This is a subscriber-only article
The Greenfield Farm stocking rate has been dropped by feeding more meal and now demand is set at 52kg/day.
This means that the farm needs to be getting a growth rate of 52 kg/day just to hold the farm cover where it is.
On Tuesday last week, the growth rate was measured at 59kg/day – slightly above demand. The herd is now on 6kg of meal on average, up from 3kg per cow/day. Farm cover is now at 543 (124kg/LU). There are two or three paddocks left with a cover of 1,200kg but then it’s back into lower covers.
Meal
The same meal is being fed. The last 16t load of GAIN Prime Graze Nut was delivered the other day at €304/t.
Protected nitrogen (Topper N Protect 38% N +7S) landed into the farm the other day. At €400/t, it is working out at €1.06 per kilo of nitrogen (€400/375kg N) if we exclude putting a value on the sulphur component.
Essentially this reduces the ammonia losses and maximises the use of ureic nitrogen, thereby reducing the overall carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions.
The last somatic cell count (SCC) was 220,000 cells/ml. The last two protein results came in at 3.66% and 3.62%. The last two fat tests this week were 4.38% and 4.35%.
In total, there are over 228,000 litres supplied to date in May (24 May). For May 2018, the total for the month was 170,000 litres.
SHARING OPTIONS: