Fodder solutions

delaval

We all seem to be moaning about lack of feed and the price with only a few solutions being offered.
I am well aware of the problems people are having and they are taking a heavy toll financially and mentally, but we must feed our animals.

There are lots of switched on people on Boards, so I was hoping that we could post our solutions on this thread for the benefit of all. I would be hopeful that this could be a thread of positivity and if you want to moan there are plenty of threads for that.

I will offer what we are doing and why.

We have silage that we are selling to our neighbours who are completely out. The silage is poor and only fit for dry cows.

We are offering the cows 9kgs grass,6kgs 12%p nuts in parlour and an additional 3kgs soya hulls fed under a wire in the paddock. We will only feed silage as a very last resort as it would need to be very good stuff so as not to drop protein levels in the milk. We have grass but with no respite in sight we need to ration it.

I would venture that soya hulls @€;240/tonne or 24c/kg is much better value than silage of 20% dm. Soya hulls for example could also be fed to dry cows or other cattle with straw, as they are very digestible they can be fed at high levels. I am not for one minute suggesting that this is a fix for all but merely an option.
There are many other options so lets hear them.

Pacoa

I was looking for some info on feeding soya hulls few days ago.
Just wondering if the cows take to them straight away or do they take a while to get a taste for em or do they go mad for them straight away?
Wouldn't they do alot of damage eating them along the strip wire?

mahoney_j

De laval a guy i know pretty well and with a 250 pus herd of fr x nr x jer had no grass(wet farm)at a stage last summer and was feeding 10 kg of palm kernell 2 kg straw and 6 kg of a 14% nut.Cows were housed full time for long stages during june and july and silage wasnt made long enough to feed.Cows performed pretty well on it,Yields hld up pretty well and solids only slightly worse than if they were at grass full time.Feed merchant was pretty busy going to him though.One word of advice though on palm kernell,dont buy direct from the port as it will have small bits of metal through it,from the feed merchant it is fine as it is all grdded but slightly dearer

Timmaay

This weeks IFJ in fairness to them had afew good ideas, including one farmer who has put all his heifers and 2nd timers on OAD milking, which has reduced the demand for fodder, without the risk of losing BCS.

We sold the rest of our bales the other day, a large enough dairyfarmer from 5miles away took them, he was very glad to be able to get them as he has been out of fodder the last few weeks! Let them on for 20quid a piece, He probably would have given alot more but no point being greedy.

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

De laval a guy i know pretty well and with a 250 pus herd of fr x nr x jer had no grass(wet farm)at a stage last summer and was feeding 10 kg of palm kernell 2 kg straw and 6 kg of a 14% nut.Cows were housed full time for long stages during june and july and silage wasnt made long enough to feed.Cows performed pretty well on it,Yields hld up pretty well and solids only slightly worse than if they were at grass full time.Feed merchant was pretty busy going to him though.One word of advice though on palm kernell,dont buy direct from the port as it will have small bits of metal through it,from the feed merchant it is fine as it is all grdded but slightly dearer

I have no experiance with kernal that sounds like a good plan. What do they cost per tonne? I also considered Pulp nuts but not safe at high rate would really loosen cows

whelan1

Timmaay wrote: »

This weeks IFJ in fairness to them had afew good ideas, including one farmer who has put all his heifers and 2nd timers on OAD milking, which has reduced the demand for fodder, without the risk of losing BCS.

We sold the rest of our bales the other day, a large enough dairyfarmer from 5miles away took them, he was very glad to be able to get them as he has been out of fodder the last few weeks! Let them on for 20quid a piece, He probably would have given alot more but no point being greedy.

i thought the journal the week before was brutal, what was the point of reporting on peoples woes without giving solutions

6480

whelan1 wrote: »

i thought the journal the week before was brutal, what was the point of reporting on peoples woes without giving solutions

i dont give that paper much head at all , the indo on tuesday a better read

delaval

Pacoa wrote: »

I was looking for some info on feeding soya hulls few days ago.
Just wondering if the cows take to them straight away or do they take a while to get a taste for em or do they go mad for them straight away?
Wouldn't they do alot of damage eating them along the strip wire?

