Adverse weather events are becoming more common and can significantly impact dairy farm operations. Dairy farmers must have a plan to look after their people, animals, business and pastures to minimise the impact and ensure a quick recovery.

The Rathgen family run a mixed dairy and arable farm system in St Andrews.

Heavy snow affects both the physical and emotional well-being of farming families and staff.

Power outages on NZ dairy farms can lead to significant disruptions, affecting daily activities such as providing water to animals, keeping lights on, milking, and maintaining proper heating and cooling.

The purpose of a catch crop is to increase annual dry matter production, to take up soil mineral and urine nitrogen and to reduce the risk of leaching or runoff.

Crunching the numbers before spending money is critical. Use the Investment Calculator to work out what it might cost and what your return could be.

Carrying out a ‘bucket test’ will help determine the application depth, rate and how uniformly water is being applied during an irrigation event.

Use this calculator to measure the depth of effluent applied from a variety of effluent systems.

The Dairy Effluent Storage Calculator (DESC) tool helps determine dairy effluent storage requirements for dairy farms.

The Contract Milker Premium Calculator compares the profitability of contract milking with managing a farm. 

A partial budget is often used to evaluate ideas and undertake sensitivity analyses. Once you've completed a partial budget, complete further analysis such as annual budgets and cashflows.

A monthly cashflow budget takes your annual cash budget and spreads your income and expenses across the year giving you a month-by-month basis picture of expected income and what you can anticipate spending.

A monthly cashflow budget takes your annual cash budget and spreads your income and expenses across the year giving you a month-by-month basis picture of expected income and what you can anticipate spending.

The 10-year equity forecast tool forecasts a dairy farm business’s equity position over a 10-year period.

This tool allows you to objectively select the most suitable endophyte and ryegrass cultivar combination for your farm. Select the relevant filters to obtain a list of appropriate cultivars.

Did you know that an extra tonne of pasture is worth $300 annually? This tool allows you to compare your pasture and crop eaten value with similar farms in your area.

The milk on/dry off tool is designed to help test scenarios and make informed decisions around the cost of continuing to milk all or part of the herd into late lactation under a feed shortage situation.

Senior Area Manager - King Country

Director - Independent