Farmer frustrated at blame from haters
Mid-Canterbury dairy farmer Sara Russell is sick of the blame put on the dairy industry. reports.
Ardent animal lover and dairy farmer Sara Russell is frustrated at industry haters who are quick to blame dairy farming for everything from mistreatment of animals to the Havelock North contaminated water crisis.
Russell says all dairy stock on the Mid-Canterbury property sharemilked by her and husband Stuart are well cared for, from new-born calves to the oldest cow in the herd, still milking at 16-years-old.
‘‘If you engage with groups like Peta, its philosophy is that dairy farming in New Zealand shouldn’t exist. On social media, a lot of people are attacking something they have no understanding of. There are always improvements that can be made, but you wouldn’t be a dairy farmer if you didn’t like animals. Most of us are too busy getting on with our jobs to point out the flaws in their arguments.
‘‘The oldest cow in our herd is 16 and we have 50 to 60 cows that are 11, so they have a much longer life expectancy than animal activists make out. Cows like the routine (of dairy farming).
‘‘If you follow their argument it gets to the point where it could be regarded as cruel to own any animal as you are interfering with natural behaviour. There are so many family farms out there like us, doing the right thing and enjoying the lifestyle.’’
As dairy category winners in the 2015 Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards, the Russells have proven they not only care for their cows, they are also kind on the environment.
Virtually none of their calves are sold as bobbies and they have never used the controversial feed supplement palm kernel. Stateowned farmer Landcorp also recently announced it was taking a similar path, ending the slaughter of bobby calves and phasing out the use of palm kernel on its farms, in response to public concern about the production of palm oil and deforestation in Asia.
‘‘I spent my preschool years out on the farm with Dad. I was always rescuing baby animals as a kid,’’ said Russell.
‘‘Cows do have numbers and are known by numbers, but it is symbolic as a name. We will never have another ‘200’, a cow that died last year. Stuart and I know most of the herd by looking at a cow’s udder, or markings, without looking at her tag. Most of them have rather hilarious personalities.
‘‘They have a definite social order and the same cows will always be first and last into the shed for milking. Cow 380 is my favourite and is first for every milking.’’
The Russells 50-50 sharemilk for Sara’s parents Rick and Diana Bourke, at Eiffelton, south of Ashburton. While they have milked 700 cows in the past, numbers are down to 595 this season after they sold their crossbred-type cows. They are breeding towards a purebred jersey herd, revitalising Sara’s grandfather’s pedigree stud Ngatimaru.
The Russells’ jersey herd produces more than its liveweight in milk solids, producing 493kgMS a cow from an average 422kg liveweight in the 2014-15 season.
As the Russells are moving to a purebred jersey herd, virtually none of their new-born calves are bobbied. ’’With 140 cows left to calve, we have sold about 15 bobby calves. Our goal is zero bobbies.’’
Heifer calves are kept for replacements, while bull calves are sold to another farmer to be grown out as service bulls. As jerseys are smaller than their friesian counterparts dairy farmers use these service bulls to naturally mate with first-calving heifers for ease of calving. In the second year, they are mated with cows, before being sent to the meat works.
‘‘Basically they spend two years eating and shagging,’’ said Russell.
‘‘No one does bobbies to make money. It is a necessary evil. A lot of herds are kiwi (a jersey-friesian) cross, but the bull calf out of these is not good for bull beef or as a service bull.’’
Calves stay in purpose-built sun-facing sheds until they are weaned. Their pens have a deep bed of woodchip and are double the size recommended by the animal welfare code.
The practice of inducing latecalving cows, so they can start milking earlier, is no longer permitted on New Zealand dairy farms. However, the Russell and Bourke families stopped long before it was officially phased out.
‘‘The last year our family induced cows was 1990.’’
The Russells have a nine-week herd mating using artificial insemination, with short-gestation bulls for the last three weeks for a compact calving. ‘‘At August 19, more than 75 per cent of the herd have calved, so we have a reasonably short, tight calving.’’
The herd is largely pasture-fed, with some grain-feeding in the shed.
‘‘We have never used palm kernel. It’s not a good feed source.’’
As certified Synlait Lead with Pride suppliers, the Russells receive a premium of 6 cents a kgMS, having proved they are operating under industry bestpractice.
The farm is fully self-contained, with young stock raised on-farm and milking cows wintered at home.
Based on the computer modelling program Overseer, used by Environment Canterbury to develop on-farm nutrient budgets, the Russells have an annual output of 19kg of nitrogen a hectare.
This is regarded as low for a dairy farm, with many two to three times this figure. Stuart Russell said the farm’s heavy soils helped as these were not as free-draining. Applying nitrogen in a liquid, rather than granular form also meant they used less, at the equivalent of 105 units of nitrogen a year. ‘‘This is because trials show the response is much better using a liquid.’’
To ensure inputs are accurately applied, the Russells have adopted precision agriculture, coinciding with a change from Roto-Rainer irrigators to centre pivots. One pivot was installed in October 2015 and another two this season.
The farm has been electromagnetic mapped to detail soil variability. This information, combined with variable rate irrigation, means water application rates can be matched with the moisture-holding capacity of the soil across the farm. This reduces the amount of irrigation water required.
One exception where the pivots won’t go was about five hectares of historic oak forest, part of the original Longbeach Estate. ‘‘My mother refused to have it cut down, so the pivot has to go around that,’’ said Sara Russell.