Average growth rates over the past week were 75kg per day, which is the same as last week. And similar to last week, there is a big difference between farms. However, widespread rain on Tuesday should give a boost in growth to farms that were struggling. Any few millimetres of rain on a parched farm will make a substantial difference to growth, especially where fertiliser has been applied and clean-outs have been good.
Farmers in the south and east were looking for rain most, but the rain that fell will help drive on growth rates for everyone. Many farmers in the midlands and west are growing in excess of 100kg/day, which is phenomenal growth, especially as it has been around this level for the last few weeks. It will be one of the best years ever for grass on many farms.
Managing growth
Managing the growth is tricky. Highly stocked farms must avoid closing up area for long-term silage or reseeding. This is because they will need all the area they have for extending rotation length and building up cover in two or three weeks’ time. Best policy for highly stocked farms (over three cows/ha) is to cut surplus paddocks for silage as soon as weather allows.
Farmers who are sparsely stocked and growing a lot have more options. Taking out extra land for reseeding is one option. If doing this, it would need to be sprayed off soon. Otherwise, close up a proportion of the farm for silage and aim to cut this at the end of July. Grass demand could be set at around four cows/ha. The other big option for these farms is to reduce meal feeding back to zero.
Average growth rate is high at 75kg/day but some farms needed rain.Widespread rain should boost growth.Manage grass differently depending on stocking rate. Highly stocked farms need to remove surplus fast.Lower stocked farms should cut out meal and take out land for reseeding or silage.
Teagasc Curtins Farm
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.40
Growth rate (kg/day) 42
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 143
Yield (l/cow/day) 18.4
Fat % 4.89
Protein % 3.71
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.63
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2
We are tight for grass so we have put back in meal at 2kg/hd/day as demand is around 57kg/day. We were also going to feed some silage to slow the cows down. Instead, we have decided to pre-mow a paddock that was intended for silage. There is a cover of over 2,000kg on it. We’ll see how it goes. It’s just one paddock and then we should be OK especially as we got rain on Tuesday. We vaccinated the herd for IBR last week and the bulls will be leaving the herd later this week after 11.5 weeks of breeding.
Teagasc Ballyhaise
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.58
Growth rate (kg/day) 76
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 165
Yield (l/cow/day) 20.3
Fat % 4.44
Protein % 3.71
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.7
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0.9
We are continuing to get high growth rates so we skipped over a few more paddocks this week. At this stage, we don’t have too many heavy covers on the farm so we could graze everything if we wanted to but then we’d have too much grass. It’s been an amazing year for grass. Cows are grazing 1,500kg covers which is all aftergrass. Bulls will be in for another two or three weeks. We are spreading 18:0:15 on paddocks that are low in potash which is around 20% of the farm. The rest is getting CAN after grazing.
Carrignavar, Co Cork
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.59
Growth rate (kg/day) 65
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 167
Yield (l/cow/day) 20.9
Fat % 4.27
Protein % 3.7
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.72
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 1.5
While the figures look OK, growth rate has been declining fast as the farm has got very dry. The rain in the earlier part of the week will help but I’m not sure if we got enough rain for much of an impact. I’ll do another grass walk on Monday and see then. We might have to feed some silage. I have about 10 acres of reseeding that is yet to be grazed. I sowed a monoculture of Abergain. We are spreading 25 units of nitrogen after grazing. Bulls are being pulled out next week after 12 weeks.
Tullow, Co Carlow
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.14
Growth rate (kg/day) 60
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 196
Yield (l/cow/day) 25.7
Fat % 4.11
Protein % 3.53
Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.03
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2
We got a good bit of rain on Tuesday and the farm has greened up since but there doesn’t seem to be much more rain in the forecast. We were getting tight so we grazed some fields that were earmarked for second-cut silage. They had a cover of about 1,600kg so weren’t too high.
We’re spreading a bag of sulCAN after the cows. We have about 180 units of nitrogen spread to date. Cows are milking very well. We are one of the farms hosting the Irish Grassland Association summer dairy tour on Tuesday 25 July.
