Address forage shortfall ahead of calving and lambing

• Nutrients affect livestock performance

• Challenge to optimise feeding regime

• Test forage for nutrients in good time 

Nutritional shortfalls in forage should addressed for breeding stock ahead of lambing and calving this spring – as concentrate prices hold strong and livestock are pushed harder on homegrown feeds.

“Throughout the winter feeding period, the key ration ingredient will almost always be some kind of forage, whether it be grazing, silage or hay,” says Alison Bond, nutritionist for feed supplement specialists Rumenco.

The most cost effective feed source – forage – typical has nutritional gaps that need to be filled for gestating livestock with variations in energy, protein and essential trace element content.

Final weeks

This is especially important for the final weeks leading up to lambing and calving when the majority of foetal development is taking place and nutrients are starting to partition towards colostrum production, says Dr Bond.

“The nutrients available will have a direct impact on the short and long-term performance of livestock giving birth and their offspring. It is essential these animals receive the right nutrition during this time.”

During this period of high nutritional demand, supplements are ideal for delivering minerals, vitamins and trace elements, including good levels of selenium and vitamin E, They can also support animal health pre and postpartum.

For sheep, 75% of foetal growth takes place in the final two months of pregnancy with under feeding resulting in reduced udder weight, impaired mammary and colostrum development, dystocia and consequences to mothering ability.

Meeting requirements

In the transition from mid to late pregnancy, scanning the flock and sorting based on litter size will allow farmers to better meet individual nutritional requirements and again six weeks before lambing.

For suckler herds, the main challenge is to prevent cows from becoming too fat due to overfeeding during the dry period. Maintenance needs are determined by cow weight and the level of energy in forage.

With underfeeding and overfeeding cattle and sheep being balanced around forage quality, Dr Bond advices farmers to have forage samples analysed to get a baseline understanding of its nutritional value.

“The 2021 grazing season has been very stop-start with a rotation of cold, damp periods followed by warm spells. This has led to an average grass season with quality rapidly declining into the autumn as expected,” she says.