No two years are the same. This year, first-cut silages should be of better quality than 2024 and second cuts have yielded well. Winter will inevitably arrive, so a little preparation now can help us make informed decisions.

Year-on-year, grass silages can be extremely variable in nutritional qualities. May weather in 2025 allowed many to take their first cut slightly earlier than in recent years. Before the housed period, it will be important to test the silages available in the yard and plan accordingly.

For dry cows, silage quality will dictate the condition of cows at calving, and dilution/corrective feeding may be required.

The target Body Condition Score (BCS) is typically 2.75-3.0 at dry off and 3.0-3.25 at calving. To achieve this, we aim for a maintenance-type diet over the 60-day dry period. Silage with a DMD of 68-70% will generally suffice.

For thin cows, drying off early is the preferred option. If dried off early (e.g., 10-12-week dry period), cows fed average quality silage (68-70% DMD) should have an increase in BCS of approx. 0.5 units before calving.

For youngstock, feeding rates will also be dependent on silage quality results. If we take the same silage used for dry cows above with our youngstock, offering a silage-only diet, a weight gain of only 0.3kg/day can be expected over the winter from a 70% DMD silage. Approximately 1.5-2kg of concentrate would be needed here to achieve target winter growth rates. Is there a higher quality forage available for youngstock?

Target Body Condition Score (BCS) is typically 2.75-3.0 at dry off and 3.0-3.25 at calving.

Fodder Budget

Conducting a quick fodder budget to highlight reserves or deficits is crucial, and the sooner it’s done, the more options there are to bridge the gap. Having surplus silage on farm is a strong position. Housing could come early, or Spring 2026 may be harsh. Removing surplus grass now improves quality and provides more options later.

For further advice, contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor here. 

Many herds are currently engaged in drying off cows, as the focus shifts towards dry cow management across most farms. It’s also  important to consider nutrition plans when cows calve down this coming Spring, accounting for the following:

• A planned and well executed dry cow mineral programme.
• Calving down the cow in the correct Body Condition Scoring (BCS).
• Excellent animal husbandry in the week pre-and post-calving (no additional stressors).
• Careful transition diet planning.

Given how silage quality in many cases was hampered due to poor growth and weather, do you have sufficient high-quality forage available for when cows calve down come Spring 2025? If not, what’s your back-up plan?

Negative Energy Balance (NEB)

In the week post calving, cows produce more milk than their feed intake can provide for, resulting in Body Condition loss due to Negative Energy Balance (NEB). Typically, a cow reaches peak milk output 6-8 weeks post-calving but will only reach peak dry matter intake 10-12 weeks after calving. Such a cow’s diet must be energy dense enough to ensure body weight loss of less than 0.5 BCS between calving and breeding.

Dry matter intake typically increases by 0.75 – 1.0 kg/week post-calving, underlining the need for an energy-dense transition diet. This can prove difficult to control where silage quality is poor. In such a scenario, farmers must be prepared to fill the gap; otherwise, production will be compromised in the short-term, while in the longer-term, issues including poor fertility could be evident by May. Adequate concentrate supplement, depending on milk output, is paramount, with high energy grazed grass forming an essential diet component.

Monitoring NEB

• Low milk protein %: when energy is restricted in the diet – often caused by poor quality silage, delayed turnout and/or insufficient supplementation levels relative to cow output.
• Body condition loss across the herd (<25% of cows with a >0.5 unit of BCS loss in early lactation).
• A bulk tank milk fat: protein ratio > 1.4 (calculated by dividing the milk fat % by milk protein %); signals poor energy balance in the herd’s diet where compact calving occurs.

For more information, contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor here.

After a fantastic back end to the grazing season, the focus of farmers has increasingly turned towards nutrition levels from winter forage.

Hopefully for many herds, and where silage stocks are tight, the last number of weeks will have alleviated some pressure from the feed budget. However, it is still worth knowing what reserve is available for next spring.

The aim over the winter period will ultimately depend on the animal type, whereby youngstock/dry cows will be stored/maintained over the winter (target Average daily gain of 0.5-0.7 kg/hd/day youngstock). Cashflow animals will also be targeted to achieve optimum performance, be it winter milk herds or finishing cattle.

However, you cannot manage what isn’t measured, and the same applies in terms of what quality silage is available to you in the yard.

Silage analysis results will often signal the level of fermentation that occurred which can be used to predict the stability of the pit and therefore dictate feed-out management. However, the importance of completing forage analysis hinges around allowing farmers to make informed decisions regarding feed plans dependant on stock type.

For dry cows, silage analysis will also dictate feed plans:

Replacement heifers

Weanlings/replacement heifers should be offered the national average of 67% DMD well-preserved grass silage, while underweight heifers will typically require 1.5-2kg of concentrates/head/day. This can be reduced by 1 kg/day (0.5-1 kg/head/day) if silage digestibility is 5% higher or where heifers are at or above target weight.

For example, on target heifers (grass silage quality of ~ 70% DMD) require supplementation of 0.5 – 1 kg of concentrates. Early turnout for the lightest heifers in the herd will them help gain lost ground next spring. However, this should not represent the sole contingency plan with under-target replacements.

Separate heifers should be housed and fed in separate groups according to the requirements needed to achieve their target weight at breeding. The target at housing is 40% of mature body weight and 50% in early February when turned out to grass.

