The outcome of condition feeding trials will give farmers plenty to chew over. DairyNZ principal animal scientist John Roche, of Hamilton, has just released the results of condition feeding trials reports The Taranaki Daily. It's particularly relevant for farmers on the dry Taranaki coastal strip between Okato and Manaia, where supplements are being heavily used to compensate for bare paddocks as winter approaches. Dr Roche says the amount of harvested or purchased feed required is less than was thought. The recommended pasture to achieve a body condition score (BCS) unit was 200-220kg of dry matter equivalent per hectare and that was based on liveweight gain in pasture-fed lambs in Britain in the 1960s. "That's how little information we had and, to be honest, I didn't believe it," he says. "So we carried out trials on dairy cows last year, funded by the Sustainable Farming Fund and DairyNZ. "It turned out I was wrong; the pasture and grain concentrate results were confirmed, but we did find out much less silage or palm kernel was required. The experiment was to see how much grass it would take to get a BCS unit and how much of the commonly used feeds - maize silage, grass silage and palm kernel. We put grain in because it's being used much more and a lot is known about it, but there was very little information on the other feeds. "The data is based on liveweight gain rather than visual assessment, which may be subjective and crude." He says one unit gain (from 4 to 5) at calving is worth about $100 in revenue per cow based on the current milk price. "Our data from the recent trials indicates it would cost about $40 to $50 to achieve that, even allowing for wastage, using 150-160kg dry matter from maize silage, palm kernel or grass silage if available. There are also the knock-on benefits of having cows in calf and looking good in the spring." His main conclusions are: NZ farmers require less maize silage, grass silage and pasture than thought to gain a BCS unit. That maize silage is no better than grass silage for gaining BCS in a dry cow. "Every farm is different and individual circumstances will prevail, but the cows need to be up to a BC of 5.0 and the cover up to 2300 kilograms of dry matter per hectare, presuming there will be rain in the next two weeks.
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