Animal Health

Animal Feed

Tillage

Agri- Chemical

Seed

Fertiliser

Bio-Fert

Mischanthus

Dr Siobhan Kavanagh - Teagasc

Lactating dairy cows must consume large quantities of dry matter (DM) to provide the nutrients necessary to maintain high levels of milk production.  The consequences of low dry matter intake include lower peak milk yield, lower total milk production, excessive body weight loss and consequently poor reproductive performance.

Dry matter intake (DMI) in the autumn calved cow is a function of both animal and feed factors as well as management. A number of factors affect dry matter intake including forage quality, diet specification, feeding facilities, diet palatability, dry matter of the feed, environmental stress as well as general management factors.  This paper will outline the main drivers of intake in the dairy cow.

Forage type

High quality forages support higher DMI than lower quality forages. Low quality forages are digested slowly and remain in the rumen for longer periods, limiting rumen capacity. Allocation of a greater proportion of concentrates in the diet may partially compensate for low quality forage but there is a limit to this as the cow needs a minimum roughage of at least 40% of DMI as forage.  This is necessary to maintain a healthy rumen.  The addition of a second forage such as maize or whole crop will have the effect of stimulating intake.  Moorepark research has shown improvements in intake of 2.5 – 3.0 kg DM from the inclusion of a second forage. However, the gain from a third forage in the diet is limited and not likely to be worth the additional complication in the feeding system.  For drier parts of the country with a very long grazing season, the second forage could be grazed grass.

Diet SpecificationDiets need to be formulated to provide the correct balance of the main nutrients – energy, protein, fibre, minerals and vitamins. The higher the energy density of the diet the easier it is to meet nutrient requirements. Protein will stimulate intake but anecdotal evidence would suggest that excessive protein will exacerbate body condition loss.  Protein quality is more critical than crude protein (CP) level in the diet.  Aim for 16.5 – 17% CP in the complete diet for cows peaking at 32 – 35 litres using good quality protein feeds including soyabean meal, rapeseed meal, distillers grains and maize gluten feed.

The rumen is the engine of the dairy cow and it is critical to ensure a healthy rumen is maintained.  This is particularly important when high levels of starch from maize and cereals are incorporated into the diet.  Check that the fibre content of the diet is correct Baled silage, straw or hay is useful to stimulate chewing of the cud and saliva production.  This does not need to be mixed through the diet, it may be offered as free choice.

Levels of Supplementation Indoors

1. For a herd producing on average 6000 litres of milk – 75 DMD grass silage ad-lib + 6.5 kg concentrateFor each 5 unit decline in DMD increase concentrate by 1.5 kgFor very wet or poorly preserved silage increase concentrate by 1 kgConcentrate can be reduced by 2.0 kg if good quality maize silage or another high DM forage is included at 1/3 or more of the forage
2. Concentrate inclusion can be reduced by 1 kg for every 2 kg of spring grass DM intake

Example dietTable 1 presents a sample mixed forage diet.  This diet was formulated for cows yielding 30 litres of milk to achieve a dry matter intake of 20 kg DM.

Diet                                                                                Analysis / kg DM

GS                                5 kg DM                       DM, %                     35%

MS                                8 kg DM                       UFL                         0.91

Citrus pulp                      2.1 kg DM                    Crude protein, %       17.2%

Distillers grains                2.5 kg DM                    PDIN, g                    110

Soyabean meal                1.4 kg DM                    PDIE, g                    98

Rapeseed meal                1.1 kg DM                   

Maize balancer mineral      200 g

A few comments on this diet

• The dry matter concentration of this diet is 35%.  The minimum dry matter of a diet for high yielding herds needs to be 30%.  Less than that and cows are expected to take in a lot of fresh material to achieve this 20 kg DM.Energy concentration is 0.91.  The aim is to have this over 0.90.  The closer to 1.00 the better because it means that the cow has to eat less to achieve a target energy intake.
• Protein concentration is 17% / kg DM.  This is adequate.  This diet is correctly balanced for PDIE and PDIN (these values indicate the balance of energy and protein in the diet).  If a diet is correctly balanced with quality protein feeds higher levels of crude protein should not be necessary.

