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Her race is nearly ran! Its been a slog, especially of late but the average cow has still c. 500-700 litres more to give.
Milk price this year is poorer than last year but 500 ltrs at 40c a ltr is still worth €200 per cow or €20,000 for a 100 cow herd.
Ok, that’s not all margin, but if your cows are producing 14 ltrs, your margin over feed costs will be €1.22 if you’re cows are fully indoors on grass silage and €2.20 per day if you’re still feeding some grazed grass. That’s a margin after feed costs from €1700 to €3000 for a 100 cow herd for 14 days of milk.
Possible diets and margin over feed costs (0 BCS gain or loss):
| Grass + Silage | Silage Only | |||
| Grass (kg DM) | 6 | – | ||
| Silage intake (kg Fresh) | 25 | 50 | ||
| Parlour Feed (kg) | Margin Over Feed Costs €/Day | Parlour Feed (kg) | Margin Over Feed Costs €/Day | |
| 10 ltrs Milk Yield | 1.5 | €1.34 | 2.5 | €0.36 |
| 14 ltrs Milk Yield | 3.5 | €2.20 | 4.5 | €1.22 |
| 18 ltrs Milk Yield | 5.5 | €3.06 | 6.5 | €2.08 |
25 kg fresh grass = 1 round bale to 30 cows. *Allow for 0 BCS change, if your cows need to gain 0.25 BCS add 1kg of concentrates to the recommended rate. Grass UFL (DM)= 0.9, Silage UFL (DM) = 0.78 (70 DMD), Concentrates UFL = 0.95. Concentrate price = €370/Tn. Milk value 40c/ltr to reflect solids
If you need feed advice for late lactation feeding get in contact with your local Area Sales Manager Today!!!