Grass is more than twice as valuable next spring, so everything we do now should be geared towards having enough grass to allow for early turn-out next February or March. This means average farm cover should be around 600kg to 700kg/ha at closing. Paddocks grazed early this month shouldn’t be grazed again and you should have between 40 and 50% of the farm closed by now.
Most farmers will want to keep grass in the diet until mid-November. Work out how many more days you want to keep grazing and divide this into the area you have left to graze. This will tell you how much area you can afford to give per day. Work out how much grass is in this area by multiplying the cover by the area – eg cover of 1,500kg/ha multiplied by 0.75ha/day equals total daily allowance of 1,125kg of grass. Spring calving cows will eat about 16kg of grass per day at this time of year. Use supplement or reduce demand by drying off cows to fill any deficits.
This content is available to digital subscribers and loyalty code users only. Sign in to your account, use the code or subscribe to get unlimited access.
The reader loyalty code gives you full access to the site from when you enter it until the following Wednesday at 9pm. Find your unique code on the back page of Irish Country Living every week.
CODE ACCEPTED
You have full access to the site until next Wednesday at 9pm.
CODE NOT VALID
Please try again or contact support.
Grass is more than twice as valuable next spring, so everything we do now should be geared towards having enough grass to allow for early turn-out next February or March. This means average farm cover should be around 600kg to 700kg/ha at closing. Paddocks grazed early this month shouldn’t be grazed again and you should have between 40 and 50% of the farm closed by now.
Most farmers will want to keep grass in the diet until mid-November. Work out how many more days you want to keep grazing and divide this into the area you have left to graze. This will tell you how much area you can afford to give per day. Work out how much grass is in this area by multiplying the cover by the area – eg cover of 1,500kg/ha multiplied by 0.75ha/day equals total daily allowance of 1,125kg of grass. Spring calving cows will eat about 16kg of grass per day at this time of year. Use supplement or reduce demand by drying off cows to fill any deficits.
If you would like to speak to a member of our team, please call us on 01-4199525.
Link sent to your email address
We have sent an email to your address. Please click on the link in this email to reset your password. If you can't find it in your inbox, please check your spam folder. If you can't find the email, please call us on 01-4199525.
ENTER YOUR LOYALTY CODE:
The reader loyalty code gives you full access to the site from when you enter it until the following Wednesday at 9pm. Find your unique code on the back page of Irish Country Living every week.
SHARING OPTIONS