The large proportion of maize silage in the diet meant a 200g/day inclusion of a maize balancer mineral was necessary to ensure the diet was correctly balanced for minerals and vitamins.

Diet Palatability

Diet palatability can stimulate or inhibit intake.  Poorly preserved silage will not stimulate high dry matter intake.  There is a perception that molasses will stimulate intake in poorly preserved silages, research has shown that this is not the case. Poorly preserved silage should be diluted down with a second forage.  Particular care needs to be taken with co-products from the brewing and food industry as well as high oil products that can become rancid and unpalatable.

Management Practices to Maximise IntakeFeeding management practices are one of the most important factors affecting intake. These include:

• Freshly calved cows are very vulnerable and need to be treated with care.  Concentrates should be introduced gradually over 7 – 12 days to avoid digestive upsets.High yielding herds may benefit from the introduction of concentrates per-calving to allow quicker adaptation to high levels of concentrate post-calving.Clean feed troughs regularly.  Ensure that fresh feed is available in front of cows at all times.  Stale feed will not encourage intakeMonitor intake on a regular basis – it can tell a lot about cow performance. If you have a diet feeder, check the calibration every year – there can be up to 10% variation in the weighing.  If you don’t have a diet feeder consider weighing a few blocks every few weeks. 
• Provide plenty of fresh water.  Dairy cows yielding 30-35 litres will drink 50-60 litres of water. Cows can easily drink 20 litres / minute and peak demand is about @ 1-3 hours after evening milking. It is important to ensure that there is good flow on the water to meet demand.                                                     

Feeding FacilitiesAnimal performance is a function of two main factors quality of diet and actual intake of that diet.  Feed barrier design can have a significant effect on intake and cow performance.  The most common type of feed barrier on Irish farms is a single or double bar over a stub wall. A large number of these barriers are poorly designed and are not comfortable for the animals to feed at.  The primary consequence of this is that animals may injury themselves and have reduced intake. 

A cow can reach up to one metre or more with a straight rail barrier if the stub wall is not too high (c. 550 mm) or too wide (100mm or less) and the neck rail is not too low.  A large number of feed barriers are set at c. 1,115 mm (measured from where the animal is standing to the underside of the neck rail), which is far too low for cows and large bullocks.  By raising the barrier by around 75 mm you can greatly improve the feeding set-up.  The tell tale signs of problems include: a short reach (750mm or less), hair worn off the back of the neck, bent neck rails and cows not able to stand close to the stub wall. 

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Maize production has increased this year due to the introduction of the decoupled payment. The performance of the forage maize crop in the past couple of years has been quite exceptional. Trial work carried out at Lyons Estate has shown DM yields to exceed 20 T/Ha with a high grain/starch content being produced.

Table 1. Forage Maize Yields at Lyons 2003/04

DM T/HA GRAIN T/HA DM % GRAIN %

2003

Benicia 23.6 107 37.8 45

Justina 16.3 8.4 33.5 51.2

2004

Benicia 21.9 10.1 28.1 45.8

Justina 21.4 10.2 31.4 47.8

It is also important to note that similar results were obtained in more unfavourable climates at Crossnaceevey and Hillsborough by Dr. Trevor Gilliland and Lindsay Easson. Thus, it is evident that the technology and scientific base for achieving those types of yields on a consistent basis are now well established in Ireland.

Similarly, research work at Lyons Estate, Hillsborough and Moorepark has proven conclusively that good quality maize silage is significantly superior to any other conserved forage, such as grass or whole-crop cereal silage as a winter feed for beef or dairy animals, in particular when it is included as the major portion of the forage component of the diet. With the yields at this level there is no doubt that maize silage can be produced more economically than any of the possible alternatives.

Where maize is concerned emphasis must be on producing high DM yields of quality material, in order to reduce costs per tonne of DM produced. Later maturing varieties have a significantly higher yield potential than earlier type, but they require a longer growing season. This can cause difficulties especially if the season is extended into the autumn, i.e. bad weather conditions can make if difficult for harvesters to travel the ground.

