{"id":2694,"date":"2019-12-10T19:00:38","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T19:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www-dev.promar-international.com\/?p=2694"},"modified":"2019-12-10T19:00:38","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T19:00:38","slug":"save-2-pence-per-litre-by-making-the-most-of-your-super-silage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www-dev.promar-international.com\/it\/save-2-pence-per-litre-by-making-the-most-of-your-super-silage\/","title":{"rendered":"Save 2 pence per litre by making the most of your super silage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>By Tim Archer <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\"><strong>Most dairy farmers have plenty of silage this winter compared to last. The challenge now is to maximise the profit from that silage. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Milkminder data shows\nthe average milk yield per cow last year was 28 litres per day, of which 7\nlitres were from forage resulting in a purchased feed cost of 9 pence\/litre.\nThis winter, with plenty of good quality silage available, the aim should be to\nincrease yields from forage to at least 11 litres\/cow\/day (12 litres would be\neven better!). &nbsp;Achieving this will reduce the average purchased feed cost\nby 2 pence\/litre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over 180 winter days\nwith 200 this would add \u00a320,000 to the herd margin over concentrates. Even\nafter allowing for \u00a35,500 worth of extra silage the cows will eat there will\nstill be over \u00a314,000 extra profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>There are many factors involved, but here are some of the basics to get right.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"is-style-underline wp-block-heading\">Feed a balanced diet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Feed the correct proportions of silages in relation to the amount of each type of silage that you have available.<\/li><li>Make sure your rations are properly nutritionally balanced to match your particular forage base. The technical bit which requires sound independent advice. <\/li><li>Ensure that what is actually going down the cows\u2019 necks is the same as this carefully designed ration!<\/li><li>Overfeeding starch drives down Ph and harms the bacteria that digest silage \u2013 avoid doing anything that increases the risk of acidosis. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"is-style-underline wp-block-heading\">Challenge them to maximise forage intake<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Assess your silages with a silage analysis report in one hand and a handful of the silage in the other. Do the two match and make sense? Do this on a regular basis through the winter.<\/li><li>Cows that give more milk eat more of the outdoor feeds \u2013 so you don\u2019t have to feed them an equal energy value of cake to match the energy in every extra litre of milk. <\/li><li>Avoid any major changes in the forage base or proportions during the winter. Cows love boring old consistency.<\/li><li>Really challenge the cows that are safely in calf, past peak production, are healthy and in good condition.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"is-style-underline wp-block-heading\">Full troughs equal full stomachs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Troughs licked clean may make life easier for farm staff, but rarely maximise the herd margin.<\/li><li>Minimise the time away from the feed troughs, and make sure the cows can always actually reach the silage \u2013 ad-lib really must mean ad-lib.<\/li><li>Practice good hygiene &#8211; would you eat your lunch from your cow\u2019s feeders, or brew your tea from their water troughs?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"is-style-underline wp-block-heading\">Measure and manage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Check that you do actually have more than enough silage \u2013 you can\u2019t really challenge the cows if you\u2019re still worried about running out.<\/li><li>Know your key feed efficiency figures for every week of the winter: average yields, yields from forage, and feed costs per litre. Use this information to make good and profitable decisions on an ongoing basis through to the spring. Milkminder will help you to do this. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table aligncenter is-style-stripes\"><table class=\"has-subtle-pale-blue-background-color has-background\"><tbody><tr><td><\/td><td><strong>Oct-19<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Oct-18<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Milk<\/strong><\/td><td><\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Yield per cow in milk per day (litres) <\/td><td>25.3<\/td><td>23.4<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Yield from grazed forage per cow (litres)<\/td><td>13<\/td><td>8<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Yield from all forage per cow per day (litres)<\/td><td>13<\/td><td>8<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Butterfat (%)<\/td><td>4.28<\/td><td>4.27<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Protein (%)<\/td><td>3.41<\/td><td>3.43<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Urea (mg\/litre)<\/td><td>21<\/td><td>19<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Cell Count: Hygiene<\/td><td>142:21<\/td><td>177:23<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Milk Price (ppl)<\/td><td>30.42<\/td><td>30.42<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Total Milk Value (\u00a3)<\/td><td>46654<\/td><td>42102<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Feed<\/strong><\/td><td><\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Concentrate use per litre (kg)<\/td><td>0.25<\/td><td>0.37<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Total Concentrate use (t)<\/td><td>39<\/td><td>51.4<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Concentrate price per tonne (\u00a3)<\/td><td>239<\/td><td>217<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Other Feed Cost (\u00a3)<\/strong><\/td><td><\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Total Feed Cost (\u00a3)<\/td><td>9303<\/td><td>11145<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Feed Cost per litre (p)<\/td><td>6.07<\/td><td>8.05<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Total conc. equiv at 86% dry matter (t)<\/td><td>38.477<\/td><td>48.047<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Margins<\/strong><\/td><td><\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Margin over purchased feed per litre (p)<\/td><td>24.36<\/td><td>22.37<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Margin over purchased feed per cow (\u00a3)<\/td><td>157<\/td><td>130<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Margin over purchased feed per herd (\u00a3)<\/td><td>37351<\/td><td>30957<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the example Monthly report here you can see how a client\nof mine has moved his feed rate from 0.37 to 0.25Kg\/litre this year based on a\nreally &nbsp;good quality, well fermented first cut silage. In one month alone,\nat a static milk price, we saw margins the margin leap by over \u00a36,000. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, to put this advice in a nutshell. You\nprobably can &nbsp;persuade your cows to eat more silage and reduce purchased\nfeeds without compromising cow performance?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tim Archer Most dairy farmers have plenty of silage this winter compared to last. The challenge now is to maximise the profit from that silage. Milkminder data shows the average milk yield per cow last year was 28 litres per day, of which 7 litres were from forage resulting in a purchased feed cost [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"featured_media":1788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"abs_type":[7,62],"pro_group":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.1 (Yoast SEO v19.10) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Save 2 pence per litre by making the most of your super silage - Promar Italy DEV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Most dairy farmers have plenty of silage this winter compared to last. 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