Last but not least – Graham Smith

The last time I wrote calving was the next big thing to happen. Well, it arrived early as usual, but went well. We ended up with 100% live births, that is a first, and only assisted one heifer who had a large calf. Milk fever has been prevalent around the district and quite bad, so […]

Season round up – Graham Smith

A bit to report back on seeing it has been so long since my last blog. The season ended on the 24th May with production slightly down on last year, less than 1%. The cows did 350 kg milksolids which I am happy with in this OAD world. Lance was always going to struggle to […]

Wet and challenging start – Matthew Zonderop

Woow what a start to the season this has been. The heifers returned home at an average liveweight of 484 kg and condition scored at a 5.5 and going into calving our cows were at a 5 average. This season’s start has really tested our management skills as farmers, not only financially, with a drop […]

Spring is here – Graham Smith

Spring has sprung and not before time. Calving has been over for a week, 3/9/21, as I write this. Bringing calving forward five days has given me a good head start on last season but has put pressure on feed available. Growth rates of 11 kg DM/ha through late winter, July / August contrasted with […]

The final countdown – Graham Smith

With the girls producing just 0.74 kg milksolids I have decided to finish up for the season. Dry off date is the 4th May. So, in the end they didn’t milk much longer than last year, and I only gained a couple of percent in total production. Still, with the pay out well up and […]