Focus for 100

While grazing conditions have been good, allowing us to get on top of the first round of grazing, it has also been cold in many parts, with ground temperatures restricting grass growth and recovery. Unless we get a significant change, this could cause issues as we move into April. Average farm cover is being eaten into, and while this might not cause an issue as we begin the second round of grazing (early April), we will soon begin to arrive at very low covers (<1,000kg) if we don’t get >40kg growth rate later in April.
The focus is to get as much high-quality grazed grass into the animals as possible, keeping utilisation high along the way to maintain high-quality grass throughout the season. However, we must also not lose sight of the cow in all of this, and it should not be to the detriment of the cow, her condition, milk solids, or subsequent fertility. Supplementation will be required to bridge the shortfall between grass supply and energy requirements.

Buffer/supplementary feeding

This doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Unfortunately, we spend too long looking at the quality of feed and forget about the quantity when it comes to supplementation. Fulfilling a cow’s needs is about not restricting her intake. If we can do a few simple things, such as allocating more grass, living on the edge more regarding entering lighter covers, or being at risk of running tight, it will improve grass quality. Finally, we should not be afraid to feed a supplement. Bring it in as quickly as possible and remove it when we don’t need it. An adage I would have used before is that if you think you should be feeding silage, you should have been doing it a week ago – this holds true here. We need to react faster to weather events with more supplements.
We need to do a lot better with our silage-making, and we need to start looking at doing away with traditional silage dates, targets, and management points to improve quality. Although, again, it’s all about quantity. While we strive for 75+ DMD silage for supplementing, a kilogramme of 65 DMD is better than nothing.

Breeding

It all begins again with a focus on breeding. While we don’t kick off properly for another month, we are in pre-season, and we need to make sure all cows are fit and cycling. It all hinges on the first and second round of breeding, and we need to make sure all cows are ready and available for this. Using observation, tail paint, technologies, etc., to identify problem cows and promptly treat them is key, with April being an ideal month to complete this.
As we continue our Focus for 100 series at Alltech, we are seeing issues with dropping milk solids, rumen health issues, mycotoxins, and body condition on farms. If you are experiencing any of these or need assistance, you can contact our nutrition team.