Despite a dry summer and the departure of his 2IC, Thomas Chatfield relishes life in the dairy industry.
And just like that another four months have flown by. We, like most of the country have had a pretty dry summer and got pretty short of grass there for a while. We have had some rain and things are now looking pretty good.
Our mating result is in and I’m happy to say it an improvement on last season. Our empty rate has gone from 20% when I arrived to 15% last season and 13% this season and six-week in-calf rates have also improved from 52% to 68% and then 74% this season.
Our six-week in-calf rate is really going to put some pressure on our ability to fully feed our milkers during late winter early spring and we are considering moving our calving date back slightly.
This is a tough call to make as we make most of our milk before Christmas. Our hot nights mean growing any quality feed in the new year difficult and we see a big drop off in production as a result.
I’m not one to get all sobby, but it was a great reminder to me of all the wonderful things about being a dairy farmer. The beautiful sunrises we see each morning, the friendly pet cows, the laughs with work mates, the satisfaction from a hard day’s work.
In other news I am sad to say that my second in charge for the last two seasons has finished up with me and taken up a new job as a greenhouse manager. It will be a new challenge for him and I wish him all the best, but leaves me in the all-to-familiar position of looking for staff for next season.
I have interviewed some strong candidates but as usual the good applicants don’t stay on the hunt for long and are snapped up pretty quickly.
If anyone out there knows someone who is looking for a 2IC role, we milk 1000 cows in a 60-bail rotary, run a 12:2 then 11:3 roster have a milk harvester so most of your work would be outside the shed. Training and progression is encouraged. If this sounds like you, feel free to get in touch.
We have just wrapped up our regional Dairy Awards dinner. It was an awesome night catching up with all the entrants, sponsors, supporters and local dairy farmers. It’s all too easy to get stuck in the grind and forget what makes this industry so amazing.
We were shown a video made from clips from all the dairy trainee videos that the regional dairy trainees are required to make as part of their judging for nationals.
I’m not one to get all sobby, but it was a great reminder to me of all the wonderful things about being a dairy farmer. The beautiful sunrises we see each morning, the friendly pet cows, the laughs with work mates, the satisfaction from a hard day’s work.
I would like to say a massive congratulations to all the entrants putting yourself forward to be judged is never easy and I’m sure you came away from the process a better farmer and person.
Also, a huge pat on the back to all the regional committees that put in so much work to make the regional events happen.
This year will be my last year involved on the Bay of Plenty regional committee after three years so thanks to everyone I’ve worked with.
Lastly I would like to say: “be kind to people”. On March 15, New Zealand suffered a horrible tragedy. It shocked me like I’m sure it shocked everyone that something like this could happen in our little slice of heaven. So that’s why I think we all need to be kind, it doesn’t cost anything, it won’t hurt anyone and it might just be the pick me up someone needs.
