New Zealand flavour added to Chilean milk

Sarah and Mark Speight at the hacienda.

09-03-2009 | Joanna Grigg

Mark and Sarah Speight work the new frontier for New Zealand dairy farmers.

The Kiwi husband and wife team are both employed by Manuka SA, a company that milks about 16,000 cows on 22,500ha near Osorno, in the south of Chile.

The total operation of 14 farms makes it the biggest privately-owned milk producer in Chile but investors are mainly NZ-based.

The southern part of Chile is popular with Kiwis as it has similar climate characteristics to parts of NZ. Pasture growth is excellent and the volcanic soils are naturally fertile and predominantly free-draining.

Sarah oversees the milk production from the 14 farms and 35 dairies and is in charge of 320 staff. She is part of the executive team and spends 90% of the day speaking Spanish.

"It's a demanding job but I love it."

Mark is in charge of 13 dairies on the largest farm, the 20,000ha Hacienda Coihueco.

The farms are a mix of the old and the new. Some have modern 40-a-side herringbone milking sheds, calf rearing sheds and improved pastures. Others have smaller, older sheds. All are on twice-a-day milking. The top farm is producing 14,000L/ha and there is a lot of potential to match this on other farms as they are developed.

The southern hacienda area overseen by Mark winters 5000 cows (about two cows/ha). The hacienda was bought by Manuka Farms in March 2008.

Initial investments in farms by the company started in 2005. Another Kiwi, Glenn Thrush, runs the northern hacienda units as well as being a sharemilker.

At the farm level, Chilean administrators run up to four sheds each. Cows are mainly Friesian of USA and Dutch genetics but NZ genetics are being introduced.

Mark's job is to manage a team of Chilean administrators to implement farm policy set by the executive.

Paddocks are being subdivided and the feeding system is being changed from mainly concentrate and silage-based to feeding cows on pasture for most of the year.

Farm development is cheaper in Chile compared to NZ and most materials are readily available. However, finding the expertise to build and install milking sheds and the accompanying technology can be difficult.

Manuka has a New Zealander, Chris White, overseeing development and employing local contractors.

Only five months into the job, Mark has found this summer a challenging season. It's been very dry, only 30-50mm of rainfall in February when usually they expect 150-200mm at this time. Rainfall across the farms is 1200-1500mm each year and the majority falls between April and August.

Most herds are on 30-day paddock rotations, to match feed supply. Supplements and concentrates are being fed, which is not really economic in the short term according to Sarah.

"But with autumn rain imminent it is important to keep as many cows in milk as possible."

Sarah believes that despite the dry, lifting soil fertility and developing more hectares and converting it to dairy production is a better investment than irrigation.

This is particularly true for the Hacienda Coiheuco, which has low Olsen P levels (between four and 15).

"We are aiming to get to levels of 25 so are investing in capital fertiliser."

Traditionally nitrogen (N) has been the main fertiliser applied, but increasingly Triple Super is being used. N prices have fallen from NZ$1200 to NZ$700/tonne and is picked to fall further.

Winter can be long, from April through to November. The Chileans often house cattle during winter because of the wet. The NZ approach is to winter cows on pasture but, with rain every day in August, this has been a challenge.

"It's not unlike parts of Southland," says Mark.

A goal has been to move all cows to a spring calving date, as previously calving was spread throughout the year. Some cows are wintered off.

Natural pasture species are mainly browntop and native grasses. Perennial ryegrass and white clovers have been introduced and are thriving. Annual ryegrass is used for winter feed as part of the development programme and to make silage.

Educating staff is one of Mark's jobs and he runs a farm discussion group.

"Some of them have been on the farm all their lives but lack formal systems training."

Sarah says the one thing she really appreciates is the attitude of the staff.

"People here really enjoy their work. They are always positive and have a big smile."

She believes that because Chile has been relatively poor compared to NZ standards, locals value education and work opportunities very highly.

Many farms are owned and run by local Chileans, although wealthy absentee owners from Santiago also own farms in the area. The lakes and mountain scenery are a big draw card.

Germans who emigrated during the late 1800s make up a unique part of the farming community. Buildings, cuisine and farming methods are quite European in nature and it is common to see blonde-haired blue-eyed Chileans.

Mark is always on the lookout for Chilean farming methods or pasture species that could be of use to NZ. But at the moment the flow of technology and information is pretty much one way, from NZ to Chile.

"I haven't found anything yet that we could say ‘hey, we could adopt this in NZ'."

As an example of Chilean ways giving way to Kiwi, horses are being phased out and replaced with bicycles, trucks and motorbikes.

"Cows were pushed too fast with horses and lameness was an issue."

Horses are still used for dry stock and it is not uncommon to see a horse and cart on the farm for transporting calf milk.

Mark was bought up on Wether Hill, a sheep and cattle farm near Otautau, Southland. Both he and Sarah trained as dairy consultants.

Before their stint in Chile, they spent 18 months working for the Pakistan Dairy Development Company, with the aim of helping farmers improve production and develop the dairy industry.

The small numbers of cows and lack of fencing meant it was hard to lift farm production from subsistence to supplying excess milk. Tethering cows without water or feed impacted hugely on production.

"Pakistan farming is pretty much the third world of the third world," says Mark.

"Chilean poverty doesn't touch Pakistan poverty."

He has found that in Chile many more people are literate so it is much easier to train them in things like treating mastitis, rotational grazing and herd recording.

"There are some excellent Chilean farmers who run very profitable businesses and we have several local farmers with whom we are in regular contact."

Sarah has found that local farmers are very helpful when gathering information on management and farm policy decisions.

Most Chilean office workers start work late, about 9am, but work through to at least 6.30pm. Milkers start much earlier.

It is standard to eat dinner at 9.30pm, washed down with plenty of red wine.

Mark and Sarah's daughters Hannah (9) and Abigail (8) attend a local Spanish-speaking primary school in Osorno.

The Speight family are enjoying the opportunity to experience a new culture and taking on the challenge of integrating NZ farming methods into a new country.

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