dairy

Bijeenkomst: EGF2015
Auteur: Mantovi P., Dal Prà A., Pacchioli M.T. and Ligabue M.
ISBN: 978-9090-289-61-8
Jaar van uitgifte: 2015
Producttype: Paper
In the Po river valley, which represents the largest plain area of Northern Italy, the two main dairy farming systems are associated with cheese production: one for Grana Padano (GP) cheese using silage as the main forage source, and the other for Parmigiano-Reggiano (PR) cheese using hay, where silage fodders are banned to prevent Clostridium contamination and potential swelling defects in the cheese with the lengthy seasoning times. Maize silage is the mainstay forage base for fresh milk and GP cheese forage systems. Farm forage self-sufficiency is not always possible, mainly due to dry seasons and/or the practice of maize monoculture. In addition to the difficulties arising from low quantity production, problems of fodder safety (e.g. mycotoxins contamination of maize grain) and nutritional value occur. Regulations in force for PR production set the minimum level of dry matter intake from hay at 50% of dairy cows’ rations. Difficulties arise in optimizing nutritional values and dry-matter intake when poor quality forages are available. Research is ongoing to evaluate the optimal alfalfa-grass mix, investigating how to maximize forage nutritional value and digestibility. Moreover, both dairy farming systems are highly dependent on imported feedstuffs: soybean from overseas, maize and other starch grains. Ongoing research activities are seeking to establish whether maize or soybean can be partially replaced by other crops (e.g. sorghum, triticale, grains with high protein content, alfalfa and grain legumes).

Bijeenkomst: EGF2015
Auteur: Becker T.H., Blume L., Kayser M. and Isselstein J.
ISBN: 978-9090-289-61-8
Jaar van uitgifte: 2015
Producttype: Paper
Questionnaires are a frequently used instrument to analyse the productivity of farms. As surveys might include wrong or incorrect data, there is a need for validity testing. A validity test aims at generating an adjusted, reliable data-set with fewer outliers. Large data sets require an automated approach. We conducted a survey on 47 German dairy farms to evaluate the role of grassland in milk production. The farms are located all over Germany with a focus on Lower Saxony and Hesse. In a first step, we developed a generally applicable validity test for assessing the milk yield directly related to grassland. Several simple, directly measurable parameters were defined which correlate with important parameters with a high error rate. These relations were put into a formula and applied to the data set. We found that out of the 47 data sets three had to be excluded from further analysis because of large deviations from the defined confidence limits. The experience with the validity test did not only result in a more reliable data set, but helped to optimize the questionnaire for future surveys. The farms in this survey produced 4,916 l grassland-milk ha‑1.

Bijeenkomst: EGF2015
Auteur: Cornelissen J.M.R., De Haan M.H.A., Hin C.J.A., Zijerveld E.J.M. and Philipsen A.P.
ISBN: 978-9090-289-61-8
Jaar van uitgifte: 2015
Producttype: Paper
The Dutch dairy sector is leading in production efficiency with research and innovation achieving great improvements by focussing on the cow as the central production factor. Grass and soil, while also being essential production factors, have received much less attention. Recent developments mark a turning point for attention to grass production and grazing. While increased focus on grass production and grazing is generally considered as sustainable development, it is centred around the dimensions of people or planet; the profit dimension is under-represented. This paper builds the economic case for an increased focus on grass production and grazing by modelling the exploitable yield of grass production in the Netherlands. The current dry matter (DM) production is assessed at 6.0×106 Mg. The potential production is modelled at 9.3×106 Mg, thus leading to an exploitable net yield of 3.3×106 Mg. This is over 1.5 times the current grass production. Financially, the additional production implies a gain of 500 million euros when taking into account the market price for grass DM. When considering the feed value profits may rise to 750 million euros.

Bijeenkomst: EGF2015
Auteur: Verloop J. and Hilhorst J.
ISBN: 978-9090-289-61-8
Jaar van uitgifte: 2015
Producttype: Paper
Crop rotation in which grass and maize are alternated may contribute to efficient production of feeds for dairy production. However, in particular on dry sandy soils, proper transitions from the arable into the grassland phase and vice versa are crucial to control N leaching. From 1993 to 2010 we implemented four different systems on the experimental dairy farm De Marke on the basis of a grass-grass-grass-arablearable-arable rotation scheme. Each consecutive system was implemented to solve problems of the former system. This paper presents results on how various sources of information contributed to developments of crop rotation schemes on De Marke. Fodder beet was replaced by maize as first-year arable crop to avoid storage problems associated with fodder beet. This change tended to result in higher nitrate leaching to groundwater under first- and last-year arable crops. This was solved by leaving out N fertilization in the first-year maize. Smoothing the transition of arable land into new temporary grassland resulted in a more continuous presence of vegetation during winter. However, this had no clear effect on nitrate leaching to groundwater.

Bijeenkomst: EGF2015
Auteur: Galama P., Van Walsum P.E.V., Hack-ten Broeke M.J.D., Cormont A. and Roelsma J.
ISBN: 978-9090-289-61-8
Jaar van uitgifte: 2015
Producttype: Paper
A regional feed centre buys crops from grassland farmers and arable farmers. These crops can provide roughage or concentrates for dairy cows. It processes these fodders into balanced total mixed rations (TMR) and delivers them to dairy farmers. A feed centre makes it possible to optimize fodder production at the regional level rather than at the farm level. It also stimulates arable farmers to grow fodder, like they produce concentrates, for the dairy sector. Calculations of another exploratory study (Walsum et al., 2014) showed that optimization of fodder production at regional level reduces nutrient losses to surface water by 10-20%. The advantage of a regional feed centre for dairy farmers is that they can outsource the storage of fodder and feeding of the cows. On the other hand, the feed centres provide an additional service that costs money and give more traffic. The cost of a feed centre depends on its size and its distance to fodder farmers and dairy farmers. A large feed centre creates less overhead costs, but more traffic. Therefore a model calculation (Waterwijs) has been made for the region ‘The Peel’ in the Province Brabant. In this study arable farmers grow 60% of the concentrates requirement of the dairy cows. This model optimizes the number and locations of the feed centres by minimizing the total overhead costs of the feed centres and the total transport cost of fodder (roughage and concentrates) to the feed centre and of TMR to the dairy farmers. When 10% of the total number of 150,000 dairy farmers participate in ‘The Peel’ the optimum is two feed centres. In this optimal situation the total cost of the service of a feed centre and transport is € 2 per 100 kg milk.

Bijeenkomst: EGF2015
Auteur: Owen J.M.
ISBN: 978-9090-289-61-8
Jaar van uitgifte: 2015
Producttype: Paper
Wales has some of the most favourable climates for growing grass in the whole of the UK. It means grass can be grown very efficiently and it makes economic sense to optimise the use of that grass. Dairy farmer numbers in Wales have been falling since the 1960s, but there has been a more rapid decline in recent years. The main reason for this has been the downward pressure on milk price and an increase in the cost of production. It was interesting to see that with the 2013-2014 improvement in price the rate of decline slowed down. Wales has always received a lower milk price than areas in England that are closer to the higher density population areas, so making the most of grass to keep production costs down is clearly a priority. Milk from forage used to be a more common benchmark of performance and still has a very close correlation with profitability on forage based systems. The reason for the reduced interest in milk from forage as a performance indicator has been the increase in high input systems where milk from forage is not considered to be the right benchmark of performance. However, on grazing and high forage systems 4,000+ litres per cow of milk from forage is achievable.