What is the benefit of a forage based dairy system ?

At the recent Irish Grassland Association dairy conference in Limerick it was refreshing to hear how Irish farmers are making healthy profits from dairying.  The message was simple; focus on producing milk from forage, maximising grass production and the utilisation of grazed grass through grazing management and minimising costs by reducing reliance on purchased feeds.

Without doubt grazed grass is the cheapest feed available to any livestock enterprise and the benefits of forage based dairy systems, which balance high milk output with the maximum use of forage have long been accepted.

These benefits of forage based dairy systems were reconfirmed again in a study conducted by Andersons based on a model farm scenario. 

The study compares the pros and cons of three of the UK's typical dairy feeding systems: 

- A concentrate based system, aiming to maximise milk yield (averaging 9,300L)

- A grazing based system, producing milk cheaply with lower yields (averaging 6,500L)

- A forage based system, looking to balance high milk output with the maximum use of forage (averaging 8,000L) 

The results show that, whilst the concentrate based model produced the highest yields, they are expensive to achieve with a cost of production of 28.6ppl (£3,988/ha) and, at current milk prices (and adding in BPS and ELS support payments) leave a negative business surplus of -0.9ppl (-£122/ha). 

Comparatively, the grazing based system – with less feed, labour, machinery, lower replacement and housing costs - had the lowest cost of production at 25.7ppl (£2,503) with a business surplus of 3.1ppl (£302/ha).

“The study did show that grazed grass is the most cost-effective way of feeding dairy cows, but also that each model has its benefits,” said Richard King Head of Business Research at the Andersons Centre. “Whilst variable and overhead costs are reduced for the grazing model, property depreciation charges increase due to investment in grazing infrastructure. Also, for reasons of farm size, layout, soil and climate, not all farms will be able to adopt an extreme grazing system.”  

The concentrate system, not only relies on expensive bought in feeds but is based on pushing yields, which can place extra demands on the cow, and brings higher veterinary, AI fees and replacement rates, also higher bedding and labour costs. “These increases in variable costs are not proportional to milk yield,” Mr King continues “which makes them more difficult to recover, especially given current milk prices.” 

The forage based model, which is still quite intensive but with good quality conserved forage substituted for concentrate feed, had a slightly lower milk yield but the lower cost of production (26.83ppl/ £3,220/ha) led to a business surplus of 1.1ppl (£126/ha).

The key is to grow good quality grass

The key to a successful forage based system is to grow good quality grass, which means treating grass just like an arable crop, by completing a nutrient management plan and ensuring all the crops nutrient requirements are met by balancing the use of slurries with appropriate fertilizer recommendations.

This approach was adopted by the winner of the Yara Grass Prix to achieve a grass value of £2,281/ha and these figures in turn were used in the Andersons forage based model.

Find out more about the Yara Grass Prix