The breeding season is fast approaching and getting cows grazing continues to be a significant challenge on dairy farms.
On many farms, fodder supplies are now very much depleted.
With breeding around the corner, it is vital that cows are being adequately fed so that cow condition does not suffer.
The weather shows no significant signs of improvement, which means that grazing and getting grass in the diet will continue to be a challenge.
Breeding season
Late April or early May is generally a time when breeding begins on farm, so over the next couple of weeks it is vital that cows are being adequately fed.
If possible, you should try to get some grass into the diet. Although it may not be possible in some areas, short periods at grass should be possible in others.
Silage will remain in the diet for the near future on the majority of spring-calving dairy herds, but where possible, there should be as much grass as possible.
Freshly calved cows will eat around 13kg of DM. This will increase by around 0.8kg, until intakes reach a maximum 10 weeks post calving.
In order to maintain DM intakes, many farms are increasing the amount of concentrates being fed in parlour or adding it into the mid-day feed in the form of soya hulls or beet pulp.
You can go up to 50% of the diet from these sources, but that should only really be done in situation where fodder is in short supplies.
Soya hull and beet pulp are a good option for farmers as they can be easily added to the diet and easily removed.
Avoid trying to overcomplicate the diet cows are currently on, and instead focus on trying to get them to grass where conditions allow.
BCS
Cows need to be in a BCS of 2.75 or higher at breeding. Any cow that is below this should be considered for once-a-day (OAD) milking.
If you are moving cows onto OAD milking, it is important that you continue to feed them twice/day in the milking parlour.
This is a mistake that is often made on farms – where cows are moved to OAD milking, but then are not fed at the evening milking.
