Helping heifers grow
Dairy farmers can easily track the performance of their replacement heifers and ensure they reach their genetic potential.
The New Zealand Dairy Statistics 2013-14, released by LIC and DairyNZ last week, show the country's 4.92 million cows achieved a new record in milk production, surpassing 20 billion litres in the 2013-14 season. The milk contained 1.83 billion kgMS, worth $15.5 billion with the season's $8.47 average dairy payout.
DairyNZ senior economist Matthew Newman says the past season's record milk production and prices have helped put farmers in a better position to cope with the rapid decline in milk prices this season.
"Sixty-five per cent of the increase in milk production last season came from the North Island, following the drought in 2012-13, so the increase reflects greater production of milksolids per cow up 30 kilograms to 357kgMS/cow. In the South Island there has been new milk in the industry from extra cows (+103,000).
"It has all added up to a great combination for farmers – the best season many can recall. We had good pasture growth, a high payout and farmers responded by making the most of the opportunity to produce a lot more milk."
Across the country, the national herd grew by 138,600 cows (2.9%) and production from each cow was up 7.2%. Genetic merit also improved, with the average cow's breeding worth (BW) and production worth (PW) increasing 14% and 10% respectively.
BW and PW measure profitability of livestock, to help farmers identify their best animals and the best genetics to mate their herd.
Dr Steve Harcourt, LIC commercialisation & industry relations manager, says the statistics confirm the progressive attitudes of New Zealand dairy farmers and the value of good genetics to improve productivity and prosperity.
"It's no accident that the increasing trend of production correlates to the increase in Breeding Worth.
"Around three-quarters of the national herd are sired by an LIC bull. They are bred to deliver high quality offspring that will perform and produce in New Zealand conditions, with each generation bred to be better than the last.
"Combined with the proactive attitudes of farmers, their willingness to adopt new solutions that drive efficiency gains on-farm and their ongoing commitment to the fundamentals of herd improvement – that's what has delivered this season's great results."
Harcourt believes "it's those attitudes that will help farmers get through this season with the lower payout, and continue to set new benchmarks in the future."
The New Zealand Dairy Statistics document provides a review of the industry for the 2013-14 season, with statistics from the LIC database, Animal Evaluation database, NZ dairy companies, TBfree New Zealand, NZ Real Estate Institute and Statistics New Zealand.
The Dairy Statistics represent all New Zealand dairy farmers and include cow production and population, operating structures, breed breakdown, herd testing, artificial breeding, calving, milk prices, land prices, and disease control.
The full document is online at: www.lic.co.nz/publications and www.dairyatwork.co.nz/industry.
