WINTER RATIONS
MANAGING TRANSITION TO
It’s time to start thinking about housing cattle which requires some serious change management, writes Advanced Nutrition’s veterinary nutritionist, Debby Brown
I
t’s got to that time of year when unfortunately the weather is turning and the quality and quantity of grazing is deteriorating fast, as you can see in the table below. For starters, let’s remember the rumen takes up to six weeks to fully adjust to a change of diet, so the more we can introduce a gradual change to the diet the better, if we’re to keep cows healthy, reduce the risk of fertility or production issues and maintain younger animals’ growth. Swapping pure grazing to a grass silage based diet will not be as big a change as moving onto a maize and/or cereal whole-crop based diet. Each farm has its own system and will need to adopt its own individual change plan.
Table1: Grazed grass value Month May June July
August September Source: Milk from grass
M + litres 15.0 18.0 16.0 9.0 4.5
Managing diet change doesn’t only apply to milking cows,
but also heifers which so frequently remain the herd’s Cinderella’s. These heifers are your herd’s future so if you can grow them without any checks they will be more likely to optimise conception and they’re subsequently more likely to calve at two years of age in a suitable condition to allow them to enter the herd successfully.
Buffer feeding
As grass quality deteriorates one way to prepare your cattle for housing is to buffer feed. Introduce the buffer slowly and gradually – the sooner you start, the slower the process and the easier cows will adjust, so aim for a four to five week period. One option would be to start by offering some grass silage with a small amount of concentrate or moist feed, then progress by adding other forages that are scheduled to be fed over the winter along with any other ingredients (see table below) for recommended buffer for maintenance (M) +20l base diet, with autumn grazed grass providing M + 4.5l. When to buffer feed milking cows is always an area for discussion and compromise. When grazing is still making up a relatively high portion of the diet, the ideal would be to house cows before afternoon milking for a couple of hours.
100 THE JOURNAL OCTOBER 2014
You’ll still be able to turn them out to graze immediately after milking when their intakes are likely to be at peak. For heifers, consider whether to buffer feed while still out at grass or house them for part of the day. Whichever you decide will be mainly influenced by management and practical access. Feed space will be crucial to ensure all animals have sufficient access to the ration. Bulling heifers should each have 18” feed space, while in-calf heifers will require 24”. Buffer feeding heifers often means
offering concentrate, so sufficient feed space and gradual introduction is even more crucial to ensure we do not predispose these animals to sub-acute ruminal acidosis.
Aftermath type grazing needs a lower protein but higher level of neutral detergent fibre concentrate providing more energy, compared to old permanent pasture where a higher protein, possibly slightly higher starch and sugar concentrate will be better.
Heifer management Heifers entering the milking herd will be
Table 2: Recommended September buffer Diet
Value
Grazed grass Grass silage Moist feed Concentrate
Source: Advanced Nutrition
10.0kg DM 5.0kg DM 1.0kg DM 1.7kg DM
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