We are now into the thick of autumn calving for the winter milk herds and as we progress further into the year, it is vital that the freshly calved cow is grouped accordingly so she is fed properly.
Most winter milk herds also have cows calving down in the spring time and those cows are not going to require the same feed requirements as cows that are freshly calved.
Spring calving herds are coming towards the end of their lactation and drying off is only around the corner, so the focus turns to maintaining or building condition for those cows.
However, for the winter milking cow, she is going to have a high energy demand and is going to require high quality silage to meet this demand and produce high quality milk.
Grouping cows accordingly and providing the freshly calved cow with high quality silage might save the farmer importing feed onto the farm or feeding more concentrates.
Winter milk
When doing a winter feed plan, the plan needs to take into account silage quality, herd milk yield and calving pattern.
A fresh cow diet should promote high milk solids production and good body condition score to improve fertility and make sure that stale cows are also fed properly according to their yield.
Almost all autumn-calving or winter milk herds will have a spring-calving herd also and when these cows enter the shed they should ideally not be kept together, which is not always possible.
However, if a farmer has the facilities to separate them, a good quality silage of about 74% DMD (dry matter digestibility) and up to 7kg of concentrates daily should be provided to the winter milk cow.
This diet is appropriate for a cow with high yield of milk (up to about 30L/day) to be managed satisfactorily.
DM intakes of 20-22.5kg are required to meet nutrient demand for the freshly calved cow milking through the winter.
Nutritional requirements at differing production levels for a 600kg cow at 4.1% fat and 3.4% protein, according to Teagasc are as follows:
Milk/day 25kg 30kg 35kg UFL/day 17.2 19.4 21.6 PDI g/day 1675 1930 2238 UFL/kg DM 0.90 0.94 0.97 PDI/kg DM 90 94 98 DMI (kg) 19.1 20.7 22.5
You should test your silage as soon as possible so you know what the value of your silage is and how much silage your cows are going to need to meet their nutritional demand.
This will help you formulate a plan for winter and hopefully save on unnecessary spending on concentrates.
Extra concentrates can then be saved and utilised on higher yielding cows, feeding according to their yield and maximising profits by utilising your concentrates effectively.
The benefits of a high quality silage are quite simple; improved forage intake; more milk solids; better rumen health and lower concentrates feeding levels.
The concentrate feeding levels at different levels of silage quality, as per Teagasc, are as follows:
Milk yield 65% DMD 70% DMD 75% DMD 20L 5.5kg 4.0kg 3.0kg 25L 8.0kg 6.5kg 5.5kg 30L 10.0kg 8.5kg 7.5kg 35L 12.5kg 11.0kg 10.0kg
In general, for every five unit drop in DMD, an extra 1.0-1.5kg of concentrates to compensate for the low energy level will need to be added to the diet.
This further emphasis the need to get your silage tested and make a feed plan to ensure each cow is meeting her nutrient demand, while minimising spending on concentrates, as good quality forage makes it easier to meet UFL intake targets.