Bruce, Felicity and Steve Dill, Kaipara Hills.
Fourth and fifth generation farmers, Bruce and Steve Dill farm this 493ha sheep and beef property now in its third year of being a Meat & Wool NZ monitor farm.
Their major farm developments include more intensive beef farming, boost in ewe flock fertility and summer forage crops for growing out ewe lambs, finishing male lambs and pasture renewal. 78% of the land is classified as steep.
Overall Goal: To raise production per hectare from 196kg to >250kg carcase weight and effective farm surplus to >$600 per hectare by 30 June 2005.
Present stocking (July 1, 2005): Cattle stock units 56% of the total, sheep stock units 44%. 5500 total stock units, at 15.9 su/ha.
Total cattle 548 head -- 93 breeding cows (50% Hereford, 50% dairy-beef cross), 53 rising one-year heifers, 64 rising one-year steers, 44 rising two-year steers, 2 rising three-year steers, 230 rising one-year bulls, 21 rising two-year bulls, 4 breeding bulls. Total cattle stock units 3628.
Total sheep 2640 head 1398 MA ewes, 432 two-tooth ewes, 500 ewe hoggets, 285 wether hoggets, 25 rams. Total sheep stock units 2878.
2004 lambing percentage 142%, 2004 calving percent 97%.
The IBS unit has been expanded from 57ha to 90ha over the past two years. The unit is unusual because it is located on steep hills which are stocked at 700kg- plus liveweight per hectare from June onwards.
This year the best of the pasture growth areas, most of which is moderate and steep hill country, has been stocked at 1070 and 820kg liveweight per hectare and the worst at 710-713kg.
Steve targets 900kg/ha with some nitrogen applications in the spring when the grass is active and the soil temperature is above five degrees.
It has been calculated that the IBS is capable of more than 300kg/ha meat production, which is a large part of the 250kg/ha target over the whole farm. In fact 40kg of the 50kg/ha meat production lift is expected to come from the beef unit. Soil fertility on the IBS needs to be at least 25 Olsen P and 6.0 pH, with pasture growth rates average at least 22kg DM/day from May to August. Last winter Steve went began with 2000kg DM/ha or more across the unit.
This year, because of the dry autumn, it was only 1500kg DM/ha starting point. He used a 60-day rotation for the first round, and now the cattle are into a 40-day round, followed by a 20-day in spring.
Some 50 units of nitrogen per hectare were applied in May and the growth in June was out of the ordinary, once the autumn break in the weather finally came. The covers would be up over 2000kg DM/ha now.
All bulls are weighed by October 31 and the number of store bulls assessed for market based on the works target liveweight of 500kg-plus by February 28. The aim is to have 70% of the bulls marketed by Christmas and the remainder by the end of February. The budgeted return from the IBS is $1300/ha, which is available 12 months from the start of operations. It cost $91/ha to convert new land to the IBS.
There are four IBS systems working:
Mob A, 18.77ha, stocked at 820kg LW/ha
Mob C, 14ha, stocked at 710kg/ha
Mob N, 18.5ha, stocked at 713kg/ha
Mob F, 19.1ha, stocked at 1071kg/ha (northerly slope)
The stock include Friesian bulls, one and two-year Hereford bulls, a few steers and some Maine Anjou-cross bulls. The starting dates for the IBS programmes were Mid-May to mid-June. All stocked were weighed on, drenched and given copper.
The Dills have introduced composite (Finn-Romney 50:50) rams to boost fertility in a Romney-Perendale flock, while using Androvax treatment over MA Romney-Perendale ewes to get more lambs in the meantime.
Now the objective is to get all male lambs finished and marketed at 16kg CW-plus by April 1, to achieve 30kg/ha lift in the sheep meat production. This has not been achieved in 2005 because of the dry autumn, when only 75% of the expected rainfall was received. Therefore 285 wether hoggets were on the farm at June 30.
To lift sheep flock performance Bruce is aiming to hit certain liveweight targets for ewes, two-tooths and hoggets. With quarter-Finn ewes an extra 2% lambing is obtained with every 1kg increase in mating weight. One of the key performance indicators for the sheep flock is two-tooth mating weight. The aim is to get the two-tooths to 60kg by Christmas time because in a normal Northland summer little or no weight gain is achieved from Christmas through to mating. Interim target weights for successfully achieving 60kg two-tooths are 30kg at lamb weaning and 45kg at hogget mating on 1st May. The hoggets have been mated for just the second year, at 38kgs. They achieved 109% scanning and 58% lambing last season.
