Variations in forage

During 2022, forage quality and quantity has been a challenge for many growers across the UK. With the hot and dry summer, grass growth was limited, and many silage cuts were impacted.

In the north, there were fairly good quantities of forage cut, but the quality was variable, so livestock performance has been under par.

However, in the south and east, forage stocks have been poor due to the drier weather which has brought on challenges for farmers with supplementation.

This has had an impact on national milk production. It’s been suggested that earlier this year, milk production dropped by up to a million litres a day when compared to the same time last year. However, production levels have since exceeded expected levels due to cows being fed either more concentrate or farmers moving towards late season grazing in the south of the country to support production.

In the year ahead, farmers will likely have to carefully manage their forage stock levels to ensure there is a sufficient supply to maintain livestock performance.

High milk prices

In the last year, milk prices have risen substantially, but alongside this, feed prices and input prices have also risen significantly with agricultural inflation now at around 30%.

This means farmers need to focus on production efficiency and balancing milk from forage to make sure performance is optimised.

It’s thought that milk price may drop in the spring so this could bring additional challenges if input costs remain high. Feeding animals as efficiently as possible will therefore be critical.

Labour

Labour is another challenge for the sector. There is limited availability of skilled labour across the UK at every level.

In agriculture, while technology, such as robotic milking machines, is seen as a way to overcome labour issues, there is still a need for a skilled workforce to look after animals, maintain machinery and manage farm businesses.

With the cost-of-living crisis, this issue could become much more of a strain in the year ahead. For example, a lack of labour could stop large herds expanding further.

Farm efficiency will help farmers to deal with the impacts of labour shortages.

Fertiliser costs

This year, farmers have generally experienced a good growing season, even on farms where there have been cut backs on fertiliser use due to rising fertiliser prices.

However, as input costs continue to rise and with inflation high, many more producers may be forced to cut back on fertiliser. Instead, they may rely more heavily on slurry and natural soil nutrition

With this in mind, farmers need to be conscious that soil nutrient reserves aren’t depleted by cutting back on fertiliser. Regularly testing soil and ensuring the soil nutrient balance is maintained will help to protect soil health and ensure crops are supported through their development.

There may also be opportunity to take advantage of the new Slurry Infrastructure Grant to maximise the use of slurry and muck on farm.

Energy costs

Like many across the country, the cost of living has increased for farmers and energy costs are at an all-time high. Farms rely heavily on energy for looking after animals, milking, machinery maintenance, storage and biosecurity. It’s therefore difficult to reduce the need for energy on farms.

To deal with this, farmers should take advantage of any government energy grants where possible and look at alternative farm practices to reduce energy reliance.

Jimmy’s top tips for farming in 2023

Heading into 2023, Jimmy provides some top tips that all farmers should consider:

• Look at accurate use of inputs – this could help farmers to save on costs and optimise performance
• Minimise waste – whether this is feed, fertiliser or energy  
• Be careful with choosing the ‘cheaper’ option – sometimes the cheaper options don’t always deliver the desired results and may not help you to save on costs in the long run

For advice on managing your forage or inputs in the year ahead, speak to your local Carr’s Billington adviser.

With costs of production rising to levels never seen before, grass and forage are ever-increasingly the cornerstone to milk production profitability. Why? Because grass is one of our cheapest resources and one of the only variable costs that farmers can take true control of.

Even with milk prices higher than ever before, margins are tight. However, these milk prices may not be here to stay, so now is the time to put a lens on winter forage utilisation and spring grass growth to get a step ahead of 2023 market pressures.

Results of 2022 grass and forage monitoring

Quantity and quality of grass directly impacts the quantity and quality of milk, and so knowing the input is essential in influencing the outcome. By measuring inputs, we get the baseline understanding to prescribe cows with exactly what they need – no more and no less – to get the desired output with minimal waste.

Carr’s Billington analyses over 10,000 grass and forage samples annually to determine growth rates, dry matter levels, energy levels, crude protein levels and sugar levels.

Through NutriOpt, Carr’s Billington combines values in the field with values in the rumen – giving a full picture from the soil to the milk tank. 

Evaluating our 2022 grass and forage analysis data, we can deduce a huge farm-to-farm variation in all the important parameters. This variability affirms the importance of conducting analysis at farm level rather than taking the average as a guide.

Having said that, some key trends emerged through the growing season:  

• Energy value and digestibility declined; and
• Protein levels remained high.

The first of these trends affirms the importance of making the most of early season growth.

Making more of grass growth from spring 2023

Looking ahead to our next growing season, understanding and assuring the health of your soil – structurally and nutritionally – should be top on the list of priorities now through to early spring.

