Plan Your Winter Feed Now, Rather Than Guess Later

April 2010

While the colder and wetter months might be the last thing on most people’s minds right now, there’s no better time than the present for planning your next winter’s forages. The main aims are matching the winter nutritional requirements of the herd in terms of energy, protein & fibre, and getting the right balance of forages to save on feed costs. It makes sense to think now of how forages can solve this challenge.

The previous year is always a good place to start looking at how things could be better in the current one, and if your mix of nutrients was less than ideal in 2009, then here is an opportunity to make a difference for the coming winter by planning your forage needs from the start of the process.

In an average six-month winter a farm with a herd of one hundred milking cows would require about 900-1000 tonnes of silage. An extra 150 tonnes would be required per month, for every additional month’s feeding. How the farm provides for that is the important issue, with some farms looking at an extra 10 acres of silage with three cuts of good quality grass, while for others the best plan would be for 10 acres of maize or 15 acres of wholecrop. The key is to make the decision early based on the examples of previous years; the farm will then be ready for most eventualities.

The whole crop itself can be spring barley alone, or barley mixed in with peas or lupins, providing extra proteins to save on winter feeding costs, with one of the benefits of wholecrop being the ability to re-seed almost immediately.

Consider what percentage of grass and maize you should feed, and which variety. The right variety of maize for your farm depends on the amount of starch required; the Limagrain, high starch varieties, Sapphire and Hawk, are two top performers to consider. Sapphire grows best in marginal sites, while Hawk performs better in more sheltered locations. A slightly later variety, Adept, would be better if more bulk is required.

If you are growing spring grown crops, is that grain better going to whole crop, or should it be crimped? These are some of the challenges which farmers face and which, if addressed now, will help the farm have the right type of forages available when they are actually needed later in the year, rather than using just what happens to be available.

This is also a good time to consider using additives with this year’s grass silage. With the Ecosyl additive costs being as low as 0.2p per litre of milk, it makes good sense in all weathers to take the trouble to use an additive for the benefits that it provides in terms of improving silage quality and therefore milk yield.

To discuss these issues and for further information from Cornwall Farmers, contact Dr Robin Hawkey on 07770 816581; Tom Mann on 07901 854477, Andy Hawken on 07901 854463 or Matt Jenkin on 07770 598296.