The mild but very wet weather is keeping the October grazed paddocks for next February moving along nicely and in some instances growing too fast.

Some farmers are telling me there is already a cover over 1,400kg on some of the early October-grown paddocks. The temptation is to graze off paddocks with heavy covers, but the value of that grass next spring is much more important.

The very heavy rain right across the country this week has more or less finished grazing for the majority. For some the heavy rain has removed the temptation to graze off a heavy paddock of grass. Very few are out now and only high and dry farms can get a few hours of grazing.

If they are green and growing with little dead material, then have no fear that they will be fine for next February. You’ll get much more value for money from those paddocks of grass next February and March.

Yes, they might decline in cover a small bit over the winter but most of it will be there and without it you would have no options next spring.

Growth rates are still coming in between 20kg and 25kg per day on most farms, which is over twice the norm for this time of the year. The forecast remains mixed with rain and slightly cooler temperatures forecasted for the weekend.

Steven Fitzgerald

Curtins

Stocking rate 2.96

Growth rate 18

Average farm cover 650

Yield 13.5

Fat 5.91

Protein 4.34

Milk solids (1.4kg MS)

Supplement 2kg meal only

By Friday this week we will have all our grazing completed and cows will be inside full-time. We kept the cows in on Tuesday night and they were out again Wednesday during the day. We have dried another batch of cows so there are now 50% of the cows milking. Our farm cover will finish up about 650kg and the best paddock that was closed first has a cover of 1,400kg on it now. Growth rate was measured at 18kg. Silage is 72 DMD, so it’s good quality.

Donal Patton

Teagasc Ballyhaise

Stocking rate 2.9

Growth Rate 25

Average farm cover 650

Yield 12.2

Fat 5.11

Protein 3.82

Milk Solids 1.1

Supplement 3kg meal and silage

Cows came in full time on Sunday (8 November) and they haven’t gone out since. We still hope to get out for three or four days of grazing to finish up for this year when it dries up enough. We are feeding baled silage and 3kg of meal per cow and so far so good. Excluding the grass for the few days grazing left, we have 15% of the farm (three paddocks) with a cover of over 1,400kg. Our farm cover is about 650kg but if we grazed those three heavy covers it would be 450kg. We know cover will reduce on these paddocks, but at least there will be something there to graze in the spring. Within the next three weeks, all cows will be dry.

Richard Starrett

Donegal

Stocking rate 2.5

Growth Rate 222

Average farm cover 580

Yield 15.5

Fat 5.00

Protein 4.37

Milk solid 1.48

Supplement 4kg meal and silage

We have housed full-time now and today (Wednesday) we are bringing in the heifer calves because it’s simply too wet. The roads are flooded up here so it’s a good indication that the fields are just too wet now. Our cover finished up at 580kg with a cover of 1,150kg on the best paddock. We have 100% of the cows still milking at 15.5 litres on 4kg of meal. We have just opened the pit silage made in 2014 and it’s good (73 DMD). We have fed bales for the last two weeks to stretch the grass we had left. It’s two weeks since I walked but I would estimate a growth of low 20s for the last two weeks. I’ll do my final farm cover at the weekend.

Danny Bermingham

Doonbeg, west Clare

Stocking rate 2.5

Growth Rate 15

Average Farm Cover 455

Yield 11.5

Fat 5.32

Protein 4.18

Milk Solids 1.1

Supplement 3 kg Meal & bale silage

We finished up grazing on 9 November but we still have 100% of the cows milking. We will stay going until Christmas week with some but I’ll dry 30 of the heifers and thin cows tomorrow. We are feeding baled silage to the milkers and 2.7kg of meal. While farm cover is low around here, I won’t be grazing in February so I’m not too concerned. It will be March before we do any meaningful grazing given ground conditions. Reseeded and drained fields are growing well. On average, we have grown about 10 tonnes per hectare this year, ranging from five to 17 tonnes/ha.

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