Fodder and cash flow will both be tight on Irish dairy farms this winter, and Teagasc has published a guide to the feed characteristics of the main forages and concentrates, energy as UFL, protein as crude protein and fibre as neutral detergent fibre, to help farmers buy winter feed with their eyes open.

Grazed grass remains the cornerstone of Irish dairying, high in energy and protein when grazed at the three-leaf stage, though its protein and fibre shift with growth stage. White clover swards offer better intake per kilogram of liveweight because their fibre is lower. Top-quality grass silage can match grazed grass on energy and protein, and red clover silage can lift intakes when well made; poorer silage belongs with dry cows and non-dairy stock.

Hay and straw are useful fibre but bring little energy or protein. Brewers grains, where available, offer high fibre, good protein and moderate energy, making them a way to stretch silage, but they spoil easily and need careful management. Fodder beet and potatoes are strong energy sources that are low in protein and fibre, so they must be balanced with minerals, concentrates and hay or straw.

Among concentrates, barley is the benchmark for energy but is low in fibre, so rations must be balanced; cereal rye, feed wheat and feed oats behave similarly in controlled amounts. Field beans are high in energy, starch and crude protein, and maize meal in energy. Soybean meal, high in both protein and energy, suits low-quality silage; rapeseed meal lifts low-protein diets.

In a year like this, the guide points to beet pulp, soya hulls and palm kernel as fodder stretchers: beet pulp is high in energy and fibre, soya hulls high in fibre with moderate energy and low protein, and palm kernel high in fibre and moderate in both protein and energy.

Reported by Cathal O'Shea for Agriland, from the Teagasc guide.

Source: Agriland