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The intensification of New Zealand’s dairy farming industry over the past two decades has caused the aggregation of many smaller, family-operated dairy farms into fewer but larger “corporate-type” enterprises.
This has placed quite different demands on those operating and working in them. The industry has not adapted well to this change.
Generally, a confined operator is at the mercy of high feed costs and must continually look at trimming other farm costs to maintain profitability. However, for the farmer who grazes all or part of his herd, increased forage production is a viable alternative.
Men who are dairy farmers have it pretty easy when it comes to networking.
They may not even know that is what they are doing when they stand and talk with each other at the feed store or hang around after the pesticide re-certification meeting to chat amongst themselves. They have that support without even really knowing they have it.
In our world today, so many people feel that honesty is a matter of perspective. They think that they are still being honest if no one sees them and can testify against them. They feel that they can steal if someone left their property sitting around unattended.
We rubbed our hands between our knees, waiting for the present batch of cows to milk out. I sat on an overturned bucket; my father was on the steps that led out of the pit.
It was the middle of February, where the cold still crept through the edges of the window panes to frost the glass and froze the manure at the end of stalls. It was still the type of weather where your toes got cold through the boots and might not warm until much later in the day.
• Michigan Milk Producers Association awarded eight scholarships to students enrolled in Michigan State University’s dairy management program. They are Brent Bebow, Taran Hooks, Jorin Ouwinga, Malissa Reed, Andy Slocum, Matthew Stanton, Kelvin Webster and Brittney Zondlak.
Purina Animal Nutrition’s new warm weather calf starter
Purina Animal Nutrition LLC has introduced Ampli-Calf Warm Weather Starter. The feed includes Appetitemaker, a patent-pending, proprietary additive for stimulating higher feed intake, ClariFly Larvicide to help control flies and organic chromium, along with other organic trace minerals that are highly digestible.
Age: 56
Location: Goodhue, Minnesota
My dairy’s history: My wife, Ann, and I farmed with my family for 15 years and then bought a nearby 90-cow dairy farm in 1991. We gradually expanded to our current 500-crossbred-cow dairy.
Our six children have worked on the farm growing up and now our oldest son works full time between our farm and his. Several of our children are interested in farming. We are working on transition planning which is a challenge with our children ranging in age from 35 to 14.
Age: 55
Location: Amalga, Utah
My dairy’s history: My son is a fourth-generation dairy farmer. We expanded the dairy in 2010-2011 and put in a 40-cow carousel. This doubled our capacity and made it possible for the next generation to come in.
In this column, once again I visit the development of the comprehensive nutrient management plan (CNMP). The point of reference is a recent visit to a dairy farm in northern Michigan.
The reference CNMP notebook is 600 pages long. Yet from my perspective, it is of no use to the landowner and of little value to the NRCS field office case file. Here are three reasons why.
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