Banbridge, Co Down, is getting all the rain every other farmer is receiving this week and it’s a case of yo-yo grazing, as Dairylink farmer Nigel Corbett explained: “Ground conditions are actually not bad yet, but some of the rain that is falling is very heavy and if that continues it won’t be long before grazing conditions are poor. Thankfully, it’s not as cold as it has been so there should be some growth this week. Having said all that, there is no point leaving cows out on heavy paddocks if they are finished grazing, so we’ll take them in.”

The Corbett herd is just starting the second round of grazing this week. Slow winter growth and out-wintered sheep that took whatever new grass leaves appeared resulted in a late turnout and subsequently has pushed out the start of the second round. The dry spell in April allowed the heavier land to be grazed so at least that is now grazed and back growing with little or no damage to paddocks.

Last weekend was particularly difficult for grazing as it was very wet and cold and, as Nigel said, high-producing cows don’t like having to work hard at grass, especially in the wet and cold. The Corbett farm is stocked at 4.1 cows/ha so stocking rate is high and remember also the herd started calving last September.

The big issue for the Corbett business is that poor fertility really hit home hard last year and there simply are not enough cows milking to help dilute fixed costs. On variable costs, the main input prices for meal and fertiliser have not come down the same way milk price has dropped.

There are 80 cows milking now, and last year for the same month it was 90. So obviously the milk cheque for March was down but a combination of lower supply and lower price means there was a 50% difference compared to the same month a year ago. That’s a 50% drop in output value with similar variable costs. Yes, there are not as many cows calved so feed volumes are down slightly, but if this was corrected for the same litres delivered, the monthly cheque would still be down close to 40% compared with the same month last year. Meal price per tonne is very close to where it has been over winter. The price of meal over winter was £245/t (€331/t) but now the summer ration is in place, the price per tonne of meal is back, but only in the region of 5% less for a lower-spec meal.

Cows have dropped in yield this week from the 30 litres reported last week and Nigel needs to reset the feed-to-yield feeders in the parlour because otherwise they will still get the same feed but deliver less milk, making the loss-making situation even worse. March milk price was 23.8 p/litre (31c/l), and with all costs included (production costs and debt servicing) the business is losing money this year. Nigel said: “We were watching for results of the New Zealand auction with anticipation this week, but much like the weather they didn’t improve. We need to see some light at the end of the tunnel to allow our business survive.”

Charles Clarke Bailieborough, Co Cavan

Cavan farmer Charles Clarke is hoping the paddock outside the kitchen window is not representative of his whole farm because if it is he is going to be short of grass in 10 days or so.

He said: “We are only 20 miles from Cavan town but our farm is a good bit higher and where they might only rarely get snow, we get some every year. On paddocks grazed 10 days ago there are only very small covers. We had frost for a number of nights after grazing during the dry sunny spell of weather and it turned what grass was left white. The result is there is only a cover of 200kg on these paddocks now when closer to 500kg might be more like where it should be. However, the mild weather should help growth for these last few days.”

Charles is feeding 3kg of meal per cow to his mainly spring-calving herd, up from 2kg per cow last week. About 1.5kg per cow is a cal mag nut to prevent tetany and the other is 1.5kg of beet pulp nuts. Charles said a few cows are reluctant to eat the beet pulp nuts or indeed the cal mag nuts, so he has to be careful, especially if a cow is bulling, or she may not get tetany prevention.

Charles had what he initially thought was a tetany case on Sunday. He went down to the paddock as normal to bring in the cows for morning milking but noticed one cow that was off form – not quite swaying, but not walking as well as she normally does. The cows were grazing a freshly reseeded field beside the lake.

When Charles put her in the crush for closer inspection, he saw the cow was trembling slightly and its breathing was funny. Within a few minutes the diagnosis was complete when the cow urinated. The colour of her urine was blood red so the vet was called and red water confirmed and treated. Charles hadn’t seen a case of red water for over 10 years. The cow was treated with Imidiocarb Dipropionate, which has a 21-day milk withdrawal, and Charles has kept her in at night and only milked her once a day to allow her recover. He is conscious now that other cows could pick up the tick that causes this sickness. From his younger days he remembers cattle were prone to red water in that field and he can remember preventing it by dosing the cattle with Dectomax to kill the tick.

Grass cover is low but Charles is confident he will be OK because he has a five-acre field earmarked for silage but there is only a cover of 1,000kg on it now so he can graze that if he needs to. Two cows calved this week so there are three cows are left to calve. Milk is at 24.8 litres at 3.35% protein and 3.63% fat (1.79kg MS). Charles said: “Yield is low but we have 34 first-calving heifers, 14 autumn-calving cows and six carryover cows from last year milking of the 109 milking so a large proportion are relatively low yielders.”

Breeding is going well, with 45 cows bred in the first seven days. Charles went with 35 units of Pasture Sward per acre when last spreading nitrogen and now that the weather is broken he should start to see a good growth response.