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Growth is good and set to continue
Average growth rates over the past week were 75kg per day, which is the same as last week. And similar to last week, there is a big difference between farms. However, widespread rain on Tuesday should give a boost in growth to farms that were struggling. Any few millimetres of rain on a parched farm will make a substantial difference to growth, especially where fertiliser has been applied and clean-outs have been good.
Farmers in the south and east were looking for rain most, but the rain that fell will help drive on growth rates for everyone. Many farmers in the midlands and west are growing in excess of 100kg/day, which is phenomenal growth, especially as it has been around this level for the last few weeks. It will be one of the best years ever for grass on many farms.
Managing growth
Managing the growth is tricky. Highly stocked farms must avoid closing up area for long-term silage or reseeding. This is because they will need all the area they have for extending rotation length and building up cover in two or three weeks’ time. Best policy for highly stocked farms (over three cows/ha) is to cut surplus paddocks for silage as soon as weather allows.
Farmers who are sparsely stocked and growing a lot have more options. Taking out extra land for reseeding is one option. If doing this, it would need to be sprayed off soon. Otherwise, close up a proportion of the farm for silage and aim to cut this at the end of July. Grass demand could be set at around four cows/ha. The other big option for these farms is to reduce meal feeding back to zero.
Average growth rate is high at 75kg/day but some farms needed rain.Widespread rain should boost growth.Manage grass differently depending on stocking rate. Highly stocked farms need to remove surplus fast.Lower stocked farms should cut out meal and take out land for reseeding or silage.
Teagasc Curtins Farm
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.40
Growth rate (kg/day) 42
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 143
Yield (l/cow/day) 18.4
Fat % 4.89
Protein % 3.71
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.63
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2
We are tight for grass so we have put back in meal at 2kg/hd/day as demand is around 57kg/day. We were also going to feed some silage to slow the cows down. Instead, we have decided to pre-mow a paddock that was intended for silage. There is a cover of over 2,000kg on it. We’ll see how it goes. It’s just one paddock and then we should be OK especially as we got rain on Tuesday. We vaccinated the herd for IBR last week and the bulls will be leaving the herd later this week after 11.5 weeks of breeding.
Teagasc Ballyhaise
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.58
Growth rate (kg/day) 76
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 165
Yield (l/cow/day) 20.3
Fat % 4.44
Protein % 3.71
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.7
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0.9
We are continuing to get high growth rates so we skipped over a few more paddocks this week. At this stage, we don’t have too many heavy covers on the farm so we could graze everything if we wanted to but then we’d have too much grass. It’s been an amazing year for grass. Cows are grazing 1,500kg covers which is all aftergrass. Bulls will be in for another two or three weeks. We are spreading 18:0:15 on paddocks that are low in potash which is around 20% of the farm. The rest is getting CAN after grazing.
Carrignavar, Co Cork
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.59
Growth rate (kg/day) 65
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 167
Yield (l/cow/day) 20.9
Fat % 4.27
Protein % 3.7
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.72
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 1.5
While the figures look OK, growth rate has been declining fast as the farm has got very dry. The rain in the earlier part of the week will help but I’m not sure if we got enough rain for much of an impact. I’ll do another grass walk on Monday and see then. We might have to feed some silage. I have about 10 acres of reseeding that is yet to be grazed. I sowed a monoculture of Abergain. We are spreading 25 units of nitrogen after grazing. Bulls are being pulled out next week after 12 weeks.
Tullow, Co Carlow
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.14
Growth rate (kg/day) 60
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 196
Yield (l/cow/day) 25.7
Fat % 4.11
Protein % 3.53
Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.03
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2
We got a good bit of rain on Tuesday and the farm has greened up since but there doesn’t seem to be much more rain in the forecast. We were getting tight so we grazed some fields that were earmarked for second-cut silage. They had a cover of about 1,600kg so weren’t too high.
We’re spreading a bag of sulCAN after the cows. We have about 180 units of nitrogen spread to date. Cows are milking very well. We are one of the farms hosting the Irish Grassland Association summer dairy tour on Tuesday 25 July.
Read More
Growth is good and set to continue
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