• Home
>
• Newsletters
>
• 2000 April
>
• Feeding Options for a Dry Autumn

Feeding Options for a Dry Autumn

The dry end to summer and possibly a dry autumn has made it important to examine feeding options to prevent problems later in the season.  Recent rains may help to alleviate the problem.  If follow up rain does not occur strategic feeding of stock will still have to be high on the list of priorities.  Meeting nutritional requirements is important in both milkers and dry cows.To Milk Her or Not to Milk Her

The economics of continuing to milk cows rather than dry them off is usually cut and dried.  Consider a situation where the milk price is 25 cent per litre, grain costs are 17 cents per kg and hay costs 12 cents per kg.  A cow in late lactation producing 10 litres has an energy requirement of about 130 MJ ME.  This could be met using 6 kg grain at 12 MJ per kg as fed and 7 kg of hay at 8.5 MJ per kg as fed.  Doing a partial budget we see the return of continuing to milk her:

Difference $1.64 per cow per day

If she is milked for another 30 days she will earn you another $50.

In the scenario of a farm which has run out of water the option of drying cows off and putting them on agistment has been suggested.  If a 25,000 litre tanker of water costs $250 that is $1.00 per 100 litres.  At the maximum a cow doing this production would drink 150 litres of water per day.  Even when buying water for her, continuing to milk her is breaking even.

It is important to remember some of the nutritional facts of this stage of the lactation.

Cows will increase body condition more efficiently when lactating than when dry. - This does not mean you need to feed the milking cow less feed than the dry cow.  It means that after she has produced milk with the feed she is offered, the excess feed required to gain body condition is less then that required if the cow was dry.

It is difficult to maintain body condition during the dry period when feeding low quality hay. - In the scenario above the cow may be able to maintain condition if the hay is very good quality.  If there is 1 to 2 kg DM of fresh pasture available this will have enough energy density to do the job.  If not, supplementary grain will be required.

In the scenario above a weight gain factor has been allowed for in the milking ration.  This will have the ongoing benefits in next lactation in terms of milk production and fertility.

Dry Cow Management

One of the major animal health problems seen during a dry autumn is pregnancy toxaemia in dry cows.  It is easy to put the dries out and forget about them when a lot of other autumn jobs need to be done.  Most of the time this is OK as there is pasture of some description available to them.  The energy density of pasture ensures dry cows have adequate dry matter and adequate energy to maintain body condition and a rapidly growing foetus.  Problems occur when adequate energy is not supplied either through low energy density forage (poor quality hay) or low dry matter intakes.  The cow will start to break down body condition to supply energy to the foetus.  This results in the build up of blood acetates and pregnancy toxaemia.

The cost comparison table below shows the relative values of different feeds given the suggested prices and an allowance for utilisation rates.  In general, utilisation will decrease as the energy density of the feed decreases.  This is the result of wastage when fed in the paddock.  Obviously animals that are starving are not going to waste as much as fully fed cows.  Starvation is the exact thing we are trying to avoid.  By definition, wastage will occur to some degree if cow condition is to be maintained.

Agistment Costs - $9.50 per head, intake of 9 kg/day

From this table it is obvious that individual circumstances must be assessed on their merits.  Prices and feed values can vary considerably for hay especially.  You should use this information as a guide to making your own decisions.  When considering the cost of agistment the value provided above assumes the cows are fully fed from the available pasture.  If there is little feed available agistment becomes very expensive.

A few things are obvious:

1. Do not discount grain as an option for dry cows.  In the case of Barley quality may be more reliable than bought hay.  More care needs to be taken with the quality of oats.
2. Price per tonne of hay is not the only measure.  In this case the fact that cows will "lick it off the ground" makes good quality legume hay a more attractive option.
3. If agistment can be found that will supply even half the dry cow's diet it may still be a good option.  If the pasture being offered is fresh autumn feed it will supply the energy density required and is a far better option than an all hay diet.  Factors such as managing cows on agistment and access to supplementary hay and to water are important.  Obviously agistment must have a significant amount of pasture available to be worthwhile.

Don't take up any agistment without looking at the property.

Care should be taken feeding grain when only 1-2 kg per cow is fed.  Run the grain along a fence line to avoid the cows walking on it and soiling it.  Cottonseed has been put in as an alternative as it is very safe to feed.  During the 1997 autumn when hay was very scarce and very expensive, cottonseed was very effectively combined with grain and straw to maintain dry cows.

Early Lactation

Feeding in early lactation is too important to be adequately covered in this article.  It should not be neglected in dry autumns.  Ensure you have an adequate and well-formulated transition and early lactation diet to get the lactation off to a good start.  Once pasture is available, a cow milking well will have a greater appetite and be able to consume a maximum amount of pasture.  Compare this to a cow that is struggling to cope with excessive weight loss in early lactation due to inadequate dry matter intake.  She will be producing less, consume less pasture and have poorer fertility.

The main message is:

A dry autumn can have consequences now on cashflow or greater consequences later on profits.  The choice of which is entirely up to you.