RWN News Digest

 

 RWN Supercur Aber High Sugar Tetraploid Hybrid Grass Ley - always use the best seed available when reseeding

Utilising Forage to Control Rising Costs

 Optimistic Times Ahead For Dairy Farmers
Whilst dairy farming has come through some very difficult years, all the indicators are that we can be optimistic about the future with worldwide demand for milk increasingly rapidly, surpluses a thing of the past and the UK market price for milk rising. 

Predictions are that feed prices will also rise further and will remain at higher levels than we have seen in recent years as a result of increased demand for bio-fuels. Despite other costs having risen, higher milk prices should bring profit opportunities for dairy farmers.

 Farming for improved feed efficiency and greater use of forage can offset rising feed costs

Palm oil and protected fats have risen sharply by up to £100 per tonne and are forecast to rise further. The temptation is to immediately drop protected fat and any other expensive feeds from the diet and manage without, or to buy something lower energy for less. It should however be noted that the price of palm fat has risen by 20% and the price of wheat has risen by 50%. If fat was cost effective to feed last year it probably is cost effective this year.

Very often higher priced inputs offer better value for money, are more effective and add more to the bottom line. Reducing the energy content of the diet can with a fair degree of certainty be predicted to eventually reduce milk quality, milk yield, milk income and to extend the calving index. The truth is that price increases will affect all feeds across the board with the possible exception of molasses.

What is the most effective approach to offsetting rising input prices?

It is important to concentrate on the bigger picture. Ask searching questions? Is the overall diet doing what it should? Is rumen function as efficient as it could be? Can the overall feeding system be improved to achieve a higher output? What issues affect overall herd performance? What can be done to improve feet, fertility, cell count, longevity and milk output?

Milk output is the main driver of dairy farm profitability. Focusing too heavily on reducing the cost per tonne by 1% or 2% or on taking out the odd input cost here and there, will not increase output and usually is a distraction from the real issues which actually cost farm business money in lost output. Ever heard the phrase "Too busy saving a penny to make a pound"?

Ask yourself, is your objective to increase bottom line profit by lifting output, improving feed efficiency and getting more from forage? or is it simply to reduce input costs to help with short term cash flow? If it is the latter then how much is this impacting on overall farm profitability?

Are you investing enough time into managing your forage and your diets?
The importance of efficient rumen function in maximising feed efficiency, fertility and herd health cannot be over stressed. How well are your diets designed? Could they be improved? Could you get more output from the same feed inputs? Do you invest enough time and effort in getting your feeding systems and diets right? 

Nutrition isn't all about concentrates and which is the best or cheapest cake to feed. How good is your outside nutritional advice? and does it encompass all aspects of nutrition including how the youngstock are reared, the forage varieties that you grow and how the forage is conserved to provide the best nutrition for the herd, and much more?

 Forage is the key to good nutritional advice, not just the concentrates

It is essential that we continue to improve both the quality and the quantity of forage that we produce within the UK dairy industry

Increasing Output from Home Grown Forage

Most forage fed is produced on the farm and generally makes up the major part of the diet. Forage crops should be grown with the same diligence and attention to detail as arable crops grown for sale. Focus on the quality and quantity of forage grown, forage access and efficiency of forage utilisation and how conservation losses can be reduced. In short get more from forage, which doesn't mean, simply getting less from concentrates.

Great advances have been made in both in grass and in clover breeding in the UK in recent years. Progress in ryegrass breeding has seen yields increase over the last two decades by an average of 1% per year, and the very latest varieties offer significant advantages in terms of digestibility, palatability and high sugar levels. 

An effective reseeding strategy to make full use of these new varieties across the whole farm can boost milk yields and reduce both fertiliser and feed inputs

The use of white clover in grazing swards has been a great success. With pressure on fertiliser nitrogen prices the use of white clover in grassland has become much more widespread. 

Grass clover swards need to be managed for the clover rather than for the grass. Clover in well managed swards can generate up to 250kg Nitrogen / ha and will often out yield grass only swards, even where there are high nitrogen inputs.

 White Clover can dramatically reduce nitrogen costs whilst increasing milk output

Clover is higher in energy and protein content than grass. It is better in drought conditions than grass and does an excellent job of improving soil structure.  Grass clover swards also graze better with less need for topping especially when used in conjunction with the new Aber High Sugar Grass varieties.

Emphasis on reseeding, grassland management and more efficient conservation of forages should now be a priority for dairy farmers in order to offset rising feed and fertiliser prices

There have been many advances recently. Soil aeration can boost yields by up to 30% especially on grass clover swards. Great strides have also been made with over-seeding techniques, slurry injection, new bio-fertilisers and a greater appreciation for the need to balance trace elements and other nutrients on grassland. 

RWN has been at the forefront of many of these advances and is well placed to advise on the best routes to follow. We are also heavily involved with some really outstanding new maize seed varieties as well as various other forage crops.

