October is a Month of Preparation

Dr. David Lawrence
Head of Nutrition, Agritech

The foundation for 2027 spring grass supply is laid during the autumn closing period. Beginning your closing round early will offer an opportunity to re-enter some of the earlier-closed pastures if we happen to have above-normal growth during October and November. The final round is less about dates and duration and more about carrying the correct cover through the autumn, not too much or too little. 750 Kg DM/ha of grass is a good farm cover to aim for on the 1st December.

This should lead to an opening cover of 1,000 kg DM/ha or more by the end of January. Delaying the closing date past the 15th of November has a negative effect on spring grass supply. However, autumn growth has been exceptional in recent years, so setting a target closing cover rather than a closing date seems to work well in most scenarios.

Preparing for Dry-Off

Invest time in understanding your dry-off approach now; by reviewing milk recording data, and performing a culture and sensitivity test on your higher cell count cows. This will help identify the root cause of cell count issues, along with shedding light on the most effective dry cow therapy required to tackle the problem for next year.

Body Condition and Calving Success

Body condition is a cornerstone of calving success. You should look at your herd critically now for body condition. Ideally, 90% of cows should be between a BCS of 3 and 3.25 and that condition should be maintained through drying off. There is huge variation in cow BCS this year. Targeting thin cows with additional feed early, while they are still milking, is an easier approach than managing multiple groups of cows during the dry period.

Dry Cow Nutrition

Dry cow nutrition is centred on good silage analysis, so getting silage pits sampled early offers flexibility when it comes to choosing the correct silage for milkers, vs young stock, and dry cows. A mineral sample of the dry cow silage is also very useful for planning ahead and addressing nutritional issues such as high potassium (Kl levels and mineral antagonists.

Choosing the Right Dry Cow Mineral

Dry cow minerals are a big talking point on farms at the moment. Look for a dry cow mineral that contains highly bioavailable sources of trace minerals, a highly soluble source of magnesium and good inclusions of vitamins particularly vitamins A, D and E along with Biotin, such as Welmin Dry Cow Elite.