A Bay of Plenty contractor says dairy farmers might not to be in too much of a hurry to follow DairyNZ's latest advice.
The dairy industry organisation has advised dairy farmers in the Bay of Plenty and Northern Waikato to consider switching to once a day milking (OAD) to head off possible feed shortages that could arise with the drier than normal conditions NIWA is predicting.

Bill Webb.

DairyNZ senior farm systems scientist Dawn Dalley says it is far better to go OAD before feed runs short than be forced into it later.
'OAD or 16 hourly milking are good options to take the pressure off cows when summer feed supply is limited, especially if cows are walking long distances to be milked. OAD can also reduce stress on staff, and free time to do other tasks such as feeding out.”
However, Bay of Plenty contractor Bill Webb says farmers should not be too quick to go to OAD.
'Most farmers will have already been planning ahead and one of the first things I expect they will do is get rid of their cull animals.”
Bill says going to OAD too early can have potential risks.
'It can cause somatic cell counts to go up and some cows can start to dry off. They would probably be better to buy in some feed or graze off some of their maize or other green fodder crops. It's important to keep your numbers of productive cows up; otherwise you won't be able to cash in on the higher payout.”