At the MDF, paddock 2 is about to be grazed, rested from the previous grazing 28 days ago. The paddock has mixed species, the perennial ryegrass has minimal sign of seed heads, while the annual ryegrass, tall and short poa, prairie grass and meadow foxtail are all seeding.
2.6 leaves have regrown on the perennial ryegrass, which is an average appearance rate of 10.8 days. The ryegrass is thin leafed and pale green, while the urine patches are prominently dark green, and some tip burn is evident (a risk with foliar application of fertiliser).
Paddock 1 has been grazed quite hard with no need for topping, with the clumps grazed off well. Even the clumps around the trees, the water trough, and the stalkiest of taller clumps are grazed up close and the tops grazed off them. In between the clumps it was grazed to 4 cm. The clumpy patches will be better utilised at the next grazing, so good for them, but the short patches will not grow back as well as they could.
Very high utilisation of grass is occurring, but the milk per cow is lower than the same time last year (1.85 kg MS/cow/day compared to 2.17). One reason for the high grass utilisation is an early lactation herd looking for feed, but also the lower N application; cows prefer to eat low N content grass; they get used to high N grass but it is not their favourite. Also there is possibly less grass available due to lower fertiliser rates.
| FEED MARGIN PERFORMANCE | MDF TEN DAYS AGO | MDF THIS TEN DAYS | ANOTHER MID FARM | Units |
| Ten days to date: | 10-Oct-21 | 20-Oct-21 | 20-Oct-21 | |
| Milker graze area | 61 | 61 | 155 | Ha |
| Milkers | 250 | 275 | 760 | Head |
| Stocking rate | 4.1 | 4.5 | 4.9 | cows/ha |
| Average graze rest time | 30 | 30 | 35 | Days |
| Estm’d pasture consmp’n | 46 | 49 | 55 | kg DM/ha/day |
| Pasture consum’d per cow | 11.2 | 10.8 | 11.2 | kg DM/cow/day |
| Pasture growing spend | $2.12 | $2.12 | $2.53 | $/ha/day |
| Estm’d pasture price | $46 | $43 | $46 | $/T DM |
| Conc (incl additives)supp fed/cow | 5.9 | 5.9 | 7.2 | kg DM/cow/day |
| Conc (incl additives)supp avg price | $417 | $417 | $494 | $/T DM |
| Hay/silage supp fed/cow | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | kg DM/cow/day |
| Hay/silage supp price | $/T DM | |||
| Feed Conversion Efficiency | 116 | 111 | 117 | kg MS/tonne DM |
| Total feed intake/cow | 16.9 | 16.5 | 18.2 | kg DM/cow/day |
| NDF Fibre in diet | 30.9% | 31.4% | 30.1% | % NDF |
| Litres/cow | 27.3 | 25.9 | 30.2 | l/cow/day |
| Fat test | 3.89% | 3.80% | 3.72% | % |
| Protein test | 3.35% | 3.35% | 3.41% | % |
| Milk Solids per cow | 1.98 | 1.85 | 2.15 | kg/cow/day |
| Milk price (less levies)/kg MS | $6.39 | $6.40 | $6.42 | $/kg MS |
| Milk price (less levies)/litre | $0.46 | $0.46 | $0.46 | $ per litre |
| Milk income/cow | $12.64 | $11.85 | $13.82 | $/cow/day |
| All feed cost/cow | $2.95 | $2.91 | $4.07 | $/cow/day |
| Margin over all Feed/cow | $9.69 | $8.94 | $9.74 | $/cow/day |
| MOAF /ha /day | $39.71 | $40.29 | $47.77 | $/ha/day |
| Farm MOAF per DAY | $2,422 | $2,458 | $7,404 | $/day |
| Feed cost $/kg MS | $1.49 | $1.57 | $1.89 | $/ kg MS |
| Proportion of grazed grass in diet | 66% | 66% | 62% | % |