Peak Milk: Flat rate feeding systems

Cows grazing paddock 26, sown with AberGain.

We've had a week of very warm weather. Growth was recorded at 60 on Monday, but with some much needed rain forecast, hopefully it will have overtaken demand, which is running closer to 70.

Cows are down to 1kg a day of meal in the parlour, just enough to maintain a steady cowflow in the dairy. Despite cutting out the meal, milk output hasn't dropped, with cows giving 2.1kgMS. One thing we've noticed, however, is that with the good weather and our fast rotation, there is very little stem in the base of the sward. This is the equivalent of feeding more of the "concentrate", leafy, part of the grass plant, with high energy and protein, but low structural fibre. Butterfats are very low, at 3.55%, but volumes are very high at 29.5 litres. 

So the question is should we be feeding more of a high fibre meal to redress this balance?

In short I'd say no. Especially with this years' milk prices. With this in mind I thought I'd discuss an alternative approach.

A lot of UK seasonal calvers have adopted a flat rate feeding approach. Cows are fed the same amount of meal , typically 3-4kg/cow, everyday of lactation, essentially fixing demand. Here are some pros and cons of this system:

Pros:

-Very easy to budget meal costs.

-Easy for staff, less decision making.

-Efficient way of administering minerals.

-Consistent part of diet for cows.

-Can protect milk income from vagaries of grass quality and weather.

Cons:

-Unable to capitalise on a "good growing year", where high grass growth leads to lower meal costs.

-Surplus growth can only be captured as silage.

-Without an appropriate stocking rate the points above can be exacerbated.

In our own position flat rate feeding doesn't add up. This is because we already make enough silage on our runoff block. Any silage made from the platform is a management headache, as we prefer to keep the whole grazing block in our rotation, challenging cows to eat as much cheap, high quality grass as possible.

Whatever approach you take to supplement feeding the important questions to ask are:

1) Why am I feeding?

2) From a whole systems approach, does it pay?

Until next time, keep grazing!

Emlyn

Magic Day at last!

Just a quick post to mark the passing of Magic Day, where grass growth overtakes demand. My guess was it was sometime last week.

It hasn't been a vintage Spring, with growth generally below average for much of March. But there's nothing like a good April to cheer us up!

April scenes at Tre Abbot

As you can make out in the picture, we've done our reseeding this week. 

I'll have to write a separate post on reseeding, but until then here's the brief:

This years mix/per acre is, AberGain 7Kg, AberChoice 7Kg and AberHerald clover 2Kg.

For more information on grass varieties check out the new Irish Pasture Profit Index: 

http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/moorepark/PastureProfitIndex/ppts/TeagascPastureProfitIndex2015.pdf

I hope you're all enjoying the weather, and until next time, keep grazing!

Emlyn

Pre Mating Part 1: Get your calendar out!

As we approach our spring PSM (planned start of mating) I thought I'd write a post about the pre-mating work we do, and why this is one of the most time critical parts of the year!

It seems a bit relentless, but as soon as calving comes to an end, we're already thinking of next season and getting them back in calf. The main tasks can be divided into the following:

1) Heifer mating - Whether you plan to AI or turn the bulls in, now is the perfect time to weigh your maiden heifers to see if they're going to meet target weights to bull. While we have them in the handling yard we like to make the most of the time, so we've been vaccinating, trimming tails, worming and giving them a mineral bolus. Their final weigh-in will be next week. This year anything below 10% of target will be ran with the bulls from Day 1, with the rest getting a fixed time AI. I'm hoping that at least 100/140 will be heavy enough.

2) Pre-mating heats - The past three seasons we have tail painted the heard 42 days before PSM and recorded pre-mating heats. These have helped us get a picture of cows activity which we can consult throughout mating, in case we've missed heats or to spot cystic cows which tend to have very short, frequent cycles.

3) Metricheck and treat - The whole herd has been metrichecked, with cows showing endometritis or "whites", marked and treat accordingly. This is now a weekly practise, with this "dirty" group checked once a week and any non cyclers rechecked during milking. This may seem like overkill, but the key is that I check and treat the cows myself instead of the cost and hassle of calling the vet out.

Metricheck devices are available in the UK, and are an invaluable tool for quick diagnosis in block calving herds.

Treatment then falls into three categories, in order of severity from OK to worst, they are:
1) Washout with a dilute iodine solution, we use pevidine scrub.
2) Metricure antibiotic, no milk withhold.
3) 4 days course of antibiotics, milk withheld, we use Pen & Strep.

April is always a busy month, but the sooner we can set our breeding animals up for mating, the greater our chances of success. Relatively cheap solutions now, can have a huge impact on your eventual performance, as we strive for the virtuous circle of fertility.

In Part 2 I'll discuss the hot topic of intervention, CIDRs, estrumate and the rest!