Michael and Jim Walsh operate a 190-cow dairy farm outside Ballyroan, Co Laois.

Michael explains: "The farm is very much a family-run business. I farm alongside my dad Jim and we employ one full-time labour unit.

"We milk 190 spring-calving dairy cows, predominately Holstein, British Friesian-cross, on a milking platform of 55 hectares.’’

Michael makes use of two outblocks for heifer rearing and silage making.

At present, the Walshes' cows are performing well and are currently milking 1.64kg of milk solids per day, with the herd averaging 500kg of milk solids yearly on 800kg of concentrate, which Michael is very happy with.

Grassland management

With the recent spate of bad weather, some farmers may be struggling to manage the poor grazing conditions and to get heavy paddocks grazed out. Michael and Jim place a major focus on grassland management, ensuring they get the most out of each grazing.

"We’re not looking too bad at the moment, even after the rain that’s fallen. We have fairly dry land, which helps, especially during the spring and autumn periods.

"We aim to leave the cows at grass until the 7 or 10 November each year, with a plan to be back out at grass the last week in January or the first week in February, all going to plan.’’

As Michael manages the last few weeks of the 2023 grazing season, he currently has an average farm cover of 950kg/ha, equating to 300kg/DM per cow.

Reseeding using Tirlán Mastercrop Premium Grazing Sward

"We grass measure on a weekly basis, which allows us to monitor the quality and quantity of grass being produced. Selecting paddocks that are underperforming for reseeding is vital. We plan to reseed between 8 and 10 acres annually on the grazing platform using Tirlán Mastercrop Premium Grazing Sward, which includes 1kg of clover, which is very important to help improve our efficiency on the farm.2

Feeding GAIN Autumn Extender 16% Protein Nut

GAIN Autumn Extender is a 16% protein nut that helps farmers extend late-lactation dairy cow performance during the autumn and winter periods.

Michael has been feeding his cows GAIN Autumn Extender for a number of years and feels that this has been one of the biggest reasons for improving his herd performance and allowing him to extend his grazing season.

"Currently, the cows are getting 2kg of GAIN Autumn Extender Nut. Towards the end of the last rotation, the plan would be to increase this to 3kg when the grass starts getting tight. It’s been an excellent product down through the years, with the cows coming into the shed in excellent condition."

The GAIN Autumn Extender Nut is designed to boost milk production and increase yield by 1 litre per cow per day, with the aid of the feed additive Agolin. Since introducing the nut to the herd, Michael’s average butterfat and protein increased to over 5% and 4% respectively - an increase of 0.2%.

Along with increasing production, GAIN Autumn Extender includes Bioplex protected minerals, which helps reduce lameness, and Sel-Plex, which improves somatic cell count and fertility. Michael finds these minerals a huge benefit to his herd.

"We don’t have any issues with lameness on the farm. A combination of foot bathing the cows exiting the parlour and the Bioplex included in the nut helps prevent lameness.

"Our SCC is currently running at 140,000. Overall, the GAIN Autumn Extender Nut has improved animal performance and helped in managing our herd health."

Feeding during late lactation

The feed value of grass drops in autumn due to reduced daylight, wetter conditions and greater dead material. Leafy autumn grass is a highly digestible, high-crude protein forage. However, it is low in energy, as it has much lower sugar content than summer grass (9% v 21%). Supplementation in autumn is therefore required to provide energy to sustain milk production, help reduce grass or forage demand and extend the grazing rotation.

Thus, the response to feeding concentrates alongside autumn grass is 1 litre of milk for every 1kg concentrates fed. If grazing full-time, 2kg to 3kg of a high-energy concentrate is adequate during this period. If silage is introduced into the diet, concentrate feeding levels will depend on forage quality.

Improving body condition score

Late lactation is the optimum time to manipulate body condition. Cows should be in a positive energy balance and confirmed pregnant by this time.

Ideally, cows should be dried off in the BCS that you want them to calve down in and maintain this BCS during the dry period. Any changes in BCS can be made very efficiently and should be achieved during this period (pre-drying off).

If cows have a BCS < 3.0, energy intake needs to increase. Failure to replenish energy reserves will limit milk production during the next lactation. If BCS exceeds 3.5, energy intakes are too high and should be reduced to avoid excessive fattening.

GAIN Autumn Extender Nut is 16% protein, suitable for both cows grazing full-time and being buffer-fed silage.

Derived from digestible fibre and a balanced level of starch, it aids rumen fermentation. GAIN Autumn Extender has Bioplex protected organic minerals, Sel-Plex protected Selenium from Alltech and Agolin included.

Recent Irish research has shown that Agolin supplementation in autumn increases milk yield and milk solids production significantly through improved feed efficiency.

Helps reduce lameness and somatic cell count

Bioplex protected minerals improve mineral availability, body storage and usage and have a benefit of €50 per cow per year.

Bioplex protected minerals decrease lameness by 24%, alongside helping to improve locomotive score and helping to reduce somatic cell count by 22%.

Sel-Plex protected selenium is also included, which helps to improve somatic cell counts, mastitis and fertility. It also contains magnesium, with 2oz of cal mag included in 4kg, as an aid in the prevention of grass tetany. The maximum feeding level is 6kg per cow per day, due to the high concentration of minerals.

GAIN Autumn Extender is ideal for dairy herds which are grazing while also suitable for herds being supplemented with silage.

Due to its low substitution effect, GAIN Autumn Extender encourages the cow to maximise grass intake, milk yield and will help improve cow body condition as dairy herds approach the dry period.

Support from GAIN Animal Nutrition

Eoin Regan is the Walshes' GAIN business manager. Michael believes that the advice offered by Eoin and the team at GAIN is second to none, stating that: "The team are excellent and always around to help, with excellent technical experience on all aspects of farming practices."

For more information, contact your business manager, local branch or visit www.tirlanfarmlife.com.