Last summer the challenge set to Matt Jenkin and Louise Woolacott from ForFarmers, was to increase both herd margin and milk from forage.
Maize silage is a key part of the diet and is fed all year round. On average, 115 acres are grown for the farm on both owned and rented ground.
The farm is not in the most favourable maize growing area being five miles from Land’s End but manage to get respectable yields at 15-16tFW/acre and importantly need a high quality feed to help produce the high quality milk to meet their contract.
James looks for early maturing varieties, as he does not want a late maturing crop. Then it is all about forage quality and he targets to produce a crop at around 35% dry matter and 35% starch.
The system is partial TMR with the outside feed based on M+16 litres and topped up with feed in the parlour. Last year milk from forage was 2560 litres per cow and the aim was to improve this.