OPS Dairies Ltd

OPS Dairies Ltd 50:50 Sharemilking 900 Cows in Valetta, Mid Canterbury.

Farm Update 🐄We’ve been running a lighter team in the shed recently, with two of our boys away in the Philippines visiti...
09/04/2026

Farm Update 🐄

We’ve been running a lighter team in the shed recently, with two of our boys away in the Philippines visiting family for five weeks each. Lucky to have taken on Chanel as a milker to help cover the shortfall.

We’ve had our shed audit and are glad to have passed and have that out of the way until next time. Our heifers have also been teat sealed by Paddock Vets as we start to wind things down heading toward May.

A bit disappointed with our Johne’s results this round, with an increase in positive numbers compared to the last couple of years—something we’ll keep working through and managing closely.

We’re slowly pushing the round out and throwing in a bit of grass silage. Milk production is slowing slightly but still sitting within 1% of last year’s numbers.

We’ve also had a few irrigation pump issues, but thankfully the rain has kept demand low. And we had a friendly surprise visitor with a hot air balloon dropping in on farm!

Busy month on farm here at OPS 🐄🌱We’ve added some extra water troughs around the farm, which the girls have definitely b...
07/03/2026

Busy month on farm here at OPS 🐄🌱

We’ve added some extra water troughs around the farm, which the girls have definitely been appreciating on the warmer days.

Pregnancy scanning is done and dusted and we’re pleased with the results — a slight improvement on last season. We also completed a herd test this month to see how everyone’s tracking.

The yards have been busy with weighing and drenching young stock, and the team have been working well to keep things ticking along.

The weather’s been a bit up and down. Colder days through the week have slowed grass growth slightly, but we’re still grazing on a 23-day round and will look to push that out over the coming weeks.

The cows are milking well at 2.05 MS/cow, although we’re still sitting about 1% down on production, with slow gains over the last few months.

While I was away at a Dairy Women’s leadership forum, Blake was holding down the fort solo parenting the boys. To make herd test morning easier they set up the rooftop tent and had a sleepover on the tanker loop — not a bad spot for it.

🌱 Ops Dairies – Summer Update 🌱The last couple of months have been a bit of a mixed bag weather-wise — off and on 🌦️Grea...
19/01/2026

🌱 Ops Dairies – Summer Update 🌱

The last couple of months have been a bit of a mixed bag weather-wise — off and on 🌦️
Great for farming… not so great for summer holidays 😅

That said, we’ve been lucky to get everyone some well-earned time off farm to enjoy family time over the break.

Pasture growth has been steady and the cows have consistently had plenty of grass in front of them. All calves are now off farm and the whole platform is back in the round. Considering we lost our mower earlier on, pasture quality has held up really well and is now looking very good 🌾
This past week has been a bit average with the weather, meaning we’ve had to offer cows more area during the wetter periods. Growth rates dipped to around 60kg DM/ha, with an average cover sitting at 2385.

Production has held strong through December and January 💪
We’re currently sitting at 2.21 MS/cow and are now only 1% behind last season, making solid gains on catching last year’s production.
We’ve had a few early scans done in December with solid results and slight improvements on last season 🤞 Final results will come through after the full scan in February.

Mastitis has been a challenge at times, with small waves popping up after weather events, but the team has been onto it early and doing a great job finding and treating cases quickly 👏

At this time of year the focus is on maintaining pasture quality, hitting residuals, keeping a close eye on pre-grazing covers, and making sure cows are fully fed to hold production. We’re also ticking off odd jobs on farm while staff take extended leave before autumn rolls around.

We did have a few curveballs over Christmas with irrigation pump issues and a mainline burst 😬 — never a quiet moment!

To top it off, we wrapped up early December with a great staff Christmas party at the Christchurch races 🏇🍻
Good food, a few bets on the horses, and plenty of laughs — well deserved after a big year.

Onwards into the rest of summer 🌞🐄

🐄 Farm Update – OPS Dairies Ltd 🌱Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to through October and into November on the farm!✅ 9...
12/11/2025

🐄 Farm Update – OPS Dairies Ltd 🌱

Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to through October and into November on the farm!

✅ 90% 3-week submission — we’re really happy with that result, and cow condition is looking great across the herd, especially our younger cows.

📊 Herd test results:

2.53 MS/cow

SCC sitting nicely at 95,000

Production up 6% for November, and down 3% for the season so far.
We’re hoping to catch up on season-to-date figures with cows milking well and production holding steady.

