Precision N application test costs 'outweigh returns'
Precision application of nitrogen can improve yields, but the costs of testing currently outweigh improved returns, according to new research from Plant and Food Research, MPI and Ravensdown.
Nitrogen leaching on many dairy farms is reducing as the farmers breed from LowN Sires bulls, says the marketer CRV Ambreed.
The company says “hundreds of thousands of calves” have been bred from its LowN Sires, launched in 2016. In the 2018 season at least 25% of CRV’s orders were for LowN sires, it says.
The LowN progeny excrete less nitrogen (N) in their urine, the company says. Its bulls produce daughters with lower milk urea nitrogen (MUN), and the result is a reduction in N leaching.
Farmers who start breeding now for low MUN can expect potential nitrogen leaching reductions of 10-12% by 2025, says CRV Ambreed.
Steve and Paula Holdem last season inseminated their 700 cows using semen from CRV’s LowN Sires. The Holdems own and farm 300ha in Mamaku, near Rotorua.
“We farm in the Rotorua lake catchment and our regional council requires all dairy farms in the catchment to lower N leaching by an average of 35% by the year 2032,” said Steve.
“We’re trying to build a herd that suits this farm, and works with the environment and this catchment.
“Our approach has always been to look at all the different tools, eg feeding plantain, reducing stock numbers and grazing our cows off, which can help mitigate our farming operation’s effects on the environment. Using LowN Sires is another way we can do this.
“There is a reduction in economic farm surplus (EFS) when reducing N leaching, but we could potentially reach our required target and have no effect on EFS simply by using the LowN sires.”
Holdem says they don’t expect results overnight.
“But it’s important for the future of our business to be proactive and take a long term view.”
Steve says that as sharemilkers they were chasing breeding worth (BW) for many years.
“[But] times are changing and there is more to consider now than just BW. The longevity of our herd is just as important and focusing on maximizing each cow’s days in milk.
“Dairy farming today means achieving these goals while also making sure we tick all the boxes on the environment and animal welfare front. Genetics play a big part in that.”
Federated Farmers is joining major industry-good bodies in not advocating for the Government to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its…
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content…