Managing acidosis in dairy herds
Consistent and high energy intakes are needed for high levels of production of milk solids by dairy herds. When ruminants are fed a diet high in readily fermentable carbohydrates from grain, byproducts and highly digestible pasture, a condition known as rumen acidosis can occur. Most commonly, acidosis is present as a sub clinical condition causing lost productivity and unhealthy cattle.
2009 Young Farmer of the Year Award Winner
The 2009 Dairy Business of the Year Awards recognises excellence in Dairy farming and Irwin Stockfeeds customers Damien and Heidi Pinnuck have taken out the Young Farmer title for 2009.
Damien and Heidi operate their dairy business on 240 hectare farm at Strathmerton in Northern Victoria milking 170 cows which produced 1376 kgs milk solids/ha and 18,143 litres/ha. This result highlights an excellent achievement in a district that has faced severe drought for a sustained period of time.
The awards focus on Dairy business management and profitability measured over the following categories:
- Profit per hectare
- Cost of production
- Milk production
- Milk production per hectare
- Pasture harvest per hectare
- Cost of feed
- Labour efficiency and core cost structure
“So much in farming has changed and especially the way we farm in this district. Supplementary feeding, sowing new crops and growing silage is now important and we have also learnt to monitor and benchmark how we farm to measure and ensure that we feed correctly and improve our farming methods” said Damien of the achievements he and his wife Heidi have made on the farm and to their dairy business.
Irwin Stockfeeds congratulates Damien and Heidi on their success.
