General
Dry cows will return from the support block this week for the Standard dries to start transitioning onto swedes with the rest of the herd early next week
Focusing on running the inshed feed silos as low as possible by dry off
Reassessing the fate of the 6 remaining discretionary culls to determine whether any get a reprieve this year
Standard herd
Removed grain from the inshed feeding, just feeding PKE
Started feeding hay and straw as part of the dry down process, reducing the amount of pasture in the diet ahead of drying off on the 23rd May.
Total feed allocation of 17.0 kg DM/cow/day
Average pasture cover has held this week so tracking well to end of season average pasture cover
25 T less supplementary feed required through autumn than budgeted
Four additional not in calf cows have been identified through milk testing and vet checking
Planning a followup meeting with the team next week to talk through crop wintering plans, including expectations around portable trough and back fence management
R2's still on grass and baleage at the support block and will stay there as long as possible given the lower than budgeted swede yields on the milking platform
Future herd
Removing PKE from inshed feeding and only feeding crushed grain to the end of season
Total feed allocation of 17.5 kg DM/cow/day
Will start the drying down process over the weekend ahead of dry off date on the 27th May when the cows will move onto their baleage wintering regime
APC has held this week so currently 100 kg DM/ha above the autumn feed budget target
7 T less supplementary feed required through autumn than budgeted
R2's moved onto their baleage winter feeding regime
