Meal

Let there be no doubt about how profit is generated on Irish dairy farms. It is from converting high tonnages of grass per hectare into milk solids. The more grass that is utilised, the more profit that is made. As we see on pages 32 and 33, not all grass is the same, with a substantial difference in the amount of milk that can be produced from good grass, versus poor quality grass.

Yet on many farms and within many discussion groups, the focus has shifted from good grassland management towards feeding the cow well so she’ll produce high yields.

Meal feeding rates of 3kg/cow or more seem to be the norm rather than the exception. So what has changed? For one thing, milk price is high and meal prices are moderate, which is luring farmers into feeding more meal, thinking it will pay.

This policy ignores the principles of good grassland management that we all know – graze at the right covers and get a good cleanout to a maximum of 4cm post-grazing height. Leaving higher residuals – a direct result of feeding more meal and focusing on output per cow – reduces grass quality and grass growth. Mechanical intervention such as topping or cutting for silage to correct residuals leads to tiller death and reduced growth rates. All of these actions point to reduced grass utilisation because of chasing milk yield rather than grass quality.

For years farmers have been told that grass is the best feed because it is the cheapest feed. While true, it ignores the fact that grass is also the highest quality feed we can give cows. In some people’s minds, cheap is no longer necessary because milk price is high, which is the wrong approach.

Based on the way grass is being managed on many farms now, I predict that grass quality this summer will be the worst ever, with knock on impacts on milk yield and protein percentage. All systems are likely to be profitable this year, it’s just that those who keep their costs low and ignore distractions will make the most money.

Breeding

Now is a good time to get any stock bulls checked out before they are called into action. A young bull is only capable of serving 20 animals in a season, whereas a mature bull can do twice that. However, it depends on when they’re called into action because if there are more than two animals on heat at the one time, the bull won’t be able to cope. This is really important where synchronisation programmes have been used, as a high proportion of heifers or cows will be repeating within a short window. For larger groups of heifers, it makes sense to monitor any AI repeats in the 17 to 24 day period after being served on fixed time AI programmes.

The reduction in dairy stock numbers is really alarming, and it looks like a heifer shortage is looming in Ireland. My own view is that farmers who have a high EBI herd and are using a lot of beef AI on dairy cows should be using more dairy AI instead. This is especially true for older cows not suited to sexed semen. Heifer calves will be valuable, and based on this spring the differential between a male dairy bull calf and a female beef calf isn’t that much.