It is essential we analyse and optimise soil health now. The only other measure of soil health is grass growth, and once we see sub-optimal grass growth in early spring, it’s too late – we’ve missed the growth opportunity. This loss of opportunity can have a significant knock-on effect for the rest of the year.

It is now a legal requirement to analyse soil on a 5-year cycle in England, however we would recommend doing this on a 3-year cycle, or even more frequently where changes to management have occurred. For example, if you reduced or even removed the use of fertiliser in 2022, soil phosphate and potassium reserves may now be insufficient for the next growing season.

To make soil and grass management more precise and efficient, we now offer the RHIZA fully integrated digital field mapping service which works by identifying soil health status for guiding precision applications, monitoring performance, and managing sustainable performance.

Making more of grass grazing from Spring 2023

With prospects of decreasing milk prices being talked about, as well as more milk contracts stipulating that cows need to be outside for proportion of the year, good grass growth is going to be essential in 2023.

Here’s some top tips to get the most out of your next growing season.

1.  OPTIMISE FIELDS

As soon as you can access fields, carry out any maintenance work or groundwork. Repair any sub-optimal tracks and assure adequate water points. Reseed or overseed where sward productivity was low in 2022, ensuring soil health is optimised first as suggested already.

2.  TURNOUT EARLY

Aim to turn out early to keep control of grass quality in early season when growth is at its best. Having said that, cows on wet ground can cause significant and irrevocable damage to grass swards, so take care to only turnout as soon as the conditions are right. If you have extra silage left over, turn it over to next year or sell it rather than delaying turnout.

3.  MEASURE GROWTH

Get in the habit of using a plate meter to measure residuals when cows come in for milking each day. Closely monitor and adjust grazing allowances to avoid waste as quality declines from under-grazing, or sward damage and suboptimal intakes from over-grazing. We advise between 1500kg-1700kg, depending on productive capacity of the cows in milk.

4.  BUFFER ACCURATELY

Whether in-parlour or buffering, work towards supplementing grass, rather than substituting grass. Cow don’t know the price of milk or feed, but they do know the value of nutrients. Avoid feeding too much TMR as cows will prefer to eat that over the grass which would lead to waste in the field. Ensure you have the agility to quickly reformulate rations to follow changes in forage and grass.

Making the most of forage this winter

By optimising the rumen environment, we improve forage digestibility and boost the returns we see from homegrown grass silage.

If your herd performance is below what you might hope or expect, it might be worth considering alternative diets, additives, and supplements to improve rumen function.

With grass silage typically more fibrous and less digestible this year, we’re advising farmers to balance their diets with wheat-based compounds or blends, and to buffer cows’ rumens to optimise rumen function.

EVOLVE365 is our dairy rumen buffer designed to optimise pH and maintain fibre digestion, supporting year-round milk from grass and forage, and maximising the nutrient value of even sub-optimal quality forages. Containing a unique blend of three technologies to help increase milk production and quality, improve gut health and overall immunity, for enhanced productivity: Advanced rumen stabiliser – TechTonic, protected live yeast – ActiSaf and metabolic regulator – Capcin.

To book your soil analysis or to speak to a formulation specialist, please contact the Carr’s Billington Forage Line on 0800 023 4416.

The Billington Group

(“The Billington Group” or “The Group”)

26/10/2022

THE BILLINGTON GROUP COMPLETES PURCHASE OF CARR’S BILLINGTON AGRICULTURE LIMITED (CBAL) FROM CARR’S GROUP PLC

Not all fibre is the same

Digestibility is a key concept in determining the quality of a fibre source. In principle, the more digestible a fibre is, the more energy and to some extent nutrients, it provides to the horse. Pectin is a very digestible type of fibre and is found in higher levels in sugar beet whereas cellulose is a much less digestible type of fibre. High levels of lignin, an indigestible substance that gives a plant structure, significantly reduces the digestibility of a forage. The older and taller a plant gets, the more lignin is present which is why hay is less digestible than dried grass that has been harvested when the grass is young.

Digestibility of Fibre Spectrum:

ALFALFA	GRASS	STRAW
Provides a relatively high amount of energy but with very low levels of starch and sugar	Higher in sugar than alfalfa which helps to make it very palatable but not as suitable for those that need low sugar diets	Low in starch and sugar but low in energy too – ideal for good doers
High temperature dried so very clean – ideal for the performance horse or horses with RAO	High temperature dried so very clean – ideal for the performance horse or horses with RAO	Sun-dried so better suited to leisure horses
Naturally abundant in calcium – good for hooves and acts as a natural buffer to acidity in the gut.	Contains less calcium than alfalfa so not as good a buffer	Much lower levels of calcium and other minerals

Key things you should know about forage!

