WHAT WILL YOU DO?

• Milk price is 40-45c. Milk cost is 39-42c. What’s your plan? 
• A wise man once said ‘a bad year doesn’t break you but a good one does’.
  • There are two messages from this statement:

1. Farmers didn’t heed it after the great year of 2022. They overspent, even though milk prices were predicted in January to be 40-45c/L. in 2023.
2. We are now coming out of one of the most difficult years in the last 15 years – bad weather, high purchase costs, and milk price down by over 20c/L. So, we want dairy farmers to be positive. Plan and monitor progress and we will overcome this tight sales-cost balance and do reasonably well in 2024. 

• As a result, farm incomes decreased by over 70% in 2023. Many farmers now have cashflow issues.
• But lessons must be learned, and farmers must take action. The following is a summary from my groups:
  • Milk price down from 62.1c/L to 44.25c/L due in greater part to market conditions but % fat increased by 0.04 while % protein decreased by 0.02% – the highest milk price achieved was 48.1c/L. 
  • March and April had an awful adverse effect on % protein – it never really recovered subsequently.
  • The kilogrammes of milk solids (MS) produced decreased by 23kg with a small decrease in meal costs of 0.65c, but the quantity of meal fed increased – bad weather didn’t help!
  • The kilogrammes of MS per kg cow body weight decreased to 88% of cow’s body weight but a lot of meal is being fed – 2.3kg meal per 1kg MS, whereas the target is 1kg or less.
  • The comparative costs of producing a kilogramme of MS decreased from €3.67 to €3.59. With some farmers as low as €2.20, this indicates that there is vast room for improvement. This is a very big concern going forward and all farmers must now plan to reduce costs in 2024. 
  • Comparative profit per kg MS reduced from €4.40 to €2.15 – a decrease of 51%. That is a big hit!
  • Somatic cell count (SCC) increased by 17,000 – very worrying with the new antibiotic use rules, cow cull rates were over 24% (up 2%) – uneconomic!
  • Grass utilised remained the same at 9.9t DM/ha, even though stocking rates decreased a little, both overall and on milking platform (MP). 
  • Feed efficiency (kg MS produced from the farm per tonne dry matter [DM] available) remained more or less the same at 77 compared with a target of 90). This is an interesting figure which is driven by:
    • Feeding the correct meal levels at the correct time of year, having cows that can respond to meal feeding, age of herd, quality of grass and meal.      
  • Interesting that this group of farmers increased EBI and cow fertility by over €10 and €9, respectively, each. This is one of the few ways of insulating yourself against input cost and milk price volatility – a more efficient cow!
• All farmers should measure grass growth with PastureBase. The following summary will be of interest:
  • The yield of grass in 2023 is down 1.1t DM/ha to 12.5t. In 2023, we came into the spring with 20kg less average farm cover (AFC), 950kg DM, but carried higher pre-grazing covers all through 2023 at 1,179kg (spring), 1,430kg (summer), and 1,590kg (autumn). These are way below Teagasc Moorepark targets of 1,450kg, 1,600kg and 1,800kg, respectively.
  • Surprisingly, the grazing season was the same in both years.
• Grass utilised per hectare: using a Moorepark programme, I have come up with the following information:
  • Farmers utilised less grass – 9.8t in 2023 compared with 9.7t in 2022 DM. Not bad as it was a tough year to manage grass, starting in March.
  • The percentage grass (home grown grazing and silage) in the diet was 81% in 2023 compared with 82% in 2022 – that means when you don’t grow the grass, you substitute with meals. The target for max profit is 90%.
  • As mentioned above, the feed conversion efficiency, kg MS/t DM, was 77 while my target is 90. You can conclude from this that there is big scope for improvement here. 
  • The grazing season decreased by five days – a bad autumn being responsible. There will be a difference between this and PastureBase. This programme takes into account the calving pattern of the herd so, if cows are not calved, they will not be let out. Hence, the lower figure.
  • Interestingly, fertiliser costs are down €300/ha to €820 – fertiliser price being the main reason.
• A lot of good messages can be derived from these stats. But the big one is we must control costs on farm. They are out of control on many farms – over 45c/L.
  • Many farms are overstocked both on total farm and particularly on milking platform. This increases cow-production costs and reduces the cow’s ability to maximise performance.
  • As a result, over 60% of high-stocked farmers are buying in forage and some are zero grazing – all of which complicate a system, making it more labour demanding and less profitable.

