Work Your Forage Budget

Profile Picture of Post's Author Jordan Hunt | Posted May 15, 2023

It’s the time of year where the question begins to surface, “Am I going to have enough corn silage to make it to harvest?” or “When do you think we will harvest 1st crop hay and will my existing inventory carry me to that point?” If you have a good forage budget and tracking method for feed-out, then these questions can be answered with ease. However, if your dairy team begins to squirm at the thought of these questions then we need to have a talk and get organized around your forage inventory.

Managing forage inventories is not the most riveting responsibility for a dairy owner or nutritionist quite frankly, but is extremely important! When done correctly, we maximize forage usage in the diets, control out of pocket cost and seamlessly facilitate future crop rotations. Let’s talk about each one of these individually to gain more perspective.

Maximizing forage in diets is a common goal for dairies and nutritionists alike, especially in the Midwest where we typically have adequate supplies. Feeding more forage in the diet can help support a healthier rumen and less metabolic issues. Healthy cows are happy cows! With a healthy and well-functioning rumen, we can also expect greater combined fat and protein output. But the key to making this happen is making high quality forages. If forage quality is poor, then making all this happen becomes much more difficult, so gear up for the harvest season to make the best feed yet!

Controlling out of pocket costs is a critical component to helping the dairy cash flow and be profitable, especially during lower milk price markets like we are currently enduring. In the monthly economic summary that our GPS teammate, Dr. Erin Mosley, conducts, we have seen an approximately $2.25/cow/day increase in nutrient cost over the last 3 years. For a 1,000 cow dairy, that’s a $821,250/year increase in feed costs! How do we effectively control these costs without compromising production, health, reproduction, etc.? Better leveraging your forage inventory and amount fed in the diet is a great place to start, as well as controlling your shrink. A 1,000-cow dairy puts up ~$1.5 million worth of forage annually so reducing shrink by 2% can mean saving the dairy $30,000. Tightening down on excessive weighbacks is another potential way to get back some of these feed costs – potentially saving $60,000 or more annually depending on the exact situation.

Crop rotations are vital for the sustainability of our land and making the best use of specific crops to improve soil organic matter. When forage inventories are managed precisely, you can accurately plan for your seed needs and manage your acres to ensure you hit your forage needs and do whatever else is needed on remaining acres. Seed is starting to go in the ground right now. Have you done a quick double check on your silage pile to ensure you are putting enough corn in the ground for silage? Or maybe you can dial it back a touch?

Having a good forage budget doesn’t need to be complicated and fortunately our GPS team has built resources to help your dairy better manage this aspect of your farm. Please reach out if you need some help and don’t wait because the cost of doing so is too great!

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