Planning for the end of the season involves consultation with our vet on what dry cow treatments will be used and on what cows.

We have started to dry off cows with the aim to have the entire herd (800 cows) dried off by mid-May.

I have also created an autumn budget on Agrinet for grass and this will dictate dry-off decisions. As we aim to use as little supplement as possible, we deal with reduced grass on the farm typically by drying off additional cows.

This gives any poor-condition cows the chance to have a longer dry period to put condition back on prior to calving. The other benefit is that staff can get time off, and, in theory, milking gets a bit easier with fewer rows coming into the parlour. However, as cows get further in calf, they inevitably start walking slower on lanes, so jobs tend to take 10 minutes longer than planned – I quickly realised that when bringing cows out of the furthest paddock on the farm at 4am and still arriving 10 minutes late for milking.

Grazing

As we’re on a 40-day round currently, it is also a reminder that we’ll only have one more grazing in most paddocks.

Most of our milk is made in October to January, and once past this point we have a pretty good idea as to how the season will play out.

A lot of farmers, come February will do variable milking times such as 3-in-2, which translates to three milkings over two days and on one of the days, cows will be milked once around lunchtime.

This suits farms putting large numbers of cows through smaller milking setups.

In my case, come March, I put a number of poorer-condition cows on once-a-day, which speeds up afternoon milking.

Show

The biannual South Island Field Days took place at the end of March and it is the closest we get in the South Island to anything like Balmoral Show or the Ploughing Championships.

The event is a great opportunity to look at machinery I might be able to afford by 2030 and to give sales reps some well-deserved truths. The overall outlook seemed very positive for dairying, and this was seen by the amount of technology on offer to farmers in the form of monitoring collars and impressive machinery with some very attractive interest rates.

The stands that belong to co-ops tend to put on a good buffet lunch, with beers provided for shareholders.

One of the fertiliser companies even had their very own beer that they bring out at the shows, although farmers needed to be careful, as they offer the ability to order fertiliser on the way out!

Move

On top of planning for the end of the season on this farm, I am sorting out a move to a 1,100-cow farm for next season.

In New Zealand they call the 1 June “Gypsy Day,” as this is the day that farmers, whether they be farm owners, share-milkers, or staff, typically move to new farms, given it is the first day of the new season.

It is very interesting to watch towards the end of May every year, as the roads start to fill up with pickups and trailers packed with furniture moving between farms, along with stock trucks moving cows between farms and farmers walking cows down the road.

It is one of those things you might like to witness, but when you’re involved, you’ll be happy to see the back of it.