FEEDING
FOCUS April 2017 • Issue 22
Preparing for turnout 2017 Preparing for turnout needs careful thought and attention in order to maintain good herd health and productivity levels. 1. Don’t over-estimate quantity and quality To realistically assess the amount of milk you can produce from grazing, it is important to understand the quality of your grassland and the potential of your management system to utilise forage. The temptation will be to reduce feed bills by cutting buffer feed or concentrate use after turnout. However, underfeeding cows will increase fat tissue mobilisation resulting in poor body condition and increasing the risk of long term health and fertility problems. Average grass growing season March
April
May
June
July
Grass intake (kg/d)
10
10
13
13
12
Milk yield potential (M+litres)
6
6
14
14
10
Exceptional grass growing season March
April
May
June
July
Grass intake (kg/d)
11
11
13.5
16.5
14.5
Milk yield potential (M+litres)
8
8
15
22
17
2. Assess what you are feeding It is important you know the nutritional intake your cows will be getting from grazing as grass quality can be extremely variable.
Spring grass is very different to the silage used through the winter period and tends to have lower dry matter, high energy and high degradable protein content as well as low levels of fibre. Knowing the nutrients your cows are getting from grass will help better balance their dietary needs. Spring grass
Grass silage
Dry matter (%)
18.0
32.7
Energy (MJ/kg DM)
11.8
11.08
23
12.4
Sugar (% DM)
15.0
5.0
NDF (% DM)
38.0
48.4
Protein (% DM)
3. Target feeding Maximising the use of grass can provide a welcome reduction in feed costs. However, ensure this short term gain is not achieved at the expense of long term herd health and fertility. Use a traffic light system to identify which cows will require additional nutritional support at grazing. Red (high risk): calving – 100 days in milk Amber (medium risk): 100 – 200 days in milk Green (low risk): 200 days in milk - in calf Make sure higher risk cows are provided with adequate concentrate supplementation to meet their energy requirements and low risk cows are maximising use of forage.