19th July 2010 | DairyNZ

Tauhara-Moana Focus Farm Inaugural Field Day

DairyNZ assisted the Tauhara-Moana Trustees in holding their Inaugural Field Day on the 19th of July, which is

Farmers registering for the Focus Farm Field Day

the first of eight to be held over the next two years. The big stimulus for discussion was how the DairyNZ team intended to increase forage eaten within the farm boundaries - from 8.8 tonne to 11 tonne over a two year period.

The day was well attended with approximately sixty people attending despite the weather being a little chilly. The Tauhara-Moana Trustees gave a history of the farm and explained to the group why they got involved with the Focus Farm concept. Olly and Mark gave a breakdown of the farm system and the plan for the season, which stimulated much discussion from the floor over feed quantity and quality. Olly then guided the group around the farm showing the sheer scale of the property, the challenges the farm has faced as a result of the drought, their approach to growing as much feed as possible in the farm boundaries and the sights including the neighbouring Trusts new Geothermal Powerplant.

From there Denis Collins and Teresa Moore from DairyNZ brought to the group some concepts about how to get the milk pumping this season, including results from recent Once-A-Day milking trials during early Spring.

Danny Loughlin, Tauhara-Moana Associate Trustee, speaking at the Focus Farm Field Day

Olly then took the group through his human resource policies which shed some light on how to manage a big team as part of their 1800-cow sharemilking operation. Many farmers saw the benefit of Olly and Kim's $5-board, which effectively provides incentives to perform and sees the employees lose cash with poor performance, and is likely to be adopted by a few local farmers now as a result.

BNZ provided a warm lunch and drinks and Fonterra provided Primo milk drinks to keep the locals full and satisfied! Their support was much appreciated.

Overall, feedback for the day has been very positive and people were looking forward to seeing how the focus farm operates towards increasing profitability by 150%.