Posts by Farmer Green
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Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to krothville,
Fonterra’s pricing model?
-dictates that the milk in that buttermilk lake had the same value as fresh milk in the middle of winter, when factories were lying idle , or on the shoulders of the season when efficiency was dropping owing to lack of throughput.
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Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to krothville,
“Through-put driven”,
A powder factory costs about 400-500 million and is most efficient running at full capacity around the clock.
"too many cows on the soil " yep and too much bought-in nitrogen (as feed and fertiliser) to support them.
Consequently more effluent than the land area can sequester. Plus soil damage from too many hooves and spring -calving. All adding up to increased leaching losses."What else?"
Blindness and lack of education. :-)
"Would this entail a feed lot operation? " Not necessarily." Or would cows be fed on silage and hay?" Probably - because the need for pasture control in October / November would remain , and be best dealt with by creating reserves for the winter.
"Are we bringing in FIlipinos to work in our dairy industry? "
Oh yes , young NZers are frequently horrified by what they encounter , and have low tolerance of labour exploitation.
PKE - the residue from palm oil extraction ex Indonesia/Malaysia
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Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Farmer Green,
Wow . I recognise this house ; it's the old Winter homestead.
Lyall Winter was my scout troop leader. -
Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
past your eyes…
Oooo-er
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Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Old technology Ian.
The on-farm evaporator (the size of a fridge) was developed in the 70s. The plan was to have one on every farm, concentrating the milk, so as to leave the water on the farm. I’ve got one : it’s very smart for its time.
In those days there were still small dairy factory villages dotted throughout the landscape (you can see the relics today ; ever been to Manawaru?) , so the pipe to the factory was feasible , and when the milk concentrate had been piped to the factory , the whey from yesterdays cheese/casein make came back , flushing out the pipe for the delectation of the pigs on the farm.
Denmark had already trialled it. -
Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Farmer Green,
Yep , she’ll be right.
Not a worry mate :-)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/10542293/Fonterra-eyes-better-peak-milk-flow-control
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Hard News: The humanity, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
, it would taste like powdered milk mixed with water,
You are correct Rich. Under the old Milk Regs. this was known as toned milk. It manifests today as Trim or Low Fat.
But there are still low fat milks that are not toned with powder etc.
Ecofarm Low Fat milk would be an example. It still tastes like milk.
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Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Sacha,
Lack of ambition and nous, then.
Yep , she'll be right.
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Sacha , am I making sense for you?
Yeah , I do want to help people to understand . Because it matters for NZ. -
Hard News: Five further thoughts, in reply to Sacha,
O.K. That is the collective will of the Fonterra farmer owners.
It’s easy, relatively simple , can be scaled- up , requires minimal skill, and can use imported Filipino labour, import cheap rubbish (PKE) when the margins are there, and doesn’t require the possession of some relevant consumer brands.
And you can make a mess of the commons with impunity (so far), by having far more cows than your farm will support, so you can externalise that cost.
Why wouldn’t you do it?Am I getting there?
ETA; most N.Z. dairy farmers, when confronted with the idea of flat year-round production , just turn off completely , if they can even get their heads around the mere idea.
Dairy farming, seasonal style is currently very high-stress, and the mere thought of milking cows 365 days a year turns farmers right off.
They have no idea how low -stress the year-round operation can be.