Spring grazing management and silage are currently top of mind for dairy farmers and Dairy Australia has released two new resources to help in the decision-making process.
The resources Ryegrass – spring grazing management paddock guide and Quality pasture silage, Five easy steps offer simple and straight-forward guidance to assist farmers in making profitable daily and seasonal decisions.
Dairy Australia Feedbase and Animal Nutrition Program Development Manager, Cath Lescun, said at this time of year optimising the amount of pasture grown, eaten and conserved is key.
“With the milk price challenges farm businesses are facing at the moment, understanding the principles of grazing management are very important and impacts on annual dry matter production and pasture quality,” she said.
“Spring grazing management decisions also have a crucial impact on the amount and quality of pasture grown later in the season.”
The spring grazing guide covers ryegrass identification, identifying growth stage based on leaf appearance, pre and post grazing measures and tools to assist in using this information and getting a good balance between pasture and animal performance.
The silage guide complements the spring grazing management guide.
“We know that pasture silage is an important source of supplementary feed and that the better the silage quality the better the cow performance,” Ms Lescun said.
West Victorian dairy farmer, Harper Kilpatrick, said the guides were easy-to-read and contained important information for all farm staff to review at the start of the season.
Tasmanian-based AgCap dairy farm manager, Wolfie Wagner, said the guides were great for staff to have on the dashboard in the ute or in the dairy to refer to.