Sowman Family Dairy Farm

The Sowman family is using modern technology to manage their large herd in a small herd way in terms of attention to individual animals and reduction in the labour required for milking. Technology in terms of regular gathering and analysing of farm data is also enabling them to identify and improve lower-producing areas of the farm, and grow and harvest more feed more efficiently. Cow numbers and costs have been reduced but production is being maintained, reflecting the effects of improved stock and feed management on the high genetic quality of the herd.

Brian Corrigan and his wife Glenda began dairying in Upper Takaka three decades ago. Brians philosophy was to grow off the boundaries as neighbouring farms over the fence became available, he bought them where feasible and so established a new boundary. From the original 80ha unit, the farm expanded in this way to 400ha, but although this approach created scale, it meant that eventually the existing infrastructure was put under pressure and managing the farm became complex and labour intensive.

In recent years Brian and Glenda have begun the process of succession, transferring management and eventually ownership to their two sons and their partners.

Corrigan Sowman is a graduate in applied science and, before taking on the farms management, worked as a consulting officer for Dexcel and a consultant for FarmRight Ltd. Although he had been exposed to many good farmers and farming systems he was relatively green in terms of hands on practicalities. Similarly, his partner Ruth Guthrie had little practical dairying experience but her doctorate in environmental science meant that she was very familiar with analysing large amounts of data.

In 2007 the couple began systematically measuring, recording, analysing and planning to evolve our business into a simple, enjoyable and profitable workplace that will sustain the next generation.

The 400ha consists of 265ha of milking platform and 130ha support land on which crops are grown and non-milking stock are grazed. The soils are predominantly free-draining alluvial gravels overlaid with silt, and are subject to high rainfall in winter and dry summers. 275 ha are irrigated.

Brians focus on Kiwi-cross genetics has resulted in a high producing crossbred herd. This season they calved 850 and milked 825 at the seasons peak. This is a considerable reduction from the 1000 cows that were being milked some years ago, but increased production per cow has maintained productivity.

Currently non-milking stock comprise around 350 replacement heifers and 60 cows that are being held over for calving or sale next season. Some maize is grown on the property, and supplementary grain-based feed is bought in.

When Corrigan and Ruth came onto the property milking was carried out in two low-tech herringbone sheds and involved five people for a total of 24 person-hours per day. One of their first actions was to start planning a modern dairy that would allow closer management of the herd with fewer people. Construction of a 54 bail rotary was completed in 2009. It includes iNTELSCAN Plus milking electronics and incorporates the LIC Protrack cow EID and drafting system to which a Rakaia Engineering in-shed feeding system is linked.

"The old sheds were efficient to a point, but our business had outgrown them and we were spending too much time milking cows," says Corrigan.

The technology weve built into the cowshed has halved the labour input. It means that one person in the shed can complete the milking of all 800 cows, and information from each milking is recorded electronically against that animal so we can pinpoint the production of any cow any time. We can manage our cows with a level of accuracy and attention to detail that a 100-cow farmer would.

The cows are split into two herds, and while one person milks them another is fetching cows or locking them away in paddocks after milking a total of 12 person-hours per day.

At calving, the springer mob a group of perhaps 120 imminent calvers go through the dairy each day. Protrack records each one and the milker identifies those that have calved in the previous 24 hours to be drafted out automatically. That reduces what would previously have been a very time-consuming activity on the farm down to a two-person job.

At each subsequent milking Protrack tells the milker the number of days since a particular cow has calved and her cups-on position on the platform. That makes for easy monitoring and assessing when her milk is clean and can go to the factory. When that decision is made a touch on a button results in her being drafted into the clean milking herd. If a cow has mastitis she will automatically be identified and treatments recorded, and the milker will be prompted for subsequent treatment each time she enters the dairy.

At mating time any cows observed to be on heat, whether in the dairy or out in the paddock, will have their numbers entered into the computer. This means that they will automatically be drafted out for AB after the next milking. This reduces the risk associated with the milker having to try to do heat detection while busy with all the other activities at milking. The computer record will also show when a particular cow calved and hence whether or not she should be cycling.

