Growth rates have remained steady but slow over the last week as temperatures remain cold by night.
Ultimately this has worked in favour of the farmers. In most areas growth rates are just about meeting demand. This means little need for taking out surplus grass as bales every few days for those farms who are on top of things.
It has also made managing grass quality somewhat easier, as pre-grazing yields aren’t getting too far ahead of their target.
Despite this being the case in places, still over half the farmers on PastureBase are well over the target cover per cow. To rectify this issue, demand needs to go up by reducing meal fed, closing paddocks for silage or taking out ground for reseeding.
Carrying a heavy cover per cow (>190kg DM) leads to a number of issues, the most obvious one being grass quality. If paddocks have high covers of over 1,600kg DM/ha at this time of year, quality of the sward drops and cows will be slow to clean it off.
Returning grass will carry more stem and production will be impacted, with protein taking a big hit.
Where farm cover is over 170kg DM/cow, boost demand for grass by cutting meal feeding levels back to a maximum of 2kg. Where cows are in good condition, lower meal feeding levels shouldn’t affect breeding, provided minerals are accounted for.
Paddocks where quality is starting to suffer should be marked for bales in the next round to get back on track. Target grazing paddocks at 1,300 to 1,400kg DM/ha, aiming for residuals of 4cm.
Fertiliser
With growth rates slow, keeping on top of fertiliser applications is important. Cows should be followed with a nitrogen plus sulphur product.
Paddocks with clover should be getting a reduced rate of nitrogen from now on. Ideally, parlour washings or half-rate nitrogen should be enough to keep grass moving while clover starts to get motoring.
For paddocks with no clover, 18 to 20 units/acre of nitrogen is needed. To hear from Colin Doherty, one of our featured farmers this week, tune in to the Inside Dairy podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
For farms getting tight on grass, walk the farm weekly to ensure cover doesn’t drop much lower than 160kg DM/cow.Where cover per cow is high, increase demand for grass by feeding less meal and taking out paddocks for silage.Clover paddocks should see nitrogen applications reduced from now on.On non-clover paddocks aim for 18 to 20 units/acre of nitrogen.Kieran Kennedy – Buttevant, Co Cork
Breeding started on 30 April and is going well. All the replacements will be bred from sexed semen and it will be used over the first three weeks. In terms of grass, things are going fairly well.
We pulled out 18 acres for reseeding last week and there will be close to 6kg of clover in each bag of seed.
We’ve just under 25% of the farm in good clover at the moment and those paddocks will be getting parlour washing only from now on.
The rest of the farm is getting protected urea plus sulphur at the moment.
We’ll be looking to pull meal feeding back as cover per cow is rising but we were worried about minerals up to now.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.2
Growth (kg/ha) 70
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 185
Yield (l/cow) 32
Fat (%) 4.59
Protein (%) 3.6
Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.69
Concentrates (kg/cow) 4
Colin Doherty – Adare, Co Limerick
We baled 10% of the platform on Tuesday and we have another 6% out for reseeding.
Cover per cow is getting tight as growth is a bit lower than normal. The weather has been cold at times which is having an impact, but we’re going into ideal covers.
We’ll walk the farm again this week and if it’s still as low, we’ll up the meal a small bit. We spread 18 units/acre of protected urea plus sulphur last week and that’s our fourth round of fertiliser.
In total we’ve 95 units/acre of nitrogen out year to date. Cows are breeding just over two weeks and we’ve around 60% submitted, so we’re probably slightly behind target.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.56
Growth (kg/ha) 53
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 151
Yield (l/cow) 21
Fat (%) 4.74
Protein (%) 3.81
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.85
Concentrates (kg/cow) 0.75
Bronwyn Fitzpatrick – Ballyhaise, Co Cavan
We started breeding here with the cows, with the heifers on a fixed timed AI programme and they will be inseminated this week. We cut silage on the outblock.
This was all red clover silage and was good quality. Our cover per cow was sitting at over 200kg DM/cow the last couple of weeks, so we have taken out nearly 20 hectares of platform as surplus bales in the last fortnight to get back on track.
The cows are going into covers of 1,400kg DM/ha and grass quality is good at the moment. The clover paddocks will be assessed this week and anything with over 20% clover will be getting half-rate nitrogen from the end of May onwards.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.4
Growth (kg/ha) 60
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 195
Yield (l/cow) 27
Fat (%) 4.76
Protein (%) 3.59
Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.32
Concentrates (kg/cow) 2
Growth rates have remained steady but slow over the last week as temperatures remain cold by night.
