Waka Dairies' Ambitious Goals Supported by Hill Labs' Reliable Testing
Waka Dairies were recently honored with multiple awards in the Horizons Ballance Farm Environment Awards. They are setting new standards in sustainable and efficient farming on their 380ha property in Dannevirke. Managing Director Michael Phillips and Business Manager Andrew Evans, also known as Bubbles, run the farm as business partners to bring it forward by making important decisions every day. Utilising knowledge and technical decision-making, their goal is to be a leading producer, focusing on food, natural capital, skills, culture, and sustainable energy consumption.
Sustainable and Efficient Farming
Ten years ago, the farm was overstocked and unprofitable. Significant changes were made, including reducing cow numbers and selling a low-returning block. They transitioned from a 900-cow, spring calving system with high imported feed to a 650-cow, autumn calving system with mostly homegrown feed, increasing production. Investments in animal health, a composting barn, and modern effluent and water storage systems have led to their success. Production has increased from 450kgMS/cow to 650kgMS/cow over ten years. These efforts aim to increase efficiency, improve natural resources, and create a natural habitat.
The compost barn, built two years ago, has been a major focus in their new wave farming system. It provides shelter for the herd on hot or wet days, reducing stress and illness, and ultimately optimising milk production. The barn has improved animal welfare and reduced calf mortality rates to less than 1%. Filled with carbon materials like woodchips or sawdust, the soft bedding for the cows is transformed into compost from the cow waste, which is then used to fertilise maize and sugar beet grown on the farm for feed.
Partnership with Hill Labs
A contributor to Waka Dairies' success is a partnership with Hill Labs. Waka Dairies has been a client of ours for more than 15 years, conducting extensive testing such as herbage, feed, compost on crops, and livestock drinking water. More recently Hill Labs provided support with compost and soil testing helping Waka Dairies exceed yield expectations. Testing the compost helps determine the necessary fertilisers and manage the compost state of their barn floor, based on carbon to nitrogen ratios.
Bubbles highlighted the importance of this partnership:
“Hill Labs does a lot for us, from testing the soil—we individually test each paddock—to testing the compost we put on that paddock, right through to testing the final product (the feed). We’re exceeding where we should be as far as our yields go. A lot of that is us implementing that system, but we can’t do that without the correct testing.
Bubbles shared an example of the impact of testing where a maize paddock appeared to be underperforming. Previously there would have been some guesswork involved but following a soil test, results allowed them to respond accurately.
Good relationships with industry partners are vital to Waka Dairies. Michael and Bubbles appreciate the accuracy, reliability, and fast turnaround times provided by Hill Labs, which enable them to act on results promptly. The use of mylab has also been a game changer for easier management of testing submissions and accessing shared information.
While growth is not their number one priority, the team at Waka Dairies is committed to not only sustaining their successful operations but also exploring new possibilities and gaining deeper insights through ongoing evaluation and the support of trusted industry partners.
“What we are looking forward to exploring is testing populations of E. coli in the barns compost. Not just testing to see if it’s there but to see population hot spots and understanding our animal health.
“We are also looking forward to furthering our partnership to explore compost testing for the efficiency of the barn. The Hill Labs trusted and reliable brand will help us work through some of these on-farm challenges in this new wave farming system we have.” Michael said.
