Spring can be make or break. Growth surges, paddocks get away on you, and before you know it, surplus feed turns into wasted opportunity. But manage it well, and you’re looking at better pasture quality and more milk in the vat.
Aimer Farming Founder and CTO Dr Jeremy Bryant, and Technical Specialist Taylor Hill share how to stay ahead of the curve this spring.
Once pasture growth starts climbing – say from 50-80 kg DM/ha/day in a matter of days, surpluses can sneak up on you. Without prompt action, things can quickly get out of hand.
Once pre-graze covers rise above 3,400kg DM/ha, plant shading starts, and dead matter builds up in the base of the sward. At the same time, postgraze residuals can drift from the target 1,600kg DM/ha up to 1,800kg DM/ha or more. That’s when cows start leaving behind more pasture and don’t want to graze it down next round either.
The result? You’re looking at declining pasture quality, lower energy in the diet, higher fibre, wasted feed, and ultimately lower milk solids per cow and per farm.
Catch surpluses early and manage decisively
That starts with regular pasture walks – even partial farm covers are better than none. Then it’s about analysing your feed wedge and taking swift, tactical action. Often, the best move is to pull out a few paddocks for silage. It gets the round back on track and cleans things up for later in the season.
Deciding on how many paddocks to cut is a balancing act between surplus control and maintaining consistent production. That’s where digital tools like AIMER can help you take out the guesswork and save you time. AIMER is an AI-powered smartphone pasture measurement, decision support and operating system.
We recently tested options for how many paddocks to pull from the rotation in a real-world scenario where pasture growth was at 80kg DM/ha/day and pre-graze covers were well over target. The feed wedge generated by AIMER showed a steep surplus, and the pasture optimisation score was low. The model showed the optimal choice was to remove five paddocks (totalling 18.58ha – about 17% of the farm) for silage. That tactical management change gave us:
- 167 bales of silage
- An optimisation score of 96%
- And a financial return of $6,687(if sold at $90/bale after $40/bale harvest costs).
On top of that, assuming a 0.2MJME/kg DM/ha pasture quality gain over 30 days (based on DairyNZ’s Forage Value Index at 8.7c per MJME), that’s an additional $2,276 in feed value. All up, that’s almost $9,000 gained from one timely, data-informed call.
The bottom line? Spring surpluses are an opportunity, but only if you catch and manage them in time. Tools like AIMER help make that decision clearer and faster. When you get it right, the benefits are real: better pasture quality, more milk, and extra cash in the bank.
Talk to your local Farm Source Technical Sales Representative or visit aimer-farming.com to find out more.
Article supplied by Aimer Farming