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Agriland's brand new limited podcast series 'The Dairy Trail' takes listeners inside the yard of dairy farms across the country to hear what is happening on the ground.
The new four-part series will cover everything from calving down cows, managing calves, herd nutrient requirements, getting cows out to grazing, and spreading slurry and fertiliser.
Listeners will get to hear how other farm systems operate, how different genetics perform, how different land types grow grass and how each farmer puts milk in the tank and money in their pocket in their own unique way.
Hello. Hello. And welcome to Agriland's dairy podcast, The Dairy Trail. I'm Hugh Harney, technical dairy specialist for Agriland, and I'll be going out to different farms across the country to see what's going on on the farm each week. We are talking spring calving, grazing, dietary requirements, nutrient application, and much more.
Speaker 1:In this week's episode, I took a trip to Darren Turn, County Kilara, where dairy farmer Brian Rush is in the tick of the calving season. We talked to him about how he manages calving down 380 cows this spring and how he splits the cows into two herds. So we're out here in a dairy farm in Darren Turn, County, Collaire. We're joined by Brian Rush. Brian, before we get into the take off kinda talking about calving season and getting cows out of grass and what the cow should be eating, do you wanna just give us a bit of a background to the farm here and what kind of system you try to run?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, yeah, as I said, we're in Derrenturn, which is north the Northwest corner of we're milking we're spring calving herd. And we're milking actually. We've got two two blocks. So at the minute, we're actually just min milking on the home block, which is Derwent Herne because we calve all our cows in Derwent Turn.
Speaker 2:And this I suppose the system like, it's it's spring having simple. Try to keep it as simple as possible. We're feeding about a ton of meal. And we're looking, you know, last year, we did about 450 kilos of solid. So, obviously, we're trying to improve on that to get 500 the magic number.
Speaker 2:But, predominantly cross bred herd, kiwi cross genetic throat. So our percentages are quite good. Yeah. And I suppose in the last, you know, looking maybe at a bit more volume, do we need to inject a bit out there? Some of the questions I'm asking myself as well.
Speaker 2:Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because we're, like, we're we're in the cubicle shed here now, Brian. And, like, they're kind of a a a smaller kind of a robust looking cow. So just how does that suit your system in terms of, you know, kind of getting cows out of grass and grazing and then trying to pump on those milk solids, I suppose.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, I suppose the number one thing is I I need a cow that will walk because one of the farms are quite a long walk in it. So I need a cow that will walk, and I need a cow to go on calf, go on calf, you know, quick, I suppose. Yeah. And I the crossbow cow always did that for me.
Speaker 2:And I suppose, like, you know, they're the the like, they're my two red lines. I need fur fertile cows that can that can walk distance. It's good or there's good well conformed and all that kind of thing. And in fairness, the Kiwi crosses have all have been doing that for me and will continue to do that for me. They'll always be a part of my breeding strategy.
Speaker 2:Yeah. We we try to get them out as early as possible. So once we get a cow cleared of antibiotics or off withdrawals, from the dry cow from the dry cow treatment, We'll go out by day anyways. And we're out we're out by day here at the minute because the weather is quite good even though we're a heavy farm. And, the cows are paying me back with it as well.
Speaker 2:The cows are in good form on the back of it, you know? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But look, I suppose before we kinda get into spring grazing and kinda what it takes to to get those cows out, I suppose your so your your number is kind of 36380. I'm I'm right in saying. Yeah. So there's about a 30 you'd keep on this farm?
Speaker 1:Yeah. And then there's a farm out in Johnstone Bridge then as well. So just tell us how you kinda operate the two then.
Speaker 2:So we calve everything in this farm here, Darren Turn. And we got the city east to calve everything here. So our calf sheds are here, bedded sheds and all that kind of crack. Right? And then near the farm, we have we have cubicles and we have smaller calf shed.
Speaker 2:So we calve Everton and Durn Turn, and then we start moving cows up to Johnstone Bridge. And we're gonna start doing that next week. Yeah. We we delay it as much as we can because, obviously, it splits labor and puts us under that much more pressure. So, So, yeah, we we have 380 in total.
