Feds held their annual Dairy Council in Paihia last week and went on a pre-farm tour of Northland starting at Matakohe Museum and ending at Kaeo, just north of Whangarei.
The first farm on the tour was Garth and Lyle Preston’s 368ha 800 cow farm in Ruawai. Co-owner Garth Preston told delegates the business was able to get through a tight season by keeping the overdraft under control.
Prestons avoid using their overdraft, as they say it puts them on the back foot when doing financial planning. “We want to be on the front foot for opportunities and climatic disasters and not beg and scrape with the banks. We want to be in control of our own finances.”
He says the current and forecast payout and the six months from August through to December mean everything is ticking along fairly well in the business with the property likely to produce 260kgMS/cow from an on-farm cost of just over $3kgMS (including palm kernel).
Northland Feds Dairy chairman Ashley Cullen says the tide is turning for farmers in the north generally and despite the dry weather, things should be looking up for farmers in the region. “If you’ve survived this long you’re now through the worst of it.”
A total of $2 million had been put into the Preston’s farm over the last two and a half years including a new 60 bail cowshed, underpass, effluent system and feed pad. Preston says close to $500,000 had gone into the standoff pad alone. “The builders gave us the option of putting up the poles and putting up the roof and we’re glad they did.”
The standoff pad was used extensively during winter while soils were wet. That has dealt with pugging and it should result in better grass growth once rain comes.
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) says soil moisture levels are so low that the region is dry enough to be considered a drought zone for the third time in four summers.
Only 175mm of rain have fallen on the property in three months and Preston says it is the driest it has been in a while. “If it weren’t for that big drop of rain between December/November I think the farm would look a lot worse.”
The Prestons are feeding palm kernel to maintain condition – about 3kg/day. “We’ll be looking to pull the plug as soon as conditions allow.”
The flexibility palm kernel offered was the reason they decided to use it as a supplement and at 30c/kgDM it worked out to be more affordable than grown crops.
