Alltech encourages livestock producers to start winter feeding preparation now for best results
[DUNBOYNE, Ireland] – Alltech, a global leader in animal nutrition and agriculture, is encouraging Irish livestock producers to assess their feed supply and start to plan and prepare for winter now. The extended Winter of 2023 and the depletion of feed stocks has not created a sound footing for Winter 2024. “Mixed weather over the early summer months has exacerbated issues with grass growth, which has been poor due to lack of moisture in some regions and low ground temperature in others. Supplementary feeding has gone on longer than anticipated, and farmers[JN1] are eating into already depleted feed reserves. Excess grass has not been available, and so farmers are overly reliant on first- and second-cut silage to add forage to the system” said Cathal Bohane, Alltech Technical and service development[CB2] manager, Ireland.
A recent Teagasc survey of 500 farms showed that farms are 10–20% back on feed saved for the winter, and after second cut, only 58% of dairy farms and 68% of beef farms will meet their budgeted requirements. What is worrying is that 50% of dairy farms and 66% of beef farms have made no provision for extra feed.
If there is any good news in all of this, it is that there is still have time, and the time is now to prepare for the winter feeding period.
The first step in this process is to measure feed supply and demand in the form of a feed budget. The table below gives a guide as to the silage requirement of animals per month when they are fully housed. It is important to remember that feed will also be required for supplementation in the spring and autumn, when the animals can’t get their full nutritional requirements from grass. As the seasons have become more unpredictable, farmers also need to make provisions for an extended season: What will they feed animals in spring if grazing isn’t possible until March or April next year? There might be a flush of grass later in the year, or if there’s an early spring, or they might get a third cut but realistically farmers should not rely on this, and need to have alternative options in place for worst-case scenarios.
As we are early in the season, there are a number of practical solutions we can look at to avoid a deficit. Every farm will be different, but the following table shows some solutions that might suit your farm.
These solutions might help some farms more than others because each farm is different, from the systems employed to the ground type, location, cow type, stocking rate and more. Unfortunately, poor weather conditions affect every farm in some shape or form, and these events are becoming more common. Farmers will get around them as they always do, but need to look long-term to make farming systems more robust in the face of weather challenges. What if the grass doesn’t grow? What if the weather is bad?
While the grass-based system is the most cost effective and will continue to be the cornerstone of the industry, it comes with its risks. These risks are now becoming the norm, and stocking-rate limits are pushed, farmers need to protect themselves in the long term by building resilience into their system of farming rather than just reacting to issues each time, which can be very time-consuming, worrisome and expensive.
For further information on overcoming weather-related issues and creating long term solutions, please contact InTouch, Alltech’s nutrition advisory service, on 0599101320 or visit our website.
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