More difficult than usual to plan next winter’s feeding
Unfortunately, many farms are all out of silage at this stage.
Many have even eaten into their neighbours’ reserves.
It has been a very tough spring, and farmers should give themselves more credit for how they have managed so well.
April is now half over, and the silage season is just around the corner.
There is no doubt that, for most, the first cut will be later than the target date, due to poor growth, and the need to graze silage fields later than planned, and graze twice in some cases.
The common sentiment among farmers I have been speaking to is a desire to bank up reserves of silage even more than they usually would have.
This will be a difficult task, given the spring conditions.
It will require careful planning, and for many, it will require a change of regular practices.
Figure out what silage you will need.
Firstly, you should calculate your feed stock being carried over, if any.
As a rough guide, length X width X height in feet, divided by 50, will give you total tonnes in the pit. This is a rough guide, because the dry matter of the silage will determine actual volumes.
Most will plan for a five-month or 150-day indoor feeding season in the south of the country, and more as you venture further north.
But from now on I feel that most should really plan for at least an extra month.
This will require 20% more silage to be ensiled.
Obviously, for many, this will not be possible within their traditional silage regime.
Thinking of alternative methods of forage production is the only way of bulking up stocks quickly.
These methods will perhaps include sowing Italian ryegrass and getting three cuts out of the fields for the next two years, before returning them to perennial ryegrasses.
Despite a poor 2012 experience, there seems to be renewed interest in forage maize, and from what I have seen in my travels, it seems that a lot of acres are going in under plastic.
Some are also considering under-sowing a spring barley crop to produce a wholecrop, while getting a few grazings in the backend too.
So how much silage do you require?
Firstly you should construct a table like the accompanying example.
Fill in the relevant details and do a simple calculation of your requirements.
How much will each type of animal eat?
Guidelines are based on a silage of 20% dry matter.
Dry suckler cows will typically consume 45-50 kg of silage per day (depending on if you are feeding straw or not).
Sucklers with calves will consume 50-55 kg of silage per day, along with some concentrates to provide sufficient milk production.
Weanlings will eat about 2% of their own body weight in dry matter, of which silage will usually make up 80%.
For example, a 300kg weanling will eat 6kg of dry matter, and 75% of this equates to 22kg of fresh silage per day.
Stores will typically consume mostly silage during winter feeding, perhaps 80%-85% of their total feed intake. For example, a 500kg store will eat 35-40kg of silage daily.
Finishers may not be so dependent on grass silage for winter feeding, because they may have access to alternative forages such as beet or maize.
On a finishing diet, depending on breed and sex, an animal will consume 2%-2.5% of their body weight in dry matter.
During this period, total intake may be split between 50% forage and 50% concentrate. For example, a bullock of 600kg will eat 12-15kg of dry matter, which equates to about 25-35kg of fresh silage daily. Many have found that cattle finished on lower forage diets due to necessity this year have performed better.
