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There was a strong focus on winter milk systems at the Arrabawn Milk for Profit event. Sean Monahan is the chair of Arrabawn Co-op and recently participated in Dairy Day in Punchestown with the rest of the co-op chairs.
There were four speakers on the day, Arrabawn Milk for Profit coordinator Ruairi McDonnell, as well as Pat Clarke, Tom Murphy and Brian Garry from Teagasc.
Ruairi outlined some options for farmers facing a fodder shortage. The first step, he said, is to quantify any potential shortfall. For silage pits, he advised to multiply the length x width x height in feet and divide it by 50 to calculate the tonnes of fresh silage in the pit.
Add any bales (an average of 0.65t fresh silage per bale). Cows require 1.6t/month fresh silage, while one- to two-year-olds will eat 1.3t/month and newborn to one-year-olds will require 0.7t/month. If a shortage of fodder is identified, options include selling cull cows and store cattle, or buying in extra fodder.
Caution should be exercised if buying bales, which are highly likely to be poor quality and overpriced
Ruairi said: “Caution should be exercised if buying bales, which are highly likely to be poor quality and overpriced. It’s usually more economical to actually buy extra meal, unless the bales are very high-quality. One kilo of meal will replace about 5kg to 7kg of fresh silage. Remember, a dry cow will eat about 11kg DM/day, and it’s important that a minimum of 6kg DM is in the form of forage.”
Ruairi mentioned that early nitrogen or reducing stock numbers would make great sense if fodder is short and options to purchase are limited. Sean Monahan has some very good-quality silage (cut on 9 May and 75 DMD) for freshly calved cows. Sean has a liquid milk contract with Arrabawn and calves about 30 cows in the autumn. Teagasc’s Tom Murphy said that if you can’t make good-quality silage, producing milk during the winter can be very marginal in terms of profit.
The exercise clearly showed the value to be gained by selecting replacements to increase the EBI of your herd. The difference in income over 100 cows was due to the improved fertility and longevity in the herd of cows in the highest quartile.
Pallaskenry Agricultural College in Limerick held a separate focus day last week on proper dry cow procedures and teat-sealing in-calf heifers.
Over the last number of years, some farmers have started teat-sealing heifers as some saw it happen in New Zealand. Some Irish farmers have seen some success (less mastitis in first-calved heifers) where a lot of stock are outwintered or not housed on cubicles.
Some other Irish farmers have had a teat-sealing disaster as what they did was push dirt into the udder and cause infection. In effect, this summarises both sides of the story.
If you have very tough wintering conditions, where there is a lot of dirt near the heifers teats, then you might need to look at using another barrier before the cow calves.
Other farmers will have enough facilities and are able to keep cubicles dry and limed properly until the heifer calves down.
There is a period very near calving where heifers leak milk and careful attention is needed to keep the area where heifers are clean.
The most important advice when administering teat seal only is to implement strict disinfection of teats. Failure to do so could lead to disastrous consequences for mastitis control. It is a very time-consuming job but with plenty of help you will complete eight to 10 heifers per hour.
Some farmers will teat-seal the heifers in the crush (six to eight weeks before calving) and maybe tie up a leg while completing the job. Other farmers get a rollover crate in and turn the heifers up on their side, which costs about €5 per heifer.
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