DairyNZ and the Northland Dairy Development Trust want Northland farmers to take part in a survey they are conducting to improve advice they provide to those considering a switch to once-a-day milking.
The survey, launched earlier this month, asks the region's 1000 dairy farmers to rank in order of importance eight questions about once-a-day (OAD) covering cows, feeding, profitability, environment, people and how these topics relate.
The survey asks farmers how they identify the best cows for OAD, should OAD farmers use different types of feed and what changes in production and income could farmers expect by moving to OAD? Other questions range from changes OAD would bring to infrastructure to assessing the factors which would influence switching, such as seeing OAD work successfully on another farm or being more comfortable about the risks involved.
DairyNZ Northland regional leader Chris Neill said the survey had attracted quite a lot of interest, much of it centred on the profitability of OAD and its impact on herd health and farmer wellbeing.
While the response had been positive, more farmers needed to take part in the survey for it to provide insights into the specific advice they required to make an informed choice to switch to OAD. Mr Neill said it was hoped participant numbers would have increased sufficiently for data analysis to begin in a fortnight or so.
