Archive Article: 2000/09/29
Richard Thompson
Richard Thompson farms a
325ha (800-acre) mixed
arable and dairy unit near
Kings Lynn, Norfolk. The
200 dairy cows average
6500 litres on a simple, high
forage system. They are
allocated 40ha (100 acres)
of permanent pasture,
44ha (110 acres) of short
term leys and maize grown
in the arable rotation
CALVING is now under way in our autumn herd and it is generally going according to plan. We always seem to start with a run of twins, which is usually bad news. The bonus of an extra calf doesnt outweigh the detrimental effect on cows.
This year we have fed dry cow minerals to cows through drinking water. The mineral is metered into water tanks using an electronic pump. This seems a more logical way to feed minerals compared with our old system of ad-lib dry cow mineral in tubs.
However, unless you do a detailed on-farm trial, it is difficult to prove whether it is actually any better. Although so far we have had less cases of milk fever.
Our maize is looking well at the moment and should produce a good yield. The main problem has been the delay in maturity this year due to the cool summer. Despite the dry matter improving recently due to warm sunny weather, our maize will be two weeks behind last years.
We are aiming to cut maize earlier at 28-30% DM as opposed to 33% DM last year. The lower DM will provide a better type of feed for our winter diet, where maize silage makes up 80% of the ration.
Earlier harvest should allow us to get more energy from leaves and stems as well as cobs, and thus produce a more balanced forage.
This year is the first time we have actually managed to carry some maize silage until September. It is a big bonus to be able to put fresh autumn calvers straight onto maize silage diets.
When we cut this years maize we will take the remaining 100t of old maize out of the clamp and re-clamp it in front of the grass silage. This will mean we can carry on feeding the old maize, while the new crop has two weeks to ferment before feeding.
Once autumn calving gets under way we split the herd into two groups: Fresh calvers are put on sacrifice paddocks and fed mainly maize silage and a midday feed of potatoes with a protein blend. Stale spring calvers will be offered just grazed grass and a big bale of silage. *
Richard Thompsons maize is looking well, but it is two weeks behind.