39. Summer forages for lactating dairy cows. The Mark and Courtney Harris story

With the ever-increasing inconsistencies of summer weather impacting on dryland dairying, forage crops deliver a valuable bulk of high-quality summer and early autumn feed. In our latest dairying-themed podcast, host Charlotte Westwood is joined by Waikato dairy farming couple, Mark and Courtney Harris - to learn of their investigations into the fit of different summer forage crops for their dairy business.

Farming across two properties in the northern and southern reaches of the Waikato, summer crops form an important feature of Mark and Courtneys dairy systems. Chicory and summer brassicas are cost effective feeds for their herds, helping to to offset the absence of sufficient quantities of high quality pasture that would otherwise compromise summer milksolids production.

Mark and Courtney discuss how four years of on-farm work that has compared cow responses to either chicory or summer brassicas has taught them much about the fit of summer crops within their dairy business.

Which is better as a summer forage crop for cows? Chicory or brassicas? Which crop type should we plant? Tune in, Mark and Courtneys findings might surprise you.