Ultimately this has worked in favour of the farmers. In most areas growth rates are just about meeting demand. This means little need for taking out surplus grass as bales every few days for those farms who are on top of things.
It has also made managing grass quality somewhat easier, as pre-grazing yields aren’t getting too far ahead of their target.
Despite this being the case in places, still over half the farmers on PastureBase are well over the target cover per cow. To rectify this issue, demand needs to go up by reducing meal fed, closing paddocks for silage or taking out ground for reseeding.
Carrying a heavy cover per cow (>190kg DM) leads to a number of issues, the most obvious one being grass quality. If paddocks have high covers of over 1,600kg DM/ha at this time of year, quality of the sward drops and cows will be slow to clean it off.
Returning grass will carry more stem and production will be impacted, with protein taking a big hit.
Where farm cover is over 170kg DM/cow, boost demand for grass by cutting meal feeding levels back to a maximum of 2kg. Where cows are in good condition, lower meal feeding levels shouldn’t affect breeding, provided minerals are accounted for.
Paddocks where quality is starting to suffer should be marked for bales in the next round to get back on track. Target grazing paddocks at 1,300 to 1,400kg DM/ha, aiming for residuals of 4cm.
Fertiliser
With growth rates slow, keeping on top of fertiliser applications is important. Cows should be followed with a nitrogen plus sulphur product.
Paddocks with clover should be getting a reduced rate of nitrogen from now on. Ideally, parlour washings or half-rate nitrogen should be enough to keep grass moving while clover starts to get motoring.
For paddocks with no clover, 18 to 20 units/acre of nitrogen is needed. To hear from Colin Doherty, one of our featured farmers this week, tune in to the Inside Dairy podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
For farms getting tight on grass, walk the farm weekly to ensure cover doesn’t drop much lower than 160kg DM/cow.Where cover per cow is high, increase demand for grass by feeding less meal and taking out paddocks for silage.Clover paddocks should see nitrogen applications reduced from now on.On non-clover paddocks aim for 18 to 20 units/acre of nitrogen.Kieran Kennedy – Buttevant, Co Cork
Breeding started on 30 April and is going well. All the replacements will be bred from sexed semen and it will be used over the first three weeks. In terms of grass, things are going fairly well.
We pulled out 18 acres for reseeding last week and there will be close to 6kg of clover in each bag of seed.
We’ve just under 25% of the farm in good clover at the moment and those paddocks will be getting parlour washing only from now on.
The rest of the farm is getting protected urea plus sulphur at the moment.
We’ll be looking to pull meal feeding back as cover per cow is rising but we were worried about minerals up to now.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.2
Growth (kg/ha) 70
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 185
Yield (l/cow) 32
Fat (%) 4.59
Protein (%) 3.6
Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.69
Concentrates (kg/cow) 4
Colin Doherty – Adare, Co Limerick
We baled 10% of the platform on Tuesday and we have another 6% out for reseeding.
Cover per cow is getting tight as growth is a bit lower than normal. The weather has been cold at times which is having an impact, but we’re going into ideal covers.
We’ll walk the farm again this week and if it’s still as low, we’ll up the meal a small bit. We spread 18 units/acre of protected urea plus sulphur last week and that’s our fourth round of fertiliser.
In total we’ve 95 units/acre of nitrogen out year to date. Cows are breeding just over two weeks and we’ve around 60% submitted, so we’re probably slightly behind target.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.56
Growth (kg/ha) 53
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 151
Yield (l/cow) 21
Fat (%) 4.74
Protein (%) 3.81
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.85
Concentrates (kg/cow) 0.75
Bronwyn Fitzpatrick – Ballyhaise, Co Cavan
We started breeding here with the cows, with the heifers on a fixed timed AI programme and they will be inseminated this week. We cut silage on the outblock.
This was all red clover silage and was good quality. Our cover per cow was sitting at over 200kg DM/cow the last couple of weeks, so we have taken out nearly 20 hectares of platform as surplus bales in the last fortnight to get back on track.
The cows are going into covers of 1,400kg DM/ha and grass quality is good at the moment. The clover paddocks will be assessed this week and anything with over 20% clover will be getting half-rate nitrogen from the end of May onwards.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.4
Growth (kg/ha) 60
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 195
Yield (l/cow) 27
Fat (%) 4.76
Protein (%) 3.59
Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.32
Concentrates (kg/cow) 2
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