Grassland Improvement

Now is a good time to assess sward quality and determine the reseeding priorities for this autumn.  It is easy to carry out a simple stem base check to identify the proportion of ryegrasses in relation to weed grasses. As a general rule ryegrasses are red at the base of the stem and weed grasses are not, therefore it is easy to work out the level of weed ingress in a sward, simply by pulling up a random selection of plants all over the field, and working out the relative proportion of ryegrasses to weed grasses.  To be doubly sure, check that the underside of the leaf is shiny - if you have a combination of a red stem base and shiny underside on the leaf, it's a ryegrass!       

How productive were your silage leys this year?

Weed grasses such as the meadow grasses, creeping bent and Yorkshire fog are less productive, lower in quality and less responsive to nitrogen than commercially bred ryegrasses, so any level of ingress is going to reduce the productivity of your sward.  As a guide, swards should contain at least two thirds of their originally sown species, otherwise it is probably time to reseed or at least rejuvenate the sward with over-seeding.

 Reseeding with RWN Grass Clover mixtures can produce much more forage at much higher feed value than old leys

Do your swards pass the stem base test?

Other factors to take into account should include any evidence of bare ground, plus the level of non-grass weeds such as docks and thistles present.  Bare ground in a grazing sward is both unproductive and an opportunity for weeds to establish, so take this into account when making your reseeding decisions. 

RWN Grass and Clover Seed Benefits

It has been estimated that RWN Grass  & Clover Seed can generate up to 
£500/acre additional profit per acre over the life of the ley compared to other seed

RWN Grass Seed Mixtures are formulated to the very highest possible specification using only the best varieties available. Our seed mixtures are designed specifically for dairy farms and are based on the new Aber High Sugar Grass varieties which have been shown to produce up to 2.5 litres more milk per cow per day than conventional grass seed varieties. These new varieties are bred by IGER especially for UK conditions. Not only are they extremely high yielding, show excellent disease resistance and are higher in energy than most other varieties but are also very palatable. This means that under grazing, intakes are higher and a higher proportion of the sward is utilised with less waste and with less need for topping.

Not All Grass Seed Mixtures Are Equal? Always buy the best available

RWN grass and clover mixtures include a range of Aber White Clovers which again have been developed particularly for the UK. These offer clear advantages over older clover varieties including a longer growing season, higher yields, easier establishment, greater reliability, greater nitrogen tolerance and are particularly well suited to use on dairy farms. 

As with all our products, our seeds are selected to provide maximum advantage to the farmer not the seedsman.

 RWN Grass Clover mixtures use the best Aber High Sugar Grass and Aber White Clover seed available

Molasses - The Need for Sugar

Molasses is the one exception to rising feed costs. Molasses has come down in price. RWN are currently offering very attractive contracts on molasses through to April 2008 at prices lower than we have seen for several years. Molasses is currently a very competitively priced source of energy with lots of other benefits. If you are not currently using molasses, look at it again.

Research on high sugar grass at IGER has demonstrated the need for sugars in dairy and growing cattle diets. Feeding optimum sugar levels can, increase the rate of digestion in the rumen and lift dry matter intake as well as improving the efficiency of protein utilisation by up to 25% allowing savings on purchased concentrates and protein. The benefits from feeding sugars will apply whether the sugar is in the grass or added to the total mixed ration. The important factor is that the sugar is fed in the forage or whenever the cow feeds, not at either end of the day.

Molasses also increases palatability of a TMR and reduces sorting. Feeding molasses therefore can increase forage intake, reduce the risk of acidosis and reduce reliance on both the amount of concentrate and the amount of protein purchased. In addition with a higher proportion of rumen degradable protein utilised, blood ureas are likely to be reduced, especially the peaks after feeding, which can only be beneficial in terms of energy requirement, feet and fertility.

 Feeding Molasses and other Liquid Feeds raises sugar levels in the diet and increases both intakes and feed efficiency

Summary

  • Feed prices in future are likely to rise and remain at higher levels than we have been used to for some years, but then at the same time so are milk prices

  • The most effective means of offsetting rising feed prices is still to feed cows to produce high yields in order to spread overhead costs over more litres

  • Dairy cow diets should be balanced to provide maximum rumen efficiency to get the most out of increasingly costly feeds

  • Full advantage should be made of new techniques, technical developments and new grass, clover and maize seed varieties

  • Not all feeds have increased in price. Forward contracts for molasses look extremely attractive and shouldn't be missed. Molasses offers many advantages in getting more from the rest of the diet

  • All the indicators are optimistic about the future. In addition, I cannot remember a time where there have been so many exciting new advances in forage crops, forage conservation, feeding and dairy nutrition open to dairy farmers

Higher milk prices should encourage re-investment and uptake of these new advances to allow cost savings and greater profitability for dairy farmers.  

Working together for a more profitable future