US Dairy Herd

[unlacedgecko]

Same as always. Top 20% make the money. There is no doubt it’s more challenging though

You aware of this operation?

 

[Dead Rabbits]

View attachment 1167693

You aware of this operation?

Yes. Grazing at scale is such a small community. It’s like 13 hours away mind

 

[ollie989898]

Can you imagine that, grazing 2000 acres with diary cows? Be some work involved in fencing that lot!

 

[Dead Rabbits]

Can you imagine that, grazing 2000 acres with diary cows? Be some work involved in fencing that lot!

It’s pretty common in NZ. Not too big a deal with 25 acre paddocks

 

[kiwi pom]

Can you imagine that, grazing 2000 acres with diary cows? Be some work involved in fencing that lot!

Hell of a lot easier and cheaper than building cubicle sheds, laying concrete, silage pits, slurry lagoons etc.
Fences, water pipes and troughs, tracks, job done

The expense comes when you're in a climate where you do half grazing, half housing.

 

[Cotlandfarmer]

Can you imagine that, grazing 2000 acres with diary cows? Be some work involved in fencing that lot!

My brother worker for Juliette McClean at Robindale dairy on the Canterbury plane NZ in the early 2000s.
They were milking 3300 cows at the time through one 80 bail rotary parlour.
The herd was split into three grazing groups.
Milking was a 6 hour job.
Three people at the platform.
One person working two backing gates and one other fetching cows in and closing them out.
Whole farm was irrigated with, I think three centre pivot booms, a number sprinklers took care of the corners that the booms missed.
All paddock wires were spring mounted so the wheels on the boom just rode over the wire.
I think bro said one boom was 900 metres long?

 

[kiwi pom]

My brother worker for Juliette McClean at Robindale dairy on the Canterbury plane NZ in the early 2000s.
They were milking 3300 cows at the time through one 80 bail rotary parlour.
The herd was split into three grazing groups.
Milking was a 6 hour job.
Three people at the platform.
One person working two backing gates and one other fetching cows in and closing them out.
Whole farm was irrigated with, I think three centre pivot booms, a number sprinklers took care of the corners that the booms missed.
All paddock wires were spring mounted so the wheels on the boom just rode over the wire.
I think bro said one boom was 900 metres long?

Bit out of touch now I'm not on the tankers but there were a number of farms in the Westerfield area milking big numbers on large platforms through one shed (they looked like they were all converted at a similar time) that ended up chucking another rotary up, still on the block but off to one side so they could reduce the distance cows were walking - at least that seemed to be the idea.
The thinking with newer conversions (back when they were allowed) seemed to be, just under 1000 cows 50-60 point rotary. The size of the block being the biggest consideration of course.

 

[Andrew_Ni]

Now access to irrigation water in the Canterbury plains could be the challenge of the future ?

 

[kiwi pom]

Now access to irrigation water in the Canterbury plains could be the challenge of the future ?

Could be, there's a couple of schemes that divert excess river flow to huge storage ponds that then send the water down ditches to other ponds built on farm.
Obviously becomes challenging if there's no decent rain events in a dry summer.
Getting pretty dry now to be fair.

No new dairy conversions allowed as far as I know.

 

[ollie989898]

My brother worker for Juliette McClean at Robindale dairy on the Canterbury plane NZ in the early 2000s.
They were milking 3300 cows at the time through one 80 bail rotary parlour.
The herd was split into three grazing groups.
Milking was a 6 hour job.
Three people at the platform.
One person working two backing gates and one other fetching cows in and closing them out.
Whole farm was irrigated with, I think three centre pivot booms, a number sprinklers took care of the corners that the booms missed.
All paddock wires were spring mounted so the wheels on the boom just rode over the wire.
I think bro said one boom was 900 metres long?

I suppose whack some nice big posts in and put some high tensile wire up, electrify it and you're golden for the season? Easy to take down at the end for cropping or field work?

 

[Andrew_Ni]

Could be, there's a couple of schemes that divert excess river flow to huge storage ponds that then send the water down ditches to other ponds built on farm.
Obviously becomes challenging if there's no decent rain events in a dry summer.
Getting pretty dry now to be fair.

No new dairy conversions allowed as far as I know.

I remember somewhere near Geraldine when driving to Ashburton I passed a series of storage lagoons. Must have been a few hundred acres under water.

 

[kiwi pom]

I remember somewhere near Geraldine when driving to Ashburton I passed a series of storage lagoons. Must have been a few hundred acres under water.

Yep some massive ponds there, it was a dairy farm at one point, now just big water storage. You can see them on Google earth if you zoom out from Geraldine a bit.

 

[kiwi pom]

I suppose whack some nice big posts in and put some high tensile wire up, electrify it and you're golden for the season? Easy to take down at the end for cropping or field work?

Proper strainers, 2 strands of HT wire, tape gates.
They're not small paddocks really with 4 or 500 in a mob. Can always split a paddock with a hot wire if you need too.