Outlook with Bill Webb Bill Webb Feed Solutions

The rain – it just keeps coming. This is the second year-in-a-row we’ve had a really wet winter. So everyone’s struggling with winter grazing. Some paddocks are in a bit of a mess due to too much moisture – even the high ground has pugging.

There will be pugged pastures around the district this year, so some will have to be sprayed for weed and/or drilled in spring when it dries out, to get new grass in, or there may not be much growth. Spraying for willow weed, buttercup, penny royal etc in low-lying areas will be needed.

It may be an opportunity to put chicory, turnip or maize in this spring to get some benefit out of these paddocks then put them back into new pasture come autumn, when it’s a bit drier.

Lots of rain during winter also creates sulphur-leaching – so check your sulphur levels and ensure you’re putting on sulphur with spring fertiliser mixes to bring them back up.

Everyone will be flat out calving by now – by early-August all our winter grazing cows have gone back to their farms.

This autumn was a good growing autumn – turnips have done really well, and so has the grass. Currently, we’re in a neutral phase. At this stage a mild El Nino weather pattern is predicted for next year so we could be heading into a drier phase next summer.

So ensure you’ve got feed and crops sorted in case it turns dry in summer. But so far, so good.

Mycoplasma Bovis – this will be a real biggie going forward, for the whole dairying industry – even for those unconnected to it. There’s been nothing detected in the Bay of Plenty region that we know of yet – thank goodness! And we’re trying to keep it out – and keep tight in terms of biosecurity. This is really hard with movement of stock trucks, fertiliser trucks, contractors, machinery, rural sales reps, vehicles etc.

Other industries outside of agriculture are affected too.Anyone who goes onto the land – moving from one farm to the next – should take precautions.

The line is to stop at the cowshed – and if possible use the farmers’ vehicle to move around on-farm.  The tankerloop is being used as the biosecurity safe area – so people should stop and wash vehicles there, to prevent contamination. The concern for us is we drive down the farm race to deliver most silage stacks – so we’ll have to wash and spray trucks between each farm delivery. It could turn into an issue. It may increase costs to companies in time, spraying trucks, delaying deliveries. Farmers may need to station people on-site to wash trucks before they leave farms to speed up the process. It may be a good idea to consult with neighbours when grazing close to their boundary to avoid animal contact between paddocks, or on-road going to run-offs.

And what if a cow breaks out and get mixed up with another herd? Sometimes it can’t be avoided, but the consequences could be dire. So we’ve got some challenges ahead of us.

We’re spraying yards before and after we use them, both our own yards and others’ yards, in between cow movements, plus disinfecting our vehicles. We recognise the extra work and care we have to provide. From observation we don’t see in all circumstances the same attention to care that we apply, but believe in order to restrict this industry-debilitating disease, all farmers should insist on control over stock and vehicle movements on and off-farm.