Rapid Reseeding Payback: Auttumn grazing bounus form timely pastrure renewal

摘要

For Darren Coombes and his family, farming at Shapwick, to the southwest of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, the importance of producing an abundance of quality silage each year for their dairy enterprise cannot be under-estimated. In total,they will typically harvest up to 2,500 tonnes of grass silage and 2,000 tonnes of forage maize to provide the basis of the feeding regime for their 320 Holstein Friesian cows and 250 homebred followers. B oth quality and quantity are crucial at 600-acre Manor Farm, where the herd averages an impressive 9,500 litre s/cow and low rainfall in the summer months means the all-year-round calving herd can at times rely heavily on buffer feeding.