🌿 Pasture update:
The grass has finally taken off, with growth rates consistently 100+ over the last few pasture walks and an average cover of 2342.
It’s a nice change to finally give the feed-out wagon (and the team) a break for a bit!

We’ve had a huge silage stack delivered by Quigley’s — lush, top-quality feed that’s now safely covered and ready to go for when we need it later in the season.

We’ve also got 16ha of regrassing coming back into the round next week — great to see those paddocks bouncing back.

🐮 Calves:
The calves had their final drench and vaccine this week before heading off to Beth and Barry’s on December 1st.
A weigh-up yesterday showed strong, healthy growth — really happy with how they’re coming along.

☕ Milking’s been a bit slow at times, but coffee intakes remain at an impressive 4–5 cups per milking — keeping the crew running strong!

Heading into peak production 🥛🐄🌞 Starting to wean some calves off milk too 🙌
08/10/2025

Heading into peak production 🥛🐄🌞
Starting to wean some calves off milk too 🙌

Today was one of those days…Two team members down (the winter flu has done its rounds here 🙈). I walked into the calf sh...
19/09/2025

Today was one of those days…
Two team members down (the winter flu has done its rounds here 🙈). I walked into the calf shed this morning to find pen 7’s trough had decided to flood their whole pen with water. Safe to say, plan B was put in motion — calves outside earlier than planned!

The shed and pens have been holding up so well this season, but I think pen 7 has officially thrown in the towel. Cows are happy, calves are thriving (they’re really loving their meal right now), and the team will definitely be enjoying a well-earned rest tonight after a hands-on day.

Blake and I are heading away for a few days, so it’s been all go making sure everything runs smoothly. Farming never fails to keep us on our toes! 🐄🌱

🐄 OPS Dairies Update 🐄809 cows calved and 105 left to go — the team (and cows!) are ticking along nicely. We’ve got 767 ...
17/09/2025

🐄 OPS Dairies Update 🐄

809 cows calved and 105 left to go — the team (and cows!) are ticking along nicely. We’ve got 767 in the vat, doing 1800kg MS/day at 2.34kg per cow. Season to date sits at just over 51,500kg MS.

Mixed-age cows are on 57m² pasture with a grain/PK/silage mix, while the young girls are on 44m² of the same diet. We’re aiming to finish our 2nd round on the 25th of September, with soil temps slowly rising (fingers crossed those frosts are behind us!).

🚜 Farm jobs:

First round of Ammo25 is on, urea & super going next week

15ha of springer paddocks sprayed out ready for regrassing

New mineral line in place to make sure every cow gets exactly what she needs

We’re pretty happy with 262 replacement heifers in the shed and just 13 genuine milk fevers to date.

The wind has been relentless these past 10 days — no damage here, but we hope everyone else’s farms are holding up too. 💨

Bring on the warmer weather and peak production! 🌞🐄 🥛

"Orders fertiliser at 12:30" 👋 R and R Driving up the drive by 2:30! 🚛 Can't beat that service 👏 Grow Grass Grow 🌱🐄
18/08/2025

"Orders fertiliser at 12:30"
👋 R and R Driving up the drive by 2:30! 🚛
Can't beat that service 👏
Grow Grass Grow 🌱🐄

Pre-calving prep done right ✅🐄A solid team meeting today covering key systems, animal care, hygiene, and staff roles to ...
17/07/2025

Pre-calving prep done right ✅🐄
A solid team meeting today covering key systems, animal care, hygiene, and staff roles to set us up for a smooth calving 2025.

We even squeezed in a fun quiz to test our breed ID skills — plenty of laughs, but a few might need a refresher! 😅
Feeling organised and ready to roll with a top crew behind us. 🤠

🚛 Heifers & Carryovers Have Landed! 🐄We’ve welcomed 200 heifers and 30 carryovers this week, with 36 staying on farm and...
11/07/2025

🚛 Heifers & Carryovers Have Landed! 🐄
We’ve welcomed 200 heifers and 30 carryovers this week, with 36 staying on farm and another draft due next Thursday.

Our 36 heifer springers are now home and settling in well — kicking off their springer diet of grass, ryegrass straw, and grain.

Grain is going through the shed as we start feeding and training in the dairy — getting them familiar and ready for the season ahead! 💪🐮

We’re really happy with the condition they’ve come home in — they’re looking great thanks to our awesome grazier!


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