At this level of growth, surpluses won’t be long emerging, especially where demand is a good bit less.

Many farmers have taken advantage of the dry spell to cut silage – either surplus paddocks or a full first cut. Second year Professional Diploma in Dairy Farm Management student Ciaran Fogarty from Waterford is in the middle of picking up the first cut on his host farm near Dungarvan.

Some 130 acres were cut on Saturday and the contractor started picking it up on Monday (today) but Ciaran is worried that it won’t all fit into the pit so thinks the last 20 acres or so might need to be baled. This is a hassle he could do without, but as he says “better to have it than to be looking for it.”

Ciaran did a measurement on Friday and the farm grew 76kg per day but he thinks this will have increased over the weekend as the weather and temperatures improved. Demand is currently at 74kg per day but this will drop as soon as the silage ground is re-introduced – probably in two weeks.

Normally, we would say introduce silage ground when it is grazed within the rotation. So, if on a 21 day rotation, include the silage when it will be grazed within 21 days.

Because growth was strong, Ciaran removed meal from the diet on Sunday so cows are now on an all grass diet. Cows are not being supplemented with magnesium for grass tetany, but Ciaran says that the farm is not prone to it so both himself and farm owner Adrian Power are happy to remove the meal.

Breeding

On the breeding front, the herd appears to be performing very well. Now on their fifth week of AI, only 17% have returned so far. Ciaran says spotting heats is becoming more difficult, so two teaser bulls (vasectomised) were released this morning.

The trainee farm manager is going to switch to beef AI bulls from week seven and continue with AI until the end of the breeding season after week 10, using the teaser bulls to help pick up cows in heat.

Last week, we reported on the steps Ciaran was taking to reduce SCC levels. This week, the SCC is at 100,000 so Ciaran is happy that the treatments worked. While on milk, cows are producing 1.85kg of milk solids.

The older bunch of calves now have coccidiosis too, with the younger bunch picking it up 10 days ago. This bunch are now back in the shed and are on meal, hay and straw. Ciaran is dosing them with Vecoxan twice, seven days apart, and is also pouring a sprinkle on the meal after day three. This treatment worked well on the younger calves but he says the calves still had a set back.

The main task at the moment is silage and then getting slurry out in the next few days. Both tasks are being carried out by contractor.

The Professional Diploma is Dairy Farm Management is a two year follow on course spent primarily on farms. Students of the course get hands on experience of managing dairy farms in Ireland and New Zealand and spend on average two days per month doing course work in Moorepark.