Condition that carries two seasons
Ashburton dairy farmers, Lyle and Nicole Williams, sold the mixer wagon, went all grass and refused to install in-shed feeding. Maize silage is the one supplement that earned its way back – because nothing else builds cow condition like it. Words Sarah Perriam-Lampp.
There is no in-shed feeding system in Lyle and Nicole Williams’ Canterbury dairy shed – and that is no accident.
“I purposely didn’t put one in so we didn’t have the temptation to use it,” says Lyle.
Lyle moved to the irrigated property on the south side of Ashburton near Lake Hood, with his parents in 1999, and bought it with Nicole about six years ago. The couple have three daughters – Emma is studying at Massey University, while Amy and Sophie are at boarding school.
Buying the farm prompted a hard look at a system that had leaned heavily on supplements, at one stage including a total mixed ration (TMR).
“We fed a lot of supplements but we weren’t making a lot of money, so we decided to sell the mixer wagon and go all grass to keep our costs low.”
Only one supplement earned its way back.
“We first started feeding maize silage 26 years ago when we came to the farm,” says Lyle. “There were a few years where we went away from it but in recent years we have come back.”
The all-grass reset forced the pasture fundamentals – weekly pasture walks, tighter residuals and more topping, either in front of or behind the herd.
“Condition score is key to everything really. Having the right condition score at calving is the key to setting up not just this season but the next one as well.” – Lyle Williams, Ashburton
“If the grass is good quality, we top in front of the cows, but if it isn’t good and you force the cows to eat it, you can affect production,” says Lyle. “You’re better to let the cows pick through the paddocks and then take the mower in to tidy up after them.”
Grass yield and quality lifted, and production followed. Today, the couple peak milk about 650 predominantly Friesian cows on 203 ha (effective), producing 327,000kg milksolids (MS) in the 2024/25 season – 503kg MS/cow and 1611kg MS/ha. But all grass had a weakness, and it showed up every autumn.
“Condition score is key to everything really,” says Lyle. “Having the right condition score at calving is the key to setting up not just this season, but the next one as well.
“When we were just feeding pasture, it was a struggle to get weight on the cows at the end of the lactation. We decided to grow maize because we knew maize silage is great for putting condition on cows.”
For the Williams’, condition is not a nice-to-have. It drives everything they are paid for – reproduction, production and profit. Well-conditioned cows, synchronised heifers, artificial insemination (AI) across a six-week mating and proactive CIDRs for non-cycling cows have tightened the calving spread, with palm kernel fed in trailers in the paddock plugging the early-spring gap until pasture growth lifts.
The autumn maize feed works because of the feedpad. The crop goes in mid-October and comes off in late March, landing right when it is needed.
“It works well because the maize silage crop is harvested about the time I need to start slowing down my pasture rotation. We can feed maize silage while reducing grass intake and building pasture cover for spring.”
Cows eat the maize silage on the pad at up to 5kg DM/cow/day from shortly after harvest. On heavy soils prone to pugging, the pad also protects paddocks through the wetter months. Cows winter off-farm and return about 10 days before calving.
“Last year we fed the springers maize silage for about a week prior to calving and that worked well for us.”
Growing the crop costs remarkably little. The first 5ha went in on effluent with just 100kg/ha DAP as starter fertiliser.
“It yielded more than 25t DM/ha so the next year we doubled the area, applied even more effluent,” says Lyle. “Since then, we have achieved 30t DM/ha each year.”
At 3.2 cows/ha, growing 10ha of maize a year slots neatly into the pasture renewal programme, with paddocks going back into winter triticale or permanent pasture. Because we are using effluent and minimal purchased fertiliser, homegrown maize silage is a really low-cost feed for us.”
Hybrid choice comes down to timing – off early enough to establish the winter crop before the cold. The silage is inoculated with Pioneer® brand 11C33 Rapid React.
“I’ve been planting Pioneer brand P8333 every season because I know it yields well. Pioneer have got a good reputation and an excellent backup service.”
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