Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster- Nicola Blair: Dairy NZ

Transcript

The Muster- Nicola Blair: Dairy NZ · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It isn't silly, love isn't silly, love isn't silly at all.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: This is the muster on Hakanui. Paul McCartney and Wings.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: That's the tunes today, Silly Love Songs, is the name
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: of that one there.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: As we catch up.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: With Nicola Blair of Dairy NZ. Nicola, good afternoon, Silly
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Love Songs, Silly Weather Cycles.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Hi. Yeah, you're not wrong, Andy. It's hard to think
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: that we're just being through what we've been through, really,
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: isn't it? Gosh, this past week.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Well, how's the province coping? We've had all this moisture.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Certain parts, especially down south and coastal, have experienced it
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: worse than others.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: What's it like down there?
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Because I'll be honest, parts of northern Southland seem to
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: have recovered okay.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and, like, to be honest, Sandy, it just depends
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: who you're talking to and what area you're in, you know. Yeah,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: I was up in Northern Southland area yesterday, and, yeah, like, there,
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: a wee bit of rain's really welcomed. So, yeah, it
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: depends who you're talking to. Obviously, naturally, more different areas
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: got nailed more than others, so... Yeah, but things are
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: definitely looking up. Like I drove past some baleage getting
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: baled up and cut yesterday just on the Invercargill side
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: of Matera, which was really nice to see. And yeah,
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: so yeah, it's just spring's certainly thrown plenty at our
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: farmers again this year, that's for sure.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Mating time's coming up as well, so it's not really
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: ideal the weather that we've had in the lead-in, let's
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: be perfectly honest. So negating the situation, what do you do?
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, yeah, you're not wrong. Like a lot
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: of farmers, they'll be dealing with cows that probably haven't
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: quite reached their target body condition score yet or their
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: feed situations will be a lot tighter than expected. So
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: I guess the key message we're giving is just to
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: really assess where your herd is and your farm is
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: at right now. You know, look at the body condition
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: score of your cows. And if you've got the option
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: to always, it's always really good practice to actually body
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: condition score your whole herd before mating starts. Yeah. Yeah,
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: don't just rely on a herd average. You know, actually
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: identify your lighter cows or cows that are just below
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: target and act early with them. You know, drafting them out,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: getting them into their own herd and just taking all
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: that competition away from them. You know, and then you
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: can really prioritise pumping more feed or supplement and some
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: or just whatever it is that they need. And also
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: pay particular attention to your younger cows, you know, your
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: first and second carvers. They're still growing and, yeah, they're
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: a lot more vulnerable to losing condition, you know, having
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: delayed cycling and, yeah, it just all adds to poor
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: reproductive performance, which is not what any farmer wants. And
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: if you can score... score your mob consistently as well
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: and actually monitor the change. It's really good if you
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: can get the same trained person to do this, whether
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: it's yourself or a certified assessor. Your ND's actually got
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: some really cool body condition scoring tools as well, so
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: you can track your cows over time and not just
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: use it as a one-off exercise. And also for your
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: mating time, like it's always a really good time to
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: review your heat detection practices with your team. Just, yeah,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: just to make sure that everyone knows the signs. It
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: doesn't always pay to presume. You know, obviously you're standing
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: to be mounted as one of your strongest signs. But,
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: you know, if your staff can also be watching for
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: increased activity or whether it's mounting other cows, you've rubbed
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: tail paint or mucus discharge, just changes in behaviour, really,
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: just to be alert to those. It all helps if
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: everyone's eyes are on the prize. And also make sure
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: that your team knows what everyone's doing at making time,
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: you know, and that there's clear responsibilities in place for
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: what helps. Yeah, agree who's checking the cows and who's
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: recording heaps and who actually makes that final decision about
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: insemination as well. even if you just have a simple
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: written process it just helps everyone know what they're doing
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: and everyone's on the same page no one's walking around
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: scratching their head you can keep your accurate timing records
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: as well it's always really good don't just rely on
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: your memory some people are amazing and can do that
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: but yeah farmers are juggling a lot of balls in
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: the air at the moment so Yeah, if you can
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: record your heats immediately rather than just relying on your memory,
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: you'll save yourself some dramas there. Yeah, and just I
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: guess another one, this is a real simple one, but
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: it'll save you time. Just make your life easier by
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: making cow identification easier, like check your ear tags and
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: your numbers and that they're actually present. They're clean and
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: they're easy to read. You'll be amazed at how much
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: time this will save you and frustration.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Events coming up next week. What's on the horizon?
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. So we've got really, really awesome pasture for
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: profit events coming up. There's actually one tomorrow and next week. So, yeah,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: the one tomorrow is up in Oamaru. Yeah, and these events,
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: they're such a great opportunity to get your team off
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: farm for a couple of hours, you know, and go
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: and connect with other farmers. And here's some practical ideas
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: for growing and using more homegrown seed. Yeah, really, really,
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: really cool days. We'll have Ron Pallow as Senior Farm
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: System Specialist from Dairy NZ. He's coming along to share
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: all his tips and tricks and knowledge. Yeah, around the
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: subjects on the day as well. So, yeah, there's a really,
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: really valuable event. And if you can get along to them,
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: they're well worth your time. Yeah, like I said earlier,
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: there's one up in Oamaru tomorrow. And then next week
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: we've got, on Tuesday the 20th, is at Hayden and
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Kirsty Games. It's just on the outskirts of Riversdale. And
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: then the following day, on Wednesday the 21st, is at
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: Henny and Fair Antics, just out at Seawood Downs. So, yeah, like,
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: these are really top operators. So it's not to be missed. And, yeah,
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: if you can register online through our Dairy NZ website, that's, yeah,
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: ideal just for catering purposes. But always welcome just to
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: turn up. If you decide on the day that you
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: want to come along, definitely do that. Yeah.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Good on you, Nicola.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Enjoy the afternoon.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: You too, Andy. Thanks so much.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Nicola Blair of Dairy NZ. Every Wednesday here on The Muster.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Nathan Bird and our resident sporting guru. Let's catch up next.