It is a figure many would give their eye-teeth to achieve, but this perfectionist is far from satisfied.
When The Weekly Times caught up with Mick he was in the tractor rolling silage, one of the few times it is possible to pin the Inverloch farmer down long enough for a chat.
The 48-year-old starts at 3am and reckons he “tries” to finish by 6pm on the four days he is rostered to milk the 500-cow herd with his wife, Paula.
“Paula is an incredibly important part of the farm business,” Mick said.
“She does the bookwork, washing up and calf-rearing and we team up to do the animal husbandry work, like drenching and vaccinations.”
In his last year of school, the couple’s 18-year-old son, Robbie, and another casual milker add to the farm’s lean labour force.
Even so, Mick’s three non-milking days are at least 12 hours’ long.
Mick describes the farm as a one-and-a-half-person operation, thanks to the decision to adopt once a day — or OAD — milking two years ago.
“We went to OAD because it was difficult to find reliable labour with the attention to detail I like,” Mick said. “I hated the stress of the last-minute phone calls from people saying they couldn’t come in the morning.”
Cell counts rose from the farm’s former benchmark of about 100,000 cells/ml although, at 160,000-180,000 cells/ml, they remain well within Saputo’s premium quality range.
Production dropped 30 per cent in the first OAD season, but rebounded by 16 per cent this year. “I’m optimistic we’ll match the production levels we used to have,” Mick said.
PAY DAY
EVEN so, production per cow is not among the metrics used by the Hughes family.
“Instead of setting production goals, we set a budget and farm for profitability every day,” Mick said.
“We peaked this season at 1.7kg of milk solids per cow while feeding 500 grams of wheat and are currently producing 1.12kg of milk solids per cow with 950g of grain.
“It normally adds up to 600 or 700kg of supplements a year.
“I look to the grain to milk price ratio, which needs to be at 0.7 or 0.8.
“If it’s 0.5, I’m happy to feed more. I only add more grain if it makes me more money or puts condition on the cows.
“While I won’t let the cows drop below a body condition score of 3.5, I do see condition as a commodity.”
The herd’s diet is dominated by grass.
Mick’s farming passion is pasture and the herd consumes 10 to 13 tonnes of dry matter a hectare.
Making the most of Inverloch’s 955mm annual average rainfall, Mick does not irrigate and barely uses summer crops.
“I do a weekly farm walk and bring the cows in when there are 100 to 110 cow days of feed and like to have them out of the paddock at 20 cow days. I hate wasting grass,” Mick said.
The approach translates to an unconventionally low residual of 3-4cm.
The goal is to reach a stocking rate of four cows to the hectare, which Mick believes will provide the grazing pressure necessary to maximise productivity.
To grow herd numbers, the Hughes family is rearing 162 replacements this year. Young stock graze two 67ha turnout and fodder blocks that complement the 150ha milking platform.
The transition to OAD coincided with the use of New Zealand genetics and average body weight is 440kg.
While Mick says he loves black and white cows, “big Friesians don’t stick in my system”. A strict culling program has no tolerance for cows that fail to get in calf.
“We don’t keep any empties,” Mick said. “If it’s a year where fodder is tight, we sell empties straight after the preg test.
“If there’s more feed on offer, they go when they’re no longer profitable and there are no carryovers.”
QUALITY WINS
WITH the need to grow numbers on one hand and a strict culling regimen on the other, reproduction is critical. Mick aims for a 5 per cent empty rate but was disappointed with 13 per cent last year, which he put down to tightening the calving season to eight weeks without the use of induction.
The entire herd calves between August 1 and September 21, allowing the hard-working couple a week or more of annual holidays.
Mick has developed a custom breeding program. The herd is artificially inseminated for five days before progesterone shots, followed by another five to six days of AI. Then, the bulls are in for 2½ weeks while the returns for synchronisation come back in.
Perhaps the only impediment to Mick’s four-cows-a-hectare goal is debt. Mick and Paula bought the farm seven years ago and want to grow equity before investing in more infrastructure. The industry downturn slowed progress and put capital works on hold.
At the top of the list are improvements to the 25-unit swingover dairy and a calving pad. Milking takes 4½ hours from cups on to cups off and the flat coastal farm can get very wet.
Still, Mick says the downturn has not changed anything about the way he farms and is upbeat about the industry.
Asked how he would advise his 30-year-old self, Mick did not hesitate.
“Buy a cow, buy 10 cows, buy more cows!” he said.
“What other investment has the potential to grow 25 per cent each year?
“It’s the easiest way to grow your assets, and better than property.
“I was thinking earlier that I could see a point where I would like to wind down, but when I really think about it I don’t even want to imagine it.”
