Turning out early in spring never more important
Get silage analysed, she said; this will help predict silage intake potential, supplementation type and level, as well as the risk of heating or mould growth in silage.
Low digestibility silage with poor intake characteristics will mean additional meal feeding.
Match nutrient supplementation to silage quality and animal potential, she advised.
For milking cows, maximise dry matter intake to maintain milk production, minimise bodyweight loss, and get cows back in calf.
Supplementation rates can be reduced with the addition of a good quality second forage/wet feed.
If maize silage has low starch levels (less than 10%) and is harvested green, treat it similarly to a good quality grass silage.
In order to avoid high supplementation rates during the dry period, have dry cows in good condition at drying off, by meal feeding in late lactation, once-a-day milking, and use long, dry periods to ensure cows are in good condition.
Given the low protein levels in silages, protein may be needed to meet dry cow requirements. If protein levels are above 9% and silage intake potential is good, no extra protein will be needed.
However, if silage crude protein is below 9% and/or intake potential is poor, additional protein will be needed to meet requirements.
Feed a good quality dry cow mineral.
A good dosing programme should be employed, as fluke is a major problem this year, even on dry farms.
Adequately supplement the feed of weanlings and in-calf heifers to ensure they meet targets — they will dictate the profitability of the herd.
Feed meals to ensure weanlings and in-calf heifers are on target before housing. Batch them according to weight, and target higher meal feeding rates towards the lighter animals.
Feed a high energy (UFL 0.93 plus) ration with a crude protein content of 16%-18%, and fortified with minerals.
Don’t rely on compensatory growth in in-calf heifers .
* Get silage analysed.
Each farmer needs to know his or her own silage analysis. It’s important to figure out the targets for feeding the cow and what nutrients the silage will supply — energy, protein, minerals and fibre.
This information will frame the guidelines on supplementation to fill the gap.
* Condition-score spring calving cows now so that a strategy can be put in place to ensure cow condition is adequate at drying off
* Target meals at the animals that will respond best to it. Avoid feeding too much ration in the diet wagon to low yielders.
* Set the base diet in the diet wagon to match the nutrient requirements of late-calving spring cows and low-yielding autumn cows. In general, excessive meals are fed in the wagon, which is wasteful for low-yielding cows.
* Top up high yielders in the parlour.
* Batch weanling heifers and in-calf heifers into light and heavy groups and feed accordingly.
* Implement a good dosing programme for all stock this winter.
* Set-up for early turnout.
* Don’t feed excessive protein, target 15%-16% CP in the complete diet but ensure diets are balanced for PDI (400 grams PDI for maintenance and 50g PDI per litre of milk).
* Don’t forget to balance diets for minerals. Animals will be stressed on bad silage, and minerals will be important.
* Avoid buying low-protein feeds, unless good value, as the cost of protein balancing is prohibitive
* Don’t sicken animals by feeding more than 4 kg of meals per feed in the parlour
* Don’t buy wet feeds without first checking their nutritional and monetary value.
* Don’t assume that molasses will stimulate intake of bad silage
* There will be plenty of fibre in most diets this year without the addition of more fibre in the form of straw.
* Don’t forget to ensure an adequate supply of fresh water. Dry silage and high meal-feeding rates will mean higher fresh water demand.
* Don’t over-rely on compensatory growth in young stock — the period from turnout to breeding in April is too short.