We are feeding 3 days now they did not eat all first evening but no bother now. About 80% will eat it. I will keep an eye and let you know.

Our farm is like a desert at the moment so no damage at all. We feed in paddock because we do not have enough feeding space. I was feeding with loading shovel and a grain shovel 'till today. My neighbour spotted me yesterday and offered me the use of an old diet feeder that he had so happy days.
Before we had feeders in the parlours we would feed on the road way in wet weather.........needs must:cool::cool:

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

I have no experiance with kernal that sounds like a good plan. What do they cost per tonne? I also considered Pulp nuts but not safe at high rate would really loosen cows

Think it was somewhere beteween 180 an 200 a tonne.Another option i herd someone asking about at our discussion group meeting was brewers grains but no idea about feeding rates price or availability.Facilitator was to get back to the guys who looked for info on it

mf240

Delaval I fed soya hulls last autumn and what I done was got the mill to load the hulls and the dairy nuts into the lorry together and blew it all into the bin and then fed away.

6480

mahoney_j wrote: »

Think it was somewhere beteween 180 an 200 a tonne.Another option i herd someone asking about at our discussion group meeting was brewers grains but no idea about feeding rates price or availability.Facilitator was to get back to the guys who looked for info on it

no way you would get a load of that unless a regular customer gave you some

delaval

mf240 wrote: »

Delaval I fed soya hulls last autumn and what I done was got the mill to load the hulls and the dairy nuts into the lorry together and blew it all into the bin and then fed away.

The reason I went this route was because cows cannot eat any more in parlour so I needed to do a third feed. If this weather continues I may be feeding a pot more. I started a little before I needed to to get them used to it and ready if I need to pile it in,

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

We are feeding 3 days now they did not eat all first evening but no bother now. About 80% will eat it. I will keep an eye and let you know.

Our farm is like a desert at the moment so no damage at all. We feed in paddock because we do not have enough feeding space. I was feeding with loading shovel and a grain shovel 'till today. My neighbour spotted me yesterday and offered me the use of an old diet feeder that he had so happy days.
Before we had feeders in the parlours we would feed on the road way in wet weather.........needs must:cool::cool:

De laval is there no way u would cut out the 3 kg of hulls and feed 3 kg of silage instead??if ur still getting 9 kg of grass into them with 6 kg nuts dont think it should have drastic affect on solids considering ur x breed cows.youd save yourself a lot of cash on the hulls as well

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

De laval is there no way u would cut out the 3 kg of hulls and feed 3 kg of silage instead??if ur still getting 9 kg of grass into them with 6 kg nuts dont think it should have drastic affect on solids considering ur x breed cows.youd save yourself a lot of cash on the hulls as well

Yea I would only feed top quality baled silage. I really wouldn't consider silage unless it was top quality as i find it hard on P. Jesus the silage I have left should be only moved by a dung spreader the worst we ever made, it poured as we harvested, I was away on holidays the next day!!!

We are being collected every day at the moment and protein levels are staying level, I will watct it though as I think it is the best indication of cow nutrition.

I hope these comments from us all are helping someone,. Goes to show that there are many ways to tackle this problem

mahoney_j

As a matter of interest what are ur yields and solids at the moment.My solids have dropped ove the lst 10 days from 4.48 fat and 3.35 prot to 4.45 and 3.25 but yields are still going up (currently just under 29 ltrs)and more importantly cows are in super condition.Currently allocated 9 kg grass 6 kg of high maize 18& nut and 3 kg of high quality wrap silage.same week last marchl yield was around same but b fat was 4.2 and prot was 3.43 and i had more grass than i could get through with milkers

delaval

Cows in good condition 10% on oad mostly heifers as Bcs not good enough, they come through parlour twice a day for feed though. Yield 23 litres fat4.6% pro3.47%- 1.8kgsms/cow. i notice a lot of cows bulling. The only pro will have to rain to get growth going, ground perfect at the moment.

