increase font size
DAIRYNZ IS setting up heifer-rearing focus farms to help graziers.
Located in Waikato, Northland, Manawatu, and North Otago, the farms will aim to provide graziers with the tools, knowledge and resources to grow dairy heifers more effectively.
DairyNZ is organising open days at each farm over the next four weeks.
It is encouraging both graziers and dairy farmers to attend with key topics including target weights and feed planning, animal health issues, managing the grazier-dairy farmer relationship and setting calves up for the run-off.
DairyNZ productivity team leader Rob Brazendale says that while DairyNZ has done a lot of work to help dairy farmers improve herd reproduction, working with graziers on growing heifers was a gap that needed to be addressed.
"Graziers as a group of farmers have been largely left to their own devices and we want to change that by providing them with a forum to share knowledge.
"Heifers are the future of the dairy herd, and with the ban on inductions from next season, heifer rearing has become even more critical to improving a herd's reproductive performance," says Brazendale.
"The grazier-dairy farmer relationship is key to growing great heifers and they both have to get away from a 'them and us' situation. We want to create a win-win relationship where everyone contributes."
The focus farms will showcase good practice, provide a forum for sharing experiences and be actively involved in the development of knowledge, tools and resources for both graziers and dairy farmers.
DairyNZ is establishing the focus farms in collaboration with dairy farmers, graziers, grazing companies and industry organisations Beef + Lamb and LIC.
For details on the farm focus days, visit www.dairynz.co.nz
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…
