The situation on farms has completely flipped from where it was less than a month ago. Rainfall levels over the past two weeks are making some farms increasingly difficult to manage.
Soil moisture levels are high, with moderately and poorly drained soils already at -10mm, indicating these soils are at the saturation point.
Rain is forecast for the foreseeable future and growth is likely to drop over the coming weeks as a result of colder temperatures.
Strip wires should be out at this stage, particularly on heavier paddocks.
Breaks should be setup for 12 hours and farms should be targeting grazing paddocks with heavy covers, around 2,000kg DM/ha, while they still can.
As ground continues to get wet, these heavier covers will get more and more difficult to graze out and utilisation will be low. As growth drops it’s going to get difficult to build farm covers higher than where they are currently.
On farms in the east and the south, make the most of the last few weeks of growth by continuing to supplement cows and reducing demand until the farm cover is closer to 1,000kg DM/ha.
On heavy farms behind targets for average farm cover, housing cows by night and supplementing with silage may help to achieve the targets while reducing the damage done after the heavy rain.
Restricting the silage so cows are going out with an appetite should improve utilisation of swards during the day.
Rotation length should be at 35 days by now, allocating one thirty-fifth of the farm per day.
Farms well behind target should be at a longer rotation than this.
Heavy rain across the country has made grazing conditions more difficult for many farmers.Strip-wires should be used to divide paddocks into 12-hour allocations now.On/off grazing may be necessary until conditions improve for some farms.Continue to supplement heavily where farm cover is below target, there’s only a couple of weeks left of growth. Take out heavy covers now before grazing becomes too difficult and utilisation rates drop significantly. Bronwyn Fitzpatrick – Ballyhaise, Co Cavan
We had been supplementing cows with silage up to last week to slow the cows down and build cover.
Growth was up again last week so we took out the silage, but we continued to feed 6kg of concentrate as we’re still behind farm cover target.
Rotation length is currently at 32 days. The stocking rate has dropped again slightly. We sold three cows with a high SCC after milk-recording last week.
We scanned the cows on Tuesday and found an empty rate of 19%, which is well above normal for the farm. We’ve plenty of heifers and cull cow price is strong, but we need to look at causes for the high empty rate.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.47
Growth (kg/ha) 46
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 800
Yield (l/cow) 20
Fat (%) 4.76
Protein (%) 4.03
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.81
Concentrates (kg/cow) 6
Danny Bermingham – Doonbeg, Co Clare
We have cows in by night now since the 13 September. The weather broke at the end of August and ground is saturated now. Cows are being fed surplus bales and while the yield has dipped, fat and protein are holding well.
Cows are flying through grass and while ground conditions aren’t good, we are careful not to do any damage this early in the year. It looks unlikely we will be able to build covers anymore.
We are hopeful that ground conditions will improve, as we have some third/fourth cut to harvest yet. We spread a bag of N/acre at the end of August and had planned to get out with more, but weather didn’t allow.
Stocking Rate (LU/ha) 2.47
Growth Rate (kg/ha) 53
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 743
Yield (l/cow) 15
Fat% 5.30
Protein% 4.31
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.48
Concentrates 3.5
Killian Mulqueen – Tullaroan, Co Kilkenny
Ground conditions are okay at the minute, but they wouldn’t want to get much wetter. Two or three weeks ago we would have been very dry here, with the rainfall levels over the last three weeks helping to kick growth forward. We are still feeding a good amount of meal in an effort to build covers, but we have no silage in the diet.
Cows are on covers of 1,500-1,600kg DM/ha and they are on 12-hour breaks. We are about halfway through the second last rotation, with the goal being to have cows at grass (likely by day) until mid-November.
The last round of fertiliser went out last week, with 30 units/acre of urea spread.
Stocking Rate (LU/ha) 2.64
Growth Rate (kg/ha) 55
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 728
Yield (l/cow) 19
Fat% 5.18
Protein% 4.05
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.8
Concentrates 6
The situation on farms has completely flipped from where it was less than a month ago. Rainfall levels over the past two weeks are making some farms increasingly difficult to manage.
