Beef and dairy farmers are being encouraged to do their winter forage budgets now and prioritise feeding their best quality forage to the animals who need it the most in the months ahead.

Jimmy Goldie, chief technical officer at Carr’s Billington, says some farmers face silage shortages – as well as problems with quality – following the dry growing season experienced in many parts of the country.

His comments come after provisional data from the Met Office confirmed summer 2025 as the warmest on record for the UK with a mean temperature of 16.1°C between 1 June and 31 August – 1.51°C above the long-term meteorological average.

“Some farms have plenty of good quality forage, while many farms are going to be seriously short this year,” says Mr Goldie.

“It’s important to start planning now – measure up silage clamps and count bales, so you know where you’re starting from, and analyse forage to assess quality.”

He recommends utilising a forage budgeting tool to estimate daily feed-out rates with support from Carr’s Billington, to help work out forage stocks and requirements.

“It’s a lot easier to make a small adjustment now to ensure you get through the winter, rather than reaching February and realising you’ve run out of feed.”

Once forage stocks have been counted and analysed, Mr Goldie says farmers need to compare this to the number of livestock on the farm – and be prepared to adapt their plans if necessary.

“On beef farms, for example, farmers who finish calves may choose to take advantage of higher store cattle prices and sell them early or feed them a bit harder and finish them quicker, so they’re not on the farm as long and don’t need as much forage,” adds Mr Goldie.

“Feeding high barley diets to finish cattle quicker may also be an attractive option to reduce reliance on forage, because the on-farm price of barley is reasonably low at the moment due to many crops not meeting malting specifications this year.

“However, high barley diets put cattle at risk of acidosis so take care to balance the diet to ensure optimal rumen function and the best feed conversion possible.”

Meanwhile, for dairy herds, Mr Goldie says the current milk price to feed ratio means buying in concentrates to make up energy shortfalls from forage could be a cost-effective option, however farmers need to ensure diets are balanced to match milk quality requirements.

In all instances, Mr Goldie says farmers should ensure their best quality forage is given to the animals who need it the most – including in-calf suckler cows, transition dairy cows and milking cows.

“Assess the body condition of spring-calving suckler cows now and ensure they have sufficient energy and protein through the winter to make sure they’re sustained for calving next spring,” he explains.

“Likewise, ensure you maintain body condition and performance in dairy cows and prioritise that when planning your winter feeding.”

He says although there is no one-size-fits-all approach to winter feeding in 2025, the key to a successful season will be careful forward planning in collaboration with nutritionists and feed advisers.

“You almost need to start with a blank sheet of paper, work out what you want to achieve and what feed you’ve got available to do that,” adds Mr Goldie.

“It’s important to ensure any bought-in feed is both nutritionally efficient and makes economic sense.”