Average grass growth from our Grass+ farms this week is 67kg/day. Blistering heat and sun earlier in the week was replaced with widespread rain on Wednesday morning.
More rain is forecast over the next couple of days so this should boost grass growth on land that is suffering from drought. Curtins Farm in Moorepark is only barely growing enough to reach demand, even with 4kg of meal in the diet.
That said, some farms in the southwest of the country have had enough rain, with over 50mm in parts last weekend that caused plenty of headaches for farmers on heavy land.
You can only manage the situation in front of you as best you can. If there is damage being done, go back to using the 12-hour strip fence and move the cows to a fresh break after every milking.
The lowest growth rate on the map is 44kg/day on a farm in Wexford.
If demand is much higher then average, farm cover will reduce quickly. Tolerance for a low average farm cover at this time of year depends on the outlook for growth.
Letting average farm cover drop below 140 or 150kg/cow is OK if you know there is rain on the way and growth will exceed demand.
The normal recommendation is to be at around 180kg/cow at this time of year. It is too early to be building up covers just yet. Some farms are at a cover per cow in excess of 200kg and this is too much as it means pre-grazing yield will be too high.
Target pre-grazing yield should be between 1,300kg and 1,500kg/ha. Higher than this and protein will be affected. Some paddocks of after-grass can be grazed at a higher cover but it’s still not desirable.
Average grass growth is 67kg per day. Most of the country got rain on Wednesday so this should boost growth rates.Some farms were suffering from drought and other farms are suffering from too much rain.Set average farm cover at around 180kg per cow and keep pre-grazing yield below 1,600kg.
Teagasc Curtins Farm
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.12
Growth rate (kg/day) 45
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 161
Yield (l/cow/day) 19.8
Fat % 4.74
Protein % 3.77
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.73
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
Growth rate is still poor but it is improving. We got around 11mm of rain on Tuesday night but we needed every bit of it and will need more too.
Pre-grazing yields are about 1,000kg but should hold steady at this as demand is 40kg and I think growth will improve now after the rain.
We are still feeding 4kg of meal per day and will keep it in until the weekend anyway. We have some fields out for reseeding and the plan is to sow these next week.
Teagasc Ballyhaise
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.59
Growth rate (kg/day) 68
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 167
Yield (l/cow/day) 17.7
Fat % 4.66
Protein % 3.64
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.51
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 1
Grass growth dropped a bit this week but we are still in a good position with growth at 68kg/day. We got a good bit of rain over the last few days which was welcome and should keep growth going for another while.
We have an even wedge, with pre-grazing yield around 1,500kg. Milk production is holding steady, with somatic cell count at 98,000.
Crumlin, Co Antrim
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.83
Growth rate (kg/day) 74
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 241
Yield (l/cow/day) 29
Fat % 3.8
Protein % 3.15
Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.08
Supplement (kg/cow/day) 5.7m 2.7s
It’s been a tremendous year for grass and it’s some struggle to keep on top of it, but it’s a good struggle. We have a high-yielding herd so we manage them a bit different to other grass farmers.
At the moment the cows are 225 days in milk and we are drying off autumn calvers every week. We keep the high yielders in at night but everything goes out by day.
Keeping the solids up is a bit of a struggle with the type of cow we have. We are grazing covers of around 1,500kg, and we are spreading one bag/acre of 25% nitrogen with sulphur and selenium after grazing.
Greenfield Kilkenny
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.12
Growth rate (kg/day) 64
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 179
Yield (l/cow/day) 19.1
Fat % 4.44
Protein % 3.91
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.60
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0
Grass cover is 179kg/cow (after some paddocks were skipped for bales) and the growth rate is back a little to 64kg probably because we were a week later with fertiliser than normal.
Second-cut silage and surplus paddocks will be cut before the weekend, depending on the weather. Grass quality ahead of the cows is good, with plenty of clover too.
We will be starting to build grass in the next few weeks for October and November.
Up to 17 July the farm has grown 8.5t DM/ha, which is a slight increase on the same period last year.
