Winter feeding is well and truly under way on the farms in the BETTER Farm programme.

Over the coming three weeks, we will feature what each participant is doing in terms of winter feed and management of each cattle type.

Prior to housing, the first step that was taken was to get silage analysed on all the farms to get a barometer of the quality and to calculate the supplementation rates that are required to attain the targeted level of liveweight gain for each animal type.

In some cases, numbers silage samples were taken to represent the different silage cuts and differences between baled silage and first- and second-cut silage.

The feeding regimes and supplementation rates being implemented on the farms is very varied depending on the farming systems and use of straights, homegrown feed or purchased rations.

Table 1 details the required supplementation rates for different cattle types on various qualities of silage. As winter feed is expensive, feeding the right level of energy and ensuring that the target liveweight gains are achieved are paramount.

It is essential that farmers don’t focus on the cost per day of feeding during the winter period. Often a better barometer is the cost per kg of liveweight gain.

If a weanling is stored on ad-lib poor-quality silage and 1kg of concentrates, the daily cost would be in the region of €1.05-€1.10/day. This level of supplementation would only support a growth rate of 0.2/0.3kg/day, resulting in a cost of €4.30/kg of liveweight gain.

Supplementation rate

Feeding the same silage ad-lib and increasing supplementation rate to 3kg/day would leave the daily feed cost to €1.40-€1.50/kg.

The increased cost of meal feeding is somewhat offset by reduced silage intake. At this level of supplementation, a daily liveweight gain of 0.6-0.7kg/day should be achievable. This will result in a cost of €2.23/kg of liveweight gain. Although a lower daily feed cost might be appealing, failing to meet the required level of liveweight gain will substantially increase the cost of producing each kilo of liveweight.

Sean Power Kilkenny

We are feeding 350 heifers in the yard this winter. There are three different diets for the different stages of heifers as they will be slaughtered at different times.

I have around 120 heifers always on the finishing diet. This is comprised of 12 kg of fodder beet purchased at €30-35/t delivered (unwashed), 6kg of concentrate which includes a high-phosphate mineral/vitamin mix – 5.5kg DM of 67-71% DMD baled silage and 0.5kg to 1kg of spring barley straw. The concentrate ration is comprised of 40% rolled barley, 20% maize meal, 20% maize distillers and 20% soya hulls.

On a dry matter basis, this complete diet is 1.01 UFV and 12% crude protein. The total diet should be about 39% dry matter. I am feeding another 100 heifers on a finishing build-up diet which comprises of 5kg of fodder beet, 4 kg of concentrate with a high-phosphate mineral/vitamin mix, 11kg (DM) of baled silage and 0.5 kg of barley straw. This complete diet is 36.7% DM and 0.91 UFV and 12% crude protein on a DM basis.

My third group of animals are store heifers which are fed silage ad-lib and 2kg of concentrate. As soon as I slaughter heifers I will be moving this group of heifers on to the build-up ratio, and the second group on to the finishing ration.

At this stage I reckon I will be turning around 80 of my lightest store heifers back to grass in the spring with the aim of finishing them off grass next summer. So far this year I have killed approximately 100 extra heifers compared to 2013, which is a significant boost to output.

Cathal Crean Wexford

I have ample silage in my yard this winter as the dry weather in 2014 really suited my farm. I reckon I will have a surplus of silage which is great because I always like to have a reserve of silage in case I have to re-house stock due to bad weather.

I penned my cows according to body condition score at housing and cows scoring 2.75 to 3.25 were fed restricted 64 DMD second-cut silage by feeding them silage ad-lib for two days and only feeding spring barley straw on the third day. The cows under body condition score 2.75 were fed second-cut silage ad-lib. All cows are being supplemented with a pre-calving mineral and vitamins mix for six to eight weeks pre-calving.

In mid-December I re-penned my cows according to their calving dates as calving will start in early January. I injected them for liver fluke, treated them for lice and vaccinated them against Lepto and Salmonella.

My heifer and bull weanlings are on my home farm and on the outfarm. They are being fed 73DMD 69DMD first-cut silage ad-lib and I am front-loading my meal feeding by feeding a 16% two-way mix comprising of 85% of my homegrown acid-tread rolled barley and 15% soyabean meal. They are also getting a mineral and vitamin mix at a rate of 20g per 100 kg live weight.

