Woow, what a season it has been. Rain, wind, sunshine, and for once we aren’t being driven back indoors due to the heat. The spring was a precursor to what I believe had to be the wettest start to the summer in a decade. Our own records show that this was the case, by the […]
Early June reminds me of my younger days when the dreaded shifting time came up. Moving house, children, machinery, and livestock. It was a means to an end and would not have been possible without the help of family and friends. There was always the excitement of a new job and all the work required […]
Remember the Seinfeld show? Jerry went to the studios and said “I want to do a show”. “What’s the show about?” they asked. “Nothing” was his reply. It’s a show about nothing and yet there were 180 shows. So today’s effort is about nothing. It’s a hard one to write this time around as those […]
With 31 days left till June, we are still milking TAD. With all the supplements we have fed over the summer, the little bits of rain, and sticking to our round length of 45 days since the calves left the farm, we have increased pasture cover to 2,400+ kg DM/ha. If this warm weather continues, […]
Strange how life can be thrown a curve ball by a bug. We went from planning a holiday to hunkering down on the farm and making face masks! The Waikato Times ran an article from the French Embassy about travellers stranded in NZ. We replied to their request for help and then received a large […]
I’m not going to mention the “C” word at all as I strive to focus on something other than what has been on the minds of most New Zealanders for the past 4 or so weeks. Today is the 21st day of lockdown and once again I extol the virtues of being a person of […]
The season ended early for me with drying off on the 26th April. The dry summer/autumn encouraged this decision, and I feel it was the right one, with covers now over 2500 two thirds of the way through May. For the record, final figures were 28,759 kg solids, 368 kg per cow, and 1027 kg […]
It’s June 1st, the start of the new dairy season. It’s an exciting time on the farm for many as cows are generally dried off by now in spring calving herds, farms change hands, sharemilkers move, staff changes occur, and we say goodbye to the last season and look forward to a brand new season […]
Hope this finds you all well. We have now dried off all the cows (on the 12th of May). We finished the season doing just over 64,000 solids. Not a bad effort, but still short of what I wanted. I got lulled into a false sense of security with the last two good autumns so […]
In five more sleeps Frostie and Mrs. Frostie are flying away from the wet to enjoy a few weeks with friends in Alaska (amongst other places). This has been long in the planning, and the timing is probably not the best as it has worked out, things have changed on the farm since the planning […]