Your essential summer toolbox
Research-driven tools and advice to support the decisions you’re making now.
Managing pasture over summer
Managing pasture over summer is about making timely decisions that keep cows fed today without borrowing too much feed from tomorrow. Getting more from quality homegrown feed can improve profitability, support feed supply and help farms stay resilient through variable summer conditions.
Regular farm walks, monitoring pre and post grazing residuals and use of feed planning using a feed wedge all support you understand whether feed demand and supply are staying in balance. This information gives you more options, whether that's introducing supplements, adjusting grazing rotation speed reviewing milking frequency, or making early decisions around culling or drying off.
Pasture management principles are still key to getting the most from homegrown feed and using supplement efficiently:
- Grazing at two-and-half to three-leaf stage to maximise growth and quality.
- Achieving grazing residuals of 1500-1600 kgDM to avoid overgrazing and maintain pasture quality and persistence.
Visit our summer management page for a step-by-step guide to help you through summer.
Reducing heat stress
Heat stress can impact milk production, health, and wellbeing before visual signs of discomfort appear.
Understanding the risk on your farm and knowing what to look for can help you act early and reduce the impact on your herd.
There is a risk of summer heat stress across New Zealand, however in certain regions, summer is likely to be hotter and drier under the influence of a strong El Niño.
Watch for early signs, including faster breathing, crowding at troughs, and slower walking. More than 10 breaths in 10 seconds means a cow is not comfortable and the herd needs cooling.
To reduce heat stress, ensure adequate shade is available, check that stock water systems can meet peak demand, consider adjusting milking frequency and timing, minimise standing time on hot surfaces, and use cooling strategies such as sprinklers where practical.
Visit our heat stress page to learn the signs of heat stress and how to prevent it.
Protecting the herd from facial eczema
A good facial eczema prevention plan helps protect herd health and production. Facial eczema can cause liver damage, production losses, and in severe cases, death.
Regular monitoring of regional and on-farm spore counts helps you understand your farm’s risk and supports making preventative decisions based on actual conditions rather than waiting for visible signs to appear. Whether you're using zinc, pasture spraying, or a combination of prevention measures, check with your veterinarian that the programme is providing effective protection.
Good pasture management can also help reduce risk. Avoid topping in November and December and maintain pasture quality to limit spore build-up before elevated risk periods.
Visit our facial eczema page to learn more about putting an effective facial eczema prevention plan in place.
Setting heifers up for future performance
Heifers that meet liveweight targets at first mating and calving have improved reproductive performance and future milk production potential.
Regular weighing of youngstock provides a clear picture of how individual animals and mobs are performing against liveweight targets.
Tracking growth helps you identify problems early, understand whether they are meeting key milestones, and provides the opportunity to act early if growth is off track.
Building capability within your team
A capable, confident team with clear accountabilities supports farm performance, and allows people to grow their dairy career. Building that capability starts with regular development conversations.
Taking time to understand each team member's strengths, goals, and development areas can help identify opportunities to build skills and progress over time. Keeping these conversations focused on one or two practical steps can help turn career aspirations into action.
Whether it's learning a new task, completing training, or taking on new responsibilities, investing in your people can support a more motivated farm team, improved staff retention, and clearer career pathways.
Explore the Dairy Farm Career Pathways Guide to support your development conversations.
Additional tools and resources for summer
Explore more tools and resources to help you navigate through a successful summer
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Plan ahead for El Niño
Understand what El Niño could mean for your farm and region, with practical advice, tools and support to prepare for changing conditions.
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More tools for summer management
See our summer management fundamentals for more tools and tips on successful summer management on-farm.
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Driving profit from pasture
Lifting the amount of pasture and crop grown and eaten can improve operating profit per hectare and help reduce emissions intensity.
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Using supplementary feeds profitably
A helpful guide to determine whether supplements other than pasture can be used to improve profitability.