Cows which have a high somatic cell count (SCC), are lame and are milking less than 13l per day should be culled right away, Teagasc adviser Ronan Mulligan has said.

“Farms with feed deficits need to consider the economics of keeping cows on farm versus purchasing feed. Feed security should be prioritised,” he told an IFA farm finance meeting in Claremorris last week.

He said farmers should consider milking culls with a body condition score of less than three once a day, to improve their marketability.

Slurry storage also needs to be taken into account for farmers considering holding onto cull cows.

“Is there adequate cubicle and feed space on-farm to hold these additional animals? Keeping culls will reduce the number of days at grass and increases the number of days feeding silage,” he added.

He also advised farmers to consider the impacts of culling cows on their own nitrates situation.

Yields

“As cows drop further in yield, you have to question does it pay to milk these cows on,” he said.

Giving an example of a cow milking 15l today, with an expected average daily production over the next 60 days of 12.2l, he said there’s a margin of €117 when feed costs, overheads, milk value and margin over feed are taken into account.

That is factoring in a milk price of 57c/l, silage costs of 22c/kg dry matter (DM) and feed costs of 34c/kg DM for cows eating 18kg DM/day, with overhead costs of 50c/cow/day.

“You have to question is it worth it. Feed in the yard and what’s going to be available needs to be prioritised over holding onto culls.”

He said that for every 10 cows culled, it will mean 50 bales of silage saved.

“Ask if there’s enough quality silage in the yard to be feeding on these cull cows. What silage is available to buy? Poor-quality silage will mean higher levels of supplementation and therefore reducing margins.”