Did you know that water has the biggest feed intake among all feed sources? Yet, most of the time it is neglected.

It is essential to have access to clean, fresh water on a daily basis. Where the supply is not mains or town water, it should be analysed at least once per year. A large supply of water should be available as soon as cows leave the dairy and at periods of stress e.g. high temperatures. The water troughs in the cows housing should allow for 2 inches of linear trough space per cow. Trough position in relation to cow movement needs to be considered to ensure ease of access.

Water troughs should be cleaned regularly. Too often when we are visiting farm, we don’t notice how dirty some troughs are. Dirty water can contain unhealthy bacteria for the cows, which we can contribute in milk production reduction, or into decreasing the animal health.

Water intake requirements of Dairy Cows (litres per day)

Author: Denis Dreux

Unfortunately, it’s not the most glamorous job in the world…but manure consistency should be assessed by staff on a weekly basis. This can act as an early indication of ration problems such as the ration being too high / low, too little degradable or soluble protein, inappropriate water or salt intakes, ration fractions or ingredients not being utilised or cows sorting the total mixed ration (TMR).

Manure consistency can be scored on a 1-5 point basis, which we have outlined for you below:

Manure consistency should be assessed in the context of other information such as dry matter intake, milk production, the ration actually eaten, current forage quality, particle size distribution and milk composition (including milk urea nitrogen’s if they are available).

Particle content of manure can give an insight into ration digestibility. The proportion of particles greater than ¼ inch (6mm) should be examined. Do this by placing manure samples on a ¼ inch (6mm) screen and wash with a hose.

Forage particles longer than ¼ inch (6mm) remaining on the screen suggest inferior fiber digestion. A high content of whole grain or maize fractions indicates that the maximum feed value of the ration is not being achieved in the rumen.

The quality of forage, levels of ingredient processing and overall moisture, protein and energy contents of the TMR should be reviewed.  Unprocessed cereal grains and corn silage are a major contributor to whole grain loss in manure. To help utilise these fractions more effectively, a KEENAN TMR Specialist will ask you to:

• Target a TMR dry matter content of 40% dry matter or 60% moisture.
• Where high levels of maize silage are used add sufficient soluble protein in the form of Rapeseed/Canola meal etc. and ensure that the crude protein level never falls below 17.0% of the total ration dry matter.
• Use kernel processors on Maize silage for the next season’s crop.
• Target total calcium contents of 0.8% of the TMR dry matter.

Poor fiber digestibility can be influenced by bouts of sub-clinical rumen acidosis (excess readily fermentable starch in the ration and or insufficient levels of dietary long fiber), a high content of unsaturated oils (e.g. excessive use of brewers grains, distillers grains etc.) and a lack of dietary and soluble protein.

KEENAN Solutions:

• Adjusting the energy: protein balance of the TMR
• Exchange some excess starch for sugar and/or digestible fiber
• Reduce unsaturated oil levels

Author: Denis Dreux

“We must be prepared for every eventuality”

It’s taken a long time but milk prices have finally recovered. Whilst we hope that it will be for good this time, historical analysis of milk price trends suggest that we have 12-18 months with it at or around its current level before it starts to decline again. Whilst this has been the trend previously, we now live in a very volatile world and although we hope political changes such as Brexit will lead to more protectionist policies towards domestic produce, we must be prepared for every eventuality.

Milk prices currently make dairying sustainable allowing us to work towards undoing the damage from the last two years whilst also preparing ourselves for the next time. One way of achieving this is by increasing the milk we produce from forage. This does not necessarily mean more overall milk production (although this can be included in a strategy towards that) but reducing the overall cost of milk production. Increasing M.E. in silage by 0.5MJ/M.E. would equate to roughly 1 litre of extra milk in a purely grass based system, or the same milk for 1kg of concentrate less depending on your goals. With concentrate costs on the increase these figures are vital as saving 1kg of concentrate per cow per day at an estimated cost of £210 per tonne would equate to £630 per month saving for every 100 cows in the herd. Additionally, figures suggest that farms with higher milk from forage have lower vet and medicine costs, fewer involuntary culls and better replacement rates.

