At the recent winter milk events held by Teagasc it was said that the cost of feeding a winter milk cow has increased by €300.
In previous years, feed made up a significant amount of the total cost of keeping a winter milk cow.
And going by the predicted cost increases announced by Teagasc at these events, it has become significantly more.
Winter milk
Due to the increased cost, it is important that cows are fed correctly and concentrate feed is not wasted.
Although a portion of concentrates will be fed in the total mixed ration (TMR) there will also be a significant amount of concentrates fed in the parlour.
Over or underfeeding cows could results in higher production costs, while no more extra milk in being obtained.
It is important the winter diets are balanced correctly in order to obtain the maximum amount of milk from forage.
It is also important that the higher yielding cows do not dictate or determine the base level of feeding for the herd.
Feeder calibration
A simple, but often not completed job is the monitoring and calibration of concentrate feeders in parlours.
Feeders are generally set up to give a quantity of concentrates determined by a farmer. However, in some cases, it might actually be over or underfeeding cows.
To determine whether this is the case, a simple method is to place a bucket under the feeder.
Allow the concentrates to fall into the bucket and then weigh the contents. This will determine if your feeder is giving the correct amount or not.
This method should then be repeated on all the feeders in the milking parlour.
If your feeders are off by 200g and you milk 80 cows over the winter months, this could result in 32kg of extra meal being fed/day.
Over the winter milking period this could result in a significant amount of concentrates being over or underfed to cows.