The Country 04/06/26: Simon Butler talks to Jamie Mackay

We talk cow nutrition and supplements v grass with an expert in the field.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the country. Here's a company that I've
had a lot to do with over the years, and
I go back to the Ross Highland days in Moronsville.
We were talking about Moronsville earlier in the week on
the Country when we were saluting Jeff Maber and a
giant cow, Mabel. It is the dairy and capital of
the country. And the company is Seals Winslow, founded in

(00:23):
Moronsville these days right around the country, in fact, a
subsidiary of Farmlands. Joining us on the show today is
Simon Butler. He's the nutrition expert from Seals Winslow. Simon,
here's a question for you, because we're facing like potentially
a super al Nino and maybe a milder and especially

(00:45):
drier winter. How does that affect like cow nutrition heading
into carving and setting up for peak peak production? Does
it make your life easier as a dairy farmer. Good afternoon,
by the way.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
She is doing you. Thank you. Yeah. I think it's
important to remember that we talk. You know, these alminos
and leninus have been really hot topic over the last
couple of years. It's important to remember that they're not
the only controlling factor in what the weather ends up doing.
And I think that you know, farmers are used to
not knowing what the weather is going to bring, and

(01:20):
that focus should really be on getting those fundamentals in
that foundation set going into you know, we can talk
about the possibly being a really dry summer, the up
going into summer, whether it's going to be dry or wet,
we want the cows to be and essentially the same
condition milking really well, maybe putting a bit of condition

(01:42):
on and being in carf So this first half of
the season we're really doing the same thing. There might
be some changes in the grass that we need to
balance out with our supplements and with our supplementary feeding,
but really the foundations are the same, and it's and
it's you know, there's a there's a bit of a
false economy. They're trying to predict the weather. As a

(02:03):
lot of farmers will know.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
What about the economy of supplements and high payout years,
it must be good. I mean, I'm a broken down
sheep farmer. I know a wee bit about dairy farming.
But it becomes a mathematical equation, doesn't it, Simon poke
it in one end, take it out the other, Yes,
and no, So.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
We want to make sure that whatever dollar we spending
on the dairy farm, it's going it's going to something
that's going to return an investment. And so feed cost,
whether it's your PK, whether it's your may siloge, we
want to, yes, look at the cost that it's going
to incur bringing it onto farm, but we want to
make sure that what the supplements we are bringing onto
farm are actually filling a gap and driving a productive outcome,

(02:46):
because we might depending on what the cow needs, depending
on what the grass is doing, we might get a
good response from one feed that might be a little
bit more expensive, and a cheaper feed might actually compound.
Some of the issue is that we're that we're that
we're running into on farm, So it's important to think
about where our money is going and not just that

(03:07):
ton price.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Okay, one more question for you. What this is a
bit off the script, but it does interest me. Are
the days of having like a mainly grass fed cow gone?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
No, definitely not. Obviously, it's one of our it's one
of our selling points is New Zealand Dairy Producers, is
that we milk, We milk our cows off grass and
that's that's not going to change. The issue is is
that as time goes on and we're encouraged to get
more efficiency in our systems and get more production about
out of what we do feed and our genetics improve

(03:40):
and our dairy herds, grass starts to show grass. Only
you know there are some nutritional gaps there and so
our job is nutrition consultants, is to really attempt to
fill those gaps and compliment that pass to get the
best result.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Hey, Simon Butler from Sales Winslow. Great to catch up.
I mentioned of course Ross Highland, the found and Morinsville.
Hello Ross. If you're listening. Another great Seals Winslow man
is the great Graham Smith. Just ask him anyhow. It's
good to good to catch up with a wonderful company.
I'll see you at field Days because you guys are
attached to the Farmland site site E one oh eight

(04:15):
where we'll be broadcasting from next week. Thanks for your time,
Simon

Speaker 2 (04:19):
No worries it all, Jamie, thank you very much,