24/08/2020

Week ending 24-8-20 farm notes:

PASTURES AND FEED

Pasture cover has only dropped slightly down to 2161 kg DM/ha due to PGR of 43 kgDM/ha/day this week. 

Last week the cows grazed 4.6 ha per day and we aim to graze 6 ha/day (total 42 ha) over the coming week. The wet conditions last week made it challenging for the milkers to graze down to 1500 kgDM/ha due to the poor utilisation.  We are offering 18.5 kg DM/cow/day with a pre-graze target of 2700-2800 kgDM offering around 150-160m2/cow/day. We are on target to hit true balance date within 2 weeks when we will grow as much as our peak demand (55kgDM/ha/day). The red on the feed wedge shows the remaining paddocks that are partially grazed which will be made into silage at the same time as we bring in our imported 60-70 tDM silage hopefully within 7-10 days.

We are seeing the annuals jumping out of the ground and we have now applied in August an average of 28 kg N/ha.

ANIMALS

Along with MgO dusting and MgCl in the dosatron for all cows, colostrum cows have still got access to Calcium enriched molasses and limeflour dusted PK.

We have started bloat treatment with bloat oil at the lowest rate (4mls/cow twice a day) to charge the water troughs.

Yesterday we drafted out all cows calved from 27^th July until 15^th August plus 15 cows that were suspect rechecks for the vet to metri-check and treat. We have 4 treated out of 90 cows checked.

Cows have been tail painted in preparation for pre-mating heats to be recorded as yesterday we are 4 weeks from PSM.

Second mob of calves have been dehorned and vaccinated. 33 AB heifer calves were sold and have left the farm. They averaged $135/head. We now have 95 tagged heifers which has eased the pressure the sheds.  These calves will be re-mobbed weighed and settled outside in the coming week.

The R2’s were weighed on the 25-8-20 and the average was 276kg gaining 0.7kg/day. With our plan to rear less replacement stock we need to give them the best possible chance of mating success. We are targeting 290kg at least for the group at mating.  In discussion with our grazier we want to move their intakes from approximately 6.5kg to 8kg DM/hd/day.  They have been receiving silage to maintain intakes which runs out this week and they still not at spring flush on the grazing platform.  We have agreed to invested 50/50 in extra feed for 60 days to achieve the targets together.  This is aiming to achieve 1kg/day/liveweight gain to catchup on poor performance during the drought and autumn.  We will be feeding a blend of 70% PKE and 30% Tapioca in troughs in the paddock while maintaining the same pasture allocation. This will cost us around $2k and we will be able to check the success of the feeding at the next weighing.  They are also due for their B12, selenium and BVD booster in early September.

BUSINESS

Nothing to report

ENVIRONMENT

Nothing to report

INFRASTRUCTURE

Replaced the washtub this week as the old one had sealant chipping off which unfortunately blocked some of the jetters causing incomplete machine wash and caused us a coliform grade. With such an old shed it is important to keep up with the wear and tear on all the equipment.

PEOPLE AND COMMUNITY

Everyone has had a well-deserved weekend off and we have planned another long weekend off prior to the start of mating for everyone.

To keep a safe productive workplace we ensure we have trained first aiders on site – so along with Jo certified to look after the many guests at Owl Farm - Tom had a day off farm to keep his certification current.  It got us talking about how our team can look after each other on farm and we wondered whether anyone was involved in providing their team with first aid training using a translator for those with English as their second language.  We’d be keen to find out more.

The great thing was when Tom was training for his first aid training the cows from 2 different herds were accurately drafted out, metri-checked at the end of milking (saving the vet precious time) and then returned to their own herd in time for dinner.

PLANNING FOR THE MONTH AHEAD:

• Arrange to get the purchased standing silage harvested and ensiled on-farm
• Sort calf mobs for outdoors
• Get heifers ready for PSM
• Plan work do for end of calving celebrations

Cheers Jo + Tom