General
Dry cows from both farmlets have been moved to the support block and will graze pasture surplus to R2 requirements until returning to the milking platform on the 29th May
R2's were teat sealed at the support block this week
Aerated paddocks all recorded negative growth rates this week but we expect them to bounce back over the next couple of weeks
Gap on season to date milk production is closing with more cows in milk and yield steady around 1.45 kg/cow/day since moving to 3n2 milking
Winter planning meeting held yesterday to confirm final plans and put processes in place given end of season changes in staff
Decision made to stay on 3n2 milking until the end of the season
Latest pasture DM results range from 16.3-18.2%
Standard herd
Increase inshed PKE to hold the rotation at 25 days or greater and feed baleage as required
Total feed allocation of 18.0 kg DM/cow/day
Average pasture cover just below target but dries now off the milking platform so demand has decreased
Last identified animals to go this week but still waiting on results of herd test pregnancy scan results
Will start shutting cows down with whole herd dry off scheduled for the 23rd May
Offer hay to reduce protein intake and increase the DM content of the diet over the next week
Lastest swede crop yields ranged from 10.9 to 15.5 T DM/ha with bulb DM% of 9-10%, leaf DM% of 9-11% and the leaf contributing 22% of the DM
Swede growth rate averaged 45 kg DM/ha/day since early April.
An additional row of baleage will be added to the paddock with the 10.9 T crop to make up the shortfall in crop yield.
Bales will be laid out in paddocks for all of June, with July paddocks being set up closer to the time of grazing
Future herd
No change to inshed feeding levels required
Total feed allocation of 18.0 kg DM/cow/day
APC just above feed budget target
Dry off date confirmed for the 27th May
All remaining animals to go this week
2 additional empty cows indicated from HT test pregnancy scan and have since been confirmed empty by the vet