Blue Holland

delaval wrote: »

Cows in good condition 10% on oad mostly heifers as Bcs not good enough, they come through parlour twice a day for feed though. Yield 23 litres fat4.6% pro3.47%- 1.8kgsms/cow. i notice a lot of cows bulling. The only pro will have to rain to get growth going, ground perfect at the moment.

Was wondering if 12% pro nut bit low but obviously not holding back ur protein, guess ur still 50% grass in diet,if level of grass has to drop more would u look at increasing the pro% of nut?

delaval

Blue Holland wrote: »

Was wondering if 12% pro nut bit low but obviously not holding back ur protein, guess ur still 50% grass in diet,if level of grass has to drop more would u look at increasing the pro% of nut?

I am a small bit scared of hi-pro at grass as it will push out milk but has the knock on effect of doing it at the expense of BCS. We have a tight few days ahead and the last thing I want to do is skin the cows as breeding is not far away. What pro do you think would be right if I had to cut grass back to say 6kg? Would you think it would matter for a week or two?

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

Think it was somewhere beteween 180 an 200 a tonne.Another option i herd someone asking about at our discussion group meeting was brewers grains but no idea about feeding rates price or availability.Facilitator was to get back to the guys who looked for info on it

Contacted a guy in our group today re brewers or distillers. Thye are making 50/ tonne but only existing customers being catered for. Sorry he told me the dm but can't remember......is it 20% I'm sure someone here knows

delaval

delaval wrote: »

Cows in good condition 10% on oad mostly heifers as Bcs not good enough, they come through parlour twice a day for feed though. Yield 23 litres fat4.6% pro3.47%- 1.8kgsms/cow. i notice a lot of cows bulling. The only pro will have to rain to get growth going, ground perfect at the moment.

Mahoney that should have read 21 litres.........senior moment.:o:o

Timmaay

delaval I'm not even getting that, from my herd of HOs! Too many Sept calvers in the parlour at the minute which have gone stale in their lactation dragging the average down!

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

I am a small bit scared of hi-pro at grass as it will push out milk but has the knock on effect of doing it at the expense of BCS. We have a tight few days ahead and the last thing I want to do is skin the cows as breeding is not far away. What pro do you think would be right if I had to cut grass back to say 6kg? Would you think it would matter for a week or two?

12 to 14% delaval would be fine for you,I would reccomend something with about 20 to 30% maize in it and ufl over .95.Your right re breeding,This aint the time u want cows with a negative energy balance in there diet.Some lads think that by feeding a high prot nut u will bring up ur milk prot level but this is way off the mark,All it will do is drive on milk production and cause a cow to milk off her back unless other aspects of her diet are adequate or she is a big holstein ainmal.Only one thing will bring up protein and thats good quality frass

td5man

delaval wrote: »

Contacted a guy in our group today re brewers or distillers. Thye are making 50/ tonne but only existing customers being catered for. Sorry he told me the dm but can't remember......is it 20% I'm sure someone here knows

I heard that a certain nutritionist had all the brewers sewn up for his customers :eek:

Timmaay

mahoney_j wrote: »

12 to 14% delaval would be fine for you,I would reccomend something with about 20 to 30% maize in it and ufl over .95.Your right re breeding,This aint the time u want cows with a negative energy balance in there diet.Some lads think that by feeding a high prot nut u will bring up ur milk prot level but this is way off the mark,All it will do is drive on milk production and cause a cow to milk off her back unless other aspects of her diet are adequate or she is a big holstein ainmal.Only one thing will bring up protein and thats good quality frass

