Automatic feed pusher increases forage intakes

Pushing up and freshening the ration throughout the day can improve intakes and increase yields, without added labour. Aly Balsom finds out how

Ensuring that feed is in front of cows and easily accessible goes a long way to increasing intakes, but is pointless if feed is not appetising.

You may have the right ration, but by improving feed presentation you can get more from it, says John Jamieson, Woodhead Farm, Annan, Dumfries.

“Maximising dry matter intake is always the name of the game and by improving feed presentation you can improve yields, body condition and cow fertility.”

So after a trip to Austria and with this in mind, Mr Jamieson decided to install the Wasserbauer Butler feed pusher as a demonstrator in his 250-cow herd of Holstein Friesians.

But this is no ordinary “feed pusher”, the robot has an ingenious way of maximising feed presentation. “As the Butler moves round the shed it scatters concentrate on top of the ration to ‘freshen’ it and make the ration more attractive to the cows,” he says.

The robot goes round the shed once pushing the ration up, it then stops for five minutes and goes back round scattering concentrate on top. It then returns to the docking bay to recharge and automatically refill with concentrate from a feed tower.

“The Butler runs round the shed on a rail 13 times a day pushing up feed. Twice a day, at milking the robot just pushes up feed, the other 11 times the machine also scatters concentrate.”

But this has not meant increasing the total amount of concentrate fed in the ration. “We still feed a total of 6.5kg of blend a cow a day, but 1kg of this is now fed through the Butler rather than mixed in the TMR.”

Cows receive 24kg DM a cow a day in a TMR including 8kg maize silage, 3kg whole-crop, 24kg grass silage, 1kg straw, 6kg Vitagold, 2kg oats, 3kg alca barley, 3kg megalac, 0.05kg mycosorb, 0.05kg rumen buffer and 0.2kg minerals.

And although concentrate intakes have stayed the same, by making the ration more attractive, forage intakes have shown a marked increased. “Cows are now eating 3-4kg DM of forage more than they were before.”

And since installing the robot in May last year, yields have improved by 500-600kg a cow causing average yields to increase from 9600kg a cow a year to more than 10,000kg a cow a year.

“There is no doubt since installing the Butler and moving cows to a newer and more comfortable shed, cows are looking and doing better,” he says.

And heifers and cows are now more content. “In the past we used to separate heifers from the main herd, however, because there is always fresh silage there is less competition at the feed face and we can now run them as one group.”

And the robot comes with the added advantage of being able to feed up to 30 different groups of cows. “The robot has the ability to measure how far it has travelled. This means it can automatically feed a different volume or different feed to separate cow groups.”

Because the robot can have up to two hoppers on top, different feeds or minerals can be put in each hopper. “This means a dry cow group could have minerals scattered over the ration or low yielders could get a different concentrate to the highs.”

And by making changes to how cows are fed and housed, Mr Jamieson has seen a marked improvement in body condition and fertility. “Because cows are in a better condition, fertility has improved. We are now catching bulling cows better – it seems things are all falling into place and the Butler has had a big part to play.”

According to Mr Jamieson, the robot is also simple to install. “You only need to extend a few posts on the feed barrier meaning the system is suitable for new or existing sheds.”

At between £20,000 and £25,000 to install, the machine is costly, but Mr Jamieson believes this will be quickly paid back as a result of increased milk yields as a result of the Butler and the new shed.

“The machine also means we do not have the hassle of manually pushing feed up. Before we were pushing up three times a day – now we just put the feed out, shut the door and leave the Butler to get on with it.”