North Canterbury System 4

Beechbank Dairies Ltd, owned and operated by Alan and Sharron Davie-Martin, has consistently been in the upper quartile for profitability in the Canterbury region.

Farm Facts

Business type: Owner-operator
Location: Culverden, North Canterbury
Farm size: 141ha effective milking platform, 195ha effective owned dry land support block near Rangiora
Land: 100% pivot irrigation, part of Amuri irrigation scheme
Peak cows: 540 friesian cross
PSC: 3/08/2021
Stocking rate: 3.8 cows/ha
Farm system: 4 (20-30% feed imported)
Production: 264,460kg MS/year, 1876kg MS/ha, 490kg MS/cow (4 year average)

Attention to detail and keeping things simple are key to the success of this business. Frequently monitoring and updating the budget and the farm plan are critical so there are no surprises and any actions can be taken early.

The approach to budgeting is to be conservative with estimates for production and generous with expenses so in the event of a milk price challenge or severe weather event there is wriggle room. The breakeven milk price for this farm is $5.10 per kg MS on 255,000 kg MS. At this price, there is no need to make compromises. Status quo farm working expenses are in the range of $3.90 - $4.10 per kg MS.

Scroll down to get into the latest budget!

Numbers at a glance
Financial KPI 2021-2022 budget				Physical KPI 2-year average
Net dairy cash income $/kgMS	Total farm working expenses $/kgMS	Total operating expenses $/kgMS	Dairy operating profit $/ha	Pasture and crop harvested t DM/ha	Purchased N surplus kg N/ha/yr*	Methane emissions t CO2 equiv /ha/yr*	Six week in-calf rate %
$8.43	$4.40	$4.31	$5,719	17.7	137	12.2	68

*Find out more about these KPI's and how to calculate them for your own farm here.

Management decisions

Strategy and financial
- Know the business well
  Always have the farm information up to date so that time spent with rural professionals (like accountants), can be spent looking forward and planning. The key is to be proactive and in a position to make informed decisions quickly.
- Review budget regularly
  Review and update budget every month when cash manager is updated. We try and work on a no-surprises type of budget, and then if there is a surprise, it will be that we do better than budgeted, particularly with the costs.
- Budget updates
  Keeping the budget up to date is important from a tax calculation point of view, as tax payments can be more closely aligned to the year’s actual performance rather than the previous year which fits better with cash flow. This is particularly important as the stage of business development for this business means tax liabilities have a significant impact on cash flow.
- Debt
  Repayment of debt has always been a priority, which makes life a lot easier when downturns occur.
- Detail
  Attention to detail, both on farm and financially is very important.
- System
  The farm has a simple system that is easy to implement.
- Communication
  Networking and talking with peers and like-minded farmers as well as rural professionals is key to successfully progressing the business. Be open minded and always look for ways to improve. Mentor others.
- Environment
  Be mindful of our environmental responsibilities and always try to do better.

Farm policy and infrastructure
- The dairy shed is a 40-a-side herringbone shed.
- It is 0.7km from the farm dairy shed to the furthest paddock.
- The farm is well subdivided, with good internal laneways and water supply that exceed minimum standards. Planned start of calving is 1 August.
- All 584 cows are wintered on the support block, so no external grazing is required. The cows are wintered on fodder beet, kale, silage and hay.
- Pasture management and feed budgeting are given priority. Farm cover is measured and feed budgets updated weekly for 9 months of the year.
- The policy for grazing is 'pasture first' and post grazing residuals are monitored closely. Supplement is only added if they are dropping below 1500 kg DM/ha.
- Improving efficiency of supplement use is ongoing with the aim to minimise wastage from harvest through to storage and feeding out.
- A 195 effective hectare dry land block 1 hour from the Dairy Farm was purchased in October 2020. This provides grazing for all young stock, wintering for the herd and about 50% of the imported feed for the milking area.