For more advice, contact your local Sales Advisor here.

Prevention of metabolic issues next spring will hinge around management decisions that will be made over the next number of weeks. When costs associated with clinical cases are assessed alongside the time and labour involved in such cases, prevention is always better than cure.

BCS

It is always best practise to dry off cows at, or very close to same condition that she should calve down in (Target BCS 3.0 – 3.25). Therefore, the nutrition of the dry cow should just maintain condition over the 60-day dry period (Thin cows should be dried off early to allow for recouperation of condition).  Over-conditioned cows at calving are also problematic. Therefore, cows should be condition scored prior to dry off, which may result in grouping cows accordingly where large variation in the herd arises.

Silage quality – the decision factor

Feed plans for the dry cow will centre around what quality silage is available. High quality silage will need dilution to avoid over-conditioning or where quality is very low, some level of energy supplementation will be required. Testing dry cow silage and assessing how much silage reserve is available will paint a clear picture of what feed requirements will be. Where issues around calving occurred last spring, it is worthwhile also testing silage for mineral analysis to highlight any precursors – such as high potassium/ K%.

Dry Cow Mineral Provision

Feeding a dry cow mineral throughout the dry period is essential to build up mineral reserves and allow the cow to calve down without issue. Most Irish silages lack the required mineral levels to get the cow through the dry period, lending to the provision of a high-quality mineral supplement to avoid metabolic disease risks. High K levels in Irish silages is also a running trend, which will require a high level of soluble magnesium to help overcome the risk of milk fever. Research indicates a single case of Milk Fever is estimated to cost ~ €312; with sub-clinical cases estimated to cost a herd >€100/case.

In a high-quality dry cow mineral pack we should be looking for a high inclusion of a highly soluble source of magnesium, which should also be coupled with a complimentary inclusion of Phosphorus, a high inclusion of chelated/protected trace elements to overcome antagonists, and a strong all round vitamin pack (A, D3 & E).

For tailored dry cow mineral advice, get in touch with your local Agritech Sales Advisor here.

In the weeks post-calving, cows will produce more milk than their feed intake can provide for, resulting in Body Condition loss due to Negative Energy Balance. A cow typically reaches peak milk output 6-8 weeks post-calving but will only reach peak dry matter intake 10-12 weeks after calving. However, the success of breeding 2024 is mainly dictated by the severity and duration of this period of NEB during the weeks post-calving.

NEB will firstly appear in the form of low milk protein % in the short term and in the more long-term have detrimental consequences on fertility during the breeding season. The overall objective is to have calved down the cow at a BCS of 3.25 and maintain an average herd BCS of 3.0 (range 2.75 – 3.25) at the start of breeding, to achieve optimal fertility.

Keeping body condition loss to less than 0.5 BCS between calving and breeding has proven to significantly increase the likelihood of conception to first service, with cows that lost <0.5 body condition score between calving and breeding typically shown to ovulate 15 days sooner, than cows which lost >1 BCS.

In very practical terms, this means bridging and filling the energy gap between what the cow outputs relative to what is put into her in regard to feed. Forage quality (which is lower in many cases after the difficult 2023 silage season) and getting high quality grass into the diet will be the main dictating factors here.

After this, most of the energy deficit will have to be filled via concentrates in the parlour, with milk output coupled with silage analysis and ability to get to grass, dictating feeding rates this spring.

For more information, contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor. 

With many cows dried off this month, the focus in most yards is on correct dry cow management. However, we must consider nutrition plans for cows calving down for the coming spring.

Several key factors directly correlate to the success of the calving season, including:

1. A planned and well executed dry cow mineral programme.
2. Calving down the cow in the correct body condition score.
3. Excellent animal husbandry in the week’s pre and post-calving (no additional stressors).
4. Careful transition diet planning.

Fast forward to late January/February, especially given how silage quality was hampered by the weather this year: do we have sufficient high-quality forage available for when cows calve down/and if not, what is the plan of action?

Negative Energy Balance

In the weeks post-calving, cows will always produce more milk than their feed intake can provide for, resulting in Body Condition loss due to Negative Energy Balance. For example, a cow will typically reach peak milk output 6-8 weeks post-calving but will only reach peak dry matter intake 10-12 weeks after calving. The freshly calved cow’s diet must be sufficient to keep body weight loss to less than 0.5 Body Condition Score (BCS) between calving and breeding.

Dry matter intake typically increases by 0.75 – 1.0 kg/week post-calving – highlighting the need for an energy-dense transition diet. This can be difficult to control where silage quality is compromised. Where a deficit occurs, we must be prepared to fill the gap, or issues such as poor fertility will come into effect in May. Adequate concentrate supplementation will be paramount (dependent on milk output), along with the inclusion of high-energy grazed grass in the diet.

Monitoring NEB on Farm

1. Falling/low milk protein % (signalling energy restriction in the diet – caused by poor quality silage, delayed turnout and/or insufficient supplementation levels relative to cow output).
2. Body condition loss across the herd (>25% of cows with a >0.5 unit of BCS loss in early lactation).
3. A bulk tank milk fat: protein ratio > 1.4 (calculated by dividing the milk fat % by milk protein %) signals poor energy balance in the herd’s diet.

Further Advice:

For more information, contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor.