A Change in Focus

With the cost of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulphur about double that of last year the need to change focus may well pay dividends.

Often the number of animals on a property is a figure arbitrarily decided on with little regard to the ability to feed those animals particularly during winter and early spring.

It’s often the case that farms, even in a strong growing season, are unable to provide sufficient feed for all except about 3 months of the season and the rest of the season is spend balancing underfeeding with the cost of supplementary feed, nitrogen fertiliser, and grazing off.

The result is a great deal of stress for operators and animals, and plenty of income for those claiming to having the answers to the problems associated with prolonged periods of inadequate feeding.

The stocking rate rule-of-thumb for many years for dairy farms was, one cow per acre plus all replacements, with often the herd wintered at home.

Without suggesting that all farms should revert to this formula there is good evidence to indicate that under conventional growing systems no more feed is being grown per hectare than was grown 30 years ago, so the rule may still be a useful guide.

The counter to that argument is usually twofold.  Firstly that per hectare production is appreciably higher that of 30 years ago, often as much as double.  That does not necessarily mean that more pasture is being grown.

Secondly that economic survival would not be possible on the production from that stocking rate.

There are an increasing number of Eco-Logic Soil Improvement customers that have per cow production exceeding 400kg of milk solids per cow, rising toward the goal of producing their liveweight in milk solids per year.

Admittedly those herds producing their liveweight in milksolids per year are not yet doing it from home grown pasture alone, but as pasture energy levels continue to increase, a higher percentage each year is.

A minimum of 400kg milksolids per cow is achievable on pasture alone.  At 2.5 cows per hectare that’s 1000kg of milksolids per hectare with no supplement or grazing off costs.

The increase in total farm and per animal production achieved by Eco-Logic Soil Improvement clients comes from the steady increase in total dry matter grown and the increasing energy available from that pasture.

With increasing pasture energy levels comes better conditioned cows, less weight loss after calving, fewer spring metabolic disorders, lower somatic cell counts, fewer deaths, and higher total production. 

It is possible to grow more pasture of higher quality every year, and control costs.