Fertiliser

There’s little over a month to go before the start of the closed period for chemical nitrogen and phosphorus. You can still spread straight potash after this date and can spread slurry for another month and soiled water all year round. On most dairy farms, more fertiliser is spread on the milking block than on outside blocks, particularly in the autumn. This year, it will pay to spread more fertiliser and grow more grass on outside blocks.

For the country to avoid a fodder crisis, these less intensive farms must grow more grass. An extra 20kg/ha of grass growth per day over the next 70 days will grow the equivalent of two round bales of silage per acre, across all acres. To grow this grass, extra fertiliser must be spread. Blanket spread the whole farm now with 30 units/acre of nitrogen. If the fertiliser plan allows for phosphorus now too, then all the better. Aim to go again in September and then plan dirty water and slurry with a trailing shoe or dribble bar in October. Throw the kitchen sink at growing, measuring and managing grass for the rest of the year. See Fodder Watch on page 28 for case studies on different fodder options, which we will monitor weekly over the next two months.

Cull cows

With bulls gone a few weeks on most farms, cows bulling now are not going to be in calf. In a small percentage of cases some pregnant cows will show signs of heat, even though they are pregnant. What you do with these cows depends on stocking rate and the winter feed situation. Highly stocked farms (more than three cows/ha) short on silage cannot afford to keep them. By reducing the stocking rate you will reduce the grass demand, meaning less supplement is needed this autumn, less silage next winter and a better chance of creating a surplus over the next few months. Farmers that are lower stocked and have enough silage should hang on to empty cows and milk them on. The kick in growth rates after the drought will mean it will be easier to hit target grass covers. In many cases, the supplement has already been fed to these cows during the drought, now you need to get the milk from them. But it’s a pointless exercise if you’re short of silage and highly stocked.

Labour

Now is the time to be thinking about labour for next season. How likely is it that the current person/team are going to stay on for next year? Have you discussed their plans with them on a one-to-one basis? People move on for a variety of reasons. One reason that you don’t want people to leave your farm is because they feel they are getting better conditions elsewhere. It’s been a hard year on everyone working in farming. Spring was twice as long as normal and the summer workload was twice as much as normal. I see that Revenue are making changes to the PAYE system on 1 January. The changes mean that an electronic return must be made to Revenue on or before the pay run. Basically, the process of paying employees is going to become much more formal. Ad hoc payments could trigger interest and penalties. Talk to your accountant about the best way of managing payroll.