Grazing

After a lot of very heavy rain over the last three weeks, soils are close to saturation point and grazing is getting very challenging.

Many farmers housed older youngstock this week, while others have started housing cows by day or by night. One thing to remember is that it’s much harder to get a good clean out when cows are eating a lot of silage.

It reduces their appetite for grass and you could find them standing at a gap wanting to come in, instead of cleaning out a field properly.

Allocate grass on a 12 hour basis and constantly adjust how much you give until you reach the point where cows are well fed and where the clean out is acceptable. It’s not an easy task at this time of year.

There are, at most, only three or four weeks of grazing left, so if housing by day or by night helps to achieve or stretch that out then so be it.

Grass growth rates are still very strong as it has been remarkably mild and a lot of grass is coming back on first-closed paddocks.

This shouldn’t be a concern at all, as if there’s too much grass on it then it can be grazed again, but it’s too early to make this call now – wait and see what grass covers are like by the middle to end of November.

Clover

Bloat will always be a risk on high clover swards. As clover contents increase on Irish farms, so too will the risks and incidences of bloat.

It just won’t be possible, based on current knowledge at least, to avoid all incidences of bloat. Even on farms that practice all the known control methods, they can still succumb to bloat.

As reported on pages 28 and 29 there are steps that farmers can take to reduce the risks. A key thing seems to be fibre content.

These lush, clover rich swards are low in fibre, which is why some farmers are feeding dry silage, hay or straw before or after milking to help prevent bloat.

The thinking behind giving cows a small section of grass before giving them the whole field has also got to do with fibre. If they graze out this section fully they will have consumed more high fibre grass. Bloat oil isn’t bullet proof either.

CAP

Dairy farmers who feel that changes to the new CAP won’t really affect them, will be in for a shock. The big issue is on farms where land and entitlements are leased and where entitlements are ‘given back’ to the landowner.

If these entitlements have a higher than average value, they will fall in value every year.

Then there are eco schemes, which require farmers to do something in order to get the full payment, likely to be over €70/ha. CRISS is another issue, as it can only be claimed on 30ha and is worth about €44/ha.

All in all, on farms that have a high entitlement value currently, or where high value entitlements are leased in, there will be a shortfall between current subsidy and future subsidy.

This could be a contentious issue where landowners are expecting the current level of entitlements to be repaid every year. All of these issues were discussed at the CAP roadshow in Cork on Tuesday and will be discussed again next Thursday night in Carlow.