Teagasc goes online to tackle nutrition issues
Teagasc nutrition specialist Siobhan Kavanagh recently provided the following detailed answers via Facebook and Twitter to farmers’ questions on animal nutrition. It was Teagasc’s first live online clinic of its kind. Questions came from dairy, beef, and sheep farmers, and ranged across a wide range of nutrition topics.
*My vet says that 90% of the pre-calving mineral we are feeding our dairy cows is being passed out in their manure. Is this true and if so, is this not a case of throwing your money in the slurry so to speak? Also, what is the best and least wasteful method to feed minerals to cows?
>> It is not the case that 90% of the pre-calver mineral is excreted by the animal.
There will be some wastage if an animal is not deficient in a mineral but where there is a demand for minerals, 90% of it is not passing out. I think that fixed rate feeding is the best choice rather than free access, and sprinkling on top of silage is the easiest way of getting all minerals into the cow — major and trace elements.
*How do we get cows in poor body condition ready for the breeding season?
>>If cows have reached the point of calving and are in poor condition, this cannot be reversed before the breeding season, but there are a number of things we can do to give cows every chance of going back in calf.
Good nutrition at calving, to avoid calving problems and problems like milk fever, retained cleanings, ketosis etc, will be critically important to give the cow every chance of going back in calf.
Make sure that cows are in positive energy coming up to calving to avoid calving problems which can subsequently make it harder to get cows back in calf.
This means that if cows are in poor condition and/or on bad silage, feed 2kg-3kg of meals up to calving. (This will not cause calving problems, which is sometimes suggested.)
We are seeing a lot of recumbent cows and the primary cause of this is cows not getting enough energy pre-calving.
Avoid stress on animals at calving and feed adequate pre-calver minerals.
Nutrition after calving to limit further body condition loss will be important.
Energy is the most important mineral to get into cows after calving, when in poor condition.
Making sure there is adequate energy in the diet — match meal feeding rates to grass/silage intake, avoid overfeeding protein, and feed full minerals.
Consider once-a-day milking in early lactation, but it’s important that cows are still adequately fed so that they can meet their energy requirements from feed and not off their backs.
This does not mean feeding the whole herd once a day, but pulling out the thin cows and putting them on once a day. These should be cows of low SCC, before going on once-a-day.
*What are the needs of a 750kg cow suckling a two-month-old calf, to ensure milk and getting back in-calf, eating 55DMD silage?
>>If that cow is being bred on 55DMD, there will be a high requirement for meals to maintain the calf and ensure that she is in positive energy balance for breeding. 55DMD is not much better than a moderate quality hay and is significantly deficient in energy.
Protein is also low in the silage and the cow needs protein to produce milk.
Under stress with bad silage, minerals are important.
If animals are being bred on silage, consider buying in a silage of better quality, or more importantly, get them to grass to increase energy intake and reduce meals costs.
If cows are in good condition, and will get to grass within one month, and breeding at grass, feed 2kg-3kg of meals up to turnout.
If turnout is six weeks or greater away, feed 3kg-4kg of meals.
If cow condition is poor, meal feeding rates will need to be increased by 1kg-1.5kg.
These meal feeding levels are not sustainable in a beef system, so it’s preferable that animals get grass in the diet as soon as possible to reduce meal feeding rates and help get them back in calf.
It’s important that the cow is getting minerals on this silage.
For breeding, the most important minerals are phosphorus, copper, selenium, and iodine.
SHEEP
*Which is the most important element in ewes running up to lambing time — energy or protein?
>>Both are important pre-lambing, particularly in a year when silage quality is poor, the energy levels are low in it, and the intake potential is also low, as well as protein being low. If your silage quality is back 5-10 units of DMD compared to last year, expect to feed 0.3kg-0.6kg more meals to ewes pre-lambing. Ewes need to be getting 200g of protein pre-lambing, For most, this will mean feeding an 18%-20% crude protein ration. Also, don’t forget a good mineral mix in the blend.
