HIGH FARM production and heavy stocking rates need not burden the environment, say brother and sister Shayne and Charmaine O’Shea, this year’s supreme winners of the Ballance Northland Farm Environmental Awards.
A LARGE crowd turned out this month to a field day to see how a young couple won the Manawatu/Horowhenua/ Rangitikei Farm Manager of the Year Award.
DAIRY FARM use of chicory is increasing considerably because the plant’s tap root makes it particularly suitable for dry conditions. But using the ryegrass standard formula for plate meter readings will not give an accurate estimate of chicory mass, the recent DairyNZ Farmers Forum heard.
JAMES COURTMAN is young, ambitious and already successful.
DAIRYNZ’S CHIEF scientist, Dr Eric Hillerton says the findings of a feed conversion study by his organisation, LIC and the Australian dairy industry has exceeded his expectations and is world class science.
SCIENTISTS FROM DairyNZ, LIC and the Australian dairy industry have been able to prove that some calves and cows are more efficient converters of feed than others.
THIS YEAR you’ll have learned the value of even small amounts of rainfall – as if you didn’t know already. You will realise that about half the rain that arrives on your property runs off the farm in winter so the next revolution in dairy farming will be to store winter rainfall and irrigate it in summer. Even if the amount of water stored is small, it may keep your farm alive.
A RECENT Small Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH) field day near the Manawatu township of Sanson attracted 50 farmers.
THE BENEFITS of keeping stock out of waterways with fencing can be boosted by a planted margin, which will help improve water quality.
THE 2013 Taranaki Sharemilker/Equity Farmers of the Year, Rachel and Kenneth Short, have become the first family to claim two generations of success in the awards.
