Silage stocks

We are now eight to 10 weeks into winter on a lot of farms. Christmas is a good time to take stock of what fodder supplies are in the yard. Make a note of how many bales or how much pit silage is being used each week, and calculate how much will be needed until turnout. Build in a few weeks of a buffer in case 2026 brings a late spring.

It might be easier to take action now by restricting some animals/buffering with straw, increasing meal feeding levels or buying some extra silage earlier rather than later. While there appears to be plenty of silage around, a late spring could drive the price up very quickly.

ADVERTISEMENT

Forward continental type cattle or cull cows can go on ad-lib meal once this is built up properly, which will reduce the amount of silage they eat and lead to a short, sharp finish. Where non-continental cattle are being finished, ad-lib feeding can lead to animals becoming over fat too quickly.

With some high quality silage made in many farms, it may also be appropriate to introduce some straw (which is relatively plentiful this year) in to the diets of some spring-calving cows that may be becoming overly fleshed.

First-calving heifers

first calving heifers, especially those calving down at 24 months, need to be handled carefully pre calving. We don’t want heifers calving down over fat or over thin, with both causing it’s own issues with a BCS of 3-3.5 being ideal.

It’s important that the diet is not overly restricted on these animals in the last few weeks of gestation, but energy levels cannot be excessive either.

Good-quality silage of 70 DMD+ should suffice for many, but where silage is poor, some low levels of concentrates should be introduced, such as rolled oats, which has anecdotal evidence of not causing excessively large calves while maintaining energy levels in cows/heifers.

One of the times that people can get it wrong post-calving is that heifers/cows can have a negative energy balance, where more energy is used for maintenance/milk production than there is going into their bodies and animals can rapidly loose condition.

This is partly due to the reduced size of the rumen post-calving, but can be compounded by poor-quality feed. High energy concentrates are a more appropriate feed where this occurs, not high-protein concentrates.

Christmas wishes

I’d like to wish all of our readers a happy and healthy Christmas, and I would like to thank them for their interaction over the past 12 months; from mart meetings, farm walks and other events to the emails and calls received.

Christmas is a good time to unwind and spend time with family and friends and enjoy time at home or socialising at events.

Try and reduce the workload over the Christmas; double up feeding and bedding on Christmas Eve and keep the workload to feeding and herding of stock where possible.