Last Monday was St Swithin’s day and it rained. Let’s hope that the myth of it raining for the next 40 days doesn’t come true this year. Albeit the rain that fell last week was welcomed, it didn’t necessarily correspond to a significant increase in grass growth. It’s some decent sunshine/heat that we all badly want.
Last Monday was St Swithin’s day and it rained. Let’s hope that the myth of it raining for the next 40 days doesn’t come true this year.
Albeit the rain that fell last week was welcomed, it didn’t necessarily correspond to a significant increase in grass growth. It’s some decent sunshine/heat that we all badly want.
It has been another slow week in terms of grass growth, with an average growth of 15kg DM/ha behind for this time of the year and 13kg DM/ha behind last week’s predicted growth.
The grass growth predictions are obtained from three pieces of information: weather data, fertiliser application and historical grass measurement, but so far this year they have far exceeded the actual growth at farm level.
The predicted growth is only a decision support tool. Farmers must continue to control what they can.
Like having their fertiliser application up to date and following the mid-season targets for this time of the year. The weather is out of our control.
Fodder budget
A lot more fodder has been used this spring/summer due to the colder than normal weather, which had led to poor growth rates.
Now more than ever all farmers should complete a fodder budget for the coming winter, especially farmers that are still feeding silage.
Acting early will leave more options available to rectify the situation.
Cutting winter demand by selling empty cows could solve the issue. There is a potential saving of 2.5 tonnes DM per cow between the months of August and December if she leaves now.
With breeding coming to a finish on many farms, it is important to take time away from the farm and refresh. It has been a very tough few months, so book in a relief milker if you can.
Target a rotation length of 21-25 days, farm cover >600kg DM/ha (>170kg DM/LU) on dairy farms or 12-15 days ahead on drystock farms and pre-grazing yield of >1400kg DM/ha.Continue to walk your farm every five days, average farm cover cannot afford to drop at this stage of the year.Walk your second cut of silage and see if it can be cut this week to allow the possibility of a reasonable third cut.Kevin Muldoon & Mella Briscoe – Killimor, Co Galway
It has been a very tough year so far, with grass only trickling along. No surplus bales have been taken off the platform as of yet.
Our cover per cow is high, but there are a lot of paddocks that are stemmy and need correction in the next round. Cows are on 36 hour allocations grazing the last of the after grass from our first cut, and they are milking well.
Breeding is now finished, with bulls coming out from the cows this evening after 11 weeks of breeding in total. I’m cautiously optimistic about the results, as the bulls in the last few weeks were very quiet. I’ll find out for definite once we scan.
Stocking Rate (cow/ha) 3.01
Growth Rate (kg/day) 61
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 259
Yield (l/cow) 23.1
Fat% 4.16
Protein% 3.69
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.87
Concentrates 2.5
Tony Byron – Teagasc Curtins, Co Cork
In the space of three to four days concentrate being fed has gone from 1kg-3 kg/cow. Growth rate from the last week is very low, but our cover per cow is still in a good place and the farm isn’t overly stocked.
We did a fodder budget recently, and we’re not far off 70% of our winter requirement.
We have 27 acres of second cut to bring in, so we should have enough, although the covers are lower than we’d like.
Breeding is finished after 10.5 weeks. Early indications from our collars suggest that it is quite good. In total, 220 straws have been used on 147 cows.
Stocking Rate (cow/ha) 2.9
Growth Rate (kg/day) 35
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 197
Yield (l/cow) 16.5
Fat% 5.23
Protein% 3.81
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.54
Concentrates (kg) 3
Daniel Rundle – Ardee, Co Louth
Except for a week in May, it has been a constant struggle to match growth with demand. This week however, growth is 11 kg DM/ha ahead of demand.
The 44mm of rain we received in the last week has helped with this. But it is heat that we really need. If growth improves further over the next week or so, I’ve 20% of my platform that needs corrections.
We plan on getting our second cut in late next week. This should help us secure enough fodder for the winter.
Breeding is practically finished, with the last cow bulled last Wednesday. Non return rate this year is in the low 70s.
Stocking Rate (cow/ha) 3.34
Growth Rate (kg/day) 59
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 164
Yield (l/cow) 24.7
Fat% 4.13
Protein% 3.73
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2
Concentrates 3.5
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