Overall rainfall amounts and grass growth have varied substantially over the last seven days, as you can see from our focus farms. In the driest parts of the southeast, little or no rainfall has been recorded, whereas most other regions received 15 to 35mm, and some northern and western areas are back to normal growing conditions.

The warm dry weather this week, and limited rainfall forecast over the remainder of this week, will mean that grass growth will not recover in drier areas. Farms that have received adequate rainfall on the other hand, can begin the buildup of autumn grass now in earnest.

Most of the country still has soil moisture deficits of 40-60mm, which means that while some paddocks have greened up, no significant increase in growth can be expected over the next few weeks and much more rainfall will be required. The most severe soil moisture deficits are in the Carlow Kilkenny and Tipperary areas, where there has been almost no rainfall and many farms are completely out of grass.

Given the conditions on dry farms, cows will continue to require the major part of their intake from supplement over the next two to four weeks. Pre-grazing covers are low (400-600kg DM/ha) and it is essential that cows have adequate access to high-quality silage and other supplements to maintain an overall intake of 18-20kg DM.

If you have adequate silage in the yard, that should be the main fallback in the current conditions. It is by far the cheapest option at €275/t DM. A small amount of grass (5-6kg) plus 8kg DM of silage and 4-5kg of a 16% dairy nut will meet the requirements of the herd. If you are short of silage, straights are the next cheapest alternative to replace silage. If you are using these feeds, a mix of soya hulls and PKE is preferable and should be fed with dry silage to minimise rumen upsets.

Dry farms are consigned now to the fact that they will be feeding from now into autumn with no realistic prospect of growth recovery before mid-September. Reducing cow numbers by selling cull cows must be considered.

Swardwatch

  • Continue to walk the farm weekly and keep rotation length at 25-30 days.
  • Even where substantial rainfall occurred last week, nitrogen applications should be delayed, as the soil will have good N reserves for up to 10 days.
  • Try to reduce demand on the milking platform by selling some older cull cows.

    • Barry Reilly, Kingscourt, Co Cavan

    Grass growth never dropped below 30kg/day here during the last few weeks and we got 70ml of rain over the last 10 days. The farm is green and regrowths over the last week have been really good with 300-500kg DM back on them now. In addition to concentrate, we are feeding 2.5kg/cow of bale silage at milking, as we want to build cover over the next three weeks. I have no reseeding done this year, as most of the farm has had new reseeds in recent years. We spread 20kgN/ha across the farm last Saturday and we have 165kg/ha spread so far, with another 30kg for early September. We finished our breeding season last week.

    Barry Reilly.

    Average farm cover (kg/ha):515

    Stocking rate (LU/ha):2.6

    Growth (kg/ha):66

    Yield (l/cow):21.2

    Fat (%):5.00

    Protein (%) :3.89

    Milk solids (kg/cow):1.9

    Concentrates (kg/cow):4

    Eddie O’Donnell, Golden, Co Tipperary

    We got 20ml of rainfall last Monday and nothing since. The rain greened up the farm, but growth rate is still low and we will need a lot more rain before we see recovery. In addition to the parlour nuts, we are feeding 6kg of grass, 4kg of silage and 4kg of straights. The batch latch lets the cows in to feed at 3am and again at midday and they are at grass day and night otherwise. We have spread no fertiliser since the start of July. We have 155kg N/ha spread so far this year and we will probably only get another 30kg out before the closed period. We are spreading 2,000 gallons of dairy soiled water after grazing.

    Eddie O' Donnell.

    Average farm cover (kg/ha):264

    Stocking rate (LU/ha):2.9

    Growth (kg/ha):18

    Yield (l/cow):18.5

    Fat (%):5.76

    Protein (%) :3.93

    Milk solids (kg/cow):1.8

    Concentrates (kg/cow):4

    Eoin McCormack, Clonakilty Agricultural College, Co Cork

    We got 30ml of rain last week which greened up the farm and boosted growth from 25kg last week. The cows are getting 9kg of grass and 6kg of silage. We will stay on this diet until next Monday, as we are expecting more rain this weekend. We are spreading 2,500 gallons of parlour washings after grazing and anywhere receiving that is recovering faster. We have spread no fertiliser since 20 July. Grass-only paddocks have got 150kgN/ha, compared to 125kgN/ha for the grass-clover paddocks. Clover content across the farm is good (20-30%). The red clover silage will be cut again this week.

    Eoin McCormack

    Average farm cover (kg/ha):770

    Stocking rate (LU/ha):3.1

    Growth (kg/ha):65

    Yield (l/cow):16.5

    Fat (%):5.30

    Protein (%) :3.90

    Milk solids (kg/cow):1.6

    Concentrates (kg/cow):3