Feed rate in at higher prices?

[som farmer]

Funny year this cold spring ,then wet may but I’ve come out of it with a clamp and a half more silage than last year and a lot of acres ready for second cut
Some one said there grass was going to head because it was getting dry, really , it’s going to head cause that’s what grass does at this time of year

ours is heading at 6/7 ins, just pushing the stalk up, hopefully this rain, should bring the grass behind the cows, pre mowing in front now, it's where you draw the line between cutting for bales, or eking out the grazing, first year for ages, we haven't grown forage rape, no knacked leys this spring, so took a gamble, a wrong one ?

 

[farmeronecow]

ours is heading at 6/7 ins, just pushing the stalk up, hopefully this rain, should bring the grass behind the cows, pre mowing in front now, it's where you draw the line between cutting for bales, or eking out the grazing, first year for ages, we haven't grown forage rape, no knacked leys this spring, so took a gamble, a wrong one ?

I put 40 acres of redstart in the first week of April which was followed by a month of frosts and a month of torrential rain, still only stands half way up my welly. Fairly sure that fert was washed out in May so threw some more at it yesterday, it’s currently getting a good soak so fingers crossed for a response

 

[jerseycowsman]

When going to high levels cows lose appetite to graze ive always found more benefit in feed in a top class soya based nut at a small rate something thats better than grass i found with cheaper rations your only replaceing grass

I concur

 

[jerseycowsman]

i have a question for you all. If increasing Cake is so expensive and you say it depresses intakes of forage, why dont you buffer feed with brewers grains added into the mix which are known to boost intakes and i believe they are around £45/tn = approx £180 per ton of DM against all your compounds which will be all near or above £300 per ton of DM.

you can replace 1kg of cake with 3.5 kg of brewers and everyone knows you'll get your money back in milk from them.

I fed brewers grains a couple of summers ago, filled a gap but made no difference whatsoever to yields or anything else

 

[som farmer]

we are mowing in front of the cows, never done it before, quite surprised at how well they clear up, next decision, how much rain will we get, will grass keep growing, or should we pre mow for a bit longer !

 

[jerseycowsman]

we are mowing in front of the cows, never done it before, quite surprised at how well they clear up, next decision, how much rain will we get, will grass keep growing, or should we pre mow for a bit longer !

I’ve been doing it for 20 years. Best to start in mid may really. But of course, it was far too wet this year. Been very hard to now how much yo take out for bales and how much more to cut when doing it in June.
Most years I will pre now again in late July/August for another reset