Greenfield: Buoyant April grass growth

The strip wire has been taken down in Kilkenny and cows are being allocated as much grass as they can eat at the moment. We have almost twice as much grass on the farm than we had in April 2013 when the farm was bare and we were feeding heavy (see Figure 1).

The better milk solids and lower feed cost are worth about €3 per cow per day at the moment. To the Kilkenny farm this is worth almost €1,000 per day or €7,000 per week in higher revenue and lower costs. How did I calculate this? Last year, the herd were on 5kg of meal, 4kg of silage and grazed grass. This week it’s only grazed grass and 1kg of meal. The feed cost difference is €2/cow/day.

At the moment, cows are milking 23.2 litres per cow at 3.55% protein and 4.21% fat (1.85kg MS). At a stocking rate of 3.6 cows/ha, that’s 6.7kg MS/ha. Instead of a protein percentage of 3.26%, which we had this week last year, we have a protein test result of 3.55% from mostly grazed grass only. The herd are also yielding about 1.8kg more in volume than this week last year, so the net milk solids difference is 1.85kg of milk solids/cow this year versus 1.65kg per day last year, which at €5/kg milk solids is worth €1/cow/day.

To be able to harness the grass opportunity, you need cows calved. This is where February and early March calving comes into play.

Where did the 3.6 cows/ha stocking rate come from? Essentially, farm staff have set the farm up at a stocking rate of 3.6 cows/ha by closing off some of the 113ha for first-cut silage. It means the farm needs a grass growth rate close to 60kg per day to meet the herd demand for grass, which they feel it can deliver over the coming weeks and months.

Twenty six hectares (64 acres) are closed up for first-cut silage. At best this first cut will provide 50% of the winter feed requirement for the farm, so what’s left in the yard will be used next winter and the balance will be purchased. This leaves 86ha for 310 cows. Remember, the bulling heifers and calves are at the contract-rearers, so there is no other stock on the farm.

The 86ha grazing cake will be divided out over a 21-day rotation – that’s 4ha per day. If growth rate lifts over 60kg/day and a paddock or two gets too strong it can be taken out as round bales as the season goes along. If growth rate drops below 60kg/day for a few days at this stocking rate there is still enough flexibility in the system to allow this.

Every day the herd needs 17kg of grass per cow per day – that’s 17 x 300 milkers, which is 5.1t of grass. So 5,100kg divided by 4ha means each hectare needs to have a cover close to 1,300kg. So if you had 300 cows walking into a 4ha paddock, ideally you need a cover on that paddock of between 1,300kg and 1,500kg when the cows are walking in the gate. This would give the herd 24 hours in a paddock.

The last couple of weeks have brought almost perfect grazing conditions. The cows and the farm staff have had time to recover from the stress and pressure of compact February calving and wet weather. For shedless farms that are compact-calving at scale, an exceptionally wet February is a stressful time. Plenty of farmers won’t remember February 2014 as being very different to any other spring, but on this farm it will live long in the memory.

There is still a second herd or (once-a-day) group of cows that are grazed separately from the main herd. This once-a-day herd is down now to 29 cows – mainly thin cows, high cell count cows and any very recent fresh-calvers. The intention with this group is they don’t have to walk very far, they always have plenty of grass and they are only cleaning out a paddock every third or fourth day instead of every second day. They can also be monitored more closely in the parlour.

Fertilizer

The grazing paddocks got a bag of 10:10:20 and a bag of ASN (26% N/14%S) in early April. They had already got 45 units per acre in March. The silage ground was topped up with 70 units of nitrogen, 30 units of phosphorus (P) and 100 units of potassium (K) per acre. The silage paddocks are low in P and K. Some stones have to be picked off the silage ground before the grass covers them over.

Milk production

In general, condition score is good in the herd. Those familiar with looking at square British Friesian-type cows might think they are thin but when you run them through the crush and run your hand along the short and long ribs you soon get a feel for the fat cover. There are 5-10% of the herd, mostly young cows, that are under condition and they have been on once-a-day milking for the last number of weeks and will stay once a day until they are bred.

Cell count is down to less than 200,000 cells/ml, where it needs to be at this time of the year, but it hasn’t reached this level by its own accord. A combination of quarter-sampling cows to identify infected quarters, treating or drying off infected quarters, milk recording, and separating cows in the once-a-day herd has limited spread of the Staph mastitis. We have had very limited success treating mastitis in cows with tubes and antibiotics, but treating heifers has been more successful. I will report in more detail on the cell count issue in the next report.

Bank loan

The long-term farm loan has been restructured over the last couple of weeks. Remember the farm borrowed €850,000 at the start on an EIB loan from AIB at an interest rate of 2.2%. The loan was interest-only for two years and then capital and interest repayments started. The repayments are made over the six main milk months. The balance of the loan now stands at €720,000. This year a scheduled loan review has seen the bank and the company agree an interest rate rise to 4%, so interest repayments will almost double. Remember there is €125,000 on deposit and this year if all things go roughly to plan the farm should deliver close to another €100,000.

Cows

We had 330 animals to calve down in total and the intention was to milk close to 320 cows in 2014. As it stands this week, through a combination of factors the best we can hope for is to milk 310 cows at peak in 2014. There are five cows still to calve.

In explanation, two of the 330 cows slipped a calf or at least were not in calf, so that left 328 to calve. Eight cows were culled in early April for various reasons including mastitis, bad legs etc so that brought the total to 320 cows. Five cows died since last November (1.5%), the same as if one or two died in a herd of 100. Then in the last week alone two perfectly good cows went down out the field for unexplained reasons. The vet was called out to both but couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason. Phosphorus was increased in the water and so far so good. All surplus heifer calves have been sold, boosting calf returns.

Fertility – breeding plan

Cows got their booster for Lepto and BVD vaccine on 4 April. Maiden heifers have now also got their booster shot of BVD and Lepto (19-March). All calved cows were tail-painted yellow on 1 April for pre-heat detection. There are breeding charts on the wall of the office with the cows listed in numerical order. As tail paint is removed from cows, the date is recorded on the breeding chart. Any cows that didn’t show signs of heat and are over 30 days calved will be scanned in early May to check if there is a problem. Four vasectomised bulls that were bought in February arrived to the farm over the weekend. They won’t join the herd until week four or five of breeding. Farm staff completed a DIY AI refresher course last week. The AI tank has been topped up with nitrogen and straws have landed. No sexed semen will be used this year and a team of mostly Holstein Friesian sires have been picked (see Table 1). The scanner has been booked for early May.

New field

The landowners bought a new field beside the parlour and the Greenfield company has agreed to lease the field for the remaining 10 years of the 15-year lease. This has been sprayed off in early March and was reseeded last Friday.

When it comes into the mix for grazing later in the year it means another 8ha for grazing so the grazing platform will lift from 113 to 121ha.