Feed Management Toolkit
March 11, 2020
Federated Farmers has been working to pull together a Feed Management Toolkit for Farmers in Otago and Southland as we are aware that not only were crops and silage production being behind in most of the area, but you are also dealing with the damage from the heavy rain events and increased pressure from regional council restricting crop area and banks adding more pressure on capital repayments.
Technical experts
We would like to thank the group of technical experts including agronomists, farm systems experts, veterinarians and animal nutritionists from a wide range of organisations that we worked with to pull this toolkit together (see the full list in the toolkit). This was important as often advice isn’t sense checked across these experts and there can be conflicting messages if this step isn’t carried out. One stand-out across all the conversations was how important it will be to minimise the impact this season has had on farm and try and restrict it to this season where you can.
The advice in the toolkit is designed to be a jumping off point to work alongside your experts as you make decisions. The good news is, while winter is rapidly approaching, there is still time but you need to act now. Click here
Looking after yourself and others
While not discussed in the toolkit, we want to stress how important it is to look after yourself and keep an eye on your neighbours. The next 6 months might be an easy road but being honest about that and looking at managing the stress now will only make it easier.
Rural Support Trusts in Otago and Southland are busy working on events to connect the community but also provide technical support. Keep an eye on their websites here and your member advisories from us to find out more about these as they’re set up.
LOUISE GIBSON
MAJOR RURAL EVENTS PROGRAMME PROJECT COORDINATOR
Federated Farmers of New Zealand
021 133 5607
[email protected]