29 January 2024

Balancing optimum dairy cow intakes and good graze outs in early lactation

Mike Egan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the balance between achieving optimum dairy cow intakes and good graze outs in early lactation.

Mike first considers the dynamics that dictate dairy cow intake in early lactation, including: parity; quality of the dry cow diet; cow liveweight; health; and EBI. 

He explains that recent research estimates that the average cow in the herd will eat approximately 13 kg DM following calving, which is higher than the previous research which was carried out in the late 2000s.

However, Mike points out that despite the initial greater intake potential at week 1 of lactation, the weekly rise in the appetite of the cow is less than previous estimates (0.8 kg per week rather than 1.0 kg). Peak intake of 17-18kg is reached at week 10 of lactation. 

Mike says that in mid-January, farm cover was sitting at 830kg DM/ha across farms that have measured and recorded grass on PastureBase Ireland and therefore there is great scope for grazed grass to make up the majority of the dairy cow diet in February. 

Mike recommends that each farmer gets out to measure grass cover to assess exactly how much grass is available to them and to prepare a Spring Rotation Planner and Feed Budget for the months ahead. This will ensure cows are fed with the best quality feed possible to support milk production and body condition and supplement is fed at appropriate rates and spec where necessary.

Listen in below:

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast, a co-production with LastCastMedia.com, go to the show page.