food and water…

…on the farm…

food is essential…

Nature provides both food and water, but seasonal variations do of course come into play. Not much fresh grass available on pastures during the winter here in Southern Norway, so we have to compensate in order to run a proper dairy farm.

We have feed stations where we serve the cows conserved grass during the cold season. Feed stations are mobile platforms for outdoor use, that provides a number of cows with easy access to silage, hay, straw and consentrates.

Our feed stations are all home made, as we haven't found anything on the market that suits our need at a reasonable price. A typical mobile feed station is built in wood, using 2×4in on top of an old car trailer frame.

Mobile feed stations can follow the cows on pasture, which makes them fill a double role as both feed and seed stations. The cows waste some seed while eating, and trample it into the soil around the feed station. Lots of seed also goes throught the cow's digestive system, and ends up on the ground along with plenty of natural fertilizer – cow dung. This simplifies regeneration of pastures without the use of machines, and we may throw in some extra seed for good measure.

These mobile feed stations have their fixed places on more solid ground during really wet periods, as there's a limit to how much of a mudhole we want to turn our pastures into.

Minor feeding and/or seeding needs are often solved by feeding directly on the ground.

There are no exact “switch dates” between grazing and feeding seasons. Cows need a steady supply of food, and grass growth depends as much on local weather conditions as on season.

We usually have 2 - 3 months overlapping of feeding and grazing in the spring and in the autumn, where we balance the amount of conserved food brought out to feed stations, with the amount of grass available on the pastures. Indoor feeding during milking time, completes this continuous feed-adjustment system.

plenty of water…

The farm has natural water resources in the form of two small, partly channeled, creeks. These are the only steady water sources outside the barn for the cows during the winter – for now.

A network of waterposts is in use during the warm seasons. Waterposts varies from simple plastic containers that can hold around 50 liters, to old bathtubs that hold 4 - 5 times that much. These are all supplied through 12mm (½in) pipes running over most of the farm, connected to the water system in the barn. Around 800 meters of pipes cover the pastures at the moment, and a few hundred meters more are waiting to be laid out.

This network of waterposts assures good water near by all pastures, regardless of how we divide up and fence off areas for efficient grazing during spring and summer months.

By having water near by we to a large degree assure that the cows go to the waterposts individually and quite often, and then return to graze some more. This keeps the herd together and the uptake of grass high in a designated area.

They'll often wait until they're really thirsty before visiting more distant water sources, and then go as a group. Once there and filled up on water, they may simply not bother to go all the way back to graze for quite a while. This leads to less efficient grazing, and unnecessary and unwanted trampling and grazing in other areas.

Availability, quality and quantity of water is of course essential on a dairy farm, as a cow needs from 50 to well over 100 liters of good water a day. The amount consumed depends on temperature, type of food, and – of course – milk production.

Quality matters, as our cows tend to cross the creek to get to the nearest waterpost on the other side. The waterposts get their water from a 95 meter (310ft) deep borehole into the bedrock – same as we use for our own household. Quality is near perfect on all measurable parameters all year round – except of course when it's all frozen in the midst of winter.

The water arrives at a quite stable temperature around 10°Celcius at the waterposts – ideal as refreshment on a warm summers day. Simply letting the black water-pipes disappear in the grass as they are laid out along fences, is enough to prevent the sun from heating them up.

That most pipes are laid on the surface also assures that the water doesn't stay frosen for long after a night with sub-zero temperatures, and that the network thaws up early when the spring arrives.

winter-preparation:

We do of course shut off the supply to the waterpost network when the winter really takes hold and everything is about to freeze up. We are not too concerned about broken pipes as these plastic-pipes has the ability to expand somewhat. As long as they're not damaged in any way they won't break when water freeses inside them.

Pipe-connections are a bit more susceptible to split and leak when water freezes inside them, so we usually have to replace one or two connections each spring. This is not serious enough to shut off the supply and drain all pipes too early for, but we certainly don't want to wait too long when the temperature starts dropping below zero.

Once we have shut off the supply, we disconnect the pipes from the waterposts and let gravity take over. Since there's more than 50 meters difference in height between the highest and the lowest waterpost, the network gets pretty much sucked dry despite the fact that the pipes are not laid at an even slope, and the water-pockets that are left in the pipes don't really pose a problem.

flow restrictions:

Our cows do not have much respect for man made contraptions, and may at times use a waterpost to scratch their heads on before or after they've had a drink from it. They may also fight for the right to drink from it. Now and then this results in broken pipe-connections near or at the valve, and the cows do not notify us about broken connections until there's no more water for them to drink … and maybe not even then.

In case of a leakage in the waterpost network we can't really allow the water to flow unhindered until we notice and can shut off the supply and fix the problem. Our borehole is a reliable water-source, but it can't deliver very much water for very long periods. The injection pump won't run dry, but the water-pressure will sooner or later drop to zero for the whole farm. Neither our household nor the barn can be without water for long, so we obviously try to minimize the chance for that happening.

Since the waterposts hold a certain amount of water each, we can restrict the flow through the pipes to a very low level without risking thirsty cows in front of dry posts on a regular basis. As always it's a question about money, and the coin known as “a Norwegian krone” has just the right size and the right hole in the middle.

