There is no doubt that 2024 has been a tough year for growing grass and producing milk. Many farmers are cutting their second cut silage this week, and should also assess whether a third cut is needed.
Poor weather conditions have resulted in many farmers struggling to grow enough grass to keep up with the demand of the cows, and this has had a knock-on effect on fodder supplies.
The majority of farmers have been feeding extra silage in cows’ diets to try and close the gap on cows’ intake demand, while trying to push the cow’s to peak milk production.
While that peak milk supply was never reached for many, bales and first cut silage were well eaten into, which has further hindered fodder supplies for the coming winter.
To top this off, many first cuts were cut in late May and poor growth rates followed, which saw many second cuts being slow to get going and has affected the overall yield of many silage crops.
So, with the possibility of a lighter than usual second-cut and first-cut fodder supplies already being reduced to maintain milk production, the possibility of a third-cut must be considered.
Even though growth rates have been somewhat better during the last number of weeks and many farmers are no longer feeding surplus silage, a lot of the damage to fodder supplies has already been done.
Third cut
If a third cut is needed, farmers need to start determining how much of the silage ground is going to be needed to grow another crop of silage to avoid having a fodder deficit.
The reality is, that you may not need the same amount of area for third cut, however, you need to be preparing for a seven month winter.
Teagasc has advised that when you are completing a fodder budget on your farm to include a 20 – 25% buffer to take into account the possibility of a prolonged winter feeding period again this year.
The Teagasc winter fodder requirements have outlined that a dairy cow will need 1.75 bales/month, 0.90 bales/month for 0-1 year-olds and 1.35 bales/month for one to two-year-olds.
With these requirements, every opportunity should be taken to to harvest silage for the remainder of the year, with a possible third cut being targeted in September while taking any opportunity to take out paddocks for surplus bales.
It is important to not overestimate your second-cut silage potential yield and put a plan in place for a third-cut silage.
The amount of silage in the yard should be calculated once the second cut silage is fully brought in and covered, as it will allow you to assess how much more silage is needed.
To calculate the amount of silage in your yard, the calculation to measure the amount of tons of silage in the yard is length x width x height in meters divided by 1.4.
Ideally, a cut of silage in the autumn time should be done away from the milking platform as the autumn months should be used to start building up average farm cover (AFC).
Planning ahead is essential to ensuring enough winter fodder as we have to forecast for another long housing period and the last thing anyone wants is a fodder shortage at the end of the winter.
Second cut silage will have to be mowed as soon as possible to ensure a cut in the middle of September, while making sure you are cutting high quality silage.
The longer you leave it, the slimmer your chances are of achieving either of these.