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Peter McCann on 11 Oct 2017

Watch: winter feed planning in Tyrone

Feed intakes and body condition scores should be closely monitored in autumn calving herds. Peter McCann and Conail Keown report.

Peter McCann

11 October 2017

Cows are almost half way through calving on the Clements' farm.

Good quality bales are currently being mixed with lower quality ones at a ratio of 3:1.

Heavy covers across the farm limits options for slurry application at present.

The favourable conditions for first- and second-cut silage earlier in the season means the quality of silage on many farms is better than previous years. This presents some farmers with an opportunity to reduce concentrate feeding this winter by capitalising on good-quality fodder following a silage analysis.

The favourable conditions for first- and second-cut silage earlier in the season means the quality of silage on many farms is better than previous years.

This presents some farmers with an opportunity to reduce concentrate feeding this winter by capitalising on good-quality fodder following a silage analysis.

Diet formulation is based on a set intake of feed and it is essential that intakes and body condition scores are closely monitored.

There is no point in formulating a diet if cows are eating less than calculations have allowed for.

Despite an increase in the quality of some fodder on farms, an issue for many is the quantity of feed available this winter. This stems from both the supply and demand ends as wet weather has led to difficulties in making final cuts of silage and early housing.

Budgets

It is essential that fodder budgets are calculated or updated, and then steps are taken to address potential shortages at an early stage. It is also important to continue to monitor fodder stocks against demand throughout the winter.

Steps to address a fodder shortage could involve removing any passenger livestock early on by scanning to identify empty cows or selling cows early that are already earmarked for culling.

Extra silage could be bought in and silage stocks could be stretched out by feeding straw or hay, although this may require extra concentrate feeding.

Contrary to capitalising on good-quality silage, feeding extra concentrates to cows can reduce the demand on silage if winter feed supplies are short.

Knowing whether concentrate feeding can be reduced this winter or not comes down to developing a winter feed plan based around silage quantity, quality and demand.

Robin Clements

Trillick, Co Tyrone

We are nearly halfway through calving, with 85 cows calved so far and another 75 are due by the end of October.

All cows are housed and zero-grazing for the milking herd has been stop/start over the past few weeks. When ground conditions don’t allow zero-grazing, cows are fed baled silage and 4kg blend through the diet feeder.

There is no pit silage on the farm and good-quality bales are being mixed with lower-quality ones at a ratio of 3:1.

This is to stretch supplies and means we will not be left with only poorer-quality fodder at the end of winter.

Silage analysed last week confirmed that the quality of fodder on the farm is better than previous years. Across four different samples of silage, dry matter (DM) averaged 31.7%, metabolisable energy (ME) was 11.0 MJ/kg DM, crude protein 13.3% and D value 69%.

Analysis of zero-grazed grass last week showed it was slightly lower quality than we expected, with 16.3% DM, 14.1% crude protein and an ME of 10.8MJ/kg DM.

Diet

An early lactation diet has been formulated for cows set to yield 30 litres/day in a few weeks.

With an energy requirement of 5.2MJ/litre for production and 78MJ needed for maintenance, total energy requirement stands at 234MJ.

The ration is based on a fresh weight intake of 25kg of silage and 20kg of zero grazed grass (or silage).

A better-quality blend than the one used at present has been formulated (Table 1) and will be fed at 2kg/cow/day. The same 18% crude protein parlour nut will continue to be used and the feed rate will increase from an average of 5kg/cow/day to 6kg/cow/day.

Overall, the diet equates to 20.5kg DM and delivers an ME of 11.6MJ/kg DM, which works out at 237MJ.

Overall dietary protein content is 17.8% and is on target for early-lactation cows.

Meeting energy and protein requirements depends on cows eating 53kg of fresh weight feed every 24 hours.

This will be monitored daily by comparing the scales on the diet feeder to the number of cows feeding and the length of time it takes them to clean the passage.

Freshly calved cows will have lower intakes initially, although most cows should be around the 50kg fresh weight intake mark by December.

Tape

Feeders in the parlour are manual and the 6kg/cow/day feed rate is calculated for a cow yielding 30 litres/day.

Cows will be grouped with different coloured tape on their tails which corresponds to yield and an in-parlour feed rate.

This simple system allows a more targeted use of concentrates, although we expect feed rates won’t vary too much as most cows are calving in September and October.

Any cows earmarked for culling have been sold once they drop below 10 litres.

There are 20 stale cows still milking and seven of these will be culled for a range of reasons, such as not being in calf, age, lameness and high somatic cell counts.

This will take some pressure off silage stocks and we have been buying in lower-quality silage for dry cows for the same reason.

We are hoping that weather will improve to allow zero-grazing for a few weeks and for more silage to be made. This would also give more options for fields to get slurry on to if ground conditions improve.