TDDF Grazing and Animal KPI’S
Pasture and Forage Crop Management
**Maximising pasture quality continues to be a major challenge. Over the past week, the herd has been entering paddocks that were cut for silage, which presumably should be better quality. Milk production has decreased to the level it was 2 weeks ago (1.2kgMS/cow/day). This would suggest that the pasture in these paddocks is not significantly higher in metabolisable energy than the paddocks that were not cut for silage.
**The second round of silage was cut over the weekend and it is estimated that this stack will be ~150 – 180 tonnes DM. Nitrogen will be applied to these paddocks at a rate 46kgN/ha this week.
**Soil moisture has risen to 16kpa from 12kpa last week. Rain is forecasted over the coming 7 days, which will be welcomed across the farm. Predicted December rainfall is looking encouraging.
**Turnips will get another 120kg urea per hectare (55kgN/ha) applied this week. There is a minor pest issue (namely diamond back moth) within the crop but this is not strong enough to warrant another spray. If current growing conditions continue the crop will reach upwards of 7 tonnes DM per hectare, which will be above budget.
**Nitrogen continues to get applied behind the herd at 46kgN/ha.
**Areas of certain paddocks have few thistles; around 30 hectares of the grazing platform will be sprayed for these over the coming week.
**Paddocks that were renovated last autumn may need some work. Some areas of these paddocks do not seem to have tillered very well. The FMG will discuss the appropriate course of action but it is anticipated that they will be over sown in the autumn.
**This week’s feedwedge. Pre-grazing pasture covers are holding between 2700 – 3000 kgDM/ha, the top 3 paddocks have been removed from the rotation to be cut for hay. Pasture growth rates remain at 50kgDM/ha/day and are still above the new herd demand of 2.42 SR x 15kgDM/cow = 36kgDM/ha. Note the silage paddocks are back into the rotation but there are 3 new paddocks being shut up for hay. Over the next 3 – 4 weeks there is still the potential to grow at 50kgDM/ha/day providing there is adequate soil moisture. This would mean that up to a third of the farm could be cut for hay if the current growth rate continues.
**The new rotation length is 27 days with the 3 paddocks removed from the rotation for hay, leaf emergence has not increased and is still 10 days per leaf.
Animal Performance
**773 animals make up the milking herd. There are 6 animals that are lame and are being milked once-a-day. A number of these animals have reoccurring lameness issues.
**As mentioned earlier in the notes, milk production has fallen back to 1.21kgMS/cow/day from 1.31kgMS/cow/day. It was anticipated that these animals would have held production as they were grazing silage regrowth paddocks. The milk test has remained stable at 4.35% fat and 3.43% protein; the bulk milk cell count has risen to 120,000 from 105,000 last week.
**Mating has finished with bulls removed from the herd on Saturday, this equates to a 10 week mating period. The first pregnancy test has been scheduled for December 12.
*The next WEEKLY TDDF FMG Farm Walk and BBQ will be on Monday December 8 at 10:30am.
TDDF Farm Management Group – Basil Doonan (Davey & Maynard), Rob La Grange (TIAR), Chris Haynes (TIAR), and Justin McGowan and Nicki Devantier (TDDF Sharefarmers).
“Note Farm Walk BBQ will be on this Monday December 8!”
» Click here for the pdf version of this weeks Farm Walk Notes
