Weather

Thursday, Friday and Saturday are set to be the warmest days of the current heatwave. The most important thing for livestock during weather like this is unrestricted access to fresh and clean water. This is absolutely essential.

Shade is also important, but not as critical as making sure stock have enough water. There is a risk of heat stress when temperatures go above 28 degrees Celsius and humidity is high.

This is probably a greater risk for herds that are fully housed. Making sure there is sufficient airflow through sheds and that ambient air temperatures within the shed are monitored will be critical during these warm days.

Grass growth rates are plummeting across most of the country as soil moisture deficits hit 70mm and 80mm in places.

Whatever hope there was that the rain two weekends ago would set up farms for good growth has now vanished, and many farms are now in drought mode.

Most farms are going into this dry period with a good enough cover of grass, but in many cases this is now burning up and wilting away.

Putting in extra feed to slow down the rotation length and allow more of this grass to wilt away doesn’t make much sense.

I understand the desire is there to hold onto grass or average farm cover, but if you don’t use it you will lose it. Lower temperatures and rainfall are forecast for next week.

Lameness

From now onwards, lameness will become more of an issue as cows’ hooves wear down and stones and other objects on hard surfaces are easier to penetrate the hoof.

There is big interest in using recycled astroturf as surface material for roadways.

This is smooth, stone-free and provides a bit of a cushion effect for cows where suitable stone for roads isn’t available or on steep sections where stone won’t stay in place.

The best type of stone for roadway surfaces is crushed slig or sandstone, as these break down to provide a very smooth surface. Limestone is not a suitable material because it’s far too sharp.

Lime fines is suitable but this should only be used in a very light layer, as applying too much will mean it will come away in wet weather.

A good few farmers are now using Batt-Latch or a similar device for opening the gaps to fields, allowing cows to walk in for milking on their own and at their own pace.

These devices can be set to open at pre-determined times and save time not only because the cows are usually in the yard for milking, but they also reduce lameness as cows aren’t rushed coming in for milking and usually walk in single file.

Parlours

On pages 43 to 49 we have a special focus on dairy equipment, including two features on recently installed milking parlours.

As the most important machine on the farm, putting thought and effort into getting the best milking system for the farm is time well spent. For many farmers, milking continues to be drudgery because of poor facilities.

This in turn makes it more difficult to get relief milkers or employ people full time. Good facilities don’t have to cost the earth, in fact the best facilities are often the simplest and some of the most elaborate technology actually does very little to save time but it costs a lot of money.