Mention Feed Pads and most Dairy farmers have some pretty strong ideas - Trouble is they often relate to much different set-ups than ours.

For example:

• They're too expensive. That's why "Waste-Not" FAIR GO Dairy Feed Pads are constructed considerably shorter and so cost only about $25 - $35 per cow all up including gravel (or even less).
• They need 2 tractors (one permanently tied up) plus a feed out wagon and/or cart. That's why we make ours to take whole rolls, whole big squares, even big square bale stacked silage.
• You need an extra person on the farm. That's why a "Waste-Not" works well being filled only each 2nd or 3rd day.
• It takes a feeding space per cow. That's like having a set of teat cups per cow!
• We make ours do 2 - 4 cows per feeding space (also keeps concrete and feeder cost down).
• We're only talking mud and pasture damage. Although the Feed Pads clearly do reduce wastage and mud, we prefer to talk about better allocation of feed and a Fair Go for every cow - heifers and springers can also need preferential treatment � this is where the real $$$ come from. The Feed Pad lifts the tail right out of the herd.
• They are barely worthwhile. Our customers report that the Pad pays for itself 2 - 4 times per year.
• They only do one job. - That's why we make ours flexible enough to feed all types of hay, silage or fibre � to the milkers, to the springers, to the stand-off mob, to the maternity mob and even to the dry cows.
• You need to stand cattle off most of the winter. Most of our customers find that once the feeding is removed from the pasture, usually the paddock/pasture is the best place to run cows after all (but if you need to stand-off that's OK - the Feed Pad feeds them well).

The recent round of field days and farm visits looking at feed pads and wintering systems highlighted some very spectacular, high cost, high input set-ups - big loafing barns, and feed pads and calving sheds. However the Gippsland visits included some quite economical "Waste-Not" FAIR GO Feed Pad Systems which showed some unexpected benefits.
These included:

• Increases in production of 2 - 3 litres /cow/day.
• Extended herd peaks - 6 weeks instead of 10 days.
• Increased butterfat tests - up by .2 or .3 units.
• Major improvements in conception rates - "135 straws gave 96 pregnancies!"
• The opportunity to look at different feeding regimes such as silage to fresh cows, or big square bale stacked silage.
• Earlier pasture growth break-even dates leading to more silage and hay cut (or more milk).
• Reductions in concentrate used eg "halved" and "cut out for 6 weeks."  

Call us about how our quite simple systems can work for your cows.