New dairy calves arrive on straw bedding in barn in Eastern Southland

A calving barn is making life easier for a team of dairy farmers in Eastern Southland. The contract milking operation of Jimmy and Louise Purdon, Lisdale Dairies, was the second and final stop on a DairyNZ calving infrastructure tour. At the peak of the season about 850 cows get milked on Aerodrome Farm in Anderson Park, near Invercargill. A calving barn was in its sixth season of use. Mr Purdon said he had worked on the farm for about a decade and calving used to be in paddocks before the barn was built. “Calving on mud is not fun.” The farm had nearly 50 neighbours. SHAWN MCAVINUEAerodrome Farm near Invercargill was the second and final stop on a DairyNZ off-paddock infrastructure tour in Eastern Southland. Photo: Shawn McAvinue Calving is now under way in the barn and will finish about September 26. The barn features a 90m-long feed face, a 15m-wide straw loafing area and an 18m-wide feed lane. All calves on farm were born in the barn. Up to 40 calves arrive daily at peak times. At the beginning of calving, on average, cows spend up to 10 days in the barn. During peak calving times, cows might spend two or three days in the barn. All straw was bought in for about $85 a bale, delivered. Nearly 70 bales were the straw base on the concrete floor. Fresh straw was put in the bedding area of the barn by a blower each day during calving. “If you think it doesn’t look bad and you don’t straw it, the following day it is really wet and it takes a lot of straw to get it right again so you have to straw it every day.” SHAWN MCAVINUEStraw destined for a calving barn on Aerodrome Farm. Photo: Shawn McAvinue Up to four bales of straw could be added a day and could take between one to three hours to apply, depending on the skill of the tractor driver. He expects to use about 200 bales of straw in the barn this season. Good quality straw was easier and quicker to apply, he said. Straw was being stored in a shed near the calving barn for the first time this season. The shed ensures there is a constant supply of dry straw, which provides the best bedding surface. All cows and heifers were wintered off-farm, cows in a barn on grass and baleage and heifers on fodder beet. The heifers came home first to transition to grass and baleage before calving. [Missing Credit][object Object] Cows were moved from the winter barn to the calving barn. The farm owners considered establishing an outdoor calving pad but decided to build a barn instead. “You do it once and you do it right. This structure will be standing in 30 years time and it be well paid for at that stage.” The barn had a consent to house 220 cows but more comfortably holds about 180 cows. A cost of about $800,000 to build the barn included site works, base materials, consent works, effluent scraper and separator system, pipe work and concrete. The cost was equivalent to $3636 per consented cow. No extra work was required on the effluent system for the approval of the consent. SHAWN MCAVINUECalving barn on Aerodrome Farm in Anderson Park. Photo: Shawn McAvinue A roof diverted rainfall to a waterway. The lack of rainfall entering the barn helped preserve the straw bedding and made effluent easier to collect from the concrete floor. The barn was near the milking shed. One staff member could collect cows from the barn for milking twice-a-day. “It makes life so easy.” Cows were easier to find in the barn than in a paddock. The barn being near the silage stack also made life much easier, he said. He estimated the cost to run the calving barn system including silage, feed out, straw, muck spreading and opportunity cost to be about $43.12 per cow per week and $37.38 per heifer per week. SHAWN MCAVINUEAerodrome Farm co-owner Pete Moynihan attended a DairyNZ off-paddock infrastructure tour including his property near Invercargill. Photo: Shawn McAvinue All silage was brought in. The barn could be divided into four pens and cattle were staggered between them depending on their calving date. During autumn, a herd of up to 60 lighter cows were fed in the barn. Sicks cows were put in the barn until their health improved. “If you give them that extra comfort, it makes such a difference.” The barn had also been used to shelter up to 120 cows during adverse weather events to get them off paddocks. “There is work involved but it is manageable.” If he had to build the barn again he would raise the roof. “I’ve lost a lot of mirrors off my tractor. It is tight for feeding out.”

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