DPSL consultants can determine the right farm system for you and make it work, consistently and sustainably. We advise dairy farmers on stock, feed, and farm facilities to suit your conditions.
We are comfortable working with any type of dairying operation in any environment. We don’t care what farm system you operate or want to operate – we do care that you do it well:
- All-grazed pasture
- Pasture Plus systems of all levels
- Zero-grazing confined systems
- High-performance Total Mixed Rations
- Dairy farms with from 50 to 50,000 cows of any breed or cross
- Farms milking once-a-day, twice a day or more
- Feeding home-grown forages, purchased by-products or concentrates
- Organic, biological, conventional, and mixed systems.
A dairy consultant can visit you to look at your stock, feed, facilities, and conditions. We like to get some background information too:
- How do you want to operate your dairy farm?
- What facilities do you have or intend to have?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of your environment – physically, socially and financially?
- What are the existing skill and knowledge levels?
- Are your cows the most suitable for your system?
- What feeds do you have access to?
We need to know if there are specific aspects of farming that really matter to you – such as organic, no nitrogenous fertilizer, black cows, free-stall barn, high per-cow production, farm manager, or no labour.
All these factors indicate the best system for you – which may not be the same as your neighbour’s system.
Dairy farm systems that fail to perform
There may be many reasons why your farm fails to perform better. Very often the farm system being operated doesn’t match the environmental and individual circumstances of that farm. For example, trying to farm large Holsteins on a pasture-only farm is like running a vehicle designed to run on super-grade fuel on regular-grade fuel. Under-performance is guaranteed.
Farm systems are not well understood, and making ad hoc changes to your system to lift productivity may be introducing further problems.
Strategies that work for your farm
DPSL consultants can help you to establish a dairy farm system that will succeed in your conditions. We’ll show you how to manage risk by building a robust system that will maintain the stamina to carry your farm business through the toughest seasons. A solid risk management plan is like having a reserve tank of fuel when you really need it – the plan B that pulls you through.
Successful farm systems generate top-performing cows
There are certain principles of cow and feed management that apply to every good farm system. The best practical application of these principles will be modified to fit each system and its requisite outcomes. There is no single farm system that suits every dairy farm or farmer. The maximum growth and utilisation of home-grown forages (pasture) is a maxim common to all successful dairy operations.
A dairy farm system is like an operations manual of how to put together the cows you want, the correct quantity and quality of feeds, the facilities, location and outcomes. When you have the right manual, your farm productivity will increase, and so will your confidence.
Jersey dairy herd at pasture
