Managing a herd of 620 Jersey cows, Mike Robinson and Sheree Irwin have focused on breeding for greater efficiencies, achieving impressive results in the process.
Mike Robinson and Sheree Irwin from Inglewood take great pride in ranking in the top 3% for both breeding worth (BW) and production worth (PW) in New Zealand.
With a herd average BW of $326 and PW of $345, their deep passion for their cows drives their commitment to making rapid genetic progress.
“I’m proud of where our herd sits. They average 450kg in liveweight and produce an average of 444kg of milksolids. Our top performing cows can pump up to 650-700kgMS which I think is especially impressive for Jerseys” Mike says.
They milk 620 predominantly Jersey cows and place a strong emphasis on udders, type and stature when choosing bulls. Mike wants a big, robust Jersey cow that milks well and lasts a long time in the herd.
“I have always been fussy with my cows. Animals are my passion for farming. I can recall random information about where on the farm certain cows were born and who their mothers and grandmothers are.”
The goal is to have a full Jersey herd. They use Jersey bulls for their mating strategy, and there are only a few crossbreeds in the herd from when they increased numbers.
When Mike plans his mating programme, he assesses the cows and identifies any who have specific traits he wants to improve. Then he uses CRV’s SireMatch programme to match bulls who are strong in those desired traits to mate to those cows.
The rest of the herd is mated to a combination of LIC premier sires and sexed semen. They artificially inseminate for 10 weeks total – four weeks of Jersey semen followed by six weeks of short-gestation semen. They don’t use any bulls for natural mating.
LIC has contract-mated a number of Mike and Sheree’s cows and invited them to become part of the VikingGenetics programme, which is designed to help bring some diversity into the Jersey genetics pool in NZ.
“It’s in collaboration with a Danish breeding company, aiming to improve the diversity around Jersey breeding with some different blood lines. We used 35 straws last year and I’m looking forward to seeing how the progeny look and produce”
One of their heifers was also selected for some embryo work with LIC. Mike was excited to have his genetics recognised and was fortunate to get 10 heifers from some of the embryos himself.
“Must be something good in that family we’ve been working on that they liked,” he says. “Pretty interesting and special to be part of!
“It’s exciting to be seeing the results, it’s taken years of breeding and management to get the herd where it is now. And we haven’t gotten too carried away with feeding lots of supplements to achieve high production.”
His focus is cow condition. He monitors it throughout the season and if he has any concerns, he preferentially feeds or dries certain cows off early.
The farm has in-shed feeding and they feed a basic blend of palm kernel extract (PKE), dried distillers grain (DDG) and some tapioca and kibbled maize year round. If conditions change, like a shortage of pasture, Mike might adjust the amount of feed, though he usually keeps the blend consistent.
A stand-off shelter that can house 500 cows was built on the farm a few years ago. It is mainly used from May to September to protect the pasture as they keep the cows and weaner heifers on farm during winter.
The cows are run in three mobs on a two-day grazing rotation and every second day they come into the shelter for a top-up of silage and palm kernel overnight.
Sheree is in charge of calf rearing and they rear around 160-170 heifers every season but need only 120-130 for themselves, so there is always a surplus to sell. Mike selects which calves he wants to keep by assessing their breeding values (BVs) and their mother’s performance. They find the surplus calves easy to sell being high-index Jerseys.
The basis of their herd came from Mike’s parents, Graham and Vanda Robinson, who own a farm close by.
After school, Mike launched into a Taratahi Agricultural course in Stratford, and worked on his parents’ home farm for 18 months, milking 550 cows. Then an opportunity came up on another of his parents’ farms and he got the chance to be a herd manager.
He worked up to the manager role and bought into the herd till he reached 50:50. After a few years he and Sheree, who he had met through New Zealand Young Farmers, purchased the farm from his parents. That was in 2015.
In 2018 they also purchased a neighbouring dairy farm that they have kept separate from the main farm. They had managers running it for the first three years, but it was challenging to manage everything, especially staff time off. They have had contract milkers, Brett and Kunthea Matthews, running it for the past three seasons, which has alleviated some pressure.
“It’s working really well. It has taken the pressure off us and we can still see what’s going on, being right next door, and we catch up with them weekly.”
Mike tries to keep things simple across both farms and both run similar systems.
On the main farm, there are three working full time, including Mike: Adam Murphy the 2IC and a farm assistant Jason Goble, while Adam’s partner Jordan Lee Mawkes helps Sheree with the calves too.
With a capable team, they have been able to split the cows into two herds for the first time, which Mike had been keen to do for a few years.
“I always knew the benefits of running separate herds as that’s what they do on my parents’ farm. Now we are able to preferentially feed the younger cows and prevent competition from the older cows. We just had to wait till we had a good team to support it,” Mike says.
“We run two herds now. The young girls are all together in a herd of 240 and the older girls are in another of roughly 400. It gives us a chance to look after the younger cows more and try to maximise production and in-calf rates.”
This season Mike and Sheree have started leasing a 90 hectare support block from Mike’s parents, where they are running all of their youngstock. Eventually they hope to purchase it.
It’s been a busy few years building their business but Mike and Sheree have enjoyed the journey. For now, it’s about breeding good-producing Jersey cows and continuing to enjoy the farm, the cows and family life with their four children: rugby-mad Raigan, 10 and Tyler, 6, and Lucia, 3 and Lochlainn, 1.
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