Farm Information Sheet
Group:
Farmer Name/s:
Consulting
Officer:
2000+ Farm Systems Group
Willy and Jeanet Leferink (owners),
Hayden and Jessie Dorman
(lessees)
Erin Sinclair
Email:
Date: 22 November 2013
Team: Philippa, Roi, Bede, Gilmert, Jenna
erin.sinclair@dairynz.co.nz
Phone:
0212437337
Farm Description:
Hayden and Jessie lease 420ha, which is made up of Riverstone (which this day is focused on) of 180 ha, which
Hayden and Jessie operate, and Riverview, which they have a LOSM on. Last season 2,515 kgMS/ha and 588
kgMS/cow were produced. The farm calves for 12 weeks in spring and 6 weeks in autumn, with 75% spring calvers
and 25% autumn.
Group Purpose:
 To discuss seasonal topics and other on-farm issues relevant to the farmers present
 To provide feedback on the host farm with their goals and principles in mind
Event Objectives & Discussion Topics:
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Overview of the farm system
How Hayden and Jessie measure their success
Nutrient management and this farm system
Farmer Goals:
Our goals that are relevant to today’s group are:



Profitably produce twice the average national per cow production
Have deposit for own farm in 10 years
Have plenty of family time

Maintain and improve the farm as if it were our own
Farming Principles:
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

See attached page
Willing to be high risk, and also high performance
Discipline is key in this system
Use as much N from the air as possible before N from the bag
General Management Practises:
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Strong reproduction focus, aim to get more cows in calf to AI
12 week spring mating (aim to reduce to 10 weeks) and 6 week autumn mating, must be disciplined in sticking
to this to see which cows are performing
305 day lactation aimed for on average, 310 the maximum due to Cepravin withholding
Fully feed cows a balanced diet to achieve high feed conversion efficiency, production ,and reproductive
performance
Westfalia DairyPlan used for herd management and recording
Abron used for soils, improving soil structure and clover content important, chicory and plantain used in
pasture mix
VRI installed and farm EM mapped, effluent able to be injected to pivot
Farm Performance Summary
Herd improvement and management:
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Selecting for protein, udders and capacity. Using American Holstein-Friesian genetics
Register and TOP all heifers
Cull all year round
Tough – if she’s not good enough, she won’t stay
Cows are given two chances at mating – after that they’re out
Will extend lactation on empty cows if they meet production (>25l) & soundness criteria, age also considered
Pasture, Supplements and minerals:

61 kgDM/ha/d growth rate and 2,310 kgDM/ha cover as at 14/11
Supplements Fed 2012/13
Straw
kgDM/cow
737
326
118
212
44
200
423
73
Total tDM
567
251
91
163
34
154
326
56
Total Supplements Fed
2,770
2133
Wheat/barley
Protein
Mineral pellet
PKE
Molasses
Maize Silage
Grass Silage & balage
On an annual basis, feed efficiency as measured on a kgMS/tDM offered basis was calculated at 72 kgMS/tDM
using the following information:
kgMS:
452,546
(Milk supplied to factory)
Pasture:
19.4 tDM
(Based on 16.5tDM harvested from Ready reckoner, and 85% utilisation)
Supplement:
2133 tDM
(From on table above)
Wintering:
480 tDM
(From 500 cows off farm for average 60 days, offered 16 kgDM/cow.day)
Total tDM:
6105 tDM
Feed efficiency:
74 kgMS/tDM offered

Table above from Erin Sinclair’s honours project
Farm Information Sheet
Farm Business Type:
Region:
Olsen P & pH:
Lessee
Canterbury
Benchmark Group
Canterbury
Selected by:
570 kg
Breed:
Holstein
15
Cow LWT:
N leaching:
2013/2014 (target)
Economic
Farm
Forecast
Farm Details
Milking Area
2012/2013
Farm
DairyBase
180
222
180
176.5
Dairy run-off effective area
(ha)
-
-
-
61.5
Milksolids
(kg)
470,050
337,600
452,546
271,810
790
750
770
641
4.4
3.4
4.3
3.6
Planned start of calving (PSC) spring/aut
1 Aug/14 Feb
-
1 Aug/14 Feb
-
Spring:autumn ratio
75:25
140 (100 long
term)
-
75:25
-
-
140
218
Peak cows milked
Stocking Rate
(cows/ha)
Nitrogen applied for year
(kgN/ha)
Physical KPI’s
Milksolids per ha
(kg)
2,611
1,520
2,514
1540
Milksolids per cow
(kg)
595
450
588
424
104%
95%
103%
90%
16.5
-
16.5
14.2
Milksolids per cow as % of LWT
Pasture and Crop eaten
(t DM/ha)
Imported Supplements
(t DM/ha)
-
8.2
2.1
Grazing off dry cows
(t DM/HA)
-
2.3
2.9
Total feed eaten/ha
(t DM/ha)
-
27
19.1
305
-
305
265
78,341
-
75,424
77,954
Days in milk per cow
MS/full time equivalent
(days)
(MS/FTE)
Financial KPI’s (Dairy Business)
Farm Working Expenses
($/kgMS)
$3.98
$3.84
Gross Farm Revenue
($/ha)
$11,540
10,020
Operating Expenses
($/ha)
$6,910
6,660
Operating Profit (EFS)
($/ha)
$4,630
3,360
Supplements
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Market based price
Long term contracts used
wherever possible
Wintering
HR practices
 Long term relationship with
grazier
 13 kg kale, 3 kg straw offered,
effectively ad lib fed
 Heifers get maize
 Some managed by grazier, some
feed next door bought standing
 Market price used
 Skills for this system can be hard
to get
 Work to strengths of the team,
now have one person dedicated
to maintenance
 Attention to detail & getting the
right person important in
recruiting