Despite rain forecast for this weekend, soil moisture deficits in the order of 50mm to 80mm are widespread across the southeast and lower midlands.

This is putting serious strain on grass growth, with many farms growing in the region of 30kg to 40kg per day, when they would normally be growing in excess of double that at this time of year.

As a result, they have had to reduce grass demand by introducing a lot of supplementary feed, such as silage and extra meal.

Feeding any more than 5kg or 6kg of meal is tricky from an animal health point of view, because it can lead to stomach problems for cows.

Therefore, if more than this needs to be fed in order to preserve grass, then silage or some other feeds should be introduced along with the meal.

Palm kernel expeller

Some farmers are now feeding palm kernel expeller, which is a high-fibre feedstuff that can be fed ad lib as the cows self-regulate their intakes.

However, only certain merchants are willing to sell this as a straight product, as supplies are tight enough.

Lower-cost dairy rations are available with protein levels of 12% to 13% and standard UFL rates of 0.9 or thereabouts.

These filler rations are costing farmers around €380/t and represent much better value than some other higher-spec rations costing well over €420/t.

If feeding silage, only feed the best-quality silage that is available, ideally silage made from surplus grass in the spring.

Whether feeding silage or meal, it’s important that the area being grazed per day is reduced to get as much bang for the buck as possible.

This means allocating grass on a 12- or 24-hour basis and carefully watching the post-grazing height.

This should be down as low as possible, because it makes no sense to be leaving grass behind at the same time as feeding a lot of supplement.