![]() amount of concentrate. At the average stocking rate of 2.7 cows per ha, these customers are producing 1,334kg of milk solids per ha. This figure compares favourably with research performance that is regarded as the industry target in Ireland. The use of diet feeders on these farms can also be a risk- averse strategy when cow numbers stocking rate are increasing and when, during weather events, diets can be supplemented with forage-based supplements. So, how do we supplement to ensure that we look after the cow and still manage to hit our key performance indicators? Based on the InTouch cow example above (500kg of milk solids stocked at 2.7 cows per ha), the next series of diagrams represents the amount of grass and supplement required, as Diagram 1 represents a typical grass growth curve for the year, which could be typical of this year, in which we are getting a `slow start' to the year. The growth per ha has been divided by the stocking rate to give us the grass grown per cow. If we superimpose the demand of this cow producing 500kg of milk solids on top of this graph, we see at a glance that this cow will need major feeding until the end of April, for a small period in late August and resuming in late September, starting the run into winter. But we are not finished yet. Diagram 3 outlines that while we are producing a lot of grass mid-season, we have a cow that is only capable of eating approximately 16kg of grass. The grey area in the graph is, therefore, capping maximum intake at 16kg for that cow. Now 45.0 42.0 39.0 36.0 33.0 30.0 27.0 24.0 21.0 18.0 15.0 12.0 6.0 3.0 0.0 45.0 42.0 39.0 36.0 33.0 30.0 27.0 24.0 21.0 18.0 15.0 12.0 6.0 3.0 0.0 wth & demand (k o w/ wth & demand (k o w/ Grass supply/growth/cow |