October is a Month of Preparation

Dr. David Lawrence
Head of Nutrition, Agritech

The foundation for 2027 spring grass supply is laid during the autumn closing period. Beginning your closing round early will offer an opportunity to re-enter some of the earlier-closed pastures if we happen to have above-normal growth during October and November. The final round is less about dates and duration and more about carrying the correct cover through the autumn, not too much or too little. 750 Kg DM/ha of grass is a good farm cover to aim for on the 1st December.

This should lead to an opening cover of 1,000 kg DM/ha or more by the end of January. Delaying the closing date past the 15th of November has a negative effect on spring grass supply. However, autumn growth has been exceptional in recent years, so setting a target closing cover rather than a closing date seems to work well in most scenarios.

Preparing for Dry-Off

Invest time in understanding your dry-off approach now; by reviewing milk recording data, and performing a culture and sensitivity test on your higher cell count cows. This will help identify the root cause of cell count issues, along with shedding light on the most effective dry cow therapy required to tackle the problem for next year.

Body Condition and Calving Success

Body condition is a cornerstone of calving success. You should look at your herd critically now for body condition. Ideally, 90% of cows should be between a BCS of 3 and 3.25 and that condition should be maintained through drying off. There is huge variation in cow BCS this year. Targeting thin cows with additional feed early, while they are still milking, is an easier approach than managing multiple groups of cows during the dry period.

Dry Cow Nutrition

Dry cow nutrition is centred on good silage analysis, so getting silage pits sampled early offers flexibility when it comes to choosing the correct silage for milkers, vs young stock, and dry cows. A mineral sample of the dry cow silage is also very useful for planning ahead and addressing nutritional issues such as high potassium (Kl levels and mineral antagonists.

Choosing the Right Dry Cow Mineral

Dry cow minerals are a big talking point on farms at the moment. Look for a dry cow mineral that contains highly bioavailable sources of trace minerals, a highly soluble source of magnesium and good inclusions of vitamins particularly vitamins A, D and E along with Biotin, such as Welmin Dry Cow Elite.

Maize silage offers both dairy and beef farmers an opportunity to increase animal performance from home grown forage. Milking cows that are fed maize silage as part of their total forage intake, have milk yield increases of 8%-10% and cattle have shown additional improvements in daily live weight gains. It is one of the most complementary feeds to grass silage as it is high in starch and fibre and is slowly digested in the rumen.

However, to really see these benefits there are a few key steps in managing the crop at harvest that should be followed. Agritech’s Bil Ryan outlines a few tips that will have a positive impact on how your crop of maize performs at feed out.

Harvest Targets

The aim is to harvest your maize crop as close to 30% dry matter and 30% starch content as possible as this gives the best results both in terms of yield and subsequent animal performance. A rough rule of thumb is to have the plant two thirds brown and the cobs fully formed with no soft grains. Once at this stage of maturity it is ready to harvest.

When it comes to harvesting and ensiling the crop, it is best practice not to chop the crop too finely, but to use a corn cracker on the machine to ensure the grain is split open. This is to ensure that at feed out, the animal’s digestive system can fully and easily access the starch.

Pit Preparation

Due to Ireland’s unpredictable weather it can be difficult to get perfect harvest conditions thus providing an obstacle to getting good pit preservation. A helpful tip is to have the silage pit prepared well in advance of expected harvest date; washed out and protective polythene sheets laid down inside the pit walls to facilitate an excellent seal at the pit edges. The risk of soil contamination should also be minimised by having an adequate concrete apron to work off and keep machinery tyres as soil free as possible.

The pit should be filled in thin layers from front to back and each layer well consolidated to remove all air. A poorly compacted pit will run a high risk of secondary heating once opened for feeding.

Achieving Pit Stability

I will readily admit that to achieve all these elements is not easy at farm level. That is why most Irish farmers use an additive such as Agritech’s Ensile Bio. Ensile Bio is specifically manufactured to suit typical Irish conditions. It is designed to preserve the crop in the shortest time possible and does so by producing acids which minimise the growth of yeast and moulds that naturally grow on high dry matter starch crops. By producing these acids rapidly it ensures a stable pit face at feed out for up to 10 days. Pit face stability is extremely important as the energy lost at the pit face could not only reduce animal feed intake but also lead to losses of valuable energy from the clamp.