Read More
Grass plus: Beef
Average grass growth from our Grass+ farms this week is 67kg/day. Blistering heat and sun earlier in the week was replaced with widespread rain on Wednesday morning.
More rain is forecast over the next couple of days so this should boost grass growth on land that is suffering from drought. Curtins Farm in Moorepark is only barely growing enough to reach demand, even with 4kg of meal in the diet.
That said, some farms in the southwest of the country have had enough rain, with over 50mm in parts last weekend that caused plenty of headaches for farmers on heavy land.
You can only manage the situation in front of you as best you can. If there is damage being done, go back to using the 12-hour strip fence and move the cows to a fresh break after every milking.
The lowest growth rate on the map is 44kg/day on a farm in Wexford.
If demand is much higher then average, farm cover will reduce quickly. Tolerance for a low average farm cover at this time of year depends on the outlook for growth.
Letting average farm cover drop below 140 or 150kg/cow is OK if you know there is rain on the way and growth will exceed demand.
The normal recommendation is to be at around 180kg/cow at this time of year. It is too early to be building up covers just yet. Some farms are at a cover per cow in excess of 200kg and this is too much as it means pre-grazing yield will be too high.
Target pre-grazing yield should be between 1,300kg and 1,500kg/ha. Higher than this and protein will be affected. Some paddocks of after-grass can be grazed at a higher cover but it’s still not desirable.
Average grass growth is 67kg per day. Most of the country got rain on Wednesday so this should boost growth rates.Some farms were suffering from drought and other farms are suffering from too much rain.Set average farm cover at around 180kg per cow and keep pre-grazing yield below 1,600kg.
Teagasc Curtins Farm
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.12
Growth rate (kg/day) 45
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 161
Yield (l/cow/day) 19.8
Fat % 4.74
Protein % 3.77
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.73
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
Growth rate is still poor but it is improving. We got around 11mm of rain on Tuesday night but we needed every bit of it and will need more too.
Pre-grazing yields are about 1,000kg but should hold steady at this as demand is 40kg and I think growth will improve now after the rain.
We are still feeding 4kg of meal per day and will keep it in until the weekend anyway. We have some fields out for reseeding and the plan is to sow these next week.
Teagasc Ballyhaise
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.59
Growth rate (kg/day) 68
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 167
Yield (l/cow/day) 17.7
Fat % 4.66
Protein % 3.64
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.51
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 1
Grass growth dropped a bit this week but we are still in a good position with growth at 68kg/day. We got a good bit of rain over the last few days which was welcome and should keep growth going for another while.
We have an even wedge, with pre-grazing yield around 1,500kg. Milk production is holding steady, with somatic cell count at 98,000.
Crumlin, Co Antrim
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.83
Growth rate (kg/day) 74
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 241
Yield (l/cow/day) 29
Fat % 3.8
Protein % 3.15
Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.08
Supplement (kg/cow/day) 5.7m 2.7s
It’s been a tremendous year for grass and it’s some struggle to keep on top of it, but it’s a good struggle. We have a high-yielding herd so we manage them a bit different to other grass farmers.
At the moment the cows are 225 days in milk and we are drying off autumn calvers every week. We keep the high yielders in at night but everything goes out by day.
Keeping the solids up is a bit of a struggle with the type of cow we have. We are grazing covers of around 1,500kg, and we are spreading one bag/acre of 25% nitrogen with sulphur and selenium after grazing.
Greenfield Kilkenny
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.12
Growth rate (kg/day) 64
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 179
Yield (l/cow/day) 19.1
Fat % 4.44
Protein % 3.91
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.60
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0
Grass cover is 179kg/cow (after some paddocks were skipped for bales) and the growth rate is back a little to 64kg probably because we were a week later with fertiliser than normal.
Second-cut silage and surplus paddocks will be cut before the weekend, depending on the weather. Grass quality ahead of the cows is good, with plenty of clover too.
We will be starting to build grass in the next few weeks for October and November.
Up to 17 July the farm has grown 8.5t DM/ha, which is a slight increase on the same period last year.
Read More
Grass plus: Beef
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