Dairy notes May 04
BENCHMARKING
Last year almost 10% of the Northern Ireland milk pool
participated in the Greenmount Campus benchmarking exercise. This involves a
detailed analysis of physical performance, costs and returns on your farm that
can then be compared to other farms with a similar production system. Results
indicate a wide range of performance with production costs on some farms being
double that of others.
Farmers find the information invaluable in identifying the
strengths and weaknesses of their farming business and preparing an action plan
to improve farm profits.
If you are interested in taking part in this exercise for the
year ending March 2004, your local Dairying Development Adviser will be willing
to provide assistance. Most of the information required is available from your
VAT records and accounts, milk dockets and stock records.
COMPLETING IACS FORMS
All dairy farmers must complete an IACS forms this year to
claim Dairy Premium and additional dairy payment.
This premium is payable on the net amount of milk quota
(including milk quota leased in) available on the holding on 31 March
2004. To be eligible you must have produced, and marketed milk, during the quota
year 03/04 or commenced production before 17 May 2004. In order to claim this
payment you must complete section 3 by ticking "yes" to question 6a
and 6b and confirming your RPA trader registration number.
Those who also plan to claim other premia, however small (for
example Beef Special Premium) must show all their forage area under column G, as
in previous years.
Those who do not wish to claim any other premia have the
option of showing their land under columns R+S by entering DAIRY in column R and
the area in column S. None of this land will then be registered as forage area.
QUOTA PLANNING
Now is the time to start organising quota requirements for
the current year. This will help avoid some of the panic and uncertainty that
surrounded the acquisition of milk quota for the past 2003/04 year.
The availability of quota for purchase or leasing will be
greatly reduced compared to previous years and will depend mainly on the number
of producers ceasing milk production this year. Similarly due to significant
purchases of quota in the past year, demand may be reduced. This will be
influenced by two key factors.
- The level of milk production and consequently the possibility of the UK filling quota.
- The fact that decoupled payments will be based on total milk quota held 31 March 2005.
Consequently it is impossible to predict how quota prices
will vary throughout the year. Where large quantities of quota are required,
acquiring part of it early in the year helps to spread the risk. For some
producers the best procedure may be to curtail production early in the year by
reducing cow numbers, rather than delaying action until later.
TARGETS FOR SILAGE MAKING
The maturity of grass at cutting time has the biggest
influence on silage quality. For silage with a target ‘D’ value of 70 the
aim is to cut at the first sign of ear emergence. Each further week’s delay in
cutting will mean having to feed an extra 2.2kg of concentrates/cow/day to
maintain the same milk yield this incoming winter.
- Where swards are based on mid season perennials, for example Spelga, Magella, Napoleon, this will normally mean cutting around the 20 May.
- Late varieties such as Gilford and Portstewart are normally at the correct stage for cutting during the first week of June.
- Walk your crops regularly and check head development so that you can plan a cutting date with your contractor.
- Regular communication with your contractor will facilitate harvesting of grass at the correct stage.
RAPID WILT SILAGE
Silage dry matter has a major influence on silage intake and
herd performance. Wilted silage also significantly reduces the production of
silage effluent and this has a positive environmental impact. The main factors
in producing high dry matter silage of at least 25% dry matter within 24 hours
are:
- Cut in dry weather when sunshine is forecast.
- Spreading the crop within an hour or so of cutting is essential as a spread crop wilts at more than twice the rate of a single row.
- Use a mower conditioner, conditioned grass wilts 20% faster than unconditioned grass.
For a farmer normally cutting 50 hectares of grass producing
1,000 tonnes of silage at 18% dry matter, by rapid wilting the grass to 28% dry
matter:
- 350 tonnes less water will have to be carted and ensiled.
- 150,000litres less effluent will have to be collected, stored and disposed of.
- Additional silage storage capacity will be available.
- The life of the silo will be extended.
- All of these factors has a positive effect on the environment.
Rapid wilting in practice means the following:
- Assess the dry matter of the grass crop at ear emergence / mowing. If the grass is wet when walked through, the dry matter is approximately 15%. If your boots are dry after walking the field, the dry matter content is approximately 20%.
- A standing crop with an initial dry matter of 20% will reach the target in 24 hours if left in single swathes provided the weather remains dry.
- In ideal wilting weather (sunny and dry) such a crop will reach the target within 8 hours if spread out.
- Even under good wilting conditions, heavy crops and those with low initial dry matter content (15%) will require spreading across the available field area if the target dry matter content is to be achieved within 24 hours.
Avoid over-wilting which can lead to unstable silage in the
clamp. If ensiling is delayed or harvesting prolonged, then rowing up the swath
will have the effect of reducing the wilting process. To assess the dry matter
of wilted grass, a representative sample should be taken across the grass in the
field. If moisture is still present when wringing in the hands, the crop is
probably less than 25% dry matter.
SILAGE ADDITIVES
Silage additives have been used traditionally to improve
silage fermentation under difficult ensiling conditions using acids or sugar
based additives. The Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland,
Hillsborough has also shown that effective bacterial inoculants increase animal
performance without necessarily improving the fermentation quality.
- The majority of inoculant additives sold in Northern Ireland are based on lactobacillus plantarum.
- Inoculant studies at The Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough show an average increase in milk yield of 0.5 litre per day.
- The response varied widely across studies from + 2 litres to –1 litre per day.
- The results highlight the requirement for farmers to know specific data about intended products.
Results of The Agricultural Research Institute of Northern
Ireland, Hillsborough studies demonstrate that the application of effective
inoculant to wilted grass results in the same benefit obtained to unwilted
grass.
USING SLURRY TO FERTILISE 2ND CUT SILAGE
Typical nitrogen inputs for 2nd cut silage is
100kg/hectare (80 units/acre) with the phosphate and potash requirements at the
various soil test indices summarised in the table below:
|
Soil index |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Over 3 |
|
Phosphate kg/ha |
25 |
25 |
25 |
0 |
0 |
|
Potash kg/ha |
120 |
100 |
75 |
40 |
0 |
Take for example a silage field with a fairly typical soil analysis of phosphate index 2 and potash index 1. It requires 25kg/hectare (20 units/acre) of phosphate and 100 kg/hectare (80 units/acre of potash).