In this week’s episode of Farmer’ Inside Track weekend edition, sponsored by Meadow Feeds who farmers turn to for much more than just feed, Joubert Nolte, the national technical manager for ruminants at Meadow Feeds explains the feed cycle of dry cows and why the comfortability of cows should be a high priority for farmers.
Also in the show, agricultural economists weigh in on the prices of insecticides, fertilizers, and herbicides which rose by more than 50% during the last planting season.
In terms of cow comfort, Nolte explains that it is very important that the comfort of cows are considered.
According to Nolte, cow comfort refers to getting a well-balanced diet. He explains that it is important to ensure that cows have enough of what they call bunk space or feed bunk space.
According to him when cows are not happy, they won’t perform. “When we talk about cow comfort, what we mean is managing their environment, where the cow stays so that they are comfortable when they need rest, but also access to food and water.”
In terms water, Nolte explains that cows drink a lot of water, and it is important that farmers ensure that there is enough water. Water he says must be clean, cold and drinkable.
Also important is ensuring that cows have enough bunk space.
“If you push 100 cows into a 10-meter trough bunk space, some cows won’t eat. The dominant cows will eat [first], then the rest of the guys will stand and look at them. So, it is important to manage the space that you provide.”
When overstocking happens, the dominant cows are most likely to have proper access to the food, while the other cows will struggle to get to it, Nolte explains.
When the less dominant cows eventually do get to the food the dominant cows have probably selected all the proper nutrients and leaving the less dominant cows with the inferior food.
“If you look after your animals, and you ensure that they are happy and well looked after they look after you care for them.” says Nolte.
When cows are not happy, they cannot perform, he adds. That is why farmers must manage the environment properly. They must ensure that the cows are comfortable.
Buy inputs sooner, rather than later
Meanwhile considering all things input costs, agricultural economist Ikageng Maluleka describes it as the perfect storm. According to her Covid-19 caused quite a lot of damage to exports and inputs with borders being closed.
“With China being the biggest producer of most of the Agri-chemicals, as well as fertilisers, was basically shared with the world. This has created a bit of a backlog when it comes to the supply of fertiliser as well as agrichemicals.”
On top of this, China saw a lot of their manufacturing plants closing due to severe flood damage. More recently, the East Asian country also saw their power supply being cut which meant that they had to ration power supplies between different manufacturers and that also created a bit of a lag in terms of production.
According to Maluleka, while this is happening the rest of the world is waiting, there’s increased demand in terms of production, and South Africa, as a small drop in the ocean, are basically at a disadvantage.
South Africa imports more than 80% of its fertilizer and agrochemicals, which means the country is a price taker.
“Producers can’t come to a situation where they short-change themselves when it comes to using fertiliser or chemicals. They basically need to buy as much as they need at whatever high price.” This creates an issue where the margins are being squeezed.”
This forced producers to look for alternatives that they could use in the market.
Maluleka advises producers to buy their inputs as early as possible. “Producers who manage to buy will probably buy in late December or ready for April planting. And those [producers] would be the [ones] that get a bit of a reprieve in terms of what is happening now. ” Maluleka says.
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