Massey University: Dairy 1 research sites

The 2026/27 dairy season has begun with all herds having around 10 cows in milk by 10 August. This means we have started our grazing policies for milking herds. Currently, there are around 6 herds on the farm for the research farmlets (2 per farmlet, comprising milkers and calving mobs). This summer the plan is to manage the farmlets with no crop option and to maintain a pasture only/silage system. The first herd test of the year was completed in the week of 10 August.

Spring has sprung. I’m calling it – happy to be proven wrong, but I reckon all the signs are there. For anyone doubting that it could be spring because we’re only in the third week of August, remember that seasons are a biological event and not a calendar one.

After one of the coldest winters in the Manawatū in years, including 3 consecutive frosts last week that set back the C4 grasses such as kikuyu and paspalum, which are luckily on the roadsides and not in our paddocks, we’ve had a number of mild nights and sunny days, and pasture growth rates are starting to take off. You can see the latest figures in the report.

As we gear up for the last 2½ years of the Whenua Haumanu program, we will have a strong campaign to reintroduce diversity back into most paddocks, apart from those that we’ve designated to be untouched and monitored over all 7 years.

This is because diversity naturally declines over time, especially species such as herbs and legumes. We want to end the program with clear differences in pasture types, as our analysis has indicated that this is what has driven most of the positive changes that we have measured so far.

This also gives us an opportunity to explore and demonstrate different methods to reintroduce diversity back into pasture. Program partners Barenbrug and Agricom continue to support us with pasture seeds, and we thank them for their ongoing generosity.

In anticipation of a drier late spring and summer period, due to the El Niño that’s strengthening rapidly, we’re planning to make sure that we grow and use as much pasture as possible in early to mid-spring and don’t waste any. Creating a surplus to make good-quality silage from is also a good idea.

To borrow a phrase from a past Australian government, I reckon that our current outlook is to be alert but not alarmed – spring is shaping up well, but we don’t know how long it will last this year.