Improved efficiency within Resilient Grazing Systems Dr. Brendan - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Improved efficiency within Resilient Grazing Systems Dr. Brendan Horan Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre Teagasc, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork. web: http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/moorepark/ Follow us: Moorepark2018

Presentation Overview • The Global & Local Contexts for Irish Grazing Systems • Resilient Grazing Systems Characteristics • Further Improvements in Grazing Efficiency • Conclusions

Is this the best time ever for Agriculture? The world is changing.. Millions climbing out of poverty - emerging countries Extended life expectancy Rapid large scale urbanisation As economies create wealth, consumption of animal protein increases & demand will grow faster than supply Increasing capacity to produce food Widespread use of newer, high-yielding varieties/ breeds Precision Ag Technologies Farming systems as part of the supply chain

The Sustainable Intensification Challenge Only one Earth.. Climate change & inclement events – food security Limited non-renewable resources Local pollution, biodiversity loss, soil erosion Food and feed competition Increasing societal pressures, food security plus… non-food products (climate change mitigation, natural resource conservation, agro-ecology, biodiversity, improved animal welfare, etc.) The sustainable intensification challenge is to.. produce more food with increaased efficiency based on feeds which are non- recoverable by humans and using fewer chemical/antibiotic interventions Resilient grass-based production systems have many advantages

From the Global to the local - Trend in Dairy Cow Numbers & Milk Production Year 2005 2010 2016 Average herd size (No. cows) 48 58 76 No. cows in herds with > 100 cows 144,620 302,060 659,149 Trends in Milk Solids Production and Dairy Cow Numbers (1980-2017) 600 1600 550 1500 Dairy Cow Numbers ('000) Milk solids ('000 ton/year) Milk Solids (kg) 500 Dairy Cow Numbers 1400 450 1300 400 1200 350 1100 300 250 1000 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Year

Volatile and Unpredictable Commodity Price Environment 50 Average – 28.60 cent/l Average – 32.60 cent/l Std. Dev – 3.70 (12%) Std. Dev – 5.60 (17%) 45 Milk price ( € cent/l) 40 35 30 25 IRL EU 20 6

The impact of milk price volatility is large 3 trends from dairy farm financial returns Net profit highly dependant on milk price: reduced by 50 - 70% at low milk prices • • Other enterprises contribute little to dairy farm profitability • Declining importance of EU payments to overall farm economic performance Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Co-op price (c/litre) 34.6 23.7 31.1 36.0 33.1 40.5 39.8 Net profit ( € /ha) 1,076 397 983 1,317 998 1,289 1,392 Gross output ( € /kg milk solids) 5.59 4.07 4.89 5.71 5.45 6.13 5.90 Variable costs ( € /kg milk solids) 2.00 1.85 1.84 2.22 2.27 2.59 2.19 Fixed costs ( € /kg milk solids) 1.61 1.52 1.42 1.93 1.51 1.50 1.52 Total costs ( € /kg milk solids) 3.60 3.37 3.26 4.15 3.78 4.09 3.71 Net profit ( € /kg milk solids) 1.99 0.69 1.64 1.87 1.67 2.04 2.19 Dairy net profit ( € /ha) 1,029 389 963 1,267 967 1,320 1,388 Other net profit ( € /ha) 46 9 20 50 31 -31 4 EU payments ( € /ha) 511 505 508 496 481 450 430 Ramsbottom et al. (2018)

Strategy for Resilient Farming A farm system which provides a vehicle for enjoyable & sustainable farm business growth within a turbulent production environment • Simple & labour efficient with minimal decision making interventions • Comparatively insulated from milk price & climate instability • Consistently meeting profitability expectations (profit/ha & costs/kg MS) • Producing high quality product in an environmentally friendly manner Biological Financial People

Animal management for grass-based systems kg DM / Hectare daily Daily pasture growth rate 100 Daily herd feed requirement Alignment of 80 Grass Supply 60 & 40 Animal 20 Requirements 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec % of cows in the herd Spring Summer Winter 100 285+ DIM DRIED-OFF CALVE 80 Compact calving, 60 CONCEIVE high fertility status 40 dairy herd 20 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” – Leonardo da Vinci.

