Dairy advice: Fodder budget needs to be completed

Something that needs to be completed on farms over the coming days, if not already done, is a fodder budget.

This will help you to determine how much silage is on the farm currently and may also help in determining how much more silage is required to be harvested.

To complete a fodder budget, here are the steps to take:

1. Measure silage pits (length x width x average height in metres) plus count bale stock;
2. Make an estimate of potential second-cut area and yield;
3. Estimate likely stock numbers for the coming winter.

When you are completing your fodder budget you should also include a fodder reserve of between four to six weeks.

This should be based of an average year, to offer you some protection for possible adverse weather conditions, such as in 2018, or the wet spring this year.

Many farms are yet to harvest second-cut silage so the standing crop should also be included in the calculations.

Once you have completed that you can then see if a third cut is needed or if feed will have to be purchased in.

Fodder stock in the country is lower compared to last year, so you should ideally not be relying on purchasing the fodder you need.

Silage

2023 has been a challenging year for grass growth and management on farms.

Although fairly good first-cut crops were harvested on farms, significant amounts of silage have also been fed on farms this year.

Silage is vital on farms during the winter months and in some areas is also important during the more frequent drought conditions we are getting.

Ideally, farmers should be producing enough silage to feed their stock for the winter months.

But you need to know the stocks versus the requirement and purchase feed if it is required.

In a normal year, most farms would harvest a first and second cut, along with bales from surplus paddocks.

For most this year, first cut has been harvested and second cut is still in the fields.

But very few silage bales have been made and in some areas a lot has been fed to cows.