SOUTH WEST SCOTLAND DAIRY MONITOR FARM

Transcription

1 SOUTH WEST SCOTLAND DAIRY MONITOR FARM Wednesday 11 th June 2014 Useful Contacts Heather Wildman - DairyCo facilitator Mobile: heather.wildman@dairyco.ahdb.org.uk David Keiley- SAC Consulting Mobile: david.keiley@sac.co.uk Charlie Russell Estate Manager info@glenapp.com Arnon Langridge Tel: Dairy manager Steve Raphael - Academy Vets Mobile Andy Paine,NMR Mobile

2 INTRODUCTION 30 people attended the meeting. Delegates attended from Wigtown, Kirkcudbright, Dumfriesshire, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. Two dairy farmers from New Zealand also attended the meeting. The following format was proposed: Farm update from Charlie Russell/Arnon Langridge Updates from management teams Guest Speaker - Robert Craig Farm Walk Lunch at 13:30hrs Close / Depart by 14:00hrs FARM UPDATE Arnon Langridge Currently over 700 cows in the dairy herd. Peaked at 22 litres. 1.5kg milk solids / cow Average of 3.7kg cake / cow Grass cover currently around 2000kg /ha Grass growth around 80kg / day Stocking rate = cows / ha on grazing area Silaging started three weeks ago. Heifers started mating 5 th May 2014 Two weeks ago main herd: At 21 days 92% submission rate Non-return rate = 71% 2

3 At present: 314 calves on farm. Only 19 remain on milk. Weaned at 70-75kg Weight gain = 1kg / day Fertilier use: approximately 300kg N / ha throughout the season Whole farm is to be soil tested within next 2 years. Slurry application using splash plate. Steve Vet / Health Issues Calves preweaning had scours outbreak Had 2 deaths and 6 calves with high temperatures. Responded to Nuflor Calves still inside at present. Calves now looking well. During May 2014 some clinical staggers couple of deaths. Cause investigated by SAC at Auchincruive. One death from Black disease (which is often associated with fluke). Some debate going on at moment regarding how best to supplement the cows with magnesium. Charlie Mineral availability: supplied via water (50-70mg) Supplied based on blood levels Selenium and iodine issues on this farm. Donald currently pricing an alternative spec for minerals. 3

4 MANAGEMENT TEAMS UPDATE Update from Donald Lawson Dry matter intake: 3 weekly / monthly basis of sampling Glen App - Fresh Grass Analysis 16th May th June 2014 Crude Protein (%) Free Nitrates (mg/kg) Sugars (%) ME (MJ/kg) Oil (%) Dry Matter (%) Grass quality is as good as 3 weeks ago, if not better. Range of body weights in the herd: Jerseys: 300kg Black and whites: 650kg Now pre-mowing. Heifers cleaning up. Frequency of pre-mowing depends on the weather. Communication Update from Charlie Heather and Rory met with Bob Lee (management consultant). Undertook communication analysis. Looked at difficult conversation with farm staff. Description of animal analogies: Eating Frogs Elephants Carrying Monkeys Something that you don t want to do but you know you will have to do it. Large tasks that will not get done quickly How many jobs can you carry on your back at once? 4

5 Arnon and Charlie sit down meeting every 7-10 days. Arnon then sits down with farm staff on the same timescale. Every month A3 sheet completed showing what s going on over the next 3 weeks or so. Staff also communicate using the whiteboard. Whiteboard contains job list for today and tomorrow. E.g. Joe milk quality analysis. Silage / Soil Group The group felt that feed costs are too high. Need to make the best possible silage. Points to look at included: Use of a silage additive Side sheets on pit walls Raking silage out Mowing started three weeks ago. Have been hit with the odd down-pour, but weather has generally been OK. Silage cut last night was probably 10 days too mature. BioLive silage additive used purchased through BritMilk. Additive has been used on all silage. 5