Improved System Implementation Required Performance gap between current average and best practice grazing systems underline necessity for improved system implementation NFS Ave. Target Herd EBI ( € ) 70 200 Calving Interval (days) 394 365 Six week calving rate (%) 58 90 No. lactations/cow 3.1 >5.0 Replacement rate (%) 23 18 Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.0 2.9 Milk solids (kg/cow) 405 475 Milk solids (kg/ha) 825 1,380 Grass utilised (t DM/ha) 8.0 13.0 Net profit at 28 c/l ( € /ha) 250 2,500

DM Production from PBI Dairy Farms 2017 Average 14.3 t DM/ha

Agronomy – Growing more higher quality feed Soil fertility status & nutrient management planning Currently only 11% of dairy soil samples are of satisfactory status S. Lawlor; Irish Dairy Industry Statistics, Teagasc 2014

Evolution of the EBI 100% 90% Relative emphasis 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Milk Fertility Calving Beef Maintenance Health Management

Next Generation Genetics 2013-2016 Elite NatAv Milk yield (kg) 5,613 5,818 Fat (%) 4.48 4.20 Protein (%) 3.72 3.54 Milk solids (kg) 459 451 Pregnancy rate first service (%) 60 46 6 week in-calf rate (%) 73 58 Final pregnancy rate – 12 wks (%) 92 81 O’Sullivan et al. (2018)

Genetic Trends 180 160 Profit per lactation ( € ) 140 EBI 120 100 Fertility 80 60 40 20 Milk 0 Year of birth (Berry, 2016)

Future Improvements in Grazing Systems 1. Maximise intake per animal and per hectare at grazing 2. Increase growth & quality and minimise variability 3. Further quantify impacts of grazing systems on animal nutrition, product quality, the environment & animal welfare

How to increase intake at grazing? Well managed grazed UFL / kg DM PDI / UFL 130 grass 120 is a natural TMR 110 100 90 But grazed grass is 1.0 charaterised 0.9 by a low intake rate 0.8 due to the form and nature of the forage offered 0.7 M A M J Jt A S O N D UFL - Fr UFL - Irl PDI/UFL - Fr PDI/UFL - Irl As allowance is a key to intake, one idea is to increase grass allowance to boost intake

How to increase intake at grazing? Utilisation An increase of (% of biomass at ground level) 1kg DM intake, requires 22 4kg DM more to be offered 70 18 60 Postgrazing height and 14 50 refusals are increased & 10 40 regrowth quality 30 and later animal performance 6 Grass allowance at ground level (kg DM/cow/day) is impacted 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Grass allowance at 4 cm (kg DM/cow/day) 10 15 20 25 30 5 Finally, the higher the daily DM intake, the lower the per ha grass intake and grass utilisation is also reduced

Appropriate Stocking Rate (SR) • Increasing SR only profitable when grass utilisation (tonnes DM/ha) increases by maximising grazing days per ha • At SRs in excess of grass growth potential: • animal performance declines rapidly due to increased silage supplementation and reduced grazing season length • Optimum Stocking rate for Dairy Farms Pasture grown, t t supplement DM/cow 10 12 14 16 1.5 2.0 2.3 2.6 0.00 1.7 2.1 2.4 2.8 0.25 1.8 2.2 2.5 3.0 0.50 1.9 2.3 2.7 3.1 0.75

Grazing Intensification in Context Soussana & Lemaire (2014)

How to maximise intake at grazing? Grazing… or the art of compromise Increase stocking rate to improve grass utilisation per ha Produce swards which are easy to graze & max growth  Leafy sward incorporating white clover  Improved management, age of regrowth, pre/postgrazing 9 to 12 cm 3.5 to 4 cm

Daily Pasture growth 2014-2016 100.0 Grass only Daily grass pasture (kg DM/ha per 90.0 Grass clover 80.0 12 kg DM/ha 70.0 per day 60.0 day) 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 1.5 t extra DM/ha 10.0 0.0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Month TO 1 DO TC DC Pasture DM production (t DM/ha) 15.6 15.4 17.1 16.9 1 TO = tetraploid only; DO = diploid only; TC = tetraploid + clover; DC = diploid + clover

Milk Production Results 2014-2017 Tetraploid + Diploid + Tetraploid Diploid clover clover Concentrate fed (kg DM/cow) 347 347 349 347 Silage fed (kg/cow) 345 319 394 421 Milk yield (kg/cow) 5,261 5,233 5,902 5,825 + 617kg Fat (%) 4.63 4.63 4.59 4.62 Protein (%) 3.78 3.72 3.72 3.72 + 49kg Milk solids (kg/cow) 441 435 489 484 + 133kg Milk solids yield (kg/ha) 1,213 1,196 1,345 1,331

Conclusions • Grazing systems of animal production are uniquely well positioned to meet the growing international demand for high quality foods • The sustainable intensification of grass-based production systems is possible based on a systemic approach to improve implementation • incorporating financial, biological and societal targets • highly productive grazed ryegrass white clover pastures • Improved soil fertility • High EBI animals • Appropriate stocking rates and grazing practices

We wish to acknowledge Irish dairy farmer funding of this research http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/moorepark brendan.horan@teagasc.ie