Dumfries and Galloway: Optimising forage, feed and performance in your dairy herd

Join us for an on farm meeting with strategic dairy farm host, Gareth Owen, to identify how you can optimise the forage, feed and performance of your dairy herd by understanding what your cows require to produce the milk quality, yield and margin you wish to achieve.

“You cannot manage if you do not measure”

Gareth has been working with his vet Callum Cameron from Ark Vets and Alastair Macrae, University of Edinburgh, to sample his dairy herd and develop a plan for metabolic profile blood testing.

It is an important time to fully understand how to reach your maximum potential from your milk contract with rising fertiliser prices and concentrate prices.  Getting the balance right is key.  Jimmy Goldie, Carrs Billington, will also look at the nutritional requirement of this herd and how to ensure the balanced diet keeps the cows fit and healthy.

We will take an in depth look at the herds current performance and explore and identify realistic targets and discuss how these can be achieved.

The main topics will include:

• What the main objectives are for the herd
• Optimal nutritional requirements
• Balancing concentrate use to optimise forage