Operating a grazing system comes with its own sense of challenges, particularly if it comes in wet.
To help mitigate some of that risk, Suz and Rob Gundry from Gunbower have built themselves a 100m long hybrid feed pad with enough space for 200 cows to graze comfortably down each side.
The feed pad is built to fit slabs and rolls of hay.
One side has been cemented and the other is Rochie rock – just in case they decide to extend to accommodate silage and a mixer wagon sometime in the future.
A shed could also be easily built over the top if required.
“That won’t be a problem for me though,” Rob laughed.
“I am happy to keep running a pasture based system supplemented with hay and cereals in our feed pad.
“It was a relatively cheap investment, and I can already see some real benefits, particularly in terms of easier management.”
Rob said previous to construction of the pad, he used to use a sacrifice paddock with hay rings, but when it came in wet, it was a nightmare.
Rob said he always intended to build more of a permanent set up, and in March last year, construction began.
“We weren’t in a hurry, we just plugged away at it, and by November, it was completed,” he said.
The plan is to scrape up all the manure and clean the pad with the tractor for general maintenance and then every four months or so get an excavator in to give it a proper clean and take the built up manure away.
Rob said the pad held up well after recently receiving 110mm of rain, although there was still a bit of work to do on the drainage.
The cows are currently fed vetch and a bit of cereal hay after each milking and before they head down to the paddock.
Rob is expecting the cows to wizz through the pad briefly from May to October while he has winter pastures up and running, and then over the summer months, they will stay in the pad a bit longer to supplement the feed gap.
“I still like a grazing system and I don’t want to be tied to a mixer,” he said.
“I love growing grass and I get a lot of satisfaction out of watching the cows in a green paddock.”
The couple is currently milking about 350 cows and will peak at 540.
He said there were no plans to increase numbers any further and he was happy where they were currently sitting in terms of efficiency and labour.
They run their farm across 810ha, either owned or leased.
Rob said he had been lucky over the years to have purchased additional land, with high security water shares, which has enabled him to expand his dairy business to where it sits today.
“Building the rotary was a big game changer for us and enabled us to manage our workload without hours spent in the shed — although I would much rather spend time working with cows than be sitting on a tractor,” he said.
Rob has been avid breeder of Holsteins and recently achieved master breeder status with Holstein Australia.
“There is nothing more rewarding than watching cows you have bred and looked after, find their way into the herd and then top it off with a fresh paddock of grass,” he said.