Feed
- Support block
  On the support block, 25ha is planted in fodder beet for winter feed. This area is then planted in oats for cereal silage. This will be harvested in bales in late spring/early summer. After harvest, the area is re-sown with permanent pasture. 20 ha of new ground on the support block is sown with forage rape in the spring for summer feed. About 510 t DM of baleage, (pasture and cereal), will be made in the late spring and early summer. 210 T DM of this will be transferred to the miking platform and, depending on relative prices, about 200 t DM will either be sold, (and funds used to buy PKE for the dairy herd), or it will also go to the milking platform. The remainder will stay on the support block for use there.
- Milking platform
  3-4ha of fodder beet are sown in November on the milking platform. This is to provide a bulk of autumn feed for the milking herd, for milking and weight gain. It also means the herd can be transitioned to eating fodder beet well in advance of going to the support block. When they leave the milking area they are already eating 5kg DM of fodder beet, so it only takes about 10-14 days to get them to 9-10kg DM (70% of total intake). The success of this does depend on getting good yields, (30 t DM per ha), which makes the cost per kg DM lower than other feed options. 13-14 ha on the support block and 2-3 ha on the milking area are re-grassed each year after cropping.
  Supplements made on the milking platform vary depending on pasture growth rates. About 40-60 t DM of baleage is made on average.
- Supplements
  Supplements used are pasture and cereal baleage, hay and PKE. The amount of imported supplements fed depends on pasture growth with feed budgets based on 410 t DM, (750 kg DM/cow). Pasture silage and PKE are fed on the milking platform and the cereal silage and hay is for winter cow feed on the support block.
- Policy
  Farm policy is to always have a reserve of 100 t DM of supplement (silage/hay) on hand, over and above the annual requirements for supplement. This is insurance for severe weather events like heavy snowfall, or for when irrigation restrictions are enforced.

Herd
- The herd has been sire proving scheme, (SPS), for over 30 years so herd testing and semen costs are discounted. AB is for 6 weeks with SPS bulls, followed by 1 week short gestation Hereford semen, (as a marker,) then 3 weeks AB using short gestation Kiwi cross semen
- Heifers are mated with own bulls which reduces the risk of exposing the farm to outside animal health risks.
- Young stock liveweights are monitored, and industry recommended liveweight targets have always been exceeded.
- Achieving recommended cow condition and pasture cover targets for the farm at key times are critical, and decisions for culling and drying off are based on feed budgets, cow condition scores and calving dates. Protrack was installed late 2017-18 so that better information is available to assist with this decision making.

People, health and safety
- Three full time staff and some part time and relief staff are employed. This enables the farm owners to reduce their time involved with the day to day running of the farm.
  One of the full time staff is shared between the milking platform and the support block in Rangiora.
- The farm owners now live off-farm and their input is 0.4 FTE. Their is largely in governance and administration roles only, plus overseeing any R & M on the support block near Rangiora.
- Good communication with staff is vital to the success of the business and to ensure low staff turn over.
- Key staff have been with the farm for fourteen years which is reflected in the above average level of remuneration paid to staff.
- Manuals with processes that meet OSH industry standards are on farm and implemented.

Environment
- Best practice
  A proactive approach is taken to identifying and implementing environmental best practices that are applicable for this farm. An example of this is the farm currently being part of a study for the Amuri Irrigation Scheme, looking at the impact of wintering.
- Irrigation
  The farm irrigation system has soil moisture sensors which drives the irrigating decisions. The focus is on efficient water use. Soil moisture is monitored frequently and irrigation is based on this. Effort is made to ensure irrigators are well maintained and operating to optimum efficiency.
- Nitrogen
  Nitrogen use is below 190 units of N per hectare. The plan for 2021-22 season is to review timing, application rates and sources of N so that the farm continues to stay within the 190 kg per ha cap for synthetic N that is part of the latest National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.
- Farm environment plan
  The farm belongs to the Amuri Irrigation Scheme. One of the requirements is to have a Farm environment plan, which is audited every 2 years. This gives focus to what needs to take priority and helps when developing the budget each year.
- Runoff
  Buffer strips are used on all cropped areas to minimise runoff. Crops and pasture are direct drilled where possible and fertiliser applied with the seed.
- Wintering practices
  Some sites on the support block have been identified as being more vulnerable to wintering practices. These areas will not be cropped and any re-grassing will be grass to grass. This does limit the subsequent pasture yields compared with a cropping regime, but environmental best practice is deemed to be a priority in this instance.
- Soil testing
  Since 2012 the policy has been to soil test every paddock. The farm now has a good library of data on the fertility of each paddock, and fertiliser applications are tailored to be paddock specific.
- Effluent
  Effluent is spread via pivot irrigators and can be applied to over 90% of the milking effective milking area. The farm has 26 days of pond storage.