“Dry matter is in many respects, the most important part of silage”

The question now is how to increase silage quality? Targeting dry matter must be the first goal to make good silage. 30% dry matter is the ideal as being excessively wet or dry will affect palatability and intake. Dry matter is in many respects the most important part of silage as it is a reflection on what is lost in the ensiling process. These losses are the best parts of the silage as the indigestible lignin fraction is static, meaning that the more quality we lose the higher the lignin becomes as it is concentrated. Silages with a high Ash content are also likely to have suffered high losses as the amount of Ash (the inorganic fraction of silage) is concentrated.

From the moment that grass is cut it is dying and vital nutrients are being lost. Between 1% and 2% of metabolisable energy (M.E.) can be lost based on management and technique from cutting to ensiling. The remaining silage parameters are set by Crop Quality. A 24-hour wilt or less is ideal for retaining nutrients however this must be measured against weather and conditions and the requirement for 30% dry matter silage.

“The lower the grass is cut, the lower the silage quality will be”

In pursuit of higher dry matter silage cutting and frequency must also be considered. The stem of the plant has the lowest digestibility therefore the more that is included in the crop the lower the D-Value and M.E. will be. In simple terms the lower the grass is cut the lower the silage quality will be. Additionally, the greater the time between cuts the greater the required wilt time will be due to the fact that there will be more material to dry out. Whilst this will increase dry matter yield D-Value can reduce by as much as 3.5 units. Considering these facts, a five-week cutting cycle is optimum.

Furthermore, studies suggest that early cutting on first cut grass produces a better yield on second cut and a greater total yield across the two cuts. Whilst this method will increase silage making costs against producing a single bulkier crop the reduction in concentrate cost, health related costs, forced culls etc will more than outweigh this, increasing overall farm efficiency and profit.

Finally, the trend of making silage with a forage wagon requires consideration. This is in many respects a great advancement in the silage making process as it allows silage production on a field by field basis, rather than waiting for the entire silage platform to be ready. Where forage wagon silage can struggle is in regard to compaction. Due largely to the fact that grass is unloaded in a pile in the pit it can be difficult to spread and roll to requirement making it more difficult to achieve adequate compaction. More densely compacted silages have a greater aerobic stability which reduces losses. In these circumstances a compactor can go a long way towards improving quality of the silage. It is worth noting that only very wet silages can be over compacted so if dry matter targets are being achieved a compactor can very quickly pay for itself.

The topic of silage and its production is vast but with greater attention to detail and an eye on our systems we can all benefit from improved silage quality.

Author: David Jones

In recent weeks, grass growth has been non-existent in certain areas, and with many second cuts having to be grazed off, this has left fodder supplies very short across the country. This shortage in feed will have to be filled in one form or the other through alternative feeds or forages.

The recent rainfall, which has alleviated the drought-like conditions, has resulted in more positive growth rates — but realistically, it will take up to three weeks before any substantial grazing covers of >1100 kg of dry matter (DM) per hectare (ha) are to be available. To allow grass covers to recover, it is vital to protect regrowth and allow tillers to establish. In many farms, rotation lengths have been pushed out to 35 days in order to achieve covers worthy of grazing. These grass plants have been under stress over the last number of weeks, resulting in a lot of seed head production, even at covers of 1100 kg DM. The actual value of grazing these paddocks is poor, as most of these plants never reached the three-leaf stage but, instead, grew a far higher stem-to-leaf ratio. As these dry grass plants receive rain, they now begin to decompose or “melt,” so grazing off these types of pastures should be a priority, as it will allow for fresh tillers to re-establish themselves.

Now that we have received substantial amounts of rainfall, it would be beneficial to spread nitrogen (N) across the grazing block. Grass can grow up to 30 kg DM/day in September for every unit of nitrogen applied. Spreading nitrogen with growth rates in the low 20 kg DM/day has little to no benefit, as the plant will not have the ability to uptake the nitrogen available.

To capitalise on a resurgence in grass growth, a plan must be put in place that includes a number of key points in order to get back grazing as soon as possible.

• Complete a farm walk to assess exactly where the farm is and the average farm cover. Ideally, farm covers should be 775 kg DM/ha, with a stocking rate of 2.5 livestock units per hectare.

• Use the grass wedge to allocate kilos of grass and maintain the cow’s diet dry matter intakes (DMI) requirements.

• Don’t follow a strict rotation and graze low covers (<600 kg DM/ha), as this will just stunt grass growth. Use sacrifice paddocks to feed out supplement while grass growth begins to establish and catches up to regular levels of 50-60 kg DM/ha.