 MEAL FEEDING LEVELS ARE OUT OF CONTROL

• Farmers must take active actions so as to reduce meal feeding from an average of 1,300kg/cow/year.
  • The advice is to feed 1kg meal per kg MS, or 0.1kg/L produced.
• Table 1, suggestions by my discussion groups, outlines various levels of meal that can be few each month depending on the annual meal feeding goal they wish to achieve.
  • You need to set this plan based on grass grown on the milking platform (MP).
  • Nobody, but nobody, stocked at advised stocking rate (SR) on the MP should need to feed more than 900kg meal/cow.

Table 1: Suggested meal feeding and % protein levels per month to achieve various annual meal feeding targets. Source: discussion groups.

• Why are farmers feeding so much/too much meal annually? The usual reasons/excuses are:
  • Not enough grass in spring and autumn – controllable.
  • Grass not good enough in summer – controllable.
  • Cows won’t go in-calf in May-June – myth.
  • Milk price is great – no logic.
  • It helps cashflow, particularly, in spring and late autumn – myth.
• Surprising honest reasons arose:
  • Feeder calibration was 20-30% incorrect – controllable.
  • Staff took it on themselves to ‘feed whatever they wished’ – become the boss.
  • Feeders need adjusting for various types of feed – controllable.
  • ‘Look, I never really planned the amounts’ – controllable.
  • Quantity being fed was never adjusted for availability of grass – controllable.
  • Too slow to react when grass became plentiful – controllable.
  • On all my group visits, I use George Ramsbottom’s programme: Predicting milk solids yield per cow.
  • To use this simple programme all you need is farm SR, from EBI, the milk sub-index, the fertility and maintenance sub-index, plus the meal fed.
  • I have done it for many farmers, costing meal at €400/t and milk at 45c/L.
  • One farmer fed 1,170kg and if reduced to 570kg/cow milk yield would be reduced from 5,828L to 5,466L.
  • That means for the extra meal, costing €240 you got/will get €162 per cow. This definitely makes no economic sense! 

USE SLURRY TO BACK UP NITROGEN

• We need to adopt practices that help us reduce the amount of bag N we use due to the high cost of nitrogen, and environmental pressures.
• The following suggestions should be practised:

1. Apply a max of 29kg/ha (23 units/acre) in spring of protected urea to the area planned for bag N – that will be 60% of the grazing area – will get no slurry until grazed.
2. Use slurry strategically instead of bag N, as it contains 6-8 units N, 5 units P, and 30 units K per 1,000 gallons if the slurry DM is 7-9%.

• 2,000 gallons/acre on the 40% to be grazed from March 17 to end of the first rotation.
• 2,000 gallons on the first 15% of area grazed from let out to mid-February.
• 2,000 gallons on the 15% area grazed from mid-February – March 1.

1. Apply bag N four to six weeks after the first application – the higher the SR, the shorter the period but with good use of slurry, you should be able to get to April 1 with one bag of protected urea.
2. Plan to replace some of the bag N with slurry for first-cut silage.
3. Make as much first-cut silage as possible as this saves on N as well as reducing overall contractor costs – these are now very high because of labour, diesel, and machinery maintenance.
4. Diluting slurry with soiled water will increase the efficiency of utilisation of N in the slurry,
5. Avoid making a second cut of silage if possible – hence the need to do winter feed budgets early.
6. Keep records of quantities and dates of application N on PastureBase – then study the outcomes,
7. White clover swards should, more or less, get the same N up to early April.
8. Plan to sow clover, in April-May, red clover on ‘outside’ land because you will grow 16-18t grass DM/ha with little or no nitrogen – a ‘no brainer’; but order both white and red clovers NOW as they are likely to be scarce.