Season review

2020-21 Numbers at a glance
Financial KPI's*	Budget	Actual
Milk Production (kgMS/ha)	1,809	1,896
Milk Production (kgMS/cow)	472	491
Net Dairy Cash Income ($/kgMS)	$7.20	$7.79
Total Farm Working Expenses ($/kgMS)	$4.07	$5.98
Cash Operating Surplus/Deficit ($/kgMS)	$3.12	$1.80
Gross Farm Revenue ($/kgMS)	$7.20	$7.91
Operating Expenses ($/kgMS)	$4.64	$6.90
Operating Profit ($/ha)	$4,618	$1,907

*These KPI's are based on cash book actuals to 31 May 2021 and estimated non-cash adjustments. The final financial performance based on financial statements may differ.

Click here for PDF of 2020-21 budget v actuals

Comments

The financial performance for the 2020-21 season is difficult to compare with the budget or previous seasons as a 195 effective ha dryland support block was purchased mid-season and the 90 effective ha irrigated leased support block was relinquished.
The new support block had a new stock water system, major upgrades to housing, improvements to fencing, yards and lanes plus significant capital lime, (about 4 t/ha), and fertiliser applied. Some of these costs are included in the farm working expenses shown but may be capitalised once the final financial statements are completed.
There has been increased spending on supplement harvesting, cropping and re-grassing to improve pasture and ensure there was sufficient feed on hand to winter the herd in 2021.
It is estimated that about $1.80 per kg MS, (approximately $3,500 per ha), of additional costs relate to bringing the new support block into the farm system.
Production for the season was 5% up on budget as the budget was conservatively based on the lowest of the previous 4 years milksolids. The 2020-21 seasons final milksolids was very similar to the 2019-20 season.

Other points of interest

Another mild winter and early spring, with no major rain or snow events, made for a good start to the season. A cold snap in late September/early October meant growth rates were slower than previous years and were 10 days later reaching the point where growth rates exceeded demand. November and December were wetter than usual.
No supplements were made on the milking platform which was down on the 2019-20 season where 7% of the farm was harvested for silage.
PKE fed for the season was on budget, and equated to 327 kg DM/cow. Total imported supplements fed including supplements imported from the support block was 748 kg DM/cow.
Pasture harvested for 2020-21 of 16.5 t DM/ha was 12% down on the previous season.
The 6-week in-calf rate of 66% (E), was disappointing, (2019-20 was 70%), and could be partly due to the low pasture quality resulting from lower sunlight hours during the wetter than average November and December.
N applied for the year was 191 kg N/ha. This is over 50% less than the previous year.
36 beef calves were reared which was not originally in the budget. This decision was made as extra stock was needed for the new support block.

2021-22 Forecast Budget

Click here for PDF version of 2021-22 budget

Income	$TOTAL	$/KgMS	$/COW	$/HA
Net Milk Sales The advance milk income for 2021-22 is based on a $6.40 kg/MS advance on 255,900 kg MS. The retrospective payment is based on 2020-21 production of 267,313 kg MS @ $1.50 per kg MS. 255,900 kg MS is minimum produced over the last 10 years. The Fonterra dividend is budgeted at $0.10 per share on 260,000 shares. Income is net of levies (DairyNZ levy of 3.6 c per kg MS and the biosecurity levy of 3.5 c per kg MS). This milk income is the farmers best estimate of their likely net milk sales. It may or may not be out of date based on new information from dairy companies. It does not necessarily reflect DairyNZ's milk price forecast.	2,043,700	7.99	3,785	14,494
Net Dairy Livestock Sales Stock income based on 142 MA cows/R 2 Heifers @ $608 per head and 340 bobbies @ $38 per head and 8 R 3 bulls @ $1500.	111,290	0.43	206	789
Other Dairy Cash Income Trading rebates - not fertiliser.	2,000	0.01	4	14
Net Dairy Cash Income	2,156,990	8.43	3,994	15,298

