Jareha Ltd

Manawatu farmer Jarrod Rider decided several years ago that he had one winter too many with his cows in the mud. Four years later, he is a happy farmer with happy cows on his 155ha farm with 450 cows. He installed two SmartShelters composting barns, measuring 28m x 70m each, that house his herd for eight weeks from dry off until post-calving.

According to Rider, the results are amazing and continue to get better. He says he sleeps better at night. The fact that his cows are lying on soft sawdust bedding throughout winter is a huge benefit to cow health and the bottom line of his farm business. “We are growing cow condition every year, and our pastures are being looked after, and we are getting more grass,” he told Dairy News.
Feed savings are rising, and there’s little wastage.

Calving is done in the SmartShelter barns, and this has prevented the loss of both cows and calves.
“Three years ago, we lost 12 to 14 cows calving outside in the cold; last year just one, and none so far this season,” says Rider.
“Calf fatality is also down as they are not born in mud.”

Before the barns were installed, winter was costing $100,000/year in wasted feed, health issues and cow losses, so financially, the farm is much stronger, and the cows are set up for the season in a warm, dry barn where they are housed 24/7.

With pasture damage heavily reduced, Jarrod estimates pasture growth rates to be 5T/hectare higher than before, and this is shown in pasture quality and milk production. The cows are milking strongly, and production has shot up by 26% to over 530kg of milk solids per cow. This is impressive with the cow's lactation diet, mainly pasture with some supplement for autumn as needed. 

In summer, the gates are left open, and the cows return to the barns for shade. Jarrod estimates the temperature to be 9 degrees cooler in the barn over summer, and it’s proved by the herd mainly being back in by 11 a.m. until afternoon milking. This has contributed to the production curve not dropping off in the heat like it tended to do in prior years.

The bedding is sawdust, and Jarrod scrapes a layer out each year and spreads pasture or crop as a nutrient-rich fertiliser. The nutrients over winter are contained and held until late spring before they’re spread. The nutrients are taken up by the soil much more efficiently, and the N loss on the farm is reduced by nearly half on an Overseer type system. This is achieved by on/off grazing in wet Autumn weather along with the 24/7 off-pasture barn use through winter and calving period.

•    400 HF cows
•    Reduced winter costs by 100k/season
•    Reduced winter feed usage by nearly half
•    Production per cow increased by 26%
•    Production per hectare increased by 150kg