LINCOLN UNIVERSITY DAIRY FARM, NOW A
CROPPING FARM?
Adrian Van Bysterveldt
DEXCEL DEVELOPER & PART OF LUDF FARM MANAGEMENT TEAM
Introduction
Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF) is achieving excellent levels of profitability through
growing large amounts of high quality grass and harvesting this to produce over 1700 MS/ha and 425
kgs MS/cow. Managing pastures is the most important activity on a dairy farm. The cows are your
clients and you have to supply them with the ideal crop of grass (quantity and quality) to graze on
every day, particularly in the first half of the season.
Two facts
1. Pasture eaten is the greatest driver of farm profitability
2. Well managed pasture is the ideal food for cows to achieve high production.
Six strategies
1. Correct stocking rate.
2. Clean out pastures in the autumn
3. Have a target Average Pasture Cover (APC) at drying off.
4. Have a target APC and feed wedge shape at Planned Start of Calving (PSC)
5. Allocate feed in the spring – Spring Rotation Plan
6. Measure APC every week – plate every paddock for an A+ result or ride through every paddock
to rank them and just plate the longest and the one just grazed for a B+
7. Identify and remove surplus feed early.
Two results
1. High-energy intakes for the cows all year.
2. More $ for less effort
Why?
Pasture eaten is a key driver of farm profitability (Profit Watch 2003). Eat more ⇒ make more
$.
Axe s (Ctr l+z )
Profit W atch:
Input - Output Graph
$5.20
3000
2500
y = 0.1828x - 1064.6
2
Economic Farm Surplus $/Ha
R = 0.3616
2000
1500
1000
500
0
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
-500
-1000
Annual Pasture Req'ts dm/ha
Meeting our customers’ needs
Table 1: Target pasture to deliver to the cows
Amount
18 plus Kgs DM/cow at peak
Energy level
12 ME plus
Fibre (%NDF)
Between 35 and 40%
Dry Matter
Above 15%
Protein
Between 20 and 28%
Refer to “Is Past Enough?” Wybe Kuperus at SIDE 2002
18000
Can it be done?
L U D F P r e G r a z in g P a s tu r e M E
B r o n s y n /Im p a c t/c lo v e r
13
1 2 .5
MJME
12
1 1 .5
11
1 0 .5
0 3 /0 4
0 4 /0 5
10
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
O ct
N ov
D ec
Jan
Feb
M ar
Apr
M ay
LUDF %NDF & % DM
50.0
45.0
40.0
%
35.0
30.0
03/04 NDF
04/05 NDF
03/04 DM
04/05 DM
25.0
20.0
15.0
10.0
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Graze to rem ove 3 to 4 leaves
LU D F P re-grazing % P rotien
LUDF grazing
Grazepolicy
to rem ove seed heads early
30.0
25.0
20.0
15.0
Residual
10.0
03/04
04/05
5.0
0.0
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
O ct
N ov
D ec
Jan
Feb
M ar
A pr
M ay
Step 1
Allow pasture to grow until the fourth leaf has appeared. This allows the crown and roots to
top up their reserves to start the next cycle of growth after grazing.
Step 2
Graze to 7 compressed half centimetres on the Rising Plate meter. This results in most of the
new growth being harvested and few old leaves remaining to accumulate as dead matter at the base of
the sward. Grazing at this height also means that most of the developing seed heads are eaten while
they are still very digestible and before they appear. New daughter tiller development and clover
growth are also encouraged by this practice.
The strategy is to leave the paddock after grazing all set up to grow another ideal grass crop.
Get the stocking rate correctly
•
Match cows/ha to total annual feed inputs CSR (Comparative Stocking Rate)
Table 2: LUDF 2003/2004 season CSR
Total pasture grown (from plate meter readings)
Additional Supplements fed on Milking platform
Winter grazing
Total feed
Kgs Live weight per Ha
CSR (target range is between 80 and 90)
•
18.5 t/ha
1.15 t/ha
2.6 t/ha
22.25 t/ha
1960
88
Match cow intake demand to pasture availability for as long as you can
LUDF Pasture Growth
90.0
80.0
70.0
kgs DM/ha/day
60.0
Peak intake demand
50.0
40.0
30.0
3 yr average
20.0
10.0
0.0
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
LUDF planned start of calving is 1 August. A key part of the strategy is to have flexible winter
grazing arrangements. If there is sufficient cover, cows can be brought back to the milking platform
to calve. In most cases the cows are calved on an adjacent runoff. Supplements are fed out in the
autumn to extend lactation. Many farm system trials have shown this to give the greatest economic
return for supplements.
LUDF APC and feed wedge at drying off and calving
The main challenge between drying off and calving is not only to lift the APC to the target
calculated by the feed budget, but also to change the shape of the feed wedge so that there is a smooth
progression of cover from the longest paddock down to the one that has just been grazed. When we
have achieved this, the longest paddocks have enough pasture cover to feed the newly arrived cows on
a small area. Having a wedge right down to paddocks that have just been grazed means that we will
have excellent pasture cover all through the spring.
Spring rotation plan
(See ‘Making a Spring Feed Plan Work’, Session 3, Side 05)
It is vital to have both a plan for area to graze each day and a target pasture cover graph.
