” Mackle says.


FEDERATED FARMERS’ Dairy chairman in Northland, Ashley Cullen, says the summer dry in his region is ‘patchy’ with some get-ting good rain and others around Dargaville missing out.

Cullen says on his farm near Maungaturoto he got 16mm of rain, while 8km away another farmer got 50mm.

“I’ve dried off the heifers and the cows are OAD. We had a record start to the season. We are well up on last year but we are starting to lose ground now.

“We are down to the bare bones of the herd and hoping we can keep feeding what we have got and keep milking them.

“When we do get rain we’ll hopefully be able to keep going that little bit longer.”

Waikato Feds dairy chairman Chris Lewis says the drying winds have been a major problem for him. But his cows are in good condition and he’s hoping to harvest his maize crop in the next few weeks. As for rainfall, that’s a problem, he says.

DOWN TO BARE BONES

Cows being fed out at Otaki.

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NEWS // 7

Could milk pooling boost payout?

A NATIONAL system of milk collection could mean higher payouts for dairy farmers and less friction with the public and transport agencies from trucks on the road, says a former Federated Farmers transport spokesman.

However, his ideas have met a cool response from Fonterra which views its collection scheduling as a competitive advantage.

“You’ve got Synlait trucks passing Westland trucks passing Fonterra trucks,” South Canterbury cropping farmer Jeremy Talbot told Dairy News, shortly after a local newspaper article highlighted increased truck movements and a lack of passing lanes on SH1 in the region.

“Some of these milk tankers are travelling hundreds of kilometres beyond the nearest plant. Surely it would be more efficient if they simply delivered to the nearest processor and then the companies sorted out any differences in quantity and quality financially?”

With Mongolian-owned Oceania Group soon to start processing in his region, the tanker traffic, and overlap of collection networks, is sure to increase, he adds.

“There has to be a better way. If cropping farmers can do it with grain, delivering to a communal silo and being paid on the quantity and quality they deliver, surely dairy farmers could do the same with milk?”

Talbot acknowledges there could be a traceability argument against such a move but if sampling and testing procedures are up to scratch, that shouldn’t be a problem, he says.

“There’s so much milk going into any one of these factories now that by the time a problem emerges in a processed product there’s little chance of tracing it back to the farm anyway.”

Fonterra general manager transport, Barry McColl, says the idea of a pooled collection system has not been discussed at Fonterra. “Certainly not in recent years anyway,” he told Dairy News.

“We see milk collection as one of our competitive advantages that comes with scale. And we have quite a bit of

technology invested in our trucks; some pretty clever smarts,” he adds. “I’m not sure we’d want to share that with our competitors.”

Suppliers sometimes question collection routes but he says the cooperative’s national collection scheduling system, run out of Hamilton, ensures they are optimising transport efficiency.

He also believes any savings that might be achieved by pooling collections would be minimal, probably less than 1c/kgMS, and the cost of setting up such a system could be high.

For example, every collection would need full analysis for fat, protein, etc, rather than just a basic safety check, whereas at present full analysis is only carried out on a proportion of collections, he explains.

Also, which factory tankers are routed to depends on the stage of the season: at peak everything is flat out at every factory, but earlier and later in the season it’s a case of sending the milk to the plants which can make products with the highest returns.

“It would be extraordinarily complex…. And I don’t think you’d

reduce tanker movements that much.”

Talbot says he’s not surprised by Fonterra’s reaction to his suggestion because the real benefit is to suppliers and the general public.

“For the processor it would only be a marginal reduction in cost but for New Zealand Inc there could be a considerable saving in reduced roading costs and shorter journey times, especially if every sector looked at the issue.”

For example, there’s little or

no co-ordination of stock truck movements between meat processing companies, or livestock traders come to that, he says.

“This needs an industry or government body to pull all the parties together and ensure they co-operate... it just needs everyone to think outside the square a bit. For the cooperatives in particular, they need to remember who they’re working for: the farmer.”

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Fonterra has poured cold water on a call for a national system of milk collection.

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NEWS // 9

FONTERRA AND its Global-DairyTrade partners appear to have finally found the limit to the world’s demand for dairy products.

After months of prices hold-ing firm at historic highs despite increased supply, last week’s auction saw the overall index fall 4%, dragged down by whole milk powder’s 5.7% dive to US$4703/t and skim milk powder’s 3.9% slide to US$4658/t.

“We thought the revision in supply would be a real test for the market,” ANZ rural economist Con Williams told Dairy News, reflect-ing on Fonterra’s 43,000t increased offering

The market shift comes as dry conditions start to bite on-farm but with two-thirds of the season gone and three-quarters of anticipated production in the vat, Williams believes the weather’s impact on the market will be minimal.

“Milkflows for the year to date

have been pretty strong and the dry conditions would be best described as localised at the moment – Waikato, Central Plateau, parts of Northland; most other areas are alright.”

The record forecast payout will also help persuade some farmers to buy extra feed and keep milking when they might otherwise have dried off, he notes.

Supply elsewhere in the world is responding to the high prices, notably across the EU where latest monthly production figures are 4.5% ahead of last year. Cow retention has increased in the US too, suggesting producers there are responding to cheaper feed and higher milk prices, and Australian production is up for the first time in a while too.

However, until recently US farm-gate prices hadn’t responded to the high global markets so the supply response there has been slow and they have weather problems of their own, adds Williams: drought in Cal-ifornia and winter weather in Wis-consin, two of the main dairy areas.

That slow US response, and Chi-

na’s production problems, makes him believe there’s at least a “two or three year window” before global production catches up with demand sufficiently to bring prices down sub-stantially.

Behind that is a near 6% fall in China’s domestic production due to a 15% reduction in the size of its national dairy herd, partly because of foot and mouth disease, and partly because of more stringent quality demands placed on suppliers since the melamine scandal.

Beef prices have also been high, tempting many smaller-scale Chi-nese dairy farmers to “take the money and run,” explains Williams.

All factors considered, last week’s dip represents “more of a moder-ation from recent highs” than the start of a serious slide in values, says Williams, who predicts next season’s opening forecast will be in the mid to low $7/kgMS range.

“I was starting to think that was looking a little light before [last week’s GDT] but now I’m more con-fident with that.”

Global markets respond to increased supply

Dutch-style cheeses top annual awards

FONTERRA SUP-PLIES the milk to Akaroa’s Barrys Bay Tradi-tional Cheese which won the coveted Countdown Champion of Champi-ons Award for large cheese producers at the 2014 Cheese Awards last week.

A Dutch-style cheese, Aged Gouda, took the award.

Owner Mike Carey told Dairy News they can choose their Fonterra sup-pliers and recently have been getting milk from a farm at Motukara. “The milk is so clean, it’s beau-tiful,” he says “It’s slightly more crossbred; it makes a really nice cheese.”

In contrast, another top winner, family opera-tion Mahoe Farmhouse Cheese, are dairy farm-ers themselves, using all the milk from their herd for the cheese. Kerikeri based Mahoe won the Cui-

sine Champion Artisan Cheese Award for smaller producers for the third year running for another Dutch-style cheese, Very Old Edam.

Owner Bob Rose-vear says one of his sons milks the 65 Friesian-Jer-sey herd and two other sons do most of the cheese making. They are cur-rently switching the herd to Montbeliard and Nor-mande because they are turning to more Swiss and French style cheeses. They are also easy calving and are beef-dairy cattle.

Fonterra Brands’ Kiwi cheese brand Kapiti was

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It also won champion trophies for the Ecolab Champion Blue Cheese, Kiwi Labels Champion Cheddar and the Kiwibank Champion Export Cheese.

PAM TIPApamelat@ruralnews�co�nz

Mike Carey, of Barrys Bay Traditional Cheese, which won the Champion of Champions award for large producers.


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10 // NEWS

Dr Jean Margerison, Massey University

Cow of a job, getting

Cow on a foam bed.

COUNTING SHEEP (or listening to Parliament) may be seen as a simple or mythical means of getting to sleep. But Massey University researcher Dr Jean

Margerison and research student Charlotte Reed have been counting cows – at night – and must stay wide awake while doing it.

Margerison spoke at this year’s Fertiliser and Lime Research Centre workshop at the university, where she is

one of a team working at the No 4 Dairy unit, looking at the value of cow houses and how these compare with normal year-round pasture-based systems. This includes looking at issues such as nitrogen leaching and reducing pugging on soft soils.


The cows spend a limited time in the cow house and get the rest of their feed from pasture, whenever it is available.

Magerison’s interest is cow beds – which type cows prefer and how to entice them to use them after a lifetime of lying in a paddock. The cow beds are in a large barn built to best-practice standards and similar to those used by some farmers in New Zealand. The 200-cow free stall barn has a central feed passage and an alleyway which separates the feeding area from the individual stalls or beds. The difference at Massey, and in particular the work by Margerison, is in the different types of beds – sand, foam and rubber mats, some with a sprinkling of sawdust to make them more ‘cow friendly’.

“It’s a pilot trial to look at beds and how we could make cows adopt these because farmers have cows that have never used a bed in their life. It’s a new experience for the cows and they don’t always accept the idea of going to a bed in a large shed…. We’re

interested in seeing if cows use different bed types and if so for how long… and how this compares with cows kept on pasture.”

Normally cows lie down for about eleven hours a day, normal for ruminating, producing milk and feeding. The trial asks, given a choice, do cows lie down longer in paddocks or on cow beds and do they, like humans, prefer certain types of beds.

“If a cow doesn’t lie down inside and instead stands up for a long time it gets uncomfortable and is prone to lameness,” Margerison says. “Some will get fatigued and instead of going into a bed or stall will just lie down in the alley way and this makes it instantly prone to mastitis which you do not want in a lactating cow. So it’s

important we try to find out… what we can do to entice them into using beds.”

Sand beds are popular, having the advantage of being recyclable, albeit with some difficulty: each needs 25-30kg of fresh sand daily. But the cows are assumed to

“ It’s a new experience for the cows and they don’t always accept the idea of going to a bed in a large shed…. We’re interested in seeing if cows use different bed types and if so for how long… and how this compares with cows kept on pasture.”

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NEWS // 11

them to bed

Sand beds being prepared for cows.

FEEDING COWS at this time of the year is critical, says Dr Jean Margerison, Massey University.

At this time of year pasture availability and overall quality go down and the feed is more fibrous and low in protein. She advises pasture must be complemented by other for-ages and feeds, providing energy and protein to get a cost-effective milk yield and to man-age body condition.

No 4 Dairy is currently feeding pasture, grass and maize silage and supplements in the shed to keep the milk yield up.

“Earlier in the year we were focused on achieving a body condition score of 5.0 in most cows at calving and minimising meta-bolics, through dry cow feeding and transi-tion (springer) cow diets, following onto getting cows cycling and pregnant. We have an empty rate of about 6 %, milk fever cases were less than 1.5 % in less than 1 % of cows and other typical metabolics were absent.

“At this time of the year we want to make money and manage body condition too, so we want to feed the cows and keep them producing milk. Cows in poorer condition will be fed more and the ones in good condition will be fed less and all of them will be kept milking because we have a good payout. We know what we are getting paid for each kg of milk solids so we can work out the feed costs and milk income, and therefore know the farm’s income.”

Margerison says cows are highly respon-sive in milk yield; feeding them to maintain good condition and milking is the ideal option. Taking a ‘hit’ from feed inputs is profitable in a season such as this when the payout is high. Make money while you can.

“The main thing to remember is when you dry her off it still costs money to feed her – it’s not free. So you can just feed her a bit more, in addition to what you have to feed her as a dry cow, and keep her milking. In this way you keep her in sufficiently good body condition and feed to keep her milking.

“In later lactation cows easily increase their body condition and also produce milk cost-effectively. The best bit is you know what your feed is costing and what you are being paid for the milk. The rest – shed, staff and cows – you have on hand and you just need to make the most of them.”

CRITICAL SEASON FOR FEEDING

like them because they are comfortable, clean and dry. And the cows, once they had adopted sand beds, also showed a liking for other beds – except for black rubber dualchamber water beds. The cows took longer to adapt to these and even those familiar with other beds were not inclined to use the water beds.

Incentives were offered to get them to bed. Classic Hits radio is played in the milking shed and barn to improve familiarity, but to no avail at bedtime. Instead the trick was novel foods, says Margerison.

“They tried different types of silage, and molasses and silage, but the one thing that worked was pasture hay: they really like that. Some cows will never get on a bed because they are not confident to go in there. We… included sawdust which has a more ‘natural’ smell and that worked quite well. But for the group not adapting to beds quickly, and laying down in the alley, we found hay really did the trick.” Used for a few days, this got cows onto the beds sooner and more readily.

The project, due

to run for a few years, comes under the umbrella of Pastoral 21, a joint venture of DairyNZ, Fonterra, Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand, Beef + Lamb NZ and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

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NEWS // 13

Injunction breach irks judge

IF YOU think QEII covenants on land can be ignored, think again, judging by the latest development in what looks like becoming a test cases.

Canterbury dairy and dairy sup-port farmer Roelof Wobben’s appar-ent breach of a QEII National Trust covenant and subsequent defiance of an interim injunction was slammed as “wilful, reckless or contumacious” by a high court judge late last month.

“Mr Wobben should be in no doubt that imprisonment is an available option to punish a wilful or reckless disobedience of a court order,” Justice Rachel Dunningham said.

The trust had earlier obtained an interim injunction to stop Roelof Wob-ben’s company, Netherland Holdings, from further damaging pockets of dry kanuka woodland protected by a QEII covenant on a property be bought in late 2012.

The trust says Wobben was aware of the covenants at the time of purchase yet cleared sections of the land to make

way for irrigators.A verbal commitment made to the

trust by Wobben to restore the damage was not honoured, trust chief execu-tive Mike Jebson says. That prompted a legal letter, which was similarly “not respected”.

