There appears to have been a sharp increase in grass tetany over the past week and it has caught affected farmers by surprise, even those who were feeding meal. Lush grass, cold nights and usually some bit of stress are contributing factors.

Feeding 2kg of meal at €250/t means it is costing 50c/cow/day to get enough magnesium into cows to cover for grass tetany. While there will be some response in milk to feeding the meal, cows will eat less grass as a result.

Where grass is plentiful, this is a waste of good feed. Granted, the grass not eaten can be converted to silage,but this is inefficient.

In my view, when you have an opportunity to reduce costs of production you should take it. Feeding 2kg of meal when there is grass available is not a low-cost approach.