Winter pastures and the wedge
As we look towards the second half of the year, and with most regions of Victoria having a drier start to winter, Feed Conversion Efficiency (FCE) becomes more important than ever before – Maximising Return On Investment (or ROI) for every kg/dm is required. Maximising your animals dry matter intake with a balanced ration is a huge step in improving your FCE on farm.
Stocking your farm for grass utilisation per Ha this year is very important, and should be monitored all year-round. Planning/implementing feed wedges as well as understanding leaf emergence stages on your farm, can help you make decisions on ways to improve utilisation of your home grown fodder.
As a farmer, running short of grass in late July and August is a worry, especially when it comes in wet and cold. Many things effect growth rates, but not having enough of a feed wedge already built, and eating it quicker than it was growing in May, June and July greatly impact your ability to maximise your grass potential growth.
This can be not only frustrating, but have huge implications on the profitability of your farm depending on your set up – diets need to be proactively adjusted prior to bad weather, and that can mean as a farmer, proactively trying to maintain optimal Dry Matter Intake (DMI).
Contacting your nutritionist for wet weather management advice will enable them to maximise DMI on those wet days, and work towards ensuring profitable milk flow, and reduce or inform you of any possible on farm challenges you may see, where possible.
The pasture you eat / don’t eat today, and how well you manage wet conditions, will greatly impact not only grass utilisation next round, but the total dry matter and quality of that pasture going into spring, and for the lifetime of that pasture. Land cost efficiency has a major role in the total efficiency of your farm.
Assessing the pasture: Pre grazing
An effective pre winter pasture wedge is a must. Don’t graze it off too early “grazing the green pick”. We normally get one good chance in autumn to set up how much cover we go into winter with.
If you need help identifying your pasture wedge requirements, DAIRY AUSTRALIA have some great tools and information to read, or alternatively, have your nutritionist come out and assist in a pasture plan for winter as well as assisting you to maximise the potential of each KG/DM going into your cow each day.
It is not all about how many kg/dm/ha you offer to eat today – its how many kg/dm/ha can you effectively utilise today, and what you can do to ensure a quicker and more efficient leaf emergence, so you can utilise the next rotation as well. The more efficient we grow the plant, the better we utilise, and the more efficient we utilise, the more we grow.
Pre grazing heights should try to be at over two leaf stage (to allow greater carbohydrate accumulation within plant) and before canopy closure (can reduce the daughter tillering of plants and / or cause aerial tillering in these plants).
Pre grazing heights should try be at over two leaf stage (to allow greater carbohydrate accumulation within plant) and before canopy closure (can reduce the daughter tillering of plants and or cause aerial tillering in these plants).
- Grass isn’t always cheap-growing and utilizing home grown fodder needs to work for you – At times, that means holding off and growing it first, and then planning on how effectively you can get the next leaf to grow.
- Greater effective leaf emergence management means greater opportunities to grow more KG/DM/HA in a shorter period of time, utilise feed efficiency opportunities better, and can optimise DMI increases in your herd.
- Looking at tomorrow’s paddock can also provide an indication of expected levels of tomorrows performance in kg/dm/cow, as well as wastage.
Assessing the pasture: Post grazing
Looking at yesterday’s paddock can provide an indication of whether there is a requirement for more total dietary feed to be made available, as well as rumen throughput.
In winter, having a minimum 1500 Kg/DM/HA residual after grazing, and having minimal pugging damage is key to setting this up, and depending on your farm and conditions, a slightly higher residual may be required during winter. On / off grazing can increase pasture utilisation.
Grazing rotation to leaf emergence and quality is an ideal way to get on the right path to maximising your pastures possible profitability.
Grazing at the optimal “2.5-3” leaf stage and grazing down to 4-6cm between the clumps or 1500KG/DM/HA will generally ensure the grass has the greatest chance to work for you, and enable cows to utilise more of each home-grown ton. The 3rd leaf is roughly 25% bigger than the second leaf, and takes less time to emerge.
Studies show only grazing at 2 leaf stage is generally lower in carbohydrates (the feed we are putting in isn’t at the plants best quality or quantity) and takes a lot of nutrients out of the soil and plant. This leads to lower root depth and lower total DM/HA being able to be utilised on farm.