“At that point we felt we had no other option than to take it to court,” he told Dairy News.

That action in itself was unprec-edented in the trust’s 37-year history and an interim injunction was obtained prohibiting further damage to the cove-nanted land, including from use of irri-gators and fertiliser.

Jebson says this was breached over the Christmas period prompting the trust to take further High Court action resulting in the February 27 ruling.

The trust says irrigation and fertil-iser are very detrimental to the natural conditions required for the restoration and regeneration of the damaged cov-enants.

“While we are still to have our day in court for the original covenant breaches, this interim case shows that the measures we have had to take to defend the covenant are legally justi-

fied, and breaches of court injunctions issued on our behalf are taken seriously and can have serious consequences,” says trust chairman James Guild.

“We look forward to the day when work to restore this rare woodland eco-system can start in earnest.”

The case seeking full restoration of the covenanted areas will be heard in the High Court later this year.

Jebson says he hasn’t totalled the costs of taking action against Nether-land Holdings but they will be consider-

able and, considering the trust’s annual budget is only a little over $4m, signif-icant.

The trust’s normal spending is mostly on securing new covenants and maintaining the circa 4000 covenants already in place nationwide.

“Any expense on this case is a dis-traction from our core business but if the need arises we will step up to the plate and that’s what we’ve had to do in this case,” says Jebson.

He stresses he considers the case

exceptional and negative commentary in social media about the dairy indus-try as a result is unfortunate given the lengths many landowners have gone to in protecting valuable habitats on their properties.

New owners of covenanted land may not always be as committed to their protection as those that instigated the covenants, but in most cases they are respected,” says Jebson.

Wobben was unavailable for com-ment last week.


Before (left) and after (right). Kanuka woodland allegedly damaged by a dairy farmer.

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14 // NEWS

Tatua chairman Steve Allen and chief executive Paul McGilvary sign books for former and current shareholders.

Tatua celebrates 100 years

TATUA DAIRY Co-op was formed and started accepting milk at its site at Tatuanui, between Morrinsville and Waitoa,

in 1914. Now in its centennial

year, it will celebrate with various events, culminat-ing in November with a centennial dinner at the Waikato Events Centre with 950 guests expected.

TONY HOPKINSONThe first event was

the release this month of Tatua 100 Years, a history written by Dr Ian Hunter.

The launch at Oak Lane Lodge, 6km from the fac-tory site, was attended by shareholders and staff past and present and some share milkers.

They were addressed by Tatua director John Luxton, a former agricul-ture minister and co-op chairman whose father formerly supplied the company. John and two brothers are present day suppliers. He spoke of the history of the company and its place in the indus-try.

Hunter told of meeting many suppliers to gather information.

Colin Foster, a 20 year employee, spoke for the staff and David Wilton spoke for the Wilton family, his grandfather having been an original supplier. A special book presentation was made to David and Norma Wilton, and to Peter Kelly who has worked at Tatua for 43 years.

Tatua chairman Steve Allen spoke at the end of the proceedings.

All present and former shareholders were pre-sented with a boxed copy of the book.

IAN HUNTER, a business historian, was formerly an associate professor at Auckland University. He published his first book in 1999.

Two recent works are a history of the Farmers Trading Company and its founder Robert Laidlaw, and Briscoes 150 years as part of the New Zealand business scene.

“This was my first venture into the dairy industry and it was exciting to see the chal-lenges the suppliers faced starting this com-pany and growing it through the years.”

He milked some cows and underwent the usual initiation of a newcomer to a dairy shed.

The book is 390 pages, well illustrated with black and white and coloured photos and attractively presented as a boxed set.

Hunter’s two-year project involved inter-viewing 50 suppliers and staff and research-ing archival material.

FIRST GO AT MILKING

IN BRIEF

Bilodeau to retireBALLANCE AGRI-NUTRIENTS chief executive Larry Bilodeau is to step down late September.

His retirement will end 17 years with the farm-er cooperative, 14 of them as chief executive.

Bilodeau, who began his career as general manager of Ballance’s Kapuni urea plant in 1997, says he is looking forward to the next six months and ensuring the cooperative stays on track with its growth strategy and performance goals.

“We have been proud of our performance in recent years, capped off by last year’s record result and rebate. My priorities now are to ensure the business remains in good shape financially, operationally and strategically so my successor is well placed to continue our growth path.”

Ballance chairman David Peacocke said that under Bilodeau’s leadership Ballance had evolved from a fertiliser business to a coopera-tive fully covering farm nutrient requirements.

“Larry has always ensured our cooperative has stayed one step ahead of our shareholders’ and customers’ needs. He developed and led our strategy and ensured we earned our place as a trusted name in complete farm nutrient management.

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16 // NEWS

Record payout ignores powder price imbalance

THE LIFT in the farm-gate milk price by 35c to a record $8.65/kgMS is good for farmers, rural econom-

ics and fantastic for New Zealand overall, says Fon-terra’s chairman John Wilson

“We lifted the advance rate by 25c for farmers as well,” he told Dairy News. “That helps with cash-

flows particularly given that it’s dry across much of the country.

“We’ve seen farmers invest significantly in their businesses, particularly in sustainability projects, upgraded farm efflu-

PAM TIPApamelat@ruralnews�co�nz

ent systems and riparian planting. We know what farmers have done in fenc-ing waterways. So this is very strong for our com-munities.”

But Fonterra still faces the situation where whole milk powder prices, which come within milk price manual calculations for the farmgate milk price, are much higher than other ‘non milk price’ products. How this will affect the cooperative’s overall profitability is yet to be seen and, as they are only halfway through the financial year, “there’s a lot of milk to flow under the bridge,” says Wilson.

“We have this histor-ically unique situation where the value of milk powder is significantly more than the ‘non-milk price’ products – cheese and casein predominantly. While cheese and casein prices are strong, whole milk powder prices are sig-nificantly stronger than they have been on a rela-tive basis over time.

“This means if all our manufacturing plants were for products we use for our milk price calcula-tion then we would be able to pay more. But the real-ity is we don’t have that – we are a cooperative and we have cheese plants and casein plants and a whole range of plants.”

Wilson says over time this diversity is good for the cooperative. But this year the difference between the return on

powder-only manufacture and the return on other products is 70c/kgMS. Hence the board’s deci-sion to use its discretion to approve a forecast farm-gate milk price 70c/kgMS below the farmgate milk price calculated in accor-dance with the milk price manual ($9.35/kgMS).

Wilson says while there’s recently been a slight improvement in cheese and casein prices, whole milk prices and skim milk prices continue to stay strong.

“We are looking for-ward to the half-year accounts because we will be able to put some num-bers on that for them and be able to explain that to our farmers and unit hold-ers so there’s more clarity.

“The impact these high commodity prices are having on our profit-ability is at two levels: the high commodity prices squeeze the margins in our consumer businesses in New Zealand and glob-ally; and the relative differ-ence between the different product streams also impacts profitability.

“But we are holding our estimated forecast divi-dend at 10c currently. We will review that at the half year.”

Fonterra is required to consider its farmgate milk price every quarter as a condition of the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA).

Reason to celebrateDAIRY FARMERS have reason to celebrate a bumper season nationwide and a record milk price, say DairyNZ and Federated Farmers.

Production is up 6% nationwide, despite dry weather. The increase in Fonterra’s milk price by 35c to $8.65/kgMS for the 2013/14 season will boost community confidence, especially where drought-like conditions are now being seen, says DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle.

“Milk production across the country is looking great for most areas, with Bay of Plenty in particular up 9% on the drought-reduced production in 2012-13. Production in Canterbury is also 7% up on last year, but some of this extra milk is from more cows being milked.

Willy Leferink, Federated Farmers Dairy chairperson, says New Zealand is truly a land of milk and honey with both production and Fonterra’ s milk price being at record highs.

Fonterra chairman John Wilson says the lift in forecast payout will help cash flows on farm.

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18 // WORLD

CHINA WILL continue to be the major market for dairy products for years, says Murray Goulburn managing director Gary Helou.

With declining milk production and soaring consumer demand, it will remain “the defining battlefield” for major processors. China’s milk production this year is down 6%, due to poor weather, TB issues and high cost of feed, he says.

“China will be the place to be for many years to come, make no mistake about that,” he told the Australian Dairy Conference.

Hellou sees Australia as the food bowl of Asia. “Our future lies in Asia, not in our domestic market. The good thing is that Asia is right at our doorstep but… that doesn’t mean it will come to us.” MG must lift its game and become interna-tionally competitive, he says.

And he singled out Russia as “the next China”.

CHINA’S THE PLACE TO BE

Oz farmers in ‘survival mode’

MOST AUSTRALIAN dairy farmers are in sur-

vival mode because they have lost bargaining power, says the head of the country’s largest pro-cessor.

Murray Goulburn man-

aging director Gary Helou last month told the Aus-tralian Dairy Conference in Geelong that bargaining power is crucial for farm-ers. If you lose it you will


struggle, he told 350 farm-ers.

MG is the only big Australian dairy proces-sor still owned by farm-ers. Recently it lost the takeover battle for another co-op, Warrnam-bool Cheese and Butter, to Canadian processor Saputo.

Speaking from Dubai via a video link, Helou said a co-op is consti-tuted by members to max-imise the farmgate price, unlike commercial proces-sors who aim for “mini-mising the milk price and maximising profits”. It’s a unique point of difference that separates us from others, he said.

Dairy processing is an intensive business requir-ing local point of pro-duction, stainless steel and capital investment which provide long term returns. Helou points out that four of the world’s top eight dairy proces-sors are co-ops: Fonterra, Dairy Farmers of Amer-ica, FrieslandCampina and Arla Foods.

Co-ops are successful because farmers have the bargaining power.

In Australia, the his-tory of deregulation in the dairy sector over the last two years hasn’t been great, he adds.

“We have seen a frag-mentation of the indus-try. Farmers without any stainless steel and without any bargaining power have

been relegated to survival-only mode. This is what we have outside Victoria: farmers have no capacity to bargain or process their own milk.”

MG is reviewing its capital structure and one of the options includes Fonterrra’s TAF model.

Helou says MG is deter-mined to become a world beating dairy exporter and marketer like the other global co-ops. It will spend $A500 million to boost its powders, cheese and UHT milk production lines.

MG needs to kickstart its stainless steel capabil-ities, he says. “Today we are as competitive as our rivals ex-farmgate, but ex-factory gate we are hope-less. To be honest, we don’t have the footprint other global companies have.”

Helou pointed out in the last five years Fonterra has invested $A1b in China building farms, infrastruc-ture and on marketing.

French company Danone and Arla spent $A700m each to buy a cor-nerstone stake in leading Chinese dairy processor Mengniu.

“Other Australian play-ers including us have not made similar stra-tegic investments. Until we approach that men-tality and level of invest-ment, not in quantum but in terms of direction and impact, we will not prog-ress,” he says.

Gary Helou, Murray Goulburn

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20 // OPINION

RUMINATING

EDITORIAL

MILKING IT...

MANY YEARS ago most New Zealanders knew something about farming and what went on behind the farm gate. Today most don’t, but that’s changing fast: new technology and social media now let them see in seconds what happens on farms.

The killing of bobby calves on a New Zealand farm in Chile is a recent example. The video of that incident has led to a likely law change here on how bobby calves are killed.

It’s often not so much a case of what’s right or wrong, as what’s perceived to be right or wrong. The perception is the reality.

The international dairy giant Nestle will soon be checking up on dairy farms in Southland as part of an international qual-ity assurance audit.

They want to be able to tell their customers that they are buying the best ingredients for their products, and that these are produced in a way that ticks all the boxes on sustainability and best farm management practice.

There is nowhere to hide anymore and farmers who think they can get away with sloppy practices on farm are delusional and doing a great disservice to their colleagues and country.

But perhaps this scrutiny is not the negative it might appear to be. We have great farmers who embrace technology and who are future focused in their management practices. The farms look great and the animals healthy and clearly highly produc-tive.

There is a positive story to tell the consumer and with modern technology it is possible for the farmer and the con-sumer to talk to each other.

In marketing it is said that you have to have a relationship before you can make a sale. That’s true and what better way to do this than for farmers to actively build those relationships with consumers. Some are already doing it and let’s hope more do.

It’s great to see Fonterra’s top brass out in the field spread-ing the message. One can only hope it’s acted upon.

The power of social media

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our readers know what you think. Contact us by either post or email. Don’t forget to put your name and

address. Note: Letters may be edited.

Consultant’s charterCONSULTANTS AND lawyers in Canterbury must be drooling in anticipation of the extra business the region’s Land and Water Plan promises� Already a host of legal firms will be eye-ing millions of minutes in billing for appeals on the plan, and with virtually every dairy farm need-ing a consent to farm by 2016 or 2017, consultants will be salivating at the work prospects, includ-ing the mandatory Farm Environment Plans� Let’s hope Environment Canterbury’s promise to keep processes simple holds true� If it doesn’t, a sizeable chunk of payouts will disappear for years up the smokestack of this bureaucratic gravy-train�

Trans-Tasman dairy drain set to flow again?A DECADE ago a steady trickle of Kiwi dairy farmers were setting up in Austra-lia, either in tandem with a farm here, or for share-milkers as a first step to ownership� More recently that flow down the dairy brain-drainall but dried up as a soaring Australian dollar and better returns here reduced the incen-tive� Now it seems the tide’s turning again, with talk of parity against the Australian dollar, resur-gent land values here, and growing environmental constraints� Little wonder a leading rural bank is organ-ising seminars on dairy farming across the ditch�

Not unusual and it worksWELSH DAIRY farmers are turning to a national hero to help their cows produce more milk� Welsh milk processor Tomlinson’s Dairies says playing Tom Jones classics such as ‘It’s Not Unusual’ to cows in the milking parlour does the trick� While music from other artistes are also played, Sir Tom is the favourite, the dairy says� It says playing music during milking helps to create a calm atmosphere for the cows�

One in a century every decade?LAST WEEK’S storm in Canterbury was labelled by authorities a ‘once-in-a-century’ weather event� The Christchurch earth-quake and some adverse weather events in recent years have been similarly tagged� Isn’t it time to stop saying this? Events hitting us every ten years can scarcely be deemed ‘once-in-a century’�

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OPINION // 21

US rings in farming changesFOUR YEARS after discussions began, and almost 18 months after the previous (2008) bill expired, the US has a new farm bill – the Agricultural Act of 2014.

