Good scanning results, decent milk solids and grass back on track mean the Greenfield Kilkenny farm is set up well for September.
While the drought in early August dropped farm grass cover to very low levels, the recent rain on the dry soils has really boosted grass supplies. About 20mm of rain fell two weeks ago and another 15mm over last weekend. The moisture has driven on growth rate and for the last number of weeks they have been over 70kg per day, which allowed farm cover build up to over 1,000kg (over 350kg/LU).
As soon as the rain came two weeks ago the supplement was pulled out. In the past, the farm staff would have left in the extra supplement for a few days to allow the farm fill up with grass. However, experience has shown if the rain comes and temperatures are still good then pull the feed straight away because otherwise you will end up with far too much grass in a very short time.
During the dry period, over 250 quality round bales were fed out and about 40kg of concentrate per cow. That’s the equivalent of about 200kg of dry matter per cow milking over a three- to four-week period. At the worst stage, the cows were getting very little grass and most of the diet was meal and silage bales.
The warm temperatures in the last week have dropped growth rate again slightly and the last measurement on Monday recorded a 50kg per day growth rate.
Now as far as problems go in my book a drought is easy to manage – you plug in the feed, keep the cows ticking over outside in the paddocks and sit back and wait for the rain. Yes it’s a hassle but relative to the opposite scenario of torrential rain and heavy ground, the drought is a doddle.
The key, of course, is to have enough high-quality bales. This year, Kilkenny made over 1,000 on top of the main crop first-cut pit silage. That stock of bales has obviously been depleted but a buffer stock for maybe later in the autumn still exists and 200 to 300 will be kept for spring 2017 – another important message.
In a low rainfall area such as the east of Ireland, a buffer stock of quality feed is as important as extra feed is in the heavy soil areas. Make quality feed and performance won’t suffer.
Milk performance
The most recent protein test came back at 4.12% protein and over 5.0% fat (1.5kg MS/cow) on grass only. For the month of August, it has hovered just under 4% protein and just under 5% fat.
The average August protein percentage for the farm finished up at 3.79% (Glanbia average 3.46%) and the average fat at 4.54% (Glanbia average 3.93%) and in total 14,800kg of milk solids were delivered in the month. Volumes are up and year to date the farm has produced about 18,700 litres above 2015 volumes.
So the herd is performing and didn’t fall off a cliff during the period of silage supplement. Cell count remains in the region between 100,000 and 120,000 cells/ml so again there are no problems at that end.
The net milk price for the last month came in at 25.62c/litre. The clawback to the fixed milk price totalled €2,362 but in the week after this milk cheque Glanbia decided to refund the deduction and deductions will instead be spread over a ten-month period.
Lameness
In the last number of years it is fair to say the farm has been battling lameness with mixed success. A combination of poor roadways and no facilities on the farm to manage lameness issues as they arise has often meant there could be up to 30 cows to be treated when the hoof trimmer would arrive.
Investment in stone for roadways has taken us out of trouble previously and only for our regular visits from the hoof trimmer things would have been a lot worse. The trimmer tells us that there is little or no disease (eg Mortellaro) in the herd and that most of the problems are as a result of damage while walking either on concrete or on the farm roadways.
Up to now, farm staff have been reluctant to lift any hooves as they fear they could do more damage than good. However, a group of farmers that regularly visits the farm is now recommending that a lameness crate is purchased and farm staff must learn the skill of early treatment of lameness. Their advice is based on the fact that timely treatment of lameness can help a lot of the problems and keep cows from losing serious condition score.
Locomotion-scoring of the herd is now taking place on a more regular basis and the intention with that process is to pick out the cows that are on the way to getting lame – an advance warning if you like. The herd is scored on a scale of zero to three – with scores of two and three suggesting the cow is not walking as she should be with either a humpy back, a slight limp, or incorrect foot placement, etc.
Usually those cows scoring two or three might not be clinically lame and early treatment of these cows can prevent the cow getting lame and suffering. Farm staff have found locomotion-scoring a real benefit.
The group is advising the purchase of a treatment crate and equipment (over €2,000) for the farm as a combination of treatment and locomotion-scoring could really reduce the incidence of lameness on the farm.
