A new trial at the Northland Agricultural Research Farm (NARF) near Dargaville is looking at alternatives to buying in stock feed.
Dairy farmers have come to rely heavily on feed imported onto their farms, particularly palm kernel expeller (PKE), and there is widespread concern in the farming community about the impact if this feed was not available.
In addition, increased levels of imported feed have driven up stocking rates and farm working expenses, which has made farm systems more vulnerable during seasons with a lower milk price.
Removal of imported feed would have significant impacts on the productivity of New Zealand dairy farms. The NARF farm systems experiment is measuring the profit of three 28ha farmlets being run for three years with different feed inputs.
One farmlet is feeding cows pasture with no imported supplement.