Mid West to New York.

Arrived into Omaha Nebraska fom Calgary via Denver, just as the rain began pelting down in Colorado, causing major flooding and loss of life.

First visit was to meet Bart Ruth, a long time friend of Jim Geltch of Nuffield International. Bart farms on around 2000 ac with his son Geoff. The farm is growing corn and soya beans. There is some land share farmed on either a 50/50 basis or 60/40 basis, with a very small amount on a price per ac.

Demand for corn from overseas as well as a strong domestic market in the form of ethanol production, has seen the price rallying to new heights in recent times. Prices up over $ 8.00 a bu being reached and are now sitting at around $ 4.60 - $ 5.00 a bu.

About five years ago two dairy units were set up to milk between 5 to 6 thousand cows each. These dairies have limited land attached to them and are almost totally reliant on the surrounding farms for corn, with alfalfa being sourced from as far away as Arizona, mainly to guarantee the quality perameters are met.

The corn silage price is agreed upon by using a formula based on the corn price for the area and currently sits at around $40 per ton.

The need for the dairy units to have land to spread the effluent has led to new opportunities for Ruth Farms and others in the area to receive these nutrients back on to the farm.
This happens in two ways:

• firstly in liquid form through a network of some 100 km of underground 250mm PVC piping to centre pivot irrigators.

• Secondly by the injection of slurry from the settling ponds which are cleaned out twice a year.

The PVC piping is laid at the dairy farms expense and the application is also carried out by dairy staff. The cost of the slurry injection is typically $300 per ha and this cost is shared 50/50. Injecting is done at a rate of 50 000 litres per ha or 5 mm.

This provides the ability to grow a 220bu corn crop without the need for artificial fertiliser. The system works very well for both parties involved.

However, because the dairy is fully indoor and the cows are fed a TMR, the system in it's present form would fit only a small number of farms in New Zealand. But with this in mind the concept is very sound and with some adaption is an option worthy of consideration.

Charlie and Margaret Carter Thorntown Indiana are farming dairy cows on a grassed based system. Milking 120 smaller framed holstein Friesian cows in a mixed or hybrid system. Feed is made up of 50% pasture, 30% forage (corn or silage) and 20% grain.

Production is 18 500lb milk per cow - a little below the State average of 21 300lb. This is very good when considering nearly all the dairy herds in Indiana are in a high cost TMR system. Dry seasons have meant that more suppliments are required than ideal.

• Farm is 220 in total and is husband and wife labour - with help from their daughter, who is married and to a hay contractor and lives in the local town.

• Forage is grown on farm and grain (corn, cotton seed, distillers grain hulls) are bought in from an upstate co-op, where there is a bigger area of dairy and more options.

• Most of the local area is in beans and corn - 40% of US corn goes to ethanol production.

• Milk is supplied to a co op about an hour away.

• Hay is made in may from excess grass and corn is produced annually.

• There is no artificial fertiliser used on the farm.

Because the farm carries less than 300 cows and has land attached the is no environmental regulation to adhere to. The effluent is injected into fields where possible and is spread on top discreetly when necessary. These operations are carried out by a contractor.

A very hands on business for the husband and wife team. When Charlie talks about the fact that the milking parlour needs replaced, I can't help but think this would be the ideal situation to install a robotic milking system. This would not only overcome the shed replacement but also free up some time for the two of them to enjoy some free time...

On the road again.. this time its Ohio to see Tony Anderson just outside of Washington Courthouse.

Tony farms about 3 000ac and has a farm equipment business with his brother Doug. The farm grow mainly corn and beans some of which are late crop, being after wheat. Equipment is on RTK and fert is done by variable rate - that is : spreading is done by a contractor.

N is typically applied in liquid form and is stored on farm in a bunded 30 000 l tank. This is being seen as a viable alternative to solid or adhydrous N that is susceptible to leaching and volatilisation. Liquid N, on the other hand can be taken straight in by plant.

Corn yeilds are typically 200 220 bu.

Wheat is harvested with a stripper header, this allows the crop to be harvested earlier and increases the window to get the late beans in 10 - 14 days earlier, which can mean the difference between getting a crop or not.

Tony is a county commissioner and was the President of the American Soyabean Association. He tells me the EPA is introducing legislation next year that will limit the amount of fertiliser that can be applied based on soil types?

Tony is trying to get people from the local university to develop a program that will give the exact amount of grain produced from each of the feriliser components needed to grow a crop. This would then give a value of those nutrients and thereby give a template for him to use in setting price for the fertiliser. As opposed to the current system where the fert company takes as much profit as it thinks the farmer can afford.

