How poor can my cows milk

[William Mellor]

My cows, like a lot of others, aren’t milking well, calve all year round, last week they were averaging 14 litres which is a big drop from 26 litres in May and normally at this time of the year are around 19-20 litres, as off last milk pick up they are now down to 8 litres. They are very short on grass, virtually none existant and are being fed as much hay as they want when they come back for milking.
This could be because on Sunday it was a p**sing it down and they didn’t want to go out so around 90% stayed in eating hay. Concentrate wise they are being fed on 16% protein which has C16 in it. I am only feeding hay due to the fact that I’m short on silage and don’t want to be feeding silage now as I wouldn’t have any to feed thro the winter. Am I to assume this is going to be short lived and they will be back to around 14 litres in the next few days or should I be worrying?

 

[jimmer]

My cows, like a lot of others, aren’t milking well, calve all year round, last week they were averaging 14 litres which is a big drop from 26 litres in May and normally at this time of the year are around 19-20 litres, as off last milk pick up they are now down to 8 litres. They are very short on grass, virtually none existant and are being fed as much hay as they want when they come back for milking.
This could be because on Sunday it was a p**sing it down and they didn’t want to go out so around 90% stayed in eating hay. Concentrate wise they are being fed on 16% protein which has C16 in it. I am only feeding hay due to the fact that I’m short on silage and don’t want to be feeding silage now as I wouldn’t have any to feed thro the winter. Am I to assume this is going to be short lived and they will be back to around 14 litres in the next few days or should I be worrying?

they need protein Will
i bet they are shitting like camels

 

[Beef farmer]

How much cake? Is the hay 2nd quality? You will have a pick of grass end of the week wont you?

 

[Slippery Slope]

How many do you milk (just to put into context how easily averages can be influenced)?

Is the water supply clean and plentiful?

Hay probably the biggest issue if it's not very good.

 

[pappuller]

You will probably need to up the protein in your cake, you probably dont need the c16 as your fat wont be an issue,could you not feed some hay and some silage each day to spin out your stocks and give a more consistent diet.

 

[William Mellor]

How much cake? Is the hay 2nd quality? You will have a pick of grass end of the week wont you?

Hay is 2nd quality, think it’s been chaffed, cows are currently “ranching the grazing ground as there’s virtually no growth

 

[Shep]

16 is very low for feeding with hay, I think at least a 22% would be needed.
Last week I had to zero graze grass that was destined for silage and lost 3litres per cow, it wasn't mature but the nitrogen was gone and was dying out with the drought, Got it tested and was 12% protein, the grass that is in my grazing round analysed at 24% protein.

 

[William Mellor]

You will probably need to up the protein in your cake, you probably dont need the c16 as your fat wont be an issue,could you not feed some hay and some silage each day to spin out your stocks and give a more consistent diet.

Went on the c16 about 4 weeks ago after I’d started feeding 3 weeks before because the hay wasn’t upping the the fats

 

[William Mellor]

16 is very low for feeding with hay, I think at least a 22% would be needed.
Last week I had to zero graze grass that was destined for silage and lost 3litres per cow, it wasn't mature but the nitrogen was gone and was dying out with the drought, Got it tested and was 12% protein, the grass that is in my grazing round analysed at 24% protein.

Ordering a fresh load tomorrow for as soon as possible will ask the rep over upping the protein and dropping the c16

 

[Beef farmer]

Hay is 2nd quality, think it’s been chaffed, cows are currently “ranching the grazing ground as there’s virtually no growth

Shut the cows out of most of the grazing ground and let it get a chance to grow? Or not an option?

 

[jondear]

they need protein Will
i bet they are shitting like camels

Funny that ours are now on red clover bales at night High protein and they have also dropped as grass that there having is only once a day .Nothing will replace fresh grass .Of which there's none at the moment!

 

[William Mellor]

How many do you milk (just to put into context how easily averages can be influenced)?

Is the water supply clean and plentiful?

Hay probably the biggest issue if it's not very good.

Currently 120, tonight’s pick up was under 2,000 litres eod, Sunday nights pick up was over 3,300 litres, nearly fainted just looking at it 8 weeks ago it was nearer 6,000 eod

 

[William Mellor]

Shut the cows out of most of the grazing ground and let it get a chance to grow? Or not an option?

Today they only had half what they been having

 

[William Mellor]

they need protein Will
i bet they are shitting like camels

Never seen them sh!t so hard at this time of the year

 

[jimmer]

Never seen them sh!t so hard at this time of the year

I was feeding 6 kilos of rolled barley , the grass dried up , in both meanings of the word , the protein levels plummeted , and my milk went from 21 litres to 14 in a couple of weeks , i took out 3 kilos of barley and replaced it with 3 kilos of wheat distillers
my milk rose back up to 19 litres within 4 days , and the camel turds stopped
yes it cost me an extra few pence per cow per day but the payback is worth it

 

[BELOWAVERAGE]

Are you feeding to yield in the parlour ?

 

[Whitewalker]

To be fair if all you can feed is hay there isn’t much you can do . I presume you have no silage or don’t want to use it . I imagine all year calving means high yielders diving and more stale cows are drying early compounding the problem. You can play around with meal but the main feed is dry.

You can only do what you can do under the circumstances. Hopefully grass will kick in soon and fresh cows will recover some what .

I feel for you dude .

 

[Beef farmer]

I was feeding 6 kilos of rolled barley , the grass dried up , in both meanings of the word , the protein levels plummeted , and my milk went from 21 litres to 14 in a couple of weeks , i took out 3 kilos of barley and replaced it with 3 kilos of wheat distillers
my milk rose back up to 19 litres within 4 days , and the camel turds stopped
yes it cost me an extra few pence per cow per day but the payback is worth it

What's wheat distillers costing at the mo?

 

[jimmer]

What's wheat distillers costing at the mo?

too much .....
over 250

 

[Beef farmer]

too much .....
over 250

Avalibility? I've winter covered, but with no grass probably need 90 ton to get to winter. That's another 22k that can be attributed to lack of rain.