Hugh and Darla Le Fleming, 50:50 sharemilkers in large-scale irrigated dairying
In 2002, before moving to Maniototo, the Le Flemings had 385 cows on 102ha in Taranaki, with a 40-bale herringbone. They came to Maniototo for the challenge, to see the South Island and to resurrect Alnwick after the high-production system failure.
Farm costs take a big whack out of their 50% share of the milk cheque and they have not made financial progress as hoped. Sharemilkers are getting landed with more and more of the costs. In the good payout years 50:50 sharemilking can be a winner, in a bad year a loser. I think the 50:50 sharemilking system is under huge threat as the price of fuel goes up, for moving the K-line round, for tractor work and for feeding out silage. Our fuel bill this year will be more than $30,000, while a couple of years ago it was $20,000. Whereas a skilled farm manager can be earning $80,000 plus accommodation and transport, and making more money than the sharemilkers.
Hugh and Darla still own a dairy farm in Taranaki which is now run by Craig and Rebacca Sturgeon. This property is based on a family farm, with several pluses and minuses since Hugh went farming at the age of 16. He is now 45 (nearly 30 years farming experience). A former agricultural contractor, Hugh has firm ideas on the place of machinery on farms, the complicated operations of modern tractors, the lack of skills training for young people who want to go farming and the rising costs of fuel.
It is hard to attract people to work in dairying in Patearoa. Hugh needs eight or nine staff members during the peak of the season, including someone full time on irrigation. He has employed Brazilians, South Africans and many other immigrant workers. The locals employed tend to be the older people from around the district.
Hugh wants to see a resurrection of the agricultural skills training system, so that young people know how to drive a tractor, prime a pump, join pipes, connect an electric fence, milk cows etc.
The big difference between milking in Taranaki and in Central Otago is the extreme cold. The worst times are hoar frosts, when the temperature doesnt get above freezing for days, and cows have to be fed double rations of silage. The biggest risk is injury from falling around the farm dairy, both cows and humans. No water can be left lying anywhere, all pump houses must have heaters, all stock watering must be turned off, and everything must be drained, including the farm dairy, to try and avoid damage through splitting. Hugh has had snow blowing in on the rotary platform during milking. It can also be hard on cows to try and clean up farm in autumn, especially when there is a cold snap in April. The springs are easy here, but the autumns are very challenging, he said.
Hugh believes big irrigated properties need more NZ Jersey genetics, in preference to feeding more supplements. His own preferred approach to dairying in Central would now be:
- Start the season well but have options to fall back on, like going to once-a-day milking early.
- Have the supplements on hand, if needed, but try to rely on cow power.
- Maximum of 600-700 cows with a K-line irrigation farm, preferably on once-a-day milking, so the herd can be milked in the morning and the irrigation shifted in the afternoon.
- Get the cow size down, for less maintenance feeding.
However, Hugh is a sharemilker and must work in with the owners farming needs.
Alnwick is a 475ha irrigated dairy farm on the Maniototo Irrigation Scheme, which began in the early 1990s, when this farm was converted from sheep and beef. The scheme draws from the headwaters of Taieri River.
The farm has three big blocks, A, C and F, each of which contain 16-20 paddocks with an average size of 8.5ha and a kilometre long race down the middle of each block. There are some hill paddocks but they are not much use for dairying.
The property is at about 400 above sea level with long winters and receives only 300 mm of rainfall annually, so irrigation is essential for pasture for dairying. Water is supplied from mid-September to the end of April. The scheme was begun by the Ministry of Works in 1983 and soaked up $30 million before work was stopped and the local farmers tendered from the government for the ownership of the scheme for $1 in 1989. It was completed and now covers 9300ha.
The Maniototo has light schisty soils, mainly brown-grey and yellow-grey earths which are weathered alluvial deposits. There can be an impervious pan underneath and the soils need constant watering to maintain pasture growth.
The herd numbers 1300 cows, with 280 calves reared until January 1, and then sent off the milking platform as eventual replacements to be brought back before their first calving. Production has been 380kg MS/cow average and 1090kg MS/ha with no bought-in feed. During the past two years no feed has been bought-in, with the herd only getting what pasture and silage the property grows, plus some whole crop barley area (28ha annually). This is important, because before Hugh and Darla came to Alnwick it was run as a high-input property using total mixed rations (TMR) fed from Kennan wagons, but that approach was not sustainable and now the Le Flemings have gone back to pasture-only.
The herd was purchased by Le Flemings when they moved on to Alnwick four years ago. They were a very big Friesian, which Hugh is now bringing down in size with some crossbreds, however the herd is still 75% Friesian. More cows have been required each year, above the numbers of replacements kept.
