125ha effective, dairy farm. The farm backs onto Lake Arapuni and contour runs from flat, rolling to steep. The herd is a high producing 500 cow, mainly cross-bred herd, run through a 40 ASHB. Calving is a 70/30 split. The current system is 4. In-shed feeding occurs year-round and feeding out commences in February/March until grass growth matches feed demand (September-October). Our autumn calving cows commence calving in early March. These cows are currently mated to Hereford bulls for 6 weeks. The calves are reared to 4 days old, and then sold to a drystock farmer, with 40-60 kept on and reared on farm.
We manage the support block, where all young stock is kept, and cows ‘wintered’. Supplements are grown at the support block and used on the dairy farm. The applicant will be involved in the management of young stock, which includes artificial breeding on the heifers.