Thursday, 01 November 2012 10:47

Reseed returns hinge on right paddocks

Written by 

DO YOU know how much grass your best paddock produced compared to your worst? More importantly, do you know why some paddocks perform poorly?

Visitors to Lincoln University Dairy Farm’s first focus day of the new season heard how typically there’s a 100% difference in productivity between the best and worst paddocks on most dairy farms. 

“It’s just ridiculous what the range is,” Agriseeds’ Graham Kerr told the focus day. Rather than regrassing by rotation, he says monitor production and select the poor performers. “The first principle is to monitor where the cows go. They might go to your best performing paddock 17 times a year, but only 12 times to the worst.”

Having established which are the poor performing paddocks, working out why is the next step. “If you’ve got an underlying problem and you don’t correct it you’ll just get the same reversion [to low output] again.”

Sometimes it is simply the wrong pasture species, but soil fertility, including pH, drainage, pests and compaction should be considered as possible causes too.

By picking the right paddocks the return on a reseed will typically be doubled. What’s more, the economic gain, which on average is about $1250/ha/year at a $6/kg payout, goes on year after year.

“That’s quite a compelling number, and it’s not just in the year you do it: it’s something that keeps on going. And you can be fairly confident that if [the poor paddocks] weren’t regrassed then they would have continued to decline [in productivity] so $1250/ha might be a bit of an underestimate of what the benefit is.”

When analysing grazing days a paddock provides allow area, number of cows, and supplements used at the time of grazing, says Kerr. Also any silage/baleage taken from the paddock.

“Our experience is that most dairy farms tend to analyse poor paddocks visually or by gut feel. There are better ways to do it,” he stresses.

– Andrew Swallow

More like this

$10,500 for future ag leaders

The future of New Zealand’s agricultural sector grew a little brighter, with the South Island Agricultural Field Days (SIAFD) now accepting applications for its scholarships through Lincoln University, offering $10,500 to up to six exceptional students who are poised to become the next leaders in the primary industries.

Featured

Dr Mike Joy says sorry, escapes censure

Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.

People-first philosophy pays off

The team meeting at the Culverden Hotel was relaxed and open, despite being in the middle of calving when stress levels are at peak levels, especially in bitterly cold and wet conditions like today.

Farmer anger over Joy's social media post

A comment by outspoken academic Dr Mike Joy suggesting that dairy industry leaders should be hanged for nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater has enraged farmers.

From Nelson to Dairy Research: Amy Toughey’s Journey

Driven by a lifelong passion for animals, Amy Toughey's journey from juggling three jobs with full-time study to working on cutting-edge dairy research trials shows what happens when hard work meets opportunity - and she's only just getting started.

National

Machinery & Products

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Buttery prize

OPINION: Westland Milk may have won the contract to supply butter to Costco NZ but Open Country Dairy is having…

Gene Bill rumours

OPINION: The Gene Technology Bill has divided the farming community with strong arguments on both the pros and cons of…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter