Focus Day November 21 2018

87 attendees heard about a World Markets update from Westpac Economist Anne Boniface.

The information discussed is in the Westpac Fortnightly Agri-update. Impacts of global demand and supply, what's really happening plus the impact and potential changes in the strength of the kiwi dollar.

Maximising Summer Performance was discussed in a Workshop session sharing ideas on tactics and trigger points to hit key targets.
the topics for consideration involved:

How do you deploy your supplementary feeds over the next 4 months - what factors need to be considered, e.g. setting aside sialge for spring and winter, and keeping some for the Autumn rains. How much PKE can be fed and still manage your FEI, how does this change your approach to feeding?
What do you do about rotation length? Great discussion around when to extend it, what a good target is, and the need to be flexible in response to changing pasture growth.
When would you use OAD on the farm, for all or part of the herd and how do you manage the process?
Lastly, the theme through all of the topics was around flexibility and monitoring. Growth rates will have an impact on most of the decisions above, and we need to remain flexible with all of the topics ot ahcieve a great outcome. Starting with a plan of what we expect growth to be will help us easily identify if we are off track.

Current Season Update
Less cows are making more milk, 94% of the herd submitted in 3 weeks of AB, 4 times last year’s spring silage made. Holding cows over 2kgMS/cow/day has been a standout highlight of the season with less brought0in feed used to achieve this. Having strong decision rules around how we wanted to oerate the farm was a key to seeing these results.

Key decision rules Sep - Oct

Keep pre-graze under 3,000kgDM/ha
Area grazed constant around 6.5ha/day. 17-22 day round of area available to graze
Back the farm to grow – put the surplus in the stack
Focus on next round quality – cows must work to graze to 1600 or less.
Mower fixes any allocation errors where residuals were higher

September 19 2018 Focus Day

3/09/2018

Wednesday 19 September 2018 Owl Farm Focus Day

Farmer Focus Day 76 attendees heard about our 2019:

Season so far: People, Profit, Production
Body condition score of individual cows and the benefits of doing monthly,
Mating plans - ALL AB for the 2018 mating season and how to manage the risks.

Finance and financials!

1/08/2018

Our year end financials are now uploaded, plus this year's forecast and actual figures so far.

Feel free to have a read and compare against your own figures, we're always keen to hear how we compare and where you see room for our improvement.

May 23 Owl Farm Focus Day

2/05/2018

Focus Day May 23

An excellent day, where we stayed dry for the most part and brought the cows to the people!

Focus Day Booklet

Our Final Focus day for the dairy season. Morning tea at 10.15am and event kick off 10.30am. Plus our famous Hot Lunch at 12.30!

Time for the round up on the 2018 Season, we'll be all done and dusted and looking at some interim profit figures.
Fertiliser focus - three years of fertility change on the farm to optimise soil tests. And how you can use less Nitrogen to grow the same amount of grass.
A year of putting plantain into paddocks - what have we learned?
What does the Healthy Rivers Plan Variation mean for Owl Farm?

Farm Environment Plan

30/04/2018

With the need to satisfy Healthy Rivers Plan Change 1, we have had our Farm Environment PLan created by TIAKI - Fonterra FarmSource Sustainable Dairying.

Feel free to look and see what you can get for your farm.

Farm Environment Plan

Owl Farm Focus Day - 21 March 2018

15/02/2018

The next Owl Farm Farmer Focus Day will be Wednesday 21 March 2018

Please see the attached booklet for a summary of topics discussed on the day.

Focus Day Booklet

We will be having a season update, on performance, production and profit.

We'll also discuss our mating results for the year.

The highlight is a solid session planned to share with you what is next for our Owl Farm future plans - there's really only two choices left and we're going to tell you what they are and how they can both work.

Owl Farm Public Open Day - 10 March 2018

12/02/2018

Saturday 10 March 2018 is Owl Farm's annual Public Open day. Free entry to for all, a chance to learn about the exciting activities that happen on the farm!

How we protect Water Quality, Making food for cows, Milking time and meet the calves. Sausage sizzle and drinks provided

November 22 2017 Focus Day booklet

22/11/2017

Latest focus day booklet for those that were unable to make the trip to join us

Owl Farm Weekly Monitor Walk

22/05/2017

Owl Farm Weekly Monitor Walk

Providing knowledge - Home Grown Feed

Farm Focus Day Booklet 17 May

17/05/2017

Latest Farm Focus Day Booklet

Farm Focus Day 17 May