Mating Season Prepartion
And why your Herd Improvement strategy might not lead to herd improvement
As we catch some air from the peak of calving season and are finalising plans for mating season, we especially want our Sharefarmers and Farm Owners to be considering what their Herd Improvement priorities are.
Whatever stage you are at, Herd Improvement is a never-ending battle of ranking what your top priorities are and it can be easy to fall into a number of different “traps”, especially when you are a Sharemilker who needs to be adaptable to different farm systems.
In a recent social media poll, we found that over half of Sharemilkers felt they were unable to take certain jobs because of the cows they had and only half of respondents had a comprehensive Herd Improvement strategy. This highlighted the need to us that for Sharemilkers (and Contract Milkers looking to go Sharemilking), there needs to be more independent resources on how to build an adaptable herd and have a long term Herd Improvement strategy.
This month, we are teaming up with Mark Benns, a local Herd Engineer and Co-founder of Wingman who is taking an independent approach to Herd Improvement. Our collab focuses on supporting Sharefarmers in navigating herd improvement decisions without getting sold up the creek for the sake of getting a sale.
For our collab we will be hosting a free webinar that will be recorded as both a video and podcast, recognising that for most at this point in the season, making it home to watch something live can be a big ask. Register here to either attend on the day or to be on the list to receive a copy of the video and audio recording (because at this time of year multitasking is KEY)
Why are we collaborating with Wingman?
We see so many farmers get stuck in a Herd Improvement rut, especially when the budget is tight. It is a myth that Herd Improvement is about the most expensive semen in the catalogue and hoping for the best. Rather we are fully on board with the concept that Herd Improvement is a full strategy, and that especially for Sharemilkers who are tight on what they can lend to buy their first herd, and then spend on improving it, that they shouldn’t need to put their herd improvement on hold because of budget. This has been a message long sold to sharemilkers up and down the country, and it can be a real hand-brake to them gaining momentum in being a profitable farm system.
For farm owners this is also an important message. What are the Herd Improvement priorities if you still own the herd for a profitable herd either for your future or current sharefarming relationships? Many farm owners view the profitability of their cows as their own bottom line without accounting for what could be happening in the labour component of the contract milker, or the herd isn’t really where it should be when it comes time to sell it (and this conversation needs to start now if the plan is to sell in the next 5 years).
