Provita hosted a series of on farm demos throughout Northern Ireland last week outlining the benefits of making better silage and improving footbathing practices. Andrew Dale in Limavady, Dean Wright in Portadown and Declan Rafferty in Pomeroy were host farms.
Essential management tips for making better silage were outlined at Wrights’s and Rafferty’s such as rolling in horizontal layers as silage is ensiled to ensure good stability at feedout. The use of farmers own equipment to ensure correct cutting date to improve ME was discussed. When crops are cut at the right time and or wilted the dry matter can be increased by c.5% units (20% more). This could increase the value of the ensiled crop by c. £10,000 for a 1000 tonne clamp. Or, looking at it another way the extra nutrients in the clamp could mean it would last another 2 months! Using Advance+ silage inoculant also results in more energy and dry matter being retained in the clamp as proven by EU and on-farm tests (mini-silo and split silo tests). Visitors to the demos viewed the silage to see these tests in action. The energy benefit alone can be worth at least £2,000 for beef or at least £6,000 for dairy enterprises. When combined with the dry matter benefit for Advance+ this figure can rise to £11,000 for beef and £25,000 for dairy farms.
The use of the Hoofsure product range and implementation of Hoofsure HELP service which assessing digital dermatitis related lameness was highlighted at the Dale farm. The excellent results achieved were outlined and verified by the farmer to have reduced the problem by 85%.
Videos and overviews of the demos can be viewed at www.provita.co.uk and the Provita Facebook page. For information on products and services FREEPHONE 0800 328 4982