Spring is here – Graham Smith

Spring has sprung and not before time. Calving has been over for a week, 3/9/21, as I write this. Bringing calving forward five days has given me a good head start on last season but has put pressure on feed available. Growth rates of 11 kg DM/ha through late winter, July / August contrasted with rates of up 21 to 27 kg DM/ha/day in early winter. Not surprising when the ground temperatures were down to 5 °C in early July. I made an early start on the PKE/tapioca mix to compensate and then added in a bale of silage as well. An August application of Ammo 36 has seen the grass get moving but supplements are still needed to keep the girls happy.

Being OAD I don’t expect great peaks in production, so to be doing 1.66 kg MS/day at this stage is pleasing. It has taken three years to get the herd in shape to milk OAD. I see more potential, but it takes time to breed the correct type of cow. The heifers struggle with OAD as their udders lack the volume to carry the milk they want to give. By the time they are three they milk very well, and it is just a case of being patient. By then they are fully grown and ready to go.

The rising two-year heifers are looking good and cycling well. The calves are less in number this year due to a policy decision to rear 20% replacements instead of the usual 25%. With empty rates dropping due OAD I feel I am better off milking more cows that can handle OAD and getting really picky with my replacements. The average BW of the calves kept this year is 240 and I sold another 12 surplus, plus I put some brown high BW calves on the truck because the colour puts buyers off. I feel I may in future get value from sexed semen providing they are suppling the bulls I want to use. I enjoy rearing the stock from start to finish and seeing how they develop.

This morning in the shed things were going so smoothly I had time to reflect on my life of milking cows. My music of choice is the “Sound” on the radio on an Akai Prolab with a Denon tuner and this contrasts markedly with the sound in the shed when I started milking cows in 1972. Then it was an old valve radio with an analogue tuner drifting in and out of tune with plenty of hissing and clicking from the electric fence interference. We hand washed every cow with soap and stimulated the cows to drop their milk. The breeds were mostly Jersey with some blue cows which were Friesian/shorthorn cross. They had poor udders and not a good temperament. Electric fences were weak, and we used steel wire on the reels with mostly portable units with a large car battery to run them. No causmag then so it was hay to keep them full and lots of bottles of calcium in the vein to keep the girls alive. I was fresh out of school and from town, so this was a real eye-opener. The boss gave me the job of keeping the cows alive because he didn’t like the stress. I saved them all and must have done around 100 of the three hundred cows. Herd testing was a mission, but the highlight for a 17-year-old was the girls who came after herd testing to spin out the fat samples. Always seemed to be plenty of jobs to do around the shed on those days! Effluent was pumped out onto the paddock through a two-inch pipe but no sprinkler and was left to puddle and drain away. Motor bikes on farms were fairly new then and the boss buying a new Yamaha Ag bike was a lift from walking or using the tractor.

These reflections started from a smooth milking, and it wasn’t until I was hosing down that I realised it must have been a good milking as there were no turds in the shed!!

Back to reality though and I have had a busy winter planting more trees and possibly more to go yet if I can get motivated. It has become obvious with some of my plantings at a 100 plus trees to the hectare that something has to give, and it has been the grass. So, this summer I intend to thin them down to around 50 per hectare when it gets dry. I can fell them ahead of the cows and they will get the benefit of all the foliage before I clean up the mess. Paulownias are able to grow again from the stump and I intend to let them and then every two years feed the regrowth to the cows. This will cut shading by two thirds but still give me the benefits of the root system growing extra feed. It also allows me at any time to grow full trees if timber demands grows.

Every autumn the leaves fall, and I took advantage of that this year to row and bale them for extra forage for the cows. I fed those bales out in the cold dry weather in winter and the cows enjoyed them. The ME was low at 6 but the cows did well on them as I wasn’t trying to put weight on them with their condition score already at 5. I don’t know for sure if it made a difference, but I had no milk fever this spring and it could have been because the lower quality feed in the bales caused the cows to metabolize their reserves and get them in gear for milking. The bales were fed out in the last weeks before calving, but it is only a guess. Even though the ME was low I will bale again this autumn because with a few tweaks I think I can get a bit better quality bale if the frosts condense the leaf fall. On top of this, those extra bales in winter allowed me to extend the round length to 140 days and happy cows. Shifting that feed forward to calving can only be useful, especially with this cold valley climate. Felling those extra trees will not affect my carbon credit claims so long as I maintain a 30% canopy coverage. The value of the credits has doubled since I first registered and there is plenty more to be gained in the future.

Paulownias dislike the wind and I wish to plant some exposed hillside sites. So, I intend to use chestnut, poplar, walnut, elm and oak to achieve shade and shelter. I’m using those species because I already have self-sown seedlings on the farm which just need transplanting. They are also deciduous which I think is important to achieve winter grass growth.

Flame dried timber not the ticket – Graham Smith

Being July, I am in the last throes of getting organised before the new season. The rubber ware has been replaced, but I still must repair cracks in the yard to keep the inspector happy. That is the problem with a 60 year old shed – the maintenance required to create the right environment to harvest milk.

Last season ended up being a record, with 33,350 kg from 78 cows. The target is always to match or better it, but I think I have set myself a hard job. Using the correct amount of PKE will be the next task and I am sure it is going to tax many of us getting that right.

Tess and I managed to get away for a break up north to do a spot of fishing. Over ten days we got five days of actual fishing due to a few storms that brought torrential rain. We did catch enough for a feed every day, and smoked a few to bring home. Mangonui is a great place to stay, and we were very lucky to not to have to tow the tinny up there, as a mate said to use his five-metre boat. A bigger boat was just the ticket in rough waters, and provided more space for us and friends.