September grass
Looking ahead, the feed budget is on track following the drought and recent rain with a farm cover over 950kg heading for a target peak of 1,100 kg DM/ha for the month of September. From the first week in October, the plan is that the average cover will drop to 900kg and stay there for October before falling to a closing cover of 700kg in November. What drives this? The last 15 units per acre of bag nitrogen went out this week and this combined with the clover in the swards will keep the grass ticking over. The other big factor is stocking rate.
Scanning results
The milking herd (329) was scanned last Friday and the result showed 29 cows not in-calf. Of the 329 cows, there were nine cows that were not bulled for one reason or another. It means the result for this year is 29 from 320 cows (8.8%) presented for AI were not in-calf.
Now you can look at this a number of ways. It’s not bad given there are no stock bulls, all AI used and a 13-week breeding season. However, there are some farmers achieving even better results with around 5% not in-calf. For the last number of years, the scanning results have been consistently less than 10% not in-calf and last year for the first time hit 5% not in-calf in a 15 week breeding season.
On the other hand, I know plenty of farmers milking 60 to 70 cows and some of them have 15 cows not in-calf, so milking 300 cows with less than 30 cows not in-calf isn’t a bad result.
Getting back to the stocking rate issue and autumn grass; these cows scanned not in-calf will be the release valve used to reduce stocking rate depending on growth rates for the next month. Selling 30 cows would allow the stocking rate reduce to 300 cows on 120ha available for grazing.
Other than the details above the woodchip has landed for the winter, the in-calf cows will be vaccinated within the next two weeks for salmonella and the in-calf heifers will be scanned to see how many of them are not in-calf.
The August milk statement shows the protein averaged 3.79% while the fat averaged 4.54%. The most recent test came in at 4.12% protein and 5.00% fat. The volume is 1.5kg of milk solids per cow per day. About 200kg of dry matter per cow was fed out during the August drought, mostly baled silage, and now growth rates and farm cover are back on track. To date about 220kg of meal has been fed per cow. Lameness continues to niggle at the herd and the plan is a mix of locomotion-scoring and the purchase of new equipment to allow farm staff manage lameness at an early stage rather than stockpiling numbers for the hoof trimmer. Just under 9% of the milking herd were scanned not in-calf, maintaining the consistency of less than 10% not in-calf at the end of a 13-week breeding season despite all AI only used.
Good scanning results, decent milk solids and grass back on track mean the Greenfield Kilkenny farm is set up well for September.
While the drought in early August dropped farm grass cover to very low levels, the recent rain on the dry soils has really boosted grass supplies. About 20mm of rain fell two weeks ago and another 15mm over last weekend. The moisture has driven on growth rate and for the last number of weeks they have been over 70kg per day, which allowed farm cover build up to over 1,000kg (over 350kg/LU).
As soon as the rain came two weeks ago the supplement was pulled out. In the past, the farm staff would have left in the extra supplement for a few days to allow the farm fill up with grass. However, experience has shown if the rain comes and temperatures are still good then pull the feed straight away because otherwise you will end up with far too much grass in a very short time.
During the dry period, over 250 quality round bales were fed out and about 40kg of concentrate per cow. That’s the equivalent of about 200kg of dry matter per cow milking over a three- to four-week period. At the worst stage, the cows were getting very little grass and most of the diet was meal and silage bales.
The warm temperatures in the last week have dropped growth rate again slightly and the last measurement on Monday recorded a 50kg per day growth rate.
Now as far as problems go in my book a drought is easy to manage – you plug in the feed, keep the cows ticking over outside in the paddocks and sit back and wait for the rain. Yes it’s a hassle but relative to the opposite scenario of torrential rain and heavy ground, the drought is a doddle.
The key, of course, is to have enough high-quality bales. This year, Kilkenny made over 1,000 on top of the main crop first-cut pit silage. That stock of bales has obviously been depleted but a buffer stock for maybe later in the autumn still exists and 200 to 300 will be kept for spring 2017 – another important message.
In a low rainfall area such as the east of Ireland, a buffer stock of quality feed is as important as extra feed is in the heavy soil areas. Make quality feed and performance won’t suffer.
Milk performance
The most recent protein test came back at 4.12% protein and over 5.0% fat (1.5kg MS/cow) on grass only. For the month of August, it has hovered just under 4% protein and just under 5% fat.
The average August protein percentage for the farm finished up at 3.79% (Glanbia average 3.46%) and the average fat at 4.54% (Glanbia average 3.93%) and in total 14,800kg of milk solids were delivered in the month. Volumes are up and year to date the farm has produced about 18,700 litres above 2015 volumes.