Hmmm interesting, Mine are on maybe 6kg grass, adlib silage, (which is 73dmd, I guess that doesn't cut it for milk production), then any cows that are milking their backs off and loosing condition are getting 8/10kg of a 18% high UFL nut. What you have stated totally contradicts what I am doing, feeding more high protein nuts into the diet, in an effort to keep feeding the cow. I actually asked my feed merchant about all this before I ordered the last load of nut, and he strongly suggested I stick with the high protein and high ufl nut for now, in fairness there was only 20quid in the difference.

delaval

I learned a long time ago to my cost NEVER take advice from a salesman. A salesman should only be contacted when it's time to talk turkey..........Jesus I learned this the hard way, got rode a few times before I got it

TEAT SQUEEZER

Timmaay wrote: »

Hmmm interesting, Mine are on maybe 6kg grass, adlib silage, (which is 73dmd, I guess that doesn't cut it for milk production), then any cows that are milking their backs off and loosing condition are getting 8/10kg of a 18% high UFL nut. What you have stated totally contradicts what I am doing, feeding more high protein nuts into the diet, in an effort to keep feeding the cow. I actually asked my feed merchant about all this before I ordered the last load of nut, and he strongly suggested I stick with the high protein and high ufl nut for now, in fairness there was only 20quid in the difference.

back of a fagbox calculation would put your overall protein in diet @17.5% which will drive milk so its a vicous circle with those skinny ladies . imo your next cubes could be a 14% hi energy as poss.

Timmaay

One of the chaps in the discussion group was feeding the cows (HOs again) a 22% p nut, the adviser did say it was the totaly wrong approch and would be unlikely to help the tank protein, and that energy is everything. Guess it's all only dawning on me now, only new to this game! I do think the Hostien was the totally wrong cow in my dads low input system, I can't change that overnight so need to work on the diet now!

TEAT SQUEEZER

whats your prod profile over the year tim ... u say ure calving in sept

delaval

Timmaay wrote: »

One of the chaps in the discussion group was feeding the cows (HOs again) a 22% p nut, the adviser did say it was the totaly wrong approch and would be unlikely to help the tank protein, and that energy is everything. Guess it's all only dawning on me now, only new to this game! I do think the Hostien was the totally wrong cow in my dads low input system, I can't change that overnight so need to work on the diet now!

Tim I don't think you should be too hard on your cow. For sure a ho cow will need more supplement but only because she is a bigger lady pushing out more milk. My cows ate 900 kg ration last year and we have about 50% xbred, that was an exception and a pig of a year. We got extra quota and tried to fill while selling the same number of 'extra' stock, we nearly did it:mad: milk truck was here before milking and is coming again this evening so we are getting closer to filling it, will be a little short:eek::eek:

We would target feeding 500kg and it is plenty for our cows.
I really thing the first thing you should do is tidy your calving spread. Do not be hard on yourself or your cow as you say your new to the game and seem to be switched on. In the short term all any of us can do is feed our cows and at all costs keep flesh on them

Target high fertility and high kilo solid bulls, they are plentiful now. Some of the other ho guys would have suggestions.

Viewtodiefor

Timmaay wrote: »

Hmmm interesting, Mine are on maybe 6kg grass, adlib silage, (which is 73dmd, I guess that doesn't cut it for milk production), then any cows that are milking their backs off and loosing condition are getting 8/10kg of a 18% high UFL nut. What you have stated totally contradicts what I am doing, feeding more high protein nuts into the diet, in an effort to keep feeding the cow. I actually asked my feed merchant about all this before I ordered the last load of nut, and he strongly suggested I stick with the high protein and high ufl nut for now, in fairness there was only 20quid in the difference.