6 GUEST SPEAKER ROBERT CRAIG Robert described how he had gradually transformed his own farm extended grazing principles, as advocated by various New Zealand grazing consultants. Robert farms at Dolphenby Farm in Cumbria in partnership with Steve Brandon. Dolphenby sits at around ft above sea level. Located on the Pennines. Rule 1: Learn to start monitoring grass Robert was given a rising plate meter by the British Grassland Society (BGS) in the 1990s and has made use of it ever since. Need to evaluate how much growth in the last week. Either: 12, 24 or 36 hour chunks for grazing. Can yield up to 25-30% higher intake. Was previously grazing one end of the farm and silaging the other end. Now grazing across the whole farm. Measuring grass every week. Mowing the grass 12-24hr wilt then lets cows in to graze. Produces less rejection than seen previously. Anything from 2,800kg 3,000kg = allocate for silage 6

7 With 2,500kg grass cover = pre-mow. Helps reduce wastage by 20-30% Robert started pre-mowing 10 days ago. Work out: What is the growth rate? What is the demand for grass by the cows? Found that pre-mowing avoids over-grazing of rejected areas. Can work down to as little as 6hrs for cow access following pre-mowing. Cuts need to be cleaned up. Six cuts of 70 / 80 / 90 acres for silage. Some concern raised that multiple cutting as a result of pre-mowing leads to no base in the sward. Now switched to seasonal calving Dries off after Christmas Silage quality is good (better than before). Hold backs to pre-mowing: Ground conditions during March Gateways Areas where tracks go through trees You need to train the staff to work the system. Also need to train the cow to work the system (i.e. train cows to graze hard). 7

8 Rule 2: Do not under-estimate the importance of good genetics Robert has moved to NZ genetics Went to Brittany 6-7yrs ago to look at once a day milking. Going once a day: Fertility goes through the roof Will drop your milk output by 30% Lifestyle choice for French farmers Could leave heifers on once a day milking. At home, Robert has moved things forward considerably: 20 years ago had 70 cows Had herd of pedigree Holsteins Previously averaged 8,000 litres / cow Had quota for 40 cows (1984) Not a single track on the farm Now at 900 cows Bought farm next door to Dolphenby Has share farming agreement Now staff of 13 (fulltime and part time) Now has Nz Friesian cross bred cows 6,000 litres / cow Need to have a cow that can forage well to make the system work. Now toying with sexed semen. However, demand is not there yet for NZ semen. Rule 3: Land improvement is key Glen App has some land which is populated with rushes. Scope to improve this land so that it can be grazed. 8

9 FARM WALK POINTS DISCUSSED Cows went out to grass on 18 th March this year. February up to middle of April can be an extremely difficult period in terms of managing grazing conditions. Silaging started 22 days ago. Pre-mowing today. Cows will enter the cut field tomorrow. The wilting process helps to increase intake. Grass cover within the field being mowed is around 2,700kg. 260 acres of silage has been lifted. Paddocks are grazed on a 21 day rotation at present. The paddock which is being cut today is on its fourth or fifth rotation. 9

10 Cows have coloured heatmount detectors fitted. Red = 1st three weeks. Blue = 2nd three weeks (returns). Cows are inseminated using AI over a six week period. A team of beef bulls is used to sweep up. Glen App now has all its own silaging equipment, which gives added flexibility to the farm system. Whilst there are still 250 beef cows on farm, this number will probably be reduced further during next year. Milk price last month was 35+ppl Cows are in good condition at present. Feed rate per cow could be reduced in order to reduce costs, without having much impact on output. Cows are fed within bands (e.g. days calved) rather than on individual basis. 10

11 KEY TAKE HOME MESSAGES 1. Target 2. Monitor 3. React Have a grazing TMR! Know how much you are grazing and know how much the cows are consuming. Keep it flexible! Monitor growth rates constantly and react to what you find. NEXT MEETING Need to speak to Bob Lee Comparable farm profit: Data to be submitted by 23 June 2014 Set figure against family labour Subsidies excluded Ian Browne attending on 9 th July