Spring

Spring has sprung, it's the busiest time of year on farm!

The days are getting longer, warmer and sunnier and it's a lovely time to be on the farm! Calving is well underway, with most farms finishing calving in September. That means there are lots of calves to feed and look after. Farmers will feed calves milk twice a day, and as the calves get older, they will start to eat meal and grass as well. Milking is also back to twice a day on most farms, so it’s still a fairly busy season.

Grass usually grows the fastest in spring because of the good weather conditions. Farmers check paddocks and move cows to fresh grass to make sure nothing goes to waste and the cows eat the most nutritious grass to make the best milk.

It’s also the time of year to start planting crops that might be needed for feeding cows at the end of summer – things like turnips or maize.

Farmers monitor the cows' health closely to make sure they are healthy – you might not think it, but each dairy cow is an amazing athlete!

They eat about 18kgs of grass per day and walk for kilometres around paddocks and farm races. If you add to that the 20 litres of milk carried around in their udders, you’ll begin to see why cow health is so important.

Just like cows need to be healthy, kiwi kids need to be healthy too and enjoy the fresh spring air. Scroll down and check out all the farmtastic facts and activities Beetrice and I have found for you!