Soil moisture levels are high, with moderately and poorly drained soils already at -10mm, indicating these soils are at the saturation point.
Rain is forecast for the foreseeable future and growth is likely to drop over the coming weeks as a result of colder temperatures.
Strip wires should be out at this stage, particularly on heavier paddocks.
Breaks should be setup for 12 hours and farms should be targeting grazing paddocks with heavy covers, around 2,000kg DM/ha, while they still can.
As ground continues to get wet, these heavier covers will get more and more difficult to graze out and utilisation will be low. As growth drops it’s going to get difficult to build farm covers higher than where they are currently.
On farms in the east and the south, make the most of the last few weeks of growth by continuing to supplement cows and reducing demand until the farm cover is closer to 1,000kg DM/ha.
On heavy farms behind targets for average farm cover, housing cows by night and supplementing with silage may help to achieve the targets while reducing the damage done after the heavy rain.
Restricting the silage so cows are going out with an appetite should improve utilisation of swards during the day.
Rotation length should be at 35 days by now, allocating one thirty-fifth of the farm per day.
Farms well behind target should be at a longer rotation than this.
Heavy rain across the country has made grazing conditions more difficult for many farmers.Strip-wires should be used to divide paddocks into 12-hour allocations now.On/off grazing may be necessary until conditions improve for some farms.Continue to supplement heavily where farm cover is below target, there’s only a couple of weeks left of growth. Take out heavy covers now before grazing becomes too difficult and utilisation rates drop significantly. Bronwyn Fitzpatrick – Ballyhaise, Co Cavan
We had been supplementing cows with silage up to last week to slow the cows down and build cover.
Growth was up again last week so we took out the silage, but we continued to feed 6kg of concentrate as we’re still behind farm cover target.
Rotation length is currently at 32 days. The stocking rate has dropped again slightly. We sold three cows with a high SCC after milk-recording last week.
We scanned the cows on Tuesday and found an empty rate of 19%, which is well above normal for the farm. We’ve plenty of heifers and cull cow price is strong, but we need to look at causes for the high empty rate.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.47
Growth (kg/ha) 46
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 800
Yield (l/cow) 20
Fat (%) 4.76
Protein (%) 4.03
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.81
Concentrates (kg/cow) 6
Danny Bermingham – Doonbeg, Co Clare
We have cows in by night now since the 13 September. The weather broke at the end of August and ground is saturated now. Cows are being fed surplus bales and while the yield has dipped, fat and protein are holding well.
Cows are flying through grass and while ground conditions aren’t good, we are careful not to do any damage this early in the year. It looks unlikely we will be able to build covers anymore.
We are hopeful that ground conditions will improve, as we have some third/fourth cut to harvest yet. We spread a bag of N/acre at the end of August and had planned to get out with more, but weather didn’t allow.
Stocking Rate (LU/ha) 2.47
Growth Rate (kg/ha) 53
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 743
Yield (l/cow) 15
Fat% 5.30
Protein% 4.31
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.48
Concentrates 3.5
Killian Mulqueen – Tullaroan, Co Kilkenny
Ground conditions are okay at the minute, but they wouldn’t want to get much wetter. Two or three weeks ago we would have been very dry here, with the rainfall levels over the last three weeks helping to kick growth forward. We are still feeding a good amount of meal in an effort to build covers, but we have no silage in the diet.
Cows are on covers of 1,500-1,600kg DM/ha and they are on 12-hour breaks. We are about halfway through the second last rotation, with the goal being to have cows at grass (likely by day) until mid-November.
The last round of fertiliser went out last week, with 30 units/acre of urea spread.
Stocking Rate (LU/ha) 2.64
Growth Rate (kg/ha) 55
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 728
Yield (l/cow) 19
Fat% 5.18
Protein% 4.05
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.8
Concentrates 6
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