“With RuFO, we are improving protein efficiency”

Co Down dairy farmer Stephen Gibson has been using AHV RuFO+ for almost a year now. Read the experience of Stephen, owner of Hollowbridge Farm: “I started feeding RuFO back in September 2021. I noticed that cows were coming to their milk quicker, milk peaks were longer, and butterfat was improved. Cows had a good shine on them and they came out of that negative energy period quicker than previous years.”

“Heats were coming earlier and stronger. We use all sexed semen here, to breed our own replacements. Conception rates were improved, and we found the percentage of cows going into calf on first service
was a lot higher.”

Changing diet

“We worked on the diet to try and lower the protein fed, and we ended up on a very low protein meal in the end. We found that milk urea was falling, we were able to reduce crude protein in our meal by 5% and still, cows had higher milk yield. My concentrate was a lot cheaper with the lower protein in it. Cows were looking good and performing well and body condition and fertility was well maintained throughout lactation. That’s particularly appealing to ourselves from an efficiency point of view. If we can lower the reliance on bought in soya which is coming from the other side of the world and make do with what we can grow nearer to home, it will lower the farm’s carbon footprint – making good use of that through efficient digestion.”

Healthier claws

“Since starting RuFO I would also say the cow’s feet have been healthier. There has been less challenges. Also, prior to using RuFO, my TMR was heating a bit but it’s back to being cold and the feed is staying fresher for longer. I was able to get full use of our feed.”