It’s the end of November already and we have welcomed some stretches of sunshine – a fabulous change from what felt like constant rain (much to the kids’ frustration, wanting to get the boat out for skiing). The cows have certainly needed the sun and the great lift in the GDT has also been a very welcome boost!

On the home front Frostie has been counting down to a long-awaited knee op for cartilage damage – 28^th November could not come early enough (he was looking forward to coming off all the pain killer meds), but unfortunately this was not to happen as he was struck with a head cold the weekend before, and so after much waiting and pre-op checks etc it was decided not to operate and for us to come back in two weeks. The countdown is on again!! The countdown to Christmas is also on in the Frostie household and absolutely nothing is done yet!!

Frostie and Mrs. Frostie had a stint milking together again during November (and we survived) while Grant and Leigh had a much needed break in Oz; it was nice to see them back. The Frosties will be back in the shed again for a time over the summer break so this was good practice.

On the farm

As at 10^th November we had 343 cows on farm – all grazing 3 ha/day (22 – 23 day round). 340 milkers are grazing 3 ha/day + 6 – 6.5 kg/cow/day of meal + ½ kg/cow/day of molasses. 3 sick cows are also on farm. The current meal mix is 69% PKE + 27% soya hull + 4% minerals and we will continue to feed 6 – 6.5 kg/cow/day through the next 6 – 8 weeks at least. We will also continue to feed ¼ – ½ kg/cow/day of molasses through the next 2 months.

Production at 10^th November was 66,881 kg MS, compared with 66,000 kg MS at the same time last season. Current production is 8.5 – 9 kg MS/ha/day and 1.85 – 1.95 kg MS/cow/day with cow condition at 4.3 – 4.4.

The average pasture cover at 10^th November was 2,756 kg DM/ha with the pasture cover targets for the next 8 weeks being 2,700 – 2,800 kg DM/ha in late November and 2,800 – 2,900 kg DM/ha in late December.

The grazing round has held nicely at two paddocks/day and should hold at this level through to when the chicory starts being grazed. We have done some mowing over the last couple of weeks to maintain the quality. When the chicory starts, we will go to one full paddock of pasture at night and ½ paddock of chicory during the day to make the chicory paddocks last for 10 days. When the chicory finishes, the plan is to stay on ½ paddock of pasture during the day so the round will actually end up on around 30ish days when back on all pasture. The plan will then be to extend to 24 hours/paddock when the chicory starts for the second time or when the turnips start – whichever is first.

Fertiliser

8 tonne of ammo was applied at 100 kg/ha from 29^th September to 20^th October. The SustaiN started again on 4^th November and has been applied over the whole farm at 55 – 60 kg/ha during November. From 15 – 20^th  December we will start another round of SustaiN at 90 kg/ha.

Mating

Mating started on 25^th October and the plan was to go for 6 weeks but we have since changed this plan. With the later mating start and the aim to have good numbers milking through the winter we have decided to do AI for 8 weeks and not use any bulls this year. 29 non-cyclers were checked and treated on 17^th October. As of 10^th November 264 cows have been mated in 16 days = 77% submission rate.

Cropping

• Turnips – 10.5 ha (7 paddocks) are in turnips. A weed and insect spray will be done 3 – 4 weeks after sowing and then 200 kg/ha of SustaiN will be applied 1 – 2 weeks later.
• Chicory – 7.5 ha (5 paddocks) were sown into Puna 2 chicory at 10 kg/ha. The aim is to get 2 days feed/paddock out of the chicory when it has reached red band gumboot height, hopefully around 10 –20^th December, the second grazing will be around 25 days later and will coincide with when turnips are also being fed.

Run off

The 130 R2 heifers still look great and are grazing in 2 lots on all pasture. Unfortunately, the calves have been a bit stagnant over the last few weeks with some health issues but this has been cured now so they are growing again!

16 ha has been cut 3 times for grass silage and taken back to the dairy farm, any surplus paddocks from now on will be targeted for hay.

14 ha has been sown into maize. The area in Winter Star has been sprayed and cut for silage and will get cultivated and then sown into 10 kg/ha of Puna 2 chicory.

Ammo was applied over the runoff in October with SustaiN being applied over November at 60 kg/ha and then again from 20^th December onwards at 90 kg/ha.