Country News

Sharing feed secrets

- By Alana Christense­n

More than 30 people turned out to Tom and Mick Acocks’ Rochester dairy farm on May 12 to learn the secrets to their fodder process, as part of the Australian Fodder Industry Associatio­n workshop series.

The farm currently milks up to 850 cows and, until a few years ago, was growing fodder on an ad hoc basis, as the toll of the drought, water prices and fluctuatin­g herd size took its toll.

The transition from traditiona­l grass and grazing in a partial mixed-ration system to a full mixedratio­n system has seen the farm change since mid2009, Tom Acocks told the crowd.

‘‘We grow fodder for the cows and bring it to them; we milk three times a day on the high production cows,’’ he said.

‘‘We do still graze a percentage of the herd, but pretty much from November until the end of April we’re a herd lot farm.

‘‘That whole change in production systems has realistica­lly been driven by the price of water, and nothing else.

‘‘In a traditiona­l model we could grow a reasonable amount of feed with the water we were using but over time, with the way the water market has gone, it’s forced us to look at growing more dry matter for every megalitre we get.’’

The decision to refocus the farm’s fodder production process has seen the business invest in infrastruc­ture and irrigation system changes to ensure efficiency within the system, something that has afforded Mr Acocks control over his herd’s diet.

■ Read the full story in next month’s Dairy Direct magazine.

 ??  ?? Mixing it up . . . Rochester dairy farmer Tom Acocks gave an insight into his on-farm fodder operation at a workshop on his property.
Mixing it up . . . Rochester dairy farmer Tom Acocks gave an insight into his on-farm fodder operation at a workshop on his property.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Australia