Daylight hours are getting shorter, which inevitably means a drop in grass production. Soil temperatures and weather conditions have remained very favourable, but the shorter days have caused a drop.
As the growth drops, farms will begin to start seeing average farm cover drop as well.
For farms with an average farm cover of >900kg DM/ha, continue to graze on but don’t allow cover to drop by more than 80kg/ha per week.
At lower covers of <750kg DM/ha, match demand to current growth by supplementing.
At this stage there should be close to 40% of the platform grazed to-date on heavier farms.
While conditions allow, these farms should be grazing hard to get up to 80% of the platform grazed before the start of November.
If it’s clear towards the end of October that the weather is going to be ok for another few weeks, it will be easier then to start stretching out the last 20-30% of the rotation. Cows can be housed by night on silage and allocated grass by day.
If farms start feeding too much supplement now, cow’ will be slower to clean out paddocks adequately and there won’t be enough quality covers back for the spring.
Dry farms
On drier farms there should be around 25% of the farm closed to-date.
The target is 60% by the start of November to ensure there are enough medium and heavier covers back to carry farms through the spring.
With 15 days left in October, aim to graze the percentage of the farm per day that will allow you to achieve the 60% target.
If the farm has 30% grazed by now, that’s 2% of the farm per day from now on that needs to be grazed.
Where farm cover is low at <750kg DM/ha, match demand (kg/ha) to growth (kg/ha).On heavy farms, aim to graze 80% of the farm by the start of November. Farmers on drier ground should be aiming for 60% by the same date.Now is a good time to get lime spread while ground conditions allow. Maximum application rate is typically 2t/acre. Eoin McCormack – Teagasc Clonakilty, Co Cork
Growth was well back this week, and that’s reflected in the average farm cover. We’re currently at 760kg DM/ha. While the cover is low, we’re in the clover trial here and that means closing with a lighter cover than most farms. There are also 23 cull cows to come out of the herd in the next week. This should slow them down.
At the moment we have about 40% of the farm closed. We’re going to keep grazing on hard while the ground conditions allow.
Once the weather starts to break then we’ll start housing by night on silage and grazing by day. This should stretch us out until the middle of November.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.73
Growth (kg/ha) 29
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 760
Yield (l/cow) 14.8
Fat (%) 5.57
Protein (%) 4.41
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.52
Concentrates (kg/cow) 2
Richard Starett – Lifford, Co Donegal
The cows are in by night since the storm. They currently get the day break and then a partial night break. The batt latch lets them in at 10pm and they’re coming into red clover silage in the shed. They are getting two bales between 154 cows. The red clover was only baled in late September but it’s good quality stuff.
We’ll be aiming to stretch out the grazing season until 12 November, when the cows will be housed full-time. Our target here is to have a cover of 650-700kg DM/ha on 1 December.
We are milk recording next week, which will determine which cows get selective dry cow therapy.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.3
Growth (kg/ha) 28
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 700
Yield (l/cow) 15
Fat (%) 5.67
Protein (%) 4.6
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.58
Concentrates (kg/cow) 4.5
Ben Tyrell – Kildalkey, Co Meath
Ground conditions are good so we’re trying to make the most of it. We want to get through the rotation before ground becomes wet and harder to graze. Cows are out full time and they are getting 3kg/DM of grass silage buffer fed with 5.5kg of concentrates fed in the parlour. The average farm cover is low enough at the moment so we’re keeping demand below the growth. Demand is 37kg/ha and growth is 39kg/ha. We’re drying off some of the poorer cull cows to reduce the stocking rate on the milking platform.
The cows are milking well at the moment. It’s a jersey herd, so the solids are always strong at this time of year.
Stocking rate (LUha) 3.44
Growth (kg/ha) 39
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 700
Yield (l/cow) 14.86
Fat (%) 6.9
Protein (%) 4.81
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.8
Concentrates (kg/cow) 5.5
Daylight hours are getting shorter, which inevitably means a drop in grass production. Soil temperatures and weather conditions have remained very favourable, but the shorter days have caused a drop.