The term forage is generally used to describe the parts of plants that are above the ground that contain a significant proportion of fibre. The most common sources of forage for horses are grass, legumes such as alfalfa, and cereal straw. It is important to consider that forages are not just fibre, they contain other nutrients such as protein, minerals and sugar too. The climate in the UK means that it is necessary to use conserved forages at certain times of the year when availability of fresh forage is reduced. Forages may be harvested as young plants which tends to be the case for alfalfa in the UK as well as some grass or, they can be allowed to mature to create hay, haylage or even silage.

Why is forage so important?

Just about every article on feeding will include a mention of the importance of fibre for the horse and rightly so. The horse is an herbivore and therefore has a digestive system that functions best on an almost continuous supply of fibrous material. Some of the effects of too little fibre in the diet include:

• Increased acidity in the stomach – the saliva produced by chewing forage neutralizes acidity in the stomach.
• Gastric ulcers seem to be exacerbated by exercising on an empty stomach – a couple of handfuls of fibre before exercise can help to stop the acid splashing about and causing ulcers
• Colic – just as for humans, fibre in the diet helps to promote regular bowel movements which push gas and material through, and out of, the gut. Too little fibre can result in a build-up of gas or an impaction, neither of which are good news for the horse

Forage – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

There are two main criteria that determine the quality of a forage; its nutritional value and its cleanliness and the two don’t always go together. The first priority is that the forage is clean because it doesn’t matter how many nutrients it contains, if it’s dusty or mouldy it could result in respiratory issues.

What’s the difference between hay and haylage?

The principle of conserving forage is based on removing water or oxygen in order to stop the forage from moulding or decaying. When making hay, the water content is reduced to below 20% whereas haylage typically has a water content of between 40 and 50% which is not sufficiently dry enough to stabilize it and so it has to be wrapped to create an anaerobic (oxygen free) environment. There is a definite trend for so-called “haylages” to be drier and a more accurate name for them is “wrapped hay”. There is an important difference between haylage and a wrapped hay and that is that a wrapped hay won’t have undergone fermentation. This is evident from the analysis results where the sugar levels in wrapped hay are exactly what we expect from hay NOT a haylage. This also means that a wrapped hay is less acidic than a haylage.

Soak, steam or both?

Historically, soaking hay was done to improve its hygienic quality. The increase in availability of haylage (or wrapped hays) offered a less laborious alternative to soaking but as it is more digestible, it tends to do some horses and ponies too well. Steaming has become more practical too with the introduction of commercially produced steamers – gone are the days of pouring kettles of boiling water in a dustbin!

There have been several studies looking at the pros and cons of steaming. A recent study found sugars were only reduced by 3% in steamed hay compared to 34% in soaked hay so if you need to reduce sugar content in the hay, soaking is the most effective way to do this. However, submerging in water was found to increase the numbers of bacteria in the hay which may have repercussions for gut health. The researchers therefore advocated soaking first to reduce sugar content and then steam to deal with the microbial contamination.

 Busting Myths about Fibre

Unfortunately a lot of myths abound about different fibre sources. The following information should clarify some of the most common!

 Horses can’t digest fibre, can they?

Well not themselves no but they do have a population of microbes in their digestive tract that can, and the energy the microbes release from fibre is what the horse uses as fuel for work, maintenance or growth. The other key fact is that the horse’s digestive system is designed to slow the transit of fibre long enough for the microbes to break down the fibre and release the energy – if the horse’s gut was like ours, the bugs simply wouldn’t have time to do their work before the food passed through and out of the digestive system.

Sugar Beet contains sugar, right?  

Er, no it doesn’t, well not much anyway, not by the time it has become a feed for horses and other animals. The sugar has nearly all been taken out for use in human foods and what is left is a really fibrous pulp. The pulp itself is less than 5% sugar so less than half the simple sugars found in most hays. Some sugar beet pulp has molasses added to make it a little bit sweeter and more palatable but unmolassed sugar beet pulp is a really great source of highly digestible fibre with a low sugar content. The fact that it is so digestible means it is effective at promoting weight gain safely. As it is fed soaked it can be used in a dilute form to dampen feed and hide supplements for horses and ponies that require a low sugar diet.

Is alfalfa too rich for most horses?

Rich can mean different things to different people but if we take protein as a measure of richness, most alfalfa chaffs in the UK have a protein level of between 12 and 15%. This is comparable to a conditioning cube or competition mix. Most importantly a percentage of protein means nothing until it is considered in conjunction with how much is fed. 1 scoop of a 12% alfalfa chaff weighs around 400grams and so supplies 48 grams of protein which equates to between 6-8% of a 500kgs horse’s daily maintenance needs. Very few people feed more than a couple of scoops per day and so are only supplying around 12-16% of their horse’s total requirement – certainly not a case of being too rich for most horses! Confusion is often caused by the fact that alfalfa is used as a hay in the USA and Canada and so is fed in much, much greater quantities – maybe 10kgs a day. This fact is often missed when information is posted on the internet that relates to feeding this amount of alfalfa.