• Use supplementary forage and concentrate to make up intake requirements of the cow. If buffer diets are reduced too quickly, this will slow down the recovery of the grazing rotation and milk solids production. The following table outlines levels of supplementation required:

• To recover feed stocks for the winter, it is vital to make the most of the upswing in grass growth in the coming weeks. Closing off ground for second-cut silage and taking advantage of surplus paddocks will also be important management practices over the coming weeks.

Instead of increasing stocking rates to eat the surplus grass, let it build up. Maintaining a higher-than-normal level of supplement will also reduce the demand on the grazing block and the build-up of grass covers.

Since many areas of paddocks have been damaged due to being burnt and exposed, it will be important to look at reseeding options. Stitching in ryegrass now can help with the recovery of a badly damaged paddock. This is a cost-effective method for re-establishing damaged grass swards.

Key points:

• Grass growth curves will begin to show a positive return in the coming weeks.
• Assess the amount of grass currently available on farm.
• Set an average farm cover target to reach in three weeks.
• Apply nitrogen now for the best response as grass growth levels reach 30 kg DM/ha.
• Maintain buffer diets until grass covers recover to >1000 kg DM/ha.
• Adjust supplement based on the amount of grass that can be allocated. Use the grass wedge.
• Complete a feed budget to assess any shortages of feed for the coming winter and spring.

For further advice on grass management, measurement and feed budgeting, contact InTouch on 0599101320 or email contactintouch@alltech.com.

When Morley’s farm in Derbyshire had a weighbox issue, Mark Harrison from Yates Engineering Ltd, Thurgarton in Nottingham dropped out to expertly solder a damaged weigh-bar cable to resolve a fault HHH message coming up on the otherwise correctly working weighbox.

At this stage, the 4^th KEENAN mixer wagon, a MechFiber350, is operating on Morley farm and Charlie, the owner, mentioned how happy they are with the job the KEENAN performs on their farm as well as with the reliable service and 24/7 breakdown assist.  “I have always been impressed with the helpfulness of Yates Engineering – when I ring them up, they come out to solve the problem and don’t leave until it’s done.”

For a service or for the legendary KEENAN 24/7 breakdown assist, get in touch with your local UK KEENAN Accredited Service Centre or ring us at:

UK: 0800 587 3296

Ireland: 059 977 1200

The goal of The Result is in the Mix is to reinforce KEENAN’s value proposition in delivering enhanced animal performance and herd health through superior mix quality and a consistent mix.

Get it right, every time.

Using a gentle mixing action to produce a consistent, thoroughly mixed feed, KEENAN MechFiber mixer wagons are unique in the proven nutritional benefits they deliver.

In combination with InTouch nutrition support, you can be assured that your animals receive the correct ration every day, delivering significant improvements in herd health and animal performance.

Achieve more from your feed.

Discover how you can achieve up to 16% more milk/kg feed?

Independent trials have consistently shown that the KEENAN mix retains the fibre structure to stimulate rumination, allowing greater absorption of energy, maximised feed conversion efficiency and ultimately maximum herd performance.

Spend more time on things that matter.

Supported by years of independent research, the KEENAN ration is proven to deliver increased herd performance and reduced herd health issues, meaning you have more time to spend on the things that matter, safe in the knowledge your herd is being looked after.

Don’t leave their health to chance.

Are metabolic issues causing unnecessary challenges in your herd?

The KEENAN mix is proven to significantly reduce herd health issues such as milk fever, ketosis, retained membranes as well as reducing assisted calving’s by up to 53%.

Farming is changing. We are too.

At KEENAN, we understand that farming is constantly changing.

As a company, we continue to innovate to meet the changing needs of modern agriculture and ensure that you have the required feeding solutions to effectively manage your herd’s performance.

Easily measure, monitor and manage feed efficiency.

Would you like to easily measure, monitor and manage feed efficiency?

InTouch, the award-winning feed management technology is designed to give you full control of feeding on farm, helping to reduce wastage, reduce feed costs and ensure animals are receiving the correct diet every day.

Buffer feeding dairy cows at grass is required to bridge any shortfall that may exist between nutrient supply and animal requirements for milk production. These shortfalls may exist for a number of reasons, such as a low grass supply caused by stocking rate restrictions, lace of adequate grass regrowth due to poor weather conditions or low grass quality (poor digestibility). Also, high yielding cows who require dry matter intakes (DMI) well in excess of that which may be achieved on grass alone.