Expenses	$TOTAL	$/KgMS	$/COW	$/HA
Wages The farmer owners live off farm so their input into the business is largely in governance and administration roles only, plus overseeing any R & M on the support block near Rangiora. Three full time staff are employed on the farm plus part time and relief staff equating to between 0.5 and 1 FTE. Some staff have been with the farm for 14 years so the remuneration to staff reflects the long term service and level of responsibility undertaken. One of the permanent staff is shared between the dairy farm and the support block. (incl. ACC)	258,000	1.01	478	1,830
Animal health This includes vet visits, minerals, drenches, dry cow therapy,(DCT), teat seal and vaccines. The farm policy is vigilance and be proactive. The SCC for the 2020-21 sesaon was 110,000. In accordance with recommended practice the policy is to use selective DCT on cows which have SCC over 150,000, had clinical cases of mastitis during the year, or have visible teat damage. This is about 20% of the herd. The balance of the herd is treated with internal teat sealant. Cows to be treated with DCT are identified in consultation with the Vet. The cost for treating anoestrous cows is included here.	80,700	0.32	149	572
Breeding and herd improvement The herd has been sire proving scheme, (SPS), for over 30 years so herd testing and semen costs are discounted. AB is for 6 weeks with SPS bulls, followed by 1 week short gestation Hereford semen, (as a marker,) then 3 weeks AB using short gestation Kiwi cross semen. 4-5 herd tests per year are done. Costs include Tail paint and identification. Own bulls are used with the heifers and carry over cows.	21,700	0.08	40	154
Farm dairy The dairy shed is 40 aside herringbone shed. Standard recommendations for plant cleaning and detergents are followed. Metered detergent dispensers are installed so wastage is minimised.	7,150	0.03	13	51
Electricity This does not vary much year on year. (farm dairy, water supply)	26,600	0.10	49	189
Supplements made This covers 40-60 t DM baleage made on the milking platform and 510 t DM on the support block. Support block baleage is pasture and cereal silage, (oats). Mowing and tedding of supplement done by farm, baling is by contractor. 210 tonne of supplement from the support block will be transferred to the dairy farm. Transport costs of $3,000 are included. (incl. Contractors)	88,050	0.34	163	624
Supplements purchased Purchased supplement is budgeted at 233 t PKE, (209 t DM) @ $342 per t landed. Have contracted some of the PKE already for $342 per t DM. 200 t DM is for the Dairy platform and 9 t DM is a contingency for the support block.	80,000	0.31	148	567
Calf rearing The budget is for 155 replacement heifer calves reared. Includes $1,500 for bedding and $1,500 for animal health. Calves are reared on colostrum and then whole milk from the vat - no penicillin milk is fed to calves. Hay and meal are available at all times to the calves.	16,400	0.06	30	116
Young and drystock grazing All young stock are grazed on the owned support block. The $1500 is the cost of transport for stock between the dairy farm and the support block.	1,500	0.01	3	11
Winter grazing Cows are wintered on the support block near Rangiora. The $15,500 is for freight to and from winter grazing for about 500 cows.	12,500	0.05	23	89
Fertiliser This is net of rebates and includes about $40,000 for Nitrogen. The level of N application for 2021-22 will be below 190 kg N per ha. Fertiliser is applied as per nutrient budgets and soil test recommendations. Olsen P is over 40 and pH is 6.2. Includes fertiliser for the support block as well. (incl. N)	128,400	0.50	238	911
Irrigation Irrigation on the dairy farm is 95% pivot irrigators. This will be the fourth full season on the new pressurised Amuri Irrigation Scheme. The support block is not irrigated.	38,900	0.15	72	276
Regrassing & cropping Cropping costs are $117,500. This covers cropping on the dry land support block for 25 ha of fodder beet for winter feed and 20 ha of forage rape for summer feed. 25 ha of oats for cereal silage will be sown after the fodder beet has been eaten. The estimated yields are 16 t DM/ha for the fodder beet, 7.6 t DM/ha for the forage rape and 8 t DM/ha for the cereal silage. The budget allows for some Italian rygegrass to also be sown to fast track pasture renovation on the dry land supprt block. 3.5 ha of fodder beet will be sown on the milking platform in November for autumn feed to transition the herd ready for wintering. A small amount may be used for late winter. Yields of 28 t DM per ha are expected for this irrigated crop. $6,700 has been allocated for the re-grassing of the cropped areas.	124,200	0.49	230	881
Weed and pest This is just for weed and pest control on the milking platform. Support block weed and pest is included in the cropping costs.	200	0.00	0	1
Vehicles & fuel The farm has a mix of Quads and 2 wheel motor bikes. Tractors are used mainly for general farm work and feeding out. Do own mowing and tedding but use contractors for baling silage. Have increased number of vehicles with the addition of the suport block at Rangiora so costs reflect this. Follow regular maintenance and service schedule for all vehicles.	55,200	0.22	102	391
R&M Plant and machinery owned has increased with the addition of the support block near Rangiora so maintenance costs are up slightly on previous budgets. The farm policy is to be proactive for maintenance and keep up to date in good cashflow years so that if need be it can be reduced in low payout years. R & M average for the last 3 years is $68,000. (land, buildings, plant, machinery)	69,400	0.27	129	492
Freight and general farm expenses	7,900	0.03	15	56
Administration Includes about $3,500 for environmental monitoring, (soil moisture), and consents, $5,000 for training and conferences and $10,000 legal for on going succession planning. Do all own GST and payroll.	50,000	0.20	93	355
Insurance Keep excesses on the high side to try to keep premiums down. This includes insurance for buildings and equipment on the dairy farm and the support block so are higher than previous years.	32,800	0.13	61	233
ACC Based on 2020-21, plus a bit.	4,000	0.02	7	28
Rates This is for both the dairy farm and the support block so is up on previous years.	21,300	0.08	39	151
Total Farm Working Expenses	1,124,900	4.40	2,083	7,978
Cash Operating Surplus	1,032,090	4.03	1,911	7,320

