Wales Farmer March 2013 Weathe


HAVING top quality, sta- ble silage in the clamp at their Pembrokeshire farm is ahigh priority for


aleading Holstein herd. Meeting the nutritional


needs of the high-yielding BrynhyfrydHolstein herd owned by the George familyat Wolfscastle,Haverfordwest, relies heavilyonhaving good quality forages as the basis of all its rationing to feed around 1,000 cows on the family’stwo farms. “The quality of all our


silages –grass,maizeand whole-crop –isanumber one priority in the waywefeed our cows,” says Michael George, whofarms with his brother Roland. They acknowledge that


making good quality silage has neverbeen morecritical in times of rising costs. While the highest standards


of grassland management are fundamental to meeting the nutritional needs of the herd– which has an averageyield of 11,000 litres –all their best efforts were challenged last summer after months of tor- rential rain and minimal levels of sunlight. “Silage making is about


growing the right varieties of grass,cutting at the optimum


By Farmer reporter


time,having good weather and applying good practices to the grass once it has been cut and then getting it ensiled and sheeted. “But just as we sawlast sum-


mer,the weather is something over which no dairy farmer has anycontrol and so it’sessential to do whatever’snecessary to prevent it having an adverse impact on silage quality,” says Michael whohas used Optimizesilage additive forthe last four years. “It costs alot of money to


produce good grass.When you consider the cost of growing grass and the rising price of fertiliser –plus fuel to harvest the crop –it’snot acheapfeed anymore, so using the right additive is crucial,”says Michael whoproduces silage from around 1,000 acres of grass each year. The diet mix being fed is


based on maize, whole-crop and grass silages. “Cowintakes arearound


6kg wholecrop,8kg maize, 22kg grass silage and 14kg con- centrates aday. “Getting milk out of cows is


all about achieving the highest levels of dry matter intakeand that’swhatwealwaysstrive for. Doing all we can to makesure


NEWS


Weatherputs dampener on feedcontrol


dampener feed control


the silage remains stableinthe clamp is very important,”says Michael. The farm’sfirst silage cut is


taken around May1st with sec- ond cut taken about five weeks later.Grass is wilted for24-36 hours. “Our aim is afeeding regime


forcowsgiving 12,000 litres. Thatmeans feeding afair amount of concentrates in the TMRto enablethe cows to ful- filtheir genetic potential for producing milk –but we still produce the highest quality silage we can.” The farmundertakes an


extensive grassland re-seeding policy incorporating whole- crop and maizeinto the rota- tion which includes both long and short-termleys. “In our experience the short-


termleys produce the best quality silage.Alot of the silage we made last year achievedover70D-value and 11.5 ME.” At atime when dairy cow


profitability is under intense pressure, containing costs is evermoreimportant butfor the George familythereisfur- ther herdexpansion on the horizon. The twoherds maywell increase to around 700 cows each.


Silage quality faces challenge


THE last 12 months have seen unprecedent- ed increases in the cost of feeding dairy cows forall milk producers, says Liz Russell, of Envirosystems who developed Optimize. “Formulating complete diets when the qual-


ity of silage has been so badly affected by the wettest summer on record has created more than its fair share of problems,”she said. “Achieving stability of silage in the clamp


certainly has been abig challenge formany farmers who have been faced with high levels of secondary fermentation. “It has led to wastage at the clamp face


and even intakes of silage of seemingly ade- quate quality have been well down. “It’sasituation that has hit milk output,


cowhealth and done nothing to alleviate the ever-rising costs of bought-in feed.”


Making the right choice of treatment is no fluke


WITH liverflukebecoming evenmoreofa problem this year following months of wetweather,EUchanges are making selecting the best product to use on dairy cows evenmoredifficult. SallyHarmer,animal


health product manager for Clynderwen


and


CardiganshireFarmers (CCF) in Pembrokeshire, says the choice of which product to use essentially comes down to three main things. “The time of year will dic-


tate the amount of fluke present at different stages of their life cycle,” she said. “Thereare anumber of


treatments forflukeonthe market, which vary in which stages of flukethey can kill. “Triclabendazole


(e.g.


Fasinex240) will kill down to twoweek immature stages,whereas nitroxynil (Trodax) and closantel (Closamectin) will onlykill down to 6-8 week immature stages.


“Some other products


onlykill adult flukewhich can allowalarge percentage of immaturefluketoslip through the net. “Due to arecent EU


reviewofflukeproducts thereare hardlyany straight flukicides able to be used in dairy cattle as theremust be aminimum residue level (MRL) formilk set. “This rules out using all


the 10% Triclabendazole’s and the Nitroxynil products in milking cows.Combina- tion flukicides will undergo a similar reviewshortly.”


The stage of pregnanyof


dairy cows also needs to be considered as they typically need treating at the begin- ning of their dry period in order to avoid having to dis- cardmilk. Sallyadded: “Wehaveto


accept thatthis maynot be the best time of year to treat forfluke. Milk is tested for flukicides and other worm- ersbythe Veterinary Medicines Directorateinthe UK.


“Thereare some other


factors butthese arethe key considerations foraneffec- tive treatment protocol. “Get advice from your vet


or animal health specialist because the product choice can be complicated and they should be up to date with the latest information.”


For the latest Wales farming news: walesfarmer.co.uk EXPANSION PLANS: Michael George, of Brynhyfryd, Wolfscastle. uts 17


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