David Brady’s investments in drainage, reseeding and genetics is really starting to pay off. Milk solids sold to date this year is up 8.5% compared to the same period last year, despite milking four less cows.
The 40ha farm near Stradone is home to 98 cows. David had planned to milk 100 cows this year but a salmonella outbreak in spring caused the loss of two cows. The herd wasn’t vaccinated for salmonella.
David Brady speaking at a farm walk on his farm.
“We lost two cows but it could’ve been worse. None of the calves were affected. As soon as we got the diagnosis we vaccinated the whole herd and we did them again a few weeks later for their booster shot and now we are going to vaccinate again in a few weeks’ time so they’ll have been done three times this year, but that’s the way it goes,” David says.
Other than that the farm is flying it. Cows are milking 20.5l at 3.70% protein and 4.20% fat or 1.67kgMS/cow on 2kg of meal. Meal was increased for a short period last week as the cows were housed for 24 hours after the very heavy rain on Thursday. So far, 500kg of meal has been fed.
Gravel mole ploughing on David Brady's farm.
Go-to paddocks
The go-to paddocks during wet weather are those that have been gravel mole-ploughed. This is some turn-around as these were once the wettest paddocks on the farm. As a participant of the heavy soils project David has drained a significant proportion of the farm over the last few years. This has transformed parts of the farm as it allows the water to get away.
There is loads of grass on the farm currently, with average farm cover at 988kg/ha. This is more than David would like so some youngstock have been brought back on to the milking platform to help the cows get through some of the grass. David has taken out a lot of silage already and is slow to take out more ground at this time of year.
The overall stocking rate on the milking block is 2.5 cows/ha but with 25 in-calf heifers coming on he is thinking of increasing cow numbers to 110 next year which would be a stocking rate of 2.75 cows/ha. The herd has not been scanned yet, but David is hopeful that most of the heifers are in-calf. A progesterone device-based synchronisation programme was used for the first time this year and David is really happy with how it went with all heifers inseminated on the one day.
Herd EBI is now €116, with €50 for milk sub-index and €49 for fertility sub-index. According to the ICBF co-op performance report, the herd sold 331kg MS/cow up to July, up from 296kgMS/cow for the same period last year. David expects the herd to sell over 500kg MS/cow by the end of the year, which is 70kg MS/cow more than what was sold in 2016 from the same level of concentrate – about 800kg/cow.
This is a fair achievement on what is a difficult enough farm in a high-rainfall area. When David joined the Dairylink programme he had a split-calving herd with a small proportion calving in the autumn. This was phased out and the focus was put on growing and utilising high quantities of grass, which required significant investment in reseeding, drainage, roadways, water, fencing and soil fertility on top of learning the skills to manage that grass. David attended a grass group from Ballyhaise and now weekly grass measurements are part of the routine.
Focus on genetics
A similar focus was put on genetics, to breed the cow that can convert this grass to milk solids at low cost. Good gains have been made in production and fertility, largely from within the black and white breed but some Jersey semen has been used also.
David has been following the cows with either protected urea or sweetgrass all summer. The plan for August was to go with 18:6:12 but because the weather was so wet and because there is so much grass on the farm David has decided to delay this application. The plan now is to wait until the end of next week and make a decision then on how much 18:6:12 to spread in a blanket application.
Read more
Higher yielding cows more likely to be empty
Dairy management: preparing for another wet and windy week
David Brady’s investments in drainage, reseeding and genetics is really starting to pay off. Milk solids sold to date this year is up 8.5% compared to the same period last year, despite milking four less cows.
The 40ha farm near Stradone is home to 98 cows. David had planned to milk 100 cows this year but a salmonella outbreak in spring caused the loss of two cows. The herd wasn’t vaccinated for salmonella.
David Brady speaking at a farm walk on his farm.
“We lost two cows but it could’ve been worse. None of the calves were affected. As soon as we got the diagnosis we vaccinated the whole herd and we did them again a few weeks later for their booster shot and now we are going to vaccinate again in a few weeks’ time so they’ll have been done three times this year, but that’s the way it goes,” David says.
Other than that the farm is flying it. Cows are milking 20.5l at 3.70% protein and 4.20% fat or 1.67kgMS/cow on 2kg of meal. Meal was increased for a short period last week as the cows were housed for 24 hours after the very heavy rain on Thursday. So far, 500kg of meal has been fed.
Gravel mole ploughing on David Brady's farm.
Go-to paddocks
The go-to paddocks during wet weather are those that have been gravel mole-ploughed. This is some turn-around as these were once the wettest paddocks on the farm. As a participant of the heavy soils project David has drained a significant proportion of the farm over the last few years. This has transformed parts of the farm as it allows the water to get away.
There is loads of grass on the farm currently, with average farm cover at 988kg/ha. This is more than David would like so some youngstock have been brought back on to the milking platform to help the cows get through some of the grass. David has taken out a lot of silage already and is slow to take out more ground at this time of year.
The overall stocking rate on the milking block is 2.5 cows/ha but with 25 in-calf heifers coming on he is thinking of increasing cow numbers to 110 next year which would be a stocking rate of 2.75 cows/ha. The herd has not been scanned yet, but David is hopeful that most of the heifers are in-calf. A progesterone device-based synchronisation programme was used for the first time this year and David is really happy with how it went with all heifers inseminated on the one day.
Herd EBI is now €116, with €50 for milk sub-index and €49 for fertility sub-index. According to the ICBF co-op performance report, the herd sold 331kg MS/cow up to July, up from 296kgMS/cow for the same period last year. David expects the herd to sell over 500kg MS/cow by the end of the year, which is 70kg MS/cow more than what was sold in 2016 from the same level of concentrate – about 800kg/cow.
This is a fair achievement on what is a difficult enough farm in a high-rainfall area. When David joined the Dairylink programme he had a split-calving herd with a small proportion calving in the autumn. This was phased out and the focus was put on growing and utilising high quantities of grass, which required significant investment in reseeding, drainage, roadways, water, fencing and soil fertility on top of learning the skills to manage that grass. David attended a grass group from Ballyhaise and now weekly grass measurements are part of the routine.
Focus on genetics
A similar focus was put on genetics, to breed the cow that can convert this grass to milk solids at low cost. Good gains have been made in production and fertility, largely from within the black and white breed but some Jersey semen has been used also.
David has been following the cows with either protected urea or sweetgrass all summer. The plan for August was to go with 18:6:12 but because the weather was so wet and because there is so much grass on the farm David has decided to delay this application. The plan now is to wait until the end of next week and make a decision then on how much 18:6:12 to spread in a blanket application.
Read more
Higher yielding cows more likely to be empty
Dairy management: preparing for another wet and windy week
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