Why early budgeting is key when managing fodder supplies

2023 has been an annus horribilis for many beef farmers when it comes to grazing and silage. Martina Harrington, Manager of the Teagasc Future Beef Programme, tells us more on the importance of fodder budgeting after a challenging year.

This year started well enough with a nice February only to run in to a wet March/April. The Future Beef farmers that got out in February and grazed were very happy they did so. Silage reserves were ran to the limit, with one farmer having only one bale of silage left by the time all cattle hit grass in April.

This led into a nice May and June. However, some in the east were teetering on the edge of a drought. Then the rain came in July and there have been few dry spells since. So much so that many cattle have been housed at least a month earlier than normal.

This has meant that performance at grass for yearling cattle has been poor. Cattle that were not housed for finishing in September are 40-50kg behind target. If these animals are to be finished, it will mean an extra 40 days in the shed for many.

The flip side of this, as is often the case in Ireland, we are wildly diverse in what silage has been made. In the south east, many farmers were able to get a good first cut in early May, allowing for a second cut when the rain came in late June. For those moderately stocked, they got a bonus third cut. This is in stark contrast to farmers in other parts of the country who found it difficult to get a decent first cut.

All this leads to the question: where are you on this spectrum? Have you enough silage to get you through to turnout next year, building in a buffer for a late spring? This is a question that should be asked now, so you can deal with any shortfall early in play. Remember straw is also at a premium, so your choices may be limited.

Teagasc has an excellent fodder budget under the PastureBase programme. It allows you to add in all your different classes of stock on your farm. You can move up or down their weights, put in different housing lengths for all classes of stock and you can account for concentrate fed. It then allows you to put in what forage is available on your farm.

If you are not already on PastureBase, it is easy to register and the link is below.  Your advisor is also available to help. Register here: https://pasturebase.teagasc.ie/V2/login.aspx

If you are short what are your options?

Suckler Cows

• Look at the quality of your silage.
• If you have a good quality silage and cows are in good condition, you should restrict your silage early.
• Allow your cows to slip into “fit not fat” condition early. On a 70+ DMD silage, you could restrict intake to 80%.
• Keep in mind, if you restrict, you have to have good feeding facilities.
• All cows should be able to eat at once, with lots of space. You don’t want bullying and a cow losing a calf.
• Pen younger animals separately and pen first time calvers together.
• Monitor body condition score (BCS) and do not let mature cows go below a BCS score of 2.5 or young/first time calvers go below 2.75.
• Meal feed to any culls and get rid of them ASAP.

Finishing Cattle

• Weigh your cattle and know what average daily gains you are achieving. Test your silage and move animals up onto more concentrate, finish them earlier saving silage – a short sharp finish.
• Watch the price in the mart, is selling some cattle an option?

Weanlings

• These are possibly the hardest group, traditionally getting ad-lib silage and 1-3kg of concentrate.
• Are there options here to restrict silage and feed more concentrate or perhaps beet?
• A simple example may be – a 350kg weanling should be eating 26kg fresh silage (70 DMD) and 1kg of concentrate. Reduce this to 20kg and feed 2kg of concentrate. You still achieve the 0.6kg average daily gain over the winter, but you save silage.
• Plan to let out stock in early spring, once ground conditions are good.
• Many farms have a heavy grass cover left after early housing. You may need to put in a temporary roadway to facilitate this as conditions can change rapidly in spring and animals may need to be rehoused. Allowing cattle to poach would be a false economy.

The key message here is to do a fodder budget. The earlier you put actions into place the less drastic they need to be.

Table 1: Concentrate supplementation rates for cattle on various silage qualities