Heifer Grazing Project
Northland – 18th November 2015
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Project outline
This project is part of a national initiative to improve the way that dairy heifers are grown in
New Zealand. LIC research indicates that less than a quarter of heifers that are regularly
weighed achieve industry targets by 22 months. This undergrowth impacts milk production,
reproduction and lifetime contribution to the herd.
The purpose of the industry heifer project is to outline good practice for growing dairy heifers and to
give those involved in dairy heifer growing an opportunity to discuss regionally relevant issues and
share ideas to improve their businesses. Questions that the focus farms are seeking to answer are:
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What does “good” look like in our region, both with stock and working relationships?
What is realistic for growth rates for heifers in the area and how is someone achieving them?
What farm systems work to achieve industry targets for heifers?
What is a fair price to pay/charge for heifer growing?
The farm information also contributes to resource development, newsletters, and a heifer webpage.
Graziers are valued contributors to the dairy industry and we seek to identify win-win opportunities for
both graziers and stock owners.
Visit the heifer project website for more information www.dairynz.co.nz/what-we-do/research/keyprojects/heifer-grazing-project
Specific Resources:
 Grazing Responsibility Checklist
 Questionnaire for Graziers/Dairy Farmers – Setting expectations
Healthy and safety guidelines
We want everyone to enjoy today’s field day and get home safe and healthy, one of the
ways to do that is to abide by the day’s health and safety guidelines:
 Stay with the group at all times, children are to be supervised at all times
 Hazards specific to this farm are:
 Travelling along farm tracks and unformed roads (slippery when wet)
 Speed limit on farm is 30km/hr
 Everyone must be seated when travelling on a vehicle, anyone driving a quad bike must be
wearing a bike helmet
 For accidents, incidents or near misses please report to the Consulting Officer on pg 3
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Today’s programme –Wednesday 18th November
11:10 am
Welcome, Introductions & Heifer Project Overview
11:20 am
Heifer Liveweight Targets
11:30 am
Journey to Better Grown Heifers – David Gray
12:00pm
Answering Your Questions:
Mark Forsyth & Gareth Baynham
12:45pm
Workshop:
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How to Achieve Targets in a Tough Year
How to Get Value from Growing Heifers
1:15 pm
Key Points - Wrap-up & Evaluation
1.30 pm
Finish
Contact:
Mark Forsyth
DairyNZ Consulting Officer
Phone: 021 2425719
Email: [email protected]
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Growing heifers to target offers a number of benefits
 Early calving: First service conception rates improved 20% by reaching Lwt targets at
first mating in an Australian study
 Genetic gain: Heifer empty rates greater than 10% limit genetic gain
 Milk production: Milk prod can be effected up to 5 seasons if Lwt targets are not met
 Improved reproduction: Missing the 22 month Lwt target by 10% can reduce the
herd’s 6 week in-calf rates by 5%
 Lifetime productivity: Heifers that miss liveweight targets are at higher risk of losing
days in milk, being empty at the end of mating and being culled for low production
 Reduced replacement costs: Lower empty rates and increasing productive years in
the herd reduces the number of replacements needing to be reared each year
 Less intervention at mating second mating (e.g. CIDRs or OvSynch)
 Fewer animal health/calving issues & Less environmental impact
 Reduced farmer stress: Poorly managed stock can be quite stressful for farmers
Industry Targets:
Industry liveweight targets are well defined:
Example
Mature LW
Mature LW (%)
Liveweight of Mature Cow Target at Different Ages (months)
3 months
6 months
9 months
15 months
22 months
20%
30%
40%
60%
90%
Jersey
400 kgLW
80
120
160
240
360
Cross Bred
450 kgLW
90
135
180
270
405
Friesian
500 kgLW
100
150
200
300
450
Your Farm
Dairy Heifer Grazing from a Dairy Farmers Point of View – Dave
Gray
Dave and Heather Gray owns a high performing dairy farm near Awanui; running a
system 2-3 farm, milking 730 cows on 240 ha, producing around 1200 kgMS/ha and
400 kgMS/cow.
The cows are milked through a 40 aside herringbone (19 rows), located at one end
of the farm. The motivation to grow better heifers was highlighted when analysing
their herd performance with LIC; there was an opportunity to improve heifer
liveweight and milk fewer cows for similar production with better reproductive
performance.
Mature cows in the Jersey Cross herd currently have a liveweight of 430-440
kgLW/head, growing cows to their potential mature weight of 480-500 kgLW/head
and keeping the same liveweight per hectare, would mean milking 650 cows or 2
rows less per milking.
