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Our measuring beef farms grew 46kg DM/ha/day this week. Intermittent cool temperatures are holding back the grass explosion that was predicted last week, though growth rates remain strong for the time of year.
Grazing wise, we aim to be heading off on our second rotation of the farm around the time that grass growth rates match our herd’s daily grass requirement. The ideal scenario today would be to have the second rotation starting on a grazing block stocked at 2.5 LU/ha, with an average farm cover of 650-700kg DM/ha, or 14 days of grazing ahead.
Of course, many farms are quite a bit away from the start of their second rotation and have a much bigger bank of grass on the farm than this target. As thoughts turn to silage, the best option for these farms might be to incorporate some of their strongest paddocks into the first-cut silage area, or better, try and remove them individually beforehand. The vast majority of drystock farms are growing more grass than they can eat every day at this point. Don’t be afraid to skip heavier covers if there is a big bank of grass on the farm. Walk the farm for peace of mind. Getting it under control now will reap dividends later in the year.
Silage nutrients
Many will be fertilising silage ground this week and the aim should be to get 100 units of N on to perennial ryegrass swards and 80 units on to older grass. Take into account previous applications of N and slurry in meeting the overall requirement. Slurry spread in ideal conditions (cool, moist, misty weather) which will supply six units of nitrogen per 1,000 of gallons if spread with a splash plate, or 10 units where a band spreader or trailing shoe is used. Remember that silage is P and K hungry too. Fields below index 4 should be receiving 15 units of P and 100 units of K to offset the removal of nutrients in first cut. Again, take previous fertiliser and slurry (five units P and 30 units K per 1,000 gallons) into account.
Co Leitrim
System: suckler to weanling
Soil: mostly heavy
Average farm cover: 824kg DM/ha
Grass growth: 37kg DM/ha/day
The good spell of weather we’re getting is a welcome boost here. Ground is drying out very well and I’ve started to let cows out to grass. While the evenings are cold, paddocks that received two bags of 18-6-12 per acre back in March are beginning to kick on. I considered going with urea but my P and K levels are low so I’ll be sticking with 18-6-12 for the foreseeable future.
For the first time, I decided to get a local contractor to put out my slurry using an umbilical system back in early March and I would highly recommend it to anyone farming on heavy ground. All silage ground has been closed and has received 2,000 gallons of slurry along with two bags of 18-6-12 per acre. I’ll go again in two to three weeks’ time with another two bags of 18-6-12. I’m focusing on building P and K and I also plan on correcting the pH, so lime is most certainly in the pipeline for most of my paddocks.
After using a PRID AI-sync programme, all synchronised cows were scanned in-calf.
Derrypatrick Herd, Co Meath
System: suckler to beef
Soil: mixed
Average farm cover: 1,485kg DM/ha
Grass growth: 40kg DM/ha/day
Silage ground has been fertilised and closed since the end of last week. Close to 25% of the silage ground wasn’t grazed due to the overall farm cover and difficult underfoot conditions. Fortunately, this area was tightly grazed last autumn and therefore there is no dead material present. Silage ground that was grazed received 3,000 gallons of slurry and two bags of urea per acre while the remainder received 0:7:30 and urea.
We have close to 50% of the farm closed for first cut, slightly higher than usual and this is due to the excessive covers elsewhere on the farm. Our grazing platform is just over 30ha with a daily demand of 68kgDM/ha. This demand will increase over the next few weeks as a further 20 cows will join the herd post-calving.
While farm cover and days ahead remain quite high for this time of year, there are a number of paddocks to be removed as surplus grass when weather permits with the aim of maximising the quality of grass consumed.
Co Limerick
System: suckler to weanling
Soil: mixed
Average farm cover: 785kg DM/ha
Grass growth: 46kg DM/ha/day
I recently paddocked off my main grazing block on the home farm and added in extra water troughs. This has been a great investment. I have much more control over my grass and moving stock is now much simpler than before.
My stocking rate is low and this is an area I must improve on. I aim to buy in dairy-bred calves this year to increase stocking rate and hopefully hold on to my weanlings until a later date, selling them at a heavier weight than in previous years. I purchased a new 5-star Limousin bull also recently.
Soil P and K levels are very low on my farm and this is an area to be addressed over the next few years. My land is very hungry-looking at the moment and rectifying my indices should improve grass quality. I had spread half a bag of urea per acre in early March on good ground and will follow up with 18-6-12 for the remainder of the year. Reducing my meal bill and increasing sale weight are two priorities this year.
Co Kildare
System: suckler to steer beef
Soil: free draining
Average farm cover: 1,001kg DM/ha
Grass growth: n/a
Thankfully the weather and ground conditions have improved a lot over the last few weeks. The majority of stock are out at this stage, with the exception of a few cows that are left to calve. Heifers were put out the 1 March, but had to be rehoused on 8 March due to deteriorating ground conditions. Steers and heifers have been out now since the 16 March and were able to remain so throughout the bad weather on short grazing blocks. Thankfully they did not do any major damage to paddocks. This year the steers and heifers are grazing as one group for ease of management and to increase grazing power. I have bought a group of Hereford calves again this year which will graze ahead of the main group of cows.
Silage ground was closed last week and received 60 units of nitrogen. It will get more nitrogen this week. In the coming days I will select heifers to keep as replacements. The plan is to synchronise them for ease of AI and to keep the calving compact.
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