Yara's Grass Prix Competition

Grass Prix 2015 - Final Results - Top Five

High quality grass is fundamental 

Growing high quality grass is fundamental to the profitability of winner David Murphy whose herd of 300 cows are housed all year round and fed using a zero grazing system buffer fed with high quality silage.

"Grass is everything," confirms Mr Murphy who works alongside his father Ian, "and ME is most important. Making up the difference for poor quality grass could mean feeding an extra 3kg of meal per cow per day, which over the whole herd would add up to an extra €8,820 per month in feed costs." 

Nutrient planning 

The importance of treating grass as an arable crop, by completing a nutrient management plan ensuring all nutrient requirements are met and balanced, is appreciated by all entering the Grass Prix. And for Mr Murphy ‘attention to detail’ starts with a programme of regular reseeding, soil testing, liming and nutrient planning with fertilizer applications (as shown below for the top 3 growers) balanced to satisfy nutrient requirements once slurry applications have taken place.

“Our focus on the farm has always been to achieve as much milk as possible from grass. Maximise the grass production and minimise the inputs from concentrates is the only way to maximise profit and minimise the exposure to milk price volatility.” “The Grass Prix competition has also reinforced my beliefs on making grass silage. There is no point having bulk if you haven’t got quality, quality is what puts litres in the bulk tank.” 

Fertilizer application rates

Return on investment 

Compared to buying in the same amount ME in compound feeds Mr Murphy’s winning total of 203,150 MJ/ha gives him a value of €3,193/ha, having spent €259 on fertilizer. 

• Winner produced 18.72 T DM/ha worth €3,193/ha 
• Top 3 averaged 17.19 T DM/ha worth €2,828 /ha 

Quality not quantity

A further point to emerge is that grass, like any other crop, benefits from the application of quality, NPK compound fertilizer – rather than quantity.

What is the value of Grass ?

It is generally accepted that home grown grass, whether it is grazed or conserved, is the cheapest available source of livestock feed. Yet there is only a limited acceptance of its true value in terms of either its feed value of protein and energy content or its financial value compared to other feed commodities.

The feed value of grass in terms of protein and energy content can easily be determined by laboratory analysis and when combined with the yield can give the energy and protein value per hectare.  Indeed this forms the basis of the Yara Grass Prix competition. 

Yara have developed a method to take this a stage further and calculate the financial value of grass.  This is based on equations originally published by AHDB Dairy for calculating the value of feed concentrates and calculates the value of grass compared to standard compound feeds. The standard 'reference' feeds used in the Grass Prix calculations are Vitagold and C*Traffordgold, £66/t and £78/t respectively, Source KW Trident 01 July 2015.

The Value of Grass - Cumulative Value

Based on the cumulative results these are the calculations of the value of the grass, compared to standard concentrate feeds which might otherwise be used to substitute for low silage yield or quality.

Influence of Quality on Value

These are the values of the first and second silage cuts based on the energy and protein contents, expressed on both a fresh and dry weight basis.

Grass Prix 2015 - First Cut Results

These are now the complete results from the first silage cuts.

Grass Prix 2015 - Second Cut Results

These are the full results from the second silage cuts.