Dairy cow nutrition workshop

Basil Magill farms with his father on the outskirts of Hilltown, Co Down where the main enterprise is a herd of 115 Holsteins.  The calving pattern is heavily weighted towards autumn / winter calving with the majority of cows calving between September / October and February / March.  Basil has grown the business significantly over the past ten years and annually completes Greenmount Dairy Benchmarking in conjunction with his CAFRE adviser in order to make decisions on the future direction of the business.

Basil places great emphasis on making plenty of top quality silage.  Three cuts of quality silage are made, with the cows utilizing the limited grazing area close to the yard.  The herd is housed at night for most of the year.  Last year’s first cut was made at the end of May, and is being fed to the herd along with a blend through the diet feeder.  This winter maize has been bought in to supplement silage stocks and to help maintain cow condition.

Recently Basil hosted an on farm workshop on dairy cow nutrition which focused on the energy and protein levels in the diet being fed to the milking cows.  The event was facilitated by CAFRE Dairy Development Advisers Kenny White and Dr Aidan Cushnahan.  Local producers attending the event discussed the herd diet and assessed cow condition. Guidelines were given on overall ration balance including energy, protein and fibre levels.  There was significant discussion on balancing lower quality silages this year and ensuring high yielding cows receive adequate nutrients for production and body condition.  

The most recent development of the Magill farm has been the completion on new cubicle housing providing modern comfortable cow accommodation for an additional 40 cows.  All the building work and construction of the new shed was carried out by Basil and his father, (see photo) thus keeping costs to a minimum.  

Basil Magill and his father