DairyNZ represents all New Zealand dairy farmers, to protect and advance their competitive edge on the global market

Bay of Plenty Focus Farm

The Bay of Plenty Focus Farm is an initiative by Bay of Plenty dairy farmers to provide regional information.

Contacts
W & S James farm details
FarmWalk notes
Farm data (monitoring and pasture management tools)
Projects (mastitis, reproduction)
Field days

Wilson James (left), Focus Farm Owner,
and Brian Power (right), Chairman of
BOP Focus on Dairying

Bay of Plenty Focus on Dairying

Bay of Plenty Focus on Dairying is an initiative by local dairy farmers in the Bay of Plenty to explore ways for local farmers to make their farms profitable, sustainable and satisfying for all stakeholders.

These values underpin a healthy rural community, where we and our children can prosper and grow.

The Bay has a long tradition of farming leadership through effective demonstration. This dates back to the successful Omeheu and Awaroa demonstration farms in the '70s and '80s and was reinvented in the '90s as the Comparative Farm programme run by Bay Milk Products, with able assistance from a number of local farmers and rural professionals. For some years there has been no comparable programme and dairying in the Bay has been the poorer for that.

Farmers attending a field day in May 2007

The huge impact of effective demonstration has not been forgotten by the people involved and there is a rising groundswell of support for a similar programme to enthuse and upskill the latest generation of farmers, sharemilkers, managers and farm staff.

We have enthusiastic support from research institutions such as DairyNZ and AgResearch and expect there will be frequent dialogue with them as we endeavour to implement best practice on-farm.

However, the key to the success of a project such as this is local vision and initiative. This means leadership, ownership, and participation from the local community.

That is exactly what has happened here. This project is a joint initiative – between the farming community, rural leaders, as well as DairyNZ and Fonterra.

The project is well underway with the first focus farm established on Wilson and Sandra James lease farm at Awakeri. The objectives for the focus farm are:

To demonstrate the process and actions the James’ take to meet their goals
To monitor, record and analyse key data to support any management decisions
To provide information on a timely basis on farm management and field days held on the focus farm to dairy farmers and their staff in the BOP

A business plan has been completed and targets have been set for the season and targets set for the 2007/08 season.

The farmer steering group would like to eventually widen the scope of our project to involve other farms as well throughout the wider Bay of Plenty. The first objective however is to focus on one farm and do it very well.

Contacts

Wilson James	Owner and Committee	07 3048 183
Phil Moeke	Manager
Phillipa Hedley	Project Facilitator	027 4786 695
Alan Fergusson	Vet, Edgecumbe Vets	07 3049 184
Selwyn Beynon	Consultant and Committee	07 3123 232
Bill Adam	DairyNZ Consulting Officer Whakatane and Committee	027 2888 238
Brian Power	Chairman	07 3084 846
Geoff Neilson	Secretary	07 5739 650
Stuart McHardy	Committee	07 3049 672
Alan Barr	Committee	07 3049 704
Colin Wilson	Committee	07 3228 825
John Scrimgeour	Committee	07 5333 681
Murray Linton	Committee	07 573 8252
Roger Armstrong	Committee	07 315 7638

W & S James Farm Details

Focus farm objectives

To demonstrate the process and actions the James’ take to meet their goals
To monitor, record and analyse key data to support any management decisions
To provide information on a timely basis on farm management and field days held on the focus farm to dairy farmers and their staff in the BOP

Key goals of Wilson and Sandra James

Long-term: “To be able to do what we want, when we want” - secure income and free time
Short-term (3-5 years): Purchase this farm or purchase another farm on the Plains.
To meet these goals they require a farm system that generates high cashflow and can be managed remotely to meet time-off requirements.

Cows and pastures on the James' farm

Targets for 2007/08

1280kg MS/ha and 397kg MS/cow from 415 cows peak milked
Source feed as required to achieve target while grazing to consistent, even residuals and meeting body condition score (BCS) targets
To measure the pasture grown from using Eco N
Measure pasture cover weekly and pasture quality monthly to determine how much pasture the farm is growing and to use to plan grazing management
Reproduction:
85% in-calf at eight weeks
87% calved in six weeks from 2007 mating
Nine week calving spread
14 week mating 4% empties
Lower bulk SCC to < 200,000
Rear 25% replacements

The full business plan for Wilson and Sandra James is attached.

Basic farm data

Farm area: 129.3ha effective milking area and a 11ha run-off

Pasture

50% farm undersown with annuals; 50% undersown 50/50 mix annuals & perennials

Herd details

Average MA cow liveweight at 1 June 2007 Average heifer liveweight at 1 June 2007 Average herd liveweight Calving date		550kg 406kg 515kg 12 July 2007
James	National Average Friesian
Herd BW	126	100
Yearling BW	165	141
Herd Fertility BV	0.1	-0.6
Yearling Fertility BV	0.8	0.4

The higher the BV for fertility, the better. At a BV of 0, the farm should be able to achieve industry targets but will be hard to do so without some intervention.

Farm Map

Business Plan - Wilson and Sandra James (38 kb)

Farm Data (monitoring and pasture management tools)

DairyNZ CO Bill Adam (left) with farm consultant Selwyn
Beynon.

Farm walks are held to assess things like pasture cover, cow condition and environmental impact. Should the demand be present, a farm walk on a regular day and time will be organised for interested farmers. Please call Bill Adam, DairyNZ Consulting Officer for Whakatane, for more information or if you would like to participate.

Various items are monitored on the farm and are available from a report listed below.

Projects

Various projects are conducted on this focus farm.

Reproduction
Mastitis
Environmental (Eco N)
Pasture Monitoring Systems