It is well known that grass DMI is closely correlated with digestibility, a 1% fall in dry matter digestibility (DMD) results in a fall in DMI of 0.6 kg per day. Significant falls in DMD are not common in early season but are frequently associated with low intakes on summer grazing. Early season grazing management also has a major impact on grass quality later in the grazing season.

Grazing management strategies in recent times have focused on grass DMI allowance per day, with 20 kg DMI per head, being the norm. It has been suggested that if the allowance is raised above this level, increased grass DMI will result and higher milk production will be sustained.

Energy intake is the most limiting factor for milk production, although all cows will mobilise body energy reserves to augment a low dietary energy supply. Higher yielding cows demonstrate a much greater willingness to do this than lower yielding cows, much to their own detriment, as low body condition scores are frequently associated with reproductive failure.

Grass dry matter intakes have been measured in many experiments all over the world involving various combinations of grass allowance, grass quality, season, cow merit, daily milk yield, stage of lactation and concentrate feeding. Results have shown:

• Grass intake is highly variable over the grazing seasons
• Dairy herd intakes are between 12-18 kg DM. In practice this can be a lot less due to inclement weather conditions etc.
• Dairy herd grass intakes of >20KG DM per day have not been achieved
• Mature cows have higher intakes than heifers

KEY FACTORS FOR SUCCESSFUL BUFFER FEEDING

If the wrong feeds are used e.g. grass silage, finely ground cereals, poor quality proteins etc., the outcome of buffer feeding will be disappointing, with reduced grass intakes and a zero or negative response in terms of milk yield, composition and body condition.

Well-constructed buffer feeds supplement grass intakes – they do not replace grass. They result in good responses in terms of yield, composition and body condition. The quality ingredients to be used are;

Maize silage, whole-crop wheat, molasses, brewers grains, course cereal grains, sodagrain, sugar beet pulp, citrus pulp, soybean meal and straw.

WHEN TO BUFFER FEED?

Are you considering whether or not to buffer feed the herd? Here are some problems to consider:

• Any sudden drop in milk yield
• Grass allowance < 20 kg DM
• Grass quality is low
• During inclement weather
• If milk protein is falling
• A significant proportion of cows are yielding > 25 kg/day
• Dung is very loose
• There are a high proportion of heifers in the herd

Remember to introduce supplements immediately when a problem emerges – waiting will extend the period that cows are underfed.

Author: Denis Dreux

Our previous blog discussed the importance of taking control of costs on farm; in particular, we focused on the concept of feeding a consistent TMR (total mixed ration) to the dairy herd. But the really important question here is, what ration do the milking cows actually receive in the end?

It is possible to have at least 4 variants of ration in operation every day…

Undoubtedly, there are of steps between the ration on paper and that eaten by the cow. For any one milk cow group in the herd, it is possible to have at least 4 variants of their ration in operation every day:

• The ration that is accurately formulated on paper, in good faith by the nutritionist

• The ration that is actually loaded into the mixer

• The ration that is fed out by the mixer along the feed bunk

• The ration that is actually eaten by the cows

In fact, the fourth ration variation can be divided into 2 parts due to the inherent sorting behaviour when cows eat a meal. There are those cows that try to eat a predominantly grain ration during their meal session and those cows that may have to eat what is left in front of them, a predominantly forage ration. This type of variation manifests itself as a variable manure consistency within the group, individual butterfat test inversions that are higher than normal, intermittent dry matter intakes, episodes of laminitis and eventually lowered milk production.

The original ration formulation was fine. The recommendations were “disabled”, and inconstancy crept in (which can be due to a combination of any mixer wagon and operator factors).

The variation in performance is due to forage particle length. Fine chopped forage has less total chewing time, lower rumen pH, less fat corrected milk and the lowest efficiency of converting dry matter into milk.

Measurement is key…

To be profitable, milk must have good composition and be produced by high yielding cows to minimise expenses. Both conditions will be met if high quality, cost effective diets are on offer.

Measurement is vital to profit and KEENAN have reacted to this by adding a weighing system, via the unique InTouch controller system, that combines weighing systems, specific algorithms and cloud based technology. This is added to all diet feeders to guide farmers through correct loading order; correct amount of each ingredient to add and how long to mix for each day, bringing consistency.  Another important feature of this technology is that you are feeding the animal exactly what they need every day and thus eliminating waste and reduced feed wastage and the energy needed to produce it.