Regarding sowing dates, the opinion of Dr George Keane, UCD is that mid-March should be the target. He also recommends that maize plastic should be used as standard for all sowings in Ireland. Maize plastic will increase DM yields by 4 T/Ha on average, as well as increasing the grain/starch content of the wholecrop in essence, advancing crop maturity and thus permitting earlier harvesting.

Maize has 3 components

1. Maize Grain

2. Corn and Cob (CCM)

3. Ground Ear Maize (GEM)

These 3 components are ensiled as the DM contents are typically in the range of 60-70 percent. The CCM and GEM are generally ensiled directly from field without anymore work, the maize grain however should be crimped/rolled prior to ensiling. Maize grain has 5% and 10% higher feeding value than wheat and barley respectively. CCM has similar feeding value to barley and GEM is equivalent to oats. Table 2 gives a summary of results obtained once again from Lyons Estate on a breakdown of each of the 3 components of maize.

Table 2. Yield and Composition of Ensiled Maize

"Components"

GRAIN CCM GEM

Yield T/Ha

DM 9.79 11.02 13.54

15% MC 11.53 - -

DM% 67.6 62.7 62

Starch% 66.7 60.4 52.7

C Protein % 8.6 8.6 8.4

ND Fibre % 9.8 20.5 24.4

DMD % 96.9 85.2 77.9

This year at Quinns for the first time got involved in selling maize to customers in the west of Ireland.

Maize production does open exciting possibilities both for tillage and livestock farmers, as it is an alternative crop for tillage farmers and certainly in the future we can see an increase in demand for it on intensive dairy and beef units.

For further information on maize production and varieties contact your Quinns Representative.

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Care Q Beef Rations

Care Q Beef 1

• A competitively priced general-purpose cattle ration

• High inclusion of Irish grown cereals and also includes Irish grown beans

• Suitable for feeding to weanlings, stores and in-calf heifers

• It does not include supplemented minerals

14% Crude Protein, 11.1 ME, 3% Oil, 9.2% Crude Fibre, 4.3% Ash

Care Q Beef 2

• A higher protein ration than Beef 1 (approx 15%)

• Again it is primarily based on Irish grown cereals, which are quality energy sources, and pulses

• Includes a high quality mineral package

• Suitable for feeding with homegrown forages

• Competitively priced

15% Crude Protein, 11.1ME, 3.1% Oil, 8.6% Crude fibre, 4.2% Ash

Care Q Super Beef Finisher

• Very high-energy ration with a high cereal inclusion

• 13% Crude Protein

• Contains a high spec beef mineral and yea-sacc, the proven yeast to promote optimum rumen conditions and dry matter intake

• It can be safely fed at high levels to maximise performance

• High oil content to maximise performance

• This ration has been proven to give optimal weight gain, achieving high grades and kill-out percentages

13% Crude Protein, 11.0ME, 9.7% Crude Fibre, 4% Ash, 2.5% Oil

Care Q Ad-Lib Bull

• Ideal for finishing bulls at a young age

• Very high in energy along with a high oil content

• It can be fed ad-lib as long as there is fibre provided, straw is quite effective in this situation

• Includes beef minerals with Yea-sac

• This is a very competitively priced ration

11.3ME, 14% Crude Protein, 4.8% Oil, 9.3% Fibre, 6.5% Ash

Care Q Calf Rations

Care Q Super Weanling Ration

• High protein Ration with particular attention paid to by pass proteins which is ideally suitable for feeding with grass as they assist in the utilisation of the rumen degradable proteins present in fresh grass.

