Feed planning, from working out how much grass is required in summer for grazing and making silage, to what forage is required in winter and the supplements needed to complement such feeds, can be a huge challenge when the weather doesn’t play ball.
SAC Consulting, part of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), has been assisting Strathspey Monitor Farmers, the Smith family with feed planning for the winter at Auchernack, an 800-acre farm near Grantown on Spey.
As part of the Monitor Farm Programme, the farm had an in-depth review carried out through the Scottish Government funded ILMP (Integrated Land Management Plan), which showed the spring calves were not performing as well as they could be.
When compared to the autumn calves, it appeared that the calves were being fed well (ad-lib silage and 4kg of barley mix) but the physical performance didn’t match the expectations.
As a result, SAC Consulting’s ruminant nutritionist, Karen Stewart looked at the nutritional requirements for the livestock at Auchernack, to balance these with home-grown forage and understand the inputs required.
Karen said: “We are using more extensive data, including forage analysis and more regular weighing while collaborating with Strathspey vets and other specialists to improve daily liveweight gain and manage cow condition.”
On visiting the farm, she was able to identify some issues that were potentially limiting the growth of the cattle.
Both the autumn and spring calves are housed on slats through the winter, however, the autumn-born calves have access to a straw bedded back, while the spring-born calves are housed in older slatted pens.
Calves are housed at Congash, a three-mile drive from the home farm. To save time and diesel, calves are fed every two days. Though this works in theory, Karen found that the calves were running out of silage around tea-time on day two, leaving them with 12 hours of no feed.
Spring cows housed at Congash are also fed every two days. Cow condition can be difficult to manage when cows are fed over a two-day period as they often overeat on day one, and then not enough on day two. Cows inevitably then get pushier when the feed arrives the following day, creating a cycle of nutrient highs and lows.
“To address this and maintain stronger control of nutrition, the cows have been split into two groups, taking out the leanest animals and the first calvers (last year’s calved heifers), penning them separately to allow for additional feeding.
“Straw has been increased in the fitter cows’ ration to bulk it out and to create a more even feeding pattern across the two days. It is completely understandable why the two-day method of feeding is carried out and definitely one for discussion at the next monitor farm management meeting.
“No farm is perfect in its set up, it is about making small changes to make it as workable as possible without complicating it and adding extra costs, including extra time.”
A ration planner was also implemented to monitor how much forage is available on the farm thereby enabling a total daily feed usage and expected whole winter usage, to be worked out. This plan is a working document, where cattle numbers, weights, time housed, and changes to the rations can be altered and recorded to identify shortfalls more quickly. This ensures corrective action can be made in advance, to prevent greater feeding changes affecting the process, especially at critical times such as calving.
The key to successful feed planning is collecting key information, including:
- Forage analysis for each type (pit, bales, etc) including dry matter, energy, and protein
- Quantity estimated (bales are counted and the pit measured)
- Number of cattle in each group
- Feeding quantities for each group
- Stage of production of the cattle (stage of pregnancy, lactation, growth targets)
Karen continued: “In our experience, best results are achieved when a plan is made at the start of the winter period and monitored. It is never too late to make a start!
“If you think you may be short of forage or are worried about how cattle are performing it is easy to do some checks. There can be savings on feed and valuable improvements to performance can be made. In the case of the Strathspey Monitor Farm, the Smith family has an excellent eye for rationing, and they anticipate changes in forage types and animal behaviour – an essential skill, which compliments forage budgeting.
“Successful nutritional management is a team effort between the stock person, nutritionist, and vet where there is so much to be gained from the team approach.
“The great thing about the Monitor Farm Programme is that lessons learned from the project will also be fed back throughout the project, in order to benefit livestock producers across the country more widely,” Karen concluded.
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