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GRASS

Grass supply remains tight on many farms. The problem has arisen because of very low growth rates. Regrowths from fields cut in late-May have been very poor. In addition, silage went late on many farms. Farmers also closed as much ground as possible with last winter's fodder crisis in mind.

The net effect is that cows and heifers have been left short of grass. Concentrates, and even silage, are being fed. Farmers who are fully feeding cows on grass were more flexible. They staggered the first silage cut - the first portion was cut around May 20th. As a result, aftergrass kicked in last week.

They also took out paddocks for cutting. But they did not let them grow for 8 weeks to be cut with the main silage cut. They kept open the option to graze these paddocks, and this paid off well this year.

Paddocks that were cut after 5 - 6 weeks growth have come back into the system quickly. Fields and paddocks from which heavy cuts were taken, have been very slow to recover.

There has been a lift in growth rates due to the warmer, moister weather. Use this opportunity to spread more nitrogen. If topping, top only every second or third paddock.

Topping reduces recovery. If you are very short of grass, do not top again until supply has recovered.

Walk the grazing area to see how much grass is building up ahead.

If there is a plentiful supply of aftergrass coming in, you could speed up the rotation a little. This requires careful budgeting. Talk to an advisor or discussion group.

HEIFERS

It is getting very late to be bulling heifers. They will calve in April. Consider scanning heifers which were bulled earlier. Synchronise any not in calf.

Some farmers leave light heifers gain weight before bulling late. Again, you will end up with late calvers. Better to bull them as they show heat. Use a very easy calving bull. Aim to feed well during their first lactation. They will then grow to full adult size.

HYGIENE GRANTS

Application forms for the new dairy hygiene grant scheme are available at your local Farm Development Office. Funds for this scheme are limited, so it will be first come first served.

If you need to upgrade your milking facilities, contact the FDS office to see if you would be eligible for a grant. The application form must be sent to your co-op to certify your milk quota over the last four years.

BREEDING

Cows bulled from now on will calve next April. In a Feb/Mar calving herd, the aim should be to have as few April calvers as possible. Mar/Apr calving herds will, of course, have April calvers. But, again, as few as possible. May calving should be ruled out.

Keep the pressure on the get cows in calf. Don't let up on heat detection.

Be careful on bull selection. Many farmers switch to a beef bull, once enough cows are in calf to Friesian. There is a big swing to the Belgian Blue breed this year. This breed is easy calving with a short gestation length - 280/282 days. The other continental beef breeds carry for up to a week longer. Some individual bulls can be three weeks longer.

Aberdeen Angus and Hereford will give short gestation but AA and Hereford calves did not sell well this spring.

CELL COUNTS

If you are not milk recording, sampling individual cows for somatic cell counts is useful. You can identify high SCC cows. They can be earmarked for culling or dried off early in the autumn. This will keep bulk tank counts low in late lactation.

Take three samples during the summer. Leave four weeks between samples. Take samples during the morning milking. Do not change to evening milking. Cell counts vary between milkings.