CIAS-sponsoredresearch onsustainable,

integrated, andalternative

agricultural systems

New Zealand internships provide eye-opening experienceWisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers Special Report

This “stand-off”or sacrifice paddock took a beating during NewZealand's wet, muddy winter.

must say it was the hardest I’ve everworked for free, but somehow I reallydidn’t mind. I knew that the knowledge Igained was priceless.”

Those are the words of Mike Tomandl who recentlycompleted a dairy farm internship in New Zealand.He and fellow intern Joe Heimerl went to NewZealand in July and August 2001. Prior to the trip,Tomandl and Heimerl completed their courseworkin the Wisconsin School for Beginning DairyFarmers through the UW-Madison Center forIntegrated Agricultural Systems and the Farm andIndustry Short Course.

The interns came home with an appreciation of theadvantages of the dairy industry at home. “Mostfarmers in New Zealand could only wish that theyhad the amount of money to work with that we do,”says Heimerl.

Tomandl and Heimerl worked on two farms on theNorth Island of New Zealand. They each spenteight weeks on farms and spent one week touringthe country. Support for the internships wasprovided by the Babcock Institute for InternationalDairy Research and Development.

“I encourage all of the students to take advantageof farm internships,” says Dick Cates, Coordinatorof the Wisconsin School for Beginning DairyFarmers. These internships provide valuable hands-on experience and help interns decide what theywant—and don’t want—to try on their own farms.

“These students were unique for the School in thatthey are the first ‘second generation’ grass-baseddairy farmers in the program,” says Cates. “That putthem in a great position to really put their NewZealand experience in perspective.”

Working internships on two farms provided a goodbasis for comparison. Heimerl says, “The differencebetween the two (farms) has been a very eyeopening experience that I will be basing many ofmy future decisions on.” He was able to observedifferences that are helping him define a manage-ment style he would like to develop.

The interns saw some farming practices that wereunlike what they see in the U.S. Tomandl wasshocked to see the cows coming off a wet field thatwas more mud than grass. “When it is very wet,cows are often ‘stood off ’ a pasture at night and fedstored feed to save the pastures,” Tomandl reports.“When 75 percent of your land is on an incline,cows can do a lot of damage.”

UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems

The Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers provides training in grass-based dairy farming. Students cancomplete the 17-week Farm and Industry Short Course, or complete the Grass-Based Dairy Seminar on its own. Thisseminar is taught by a team of leading grass farmers, agency staff, and university and extension faculty. Distanceeducation is available for the Grass-Based Dairy Seminar.

Internships are optional and are typically completed on Wisconsin grass-based dairy farms.

For more information on the School, contact Coordinator Dick Cates at (608) 588-2836 or e-mail rlcates@mhtc.net

The UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems conducts research and outreach on sustainableagricultural and food systems. For more information, call 608-262-5200.

New Zealand dairy farmer Murray Douglass finds a newborncalf on pasture. The interns were surprised by calf care in NewZealand.

The interns had an opportunity to milk cows in an open shedparlor, like the one above.

Low milk prices in New Zealand inspire low-cost innovations. Here,barrels of rainwater are being dumped to wash a concrete lot.

Heimerl was struck by the importance New Zealandfarmers put on their lanes. The muddy New Zealandwinters in that area make good lanes a necessity.“They do not ever run cattle on unimproved lanesor put temporary lanes across paddocks,” notesHeimerl.

Both interns were amazed at the calf care (or lackof it) and the resulting healthy, robust calves. Calves

are born out on pasture, and put in a shed 12 to 24hours later. Farmers in New Zealand feed themcolostrum for two months, then put them on pas-ture. Tomandl says, “Newborn (calves) were maybelicked by the mother, but they were probablyexposed to rain shortly thereafter so they wereseldom dry when they reached their shelter.”

The calf sheds are drafty and overcrowded, withbedding only changed every other year. “With allthis said you would think these calves were in badshape, but to my surprise just the opposite washappening ... they had a quality in their young stockthat you don’t always see here,” Tomandl observes.“They were very hardy and had a desire to live,which can’t always be said about American calves.”

Heimerl observed that combining low-cost NewZealand techniques with higher U.S. milk pricescould be a “sweet green (grass and money)combination for putting the profit back in this greatbusiness we call dairy farming.”

Tomandl liked the attitude of his host farmers. “Ifthere is one thing we should all remember, it is this:keep it simple,” he says. “Dairy farming is only ashard as you make it.”

Published by the UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, 1450 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706; 608-262-5200;http://www.wisc.edu/cias. Printed on recycled paper. January, 2002. Photos courtesy Mike Tomandl.