Meal too dear for cows...

No meals to cows: that"s the message if you have enough grass. Meal is too expensive as it costs more than 22c/kg dry matter (DM) compared with grass at 6c. With 1kg milk worth 24c/l in Lakeland (20c/l in Connacht Gold) being produced from 1kg meal costing €240 per tonne or 24c/kg, this is a break-even operation. Silage costs 14-16c/kg DM, as well as depressing milk yield, percentage protein and cow body condition. With significant quantities of grass in the diet the cows total intake increases by 3%, she produces more milk, more protein (+0.3%) and gains more weight (0.17kg extra per day). How are you as a farm family going to overcome the loss of 10c/l off your milk price if you continue uneconomic practises of an era of higher milk prices? If you are short of grass and if you do not have enough grass each day to get you to the first week of April before starting the second rotation, then you should feed meals to stretch your grass. Which type of meal should you feed? It should be as cheap as possible. Many farmers are feeding up to 3-4kg of citrus pulp per day with the remainder as grass without any problems. Some co-ops are selling citrus at €160/ton with magnesium included. Where feeding silage or maize a balanced ration is essential. End of first rotation April 1-14 This is crucial to maximising grass in the cows diet and setting up for the remainder of the year. The earlier finish will be on drier soils. Many farmers have cows out this year as they calve, some from February 1. Where turnout was that early, it is essential to hit the following targets: • March 10: 33% of grazing area grazed • March 22: 60% of grazing area grazed • April 7: 94% of grazing area grazed Why is this important? To have enough grass on the second rotation you need a long period of days from first grazing to second grazing because the growth rate is low. Grazing off old grass stimulates growth, so you grow more per day. Post grazing height is important. If cows are leaving too much grass behind on any particular day, it indicates they are getting too many meals or too much grass allocated. Therefore, you reduce the meals being fed at the next milking. If they are grazing too tight and have all the grass eaten after a few hours you must increase the meals being fed. Fertiliser On heavily stocked farms, it is recommended that 50-60 units per acres of nitrogen be applied to all the grazing area by April 1. If you have not used that amount, you should get out there, otherwise you will be short soon. Follow Teagasc"s advice because you will not have grass if you don"t follow the recommendations for your stocking rate. Slurry will save on nitrogen: • Every 1,000 gallons gives 8-9 units of nitrogen. • Apply 2,000-3,000 gallons per acre on 30-50% of the farm, particularly, areas to be cut for silage. • As soil compaction by wheels gives a big reduction in grass growth in subsequent rotations, you must carefully choose the method of spreading, the fields to spread and the type of weather. • Because Teagasc Solohead is wet they always use the umbilical system. • Where covers of 500kg DM or greater must get slurry, us the trailed and shoe system, but preferably spread after grazing. You will not get the full value for nitrogen unless the phosphate (P) and potash (K) levels are good. Low P could result in grass yield being reduced by 30% while low K could cause reductions of to 10%. Lime or calcium are essential for: • Freeing up other nutrients, particularly nitrogen. • Perennial ryegrass and clover growth. • Grass palatability (lower DMD"s). Therefore, we can save on nitrogen if we apply lime and it is much cheaper. Don"t close for silage until mid-late April: If you want to reduce meal costs then you will graze silage ground twice before closing. This practice saves huge meal bills in early April. It will only delay silage cutting by a few days because growth rates will be over 90 compared in May with 30kg DM per day in early April. There will also be a strong possibility of split cuttings of 1st cut. The advantage of this is that it facilitates the availability of aftergrass over a longer period. Silage would be cut on June 13-16th. You should aim to get 90-95% of all your silage requirements from the first cut. This will save money. But it can only happen if cows are stocked at 4-5 cows per hectare on the grazing area during April-May. Stock cattle at 1,000-1,250 kg weight per acre. Let calves out to grass Calves at grass will thrive as well as those indoors and will have a lot less health problems while being easier to manage. Try to have fresh grass for them every 3-5 days by rotating them round small blocks of grass. Feed hay or straw while at grass, as they need fibre (essential). If the weather is wet and cold, farmer"s favour letting calves run back into a house but this can be dangerous unless it is well ventilated like a hay barn. All they need outdoors is a dry lie and ground shelter because they spend a lot of time lying down. Let out cattle It costs €1/day to feed an animal indoors whereas it only costs 30c when they are fed outdoors. They will struggle to put on 0.5kg per day weight while indoors whereas they will easily do twice that on grass. This applies to replacement heifers and beef cattle. They can be stocked at 1,000kg (even 1250kg) per acre from let out until late June. • That is 50 yearlings weighing 320kg require 16 acres until late June. • Divide it up into eight divisions and animals will spend 2.5-3 days in each block. • Same rules apply as for cows, in that the 1st rotation should not end before mid-April. Yearlings should not need a let-out dose for worms. How could they need it? They have been indoors for the last 3-6 months; where would they pick up worms?