General
Dry mobs combined and following cows to tidy up residuals; 3rd group to be dried off on 8 May
R2's now back at the support block and split into Future and Standard groups. Being rotated around pasture paddocks with baleage as required
All winter and springer paddocks now out of rotation
8 paddocks have been aerated in the last week
Closing the gap on milk solids production deficit with more cows still in milk and producing on average 0.2 kg MS/cow/day more than the same time last season
Farm team to start trimming hooves of cows identified as needing a tidy up before winter Approximately 60 animals to treat
Starting to pull together winter mob details so they can be sorted before drying off - will be 5 mobs on swedes and 3 on grass and baleage
Standard herd
Maintain inshed feeding and offer PKE in trailers on the laneways; baleage likely to be required as well based on pre-graze covers
Rotation length now 25 days and not likely to lengthen again this season
Total feed allocation of 18.0 kg DM/cow/day
Average pasture cover now on the target line but current demand is higher than budgeted with 45 more cows in milk than budgeted and fewer culls gone than planned
19 in milk surplus cows to go this week and remainder next week
15 cows identified for drying off this week
Future herd
Inshed feeding to be held at current rates
Total feed allocation of 18.0 kg DM/cow/day
APC currently 150kg DM above target and rotation length longer than 40 days this week
Investigating options to keep herd milking until the end of May but will be dependent on vet tech availability for drying off
If dry off date cannot be changed the Standard herd will be used to graze off a couple of paddocks in this farmlet to ensure dry off APC is achieved and the farmlet is set up well for next season
8 cows identified for drying off this week
Remaining empties to be sold in milk next week
