How Good's Dairy

Soil compaction, urea and the cow: ex-vet Dr Allan Piercy on growing the same grass on less nitrogen.

Calving’s nearly done, mating’s a week away and the grass is going gangbusters. George and Conan catch up on what mid-October really looks like on George’s Canterbury dairy farm.

Mastitis microbiologist Natasha Maguire on subclinical cases, cell count, antibiotics and bought-in heifers, and why the answer starts with testing before you treat.00:00 Coming up 00:28 How good's dairy? 00:47 Meet Natasha and how it all started 03:11 What is mastitis? 04:17 Finding subclinical mastitis: herd tests and RMT 04:58 What somatic cell count actually measures 06:33 Why test every case 07:56 What the bugs tell you about your farm 08:56 Benchmarking your herd's udder health 11:27 When the cell count spikes 12:47 Guessing is expensive: the teat spray trap 14:08 Can teat spray damage teats? 14:58 George's farm: where to start with bought-in cows 16:28 Fresh cow procedures and the first four days 18:05 What's really behind early-season mastitis 19:28 Next steps: just test 21:33 Antibiotics and selective dry cow 24:27 When there's nothing to treat 26:14 Prevention: buying in cows and heifers 28:08 Teat spraying done properly 31:16 Staph aureus: the big one 33:32 Culling, cell count and "it's not the farmer" 34:50 Don't wait, find out 35:52 Takeaways 36:43 Where to find Natasha

Ash des Landes and his wife are 50/50 sharemilkers on the Canterbury Plains, milking 650 cows at Dunsandel and, from this season, another 585 near Leeston. That's 1,200 cows producing around 600,000 kg of milk solids. In this episode George and Conan dig into the technology behind that operation and what it has actually changed on farm: Culturing mastitis samples in the farm office before treating. Antibiotic use is substantially down, the bulk cell count is holding around 110,000, and Staph cows at dry-off went from as many as 20 to zero. Virtual fencing collars. The fuel bill has halved, lameness is down, the team spends less time on motorbikes, and kale and pasture breaks are shifted several times a day. How Ash weighs up what a piece of tech is worth, and how he gets a young team using it properly. Why the tech is what let the family take on a second farm without giving up time together. Ash's take: we all do effectively the same thing; what separates the good from the best is the timing of the decisions we make.

Canaan Ahu of Agrownomics on soil biology, nitrogen, compaction and carbon, and why the best soil test starts with a spade.

Beef over dairy is the fastest-growing decision on a New Zealand dairy farm — and most of it gets made in about three seconds, standing behind a cow at mating.George Dodson sits down with Ben Watson, co-founder of GENEZ and a dairy farmer of close to thirty years, to work out what putting beef over your dairy cows actually does to the bottom line. Conan's away this week, so producer Andy Rowe takes the second chair.They get into why the beef decision drives genetic gain in your replacement heifers, how GENEZ picks a different sire for week one than week six, what calving ease really means next to birth weight, and why a 40kg calf can still come out easy.Then the money. A bobby calf gets you thirty or forty dollars. Contracted beef calves are running one fifty to one eighty in the South Island — both sexes, the whole of spring. But Ben won't call it free money: every kilo of calf birth weight costs the cow around 0.67 of a milk solid, which is $6.70 a kilo on a $10 payout.Also in this one: what a "marker" calf is and why it has to be obvious at three in the morning, the $118 difference in rearing cost between the slowest and fastest bull in the catalogue, and the 156kg weaner that turned up the week after Show Week.GENEZ: @Dairy's good — how good? Let's find out.Chapters00:00 INTRO00:32 "Ben, how good's dairy?"00:51 Conan's away — Andy fills in01:23 Where GENEZ started03:07 Why put beef over your dairy cows04:21 Picking the right sire, week by week06:14 Calving ease, birth weight and gestation10:16 What the calf rearer actually wants11:37 The $118 gap between two bulls12:58 Why the smaller calf can win15:10 "Who's dropped the ball here?"16:23 Wearables, beef price and the perfect storm18:01 What a marker is20:05 Why you don't use Angus at AB22:11 The bottom line — $30 bobby vs $180 beef calf26:08 Contracts, scale and a 156kg weaner28:10 What that beef calf costs the cow30:52 Bridging the gap — markers, then SGL32:34 Coming up — George's beef mating plan33:20 Where to find GENEZ

George is a season into milking his own cows, and he's already doing things his own way: a colostrum mob that never goes behind a wire, and a breeding rule with no science behind it at all. From there it's the ideal cow for a wet, heavy farm, why Conan gets a bit miffed at being called a regenerative consultant, the three legs of the stool on compaction, why effluent ends up in the wrong paddock on most farms, a planting plan going in this autumn, and an honest word about what eleven-hour days do to a body.George Dodson farms at Leeston, Canterbury. Conan Moynihan is an agribusiness coach and co-founder of Groundshift.

Feed is the biggest controllable cost on most dairy farms, and the easiest place to quietly lose money. George Dodson and Conan Moynihan sit down with dairy nutritionist Shaun Balemi (myCOW) on feeding efficiency: fillers vs concentrates, early vs late lactation, palm kernel and protein, what rumination data is really telling you, and what nutrition does to in-calf rates. Plus why a hungry cow is a stressed cow — and an expensive one. George puts his own farm up for some free consulting.More from Shaun: https://mycow.nzCHAPTERS 00:00 A hungry cow is a stressed cow00:32 How good's dairy?01:11 Thirty years in, and what farmers taught him03:08 Three big opportunities for New Zealand dairy05:01 Drowning in data: which numbers actually matter06:46 George on farm: stock sense vs the computer10:06 Collars, rumination and reading the paddock11:32 Feeding efficiency without breaking the bank14:30 What counts as a starchy feed15:23 Pasture-only vs a complete diet, and the digestion army17:23 Fillers vs concentrates, and what NDF means19:25 When early lactation becomes late lactation20:07 Palm kernel, DDG and getting the protein right22:53 Can you actually measure the payback?25:08 Pasture harvested per hectare: the number that pays27:29 Silage quality: New Zealand's blind spot29:13 Nutrition and reproduction: consistency is the lever31:53 Minerals, selenium, B12 and the transition window35:06 Soil, nutrient density and where this is heading36:58 Shaun's one piece of advice39:46 Where to find Shaun and myCOW41:02 Takeaways and wrap