The importance of feed testing this season
03 December 2025
With hay and silage season coming to a close for many regions, and the transition away from pasture towards a summer ration is fast approaching, now is the time to feed test hay and silage
While there have been windows to make quality silage, the cool spring and regular rainfall, has made hay production challenging with sub-par drying conditions.
Dairy Australia DairyCare Project Manager Dan Parnell said it was always important to feed test hay and silage to formulate a summer ration but was even more so this year if hay quality was low or silage had higher moisture than normal.
Adjustments can then be made to the feed budget.
“We have predictions of a record grain harvest in WA, so even if quality is not ideal in the forage, there may be opportunities to make up any shortfalls with grain at reasonable cost,” Mr Parnell said.
The 2025 silage season has been kind to the Commisso family at Waterloo.
With the cool wet October the Commisso’s have been able to get two cuts of quality silage from some of their dairy platform.
Mr Parnell said the second silage cut early November saw good quality grass and little seed head emergence.
After a final grazing in early August the paddock was fertilised five days later with 90kg/ha of Urea S and with the first cut on six weeks later.
The silage was teddered twice and then baled two days later.
“An impressive 51, 675-700kg rolls of silage was produced from this 4.3ha paddock,” Mr Parnell said.
Since then, it has received 100kg/ha of Urea-S the following day with an extra 60kg/ha three weeks after that to take advantage of rainfall events.
“We expect both cuts to be high quality but will test it to make sure that it is the case,” Anthony Commisso said.
“We also have some later cut silage on another block we will potentially blend with the high-quality silage according to the test results.”
Another advantage of the second cut is that it helps dilute the overhead costs of the silage operation and it is only operating costs that are over and above existing expenditure.
While silage production has been excellent, mowing on their hay block was delayed due to what seemed weekly rainfall events.
Anthony expected yields to be reasonable but was expecting lower quality.
“Overall, our first cut silage production has already exceeded 2024 and with the added bonus of a second cut, we have enough feed in the budget for well into June next year,” Anthony said.
While this is good news, Anthony will still use feed test results to make daily marginal decisions with the ration and is still looking at the opportunities with his grain suppliers to fill any gaps or even increase production given the reports of record harvest.
For more information about feed testing, hay and silage production contact your local Dairy Australia team or visit: Feeding & Farm Systems
Dairy Australia DairyCare Project Manager Dan Parnell said it was always important to feed test hay and silage to formulate a summer ration but was even more so this year if hay quality was low or silage had higher moisture than normal.
Adjustments can then be made to the feed budget.
“We have predictions of a record grain harvest in WA, so even if quality is not ideal in the forage, there may be opportunities to make up any shortfalls with grain at reasonable cost,” Mr Parnell said.
The 2025 silage season has been kind to the Commisso family at Waterloo.
With the cool wet October the Commisso’s have been able to get two cuts of quality silage from some of their dairy platform.
Mr Parnell said the second silage cut early November saw good quality grass and little seed head emergence.
After a final grazing in early August the paddock was fertilised five days later with 90kg/ha of Urea S and with the first cut on six weeks later.
The silage was teddered twice and then baled two days later.
“An impressive 51, 675-700kg rolls of silage was produced from this 4.3ha paddock,” Mr Parnell said.
Since then, it has received 100kg/ha of Urea-S the following day with an extra 60kg/ha three weeks after that to take advantage of rainfall events.
“We expect both cuts to be high quality but will test it to make sure that it is the case,” Anthony Commisso said.
“We also have some later cut silage on another block we will potentially blend with the high-quality silage according to the test results.”
Another advantage of the second cut is that it helps dilute the overhead costs of the silage operation and it is only operating costs that are over and above existing expenditure.
While silage production has been excellent, mowing on their hay block was delayed due to what seemed weekly rainfall events.
Anthony expected yields to be reasonable but was expecting lower quality.
“Overall, our first cut silage production has already exceeded 2024 and with the added bonus of a second cut, we have enough feed in the budget for well into June next year,” Anthony said.
While this is good news, Anthony will still use feed test results to make daily marginal decisions with the ration and is still looking at the opportunities with his grain suppliers to fill any gaps or even increase production given the reports of record harvest.
For more information about feed testing, hay and silage production contact your local Dairy Australia team or visit: Feeding & Farm Systems