The new season starts here
Explore our research-backed tools and insights to support your decisions and help you prepare with confidence.
Moving day preparation and biosecurity planning
With moving day on June 1 fast approaching, planning now can help you manage biosecurity risks and set your farm up for a smooth start to the season. Having a biosecurity plan in place protects the health of your herd, your people, and your bottom line. Strong biosecurity today is your insurance against tomorrow’s risks.
- Create or check your biosecurity plan for moving stock to a new farm or bringing stock onto the property. Use our biosecurity farm plan to get started.
- Update NAIT records to ensure accurate tracking of stock movements.
- Check pre-movement testing requirements, such as TB, BVD, or Johne's testing, to avoid delays and minimise risk.
- Plan ahead for stock purchase, using our pre-purchase checklist to assess biosecurity risks.
Cow care in winter
Good cow care in winter helps reduce animal health costs, supports productivity, and improves staff morale and animal wellbeing. Having a plan you’ve shared with the team for wet weather and challenging paddock conditions is the best way to ensure the team knows what to do and when.
Cows need 8-10 hours of lying time each day, but muddy paddocks can reduce this, leading to fatigue and stress. When paddocks become too wet or high risk, be ready to shift cows to support their comfort. Options include stand-off areas, sheltered paddocks or tree cover, break-out areas when on crop, or adding extra straw where needed.
Getting the whole team aligned with your wintering plan now can reduce pressure later, improve confidence and create smoother workflows, with clear routines for health checks, paddock assessments and feeding transitions.
Transition cow care and feeding
Supporting your transition cows now sets you up for a successful season. Hitting body condition score (BCS) targets at calving supports reproduction, animal wellbeing and early-spring feed efficiency, while helping to reduce animal health costs.
Assessing individual cow BCS will identify lighter, early calving cows that may require preferential feeding over the winter period. First and second calvers should be BCS 5.5 at calving and mixed-age cows BCS 5. Cows below target BCS have a higher risk of mastitis and other infections, while over-conditioned cows are more susceptible to metabolic issues like milk fever and ketosis.
For a successful transition, feed cows based on condition; cows at or below target BCS should be fed 100% of their daily energy requirements. Feeding management of over-conditioned cows can help reduce post-calving metabolic issues.
Feeding for BCS targets
Informed supplement decisions can make a real difference to improving calving BCS.
Use our Supplement Calculator for Dry Cows to compare feeds based on metabolisable energy (ME), cost and expected BCS response, so you can see the true cost per BCS gained and identify the best value options for your system.
Building great teams
A well-supported team builds capability, strengthens farm performance, and creates a more enjoyable workplace. Small changes in how you lead people can make a real difference. Regular team catch ups help everyone understand their role and priorities heading into winter and calving, while encouraging team members to take outstanding leave ensures they’re rested for the busy period ahead.
When bringing on new staff, involve your team in training and focus on essential winter skills to build confidence and consistency on farm. Fonterra farmers can also review their Workplace 360 commitments as a practical step to strengthen people practices.
Hear practical leadership insights from farmers in our Legends video series.
People Expo
Our People Expo events return in June, focusing on leadership capability and supporting farm managers, contract milkers and sharemilkers to step up when farm owners are ready to step back.
Register now for one of our four events in Palmerston North, Te Awamutu, Invercargill or Dunsandel.
Pasture renewal and winter management
Looking after new pastures over winter sets up your farm for resilient, productive paddocks, lowers costs, and helps you increase pasture grown and harvested.
Focus on three key actions to nurture new pasture through winter:
- Protect from pugging – graze only when soils are firm, keep grazing periods short, and use on-off grazing or stand-off areas if needed.
- Graze lightly to encourage tillering – remove just the top 2-3cm during first winter grazing when pasture can’t be pulled out by hand-plucking (usually five to seven weeks after drilling). This helps plants grow and build resilience for the first summer, which is critical for long-term persistence.
- Manage weeds and nutrients – early weed control and light tactical nitrogen application support fast growth and strong establishment.
Learn more in our new Pasture Renewal Guide.
Additional tools and resources for winter
Explore more tools and resources to help you navigate through a successful winter
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Setting up for winter
Early preparation of your winter grazing paddocks minimises sediment loss and movement. Use back fences and portable troughs to reduce soil damage by limiting unnecessary cow movement.
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Winter pasture management
Managing high-quality pasture during feed surplus periods is a crucial skill in pasture management.
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Winter crop paddock selection
Wintering starts with picking the right paddocks. Your choice impacts crop yield, cost, and winter success.