Grow pasture, not costs

Aim to grow as much pasture as possible whilst keeping costs under control this month.

The use of Nitrogen and Gibberellic acid increased growth rates and when combined with good grazing management can increase available pasture to cows, however this comes at a cost that needs to be calculated.

If you have not sprayed your broad leaf weeds do so at the first opportunity to have denser, better producing pasture for the rest of the year.

Consider aiming for higher covers of pasture if you will have an increasing feed demand from calving cows through August and into September.

More cover now will give you more management options if wet conditions occur.

Calves/heifers

Calf losses are very expensive. Having a good planned system for calf rearing is very important, to avoid the following may be useful;

Prevent disease by ensuring that all calves receive good quality colostrum.

Disinfect calf pens on a regular basis, including rails and bedding.

Ensure calves have a good supply of good quality water, fibre and pellets.

Ensure you have a good supply of drugs, vaccinations and drenches for calves on hand.

Develop an easy to follow and affordable program that works for heifer rearing including dehorning, vaccinations, drenching and feeding for well developed, healthy heifers that will stay in the herd for a long time.

Cows

Deaths of cows or losses of production is very expensive and can be avoided by:

Planning your transition feeding to minimise the risk of metabolic disorders in fresh or calving cows.

Having a plan for action when cows present with difficult calvings or metabolic disorder.

Making sure your calving area is clean enough for cows to calve without excessive contamination of teats to better avoid mastitis.

Preventing nitrate poisoning when grazing ryegrass pasturescontaining capeweed or marshmallow by avoiding grazing within 21 days of nitrogen application and by including other low risk feeds in the diet before grazing these pastures.

Making time to watch your cows walking on laneways to check for sore feet. If poor track surfaces are causing lameness and foot problems, consider adding sawdust, woodchips, even hay (e.g. at the lead in/lead out from the dairy shed).

The use of foot mats on the walk in to the dairy in conjunction with copper sulphate can be an effective solution to foot soreness in cows.

People

Plan time for management that improves your attention to detail on critical issues such as grain crushing and feed rates of grain and mineral additives or any other critical issues that can result in big losses if they are not done well.

If using staff, plan rosters to ensure you can get through the spring calving and harvest without them being too exhausted to pay attention to detail or to overwork people.

Dairy shed and machinery

When the cows are dry or you have a reduced number of milkers, take the opportunity to carry out your annual shed maintenance tasks, e.g. check milking machine function and replace rubberware.

Carry out preventative maintenance on fixed and mobile plant.

Business

If you have not done it yet, do an annual budget to help identify areas of the business that could be changed to lower your cost of production given the lower milk prices the industry is currently experiencing.

Prepare cash flow budgets using the announced opening milk prices to see what your financial position will be for the year.

Consider assessing your business’ performance, using a budgeting program and an experienced advisor to assist with interpreting the numbers and plans for the future.

Understand your cost of production and the physical things in the business you need to do very well to get the best financial results.