My 2013 spring-born finishing heifers are on 73DMD first-cut silage and 5.5kg of concentrates. The concentrate mix consists of 90% of my own rolled barley and 10% soyabean meal. They are also receiving 15g per 100kg liveweight of a mineral/vitamin mix. I hope to finish these heifers by late January or early February. I treated my weanlings and finishing cattle against worms, liver fluke and lice after a month of housing.

Tomas Murphy Laois

I have lots of fodder in the yard this year and the yield of my first cut was far ahead of last year’s.

This year’s silage was cut on the fifth of June after a 24-hour wilt. As the sugars tested low at sampling before harvesting I decided to use an enzyme-based additive to help enhance the fermentation process. The silage analysis showed that it is 19.7% dry matter, 75% DMD and 10.8% protein. The pH is 4.3 and ammonia is 8. This silage will provide a good foundation for my winter feeding.

My suckler cows are in very good body condition, with a score of 3.0 to 3.25, and were fed moderate- quality second-cut baled silage for a month after housing. They are now on a restricted diet of first-cut 75% DMD pit silage with pre-calving minerals and vitamins before calving. I am feeding them the poorer silage along the walls and the top of the pit and keeping the better silage for young stock.

The weanling bullocks were housed since early November while the heifers were only housed since early December. They are being fed first-cut silage and 2kg of concentrate. The concentrate ration is comprised of 60% of my own homegrown rolled spring barley and 40% of a 22% protein balancer.

My finishing heifers are housed since late October and I hope to slaughter them in mid-January at 360-370kg carcase weight at 23 months of age. They are being fed ad-lib first-cut silage and 5kg of concentrate. Weanlings and finishing cattle are supplemented with a general-purpose mineral and vitamin mix.

Chris McCarthy Westmeath

All spring-calving cows were housed by the first of November. They have an average body condition score (BCS) of 3 which means they were on target at housing.

I am happy with their condition this year as the good grass growth and autumn weather helped increase condition prior to housing. They are currently being fed silage ad-lib with some straw and 100g/cow of pre-calving minerals and vitamins.

The silage fields were closed up in early April and cut on 7 June. My silage analysis came back at 69DMD and 11.2% protein, which I am happy with. Last year I fed 1/4 kg of soyabean meal per day to cows for about four weeks before calving. Cows seemed to have more colostrum and milk after calving and I thought the calves were stronger and hardier at birth.

I have started to feed the same amount of soya to the early-calvers and again will target feeding it for a month before calving. The cows are due to start calving from 15 January onwards which is a fortnight earlier than last year.

In the past I kept heifers over the winter, but this year all the weanlings were sold in the autumn. This has helped to reduce the winter workload.

My replacement heifers, which I purchased in-calf, have started to calve down already. By calving them before to the main herd, it should give them a little extra time to go back in calf and still calve early next year.

Billy Gilmore Galway

Autumn-calving cows are being fed pit silage which had an analysis of 75DMD. Silage quality was very good this year due to weather and cutting it at the right stage.

Because I have an autumn-calving herd, I need the best-quality silage I can make to keep concentrate supplementation to a minimum.

Currently, I am feeding under 1kg/day of rolled barley to the cows to ensure they are getting enough energy and dusting the silage with a mineral and vitamin mix.

The cows are in very good body condition at the moment, and have not dropped much since calving. I will continue feeding the barley until they are settled back in-calf.

The calves are being fed about 750g/head/day of a home mix consisting of barley, pulp, soya and minerals.

Due to phenomenal grass growth during the autumn and good ground conditions I let back out 40 heifers to graze out some heavy covers for over a fortnight. It was great to have been able to graze them out as it would have gone too strong for the ewes. This ground will now be suitable for spreading slurry on in January.

Even though they are housed, the calves have access to creep outside to a collecting yard. There is limited grazing ground beside the yard and I have to save this for lambing sheep from mid-January onwards, weather permitting. This will help with calf health over the winter.

I have found that the cows are quick to come back in heat and this allows me keep a compact calving season.

Niall Patterson Leitrim

The weanling heifers are currently being fed ad-lib silage and 2kg of concentrates. The ration is comprised of maize, wheat, distillers, maize gluten and soya hulls with and has a crude protein content of 16%.

The weanling bulls are being fed 3.5kg of the same ration and ad-lib silage. The silage analysis came back with 65DMD and a protein level of 13.4%, which is fine for suckler cows.

The cows started calving within the last three weeks and it is going well so far. A pre-calving mineral mix was fed six weeks prior to calving. After calving the cows are getting 2kg of the same ration and ad-lib first-cut silage until they are settled back in calf.

