Some farmers consider the feeding of their dry suckler cows to be a very straightforward process, and they just offer them ad-lib silage and hope for the best.

Then there are those that take it to the other extreme and use a diet feeder, formulating a mixture that meets feed requirements as cheaply as possible. They add straw and other by-products to try and get things just right.

In between the two extremes, there are various other methods applied.

I know some farmers who will feed their dry cows as much as they can possibly eat up until they are about three or four weeks out from calving. At that stage, they move them onto poor-quality feed (usually hay or poor-quality silage).

The only thing that poor feeding in the last month will do is make sure that the cow has very little colostrum

The thinking behind this is that you will have a smaller calf if you feed the cows less in the last month of pregnancy.

But in actual fact, the calf has done the majority of its growing in the previous eight months, and the only thing that poor feeding in the last month will do is make sure that the cow has very little colostrum, and what it does have will be of poor quality. It may also leave you with a weak calf and a cow that will retain her afterbirth.

Then there are those farmers who will leave the calf sucking the cow until about a month before she is due to calve again.

When the cow does calve, they do get a smaller calf, but it is very likely to be weak and the cow is unlikely to have sufficient good-quality colostrum, leaving the new calf more susceptible to taking scour.

System

I have been farming suckler cows for a long time, and over the years I have found a simple system that suits my farm, and seems to be successful (although when I explain it to other farmers, I am often met with a fair degree of scepticism).

You have to have adequate feed space to ensure that all cows can feed at the same time

I wean my cows about five months before they are due to calve. Depending on the quality of the silage and body condition score of the cows, I then set up a feeding regime for the winter.

It usually means that they start out on a restricted diet (usually around 25kg of fresh silage per head per day). For this to work, you have to have adequate feed space to ensure that all cows can feed at the same time. I feed them once a day and when it’s gone, they get nothing until the next day.

They can be a little unsettled when you start this, but once they get used to it there is no problem.

Dwarf calves

The silage that I am making now is good-quality leafy stuff (in most years), so feeding it ad-lib would lead to overfat cows, difficult calvings etc. But offering good-quality silage can also cause its own problems.

A few years ago, I had a number of dwarf calves and when I investigated the issue, it was clear that one possible cause was the feeding of good-quality silage in mid pregnancy. To overcome this, I now feed the cows hay once a week.

As the cows get further into pregnancy, I increase the amount of silage, until they are on ad-lib feed just before calving

They love the little bit of a change in diet and it seems to have stopped the problems with dwarf calves. Straw would do the same job, but it is a lot more expensive here.

As the cows get further into pregnancy, I increase the amount of silage, until they are on ad-lib feed just before calving. I also start feeding dry cow minerals about two months before they are due to start calving.

I have found that this works well here. The cows are calving healthy calves and seem to have adequate colostrum. We also do not have too many retained afterbirths.

Saving

I have also worked out that I can save about 1t of silage per cow per year by weaning early, and putting cows onto a restricted diet.

This might not sound like much, but on my farm, it amounts to about 100t. At a cost of £20/t, it is a saving of £2,000, which is the equivalent of having another couple of calves to sell every year.

I would not suggest that my system is perfect, but it works here. We all need to constantly review what we do and see if there are any changes (for the better) that can be made.

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