Good grazing management helping to reduce costs

A group of County Tyrone dairy farmers recently met on the farm of Ramsey and Henry Stewart, Stewartstown to discuss grazing management and the potential to take more milk from forage.

At the event, host farmer Henry Stewart explained how he is targeting an improvement in milk from forage by improved management of grazed grass and taking three cuts of high quality silage.

Swards are walked once per week to decide if extra land area is needed in the grazing rotation or if surplus grass has to be taken out of the rotation and cut for big bale silage.

Cows are fed automatically through the milking parlour with up to 19 litres currently being taken from grazed grass in the month of June.  Cows are fed 0.45kg of concentrates per litre above this level of milk production.

To get more milk from forage during the winter, the plan is to make three cuts of high quality silage which will help to reduce the level of concentrates needed. CAFRE Benchmarking figures help to monitor the level of milk from forage and the resulting impact on production costs.  There was very active discussion by the farmers on the best grazing techniques to improve grazing efficiency and the targets which should be set depending on calving pattern.  Farmers had the opportunity to see first hand the quality swards on the Stewart farm and how these could be develop on their own farms.  Any farmer wishing to know more about CAFRE Dairy Benchmarking should contact their local CAFRE Adviser.

Albert Johnston CAFRE discussing grass quality and grazing management at the event.