Macalister Demonstration Farm

Dairy Research Farm demonstrating best management practice

 

Macalister Demonstration Farm

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MDF Fortnightly Update 513: Lifting litres by strategic decisions

March 12, 2020 by MDF

Milk production at the MDF has stabilised and increased during the last 10 days.

This is due to a number of management factors.

The recent grass growth has put extra green feed in front of the cows- which has enabled a strategic decision suggested in the last update. The cows are being fed the best grass only, with the excess topped. This is helping to solve the problem of grass utilisation in a wet summer.

They also have had a very timely drenching.

Finally, you will notice that the milker graze area has been reduced. This is because several paddocks have been strategically dropped out of the rotation for pasture renovation, which will boost production in the future.

Management decisions such as these, made at the right time, make a huge difference to farm profitability.

FEED MARGIN PERFORMANCE MDF TEN DAYS AGO MDF THIS TEN DAYS Units
Ten days to date: 29-Feb-20 10-Mar-20
Milker graze area 69 64 Ha
Milkers 284 280 Head
Stocking rate 4.1 4.4 cows/ha
Average graze rest time 33 33 Days
Estm’d pasture consmp’n 39 41 kg DM/ha/day
Pasture consum’d per cow 9.4 9.3 kg DM/cow/day
Pasture growing spend $5.53 $5.53 $/ha/day
Estm’d pasture price $144 $136 $/T DM
Conc (incl additives)supp fed/cow 6.8 6.8 kg DM/cow/day
Conc (incl additives)supp avg price $487 $487 $/T DM
Hay/silage supp fed/cow 0.0 0.0 kg DM/cow/day
Hay/silage supp price $/T DM
Feed Conversion Efficiency 99 103 kg MS/tonne DM
Total feed intake/cow 15.9 15.8 kg DM/cow/day
NDF Fibre in diet 30.3% 30.3% % NDF
Litres/cow 19.6 20.1 l/cow/day
Fat test 4.53% 4.50% %
Protein test 3.60% 3.74% %
Milk Solids per cow 1.59 1.65 kg/cow/day
Milk price (less levies)/kg MS $6.94 $7.31 $/kg MS
Milk price (less levies)/litre $0.56 $0.60 $ per litre
Milk income/cow $11.06 $12.09 $/cow/day
All feed cost/cow $4.63 $4.55 $/cow/day
Margin over all Feed/cow $6.44 $7.53 $/cow/day
MOAF /ha /day $26.49 $32.86 $/ha/day
Farm MOAF per DAY $1,828 $2,109 $/day

Filed Under: Fortnightly Updates, Publications

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MDF Fortnightly Update 532

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About the MDF

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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