The act is seen as a big step for a heavily parti-san Congress rarely able recently to pass any sig-nificant legislation. It was negotiated at a time of budgetary pressure in the US, with the aim of cut-ting government spending on agricultural and nutri-tional support.

The act pledges one trillion US dollars over 10 years: about 80% for food stamps, the rest on agri-cultural schemes.

The provisions on agri-cultural commodities rep-resent a shift away from direct payments (irrespec-tive of prices and yields) and price support, towards providing crop and margin insurance tools. This means a big change in direction for the US dairy industry, one of Austra-lia’s fastest growing com-petitors in international markets.

About to be abol-ished is the Dairy Prod-uct Price Support Program (DPPSP) that began in 1949. Through this the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) bought butter, non-fat dry milk (NFDM) and cheddar cheese for storage, resale or giving away when market returns fell below fixed interven-tion prices. No purchases have occurred since 2009, but the end of the scheme is significant. Rather than producing commodities for the government to buy when prices are low, pro-cessors have been encour-aged to target products and specifications interna-tional customers want.

The Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP) began in 1985 to ‘offset’ EU export subsidies. It has rarely been activated in recent years because the volume limits on subsi-dised exports were skewed to NFDM/ skim milk powder where the US has been globally competitive, unsubsidised, since 2004. But the producer funded Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) scheme has recently become a sub-stitute for DEIP, paying subsidies on butterfat, and especially cheddar and

processing cheese exports. Subsidised exports under the guise of CWT reached a record volume in 2013 despite domestic US wholesale prices being below prevailing interna-tional commodity prices.

Also to be abolished is the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC), whereby government money was paid to producers when milk prices were low. This was skewed in favour of smaller farmers who predominate in north-east USA and where political support was greatest. Larger producers, especially those in the western US, adamantly opposed the scheme. It was criticised for delaying a production (market based) response to low milk prices. MILC made monthly payments to dairy farmers based on a feed-adjusted reference price and the prevailing value of a reference fluid milk price. This will be replaced by the Dairy Producer Margin Protection Program (DPMPP) under which farmers may choose margin insurance coverage of $4-$8/cwt (10-20c/L) of the income-over-feed cost gap (margin). All farmers are eligible and can insure 25-90% of historical milk production for an annual administrative fee of $100 and a $4/cwt margin at no additional cost. Premiums increase for subsequent coverage up to $8/cwt.

Premiums will be tiered by volume as well; cheaper for the first four mil-lion pounds (1.76 million litres) and more expensive above that level. If the dif-ference between the all-milk price and national average feed costs accord-ing to the USDA’s monthly agricultural prices report falls below the insured margin for two consecu-tive months, payments are triggered.

Also new under the act is the Dairy Prod-uct Donation Program (DPDP), which autho-rises the USDA to buy and immediately donate dairy products to food stamp schemes when mar-gins fall below $4/cwt for two consecutive months. In contrast to the previ-ous DPPSP intervention scheme, products will be bought at prevailing

market (rather than fixed) prices. The operating rules for this scheme are still to be written, but it seems likely the maximum buying period will be three months, even if margins remain below $4/cwt.

The CWT export sub-sidy scheme hits hard-est on competitors in key

export markets, as well as the head starts on tariff reductions and quota increases enjoyed in trade agreements such as the Korea-US FTA.

From a domestic US industry perspective, immigration reform is seen as important in containing labour

costs on farm, and the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) scheme mandating blending of ethanol (sourced from corn) in gasoline is often cited as driving up the price of corn – the major livestock feed grain. The RFS scheme though is outside the ambit of the

farm bill so is likely to remain controversial with livestock producers. Surging farmland values have also made it more difficult to enter dairying or expand operations. With some certainty over the Farm Bill itself, some of these drivers maybe thrown into sharper relief.

• John Droppert is an indus-try analyst with Dairy Aus-tralia.

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22 // AGRIBUSINESS

Fonterra chips in to help develop Oz farmers

FONTERRA IS helping the Austra-lian dairy industry to lift the standards of its farmers.

The co-op is working with the Bonlac Supply Company (BSC) Leadership Pro-gram, Dairy Australia, National Centre for Dairy Education Australia (NCDEA) and Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) on a curriculum that aligns with wider dairy industry training standards.

The scheme was launched last month in Warragul with eight participants: Ryan Tuckett and Paul O’Malley, North-ern Victoria; Rachael Finch and Colleen Laws, Eastern Victoria; Brian Schuler and Andrew Beale, Western Victoria; and Leigh Schuuring and Jane Sykes, Tasmania.

For about ten years the BSC Lead-ership Program has helped develop leaders in Australia’s dairy industry by educating dairy farmers, the co-op says.

Fonterra Australia director of ingre-dients and operations Bruce Donnison says most of the farmers trained through

the scheme are now in important roles in the dairy industry and in their com-munities.

“The Australian dairy industry faces a critical skills shortage. If we are to truly become part of the food bowl to Asia, we must increase capability in the sector. This program goes a long way towards up-skilling our industry and is an impor-tant step in creating dairy leaders.

“Over the years the program has cemented a strong connection with Fonterra Australia and other industry bodies, which has allowed participants to share [lessons] and best practice.”

Speaking at the Australian Dairy Conference last month, Adam Jenkins, a Fonterra supplier, former BSC direc-tor and 2006 BSC Leadership Program graduate (South Purrumbete, VIC), said the scheme helps participants contrib-ute to the industry beyond the farmgate.

“The skills I gained allowed me to [help] the industry and my community and ultimately led me to the BSC board.”

A2 to enter North American marketA2 IS planning to launch into the North American fresh milk market. It launched in China in November and is growing in Australia and the UK.

Sales of a2 brand fresh milk in Australia increased 28.3% in the six months to December 31, the New Zealand-listed company says in its half-year report. It says a2 is the fast-est growing dairy brand in the gro-cery sector in Australia, with market share of 8%.

Managing director Geoffrey Babidge says “the continuing strong performance of the Australian busi-ness together with the momentum… in the United Kingdom and infant for-mula were the highlights of the first half.”

North America will be the next pri-ority, he says. A2 will work through a wholly owned US subsidiary and recruit a small management team with market experience. a2 brand milk will be displayed at a natural foods exhibition in California this month.

The first sales of a2 Platinum infant formula to consumers took place in China in November. It was also launched in Australia and New Zealand.

Working with Can-terbury processor Syn-lait, the company has set up its a2 Platinum supply chain – receiving A2 milk from farms, producing a2 milk powder, blending and packaging the finished product and delivering to customers. It has its own quality assurance processes along the supply chain, Babidge says.

“The regulatory environment for infant formula in China continues to evolve given the Government’s aim to improve product quality and bring confidence back to the industry.

“These changes are focused on regulating participants operating in the domestic market and registering manufacturers exporting into China. The company will continue to mon-itor and respond to developments.”

A2 on January 1 completed its acquisition of the UK joint venture, buying out Muller Wiseman Dairies

(MWD) and setting up a supply and contract-pack agreement with that com-pany.

A2 plans to develop a global brand and brand marks, pursue patents and do R&D.

Plans are said to be pro-gressing for UHT milk products into Asia.

The unaudited group profit after tax for the six months ended Decem-ber 31, 2013 was $643,000.

This included: ■ Sales of $54 million, an increase

of 22% over the same period last year

■ EBITDA before share of associ-ate earnings of $2.5 million ($3.4 million)

■ Higher marketing costs of $3.1m – a2 Platinum infant formula in China, Australia and NZ .

Geoffrey Babidge

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AGRIBUSINESS // 23

Dairy science chief moving onDAIRYNZ CHIEF scien-tist Dr Eric Hillerton will step down in July. He will remain involved in New Zealand through various dairy farming projects.

Hillerton says a reward-ing aspect of being a sci-entist at DairyNZ is direct involvement with dairy farmers, understanding the problems on farms and helping develop solutions and technologies.

“Much of the value of that science lies in taking research and knowledge directly to farmers, and testing how to apply and transfer innovative tech-nologies and solutions.”

He remarks on notable highlights during his time at DairyNZ, especially “the quality of the scientific research [there] which has become outstanding. We now have top scien-tists who are truly world-leading.

“An example is our work identifying genet-ics involved in feed con-version efficiency by dairy

cows. That work was recently awarded gold status by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and won a Kudos award (Hamil-ton Science Excellence Awards) late last year.

“Now the science team and others, including New Zealand Animal Evalu-ation Limited (NZAEL) and Livestock Improve-ment (LIC), are putting a lot of effort into get-ting the research findings rolled out to all New Zea-land dairy farmers through better bulls.

“Various other projects are also likely to produce benefits, including grow-ing more feed, improv-ing fertility through better uterine health and finding natural resistance to mas-titis.”

DairyNZ chief execu-tive Tim Mackle says Hil-lerton has made a great contribution to the New Zealand dairy industry over the past seven years.

“Eric has driven a sig-

nificant improvement in science quality and output, and his relentless focus has had real benefits for farmers. Farmers can have more confidence in adopt-ing science-based recom-mendations, thanks to the quality of science and the resulting publications.”

Hillerton has also been heavily involved with uni-

versities, the Royal Society of New Zealand and many others, helping ensure a ‘pipeline’ of new young dairy scientists. “It’s vital we encourage, train and mentor the next gener-ation of researchers to replace the older guys who are moving into retire-ment.”

Hillerton joined

Dexcel (now DairyNZ) in 2006 from the Insti-tute for Animal Health in the United Kingdom. His early research career was spent at the University of Reading and the National Institute for Research in Dairying. He is the New Zealand member of the International Dairy Fed-eration standing commit-

tees on animal health and welfare, and farm man-agement, and a past-pres-ident of the international National Mastitis Council.

Said Mackle, “The chief scientist role is a key posi-tion for DairyNZ, given that significant levy fund-ing goes on R&D [to drive] our industry’s strategy and future.”

Maori in three-way buyout of WMSTAINUI GROUP Holdings (TGH), Ngai Tahu Capital (NTHC) and Pioneer Capital have bought Waikato Milk-ing Systems.

Majority shareholder UPC Capital and managing direc-tor John Anderson have unconditionally sold, settling on March 31.

UPC Capital and management bought the company in 2001, growing it appreciably since.

PwC was engaged last year to run a sale process, attracting overseas interest. But the New Zealanders won the bidding.

Waikato Milking designs, manufactures and supplies dairy technology to New Zealand market and 30 other dairy producing countries.

The company remains in 100% New Zealand owner-ship. The three new owners will each hold large equal stakes; the senior managers will hold a minority stake.

Chief executive Dean Bell says the new shareholders will lend weight to the next stage of growth. “They have a good understanding of our industry, significant invest-ment capability and experience with New Zealand export-ers, all of which we will leverage… to develop product innovations that benefit dairy farming businesses, includ-ing greater efficiencies.”

Managing director John Anderson says they have had many approaches over the years. “However in making the decision to sell, we believe our new shareholders repre-sent the best opportunity for us to continue to do what we do well.”

TGH chief executive Mike Pohia says this is the first step in its diversifying and shows its commitment to the Waikato region.

“This company is one of our local success stories. It has built a strong domestic business and is making great strides on the export front. Our investment will help build on that success.”

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24 // MANAGEMENT

LUDF unmoved by payout, impacted

KEEP CALM and keep to budget is Lincoln Univer-sity Dairy Farm’s response to this season’s payout crescendo.

At the end of Janu-ary the industry-leading all-grass Canterbury unit was just $14,000 (1.5%) over budget with total farm working expenses of $935,748.

“We’ve made some reasonable savings and had a few things go over budget,” farm manager Peter Hancox told a focus day on the property late last month.

Notable among the “overs” are grazing costs for replacements and win-tering.

“We reared 25 extra heifers and took them all through to December 1 and the cooler September-

October meant we used a bit more meal and milk powder,” noted Hancox.

The 21% wintering cost over-run was largely due to flooding forcing an early return of cows.

Other over-runs include an extra $8608 (36%) on capital fertiliser and lime reflecting lower than expected soil test results, but nitrogen costs to date are $5712 under budget (10%), reflecting lower urea prices.

Electricity costs, excluding irrigation, are nearly $4000 or 30% over budget, Hancox blaming the new pre-milking rinse requirement.

“We’re running the machines for 30-60 min-utes longer putting that pre-rinse through the machines. That’s got to

have an impact.”Irrigation expenses,

including electricity and repairs and maintenance, are 16% below budget at $35,900 instead of $43,000 thanks to 18 days less operation bringing savings

in power and repairs and maintenance.

Labour is 11% under budget owing to being a man down October to Jan-uary, and silage making and delivery costs are a big fat zero compared to a budget of $9216.

“We haven’t made any,” Hancox noted to the field day.

However, they’ve been using plenty as the impact of reduced nitrogen rates hit home.

“Less nitrogen has meant we’ve used a lot more silage this year. It’s cost us $260/ha more to

use extra silage than it would have to grow that grass with nitrogen.”

The high payout fore-cast means it remains “quite profitable” to continue feeding silage instead of getting rid of culls to reduce feed demand, he notes.

“That’s probably the only change we’ve made

due to the higher payout this year. But we will stick to our protocols, drying off lighter cows to pro-tect production for next season.”

As for production, cumulatively per cow it’s exactly on par with last year but back a fraction per hectare at 1351kgMS/ha as of February 18 com-pared to 1355kgMS/ha at the same point last year, though daily production is “about the same”.

“We peaked earlier this year but didn’t hold that peak for quite as long.”

A relatively poor Janu-ary for grass growth was probably the reason, as DairyNZ’s Steve Lee, part of LUDF’s three-man management team, and DairyNZ colleague David Chapman explained to the

focus day. “Post Christmas there

was a significant drop in pasture growth rate,” noted Chapman.

At about 60kgDM/ha/day the lack of growth was causing consterna-tion among the manage-ment team as to why, but Chapman explained mod-

elling of pasture growth using the past 30 years climate data for Lincoln shows January, on average, has growth like that every third or fourth year.

“So that 60kg/ha/day in January is nothing unusual. It is well within the range of variation.”

The modelling sug-

Lincoln University Dairy Farm held one of its quarterly focus days late last month. Though it preceded the most recent forecast increase in payout, the management team says it won’t make any difference to operations, unlike the region’s Land and Water Regional Plan. Andrew Swallow reports.

Farm manager Peter Hancox says keeping culls longer is the only payout-induced tweak LUDF’s implementing.

“We will stick to our protocols, drying off lighter cows to protect production for next season.”

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MANAGEMENT // 25

by policygests one in four years will average over 100kgDM/ha/day in January, and one in four below 55kgDM/ha/day. One in ten years the model suggested growth could plummet to about 35kgDM/ha/day, even with irrigation.

Chapman says cool temperatures were prob-ably the main factor this year, averaging 15-16oC compared to the 18-20oC which is the optimum for ryegrass.

While spring tem-peratures are typically lower and growth greater, the plant is in a differ-ent growth phase then, with tillers “going repro-ductive” and drawing on reserves to produce a flush of growth regardless of temperature.

By January plants are trying to replace tillers so overall growth is lower.

“Nitrogen response could also have been an issue. Tiller replace-ment is affected by nitro-gen availability so if it was restricted there could have been some influence,” added Chapman.

Lee echoed Chapman’s comments, suggesting a soil thermometer is “a jolly good investment” to help track and predict pas-ture growth on any farm.

“They’re so cheap to run and you can get ones that will feed the infor-mation right to your com-

puter if you want to.”He also pointed out

the farm has cut its nitro-gen fertiliser budget from 350kgN/ha to 260kgN/ha for the season.

“We’ve used about 70% of the nitrogen we have in previous seasons up to this point.”

That’s been achieved by applying 25kgN/ha in most applications, instead of 40kgN/ha.

Research on LUDF is looking at whether better targeting of nitrogen fer-tiliser might improve response rates with 0, 12.5kgN/ha, 25kgN/ha,

37.5kgN/ha and 50kgN/ha applied on three trial areas of one paddock, as AgResearch’s Samuel Den-nison explained.

“Overall they’ve all responded pretty well up to 25kgN/ha. Above that the response is variable. I wouldn’t [bet] on making more money by putting more than 25kgN/ha on.”

Consequently, he says LUDF’s change to 25kgN/ha applications is unlikely to have compromised growth this season, but in a warmer year it might.

Whether more, or less nitrogen should be applied to areas of good and poor growth respectively is still being assessed. “That’s the $64m question,” com-mented Lee.

Questioned on why the farm was feeding silage costing 39c/kgDM rather than using more nitro-gen to grow grass at about 13c/kgDM, Lee said that is “something we have to think hard about.”

South Island Dairy Development Centre executive director Ron Pellow implied nutri-ent management model Overseer and the focus on nitrate loss from dairying is the reason.

“The way Overseer models nitrogen fertil-iser versus bought in feed makes bought in feed look more favourable…. What it doesn’t address is at the catchment level, what nitrogen is being lost in growing that feed.”

Dennison added that Canterbury’s Land and Water Regional Plan, which effectively caps farms’ nitrogen losses at their 2009-2013 level, a farm’s “baseline” in Envi-ronment Canterbury’s terms – means nitrogen is “no longer just about eco-nomic drivers”.

That became abun-dantly clear later at the focus day as Envrion-ment Canterbury principal strategy advisor Ian Brown spelt out the detail of plan which is now subject only to appeals on points of law. “To all intents and purposes for farming this affects you now,” he stressed.

All farms over 5ha have to establish a “baseline” for nitrogen loss which is the average loss 2009-2103 as calculated by Overseer using nationally accepted protocols for input data.

“It’s really important when you’re establishing your baselines you look at them with a common set of protocols.”

Brown called for “openness and transpar-ency” in the way baselines are calculated. Con-versions with consents granted up to May 2013 will have their baselines calculated as if the farm

had been dairying 2009-2013.

He stressed the need to have four years records of inputs with which to cal-culate that baseline, and to use those same records every time Overseer is updated.

“These baselines are really important in your day to day decisions. They are going to impact what you can and can’t do.”

For those with nitro-gen loss baselines above 20kgN/ha/year – in prac-tice nearly all dairy farms, and in an area designated a red or orange zone for nutrient allocation by Environment Canterbury – nearly all of Canterbury except the high country – a consent for that nitro-gen loss must be obtained by 2016 in orange zones or 2017 in red zones.

“If you leach over 20kgN/ha by 2016 or 2017 you need to get a consent to farm,” Brown said.

Besides baseline data, a farm environment plan (FEP) must be submitted to gain a consent.

“I see the FEP as one of the key tools to manage-ment of farming within [nutrient loss] limits…. The future is going to be in FEPs. The sooner you start looking at those the better because there’s going to be a benefit in those.”

Brown warned that if farmers treat the FEP, as set out in Schedule 7 of ECan’s LWRP, as a “tick box exercise” they would miss opportunities to identify areas to improve management, for example, with irrigation.

Steve Lee, DairyNZ

Ian Brown, Ecan

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MANAGEMENT // 27

Good pay-offs from those one-off opportunities

IN AN area prone to summer dries, Mangaiti, near the Te Aroha town boundary on the Paeroa road, is where Jarrah Shee-han first went share milk-ing. Now he and his wife Sheree and family are making rapid progress.

They now control a farming operation of 600 cows on adjacent proper-ties and are on track for a record 275,000kgMS.

“When I decided to go farming I had a career path in mind. I associated with top farmers. Then oppor-tunities presented that I grabbed with both hands, and with a lot of hard work and a certain amount of stress we are where we are today,” says Jarrah.

He had always liked farming but with a high academic record he left Te Aroha College to study civil engineering at the University of Canterbury. At the end of his first year he worked the summer vacation for a local share-milker to raise money for his second academic year.

Midway through that year he realised that fin-ishing his degree would entail a debt and a low starting wage. “Whereas if I went farming I would be earning as I was learn-ing and I could see a career path.”

He started work for Andrew Archer, Te Aroha district, with 360 cows, and enrolled for the one year dairying diploma course at Waikato Poly-technic.

Next he did a one year stint with Ken Heron, another local farmer who saw potential and encour-aged him.

“Ken was great in that he let me run the farm while keeping an eye on me so I was able to put ideas into practice. He was and still is a great mentor and started a lot of good habits as he showed me how to farm.”

Near the end of his second year Sheehan was considering going to Ire-land to play rugby and was told by Heron to compile a list of why he should go and more importantly why he should stay. He stayed.

The next opportunity

came during a late part of that season: a 50:50 share milking job. It was at Man-gaiti with a herd of 300 cows. He had savings of $20000, far short of the $300,000 he estimated he needed.

“Then the farm owner Brian Evison stepped up as guarantor for a bank loan and after a bit of scram-bling to find a herd, on June 1, 2001 I started 50:50 share milking.”

In his first season he passed the farm’s best pro-duction of 78,000kgMS by 2000 and after four sea-sons his top production was 110,000kgMS.

“The next challenge was that Evison was look-ing at exiting farming and he wanted me to stay.” He agreed to lease the farm with Sheehan required to buy Evison’s Fon-terra shares. “I remem-ber the day I signed: it was December 1, 2005 and we got married December 3.”

In May 2006 the farm directly across the road was withdrawn from sale late in the season and the Sheehans were offered the chance to 50:50 share milk on it with a herd of 250 cows as well as staying on the Evison property. More scrambling ensued as they found a herd and staff, in their first season exceed-ing that farm’s best pro-duction by 5000kgMS.

“It was a no-brainer as it was so close and with two staff I was able to manage both properties.”

Then in June 2007 they got the chance to buy a third of the property where they had the second contract, owned by David, Lindsay and Geraldine Swan. Raising the finance was made easier by the Swans allowing their remaining share of the farm to be used as security. Evison was still looking for exit options. So with the property in two sections he agreed to sell one and lease the other on which he built a new home.

To finance this pur-chase Sheehan formed an equity partnership with his parents who sold their house in Te Aroha and relocated to the farm. “Dad didn’t mind as he was five minutes closer to the golf course.”

Then in June 2013

TONY HOPKINSONthey were able to buy the remaining part of the Swan farm again assisted with some vendor finance.

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28 // ANIMAL HEALTH

Resistance is the real threatMEDIA STORIES have recently promoted con-tinued use of single active injection and pour-on drenches in cattle. The writers argue that though these products will almost certainly fail to control Cooperia because of wide-spread drench resistance, they are still likely to ade-quately control Ostertagia, which is the most patho-genic parasite of cattle. But there are reasons why farmers should not follow this advice.

Drench-resistant worms are widespread in New Zealand, and are common in sheep and cattle. The days are long past when farmers could simply buy the cheapest drench, assume it would do a reasonable job of kill-ing worms, and then not

worry about the future. Today, preventing and managing drench resis-tance must be a consid-eration in every worm control decision a farmer makes.

The use of combination drenches, is now a well-established tool in the fight against resistance. Modelling and in-the-field studies have shown the potential of combinations to slow the development of resistance.

Importantly, these studies all show that com-binations have the greatest potential to slow resis-tance development when they are used before resis-tance has developed in the worm population. In other words, the best time to use combination drenches to minimise the development of resistance in Osterta-gia in cattle is now, before it has developed signifi-

cant resistance. Farm-ers should be discouraged from using single-active drenches of any kind.

Next, there is the issue of whether it is better to use orals, injections or pour-ons, or whether there is any difference between them. This last question is the easiest to answer and a quick look at the con-centrations of active drug in the plasma following administration by the dif-ferent routes will show this (figure 1).

It is well established that pour-ons deliver the lowest concentrations of drug into the bloodstream, both in respect of the peak concentration (maxi-mum value) and the total volume (technically the area under the concentra-tion curve). Also, delivery of drug by pour-on tends to be more variable, and penetration through the

DAVE LEATHWICK

hide can be influenced by breed of cattle, weather (particularly if cold) and by animals licking either themselves or each other.

A recent AgResearch study found the drench moxidectin more effec-tive against Cooperia in cattle when administered orally, than when given by injection or as a pour-on. The results showed that efficacy was poor for the injectable and pour-on routes (55.5% and 51.3%), but much better when the drug was delivered orally

(91.1%). Efficacy against Ostertagia was good for all treatments, and this has been taken as evidence that all routes of adminis-tration are equal. This is far from the truth.

The conclusion of importance from the AgResearch study is that oral administration of moxidectin delivers a higher concentration of drug to the small intestine of cattle than does injec-tion or pour-on, and that oral administration is also the least variable method.

Almost all the Coo-peria populations in the study were resistant (this is true on almost every farm in New Zealand) and yet the oral killed more worms. This shows that the oral route must have delivered more drug to the small intestine, and that this resulted in the killing of more resistant worms. Other studies have shown the same effect in sheep.

The important point here is that these differ-ences would not have been obvious against fully sus-ceptible worms because they all tend to end up dead. Hence, it was impor-tant in this study that the worms were resistant, and that none of the treat-ments were completely effective. If they had been susceptible, as was the case for Ostertagia, then the differences would not have been seen.

A dose of drug which just manages to kill sus-ceptible worms, but has little or no efficacy against resistant ones, will select for resistance faster than one which kills a good pro-portion of the resistant worms. This ability to kill emerging resistant worms is one of the major fac-tors determining how fast resistance will develop.

So, the evidence, from a number of studies, is that the use of orals delivers more drug – of the endec-tocide class at least – to the small intestine and that this increased dose kills more resistant worms. Hence, for small intes-tinal species, the use of orals is likely to result in the slower development of resistance.

The situation with abomasal species such as Ostertagia is less clear. There are studies in sheep which show much higher delivery of endectocide drenches to both tissues and worms in the aboma-sum after oral adminis-tration than by injection, which resulted in higher efficacy. But, in other

studies injections appear to be as good if not better against resistant worms which live in the aboma-sum. So, at this stage the jury is still out regard-ing orals and injections against worms which live in the abomasum. How-ever, studies in deer in New Zealand show that pour-ons deliver far less drug to the abomasum than either injections or orals.

In summary then, drench resistance is a real threat to the cattle indus-tries in New Zealand; resistance in Cooperia is widespread and resistance in Ostertagia has recently been confirmed on dairy and dairy-beef farms in the North Island.

Now is the time for farmers to take steps to prevent the problem get-ting worse. Choosing to use drenches which are least likely to select for resistance is the easiest thing a farmer can do to ensure sustainability.

Based on the evidence we have today the best products to use are oral combinations contain-ing two, or even better three, classes of anthel-mintic. If oral drenching is not possible then there are a number of inject-able combination products available which should do a reasonable job. The use of single-active drenches, especially pour-ons, is most likely to lead to a resistance problem in the not-too-distant future.• Dr Dave Leathwick is prin-cipal scientist, animal nutri-tion and health, AgResearch.

