Depending on the current diet, cows are being fed additional feed costs could be as high as €250/day for a 100-cow herd because of ongoing wet weather conditions.
Met Éireann has said that there will be another 10 days of rain before high pressure is expected to set in over Ireland later this month.
The current weather pattern will mean that feed costs on dairy farms are continuing to rise.
Additional concentrates are now being fed and straights in the form of soya hulls or beet pulps are also commonly used on farms.
If grass is not currently in the diet these additional feds will likely be needed to maintain producing and energy levels in cows – however they do drive up the cost of production.
Feed costs
On many farms, up to 50% of the dry matter (DM) intakes are coming from imported feed onto the farm in the form of concentrates such as soya hulls or beet pulp.
This has a significant additional cost associated with it, which is driving up the cost of production and hampering cash flow.
Figures from Teagasc state that 1kg of grass DM costs 11c, compared to 22c/kg of pit silage and 24c/kg of bale silage.
If we look at a normal year, the feed cost of cows eating 18kg of DM would be €1.65 for 15kg of grass and €1.26 for 3kg of concentrates.
This is based of a dairy ration costing €420/t.
This would mean feed cost of €2.91/cow/day, for the average 100-cow herd this would be €291/day.
However, the situation on farms is very far from this and on many farms, concentrates feed is as high as 8-9kg/day.
Taking the example of a herd that is feed 6kg of concentrates, 3kg of soya hulls and the remaining 9kg of DM is coming from silage.
E.g., soya hulls have been given a cost of €318t of DM.
Concentrates cost rise to €2.52, soya hulls cost 0.95c and pit silage has a cost of €1.98.
This means that the cost of feed a cow on this day is €5.45/day, for the average 100-cow herd, this would be €545/day.
If the 9kg of forage DM is half grass and half silage, this would reduce cost of feed/cow to €4.96/cow or €496 for the 100-cow herd.
If the diet consists of 6kg of concentrates costing €2.52, 6kg of grass DM costing €0.66 and 6kg of silage DM costing €1.32.
The total cost of feeding €4.50/cow or €450 for a 100-cow herd.
Grass
Many farmers have expressed frustration at some of the advice that has been offered recently, with much of this focusing around getting cows to grass.
But, the figures on the cost of the extra concentrates underline why this line of advice has been given.
It is also important to factor in that the cost of feeding not only includes additional concentrates but also labour, fuel and more.
Although it may not be possible to get grass into the diet every day, every extra kilo of DM of grass vs. silage reduces feed cost by 0.11c/kg.
If grass in the diet increases further and soya hulls can be removed, this will save 0.84c/kg of DM.
There are going to be situations where grazing is not possible, so unfortunately feed costs for some are going to remain high.
But, farmers have been advised that they should also look at using feeds that are cost effective and only feed to the required levels.