Non-cash adjustments have been included below the cash analysis to enable fairer comparisons to be made between farms. These adjustments are not part of a cash budget but are important to fully understand the efficiency of the farm business.

	$TOTAL	$/KgMS	$/COW	$/HA
Value of change in Dairy livestock Female stock numbers are unlikely to change for the season, however will finish the season with 40 less R 1 steers and bulls, but will have 31 more R 2 bulls and steers.	7,100	0.03	13	50
Labour adjustment This labour adjustment covers 0.4 FTE management input for maintenance work on the support block plus governance, business and farm planning, staff meetings, GST, payroll and farm administration.	25,000	0.10	46	177
Feed inventory adjustment Plan to carry the same amount of supplement into the winter next season.	0	0.00	0	0
Owned support block adjustment Based on 195 effective ha of dry land at an estimated market rental of $450 per ha. Provides grazing for all young stock, some carry over cows and 40 dairy beef and winter grazing for the majority of the herd for 6 weeks.	87,750	0.34	163	622
Depreciation As per 2019-20 financial statements plus allowance for purchase of support block and machinery in 20-21.	120,000	0.47	222	851

Dairy Gross Farm Revenue	2,164,090	8.46	4,008	15,348
Dairy Operating Expenses	1,357,650	5.31	2,514	9,629
Dairy Operating Profit	806,440	3.15	1,493	5,719

More information

Click the link below to view this farm's figures from previous seasons

2019-2020 Numbers at a glance
Financial KPI's*	Budget	Actual
Milk Production (kgMS/ha)	1,833	1,902
Milk Production (kgMS/cow)	479	497
Net Dairy Cash Income ($/kgMS)	$7.00	$7.37
Total Farm Working Expenses ($/kgMS)	$4.23	$3.83
Cash Operating Surplus/Deficit ($/kgMS)	$2.77	$3.54
Gross Farm Revenue ($/kgMS)	$6.88	$7.44
Operating Expenses ($/kgMS)	$4.75	$4.53
Operating Profit ($/ha)	$3,895	$5,534

*These KPI's are based on cash book actuals to 31 May 2020 and estimated non-cash adjustments. The final financial performance based on financial statements may differ.

Click here for PDF of 2019-20 budget v actuals

Comments

2019-20 was the first full season being self contained for wintering on the support block and milking area and so is more indicative of a status quo financial performance.
The operating profit per ha for the year is estimated to be $5,534. This is 42% up on budget and is due to income being 12% above budget and operating expenses being 1% below budget.
Farm working expenses, (FWE), of $3.83 per kg MS or 9.3% below budget and are more in line with the status quo costs for implementing the current farm plan of $3.80-$4.00.
Operating expenses of $4.53 per kg MS are 4.7% down on budget. They include $0.15 per kg MS of non-cash adjustments to allow for the decrease in the feed inventory.

Other points of interest

The season started with another mild winter early spring with no major rain or snow events which made for a good start to the season. A cold snap in late September/early October meant growth rates were slower than previous years and were 10 days later reaching the point where growth rates exceeded demand.
Spring and early summer pasture surpluses were not as great as expected so supplements made for the year are less than budgeted. The shortfall was covered by having more supplements left over from the start of the season.
Imported feed used was 485 kg DM per cow of, made up of 60% PKE and 40% baleage from the support block or inventory. This is up slightly on the previous season of 471 kg DM per cow.
It has been a more normal irrigation year with 108 irrigation days and 569 mm water applied for the year. Hot dry conditions in January and February put some pressure on the irrigation scheme resulting in water restrictions but the overall impact was minimal.
Pasture and crop eaten on the milking platform is 18.7 t DM per ha. This is up 0.8 t DM per ha on last season which was the highest for the farm. The increase is likely due to several factors including increased focus on efficient use of supplements and grazing residuals, more efficient water use now the farm is on the Amuri Irrigation scheme and the growing of 2-3 ha of fodder beet for autumn use.
The last of the herd was dried off on 29th May. Cow condition is on target for BCS of 5.0, (heifers 5.5), by calving. Pasture cover was 2,200 kg DM/ha at drying off, (100-150 kg DM/ha above target), and is well on track for 2,650 kg DM/ha by the planned start of calving in early August.