Thursday 19th July is spent at the New Holland Plant Pennsylvania.

Philip Eby
Product Marketing Manager
Crop Preparation Products

John Daniels
Plant Manager

Plant builds,
Round balers
Small square balers
Mowers, both trailed and attached
Manure spreaders
Cyicle mowers for China mostly.

The plant houses the finance and administration for the entire company.


Product evaluation is also done here and sees many of the units undergoing feild simulated testing. A bump track had a Case 8230 combine being driven across it with auger folded out and being put through its paces over the period of a days work. The driver also looked like he had done a days work when he emerged from the cab!

Several climate controlled booths are used to simulate various temperatures and fluctuations, particularly important with the tier 4 emmission standards. While the engine manufacturers do their own testing, the environment is much different for an engine on a combine or forage harvester with many parisitic features attached to them.

Spray boom frames and combine cleaning shoes are also put through various stress tests on jigs that replicate thousands of hours of use.

Hydraulic systems are attached to the equipment to simulate loadings equivalent to field conditions.
The BR series baler is undergoing a model change and this will go into production for next season.

The machining building produces many of the components for not only the equipment built in PA but also for the windrowers and equipment produced at other plants throughout the US.

Thanks to John and Phil for their time and providing a detailed tour. 

The week ends with some time in the Catskills area north of New York where the Hudson River catchment begins.

Alberta Canada.

Calgary Airport 11pm on a Saturday night, not many people around, the guys at the rental car companies are keen to get off home.

But I'm keen to pick up the rental car and get going! After booking a compact car I plan to go towards Champion, two hours south. But before I get my hands on the keys, the attendant tells me I have a choice, a Boss Mustang or a GMC 2500 pick up! l'm thinking neither of them will have the environmental footprint of a small country so I may as well go for ease of parking and handling characteristics.

I get settled in the Mustang and head out the airport, the Sat Nav and the roads don't agree with each other. It appears the airport is undergoing an overhaul and nothing is making sense. To top it off its pouring with rain and its midnight.

I was sure pleased to get to Champion and our very good friends Jo and Byron Matlocks house at around 2. 30 am. The note on the door directed me to the appropriate room and it felt like being at home and only yesterday since Heather, Molly and I were here 3 years ago.

It's harvest time at Matlock Farms but as its nearly done, Aaron, one of Jo and Byrons two sons, make the decision that as its Sunday, they will take a day out from harvest and have a BBQ later in the day with the family and some close friends. Eric, the other son, worked for us in NZ for a few summers driving a combine. He and his wife Alena join me on some local visits over the next few days.

First up a beef fedlot. A well set up unit with highly efficient handling system to cope with the 40-thousand odd cattle enables the weighing and recording as well as animal health aspects to be administered in an efficient manner.

The feed mill is near new and features some innovaive technology including computerised mixing and feeding where the truck driver delivering the feed to a particular pen can't leave the area until the appropriate amount has been fed out. Likewise, the system won't let the driver feed a product to a pen that isn't to receive the mix that is on the truck.

While at the feedlot, it is suggested we take a look at the Hutterite community just up the road. They are more than happy to host us for a couple of hours. Firstly the children show us their school which has 26 students and 2 teachers. The kitchen is more like a food  factory with facilities for killing livestock through to canning food. The ladies give us a sample of the pickled cauliflower they are working on.

The community was set up four years ago so all the infastructure is in great shape, as the population grows the community will buy another 3-5 thousand ac and start the process again.

The dairy unit involves 80 cows and has potiential to do many more and boasts some of the most up-to-date technolgies you will find anywhere.

The same goes for the Workshop which covers maybe 5000 sq metres and can handle any work required by the farm and takes in a lot of outside work. An example of this being a series of prefabricated steel sheds similar to the workshop.

The Hutterites tend to get blamed for pushing the price of land above its productive value, which is $10 000 ac and more in some areas. Tax laws on low labour costs perhaps give the Hutterites the upper hand...

We spend some time at a hay processing plant that Eric used to supply to when he run a baling contract business.

Greene Prairie International was set up 25 years ago and presses bales into more dense bales and allows 22 tonne into containers. Eighty containers a week are shipped and this to increase this to 150 in the next year or so.

• Most of the product is either alfalfa or timothy and is shipped to Japan, South East Asia and Saudi Arabia.

