Good planning lifts milk yield

The 50/50 sharemilkers, who relocated in June 2011, are having a bumper season; townies may grumble about the wet summer, but for Blatchfords it's been a kick start.

"The locals say this is one of the best farms in the district – good contour, free draining and well-established shelter belts," says Craig.

The couple previously milked 370 cows as sharemilkers in Woodville, now they're doing 590 on the 225ha farm.

The previous pastures of Moata grass had run out, so resowing and making land productive was one of the first things to be done. "The farm had only 160-170 ha of productive land with 30ha in rubbishy grass. In spring we grazed off and direct-drilled that and also put in 20ha of turnips and both came on stream in the new year. "

Silage was made from another 10ha.

These improvements will ensure plenty of feed for the herd going into winter and form part of the larger goal of achieving better percentages across the herd. "Our contract is to run a maximum of 650; we aim to achieve more productivity per cow, rather than further increasing the herd."

Keeping the herd at this number fits with the size of the existing milking shed and the distance the herd has to cover to reach it. The back paddock is 2.5km from the shed, contributing to herd lameness. To alleviate this Craig will look at having the second herd (including lame cows) in for milking once a day.

Three workers do two mobs twice a day – two milking and the other to bring in the second herd. The first herd then has to go over to the other block. "That takes time because of the distance they need to walk."

When races become too puggy a temporary race is made beside the main one until it dries out. "Fortunately the soil is free draining which makes it easier to manage the pasture."

With a larger proportion of the 225ha in grass (160ha previously) Blatchfords hope to see some changes early in the first part of production from spring to Christmas, "The farm will end up having 140-150ha of new grass for next year; that's a big difference."

More ground and more productive pasture species on it give them confidence productivity will increase. "When we arrived, cover was a bit low and we compensated for that with hay,

but it's not the same as having more grass."

In winter, half the herd go off-farm for grazing – to their 384ha farm at Ballance and to a block nearby – and come back late July. "That takes the pressure off the dairy farm and we can comfortably winter what's left. We calve over 8-10 weeks with the bulk done by seven weeks. Brenda rears 150 AI replacement calves."

The Blatchfords changed from sheep-and-beef to dairy 17 years ago, retaining the Ballance farm.

"It's a far better financial return."