Cheap milk production

Dryland ryegrass-clover pastures are the cheapest way of producing milk. In addition, the age-old fear of bloat from this forage has been partly dispelled because it is generally acknowledged that there are several ways of solving the problem.

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This is the opinion of Bob Chetwin, farm adviser of the Farm Costing and Advisory Service.

This service, based in Pietermaritzburg, analyses the records of many farmers and has helped most into more profitable undertakings. The recommendations made in this article are the deductions drawn by Chetwin from the analysis of Natal and East Griqualand dairy farms.

It is widely held that irrigated pastures produce the cheapest milk, but it costs R260 to install irrigation for, and grow, a hectare of ryegrass. For this outlay one can establish 4,8ha of grass-clover, and even with lower unit production it is certainly more economic than irrigated pasture, provided land is not limited and rainfall is 760mm or more. A cow needs an average of 0,32ha of irrigated pasture to produce its feed for a year, it requires 0,52ha of dryland ryegrass-clover to see it through the year in the Natal 'dairy belt'.

"I have heard many objections to the ryegrass-clover dryland pastures, but farmers must seriously consider it because the alternatives are becoming more and more unattractive," says Chetwin.

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?