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Having found my feet in New Zealand, I have begun to immerse myself in the day-to-day work on the farm.
Milking begins at 5am every morning in the 40-unit herringbone, beginning with the first herd which is made up of 400 of the more mature cows in the herd. These are milked twice a day.
The second herd comes into the parlour (or shed as it is commonly known in New Zealand) at 6.30am. This herd consists of 250 mainly first lactation cows and some older cows that have lost condition.
Milking these cows once a day allows them to mature and gain condition for the following season, it has also shown to improve mating results on the farm which is at 6% empty rate this season.
The second herd has already been on the feed pad since 4.45am eating a mixture of silage and maize, as grass growth is quite low.
After milking is completed and the yard and shed are washed out, we complete our daily jobs. Routine jobs such as dividing up paddocks, moving the effluent irrigator, loading the feed out wagon and feeding out are completed first.
Would Europe be better off cutting subsidies and thereby reduce production by removing inefficient operators?
Non-routine jobs that we have completed on the farm such as repairing fences, cleaning out the calf barns, maintenance of machinery, cutting weeds, preparation of maize and silage pits, cleaning the feed pad and other general farm work are carried out in between the morning and evening milkings.
After lunch the first herd is milked by two people at 3.15pm in the shed, while another person feeds out in preparation for the second herd coming on to the pad in the morning.
Cows are locked in to their paddocks and water is checked by 5.30pm.
Efficiency
After completing my first week of work on the Roach’s farm I quickly realised that efficiency in every aspect of the farm, from grassland management, allocation of feed, management of people, to time spent milking cows and completing daily tasks is the cornerstone of the New Zealand dairy industry.
With milk prices hitting a low of NZ$3.90/kg of milk solids this season and the cost of production higher than that on a lot of farms, it is a real eye-opener when you see how farms can stay afloat and return an income to the farmer at the same time. You also have to bear in mind that New Zealand farmers don’t receive anything in the form of subsidies like we do from the European taxpayer.
It is interesting to observe New Zealand farmers’ reactions when they are told the extent of the massive budget Europe spends on subsidising European dairy farmers every year.
In conversation with farmers they raise the question, “Would Europe be better off cutting subsidies and therefore reduce production by removing inefficient operators, hence driving up the demand for products and at the same time raising the prices?”
It is an interesting point of view when you consider where the price of milk is at the moment in Ireland.
Ger Boland is a second-year student in the BSc in Agriculture student at Waterford Institute of Technology from Boultheeny, Dolla, Nenagh, Co Tipperary. He received the ASA/Glanbia Group travel bursary supported by the Irish Farmers Journal.
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