Busy times on the Farm......

There is always something going on at the Farm and the last couple of months have been particularly busy, Weaning Calves (our little replacement babies are doing very well and we like to wean at a very healthy 110-120kg to give them a fantastic start in life which sets them up well), Artificial Insemination of the two herds over November and then the Wagyu bulls go out with the herds at the end of November when AI is finished.

We planted our winter crops of Kale & Swede and due to the previous Winter not being as cold as it normally was, There is bit of an outbreak of cutworm which the cold would normally of killed off. These are moth larvae that have evolved to hide under soil during the day and come out at night to eat new plant growth and so are particularly damaging on any new grass or crop paddocks that have recently been planted. They can decimate crops in days if the numbers are high enough. So we have our winter crops on daily watch and as soon as they come up we will spray them to ensure we have a healthy abundant crop to feed our ladies over Winter.

This Summer is also turning out to be as predicted a dryer and hotter Summer than we would normally experience in Norsewood, Havelock North where I am from is generally 5'C hotter on any given day. So we have done extra Baleage for the girls so if it gets too hot and the grass slows down we have plenty of extra feed for them. Grass growth for Dairy Farms and relative to our area is optimal growth 15-22'C, the growth slows 24-28'C and generally stops 30-32'C. So factoring in hotter evenings and less dew on the ground to be absorbed, lower rainfall and if you added in warmer winds. You really dry things out. (It's always good to plan ahead at all times for Farming and extra Baleage means we are ready for whatever Summer we will get in Norsewood, but so far we are lucky with some reasonable rainfall coming through)

We are very lucky we are a very well established Farm and choose to have a low stocking rate, it's very important the cows are not left to chew the grass down too hard so the grass has a better recovery time for growth. We will often move the girls up to 4x a day with a fresh paddock in a hotter than average Summer and we have lots of well established shelter belts to provide shade. We top them up with extra Baleage as needed and because we only milk OAD (once a day) the cows arent put under high levels of stress.

Farming is a fantastic and rewarding job which is also very busy and certainly gives you variety day to day. You cant get bored on a Farm.