Demo farm dodges wet weather bullet

Luck and good management has helped Owl Farm navigate a challenging early spring. The 171-hectare demonstration farm at St Peter’s School has so far received 250 millimetres more rain for the year. Its gauge sat at 1102mm compared with 843mm last year.

‘‘Nature is a great leveller,’’ demonstration manager Louise Cook told a large group of 150 people at a recent focus day.

The farm had experienced some dry years in the past and the extremely wet winter and early spring was a ‘‘catchup’’ for that weather and would hopefully not result in the onset of an extremely dry summer, Cook said.

‘‘The other thing with nature is that it can ruin all of your plans and keep you humble - and boy have we had that this year.’’

The weather has forced Cook and farm manager Tom Buckley to think on their feet when it came to pasture management as they tried to protect as many paddocks as possible from being trampled by cows and at the same time tried to maintain milk production and cow condition.

It was the second season in a row that Owl Farm had challenging weather during winter and early spring but unlike last season, the farm had unseasonal pasture growth over winter which allowed them to maintain good condition on the cows.

‘‘[Pasture] utilisation however, is the hardest part but at least we had plenty of options.’’

Low pasture covers at the start of June forced them to buy 150 bales of baleage and 70 bales of hay to make up for the feed shortfall. That allowed them to slow down their pasture round and take advantage of good growth during that month.

It meant they could fully feed their cows and hit the required weight with most of the herd condition scored at 5 on July 1, Buckley said.

Pasture growth rates lifted in July and August and the farm was able feed the cows all grass in midAugust, a month earlier than expected, and supplementary feed was cut during those months.

As a result, the farm had more palm kernel and pasture silage on hand for the coming summer and autumn.

‘‘To date, the farm is growing 1.5 tonnes of dry matter per hectare more than we have done at this point last year.’’

He said so far the farm had used more supplementary feed than last year because of lower pasture covers on June 1. They had corrected themselves by the start of calving and the supplements fed now better reflected the cover growth rates.

‘‘We’re extremely lucky not to have damaged too much of the farm and not having to stand the cows off during the winter. This has certainly taken some planning and some juggling on a daily basis.’’

He said the baleage bought earlier this season kept the herd content and reduced paddock damage that took place.

‘‘There’s certainly been the odd night where I have woken to heavy rain and have gone out and have shifted the cows onto the following day’s break to save them from making a mess.

‘‘We are certainly hoping, as I am sure a lot of you are, that the sun comes out soon and we can keep on track and keep [milk production] at about two kilograms-plus for as long as possible.’’