Most cows are wintered off the property from June 1 to August 1, calving starts on August 4 and the mean date is 30 August. Hugh tries to milk until 20 May and then leaves the farm to recover during a long 3 month winter, in which virtually no grass growth occurs. He leaves paddocks over winter with 1800-1900kg DM/ha, but much of that feed value is lost to frost. The early lactation is therefore difficult, because of standing feed quality, supplemented with up to 10kgs of silage per cow per day.
The farm dairy is a 60-bale rotary, about 13 years old, with Nu Pulse plant and 40,000 litres milk storage, with Fonterra pick-up every day, destined for Stirling cheese, Cadburys Dunedin, Edendale or Clandeboye. Cows have been farmed and milked in three herds, which may reduce to two. Milking takes six hours in the morning from 4am, and 4.5/5hrs in the afternoon, starting at 2pm.
Alnwick has 300ha under K-line irrigation and 130ha under Roto-Rainers. It is a full-time job during the irrigation season shifting the irrigation systems.
As well as the scheme water, Alnwick can draw some supplementary water from a stream and Hugh started irrigating in end-August because it was so dry. But rain was received mid-September.
The K-line equipment can water 21ha/day and the full 300ha can be covered in 14 days, but to do this an operator has to be moving the lines every day. This is done by disconnecting a line and dragging it from one paddock to the next behind a farm bike, and reconnecting it to a riser. Because of towing weight behind the farm bikes, most lines only have 12-14 pods, which is 200m of length, by 15m of width for water coverage, or about 3.3 lines to cover a hectare. To water 21ha, therefore, 70 pod lines are laid out, connected to the hydrants, run for 24 hours, are disconnected, dragged to a new location, connected and begin watering again. This is very labour intensive, and Hugh doesnt like the milking staff doing irrigation, because of conflict of priorities, so he tries to employ a full-time irrigation manager during the season (October to April).
The K-line system lays down 50mm of water over the 21ha in 24 hours. Water is drawn from the Maniototo scheme race via a pump into the underground reticulation to the risers or hydrants.
Growing whole crop barley for summer supplementary feeding leads into pasture renovation with Bronson ryegrass. Hugh did 28ha last season and will do the same this year. The target paddocks are sprayed out in early October, drilled in mid November with Omaka barley and break fed over summer. The paddock is then sprayed again in February and drilled with ryegrass mid February, with three grazings in the remaining time before winter impacts growth. The Bronson short-rotation ryegrass provides much better winter feed than permanent ryegrass, which stops growing and is badly affected by frost. Hugh says ryegrass doesnt like the really hot days in Central Otago, and the grass can cook in temperatures over 28oC, when irrigation produces a lot of rust and fungus problems for the cows.
Farm costs take a big whack out of their 50% share of the milk cheque and they have not made financial progress as hoped. Sharemilkers are getting landed with more and more of the costs. In the good payout years 50:50 sharemilking can be a winner, in a bad year a loser. I think the 50:50 sharemilking system is under huge threat as the price of fuel goes up, for moving the K-line round, for tractor work and for feeding out silage. Our fuel bill this year will be more than $30,000, while a couple of years ago it was $20,000. Whereas a skilled farm manager can be earning $80,000 plus accommodation and transport, and making more money than the sharemilkers.
Hugh and Darla still own a dairy farm in Taranaki which is now run by Craig and Rebacca Sturgeon. This property is based on a family farm, with several pluses and minuses since Hugh went farming at the age of 16. He is now 45 (nearly 30 years farming experience). A former agricultural contractor, Hugh has firm ideas on the place of machinery on farms, the complicated operations of modern tractors, the lack of skills training for young people who want to go farming and the rising costs of fuel.
It is hard to attract people to work in dairying in Patearoa. Hugh needs eight or nine staff members during the peak of the season, including someone full time on irrigation. He has employed Brazilians, South Africans and many other immigrant workers. The locals employed tend to be the older people from around the district.
Hugh wants to see a resurrection of the agricultural skills training system, so that young people know how to drive a tractor, prime a pump, join pipes, connect an electric fence, milk cows etc.
The big difference between milking in Taranaki and in Central Otago is the extreme cold. The worst times are hoar frosts, when the temperature doesnt get above freezing for days, and cows have to be fed double rations of silage. The biggest risk is injury from falling around the farm dairy, both cows and humans. No water can be left lying anywhere, all pump houses must have heaters, all stock watering must be turned off, and everything must be drained, including the farm dairy, to try and avoid damage through splitting. Hugh has had snow blowing in on the rotary platform during milking. It can also be hard on cows to try and clean up farm in autumn, especially when there is a cold snap in April. The springs are easy here, but the autumns are very challenging, he said.
Hugh believes big irrigated properties need more NZ Jersey genetics, in preference to feeding more supplements. His own preferred approach to dairying in Central would now be:
- Start the season well but have options to fall back on, like going to once-a-day milking early.
