John McCarty
“Honestly, by the time they had all calved you wouldn’t have known how sick they had been”
John and Donna McCarty no longer use intermammary antibiotics for mastitis or dry cow treatment, which has saved them money and improved herd health. The couple farm 142 hectares (350 acres) at Riverlea near Kaponga, in South Taranaki (near Mt Egmont) milking 320-head through a 44-bale rotary.
They are progressing towards a F8/J8 herd with a production average of 500-550kg Milk Solids (MS) per cow.
Their production is sitting at 1250Kg MS per ha, and they recently recorded their highest production on-farm at 159,970Kg MS. Their average BMCC [Bulk Milk Cell Count] runs at 120,000.
Their local vet practice acknowledges all of its clients’ level of antibiotic use on-farm with a ranking between one and 10 – with 10 being the highest. The area average is seven. McCarty’s is 1.5 – one of the lowest within this practice.
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