Milk producing in Sri Lanka remains a challenge: NZ farmer

By Zahara Zuhair
According to Murray Douglas, an award-winning second generation farmer from New Zealand, to have a productive dairy farm, it is all about doing the small things on time and concentrating on small things consistently. 
Being one of the four farmers of Fonterra’s new volunteer farmer scheme, recently he was in Sri Lanka to help the local dairy farmers to share his expertise and to work with them.

Mirror Business met with him to learn about his experience in Sri Lanka and to get an insight into how to run a farm as a business as well as how to improve milk production and farmer incomes. 
Below are the excerpts. 
 

Could you briefly introduce yourself and give your work background?
I started dairy farming some 40 odd years ago – the Herringbone family business in New Zealand starting with 200 cows and now looking after about 2,500 cows. Four years ago, we ventured into Brazil and we developed large-scale tropical dairy farming in Brazil. We are looking after about 1,600 cows there. I’m pretty lucky that my elder son is the operations manager in New Zealand; my younger son is the operations manager in Brazil. So I get to enjoy other things as well, that is why I’m here.

I had the Nuffield scholarship in 1997, where I travelled the world for six months and studied agriculture and business internationally. Once Fonterra was formed, I was there for 12 years in the Fonterra shareholder council, so I understand the working of Fonterra as well.
 

How has been your experience in Sri Lanka?
I had an amazing time, really privileged to be here and to be part of this programme. I’ve got to see the challenges the team is going through sitting up in the farm and to be part of the physical challenges and helping the team to work through challenges. We made an amazing progress in the five weeks. 

It’s been two to three days each week working with the supply relation officers (SROs), then being hosted by some amazing families who have farms with three to four cows.
 

What kind of activities were you involved in?
We got the opportunity to work through some plans, make some practical suggestions which would make a difference. For example, we met a person three weeks ago, who was going out and cutting roadside grass to feed his cows. He had four cows. By changing his focus, what he meant to look for by bringing in better quality grass, he has increased his production by 25 percent – that has a huge effect on his family. And what they were subsequently looking for was more supply for Fonterra.

It is still a long way to go; 95 percent needs to be done, but we made some really good progress and really good learning came out of here. 
Two key areas of challenge faced were giving the advice in right size to the particular farmer and seeking farmers who want to expand business though their planning stages.
 

How about the response you received from the Sri Lankan farmers?
Sri Lankan farmers are very shy but hungry for knowledge. They have been trying to make a difference. 
 

What is the difference you see between a Sri Lankan and a New Zealand farmer?
A huge difference – specially the level of knowledge here. What they used to think about it was quiet narrow; they don’t have the experience to stick to their business at all. More importantly it appears that the systems have not been good in providing them any of that support.
 

According to you, what are the areas that should be improved in Sri Lankan dairy farming?
The key thing for me is very simple for most farmers – focusing on a better product, better feed for the cow, making sure cows have good quality water. It is about focusing on reproductive performance to ensure that the cows keep making calves – the key thing which really makes the difference.
 

What could be done to increase the milk production in Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka is going for an era of struggle to be competitive internationally as a milk producer; it is challenging. What you have to do is, just focus on the resources available and chose the parts of the country that are more suitable for farming and the parts that are not.
 

What type of machine technology is most commonly used today for dairy farming?
For me, for a small farm of four to five cows, farm technology needed is not great. They are probably hand milking; they have the ability to cut the grass with the grass cutter – so it’s easy for the cows to eat.
And we need to be looking at the facilities animals need – give the cow the best facilities they can have in a good environment.
 

In your opinion, what are the methods that should be followed to raise and nurture a cow?
When the cow is born, you must absolutely make sure that fresh colostrum is given (colostrum provides the calf with protection from disease), make sure it is well fed with milk, make sure it grows and this should be done consistently.

It is a matter of making sure for the man to make the cows the ability to make milk by giving the right amount of nutrition. 
 

What are the factors that should be considered when starting a dairy farm and selecting a location?
It depends on what resources are available locally. So, before you start a dairy farm, you should have the ability to have food for cows, a facility to milk the cow – if you have a farmer, if you have got lots of labours, a big family to help with – those are the factors that should be taken into account. And think about having the best possible cows.
 

Any other messages you would like to convey?
For me, as a New Zealand dairy farmer, Sri Lanka is a really important market for us, we sell milk powder here.
Dairy farming is about concentrating on small things consistently. Most of the farmers know the issues but don’t know how to deal with them. For example, if a cow is hungry - they don’t feel right, it is just the way people are. 
And the important thing to do is, delivering good quality and safe milk to people around the world.