Speaker 2:We have 382 calf. We're gonna mill three sixty. That's our number. Yeah. So two thirty on the other farm, the larger farm, one thirty on this farm here in Darren Turn.
Speaker 2:The two farms are very different. Johnstone Bridge is very dry. It can burn up in the summer, but that means I can get out the grass in the day and night. Once I go up with with some cows up there, we're getting a lot of grass into the diet plus four kilos meal. Whereas this farm, you know, we can come under a bit more pressure if it gets wet, you know?
Speaker 1:Right. Yeah. Yeah. I suppose, so look, obviously, cows are calving down. I suppose, when was your kind of planned start of of calving?
Speaker 1:When did you when when when were cows supposed to be starting to calving down? And how many have calved down to now? And kinda what's the procedure around calving cows, I suppose?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we would've synchronized our heifers. So we synchronized because our heifers are rare than out block, so we can't be looking at them every day. So we synchronized our heifers and give them one shot at conventional semen. So fixed time AI.
Speaker 2:We use the seeders. Yeah. And they were due to start in the fifth, and they started just before the February, or before the end of, before the January. About the twenty third or twenty fourth. And, like, with no problems really at all.
Speaker 2:And then the cows kinda start following the February. So the cows are not meant to start till the seventh.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So at this stage now, the February 13, we have about a 26 calved out of 380.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, you know, a lot of the first batch of heifers are well out of the way. Yeah. And what we start seeing is some of the early heifers that got that got stopped. Well, they're gonna start springing up now. They'll calving a block as well.
Speaker 2:But the cows are starting to come in steady. Okay. I'm looking at my figures down here this morning. Will he will hit peak calving around the eighteenth, nineteenth, or February 20, like, in terms of numbers. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we'll we'll be out of like, we're over 30% calved right now. So
Speaker 1:What's what's kind of your aim then for the February or your six weeks?
Speaker 2:Well, I suppose we median calvedate. We used to our median calvedate, so half the herd. One stage, half the herd used to calved. We have this stage. It was way too early.
Speaker 2:Okay. And we just ran tight and grass.
Speaker 1:It wasn't matching the
Speaker 2:it wasn't. No. Yeah. Yeah. So our median calve date should be around the twenty first, '20 second of February.
Speaker 2:So we'd we'd hope out of, you know, let's say, out of 380 cows, we'd hope to have a 80, hundred and 90 of them calved by, you know, around the February 22. Okay.
Speaker 1:Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So it's still a it's still a fair
Speaker 2:Very long packed.
Speaker 1:Very big herd to deal with at the start of Yeah. Or the February, I suppose. And, like, I I see, like, the cows the cows have the collars on, and you've kinda briefly touched it with that with with me on that before. So maybe just how does that help with your kind of compaction and getting them into calf early and getting them right?
Speaker 2:Well, I suppose, one of the brief first of all, I'll say it here. One of the main reasons I got the collars was I was doing a lot of the well, I was doing 90% of AI, nearly all the heat detection.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you cannot do that efficiently on two farms. Okay. You cannot be in two clay. So I tried it for a year. Didn't work.
Speaker 2:We probably we probably slipped.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We did slip. So I looked at the collars and I put in collars. They're an MSD collar. They're working well. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So no tail paint. We just go with the collar. Yeah. And literally in the morning, the lad's been working. I'd be in the office.
Speaker 2:I check the app, and I send them a text. Draft those cows for the AM. Yes. And then I go in the item. I'm not under pressure AI.
Speaker 2:I'm not under pressure trying to see cows. And so that so, like, what happens if you're doing heat detection in serving cows, like, human nature is you get tired. Yeah. So you're all going all all going to brazing for the first three, four, five weeks.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But you you get tired. And and that's that's the same you need a bit of time off. And that's where things are slipping from.
Speaker 1:There's no stock bull on the fire rider. So yeah. You got
Speaker 2:So we don't, don't yeah. We don't use a stock bull with cows. And because of staff here, I suppose that would be a kind of a safety issue as well. Yeah. Like, for health and safety.
Speaker 2:And a more comfortable novice stock bull cow. So we use a % AI AI in the cows. Yeah. But as well as the collar, the collar is picking up silent heats. And, you know, like, a cow maybe not calve that long.
