New Zeland agriculture. Dairy farming's biggest threat.

Clive Dalton

 

Question 1.  

 What’s the biggest national threat facing the New Zealand dairy industry in the next 5-10 years?  The low milksolids payout due to a world surplus of milk powder is the wrong answer. The correct answer is farm staff literacy and numeracy, as it’s now recognised that 50% of new recruits entering farming cannot effectively read or write to a level where they can keep records or follow a manual.  They also cannot do basic maths or measure accurately. They have never learned their times tables!

So calculating the volume of a silage pit (LxBxH), then knocking off 5% waste, and working out the length of a grazing area of 1.7ha if one side is 50m are complete mysteries, as is mixing a 7% teat spray solution.  And don’t ever mention fractions.

When at The Waikato Polytechnic I must have wasted hours trying to teach these basic maths. Thank goodness for metrics, calculators with a percentage and a square root button, if you could students to understand where they would be useful.

Question 2.  Who is going to fix this appalling situation?  Be very afraid, as the answer is ‘nobody knows’.

It’s an unbelievable situation, and instead of schools being able to solve the problem, they have to live with it, and look the other way at the end of the year when year 13 students leave for the last time, heading hopefully for further training.  

None of the teachers I talk to are happy about this situation, and are adamant that the latest education reforms will do nothing to solve it.  The Minister of Education keeps telling us that she wants every Kiwi child to have access to a good education.  Farmers wonder if they’ll live long enough to see it happen.

When I ask teachers for a solution, they point out that no school has the time, the resources or the money to fix things at their level.  You cannot hold back 15-17 year-olds, and put the hard word on them to do extra work till they become literate and numerate as happened in the old days.  This would now be classed as harassment!

Blame

So all I hear is blame!  High school teachers blame intermediate schools, which then blame primary schools, whose teachers tell me the problem starts in the home, with kids arriving at school with no vocabulary and never having seen books or have had stories read to them.  All agree that there just isn’t enough money spent in primary schools on support to fix the problem there.  These young folk are not dummies – the education system has let them down.

Old teachers bemoan the poor literacy and numeracy of new graduates finishing Universities with degrees in education.  How do they get accepted?

Something very odd going on  

With modern technology and social media, there have never been so many words written by young folk. So how can they be constantly ‘on line’ texting, tweeting, face booking and emailing and not be able to read and write English needed for the workforce? They are all keyboard wizards, so don’t need pens or handwriting, and they are not scared to learn new things by trial and error.

The problem is that the industry is full of labels and manuals written in technical English that even the literate can struggle with at times. This situation won’t change, due to legal requirements covering manufacturers, to protect them from mis-interpretation of directions and being sued.

The million-dollar question.   

How long can farming and other trades wait till all this education disaster is sorted?  The honest answer is that they cannot.

What are current dairy farmers doing to fix things, as they are the ones copping the result?  Not a lot I’d suggest at present, with the CTU estimating that only 50% of farmers spend any money on staff training, and few pay more for staff with training qualifications.

The solution is very clear to me, if the Minister of Primary Industry wants export earnings doubled by 2025, and needing 50,000 new recruits, the Prime Minister needs to give him a boost in the caucus pecking order so he has the clout with the Minister of Finance to pour some serious money into the Primary ITO as a major priority as we speak.

Then dairy farmers, Federated Farmers, Fonterra and other dairy companies, DairyNZ, LIC and everybody with an interest in the dairy industry has to push madly to pressure Treasury on behalf of the PrimaryITO – and pour more of their money into the pot.

 Primary ITO

The PrimaryITO are the only ones who have an overall view of what’s needed and who really understand how to fix things urgently, to stop all the duplication and waste by so many education providers, and to get modern technology into the teaching business pronto.

We don’t want any more inquiries, scoping groups, research and bureaucratic diversions.  The Minister of Primary Industry has to solve the problem by supercharging the Primary ITO, as the Minister of Education clearly can’t help the farming industry, and neither can the Minister of Innovation.

The fall-back solution in the very short term is more immigrant labour, but that’s not the answer as training them brings another set of cultural and religious challenges, which I suggest is not yet on the Minister’s priority job list. 

The other solution is more technology.   More robotics are on their way! 

Who will operate dairy farms in future?  Humans or robots?

Cattle farm husbandry - keeping a house cow

Cattle, farming, husbandry, keeping a house cow, mating, milking, health, breeds
By Dr Clive Dalton

Is it a good idea?
Keeping a house cow may seem like a great idea, but consider these points before you are persuaded:

• Right at the start, determine who is going to milk the cow and how many times a day in all weathers? Write their names on a roster and put it on the fridge for all to see. Negotiate the pocket money payment rate for milking only if the job is done to the correct standard. How much milk is in the bucket, its colour and what’s floating in it will be a good quality check!
• Do the potential milkers know how to hand milk? It’s got to be completed in about 6-7 minutes as you won’t get a “let-down” response after that time no matter how long and hard you pull.
  
