Winter may seem a long way off, but now is the ideal time to assess your fodder situation and see have you enough. Taking action now by closing up some extra ground for silage, may be more cost effective than buying silage next spring if stocks are scarce. The first step in carrying out a fodder budget is to calculate demand. Table 1 outlines the demand of various classes of livestock.

If there is good-quality baled silage that was wilted prior to baling, you can say one bale is the equivalent of one tonne of pit silage. Where the bales were baled in wet conditions, use 800kg of pit silage = one bale. To calculate the amount of silage in a pit, multiply the length (ft), by width (ft) by the average height (ft) and divide the final figure by 45.

If grass is very scarce at the moment, look at other options: including sourcing silage early, buying a crop for ensiling (like wholecrop barley), or have a plan in place to offload some stock before the winter months. Suckler cows which are in good BCS at housing may be fed some straw as part of the diet, to prevent excess condition at calving.

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Beef management : fodder budgeting

Adam Woods takes a look at completing a fodder budget when there is still time to do something about a fodder deficit.