Lincoln Area Grazed 2004
8.0
Hectares Grazed
7.0
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
3-
26
-S
-S
ep
ep
ep
ug
ug
ct
O
19
-S
-A
-A
ug
p
Se
12
5-
29
22
-A
g
Au
g
Au
15
8-
1-
Feed Cover Target
2600
Kg DM/ha
2500
2400
2300
2200
2100
2000
1900
1800
4
00
/2
10
04
3/
20
9/
/0
04
26
20
9/
/0
04
19
20
9/
/0
4
12
00
/2
09 04
5/
20
8/
/0
04
29
20
8/
/0
04
22
20
8/
/0
4
15
00
/2
08
4
8/
00
/2
08
1/
APC will rise for the first two weeks as cow numbers are building. The 1900 target cover on 7
October is very helpful to stay in control of pasture quality through the second and third round of
grazing.
Lincoln Actual & Budget APC Spring
Actual 2003
Budget 2003
Kg DM/ha
2600
2400
2200
2000
1800
ct
-O
13 ct
O
6- ep
-S
29 ep
-S
22 ep
-S
15 p
Se
8- p
Se
1- ug
-A
25 ug
-A
18 ug
-A
11 g
Au
4- ul
-J
28 ul
-J
21
On LUDF, applying the Spring Rotation Plan is complex because the cows are coming back to
the milking platform in small groups most days. Sticking to the area allocation plan is not enough.
APC must be measured every week. If APC is above the budget, the planned daily allocated continues
as per the plan. If APC is below the budget line (e.g. 8 Sept) the area allocated is not increased until
actual pasture cover again matches the budget. The best quality grass silage (12 ME) was fed to the
cows to keep intakes stable. Once the target cover has again been reached the area allocated
continues as per the plan.
The key is to do a farm walk every week and plate every paddock.
The feed wedge
This is a graph of the cover on the farm. Each paddock as measured every week – plate every
paddock for an A+ result or ride through every paddock to rank them and just plate the longest and the
one just grazed for a B+ .
Farm Feed Wedge - Week Starting
13-Dec-04
Height
25
20
Height
15
10
5
0
Height
S-8
N-10
S-4
N-9
S-2
N-6
S-9
N-3
N-8
17.9
16.8
16.1 15.56 15.5
S-5
15.4
15.4
13.1
12.3
12.2 12.14 11.13 10.75 10.48 10.28
N-7
S-1
S-6-2 S-7-2 S-11
S-10
N-2
N-5
N-11
N-1
N-4
S-3
9.8
9.47
9.15
9.15
8.2
8.1
7
Paddock
If pasture growth matches demand i.e. 72 kgs DM/day then the feed wedge next week would
look very similar. If pasture growth exceeds this, then in four days’ time paddock N9 would be
expected to have a pre-grazing cover in excess of the target, and paddocks S2 and N6 would have
covers that are even higher. Average pasture growth for December is over 75 kgs DM/day and so the
expectation would be that in one week’s time there would be a surplus. Plans should be made to
make up to two paddocks into silage. The grass crop should be cut down at the same level as the
cows are grazing at. The advantage of making it immediately is that the paddocks will be ready with
another ideal grass crop in 18 to 22 days’ time.
Two results
High energy intakes for the cows all year because pasture quality remains high
Metabolisable Energy
Maximum DM intake
Daily Energy Intake
Lax Grazing
11
15 kgs
165 ME
Grazing down to 7 “clicks”
12.5
18 kgs
225 ME
With lax grazing cows may appear fully fed because they are leaving lots of pasture behind,
however there are at least three situations where these cows will have low energy intakes:
1. When % Dry Matter is below 14%. These cows will be consuming the maximum amount of wet
weight grass that they can but there is insufficient Dry Matter to meet energy needs.
2. When the pasture has low digestibility and so low ME i.e. below 11.
3. When pasture has a high % NDF i.e. above 40% when it is going to seed.
Cows cleaning out pastures to low residuals can have either:
1. High energy intakes, or
2. Low energy intakes.
The difference will not be obvious to the casual observer. Pasture disappearance and M.E have
to be measured. Energy intake is the real measure of a well-fed cow.
More $ for less effort
Cows /ha
Peak kgs MS/cow/day
Total kgs MS/cow
kgs MS as a % of Lwt
Cows wintered
Maximum cows milked
Cows wintered on farm
kgs N /ha
Supplements fed to 30 Nov
Total purchased feed fed to milkers
Silage made on the milking area
Area re-grassed
Pasture grown (measured by plate meter)
Comparative stocking rate
Financials at a $4 payout
Farm Working Expenses ($/kg MS)
Economic Farm Surplus ($/ha)
Return on Asset (cash only)
2002/03 Lax Grazing
3.75
1.9
380
77.5%
631
604
0
200
150 kgs DM/cow
550 kgs DM/cow
0
8 ha
18.2t
78 (6.6t DM/cow)
2003/04 Lower grazing
3.99
2.2
422
86%
660
644
0.8 /ha
200
39 kgs DM/cow
287 kgs DM/cow
98 kgs DM/cow
98
18.5t
88 (5.6t DM/cow)
$2.99
$1603
4.8%
$2.59
$2752
7.5%