30 September 2025
Including freshly-cut Westerwolds ryegrass in the ration during housing increases daily milk yield by two litres/cow in a Ceredigion dairy herd and captures significant cost savings on protein feed.
The fast-growing cover crop is established directly after the maize harvest at Tafarn-y-Bugail near Cardigan to prevent soil erosion and to provide valuable nutrition in fields that previously remained bare before reseeding in spring.
Joining forces with Farming Connect as an Our Farms project, Dyfrig, Elin and Llyr Griffiths examined what this system meant for their business and for soil health.
The 2024/25 study showed multiple financial and environmental benefits from growing and zero grazing Westerwolds, including increasing milk income from the 500-cow herd by £450 a day, from a milk price during the study of £0.45/litre; that was the result of a two litre/cow uplift in daily production.
Average milk yield was 31 litres/day at 4% butterfat and 3.3% protein.
The cost of purchased protein included in the Total Mixed Ration (TMR) reduced by £130/day.
The soil health benefits from covering maize fields with grass over the winter are obvious, says Llyr.
“You can really see a difference between a field that isn’t growing Westerwolds because of the amount of soil you lose, when there is heavy rain you will see brown water running out of a gateway and you really notice that when the field is steep.’’
Then there are the financial benefits of using the land productively. “There is nothing worse than seeing a field doing nothing, a bare field doesn’t pay for itself,’’ Llyr points out.
“It doesn’t make sense not to grow a cover crop of grass after maize, the cost of getting the job done is nothing compared to the benefits.’’
The Westerwolds ryegrass mix is direct drilled into the maize stubble with the Griffiths’ own uni-drill immediately after harvesting.
“We do all our own machine work so as soon as we take the maize off, we work through the night to get the grass seed in while the ground is still dry,’’ Llyr explains.
In 2025, he expects the maize to be harvested around 20 September.
The Westerwolds seed costs £20/acre and Llyr reckons it would be a further £25/acre to drill if the farm didn’t have its own kit.
He applies 50kg/ha of urea as soon as possible after the seed is sown followed by a light layer of slurry after the first zero graze.
The Westerwolds are zero-grazed from mid-February, the 2025 grass analysed at a metabolisable energy (ME) of 12.0 MJ/kg DM and 24.9% crude protein and fed at a rate of 20kg/cow/day.
The TMR includes 4kg water in the pre-mix, 4kg bread, 18kg maize silage, 18kg grass silage and 1.2kg Novapro – down from 2.2kg before the cut and carry system was introduced.
Each field is zero grazed twice in its first season; if it is a good ley, it will be left to grow on for a second year but if it is patchy the field will be sown back to maize.
There is a cost associated with zero grazing – Llyr estimates it increases labour requirement by two hours a day – but the net financial benefits are significant.
A forage wagon for zero grazing set the business back just £3,000 as it was purchased second-hand.
“It does the job and we have our own mowers and tractors,’’ Llyr explains.
He is grateful to Farming Connect for supporting the project, the findings reinforcing his own observations.
“As farmers we have to protect our soils, they are our most important asset, it makes complete sense that we shouldn’t leave any field exposed through the winter.’’
Lawrence Couzens is the agronomist who provided expert guidance to the Farming Connect project.
He is a major advocate of sowing grass after maize, especially Westerwolds.
“It is cheaper to establish than other varieties and will grow at a lower temperature and if you get good establishment, you get one heck of a crop, if everything goes to plan it will yield 15 tonne an acre.’’
The downside, says Lawrence, is that, in his opinion, it is a 12-month crop. “If you try to extend it to two years the yield will start to diminish.’’
If a farm is prone to drought, he suggests that a cocksfoot and festulolium mix could be a better option.
“It all depends on the season; in 2025 there is a good chance that we will meet the time threshold for getting some remedial work done and getting the seed sown in good time for Westerwolds.’’
Nutritionally Westerwolds won’t match Italian ryegrass, Lawrence admits, but the seed is cheaper.
“Westerwolds is cost effective as long as you get good establishment, in an ideal world it will need to be sown before the end of October when the soil temperature is still 10-15 degrees.’’
Lawrence advises lightly cultivating the soil after the maize has been harvested to rectify any compaction to allow water to infiltrate the soil.
Going forward, Llyr says the acreage of maize grown at Tafarn y Bugail will almost certainly increase.
“I can see us growing more and more maize every year, we have good soil for it and south-facing fields, and the cows are a lot more settled and content on maize.’’
That will mean that more Westerwolds are grown too. “I wouldn’t leave any fields without grass now,’’ Llyr insists.
PANEL
While incorporating fresh Westerwolds in the cow diet will increase milk from forage, it is important to establish grass quality to achieve the best cow performance.
Dairy nutritionist Iwan Vaughan, who formulates the ration at Tafarn y Bugail, says knowing the quality of the grass is critical when zero grazing.
Establishing the dry matter content will help determine the potential dry matter intake (DMI) while monitoring this is key to achieving the best cow performance.
“Understanding the DM content of the fresh grass allows better allocation, and we are able to formulate a more accurate TMR to be fed alongside the fresh grass, without under allocating feed or wasting feed through over allocation,’’ says Iwan, of Dairy Diagnosis.
Cutting Westerwolds at a younger stage, from February to April, will give it a higher NDF (neutral detergent fibre) digestibility which means more will be utilised for milk production.
“It’s a high protein, digestible crop therefore supplementing with a higher forage maize TMR helps balance out the diet, they complement each other,’’ says Iwan.
Some factors can cause issues - cutting in wet conditions can cause soil contamination for example - therefore choosing the correct fields is important.
FARM FACTS
1,200 acres farmed
210 acres maize, 500 acres of grass silage, 75 acres of barley and 80 acres of hay grown
24/48 swingover parlour
Pedigree Cardsland herd
All year-round calving
Average annual milk yield of 9,200 litres/cow
Milk sold to Freshways
Herd transitioning to fully-housed
Four full-time staff