Grazing

The nitrates debate is masking two very serious problems: wet weather and falling milk prices. Torrential rain on Wednesday has only added to the problems caused by heavy rainfall last weekend.

Those on heavier land are suffering most – many have had to house cows and youngstock for some or all of the time because grazing is too difficult, with damage unavoidable.

Those with experience will say that this is not the time of year to damage land because there will be no recovery until after next spring. This rules out early grazing next year and most will agree that if ground is ever to be damaged then spring is the best time to do it.

So with that in mind, do all that is possible to avoid damage now, even if that means temporarily taking stock off land.

On drier land, the issue is utilisation rather than damage or poaching. Use 12 hour breaks and back-fence.

If silage is being fed to extend grass, be wary of feeding heavily in wet weather because this will seriously reduce cows’ desire for grass, and in wet weather they will be more likely to gather around gaps waiting to come in than clean out a paddock properly.

Milk price

There was another raft of milk price cuts announced over the last two weeks. If it wasn’t for all the noise about nitrates, there would be a lot more heat on dairy co-ops.

The big difference being dairy markets are largely outside of the control of co-ops, whereas how the Nitrates Directive is implemented is a matter for the Irish Government.

Bad weather and bad prices are a double blow to profit. With no quick milk price recovery in sight, attention must turn towards cutting costs as sharply and as quickly as possible.

With large tax bills looming on the horizon, cash will be tight on many farms heading into 2024.

Meal prices have fallen, but it’s up to every farmer to ensure that they are getting the best deal. The difference in quality between “good meal” and standard or lower cost rations is overrated and doesn’t pay even at high milk prices, so definitely not at low milk prices.

If there is going to be grass in the diet for the next six weeks or so, then protein is not going to be limited, especially for late lactation cows. Freshly calved cows in winter milk herds will need high energy feed to avoid excessive body condition score loss.

Slurry

The slurry deadline has been extended by a week, so the last day for applications is Saturday 7 October. Given ground and weather conditions, spreading now is not ideal, but is still far better than spreading during the closed period.

If a tank needs to be emptied before winter, spread at a low rate across a bigger area for a greater chance of the nutrients in that slurry being taken up by the grass plant.

Two other deadlines; all farmers must submit closing fertiliser stocks by 15 October and farmers who are in a derogation must submit slurry movement notification by the end of October. Both the farmer exporting the slurry and the farmer importing the slurry must register the movement by then. Farmers not in a derogation have until the end of the year to register the movement.