{"id":8846,"date":"2013-10-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/alone-but-not-on-your-own\/"},"modified":"2013-10-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T11:00:00","slug":"alone-but-not-on-your-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/alone-but-not-on-your-own\/","title":{"rendered":"Alone but not on your own"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

She\u2019s one of a group of ruminant nutritionists who formed an alliance and used to meet at one or others\u2019 houses a couple of times a year. That grew into the New Zealand Association of Ruminant Nutritionists, of which Lewis was a founding member two years ago. She is now its secretary, with the organisation\u2019s membership up to 32 and growing. They hold three meetings annually and run a website with a members\u2019 forum so they can swap information and ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great way for the younger ones coming into the business to learn from those who\u2019ve been around for a while and have the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

She feels dairy farmers sometimes put too much emphasis on the supplements they\u2019re feeding their herds to the detriment of basic farming principles they should be following.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater is extremely important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCows need water ahead of food. And if they\u2019re being fed dried supplements they\u2019ll need even greater quantities of water. Sometimes I go on to farms and it\u2019s clear the animals are not getting enough water through the troughs. Get the water right, then look at the components of what they\u2019re eating.\u201d<\/p>\n

And again she emphasises forage.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I have been hammering on about for years is the importance of good silage. Quality is more important that quantity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farmers needed to be aware of the amount of fibre their animals are getting from forage by using neutral detergent fibre and their testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe drought really showed this up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe farmers who had good silage when the drought came were in a much better position. Their cows are milking better this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some less fortunate farmers might still be paying the price for the dry conditions into next year.<\/p>\n

www.nzarn.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trish Lewis knows the feeling of being alone both at sea and on land in business terms.\n\u201cWhen you are not part of a big company you don\u2019t have that opportunity for the swapping of ideas and feedback,\u201d she said.\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t