Dairy notes May 2008
Benchmarking Your Dairy Herd
The increased cost of fuel, fertiliser and concentrates over the past 12 months has added 4p /litre to most herds’ production costs. With milk price likely to be just over 20p/ litre in the next few months, you need to take a careful look at your business to see where improvements can be made.
Benchmarking provides a detailed analysis of the physical and financial performance of your herd. You can compare your performance with other businesses running a similar system. This information will be invaluable in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your business enabling the preparation of an action plan to improve farm profits.
Results for the year, ending 31 March 2007 indicate a wide range of physical and financial performance. Farms in the top 25percent (based on net profit/ cow) had a net profit over £450/ cow higher than the bottom 25percent of producers. They produced over 900 litres more milk from forage than those in the bottom 25percent with yield almost 700 litres/ cow higher despite feeding over 100 KGs less meal - clearly emphasising the importance of good quality grass/silage. Other important factors contributing to the higher profits were better milk quality, lower replacements costs, lower machinery running costs and lower finance costs.
Most of the information required for benchmarking is available from your VAT records, accounts, milk dockets and stock records. If you are interested in benchmarking your herd for year ending 31 March 2008, your local Dairying Development Adviser will be happy to provide assistance.
Grazing Management
The cold weather which restricted grass growth in late March/April, delayed turn-out this year. However, the rapid improvement in growth conditions now could lead to problems maintaining grazing quality. With no grazing wedge (swards at various stages of regrowth) set up, the grazing area will become ready for grazing over a short period. Action needs to be taken to prevent grazing ‘getting ahead’ of the herd with swards under-grazed now producing poor quality re-growths later in the season:
- If cows have been at grass for 10 days and grazing conditions are good, graze full-time and stop buffer feeding. Remember using medium quality silage as a buffer feed will reduce cow intake.
- Can you afford to take a hit on milk yields rather than housing the herd part/full time? Many herd owners justify housing at least part-time as they have found that a herd yielding 31-33 litres/ cow before turn-out drops 1.5-2 litres/ cow when turned out on grass full-time. The Greenmount Future Herd experienced a similar drop after turnout last season but with meal feeding reduced from 9 to 4.8 KGs/ cow the drop was justified – grazed grass is higher quality than your silage!
- Graze some of the area with young-stock, before moving them to their intended grazing area.
- Walk the grazing area twice per week to check sward growth. If covers are getting too high (pre-grazing covers >4000 KGs DM/ha) you will be able to identify swards for a light cut of silage in early May which will be available for grazing again in early June. Delaying cutting could leave you with a grazing shortfall in early/mid June
Silage Production
The cold wet weather of March/April will also have a substantial influence on when to take first cut silage this year.
Current indications are that the maturity of early and mid-season rye-grass varieties will be delayed, with seed heads emerging later than normal. Last year the hybrid ryegrass swards at Greenmount Campus were cut at the end of April, but this year it is likely to be the 10 May before they are cut.
Fertiliser application on many farms was delayed to mid-April by the wet conditions. It will take up to six weeks growth for the plants to use the nitrogen, so late May harvest would suit most producers with mid-season perennial swards.
If swards mature more rapidly and normal nitrogen rates have been applied (up to 100 KGs N/ha), sending a grass sample for analysis to check nitrate levels before cutting would be advisable. If nitrate levels are high, cutting may have to be delayed unless a good wilt (>25% DM) can be achieved, otherwise you run the risk of producing badly fermented silage.