Back home I am now planting out the sapling Paulownias, which is a bigger job than usual because the wet summer has provided more large saplings than normal. I usually plant about 100 per year, but this year I have 150. This entails digging them out of the nursery, which involves a tiling spade and an axe head welded to a long handle, so I can cut the tap root. I take out about 20 at a time to the planting site, dig a large hole and then ram up the soil around the sapling so it can withstand spring winds as it develops leaves. I also put 5 fertiliser prills in with every tree to give it a good start the first year. The other issue is to find planting space around the dairy paddocks, and designing the planted rows so that they do not impact on day-to-day operations, such as mowing. After the planting is done they then need to be fenced with two wire electrics to protect them from my cows, who would love the chance to ring bark them.

Next week we have an American forester coming to stay for a month to learn how we do it around here. I have been saving some of the planting for when he arrives, so he can give me a hand. We are probably going to learn a lot from each other and I look forward to it. He is here for some time, moving on to other farms in both islands, staying at each farm for about a month.

One big issue currently is drying timber for sale. I have got behind on my supply of dry timber due to the wet conditions since Xmas. Air drying is trying to get the moisture content down to 14% or less, without paying for heat or fans etc. So I used a diesel forced air fan to blow hot air through a tunnel with wood in it. That worked quite well until the wind blew some leaves in the path of the hot air, which dried them rather quickly. They ignited, and I lost my stack of wood to a fire. We were able to extinguish it with our house fire extinguisher and the garden hose. No big deal, got insurance. Not so quick, I was not covered by the usual contents cover because this was commercial timber for sale. This means only the shed will be paid for, plus a few tarpaulins. Lesson being: make sure everyone knows what is happening so the appropriate cover is taken. The hard lesson has been learned and I am now buying a container in which to dry the timber with a dehumidifier and a fan.

Air drying timber requires a bit of experience in setting up the stack, filleting each piece of timber so it has its own air space around it. Different timbers must be treated specifically to their needs. Some must be dried very slowly, e.g. eucalypts, which need to be dried over two years or the wood will split or develop cell collapse, which disfigures and weakens the wood. In that case, it is necessary to wrap the drying stack with two layers of shade cloth to slow wind speed and evaporation. Some timber requires stacking according to the grain displayed at the end of each piece, depending on if it was flat, or quarter sawn.

As you can see, learning about timber and trees is a big job, but very rewarding, just like milking cows.

Photo credit: Thanks to Tess Smith, Te Awamutu Camera Club.

Passion for Paulownia – Graham Smith

Hi all. As I write, the thunder is echoing around the hills and light rain is falling. Grass is no longer in shortage, and the cows appreciate it. Production is up 13% for the season, with the girls still holding at 1.32 kg MS/day, on OAD. I went OAD on 27^th December and then started to annoy the fish in Aotea Harbour! It has been great. Ended up with 17% empties, which wasn’t good news, so I will be selling some good young cows. Just baled another cut of lucerne which is absolutely loving this weather. Growth rates have varied wildly recently and it has been a case of keeping a close eye on covers.

As promised in my last blog I will talk a bit about my operation with Paulownias. I run two nurseries on farm to supply around 100 rooted saplings per season. They start out as root cuttings in September, and by May should be up to 6 metres tall. In their first year they achieve this phenomenal growth by having leaves twice the size of what an adult tree will have. I wait until they are dormant in June and then dig them up for planting out. I have to dig a large hole to replant them and that requires some planning as to spacings and location. Once planting is finished they require fencing as the stock will ring bark them if they are not protected. I use two wire electric with the top wire outriggered.

After two years they are ready for a light prune and thereafter will be pruned annually for the rest of their life. Pruning is essential because my customers want “clears”, that is, no knots or blemishes in the timber. They have a tendency to always try to grow branches where you don’t want them. They are milled on size between 15 to 20 years, and up until recently I got a portable saw miller in to do the work. Lately I have been trucking them to a mill, and time will tell which is the best system. I sell the timber through my website (paulownianz.co.nz).

 

The trees have to work in with the cows, so they are planted around the edges of the dairy paddocks. They are pruned to 8 metres which gives a moving shade and healthy grass throughout the season. One of the main queries has been “Do they cause eczema?”, but I have no problems because I think the high pruning allows air flow which does not provide ideal conditions for the spores. Also, the high pruning gives a moving shade allowing all the grass to get enough sun which prevents it from going sour. On these hot days the cows love the shade and there is plenty for everyone. At this time of year, I like to prune when the cows are in the paddock so that they can benefit from eating the leaves and twigs. The crashing of breaking branches is the signal for a stampede towards the noise which signals lolly time!

I am experimenting with planting densities and have planted up to 100 trees per hectare without any production detriment. If you look at each tree producing about $1000 worth of timber every 20 years, that is a tidy income when you think this is on top of dairy income. By my calculations I will earn about $5000 per hectare per year from timber and another $6500 per year in dairy income (at a $6.00 pay-out).

I also like the fact that I don’t have to get up to the trees at 4:31 am! If I wish to have a break the trees just look after themselves.

Some dates coming up that may interest you:

• 17^th February. Farm forestry field day at Dave Forsythe’s (23 Hinewai Rd, Te Kawa). 10 am. Bring your own lunch. Lots of different trees to look at on a large (650 cows) dairy farm.
• 18^th February. Country Calendar featuring Tess and myself, 7 pm. Where you can have a look at what we do https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/country-calendar/2018-stories/episode-1
• 22^nd February. Field day on my farm at 1291 Wharepuhunga Rd, 1 pm. For rural professionals, but all welcome.

As usual I am happy to answer any questions.

Photo credit: thanks to Tess Smith, Te Awamutu Camera Club.