Peter and Kay Eliason

'After 20 years you can easily get into a rut but I'm really enjoying what I'm doing ' I have  a new focus and we're meeting new challenges every day..."

"We increased our production from 83,000 milksolids to 116,000 in three years and put that money into a feed pad, a side delivery feed wagon and other facilities that are saving the farm a lot of money each year.  Financially it has also enabled us to take on another labour unit and safely support a growing family and children at boarding school.    

Our stock have grown a lot bigger and a lot healthier and we only see the vet now to do inoculations or if we've got a difficult calving.  It's all about planning, keeping your eye on your grass covers, setting targets and really keeping your finger on the pulse.  It's extremely accurate in terms of results.  It's just part of our routine now.  You've really got to work smarter these days and this was a fast learning curve but we're really starting to reap the rewards.'

Mark and Judy Shaw

"Our Economic Farm Surplus (EFS) has increased from $1,600 to $2,800/ha."

Mark Shaw with Soren Moller

'Intelact has helped us turn this farm into one of the most highly productive and profitable farms in New Zealand.  We have moved from 1200kgMS/ha to consistently produce 1850kgMS/ha whatever the weather dishes out.  Our Economic Farm Surplus (EFS) has increased from $1,600 to $2,800/ha.'

Mark and Judy Shaw
Ohaupo, Central Waikato 

Kevin Davidson

"I can vouch that you'll learn enough in the first couple of years to set yourself up for life"

Kevin Davidson with Intelact consultant David Beca.

'I watched with interest when Intelact did some trial work for friends and when we bought our own farm after share milking, we went with them straight away. That was eight years ago and while David was always available we probably only saw him two or three times a year after the initial two years and now do most of the consultations over the phone.

We've always found them extremely positive and when we sold our farm in Orini and were looking at properties in Hawke's Bay, it felt good knowing we had good advice because Intelact has a wealth of knowledge throughout the country.

I've been to most of the Intelact seminars and conferences and have found them really good ' challenging thoughts and really getting down to the grass roots of things. You can ask them the hard questions and get real answers that don't just gloss over things. They are really keen to make it work. I can vouch that you'll learn enough in the first couple of years to set yourself up for life. I suppose I have always been looking for better ways of doing things and operating more efficiently and I guess being at the cutting edge of dairy farming has enabled me, with Intelact's help, to advance quickly.

Two seasons ago we moved to our present property, setting up an equity partnership and converting a 350 ha sheep and deer farm to a fully developed and irrigated dairy farm. With the help and support of Warren this time, we were able to use the Udder model to very accurately predict our feed requirements and production. We milked some 1300 cows in our first season milking, cows which I may add were totally supplementary fed for the first two months of their lactation due to the whole farm being regrassed at a late stage. This comprehensive information and planning was invaluable when seeking our bank's approval to go ahead. So along with Intelact's help and some very trying conditions we were able to achieve 380 MS/cow and 1380 MS/ha in a conversion year. Now well into our second season production will climb to an estimated 430 MS/cow and 1650 MS/ha, which will put our farm approximately 100% above the district average.

I can fully endorse that this being the second property we have achieved this level of top production and profitability in shows the success of the Intelact system.

Even though others have been caught with eczema and had a couple of poor years with the droughts, we have always had good years.

Kevin Davidson
Plantation Road Dairies
Onga Onga, Hawkes Bay. 

Rex Ellwood

' ...my cows turned around within a short period of time and their production continued to increase to today's level of 400kgMS/cow.'Rex Ellwood - Hopewood Jersey Farm Woodville, Southern Hawkes Bay

My first introduction to Intelact was when I called on my local veterinarian and Intelact consultant, Steve Harvey to address a problem in my small herd of pure-bred jersey cows; they were well fed but not producing to their potential.

He diagnosed that the problem was an unbalanced diet that was interfering with the cows' ability to produce. He explained the problem to me and we set about correcting it. The feeds that I was giving the cows were too high in protein. Balancing the cow's diet certainly has its place as my cows turned around within a short period of time and their production continued to increase to today's level of 400kgMS/cow. The cows now produce better and longer throughout the year and we are still only modifying a grass based dairy system with a few supplements that assist with their production. These have comprised of mainly maize silage, by-products and nitrogen applications.

Farming with Intelact is very stimulating as we have pushed the traditional boundaries of production to 1800kgMS / Ha this year. This is a great improvement from what we used to do - 822kgMS/ Ha. Our EFS has also risen in proportion to $3220.00 / Ha.

We wintered 5 cows / Ha on the farm and settled on milking 4.6 cows / Ha early in the season. Most cows that dropped out were for a lot of different reasons and nothing stands out as significant. At this stocking rate we are now achieving 400kgMS/cow/year. The cows remain in good condition ( approx. condition score 5) all year round, the heifers are grazed off but we have 30 yearlings on the farm till May each year.

The only capital cost to achieving this better production was a low cost non-concrete feed pad and extra cows.

Intelact also run a thoroughly professional office where everything is done correctly the first time all the time.

Rex Ellwood - Hopewood Jersey Farm
Woodville, Southern Hawkes Bay

Our operating profit per ha is more than double that of the NZ top 10%

Brendon and Rochelle O'Leary

With the combination of knowledge from our Intelact consultant Bruce Thomas and dedicated farm management skills, our business profitability and productivity has dramatically increased. Production has lifted 65% over the last 4 seasons.

Major contributing factors are:

•  Increase stocking rate
•  Fully fed cows
• Longer lactation period
• Condensed calving
•  Milksolids per cow (producing 95% milksolids for total body weight)

Intelact's network for sourcing by-products and feeds is a valuable resource. It allows us to better prepare for climatic and seasonal changes. This has also allowed us to recently introduce split calving, giving us the opportunity to produce milk profitably and efficiently all year round.

Our tailor-made mixed ration system consists of brewers grain, palm kernel, and maize/grass silage. This is used in conjunction with our 15.4T/ha pasture harvest.

The 2002/2003 season produced 1,922 kgMS/ha (446 kgMS/cow) from our Friesian Jersey X herd. This has been achieved on 85 ha of consolidated peat land. The results speak for themselves, our operating profit /ha is more than double that of the NZ top 10% with a ROA (excluding capital gain) being 44% higher than New Zealand top 10% for 2002/03 at $3.60/kgMS (payout).

With the continued support of Intelact we now have the confidence to achieve our future farming goals.