Water quality has long been an issue for dairy farmers – but a new product aimed at quelling mastitis has now combated the effects of challenging water conditions on New Zealand farms.
The latest advance in udder hygiene, Ecolab's Hibitane 2 Plus, is a new chlorhexidine-based teat spray. Its unique formulation has been specifically designed to work harder on New Zealand farms challenged by poor water quality, promoting udder health and milk quality, protecting the dairy farmer's most important asset – cows.
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Farmers can now sign up for a free sample and enter a competition to win a holiday trip to Queenstown for a farming couple and "their two besties".
Mastitis has been a powerful challenge to the dairy industry and farmers. Figures from DairyNZ suggest that teat sprays and mastitis treatments can reduce infection by 50 per cent. That's an important figure when Dairy Insight statistics show that, for an average herd of 315, mastitis can cost a farmer up to $11,500 a year or $20 per cow – and the overall dairy industry a massive $180 million.
Production has increased markedly even since then. DairyNZ figures show total milk production has increased from 1267 million kg in 2006 to 1896m in 2019-2020, a touch under 50 per cent increase. Herd production statistics show that the nation's dairy cows produced an average of 330kg of milk solids per cow in 2006-2007 and 385kg in 2019-2020, a 16 per cent increase.
Diny Walker, Head of marketing at Ecolab, says New Zealand's well-known water quality problems previously threatened anti-mastitis efforts: "Poor water quality has, in the past, challenged the efficacy of Chlorhexidine teat sprays.
"Water quality is highly variable – we know that a farm can have good water quality and is unaffected but the guy over the fence may have more issues because his bore or his water source is affected.
"We know this is a big deal for New Zealand farmers because, from this season, there is a particular emphasis by some processors on milk premiums for higher quality milk."
Walker says Ecolab products are also mindful of animal health – mastitis can cause cows great pain – and the competition is partly a nod towards farmers' mental health, given the number of challenges (water quality among them) the sector has faced in recent years.
For the last two years Ecolab has run the What a Relief promotion in Otago and Southland, the brainchild of Animal Health District Sales Manager, Darren Stenning. He'd heard from many clients they were reluctant to head away on holiday.
"Farmers were getting overwhelmed," Stenning says. "They were living and breathing the business to the point where they couldn't leave anyone else in charge. There was a picture of rural mental health issues and fatigue. Some of their stories ripped at your heart because they couldn't break the chain."
Last year's winners, Luke and Sarah Bosma, who milk 300 cows on their 100ha property at Waianiwa, just northwest of Invercargill, hadn't been away for longer than day trips for several years.
Sarah, who filled out the entry form, can't remember what reasons she gave as to why they needed time off-farm - understandable as she's in charge of calf rearing, tag teams with Luke on other farm tasks, plus she looks after their five children under 10, including twins about to turn two.
"We run the farm by ourselves and had had a full-on year," she says. "We hadn't been out of the house much so it got us off the farm to be able to just spend time together."
For more information: www.ecolabpromotions.com