I can’t use that mix, it’s got oatfeed in and my horse is fizzy

Oatfeed often causes confusion especially when it’s included in feeds for horses in light work or those prone to laminitis. Oatfeed is the fibrous hull from around the grain and is removed when the grains are processed for use in human foods such as porridge. Oatfeed contains around 25% fibre so although it comes from a cereal plant, it’s not the grain itself and so is relatively low in starch at approximately 10-12%. It is supplied in a pelleted form and so can be used to dilute other ingredients in lower energy feeds.

 I can’t feed my horse straw – he’ll get colic

Some people are put off using straw as they believe it can cause impaction colic. This is a shame as straw can be a really useful feed ingredient – straw is high in fibre and has a very low calorie level compared to other forages as it contains higher proportions of indigestible components such as lignin. It is great for mixing with good quality hay or haylage to dilute the calories supplied to good doers especially in situations where it is hard to buy in separate forage such as on a livery yard where forage is provided as part of the livery arrangement. It is recommended to use around 30% straw in the mix with other forages.

Obviously, long length straw should be avoided for those with poor dentition but it can be soaked and/or steamed for those with respiratory health issues. The only downside to be aware of is that one study found that horses fed straw as the sole or predominant forage source were more likely to have gastric ulcers. In the UK, straw is rarely fed as the sole or predominant forage source fed to horses so it is not something many people need to be concerned about.

Vaccination is a common means of preventing lameness caused by infectious disease, however with a potential Footvax® supply issue looming in 2022, sheep farmers are being advised to look at alternative methods of managing lameness.

Routine foot-trimming to help control lameness and promote better mobility is a common but incorrect management strategy. This can actually spread bacteria and exacerbate lameness prevalence within flocks.

This is also true of foot bathing unless it is carried out correctly. Gathering sheep for foot bathing alone can actually increases the risk of infection.

Foot bathing sheep should be integrated into part of a routine and thought of as a method of disinfection, rather than a stand-alone preventative operation. For example, after sheep have been gathered in a confined area following shearing or scanning.

How to achieve an effective foot-bathing protocol

For foot bathing to be effective, first and foremost it needs to be quick, easy and effective for busy operators to carry out.

If using a 10 percent zinc sulphate solution to manage footrot, sheep need to stand in the product for up to 30 minutes for it to be effective. In reality, simply walking-through a standing product is very ineffective and actually a money waster.

POWER HOOF™ – the latest hoof health range from Carr’s Billington – includes a footbath solution that offers highly effective infection prevention at a lower dosage.

We recommend sheep walk through slowly and calmly for 3-4 steps, then standing on a hard, clean and dry surface for approximately 20-30 minutes prior to being turned out onto pasture. For more effective prevention, hooves should be as dry and as clean as possible before walking through the foot bath.

One footbath of POWER HOOF will accommodate up to 1000 sheep, dependant on cleanliness.

When direct drilling grass seed, remember to check soil compaction first. Consider subsoiling if compaction levels are deeper than 23cm and aerating if levels are between 7-12cm to prevent root growth from being impeded. Click here for a soil structure scoring guide to assess soil compaction.

Don’t forget, if you need advice on which grass seed drilling machinery to use you can speak to one of our machinery specialists.
Find your nearest depot here.

Top feeding tips:

• Slower digested starch sources including rolled oats, barley and maize products and quality digestible fibre sources, such as sugar beet pulp, aid development and provide energy without digestive upsets
• Adding linseed into the diet can improve coat shine
• Biotin and zinc can also help enhance skin, hair and hoof quality
• Consider using a live yeast, such as Actisaf®, to help stabilise the rumen pH, maximising feed utilisation and efficient digestion

Top clipping tips:

• Clipping the shoulder tighter and leaving a longer top line will help heifers look more feminine
• Start with the tail, then move to the chest, brisket and navel, sheath, top of the neck and onto the forarm/shoulder. After this move onto the belly/side wall before focussing on the back legs, hind quarters and upper hip. Finish with the top line and top of the tail followed by the head and neck
• Lubricate the clipper blade around every 30 seconds to keep them sharper for longer and prevent them overheating

Below is a handy checklist of show cattle supplies to help you get show ready:

• Shampoo
• Clippers
• Blade lubricant
• Blow dryer
• Brushes and combs
• White coat
• Feeders and waters
• Halters, lead ropes and sticks
• Feed and supplements
• Hair products including hair, white, black and final mist sprays
• Suitable livestock handling footwear