Winter Management

Improved winter management practices for the southern South Island

Winter feeding is critical to the success of dairy operations in the southern South Island. Dairy farming in Southland and Otago has grown in the past 20 years to 600,748 cows on 1164 farms producing 15% of New Zealand’s milk solids in 2008-09 (2008-09 NZ Dairy Statistics).

Wintering in the southern South Island has been identified by dairy farmers as an area where more information is required to successfully manage this difficult period of the season. It is also coming under increasing scrutiny from the regional councils and the public to ensure environmental and animal welfare concerns are addressed.

Feedback from farmers in the region has identified wintering as one of their biggest costs, wintering on average makes up 20-25% of farm working expenses.
The choice of wintering system affects feed availability, water quality, animal welfare and people management. To overcome low pasture growth during winter the majority of southern wintering systems are based around grazed forages e.g. kale, swedes, fodderbeet and silage conserved during the spring and summer.

The winter management project aims to maintain profitability while improving environmental performance and animal welfare during wintering in the southern South Island.

Expected outcomes of this project

Benefit

Farmers have the opportunity to inform policy decisions in the early stages to promote the best outcome for both the environment and farmers.

Reduced risk of negative public perception, criticism from environmental and animal welfare groups and likelihood of regional council regulations.

Farmers and industry will have science-based information on links between wintering systems, environmental, people and animal performance and financial returns.

Increased adoption of wintering system practices that decrease environmental impact, are cost effective to implement and meet animal welfare requirements through the provision of reliable sources of high quality feed.