High sugar grass boosts Maffra dairy farm production

Friday, 19 March 2010

Warragul Gazette - Farm World News
Maffra dairy farmers Tom and Helen Paton predict high sugar grass will enable them to lift their Friesian herd’s milk production by close to 30 percent.
“I would like to see the whole farm in Aberdart,” said Tom, who has Murray Goulburn Co-operative milk tanker dockets showing a 3 litre lift per cow per day (1.5L lift per milking) when the cows have grazed the AberHSG high sugar ryegrass.
So far 50 hectares, a third of the farm, have been sown in the perennial AberDart.
An initial 30ha was sown in AberDart in the spring of 2008 and with only that amount of high sugar pasture available their spring herd’s milk production lifted significantly to 9,500 litres of milk per cow per season.
Close to 20ha was sown at the start of this month (February 2010) and when ready for grazing, six weeks after sowing, then another 20ha will be taken out of the grazing round, cleared with a herbicide and directed drilled with AberDart seed.
“When you see their udders dripping milk on the way to the dairy, that’s a good sign,” said Tom (pictured with Helen and their daughter Taylor). He predicts the average milk yield will be close to 12,000 litres per cow when all 150 hectares are in AberDart pasture.
He believes the pasture improvement will enable him to add an extra 20 cows to their 380-cow herd that’s split for spring and autumn calving.
Helen, who milks the cows twice a day with a part-time milker, sees first-hand the effect and has observed the cows being more content and cleaner when in the dairy yard after grazing an AberDart break.
Being better fed, they were leaving behind much of their usual 3kg grain ration in the dairy bail-bins so it’s been cut back to 1 kg a cow when on AberDart – an immediate saving of more than $500 a day in grain and cereal costs.

“Costs keep going up so the best way to make money out of dairy cows is to grow a grass that feeds them properly. Then you’re not having to buy so much of the extras,” said Tom, who likes the fact that when there’s extra soluble carbohydrate in a grass their cows find it tastier, easier to consume and easier to digest.
Since taking ownership of the Maffra Sale Road farm in Central Gippsland almost six years ago, the fourth farm owned by Tom, the couple have worked hard at improvements that include a more efficient pivot irrigation system, re-contoured paddocks and extensive regrassing with different cultivars.
A ‘Milkcare’ milk quality ranking of 37th among Murray Goulburn suppliers is an indication of their progress and well-earned success. 
They found that under irrigation the AberDart ryegrass established quickly and its dense crown of tillers (leaf and stem growth) enables it to withstand hard grazing under big cows.
“The sooner you graze it the better because it grows quick here,” said Tom, who has not had to strip graze AberDart nor mow those paddocks in order to keep them fresh.
“When you see cows taking it down to the ground then you know you have a tasty grass.”
When the AberDart grows too dense for the cows to finish in one break, Tom simply brings a mob of dry cows in to clean it up.
He’s found AberDart will recover quickly between rounds and can have it grazed every 15 days while other cultivars are on a 16 to 20 day rotation. During spring it’s been grazed every 10 to 12 days.
He credits AberDart’s persistence to the density and depth of its roots. Despite the ground being softened by irrigation it won’t be pulled out by grazing cows, as can happen to other cultivars with shallower roots.
He’s confident the AberDart will continue growing well in the local climate, having already stood up to a second summer of high temperatures and the sub-zero temperatures of last May.
AberHSG high sugar grass seed is available in Warragul from Farm Depot Rural (Alan Whyte, 03 56240 240).