So the herd is performing and didn’t fall off a cliff during the period of silage supplement. Cell count remains in the region between 100,000 and 120,000 cells/ml so again there are no problems at that end.
The net milk price for the last month came in at 25.62c/litre. The clawback to the fixed milk price totalled €2,362 but in the week after this milk cheque Glanbia decided to refund the deduction and deductions will instead be spread over a ten-month period.
Lameness
In the last number of years it is fair to say the farm has been battling lameness with mixed success. A combination of poor roadways and no facilities on the farm to manage lameness issues as they arise has often meant there could be up to 30 cows to be treated when the hoof trimmer would arrive.
Investment in stone for roadways has taken us out of trouble previously and only for our regular visits from the hoof trimmer things would have been a lot worse. The trimmer tells us that there is little or no disease (eg Mortellaro) in the herd and that most of the problems are as a result of damage while walking either on concrete or on the farm roadways.
Up to now, farm staff have been reluctant to lift any hooves as they fear they could do more damage than good. However, a group of farmers that regularly visits the farm is now recommending that a lameness crate is purchased and farm staff must learn the skill of early treatment of lameness. Their advice is based on the fact that timely treatment of lameness can help a lot of the problems and keep cows from losing serious condition score.
Locomotion-scoring of the herd is now taking place on a more regular basis and the intention with that process is to pick out the cows that are on the way to getting lame – an advance warning if you like. The herd is scored on a scale of zero to three – with scores of two and three suggesting the cow is not walking as she should be with either a humpy back, a slight limp, or incorrect foot placement, etc.
Usually those cows scoring two or three might not be clinically lame and early treatment of these cows can prevent the cow getting lame and suffering. Farm staff have found locomotion-scoring a real benefit.
The group is advising the purchase of a treatment crate and equipment (over €2,000) for the farm as a combination of treatment and locomotion-scoring could really reduce the incidence of lameness on the farm.
September grass
Looking ahead, the feed budget is on track following the drought and recent rain with a farm cover over 950kg heading for a target peak of 1,100 kg DM/ha for the month of September. From the first week in October, the plan is that the average cover will drop to 900kg and stay there for October before falling to a closing cover of 700kg in November. What drives this? The last 15 units per acre of bag nitrogen went out this week and this combined with the clover in the swards will keep the grass ticking over. The other big factor is stocking rate.
Scanning results
The milking herd (329) was scanned last Friday and the result showed 29 cows not in-calf. Of the 329 cows, there were nine cows that were not bulled for one reason or another. It means the result for this year is 29 from 320 cows (8.8%) presented for AI were not in-calf.
Now you can look at this a number of ways. It’s not bad given there are no stock bulls, all AI used and a 13-week breeding season. However, there are some farmers achieving even better results with around 5% not in-calf. For the last number of years, the scanning results have been consistently less than 10% not in-calf and last year for the first time hit 5% not in-calf in a 15 week breeding season.
On the other hand, I know plenty of farmers milking 60 to 70 cows and some of them have 15 cows not in-calf, so milking 300 cows with less than 30 cows not in-calf isn’t a bad result.
Getting back to the stocking rate issue and autumn grass; these cows scanned not in-calf will be the release valve used to reduce stocking rate depending on growth rates for the next month. Selling 30 cows would allow the stocking rate reduce to 300 cows on 120ha available for grazing.
Other than the details above the woodchip has landed for the winter, the in-calf cows will be vaccinated within the next two weeks for salmonella and the in-calf heifers will be scanned to see how many of them are not in-calf.
The August milk statement shows the protein averaged 3.79% while the fat averaged 4.54%. The most recent test came in at 4.12% protein and 5.00% fat. The volume is 1.5kg of milk solids per cow per day. About 200kg of dry matter per cow was fed out during the August drought, mostly baled silage, and now growth rates and farm cover are back on track. To date about 220kg of meal has been fed per cow. Lameness continues to niggle at the herd and the plan is a mix of locomotion-scoring and the purchase of new equipment to allow farm staff manage lameness at an early stage rather than stockpiling numbers for the hoof trimmer. Just under 9% of the milking herd were scanned not in-calf, maintaining the consistency of less than 10% not in-calf at the end of a 13-week breeding season despite all AI only used. 
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