FOLLOWING the successful meeting held in February the group decided evenings were more practical, and depending on the topic should be held on farm.
Although we clashed with the dry and sunny weather keeping some farmers away, it was a very good meeting with 12 in attendance creating plenty of discussion around the current issues at Mason House.
Update since last meeting – FERTILISER POLICY
Using the advice given by Graham Wilson from Promar in the updated nutrient management plan, the fertiliser policy has changed this year. In the past bulk 20.10.10 fertiliser has been spread on all the fields, although ground conditions and the weight of the spreader often meant spring applications were delayed, thus affecting cutting dates.
This year only N fertilizer has been used, and it was all applied the first week of March which, depending on the weather this month, should give John and Ben a broader window of opportunity for silage making.
Following the meeting in February, the slurry additive Digest-it from James Bretherton has been added to the lagoon and we will be monitoring any changes to the slurry over the next 6 months.
Long term changes
Constantly during the time we have been working with John, one of the things he keeps reiterating is that it is attention to detail that makes the difference. The main aim for the meeting was therefore to look at how the performance of the dairy herd can be monitored as simply as possible whilst having the maximum impact, with the added advantage of having the group on the farm to discuss the current management changes taking place.
There are long term plans to increase the size of the dairy herd and install a third robot. Before then the cubicle buildings will be altered and the ewe flock will be dispersed.
Sheep will then be taken in on tack over the winter months to keep the fields tidy, without impacting on the spring grass growth. Not having any lambing ewes will have a two-fold effect; it will free up more time to be spent with the dairy cows and should enable the silage to be cut sooner in May.
Top Tips from the Meeting
Kite’s KPI (Key Performance Indicators) wall chart, monitoring 6 health and physical factors. Ros has set John & Ben targets for each one, then if any indicators fall outside the accepted range they are highlighted and acted upon.
• Records should be simple to complete, easy to understand and worthwhile
• Without monitoring the herd’s performance it can be difficult to understand the main issues affecting them
• With the rising cost of concentrates, it is essential to make high quality forage
• It is essential to have a bedded area available to aid transitional cows and any with health problems
Keeping it Simple
On most farms there can be an overabundance of information available based around the herd’s performance both physical and financial. The problem is understanding what is relevant and how best to use the information, which has been the same at Mason House, with the comment often coming from John ‘that he felt his cows weren’t milking as well as they should’ although not really knowing why or if there were any underlying issues.
Over the past few months Ros Hughes from Kite Consulting has been working closely with John and Ben, setting them up with Kite’s KPI (Key Performance Indicators) wall chart, monitoring 6 health and physical factors. Ros has set John & Ben targets for each one, then if any indicators fall outside the accepted range they are highlighted and acted upon.
The 6 KPI’s are;
1. Dry matter intakes (kg per cow per day)
The weigh cell fitted to the loadall to help John and Ben calculate dry matter intake
Important if intakes are moving in the wrong direction, affecting both milk production and pregnancy rates .Keeping track of DMI should encourage more efficient feed use and give more accurate costings. Ben now measures DMI using the new weigh cell fitted to the loading shovel, with a target of 22-23 kg DM/cow/day (longer term 24 kg/head)
2. Average daily milk yields
Milk production ultimately drives profit, the aim is for 28 litres/milking cow/day sold every day, rising to 30 litres.
3. Number of confirmed pregnancies (monthly)
Pregnancies steer herd performance, without getting cows in calf calving patterns will slip and annual milk production will drop. With 145 cows in herd calving all the year round, less 25% culls, requires 109 calvings/year, equating to 9 cows/month confirmed in calf. Monthly figures are plotted against this using information from routine fertility visits with the vet.
4. Number of mastitis cases a month
Monitoring mastitis incidence can flag up any problems, such as parlour routine or environmental issues. The aim is a max of 35% in the herd equalling 51 mastitis cases/yr or 4.2/month.
5. Percentage of cows mobile
Mobility is the most important KPI on any farm, when you get this right everything else will fall into place; a cow will eat more, have higher yields and good fertility. Currently the aim is to have 90% of total herd with a score of 0/1.
6. Fresh cow index
This is the percentage of total culls occurring in the first 60 days of lactation. The fresh cow index is an excellent way of condensing information on how well the farm is transitioning cows through calving and into lactation, as any cull during the first 60 days will not have been planned. The aim is for less than 20% of total culls or 8 cows/year.
Most of these figures are readily available on all farms. Monthly recording of the main health issues will highlight the main reasons for culling and quantify the financial impact they have on the business. The information available from using the chart will help John and Ben when making future management decisions and take out some of the guess work.
Over the coming months we will be observing how they progress with the chart, comparing the actual to the targets set by Ros and be reporting back on the progress. This will then allow us to look at the information available and any issues that have been highlighted at future monitor farm meetings.
Obsessed when Making Silage
Due to the milking cows at Mason House housed all the year round and silage is now the main forage, the focus of the meeting then turned to the silage making. With the price of concentrates continually rising making high quality silage is important to all livestock farmers. Ros stressed that John and Ben need to be ‘obsessed’ with the silage making, ensuring that they control the contractor and it’s not the other way round.
The time and cost spent making silage is nothing compared to that spent feeding poorly made silage the following winter. When the first load of grass arrives in the pit, it should be inspected to ensure that the grass is not chopped too short (less than 2 cm), and ensure it has been adequately wilted to 25-30% dry matter, with subsequent loads inspected at regular intervals.
Good silage making starts with the mowing;
• Cutting later in the day to achieve the highest sugar levels possible
• Leaving stubble of 7-8 cm to avoid contamination from soil and encourage a fast re-growth
It should then be;
• Spread evenly within 1 hour of cutting
• Rowing up shouldn’t commence until immediately before pick-up
• The clamp should be filled as quickly as possible
• Avoiding rolling the clamp before the next day’s filling as this will draw air back in
• The clamp should be sealed as soon as consolidation is complete
The group then discussed the use of additives, the general feeling was that they don’t compensate for poor management and should be used as an insurance policy if the weather is inclement when making the silage.
Cubicles or Bedding?
With the current management changes in mind John and Ben then explained what they are planning. Before the long term aim of increasing the cow numbers takes place, the current buildings for both milking and dry cows are to be altered.
The dry cow building at Mason House
Last year a new dry cow building was erected and, as a trial, bedded with compost to see if it would work. However due to the damp and cold air it wasn’t possible to achieve the required heat in the bedding to start the composting process, therefore the dry cows finished up bedded with straw.
John and Ben were considering what to do with the new dry cow building, now the cows are outside, should they replace the bedding with sand cubicles, allowing the building to house more dry cows or carry on using straw and erect a further building to house the remaining dry cows.
Ros explained with the pressures on cows prior to and following calving it would be beneficial to keep the bedded area, and split it into two. Half could then be used for newly dry cows and half for transitional cows and any needing a little ‘TLC’. These cows could then access the robots using a grazing gate. The general feeling around the group backed up Ros’s thoughts and for the time being the building will continue to be bedded with straw.
As part of changing the building layout, the out of parlour feeders are to be moved away from the feeding trough to the other side of the building. This half of the building will be extended into the field, which will then allow the feeding trough to be extended to give the milking cows nearly twice as much feed space per head.
As all of this work progresses during the coming months, the group will be keep updated at future meetings and there will be regular reports on the livestock website.
Future Business Group Work
The next meeting will on Tuesday 21st June, with Helen Mathieu and James Bretherton, will be having an evening grassland walk to look at the reseeding, over-seeding and aeration that took place last year.
