Rewarding farmers who embrace sustainability
Winners of DairyNZ’s Sustainability and Stewardship awards in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards have their eyes firmly fixed on progressing a positive future for New Zealand dairy.
These Tactics for Spring events will help farmers extract maximum value from their pasture.
"Pasture First is a message we are promoting with farmers. Our research shows pasture drives in excess of 85% profit for most farms at a $7/kgMS milk price, but 98% at a $4/kgMS milk price. So it makes sense to get our focus clearly set on managing this important feed source well – we've got to make the most of it, particularly this spring," says DairyNZ Chief Executive Tim Mackle.
"While increasing revenue is important, it's even more important to keep hold of as much of it as possible. This means running a tight budget.
"Following on from the huge interest in this area last year, farms with a low cost of production have opened their books once again and revealed their 2016/17 budgets – enabling other farmers to improve their own business, by comparing themselves.
"It's this information sharing which is so important and we will continue to work with our farmers to get through the low milk price cycle."