Speaker 2:She would have a heat, a very short heat. So the collar was catching them. And I was never catching them with
Speaker 1:tail pain because
Speaker 2:we could question ourselves. Yeah. So we're definitely seeing more of them. And our interval has tightened since using the collars. And that's not to say if you're using tail paint and you're doing plenty of observation, you couldn't do the same thing.
Speaker 2:But I just wasn't in a position to do that. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I suppose when you're dealing with that, the numbers that you're dealing with, I suppose as well, it's it's harder to keep on top of things as well.
Speaker 2:It was. Yeah. Yeah. And listen, it they're very good and, like, they're good on health. They're good on heat and they're very good at health.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So pick up a cow with milk fever. Yeah. It'll give us a distress call on that. So, obviously, if we're eating a rumination drops off, it'll give her a call on that.
Speaker 2:So, you know, and, you know, they're a useful tool. It is literally like having someone watching your cows. Okay. Yeah. If you know who to read the data and, you know, so it is literally like It's
Speaker 1:that same
Speaker 2:thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Very good. Very good. So so I suppose we'll kinda just touch on on calving because obviously, you're you you as you said, said, you've plenty of cows calved at the minute. So maybe just kind of touch on what what kind of procedure is when a cow calves. Is the calf taken away straight away?
Speaker 1:And what's the kind of procedure for the calf and then the cow to follow?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we go through the cubicles. We go through the dry cows twice a day. Morning and afternoon. And probably next week when we hit peak, we'll go through three times.
Speaker 2:And they're brought onto a straw shed.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And they're calved on straw in group pens. Right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we're watching them the whole time. What it's in a high traffic area, so we're passing by it all the time. It's supposed to be is the more accurate way of saying it. Yeah. A calf once dropped, the calf is given forty years of colostrum.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Tagged. Either way even if it's Yeah. In the Yeah. Every calf is given forty years of colostrum. Now if we come in the morning and there's one that looks fed, we'll we'll feed them.
Speaker 2:We mightn't chew them, but we'll get them. Get we want to get that four liters colostrum in there. Yeah. Best and sure. Because we're vaccinating for, using a lot of that corona vaccine as well, which is critical.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't sleep without giving it.
Speaker 1:So you yeah. You want to get that colostrum in so that calf has that?
Speaker 2:Four ears in, tag them, and then we maybe leave them with the cow to get let the cow dry off. And, we put them into we actually we we put them into crates Yeah. For about three or four days on whole milk, transition milk. And then after three or four days, go to our calf shed, once they'll probably get transition milk for another two or three days.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then we transfer them onto a calf feeder on onto milk replacer and through a calf feeder. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Very good.
Speaker 1:And then I suppose, for the cow herself, is she brought into the parlor that evening or that morning? Or what way does that work? And
Speaker 2:So we're milking twice for the first week in mid week or ten days, we're milked once a day. So we're only doing it in the mornings. Yeah. But now, we're milking twice a day. So our we do it twice a day.
Speaker 2:So fresh cows are making the morning, milks in the afternoon.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And just and I suppose another critical thing for us here here is is, it's it's hard now to get low case. So we're having a bit of problem with milk fever a few years ago. So we took the advice of getting magnesium into water Yes. And then following up with a calcium bolus on third lactation cows and up.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it allows us to make sure to get that by doing it again in the evening, fresh cows in the evening, we're getting that calcium bolus in a plenty of time as well, which
Speaker 1:is Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Is working well. Is he
Speaker 1:one of your men there? He's putting out the, putting out a dry cow mineral. What what is that twice a day for the dry cow mineral before calving? Or
Speaker 2:No. One once a day. So once a day, the dry cow mineral Yeah. Put down on the side. And then once a day, we put magnesium in the water troughs as well.
Speaker 2:So yeah. No. That's that's it. It's, it's a high spec mineral, I suppose, because we're a high malignant area. Like, I suppose there's a lot of Chilean minerals in it as well.
Speaker 2:Again, it's working well.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:There's no reason. It it hasn't given me any reason to change that.
Speaker 1:Right. %. Yeah. Yeah. I suppose then when when cows when cows calve down, they're up are they their milk is kept for four or five days, or do you test the milk before going into the bull tank?