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Achieving this increase in cow liveweight means growing an extra 40-60 kgLW/head
by calving to be 435 kgLW at 20 months (90% of mature weight). This was achieved
with the 2012 born heifers that calved in 2014.
Dave and Heather considered all aspects of their heifer rearing system during the
review. Their breeding objectives include:
 Herd BW in the Top 10%
 Dropping out the bottom 25% of the herd
o Increasing the replacement rate to 25% for 4 years to accelerate gain
 Achieve Mature Cow Live-weight of 480 -500 KgLW/head
o Heifers 90% of mature cow LW at 20 months
Calves:
 From weaning calves are managed on a 30 ha block adjacent to the milking
platform (200 calves or 6.6 calves/ha)
 Late calving cows are wintered on this calf block, creating good quality feed
for calves once they are weaned
 The majority of calves are run in a single mob, shifted daily
o “at risk” calves are run ahead of the main mob
 Calves are fed PKE in trailers through the summer and autumn (Jan-May) at
1-2 kg/head/day and silage made on the from the yearling heifer block
o 200-250 kg/calf or $70/calf (at $350/t)
 Calves are drenched (triple combination oral drench) and weighed monthly
o Weighing is the acid test of management
Yearlings:
 Yearlings are run on 2 ~35ha effective lease blocks located 7 km from the
home farm, each lease block is well subdivided (20 paddocks, each with
water)
 Objective is to feed yearlings as well as possible on grass; blocks are
mulched in the autumn and may be undersown in Italian ryegrass, nitrogen is
applied in the winter.
 Mobs are shifted daily in winter (to manage pugging) and every 1-2 days for
most of the season and run a 35 day rotation through the summer
 Yearlings are normally run in 2 mobs of 90 heifers
o 180 heifers on 70 ha (2.6 heifers/ha)
o This season running 241 heifers on 70 ha (3.4 heifers/ha)
o There is no preferential mob – feed all heifers as well as possible
 Harvest silage to maintain pasture quality (~20 ha from 70 ha or 28%) and will
top if required
Key Focus Areas:
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Heifer liveweight targets are difficult to achieve – you need a dedication to
reach them
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o Dave uses their manager/2I/C who understands the objectives and is
accountable for achieving them
Weighing is critical – it’s the true test of how well the heifers are being
managed and highlights problem areas:
o Tough to grow heifers well during April in Dave’s system
Good paddock sub-division is vital to manage feed quality; daily shifts for
calves
o If you don’t have it you need to get it
If you lease land it must work for both parties:
o Owner must be fairly rewarded, land well maintained (kept neat & tidy)
o Leasee can afford to spend money on the block (e.g. replace water
pump or undersow with Italian Ryegrass)
If you don’t achieve LW targets, consider OAD milking as an alternative option
o Dave identifies non cyclers during premating heats and runs them as a
separate mob
The Results:
2012 Born heifers achieved liveweight targets (still had a proportion of the heifers
below target); first calvers averaged 445 kgLW in June!
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Reproduction:
Milk Production: 2015 based on first herd test
 First calvers producing 83% of Mature cows (75% is typical)
o Includes some non-cycling heifers milked OAD
 Second calvers producing 91% of Mature cows
Changes in a Low Milk Price Year:
Dave and Heather cut nearly $1/kgMS from their overall farm budget in response to
the low milk price forecast. Despite this significant drop in expenditure, relatively few
changes were made to the heifer growing budget:
 Chose not to AB heifers – used quality bulls (DNA) to preserve the option of
keeping replacements (average BW of yearlings is 193)
 Had planned to graze 60 surplus yearling heifers off farm (to be sold), but
have brought them to the lease block and run with the
Dave feels that improving farm performance by better growing heifers is a key part of
their strategy; it doesn’t make sense to risk short term savings to an area which can
deliver such long term gains.
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Answers to Your Questions:
Should I Keep My Calves on Longer?
One option to reduce grazing costs is to keep calves on the milking platform from
December to the end of April, then send heifers away to grazing on the 1 st May.
How many cows would need to be sold to make room for the calves and what effect
would this have on feed demand and milk production?
