Irish farming specialist warns NZ dairy farmers to focus on grass

New Zealand dairy farmers are being urged to focus on growing grass to protect their competitive edge in world markets.
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Irish Farmers Journal dairy specialist  Aidan Brennan has noted the increasing use of supplements on his third visit to New Zealand.
«And costs have gone up as well. The extra feed farmers are using is not necessarily delivering more profit, even if they’re putting more milk in the vat,» he said.
He was in Taranaki this week during the three-week 2015 Positive Farmers New Zealand study tour by about 30 Irish, Welsh and English farmers with world-renowned Irish farming leader Michael Murphy.
«We’re visiting good farmers who are making money, but the industry has drifted. New Zealand farmers are getting away from their competitive advantage.»
He’s seen a lot more meal bins, feed silos, feed pads and new tractors than on previous visits in 2007 and 2010. «They all come at a cost and they have to be paid for – in good years and bad years.»
He has noted a lack of focus by some New Zealand dairy farmers on the height of the post-grazing residuals of their pasture. «They should be looking at the farm as their primary feed source.»
It scarcely made sense for farmers to spread no fertiliser this season so they could afford to buy palm kernel expeller. «They’re compromising their milk production now and into the future because they won’t be growing the grass they need.»
He said farmers who had expanded into less favourable dairying areas were producing lower milksolids/cow and lower milksolids/hectare, but making money.
«They’re operating at a low cost and are making $1 kilogram milksolids profit or more on a  payout of $4.70 – even after interest costs are paid. They continue to focus on grass and rotational grazing plans and haven’t increased supplements when milk prices are high. So they always have low costs.
«They’re not cutting costs because they don’t need to,» he said. «These are the farmers who use high payout to pay down debt and buy more farms to grow their equity.»
Historically, New Zealand dairy farmers have far greater debt than their Irish counterparts who tend to inherit their small farms. «New Zealanders go and buy their farms, so they drive great efficiencies because they have debt to meet.
«The focus is more on grass in New Zealand. Traditionally, Irish farmers would have been feeding more supplement than New Zealand farmers.»
Typically, an Irish farmer feeds each of his cows a tonne of grain-based supplement.
Brennan, who has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree, grew up on a farm in Tipperary and spent seven years as a farm manager and technician at Ireland’s Moorepark Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre before joining the Irish Farmers Journal earlier this year.
He expects to take over the management of his family’s 100ha, 130-cows farm late in 2017.
Brennan said the end of European Union quotas in April this year had brought an end to penalties on Irish milk production. It was up 14 per cent this year, compared to only 1 per cent in the EU as a whole. However, farm incomes would be down because the milk price was 25 per cent below last season.
The average Irish dairy farmer milked a herd of 70 holstein-friesian cows. Larger herds of 200 cows comprised jersey or cross-bred cows, popular for their easy care and fertility. Average per cow production was 400kg/MS. For three months of the year Irish farmers grew only 3-8kg dry matter/hectare, compared to 16kg DM/ha in summer when they made silage.
Brennan said Irish farmers watched New Zealand dairy farming closely and Fonterra’s global dairy trade auctions were widely discussed.

Source: Stuff

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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