I will monitor cow condition after calving so that I can increase or decrease the supplementation rate accordingly if cows are holding or decreasing condition.

Through blood sampling of cows, we identified an iodine deficiency on the farm and will bolus cows to address the issue. I am expecting that this might help cow fertility and the conception rates in the spring also.

I plan on housing the ewes in January, weather permitting. They will also be scanned at the same time and will remain indoors until they lamb. Once lambed, they will be let out to grass again.

Frank and Des Beirne Longford

The autumn-calved cows are being feed a total mixed ration. The breakdown consists of ad-lib silage which has been tested at 69 DMD, they are also getting 0.25kg of straw, 0.2kg of soya, 0.2kg rapeseed meal and a post-calving mineral mix.

They have been taken off concentrates and I have increased the silage rate to ad-lib. The calves are being fed 1.5kg of an 18% crude protein own mixed ration as it will offset the reduced milk intake.

Spring-calving cows have any average body condition of 3.2 and are being fed hay and 66 DMD silage along with 0.5kg of straw per day.

The spring-born bull and heifer weanlings are on 15kg silage/head/day (66 DMD), 0.25kg straw, 1.5kg barley, 0.3kg soyabean meal, 0.3kg rapeseed and 0.1kg minerals/head/day.

They are costing on average 73c/head/day. The cows and heifers that I plan on finishing are being fed 1kg straw, 0.5kg soyabean meal, 0.5kg of rapeseed meal, 1kg citrus pulp, 1.5kg maize meal, 2.5kg barley and 14kg of silage. We are also adding in 100g/head/day of lime to increase calcium in the diet and 100g/head/day of minerals and vitamins mix.

In total the cows and heifers are costing €2.03/head/day. The bulls that I expect to be finished in January are getting 1kg of straw, 1.5kg molasses, 0.5kg soya, 0.5kg rapeseed meal, 1.6kg citrus pulp, 3kg maize meal, 5kg barley and 5kg silage. We estimate that they are costing €2.80/head/day. Lime, mineral and vitamin mix is also fed, and 100g of acid buffer is also added to their diet. Their average daily gain at last weighing was 2.2kg since last weighing in.

William Treacy Louth

We have just finished a five-bay single shed with a creep area for calves adjacent to an existing shed. This was badly needed as stock numbers have been increasing over the past few years and it was just finished in the nick of time before winter.

We are currently feeding a pretty simple three-way mix of barley/maize distillers/maize meal. This was purchased as we have a lot of cattle coming near finish at the moment and we needed something with high energy and that will put a finish on cattle.

We are supplementing spring-born weanlings and autumn-born calves with some soya to lift the protein and ensure they grow adequately over the winter months. We target a 0.8kg weight gain in bulls and a 0.6kg day weight gain on heifers as they go back to grass early in spring.

We have had issues with rumen fluke in the past and will probably dose again this year after taking some faecal samples. We will also dose all stock for liver fluke over the coming weeks once stock have been housed for the required time.

Silage quality came back good with first-cut analysing 74 DMD and second cut 67 DMD. We are feeding first-cut silage to weanlings and autumn-calvers while spring-calving cows are on second-cut with the cows over-fit on body condition also receiving straw every second day to reduce condition.

I have found after the good grazing year there are more cows coming in over-fleshed and this will take careful management over the coming months to avoid calving problems.

All in all I was happy with my performance in 2014, especially my grass growth. In 2015 my focus will be on improving my terminal sires with a new bull to be purchased early in 2015 in time for the spring-calving cows

Charlie Crawford Donegal

The cows have just started calving. So far I have eight cows calved. Prior to calving the cows are fed ad-lib silage which was tested at 69 DMD; they are also getting and 100g pre-calving minerals.

The cows are housed according to body condition score. This is something I have started doing in the last few years and I find it very beneficial.

The calved cows are being fed ad-lib silage and 2kg of concentrates until they are settled back in calf. I am happy to feed meal for this period as I know that they will have enough energy intake so conception rates won’t be affected.

The replacement heifers and weanling heifers are on ad-lib silage, 0.5kg soyabean meal and 2kg of rolled barley. My aim is to get the heifers in store condition going to grass. I find that soya helps to add frame to the heifers without flesh. I will weigh the heifers over the winter in order to monitor their progress.

Last year the flock of ewes were housed after Christmas. Traditionally ewes would have grazed the farm up until early march.

I rested the entire farm and had early grass available for sheep and yearling cattle in the spring. I plan on doing the same in 2015 as I find early spring grass very good for increasing the performance of young stock.