Dr. Aisling Claffey, Ruminant Nutrition Specialist at Teagasc, shares some key tasks to be considered on dairy farms over the coming weeks and months to set the farm up for a successful spring next year.
Autumn grazing targets
Growth rates have declined on many farms over the past fortnight, particularly on lighter soils, as rainfall levels of 30 % or less compared to long term averages have been observed for August to date.
Decisions need to be made on farm to reduce demand and allow average farm cover to build over the coming weeks. Introducing additional forage in the form of quality grass silage, zero grazing after grass from out blocks or fibrous straights will be most effective at reducing grass intake in the interim.
Cover per cow should be between 250-300kg DM for 1st September with a rotation length of c.30 days. Where feeding has been on-going on some farms, it is critical that a winter feed budget is completed or revised to ensure there are no longer term implications of this on feed availability.
Final scan
A final scan should be completed for the herd in the coming weeks to determine accurate calving dates and batch cows accordingly for drying off. While many herds are in good body condition score, it is important to identify individual cows that are below optimal (< 2.75) and manage them accordingly over the coming months. This may be putting individuals on once-a-day milking if their SCC allows or allowing these cows 10-12 weeks of a dry cow period in addition to the first calvers within the herd. Putting these lists in place now may help to streamline these tasks later in lactation and ensure individual animals that need to be prioritised don’t slip through the cracks.
Silage testing
While the recent National Fodder Survey results were positive, one worrying point of note was the low interest in silage testing with less than a third of respondents testing silage.
Silage quality has a critical role to play in replacement heifer rearing management over the winter. Ronan Mulligan, Teagasc Dairy Advisor, discusses this in more detail here. It also makes up a substantial part of the early lactation feed budget on heavier farms, over-stocked milking platforms, where farms fail to build sufficient cover over the winter months and during periods of challenging weather. On most farms over 50 % of the silage required needs to be of 74 DMD, but this high-quality feed is often the exception rather than the norm for milking cows and replacement heifers.
Recent work into transition cow management on Irish dairy farms also highlights the importance of completing a mineral profile of the silage that will be fed to dry cows in the last 2-3 weeks pre-calving. Close to half of silages in this study were considered to be high in potassium and Dietary Cation Anion Balance which can negatively impact on Calcium mobilisation as lactation commences. Poor transition cow management can predispose the herd to further metabolic and health issues in early lactation, in addition to potentially impairing milk production and fertility outcomes. Very few farms complete this type of analysis, and it may prove useful in addressing these challenges on farm next spring.
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