Benefits of early bite after maize for autumn-calving herd

Early bite is not only transitioning cows and rumens onto grazed grass, it is also saving bedding straw and labour for a Norfolk 180-cow autumn-calving herd.

“We drop down to scraping out and littering once a day, instead of twice, which saves two Hesstons a day,” says Oliver Rushmer.

For the past seven years, his family has been establishing a simple double-cropping system on a 20ha (50-acre) maize field beside their farm buildings at Laurel Farm, Thurlton.

See also: How to improve output from cows grazing in poor conditions

Farm facts: Laurel Farm, Thurlton, Norfolk

Oliver Rushmer © MAG/Shirley Macmillan

• 180 Jersey and crossbred cows
• 80 replacements
• 290 beef cattle taken to finishing
• 1,900 bed-and-breakfast pigs
• 69ha owned including 20ha grass; 28ha maize; 20ha double cropped maize and Westerwolds
• 81ha of rented grazing marshes

Maize is followed by a fast-growing ley for grazing in early February.

This cropping started as a way to extend the grazing season, explains Oliver, who farms in partnership with his brother, Lewis, and parents, Jane and Paul.

On a small farm with limited land, he says they were struggling to rent extra ground.

“We wanted to get cows out earlier but, depending on rainfall, the earliest we can go down to graze our marshes is mid-March; the latest, mid-April.”

September maize harvest

Taking advantage of the maize field’s light sandy loam soil and its site, Oliver says they decided to try growing an early grass ley on it as well.

Now the farm selects early maize varieties to ensure harvest is finished by mid-September and grass can be drilled immediately afterwards – certainly no later than early October.

Varieties are also chosen for their starch and energy content: this year it will be Prospect and P7179 in a 50:50 split.

“I was told this helps with germination and pollination, and the two varieties are not coming from different fields [into the clamp], so there is consistency of feed going into the wagon,” Oliver explains.

Last autumn, maize came off on 12 September and Oliver drilled a mix of 50:50 Westerwolds and Italian ryegrass, plus 1kg/ha of vetch (to improve proteins and fix some nitrogen).

He points out that this ley now qualifies for the Sustainable Farming Incentive multispecies overwintering crop cover payment of £203/ha.

A seed rate of 35kg/ha was used on a good tilth, so no ploughing was needed.

Rain at the end of September produced a good germination, and he says his new 32-coulter direct drill created a much thicker sward.

“It has had enough moisture over winter, though it could do with some more now,” he adds.

Turnout in January

Cows were turned out on 31 January in dry ground conditions. The grass is strip-grazed, initially for two hours a day after milking.

As the weather improves, Oliver builds this up until they are out from 8am to 3pm.

Cows are still fed their indoor ration of maize mixed with a blend of 50% rape, 40% barley and 10% wheat distillers; grass silage bales rolled out along the feed barrier; and a concentrate top-up in the parlour.

“We don’t want to graze it all up and then not be able to go to the marshes, so the grass is made to last till the middle of March,” he says.

“It is conditioning the cows to graze, and their rumens are adapting.

“Now that we have finished serving cows, we can start to cut down the silage in the diet – we didn’t want to change anything, to keep things constant for fertility.”

Once cows move to the marshes, any remaining grass is baled and farmyard muck is spread at 10t/ha in mid-April.

The next maize crop is drilled at the end of April/early May, with 80kg/ha of diammonium phosphate in the seed-bed. The field might be ploughed or, in a dry spring, min-tilled to keep moisture in the soil.

Over the years, Oliver says he has learned to have confidence in the grass, and they do not see a milk drop when cows are turned out – the herd is ready to go out and graze.

“We haven’t had a poor year, though we have had a couple of years of on/off grazing; only the Beast from the East really affected us. We like it and the cows like it.”