Entrance to a flooded farmyard in Cloonown, Co Roscommon. Photo: Odile Evans
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Instead of rushing out to buy in silage, reduce demand by feeding additional concentrates. A suckler cow when fed ad-lib will eat from 45kg to 50kg of silage per day. Across a 40-cow herd, introducing the 2kg of barley per head per day will reduce your silage requirement by a bale per day. In herds where the spring-calving cows have been housed at condition score of 3.0 or higher, silage can be reduced to 30kg per day without any requirement for meal.
It is also possible to eliminate silage from the diet by feeding straw. On a straw-based diet, the cow should be offered straw to appetite along with 3kg of a 16% crude protein ration per day. 100g of a high phosphorus dry cow mineral should also be fed with straw-based diets if minerals are not included in the ration. This diet can also be fed to weanlings and/or other drystock on the farm for a temporary period. When feeding young stock, increase the protein content of the ration to 18% and feed 3kg per head per day.
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Instead of rushing out to buy in silage, reduce demand by feeding additional concentrates. A suckler cow when fed ad-lib will eat from 45kg to 50kg of silage per day. Across a 40-cow herd, introducing the 2kg of barley per head per day will reduce your silage requirement by a bale per day. In herds where the spring-calving cows have been housed at condition score of 3.0 or higher, silage can be reduced to 30kg per day without any requirement for meal.
It is also possible to eliminate silage from the diet by feeding straw. On a straw-based diet, the cow should be offered straw to appetite along with 3kg of a 16% crude protein ration per day. 100g of a high phosphorus dry cow mineral should also be fed with straw-based diets if minerals are not included in the ration. This diet can also be fed to weanlings and/or other drystock on the farm for a temporary period. When feeding young stock, increase the protein content of the ration to 18% and feed 3kg per head per day.
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