Brian Reidy: Feed budget plans - how realistic are your projections?

There is little point in hoping for a four-month winter after our recent experiences. We must be realistic with any planning, advises independent ruminant nutritionist Brian Reidy.

There is little point in hoping for a four-month winter after our recent experiences. We must be realistic with any planning, advises independent ruminant nutritionist Brian Reidy.

One of the most pressing topics to come up at the recent discussion group meeting in West Tipperary was winter feed supplies.

I have been doing a lot of feed budgets for customers over the last few weeks, and while some are very tight on feed supplies based on a 180-day winter, many are very comfortable. I have been budgeting for the worst-case scenario of 180 days as last winter’s early start and late finish are still fresh in all our minds. 

There is little point in hoping for a four-month winter after our recent experiences. We must be realistic with any planning, last year animal housing commenced in the middle of October (it flogged rain on the 18th of October) and many of the animals housed on those days did not get turned out again until early April. 

So, if we look at October 18 to St. Patrick's Day, that’s 150 days. Add or subtract two weeks from either end, and you will get a winter-feeding length ranging from 124 to 180 days. 

That’s a 56-day difference between the two extremes. Now obviously all of this depends on your current grass supply, stocking rate and your land type. 

Just to put it in context, a 120-cow herd requiring 50kg of silage per cow per day will require an extra 336t of silage if the winter is 180 days versus a 124-day winter. Each week longer indoors will require 42t of silage, or 60 bales - and that’s before we look at the requirements of any replacements and other stock that are on the farm. 

It really is worth revisiting your feed budget on a regular basis and adjusting it based on feed usage along with extra forage saved and/or purchased. The best advise is to secure all of your requirements sooner rather than later and plan based on a longer feeding period rather than a short winter. You really only have three options: get more forage, buy extra concentrates to supplement existing forage supplies or reduce the number of mouths you have to feed for the coming winter.

New feeds in the yard - when to feed them?

A lot of dairy and beef producers will be dealing with unfamiliar ingredients this coming winter. Maize silage, Whole crop cereals, brewer's and distiller's grains, among other feeds, will all be fed on farms for the first time this winter. 

Firstly, it is worth remembering that these products will more than likely be higher in energy than most grass silages produced in Ireland this year. Most early-cut silage this year is dry and poor quality as most of them would have received little or no fertiliser or slurry earlier in the spring. 

Don’t be under the illusion that if you cut early, it will be good; it probably won’t. Get silage tested so that you can balance it properly for each group of stock in conjunction with any new feed you will be using this winter. 

I have seen it over the years where a new ingredient arrives into a yard and the farmer can’t wait to try it out. Resist that temptation, high energy feeds will give best results when fed to fresh calvers next year before they head to grass and as a complement to grass when still in by night or as a buffer once on grass full time. 

It makes no sense to feed maize or whole crop to late lactation cows and end up feeding average silage to cows next spring. In that scenario, you will either have to feed a lot of meals to get them to milk well or compromise on yield and composition by not supplying sufficient energy.

In beef herds, these ingredients should be prioritised for higher performing finishing animals or cows rearing calves. Remember that maize and whole crop are high in fibre and energy, but lower in protein, than silage, while brewer's and distiller's will be significantly higher in protein than silage. 

You must appreciate the feed value of each ingredient and manage this accordingly when constructing diets.

Straw feeding

Many will also be feeding much higher volumes of straw, if it can be sourced, to stock than they traditionally would have. 

Two groups of stock will be targeted for straw feeding: young stock and dry cows. In both cases, it is important that you feed sufficient protein. In the growing young stock, if you don’t supply sufficient protein, then appetites will be poor, and target frame growth will not be achieved.

In dry cows, underfeeding of protein will result in a poor bag down, lower quality colostrum for the newborn calf and poor intakes post-calving, resulting in poor milking performance in early lactation.

Mineral considerations

Those feeding new ingredients on-farm this winter will also need to consider their mineral supplementation strategy as the mineral profile of the above-mentioned ingredients will be different to a typical grass silage-based diet.