After what was a good spring and summer, the autumn weather is really testing morale on farms across the country. For obvious reasons, those hardest hit are farmers on heavy land. Many have been forced to house cows for periods over the last few days.
After what was a good spring and summer, the autumn weather is really testing morale on farms across the country. For obvious reasons, those hardest hit are farmers on heavy land.
Many have been forced to house cows for periods over the last few days.
More rain on the way
With more heavy rain forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, it is likely that more farmers will be reaching for the shear grab over the reel and temporary fence.
There is only so much poaching that can be tolerated. If land is waterlogged, then cows must be taken off.
I’m hearing reports of feed salespeople saying grass dry matters are very low and it is affecting intakes
The problem at this stage is that most of the low-hanging fruit has already been picked because the weather has been bad for the past few weeks.
The easiest option is grazing drier paddocks, grazing lighter covers, using 12 hour-breaks, back-fencing and on/off grazing.
When all these options are exhausted and damage is still being done, then housing is the only option.
But silage is a poor replacement for grass. It is lower in energy and protein, so extra meal is needed when cows are housed.
Some farmers are saying that grass dry matters are too low for cows. It is really only when dry matter goes below 12% that intakes are affected, because the cow struggles to take in enough fresh weight to get her 16kg or 17kg of dry matter intake.
Grass dry matter in Moorepark was 15.5% last week. There’s no doubt that it was lower in other parts of the country, particularly during and after rainfall. However, it’s seldom that dry matters stay below 12% for long.
Rushing to conclusions
I’m hearing reports of feed salespeople saying grass dry matters are very low and it is affecting intakes. I would like to see some more evidence of this before rushing to conclusions.
Feeding 1kg or 2kg of soya hulls or another high-fibre supplement is more than sufficient in most cases where you are unsure if your herd is being fed well enough.
However, intakes are affected where a lot of the grass allocation is being walked into the ground or where cows are huddled together for shelter.
Where cows need to come in, the priority must be to get them back out as soon as possible.
Check forecasts
Check the forecast regularly and check the condition of fields regularly.
Feed the higher-quality silage first. How much meal to feed depends on silage quality and the herd’s production.
Read more
Dairy management notes: cull cows
Managing the suckler cow around weaning time
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: