Taranaki farmers are undecided whether to send their herds away for winter, or keep them at home. With the prospect of next season's predicted Fonterra payout being less than this current season's, the region's dairy farmers are considering the options to bring cows forward to calving in the best condition reports LIC. According to Taranaki FarmWise Consultant Louise Hofmann many Taranaki dairy farmers are questioning if they should keep their cows at home or send them away. "Farmers are asking what the most economic and efficient way to feed their cows is during the coming winter months," says Louise. "Dairy farmers are sitting down and calculating cost comparisons so they can decide if their herd is better wintering off farm or on farm." FarmWise Consultant Brent Boyce for example, recommends his Nelson/Marlborough farmers should pay no more than 1% of the capital value of their herd per week for winter grazing. Using this base for calculations, cows are currently worth between $1500 and $1800 therefore farmers should not pay more than $18 head per week for winter feed. Following DairyNZ guidelines, however, farmers should pay no more than 5% of the payout for supplements; if working on a $4.50 payout, dairy farmers should not be paying more than $0.22/kg DM." Away option:Louise says an average 300 cow herd grazed off farm for six weeks consuming 10kg DM/cow/day equates to 126 ton DM. Using this figure and incorporating cartage charges grazing would cost about $32,520 - equating to $0.26/kg DM. Home option:Based on those numbers the final figure is $23,668 to winter a 300 cow herd on the 100ha home farm compared with $32,520 to graze off farm.
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