By Pioneer Dairy Specialists Leighton Hart and Greg Morris
Feed wastage is a hidden cost on many dairy farms, often overlooked and rarely measured.
Over time, these losses can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Taking the time to quantify and explore ways to reduce feed losses is a worthwhile exercise that can lead to significant savings.
While it is important to get feed storage (including silage management) correct, we're focusing on the benefits of feeding infrastructure.
Feeding infrastructure on dairy farms ranges from simple temporary feed-out structures (eg. bins or conveyor belting) on sacrifice paddocks to permanent feed pads and intensive housed cow facilities.
All these options aim to reduce feed wastage and maintain feed intake while keeping cows off pastures.
While investing in permanent feeding infrastructure often comes with substantial upfront costs, it’s important to view it as a long-term investment.
In pasture-based systems, minimising wastage, supporting consistent feed intake and protecting pastures are the core benefits.
Wastage of supplements fed in the paddock can be high, especially when ground conditions are wet.
According to Dairy Australia, supplementary feed losses in paddocks can reach up to 40 per cent, especially in wet conditions.
By introducing some form of feeding infrastructure, these losses can potentially be halved.
On a 300-cow farm feeding 10kg of supplement per cow daily at $0.40 per kilogram, halving wastage (from 40 per cent to 20 per cent) would save about $240 each day.
Well-managed earthen or concrete feed pads can reduce feed wastage to as little as five per cent, even when it’s wet.
Feeding infrastructure can support cow intakes because large amounts of supplement can be consumed relatively quickly when compared to harvesting pasture when conditions are excessively wet or pasture cover levels are low.
These systems also allow for precise rationing, easier monitoring and greater flexibility, such as feeding total mixed rations (TMR) or other feeds that aren’t practical in paddocks.
Using quality silage, produced from Pioneer maize and forage sorghum hybrids, can further enhance feed value and efficiency.
Overgrazing and pugging have a significant cost.
Overgrazing reduces pasture persistence and regrowth, especially during dry spells. When residuals fall below about 1500 kg DM/ha, ryegrass plants draw on stored energy reserves, leading to bare patches, weed invasion and slower recovery even when moisture improves.
Grazing too soon and too hard is a major contributor to pasture decline. This accelerates the need for renewal and increases costs.
Pugging damages soils and can reduce pasture utilisation by up to 50 percent and reduce pasture yields by between 20 and 80 per cent over the following four to eight months.
Centralised feeding infrastructure lowers labour costs, simplifies feed inventory tracking and reduces overfeeding and wastage.
Well-designed infrastructure lasts decades, offering long-term returns and can integrate with effluent systems for nutrient recycling.
When it comes to design, considerations like area per cow, herd size, machinery access, water points and supplement storage are important.
Australia and Agriculture Victoria both provide helpful resources on feeding systems design, development and management via their respective websites.