Timmay I'm in a kinda similar situation to u. Feeding 5kg of a 18%p nut ufl.96. Protein is on the floor at 2.9ish probably because still in at night and not enough grass in diet silage 68 dim approx. anyone got any comments

Blue Holland

delaval wrote: »

I am a small bit scared of hi-pro at grass as it will push out milk but has the knock on effect of doing it at the expense of BCS. We have a tight few days ahead and the last thing I want to do is skin the cows as breeding is not far away. What pro do you think would be right if I had to cut grass back to say 6kg? Would you think it would matter for a week or two?

I'm with ya on the pushing milk with pro.
Am i right in thinking the hulls are about 10-11% pro?
Your replacing high pro spring grass with 10-12% stuff, def if your goin to 6kg of grass i'd go for 14%, can't see this pushing milk as overall protein in diet is still goin be lower than it was when on mostly grass.
What overall protein do ye think we should be aiming?

Blue Holland

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Timmay I'm in a kinda similar situation to u. Feeding 5kg of a 18%p nut ufl.96. Protein is on the floor at 2.9ish probably because still in at night and not enough grass in diet silage 68 dim approx. anyone got any comments

What's the pro of your silage, even 73 dmd can be as low as 12%. Have to take this into account when selecting nut.

mf240

seen somewhere that overall protien should be around 17% Glanbia are going to test for urea levels in the milk soon this information will tell you if there is excess protien in the diet.

Maize meal is the best ingredient other than grass to lift protien in milk its also good for bcs and strong heats.

Delaval are your butterfats gone up on the hulls?

mf240

Timmaay wrote: »

I do think the Hostien was the totally wrong cow in my dads low input system, I can't change that overnight so need to work on the diet now!

Tim if working on fertility and short replacements you may have no choice but to continue to roll over cows from spring to autumn and vice versa. Would it be a good idea to put a blue button tag in her ear when one slips and this would mean that if she is presented for AI she gets a beef bull every year thus weeding out her genetics from the herd?

whelan1

what percentage is acceptable to rollover from one group to another, was at a farm walk a few weeks ago and he had a 33% rollover:eek: calving interval of 410 days:eek:

kevthegaff

at the end of the day whatever suits the system, my neighbour milks 80-90 cows and calves from december to june! he hasnt a big bulk tank and is a one man operation. He doesnt need as many replacements and is selling the majority of his calves as whiteheads for great money.. This guy is making good money talking to him, with low labour, low culling rates and milk throughout the year. I duno some times teagasc can overboard on their ideal generic system although i do agree with what most of what they are saying. Alot of the higher stocking rate herds around here are losing more cows/calves due to the fodder situation, under severe pressure with higher labour and building costs. Also with post 2015 u may not get payed as well for peaking in june/july

Timmaay

TEAT SQUEEZER wrote: »

whats your prod profile over the year tim ... u say ure calving in sept

It's not too bad, June peak of 10.5%, liquid contract of about 10k for the 4wks supply, we only supplied 14-18k litres for most of the winter months. I worked out we need about 24 sept/oct calvers to hit that 10k target, so the aim is about 20 next year, which will allow for carryovers/may calvers etc.

mf240 wrote: »

Tim if working on fertility and short replacements you may have no choice but to continue to roll over cows from spring to autumn and vice versa. Would it be a good idea to put a blue button tag in her ear when one slips and this would mean that if she is presented for AI she gets a beef bull every year thus weeding out her genetics from the herd?

Ugh its a hard one to call, I remember the ballyhaise lads saying the september cow is not profitable, oct/nov much better, and the may cow costs 400quid more than the feb cow, so that leaves you pushing cows from feb/march all the way around maybe nov! Ultimately the best idea might just be to cull them out of the system (esp any of the large 700kg ladies), and buy in replacements. Not really a major fan of buying in replacements, but when you find a good genuine farmer and get say 10 at once it isn't too bad. We have a LM bull for cleaning up, any of almost anything from Aug on goes to him, and any cows with fertility problems.

