Ireland
November 29, 2016
A recent farm walk hosted by Germinal at Richie & Paddy Daly’s farm, Moyne, Thurles, Co Tipperary not only demonstrated the value of forage crops from a herd management perspective, but outlined the savings that can be made by incorporating forage crops into a feeding programme.
The Daly brothers run a 200 cow dairy herd and rear in the region of 300 Holstein Friesian bull calves annually. Forage crops such as kale have become an important part of the Daly’s dairy calf to beef system.
The decision to grow forage crops was made well over 10 years ago. Richie explained to the crowds in attendance that kale allows for the out–wintering of about 70 Friesian bulls every year.
The brothers have mainly grown Maris Kestrel kale, supplied by Germinal, and this was the first year they tried Redstart (a kale and rape hybrid). Richie said that he was happy with the daily–live weight gains achieved by the Friesian bulls grazing the kale crops over the years as they tended to gain about 0.8kg/day whilst grazing kale. He mentioned that looking at this year’s batch, they appear to be performing better than similar stock on grass and concentrate diets.
In line with advice offered by Germinal’s Jim Gibbons, Richie highlighted that the bulls are introduced to the kale slowly, and for the first 10 days they have access to grass in an adjoining paddock. This was something Dr Emer Kennedy Teagasc Moorepark firmly pointed out during her address to the crowd as good management practise. Once the cattle have become acclimatised, they are locked into the paddock until the crop is fully grazed. The bulls also eat 2.5 bales of silage each week, to provide the animals with a fibre source in their diet.
The Dalys grow in the region of 8 acres of Maris Kestrel every year, and this year’s crop yielded in excess of 10t of Dry Matter (DM) per hectare. The crop was sown on June 2nd and received three bags of 18:6:12 fertiliser at sowing and a further two bags of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN) were applied after crop establishment.
The crop of Redstart has yielded 6.8t DM per acre and was sown on July 14th. A bunch of Hereford and Angus heifers are currently grazing this crop. It received three bags of 18:6:12 at sowing and was top dressed with two bags of CAN once the crop had established.
Teagasc’s Dr Padraig French was on hand to discuss the cost benefits of out–wintering cattle on kale compared to conventional housing systems. The Head of Livestock Systems at Teagasc Moorepark said it costs in excess of €100/head to provide winter accommodation for cattle. And farmers could potentially make savings by out–wintering cattle on forage crops such as kale over the winter months as is practised very successfully on the Daly’s farm.
A 10 t crop of Kale will cost about €70–80/t of Dry Matter, in terms of variable costs, and according to Germinal’s Dr Mary McEvoy this is the kind of performance all farmers should be looking for from a crop of kale. She explained that a 10 t crop over 1 hectare will carry 25 weanlings for 68 days, provided it is sown on time and with appropriate crop management.
Dr Emer Kennedy concluded the day with sound advice on utilising forage crops, appropriate supplementation, and best practise in terms of introducing stock to a crop. She recommended that farmers should bolus animals prior to grazing to deal with iodine deficiencies, ensure an appropriate fibre source and access to clean water.
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