Initially, it cannot be stressed enough that once 50% of the forage requirements are available on farm, it is not necessary to buy forage to fill the gap unless, it is value for money in comparison to concentrates. This is a critical point to remember.

In many circumstances, those who are over the 50% threshold still find themselves frantically searching for forage and subsequently purchasing poorer quality feed stuffs for excessive prices.

When addressing the winter budgeting issue we need to remember that the recommended feeding figures are not set in stone, especially where silage recommendations are concerned.

This means that the recommended allocation of silage is not something that must be adhered to rigorously and provided that an alternative feed stuff is used, the recommended allocations can be significantly reduced.

Supplementation

How is this possible? Take for example, a suckler cow. It is estimated that a suckler cow will eat approximately 1.4 tonnes of silage each month during the winter and a dairy cow will require 1.6 tonnes. This works out at 45kg and 54kg of silage fresh weight per day, respectively.

In a normal year, with 100% of stocks in the yard, this is what would be fed and nothing else. However, this is not a normal year, and for those with only 50% or 70% of forage in the yard, these requirement figures can be lowered.

At 70% of requirements, suckler cows should be reduced to 30kg silage per day and 1kg of concentrates. A dairy cow will suffice on 38kg of silage and 2kg to 3kg of concentrates. At 50% of requirements, a further drop to 20kg of silage for suckers and 25kg of silage for dairy cows will be adequate, with the provision of 3kg and 4kg of concentrates, respectively.

These figures also allow for some restriction. The same idea can be applied to all types of cattle including suckling cows, stores and even weanlings.

Do not panic buy

With this in mind, the steps for farmers with 50% and 70% of their forage requirements do not need to be drastic. Do not panic-buy forages and subsequently pay in excess of what a product is worth.

Instead, talking to your feed merchant will be necessary. As we have outlined in the finance section, structuring your finances and ensuring that funding is available to purchase meals will be critical.

On the point of buying concentrates versus silage or hay forage options, people automatically think that feeding extra meal is a far too expensive for store cattle or weanlings.

I would strongly disagree with this idea, on the basis of what you are getting for a return on your investment. While hay or wrapped silage may sound cheaper, if this is poor quality, it is merely keeping animals full.

While it may be more expensive in the short term, meal will provide the added benefit of weight gain and performance, rather than just keeping the animal full. For example – for a continental bull weanling to gain 0.6kg/day, he needs 4kg of concentrates on top of a full allocation (23kg) of poor, 55% DMD silage, while on the same 4kg he needs just 12kg of 70% DMD silage. It wouldn’t make sense to buy poor quality feeding.

Planning ahead

For those with only 30% of winter forage, the challenge is far greater and the solution is not so simple. Once again, concentrates will have to make up a significant part of the forage supplementation, however, it will not take you all the way.

Firstly, I would look towards the stock on the farm. While forced selling is not ideal, it would be highly beneficial to look at the stock on the farm and identify animals that can be sold before housing. Cull cows are the first animal that springs to mind.

Store heifers are another option. Heifers that were earmarked for beef at 30 months are, on many farms, slaughtered at 22 to 24 months. I would recommend a strict, 100-day, high concentrate finishing period for these animals.

Removing stock from the farm before the winter will increase that forage percentage figure. The other option is to look at alternative forage crops which is discussed later in this section.