Timmaay

kevthegaff wrote: »

at the end of the day whatever suits the system, my neighbour milks 80-90 cows and calves from december to june! he hasnt a big bulk tank and is a one man operation. He doesnt need as many replacements and is selling the majority of his calves as whiteheads for great money.. This guy is making good money talking to him, with low labour, low culling rates and milk throughout the year. I duno some times teagasc can overboard on their ideal generic system although i do agree with what most of what they are saying. Alot of the higher stocking rate herds around here are losing more cows/calves due to the fodder situation, under severe pressure with higher labour and building costs. Also with post 2015 u may not get payed as well for peaking in june/july

Compact feb calving should solve the June peak penalties, but as ya said at what cost in terms of culling does that bring? Although culling of large cows will bring in afew quid, esp now so not all bad. I'll agree with you regards expansion/high stocking rate, I was doing out the figures last week for if I was to contract rear the heifers, and bump up to about 110 cows, which would put me about 2.5lu/ha on the home block, the figures did not leave me a whole lot better off for probably alot of work, and very tight cashflow for afew years.

delaval

Well 4 days with hulls now. Cows up 2 litres to 23 not what I expected but very welcome. Tomorrow I will reduce parlour by 1kg and increase hulls by 1kg.Am I nuts? I will keep you informed.
12% nut costing 28c/kg@6kg/day=€1.68/cow
12% hull costing 24c/kg@2kg/day=€0.48/cow total €2.16/cow/day

5kg nuts/day=€1.40
3kg hull/day=€0.72 total €2.12/cow/day
Don't think it's worth it?

Anyway having seen how content cows are with hulls I would recommend it and maybe take out silage may help your solids. Hope this helps

Timmaay

TEAT SQUEEZER wrote: »

back of a fagbox calculation would put your overall protein in diet @17.5% which will drive milk so its a vicous circle with those skinny ladies . imo your next cubes could be a 14% hi energy as poss.

Still have a good few ton on nuts in the loft so wont be ordering again for afew weeks. I have 3 or 4 cows in particular that are low on the BSC, would it make sense to go buy afew bags of maize etc in the local co-op, and feed them that and cut back on the high P nuts for now? I can draft them through with any of the ones I'm holding without too much hassle, and feed them in the parlour at the end of the milking. Might be the expensive way, but has to be less costly than dealing with trying to get them back in calf over the next few months!

delaval, who did you get the hulls off? It wouldn't be too much hassle at all for me to feed it to them in the feeding passage when they are getting silage. Did it take them many days to get use of them?

Blue Holland

delaval wrote: »

Well 4 days with hulls now. Cows up 2 litres to 23 not what I expected but very welcome. Tomorrow I will reduce parlour by 1kg and increase hulls by 1kg.Am I nuts? I will keep you informed.
12% nut costing 28c/kg@6kg/day=€1.68/cow
12% hull costing 24c/kg@2kg/day=€0.48/cow total €2.16/cow/day

5kg nuts/day=€1.40
3kg hull/day=€0.72 total €2.12/cow/day
Don't think it's worth it?

Anyway having seen how content cows are with hulls I would recommend it and maybe take out silage may help your solids. Hope this helps

Have you noticed d cows tighter on dung since you started on d hulls, i'd reckon hulls are helping them get more out of d nuts. The weather slightest bit kinder prob helped too. Mine up a bit since mid-week.

delaval

Timmaay wrote: »

Still have a good few ton on nuts in the loft so wont be ordering again for afew weeks. I have 3 or 4 cows in particular that are low on the BSC, would it make sense to go buy afew bags of maize etc in the local co-op, and feed them that and cut back on the high P nuts for now? I can draft them through with any of the ones I'm holding without too much hassle, and feed them in the parlour at the end of the milking. Might be the expensive way, but has to be less costly than dealing with trying to get them back in calf over the next few months!

delaval, who did you get the hulls off? It wouldn't be too much hassle at all for me to feed it to them in the feeding passage when they are getting silage. Did it take them many days to get use of them?

