The importance of good nutrition

He connected with a farm adviser who emphasised the importance of herd nutrition, and it changed everything. “Once I understood how to feed them properly, everything changed. We got better in-calf rates and better production, and ultimately it comes down to animal health because happy, healthy cows produce milk.

“I’ve never seen a cow with animal health issues that still produces well and gets in-calf.”

He is milking 680 cows on 174 effective hectares, and the focus is paying off, seeing well over 600 kilograms of milk solids per cow.

“Making sure they’re full is important. We check them all the time, and if we’ve got it wrong, we just give them more.”

They feed 24kg per day, consisting of 18 to 19kg of grass topped up with a barley and palm kernel mix. He mows in front of the cows and catches up monthly with his adviser, Peter Vermaak, from Dairy Nutrition and Management Solutions.

Dairy Nutrition and Management Solutions focuses on improving efficiency and profitability in pasture-based systems. Michael appreciates that they discuss the actual performance of the animals, not just the budget and that supplementary feed is only utilised when it is actually required.

“When Peter comes out, he body-condition scores the cows and looks at a lot of different things, like the effluent, cud chews, milk

production and what they’re eating to make sure they’re getting fed the right amount of feed for what they should be producing so they’re not stripping condition.”

Trying the Dietary Cation-Anion Difference (DCAD diet)

And a game changer has been implementing a DCAD diet. “Peter got us onto a DCAD diet a few years ago, which is when we had the massive change in improving animal health and production, but following the plan is really important because we’re feeding calcium before they calve, and we’ve got to be careful to get the diet right, or they’ll tip over.”

Two weeks before calving, they feed some ionic salts to get their systems primed, and they feed calcium the whole way through. He has found that the production curve is flatter and holds for a lot longer with better feeding.

The 680-cow herd produces more than

600 kilograms of milksolids per cow.

Pelletised mineral supplements for accurate doses and fewer down cows

“We use Vitalise pellets from CP Lime, and the cows get all their calcium, magnesium and trace elements in there. We used to put the

minerals through the water, but the cows didn’t like it, but now they’re getting them in the pellets in the shed and drinking more water, which I think is helping too.”

He has seen a big reduction in down cows, with only a few cows having problems in the past few seasons.

The pellets also mean there is no need to dust the paddocks. “With the pellets, we know what they’re getting every day in the shed; it’s

reliable, and we know it works well.” And it is all paying off with a high six-week in-calf rate of 72%.

Well-fed, efficient cows

With the wellbeing of his herd in mind and analysing the economics, as well as being conscious of reducing their environmental impact, he has built wintering barns this year. The aim is to have the most efficient cows possible.

But ultimately, no matter what the system is, he has the evidence that the key is feeding the cows right. “Well-fed cows are the key,

they need to be fed to get to their potential and to be healthy, and we’re doing that by utilising our pasture as much as possible and topping up when needed.”