As the growth drops, farms will begin to start seeing average farm cover drop as well.
For farms with an average farm cover of >900kg DM/ha, continue to graze on but don’t allow cover to drop by more than 80kg/ha per week.
At lower covers of <750kg DM/ha, match demand to current growth by supplementing.
At this stage there should be close to 40% of the platform grazed to-date on heavier farms.
While conditions allow, these farms should be grazing hard to get up to 80% of the platform grazed before the start of November.
If it’s clear towards the end of October that the weather is going to be ok for another few weeks, it will be easier then to start stretching out the last 20-30% of the rotation. Cows can be housed by night on silage and allocated grass by day.
If farms start feeding too much supplement now, cow’ will be slower to clean out paddocks adequately and there won’t be enough quality covers back for the spring.
Dry farms
On drier farms there should be around 25% of the farm closed to-date.
The target is 60% by the start of November to ensure there are enough medium and heavier covers back to carry farms through the spring.
With 15 days left in October, aim to graze the percentage of the farm per day that will allow you to achieve the 60% target.
If the farm has 30% grazed by now, that’s 2% of the farm per day from now on that needs to be grazed.
Where farm cover is low at <750kg DM/ha, match demand (kg/ha) to growth (kg/ha).On heavy farms, aim to graze 80% of the farm by the start of November. Farmers on drier ground should be aiming for 60% by the same date.Now is a good time to get lime spread while ground conditions allow. Maximum application rate is typically 2t/acre. Eoin McCormack – Teagasc Clonakilty, Co Cork
Growth was well back this week, and that’s reflected in the average farm cover. We’re currently at 760kg DM/ha. While the cover is low, we’re in the clover trial here and that means closing with a lighter cover than most farms. There are also 23 cull cows to come out of the herd in the next week. This should slow them down.
At the moment we have about 40% of the farm closed. We’re going to keep grazing on hard while the ground conditions allow.
Once the weather starts to break then we’ll start housing by night on silage and grazing by day. This should stretch us out until the middle of November.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.73
Growth (kg/ha) 29
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 760
Yield (l/cow) 14.8
Fat (%) 5.57
Protein (%) 4.41
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.52
Concentrates (kg/cow) 2
Richard Starett – Lifford, Co Donegal
The cows are in by night since the storm. They currently get the day break and then a partial night break. The batt latch lets them in at 10pm and they’re coming into red clover silage in the shed. They are getting two bales between 154 cows. The red clover was only baled in late September but it’s good quality stuff.
We’ll be aiming to stretch out the grazing season until 12 November, when the cows will be housed full-time. Our target here is to have a cover of 650-700kg DM/ha on 1 December.
We are milk recording next week, which will determine which cows get selective dry cow therapy.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.3
Growth (kg/ha) 28
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 700
Yield (l/cow) 15
Fat (%) 5.67
Protein (%) 4.6
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.58
Concentrates (kg/cow) 4.5
Ben Tyrell – Kildalkey, Co Meath
Ground conditions are good so we’re trying to make the most of it. We want to get through the rotation before ground becomes wet and harder to graze. Cows are out full time and they are getting 3kg/DM of grass silage buffer fed with 5.5kg of concentrates fed in the parlour. The average farm cover is low enough at the moment so we’re keeping demand below the growth. Demand is 37kg/ha and growth is 39kg/ha. We’re drying off some of the poorer cull cows to reduce the stocking rate on the milking platform.
The cows are milking well at the moment. It’s a jersey herd, so the solids are always strong at this time of year.
Stocking rate (LUha) 3.44
Growth (kg/ha) 39
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 700
Yield (l/cow) 14.86
Fat (%) 6.9
Protein (%) 4.81
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.8
Concentrates (kg/cow) 5.5
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