The very wet but generally warm conditions for the past month have resulted in further good pasture growth rates on the Stratford Demonstration Farm and a good feed situation going into the winter however early winter wet soil conditions are a concern.
The April rainfall was well above average as has been the May rainfall so far, with half the month still to come. April temperatures were also well above average despite the odd cold spell and this all resulted in April pasture growth being well above average at 51 kg DM/ha/day including some nitrogen fertiliser response.
Both herds on the farm were dried off in mid May as per feed budget calculation with moderate pasture covers but a high 445 kg DM/cow of supplements still available for the winter-early spring period. With milking to mid May a tighter winter round and high supplement feeding system is required which could be a bit challenging if the wet conditions continue however we have the advantage of having the covered stand-off pad to help.
Current management is for both herds to be on around a 120 day rotation to the end of May which will be the conclusion of the current High versus Low input system trial which has been operating for the past four seasons. The final decision on next season's operating system is still to be made. The plan is to compare the use of the covered stand-off wintering pad with non use with stocking rates and all other inputs the same.
Final production for the season was near 70000 kg milksolids and up 3% on last season. This equals around 385 kg ms/cow and 1085 kg ms/ha for the low input herd and 412 kg ms/cow and 1670 kg ms/ha for the high input herd. This is a good production response to the high stocked high input system but at the likely milk payout this season it will be unprofitable.