• Remember the following facts (research) on nitrogen use efficiency on grassland. It is:
  • 63% when the pH, the phosphate (P) and potash (K) are optimum.
  • 54% when P is deficient.
  • 57% when K is deficient.
  • 53% when P and K are deficient.
  • 35% when P, K and lime are deficient.
• I hope you can deduct from all of this what element has the greatest effect!
• LIME – a 28% reduction in the efficiency of nitrogen.
  • All soils have background N (averaging 140kg/ha) and it won’t be released to its max without lime.
  • The message is clear for 2023 – bring ALL fields up to pH 6.5 this year. No excuses about weather, grass cover, silage – plan to make it happen.
  • P and K must be brought up to Index 3 and 4 levels so as to grow adequate grass with less nitrogen – be convinced. 
  • More meal is not the solution to less N as the following economic annual returns show:
    • Increased soil P & K levels = 152% return.
    • Reseed full farm in eight-year cycle = 96% return.
    • Increasing meal to increase milk = 3.2%.
  • For the life of me, I can’t understand why we are so committed to meal at the price of it and less to applying lime, P, K and sulphur (S).

MILK RECORD

• Many farmers, as a result of major expansion over the last few years, are overstocked on the milking parlour with 20% ‘bad cows’ in the herd. Money can be made by clearer thinking on this dilemma.
  • By weighing cows in June-July, inserting the data on ICBF, you will be able to rank the cows based on kg MS produced per kg cow body weight.
• Take the case of a 100-cow farmer producing 450kg MS per cow, making an average profit/cow of €700, with the lowest 10 cows doing 340kg each and a profit of €400/cow. We did a partial budget on the scenario of selling off the '10 bad cows’:
  • On the negative side, the farmer will lose the profit on 10 cows €4,000 (10x €400).
  • On the positive side he will save 55t DM (10x5,500kg) or 63.21t meal equivalent, which is worth €25,284. He would be milking one row of cows less, which is a saving of 20 minutes/day for 280 day or 93 hours at €20 per hour, equals €1,860.
  • Therefore, for a decision of doing less work the farmer will be €23,144 ‘better off’. This figure is derived by adding €25,284 and €1,860 (money saved) and subtracting €4,000 (profit per 10 cows). They will also have 10 cows, probably late calvers, to sell at probably €1,200 each, which can be put to productive use.
  • Ironically, the 90 cows remaining will only have to milk 38kg MS more each to make up the loss of 3,400kg MS produced by the 10 ‘sold’ cows.
  • This is a ‘no-brainer’.
  • Do you appreciate the value of using the word 'average’ to make decisions?
  • This farmer’s average figures per cow for his 100-cow herd were 450kg MS; 4% fat; and 3.5% protein; and profit per cow was €700.
  • Once you know the average, you should do something with the figure as I have demonstrated with the kg MS.
• My point is this: milk record in 2024 so that you have the knowledge to identify the ‘bad cow’. Arising from this you will have the cow’s own worth (COW) which will identify the most profitable cows for you in the herd for the next five to seven years.
  • You will also know your best cows so that you can breed ‘your best to the best’. This is a terribly important concept to increase EBI, fertility and particularly % fat and protein.
  • If you now have the 2023 milk-recording data, use it for this purpose and to identify serious SCC offenders.

