Dr. Aisling Claffey and Dr. Joe Patton take a closer look at winter feed budgeting on dairy farms, outlining the key requirements to meet the herd’s winter feed requirements.

The level of pasture utilised per cow is a key difference between the highest and lowest net profit margin farms within the Teagasc ePM data during 2023 (with the top 10% of farms utilising 0.5 t pasture DM/cow more than the bottom 10%).

Aligning stocking rate with pasture production will allow farms to maximise the proportion of grass in the diet, while also ensuring that sufficient stocks of both dry cow and milking cow silage are reserved to support the herd through housed periods and pasture deficits.

Meeting the herd’s winter feed requirements

Reviewing annual herbage production and utilisation trends on farm should be one of the key starting points in determining winter/spring feed requirements, particularly where purchased forage and concentrate feeds levels are increasing.

What factors are currently limiting herbage production on your farm? It is important that areas such as sward composition (clover content, recently seeded or old permanent pasture), soil fertility and grassland management are routinely evaluated to maximise herbage production.

Winter feedstocks are becoming an increasing area of concern on some farms. On dry, free-draining soils, soil moisture deficits during summer can have a significant impact on mid-season pasture production and often result in farms eating into winter reserves in addition to hampering second cut silage yields.

Where this is happening routinely, an additional reserve for these periods must be factored into the system. Tight winter feed stocks also result in many farms running out of silage by mid-March, or no longer having a stock of feed suitable for milking cows (74 DMD+) to buffer the herd through the transition from first to second rotation.

Testing silage quality and budgeting available feed in late autumn can allow for timely decision-making where silage supplies are tight and sourcing of additional dry cow forage is necessary. Farms with higher milking platform stocking rates must also recognise that they require a higher proportion of high-quality silage to stretch available grass supply during this period and support early lactation performance (Table 1).

For many dairy farms, high quality silage can make up to 66% of total silage requirements. It can be a considerable challenge to purchase silage of the required quality during early lactation if reserves are not in place on farm, which can hamper milk yield and milk protein concentration as cows approach peak production. Aiming to achieve ‘bulk’ will not only impact on silage quality but also on annual production, as heavier cuts will recover slowly and subsequent yields will be affected.

Table 1: Requirements for high quality silage at varying milking platform stocking rates

Meeting grass budget targets within the farm system

While weather conditions during spring 2025 simplified the utilisation of available feed, it also highlighted the importance of commencing the grazing season with the correct average farm cover and appropriately budgeting available feed to ensure a consistent and increasing supply of grass is in the herd diet in early lactation.

Using the feed budget tool within Pasturebase Ireland in conjunction with grass measurement can assist with this decision making. Timely action to reduce/maintain demand when average farm cover is dropping rapidly will help maintain consistent grass allocations while supporting recovery of average farm cover to an optimal position.

Matching mid-season herd demand with pasture growth rates is also critical. Pasturebase data shows that many farms are routinely averaging 60-65 kg DM/ha daily growth during mid-season. Brief periods of higher growth rates will allow the opportunity to remove surplus paddocks, but some farms can also fall below this level during periods of drought.

If milking platform stocking rate is greater than 3.5 cows/ha during mid-season, it will not be possible to offer sufficient grass to the herd with average daily DM intake requirements of 18-20 kg. The priority on the milking platform should be match stocking rate to pasture growth to maximise herbage intake by the cow, maintain pasture quality, reseed 10% of the platform annually and gather surplus silage. Achieving winter feed sufficiency should not compromise performance of the milking herd during peak production.

Conclusion

• Align stocking rate with pasture production to maximise herd performance from grass and minimise imported forage and concentrate requirements.
• Assess individual factors that are impairing pasture productivity within your own farm gate.
• Utilise the range of tools within Pasturebase to ensure a consistent and increasing grass supply to the herd through early lactation and maintain pasture allocations and quality to optimise herd performance from grass.

The above paper first appeared in the Moorepark 2025 Dairy Open Day. For further insights, access the full publication (PDF) here.

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