Speaker 2:Well, we took a batch earlier on. So the first before we before we sent our first tank Yeah. Because we follow withdrawals. I think we're on a four day withdrawal. Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah. The four four four day withdrawal. And, so we just tested it. We tested a couple of branches. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So before we sent our first load, we tested it. It was clear. So that means our withdrawals are correct.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, so that's, you know, we're fine now. We're still in the milk now as well. So all is good. You know?
Speaker 1:Yeah. And, so was then for the freshly calved cow getting out to grass then. You're so you're running a freshly calved group. Yeah. So they'll they'll stay together for those four or five days Yeah.
Speaker 1:Until and then out to grass then. So what's the kind of typical diet then at this time of the year?
Speaker 2:So cows are so let's say our milk and herd, our clear herd, they're on grass by day.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we're just allocating them an area. Okay. And they're grazing it well. And then there are side side side side side at night. And we're given a four kilos a meal.
Speaker 2:So two two kilo feeds a meal in the parrot. Yeah. And Yeah. Yeah. That's where we are.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I suppose, look, you're as you said before, it's it's it's it's slightly heavier
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Type ground here. So you it wouldn't be as good as your your Johnstown area, I suppose. So just talk us through that in terms of terms of grazing because I suppose, like, you always hear, oh, get cows out grass early, but there is more work involved with it. And especially in the spring calving when a lot's going on, there's cows calving down and you're looking at maybe getting out slurry and fertilizer as well. So I suppose just how do you manage from even a labor point of view, allocating grass and strip grazing?
Speaker 1:Do you do spur roadways or back fencing or what way does that work, Brian?
Speaker 2:We've load of reels Yeah. And a good quad bike and plenty of pigtails. And I do most of that myself. Okay. So, like, that's critical.
Speaker 2:So morning or late this morning, there's no excuse not to have a cow, not to have cows out for even a couple of hours. Like, you surely have filed a dry spot in your farm somewhere. Cows will thank you for it as well. Yeah. Like, Like, if it's wet and, like, I don't know, the weather looking to be a bit wet now for the next couple of days, and they'll be in then.
Speaker 2:Like, we're not going we won't force them to graze in wet weather because we'll
Speaker 1:we'll
Speaker 2:end up doing too much harm. Yeah. How I manage that, like, I spread some of my slurry. I spread I spread all my fertilizer. No problem.
Speaker 2:Do I have well set up for that. But I get a contractor in for slurry Okay. For this time of the year. So Yeah. And I suppose the other element is the guys that are working here Yeah.
Speaker 2:Have very clear roles. And, you know, this time of the year is so important that the roles are clear to them. So I have a girl that does that works in cows, predominantly looks after cows as well. Yeah. I've got a milker there as well.
Speaker 2:Dilly, who who came from worked in Saudi, but actually came from Nepal. He's really good. He joined us this year. And I'm a part time guy as well that kinda digs in wherever he can. So it's just it frees me up then to just make those decisions of grass.
Speaker 2:You've too full time. Too full. A hard time. I had a bit of leaf milk and then then later on during the year. Okay.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, it just it frees me up to make those decisions on grass, like Yeah. So the lads know exactly what's going on.
Speaker 1:And would this be a good would this be a good would this be good ground now to grow grass or what way is it? Sort of.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It is. Like, as I said, it's heavy. Yeah. Once it gets going, it just steams on ahead.
Speaker 2:It's highly for it's high organic matter because we're on the edge of the bog. So it no. It performs well. It's well fit to grow grass. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I suppose you're open and farm covered in at the start of the year. Have you an idea what that was?
Speaker 2:Yeah. About 900.
Speaker 1:About 900.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Which is about a hundred. He'd like it to be around a thousand, but I suppose we made a mistake here before you. Yeah. We carry too heavy a cover on this farm over.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we couldn't get out to graze it in a bad spring. Like in a dry spring, you get away with it. Yeah. But if you have a wet spring on a heavy farm with with a lot of grass Yeah. It it makes life very difficult.
Speaker 2:Cows won't graze us and you end up with a lot of stuff rotting in and it causes more problems in it than than it lands.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And I suppose then, you're, in terms of getting cows out of the grass then, do you just do you they're out by day? Am I right in saying now?
