Peso de las paredes

Theoretical Proposition: The use of graziers impedes or has impeded the sustainability of dairy farming systems that include DSL.

Rival Explanation: The use of graziers enhances or has enhanced the sustainability of dairy farming systems that include DSL.

Relying on a grazier to supply crucial support services was perceived as risky by all of those interviewed. Perceived risks included exposure to volatility in the price of grazing, potential high costs of bought in feed if the grazier does not have enough feed on hand or cows come home early or financial losses as cows calve in poor condition.

Graziers are perceived by many as incapable of providing a level of care that dairy farmers require:

‘The last 5 years, (owners names) have wintered their own stock with the runoff and it’s only this last winter that they’ve sent cows away. And it’s the first time that they’ve been

Graziers may fail to grow enough feed with the result that cows are not fed properly… ‘Well there wasn’t enough feed there when you sent your cows, had youngstock out grazing and… I could starve them for free myself, why pay someone to not feed them

properly?’ [1B]

…and even when there is enough they may fail to look after cows properly:

‘I had some stock out grazing, one of the reasons I own my own runoff; the bulls got in

with them, the guy ran the bulls with them, then he tried to abort the cows. It was just a

stupid decision to be honest,… the damage is done; eight winter milkers.’ [3C]

Although there are risks involved in using graziers, a number of those interviewed used graziers for some dairy support services, with many seeming satisfied with results. It appeared that using graziers will only result in sustainable outcomes if the risk of relying on graziers to supply support services can be managed.

Communication and involvement are absolutely essential in achieving successful relationships with graziers:

‘You’ve gotta communicate with them and you’ve gotta go check on your stock. It

doesn’t matter how well you know the grazier, you still go and have a look.’ [3C]

Building trust and developing a professional and honest relationship is also important. This applies to both the behaviour of the grazier…

‘Basically they’ve got to be fed well and you have to find a grazier whose honest and

feeds them what you pay them to feed them. Why can’t a grazier be relied on to do a proper job?’ [1C]

…and the dairy farmer:

‘…you don’t s*** on people otherwise it comes back to haunt you.A lot of people

would have done, they would have said ‘nah, we’ve got a lease block, we don’t need you.’ We just don’t operate like that… so yeah we’ve got an expensive winter because

we are paying the grazing and we are paying the lease cost over here...’ [3C]

It was important to ensure graziers had the technical skill and the ability to grow enough feed and look after cows:

‘They (graziers) need to have experience grazing cows, they need the right soil and the

right setup to graze cows and to have an understanding of the stock.’ [1E] It also appeared that there was no such thing as a bargain with grazing and that it is often necessary to pay a bit extra to ensure a quality result:

‘It’s costing me $16 a head to truck them from Invercargill up to here, but it’s worth

paying that over the $6 I pay if they are going just down the road because I know who I

am dealing with. It’s cheap. The cows come back in good order.’ [3C]

Ideally the grazier is willing and able to control results and can accept some responsibility for risk management:

‘I think you need to have a good understanding with the grazier, he’s a good stockman and I think we’re lucky to have that because last year when it got hard going in the

snow and that like he had to feed out balage and when the cows destroyed half a break,

we actually… he was quite happy to give them another break and when they did come back it was about ten days early but he’d fed them well and they come back still in good

condition.’ [1E]

Small, adjacent areas of DSL also appeared to be effective in managing this risk of using graziers, allowing either the wintering of some cows at home or wintering of all cows for part of winter. It is much better to have some DSL and partial control than no control at all:

‘Some years we’ve had uhm 300 cows here all winter then bought them home and calved here and other years we’ve had all the cows away over June, then they all come

back in July, so it’s the same thing really, 300 cows for all winter or 600 here for half

the winter. And then they’re all here from August through to early October really.’ [1F] Thus, on one hand it appears that using graziers presents a risk so severe that it justifies large investments of time and money in DSL, while on the other it appears that there are reliable methods by which these risks can be contained. The conflicting opinions over the value of using graziers may justify more research into how farmers can achieve success with graziers.

Case study site 3B was a grazing farm that provided winter grazing for dairy farmers. The perspective of graziers was interesting because it allowed a comparison of the perspectives of sustainability of graziers with those of dairy farmers who use DSL.

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Farm 3B is a dairy support business that mixes dairy grazing with sheep farming. Stock wintered include 1100 cows, 150 rising one year old heifers, 4600 ewes and 1400 mated hoggets. There are three blocks in the system; A home (owned) block (900 acres) which supports silage making and winter grazing of ewes, a hill block (800 acres) from which they buy sheep grazing in summer and a lease block (600 acres) which is used for winter grazing of cows and year round grazing for sheep and dairy heifers.

Grazing dairy cattle suits sheep farming because it compliments feed supply and labour, and because the income from dairy grazing is steady, dependable and low risk. On a sheep farm there is a peak in feed demand in spring as lambing begins, with lower demands through the rest of the year, thus dairy grazing works in well because it utilizes the feed grown and saved in autumn. Grazing dairy cows also improves labour utilization because it goes on in winter when the sheep operation requires little input. Finally, the income streams from sheep and dairy grazing compliment each other, with the income from dairy grazing depending on a different set of economic fundamentals to sheep farming, thus reducing the exposure to market risk.

Farmer 3B believes that honesty and good communication are important to preserve a good reputation with dairy farming customers. The basic principle of relationships applies to treating the grazing stock, leased farm and staff with care and respect; ‘He (the dairy farmer) gets what he wants, we do a good job

of them so, his cows are going home in good condition. None of us want to see skinny hungry cows just for

the sake of profit.’

Summary of evidence on Proposition 2.8

ƒ It is necessary to actively manage the risk of relying on graziers for support services.

ƒ Communication, involvement and trust are key to managing the risk of using graziers.