Nutrition of the Spring calved dairy cow in the early lactation period
Type Factsheet
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The Spring period is the most challenging period for grazing and feeding the grass-based dairy herd correctly. The transition from dry-period diets to milking diets and the transition from indoors to grazing are happening simultaneously, while cows are also at highest risk of nutritional problems. There has been some debate in recent difficult spring seasons as to whether good nutrition of the herd is compatible with the drive and focus on grass.
However, the benefits of getting the transition to grazing right, even in poor weather years, are very significant; reduced feed costs, improved sward quality for subsequent grazing rotations, better cow health and milk solids performance because grazed grass is a far superior feed to grass silage even when grass silage is of high quality.
On-farm data over across multiple years shows that growing and utilising more grass is the key to increasing profitability of milk production systems. The target is 10+ tonnes grass dry matter utilised per hectare, and the journey to meeting this target starts in the spring.
This short review answers some of the most commonly asked questions in relation to feeding the herd in Spring, while also keeping firmly focussed on achieving more grass utilised on the farm.