Feed demand for heifers is outlined in the table below, based on cows achieving
their mature weight potential. This represents the feed required (based on pasture at
10.5 MJME/kgDM without factoring in utilisation).
Potential Mature Weight – kgLW
Target Weight in Jan (6 mths) – kgLW
Target Weight in April (9mths) - kgLW
Average Daily Gain (kgLW/day)
Average Dry Matter Intake (kgDM/hd/day)
Jersey
450
135
180
0.49
4.9
KiwiX
500
150
200
0.55
5.3
Friesian
550
165
220
0.60
5.7
On an equivalent feed basis, this equates to around 3.1 heifers per milking cow, or
reducing milking cow numbers by ~8 cows per 100 milkers (at a 25% replacement
rate). Assuming annual production of 330 kgMS/cow, we’d expect milk production of
165 kgMS/cow from December to drying off (50% of production). There may be
some savings from having fewer cows in milk, but these are expected to be minor.
$3.85
$635
$9.70/hd/week
Milk Price ($/kgMS)
$4.60
$759
$11.65
$5.50
$908
$13.95
$ from lost Milk/cow
Break even cost of
grazing heifers
This analysis suggests it’s unlikely to be profitable to keep heifer calves on farm at
the expense of milking cows.
Feeding PKE to Calves – is it profitable?
Friesian Bull calf liveweight response to a Palm Kernel Expeller/Kibbled Maize blend
($500/tonne) was tested as part of the Beef + Lamb NZ Finished by 20 Months
project.
Run on a Northland beef farm near Matakohe, this evaluation indicated an average
response of 0.31 kgLW per kg supplement fed ($1.60/kgLWG), but around 40% of
this response was lost once supplement feeding stopped, giving a true response of
~$2.20/kgLWG.
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In the second year of the trial (2013), calves were separated into 4 mobs as outlined
in the graph below, all calves in the PKE blend treatments lost some of the initial
gains once the PKE had been removed.
Assuming a similar liveweight response from feeding PKE for 120 days (priced @
$350/t), the eventual cost would be $42/calf for an additional 29 kgLW ($1.44/kgW).
Based on these responses, it’s likely that feeding PKE to increase heifer liveweight
closer to the target would at least breakeven, and if 20 month liveweight would
otherwise be more than 10% below target, it’s almost certain to be profitable.
How Does Dairy Grazing Stack Up against Beef Heifer Finishing?
A strength of dairy grazing is the ability to destock heavy cattle before their second
winter, without getting caught in the cull cow bottleneck at meat processing plants
during April and May.
A similar type of stock policy was modelled using Farmax; purchasing reared heifer
calves through the summer (74 heifers at 125 kgLW) and late Autumn (83 heifers at
180 kgLW), running them through winter and marketing before the end of May at an
average of 216 kgCW. The results at long term prices (seasonal average of
$4.50/kgCW) and recent prices (seasonal Average of $5.70/kgCW) are outlined in
the table below:
Purchase
Number
Weight
Long Term Price
Current Price
157
154kgLW
$385/head
$507/hd ($3.29/kg)
216 kgCW
$875/head
$490/head
$34/head
$456/head
$4.50/$6.50/wk
$1169/hd ($5.40/kg)
$662/head
$45/head
$617/head
$6.75/$10.20/wk
Sell
157
Margin
Less interest
Net Margin
Equivalent Grazing Rate
R1/R2
This analysis indicates heifer grazing is a more lucrative stock policy than finishing
beef heifers using long term beef prices, however at current beef prices grazing rates
would need to be $2 - $2.50/head/week higher to provide a similar return to beef
finishing. There are alternative stock policies which provide more flexibility in feed
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demand and would be more profitable, but would require changes in management
and infrastructure (e.g. bull beef).
Dave Gray’s Heifer Growing Policy
Operating Procedure: Replacements-Young Stock
Farm Policy:
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Well grown replacements all calving at their target weight.
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Young stock monitored and actively managed to achieve this.
How to:
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Calves. Good healthy well-reared calves weaned at their target weights by
ten weeks, with well-developed rumen function.
Calves shifted daily on good quality pasture. Residuals maintained with
empty cows or the mower. (Good subdivision)
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Young stock regularly weighed and entered into MINDA weights. (We weigh
our young stock monthly)
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Under-target replacements are preferentially fed. (really important in calves
first summer)
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Good quality supplements are used when growth rates cannot be maintained
with the pasture available. (PKE and silage)
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Regular drenching and health program worked out with our vet.
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Monitor trace elements required for maximum growth.
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Facial eczema managed, monitored and treatment used if required.
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Young stock well fed every day.
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Good observation of stock for health problems.
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Pasture managed to minimise damage during wet periods.
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