38 FARM-GROWN FUEL FOR HIGH
YIELDING DAIRY COWS With ongoing pressure on milk prices and rising input costs producing more cost-effective rations is top of the agenda for many dairy farmers, The Journal takes a look at how high yielding herds can make best use of home-grown energy and protein sources.
more self-contained approach to nutrition can work well for top performing pedigree dairy herds provided basic principles are followed to avoid any yield or fertility drops, believes Neil Groom of forage specialists Grainseed. High output animals are more at risk of falling short of vital nutrients at key times than others so careful management is needed to make full use of home-grown energy and protein, he says.
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“Well balanced mixed-forage rations have been the mainstay of top herds for many years and are still the most cost-effective way of feeding when outright performance is important. “While all dairy businesses are under pressure at the moment, it’s important to differentiate between cuttings costs and cutting corners. For example, the last thing you want to be doing is reducing the energy input required to make full use of the genetics you have built up over the years.”
When looking at forages it’s important to understand not just the cost of production of the different alternatives, but also the milking potential they offer, he suggests.
“At the end of the day, it’s about minimising the cost of what you put in and maximising what you get out in terms of milk production and doing this in such a way that does not compromise other key factors, such as health and fertility, in the process.
“When looked at it that way
it’s difficult not to see maize as the centerpiece of your forage ration regardless of movements in milk price, but only as long as you can grow it to full maturity.” The most common forages range from £12/t freshweight for grazed grass on a 10 year ley to £49/t freshweight for whole-crop wheat, but that’s only telling part of the story, he explains. “If you look at costs per tonne of dry matter produced, grazed grass is still the lowest cost at £65/t, but the next lowest cost
forage to produce is maize silage at £103/t of dry matter. “Based on three cuts a year from a seven year ley, grass silage is more than maize at £108/t of drymatter – the same as whole-crop wheat – whereas even maize grown under plastic comes in at £104/t of dry matter.”
Looking at the potential milk production from these options, makes the difference in performance even more marked, says Mr Groom. “With modern ‘Bred for Britain’ varieties and the yield potential of new earlier varieties in particular, most maize growers would be able to get about 16.5t/ha dry matter at an ME of about 11.6mj/kg/dm which gives 191,400mj/ha of energy. “In milk production terms, this yields 35,444 litres of milk/ ha which, at a milk price of 24p/litre, delivers £8506/ha. In contrast the average crop of grass would give 15.4t/ha of silage at 10.7Mj/kg and an overall milk yield of 30,515 litres/ha worth £7323/ha at the same milk price.”
Whole-crop fairs much worse, delivering only 24,033 litres of milk/ha worth £5768/ha at the 24p/litre milk price, he adds. But although maize is still the best performing forage when it comes to energy production, there are several key management areas that growers need to focus on to make sure they produce reliable and consistent crops, Mr Groom believes. “We’ve seen two contrasting
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