The considerable reduction in pasture growth meant that on the lower intensity farm the herd had to be dried off much earlier than usual in an attempt to balance the feed budget. This became a necessity because the demands of the trial dictated that feed for this herd could be bought in only as an absolute last resort, in contrast to the intensively farmed herd where any shortfall in feed could be compensated for by buying in more palm kernel.
Being forced to dry off this herd earlier, in the face of dwindling feed reserves, raises an obvious question –for planning purposes, what is the ideal amount of supplement that should be available to take into the winter?
A common rule of thumb would be 15 conventional bales of hay a cow ie, 225-240kg drymatter (DM). This is a figure that has been arrived at subjectively over the years by practical observation and experience. For those with a more scientific bent, it can be confirmed with a basic feed budget, using input data of an average stocking rate, average winter pasture growth rate, average late autumn pasture cover, average calving date and calving spread, average drying off date and finally, good (average?) cow condition at the end of autumn.
Put all this data into your feed budget and, in most cases at least, you will come up with a requirement of about the equivalent of 15 conventional bales of hay a cow if a shortfall is to be avoided and the cows are to be fully fed in early lactation. Aim for 15 bale equivalents of supplement in store at the end of autumn and the result is contentment. Fail to meet this target and the result will be sleepless nights – OK?
What a load of nonsense.
You only have to look at all the factors that will determine winter supplement requirements and see the word average in front of them to realise that 15 bales a cow can never be more than an indicator, and certainly not a goal.
It only takes one of these factors to depart from the average and the accuracy and reliability of the calculated end result disappears.
That there are so many determining factors means that the fact that at least one of them will depart from the average is more than just likely – it is inevitable.
I go back to my earlier days when running discussion groups was a major activity. Statements that used to crop up with a somewhat alarming frequency, and that I always took grave exception to, were those along the lines of, in a good growing year “I’ve done well, and got all my hay in before Christmas this year”, or “I’ve got xyz number of bales in the shed so that’s the hay done for the year”, and, conversely in a poor growing year “Well I’ve finally got all my hay in – mind you I had to really tighten up on the cows to get it done”.
This latter statement is particularly irksome as it illustrates a complete confusion of objectives. The prime aim of the dairy farmer is to produce milk, not hay, not even grass – although these may be essential ingredients to achieving the main aim. However the grass produced can only be converted to milk once, and it makes no sense at all to divert it to the hay barn when it could have been going into the vat.
The first statement, while maybe not so glaringly counterproductive, does also carry some fairly negative implications. The most obvious of these is the lost opportunity to harvest some extra hay, which certainly has value.
The old adage of “Hay in the barn is money in the bank” is still very true. However the biggest problem here is not so much the implicit waste of feed by failing to harvest the surplus, but rather the effect on pasture management of letting that surplus go – allowing it to stagnate. This must cause deterioration in overall pasture quality which has to ultimately negatively effect milk production.
This is a classic example of what has been described as recipe farming. As the title implies, this is nothing more than making farm management decisions and planning by a series of set formulae or guidelines, recipes, in other words.
In particular there are dates and times for a whole host of things, like dates to start and stop AB and to take the bulls out, and formulae and timing – calves to be drenched every three weeks, cows to get X m2 of grass plus Y bales of hay or silage over the winter. Things like CIDR use, dry cow therapy, induced calving (in the past anyway) are done purely on a numbers basis. Farming by recipe is quite common and a very attractive proposition, for the simple reason that it’s easy, uncomplicated, and most significantly, avoids the need for thinking.
Thinking, it has been said, is hard work and tends to be avoided, but for successful farming constant thinking, appraisal and analysis is essential.
Farming is a dynamic operation – all the key factors involved in determining its success are variable, subject to continuing change with a fair degree of unpredictability.
The hay making example is a good case. The recipe farmer makes their X number of bales each year and is happy. The thinking farmer has provided themselves with extra shed space so every year the forage conservation operation is carefully integrated with ongoing pasture management so in a good year the extra surplus grass will be harvested and carried over for use when poor growing conditions create the need for extra supplement and/or mean less surplus pasture is available for harvesting.
Taking this a step further, the thinking farmer can creatively use the extra shed space for extra calf housing in an adverse spring, whereas the recipe farmer puts theirs out permanently at 12 weeks or whatever, regardless of the condition of the environment or the calves – because that’s when the recipe says it must be done.
Flexibility is a word that is often used in defining a key factor in farm management and it is most appropriate. Flexibility means the ability to look ahead and change and adapt policy and plans in response to altered and unpredicted happenings. It means wherever possible avoiding committing to irrevocable courses of action.
Above all it means constantly thinking – analysing, planning and reacting to changed and unpredicted responses.
Finally, as a note of caution to those who maintain that experience alone will be the great educator. Many years ago, when I was a young fresh-faced advisor, and was suggesting a certain course of action, tthe emphatic response was, “Don’t you try to tell me what to do boy – I’ve got 30 years of farming experience behind me”.
To which my response was “30 years experience – or one year’s experience repeated 30 times?”.
