Grass growth

The extremes in grass growth will narrow over coming weeks. Good rainfall in the east is helping to boost growth rates. However, drought-stressed farms are coming from a very low level of grass cover so they will take time before hitting the 100kg per day that is happening in the west and north midlands on many farms.

Taking out cows that are not in calf is probably the best thing these drought-stressed farms can do right now if current feed and winter feed is very tight. Cull cows are selling for between 90c/kg liveweight and €1.30/kg for better-quality Friesians that have a nice cover of flesh. This means cows are coming into €700 plus with some heading for €900 in the ring. Don’t expect this for older cows, lame cows, cows with bad bags etc.

ADVERTISEMENT

In the factory, the return sheets show €3.00/kg to €3.10/kg deadweight achieved for P grade cows in the Tipperary and Cork factories where a lot of the dairy cows are being slaughtered. Again, for cows that have cover and are weighing well then €3/kg for a 300kg carcase brings them into €900. A lot of cows won’t hit this – younger and poorer fleshed cows and many will do well to get to between a 200kg and 250kg carcase.

Assess options

So while milk price is still relatively good at €4.30/kg milk solids (see Milk League on back page) and the forecasts don’t see this price declining, you still need to look at:

1. What the autumn feed situation is: Where are you on target grass cover – 300kg per cow for 1 September? What growth rates can you expect on your farm to build an autumn wedge? What nitrogen have you left to apply?

2. What the winter feed situation is: If we got an early winter, late spring, taking into account stock numbers this year relative to last year?

3. What cows you want to try to hold on to for next year: What is herd average SCC? It will climb more into autumn as yield declines. On individual SCC, can you identify your consistently poor performers? What cows are not in calf? What cows are in calf but very late? They will have a long dry period if drying off prior to Christmas. Replacement numbers – what is potential sale price that could be achieved if you were thinking of selling compared with what you might get for a cull cow five or six years old? Could you keep more younger cows?

All answers vary depending on the stage of development and access to feed and money. We know from September to January inclusive a cow will eat over 2.5t of dry matter. Every cow less will mean less feed required and fewer cashflow issues. Tune up the milking platform now for the last round. Take the surplus quickly when the opportunity is there. Top dress Redstart crops with 50 units of nitrogen if 50 unites went in at sowing. The experts say spray out volunteers as they bring competition and disease.