Description
The Jon-Jon conventional farm in Bollnäs in central Sweden focuses on optimising silage. The farm has 160 dairy Holstein cows in an Automatic Milking System (AMS). Good quality, many forage analyses and skill in optimising animal rations are part of this. Mapping of tube silos and an Excel spreadsheet on silage use make this possible. In mapping, an account is made of where silage of different types is situated, the amounts and corresponding silage analysis. By entering the total stock of silage in a spreadsheet, the use can be planned until next harvest, which can be up to a year ahead. This is an economic method to ensure enough silage and makes it possible to avoid excess storage of silage. In 2015, 12,192 kg energy corrected milk (ECM) per cow was produced, with 1.41 Euro per kg DM as an average. Another innovative farmer, Anna Carlsson, Skogsgård, Getinge in south Sweden, makes use of different decision-making tools to improve grazing efficiency on their organic farm. She stresses the importance of clipping quadrats in the fields, and thereafter drying and weighing the material before putting the figures into the Irish tool www.agrinet.ie to calculate the grass wedge. In the beginning it is difficult to estimate the amounts of grass grown, but the eye becomes trained over time.
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