Extended lactation farmlet study - summary

Last Updated: May 20, 2024

Study objectives

The purpose of this DairyNZ-led farmlet-scale pilot study is to quantify levels of production, the balance of feed supply and demand and estimate profitability of an extended lactation system with a 24-month calving interval that reduces peaks in annual workload.

Background

This study is part of DairyNZ’s Frontier Farms programme. One of its objectives is to test novel farm systems, taking the risk for farmers and exploring the boundaries of what is possible. More information about the programme can be found here.

At a co-design workshop with farmers and rural professionals, in response to risks around labour availability and our productivity remaining static at ~150 cows/FTE since 2010/11, participants set a goal designing a system to:

Flatten the peak in labour demand a) within a day and b) throughout the year
Reduce labour requirements overall

The group identified extended lactation as a promising option to reduce the peak workload around calving and mating as well as reducing overall labour requirements.

Modelling and post-workshop consultation led to the selection of an extended lactation system with a 24-month calving interval and half the herd calving each spring. This system should reduce peaks in workload while being most closely aligned with the feed demand of a conventional spring calving system, relative to other extended lactation options.

This option halves the number of calvings and matings that occur each year, and the modelling suggested this system could achieve similar levels of profit to 12 month calving intervals, particularly in areas with winter pasture growth. However, there were many assumptions required with limited data available to base these on.

This page will be updated automatically each week using raw unchecked data. Commentary will be added periodically. Contact Paul.Edwards@dairynz.co.nz for more information or to request additional reporting.

Design

Two farmlets were established at DairyNZ Scott Farm (Newstead, Waikato) on 1 June 2023. The cows in both farmlet are NZ Friesians and will be milked twice per day.

Control

The Control farmlet consists of 42 cows on 15 ha subdivided into 30 x 0.5 ha paddocks (2.8 cows/ha). All cows calve annually in spring.