LANCASHIRE HERD LIFTS YIELDS BY 900 LITRES DESPITE CUTTING FEED INPUTS  
A big increase in silage dry matter intakes on a Lancashire dairy farm has lifted milk production by 900 litres a cow and enabled feed costs to be cut by £30 a head over the first 200-days of lactation.
"The milk went up and the costs went down," says Anthony Bretherton who runs the 135-cow Beaconside herd of pedigree Holsteins at Fellside Farm, Bleasdale, near Garstang.
"The analysis of our first cut silage showed a 72.9% D-value and 29.3% dry matter. With its high energy value we decided last August to reduce the bought-in energy ingredients of the cows’ ration. We cut the caustic wheat inclusion by 1kg a head per day and reduced the molasses by 0.5kg a day but the silage was good enough to cope and even to increase the yield."
The herd’s current average is 10,300kg at 4% fat and 3.2% protein but this winter yields have maintained an increase of three litres a day while continuing with the basic winter TMR diet of grass silage, caustic wheat, rapeseed, Amino-Max, molasses, soya hulls and Megalac.
"This time last year the herd average was 9,400 litres. In mid-January this year the milk records show our cows were averaging 37litres a day," says Anthony.
Silage ground at Fellside Farm is closed-up in mid-April after having received around 2000 gallons of slurry in January/February followed by a further 2000 gallons in early April after which fertiliser is applied. Last year the silage ground received 40 units of straight N per acre.
"We aim to take our first cut at the end of May but last year it was about a week later. The grass just wasn’t ready so we waited. It was cut by a contractor using a spreader mower and then tedded out within a few hours of being cut.
"The grass was going into the clamp in less than 12 hours and yielded about 900 tonnes from the 115 acres," said Anthony who used the silage additive Optimize Plus developed by Lancashire-based EnviroSystems.
"We felt confident about reducing the bought-in energy to reduce feed costs but we maintained the protein level of the diet. Dry matter intakes increased to around 32kg per head a day – that’s up by about six kilos compared with the previous year. Cow health has been good and we’ve been seeing heats more readily. By January we only had one cow that was un-served at over 60 days."
EnviroSystems consultant, Paul Rogerson explained: "The enzymes in the additive continue working for a long time. They help to open up the fibre structure (NDF), improving the fermentability and making more nutrients and energy available to the cow.
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