Weather

Farmers on low-lying or heavy soils, particularly in the northern half of the country, are really struggling with all the rain. Last weekend was a washout across most of the north and west, and cows have had to be housed on many farms because land flooded, or is just too wet to graze. The thing to remember is that this will be temporary. We’re still in mid-summer, daylight hours are long and, if given any chance, land will dry out quickly. In the meantime, it’s about doing the basics right – feed extra meal if needs be, feed the best-quality silage available if cows are housed, and keep testing ground conditions to see when grazing can resume.

For those on drier land the challenges are much less, with the biggest issue being a delay to second-cut silage. The rain on Wednesday put many off, but there may be opportunities over the weekend and into next week. At this stage it’s a question around what is more important – having dry silage or having aftergrass coming back for autumn. It may be necessary to take a hit on silage quality if it means having that area back for grazing.

Fertiliser

August is an important month for grass growth. The process of having enough grass on the farm for next spring starts now. Ideally, there should be sufficient grass on the farm for a long grazing season into mid-November and to still have enough grass to enable turnout in February. These targets to be adjusted based on soil type. So, how do we build up grass? The only options are to increase growth or to reduce demand. The bigger the gap between growth and demand, the faster covers will increase. The amount of grass on the farm needs to more or less double between now and the end of September. An autumn grass budget is an essential tool to determine what needs to be done to increase cover. On higher-stocked farms demand will need to be reduced by culling empty cows and/or putting in additional feed. Grass growth needs to be maximised on all farms. I would suggest spreading 20 units/acre now on all paddocks with insufficient clover content and in early September. Paddocks with high clover content shouldn’t need nitrogen, but will still need phosphorus and potash.

Bloat

We are heading into a high-risk time for bloat. One saving grace this year could be that grass quality is poorer than normal, with more stem present in most swards. Any sort of fibre in the diet reduces the risk of bloat. The highest-risk paddocks are very lush swards with high clover contents, on damp, dull days. Some farmers feed a little bit of silage or straw to cows, while others will give a smaller-than-normal grass allocation, which forces cows to eat down into the sward and,thereby getting more fibre into the rumen. Giving bloat oil is another option, but it’s an expensive one. Bloat oil now costs €4.50/l, or around 18c/cow/day based on 40ml dose rate. It would need to be in the cows system before she enters the paddock and water consumption might fall on the high risk days for bloat.