The dilemma facing many dairy farmers across NI this winter is how to manage a limited supply of silage while capitalising on higher milk prices.

At the Ulster Grassland Society’s autumn meeting last week, Jason McMinn from FarmGate Consultancy Ltd said that the solution to the problem depends on a range of factors which vary between individual farms.

The first step is to undertake a feed budget, and ideally make use of a silage analysis, which will give an accurate indication of silage dry matter and help in the calculation of actual feed availability.

“Count the total feed in silos and bales and divide by the daily intake requirement from both cows and young stock to see how many days feeding you actually have,” McMinn said.

To calculate the tonnage of a clamp in fresh weight, multiply the length, width and height (in feet) of the silo and divide by 47 for 20% dry matter (DM) silage, 55 for 25% DM, 62 for 30% DM and 71 for 35% DM.

If a shortfall is identified, the primary response may be to buy in silage. However, McMinn said that the silage market can be limited and silage for sale can often be poorer quality.

“With milk price being where it is, you could be better bulking silage supplies with concentrate or blend, rather than feeding poor quality bought in silage and risking a drop in yield,” he said.

McMinn pointed out that measures taken to stretch silage supplies depend on the quality of silage currently on farm. Better-quality silage could be stretched by feeding some additional straw, whereas poorer silage would be better suited to additional concentrate feeding.

He also described dealing with a fodder shortage as a “moving target”, given that prices for silage, straw or concentrates could change over the season.

However, if buying additional silage, McMinn recommended getting the silage analysed and then buying it in terms of dry matter weight, not fresh weight. Estimates of dry matter in the absence of a silage analysis can lead to inaccurate estimates of total silage weight.

We tend to overvalue wet silage,” McMinn said.

Bulking silage supplies with straw pellets was another option outlined. McMinn said that this works best with silage that is low in dry matter, but is still good enough quality in terms of energy and digestibility. Soya hulls are commonly used to stretch silage stocks, however feed merchants continue to report that availability is extremely limited at present.

100t short

The host farmer for the event, Alastair Forsythe from near Cloughmills, is approximately 100t short of silage for the winter.

Third-cut silage was made, but the wet season meant cows were at grass less, and silage stocks have been used earlier than planned.

To bridge the gap, Alastair is buying silage to feed to dry cows, with milking cows receiving 1.5kg soya hulls, 0.5kg straw and 4kg blend through a total mixed ration to help stretch supplies.

The 135 Holstein cow herd is yielding 8,000 litres from 2.5t concentrates with cows fed to yield in the parlour. Cows have been housed by night all year.

Plans to get cows to grass full time after second-cut silage were shelved due to the wet weather.

In the past few years, Alastair has been moving away from year-round calving, and no cows are now calved for two summer months.

“We want to breed fertility into the herd. There are no big plans for 10,000-litre yields,” Alastair told UGS members. Breeding for improved milk components is another aim as the current butterfat and protein levels of 4.20% and 3.44%, respectively, are already delivering an additional 1.25p/l bonus.

Forage

Milk from forage has increased from 2,192 to 2,649 litres in two years, and the aim is to maintain this, and potentially increase it further.

Alastair said that the last two years have been difficult for grazing on the farm, and the focus could change to making more good-quality silage if getting cows out to grass full-time continues to be hampered by wet grazing seasons.

Alastair farms with his father George and there is one full time worker employed. In the long term, he foresees potential issues with labour as there is also a substantial poultry enterprise on the farm. He said that robotic milking may be an option down the line.

Jason McMinn pointed out that a total confinement system, and a return to year-round calving, would be needed for a robotic parlour to work best on the farm. “The additional cost would mean you would need milk yields to push towards 10,000 litres to get it to add up,” he said.

Delayed second-cut silage

There could be issues with the fermentation of delayed crops of second-cut silage, Ian McCluggage, head of dairy development at CAFRE, said at last week’s event.

“Analysis of samples of second-cut silage that are still to be cut showed it had 10% dry matter, so it was 90% water. Water-soluble carbohydrate was only 0.3, so it essentially has no sugar and it is questionable if it will even ferment to make silage,” he said.

McCluggage said that a silage additive might need to be applied to this type of grass to aid fermentation in a clamp. “If you have that type of material, cut it off high to leave a good stubble and then feed it as quickly as you can,” he said.

He added that delayed third-cut silage will have better feeding quality than delayed second cut.

“It should be fit to be made into something,” McCluggage said.

On Alastair’s farm, early housing has meant that grass covers are ahead of target for winter, and 300 store lambs have been purchased to get grass under control. Reseeding on the farm is carried out by under sowing grass in winter wheat.

The wheat crop is then cut for whole crop silage, with 16 acres ensiled this year.

There were plans for a nine-acre field to be reseeded this autumn after drainage work earlier in the summer. However, this has been delayed until 2018.

Manage body condition score before the dry period

The body condition score of cows should be managed throughout lactation and not altered drastically during the dry period, Alan Boyd from United Feeds told UGS members last week.

Boyd highlighted the importance of reducing stress on cows in the run up to calving. Key to this is getting feeding right.

Forage should be high-DM, palatable and low in potassium to allow calcium reserves to be mobilised and reduce the risk of milk fever.

The energy density of dry cow feed should also be increased before calving to allow for lower intakes.

Alastair has cows in two batches in his custom-built dry cow shed. Cows within four weeks, and heifers within six weeks of calving, are in the near group, and receive high-DM silage, 2kg to 4kg straw, 3kg dry cow concentrates and minerals. Cows receive no concentrates in the far-off calving group.

“Feed space is also essential to reduce stress. It should be 3ft per dry cow, which is 50% more than a lactating cow. They also need plenty of water. A small drinking bowl is no use to a freshly calved cow,” Boyd said.

He said that although there can be a tendency to increase concentrate feeding quickly after calving to reduce the negative energy balance, this should be done gradually to allow maximum forage intakes.