• Promotes high daily live weight gains

• High inclusion levels of native cereals

• Highly palatable and has a excellent texture

10.9 ME, 16% Crude Protein, 8.8% Crude Fibre, 4.6% Ash, 2.5% Oil

Acorn Calf Muesli

• Suitable for feeding to calves from one week old

• Highly palatable

• Includes a high level of flaked maize

• Ideal for supplementing with milk

• Well balanced and includes a high specification calf mineral with yea-sacc to aid faster rumen development and improve general calf health

• Quality protein sources and highly digestible energy sources along with fibre is offered in this ration

Care Q Calf 2

• Suitable for feeding to calves from one month old

• Formulated to aid the transition of the calf’s immature digestive and metabolic system into a true ruminant

• Once again quality protein sources are used along with digestible energy sources i.e. soya pellets and canola rapeseed included.

• High inclusion level of Irish produced cereals

• Suitable for feeding until the introduction of beef diets

10.5 ME, 17% Crude Protein, 8.9% Crude Fibre, 6.2% Ash, 2.4% Oil

Care Q Dairy (18% Protein Coarse Ration)

• A high-energy 18% dairy coarse ration for medium to high yielding herds on grass silage

• Like all our Care Q rations a strong emphasis is placed on locally grown cereals in formulating the Care Q 18% Dairy ration

• High inclusion of Soya bean meal and Canola Rape seed

• Competitively priced

• Includes a high specification dairy mineral including bioplexes to promote herd health and fertility

• This ration has been proven to work through bins and augers over many years.

11ME, 18% Crude Protein, 3.0% Oil, 10.7% Fibre, 6.6 Ash

Care Q Dairy (20% Protein Coarse Ration)

• A high-energy 20% dairy coarse ration for high yielding herds on grass silage

• Once again there is almost 50% of the ration made up of cereals and beet pulp nuts

• High inclusion of beans, rape pellets and soya pellets, which all help to increase the flow of feed through bins and augers

• Contains high specification dairy minerals as standard

11ME, 20% Crude Protein, 2.5% Oil, 7.9% Fibre, 6.8% Ash

Care Q Sheep Rations

Care Q 14% Sheep (Hogget Fattener)

• This is a high-energy ration, suitable for feeding to hoggetts and indeed to ewes in mid pregnancy

• High level of Irish grown cereals and pulses included

• Contains high specification sheep minerals and vitamins

• This is a competitively priced general purpose sheep ration

10.6 ME, 14% Crude Protein, 10.8% Crude Fibre, 4.6% Ash, 3% Oil

Care Q 17% Sheep

• Very high in energy

• Ideal for ewes in late pregnancy and during lactation

• Excellent for supplementing with grass, silage or hay

• Ewes being fed this ration have shown over many years to produce strong viable lambs and ample amounts of milk post lambing

• Competitively priced

17% Protein, 10.7 ME, 3.1% Oil, 10.4% Fibre, 4.9% Ash

Care Q Intensive Lamb

• High protein ration (approximately 17%)

• High metabolisable energy value

• Very palatable for young lambs

• High in molasses

• This is an ideal ration for finishing lambs at a younger age making sheep farming more profitable

10.8 ME, 17% Crude Protein, 7.2% Crude Fibre, 4.4% Ash, 3.3% Oil

Care Q Horse Rations

Care Q Horse & Pony

• Developed by renown Equine Nutritionist, Mr Jim Ryan

• Includes only the very best clipped and cleaned horse oats, Soya pellets, rolled beans and flake maize

• All our ingredients are carefully sourced, tested analytically and visually to ensure the highest standards

• A correctly balanced mineral package is also included

• Yea-sac is added to improve feed digestion and utilisation

• This high specification ration is competitively prices like all our rations

• This is a highly versatile feed for the sport horse

11 ME, 14.3% Crude Protein, 9.3% Fibre, 4.1% Oil,

5.3% Ash

Care Q Easy Equine

• This is a new ration developed by Quinns with the leisure horse in mind

• It is like Horse & Pony in that it is high in horse whole oats

• It also contains Soya hulls, which are excellent for the horses digestion system

• It is a well balanced mix with once again the complete mineral package including Yea-sac

11% Crude Protein, 4.2% Oil, 12.3% Fibre, 4.7% Ash

For further information on Quinns Rations or for advice on formulating diets please contact Valerie Hobson, Nutritionist - Quinns in-house specialist.

