Over the past two weeks, CAFRE Dairying Development Advisers have been running a series of on-farm training events.

The focus has been to look at the options for feeding cows economically this summer. This is against a back-drop of increasing feed, fertilizer and fuel costs and disappointing milk auction results. The 2008 grass-growing season has also been difficult. A cold wet spring delayed fertilizer application and turnout. This was followed by a surge in grass growth in early May but towards the end of the month a sharp reduction due to a lack of rain in many areas. At the events farmers have been able to see first hand some practical steps taken by others to maintain sward quality and achieve 25 litres from grass.

Farmers explained what they were doing on their farm as well as current and rolling 12 month benchmarked herd performances. A lot of discussion centred on how to manage cows yielding in excess of 35 litres. Some practical on-farm options used to manage these high yielders have included:

If only a few of these cows are in your herd, feed more in the parlour

If you have enough to make a viable group, and using a feeder wagon, move to a partial TMR, housing the 35 litre plus group at night

Zero graze the high yielders in the house

Use a leader/follower grazing system with cows yielding less than 20 litres as the followers group

Use modern IT based automatic drafting systems to separate the high yielders for night time buffer feeding

It was recognised that labour was likely to be a major constraint in managing more than one group during the grazing season. However, the Development Advisers highlighted that feeding a 20-litre cow a TMR suitable to sustain over 35 litres was costing an extra £1.10 per day at current prices. In larger herds over the first 3 months of the grazing season, this is equivalent to an extra cost of over £10,000.

This encouraged a robust discussion on what dairying system was most suitable for Northern Ireland. Targets of 6,000 litres from 250 kilos of meal on a low input system or 9,000 litres from 3 tonnes, where maximum individual cow performance is the target, were discussed. However, the majority of farmers attending were targeting 7,500 – 8,000 litres of milk sold per cow per year. To do so economically farmers should aim to feed a maximum of 2.0 tonnes to get 3,500 litres from forage.

CAFRE are holding a range of other Technology Transfer events throughout 2008 looking at opportunities for farmers to invest in new and updated technologies to improve farm performance, profitability and achieve a better work-life balance.

If you are interested in attending any of the Technology Transfer Events listed below, contact your local Dairying Development Adviser:

Focus on profitability - Benefits of Benchmarking

Improving slurry utilization - Trailing Shoe Spreading

Reducing heifer rearing costs - 24 Month Calving

Grazing management farm walks

Summer feeding management workshops

Buildings to improve cow welfare and labour efficiency

Reseeding to reduce forage costs

CAFRE staff would like to thank all the host farmers who kindly made their facilities available to us. Without your cooperation, these events would not have been possible.