Average grass growth increased this week to 75kg per day on average across our Grass+ farms. This is an increase of over 10kg/day on last week, but is still behind the long-term trend and for many farmers growth is only just about meeting demand, despite a number of false dawns regarding grass growth.

Fine weather over the next few days will present an opportunity to cut silage. Priority should be given to cutting surplus paddocks to get these back growing. The cutting date of the main first cut will be determined by yield, demand for grass on the milking platform and requirement for quality.

With higher temperatures and thundery showers set to continue, I would expect growth rates to rise again over the next few weeks. Target average farm cover should be between 150 and 180kg/cow.

Use the wedge to look ahead and make decisions around whether or not you can afford to skip paddocks. Many grass wedges are quite flat. This could present a problem in periods of high growth rates as the farm cover will go from a deficit to a surplus very fast.

If you suspect growth rates are going to increase on your farm, you can be proactive by removing surpluses sooner rather than later.

Many farmers are continuing to spread 27 units/acre of nitrogen after grazing. If on a 21-day round, this means you are spreading 39 units/acre of nitrogen or 49kgN/ha in the month. This is too much nitrogen on most farms. Most farms, even highly stocked ones would get away with 20 units/acre after grazing. Don’t forget sulphur – for every 10 units of nitrogen spread, one unit of sulphur should be spread.

I still see many herds on 12-hour breaks. There is no necessity for this now. Performance will increase if cows are on 24- or 36-hour breaks. If paddock size is too small, consider opening gaps between paddocks to make them bigger.

  • Average grass growth is 75kg/day.
  • Warm weather with thundery showers should boost grass growth further.
  • Reduce fertiliser use to 30 units/acre/month.
  • Put cows on 36-hour breaks.
  • Shane Leane

    Teagasc Curtins Farm

    Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.96

    Growth rate (kg/day) 71

    Average farm cover (kg/cow) 177

    Yield (l/cow/day) 23

    Fat % 4.65

    Protein % 3.50

    Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.93

    Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0.5

    Growth rate is back up to where we would expect it to be so meal has all but been removed from the diet. Pre-grazing yield is ranging from 1,200 to 1,500kg. Demand is 65kg per day so I would expect that we will be skipping over paddocks by next week.

    I am not going to cut silage for another week as it is still bulking up and quality is still good with no sign of it heading yet. The number of repeats coming back is quiet enough.

    We are going to do another two weeks of AI and then release stock bulls.

    Pat and Elaine Hickey

    Tang, Co Westmeath

    Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.78

    Growth rate (kg/day) 82

    Average farm cover (kg/cow) 170

    Yield (l/cow/day) 25.08

    Fat % 4.04

    Protein % 3.52

    Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.95

    Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2

    Growth rate increased to 82kg/day for the past week, up from 52kg/day the previous week. The increase in growth meant we could skip over one paddock for silage.

    Other than a wet February and March here, it has been a good spring so we can’t complain. Cows are in good body condition. We are 18 days into breeding and we have 81% submitted so I’m happy enough.

    We will feed 2kg of meal until the end of the breeding season. We are following the cows with one bag of Cutsward per acre.

    Donal Patton

    Teagasc Ballyhaise

    Stocking rate (cows/ha) 4.7

    Growth rate (kg/day) 87

    Average farm cover (kg/cow) 154

    Yield (l/cow/day) 23.5

    Fat % 4.32

    Protein % 3.49

    Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.89

    Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 1

    We cut first-cut silage here on Tuesday and picked it up on Wednesday evening. We cut 35% of the total farm area and while it is very yellow-looking now, it will be back in the rotation over the coming weeks. Cows are going into covers of 1,500kg/ha of nice quality grass. We are spreading 20 units/acre of SulfaCAN this week. We spread urea last week. Grass is flying it now. Breeding is going well, with 78% of the herd submitted for AI after two weeks of breeding. We got all the heifers bred bar one, and the bulls are running with them now.

    Ed Kenneally

    Curraglass, Co Cork

    Stocking rate (cows/ha) 4.31

    Growth rate (kg/day) 82

    Average farm cover (kg/cow) 146

    Yield (l/cow/day) 27

    Fat % 4.08

    Protein % 3.64

    Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.15

    Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 1.5

    Things are going pretty well here now. We got a good bit of rain over the weekend and we beat Tipperary in the hurling so I’m happy. Growth was slow here for a good while but I got away without having to feed extra meal as the rain came just when it was needed. I’m spreading a bag/acre of SulfaCAN after every grazing. We cut some silage on the out-farm this week but we will hold off on the rest for another while. We are four weeks into breeding now and repeats are few enough. We got 95% submitted in the first three weeks.

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