I collected from my local Glanbia store, loads vailable

delaval

Blue Holland wrote: »

Have you noticed d cows tighter on dung since you started on d hulls, i'd reckon hulls are helping them get more out of d nuts. The weather slightest bit kinder prob helped too. Mine up a bit since mid-week.

I'd agree, would not like to run out of water as I have never seen them drink so much. All grub is so dry:):)

delaval

Tim you mentioned low cost in a previous post. My definition of low cost is ho much grass you can grow and use. I would not get hung up on cow type or winter/spring.

On your calving all year round does nothing except ensure you are always feeding calves and breeding. I would suggest if you are breeding, stop now and go back at beginning of May ie block calving.

whelan1

delaval wrote: »

Tim you mentioned low cost in a previous post. My definition of low cost is ho much grass you can grow and use. I would not get hung up on cow type or winter/spring.

On your calving all year round does nothing except ensure you are always feeding calves and breeding. I would suggest if you are breeding, stop now and go back at beginning of May ie block calving.

last year was the first time i had block calving, brilliant... no calves to feed, no fresh calvers to lookafter... brilliant. sheds got a good rest

Dampintheattic

15 cows and calves out on silage ground, these past ten days. Only a very light cover of grass, and much of the ground totally bare. No choice really as fodder very scarce.
Put in bale of hay in a feeder, which they just haven't touched apart from a few picks.
Feeding 1.5kgs mixture of beef nuts and maize meal, with a shake of minerals.
Must be good feeding in the maize, as stock seem very settled. Probably a far better value buy, than any of that shiete mixed rations, being fobbed off by the mills.
Thinking now, I'll never again buy nuts or ration. Con job:eek:

mf240

Delaval how are you going on the hulls now? What level of feeding are you up too now.

The grass that is there seems to be very dry. And seems to be better feed than it appears.

delaval

mf240 wrote: »

Delaval how are you going on the hulls now? What level of feeding are you up too now.

The grass that is there seems to be very dry. And seems to be better feed than it appears.

We are at 3kgs. Grass whatever is there is so dry and cows are very content. 100% utalised.
we start 2nd round on Tues, got six extra days out of hulls. a lot of guys 'round hare are now on hulls abd all very happy. Being bought locally for €240/tonne. If this weather continues we will have to increase Hulls.
We are facing a worse situation for a while with rain coming abd little grass, whatever about low covers in dry weather it's hard to keep cows content with wet and little grass......them's the joys.

How are you getting on? Did you try anything else?

bob charles

delaval wrote: »

We are at 3kgs. Grass whatever is there is so dry and cows are very content. 100% utalised.
we start 2nd round on Tues, got six extra days out of hulls. a lot of guys 'round hare are now on hulls abd all very happy. Being bought locally for €240/tonne. If this weather continues we will have to increase Hulls.
We are facing a worse situation for a while with rain coming abd little grass, whatever about low covers in dry weather it's hard to keep cows content with wet and little grass......them's the joys.

How are you getting on? Did you try anything else?

Lads, considering fibre and DM of grass at the moment why are you using soya hull? would you not be better going the few extra quid and get energy into the cows with maize?

delaval

bob charles wrote: »

Lads, considering fibre and DM of grass at the moment why are you using soya hull? would you not be better going the few extra quid and get energy into the cows with maize?

Did consider it. A bit too mealy to put put out on paddock and expect cows to be able to eat all.
Hulls very safe at high level but I never saw them drink as much or as content or indeed milk so well

jomoloney

delaval wrote: »

Did consider it. A bit too mealy to put put out on paddock and expect cows to be able to eat all.
Hulls very safe at high level but I never saw them drink as much or as content or indeed milk so well

how's your solids ?

ar$e fell out of them here but coming back up slowly.... 3.15 protein 3.98 fat

was quoted 280 for hulls , decided to hold off for another while at least