Speaker 2:So Yeah.
Speaker 1:When will you start to go out by day and night?
Speaker 2:Well, weather alone. Yeah. Like, you have a lot of heifers in, which then gets unsettled.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, like, they had a lot of them out by night now to spend half the night on the wire standing by the wire. But Yeah. Weather permitting. And and and listen, weather, grass growth, and the grass having the farm permitting. On the Johnstone Bridge farm, I'll probably go day and night straight away Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, with the weather, but, this farm will keep by day at the minute. Because cover's a bit lower here. Okay. So we'll we'll just go by day at the minute.
Speaker 1:If that way, you kinda work it in the spring, you'd aim for go out on lighter covers first.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Or yeah. So Yeah. That's obviously a big thing because obviously, what these cows might be having a an a dry matter intake of what? 13 kgs at the minute? Around that.
Speaker 1:15. Yeah. Yeah. So I suppose it's just managing that from the light covers, you know, because we're not gonna go out into a heavy cover. They're only gonna do damage Should only and leave half it behind.
Speaker 1:So what you you just kinda go out for light covers. Am I right?
Speaker 2:Yeah. They're on a 500 today. And you're on like, they're getting, what are they getting? They're getting they're on about, I think, about three quarters of hector we gave them. Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah. And they're scrammed. And I have the gap open, and they can come back in as they want. Like, I did it I I chanced them yesterday with the gap open, and they they pottered in. And they had a well grazed now.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And they weren't coming in that early. So they're settled. At the minute, they're they're actually they're they're doing really well. They're settled into a grazing routine, which is nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But you have to be careful. The big thing I find is when you sink a pile of heifers and you have a pile of heifers calved, if you go out with them without a bunch of cows with them, they just won't settle down. It's not until I have a a good shot of cows going out with my heifers that they tend to They
Speaker 1:kinda showed them how to graze nearly. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Keep them in the paddock. Yes. Keep them in the paddock. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They're not going wandering around. No. Yeah.
Speaker 2:No. No.
Speaker 1:So I suppose then, in terms of early nitrogen and early slurry, do you work off look, obviously, you're you're saying you you have no problem with storage. Right? So so you you you have that kind of leeway to kinda go out when you want and when conditions allow. But just talk us through kind of what the what the protocol is then in early spring for getting out that early nitrogen. Is it going off soil tests?
Speaker 1:Or what way do you work it? Or low p and k paddocks, are they getting targeted? Or
Speaker 2:I so I'm sorry. Sorry. Target sorry. No p and k products. Right?
Speaker 2:I suppose the the farm in Johnstone Bridge, because it's sandier, it's lower in organic matter, and it's been very difficult to build up p and k index index. It just doesn't it doesn't happen with
Speaker 1:it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So we just we just spread sorry, you know, we just target the entire farm with slurry. It's more watery slurry there as well. Okay. We will go when we can. I have enough storage to get me to the February.
Speaker 2:Right? Yeah. And which is which is which is nice to have now. So I didn't I I went out with slurry on on on Johnstone Bridge last week Yeah. With about 2,000 gallons per acre, covered the whole farm, layer covers.
Speaker 2:It's granite. It's it's watery. It was watery slurry.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Haven't spread much here yet. In terms of nitrogen then, I'll hold off for nitrogen till the February. Okay.
Speaker 1:I probably will.
Speaker 2:If I get my slurry, I will hold on. Now listen, if next week blows up dry and whatever, but it is a bit cold at the minute.
Speaker 1:And And and and then will you the paddocks that haven't got slurry will get targeted with Yeah. But they're Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And would it be protected or what are you kinda using?
Speaker 2:Protected and sulfur. I actually sorry. First round, no sulfur. But after I put out I keep a bit of sulfur out out with with with, with the nitrogen.
Speaker 1:Which obviously, you've no you were saying you've no pea allowance, so you can't get out your your No.
Speaker 2:No pea allowance. No. No pea allowance. Spread a bit of kea. Spread a bit of kea in the back end depending on soil samples.
