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Weather: Most of the country has been hit with torrential rain at times over the last week. The north, west and southeast seem to have been worst affected. Some farmers have had no choice but to house cows as land is just too wet and fields are waterlogged. It’s the option of last resort but if that’s the best option then so be it.
However, the focus should be on getting cows back out again. Walk fields daily to assess conditions. Graze driest fields first. Use on/off grazing and back-fence grazed areas.
When cattle are housed, feed the best quality silage that is available. Depending on silage quality, extra meal might be necessary to prevent excessive body condition score loss.
However, the vast majority of farmers can continue to allow grazing and the priority is to minimise damage. Skip into lighter covers to increase utilisation. In very mixed weather, it probably pays to increase meal feeding levels – just to keep cows settled and maintain intakes. However, avoid feeding silage if at all possible while grazing in wet weather as it really reduces grass utilisation and makes the cows very unsettled.
Bloat: I’m hearing of lots of cases of bloat over the past week. Low dry matter and high clover swards being grazed by hungry cows on damp, overcast days are high-risk conditions for bloat. Two or three hours after the morning milking, when cows go into a fresh allocation, seems to be the worst time.
They should be checked during this period to make sure they are OK. Bloat can be prevented by adding bloat oil to the water, which then displaces the froth in the rumen, allowing the cows to belch out the gases. Other prevention methods include adding fibre to the diet.
This can be achieved by forcing the herd to graze down tight in the first few hours. Some farmers were blowing straw on to high-clover pastures this week to increase the fibre intake, after a number of cases of bloat. Knowing the risks and being vigilant is key.
Meal: Now that the weather has turned wet, most farmers will be feeding 2kg or 3kg of meal, depending on grass supply and weather. Where grass is a big part of the diet, protein is not lacking.
Feeding grass and high-protein meal is bad for the cow (excess protein) and is bad for the environment as urine splashes are higher in nitrate and it causes increased greenhouse gas emissions through nitrous oxide emissions.
It’s a different story in indoor systems where protein is lacking, but there’s no logic behind feeding high-protein rations when more than half of the diet is grazed grass. Yet, talk to any feed sales rep and the most common meal bought will be a 16% to 18% protein nut.
Is this what is being pushed or is this what is being requested? I know in some cases lower-protein nuts just aren’t available. In grass-based systems, higher protein does not constitute higher quality. Excess protein in the diet is bad. Buy rations based on energy levels, not protein. At this time of year, a product like rolled barley is an ideal feed as it is high in energy and low in protein. However, feed levels probably shouldn’t go over 3kg to 4kg/day.
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