SIDE 2021 Registration Brochure

DAY 2

Session 4 Workshops: Wednesday afternoon

4.1

The future for bobby calves Opportunities to add value and rear bobbies beyond weaning David Williams and Brendan Kelly - Maatua Hou Ltd

This workshop will focus on how a group of young rural professionals came up with a new approach to rear bobby calves. Maatua Hou Ltd is an equity partnership of four young couples. In 2020 they purchased a Burnham property to provide a pathway for dairy farmers to rear a larger percentage of their less desirable dairy beef to grazing animals. While Maatua Hou Ltd are calf rearers, their goal is to avoid the traditional calf model of selecting good beef calves to purchase, rear and sell to the beef market. This model can involve up to a $400/calf overdraft and only allows farmers to sell their best beef calves. Maatua Hou rear dairy beef heifers, and other rejected animals that were going onto the bobby truck. Farmers retain ownership of the calf, provide Maatua Hou an advance payment on each calf and then both parties profit share on the sale price of the calve when it reaches 100kgLW. Maatua Hou has been able to rear 550 calves in 2020 with very little overdraft. A challenge that has great potential is building a new beef market, that could see an animal reared to 8-12 months, producing very tender beef. • This would allow farmers to reduce wintering impacts. • If beef farmers take on a larger number of dairy born beef animals, this removes the need for beef cows that produce just one calf a year. The grass that was fed to that cow could be instead be fed to growing young stock. This allows more meat to be produced from the same amount of grass and likely the same amount of carbon emitted. What will you take away from this session?

• Information about new calf rearing options and their profitability • Insight into alternative futures for the dairy beef industry and market. Who should attend this workshop? Farm owners and key decision makers, sharemilkers, farm advisors

4.2

Preparing for a successful winter: Securing the future of crop-based wintering Dawn Dalley, Senior Scientist, DairyNZ This workshop will provide an update on recent wintering research and what the results mean for achieving regulatory requirements. The workshop will cover what good management looks like, particularly relating to critical source area identification and management. At the workshop you will be assisted to assess the risks of your 2021 crop wintering system and develop a plan for winter 2022 which improves outcomes for animals, people and the environment. What will you take away from this session: • a plan for addressing wintering risks for 2022 on your farm • improved knowledge of options which achieve better wintering outcomes • understand what current good management practice is and what still needs to be done in the sector • an understanding of how addressing wintering concerns will enhance our sector’s reputation. Who should attend? • Farm owners, managers and farm staff involved in wintering planning.

SIDE2021 - EVOLVE

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