The transition period in a cow's life requires precise feed management to ensure health and optimal milk production. It’s important to set BCS targets, monitor those targets and adjust your feed budget as required, especially pre- and post-calving.

Bulk milk urea concentration is a near real-time indicator of the dietary crude protein status of dairy herds and their nitrogen use efficiency, helping to support feed and nitrogen management decisions in pasture-based systems.

This high input, highly stocked farm, depends on effective feed monitoring, efficient effluent management and improving herd fertility for success.

A pasture feed wedge is a tool that visually displays your farm's current pasture situation. By ranking your paddocks based on average pasture cover, it can help you make proactive decisions about pasture management.

Homegrown feed is one of the strongest drivers of profitable, resilient dairy farm systems in New Zealand. Lifting the amount of pasture and crop grown and eaten can improve operating profit per hectare and help reduce emissions intensity.

Spring management focuses on the critical period from calving through to your balance date when feed supply meets demand.

With NIWA’s prediction of an El Nino weather pattern and a high likelihood of a drier summer, how are farmers preparing? In this episode, we’re talking to Trevor Hamilton and Kevin McKinley who share their strategies for preparing for a dry summer.

Free stall barns are engineered structures for housing dairy cattle. Free stall barns can significantly improve feed usage, herd comfort, and reduce maintenance costs, but they can require a substantial initial investment and experienced management.

Managing high-quality pasture during feed surplus periods is a crucial skill in pasture management. This page explains that pasture surplus often develops in spring, which if unmanaged, can lead to low-quality pasture affecting milk production.

Summer conditions can change quickly, and every season brings different challenges. The key to managing summer well is knowing your current position, monitoring conditions closely, and having a plan in place before you reach a trigger point.

Recycling, collection and safe disposal services are a responsible way to deal with farm waste, reducing the negative effects on the environment and the health risks for both people and animals.

The Government is making changes to the Resource Management system and replacing the Resource Management Act 1991 framework with the Planning Act and Natural Environment Act.

When does extra feed increase profit? Kim Robinson and Dr Paul Edwards discuss findings from a multi-season trial, exploring the full cost of supplementary feed, the milk response it generates, and what it means for your farm's profitability.