Number crunching part of super-efficient system

Foster Kalma says it is necessary to focus on every detail.

Waikato farmer Foster Kalma has made a career out of crunching numbers. Having worked as an agricultural economist, he returned to his farming roots 20 years ago, before setting up a farm business with his wife Karen. He now works the numbers on one of the country's most efficient high-input farms

Managing inputs is challenging, particularly in the face of a reduced payout, but Foster Kalma has established a simple system that works well with the ups and downs of weather, milk and feed prices.

The Kalma family farms 115ha (effective) at Waitoa, near Morrinsville, peak milking 635 jersey cows on a split calving operation (500 in spring, 135 in autumn).

As a system five farm, imported feed makes up just over 50 per cent of the cows' diets year-round.

For the past six years, a leased support block has provided 48ha of maize silage (1000 tonnes) and 100t of grass silage; 750t palm kernel expeller (PKE) is also fed during the year. During lactation, the cows are fed 16kg DM/cow/day, including pasture; as well, 300 cows are wintered on the support block for six weeks.

Kalma says fluctuations, particularly profit, are greater with high-input systems and require focus on every detail. So where last season's high payout benefited the farm with an income increase, this year Kalma will have his eye on feed costs during the reduced payout.

"One of the big risks for me is relying on the 1000 tonne-plus of maize from the runoff. In the past two years we've had a poor harvest, due to weed problems, drought and a new planting system," Kalma says.

"Preparing that crop is critical to my system, but more so in a low-payout year."

Kalma says a plus of his system is flexibility to manage through dry-off, carry over, cull or stock purchases in different seasons.

"If milking cows are leaving too much feed, the dries can follow. With the lower payout, we cull more heavily and earlier to get rid of old, empty, low-production or mastitis-prone cows.

"The 30 cows I've removed already means a feed reduction of 15 tonnes a month.

"In September the milkers get 8kg grass, 4kg maize and 4kg PKE. We keep increasing the pasture as the spring flush hits. We base our pasture decisions on leaf emergence, which determines rotation speed and maximises growth by grazing at the 2.5-leaf to 3-leaf stage."

The rotation will speed up from a 25 day to 21 days and, in an exceptional year, may provide a small amount of silage. "In the past two years, our nitrogen (N) fert has decreased from 250 to 50kg N/ha/yr.

Instead, effluent is applied to recently grazed paddocks."

CUTTING EXTRA COSTS

The more expensive feed will be cut down this year to ensure grass is well utilised. This means cottonseed -- a protein source for calving cows -- may be cut back for the autumn herd calving in February.

"At around $700 a tonne it's very expensive so we may use only a small amount for newly calved cows and find a cheaper option."

Last year Foster fed 240t DDG (dried distillers grain), kibbled maize, cottonseed and soyhulls to lift production, because of the poor maize harvests. It will be fed only to early calving cows this year.

During last year's high payout, Kalma carried feed over from the previous year and bought an extra $200,000 of feed, helping lift production 10 per cent and providing additional feed this season.

Foster checks PKE prices monthly and contracts about 200 tonnes three times a year.

Delivered PKE under $300t is contracted, otherwise smaller amounts are secured to ensure supply. Contracts in place mean no chasing feed mid-drought. One thing that won't be cut in a tight season is his team of five. "We have 128 cows per fulltime equivalent. That's a lot of staff for our farm size but reducing it is not an option. Two have been with me for 14 years and we've created a good system together. Plus, we have staff for time off and their days aren't excessively long."

INFORMATION AND ADVICE PARAMOUNT

Kalma says good advice helps with key decisions and his consultant, Bill Rys, identifies mistakes and provides comparisons with other farms. Bill has helped balance the feeding and stocking rate to ensure we fully utilise homegrown and imported feed," Kalma says.

"I have seen a lot of high-input systems where extra feed is put in and the milksolids don't come out the end.

"The feed replaces grass and grass is wasted."

Benchmarking against other farms has provided gains.

"Benchmarking helps identify the farm's strengths and weaknesses by analysing your numbers.

"I've used Red Sky and DairyBase for financial analysis and enter Dairy Business of the Year to compare myself against others."

The Kalma farm has previously fared well in the competition -- having won the Australasian title in 2010 and the 2013 'environmental high input' title and 'best high input system' awards.

SYSTEM EFFICIENCY

"For me, it's about creating a system that works well. I tend to work on a five-year basis for making decisions. I'm running good cashflow systems and do spend quite a bit on repairs and maintenance, rather than capital investment," Kalma says.

Because half the diet is supplement, Kalma also has less concern about drought.

"The whole aim is to get through to March, when the maize silage comes off, then we're pretty right for another year."