Adaptive Forage Planning
Seasonal growing conditions in Victoria have always been highly variable.
In recent years, it appears to have been a more difficult environment for growing pastures and crops. In addition, stocking rates tend to be higher in response to the usual cost-price squeeze felt by businesses, requiring higher dry matter utilisation.
The gap between herd requirements and average pasture production potential has narrowed, with potentially more years not meeting herd requirements. This means that the variability of pasture growth is having a greater impact and it is timely to consider how we might respond to this variability.
In a forage planning sense, there are two broad approaches dairy farmers might take. One is to look at what might be done in relation to home grown forage (pastures and crops). The other is to explore feed purchasing strategies.
There are many elements to consider (cost of production, reliability, fit with system, etc). The DPI Adaptive Forage Planning project aims to help dairy farmers work through options and identify potential strategies.
Read more:
Perennial Ryegrass Variability
Looking at seasonal production of perennial ryegrass, the recent pattern seems to be for later autumn breaks, milder winters, earlier/shorter springs and longer hotter summers. As a result, cool season production is more important now than it has been and the warm- season feed gaps are larger. The impact of low irrigation water allocations is similar.
In many districts, perennial ryegrass does not persist as well as desired and less so in recent years consequently thinning within a few years. In this instance, options to improve growth potential could include renovating ryegrass pasture more regularly, moving to more persistent perennial species, introducing annuals into the system or a mix of these.
Managing seasonal variability
What might be some strategies for managing this variability?
The project has three strategies:
- Assisting farmers to adapt their feedbase management in response to signals in the operating environment - particularly climate information.
- Assisting farmers with forage planning to achieve the appropriate mix of home grown forage (pastures and crops)
- Assisting farmers in adopting prudent feed purchasing strategies.
Having a better understanding of seasonal variability and climate can help with decision making, combining this with other information such as input prices and personal experience. The project aims to improve access to some key information to help manage climate variability.
At a farm level, perhaps it is wise to begin with an estimation of the annual pasture consumption your feed plan relies on. Comparing this with growth potential under past seasonal conditions will give you a feel for how many years you might be exposed to a deficit if relying on ryegrass pasture.
Working with the existing perennial ryegrass base, there may be a need to make more of cool-season production, conserving more spring pasture to feed back. Getting more from the existing ryegrass pasture might involve strategic use of nitrogen to boost grazing yields or to increase the amount of conserved fodder to fill gaps at other times of year. Have you ever worked out how big the gaps are and how they differ between good, average and poor years? Given no two years are the same and seasons are now more variable and less predictable, is greater flexibility required?
Perhaps using turnout paddocks to better effect to provide feed for the milking platform might warrant consideration? With some extra management such as increasing soil fertility these blocks could be used much more efficiently.
Is it a good or bad idea to use alternative forages on the home farm or turnout block to help manage variability? Or do they create more variability with increased cost and risk?
Have you ever thought about the potential to make different supplement purchasing strategies?
The project is interested in working with cropping farmers, getting them to think about being a supplier of feed to meet dairy farmers requirements.
Being a producer of forage for dairy farmers has implications including the fit of the forage within the cropping business and its saleability. Dairy farmers require both moderate and high quality feeds. They are willing to pay more for high quality feeds. The demand generally reflects seasonal conditions. Some crops may fit in well with livestock requirements on a mixed farm or complement the cropping rotation, providing some flexibility and/or additional income. It may be desirable to manage variability in price and demand by entering into contracts with dairy farmers that share the risk.
These are all major decisions for farmers, and the way forward is by no means clear. Adaptive Forage Planning aims to provide a platform for exploring the way forward.
For more information, contact:
Greg O'Brien, DPI Ellinbank, phone: 03 5624 2222
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