Yields rocket as grazing is reduced

摘要

A move to greater home-grown forages with less reliance on unpredictable grass growth has sent yields soaring on the Roworths' farm in the Dove Valley, Derbyshire, as Roger Cheshire reports. Even as the forager moved in to harvest the early August wholecrop wheat, Philip and Donald Roworth's 130 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows continued to feed on last year's crop. Despite good grass growth last year, the cows were buffer fed with a mixture of grass silage, maize, wholecrop wheat, brewers grains, soya/rape mix, potatoes and minerals. The problem at Hilltop farm, which lies in the Dove valley just west of Derby, is that the quality of grazing can no longer be relied upon. The same applies to grass for silage - which has been quite unpredictable in recent years due to changing weather patterns.