Leaf emergence rates over winter are typically 13–25 days per leaf – the colder the temperature the slower the leaf emergence rate. Within any pasture system, there is a point where an animals intake is at maximum capacity and “additional feeds” are reduced to EAT MORE GRASS, but additional feeds don’t always have to “reduce grass intakes” and with the right diet, we can improve pasture utilisation on a daily basis and drive performance.
TIPS ON GRAZING
- Density: The denser the mouthful, the less mouthfuls she takes to be “full”, the more time ruminating and converting into milk (or Body Condition Score (BCS) gain) – depending on stage of lactation, and seasonal/animal conditions. Cows like to graze down to just above hoof length, so presenting feed above this, will help in feed utilisation.
- NDF: General rule 120/NDF=% of Dry Matter intake to body weight. This is a general guide, it can be manipulated ether higher or lower depending on the diet. The equation above changes throughout the year and stage of lactation.
- Leaf 1: This leaf is your “solar panel” to help the plant grow back efficiently. Think of a pasture like your lawn – cut too short, and it takes a long time to respond, but cut at the optimum level and good soil health, it grows back in no time.
- Plan your rotation to leaf emergence rates: Planning your rotation around how quickly and efficiently you can grow back the 2nd and 3rd leaf of your pasture will have a huge impact on the ability to potentially grow fodder efficiently.
- Pre graze at 2.5-3 leaf stage and before canopy closure – grazing after canopy closure will impact tiller efficiency and will affect grass quality. NDF levels increase with plant maturity.
- The 2nd leaf is generally lower on carbohydrates then the 3rd leaf, as the plant is putting its effort into growth of the 3rd leaf. Quality generally starts to decline around canopy closure.
- 4-6cm post grazing on residuals, and during winter, leaving it a little longer 6-8cm can be used to ensure quicker regrowth. Pasture needs to be grazed to 4-6cm next grazing to ensure maximum quality, and ensure NDF in the plant doesn’t continue to rise.
- The more quality feed they eat (DMI) the better the chance of feed efficiency.
TIPS ON FARM
Calculate feed on offer and feed wastage
- Know your diet, and calculate the most efficient way to utilise your home grown feeds.
- Pugging paddocks lowers feed utilisation – Ask, can your cows not only graze it better, but can they do less damage by entering/exiting the paddock a different way? Or strip graze with adequate feed available?
Soil health is key, can’t grow effective feed while it’s in a bag, and can’t maximise home grown fodder without knowing how your soil can likely perform.
- Get it tested, and plan on how to improve your soil health.
Right type of fodder for your circumstances
- Proactively trying to improve your home-grown fodder utilisation percentage can have huge impacts on your bottom line – it’s not a one size fits all, and every year is different.
- The more the cow can eat in total DMI, the better the ability to utilise the home-grown fodder produced when it is available.
It’s not all about today’s shown costs in cost of production
- It can be in form of the total KG/DM/HA grown and utilised every year, and the difference between growing 8ton/ha/year and utilising 70%-80%, or growing 5ton/ha/year and utilising 40%, can come down to how you manage your fodder around winter time.
- Look at implementing a pasture management tool.
- Feeding grain and minerals, in the right amounts in the right time frame may cost today in physical extra dollars, and may in some circumstances mean a reduction of grass in diet slightly in fully fed animals, but can help you improve home grown feed efficiency per cow. It can also improve time in negative energy balance after calving, conception rates, BCS, overall health, and many others especially when trying to feed fresh cows trying to increase DMI.
- Look into your wastage costs of feeds – a $400/ton/landed feed @85%DM $470/ton/DM and at 30% wastage can cost over $610/ton/DM utilised.
- Look into the amount of storage wastage of your feeds on farm.
Clean water
Clean fresh water should always be made available to cows even in winter. Keep water troughs clean and free from any algae whenever possible – a thirsty cow doesn’t eat as much and doesn’t perform as well. Milk is mostly water, so give the cow the best possible water availability each and every day.
Sit down with your nutritionist or consultant and go over your milk flow projections, or plan ways to maximise the efficiency of your herd on a daily basis. Furthermore, we are here to assist and guide in any areas you may need.
For tailored guidance on enhancing your herd’s nutrition and management practices, turn to the specialists at Reid Stockfeeds. Contact us today to discover our extensive selection of high-quality feed options and explore customised solutions designed to meet your farm’s unique needs. Call 1300 REID FEED or enquire here >
Author
Chris Moutray
Sales and Nutrition Account Manager
