Dry cow diet cost

[Headless chicken]

Just wondering if anyone is willing to share what their dry cow diets are costing them currently. Our dry cow and transition management is now one of our biggest bottle necks. We need to address it in a cost effective manner relative to our herds output. Certainly not 10k litre cows

are all dry cow rolls created equal?
does it need to be complicated or is it as simple as a bit of mag and some long fibre?

 

[jimmer]

Standing hay
Calve on standing hay and 1-2 kg of maize gluten mixed with mag flakes and minerals

 

[Headless chicken]

Standing hay
Calve on standing hay and 1-2 kg of maize gluten mixed with mag flakes and minerals

How do you determine if it’s 1 or 2kgs? Mag flakes in the water?

 

[Tasteless]

Tmr.... .WC. Chopped straw. Stalky silage cut. H J l oakes roll. +75g mag flakes.

 

[In the pit]

Standing hay and 1 kg cow cake in the parlour every day
Problem i have is between drying off and calving so trying a strip of grass along with hay bales up to 7/10 days before calving and then onto standing hay
Trying to get rid of the issues of ketosis

 

[Jdunn55]

Baled hay
2kg dry cow rolls 25%CP £540/t for the last 21-28 days

Every cow (not heifers) gets a kexxtone now as well

 

[frederick]

Baled hay
2kg dry cow rolls 25%CP £540/t for the last 21-28 days

Every cow (not heifers) gets a kexxtone now as well

Or used to. You may want to save what you have left for cows that really need them. I believe kextone has been recalled.

 

[Jdunn55]

Or used to. You may want to save what you have left for cows that really need them. I believe kextone has been recalled.

You're joking? Any ideas why?

 

[Wesley]

Rape, soya & dry cow minerals used here

 

[DairyNerd]

Hay for far off cows, hay plus 1-2kg unmineralised (apart from mag) parlour cake to close ups. Mag flakes in water to close ups too. Use the same cake as the cows are calving onto. We rarely do 3 weeks tbh, average probably 12-15 days.

 

[Jdunn55]

Or used to. You may want to save what you have left for cows that really need them. I believe kextone has been recalled.

rubbish i wonder if theyll restart manufacture at some point

 

[Headless chicken]

I’ve not standing hay so it’s going to be some poorer 3rd cut and a decent dollop of straw but just trying to get my head around options. I’ve head something things floated but I can’t help but think the decimal point is in the wrong place

 

[Princess Pooper]

I’ve not standing hay so it’s going to be some poorer 3rd cut and a decent dollop of straw but just trying to get my head around options. I’ve head something things floated but I can’t help but think the decimal point is in the wrong place

Dry cow minerals are the most important bit. We buy no other minerals (admittedly in milk we feed plenty of cake which obvs has milking mins in). All dries get a dry cow bolus at dry off, heifers get a pre-calver bucket. That and making sure your dry cow forage is low in potash are the 2 most important things.

 

[DairyNerd]

To answer your question ours would work out at roughly 80p per head per day far offs and £1.10 for transition.

 

[More to life]

12kg of milkers buffer plus 6kg second class Hay plus dry cow mins i've never understood dry cow rolls at £500

 

[Beef farmer]

Adlib free access mins in 205l cut in half drums.
Bales of hayledge and straw in feeders and some standing hay

 

[organicguy]

Standing hay (looks a bit green this year), ad lib barley straw, MgCl in water.
6000l yield.
Feel we could do it better but as soon as we try to improve the ration with cake we get udder odema and milk fever.
KISS.

 

[Headless chicken]

Adlib free access mins in 205l cut in half drums.
Bales of hayledge and straw in feeders and some standing hay

Just reseed the field after?

 

[Beef farmer]

Just reseed the field after?

Just direct drill into it

 

[Beef farmer]