increase font size
Phil McKinnon, LIC.
With winter around the corner, LIC says farm staff are busy tending to bulls to ensure they capture the vital semen needed for New Zealand’s dairy herd.
Through artificial insemination, over 500 bulls have the role of getting millions of dairy cows pregnant each year, by producing five million straws of semen, thus helping maintain our milk supply.
The importance of dairy has arguably never been greater with the Ministry for Primary Industries expecting dairy exports to rise 6.3% to $19.2 billion for the year to June 2020. Domestically, Kiwis consume 400 million litres of milk each year.
Enabling this supply are bulls farmed by LIC at two farms in Newstead, near Hamilton, and one at Awahuri in the Manawatu. In total over 1,000 bulls are overseen by LIC farm manager Phil McKinnon who leads a team of 21 across all of LIC’s farming operations.
The tending to the animals to ensure continued semen supply and animal welfare means the daily feeding of bulls, some of which weigh in excess of a tonne (1,000kg) with supplement fed during the recent drought.
The team is undertaking regular ‘collections’ of bull semen for winter-supply for farmers doing artificial inseminations in June and July, and for export ahead of the more busy spring mating season from September to December.
McKinnon says his farm team’s biggest challenge in recent weeks has been training the new bull calves that arrived on-farm earlier this year.
“These calves are deemed the newest genetics and therefore likely to be among the best available in the industry. They’re referred to as sire proving scheme (SPS) calves because the worth of their genetics is yet to be ‘proven’ to the industry.”
McKinnon says the first focus for the newest intake of SPS bull calves, numbering about 220, is orientating them with their new surroundings and their roles.
With collections from these young bulls scheduled to begin in June the clock is ticking, says McKinnon.
However, his team is on track to ensure semen gets on-farm for cows to get in-calf this year and ensure milk keeps flowing.
LIC chief executive David Chin says meeting the revised methane reduction targets will rely on practical science, smart technology, and genuine collaboration across the sector.
Opening a new $3 million methane research barn in Waikato this month, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay called on the dairy sector to “go as fast as you can and prove the concepts”.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
The first calves of a new crossbred dairy-beef offering are now on the ground at a Pamu (Landcorp) farm near Taupo.
Academic and former Fonterra director Nicola Shadbolt has been elected as LIC director.
Acclaimed fruit grower Dean Astill never imagined he would have achieved so much in the years since being named the first Young Horticulturist of the Year, 20 years ago.
The Ashburton-based Carrfields Group continues to show commitment to future growth and in the agricultural sector with its latest investment, the recently acquired 'Spring Farm' adjacent to State Highway 1, Winslow, just south of Ashburton.
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has blasted Fonterra farmers shareholders for approving the sale of iconic brands to a French company.
A major feature of the Ashburton A&P Show, to be held on October 31 and November 1, will be the annual trans-Tasman Sheep Dog Trial test match, with the best heading dogs from both sides of the Tasman going head-to-head in two teams of four.
Fewer bobby calves are heading to the works this season, as more dairy farmers recognise the value of rearing calves for beef.
The key to a dairy system that generates high profit with a low emissions intensity is using low footprint feed, says Fonterra program manager on-farm excellence, Louise Cook.
OPINION: Microplastics are turning up just about everywhere in the global food supply, including in fish, cups of tea, and…
OPINION: At a time when dairy prices are at record highs, no one was expecting the world's second largest dairy…