Figure 1 – The concentrations of moxidectin in plasma of cattle after treatment by the injectable, oral or pour-on routes.

Dave Leathwick

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30 // ANIMAL HEALTH

A WELL-KNOWN finisher in the lower North Island says he’s seeing a lot of skinny cows during his travels and is wondering why?

Roger Dalrymple says if he was a dairy farmer he wouldn’t have one skinny cow on his farm given the payout of $8.65/kgMS Fonterra is offering. He says he would like to know why farmers can’t afford to feed their cows better given the high forecast payout.

Dalrymple says those dairy farmers with skinny cows are either not doing their feed budgets correctly or there is something wrong with their maths. He says the payout is huge and they should be capitalising on it.

“The situation is odd given the payout. It just amazed me that in the spring dairy farmers weren’t buying maize silage which was a backup to protect against anything such as a drought. Palm kernel is there but palm kernel and maize grain are poles apart in what they can do.”

Dalrymple says farmers who just grass feed their animals have to plan well and be prepared to deal with a ‘tight situation’. They also need to realise the impor-tance of fully feeding their cows.

He says he’s been trying to work out a reason for what he is seeing and believes it may be the case of the farmer or the consultant not looking outside the square.


No need for skinny cows

Roger Dalrymple

Support for bobby calves welfare review

Andrew Hoggard

THERE APPEARS to be widespread support for outlawing the kill-ing of bobby calves using a hammer – commonly referred to as ‘blunt force’.

Primary Industry Min-ister Nathan Guy has

instructed the National Animal Welfare Advisor Committee (NAWAC) to review the practice with the aim of amending the Animal Welfare (Dairy Cattle) Code of Welfare 2010 which would see the

practice banned except for ‘emergency’ circum-stances. Just a few weeks ago the chair of NAWAC, Dr John Hellstrom, said he didn’t think using a heavy hammer as the standard

way of dispatching bobby calves in the shed was desirable. He pointed to captive bolt shooting as more acceptable.

Federated Farmers says it supports Guy’s ini-tiative. Dairy vice chair-man Andrew Hoggard says there is no way blunt force ought to be standard oper-ating procedure and they welcome NAWAC consid-ering an amendment to ban the practice.

“Any review must set in stone that blunt force is an emergency measure, when there is no access to one of the approved meth-ods and the time to get hold of one would only add to the animals suffer-ing. Frankly it is not a nice task and I am thankful that in over 18 years of farming, I have only ever had to use it once and that was when

I was farming overseas,” he says.

Hoggard says the min-ister is right to say that the vast majority of farm-ers in New Zealand care about their animals and do a good job of looking after them.

Support for change has also come from DairyNZ and the Dairy Companies Association of New Zea-land (DCANZ).

The executive direc-tor for DCANZ, Kimberly Crewther, says the asso-ciation agrees the review is timely. She says the New Zealand dairy indus-try benefits from a robust, evidence-based, animal welfare framework. “It is important that opportu-nities are taken to review, and where necessary update our codes,” she says.

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EFFLUENT & WATER MANAGEMENT // 31

Stand-off areas, feed pads need special careSTAND-OFF AREAS and feed pads should include an effluent man-agement system, says DairyNZ.

It should provide sealed storage areas for any solid effluent scraped off the area (eg sawdust, manure), sufficient capac-ity in storage and appli-cation system for extra liquid effluent and sealing, and bunding and collec-tion of liquid effluent from the pad so that it cannot drain into groundwater or surface water.

Sealing means that the pad does not leak; sealing is usually achieved with fit-for-purpose synthetic liners such as concrete, rubber or plastic. Drains underneath soft surfaces should have a sealed layer below them and should direct effluent to a stor-age system. The use of unsealed stand-off areas or ‘sacrifice paddocks’ should be avoided.

Different surface mate-rials (eg concrete, lime-stone, wood chip, bark or sawdust) require different management. Some wood-based products are highly absorbent and can be scraped and composted or spread to land. But farm-ers may still be asked to show they have an appro-priate seal and collection system beneath the pad

to ensure no effluent is reaching groundwater.

When adding a feed or stand-off pad to your farm, you will need to upgrade the effluent system to cater for the higher volume, nutrients and solids content. Plan your effluent system around a high-use scenario to allow for flexibility.

To cope with the increased load on your effluent system, you may need:

■ Extra storage for liquid and solid effluent

■ A means of removing the solids and fibrous material from the efflu-ent before irrigating

■ A plan for handling and spreading solid efflu-ent products (includ-ing access to land and machinery)

■ More irrigation area to deal with the extra volume and nutrients.A pad can generate up

to ten times the effluent coming from a farm dairy, depending on the size of the pad and cow num-bers, the time stock spend on the pad, their feed and cleaning methods.

DairyNZ says efflu-ent volume from the pad can be reduced by using a stormwater diversion system when the pad is clean, by covering the pad, by designing the pad for

scraping to reduce the fre-quency of wash-down and by using recycled yard water for wash-down.

Effluent from pads includes coarse solid materials and grit which can cause blockages and wear in the effluent system.

Solids washed off the pad can be:

■ Held behind a weeping wall structure

■ Removed with mechan-ical solids separators

■ Settled out in a sepa-rate pond with a baffle or T-piece outlet to retain the solids. Settling ponds receiv-

ing effluent from a feed pad will need to be sealed, and will require more frequent desludg-ing. Retained solids can be dried on a sealed sur-face and spread on land at a suitable rate to avoid nutrient overloading.

Effluent from feed pads include coarse solid materials that can damage the effluent system.

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32 // EFFLUENT & WATER MANAGEMENT

Less volume reduces storage need, easier to manageREDUCING EFFLU-ENT volume will save time and money on han-dling and pumping efflu-ent, as well as reduce the amount of storage you require.

DairyNZ suggests the following to minimise effluent volume in storage:

■ Guttering and down-pipes to direct roof-water away from the effluent collection system

■ Bund the concrete tanker apron to prevent water from the tanker loop flowing onto it

■ If permitted by your council, use a stormwa-ter diversion system to take clean rainwater off the yard into stormwa-ter drains and not into the ponds

■ If you are standing your herd off, consider a system that requires less water for efflu-ent collection, eg bark peeling pad or a barn system with slats/bun-kers to collect effluent

■ In high rainfall areas, consider covering and diverting the roofwa-ter from large feed and standoff pads to reduce the catchment area for the effluent system

■ Pre-wet the yard before milking to speed up the hosing task

■ Use a rubber scraper to remove solids before hosing

■ Low water-use back-ing gate wash-down options

■ Look at ways to reduce

the water usage on the milking platform, eg water used to get cows off platform, and auto-matic cup wash systems and repair any leaks

■ Consider using recy-cled water for flood wash systems for yard and pad wash-down. There are strict food safety guidelines for this relating to mini-mum distances and water quality and method of application. Contact your milk qual-ity advisor from your dairy processor before

going ahead with this option.Good stockmanship

will also help reduce the amount of effluent generated. DairyNZ suggests planning herd management so that stock spend less time in the yards and dairy. It also helps to eliminate slippery surfaces and sources of excessive noise or stray voltage in the yards and, finally, training staff in good stockmanship practices.

WHEN USED properly, a stormwater di-version system will reduce the volume of effluent you need to manage. Stormwater diversion systems can only be used when the yards or feed pads are completely clean but roofwater can be delivered all year.

Stormwater must be diverted prior to the stone trap. The best systems are close to the dairy and have a visible reminder for staff. Train staff in the use of these systems. Reminders can include:

■ An ear-tag on the vacuum pump switch which has to be moved before milking

■ A flashing light visible from the farm dairy and yard area

■ A flag system on the yard gate latch, which has to be moved to open the yard gate

■ Diversion system connected to dairy plant power / pump switch.

STORMWATER DIVERSION

Good stockmanship will also help reduce the amount of effluent generated.

Effluent volume in storage should always be minimised.

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Expo a chance to get ahead of the gameAT LEAST 50 effluent management supply firms will exhibit on March 25, 9am to 3.30pm, at the fourth annual Waikato Effluent Expo at the Mystery Creek.

Past events were well attended, the organisers say. They expect 500 farmers this time.

“We’ve brought together over 50 exhib-itors for this year’s expo, with the aim of supporting farmers who want to boost farm profits while minimising their envi-ronmental impacts,” says Waikato Regional Council (WRC) environmental farm-ing systems advisor Electra Kalaugher.

“The expo is a great chance for farmers to step back and think about future-proofing their farming system, includ-ing setting it up to get the most out of effluent as a source of valu-able nutrients.”

Supported financially by DairyNZ and organised by the regional council, the expo offers seminars for farmers, including:

■ Design and construction of ponds and tanks for dairy effluent, hosted by The-resa Wilson, DairyNZ, and Rex Cor-lett, Opus Consulting.

■ Key principles for designing an upgrade or installing a new effluent irrigation system – Logan Bowler and Nick Tait, DairyNZ.

■ Nutrient management on dairy farms – Adrian Brocksopp, DairyNZ.

■ Making the most of effluent irriga-tion – Bob Longhurst, AgResearch and dairy farmer Trevor Phipps.

■ Investing in the environment – Scott Neely, ANZ Bank.“Dairy effluent monitoring: what is the

council looking for?” Ben Franks, Waikato

Regional Council.Outside demonstrations will include

effluent irrigators and other applicators in action.

At least one bank now offers low-inter-est loans for farm environmental improve-ments, Kalaugher says.

“This is a sign banks are more aware of the importance of farmers investing in

future-proofing their farms.”WRC is said to be working

more proactively with farm-ers whose properties have soils at risk of allowing con-taminants into waterways.

Kalaugher said the council wants farmers to ‘get ahead of the game’ in effluent man-agement before the coun-cil starts engaging directly with them. If the council has already paid a visit and asked

for an effluent management plan, the expo is “an ideal opportunity to get it sorted”.

An industry-standard expectation is that effluent management systems should enable farmers to comply with council rules 365 days a year, WRC says. It sees a good system as including:

■ Adequate sealed storage so farmers don’t have to irrigate effluent to pas-ture when soils are waterlogged

■ Applicators, pumps and lines appro-priate for the farm

■ Good management and maintenance ■ Contingency infrastructure and plans

to handle unforeseen situations.Expo visitors may take part in a

10-minute maintenance check on a trav-elling irrigator, and pit their knowledge against experts.

Participants will go in a prize draw for a free Primary ITO course ‘Dealing with Dairy Farm Effluent’.

Electra Kalaugher

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Matching application to soil water deficitSOIL WATER deficit (SWD), mea-sured in mm (sometimes %), is the amount of available water removed from the soil within the plants active rooting depth. It is also the amount of water required to refill the root zone to bring the soil moisture conditions to field capacity.

Field capacity refers to the amount of water held in the soil after excess water has drained away. This is typi-cally one day after soil saturation (eg from rain or irrigation). Adding water/effluent at this point will result in ponding, runoff or leaching. A SWD increases with drainage and evapo-transpiration, and decreases with rainfall or irrigation.

Deferred irrigation means waiting to irrigate until there is a big enough SWD to allow for more water to be added to the soil without causing runoff, ponding or leaching.

The greater the application depth and intensity of the irrigator (ie trav-ellers vs sprinklers), the greater the SWD required for irrigation. It may be inappropriate to proceed with efflu-

ent irrigation if: ■ The soil is too wet following rain-

fall or irrigation; effluent may pond, run off to waterways, or leach through to groundwater

■ The soil is very dry and cracked, especially over tile or mole drains; effluent may travel through soil cracks to under-ground drains and then flow into waterways

■ The soil is compacted or frozen. ■ Take care when applying efflu-

ent at the same time as fresh water irrigation. The SWD prin-ciples still apply, and total water application should be considered otherwise there is a risk of leach-ing or ponding if soil is over-irri-gated.The most accurate way to measure

the SWD is with soil moisture tech-nology. Getting good advice before buying measuring devices is vital. Get a qualified technician to calibrate the system for your farm and provide a soil moisture deficit range for safe irrigation. Make this system simple

for the farm team to use.Here are some different methods

for measuring soil moisture: ■ Handheld instantaneous probes

are the cheapest option. They need to be calibrated to your soil type and situation by a qualified technician

■ Permanent in-ground sensors can be read either by hand-held devices or via telemetry and software systems. Telemetry systems allow for remote moni-toring

■ A fully integrated system which monitors climatic data, effluent pond levels, soil moisture levels, soil mapping, irrigator position-ing and run recording and can be used for full irrigation schedul-ing, with remote monitoring. You can be sent text alerts and recom-mendations based on your farm’s irrigation system. These systems are more costly but

allow for precise monitoring and are particularly good for large operations or absentee owners.

Good storage facilities suffer no leaksEFFLUENT STORAGE facilities must be sealed so they do not leak or allow con-taminants to seep out. All areas where efflu-ent or leachate is stored should be sealed to prevent leachate losses to groundwater.

DairyNZ advises farmers to avoid siting effluent storage facilities in places with high water tables or a risk of flooding.

The use of well installed and guaranteed synthetic (eg plastic, rubber or concrete) liners is recommended.

Why do you need enough storage for effluent onfarm? Storage is needed for:

■ Rainy periods when the soil is too wet to irrigate

■ Busy periods when farm labour is stretched and you do not want to irri-gate

■ Equipment failures (pumps or irriga-tor) when you cannot irrigate. Adequate storage will allow you to keep

effluent for use when nutrients are most needed (ie drier months or when putting down a crop).

