Forage-based approach delivers dairy dividend

High quality maize fed in a simple forage-based system is helping a Nottinghamshire dairy producer deliver higher margins more efficiently.

Supplying high-quality milk for Long Clawson Stilton cheese production, SW & CJ Jukes achieve more than 60% of their milk from forage and a margin over purchased feed (MOPF) of almost £2300/cow.

Steve Jukes says the aim is to produce the highest quality milk possible while keeping costs low – and avoiding an over-reliance on complex machinery or expensive infrastructure.

“We’re a family run business and want to keep farming that way into the future, so we’re not trying to produce the highest yields possible and introduce a lot of stress into the system for the sake of it.

“So, for example, we’re currently producing 6700 litres/cow/year from a 115-strong commercial British Friesian herd that’s calving all year round and out on grass from March to November.

“Grass silage is made in big bales, the maize we produce is Ag-bagged and we don’t even own a mixer wagon, finding we get perfectly good results from simply layering maize on top of the grass silage in the winter.

“Rolling butterfat is currently over 4.8%, protein is 3.55% and MOPF is £2283/cow/year. We’re also getting up to 7-8 lactations per cow, so I think we’re achieving our objective of running a low stress, sustainable business with a focus on quality.”

Low inputs

The day-to-day work on the Jukes’ Gables Farm, near Newark, is carried out by Mr Jukes, his wife Carina and their son Ollie, with the 135 acres in their ownership supplemented by 20 acres of rented land.

“We’re not adverse to investing and adopting new technology when it is necessary, but it has to stack up financially,” Mr Jukes explains.

“We try and keep grassland management fairly simple and not use too much nitrogen plus we’re only reseeding where necessary and that is pretty much the way it has been for the last 60 years.

“We’re big fans of maize, though, and have been growing it for over 20 years. It’s become a vital part of our feeding regime, not just during the winter, but we also feed it as buffer at times when the cows are at grass.”

According to Malcolm Coulby of MRC Agriculture, who advises the Jukes on feeding and variety choice, the pared-down approach works best with high energy maize featuring high levels of digestibility.

“We’re aiming for a roughly 50:50 mix of grass silage to maize in the ration and the maize has a lot of work to do in providing the energy needed to drive the yields and the high levels butterfat and protein required by their milk buyer.

“The farm’s location suits early varieties and in the past we have seen good results with ES Lovely, but last year all the 12ha (30 acres) grown were ES Bonnie and that is the case again this year.

“Bonnie is a maturity class 8 variety which means it is appropriate for most parts of the UK, apart from the more marginal areas, and combines early cob ripeness with high yields of forage, even in regions with less heat units.

“Good starch levels together with very high overall digestibility and, in particular a cell wall digestibility of 59.6%, mean the high levels of energy contained are easily accessible to the cows, so you get the best of both worlds.

“Yield at Gables Farm last year was around 50t/ha (20t/acre) freshweight at 32-33% drymatter with a maize specific additive recommended by MRC Agriculture added at Ag-bagging to rapidly drop pH and minimise any potential wastage.

“The maize went on to give a metabolisable energy of 11.8MJ/kg dry matter, 31.3% starch and 81.5% starch degradability with a D-value of 75.3.”

Best maize ever

Mr Jukes says they saw the best maize ever produced on the farm last year and this has certainly contributed to the lift in milk from forage from the 52% of the previous year to the current 61%.

“Good quality maize makes such a difference to us and you really notice it as soon as you start feeding it. There’s not a lot else in the ration so it’s very obvious when things are not quite right.

“Consistency and reliability of production is therefore key, because the last thing we want to be doing is having to buy in a lot of extra feed if we get things wrong.

“Our objective will always be to keep an eye on costs, produce a high-quality product from as much home grown forage as we can and keep things as simple as possible.”