BOP Focus Farm Richard & Creina James Farm Walk Notes

Transcription

1 BOP Focus Farm Richard & Creina James Farm Walk Notes Monday 19th May 2014 Key Farm Management Notes Next Monday numbers to go to winter grazing will be confirmed. Re daft cows into 3 herds - heifers, light cows and balance of herd. Preferentially feed the lighter mob. Summary for Week Hot Tips Re draft cows into herds according to BCS to ensure feed is allocated to lighter cows to meet target BCS Ensure all employment contracts are signed prior to arrival onto farm Run dry cows through shed to check for mastitis. Average pasture cover 2270 kg DM/ha (2180 kg DM/ha 22/4). Grazeable area 139 ha total effective area (5.75 ha sprayed out) Average growth rate for week 35 kg DM/ha/day (35 kg DM/ha/day 22/4) Stock mature Home farm Matawai 98 in-calf heifers 335 dry cows 30 cows to carryover. 36 In-calf late cows 48 in-calf heifers 1 sick 16 deaths season to date 52 culls season to date Young stock Rotation length for week Supplement harvested/purchased Supplement on hand Supplement fed for week Soil temperature Rainfall for week Nitrogen this fortnight Nitrogen applied season YTD BMSCC 156 yearlings grazing off at Matawai 2.28 ha/day = 62 days Nil 230 T DM maize silage 23 baylage bales (10 bale equivalent) 5.5 kg DM/c/d maize silage 13.8ºC average (15.8 o C last week) 10mm 9 kg N/ha 169 kg N/ha n/a

2 Body Condition Score (BCS) 4.2 Cows (19/5/14) 5.3 In -Calf heifers at home (19/5/14) Milk Production to 19th May 2014 Kg MS YTD into vat Kg MS/ha YTD Kg MS/cow/day Kg MS/ha/day 2013/ / Farm Management Plan for the Next Fortnight: Calves Heifers (R2's) Calves were drenched with Cydectin last Thursday 15 May. After discussions with Gisborne vets.our policy to manage Liver Fluke will be to drench all stock at Matawai annually in August. 98 R2yrs at home BCS /4/14. 5 empty heifers will go off-farm this week. The 54 heifers at Matawai are estimated to be a similar BCS to the stock at home and are getting fed to achieve the target BCs before they arrive home at the end of June. Home Farm Average Pasture Cover 2270 kg DM/ha. Growth rate of 35 kg DM/ha/d. Rotation length 62 days. R2yr heifers are currently being run with the light cows. During the next week the cows to be carried over will go to Matawai (30). BCS Results of herd The above graph shows that there is a portion of the herd that we are concerned that under the current feeding regime will not reach target BCS of 5 at calving. This issue needs to be addressed immediately to allow them sufficient time to put weight on. All herds will be re-drafted according to BCS as follows o Light Cows- cows at or below BCS 4 and any cows to induce o Heifers o Balance of cows ( BCS 4.2 and over)

3 Feeding Levels - offered Pasture (kg Maize (kg DM/c/d) DM/c/d) Heifers Light Cows Balance Herd Cows will be redrafted on a fortnightly basis. Intakes will decrease to maintenance + pregnancy as they reach target BCS. PKE will be offered to the light herd to help them achieve the target BCS in time. Our current challenge is to increase rotation length needs to 100 days while still meeting cow intake requirements to meet BCS targets. We plan to achieve this by removing excess stock off the property, getting cows to winter grazing and supplementing with PKE. Comparison to Feed budget: We are running 100 kg DM/ha behind the budget. Decisions to manage any deficit c.f. target will be made once the winter grazing numbers are confirmed. We are considering purchasing 22T of PKE to cover the deficit and help the lighter cows reach their BCS target. The feed budget attached excludes PKE. Fertiliser and Nitrogen Application to three paddocks will complete autumn fertiliser. New Grass Paddocks The 2 paddocks that failed were checked for slugs using the sack test no slugs were found, some crickets were present. These paddocks have been re-sown with Shogun and cricket bait applied. Some paddocks in the region have been affected by insects. Use the Pestweb site to determine what pest is affecting your pasture. Refer to pestweb.co.nz. Facial Eczema No spore counts last week.

4 Feed Wedge and Budget

5 Name RA & C James First day of period Budget Start 01-Apr-09 Period Start 01-Apr 15-Apr 29-Apr 13-May 27-May 10-Jun 24-Jun 08-Jul 22-Jul 05-Aug 19-Aug 02-Sep 16-Sep 30-Sep Days in Period Effe ctive Hecta re s = Remove or Add Ha's Convert to Black and White Convert to Colour FEED DEMAND Stock numbers on farm & daily dm intake per animal (After wastage) Total Cows Cows Grazing Cows Calving (No. in each period) Cows Dried Off (last day of period) Average Milking Cows dm/day 4, Dry Cows (Total cows less milkers) dm/day 3, Dry Cow Condition Score Monitor Condition scores added = 539 Ave dm for maint & preg = 9.5 dm/cond score = 200 Yearlings. dm/day Calves. dm/day Feed Demand/ha/day 8, Stocking Rate Cow Eq/ha kgs dm/ha/day PASTURE GROWTH 5, NITROGEN GROWTH Total Tonnes of nitrogen containing fertiliser applied each period D.A.P %N Urea 46.0 %N S.O.A %N Total N applied (kgs) kgs N per Eff Ha Response (dm/kg N) Days for N Response Response dm/ha/day Nett Grass Growth 6, SUPPLEMENTS Total Supplements feed per day in each period Silage 25% wet tonnes Maize kg DM/cow , Maize kg DM/cow Palm Kernal PKE T Wet Palm Kernal wet tonnes Total (kg dm/ha/day) 1, Total Feed Supply dm/ha/day 8, Feed Utilisation 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 90% 90% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% PASTURE COVER kg dm/ha on the last day of each period Cover Change dm/ha/day Predicted pasture covers 2,300 2,216 2,284 2,256 2,367 2,542 2,599 2,500 2,473 2,471 2,310 2,136 1,964 1,865 1,804 Updated pasture covers 2,216 2,000 2,160 2,270 2,445 2,502 2,403 2,376 2,374 2,213 2,039 1,867 1,768 1,707 Enter actual pasture covers 2,300 2,216 2,000 2,160 2,270 Cover Dates: 1Apr 14Apr 28Apr 12May 26May 9Jun 23Jun 7Jul 21Jul 4Aug 18Aug 1Sep 15Sep 29Sep 13Oct

6 Financial Reporting for April Total Farm Working Expenses Costs continue to remain on track for the season. Expenses have come back on track as outlined last month. We still expect to be on-track for Farm Working Expenses < $4/kgMS Current costs to end of April are $3.13/kgMS vs budget of $3.30/kgMS Animal Health Animal Health costs are running higher than bugeted. The extra expense has been incurred from additional mastitis cases this season. We hope to have addressed this to some extent for next season through better technique with dry-cow this autumn.

7 Supplement Costs Costs associated with maize harvested was budgeted last month but invoiced this month bringing actuals closer to budget. Repairs and Maintenance Repairs and Maintenance are on track for the season. In summary The discipline of constant monitoring has kept the farm focused on where money is spent all season. Monitoring provides us with the facts to determine return on investment made.