• You can always use a small milking machine but remember it will be expensive and have to be cleaned daily and maintained.
• You can also run calves on the cow and shut them away for 8 hours for you to have a turn at getting some milk.
• Where you are going to get a decent cow that will enjoy being hand milked?
• A cow these days from a dairy farmer, or through a stock agent probably won’t have been hand milked and you may have some problems getting her used to it. The only time she will have had her teats pulled is when she’s been treated for mastitis when they were sore and she’ll remember!
• You can breed your own house cow by rearing a heifer calf which is then mated and calves on your property. This will give you a great opportunity to ensure she is quiet and easy to handle.
• A house cow must be super quiet to let anyone in the family milk her and not be panicked by noise, children or pets around her feet. Feeding her some grain or nuts during milking is a good idea to build a good cow-milker relationship. But remember when you want to stop the nuts, she may not agree with the idea and play up or keep her milk to herself!
• Buying a lactating cow lets you see if she is an easy milker – i.e. if it’s easy to get the milk from her. Some culls from dairy herds may be slow and tough milkers and you end up with wrist ache and lock jaw from clenching your teeth while squeezing.
• The main thing to make sure when buying is that a potential house cow has not been a recurring mastitis candidate.
• The surplus milk. After calving you will be flooded with milk so plan what you will do with it. Will you enjoy the extra work of making butter, yoghurt or cheese, or will you give that a miss and feed it to calves or a Christmas porker?
• Selling milk. Don’t plan to sell the milk to anyone or even give it away as it will not be pasteurised and you don’t want to have a run-in with the Health Department or the law.
• Which breed? A Holstein Friesian will give an average of 4,000 litres per lactation, a Jersey 2,900 litres and a Friesian x Jersey 3,600 litres. Can you find a money-making use for all this?
• Where are you going to milk the cow? Have you got a milking bail as part of a shed, or will you milk her in the paddock in all weathers?
• A cow produces milk for its calf so she’ll need to be mated to keep on having a decent lactation. But you can keep on milking some cows for a couple of years without a pregnancy and you’ll keep getting around 4-5 litres per day. Not all cows will do this and at these low levels it may not taste the best.
  
• Make sure the house cow complies with all the Tb regulations and that she has been vaccinated against Leptospirosis. And give her a decent name!
  

Disclaimer This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Animal behaviour and welfare: Goats Part 4

GOAT BEHAVIOUR BASICS: NUMBER 4

Handling: Welfare issues

Dr Clive Dalton

Goats are different to sheep

• Goats are a vastly greater challenge to handle than sheep and the first thing you'll need to do is to heighten the yards to prevent jumping.
• The sides of races must be close-boarded so they can't see through and think about baulking or jumping out.
• Drafting horned bucks can be problems as they won't be able to get along races in yards. They soon learn to go sideways but it's a good idea to dehorn them, though the horns are often handy to hold them by.
• Goats vocalise (bleat or scream) when held and this can add a lot of stress to jobs like shearing and castrating kids.
• Goats are highly suspicious of new facilities so running them through yards before handling them is useful. They have a good memory and know all the escape spots so be vigilant.
• They will face up to dogs and attack much more than sheep will ever do.
• When they get too fearful, they'll lie down and sulk and you can have a smother or injuries as they pile on top of each other with sharp hooves.
• In a grazing situation, you cannot farm goats without good well-erected electric fences.
  

Milking goats

Goats have a very clear social order to get on to the milking platform, and
are always looking to steal feed from their neighbours

• Dairy goats are great animals to handle as they respond so well to close human contact.
• But they get very smart and you have to be alert to their individual ways and tricks. A good example is how a goat will learn to trigger the feeder lever in the milking bail to get an extra feed.
• Milking goats adapt well to being milked in herringbone or rotary milking parlours, where you see a clear social rank operating when they come in for milking. It's wise to respect this and allow them time to sort it out by not pressuring them. Give them time in the collecting yard to get into the order they have chosen.
• Entering a herringbone, the doe in the first stall will often steal meal from other stalls as she walks the length of the parlour till she gets to her place.
• Baffles or a bail that drops down over their necks are used to stop thieving feed from neighbours during milking.
• It's imperative (as with cows) that the milking machine is correctly adjusted and serviced, and that teats are well cared for (no sores or cracks). Special pulsators are made for goats with lower vacuum although many farmers just use dairy vacuum levels.
• Footrot is the main problem with goats as it's very painful and reduces their feed intake and production. A footrot prevention programme is important, as curing affected animals is always slow and costly.
• Internal parasites (worms) are now a major threat to goat farming as so many worm species are resistant to the three main chemical drench families. It's important to consult a veterinarian on this issue.
  

Roadside goats
This is always a major animal welfare issue for SPCA and MAF in New Zealand.Problems include:

• No proper feed - goats are expected to live on dead gorse.
• No shelter - goats have little fat cover. If there is a shelter provided, it's often dilapidated and too small for goat to stand upright in.
• No water - goats need water but owners often tell you that they don't! You often see a small container that the goat regularly knocks over.
• Tethers are too long so they lie on the road (which is warm and dry) and the goats get run over.
• Tethers get bound up around trees or in long grass so the goat is starved and may even end up being strangled.
• There is no swivel in the tether chain so the goat is strangled.
• The goat has no defence against stray dogs when tethered.
• The animals are not checked and moved enough.
• The solution is to remember the 5 freedoms.
  

Fibre goats

• Shearing gear has to run much slower for mohair or cashmere goats.
• Set it at 1500-200 rpm, reduced from 2400rpm for sheep to reduce overheating as goat fibre has no grease in it like sheep.
• Some goats are shorn standing up with their head held in a yoke. This reduces the bleating when the animal is held like a sheep during shearing. But this "stand up" method slows up shearing, and many shearers just want to get the job done as fast as possible and put up with the goat's protests.
  

Welfare issues with goats

• Footrot. This a major problem with goats and is difficult to cure once established.
• Internal parasites (worms). Many goats now have worms that are resistant to all drenches.
• Shelter and shade. Goats need more shelter in winter than sheep and shade in summer.
• The roadside goat. These are very obvious to the public who are concerned about their welfare.
• Goats released into the environment. When returns from goat meat or fibre falls, many are released and get into native bush and damage native flora.