Speaker 2:We find ourselves doing a bit of that every year now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Just targeting those few fields, maybe heavier silage fields, first first soil. So Silage ground, I suppose, more than anything else for, for k. Like, the other thing we did last year was for the first time because I have, like, I have, out blocks rented for silage and heifers.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And what I did was I actually got a contractor with lorries to move slurry to an out block. So my contractor had a nurse tank and an umbilical, and then we had lorries drawn slurry to him to keep him going. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And probably something as an experiment here more than nothing else to kinda see how it'll work because I think it's gonna come down the track. It's gonna be more of a focus on where the slurry is going. And it worked out well.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Like, it it worked out well. There there was no one standing around idle. Yeah. They removed they moved a lot of slurry in a day. We got a lot of ground covered in the day, and it was spread in the right place.
Speaker 2:So I wouldn't be afraid to do it again. Like, listen
Speaker 1:a few days.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Oh, bomb. Listen, bomb. If you had go and buy the p and k in a bag, it'll still be cheaper. But the bottom line is I am sorry, and I needed a spread.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And it was it was sent to the right place, which is
Speaker 1:only a positive. You know? Yeah. You have to
Speaker 2:make do
Speaker 1:with what you have as well, I suppose. Yeah. In terms of what what you kind of plan in the future. Right? Is is it you were saying you used a few NCBC, straws last year.
Speaker 1:Is it is it to build up the put a bit more size in the herd? Or is it what what are you kinda thinking? Is there more investment to go into the farm? Or what's the kind of plan for the future, Brian?
Speaker 2:Well, in terms of small like, I suppose capital, I because I started in 2013. So the past twelve years, thirteen years, I suppose now, has been we spent a lot of money, a lot of a lot of money on in. So as it was the last couple of years, I'm kinda seeing that light at the end of the tunnel where I'm not having to make any massive capital investments. Been some improvements to be done around the place. Maybe look at the stylish pit.
Speaker 2:I have a static shed up there. I'll probably put mats on it. So not massive massive stuff. So in terms of capital, that's it. Like, there's an ongoing cost in maintaining roads and fence and etcetera, pasture rejuvenation and all that, which is good good investments.
Speaker 2:So in terms of mass big capital projects, nothing in the pipeline, thank God, unless there's another regulatory change that frightens us. Yeah. But, in terms of the breed, anyways, I'm happy with my cow. I'm happy with my solids. I do about 450 kilos.
Speaker 2:I did four fifty last year. I suppose you're always looking for that bit more. Looking for the 500. But I feel my cows are performing well. There's some, you know, there's some smaller cows in it that, you know, maybe just wouldn't have the the capacity to the volume.
Speaker 2:Okay. But I've put Norwegian red into the herd, which I like. I used some more black and white last year. There's a lot of LAC and and Kiwi Cross blood and the herd, which I'm gonna do use again this year as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I suppose listen. I'm looking at components and a little bit.
Speaker 1:Keep going the way you're going is kind of what you're saying. I suppose in terms of grass then, you're you you aim to reseed
Speaker 2:every year, is it? Or every few years? Depends just dependent product performance as opposed to take that few fertility product performance Yeah. And you take a decision then in the early part of the year. You know?
Speaker 2:So I have maybe 10 acres earmarked to reseed. I've done a lot of reseeding on out on on out farms for silage. Yeah. So last couple years. So I'm not too bad at the minute.
Speaker 2:But it's funny, when I started in 2013, I receded an entire farm. And I would say I'm gonna have to go back now and start looking at putting more receding into that farm now. You know? Because more wheat the more I say there's less of the original grass in it now than there was. And that's just from grazing pressure.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Of course. Look, Brian, we'll we'll we'll leave it there.
Speaker 1:Look, I just wanna thank you very much for coming on to the podcast. And, best of luck now for the rest of the calving season. And hope hopefully everything goes well and everyone stays safe throughout.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, Hugh. Thanks very much for for, for taking the time.
Speaker 1:So that's all for this week's episode of the Dairy Trail. I'd like to thank Brian Rush for giving up his precious time during all the madness at this time of the year, and we wanna wish him the best of luck for the rest of the season. And if you are a farmer and you're listening to this podcast, you can contact us if you want a feature. And if you enjoyed the podcast, don't forget to rate and review or share the podcast with a friend or a fellow farmer. Thanks very much for listening.