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The Muster- Anna Ramsay: Dairy NZ · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Luke Combs is the artist for a Wednesday.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: That one is a collaboration with Ed Sheeran called Life
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Goes On. You're listening to The Muster as we catch
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: up with Anna Ramsey of Dairy NZ. Anna, good afternoon.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Hi, Andy.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: How are you getting on?
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, not too bad. Although the season outside is an
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: interesting one to say the least, eh?
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Oh, it's bloody endless, this rain. I mean, the last
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: three days were all right and got a bit dry
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: and done, but, yeah, today's just taken us right back
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: to where we were, unfortunately.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Pasture management, how are people coping at the moment with
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  Speaker 2: the way the feed is?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, from reading out and about and chatting to farmers,
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: there's a huge amount of worry and stress around this. Yeah,
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: speaking to some farmers last week, some of them are
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: already on to their second round of grazing, which is,
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: you know, like about 14 days, if not more, earlier
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: than normal and obviously the use of supplementary seeds is
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: way up as well so spring rotation planners and feed
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  Speaker 3: budgets are sort of out the window at the moment
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  Speaker 3: which is very worrying for them.
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  Speaker 2: So what do you do to deviate away from the
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  Speaker 2: norm when you've got a season this wet?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah it's tricky and as I say it depends what
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  Speaker 3: the farms have to allow for these conditions but ideally
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  Speaker 3: we want to be using the grass because the grass
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  Speaker 3: is there but absolutely minimise time on the paddock to
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  Speaker 3: prevent pugging, because obviously that's going to slow down the
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: recovery time. So, yeah, ideally getting the cows onto pasture
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: for just the amount of time needed to eat the
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: allocated feed that's there. I mean, they only really need
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: six to eight hours to eat their daily feed allowance.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: So they can get them on there and then as
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: soon as they've eaten what's available to them, get them
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: off the paddock. And whether that be in a yard
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: or in a sacrifice paddock, is the best case, you know,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: on-off grazing. Absolutely back fencing is essential so we're not
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: retreading on that same pugged area over and over. And, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I probably shouldn't say this on video, but
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  Speaker 3: really utilise those sacrifice paddocks because, I mean, realistically, they're
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  Speaker 3: already thrashed and wrecked, so we may as well keep
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: using them and save the rest of the pastures where possible.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: As far as calving, I suppose a saving grace, if
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  Speaker 2: there is one, is that it's getting well through now,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: so you can start looking at feed.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Exactly, yeah. And I think it's really important to be
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  Speaker 3: quite on to it with your supplementary feed allocation. I
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  Speaker 3: know farmers are having to use a lot more than
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: probably allocated at the moment. But, yeah, really being on
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  Speaker 3: to it with how much pasture you've actually got there
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: and then being very diligent into meeting those deficits there.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: with the supplementary feeds to the pretty much exact amount
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  Speaker 3: and not going over or under. Because obviously we want
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  Speaker 3: the cows fully fed right now, a pretty crucial time
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  Speaker 3: leading up to mating and into peak milk as well.
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  Speaker 3: But yeah, we want to use the supplementary feeds to
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  Speaker 3: be pretty exact, which I know most farmers are good
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  Speaker 3: at doing. But I guess this year probably more so,
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  Speaker 3: given the unpredictable El Nino weather front that we've got
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: coming through, we don't know what lies the season ahead.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: So yeah, just being very cautious with the with extra feed.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: As far as baleage levels, soilage levels, etc. after winter,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: is there much in reserve, do you know?
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: It sounds like there's plenty on hand, given that last
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: season was pretty good. We had pretty good, consistent rainfall
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: over the summer. Plenty of farmers have got some on hand.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: We just want to be careful with that, given that
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  Speaker 3: we don't know what our supplies are going to be
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: like for this summer.
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  Speaker 2: It's just one of those seasons where you've just got
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: to think outside the square if need be, I suppose, Anna.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: That's just reality of the situation.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: It is, yeah. And I do really encourage farmers to
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: reach out and speak about it because although it's a
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: shit situation to be in for everyone, talking about it
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: does help. And we do have discussion groups coming up,
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  Speaker 3: so I would really encourage people to come along and
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  Speaker 3: chat to people, chat to their neighbours and bounce ideas
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  Speaker 3: off each other.
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  Speaker 2: If That's the big one. Just keep talking to people.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Don't pigeonhole yourself into a corner.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Exactly, yeah. A lot of people just wear it on
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  Speaker 3: their shoulders. And, you know, I think Kiwis especially, they
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: just say it is what it is. But it's good
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  Speaker 3: to speak about it. And, yeah, and especially check in
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: on the rest of your team as well because I
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: know the decision makers, there's a lot of stress on you.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: But the team also takes a bit of a hit
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: as well because getting out there in the rain every
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  Speaker 3: day gets a bit relentless.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well said, Anna. Thanks for your time as always.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Yep, thanks.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Anna Ramsey of Dairy NZ. Like she said, our supplement
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  Speaker 2: levels and the likes, it's just wet out there and
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: looking at a plan as you're trying to look at
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  Speaker 2: feed levels heading into springtime. It's a spring, but it's
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: a water spring. Murray Coburn's up next from Mainland Minerals.