Driving performance from grass is both key and necessary to a profitable, sustainable farming future. Turnout brings an opportunity for farmers and their livestock, alleviating some of the pressures of housing; bedding and feed costs being key factors this year.
An extremely volatile raw material market highlights the need to concentrate on efficiencies, ensuring cow health is optimal to ultimately get the most out of any purchased feeds, and your grass!
Rumen health is one of the key areas when looking to optimise health and performance alongside vitamins and minerals.
There is a significant change to what the cow consumes when we turn them out; going from a largely “dry” and concentrated diet, to a “lush” grass-based diet, typically high in rapidly fermentable proteins and oil, which can cause implications to rumen health and cow performance if strategies are not in place.
We know the importance of minerals and vitamins which are involved in all the core functions of the body. A deficiency or toxic level of any mineral will compromise several metabolic functions and reduce performance from grazing. Magnesium deficiency is of course one that brings the highest alert around turnout and adequate supplementation through minerals or buckets should be supplied to reduce the risk of deficiency.
Mineral levels should be balanced based on the mineral requirements of the herd. If buffering rates have dropped through to summer, mineral supplementation may need to be increased to continue to meet requirements and ultimately, optimise performance whilst at grass.
For more information on supplementing magnesium this turnout, speak to your local NWF Sales Specialist, call our trading desk on 01829 797 125 or order online with Agri Express.
