Grass growth: The rain forecast for Thursday is unlikely to hit all farms or even half satisfy some farms’ requirement for moisture. However, any rain is a help. Average grass growth rates are not bad at around 60kg/day, but there are farms in east Leinster and east Ulster only growing 30 to 40kg/day, which in most cases, is less than the daily herd demand for grass. It’s a difficult time and farmers need to manage themselves as much as the cows and grass. The fear of a drought is as bad as a drought, especially as 2018 is still fresh in people’s minds. Try not to get too anxious about a looming grass deficit, as it’s really something that’s outside of your control.

In terms of management, try and reduce daily demand by opening up more land for the dairy cows. This may involve moving youngstock to out-farms, cutting some silage fields earlier than anticipated, deciding against reseeding a paddock, or grazing/pre-mowing a paddock that was intended for silage, but that’s not gone too strong.

If these steps are not enough, the next thing to do is to let average farm cover run down to 500kg/ha. At this point, extra supplement should be introduced to hold average farm cover at this level. The extra supplement can be in the form of meal or, if that is not enough, feed silage. If there are paddocks closed for silage on the farm, it is better to strip graze these for a few hours at a time than feed silage.

Remember, if using supplement, you must reduce the amount of grass the cows are eating by allocating the required area after every milking. If this is not done, the cows will eat the extra supplement, but will not reduce the amount of grass they are eating by the same amount. How much supplement to feed is driven by growth rates and demand. If growth is 30 and demand (without supplement) is 50, then there is 20kg/ha in the difference. Dividing 20kg by the stocking rate will tell you how much you need to feed per cow to hold average farm cover.

Breeding: As more herds hit the three week mark for breeding, it’s critical to get the cows not yet served checked out, treated and submitted in the next three weeks. The target is to have 90% submitted in the first three weeks, but that should really be 24 days. Most of the cows not yet served should be later cows and ones that have had problems such as low BCS or hard calvings. If the vet prescribes a CIDR-based fixed time AI programme, make sure you follow it exactly as prescribed and submit the cow for AI at the appointed time, even if she is not showing outward signs of heat.

Fertiliser: A good few people are asking about fertiliser. If spreading slurry and fertiliser after silage, spread the slurry first and leave it for four to seven days before spreading urea-based fertilisers. If closing up for second cut, around 80 units/ac of nitrogen will be required, plus two bags/ac of 0:7:30 or equivalent. Slurry at a rate of around 2,500 gallons/ac can be used instead of the chemical P and K. I think most farmers should continue to spread fertiliser on grazing area, even if the land is dry.

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Dairy management: dealing with a grass shortage

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