3 cuts for sucklers

[tr250]

Later cuts for cow's lose alot of bulk if overly dryed and becomes less palatable and can alter real fast from wet to dry. Feeder wagon mixing with first cut is ideal even tho on cost I am personally not a fan of them.

Yes they cost a lot but I think the amount of forage wasted by cutting old grass very dry to stop them shitting is costing people fortunes but isn't seen as you don't need to write the cheque out but if you need a 3rd extra acres of silage grass the rent would be a fair bit

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

I don't know anything about the OP but 300 acres seems hell of a lot of silage for 100 cows!

 

[tr250]

I don't know anything about the OP but 300 acres seems hell of a lot of silage for 100 cows!

We have 63 acres seeds cut 3 times 220 sucklers +young stock roughly 500 through winter and 650 sheep for a month 180 day winter

 

[DrDunc]

I don't know anything about the OP but 300 acres seems hell of a lot of silage for 100 cows!

It's also a jersey colder, a candle darker, and a welly boot wetter up here.

 

[Chae1]

I don't know anything about the OP but 300 acres seems hell of a lot of silage for 100 cows!

That's what I thought we've 460 cows and only do 190 acres total of silage.

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

Fag packet maths. 100 cows 15kgs silage a day 1500kgs a day
180 days winter = 270t needed!

100 weanlings at 15 kgs a day = 270t
= 540t of silage for the year in a long winter?

 

[P.O.T]

We made 1100 tons of silage from 90 acres first cut and 100acres second cut. So yield for 2 cuts was 11.6 tons an acre. So will be doing 250-260 acres on 3 cut system. But 1st and 2nd cut will be down in yield but higher quality. And 3rd cut would just be a belly filler for dry sucklers once weaned. If we end up with silage left over wont be a problem and can just make less the following year.

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

We made 1100 tons of silage from 90 acres first cut and 100acres second cut. So yield for 2 cuts was 11.6 tons an acre. So will be doing 250-260 acres on 3 cut system. But 1st and 2nd cut will be down in yield but higher quality. And 3rd cut would just be a belly filler for dry sucklers once weaned. If we end up with silage left over wont be a problem and can just make less the following year.

I wouldn't worry about making any the following year!

 

[Chae1]

Fag packet maths. 100 cows 15kgs silage a day 1500kgs a day
180 days winter = 270t needed!

100 weanlings at 15 kgs a day = 270t
= 540t of silage for the year in a long winter?

A cow will eat nearer 50kg of silage a day. 650kg cow needs 13kg dry matter a day. 25%dm means 1t will feed 19 cows.

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

A cow will eat nearer 50kg of silage a day. 650kg cow needs 13kg dry matter a day. 25%dm means 1t will feed 19 cows.

Yeah but dry cows don't want 50kgs of silage! Our 600kgs cows get 15kgs of silage plus straw for dry period.

Like I say I don't know anything about the OP. Just seems a lot of grass to me

 

[P.O.T]

15kgs of silage a day?? Thats only 3.75kg of dry matter a day at 25% average 10me/kg. Only 37mj of energy. Cow needs at least 60mj of energy for maintence so i would say dry suckler is 25kg a day times 65 cows times 200days winter.
So 325tons for sucklers
272tons for 68 spring born calves at 20kg/day
240tons for 30 autumn calvers eating 40kg silage a day
96tons for in heifers running with bull for autumn calving 40kgs a day.
Total silage requirements 936tons plus abit extra for in lamb ewes if required plus 3 bulls. Thats abit more than fag packed maths obviously

 

[P.O.T]

Yeah but dry cows don't want 50kgs of silage! Our 600kgs cows get 15kgs of silage plus straw for dry period.

Like I say I don't know anything about the OP. Just seems a lot of grass to me

No straw fed here until 4 weeks before calving to ration silage to them. Cheaper to make silage than have to buy in straw

 

[P.O.T]

Reckon we might have 100tons left depending when the spring comes and how much left in pit as get too close to back slope of earth bank pit and it can slide forward.

 

[choochter]

For one group I put out 2 x 486kg bales silage every 2 days for 19 cows & heifers, 1 bull and 13 calves.
So 25kgs per day each.

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

That's the ration I'm on. 25kgs of silage seems a lot to me.

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

Admittedly I don't have to buy any straw in!

 

[M-J-G]

I would cost the bit of extra energy you'll gain from 3 cuts against the price of barley or wheat, and I'm guessing you'll be better off with 2 cuts and a little more concentrate.

 

[P.O.T]

We costed our first cut out last year and reckoned it cost us £20 a ton to make. So for 3 cuts all costs would be the same apart from the wagon would be lifting 4tons an acre instead of 5 so would add an extra £1 to the cost of a ton. So at £21 our ration for our suckler calves would be 20kg silage so would cost 42p a day to feed them instead of 40p but might be gaining 0.1kg or 0.2 kg extra a day if im right so at £2 kg liveweight at market would be putting on extra 20p or 40p worth of weight a day extra!

Not sure exact cost of feed barley but even if £100 a ton a kg a day would be extra 10p per animal.

Plus my other thing was i would free up 40-50 acres of better land for my lambs after weaning.

@wellingtonfarmer on your ration sheet it says it costs you 71p a day to feed cows. But ours are costing 50p a day to feed. Yours might be lower as its your own straw.

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

I expect ours is a bit high as nutritionist would of put a high straw price down.
Like I say my first comments were not knowing where you are or how much much anything costs you!
If you are feeding cows for 50p you are going a good, so don't listen to anything I have said!

 

[Bossfarmer]

we do one big cut and cut the grass end of june when its long, that way we don't need to ted it just leave a day or 2 after cutting and bale, don't have an issue with cows getting too fat and pick the leaner ones out and feed them a bit barley, that's 3500 bales from 1 application of fert and we graze it all after so saves putting fert on grazing fields