Farmers are currently fighting to try and preserve their depleting fodder stocks and reach the light at the end of the tunnel which is grass turn out date.

The last couple of weeks have seen farmers face a range of weather conditions from red snow weather warnings to heavy rainfall which, coupled with cold temperatures, have prevented any decent grass growth.

With silage supplies running out fast and farmers being faced with the ultimatum of having to buy fodder, we take a look at the steps that could be taken to get over the current fodder crisis.

What can be done?

  • Spread nitrogen to all silage ground (80-100 units). In wetter soil conditions fertiliser nitrogen can be split 50:50, an example this would be to spread 50% of the fertiliser now and spread the remainder in two weeks to reduce the risk of nitrogen losses.
  • Set up temporary grazing systems, to utilize grass when ground conditions are more suited to livestock release.
  • Keep livestock away from bare pastures or areas of light cover and allow time for grass to accumulate before grazing.
  • Where some grass is available but even cover is not fully established, it is best to have some groups of animals on grass and have some indoors on winter fodder as opposed to having all stock grazing along with supplementary feeding. This will cause extra unnecessary damage to land.
  • Buy in appropriate fodder whether that is roughage or fodder stretchers.
  • Cattle close to finish can be fed on high levels of concentrates and sold as soon as possible.

    • Buying feed

    Feedstuffs can be measured as both roughage and concentrates. The quality of the silage has to be questioned when buying it as a feed. It can be quite costly and labour intensive to take in any sort of large quantity.

    Use Table 1 as a guide to estimate what you currently have left and what you potentially need to buy in.

    Hay and straw are preferable as they can be moved in greater volume than grass silage, offering more dry matter (DM) per load.

    However, straw is not recommended for cows with newborn calves at foot but can be used for drystock where concentrates is also given.

    The preferred option is to buy in concentrates until there is sufficient grass availability.

    Feeding concentrates

  • Cattle need a minimum amount of forage to sustain proper rumination. The lowest level of roughage is needed in ad lib diets and will still equate to around 10% of total DM intake. In these scenarios we should still offer roughage to appetite. Other animals will require at least 50% roughage in their diets to meet their nutritional needs.
  • Maximum weight gain is not necessary with stores and yearlings for the time being, maintenance and minimal growth rate (0.2 – 0.4kg/day) is the objective.
  • Maintaining milk production without excessive weight loss is the target for suckler cows.

    • Use Table 2 to estimate what can be replaced based on silage quality – all silage is not equal. It is one of the most variable feeds around in terms of both DM and feeding value.

    Having a handle on the DM figure is important in a situation where we are replacing with concentrates. The DM will depend on the length of the wilting period and the weather at harvest.

  • Bales mowed and cut on the same day in relatively dry conditions will have a DM of 25%. A 24 hour wilting period leaves a DM of 30%, while a 48 hour wilt in hot sunny weather will produce a 40% DM bale.
  • A cheaper feed will suffice in a time when high-performance is not a target.

    • Measuring requirements

    Concentrates offer a great way to slow down silage consumption.

    Teagasc research shows that every 1kg of concentrate fed at a low to moderate level (0-3kg in weanlings, 0-6kg in cows/stores) will reduce grass silage intake by 0.3-0.65kg.

    The replacement rate, or substitution rate, will be lower with poorer-quality silage (we save less silage) and higher with good-quality (>70% DMD) silage (we save more silage.)

    The above figures are based on leaving silage available to the animals at all time. However, we can further reduce silage in the diet through restriction. In Table 3, the minimum silage requirement for various classes of beef cattle when supplementing concentrates is outlined.

    A minimum of 50% of the animal’s diet must be made up of forage. For a 700kg suckler cow you must feed 7kg of DM as forage, which equals 23kg of 30% DM silage. For a 500kg store you must feed 17kg of fresh weight (30% DM) silage.