This year 10 Poll Dorset terminal sires were used over the lighter ewes.
The Dills have accepted a major sacrifice to short-term cashflow by priority feeding ewe lambs on crops and new pasture. The long term investment in ewe replacements has been shown to be 3-4 times more lucrative than short-term investment in finishing lambs. Ideally finishing lambs are also marketed at good weights and prices but the limited area for crops and more particularly the current low weaning weights mean that this is not a good option at this point in time.
The two-tooth mating weights were 52kg in 2003 and 55.5kg in 2004.
This year the ewes are up to the target of 60kg and the two-tooths almost made the 60kg target so this is good progress on last year.
The scanning result (171% for MA and two-tooth ewes, 178% for Androvax ewes) for this year is back slightly on last year but it must be remembered that mating date was advanced to 22 March compared to 1 April last year. The biggest drop in scanning was with the Androvaxed ewes which were back by 8%.
The Scanning Index (scanning rate divided by mating weight) for the flock ranges from 2.85 to 2.97 and the aim is to get this to 3.00. This can be achieved with 65kg ewes scanning 200%. The accepted difference from scanning to docking is
The Dills keep around 100 beef cows on the property to do the work of pasture control on some steep faces and gullies.
These are 50% Hereford and 50% dairy beef cows, now being mated with Angus, Hereford and Maine Anjou. Mating of the cow herd has been put back to mid-December, which releases the equivalent of 35ha of extra spring feed for the ewes with the later October calving.
The monitor farm objective with the cow herd is to increase the reproduction rate, cow and heifer survival, calf growth rates and overall breeding herd efficiency and profitability.
The aims include:
95% of cows and heifers calving in two cycles.
Cow and heifer deaths less than 2% pa.
Cow mating delayed until December 20 and heifers to November 20.
Weaning April 30 with greater than one kilogram a day calf growth rate during lactation.
Area saved for block grazing pre-calving at 0.15ha per calving cow and heifer with 2400kg DM/ha cover.
Post-calving pasture covers from October onwards 1500kg-plus coupled with pasture growth rate matched to feed demand.
Heifer mating weights 280kg minimum and weight at calving 420kg minimum.
Their major farm developments include more intensive beef farming, boost in ewe flock fertility and summer forage crops for growing out ewe lambs, finishing male lambs and pasture renewal. 78% of the land is classified as steep.
Overall Goal: To raise production per hectare from 196kg to >250kg carcase weight and effective farm surplus to >$600 per hectare by 30 June 2005.
Present stocking (July 1, 2005): Cattle stock units 56% of the total, sheep stock units 44%. 5500 total stock units, at 15.9 su/ha.
Total cattle 548 head -- 93 breeding cows (50% Hereford, 50% dairy-beef cross), 53 rising one-year heifers, 64 rising one-year steers, 44 rising two-year steers, 2 rising three-year steers, 230 rising one-year bulls, 21 rising two-year bulls, 4 breeding bulls. Total cattle stock units 3628.
Total sheep 2640 head 1398 MA ewes, 432 two-tooth ewes, 500 ewe hoggets, 285 wether hoggets, 25 rams. Total sheep stock units 2878.
2004 lambing percentage 142%, 2004 calving percent 97%.
The IBS unit has been expanded from 57ha to 90ha over the past two years. The unit is unusual because it is located on steep hills which are stocked at 700kg- plus liveweight per hectare from June onwards.
This year the best of the pasture growth areas, most of which is moderate and steep hill country, has been stocked at 1070 and 820kg liveweight per hectare and the worst at 710-713kg.
Steve targets 900kg/ha with some nitrogen applications in the spring when the grass is active and the soil temperature is above five degrees.
It has been calculated that the IBS is capable of more than 300kg/ha meat production, which is a large part of the 250kg/ha target over the whole farm. In fact 40kg of the 50kg/ha meat production lift is expected to come from the beef unit. Soil fertility on the IBS needs to be at least 25 Olsen P and 6.0 pH, with pasture growth rates average at least 22kg DM/day from May to August. Last winter Steve went began with 2000kg DM/ha or more across the unit.
This year, because of the dry autumn, it was only 1500kg DM/ha starting point. He used a 60-day rotation for the first round, and now the cattle are into a 40-day round, followed by a 20-day in spring.
