Many spring-milk-producing farms are coming to the end of the milking season and have tightened up the number of cows still milking. Many farmers I talked to this week have plans to keep milking indoors on quality bales and 3kg to 4 kg of meal per cow until early December and then call it a day. Spring producers need to be careful on the quality of silage and lameness, as both can strip off condition score very quickly.
Cow space at the feed barrier and cubicle stocking density can be managed higher than one-to-one – but only if silage is kept pushed in. If you are under pressure for space, then cows that need special attention should be selected out into a separate group.
Clonaklity clover: For the last three years, the Clonakilty research farm herd on mixed clover grass swards has delivered about 50kg of milk solids extra per cow, compared to cows grazing grass-only swards. I know well many farmers are not fans of clover, but the team at Clonakilty has been working hard at trying to manage the challenges and now feels comfortable at managing the bloat risk. Yes, there is less dry matter available in the spring, but quality silage bales can make up the difference. At €4 to €5/kg milk solids, the extra 50kg MS per cow is €200 to €250 per cow extra output – or €500 to €600 per hectare extra output – which is a serious shift in output. Yes, there is more time to go in the trial, but the last three years have been very consistent.
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The other farm that has similar grass to Clonakilty is the Greenfield Kilkenny farm. All paddocks in Kilkenny are single grass variety paddocks with clover. Of course, Kilkenny is not a research farm and there are no “grass only” paddocks, so we don’t have comparison data. It will be interesting to watch the development of grass and clover varieties on other commercial farms around Ireland.
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Many spring-milk-producing farms are coming to the end of the milking season and have tightened up the number of cows still milking. Many farmers I talked to this week have plans to keep milking indoors on quality bales and 3kg to 4 kg of meal per cow until early December and then call it a day. Spring producers need to be careful on the quality of silage and lameness, as both can strip off condition score very quickly.
Cow space at the feed barrier and cubicle stocking density can be managed higher than one-to-one – but only if silage is kept pushed in. If you are under pressure for space, then cows that need special attention should be selected out into a separate group.
Clonaklity clover: For the last three years, the Clonakilty research farm herd on mixed clover grass swards has delivered about 50kg of milk solids extra per cow, compared to cows grazing grass-only swards. I know well many farmers are not fans of clover, but the team at Clonakilty has been working hard at trying to manage the challenges and now feels comfortable at managing the bloat risk. Yes, there is less dry matter available in the spring, but quality silage bales can make up the difference. At €4 to €5/kg milk solids, the extra 50kg MS per cow is €200 to €250 per cow extra output – or €500 to €600 per hectare extra output – which is a serious shift in output. Yes, there is more time to go in the trial, but the last three years have been very consistent.
The other farm that has similar grass to Clonakilty is the Greenfield Kilkenny farm. All paddocks in Kilkenny are single grass variety paddocks with clover. Of course, Kilkenny is not a research farm and there are no “grass only” paddocks, so we don’t have comparison data. It will be interesting to watch the development of grass and clover varieties on other commercial farms around Ireland.
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