Dean Turner keeps up with the feeding on his farm.IF ONLY feeding cows was as easy as making sure there was enough grass in the paddock.
Dairy farmers know, however, that it is a scientific business that seems to get more complicated each year.
With that in mind, the Young Dairy Development Program has organised a feed information day to help farmers keep up with the latest in feed-related research.
Starting at 11am on Wednesday 8 February at Dean and Bec Turner’s farm at Yannathan, the event will see discussions on transitional feeding, summer feeding and methods of using nutrition to prevent and minimise health problems.
Kristy Evans from Irwin Stockfeeds and Andrew Wood from Fonterra will lead the discussion.
The Turners, who run a two herd system, will also talk about their own experiences with different feeding regimes and the success or otherwise of various feed types.
Dean said he hoped participants would be able to take away some new information that could improve their production levels. With a wet winter behind him and the installation of a feedpad underway, Dean said he was keen to hear about ways of keeping production up when conditions were less than than ideal.
“There was a lot of production lost last winter, we had a about a 10 per cent drop on production over that time,” he said.
“I’d be keen to learn about getting better milk production in a tough year.”
A barbecue lunch will finish off the day at around 1pm.
Anyone interested in attending should contact YDDP Gippsland co-ordinator Kylie Barry on 56243 900, mobile 0428 889 337 or email yddpgipps@gippsdairy.com.au by 3 February.
