Presentation by

Simon Turnbull2004 Nuffield Scholar

Dry matter production and value adding in an semi arid Environment

Sponsored By:

Simon Turnbull Nuffield Scholar 2004

• Finished year 10 at 15 years of age in 1982, • Completed a farm management course at Dubbo

Technical College in 1983• Came home to a 2400ha sheep farm and a Dad with

cancer• Survived high interest rates, cattle & wool’s booms &

busts.• Married with 4 daughters • My family has been in the Warren district, NSW since

the 1920’s

“Mayfield”WarrenNSW

AUSTRALIA

•North West NSW, 650 km from Sydney•Closest village is Quambone, with a shop, school and hotel – population approximately 100•School has 21 students, 5 girls & three are mine

•Mayfield is a mixed farming operation, 5200ha•Family-owned and operated, comprising of 3 farms,•Fattens 2,000 steers annually•Farming comprises of wheat, canola, barley and vetch•120ha of irrigation. Cotton was grown until 2001 since then drought has limited water availability•This years allocation is 1%

Enterprises

•Seasons are our greatest challenge•Droughts, floods and not much in between•The annual rainfall is 16 inches•Our districts advantage is that feed will grow all year, all that’s missing is moisture

•My definition of our climate is;•“Permanent drought broken up by short seasons”

Climate

Dry Matter (DM) Production

• What is Dry matter? • It’s the amount of digestible fiber

produced by a plant, i.e. grain & plant leaf

• Why?• To Create a 12 month feed

availability, drought proofing the enterprise

Study topics of Dry Matter (DM)

• Storage methods of hay, silage pit, silage baled & wrapped

• Cost of production of these methods

• Suitable crops

• Quality of DM from different storage methods

• Value of DM in a beef enterprise

DM Systems

•Grain

•Hay

•Silage; wrapped bales

•Silage; pit

DM production in a semi arid climate

• Wheat 2 ton / ha

• Hay 6 ton / ha

• Barley as whole crop silage 17 ton / ha @ 65% M (6 ton dry)

• Corn silage irrigated up to 50 ton / ha @ 65 % M (18 ton dry)

Value of DM @ Farm Gate

$0

$100

$200

$300

$400

$500

$600

Cost/ha Cost / tonDM

Gross / ha

WheatHaySilage

•Wheat 2 ton / ha $120/ton

•Hay 6 ton / ha $120/ton

•Silage 17 ton / ha $30/ton

DM production / ha shown as number of days a 500kg cow can be fed @ 3% of her weight

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

500kg cow days of feed

GrainHaySilage

•Grain yield 2 ton/ha

•Hay & Silage 6 ton/ha DM

Key points seen of successful businesses while studying

• Value adding

• By-products valued

• Consistent supply

Consistent supply

• John Campbell Glenrath farms Scotland Nuffield Sch,

• Supplies 80% of the eggs in the UK, 1.1mil/day

• Key to his business success he puts to tying up the market then build the supply

Value Adding Canada

• Feedlot & Ethanol Plant, built by local farmers to value add grain

• Ethanol Plant by-products fed to cattle, slurry through water system

• Feedlot manure spread on local farms

Paul Hinwood UK Scholar

A Complete System in the UK

The Future @ “Mayfield”

• Fodder crops grown (DM Factory)

• Crop rotations used to get nutrient, disease and weed control benefits

• Irrigation used to fill the seasonal gap growing WCC silage

• All crop production valued added before leaving farm

Partners in Business

• They all need to bring something to the table

• Important that are going the same direction

• Are we using our extended partners being our bank manager, accountant and stock agent to their full potential

What are we Producing?

• Grain-Have we got grain on the brain? • Are there by-products we are not

recognizing?• Can we value add to what we are growing?• Are we exporting our primary produce for

someone else’s profit?• Can we reduce the seasonal & commodity

price risk of our enterprises?• Can we create year round supply?

Australian Nuffield Farming Scholarships

A World Experience

Scholarships exclusively for Australian primary producers

  The mission of the Australian Nuffield Farming Scholars’ Association is to promote excellence in all

aspects of Australian agricultural production, distribution and management through the adoption of local and international best practice and continuous development of a unique network of industry leaders

and innovators

Further information

 Phone: 61 2 6964 6600

Fax: 61 2 6964 1605

Email: enquiries@nuffield.com.au

 

Further details on Nuffield may be downloaded from the Nuffield

website: www.nuffield.com.au