Author: Denis Dreux

“Get better before you get bigger”

We are all aware of the constant downward pressure on profit margin in the dairy sector and the increased need to become more efficient on farm. This can sound quite daunting, but don’t panic! Before we begin, it’s important to understand that you may not have to change what you are doing; but you may have to change the way you are doing it. As the late Professor David Beever said, “get better before you get bigger”.

The importance of feed efficiency…

With feed costs accounting for more than half of the milk price, this is one of the single biggest influences on margin.

Results collected from our InTouch technology systems in Scotland show that it’s not always about making the diet cheaper or getting the cows to eat more. In fact, those with the highest milk yield didn’t have the highest dry matter intake (DMI); the most expensive cost per tonne of dry matter of feed but more importantly, the lowest feed cost per litre and the best margin over feed. The single, most import measurement allowing this to happen is feed efficiency – or simply put, the amount of milk produced per kilogram of DMI. Although, while easy to define, it takes a lot more to achieve.

Consistency is key here. The concept of feeding total mixed rations (TMR’s), to the dairy herd is now well established. However, the actual practical delivery of consistent TMR’s to all milking and dry groups within the heard every day, is much more problematic; this could be for a number of reasons:

Why am I not delivering a consistent TMR?

• The design of the mixer wagon on farm may not be flexible enough to integrate the full range of desired ingredients for all batch sizes.

• The mixer wagon may not have been serviced regularly on farm and gives a poor mix due to missing or broken parts, or the weighing calibration is off.

• Lack of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), for milking and dry cow TMR’s leading to operator errors in loading sequence and mixing times.

• No regular measurement of forage dry matters on the farm to allow for fresh weight loading adjustments to the TMR. This is essential to maintain ration specification on a dry matter basis.

• Physically effective fiber (hay/straw), added to the TMR for digestive herd health reasons, is either cut too fine in the mixer, not mixed in properly, fed out inconsistently, or not completely delivered out of the mixer.

As you can see, the ability to combine a wide range of ingredients with different physical and chemical characteristics into a rumen healthy TMR, can be extremely challenging.

This is where the KEENAN system and InTouch technology excels; you can manage your herd health, ration formulation, weight gains/yield and costs in order to take control of your costs and improve your profits. The technology helps create a consistent mix that is neither over-processed nor sortable every, single time.

For more information on our InTouch technology, please click here.

Author: Denis Dreux

Tom Fallon from Grange Farm Tullow, Co. Carlow, which is a family run enterprise with a grass-based production system.  Tom finishes heifers, bullocks and dry cows (all continentals) for the meat trade, selling to ABP Food Group and Meadow Meats.

It is crucial to Tom that he has a reliable feeding system on the farm, as he says “it’s essential that we produce a consistent, quality product that grades out well for ABP Food Group and Meadow Meats, and that is why I am now using my second KEENAN mixer wagon, which is a KEENAN MechFiber370.”

The cattle are fed a total mixed ration (TMR) once a day, containing brewer’s grains, fodder beet, silage and minerals.  The cattle are on farm for 70 to 120 days and are all hitting target specification.

New InTouch technology is incorporated onto the wagon, and has brought “huge improvements” on Tom’s farm.

Tom comments “The system ensures that the ration is right every time, providing a consistent diet on a daily basis. If you do feel you need to change the ration, it can be done remotely on the internet, and it’s very easy to operate.”

“In any business you need to know the relationship between inputs and outputs, and beef finishing is no different.   Tom and his employee Denis, who feeds his cattle, can constantly monitor cattle performance and keep a track record on feed conversion and cost per kilo live- weight gains.”

Tom says that he is “obsessive” about keeping the mixer wagon in top condition and stresses the importance of regular servicing. “I feed a large number of cattle on a daily basis with the wagon. It’s very easy to operate and there is very little to go wrong, and all KEENAN owners would I’m sure, agree with this” but, regular servicing is very important.”

He has the wagon booked in for service every eight months, the oil is checked and blades are kept sharp.  “We rely totally on the KEENAN machine, and it’s an integral part of our operation here at Grange Farm, and we can’t afford down time. I would advise any farmer with a KEENAN machine to take advantage of the renowned KEENAN service. After a service, we find the mixer mixes quicker and more efficiently.”