Latest Owl Farm Data


20/01/2020

Week ending 20-1-20 farm notes:

20-1-20 data

21-1-20 wedge

With only 5.6mm of rain since the rainfall event on the 20th Dec we are feeling fairly crisp at the farm. APC has dropped to 1897 kgDM/ha with a low growth rate of 15kgDM/ha/day.

The 3 in 2 milking routine and feed allocation has become a fairly easy routine now. Everyone is enjoying being away from the shed during the hottest parts of the day.  This combined with sprinklers on the yard, access to shade during the day, and access to water troughs in the races has helped alleviate the stress of the hot week we have had.

We have recorded daily highs of around 24-29◦C and around 11-15◦C at night.  This is well over the comfort zone for a cow at 4-20◦C. 

Feeding for the last week has been approx. 6kgDM grass, 5kgDM grass silage, 4kgDM crop and 2kgDM PKE total of 17kgDM allocated.

This week we will be starting to feed our one paddock of deferred grazing.  We are planning to offer the big herd of 240 cows 2.5kgDM per day (based on a 1800kgDM residual), 5kg grass silage, 4kg crop and 2kg PKE up to 4.5kg pasture = 18kgDM.

The smaller herd will receive the same total but with 7kgDM pasture.  The feed wedge is looking tight this week but we will maintain a 37 day round and the cows will receive whatever pasture is available in that area allocation with the aim to feed between 16-18kgDM total diet.

We have had 6 cull cows leave the farm and another 30 are booked for early and mid-Feb. We still have 3 weeks of turnip crop and another 2 weeks of kale crop based on current feeding levels.

We will hold the current feeding and milking system until we carryout PD and BCS.

Time saved in reduced milking is being used by feeding out and shifting cows throughout the day. 

On our farm walk we identified 2 paddocks and another 4 paddocks with small patches that have YBG that requires spraying.  After close inspection there were only a few seed head.  These paddocks will be grazed shortly and then sprayed after grazing with Dockstar.





Owl Farm Data Records 2017-18 Season







Milk Production - Week ending 16/12/2019 23/12/2019 30/12/2019 6/01/2020 13/01/2020 20/01/2020 Variance
Cow's in milk 404 402 401 401 401 395 -6
Springer herd/dry cows 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Number of cows in big herd 250 236 236 236 232 240 +8
Number of cows in small herd 150 158 158 158 158 150 -8
Number of cows in colostrum herd 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Number of Cows in the Treatment/Sick herd 4 8 7 7 11 5 -6
KgMS/cow/day (cows in the vat only) 1.56 1.58 1.62 1.64 1.39 1.45 +.06
KgMS/cow YTD 271.00 282.00 294.00 305.00 315.00 325.00 +10
Milk production for week ending (kgMS) 4414.70 4438.80 4543.00 4592.00 3914.80 4045.00 +130.2
Total milk production - YTD (kgMS) 109917.50 114356.30 118899.30 123491.30 127406.10 131451.10 +4045
Milk production per ha (kgMS/ha/day) 4.30 4.30 4.40 4.50 3.80 3.90 +.1
Total milk production per ha - YTD (kgMS/ha/YTD) 745.00 775.00 806.00 837.00 864.00 891.00 +27
Protein/Fat ratio 0.76 0.71 0.71 0.68 0.70 0.72 +.02
Bulk Milk SCC (SCC x 1000) 122 124 118 140 134 140 +6




Animal Health - Week ending 17/12/2019 23/12/2019 30/12/2019 6/01/2020 13/01/2020 20/01/2020 Variance
BCS (average whole herd) 4.40 4.40 4.40 4.30 4.30 4.30 -
BCS (average heifers) 4.60 4.60 4.50 4.40 4.40 4.40 -
Treatment/sick herd 4 8 7 7 11 5 -6
Lame cows - new cases 2 2 1 1 3 1 -2
Lame cows - YTD 120 122 123 124 127 128 +1
Mastitis - new cases 0 3 0 2 0 1 +1
Mastitis - YTD 32 35 35 37 37 38 +1
Number of cows on penicillin 0 3 1 6 2 2 -
Number of cows on penicillin YTD 56 59 60 66 68 70 +2
Culls - new cases 0 2 0 0 0 6 +6
Culls - YTD 12 14 14 14 14 20 +6
Deaths - new cases 0 0 1 0 0 0 -
Deaths - YTD 5 5 6 6 6 6 -




Pasture Production - Week ending 17/12/2019 23/12/2019 30/12/2019 6/01/2020 13/01/2020 20/01/2020 Variance
Average pasture cover (kgDM/ha) 2139 2144 2029 1943 2034 1897 -137
Average pasture growth rates (kgDM/day) 59 44 39 29 41 15 -26
Lowest post graze residual (kgDM/ha) 1400 1550 1450 1400 1400 1400 -
Highest pre graze cover (kgDM/ha) 2700 2900 2700 2700 2700 2550 -150
Average area grazed/day for milkers (ha) 6.30 5.16 6.20 4.80 3.77 3.70 -.07
Round length 22 26 22 28 36 37 +1
Total Biomass Measured (kgDM) )




Supplementary Use - Week ending 17/12/2019 23/12/2019 30/12/2019 6/01/2020 13/01/2020 20/01/2020 Variance
Average PKE (kg/cow/day) 2.00 3.00 1.20 1.80 0.20 2.00 +1.8
PKE YTD 40.40 48.80 52.20 57.30 57.80 63.30 +5.5
Average maize (kg/cow/day) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -
Maize YTD 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -
Average silage (kg/cow/day) 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 4.00 6.00 +2
Silage usage YTD 12.50 18.10 18.10 18.10 29.30 45.90 +16.6
Silage Harvested Tonnes (DM) 0.00 7.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -
Total Supplement Feed (per cow kgDM) 164.70 199.40 207.80 234.10 290.90 386.50 +95.6
Total Supplement YTD (Tonnes) 66.70 80.80 84.10 94.80 117.80 156.50 +38.7


Nitrogen and Gibberellic Acid - Week ending 23/12/2019 23/12/2019 30/12/2019 6/01/2020 13/01/2020 20/01/2020 Variance
kgN applied per ha/% of farm 0.00 KgN/ 0.00 % KgN/ % 0.00 KgN/ 0.00 % 0.00 KgN/ 0.00 % 0.00 KgN/ 0.00 % 0.00 KgN/ 0.00 % 0.00 %
kgN applied YTD (average kgN/ha) 102.00 102.00 102.00 102.00 102.00 -
GA applied (20gm/ha) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -
Effluent applied            
Effluent Applied y/n N N N N Y Y -
Paddocks effluent applied 2 3 +1
Application Depth (mm) 18.00 18.00 -




Climate - Week ending 17/12/2019 23/12/2019 30/12/2019 6/01/2020 13/01/2020 20/01/2020 Variance
Temperature (ave. °C) 18.10 16.15 18.60 18.90 16.28 19.58 +3.3
Rainfall 26.00 23.20 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.20 +5.2
Rainfall Season-to-Date 534.00 557.20 557.20 557.20 557.20 562.40 +5.2
Soil temperature (ave. °C at 10cm depth) 20.34 18.13 18.40 17.90 20.53 22.40 +1.87
Soil Moisture(% at 10cm depth) 27.70 32.33 26.30 23.50 22.82 24.96 +2.14

Extra/Correlation Graphs



















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