Escalating feed costs bring into sharp focus the need to improve nutritional efficiencies on-farm.
Whatever the market environment, it is always important to think of ways to maximise nutritional efficiencies, as ultimately this will boost profitability and return on investment.
Dai Lewis, of Massey Feeds, says: Whether youre on 14ppl or 40ppl, the efficiency of the business should be something youre looking to improve always. And regardless of input prices.
Mr Lewis and Richard Waters, ruminant specialist and development manager at Harpers, run through six key areas to think about in order to get the most from the diet.
1 Focus on making quality forage and homegrown feed
There is no more cost-effective feed than homegrown forage which has never been more apparent following 2021s challenging grass growing season.
Low protein, low energy silages with poor digestibility means getting cows to milk has been a challenge. According to Mr Waters, this highlights the importance of investing in growing quality forages. With that in mind, he strongly urges farmers not to hold back on fertiliser applications this spring in an attempt to save costs. With soya at about 350/tonne and fertiliser at 700/t, fertiliser still stacks up, he says.
If you have to replace the energy and protein youre not harvesting and the forage youre not producing, you can quickly get to 700 in lost production or higher purchased feed use, Mr Waters adds.
However, emphasis should also be placed on making the most of slurry in order to keep costs down. Mr Waters says slurry inoculants have a role to play in improving nitrogen efficiencies, highlighting that they can reportedly improve nitrogen retention by 14% and offer a payback of at least 2:1.
Mr Lewis says maximising milk from forage should be a driver on all farms. Over feeding mid-lactation and stale cows is one reason milk from forage falls, so he advises farmers to ask their nutritionist about concentrate allocations. He suggested splitting cows and feeding to yield through the parlour.
2 Reducing silage waste
Silage waste is costly and avoidable. AHDB looked at the variability in grass silage quality in clamps on 20 farms in England. Nine of the 20 farms had no top or shoulder waste, with the range for the other clamps being 0.2% to 36.7%. This equates to 44- 8,000+ in lost production due to waste in the clamp.
To avoid losses, think about how you manage the clamp; use an appropriate silage inoculant, consolidate the clamp well particularly if silages are dry sheet up properly and use good, sharp sheer grabs.
"Whether youre on 14ppl or 40ppl, the efficiency of the business should be something youre looking to improve always" Dai Lewis
3 Regular and consistent silage analysis
Forage quality varies through the clamp, which highlights the importance of routine forage analysis. Doing so will enable farmers to react to small changes and balance the diet accordingly.
Mr Lewis urges farmers to test monthly as a minimum as they move through the clamp. Even a slight change in dry matter percentage or protein can make a big difference. For example, every kilo of forage dry matter could be worth two litres of milk and there could be a 0.33kg of a kilo dry matter swing in the clamp. NDF can also vary, which will affect palatability and what needs to be added to the diet.
4 Accurate rationing to fit milk contract requirements
Recent analysis by AHDB suggests dairy farmers could be missing out on 55 million a year in lost revenue by not meeting milk buyer requirements for butterfat and protein. This emphasises the importance of ensuring all diets are balanced and meet specific contract needs.
Mr Lewis says: Make sure you adhere to milk contract requirements. A lot of farmers understand what they need to do, but not the cost implications of that. For example, if milk fat is important, fibre levels may need to be increased and a C16 fat included. Feeding a yeast can also help with fibre digestion, while a buffer can raise the rumen pH to help make better use of the diet.
5 Looking at protein feeding
Can you reduce the level of crude protein in the diet, maintain performance and save costs?
Most people feeding cows feed an 18% crude protein total diet. In most situations, you dont see an impact from dropping that down to 16% as long as your rapidly fermentable and total fermentable proteins are correct. Plus, thered be a big impact on price, Mr Lewis adds.
For example, 1% of crude protein normally costs 4-4.50, but currently this could be as high as 10.
You cant really afford not to be thinking about it, Mr Lewis says.
When dropping crude protein levels, it could be worth increasing the amount of amino acids such as methionine and lysine in the diet. If the diet is limited in these essential amino acids supplementation can help boost yields and milk proteins.
6 Thinking about feeding strategy
Have you got ways of feeding cows more accurately as individuals? This could include targeted feeding of cows through out of parlour feeders, based on milk recording information. This allows the Maintenance + of the outside diet to be lowered and cows to be topped up more accurately based on yield.
