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Average grass growth this week has dropped back to 75kg/day. The heavy rain and drop in temperatures over the past seven days has definitely reduced growth rates. Poor grazing conditions reduced grass utilisation also and grass dry matters were particularly low so cows grazed more area last week than would have been planned.
But things are looking a lot better now – the forecast is good and temperatures are well up. Whether growth rates will rise on the back of this remains to be seen. At this stage, the priority on most farms is to get the surplus paddocks and main silage cut and back growing. If closing up ground for a big second cut, I would be slow to set demand any higher than 65kg/day (3.8 cows/ha). If growth is higher than this and surpluses emerge, then cut them out for bales at a light cover as soon as they emerge.
On heavy land that got a lot of rain last week continue to use the 12-hour wire to allocate grass, but as soon as conditions allow, go back to giving full paddocks. Fields that were poorly grazed last week should be earmarked for silage. Some farmers won’t spread any nitrogen or spread half rate on these paddocks at this time, but will target them for bales in two weeks’ time. Their objective is to get the stemmy base removed and back growing. These bales will do grand for dry cows.
Many paddocks have become stemmy and stressed-looking, having gone to seed. This is an important week for fertiliser. Paddocks that were cut will need slurry or compound fertiliser.
Otherwise, you risk depleting the soil nutrients. As for nitrogen, paddocks that are washed out looking may require up to 30 units/acre, but this depends on stocking rate and how much is allowed to be spread on the farm.
Teagasc Curtins, Co Cork
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.4
Growth rate (kg/day) 58
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 156
Yield (l/cow/day) 20.2
Fat % 4.61
Protein % 3.55
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.7
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0.2
We cut out a few paddocks for bales on Monday evening so most of the farm is back in the grazing rotation again. Pre-grazing yield has dropped to 1,200 to 1,300kg/ha and the wedge is very even but quality is good, with a lot of aftergrass available. We are spreading one bag per acre of CAN + S after every grazing. Rotation length is back up to 21 days. The plan now is to just skip over surplus paddocks for silage as they emerge. We are now finished AI and have Angus bulls running with the herd.
Teagasc Clonakilty, Co Cork
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.39
Growth rate (kg/day) 69
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 182
Yield (l/cow/day) 23.5
Fat % 4.14
Protein % 3.73
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.82
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0
We got 49mm of rain between last Friday and Tuesday. We went back to 12-hour grazings, grazed dry fields with light covers and fed 2kg of meal per day for those wet days. Things are back to normal again. We are grazing aftergrass and spreading 20 units of 29:0:17+3.5 S after grazing. Clover content for May was 8.5% while it was 13% for May 2016. The differences in grass growth and milk solids are a bit slower to emerge as a result. The cows on grass and clover are milking 1.82kg MS/cow while the cows on grass only are milking 1.67kg MS/cow.
Doonally, Co Sligo
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 2.92
Growth rate (kg/day) 50
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 177
Yield (l/cow/day) 24
Fat % 4.01
Protein % 3.42
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.84
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2
We’re not getting the same amount of rain as the rest of the country and the last few weeks have been quite good. Growth rate dropped a bit this week but we did cut paddocks for bales and we topped and pre-mowed a few paddocks also so growth dropped as a result of all the cutting. Quality is reasonably good, cows are going into covers of 1,300kg. Parts of the farm can’t be cut for silage so we need to be careful to avoid letting covers get too strong on these paddocks. The plan is to bale or top most of the rest of the land over the summer.
Ballyhaise, Co Cavan
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 4.12
Growth rate (kg/day) 86
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 156
Yield (l/cow/day) 21.25
Fat % 4.52
Protein % 3.55
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.77
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 1
The weather here has been close to brilliant for the past two months so we can’t complain. We got a nice drop of rain over the weekend but it did no harm. At this stage we have 25% of the farm closed for baled silage and we are knocking it this week. About 65% of the paddocks on the wedge are aftergrass, so quality is really good. Pre-grazing yields are 1,300kg and clean-out is excellent. The cows are currently grazing a paddock that was cut for silage on 25 May. We have five weeks of AI done, and the bulls are going out next week.
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