Dairy heifers on many farms will have been housed for a number of weeks, and will have settled into their winter diet.
Attention can now be focused on the weanling heifers, for a short period of time. As many farmers will now begin planning for the 2021 calving and breeding seasons.
According to Teagasc, for heifers that are on target for their age and breed, the aim is to keep them on target by gaining 0.6kg per day or 18kg per month over the housing period, so that they remain on target ahead of the 2021 breeding season.
Weighing your heifers at the start of housing and again in late-December will allow you to see if targets are being achieved. This will also allow you to identify heifers that are below target and may require extra feeding.
Heifers that are below target should be drafted out and kept in a different pen to on target heifers. It is important that these heifers receive an adequate amount of feed.
According to a Teagasc report, feed quality is also important to ensure that these targets are being reached. Heifers receiving poor-quality silage of 66 dry matter digestibility (DMD) will need 1.8-2.2kg of high-quality concentrate feed.
Table source: Teagasc
Heifers can be weighted again in mid-January and feed can be adjusted depending on the results. Heifers that are ahead of target can be taken off meal at this point, if silage quality is good enough.
Teagasc suggest that lighter animals at this point will respond to a higher balance of protein in the diet. Replacing 0.25kg per head of ration with soya may be beneficial. For example, for a pen of 12 weanling heifers, replace 3kg of ration with 3kg soya in the daily concentrate allowance to the group.