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On livestock farms, fodder budgets are rarely carried out. Yet they are simple and take 10 minutes to complete.
With December nearing an end, it is a good time to take stock of how much silage is on farm and whether it will carry cattle through to turnout.
Soaring fertiliser prices may see more farmers delaying fertiliser purchases and applications during early spring.
As this may delay turnout, it is important to know now if there is enough fodder on farm for a later than planned turnout.
Completing an online budget
A fodder budget can be carried out here.
Simply input stock numbers, pit measurements and the number of bales to work out how much forage is currently on farm.
Manual budget
Manually calculate fodder stocks by measuring the length, width and average height of the clamp in metres.
Multiply the three measurements to get cubic capacity, then divide by 1.35 to convert to tonnes of silage.
Count up the number of round bales and multiply by 0.85 to get the tonnage. Add this to the amount of pit silage. Both figures combined is the tonnage of silage on farm.
Cattle demand
Next thing to do is to work out how much forage cattle will eat. A dry spring-calving cow should eat around 0.9t to 1t of silage every month. A lactating cows will eat closer to 1.5t per month.
Weanlings and stores have a monthly intake of around 0.75t/head. Work out what each stock group will eat from January until the typical turnout date.
Add in a one month safety buffer just in case a wet and cold spring keeps pushing turnout date back.
Supply
If fodder stocks exceed the total cattle demand, there should be enough forage to last until turnout.
If cattle demand exceeds fodder stocks, then think about what steps can be taken to stretch silage reserves.
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