Coins fitted tightly into selected pipe connections along the network, reduce the flow to pretty safe levels for the supply and the thirsty cows. Although it may still take a while before we notice a leakage in the network, we normally do not experience problems with our supply-capacity. An added advantage with such flow restrictions in place is that we can find and fix most leakages without shutting off the network, which of course saves time and frustration.

complete menu…

Our dairy cows get food concentrates in amounts adjusted to actual production, and all – from week year old calves and up – get some. The concentrates used are mostly based on corn (barley etc.) produced in Norway, which is a quality-level lower than what's used for human consumption – a result of climatic conditions.

Concentrates used in Norwegian farming are fine-tuned mixtures with pretty fixed energy levels. Minerals and vitamins are also added, in balance with the needs of different animals and the complete menu on a farm. We have a whole range of concentrates to choose from to match seasonal changes and production. Our main choice of concentrate is a variant with extra high protein-percentage, which gets reflected in milk production.

We also use waste from corn production, both in the form of concentrates/pellets and as straw bales from the fields. Corn waste pellets are fine-tuned mixtures – a kind of lower-energy concentrates. Our cows love these corn waste pellets, and tend to protest quite loudly if they don't get their share. This makes it easy to lower the overall level of protein in the food ration when we find that necessary.

Straw bales are partly used as bedding for calves, and as additional food for calves and cows. Most straw bales we receive from farms in the area are mixed with grass, so we add some to the ordinary grass silage in feed stations in the overlapping phase between pure grazing and pure feeding. Straw are well suited for adding structure to the juicy and high-energy but low-structured grass in early spring and late summer, and the cows know how much they need of the stuff.

Cows need access to enough food of varying types, and they're usually good at making choices for themselves. We balanse the menu somewhat depending on season, and pay attention to the indicators regular volume- and quality-controls of our main product, the milk, give us. Excess energy in the food-ration gets wasted – the cow can't process it properly. Too little energy in the ration is of course no good either, as a cow can only eat so much in a day.

A cow's appetite and choice of food-type while in for milking, are good indicators for the amount and type of additional feed needed. A cow's condition and level of production are of course also important indicators. Individual differences are additional, and very important, factors.

Since we have two breeds of cows, NRF and Jersey / NRF mixes, we also have to take differences between and variations within these breeds into account. Production vs. body-weight is one variable, and the amount of accumulated fat on a cow's body and her ability to draw energy for milk production from this reserve is another.

some variables:

Our NRF cows can produce up to around 55 liters of milk a day – from 5500 to 7500 liters a year, and have a body-weight of around 550 kilo to maintain.
Our Jersey / NRF mixes varies greatly in production. Some never produce more than 20 liters while some can produce 35 to 40 liters a day – from 3000 to 5500 liters a year, and have a body-weight of around 350 kilo to maintain.

Age / number of lactations do of course play a role, as we don't expect a first-timer to produce much more than between 20 and 30 liters a day. Young cows do however need that little extra energy to grow on – an NRF cow is fully grown and ready for top production when she's 3 to 4 years old.

Now take into account that we have had several NRF first-timers that have reached daily production-volumes of around 50 liters, and also a few Jersey / NRF mix first-timers that have topped at around 35 liters. This is not a result of “drive towards production goals” from our side, but because some cows just happen to be “genetically programmed” for high production-volumes, and the pastures were juicy that year.

One can clearly see that we have to keep a close watch on what and how much we feed and more generally how we treat these exceptional cows so on one hand they don't damage themselves because their bodies are not really ready for such high production yet, and that they on the other hand do not simply drop to near zero production after 2 to 3 months in order to preserve the entire food-intake for body-growth. Neither will do the cow any good.

NRF cows tend to get fat more easily than the Jersey dominated cows, and fat cows tend to have more problems related to calving and early lactation than well balanced cows. Putting a single cow on diet isn't easy since they all have the same access to pastures and food stations, so we have to keep close watch and adjust what we can over time – all the time.

Competition on pastures and around feed stations adds another variable to feeding. A low ranking cow can get less than her fair share out there, and we have to compensate for this while they're in for milking. Jealousy is not an unknown phenomena amongst cows either – creating moody cows, so all cows must be happy with their share.

On a small farm like ours it pays off to feed and treat each cow based on daily observations of her condition, signals, mood and all variables in her environment. We want our cows to live long, healthy, happy and productive lives, and there's not much room for mistakes if we are to achieve that.

Who said feeding cows should be easy…

sincerely  georg; sign

Hageland 29.oct.2007
last rev: 06.aug.2008


food and water…

A few tons of food concentrates in the form of pellets, arrives at the farm at irregular intervals.

Two to three bales of silage, at around 750kg each, are consumed each week during the cold season.

280

Waterposts come in all shapes and sizes, and old bathtubs are particularly well suited.

cows are fed silage twice a day…

Silage bales are brought to the barn where they are stripped of their plastic wrapping.
The bale is then lifted up in a crane, a meal-portion for a dozen cows is pulled loose manually and loaded onto a small transport-vehicle, and the meal served at one of our outdoor feed stations.

…except in summer when there's plenty of grass…

When possible we separate our small herd so cows in high production get to graze on the best pastures. Cows in low of no production, and cows expecting calf, trim the lesser pastures.
This way we avoid fat cows, while getting the most out of our pastures during a short summer.

on a side note:

Some experts on human social behavior have through studies figured out that people who are concider by others to be what one may call “slightly antisocial” people who tend to ignore what others might think about them and what they do, seem to achieve the best results when it comes to farm animals' welfare and production.
I don't know and I don't think I really care, but they may have a point .
— Georg


farming…
…2007 - 2008