Fill your pocket - not just the milk tank

Fresh calved cows should be allowed to settle onto the winter ration gradually by building up the concentrate level over the first three weeks after calving.   After this, “challenge” the cow to reach peak yield by “lead feeding” for the next month.  At Greenmount, cows in the Future herd are fed a minimum of 10 KG (8 KG for heifers) for the first 8 weeks of lactation to encourage peak yield.  After this period, it should be strictly feed to yield.

If you have a diet feeder, use it wisely!  Even at good milk prices there is no profit to be made in overfeeding stale cows in late lactation.  A major issue on dairy farms in recent years has been feed efficiency, that is, targeting concentrate input to those in the herd which justify it and not overfeeding stale cows.    Many diets this winter will be formulated with 6, 8 or even 10 KG of concentrate typically fed “through the wagon” to ALL cows in the herd, with cows also topped up in the parlour.  This approach has led to a major reduction in feed efficiency and reduced profits on dairy farms.  

It is difficult to meet the nutritional demands of cows yielding over 35 litres (30 litres for heifers) through in-parlour feeding alone - unless silage quality is exceptionally good.  For these animals, extra concentrates are fully justified.  For instance, a cow yielding 45 litres on a good quality silage (M+ 10) will require 16 KG of concentrate.   Some of this (at least 4 KG) will have to be fed outside the parlour, either through the diet feeder or out of parlour feed stations – see Table 2.

Cows yielding up to 25 litres on good quality silage require no more than 7 KG of concentrate as shown in Table 1.  This can easily be fed in the parlour accurately.  Most herds will have a number of cows yielding 15 – 20 litres, so a wagon mix containing 7 KG of concentrate is wasted on these cows.  To maximise profit, these cows need to be batched separately, on silage only and fed concentrates to yield through the parlour.

Cows yielding over 25 litres can be batched in another group and fed accordingly.  Always feed to the lowest yielding cow in the batch.  Therefore, these cows require no more than 6 KG through the diet feeder and topped up in the parlour.   Table 2 gives full ration details for this high yielding group.

** - maximum recommended in-parlour feed level for heifers

Where silage quality is higher or lower than M+ 10, adjust the level of concentrate fed in the wagon accordingly.  A number of farms have a limited quantity of high quality silage.  In this situation ensure only cows in early lactation are fed this silage.

High “M+” diets need to be fed only to the cows that justify this level of concentrate.  Therefore batching cows is essential.  Where this is not feasible, reduce the level of concentrate in the wagon (3 KG max), top up to yield in the parlour and accept that a very small percentage of cows will be under fed.  This will be more profitable than overfeeding a large proportion of the herd.

If you would like further impartial advice on feeding your dairy herd this winter, contact your local CAFRE Dairying Development Adviser.

Batching of cows is essential if you are using a mixer wagon

Formulate the wagon mix for the lowest yielding cow in the group