A dairy effluent storage calculator has been developed by Massey University and Horizons Regional Council to allow calcu-

lation of effluent storage volume require-ments. The calculator uses farm specific data such as:

■ Soil risk for effluent irrigation ■ Milking routine (number of cows,

water use in the dairy, etc) ■ Rainfall catchment area: what is the

total surface area collecting rain water and directing it into the storage facil-ity?

■ Storage facilities currently onfarm ■ Irrigation system and equipment ■ Climate (annual daily rainfall).

The dairy effluent storage calculator provides a storage volume recommen-dation based on the daily rainfall events over the last 30 years and the number of days conditions would have been suitable to apply effluent.

The calculator is now available in most regions. DairyNZ recommend you take storage volume advice from a qualified and reputable consultant.

Contact your regional council, your milk processor or DairyNZ to find a suit-able person to do the calculation for your farm.

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Keep the stink away

COMPLAINTS ARE not only bad for neighbourly relations and the reputation of the dairy industry; they can also lead to regional council enforcement action.

Complaints about farm odours may be prevented by a phone call or letter to neigh-bours in the days prior to the activity taking place (if it is an occasional activity).

Even other farming neigh-bours may appreciate some no-tice. If neighbours are expecting an odour they may be more ac-commodating about it. They will also know who to talk to if they are concerned, and they will have an opportunity to tell you if they are planning an outdoor event on that day. Be mindful to avoid applying effluent near

farm boundaries or if the wind is blowing in the direction of the neighbours.

Act to decrease any opportu-nity for odour to offend.

According to DairyNZ com-mercial products marketed as a solution to odour problems con-tinue to attract interest despite a lack of scientific evidence of their efficacy.

PAYS TO GIVE NEIGHBOURS NOTICE

ODOUR FROM effluent grows with herd size and becomes problematic as urban boundaries get closer to oper-ating farms, says DairyNZ

Odour issues can become a regional council compliance concern if they are offensive beyond a proper-ty’s boundary. They are often part of consent conditions.

This is why it makes sense not to construct ponds, yards, pads, stock housing or other sources of smells near property boundaries, says DairyNZ.

Most district and regional coun-cils will stipulate minimum distance requirements, and a farmer must take care to note the direction of the pre-vailing wind and what will be down-wind of a pond or facility.

Odours are usually assessed by the council for FIDOL – frequency, intensity, duration, offensiveness and

location. Odour is generated during the

incomplete anaerobic breakdown of organic matter in effluent. Sources include ponds, solids separation sys-tems, sludge piles, feed pads, and silage stacks. Effluent application and the de-sludging of ponds release odour.

Regular cleaning and disposal of effluent deposits on feed pads, around yards and races and feed spill-ages such as PKE, meal or silage on feed loading and handling areas will reduce odour (and rodents) from these areas.

Planned activities (cleaning solids traps, effluent irrigation, de-sludging, effluent spreading, etc) should be timed to avoid effects on neighbours. Although these procedures will generate odour, select the timing of the activity to minimise odour

impacts by: ■ Scheduling activities from

Monday to Thursday to avoid operations immediately before the weekend

■ Doing tasks in the morning to take advantage of warming condi-tions, which enhance dispersion, and to allow odour emissions to reduce before the wind drops with nightfall

■ Avoiding activities when the wind is blowing towards the neighbour. Effluent application may cause

odour from aerosol drift. The nozzle and pressure combination of the irrigation equipment should be reviewed.

Lower pressure, large nozzle size and low application height will mini-mise aerosol drift (but be mindful of the effect changing these will have on application depth and rate).

Odour issues relating to effluent can become a regional council compliance issue.

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Don’t irrigate without reliable water source

SOIL INFORMATION for the proposed irrigated area must be obtained to ensure that the irrigation system is designed to match on-site conditions.

Regardless of the method of determination, soil properties should always be verified on-site, or with the farmer or another local expert. As a minimum, soil textural properties and effective rooting depth must be determined on site.

To determine soil properties, take soil samples and/or measure the nec-essary parameters, or refer to soil maps and soil property information for the region (eg from regional councils or the Landcare Research soils portal).

OBTAIN SOIL DATA

WITHOUT A reliable water source an irrigation system is worthless; yet many irrigation systems are designed, purchased and installed without water being available, says IrrigationNZ.

Irrigation suppliers and designers must not know-ingly sell an irrigation system to a client where obtaining a supply of water is at risk unless the risk and the circumstances relating to the supply are clearly known or explained to the purchaser.

Purchasers should

ensure that all relevant regulatory requirements, particularly resource consents and their conditions, are provided to designers.

Irrigation designers must meet the following requirements:

■ Be familiar with regional council and local council require-ments with respect to irrigation

■ Where resource con-sents have been obtained, get a copy of them, and ensure the relevant necessary

equipment is supplied and installed so the purchaser can meet the consent conditions.Any uncertainties in

gaining access to water, and any requirements for gaining access (eg ease-ments), should be dis-cussed prior to beginning any irrigation design.

In the case of ground-water, some common fac-tors to consider include: obtaining consents, con-sent conditions, bore loca-tion and diameter, well driller availability, likely yield and interference

effect on, and of, neigh-bouring bores on draw-down.

Where a well or bore has already been drilled, the designer must obtain accurate, reliable infor-mation on bore construc-tion and bore performance before designing an irriga-tion system.

If a bore has been drilled and standing idle for more than 12 months, or possibly has been dis-turbed in some way such that the water supply could be at risk (well cap not secured for example),

the designer must rec-ommend that the bore be checked and retested.

In the case of sur-face water takes, some common issues include: location of the intake (ie limited access), intake design, method of convey-ance (eg canals, pipes) and turnout design.

If water is from a com-munity scheme, access and cost of water and any specific scheme require-ments must be consid-ered.

The quantity of water available is often limited for some or all of the irri-gation season. For exam-ple:

■ Bore yields may be lim-ited

■ Scheme or regulatory restrictions may apply

■ Seasonal volumes

■ Interference effects ■ There may be reduced

flows in the source streams

■ Groundwater levels may change

■ The volume of water stored in dams may run low.Due account should

be taken of possible changes in water avail-ability or restrictions in determining irrigation system capacities, irriga-tion components, area irrigated, and risk of short-falls. It may be necessary to increase overall system capacity to provide some ability to ‘catch up’, thus minimising the effect of shortfalls, or to build in extra capacity in pumps to lift water from greater depths.

Consideration of the

quality of the water to be used for irrigation is par-ticularly important in sys-tems with small discharge orifices. There are five types of plugging in drip/micro systems which may require chemical treat-ment:

■ Slimy bacteria ■ Iron and manganese

oxides ■ Iron and manganese

sulphides ■ Calcium and magne-

sium carbonate precip-itation

■ Root intrusion into buried emitters.Water to be used in

drip/micro irrigation systems should be tested for suitability and the appropriate chemical injection equipment specified to treat any likely problems.



Irrigation detail well covered by code of practiceIRRIGATION NEEDS to be efficient and effec-tive to provide production benefits to farmers, says Irrigation NZ.

And this requires good system design, installa-tion, operation and main-tenance.

Irrigation designers need to specify irrigators with water and energy effi-cient systems capable of meeting crop water needs in a cost effective manner (capital and operating) while adhering to environ-mental limits. Plans and specifications must enable systems to be properly maintained.

The Irrigation Design Code of Practice and Stan-dards provide a guide-line for the design process and target specifications for designers to aim for to ensure systems are water and energy efficient while meeting irrigator expec-tations. Both are non-reg-ulatory and essentially advisory, and not intended

to encroach on areas of legislative responsibility.

The performance of an irrigation system depends on its design and man-agement. System design establishes the key perfor-mance characteristics, and management makes it all work.

System design perfor-mance indicators provide a measure of system per-formance and its potential effects on the environ-ment, farm economics, productivity and labour.

The performance char-acteristics should provide designers and purchasers of irrigation systems with a quantifiable measure of the system, and allow per-formance comparisons with industry benchmarks and with other systems.

The performance char-acteristics cover six areas of measurable perfor-mance: water use effi-ciency, energy use, labour, capital, system effective-ness and environment.

Design performance characteristics can be both inputs into the design pro-cess and measurable out-puts. Irrigation designers should provide the fol-lowing to the purchaser in the design report or quo-tation:

■ Parameters used for the design

■ Performance indica-tor values achievable using this design if the specified equipment is installed correctly

■ Details on what to measure and where, for the purchaser or a third party to verify the system is achieving the performance indicator values.Specific base informa-

tion needs to be available (or measured) to allow the indicators to be calculated. In addition to the system performance values them-selves, the information used to calculate the indi-cator must also be pro-vided to the purchaser.

The design process can be conveniently divided into four key compo-nents: information gather-ing, deciding performance parameters, system design and final specification and quotation.

In the ‘information gathering’ stage, the needs of the purchaser and any issues that need to be con-sidered before significant resources are committed to the project are deter-mined. A site visit is con-ducted, and the basic input parameters needed to complete the design are collected.

In the first part of the

design process, ‘deciding performance parameters’, a design specification is prepared.

This details all the things the irrigation system must be able to achieve. It prescribes per-formance characteristics such as application depths and return intervals.

‘System design’ then involves selecting appro-

priate components and determining how they should be assembled to deliver and apply water in a way that meets the design specifications.

A ‘final specification and quotation’ is then prepared, to describe to the purchaser what the system will look like and how much it will cost. It includes a description

of the hardware, costs for supply and installa-tion, and the performance values to be achieved by the system to be supplied.

Contracting, construc-tion, testing, and commis-sioning of the irrigation system is covered in detail by the New Zealand Piped Irrigation Systems Installa-tion Code of Practice (INZ, 2012).

The performance of an irrigation system depends on its design and management.

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Staff training crucial to successSTAFF TRAINING is vital to ensure effluent management is successful onfarm, says DairyNZ.

A lack of time or knowledge in the efflu-ent system’s operation and maintenance are key causes of system failure and potential non-com-pliance, regardless of the sophistication/quality of the effluent infrastructure,

DairyNZ says.Owners (includ-

ing absentee owners), sharemilkers, managers and staff can all be held responsible for effluent non-compliance.

Good practice for farm teams should include set-ting clear expectations for effluent management in staff contracts, job descriptions and share-

milker agreements – including daily tasks and supervision responsibili-ties.

Acknowledging and rewarding good effluent management through staff performance and incen-tive systems helps. Also, having rosters for daily effluent tasks and routine maintenance with names assigned to each one and posting the consent con-ditions on the wall of the farm dairy should be help-ful.

An orientation and training package for every team member should include the health and safety risks and good prac-tice around the effluent system, a walk-through of the system including important daily jobs, and explaining the effluent consent conditions as they affect each staff member and their level of respon-

sibility.An effluent manage-

ment plan covers the efflu-ent related tasks, and who will be responsible for doing them. The plan also covers basic trou-ble-shooting, including what to do, and who to call when something goes

wrong.Plan ahead and make

arrangements in advance, so that accidents and breakages can be managed before there is an envi-ronmental risk. For exam-ple, keep spare hose clips, nozzles, seals, grease and other items which may be

required if there is a break-age.

For bigger issues, con-sider making an agree-ment with neighbours about equipment which could be borrowed in an emergency situation, eg backup pumps, genera-tors, slurry wagons, irriga-

tors and front end loaders. Make sure staff know

that the most important issue after their personal safety is to make sure effluent does not reach waterways. These details need to be kept up-to-date at the dairy or staff notice board.

EVERY YEAR people are seriously injured or killed carrying out everyday tasks on farm. The effluent system is a particularly hazard-ous area.

A Health and Safety Plan is a legal farm requirement. Use the DairyNZ compliance toolkit (compliancetoolkit.co.nz) to ensure you meet your obligations to keep people safe on your farm.

A health and safety induction is an impor-tant first step when bringing people onto the farm, including new staff and contractors.

SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT

Trained staff will help smooth running of effluent systems.

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Separation less costlyTHE HOULE solids separation technology brings a more modern approach to effluent management resulting from intensification, says distributor GEA Farm Technolo-gies.

As farmers are collecting more solids that have resulted from feeding areas, they are often faced with challenges, the company says.

Solids in a pond (or tank) can not only be difficult and costly to manage but over time accumulate to a point that reduces the avail-able storage capacity in a pond. Therefore by separating solids out before they enter storage a Houle slope screen separator comes into its own.

The slope screen is passive and the system is particularly effective in combination with GEA FT’s sand sedimentation pit, the com-pany says.

The slope screen comes in two sizes depending on effluent vol-

umes and processing require-ments. The larger 2400mm model can process up to 140m3 per hour meaning greater processing effi-ciencies for larger farms. The pro-cessing rates depend on effluent consistency. Yards, feed pads or barns that are flood washed, result in the effluent typically thinner and processes faster over the sep-arator.

For heavier applications where the effluent is in more of a slurry form, the XPress roller press sepa-rator is recommended. The XPress

is unique in New Zealand, is effi-cient and has low maintenance technology that can produce solids up to 28% dry matter.

Another key benefit of solids separation is the ability to reuse the liquid (green water) for wash down. GEA FT’s Houle flush system is designed to clean the wash down area by maximising the flush volume over a defined area to effectively clean this every time.

This involves a 300mm valve installed at concrete level which is air operated to start and stop

the flush cycle. The valves operate at 7000L/min allowing achieve-ment of a sufficient flush that can clean these areas properly. The air operation allows the system to be automated, making it a one push button operation, or allowing the flush cycle to be pre-programmed to suit the specific wash area.

Two flush cycles are typical, with automatic start up and shut off. The first step involves a pre-wet cycle where the valves will all open briefly to wet the area which minimises manure sticking to concrete, especially during hot weather. The next step is the main flush cycle; this cleans the area by alternating flow through the valves and maximising the volume avail-able for each.

