Less focus on milk production pays dividends

Peter Burke recently met Robert and Verna Bourke two of the organisers of this year’s conference and whose farm is one that delegates will be visiting as part of the programme.

The Bourke farm is situated just south of the township of Patea perhaps most famous for its Maori Club which recorded the song Poi E in 1996 with the great Maori entertainer, Dalvanius Prime.

But of course the area is equally noted for being a great dairy farming area and Robert Bourke’s ancestors were among the first to set up a dairy farm here. His great great grandfather came to Taranaki in 1873 having originally emigrated from Ireland to Australia where he worked in the gold fields. He followed the gold to South Otago where he struck it lucky. On hearing that land was being sold in Taranaki he headed there and bought 600 acres of land.   

“When  he arrived and had just come off the road and he looked pretty rough and the auctioneer  questioned whether he could pay for it. So he came  and as the story goes he dumped his few bags of gold on the auctioneers table and asked would that  do? They said that was fine and so he got and land then started the huge job of clearing it,” says Robert Bourke.

Over the years the land was split up and given to the sons of the new generations. When Robert Bourke ended up coming back to the farm full time in 1978 he bought out his two uncles and also bought some land from a cousin. 

Today the farm consists of 73ha’s – 58 ha’s effective on which he and wife Verna run 200 Jersey cows and produce about 62,000 kgs/ms. They have been on OAD for eleven years. The farm might be small in comparison to most, but unlike most dairy farmers at present they have set themselves up in such a way that they can weather the present low pay-out. In fact they are still making money.

Before taking over the farm he was sharemilking on a nearby farm and decision to buy into the family farm arose when Roberts father died in 1977. He admits the decision to move from sharemilking to owner operator was quick, but it was a case of the time being right.

When his father was running the farm he milked about 90 cows, initially through an eight bail walk through shed which was progressively upgraded when in 1990, Robert reconfigured the shed to a 20 aside herringbone and also upgraded the yards, milk room and overall plant.

“We’ve don  a huge amount of work including re-fencing, upgrading stock water, put in new races and done up all the buildings. Over the past fifteen years we have fenced off all the gullies and riparian planted the stream. This was long before Fonterra came along waving their big stick,” he says.

Unlike many farmers, the Bourkes have resisted the temptation to expand. Part of that is lack of suitable nearby land, but mostly it’s because they have focused on profit rather than production. They run an all grass system, cut their own silage and produce some hay but buy in about 80 percent of their annual requirements. They also graze all their stock on the property – none is sent off says Verna Burke.

“There is too much focus on production these days. All the big boys talk about is their production  but you can do all the production you like but if it’s costing you $6 to get that production on a $4.40 pay-out the answer is obvious. Whenever you go to a discussion group the white board goes up and it’s the production that goes on - what it really should be is profit. Our costs are just $1.90kgs/ms whereas some are at $4.50, $5.00 or more. We are not  producing as much as the big fellows but  with costs  at $1.90 in a $4.40 pay-out year we are making money, even though it’s not a huge amount,” she says.

Another reason why the Robert and Verna have not expanded their operation is they thought the cost of buying a run-off was too expensive and expending would result is extra labour costs.

“I have looked at the options of growing maize and shed feeding systems and crops and bits and pieces,  but I would have had to build more infrastructure. Also we couldn’t afford extra labout and so it would have meant more work for Vern and myself,” says Robert.

Milking OAD and never been so happy

Eleven years ago Robert and Verna took the plunge and went OAD. They had talked about it for a while with friend and moved to OAD in December in 2004. That short trial went well and the next season they converted over to OAD.

The only regret that Verna Bourke has about this decision was that she wishes they had made the move much earlier when their children were young. She points to another couple not far away who have young children and have just gone OAD. She says they have the joys of being able to spend quality time with their children and go to sports and the beach. Verna says the afternoon milking was a real killer.

For Robert it was also about lifestyle and being able to stay on the farm longer. It’s been brilliant he says. 

“Looking back I wonder how I managed to do as much work as I did when I was milking twice  a day (TAD). Interestingly the repairs and maintenance budget went up in the first two years of OAD because I had more time do such tasks. Then there is all the paperwork that Fonterra require and that takes time,” he says.

With eleven years experience behind them, Robert and Verna Bourke are happy to pass on their learnings to those new to or contemplating OAD. The biggest learning says Robert was understanding the cow.

“The day before we started OAD she was a TAD cow she still needed to be fed just as well. In the early days we were told to put on 15 percent more cows which we did but we probably didn’t feed them well enough. Over five years we came back 200 cows. This year’s 62,000kgs/ms was almost as good as the best we did on TAD,” he says.

Verna adds a key target has been having cows with high BW and low somatic cell counts. She says it’s also important to be patient with OAD cows.

“With OAD you have to be patient with cows at that morning milking. It’s  going to take longer because  you have got to get all that milk out if them. You have to make sure that have all milked out otherwise they’ll get mastitis.  You also have to be observant as you only see them once every 24 hours,” she says.  

The other focus for Robert and Verna has been succession planning and their daughter and son-in-law came back to the farm three years ago and since then have been working as lower order sharemilkers. This coming season they have bought the cows and will become 50/50sharemilkers, much to the delight of Robert and Verna.

“This hast enabled us to stay where we are. We have got a nice house which  we have spent money doing it up. My daughter and son-in-law have got a job and nice lifestyle and we have got to stay here and of course I have got something to do,” says Robert.

This year the  Bourke’s  have directed their efforts to helping to  organise the OAD conference which will take place on the 10th and 11th of June at the Hub in Hawera. As experienced OAD farmers there will be a lot of interest in their farm from the conference delegates who are coming from throughout the country to attend the event.

Robert and Verna are very passionate about OAD and points to its many advantages such as lower costs – especially animal health and less stress on the cows. 

“Those cows on some TAD farms walk two marathons a day. They are like athletes. I also question why  Fonterra has got farmers  producing so much milk and they can’t sell it. We  should be having less milk so the pay-out can go up. Fonterra have got it horribly wrong,” says Verna Bourke.