High-meal diets carry significant health warning

Teagasc has issued advice on how to make sure dairy cows are getting enough fibre, where there is no grass and only a limited supply of grass silage and straw.

Where there is some grass, silage, and straw, a dairy cow diet could be 6-7 kg of dry matter (DM) from grass; 7 kg fresh weight of ration, 3 kg fresh of soya hulls/palm kernel, and 2-3 kg fresh of straw (chopped).

But without enough grass, silage, and straw, the meal input is very high.