Tuesday, 12 June 2012 10:36

Huge grazing farm cuts feed waste

Written by 

USING AGBRAND stock feeders on a King Country farm has hugely cut feed waste.

Koromiko Grazing Ltd, owned by 18 dairy farming shareholders – as far apart as Hauraki Plains, Hamilton, Te Awamutu and Taranaki – grazes each farmer’s dairy heifer replacement stock. 

The farm is near Benneydale, 42km south of Te Kuiti.  At 21km long and seven kilometers across, this is a big operation, comments manager Dean Boros.

The rising two-year-old heifers are fed on crop and haylage during May and June. In their mobs of 200 they have a daily break of swedes and four bales of haylage. This needs two men working all day to complete the task. About 3000 bales are fed out in this time. 

Boros was concerned about haylage wasted by trampling into the muddy ground. They were feeding 4kgDM daily but only 1-1.5kg was being eaten, he estimated. So two years ago the farm bought six Agbrand feeders, each an S5 with 26 feeding positions.

“I had been told about them four years ago but I didn’t believe they would work. I’ve had to eat my words, they work so well.”  

Still skeptical when they arrived, his first trial was in adjacent paddocks with and without feeders, both mobs being fed at the same time.

“When I returned some hours later I was immediately convinced, the ‘without’mob bellowing for more feed after trampling most to waste while the paddocks with the feeders – still with a lot left in them – had stock well fed and contented. The wastage was reduced to almost zero.”

The farm now has 16 feeders and each day’s ration of three-four big square bales are either stacked in the feeders or the strings are cut so the haylage falls loosely.

Boros believes the heifers are gaining weight at 0.5-1.0kg/day. A dairy farmer seeing them said, “They were looking fabulous and any dairy farmer would be proud to own them. If  I was starting this cropping programme again the Agbrand feeders would be the first things I would buy,” Boros says.

At the end of each season the feeders are cleaned and coated with waste oil and stored for the following season.

Tel. 0800 104 104 

www.stockfeeders.co.nz

Featured

Dairy sheep and goat turmoil

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.

Hurry up and slow down!

OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.

Editorial: Passage to India

OPINION: Even before the National-led coalition came into power, India was very much at the fore of its trade agenda.

National

Govt urged to reduce ETS units

The Climate Change Commission wants the new Government to reduce NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction volumes as son as…

Dairy sheep, goat woes mount

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand…

Machinery & Products

All-terrain fert spreading mode

Effluent specialists the Samson Group have developed a new double unloading system to help optimise uphill and downhill organic fertiliser…

Can-Am showcases range

Based on industry data collected by the Motor Industry Association, Can-Am is the number one side-by-side manufacturer in New Zealand.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Papal visit

OPINION: European farmers are going to extreme lengths to have their message heard.

Thai egg tarts

OPINION: The hustle and bustle of one of Bangkok's most popular fast food outlets may feel a world away from…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter