Improved efficiency within Resilient Grazing Systems Dr. Brendan - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Improved efficiency within Resilient Grazing Systems

Moorepark2018

• Dr. Brendan Horan

Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre Teagasc, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork. web: http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/moorepark/ Follow us:

Presentation Overview

• The Global & Local Contexts for Irish Grazing Systems
• Resilient Grazing Systems Characteristics
• Further Improvements in Grazing Efficiency
• Conclusions

Is this the best time ever for Agriculture?

The world is changing..

Extended life expectancy Millions climbing out of poverty - emerging countries Rapid large scale urbanisation

Increasing capacity to produce food

As economies create wealth, consumption of animal protein increases & demand will grow faster than supply Widespread use of newer, high-yielding varieties/ breeds Precision Ag Technologies Farming systems as part of the supply chain

The Sustainable Intensification Challenge

produce more food with increaased efficiency based on feeds which are non- recoverable by humans and using fewer chemical/antibiotic interventions

Resilient grass-based production systems have many advantages

Only one Earth..

Climate change & inclement events – food security Limited non-renewable resources Local pollution, biodiversity loss, soil erosion Food and feed competition

The sustainable intensification challenge is to.. Increasing societal pressures, food security plus…

non-food products (climate change mitigation, natural resource conservation, agro-ecology, biodiversity, improved animal welfare, etc.)

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600

250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600

1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016

Dairy Cow Numbers ('000) Milk solids ('000 ton/year) Year

Milk Solids (kg) Dairy Cow Numbers

Year 2005 2010 2016 Average herd size (No. cows) 48 58 76

• No. cows in herds with > 100 cows

144,620 302,060 659,149

From the Global to the local - Trend in Dairy Cow Numbers & Milk Production

Trends in Milk Solids Production and Dairy Cow Numbers (1980-2017)

6

20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Milk price (€ cent/l) IRL EU

Volatile and Unpredictable Commodity Price Environment

Average – 28.60 cent/l

• Std. Dev – 3.70 (12%)

Average – 32.60 cent/l

• Std. Dev – 5.60 (17%)

Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Co-op price (c/litre) 34.6 23.7 31.1 36.0 33.1 40.5 39.8 Net profit (€/ha) 1,076 397 983 1,317 998 1,289 1,392 Gross output (€/kg milk solids) 5.59 4.07 4.89 5.71 5.45 6.13 5.90 Variable costs (€/kg milk solids) 2.00 1.85 1.84 2.22 2.27 2.59 2.19 Fixed costs (€/kg milk solids) 1.61 1.52 1.42 1.93 1.51 1.50 1.52 Total costs (€/kg milk solids) 3.60 3.37 3.26 4.15 3.78 4.09 3.71 Net profit (€/kg milk solids) 1.99 0.69 1.64 1.87 1.67 2.04 2.19 Dairy net profit (€/ha) 1,029 389 963 1,267 967 1,320 1,388 Other net profit (€/ha) 46 9 20 50 31

• 31

4 EU payments (€/ha) 511 505 508 496 481 450 430

The impact of milk price volatility is large

3 trends from dairy farm financial returns

• Net profit highly dependant on milk price: reduced by 50 - 70% at low milk prices
• Other enterprises contribute little to dairy farm profitability
• Declining importance of EU payments to overall farm economic performance

Ramsbottom et al. (2018)

Strategy for Resilient Farming

A farm system which provides a vehicle for enjoyable & sustainable farm business growth within a turbulent production environment

• Simple & labour efficient with minimal decision making interventions
• Comparatively insulated from milk price & climate instability
• Consistently meeting profitability expectations (profit/ha & costs/kg MS)
• Producing high quality product in an environmentally friendly manner

Biological Financial People

Animal management for grass-based systems

Alignment of Grass Supply & Animal Requirements

20 40 60 80 100 Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

kg DM / Hectare daily

Daily pasture growth rate Daily herd feed requirement

285+ DIM 20 40 60 80 100 Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

% of cows in the herd

Spring Summer Winter

CALVE

CONCEIVE DRIED-OFF

Compact calving, high fertility status dairy herd

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” – Leonardo da Vinci.

Improved System Implementation Required

NFS Ave. Target Herd EBI (€) 70 200 Calving Interval (days) 394 365 Six week calving rate (%) 58 90

• No. lactations/cow

3.1 >5.0 Replacement rate (%) 23 18 Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.0 2.9 Milk solids (kg/cow) 405 475 Milk solids (kg/ha) 825 1,380 Grass utilised (t DM/ha) 8.0 13.0 Net profit at 28 c/l (€/ha) 250 2,500 Performance gap between current average and best practice grazing systems underline necessity for improved system implementation

DM Production from PBI Dairy Farms 2017

Average 14.3 t DM/ha

Agronomy – Growing more higher quality feed

Soil fertility status & nutrient management planning

Currently only 11% of dairy soil samples are of satisfactory status

• S. Lawlor; Irish Dairy Industry Statistics, Teagasc 2014

Evolution of the EBI

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Relative emphasis

Milk Fertility Calving Beef Maintenance Health Management

Elite NatAv

Milk yield (kg) 5,613 5,818 Fat (%) 4.48 4.20 Protein (%) 3.72 3.54 Milk solids (kg) 459 451 Pregnancy rate first service (%) 60 46 6 week in-calf rate (%) 73 58 Final pregnancy rate – 12 wks (%) 92 81

Next Generation Genetics 2013-2016

O’Sullivan et al. (2018)

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Profit per lactation (€)

Year of birth

Genetic Trends

EBI Fertility Milk

(Berry, 2016)

Future Improvements in Grazing Systems

• 1. Maximise intake per animal and per hectare at grazing
• 2. Increase growth & quality and minimise variability
• 3. Further quantify impacts of grazing systems on animal

nutrition, product quality, the environment & animal welfare

How to increase intake at grazing?

Well managed grazed grass is a natural TMR But grazed grass is charaterised by a low intake rate due to the form and nature

• f the forage offered

As allowance is a key to intake, one idea is to increase grass allowance to boost intake

M A M J Jt A S O N D

UFL - Fr UFL - Irl PDI/UFL - Fr PDI/UFL - Irl

0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 UFL / kg DM 90 100 110 120 130 PDI / UFL

How to increase intake at grazing?

6 10 14 18 22

Grass allowance at ground level (kg DM/cow/day)

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 5 10 15 20 25 30

Grass allowance at 4 cm (kg DM/cow/day)

An increase of 1kg DM intake, requires 4kg DM more to be offered Postgrazing height and refusals are increased & regrowth quality and later animal performance is impacted

Finally, the higher the daily DM intake, the lower the per ha grass intake and grass utilisation is also reduced

Utilisation

(% of biomass at ground level)

30 40 50 60 70

• Increasing SR only profitable when grass utilisation (tonnes DM/ha) increases by

maximising grazing days per ha

• At SRs in excess of grass growth potential:
• animal performance declines rapidly due to increased silage supplementation

and reduced grazing season length

Appropriate Stocking Rate (SR)

Pasture grown, t t supplement DM/cow 10 12 14 16 0.00 1.5 2.0 2.3 2.6 0.25 1.7 2.1 2.4 2.8 0.50 1.8 2.2 2.5 3.0 0.75 1.9 2.3 2.7 3.1

• Optimum Stocking rate for Dairy Farms

Grazing Intensification in Context

Soussana & Lemaire (2014)

How to maximise intake at grazing?

Grazing… or the art of compromise

Increase stocking rate to improve grass utilisation per ha Produce swards which are easy to graze & max growth

 Leafy sward incorporating white clover  Improved management, age of regrowth, pre/postgrazing 9 to 12 cm 3.5 to 4 cm

Daily Pasture growth 2014-2016

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

Daily grass pasture (kg DM/ha per day) Month

Grass only Grass clover

12 kg DM/ha per day

1.5 t extra DM/ha

TO1 DO TC DC Pasture DM production (t DM/ha) 15.6 15.4 17.1 16.9

1TO = tetraploid only; DO = diploid only; TC = tetraploid + clover; DC = diploid + clover

Tetraploid Diploid Tetraploid + clover Diploid + clover Concentrate fed (kg DM/cow) 347 347 349 347 Silage fed (kg/cow) 345 319 394 421 Milk yield (kg/cow) 5,261 5,233 5,902 5,825 Fat (%) 4.63 4.63 4.59 4.62 Protein (%) 3.78 3.72 3.72 3.72 Milk solids (kg/cow) 441 435 489 484 Milk solids yield (kg/ha) 1,213 1,196 1,345 1,331

Milk Production Results 2014-2017

+ 49kg + 617kg + 133kg

Conclusions

• Grazing systems of animal production are uniquely well positioned to meet

the growing international demand for high quality foods

• The sustainable intensification of grass-based production systems is

possible based on a systemic approach to improve implementation

• incorporating financial, biological and societal targets
• highly productive grazed ryegrass white clover pastures
• Improved soil fertility
• High EBI animals
• Appropriate stocking rates and grazing practices

We wish to acknowledge Irish dairy farmer funding of this research

http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/moorepark brendan.horan@teagasc.ie