Pregnancy testing the herd to get the first eight weeks of calving events is now a much simpler exercise compared with the paperwork that we would otherwise have to do, says Corrigan.

It involves a vet on the vet stand with a scanner and myself being able to see each cow as they come in front of us and identify the day she was last observed to be bulling or inseminated and confirm that she was in-calf to that insemination date. We record that, and at the end we have a breakdown of our in-calf rate and calving spread.

Milk yield data are used in late summer and autumn to fine tune feeding by splitting the herd into two groups, one of high yielding cows being fed a little bit better because their intakes are higher, and a group of lower yielding and younger cows. Matching feed intake to yield results in feeding the cows that are making the money. Milk yields can also be used to tell when a cow may have a health problem, and for identifying cows ready to be dried off.

The in-shed feeding system comprises a silo with an augur feed. Using Protrack, the milker can specify what to feed all cows, multiple groups of cows, or a particular cow. Daily feeding levels can be adjusted easily on the touchscreen.

We use supplementary feed primarily on the shoulders of the season to extend the days in milk and we may feed a small amount at other times to complement the amount of grass in the paddock. It is an easy system to control, says Corrigan.

This year weve used a standard barley/palm kernel/molasses pellet because we wanted to try it for a season before we launched into any more capital expenditure. It's worked exceedingly well so we are now in the process of installing additional grain storage and a crusher so that we can buy barley off the header, store it on the property, and then crush and feed it at each milking as required. This will give us more control.

Early in their tenure Corrigan and Ruth put substantial effort into mapping the farm using FarmKeeper software, recording pasture data in Pasture Coach and predicting feed availability. Using a plate meter over a set route once a week showed that the best paddocks typically produced more than twice as much DM as the poorest ones and highlighted the potential for increasing the DM yield in the poorer ones. One of the factors in this variation was irrigation control, and moisture meters at strategic locations now identify when soils are at field capacity or wilt point and so allow better use of available water and better pasture growth.

Previous regrassing of 60% of the farm with modern cultivars had not been entirely successful. Older species had returned, crowding out the newer ones and producing clumps of inadequately grazed pasture that required topping. Better control of grazing residuals has reduced the problem and is improving DM yield.

Our philosophy is to grow as much pasture sustainably as possible and then work as hard as we can to harvest that pasture, and we are on target to harvest about 78% of that this season which is pretty good from an industry perspective, says Corrigan.

In addition we are using a cost-effective supplement to complement that to maintain the stocking rate that allows us to harvest our pasture at a high level. We grow around 14 tonnes of DM per ha annually and run three cows to the hectare. We buy supplement as long as the price allows us a margin through controlling rotation speed to maximise pasture growth rates and extending lactation and days in milk.

Our in-shed feeding system also gives us a risk management tool to cope with adverse weather, such the recent wet spring. We were able to ensure that our cows were well fed and received minerals each day, and there was minimal wastage because the feed wasnt trampled into the mud. The result was an excellent early lactation, the cows milked extremely well, their condition was good and that has been demonstrated by the really good in-calf rate.

The farm mapping and pasture cover software identified the better performing paddocks and allowed better judging of appropriate stocking rates for different areas and led to a change in herd size, says Corrigan:

Initially we reduced cow numbers substantially but I am quite confident that we are on target this season to be producing at the same level with 825 cows as we were three years ago with 1000. It is also more sustainable to milk 800 cows in a 54 bail rotary than 1000, he says.

My philosophy is to utilise fully the high genetic merit of our herd. Our goal this season was 400 kg milk solids per cow and right now we are on budget for about 415, which will be the first time we have ever achieved over 380 so it is a good lift in productivity. Reducing the number of cows has reduced cow costs, and it also means we haven't got all those extra mouths to feed in the winter and as many cows to get in-calf, etc.

The good progress made in the past four seasons means that the family is on track to complete the succession process and achieve their goals for expansion and sustainability of the farm business.