Well the cows will soon have completed their first circuit of the grazing paddocks available to them . It really has been the best Spring that the cows have had for years , and it makes such a difference to the way they eat the grass .We always try to get them out as quick as possible in the year , and this year we were ahead of last year , both for day grazing , and also for nights. With the grass growth good , and also the cows getting buffer fed at milking times , they have milked well , and above all they are holding their condition.
It is very often a challenge to regulate the grass , making sure that they have sufficient clean grass ahead of them and also keeping an eye that they are cleaning up what they are given , both in the trough and in the field . If they waste the grass , especially on the first time round in the grazing cycle then the next growth is never as good as it should be. The pictured grass is what they are currently grazing , and it really is too long for them ,. however they have been making a fantastic job of it . The next strips to graze have all had their fertiliser and now that ewe have had rain , should easily start to catch up , hopefully in time for the cows next time. Over the summer we are going to be looking into the idea of NOT feeding concentrates in the milking parlour in future. I am in favour of cutting it out, feeling that the cows could better utilise other products mixed in with their TMR. The only down side would probably be that some of the more pampered girls might be a little "shy" to come into the parlour without their usual bribe of cake. It's certainly an experiment worth trying though , as parlour concentrate is in excess of £220/t at the moment and little chance of it coming down in price. We are keeping a close eye on the cost of feeding the cows , it's amazing the number of farmers who haven't got a clue just how much it cows to fed their herd. At the moment it is costing us £1.81 per cow ration that goes through the mixer wagon . We are milking 127 cows at present and I am feeding them for 100 rations , so really we are spending £1.42 /cow on the buffer ration . We feel this is money well spent though , even when out at grass. The benefits of the buffer system clearly out weigh the small cost of the food.
The weather has finally broken , and the rain is very welcome , for both grass growth and also for just giving the land that little bit of "give", the ground was getting really quite hard and not such a good surface for the cows to walk on .Once again , I can't remember a year when I've been so glad to see heavy rain fall , even if it has meant me getting wet from time to time !