Weeks of frost takes toll on pasture cover

“Our pasture cover’s a bit behind target,” TTT sharemilker Cole Groves told a combined LUDF and TTT focus day in Temuka earlier this month.

“A week of nights at -6 and -7^oC didn’t help,” he added, even before the region suffered another string of seriously sub-zero nights last week.

Adding to the pressure all 900 cows will be back on the 264ha platform by August 14 owing to drought-cut winter crop yields. “But it will make it a lot easier management-wise having them all home,” added Groves.

He’s booked 60t of PKE for August and September which if not needed will be “pushed forward” into October when he anticipates “a wee bit of pinch” in spring pasture: 13ha of the platform needs reseeding after a winter greenfeed crop of oats, and 11ha will be going into fodder beet for the first time.

The introduction of beet on the platform for late autumn milking means “regrassing and cropping” is one of the few budget increases this season, up from 5c/kgMS in 2014-15 to 9c/kgMS. Overall, farm working expenses are budgeted back 11% at $2.58/kgMS from $2.90/kgMS last season, with the main savings in animal health, down 7c/kgMS to 15c/kgMS and young stock and grazing which is back 16c/kgMS to 44c/kgMS.

“In the past we’ve reared a lot of calves. We’re not doing that this year as we ended up spending $10,000 on milk powder last year because we had bugger-all mastitis milk,” commented Groves.

Assuming more normal rainfall this season, irrigation is budgeted down 12c/kgMS at 16c/kgMS and 4c/kgMS has been shaved off purchased supplement at 26c/kgMS. A 50t reduction on a 450t/year three-year grain supply contract has been negotiated but with the grain grower also their heifer grazier Groves is reluctant to try to reduce it further.  “We signed a contract for a reason,” he commented, pre-empting focus day delegates’ questions on the issue.

Having shunned teatseal at drying off, he admitted mastitis is his “biggest worry” coming into calving. However, since a bad year for the disease during a wet spring four years ago they’ve got rid of a lot of problem cows, he pointed out.

They’re targeting 390,000kgMS but budgeting on 370,000kgMS, the same as last season after drought cut output to 351,300kgMS. “If we’d had a normal season we’d have done 380,000kgMS.”

Even 351,300kg was better than they were expecting at one point after drought left the Opuha irrigation scheme dry from mid February. But rain in late March saved the season though they’d already got rid of culls, dried off and sent away skinny cows, and put the rest of the herd on OAD.

“April and May really got us off the hook,” Groves told the Temuka meeting.

With 930 cows due to calve this spring they’re looking to sell 50 to ease feed demand and save a little time and money in the 42-a-side shed. Milking takes two people nine hours per day on average on the long, thin farm with two road crossings.

Despite those and other savings, such as $10,000 of planned capital spending deferred, the budget still ends in a quarter million dollar cash deficit.

“It’s not pretty reading at all but Daniel [the bank manager] and I have been over it 20 times and there’s nothing more we can cut.”