Macalister Demonstration Farm

Dairy Research Farm demonstrating best management practice

 

Macalister Demonstration Farm

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MDF Fortnightly Update 508

December 9, 2019 by MDF

Multiple spring toppings sustain grass quality

Making sure paddock topping removes emerging seed-heads is crucial to maintaining grass quality.

Two key topping timings are October and early November. Topping in October removes uneaten residue and seed heads from early maturing ryegrass and grassy weeds, leading to better spring and summer quality. The removal of bulky residue also allows sunlight to penetrate to the base of the plants which triggers the formation of ryegrass daughter tillers and increases leafy growth.

Topping again in early November captures the vast majority of perennial ryegrass seedheads, as they have had time to grow above the 6cm mow line, and they can be removed before they start to affect herd performance.

 

At the MDF, good regrowth has occurred after paddock topping and silage cuts in early November, with leafy, high quality perennial ryegrass now on offer. Another advantage of topping is that the mown seedhead tillers have died, but remain in the pasture at about 6cm height. These are prickly and tough which discourages the cows from eating low to the ground and protects the ryegrass growing points and energy reserves.

With the added sunlight triggering vegetative daughter tiller growth, and the mown tillers protecting the base of the plants, the topping ensures high quality growth and persistence in future rotations.

 

However, while the grass has kept its quality, pasture growth intake has dropped off, with a related small decline in milk solids and litres/cow. Our target was 60kg pasture DM consumed/day in order to drive milk production, but we are currently accomplishing 50kg DM consumed/day. Soil moisture due to the dry season is thought to be limiting pasture growth. Our aim is to always maintain and increase home grown pasture consumption as this drives profitability.

 

FEED MARGIN PERFORMANCE TEN DAYS AGO THIS TEN DAYS Units
Ten days to date: 20-Nov-19 30-Nov-19  
Milker graze area 69 71 Ha
Milkers 291 296 Head
Stocking rate 4.2 4.2 cows/ha
Average graze rest time 30 33 Days
Estm’d pasture consmp’n 53 49 kg DM/ha/day
Pasture consum’d per cow 12.5 11.8 kg DM/cow/day
Pasture growing spend $5.43 $5.53 $/ha/day
Estm’d pasture price $102 $112 $/T DM
Conc (incl additives)supp fed/cow 5.9 5.9 kg DM/cow/day
Conc (incl additives)supp avg price $517 $517 $/T DM
Hay/silage supp fed/cow 0.0 0.0 kg DM/cow/day
Hay/silage supp price     $/T DM
Feed Conversion Efficiency 111 109 kg MS/tonne DM
Total feed intake/cow 18.2 17.5 kg DM/cow/day
NDF Fibre in diet 32.2% 31.9% % NDF
Litres/cow 29.0 27.8 l/cow/day
Fat test 3.70% 3.58% %
Protein test 3.35% 3.34% %
Milk Solids per cow 2.04 1.93 kg/cow/day
Milk price (less levies)/kg MS $6.51 $6.53 $/kg MS
Milk price (less levies)/litre $0.46 $0.45 $ per litre
Milk income/cow $13.28 $12.58 $/cow/day
All feed cost/cow $4.29 $4.35 $/cow/day
Margin over all Feed/cow $8.98 $8.23 $/cow/day
MOAF /ha /day $37.88 $34.31 $/ha/day
Farm MOAF per DAY $2,614 $2,436 $/day

 

 

Filed Under: Fortnightly Updates

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The Macalister Demonstration Farm, formerly the Macalister Research Farm, is a farmer-owned co-operative established on April 13th 1960. A collaboration between dairy farmers of the MID and the Department of Agriculture at Maffra resulted in the … Read More

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