The Houle range of effluent handling equipment includes solids separators, pond pumps and agitation systems.Tel. 0800 432 327

Seasonal targets for handling pond contents

A TOP university student with a passion for keeping waterways clean has won Waikato Regional Council’s prize for water science.

The prize for $500 of book vouchers was presented last month to Raglan resident Amy Waters (21).

“Water quality is the big issue we face and we need science to underpin it,” says council chairperson Paula Southgate.

“It’s a nice part of council work to reward clever people who are doing wonderful things in our com-munity and who will go on to share their expertise,” Southgate says.

The water sciences prize started in 1990 and is awarded to the top bachelor of science student enrolled in the department of earth and ocean sci-ences at the University of Waikato.

Waters majored in earth science and soon realised she enjoyed hydrology, taking every paper in natu-ral water that she could during her final two years of study.

“I like how it relates to daily life. We all drink water from the tap every day and I want to help make sure it is clean and free of contaminants now and for gen-erations,” she says.

Waters graduates in April and then intends head-ing to Europe for a couple of years, before returning to the University of Waikato to do her masters, with a focus on groundwater.

“I would eventually like to do some work in Africa to help with the provision of clean drinking water, but I’d rather go there with more knowledge,” she said.

Passion for clean water wins prize

EFFLUENT STORAGE provides a means of deferring irrigation until conditions suit spreading effluent on land, says DairyNZ.

Ideally, all effort should be made to empty the pond when conditions allow, to maintain maximum storage capacity. An empty pond provides a buffer for wet or busy periods. A full pond may overflow or smell, and incur financial loss as you lose control of effluent and capital investment tied up in the pond – including the lost oppor-tunity to use the nutrient effectively. Seasonal targets

Spring: the pond is filling with effluent, particularly during wet weather, or when workers are too busy to apply to land. Small volumes of effluent can be irrigated as soil water deficits allow.

Summer: the pond should be kept as empty as pos-sible.

Autumn: the pond should be maintained at a low level. Empty the pond as far as possible while conditions allow before the cold wet weather.

Winter: empty the pond as much as possible. Pre-vent stormwater entering the pond, eg from guttering and unused yard areas. Any stormwater contaminated with dairy effluent must be considered effluent and cannot be diverted.

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Design the farm around irrigationIT IS important that a farm irrigation system fits in with the management of the rest of the farm opera-tions.

Irrigation NZ says farm management needs should be identified prior to designing an irrigation system. “Wherever pos-

sible, it is recommended to design the property around the irrigation system, not the irrigation system around the existing internal property layout.”

This may mean moving fences, removing shelter belts or trees, changing the position of drains or water

races, or putting in new access ways. Irrigation should take priority as it is a long-term investment. Structures are only shifted once; an irrigator may be shifted every day during the irrigation season and for many years.

A design must consider

the purchaser’s current needs, and any additional needs into the foreseeable future. For example, if any expansion of the irrigation system is planned, it is best to accommodate this within the current design wherever possible.

A good design will

strike a balance between capital investment and on-going operating costs. Each purchaser is likely to have individual prefer-ences in this matter.

A design must also con-sider the logistical needs of the purchaser (eg when does the system need to be operating, and what level of labour input is required?).

The first stage in the development of an irriga-tion system is to gather the necessary site-spe-cific information needed to complete a design. This includes the layout of the farm, informa-tion on water supply, soils and climate, regulatory requirements and farm management needs.

Much of this informa-tion will already be held by

the purchaser, and should be gathered prior to con-sultation with an irrigation system designer. However, it is the designer’s respon-sibility to verify that the information provided by the purchaser is accurate, often done during a site visit. Once all the informa-tion necessary to complete an irrigation design has been gathered, a decision is required as to how best use the information.

The second stage in developing an irrigation system is to determine the level of performance of the system. Both the designer and the purchaser should be involved in this pro-cess. Particular attention should be given to:

■ Deciding on an appro-priately sized and located area of land to

irrigate ■ Deciding on an appro-

priate rate of irrigation (system capacity)

■ Choosing applica-tion depths and return intervals that match soil water holding prop-erties

■ Choosing an appli-cation intensity that matches soil infiltra-tion rate

■ Meeting the require-ments of resource con-sents

■ Meeting the require-ments in The New Zea-land Piped Irrigation Systems Design Stan-dards (INZ, 2012) rel-evant to the system performance indicators

■ Meeting the needs of the purchaser in terms of labour, energy, and cost efficiency.

Irrigation should take priority as it is a long-term investment.

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Lab service a small cost compared to fertiliserEFFLUENT MANAGE-MENT systems should allow a farmer flexibility in not having to irrigate when soil is waterlogged or during an equipment breakdown, says Waikato Regional Council.

Soil acts as a living filter. It treats the applied effluent by changing it. It filters out effluent parti-cles, breaking them down and incorporating them into the soil structure. It also absorbs nutrients and makes them available to plants. Harmful micro-organisms (such as bacte-ria) present in the effluent are retained by the soil, or are killed when the efflu-ent dries or when they become exposed to sun-light.

However, soil can only filter so much effluent at

a time. It’s important to match

the irrigation depth to the capability of the soil. Land with impeded or artificial drainage, high or rising water tables or slopes greater than 7 degrees have a higher risk from over-application, so appli-cation depths should be adjusted to reflect soil and weather conditions.

Question is: how do you work out how much effluent to irrigate?

Although effluent con-tains many nutrients which can affect farm management, it is the environmental effects of nitrogen that determine how much you can irri-gate onto land. Too much nitrogen can reduce pas-ture performance and reduce water quality in

neighbouring waterways.If you know exactly

how much nitrogen is in effluent, you can work out the most effective applica-tion rates for your land.

In Waikato, a maxi-mum of 150kg nitrogen in effluent can be applied per hectare of grazed grass per year. Effluent must be tested to work out how much nitrogen is going onto your land during irri-gation.

Most registered analyt-ical laboratories offer this

service for about $100. When used with a nutrient budget this is a small cost compared to the fertiliser savings that can be made over time when effluent applications are timed effi-ciently.

The Overseer nutrient budget can be used to help determine how much land is needed for effluent irri-gation.

Each effluent appli-cation must not exceed 25mm deep. How deep you irrigate effluent over an

area will depend on how much nitrogen you want to apply.

Once you’ve worked out the application depth, you’ll need to work out the application rate for your irrigator.

When irrigating, check for effluent ponding, par-ticularly in areas where there has been pugging damage. Stop ponding by avoiding irrigation in these areas, or improve the drainage by loosen-ing the soil in small pond-

ing areas with a spade, or by breaking up the soil sur-

face, for example, by shal-low ripping.

Soil can only filter so much effluent at a time.

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INSTALLING A farm dairy effluent system that complies with national standards is expected to ‘future proof ’ a Masterton dairy farming business. The standards align with the Sustainable Dairying: Water Accord launched last year.

Blair and Deanne Percy run a 600 cow seasonal supply farm on 200ha (eff ) in Watsons Rd, Te Ore Ore near Masterton.

Succession planning led the Percys to split their 600 cow operation Good-lands Partnership from a family run 1400 cow farm. This required building a new dairy shed and efflu-ent system.

A new shed had added benefits: less cow walk-ing time, and allowing all cows to be milked twice a day milking whereas previ-ously one-third of the herd had been milked once a day. Blair’s father contin-

ues to run the remaining 800 cows in the existing shed.

Building the new shed prevented discharging effluent onto their existing effluent area, and required consent from the Greater Wellington Regional Council to create a new system.

The 600 cows are milked about 300 days a year, and the new system allows irrigation on 56ha by a travelling irrigator. Effluent goes from the shed to a stone trap and sump then to an effluent pond.

Adrian Mannering from IS Dam Lining Ltd says he was briefed by the Percys to guard against any risk by the farm to groundwater quality in the area. The new system complies with the water accord recommendations for 90 day effluent stor-age with monitoring to

guard against irrigation run-off. A Massey Univer-sity pond calculator anal-yses the past 30 years of rainfall data to calculate the maximum pond size required, based on the depth of application and the volume of effluent dis-charged. Deferred storage is needed to avoid times of rainfall to avoid run-off.

The Percy’s are neigh-bours of the Wainui-oru Community Water Scheme bore that ser-vices lifestyle blocks. Blair describes the area as sen-sitive.

“We knew we needed a robust effluent system to ensure peace of mind with the system.”

Mannering says it is useful to know all aspects of the dairy effluent model from shed to pond to field application. The sump linking the shed and pond can pump either way.

Using Overseer nutri-

ent modelling, Ravens-down account manager Greig McLeod accounted

for all effluent in the design of the system. Fer-tiliser timing, with mini-

mal use of nitrogen, were included in the manage-ment plan and area. Only

84kg/ha/year is applied; the maximum allowable limit is 150kg/ha/year.


New system safeguards sensitive farm land

I.S. Dam Lining Ltd’s North Island manager Corey Taylor (left) prepares a seam for welding. Inset: A fusion welder/wedge joining the liner.

Who has dairying’s most reliable and efficient

effluent pump solution?

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Our pump sets come standard with the following features and benefits, for our farming clients:• Stainless Steel Baseplate - gives long-term

protection against corrosion, unlike galvanised baseplates.

• Silicon Carbide Mechanical Seals - prevent self-priming issues common with gland packed pumps offered by others as standard. Provide long term sealing against effluent leakage to maintain a safe pumping environment.

• Pump Life Expectancy based on our 35+ years of Progressing Cavity (PC) pump engineering by the only PC pump manufacturer directly serving New Zealand farmers - gives us the unique ability to ensure our pumps operate at the most effective speeds for pumping animal effluent, which impacts directly on the maximum pump life expectancy.


// 43

New system safeguards sensitive farm landThe new rules require 90 days storage so effluent is applied only when condi-tions suit and no leaching and run-off is permitted. Percys will do an annual nutrient budget to ensure their effluent system stays within safety parameters.

The effluent pond holds effluent during July, August and into Septem-ber and any other wet periods. Blair says they foresaw this as the most important aspect of their effluent management. A lined pond with leak detection was deemed essential to prevent any effluent leaching.

I.S. Dam Lining designed and installed the pond. The company has full farm dairy effluent accreditation and knows all aspects of the efflu-ent model. An HDPE syn-thetic liner was chosen as the surest guard against leaks. Each plastic welded seam is tested during con-

struction.A concrete ramp built

into the pond makes ser-vicing easier, enabling the farmers to reverse a stir-rer down into the pond without fear of gashing the liner. A tractor driven PTO stirrer agitates the effluent.

Extra pond capacity has been allowed for – at minimal extra capital cost – to provide 10 days emer-gency effluent storage, and three weeks during calv-ing in July, in excess of the amount recommended by the pond calculating tool. Balancing the dam depth with the groundwa-ter table allows increased storage for minimal extra cost of liner and construc-tion.

The Percys have a 10 year consent to discharge dairy effluent onto land.

There is a mixture of soil types on Goodlands, and soil mapping has been done to ensure efflu-

ent is applied to low-risk ground. Te Ore Ore area is classed as a flood zone in winter.

Soil moisture probes are installed to ensure the theoretical application rates of effluent match the actual situation in the field, and to ensure efflu-ent is not applied to wet soils. The soil moisture probes will verify efflu-ent is not applied to water-logged soils, reducing the risk of run-off.

Blair and Deanne Percy say they needed a robust effluent system to ensure peace of mind.

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Pinpoint risk areas as planning beginsFARM EFFLUENT man-agement systems should take into account soil and water features on farms, says the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

Within the farm you will most likely have high-risk and low-risk areas for

effluent irrigation. Prepare an effluent irrigation plan that shows these different areas, the council says. The plan has to be registered with the council as part of your resource consent.

Some high-risk areas will be obvious because

water will be seen ponding or running off these soils during rainfall. Other risks are less visible.

The ideal soil for irri-gation absorbs and fil-ters the effluent through many small pores – called ‘matrix flow’. Typical examples include ash, fine pumice or loamy soils. Soils with high clay con-tent or artificial drainage often have larger cracks and channels. While the effluent might ‘disappear’ when applied, it can travel through these cracks and channels to reach subsur-face drains or groundwa-ter, then flow underground to contaminate groundwa-ter – called ‘bypass flow’. Soils with bypass flow are higher risk zones.

A written effluent application plan can help you identify suitable areas of the farm for effluent application, and can help all staff to see this and to keep accurate records.

From a plan or map of the farm, identify waterways, natural drainage patterns, soil types and sub-surface drainage, prevailing wind direction and neighbours’ dwellings.

Mark out the ideal area for effluent application, noting irrigator runs for each paddock and colour-coded risk zones.

No-application zones include all land within 20m of a drain, waterway or bore, or the boundary of a neighbouring prop-erty. Risk zones include mole or tile drainage areas, very wet soils or very free-draining areas with porous subsoil and accessible groundwater.

There are three key good-practice principles of effluent collection and storage:

1. Collect all effluent in a sealed storage facility

2. Reduce effluent volume

3. Have enough storage.Some dairy farms irri-

gate effluent directly from the farm dairy sump to land on a daily basis. But

daily application is labour-intensive, high mainte-nance and prone to system failure. Storage offers flex-ibility for effluent irriga-tion to fit around farm activities and current con-ditions.

If excess effluent is applied onto already wet soil, pathogens and nutri-ents can enter surface waterways and ground-water. This means that storing effluent during wet periods (known as ‘deferred irrigation’) is an essential strategy for keep-ing waterways clean.

Another advantage of storage is that it allows solids to settle reducing blockages and wear and tear on pumps, pipes and spray equipment.

The good-practice requirement for sealing applies not only to your storage ponds but to all areas where effluent col-lects such as feed pads, silage bunkers and storage piles for sludge or stone trap cleanings.

Avoid placing these storage facilities in sites with high water tables or at risk of flooding.

