“Last year we had such a shortage of grass silage that we needed to feed much more maize than usual to stretch out the grass silage stocks. The knock-on effect of this was that we were getting through our maize stores far too quickly and were at risk of running out before the next maize harvest was ready to feed.”
After speaking to their ForFarmers account manager, Fred Power, the family made the decision to feed out a higher level of AmyPlus to help alleviate some of the pres-sure on forage stores.
Fred says: “The Coombes’ have used AmyPlus for a few years, so they knew it had the right nutri-tional profile to meet the demands of their cows. It is a palatable moist feed, high in energy and protein, and, when it was fed at higher than usual levels, it acted as a good stand-in for some maize in the ration.” Trish says: “Adding more to the diet allowed us to stretch out our grass and maize silage stores.”
In order to counteract dropping butterfat levels, the Coombes have also had to manage another more recent change to their herd’s diet. “Earlier this year, we noticed that milk butterfat levels had taken a significant drop, to around 3.64%,” says Trish. “We knew something needed to be done to remedy this and looked to change the cows’ diet.”
The decision was made to add FatBoost to the cows’ ration and that saw butterfat levels increase to 3.82% and 3.83% in the following two months. Fred and Trish talked about using C16, rumen protected fats, to try and resolve the butterfat issue, but felt FatBoost was a better option.
It is an amino acid-based product and works to improve milk butterfat levels by limiting the negative impact polyunsaturated fatty acids have on rumen bacteria, thereby allowing the rumen to work more effectively. Average butterfat levels currently stand at 3.76% and, most importantly for Trish, constituent levels are now where they need to be in order to avoid any financial penalties asso-ciated with their milk contract.
The family runs a closed herd with a strong emphasis on maintaining good cow health, and have adapted their cow management over the last few years to pay particular attention to reducing incidents of mastitis and lameness in their cows, as well as cutting antibiotic usage.