Making the most of secret weapon on farm
Andrew and Sibylle Sulzberger have a secret weapon when it comes to perfecting their awardwinning low-cost system – maize silage.
The supreme winners of the 2017 Dairy Business of the Year, the Sulzbergers and Andrew’s parents, Brad and Chris, have grown maize on the farm at Urenui for the past 12 years.
The 5-7ha of maize they currently grow on farm, on effluent blocks in order to utilise nutrients, makes up 6.7 percent of feed on the low-input, forage-based 115ha property.
Sulzberger Farms Ltd had the lowest cost of forage consumed in the DBOY competition, at $173 per tonne of dry matter.
‘‘We use maize as it’s an excellent supplement to get condition on cows,’’ Andrew Sulzberger said.
‘‘We use it in autumn, straight after harvest, from early March until sometime in June when cows are near their target calving body condition score.
‘‘It also aids pasture management, allowing us to extend the autumn rotation and to build cover at the same time.
Maize silage is used to fill in genuine feed deficits on farm, with the Sulzbergers focusing on growing and utilising as much grass as possible; with 86.5 percent of the cows’ diet as pasture, they produced 1161kgMS/ha in the 2015/16 season.
The Sulzbergers began using Pioneer maize a decade ago and are now using a hybrid selected to suit their farm’s location 35 kilometres northeast of New Plymouth.
FarmSource technical sales representative Neville Giddy said the P9400 hybrid performed well in the coastal environment
‘‘It gives stable yields in Taranaki and delivers in hot, dry seasons,’’ he said.
In addition to the DBOY supreme award, the Sulzbergers won three category awards, and with the highest operating profit in the competition at $2166/ha, and the lowest cost of production per kilogram of milksolids at $2.50, judges said Sulzberger Farms Ltd was a clear overall winner.
‘‘We knew we had a pretty costeffective system but didn’t know exactly where we sat until we entered the competition,’’ Andrew said.
‘‘We’ve always paid attention to detail and do a lot of number crunching in all aspects of the farm. This has enabled us to get our cost of production down – and using maize silage is an integral part of that.’’ We might think we’re sports mad, but when it comes to what defines us a a nation, farming outranks rugby, a new survey shows.
In the Well-being Statistics 2016 survey, agriculture and farming scored a mean rating of 8.2 out of 10 for ‘‘important characteristics when defining New Zealand’’.
Topping the ratings were
Taranaki stock sales
Beef & Sheep Sale Wednesday, July 26 ‘‘freedom, rights and peace’’ and ‘‘environment’’, both 9.1, and just in front of farming, ‘‘people in New Zealand’’ at 8.5.
History’’ had a mean rating of 8, and sports 7.8, the Statistics NZ survey said.
Federated Farmers president Katie Milne said she wasn’t surprised by the survey results.