Stormwater drains should be installed and maintained to prevent rainwater flowing overland into any of these areas.

A synthetic (eg plastic or rubber) or compacted clay liner or a concrete pond interior will ensure your ponds are sealed so no nutrients can leach to groundwater. If you are using a clay seal or liner, have the clay type checked by an engineer and get their certificate stating that the clay type is suitable and the pond is sealed.

Remember to inform anyone doing any mainte-nance work on the pond if synthetic or clay liners are present.

For storage of silage and scrapings from stand-off areas, feed pads or stone traps, a concrete pad is best to allow for ease of cleaning by machinery, the council says.

Stormwater drains should be installed and maintained to prevent rainwater flowing overland into any of these areas.

Take into account soil and water features while irrigating effluent.

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Separated liquid and solids are easy to deal with, says farmer Mark Barr.

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS // 45

Separator saves ground, runs maintenance-freeA PPP Industries screw-press solids separator has made effluent manage-ment effortless and virtu-ally maintenance free for a Te Awamutu dairy farmer.

Mark Barr milks 500 cows on a 160ha dairy con-version 10km south of Te Awamutu.

Until last season the property was a maize farm, Then Barr put in a 50-bail shed, a 100 x 20m feed pad and an above-ground effluent tank of 2.5 mil-lion L capacity, meeting a 70-day capacity require-ment.

With the timing of the conversion and a heavy clay based soil Barr says getting effluent manage-ment right was essential for the success of the farm.

Effluent is collected from the cowshed and stand-off shelter in a sump for processing through a separator. Liquids are pumped into the tank; solids are stored in piles beside the tanks.

Liquid is spread on the farm by travelling irri-gators; contractors use muck spreaders to distrib-ute solid materials twice a year.

Barr says a separator was essential because the

use of a tank over a pond makes solids difficult to deal with once they are in there. “Once the solids are in the tank they’re pretty much impossible to get out.”

He installed a PPP-sup-plied ESY SP 600 separa-tor after seeing it in action at Mystery Creek and hearing good things from a friend about its perfor-mance and lack of main-tenance. The separated liquids and solids are both easy to deal with, he says.

PPP Industries general manager Nick Morison says screw-press separa-tors do a better job than weeping walls and static screens. “With weeping walls, all you are doing is delaying the day you have to deal with the solids.”

Barr says pressing solids means no problems with smells or sludge; the solids can be dealt with weekly or monthly. Solids larger than 0.50mm are removed from the effluent and the remaining solid material is in a stackable, drip-free form.

As the liquid is essen-tially water, Barr is able to spread it at 40% of 10ml of rainwater, twice what he had been applying on another property where a traditional pond was used, even though soil on that

farm was more porous. “Because the product is basically water it can be put on at a much heavier rate, which is a huge plus.”

Spreading mostly water also saved a lot on mainte-nance and running costs, Barr says. The low solids volume requires much less power than his other oper-ations. An 11.4hp Mono pump is adequate.

And because the irriga-tors are free of sediment, maintenance is virtually non-existent, he says. “On the other farm there’d be a blockage I’d need to clear at least once a month if

not more often. With the screw-press separator it simply requires shifting the irrigators.”

The separator has run smoothly for one season – no maintenance, no down-time.

The solids are an effec-tive fertiliser for crops, having a fairly long release and giving good growth rates. Tel. 0800 901 902 www.pppindustries.co.nz

GARETH GILLATT

POW03

35

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Xero, PGW to add zest at FieldaysPGG WRIGHTSON and software company Xero will jointly spon-sor the premier feature at National Fieldays 2014.

The feature, ‘Managing Resources for a Competi-tive Advantage’, will show where and how farming can best develop systems and processes to manage resources and remain competitive.

Feature exhibitors in the main pavilion are “highly visible”, Fieldays says. “Hot topics” there include feed sources, nutrient management, animal health, workforce, security, control, trace-ability, water management and power innovations.

Fieldays chief executive Jon Calder says New Zea-land’s competitive advan-tage is its efficiency in converting resources into protein.

“As a nation, maximis-

ing productivity in [using] resources we have done incredibly well… and will continue to do if we [col-laborate] across indus-try and sectors. With PGG Wrightson and Xero we look forward to exploring this theme further at Fiel-days 2014.”

Xero last month launched its ‘Farming in the Cloud’ software solu-

tion during its annual con-ference, says spokesman Ben Richmond, rural strat-egy head.

“Managing resources for farms [requires best] milk production and stock levels, [and] extends to the heart of farm management – running a farm as an efficient business.”

“The ability to pinpoint a farm operations finan-cial position at any time coupled and the ability to share information with key advisors in a seam-

less and collaborative way is central to… a sustain-able business…. Farmers together with Xero can use the power of the cloud to increase efficiency and productivity.”

PGG Wrightson gen-eral manager marketing Shannon Galloway says the company is proud to be a feature sponsor.

“We know farming is a challenging and complex business and our fortunes are tied to those of our

customers.“This year’s theme

is a cornerstone foun-dation for PGG Wright-son. Everyday our staff

work with farmers on their immediate on-farm needs while helping our custom-ers plan.

“We aim to stay abreast

of developments in the industry and… provide new products and ser-vices.”

PGG Wrightson is a

foundation partner in the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium and offers sponsorships and awards in farming.

Premier Feature exhibitors at National Fieldays.

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“As a nation, maximising productivity in [using] resources we have done incredibly well… and will continue to do if we [collaborate] across industry and sectors.”


48 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Mixed farm tractors compact, efficientTHREE NEW models in John Deere’s 6M and 6R tractor series are designed for medium-size arable, livestock and mixed farms.

The German-made 6090MC, 6100MC and 6110MC models use the maker’s “highly efficient” PowrQuad Plus transmission and 4.5L 4-cyl Pow-erTech PWX engine.

These fuel-efficient, diesel-only engines have cooled exhaust gas recir-culation (EGR) and an exhaust filter said to lift performance and cut emis-sions.

The 6MC tractors have a 2.4m wheelbase and optional low-profile cabs for better access to small build-ings. The frames accept front loaders

such as the John Deere H310 or H340. These are available in non self-leveling, mechanical self-leveling, and hydraulic self-leveling versions, with a variety of attachments.

With up to four mechanical selective

control valves, the closed-centre pres-sure-compensated hydraulic system is said to respond quickly. It can lift 5600kg. It is avail-

able with a 65 or 80L/min pump. PTO options are 540/540E/1000rpm,

described as fuel-efficient. The cab has 320o visibility and low noise levels.

Also available is a premium ver-

sion of this new line-up: the 6090RC, 6100RC and 6110RC.

Features include a 205L fuel tank, and the maker’s intelligent power man-agement (IPM) and triple link suspen-sion.

Operator comfort is greater and JD’s “intelligent” Total Equipment Con-trol and GreenStar precision farming options are said to offer better imple-ment control.

Three transmission options are

offered: PowrQuad Plus, AutoQuad Plus and AutoQuad Plus EcoShift, all giving smooth gear changes on the move, assisted by a standard declutch button.

Other features include a pres-sure and flow compensated hydraulic system providing up to 114L/min, with 37L/min available for implement oper-ation, plus an optional ex-factory front PTO and front hitch with a lift capac-ity of 3000kg.www.johndeere.co.nz

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Aluminium cat to prowl the roads

FINE WEATHER, good commodity prices and lots to see made the 2014 Northland Field Days the best ever at its new location, says president Lew Duggan.

Three calm, sunny days prevailed and only a slight breeze broke the calm on the Saturday.

While most Kaipara farmers, Northland Field Days committee members included, would have welcomed a heavy downpour it was perfect weather for the event – no heavy winds or showers to disrupt the show. Sat-urday’s zephyr actually increased visitor numbers, Duggan says.

“It’s without question the best Saturday we’ve had on the site here. People were still pouring in at lunch-time, the weather was so good.” Abourt 27,000 people attended.

Higher than normal commodity prices for dairy, beef and sheep mean that while Northland’s patchy summer has left large parts of the region with bigger water deficits than last year, farmers were largely exu-berant.

Some exhibitors said the show was their best ever. Some reported more inquiries on the Thursday than in entire shows previously, Duggan says.

“One first time exhibitor I was talking to got four pages of leads on the first day and was very happy with how it was running.”

New events were especially popular with the public. The freestyle motorcross was an especially big drawcard on the Saturday.

“It changed the whole flow of the field days and got people walking around a lot more. We’re hoping to get the freestyle motocross team back.”

The highlight for Duggan was how smooth the entire show ran. “It has easily been best field days on the site.” www.northlandfielddays.co.nz

Field days hailed as best ever

JAGUAR ‘S ALL-NEW mid-sized premium sports sedan will be known as the Jaguar XE, the company says.

It will be the first alu-minium monocoque in the segment and the most advanced, efficient and refined sports sedan in its class, it says.

This will be the first of the new advanced alumin-ium architecture first seen in 2013 in the C-X17 con-cept car at the Frankfurt Auto Show. The car will be powered by the first of the firm’s Ingenium engines in 2L, 4-cyl petrol and diesel variants. They will be built at Jaguar Land Rover’s new UK engine factory.

All these engines will give the cars 300km/h top speeds and emissions lower than 100g of CO

2/

km.Speaking at the Geneva

Auto Show, Dr Ralf Speth, chief executive officer Jaguar Land Rover con-

firmed the Jaguar XE, will be unveiled in produc-tion form later this year. Its global rollout will begin in 2015.

Says Speth, “It brings our customers all the ben-efits of aluminium: light-ness and stiffness for unbeatable handling, per-formance, refinement and efficiency. The new engine and aluminium chassis complement each other perfectly.”

The engines can be configured for in-line and transverse installations for rear-wheel drive and AWD.

Kevin Stride, Jaguar’s vehicle line director for XE, said, “The engineer-ing development of the XE has [aimed for] the most advanced, efficient and refined sports sedan in its class.”

Ian Callum, director of design, said, “The new Jaguar XE is every bit a modern Jaguar: more com-pact in size but visually

striking. Customers will expect [it to be] practical but premium. We never forget we are designing a Jaguar and that means it must be as exciting to look at and drive as it is bril-

liant to run and practical to own.”

Full XE technical and range details will be announced later in 2014.

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50 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Partners discover value, quality in grass gearTARANAKI CON-TRACTORS Marc Gop-perth and Andy Davy have three new Fella tedders helping them make the best bale possible. They work as a partnership offering services including grass harvesting, cultiva-tion and seeding.

The business has three

6.6 m hydraulic folding Fella TH 6606 six-rotor tedders bought from Nor-wood Farm Machinery Centre in Hawera. They bought one of the new tedders two seasons ago and the other two last season. They previously had another Fella tedder, which they traded. The brand’s performance was the clincher.

“We went to three new identical machines to streamline our gear for servicing and spare parts,” Marc says. “We’ve had a few different types of ted-

ders but the Fella was one [that] lasted. They are well built and their strength-to-weight ratio makes them very long-lasting.”

Gopperth and Davy went up to the six-rotor models to cover the ground faster. “The other reason is so we aren’t run-ning on top of the rows. We can take three mower conditioner rows and we are straddling over the top of the middle one.”

Gopperth particu-larly likes the tines on the new tedders, saying they are durable and spring-

loaded compared to other rigid models so they rarely break. Fella tedders tines pick up the forage and gently turn it without causing damage. A light, loose and well-mixed mat of forage is created, lead-ing to top quality material.

“Fella tedders are good value for money,” Gop-perth says. “There are a lot of them around here now, so if something did go wrong… you could borrow, beg or swap.”

The machines have been used for about 70% of the business’s early

silage work. “They run throughout the early silage and the hay season and they’re a big part of our business,” Gopperth says.

“We’re trying to get a better quality silage bale

and to be able to achieve that we need a good reli-able tedder to flick it out into a nice even spread without lumping.

“The key to making good silage is to be able to

get a good even wilt and that’s what we are achiev-ing.”

Fella is imported in New Zealand by C B Nor-wood Distributors Ltd. Tel. 06 356 4920

MASSEY FERGUSON is introducing the best features of its award winning MF7600 range in a new medium-power package – the MF6600 series.

The new four-model range meets the needs of farm-ers and contractors cropping using up-to-date methods of establishing, nurturing and harvesting, the company says.

“Massey Ferguson has developed the MF6600 series for the new generation of farmers looking at their asset management in terms of labour, power, soil protection, cropping and the environment,” says Tim Andrew, prod-uct manager, Massey Ferguson in Australia and New Zea-land.

“This new range combines the right size and power with productive features needed to farm effectively in today’s challenging conditions.”

The MF6600 tractors have the power, torque and oper-ating features of a 6-cyl tractor in a 4-cyl compact, agile machine with a good power-to-weight ratio. They come with a wide choice of transmissions, hydraulic systems and cab comfort.

The MF6600 Series is available with Dyna-4, Dyna-6 or Dyna-VT transmissions and in ‘essential’ or ‘efficient’ cab specifications.

“While keeping everything that has made Massey Fer-guson tractors great, the new MF6600 Series has been developed to meet the needs of the latest generation of farmers,” says Andrew.www.masseyferguson.com.au

High capacity 4.9L, 4-cyl AGCO Power engine with plenty of power and torque.

Manoeuvrability in a light, compact de-sign.

Massey Ferguson Dyna-4, Dyna-6 semi-powershift with AutoDrive option, and Dyna-VT continuously variable transmission for certain models.

110L/min closed center hydraulic system standard across all models; new right-hand joystick operates transmission, hydraulics and loader.

The same cab as the MF 7600 is standard with mechanical suspension, or optional hydraulic suspension, and new controls.

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Dairy News 11 Mar 2014

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Transcript of Dairy News 11 Mar 2014