It feels like all we talk about each month is the rain, but the reality is it has been extremely detrimental to our farm this year. We so need the sunshine, the wet weather has continued to keep coming back to hurt our farm, and has been compounded by the extreme lack of R&M done by the council for many, many years – we are over it. Trying to keep our chin up has not been easy for anyone and the rain is wearing thin! Our manager has done an amazing job to get through the wet so well and has pulled himself up when the weather has been so depressing.
It also feels like the end of the year is rushing towards us with Christmas decorations in the shops, the bbq and patio heater coming out (not that we have had the chance to use them) and children on study leave with exams starting this week! Our children are also so desperate for the weather to get better that the first day we had weather that was better than continual rain they got the boat out and went for a ski (Frostie dragged them around, Mrs Frostie sat in the van watching, and the dog thought it was Christmas already – running in and out of the water!).
On the farm
There are currently 339 cows on farm – all grazing 3 ha/day (20 – 21 day round). Production to date is 61,586 kg MS, compared with 62,974 kg MS at the same time last year, current production is 7.9 – 8 kg MS/ha/day and 1.75 – 1.85 kg MS/cow/day. The cows’ BCS is 4.2 – 4.3. The calves are going to the runoff as soon as they have been weaned. At the runoff 22 dry cows + 126 R 2 yr heifers are grazing 2 – 3 days per paddock.
Feed
The average pasture cover is 2,359 kg DM/ha. Our pasture cover targets for the next eight weeks are 2,400 – 2,500 kg DM/ha in late November and 2,600 – 2,700 kg DM/ha in late December.
Because of the terrible wet weather we have been feeding more in the shed at times. The mix is still 85% PKE, 12% soya hull and 3% minerals, and the aim is to hold this at around 7 kg/cow/day through the next two months.
Fertiliser
We will apply urea following behind the stock on the runoff over the next full grazing round before skipping the following round. Two tonne has been applied on the milking platform at 90 kg urea/ha. We will keep applying urea at 75 – 90 kg/ha through the rest of the grazing round and then miss the following grazing round.
Cropping/new pasture
With the flooding we have had to shuffle our cropping plans around a little. Some paddocks were sown in turnips but with the flooding there are very few turnips coming through. These paddocks will be power harrowed again and drilled into 30 kg/ha of Bealey, with different paddocks now to be put into turnips instead.
17 ha at the runoff is to go into maize – hopefully it will be planted soon!
The chicory/annual paddocks have been sprayed out and sown into a Bealey (22 – 25 kg/ha), chicory (3 kg/ha) and clover (4 kg/ha) mix on 13th October.
4.5 paddocks are shut for silage and should be ready to cut in the next two weeks.
Mating
The heifers were pregnancy tested on 1st November; 120 of them were in calf. The cows started AB on 22nd October and will go for 8 weeks – finishing before Christmas.
We keep telling ourselves that the sunshine will turn up soon, but now with the snow arriving in the South Island again yesterday the sunshine might still be a way off.