The western side of the UK has the potential to be one of the best grass growing regions of the world. However, are we fully utilising this quality feed source to our advantage?
In the dairy industry where margins are often tight, making the most out of home-grown forages is key. Grazed grass is the cheapest feed on the farm yet often it is not utilized to its full potential.
Digital Dermatitis (DD) is a highly infectious disease, with associated costs due to loss of production, ranging from £75 - £81 per case (N.Bell), so minimising its effects are a no brainer, especially as DD can be under diagnosed in many herds.
Today’s dairy cow deals with some significant challenges in meeting the expectations of the modern dairy industry. Some of these challenges include the demands associated with unprecedented levels of production, the expectation of high reproductive performance, the use of high energy rations, and being exposed to other stresses on a modern dairy farm.
Feeding for best performance revolves around better understanding a cow’s nutritional demands, and how feed is broken down and used in the digestion system.
With ever tightening margins in milk production, rising capital costs, competition for land use from other sectors of agriculture and political uncertainty, there is an ever growing need to maximise margins from your farmed land.
The transition period is the most critical time in a cow’s lactation due to its lasting effect on the subsequent lactation. It can be one of the biggest bottlenecks on farm and one of the best places to find opportunity for improved herd performance.
It’s been a difficult season to say the least! The drought of 2018 has had a drastic effect on forage stocks which have been reserved for winter feeding with Dry Matter (DM) yields of grass on farm estimated to be down up to 50% compared to 2017.
Whatever the use and however much maize is going to be fed in the ration, optimising dry matter, starch yield and fibre digestibility is the key. The latter of the two being more significant, yet harder to measure.
Drought can cause many problems for farmers across Britain, when the hot weather pattern has broken, we are reminded of what rain is and its ability to grow grass. With this comes the possible problem of mineral deficiencies.
Of course, quantity of minerals and trace elements in grass does depend on soil type, botanical composition, fertilisation of the pasture and growth stage but weather conditions also affect this greatly.
