Albie Keighley has been dairy farming on and off since he left school and has been in Taupiri, Waikato for more than 30 years. Albie works alongside his daughter, who has been contract milking here for the past 3 years. They have a herd of 200 cows, autumn calve and vary between a feeding system 3 and 4. […]
Tim Drysdale – Extra Feed Extra Benefit
Tim Drysdale has been working his way up in the dairy industry ever since he left school. He started off working on his family’s farm alongside his dad, moving into sharemilking and now he owns his family farm and works alongside his son Josh in the outskirts of Tokoroa, the Waikato. They have a herd of 285 cows on 85 hectares. […]
A Decade of Determination: The Inspirational Journey of Bill and Michelle Burgess to Dairy Farm
Meeting at Massey University, the Burgesses shared a dream: owning and operating their own dairy farming operation. Their path to success involved ten years of relentless problem-solving and hard work, culminating in the achievement of their dream. […]
Managing facial eczema, it’s not just about Zinc
When spore numbers are really high, zinc is often not enough to prevent damage. What’s more, like many strong medicines, zinc comes with side effects. For example, it can be antagonistic to other minerals, especially calcium, increasing the likelihood of milk fever. With planning these side effects can be offset. There are other means in the tool kit of bolstering immunity and decreasing exposure to spores. […]
New approach for a successful transition program
For each lactation, a cow can lose around 500 gm of calcium from her natural storage, namely her bones.
This process means that she is mining her skeleton to put calcium and phosphorus into milk. This situation can explain why higher producing older cows are more susceptible to milk fever. This means, like capital fertilizer, we have to put back what we take out. […]
Autumn Transition – Why is it so easy?
It’s a commonly held view that calving cows in autumn is much easier than the more common spring (it’s really winter) calving. But why so? Or, more importantly, is it, in fact, actually easier – or does it just seem that way because the sun is out, the days are longer and it’s not freezing cold? […]
The three R’s of Lameness
Lameness in dairy cows is a multi-faceted problem. It is also highly misleading, often the occurrence of lame cows is not directly associated with the cause – resulting in further confusion.
The team at Sollus put together the 3 R’s of lameness prevention. Management of these R’s is critical for success. […]
Matching Feeds to Maintain Peak
New Zealand dairy is unique when it comes to nutrition. Not just because it is largely grass based. We see similar industries in Australia, Chile, Ireland and even parts of Europe and Japan in the summer. The uniqueness stems more from having grass as the most cost effective energy source; plus the fact that the industry tries to maintain a seasonal calving program. […]
Is Magnesium Killing your Cows?
“The headline might sound extreme and it’s only one possible cause of many on farm, but MPI have recently published an ACVM Guideline highlighting the probable link between magnesium oxide (MgO) and salmonella, and It could be happening to your cows.” […]
New approach delivers on herd health and production
Testimonial – Mike Tilleman, South Waikato
In a country where dairy farmers are bought up to make the most of growing and using low-cost ryegrass and clover, it can seem counter intuitive when grass intake is recommended to be reduced, and supplements increased, often at a time of year when grass supply is good. Mike Tilleman would be the first to admit he was like most farmers in that respect when he first kicked off with Tranzsol and Lactisol in his herd’s diet. […]