Coping with a fodder shortage
Dr Norman Weatherup, Beef Technologist, CAFRE, Greenmount
Management decisions and value for money feed alternatives
The summer of 2009 has proved challenging for both grazing and conserving grass. Some cattle were housed and turned out on several occasions and some were housed early. This has resulted in some farmers having problems with poor silage quality, low stocks on the farm or both. Now is the time to assess silage stocks and options for feeding livestock this winter.
The following article will give some general guidelines and there are also copies of a 'fodder shortage' Bulletin and a “Winter feeding of ruminant livestock booklet” available on the rural portal (www.ruralni.gov.uk) and in local DARD offices.
So what can beef farmers do in response to reduced silage stocks?
1. Sell unproductive cows
It is a useful exercise to assess each cow in the herd individually. The best cow regularly produces a living calf, which suckles without assistance, has a functional udder, gains condition at grass, weans a heavy calf of market specification and loses a condition score during the winter (saving on silage requirements). The worst cows create an endless list of trouble and often have very little to show for it in terms of calf weight produced! Now is the time to take advantage of the current relatively high price of cull cows and sell these animals. This will not only reduce silage requirements, but greatly reduce labour requirements, especially when replacement heifers are carefully selected. Early pregnancy diagnosis allows cows which are empty to be identified and culled promptly rather than waiting until the end of next year’s calving season. This can save 7-9 tonnes of silage per empty cow.
2. Manage body condition score
Managing body condition in suckler cows is key and can deliver major reductions in the amount of silage required to overwinter the herd. Each unit of body condition above 2 at housing can save approximately one tonne of medium quality silage. Grazed grass is the cheapest feed and cows should be able to gain condition during the summer and lose some of this condition during the winter, potentially delivering savings of 50-100 tonnes of silage per 100 cow herd. Care must however be taken to ensure that spring calving cows calve down in condition score 2.5 and are not below condition score 2 at turnout.
3. Target high quality silage towards the most productive animals
Silage is the most important component of winter rations. Excellent quality silage can significantly reduce the amount of concentrate supplementation required to maintain target growth rates for both store and finishing cattle. Feeding excellent, rather than poor silage to store cattle can reduce winter feeding costs by £40/head over a five month housing period (£4,000 per 100 stores).
4. Sell forward stores or finish animals younger at lighter weights
A 600kg steer can consume 1.2t silage per month hence selling ten steers one month earlier than usual could save 12t of silage. Alternatively similar carcase weights could be achieved using an intensive finishing regime, which could reduce silage requirements by more than 70 percent. However, this requires specialised husbandry with all dietary changes made carefully.
If silage stocks are still scarce after these steps have been taken, what are the alternatives available?
- Purchasing additional silage may be the simplest option but haulage, wastage, dry matter content and quality should be taken into account before purchasing. It is important to obtain an analysis before purchasing so the “real” feed value of the silage can be determined.
- Soya hulls is a single straight which has a similar analysis and cost on a dry matter basis to excellent quality silage. As a guide each kg of soya hulls will replace approximately 5kg of average quality silage. Starch content is low and fibre content is high which makes it a very safe feed with little/no risk of acidosis. But remember, as a general rule, ruminants require a minimum of 30% long roughage in the diet. With rolled barley costing £128/t and soya costing £315, soya hulls is worth up to £128/t and average silage (25 percent DM, 12.5 percent CP, 10.6 MJ ME/kg) up to £35/t.
- Other feeds, which are currently value for money, include bread, brewers’ grains, Vitagold and Trafford Gold (distillery by-products). However, none of these feeds supply any long roughage nor are they suitable as a single complete feed. In addition, the relative value of these feeds is highly sensitive to their component analysis and dry matter and these may vary from quoted values.
Summary
Reduce silage requirements by
- Culling unproductive animals
- Managing body condition score
- Feeding the most productive animals with the best silage
- Selling stock at an earlier age
If silage stocks are scarce and it is not convenient to purchase silage consider soya hulls or by-product feeds as alternatives.