2018-19 Numbers at a glance
Financial KPI's*	Budget	Actual
Milk Production (kgMS/ha)	1,820	1,874
Milk Production (kgMS/cow)	475	489
Net Dairy Cash Income ($/kgMS)	$6.43	$6.85
Total Farm Working Expenses ($/kgMS)	$4.03	$4.26
Cash Operating Surplus/Deficit ($/kgMS)	$2.49	$2.59
Gross Farm Revenue ($/kgMS)	$6.43	$6.77
Operating Expenses ($/kgMS)	$4.56	$4.46
Operating Profit ($/ha)	$3,396	$4,346

^{*These KPI's are based on cash book actuals to 31 May 2019 and estimated non-cash adjustments. The final financial performance based on financial statements may differ.}

Click here for PDF of 2018-19 budget v actuals

Comments

The operating profit per ha for the year is estimated to be $4,346 which is a very pleasing result. This is 28% up on budget and is due to milk and livestock income being 8% above budget and operating expenses being close to budget, (0.5 % up on budget).
Cash revenue was up on budget due to a higher milk price received, (up $0.26 per kg MS despite no dividends received for the year) and more milksolids produced as well as higher than budgeted cull cow prices and the sale of additional weaner heifer calves reared.
In 18-19 the farm moved from wintering the mature cows externally to wintering all stock on the support block and eliminating the need to use external grazing. The 18-19 actual costs had winter grazing costs for the winter 2018 and increased harvesting and cropping costs in preparation for winter 2019. The farm had 284 t DM more supplements on hand at the end of the season plus an additional 7.5 ha of fodder beet.
Farm working expenses, (FWE), of $4.26 per kg MS, were 6 % above budget. This is largely due to due to additional costs for supplements made and cropping/re-grassing plus animal health costs were up 30%. With the extra wintering costs removed the FWE are closer to $3.95 per kg MS.
Animal health costs were up due to the decision to aggressively target the high empty rate for the herd. More and early treatment of non-cyclers was undertaken. This has resulted in an improvement in submission rate, (95% for 2018-19), 6 week in-calf rate, (71% from 2018 mating, for spring 2019 calving), and an empty rate of 16%. The empty rate is still a concern but it is lower than previous years.
When the increase in feed on hand is adjusted for operating expenses were $4.46 per kg MS which was $0.10, (2%),below budget, and slightly less than the previous 3 year average of $4.51 per kg MS.

Other points of interest

Milk production for the 18-19 season was up 3% on budget. Production was on budget by early December, so the gains were made in the latter part of the season. Most of this was through December and January with excellent pasture growth.
The extreme dry from late January to March resulted in water restrictions and limitations for irrigation. This also coincided in very high spot prices for PKE.
During this period when pasture growth rates were lower than expected the decision was made to stay within the budgeted contracted amount of imported feed and use stocking rate to match feed supply.
Culling was carried out earlier, and more strategic drying off was done based on cow body condition score, (BCS), information. This was the first year that external BCS assessment was carried out. It made decision making simpler, and meant target BCS for the herd was achieved by drying off.
The last of the herd was dried off on 29^th May. Cow condition is on target for BCS of 5.0, (heifers 5.5), by calving. Pasture cover was 2,200 kg DM/ha at drying off, (100-150 kg DM/ha above target), and is well on track for 2,650 kg DM/ha by the planned start of calving in early August.
By early December irrigation days were 40% less than average because of the very wet November and early December. However the extended dry period from late January to March increased irrigation requirements and irrigation days for the season finished at 79 days, (up 13 on the previous year).

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Farm Facts

Numbers at a glance

Financial KPI 2021-2022 budget

Physical KPI 2-year average

Management decisions

Strategy and financial

Farm policy and infrastructure

Feed

Herd

People, health and safety

Environment

Season review

2020-21 Season Review

2020-21 Numbers at a glance

Financial KPI's*

Budget

Actual

Comments

Other points of interest

2021-22 Forecast Budget

2019-2020 Season Review

2019-2020 Numbers at a glance

Financial KPI's*

Budget

Actual

Comments

Other points of interest

2018-2019 Season Review

2018-19 Numbers at a glance

Financial KPI's*

Budget

Actual

Comments

Other points of interest