Hi all. I hope you are having a good start to the season.
I hear that grass is short and it is no different here. We have used all our baled silage and are now on to pit silage. Between that and palm kernel we are keeping the girls happy.
Lance is now doing the milkings whilst I am happy doing odd jobs and filling in the gaps. Calving went well and at time of writing we have two left to calve. We have had three milk fevers and lost one breech calf, so a very good calving.
We used Teatseal on all the cows and heifers for the first time and that has reduced mastitis to four cases which is a marked improvement on last season. We used dry cow treatment on those girls with high counts (12 cows). This success, plus not dumping milk, has meant production is well up on last year. Today, 29/8/23, we are up 38% for the season, although it is early days just yet. Per day the cows are at 1.71 kg MS and we must be happy with that on once a day.
Due to the high empty rate last year, we have decided to rear more calves and extend the mating period. Lance is less concerned than me about an intensive calving so if we have some later ones in calf we will put them on the market. With the herd BW being high they should sell okay.
Cyclone Gabrielle’s mess took three months to clean up. It could have taken much longer, except that I bit the bullet and purchased a good mulcher which meant we could return all smaller branches straight to the soil. The trees look awful, and I doubt flowering will be big this year. With the convective frost last October and then the branch loss from the storm I expect tree growth to be well back on normal. But they are still standing and will make a profit down the track.
Timber sales are well up and because I have a couple of big buyers in the wings, we have started felling trees again for the next milling. With three to four months’ drying required you must plan well ahead to keep up with demand. Of course, the main log is all that is millable so there will be again large amounts of branches and top logs to pick up and eventually burn. Due to tractor movements grass damage is unavoidable and this will require some reseeding.
An opportunity came up to buy some neighbouring land and I have taken the plunge. It is a small block of 2.2 hectares but is all in lucerne and will give summer security and winter grazing. With the new house for Lance and this purchase, plus interest rates doubling, there is a financial squeeze going on. Fortunately, timber sales are on the up and the cows are doing their bit. The rest will just require me to box smartly to get through this.
As I write this, we have a minus 3.5-degree frost outside and I am glad I don’t have to milk! That makes 11 frosts this month and 28 frosts since April. I would expect another 7 to 10 frosts before the end of October based on my records. If that happens, grass growth will remain slow, and we may have a late peak or none at all. One would expect a good flush for spring once the weather warms up. All we need now is for the payout to recover.
I have talked about carbon credits and over the last two years I have accumulated a few. They have halved in value due to this government’s fiddling with the rules, and one can only hope a new government will allow things to recover. Loss of value in credits has also reduced the keenness of some to plant trees. Things will be good for trees one way or another so I have more seedlings in my nurseries and will plant again next winter in good faith. Trees have more value than just the credits and it will be a matter of time before they will be critical in paddocks to give the cows shelter from the heat of summer as temperatures increase. Although I am well set up for the uptick in temperatures, I feel sorry for those cows destined to stand in naked paddocks all day in the hot sun.
If there is interest out there, I could tell you more about what trees do for the planet and us. It would be good to hear from you readers if you want this.
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