British Grassland Society, EBLEX and DairyCo seminars 2012
10.30am The economic value of utilising grassland Rob Mintern, Agrii Consultancy Services
Rob will show that by driving costs down while maximising herd health from a more efficient use of grazing the whole profitability of the business can be improved.
11.00 am Growing 12ME grass all year Piers Badnell, DairyCo Extension Officer
Understanding how ryegrass grows and grazing residuals to maximise the leaf to stalk ratio will grow 12ME grass consistently all year. Measuring swards to determine dry matter ensures that cows are not over or under fed, which is costly if this balance is not correct.
11.30 am Growing home-grown protein Paul Westaway, beef farmer, Gloucestershire
Lucerne is proving to be an excellent feed for heifers, bulls and finishing cattle, as well as being drought tolerant and producing four silage cuts a year with low nutrient requirements.
12 noon Grass can only do so much Liz Genever, EBLEX Beef and Sheep Scientist
By budgeting feed availability and knowing targets for animal performance, additional feed and forages can be considered to compliment grass. Liz will discuss the results of a project using Farmax, a New Zealand feed budgeting program being trialled in England.
1.00 pm Maximising milk from forage in high yielding cows James Major, herd manager for B & J M Homer, Wiltshire
James manages 210 Holstein cows calving all year round to yield 10,000 litres, with an emphasis on maximising milk from grazed grass and conserved forage.
1.30 pm Growing red clover in drought prone areas John Downes, Hon BGS President & dairy and beef farmer, Shropshire
John will discuss how low rainfall over the past two years has led to a move to growing red clover on the family's organic dairy and beef farm.
2.00 pm Maximising forage use in a grazing based or high output system Keith Davis, dairy farmer & DairyCo board member
Keith manages two profitable dairy farms operating differing systems, one is a high output fully housed system using robots and yielding 10,000 litres, the other an intensive grazing system yielding 5500 litres mainly from forage.
2.30 pm Grazing for heifers - getting it right Chris Coxon, DairyCo Extension Officer
Calving heifers at 2 years with little or no concentrate requires strategic use of grass to optimise intake and heifer performance, setting targets and stocking rates to make it work.
