Farmer Focus: Cows drinking 100 litres/day to combat heat
Eurig Jenkins © Richard Stanton Silage was again done in glorious weather – this was second cut done in four days, roughly 138ha (340 acres).
There were no breakdowns, staff performed well and 1,400 bales were made with additive applied, once again chopped to 60mm.
See also: 5 tips to help ensure dairy cows drink enough water
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All bales were hauled within 24 hours of baling, with no drama.
I have decided not to apply fertiliser at the moment as temperatures are over 25C and will wait until rain is expected (none forecast in the next 10 days) before applying.
Milking cows are drinking a lot of water – more than 100 litres a cow a day – and we are religiously making sure that nothing goes wrong in that department, as they are under tremendous stress.
Grass growth has fallen and average farm cover of 2,100kg of dry matter/ha means we are feeding last year’s silage to keep milk in the silo. So dry silage plus heat stress is making them thirsty.
The new tractors are a big hit, and everyone has now mastered the ease of using a Vario gear box.
With most of my spare time currently spent trying to get things ready on the new 16ha (40-acre) block for reseeding in August, it feels never ending.
Progress is probably slower than anticipated owing to the size of the job, which I didn’t envisage was going to be this big and costly.
We are laying 2km of cow tracks made from quarried stone and will eventually have 13 water troughs.
The aim is to have it converted to a high standard, and the day I sow the grass seed is the day we finish spending.
Writing my article today I’ve had no time to go into office. So I have done it by speaking into the mic on my phone email, which transcribes my words to forward to Farmers Weekly HQ.
I’m just hoping the technology is not going to come back to haunt me and that my comments are correct.
The worst thing that comes to mind is predictive texting telling me that blue tractors are better than green ones with yellow wheels – and that we will have rain for the next month (which I don’t think we will).
I’m now going down to the Gower for the weekend to have a break, and plan to do not much.