- Have the supplements on hand, if needed, but try to rely on cow power.
- Maximum of 600-700 cows with a K-line irrigation farm, preferably on once-a-day milking, so the herd can be milked in the morning and the irrigation shifted in the afternoon.
- Get the cow size down, for less maintenance feeding.
However, Hugh is a sharemilker and must work in with the owners farming needs.
Alnwick is a 475ha irrigated dairy farm on the Maniototo Irrigation Scheme, which began in the early 1990s, when this farm was converted from sheep and beef. The scheme draws from the headwaters of Taieri River.
The farm has three big blocks, A, C and F, each of which contain 16-20 paddocks with an average size of 8.5ha and a kilometre long race down the middle of each block. There are some hill paddocks but they are not much use for dairying.
The property is at about 400 above sea level with long winters and receives only 300 mm of rainfall annually, so irrigation is essential for pasture for dairying. Water is supplied from mid-September to the end of April. The scheme was begun by the Ministry of Works in 1983 and soaked up $30 million before work was stopped and the local farmers tendered from the government for the ownership of the scheme for $1 in 1989. It was completed and now covers 9300ha.
The Maniototo has light schisty soils, mainly brown-grey and yellow-grey earths which are weathered alluvial deposits. There can be an impervious pan underneath and the soils need constant watering to maintain pasture growth.
The herd numbers 1300 cows, with 280 calves reared until January 1, and then sent off the milking platform as eventual replacements to be brought back before their first calving. Production has been 380kg MS/cow average and 1090kg MS/ha with no bought-in feed. During the past two years no feed has been bought-in, with the herd only getting what pasture and silage the property grows, plus some whole crop barley area (28ha annually). This is important, because before Hugh and Darla came to Alnwick it was run as a high-input property using total mixed rations (TMR) fed from Kennan wagons, but that approach was not sustainable and now the Le Flemings have gone back to pasture-only.
The herd was purchased by Le Flemings when they moved on to Alnwick four years ago. They were a very big Friesian, which Hugh is now bringing down in size with some crossbreds, however the herd is still 75% Friesian. More cows have been required each year, above the numbers of replacements kept.
Most cows are wintered off the property from June 1 to August 1, calving starts on August 4 and the mean date is 30 August. Hugh tries to milk until 20 May and then leaves the farm to recover during a long 3 month winter, in which virtually no grass growth occurs. He leaves paddocks over winter with 1800-1900kg DM/ha, but much of that feed value is lost to frost. The early lactation is therefore difficult, because of standing feed quality, supplemented with up to 10kgs of silage per cow per day.
The farm dairy is a 60-bale rotary, about 13 years old, with Nu Pulse plant and 40,000 litres milk storage, with Fonterra pick-up every day, destined for Stirling cheese, Cadburys Dunedin, Edendale or Clandeboye. Cows have been farmed and milked in three herds, which may reduce to two. Milking takes six hours in the morning from 4am, and 4.5/5hrs in the afternoon, starting at 2pm.
Alnwick has 300ha under K-line irrigation and 130ha under Roto-Rainers. It is a full-time job during the irrigation season shifting the irrigation systems.
As well as the scheme water, Alnwick can draw some supplementary water from a stream and Hugh started irrigating in end-August because it was so dry. But rain was received mid-September.
The K-line equipment can water 21ha/day and the full 300ha can be covered in 14 days, but to do this an operator has to be moving the lines every day. This is done by disconnecting a line and dragging it from one paddock to the next behind a farm bike, and reconnecting it to a riser. Because of towing weight behind the farm bikes, most lines only have 12-14 pods, which is 200m of length, by 15m of width for water coverage, or about 3.3 lines to cover a hectare. To water 21ha, therefore, 70 pod lines are laid out, connected to the hydrants, run for 24 hours, are disconnected, dragged to a new location, connected and begin watering again. This is very labour intensive, and Hugh doesnt like the milking staff doing irrigation, because of conflict of priorities, so he tries to employ a full-time irrigation manager during the season (October to April).
The K-line system lays down 50mm of water over the 21ha in 24 hours. Water is drawn from the Maniototo scheme race via a pump into the underground reticulation to the risers or hydrants.
Growing whole crop barley for summer supplementary feeding leads into pasture renovation with Bronson ryegrass. Hugh did 28ha last season and will do the same this year. The target paddocks are sprayed out in early October, drilled in mid November with Omaka barley and break fed over summer. The paddock is then sprayed again in February and drilled with ryegrass mid February, with three grazings in the remaining time before winter impacts growth. The Bronson short-rotation ryegrass provides much better winter feed than permanent ryegrass, which stops growing and is badly affected by frost. Hugh says ryegrass doesnt like the really hot days in Central Otago, and the grass can cook in temperatures over 28oC, when irrigation produces a lot of rust and fungus problems for the cows.