May 16, 2021, 2:00 pm In 2017–2018, most farms experienced severe winter conditions followed by a summer drought that reduced annual grass growth and forage supplies by one quarter. To cope with such shocks, Dr. Joe Patton a dairy specialist with Teagasc and Siobhan Kavanagh, regional manager Waterford/Kilkenny for Teagasc – recommend that farms build a rolling silage reserve of 400kg dry matter (DM) per livestock unit. That’s the equivalent of two bales per head, or about one month’s feeding for a mature cow. This level of reserve represents a compromise between feed security and the cost of making and storing the additional feed.