Joe Sheehy: Proper feeding levels essential for your herd
For example one tonne of grain at 14% moisture supplies 860 kg dry matter while one tonne of moist rolled grain at 20% moisture will only supply 800 kg dry matter and is worth €10 per tonne less than the drier material.
Generally the best value for farmers is to buy a mix of concentrates which are properly balanced for the animal and roughage being fed. Consult your adviser on these matters.
On average, silage quality is good this year. Good silage should save farmers €30 to €60 per animal in concentrate feeding. This of course does not mean that animals do not need concentrates but they can be fed at lower levels and targeted to animals that need them.
To achieve this, animals must be grouped properly. Traditionally, one of the biggest problems on dairy farms is poor grouping of animals, often resulting in animals in very varying condition and weights.
Plenty of silage
In-calf cows in C.S. 3 getting plenty silage with DMD above 68 will generally be in satisfactory condition at calving. If silage is very good it should be restricted especially if cows have a long dry period. Restricting silage can cause problems at the feed face and very good management is required.
Ideally some straw should be made available. Second calvers and in-calf heifers will generally benefit from a few kg of concentrates for some of the dry period unless the silage is very good (above 72 DMD).
In-calf cows in C.S 2.75 to 3 getting 66 DMD silage will require 1 kg concentrates while those on 60 to 64 DMD silage will require about 2 kg. Of course all backward animals will require extra concentrates.
Don’t assume your silage is very good without having it properly assessed or tested. As a rule, concentrate feeding should be increased or decreased by 1kg for each 4 DMD change in silage.
In-calf heifers will require a similar feeding regime to cows with variations to suit different target weight gains bearing in mind that these animals should be 450 to 480kg in November and calving down at 520 to 550 kg depending on breed.
If feeding poor silage it is absolutely essential to monitor C.S very closely so that supplementation can be altered if necessary.
It is necessary to examine silage for signs of moulds. Mouldy silage should not be fed as it contains toxins that can cause abortion and other problems.
It is essential to feed about 4 ounces of a high trace element pre calver mineral for 6 weeks before calving as these help eliminate a lot of calving, calf problems and milk fever. It is very important that these minerals meet the Teagasc recommendations.
Occasionally, based on forage analysis or animal problems these minerals may have to be adjusted to meet specific farm requirements.
Bad mineral formulations cause problems.
Minerals are generally formulated to be fed with grass silage but if other forage such as maize silage or beet are being fed, minerals formulation will have to be changed to balance the total diet.
Transition feeding of concentrates for a few weeks prior to calving is very successful in many good herds to condition the rumen for high levels of concentrates after calving. This is particularly important for early calving cows where fairly high levels of concentrates are fed after calving.
Advice on replacements
Cows that are too fat or too thin calving down are susceptible to many diseases and production problems. With relatively late calving on Irish farms most animals dried off before Christmas will have an unnecessary long dry period which could lead to over fat cows if silage is good.
The problem with having replacements at very different weights and condition are very serious unless action is taken now. ICBF data indicate that almost half our dairy replacements do not calve within the target age of 22 to 26 months.
Over one third of our replacements calve down at almost 3 years old. This is a massive waste of money and is generally caused by not giving proper individual attention to replacements from calves to calving.
All animals should get the proper level of feeding and their feed should be properly balanced. Farmers should be aware of the quality of their feed and also of the condition that is required by their animals for best performance.
Silage quality should be assessed and tested, cows should be condition scored and replacement stock should be closely examined and preferably weighed.
Some weanlings and incalf heifers may be behind target weight and this situation should be corrected as soon as possible. Proper balancing of feed with correct levels of energy and minerals are often neglected.
Replacement targets
Holstein/Frisian (HF) heifers should be at least 340 kg in April for breeding. Moorepark data suggests that even with good silage, weight gains will be about 0.45kg per day. Getting them to grass early will help but can not be relied on.
Good silage plus 2 kg of 18% protein concentrate with suitable minerals should give weight gains of about 0.60 kg per day or 72 kg in 120 days.
Based on those figures, heifers would need to be around 280 kg now to reach target for April breeding, on good silage alone. Heifers weighing around 250 kg getting silage plus 1.5 to 2 kg concentrates will be slightly short of target but an extra few weeks on good grass or a slight delay in breeding should have them ok.
Lighter heifers should get good silage and 2.5 kg concentrates and aim to get them to grass as early as possible and perhaps breed them in early May. Like cows, heifers should be grouped and fed according to weight and make sure they are free from parasites. Avoid late calving heifers.
The minimum target for NZ/HF at the start of April is 330 kg and Jersey x HF 300 kg. Aim to breed around April 20.
HF in calf heifers should calve down at 550 kg minimum, NZ/FR 525 and Jersey x HF 490 kg. Their weights and Condition Score should be carefully assessed now and remedial action taken where required.
