Bark chip calving pad provides many benefits on dairy farm in Eastern Southland

A bark chip calving pad reduces soil damage, ensures a herd gets their minerals and makes their diet transition and calving easier, an Eastern Southland sharemilker says. Tim Warnock is the 50:50 sharemilker on self-contained Inglenook Farms, owned by his parents Barry and Glenda. The Warnock family hosted more than 40 people for a DairyNZ event, showcasing calving infrastructure in Eastern Southland including their calving pad near their milking shed. The pad saved the family a lot of time and increased the chances of calf survival, he said. “Calving in the paddock, they can be anywhere. On the pad, everything’s here.” Tim was the third generation to work on the farm and had been involved for the past 14 seasons. SHAWN MCAVINUEMore than 40 people attended a DairyNZ off-paddock infrastructure tour in Eastern Southland including Inglenook Farms. Photo: Shawn McAvinue He manages about 800 cows with another fulltime staff member. Tim’s sister Donna also works as a young stock manager, rearing calves. All cows and replacement heifers were wintered on support land, primarily on a diet of swedes and baleage, before moving to the pad as springer cows ahead of calving. Heifers started calving on the pad from July 25. About 75% of the herd would have had calves on the pad by about September 15. The pad was installed about eight years ago and was originally half the size, the footprint increasing over time. Now the pad features a 100m-long feed face, which spans the length of the pad. The about 19m-wide pad features a bark chip loafing area, allowing about 9.5m/2 per cow. SHAWN MCAVINUEA bark chip calving pad features a 100m-long feed face in on Inglenook Farms in Eastern Southland. Photo: Shawn McAvinue Cattle eating feed stand on concrete grating. Effluent gets captured in a concrete containment tank below the grating, which gets diluted by rainwater and pumped to the milking shed for irrigation. The calving pad features four pens, with each holding about 50 cows. On a hard-packed clay base lies washed gravel, up to 50cm deep. Drainage infrastructure was installed in the clay to move effluent to the tank. On the gravel was bark chip, up to 50cm deep. The preferred bark was shredded post peel. Each season, before the pad was used, a fresh layer of post peelings were added, about 20cm deep. SHAWN MCAVINUEHeifers on a bark chip calving pad on Inglenook Farms in Mokotua. Photo: Shawn McAvinue After the first 10 to 15 days, depending on the weather, the top layer of post peelings would be scrapped off and topped with about 10cm-deep of post peelings. Come spring, the pads were cleaned and bark chip removed to work in to crop paddocks. The bark was either supplied by Wilson Contracting or chipped from trees on farm. Silage and baleage was easier to feed on the calving pad rather than the paddocks, Tim said. On the pad, hay could be offered to cattle in a portable ring feeder. A permanent large black feed bin on the feed face contains straws. Feed could be easily contained in the pad, in the paddock it could be blown away, he said. He estimated up to 95% of feed got eaten on the pad. [Missing Credit][object Object] Parts of the feed face, including the bin, required repair after wind toppled about six trees on the pad in October last year. All silage was produced on farm, providing a high level of control over its production and ensiling. A decision to build a pad, rather than a wintering facility, was due to it being cheaper to build and the family wanting to avoid over capitalising their farm. He estimates the cost to run the calving system including silage, feed out, bark chip and muck spreading was about $42 per cow per week and $36 per heifer per week. SHAWN MCAVINUEThe bark chip calving pad on Inglenook Farms in Eastern Southland. Photo: Shawn McAvinue Advantages of the pad include labour-saving efficiencies in spring during calving, lower calf mortality rates, every animal getting access to the feed face, a limited diet transition around the springer and colostrum period, a reduction in soil damage, more accurate and guaranteed mineral intake through the water system and silage fed out and an ability to spread effluent to lower-nutrient areas of the farm. Disadvantages of the pad include it lacking capacity to stand off herd in a wet spring, ongoing cost and management of bark chip surface to ensure a comfortable lying environment for cattle. “Another disadvantage is we have outgrown it but that is probably more me being ambitious than anything else,” Tim said.

Bark chip calving pad provides many benefits on dairy farm in Eastern Southland

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