Can farmers afford to feed concentrates?
The recent increases in animal feed costs, mean that just resorting to the bag of concentrates at around £200/tonne to make good any deficiencies in forage feed quality or to boost output is no longer an economic option.
If concentrate usage is to be kept to a minimum, livestock farmers need to look carefully at their feeding regime and see at what other cost efficient options are available. This is especially important in a winter such as this, where silage quality has generally not been so good or where straw is being used as an ingredient in a TMR ration.
One option is the use of high quality lower dry matter hay, suggests Richard Snell of the Profitable Farming Company who distributes the Baler's Choice hay preservative application system.
"Using high capacity balers with Baler's Choice preservative that enables hay to be safely baled at up to 30% moisture content, hay making has come on a long way from the days of small conventional bales and being at the mercy of the weather. Also, with a further massive rise in the cost of silage film this spring, baling hay using Baler's Choice is a very attractive, cost effective alternative."
"Whilst straw is good for buffering silage acid by promoting increased cudding, as a nutrient it has a negative benefit and will dilute silage quality," states Richard, whose dairy herd was culled in the Foot & Mouth outbreak of 2001.
"If the ration consists of 15kg of 11ME silage and 2kg of straw, which has an ME of about 5, this will effectively 'water down' the ME of the ration to 10.3, a drop of 6.5%. In a high yielding 9,000 litre herd this equates to about 292 litres of milk/cow during the winter, which is a loss of £78/cow."
"Similarly with beef cattle, if each animal costs you £8/week/cow, if poor quality silage means that liveweight gain drops, the options are either to hold the animal back for a few more weeks or to start using concentrates, both of which will affect profitability."
By comparison, using an alternative high quality forage to supplement clamp silage or replace baled silage, will help avoid the need to use expensive concentrates. Because high moisture hay has a similar ME to clamp silage, in a dairy ration there will be an increase in output from forage by switching from wrapped silage or straw, whilst there is also the benefit of higher fibre on stomach acid buffering due to increased cudding.
Increased yield
The impact that quality hay can have on output is highlighted in research comparing milk yield from higher moisture hay with a Relative Feed Value (RFV) of 150 and from conventional dry hay with a RFV of 120, which showed that the milk yield from those fed the higher quality forage yielded up to 3.0 litres more than those fed on the lower quality forage.
Developed in the US, the Baler's Choice preservative application system can be used on all types of baler and both manual and automatic systems are available. The applicator unit uses a computerised control unit and applicator to accurately apply just the right amount of preservative and with the more sophisticated automatic units will continuously alter the application rate dependent on crop flow and moisture content to ensure exactly the right amount is applied.
The Baler's Choice preservative is based on a buffered, near neutral form of propionic acid which is well proven to avoid the build-up of moulds and dust and allows hay to be safely baled at moisture contents of up to 30%.
Aside from ensuring hay quality is maintained when baling at higher moisture contents, there is the added advantage that because leaf shatter is considerably reduced, quality is increased and the tonnage yield also rises.
The Profitable Farming Company is the only UK hay specialist and offers backup and a complete package. Baler's Choice and the applicators are manufactured by Harvest Tec and PFC import and service the UK customer either direct or through a wide range of dealers. Baler's Choice buffered acid has a pH of 6.0 which ensures it is totally safe for user and machinery; the buffering of the preservative enhances the mould inhibiting qualities which are better than straight propionic acid. The key to the system is the applicators that ensure accuracy by applying a preservative that is designed for the applicator.
"With one baled silage film manufacturer already suggesting prices will rise by at least £100 per tonne, the cost benefits of Baler's Choice are considerable. Not only can it help avoid the need for expensive concentrates, but by changing from baled silage to hay avoids the increasing cost of buying, and then disposing' of silage film. It's a 'win, win' situation," concludes Richard.
