While we often talk about an east-west divide when it comes to land type and weather, it seems that this is very much the case of late for some. Heavy, thundery bursts of rain over the weekend have made heavy ground less trafficable, while in the sunny southeast there is a cohort of farmers crying out for rain. Grass is in a stressed state, with growth rates in the 20s in some cases.
While we often talk about an east-west divide when it comes to land type and weather, it seems that this is very much the case of late for some.
Heavy, thundery bursts of rain over the weekend have made heavy ground less trafficable, while in the sunny southeast there is a cohort of farmers crying out for rain. Grass is in a stressed state, with growth rates in the 20s in some cases.
At this time of the year, heavy rainfall will generally soak away and ground will dry out relatively quickly, meaning these farms will be ok as long as dry conditions persist.
Those that are struggling for growth have a more serious issue, especially if growth is significantly below demand.
The key thing is to hold farm cover at 500kg DM/ha or greater; dipping it below this figure will result in too little cover (green matter) on farm so that when rain arrives, there will be sufficient grass on farm to allow growth to take off, remembering the phrase ‘grass grows grass’.
Willie Treacy – Hackballscross, Co Louth
Growth was in the high 60s last week, but with some cooler nights we have dropped to the mid 50s now. All silage has been harvested, bar one field away from the yard that is destined for third cut, with some slurry held over for this.
The remaining silage ground that had second cut harvested from it has received 30 units/acre of protected urea for grazing.
Two paddocks have been earmarked for reseeding, so we will get to spraying these off soon.
Autmn calving has started, with eight calves on the ground born unassisted, while we will be vaccinating our spring calves soon for pneumonia ahead of weaning. The spring calving cows will be scanned soon.
System Suckler to beef
Soil Type Free draining
Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 896
Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 54
Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 40
Stephen Frend – Newford Herd, Co Roscommon
We harvested and pitted 34 acres of red clover silage and 34 acres of grass silage at the weekend in separate pits. The red clover yielded roughly 3.5 tonnes/ha and the grass at roughly 4 tonnes/ha, with both swards being sown on the 10 June.
We opted to sow the red clover now in order to try and get an additional cut at the end of September.
Growth is good and there are some lovely quality swards coming ahead of stock at the minute. We have been creep grazing calves ahead of cows for a while, and have now introduced some meal in troughs as well for calves ahead of weaning in a month.
Heifers were scanned and 19 out of 23 are in-calf, with the cows due to be scanned this week.
System Suckler to beef
Soil Type Variable
Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 1,079
Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 54
Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 54
Ger McSweeney – Millstreet, Co Cork
We got a nice bit of rain over the last 10 days or so, which has really put a lift on growth after it being poor for a while before that. We have been seeing 5-7mm of rain daily and with the heat still there, regrowths are excellent on paddocks.
With tight grazing and some topping done in the last round or two, the quality of grass ahead of stock is excellent, which is really important for the weanlings right now as they up their intake levels.
Fertiliser was sown on some paddocks in the last week at a rate of 23 units/acre of protected urea, with anything not having received fertiliser in the last month to get a similar application soon. The farm will get one more application of fertiliser.
System Suckler to weanling
Soil Type Variable
Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 834
Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 45
Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 39
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