Some 50 units of nitrogen per hectare were applied in May and the growth in June was out of the ordinary, once the autumn break in the weather finally came. The covers would be up over 2000kg DM/ha now.
All bulls are weighed by October 31 and the number of store bulls assessed for market based on the works target liveweight of 500kg-plus by February 28. The aim is to have 70% of the bulls marketed by Christmas and the remainder by the end of February. The budgeted return from the IBS is $1300/ha, which is available 12 months from the start of operations. It cost $91/ha to convert new land to the IBS.
There are four IBS systems working:
Mob A, 18.77ha, stocked at 820kg LW/ha
Mob C, 14ha, stocked at 710kg/ha
Mob N, 18.5ha, stocked at 713kg/ha
Mob F, 19.1ha, stocked at 1071kg/ha (northerly slope)
The stock include Friesian bulls, one and two-year Hereford bulls, a few steers and some Maine Anjou-cross bulls. The starting dates for the IBS programmes were Mid-May to mid-June. All stocked were weighed on, drenched and given copper.
The Dills have introduced composite (Finn-Romney 50:50) rams to boost fertility in a Romney-Perendale flock, while using Androvax treatment over MA Romney-Perendale ewes to get more lambs in the meantime.
Now the objective is to get all male lambs finished and marketed at 16kg CW-plus by April 1, to achieve 30kg/ha lift in the sheep meat production. This has not been achieved in 2005 because of the dry autumn, when only 75% of the expected rainfall was received. Therefore 285 wether hoggets were on the farm at June 30.
To lift sheep flock performance Bruce is aiming to hit certain liveweight targets for ewes, two-tooths and hoggets. With quarter-Finn ewes an extra 2% lambing is obtained with every 1kg increase in mating weight. One of the key performance indicators for the sheep flock is two-tooth mating weight. The aim is to get the two-tooths to 60kg by Christmas time because in a normal Northland summer little or no weight gain is achieved from Christmas through to mating. Interim target weights for successfully achieving 60kg two-tooths are 30kg at lamb weaning and 45kg at hogget mating on 1st May. The hoggets have been mated for just the second year, at 38kgs. They achieved 109% scanning and 58% lambing last season.
This year 10 Poll Dorset terminal sires were used over the lighter ewes.
The Dills have accepted a major sacrifice to short-term cashflow by priority feeding ewe lambs on crops and new pasture. The long term investment in ewe replacements has been shown to be 3-4 times more lucrative than short-term investment in finishing lambs. Ideally finishing lambs are also marketed at good weights and prices but the limited area for crops and more particularly the current low weaning weights mean that this is not a good option at this point in time.
The two-tooth mating weights were 52kg in 2003 and 55.5kg in 2004.
This year the ewes are up to the target of 60kg and the two-tooths almost made the 60kg target so this is good progress on last year.
The scanning result (171% for MA and two-tooth ewes, 178% for Androvax ewes) for this year is back slightly on last year but it must be remembered that mating date was advanced to 22 March compared to 1 April last year. The biggest drop in scanning was with the Androvaxed ewes which were back by 8%.
The Scanning Index (scanning rate divided by mating weight) for the flock ranges from 2.85 to 2.97 and the aim is to get this to 3.00. This can be achieved with 65kg ewes scanning 200%. The accepted difference from scanning to docking is
The Dills keep around 100 beef cows on the property to do the work of pasture control on some steep faces and gullies.
These are 50% Hereford and 50% dairy beef cows, now being mated with Angus, Hereford and Maine Anjou. Mating of the cow herd has been put back to mid-December, which releases the equivalent of 35ha of extra spring feed for the ewes with the later October calving.
The monitor farm objective with the cow herd is to increase the reproduction rate, cow and heifer survival, calf growth rates and overall breeding herd efficiency and profitability.
The aims include:
95% of cows and heifers calving in two cycles.
Cow and heifer deaths less than 2% pa.
Cow mating delayed until December 20 and heifers to November 20.
Weaning April 30 with greater than one kilogram a day calf growth rate during lactation.
Area saved for block grazing pre-calving at 0.15ha per calving cow and heifer with 2400kg DM/ha cover.
Post-calving pasture covers from October onwards 1500kg-plus coupled with pasture growth rate matched to feed demand.
Heifer mating weights 280kg minimum and weight at calving 420kg minimum.