COW CARE NOW

• Make sure all dry cows are getting 2-3oz per head of a good dry-cow mineral.
  • Easy to slip up on this as you are now heavily focussed on milch cows.
• Within two to three weeks of calving, make sure cows and heifers are kept on very clean cubicles – their immune system is very low and now, there are increased amounts of infectious bugs around.
• Lame cows or cows tender on their feet should be looked after now. Get the FRS to do this job because you are too busy and don’t know the job well enough.
• Encourage daytime calving by feeding silage during the night (removing leftovers in the morning) only. It is some help!
  • For this to work well, cows should be exposed to this feeding routine for seven to 10 days before calving.
  • Keep those cows and cows with ‘tender’ feet in a straw ‘maternity’ shed.
  • Talk to a neighbour. They might be interested in doing nighttime calving for you and a neighbouring dairy farmer for €150/night. The advantages are immense!
• Do not rush in with the jack at calving. Why? ‘Damaged’ cows will not go back in calf.
  • ‘Infected’ cows (easily done with hands and equipment) will be slower to go back in calf.
  • The worst outcome could be a ‘downer’ cow.
• From the time the calf’s crubes (hooves) appear:
  • Leave heifers two hours and cows three hours before moving in to give help.
  • Leave enough time for the muscles to relax and the pelvis to open.
• Feed a little meal (0.5-1kg) for two weeks before calving:
  • Heifers, in particular, benefit from this.
  • Allows you move on to full meal feed within days of calving.
  • Slowly increase meal feeding after calving (seven to 10 days) because the cow’s intake is low and a lot of meal relative to roughage will result in acidosis and other problems.
  • Post calving this year, farmers should feed 2-4kg meal with grass and minimum silage. Very heavy covers exist now on some farms, but most farms have lower overall covers, confirm for yourself.
  • Farmers should be restricting the quantity of good silage being eaten by late calvers in very good body condition by feeding 2-3kg DM of straw.
    • Cows calving in body condition scores (BCSs) greater than 3.3 are at great risk of losing more that 0.5 BCS from calving to mating which will result in both submission and pregnancy to first service being reduced by up to 50% and 20% respectively.
• Most farmers have over 80% six-week calving rates and that bring calf-housing issues:
  • If selling male calves at two weeks (per 100 cow herd) you need housing for 50 calves or 85 square meters.
• Prevent the spread of Johne's disease by timely removal and feeding of calf as  from Johne's-free cows and milk replacer.

CARE FOR BULLING HEIFERS

• A very high proportion of our heifers going to the bull are underweight and calving down under target weights.
• As the bulling weight targets of most heifers on May 1 must be 320+ kg and they are likely to put on 0.8kg/hd/day between February 1 and then, they now should weigh at least 250kg.
  • For every kg they are less than that, they must be fed 4-5kg meal. If they are 30kg below target, they must get 120-150kg meal (16-18% P) between now and May 1 or 1.5 kg/hd/day over whole period or twice that over half the time.
  • With excellent care, aggressive meal feeding, delayed bulling until May 20 and then synchronising them, you will be able to serve heifers that now would be considered very small at 200-210kg.
  • This is a very good option if you are planning to sell these animals or expand.
  • Let all out to grass in early February, feeding meals to those who require it.

SHORT NOTES

• Feeding colostrum early is the most important way to prevent calf-rearing problems associated with scours and pneumonia. Follow the ‘1,2,3 rule’
  • Use colostrum from the first milking for the first calf feed.
  • Give colostrum within two hours from the calf’s birth.
  • Give at least three litres.
  • Give another two litres within the next six hours.
  • A stomach tube (done correctly) alleviates some of the feeding problems. Most farmers now use it as a time saver and guarantees consumption of two to three litres in that first feed.
  • To check the quality of the colostrum, use a refractometer – many farmers now do!
• Because February is a crucial month to set things up for the year. Discussion groups should meet on farm for a quick technical meeting to check what is happening on each other’s farms so as not to make mistakes that are preventable.
  • If your farm cannot run for two hours while you are away, something is wrong with the way you organise things.
  • However, by using technology, we can stay in touch by using WhatsApp or a Zoom chat to stay on top of technical issues and overcome current challenges.
• Use contractors more in 2024 where on-farm labour is tight or you are working too hard, for:
  • Dehorning calves.
  • Feeding out silage and cleaning yards twice per week.
  • Spreading fertilisers in bulk and slurry with the umbilical system (the only way to do it!).
  • Contract rearing of calves and heifers.
  • Contract labour for all or some farm chores (large units).
  • All reseeding work.
  • All lameness preventative care.
  • All capital investment work- farmers must refrain from this as it is putting huge strain on the labour to run the farm and efficiencies suffer and personal health suffers.
• From what I see on PastureBase, average farm covers (AFC) are low on some farms. So as not to run short, a spring rotation plan must be used to allow you feed grass every day but ration it.
• Get your adviser to do a fertiliser plan and stick with it to save costs.

Remember what the wise man said:

“A bad year doesn’t break you, but a good one does.”