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Forage crops are now playing an increasingly important role in Irish Agriculture. The feeding of livestock economically and efficiently puts ever greater pressure on producers to consider all cost saving options available to them. These forage crops can be grazed in-situ thereby reducing both variable (feed) and fixed costs (housing and machinery).

Perennial ryegrass, the dominant forage on livestock farms has limitations for out of season grazing. The quantity of dry matter that can be accumulated for winter grazing is limited by day length and as the quantity accumulates the quality decreases. So, farmers must look at their other options and luckily there are a variety of other crops available, which grow at lower temperatures than perennial ryegrass. These alternative crops can also produce higher yields without a decline in feeding value. Forage brassicas such as swedes, kale, turnips and rape are used extensively in other grass based dairy and beef enterprises as a source of cheap high quality out of season feed which can be utilised in-situ.

Swedes and kale are full season crops generally sown between mid May and mid July. Earlier sown crops tend to have higher utilisable yield. These crops are used from November to March. Rape and stubble turnip are sowed later and again are available for usage during November to March but both their yields are lower than swedes and kale.

There is great potential in this country to sow rape or stubble turnip after harvesting cereals in August, to provide a low cost winter feed. Before the 1960s, in Ireland, forage brassicas were used extensively but their decline began with the introduction and mechanisation of grass conservation, they further declined in the 1990s with the area-based payments on alternative options such as maize silage and whole crop cereal. Today in other countries particularly Australia and New Zealand these forage brassica crops are playing significant roles in grazing based dairy systems.

Recommended Sowing Rates

Recommended rates for kale and forage rape crops are 3.5-4.0kg/ha. For swede crops, sowing rates vary according to method of sowing (ranging from 0.5-1.5kg/ha). When feeding these catch crops, farmers must be careful not to overfeed their animals. Both cattle and sheep should be introduced slowly to the crop, this allows adaptation by rumen microbes to the new diet and reduces risk of other problems, including acidosis. The main downfall of feeding up to one hundred percent brassicas is the likelihood of inducing rumen acidosis due to insufficient fibre intake. Usually when feeding to livestock, two thirds of diet is made up of brassicas and the remainder is made up either hay or straw. This is an essential part of the diet as it provides adequate fibre and as a result reduces digestive upset.

Also where feeding brassica crops, livestock must have access to fresh water at all times. If water is restricted cows in particular will respond by eating less feed and cow performance will suffer.

Forage brassicas are low in Iodine and Copper so consider this when planning your mineral programme for the winter..

Catch crops have definitely a role to play where farmers focus on a cost effective feeding programme while maximising their land usage and their livestock performance. We, at Quinns, will gladly offer advice on any aspect of either the growing or feeding management of break crops.

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Quinns have been involved with the crimping process for a number of years now and we have been successfully providing crimped and treated grain to farmers throughout Ireland. This year we looked at providing crimped grain in a bale form to service the smaller livestock farmer.

The grain was treated exactly the same i.e it was harvested at 35 – 45 % moisture, it was then passed through a crimping machine, where the grains are cracked and crimpstone 200S (organic and preservative) is added. This preservative ensures opmum fermentation and maximum control of aerobic stability in crimped ensiled cereals, pulses and indeed maize grains.

The treated grains are then loaded into a orkel baler, and wrapped for transportation mainly to the west of Ireland. This high tech machine wraps the bale, also the bales are individually placed on pallets to aid in the handling process. Each bale approximately weighs 1.2 Tonnes and is sold on a per tonne basis.

Regards feeding crimped grain, farmers must consider the stock they are feeding and what their targets are. Protein supplementation of diets based on high moisture grains is very important. At different stages cattle have different requirements to maximise performance. Young cattle are far more efficient than older cattle and only require half the feed to gain the same liveweight on a daily basis however they have a higher protein requirement than older cattle. Young cattle require approximately 140 – 150g/kg DM of crude protein and fattening cattle require somewhere in the region of 120 – 130g/kg DM.

Quinns Representatives are available to advise on balancing crimped grain along with the entire crimping process.

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