SMASH has been set up to help dairy farmers to run successful businesses. We mainly achieve this by running events throughout New Zealand. These give farmers the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills which will stand them in good stead back on their own farms.
We also want to foster a supportive farming community – we are all in it together! SMASH is run by a group of New Zealand dairy farmers with a passion for the industry and for helping to build a strong and sustainable future for dairy farming. Read more
February 12, 2026
February 17, 2026
The last time I wrote calving was the next big thing to happen. Well, it arrived early as usual, but went well. We ended up with 100% live births, that is a first, and only assisted one heifer who had a large calf. Milk fever has been prevalent around the district and quite bad, so […]
Quite the interesting season thus far isn’t it? Saturated soils and NIWA telling us we have had a mild dry winter. Well, I can tell you from here in Te Poi 10mm over night might have well been 100 as we were on the knife-edge in terms of resorting to OAD until it dried out […]
A bit to report back on seeing it has been so long since my last blog. The season ended on the 24th May with production slightly down on last year, less than 1%. The cows did 350 kg milksolids which I am happy with in this OAD world. Lance was always going to struggle to […]
Isn’t it ironic that one of my previous blog’s headlines says, “There’s more to life than the back end of a cow”. Then here’s me milking 900 cows TAD for my milking job right now. Funny how sometimes things work out. But I feel ten years younger with less stress, more sleep ins and more […]
It has been quite the roller-coaster this season, especially in the upper North Island. It was a pretty tough winter by all accounts, plenty of rain to be had. Shame it wasn’t shared around a bit more because, wow, did we cop it during the early part of calving. But that was 6 to 7 […]
It matters how you adapt and move on as things happen. I am adapting to not milking cows every day as I have done for the last 50 years, yeah, that ages me! Surprisingly I didn’t find it as difficult as I thought it would be. Suddenly I don’t know which paddocks the cows are […]
Woow what a start to the season this has been. The heifers returned home at an average liveweight of 484 kg and condition scored at a 5.5 and going into calving our cows were at a 5 average. This season’s start has really tested our management skills as farmers, not only financially, with a drop […]
Hi all. I hope you are having a good start to the season. I hear that grass is short and it is no different here. We have used all our baled silage and are now on to pit silage. Between that and palm kernel we are keeping the girls happy. Lance is now doing the […]
My mind has never been CLEARER! The biggest relief and weight off my shoulders. Last season was the nail in the coffin and a good time to bow out of full-time farming. I honestly did not have the mental capacity or energy to continue…… (that burnt-out feeling). Physically I still had it in me, but […]
Thank you and your committee for your great work re SMASH events. We have gained several life changing ideas from these events.
At SMASH events we met like-minded people doing similar things.
It gave us confidence to know that there are people out there doing the same thing we are doing.
The positive vibe and the feeling of community amongst the farmers here was a highlight.
Can't sleep as am too excited after events!
This was a brilliant day. Refreshing, informative, varied and motivating.
“I love the fact that it is much more family-orientated, that is much more sustainable from a people perspective. My kids will grow up like I did, getting out on the farm, helping Dad in the shed. Ultimately, that is where the next generation of farmers comes from. I think we have done well to attract people from the urban setting, but I don’t think that is sustainable. You have to have environments where you can bring up families and that is one of the big benefits of small herds.”
“SMASH events are more relevant for smaller herds farmers, you don’t feel out of place as you are not among the big corporates. It’s good to have small events like SMASH. I would encourage anyone to go to a SMASH event if they get a chance. I enjoy the interaction with the people afterwards as much as the topics.”
“We like the SMASH events so much because they are at a good level, they are deep enough to be worthy of going, and practical enough that we can use them in everyday life. Getting off the farm to go to an event is like a holiday! We feel so refreshed afterwards, it’s like we have been away for ever!”
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