Keeping grass in the diet during drought

Piers Badnell, consultant at Pasture to Profit, shares his advice on keeping grass in the diet during drought conditions.

This year’s dry weather is not dissimilar to 2022, but this year we have had a very dry spring to start things off.

For weeks, I have seen clients and discussion group members with average covers and growth so low that it has not been worth grass measuring and reporting.

Those who have measured are quoting average covers below 2,000 kg DM/ha, with some as low as 1,600–1,700 kg DM/ha.

This has been the case with some Forage For Knowledge (FFK) farms, so the average given may not be true if you were to include the very low growth from those that have abandoned the plate meter.

However, across other regions, some have managed to maintain grass in the diet. While not fully grass-fed, they still have reasonable amounts of grass along with healthy average covers.

There are paddocks that remain green while neighbouring farms are brown. So how is this possible?

Grass utilisation drives profit, with a clear link between cost of production and profit. Keeping grass in the diet pays, as supplementary feeding incurs labour and machinery costs. We still need to fully feed cows, but the more they can do themselves, the better.

My fellow consultant, Sean Chubb, once managed a drought in New Zealand that lasted the equivalent of March to November.

There does come a point when moisture fully runs out and average covers crash, but the longer we can keep grass in the diet, the more we reduce the impact of no rain.

Earlier this week, I spoke with Anthony Mitchell, the herd manager at Wolfhall Farm, an AHDB Strategic Dairy Farm in Wiltshire, to see how he has been coping in the dry weather.

• In the minority of areas with enough rain this season, now is the time to start building covers for your last round. Sort out any poorer residuals first to ensure quality growth for the last round of grazing
• In areas with some moisture but not enough growth to build, protect your average cover. When we get some rain and growth exceeds demandm build what you can. Always back-fence to protect regrowth
• Heifers and dry cows will do well on a straw or hay-based diet, with concentrate and mineral supplementation
• If you have not already, do a feed budget. Are you short? What are you going to do? Forage prices are rising, do the sums on p/MJ ME and p/crude protein %. Products like palm kernel stack up well against buying forage if your milk contract allows it
• Finally, after the feed budget, look at your financial budgets. Do they need amending?