IT’S amazing what difference water can make in Northern Victoria.

 

On the flat irrigation plains at Daniel and Kim Portwines’ dairy farm, they’ve gone from entirely lotfeeding their milking herd to 100 per cent grazing in four seasons.

 

“Water was $300-$400 a megalitre, so it was just cheaper to buy hay,” Mrs Portwine said.

 

The couple bought the 70 hectare Lockington farm at the height of the drought, leasing a further 100ha to grow crops and run young stock.

 

Despite the pressure to feed-out, the couple have slowly pushed numbers back up from 170 to 260.

But water is plentiful this year and it is clear the cows are benefiting from the extra grass.

 

“We water the grass from March to November,” he said.

The drier times also gave the Portwines time to think how they could use their water more sustainably.

They were approached by the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project (NVIRP), along with other local farmers, to shutdown a communal spur channel. The group then largely funded the installation of a pipe and riser system on their lasered land to water annual ryegrass and sub clover.

“It’s a lot more efficient,” he said.

“I would say we save 10pc of the water.”

The Portwines, who supply Fonterra, run a predominantly registered Holstein herd.

About 75 per cent of the herd are autumn-calvers, because the couple receive an incentive to milk during the winter months.

“We select for health traits, such as cell count, in-calf rate and productivity,” he said.

This season, the herds’ cell count is down around 150,000, largely thanks to the green grass and genetic selection.

“We’ve been able to cull those problem cows,” he said.

About 80 heifers are retained each year, with joining at 14-15 months of age.

“We want the heifers to calve down at two,” he said.

As summer approaches, the Portwines will rely more on hand-feeding the cows, but they still have surplus fodder from last year.

They will soon be installing a feed-pad to minimise hay wastage