Archive Article: 2000/09/29
John Glover
John Glover milks 140 cows
on his 52ha (130-acre)
county council holding near
Lutterworth, Leics. The
business is run in partnership
with neighbouring tenant
Mark Wilks, with dry cows
and youngstock kept at Mr
Wilks 32ha (80-acre) farm
WELL, thats it – winter is here. With heavy rain about we decided to open loose yards to cows, and although the gate to the field is left open, few cows choose to spend much time there.
As they are TMR fed all year, they only really go into the field for exercise and to save straw. So for us the only extra work is bedding down as cows are fed and scraping the feeding area daily.
We are hoping to cut some maize before the Dairy Event. The most forward crop is 4ha (10 acres) of Hudson which we buy as a standing crop from a neighbour.
Our own crops, mainly LG2185, Pretti and Ulla, are still a long way from harvest with many cobs still white. The 4ha (10 acres) should yield enough to feed cows for six weeks until our own crop is harvested. Last year we cut maize on Sept 25 and 26, but we could be two to three weeks later this year.
To make maize last all year, we have had to reduce the amount fed by about a third, and although the revised diet appears to work on paper, we saw milk yields fall. Despite the diet being nutritionally balanced, it was its physical characteristics that caused problems.
The main problem was that by reducing the amount of 30% DM maize silage and replacing it with 17-20% DM first cut grass silage, the whole nature of the mix changed.
Firstly, the DM dropped and the mix lost its loose friable nature and sat as a soggy lump in the trough. Secondly, acidity also increased and overall DM intakes dropped so much that cows would actually graze the loafing area – a clear indication that they did not like it. And the more they grazed, the lower milk yields dropped.
We have improved the situation by altering ratios of grass and maize silage, but also by including some good old fashioned hay.
We would ideally have chopped hay and mixed it in the mixer wagon, but this was not practical. So instead we spread it along the bottom of the trough, before putting TMR on top.
When we tried this before hay was left, but this time they are cleaning it up, which means we must be doing something right. *
Milk yields fell at John Glovers when he replaced high DM maize silage with lower DM grass silage, so he has changed his ration.