Another winter is approaching, and now is the time for planning, in order to make informed decisions around nutritional management.

Following a difficult growing season, there may be a large variation in quality between cuts so testing what silage is available is crucial to planning accordingly.

With dry cows, silage quality will dictate the condition of cows at calving, and dilution/corrective feeding may be required.

For youngstock, offering a silage-only diet, a weight gain of just 0.3kg/day can be expected from the same silage as offered to dry cows (68-70% DMD silage); 1.5 to 2 kg of concentrate would be required to achieve target growth rates.

Silage reserves are depleted in many yards: therefore, conducting a quick fodder budget to highlight sufficient reserves – or identifying a deficit – is crucial.   

Youngstock

It’s also a good time to check that heifers are still on track to achieve their target weight for age (% of mature weight). Weighing now compared to weighing at the point of housing allows the opportunity to identify behind-target heifers and group accordingly.

The threshold figure for 2024 spring-born weanling heifers is approximately 200 kg in mid-September (~33% of an assumed mature weight of 600kg).

Heifers lighter than this need to be given priority access to high quality grass and reintroduce or increase supplementary concentrates; feeding rates will depend on where they are in relation to their respective targets.

Higher weight gains can be achieved from grass rather than from winter/silage diets and a good response to autumn supplementation can be achieved.

Research shows that in autumn where 1 kg  of concentrate plus good grass is offered, average daily gains of 1 kg/hd/day can be achieved.

For more information contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor.