Planning ahead: Accurately budgeting feed for a successful winter

Caulston Farm has turned one of the hottest, driest summers on record into a story of resilience and progress. The South Devon spring-block herd has strengthened efficiency, productivity and profitability by aligning long-term goals with daily decisions.

Working alongside grazing consultant Andre Van Barneveld through AHDB’s Strategic Dairy Farm programme, the team has maximised pasture utilisation, increased grazing days, and built robust feed and fertiliser plans that have kept milk flowing and cows in strong condition.

With targets of 5,800 L or 480 kg milk solids per cow, Caulston Farm is not only weathering seasonal challenges but setting new benchmarks for sustainable and profitable dairy farming.

Managed by Adam Atkinson, Caulston Farm is located on the south Devon coastline, which presents its own challenges, including summer drought and longer walking distances to the parlour.

By planning ahead, Adam and the team prepare and plan for all weather conditions, including wet winters and dry summers, considering any additional feed demands.

Adam and the team have been working with Andre to look at planning their forage to increase resilience to weather and market volatility.

At the beginning of the year, Andre met with Adam to understand more about the farm and build a report to offer guidance around managing forage supply.

Adam said:

“At the start of this year, we set some objectives with Andre to help us create a feed and fertiliser budget for the year.

“This year we have been focusing on maximising usable pasture in spring, maximising production and grazing days in autumn and managing cows for optimal body condition score (BCS) at calving.

“We are aiming to achieve an average of 5,800 L or 480 kg milk solids per cow.”

Together, they identified opportunities to strengthen available feed stores for autumn and winter. For example, land use efficiency to manage walking distances for the cows, crop rotation and pasture access.

Other ideas included considering a flexible milking routine – exploring if a 10-in-7 and 3-in-2 system can help increase flexibility.

He said:

“We are also addressing the ‘passenger’ animals and are assessing the impact of TB on herd development to help us increase the farm’s efficiency and make the most of our available feed.”

Andre outlined some August grazing targets to help Caulston Farm enter autumn with enough forage for their herd.

Andre said:

“To support mid- to late-lactation cows, the strategy involves grazing covers at 3,000 kg DM/ha (dry matter per hectare), as long as pasture is leafy and cows willingly graze down to residuals below 1,600 kg DM/ha.”

He also suggested that the team mow out surplus pasture where necessary to encourage forage growth:

“Excessive pasture mass can lead to lower utilisation, decreased intake, and slower plant recovery, directly impacting production.”

Adam said:

“By the end of September, we made sure our paddocks supported entry covers of 3,300–3,400 kg DM/ha, only if the pasture remains leafy with light penetration to the base and cows were happy to graze down to the residual.”

When growth dropped below herd demand, Adam considered removing poor-producing culls to stabilise feed availability.

As the season winds down, spring-block farmers often ask whether they should use additional feed to supplement milk production, or dry off earlier and preserve feed stores.

For Adam, like many farmers, it is about balancing economic factors with feed demand – stocking numbers, milk price and available feed are all factors that should be considered.

When deciding whether to keep cows milking or to dry them off early, several tools and factors can be used:

• AHDB’s 3-Year Milk Forecasting Tool
• Average Farm Cover (AFC)
• Supplements on hand
• BCS
• Milk price

Andre explained:

“When looking at this decision from an economic perspective, a milking cow consumes around 5 kg DM more per day than a dry cow.

“At a feed cost of £0.40 per kg DM, that’s an extra £2 per cow per day in feed.

“Applying a total cost multiplier of 1.8 to reflect real-world costs, the true extra cost rises to £3.60 per cow per day.”

He added that if the cow produces 12 L of milk daily at a milk price of £0.55 per litre, she generates £6.60/day, leaving a £3 margin based on a ration that includes 10 kg DM silage and 5 kg cake.

These figures were considered in light of the current grass and feed conditions when planning started in July 2025.

Andre said:

“At Caulston Farm, the AFC stands at 1,913 kg DM/ha, which is enough to prompt a cautious ‘panic slowly’ approach.

“The feed on hand includes 500 TDM (total dry matter) of grass silage, 300 TDM of whole crop silage, 60 TDM of round bale hay, and 50 TDM of round bale silage, totalling 1,000 TDM of supplementary feed.”

Stock numbers and winter feed requirements are projected as follows:

• 500 milking/autumn-calving cows requiring 1.4 TDM each (700 TDM in total)
• 160 rising 2-year-old heifers at 1.2 TDM each (192 TDM)
• 145 rising 1-year-old heifers at 0.6 TDM each (87 TDM)

This brings total winter feed requirements to approximately 1,000 TDM, matching the farm’s available reserves.

Caulston Farm holds enough feed to meet winter requirements to continue milking until the cows are 8 weeks from calving.

Their strategic decision-making throughout the year and remaining focused on feed budgets have enabled them to make the most of the current high milk prices, despite increasing feed costs.

By aligning grazing strategies, genetic planning, feed management and flexible routines, Caulston Farm is on track for a productive and profitable end to 2025.

With a clear focus on utilisation, BCS management and economic return, the farm remains resilient and data-driven in its pursuit of sustainable dairy production.