The final step is to use a vacuum sheet as the first sheet and cover by folding in the two side sheets and fitting the final top sheet. Weigh down with tyres to secure the clamp.

For any further advice on harvesting maize, contact your local Agritech distributor or find out more about Agritech’s Maize additive Ensile Bio by clicking here.

The three weeks before and after calving are the most critical period in the production cycle of the dairy cow. The modern dairy cow is genetically programmed to produce high levels of milk post calving while her capacity to increase her dietary intakes in line with production is a challenge facing all producers at this time.

Key areas to monitor:

Body Condition Scores (BCS): Are your cows holding their pre calving BCS? If your cows are losing condition in the weeks post calving this must be addressed promptly and properly. Seek professional advice.

Dung Consistency: Dung that appears firm indicates that the cow’s diet may be too low in protein and too high in fibre. A loose and thin consistency suggests excess protein/carbohydrates or low fibre which may possibly lead to acidosis.

Milk Fat to Protein Ratio: The ratio of fat:protein is an excellent indicator of cow health and feed efficiency. The ideal butterfat:protein ratio is circa 1.27:1. Where the ratio goes above 1.5:1, strict attention should be paid to cow health as there is a strong possibility of Ketosis in the affected animals. Where the ratio drops below 1.2:1, a possible link to Rumen Acidosis exists.

Key Tips:

1. Maximise dry matter intake (DMI) through a well balanced diet formulation and continuous assessment of the ration fed to cows.
2. Try to ensure that there is a minimum of 600-800 mm feed space per cow along with ample drinking points.
3. Introduce concentrates slowly. Set parlour feeders to slowly build up concentrate levels over a five to ten day period post calving. Adding concentrates too quickly, in an attempt to provide energy is a recipe for Sub Acute Rumen Acidosis. There are some excellent Rumen Buffers on the market which are producing excellent results in countering the threat of this condition. Products such as Rumicare from Agritech along with it’s excellent rumen buffering capacity has the added benefit of providing much needed calcium for the early lactation dairy cow.
4. Continue to analyse you cow’s Body Condition Score on a regular basis. It is vitally important to maintain adequate BCS to ensure that the cow quickly returns to cyclicity in advance of the breeding season.
5. Mineral Supplementation is essential during the post calving period. Supplementation of post calving minerals is a much neglected area, as many dairy farmers assume there are enough minerals in the purchased concentrate. However, unless there are very high levels being fed this is rarely the case.The post calving diet needs to be carefully monitored to ensure that the cow receives adequate levels of macro and trace minerals at this important time.
6. Introduce grazed grass in to the diet. While we all know that grazed grass is an excellent feed, it is important to align the indoor ration to match up with the grazed grass level being fed in order to optimise cow performance and health.

For any further advice contact your local Agritech distributor.

Quality ingredients in calf milk replacer can have a huge influence in optimising the performance and growth rate of calves. Highly digestible ingredients of fat and proteins, with a broad range of trace minerals, vitamins, prebiotics and probiotics are of paramount importance to exploit the full genetic potential of the calf.

Agritech’s Vitalac Calf Milk Replacer range from Nukamel, the original company who developed calf milk replacers in 1954, has placed an importance on how these quality ingredients are manufactured.

According to Bil Ryan, Business Development Manager at Agritech, “Milk Replacers are produced by two distinctly different processes including spray cooling and spray drying”. The benefits of Nukamel’s patented spray cooling technology include improved fat digestibility, improved feed intake and improved milk powder solubility.

A trial by Nukamel on calf performance to compare the two differing manufacturing methods, showed that calves fed on the spray cooled product showed a significant 7.5kgs extra liveweight gain compared to those fed on the spray dried product.

Bil concluded, “We have seen first-hand how the Vitalac range from Nukamel is driving herd profitability. We are delighted to be able to confirm that the spray cooling technology is contributing to calf performances in a significant way further enhancing the high quality of the ingredients in Vitalac Calf Milk Replacers”.

For further information on the Vitalac range and general calf management tips, talk to your local distributor. To find your local distributor click here or go to the Vitalac page on our website.

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