• A very simple press system is used in the process with various sizes produced to suit the particular requirements.

• Quality is of particular importance and the company is becoming more involved with the grower rather than buying product on the spot market.

My last meeting in Alberta is with Ryan Arbers who operates a Lamb feedlot in Acme Alberta Canada.
Ryan and his father took over the 80ac site five years ago, after it having been used as a pig breeding research facility.

The unit compliments the breeding property a couple of hours north near Edmonton, with lambs sent down to Acme for finishing along side bought in lambs.

A total of 50 000 lambs are finished each year many of which are sourced throughout Western Canada and North West US. The lambs are bought in 36 kg liveweight and are feed for 90 days and go out at about 54 kg.

One of the challenges has been to get bigger lines of lambs to help improve consistancy with the lambs and ultimately, the product.

Lambs are transitioned for a period of 4 weeks when they arrive at the feedlot. Grain is introduced at this time and the amount is increased gradually until if forms the entire diet. This begins at 250gms per day and over the 28 days will be increased to 1.25 kg and at that stage the lambs are fed ad-lib without any acidosis issues.

Lambs are EID tagged and are regularly weighed to keep a track of performance using Tru Test and Racewell technology.

Liveweight gain is costing about NZ $2.70 kg so not something that will be econonomically viable in NZ at current prices.

An interesting afternoon and thanks to Ryan for his time in showing me his system.

It's been a great few days in Alberta and as always, the Matlock's make us like family. Thanks for everything guys.

Sacramento and San Francisco

Getting into San Francisco airport at lunchtime means I'll have an easy two hour drive to Sacramento right? 

No, its stop and go for close to 4 hours and I still haven't got over the Bay Bridge! By the time I get close to Davis I decide to call it and day and look for somewhere to stay. 

Driving up the interstate there is no shortage of options, so head for a small town called Woodland. A rural service town with a huge tomato processing factory. I wonder if I can get a tour there... 'No not this week sorry'.

The Central Valley is one worlds most productive agricultural regions and is big on agriculture - but not the agriculture we are used to seeing in NZ. Vast ares of tomatoes, hence the factory. Corn, almonds, grapes and avocados also feature a lot.

A meeting with Deanne Meyer Ph.D, who is a livestock waste management specialist gives me an insight into the research and focus activities on the current and future needs of the livestock industries in the Central Valley region.

A trip into the Capay Valley region gave the opportunity to stop in at Full Belly Farms. An organic farm producing a variety of crops all year around and provides employment for up to 60 employees and selling produce both online and through a weekly farmers market, on the farm.

As luck would have it, I'm due to fly to Calgary on Saturday evening and have a few spare hours to take in the first day of racing in the Americas Cup regatta!

It's to good of an oportunity to miss - still regretting turning down Rolling Stones ticket  in Washington DC!

It was great to be a part of the celebration with two wins from two on the first day. The weather was perfect and the atmosphere was brilliant. Piers overflowing with people - a lot of whom were Kiwi's. 

As I headed back to the airport it became apparent that l wouldn't see too much more of the action from San Francisco bay in the media while in Canada or the US for that matter. No sign of it on any advertising or sport channels even.

Too many other sports to be bothered with a bunch of yachts I suppose...

Heading to California

Today I am heading off overseas for the the fourth time in seven months on my Nuffield travels.
This time the emphasis is on my study topic ,'The Synergies Synergies Between Between Arable And Dairy' - with a focus on nutrients.
I am looking forward to pulling the study together and meeting the people around the globe who are going to help me do that.
Of all the trips I have made in the last seven months, I would have to say that today was the hardest to leave home.

Nuffield is a great experience and it is not only about the individual but also the people around you. These are the people who have to take up the slack and deal with the day to day stuff going on, like the car that needs serviced, the drain thats blocked and mess to clean up after the river has ripped through the bottom paddock!
Heather is doing a great job holding the fort while I am tearing off around the world.   l'm Iooking forward to a settled year ( by our our standards ) next year !

The later part of the winter has been kind to us in Southland. This has this has taken pressure off feed supplies as the grass has started growing a month earlier than usual.
Ground preparation is also well underway for the spring sown cereals, although planting won't get underway for another fortnight at least.

Autumn sown crops are looking very good -almost too good, amd had a fungicide fungiciand the first shot of N.
So the plan for me is to be researching my study in the US, Canada and Europe before heading home on 11 October.

First stop will be spend four days in the Sacramento and Central Valley area before heading up to Alberta, Canada.