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Meal was introduced to the Greenfield herd in Co Kilkenny last week as grass growth rates returned to more normal September levels of around 40kg per day.
For the last week of August and the first week of September the daily growth rate was about 80kg/day.
With the heavy rain and slower growth, farm cover dropped from 1,200kg to 1,000kg dry matter per hectare (DM/ha) so, in order to get more grazings and slow the rotation, meal has been introduced.
The ongoing construction work means the feed passage was out of bounds to the cows for the last week.
Bales
However, farm manager Eoin Finneran is hopeful that he can organise some way of feeding out round bales this week.
There are more than 1,000 quality round bales in the yard, so it’s a pity not to be able to feed it.
At 1,000kg DM/ha or a grass cover of 353kg DM/cow it means the farm has fallen behind target for the time of year, even with feeding supplement (4kg/cow for the past seven days).
Feeding the bales for the next seven to 10 days will slow the rotation further. Grazing paddocks are being divided in four to maximise graze-out.
Up to the end of August, the farm has grown 12.3t of grass/ha and fed 160kg meal per cow. Cows are getting magnesium only through the water.
The last milk test showed 5.16% fat and 4.18% protein at 150,000 SCC and 4.78% lactose. Net milk price received for August was 42.98c/litre.
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