The time to build autumn grass is running out. Day length is shortening and conditions are starting to get cooler across the country. Close to 80% of farms in the country are still well behind target for the time of year.
The target for mid-September at a stocking rate of 2.5 LU/ha is >1,000kg DM/ha. With only a couple of weeks of decent growth rates left, farms should be looking to supplement heavily now to reduce the demand for grass.
Remove cull cows or surplus stock from the grazing herd and extend out the rotation length beyond 35 days.
Many of the farms who experienced moisture deficits and significant reductions in growth rates over the past months are still waiting for the bounce to come. It takes grass to grow grass, so covers of 800-1,200kg will grow a lot quicker than the freshly grazed paddocks.
Slow the cows right down and avoid going into those medium covers where possible, as they will build grass quicker if they are let grow to 1,700/1,800kg DM/ha.
Fertiliser
It’s into the last few days to spread nitrogen and phosphorous. If there’s some allowance left, get this spread before the deadline. Compound fertilisers are a good bet for this time of year.
On farms where nitrogen was spread and a burst of growth came, grass is likely to be soured with the rapid uptake of this nitrogen, particularly if grass dry matter percentages are low.
Animals might be discontent grazing these paddocks. If they’re leaving grass behind, don’t push them too hard to graze it out. The remaining grass will still be good quality the next time around and there’ll be a better cleanout when it’s not as sour.
There are a couple of weeks of decent growth left. Look to build AFC by reducing the demand by supplementing hard now.Freshly fertilised paddocks that experienced a jump in growth may be difficult to graze out as the grass is sour with high levels of nitrogen. Try to avoid eating the medium covers (1,300kg DM/ha) if possible. These will grow quicker than any other paddocks. Sunday is the last day for nitrogen and phosphorous spreading.Caroline O’Sullivan – Teagasc Curtins, Co Cork
Growth is starting pick up again after a tough couple of months. Cows are getting 6kg of meal in the parlour, 6kg of grass and 6kg of silage.
They’re in by night to eat silage and out by day at grass. They’re going into low covers of about 900kg DM/ha. We’re currently on a 40-day round and keeping the demand low to try and build cover.
We scanned the cows last week; we had 7% empty, which we were very happy with. The cows are in good condition and milking well. We spread half a bag of MOP and half a bag of protected urea per acre in the last few weeks.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.68
Growth (kg/cow) 34
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 639
Yield (l/cow) 17.5
Fat (%) 5.5
Protein (%) 4.25
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.7
Concentrates (kg/cow) 6
John Payne – Moydow, Co Longford
Our farm cover has gotten a big lift over the last week. We started feeding silage last week to reduce demand per cow.
On top of this, we’ve housed all the cull cows, which has significantly dropped overall demand on the block. These cows are being milked once a day on a silage plus concentrate diet.
This reduced the stocking on the platform from 3.17 cows/ha to 2.62 cows/ha. We’ll continue to milk the culls on until they’re fit for the factory. The silage is back out of the milking cows’ diet now, as farm cover is in a good place.
We’ll get out with one more round of nitrogen at 20 units/acre this weekend.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.62
Growth (kg/cow) 79
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 1,026
Yield (l/cow) 18.5
Fat (%) 5.14
Protein (%) 4.02
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.75
Concentrates (kg/cow) 3
Michael Ahern – Ballyduff, Co Waterford
The farm has completely turned around in the last week. The average farm cover is building again after low growth rates for the month of August and into early September. We’re going into covers of 1,150kg DM/ha at the moment, as we’ve nothing higher than this.
The plan for the next 10 days is to keep feeding cows hard and continue to build up to a cover of 900kg DM/ha.
The cows are getting 5kg of meal and 4kg of zero grazed grass from an outblock. The rotation length is currently at 32 days and we’ll look to extend this further as September goes on. All paddocks got a bag/acre of 29-0-14 in the last week.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.19
Growth (kg/cow) 49
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 616
Yield (l/cow) 18
Fat (%) 5.8
Protein (%) 4.2
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.8
Concentrates (kg/cow) 5
The time to build autumn grass is running out. Day length is shortening and conditions are starting to get cooler across the country. Close to 80% of farms in the country are still well behind target for the time of year.
The target for mid-September at a stocking rate of 2.5 LU/ha is >1,000kg DM/ha. With only a couple of weeks of decent growth rates left, farms should be looking to supplement heavily now to reduce the demand for grass.
Remove cull cows or surplus stock from the grazing herd and extend out the rotation length beyond 35 days.
Many of the farms who experienced moisture deficits and significant reductions in growth rates over the past months are still waiting for the bounce to come. It takes grass to grow grass, so covers of 800-1,200kg will grow a lot quicker than the freshly grazed paddocks.
Slow the cows right down and avoid going into those medium covers where possible, as they will build grass quicker if they are let grow to 1,700/1,800kg DM/ha.
Fertiliser
It’s into the last few days to spread nitrogen and phosphorous. If there’s some allowance left, get this spread before the deadline. Compound fertilisers are a good bet for this time of year.
On farms where nitrogen was spread and a burst of growth came, grass is likely to be soured with the rapid uptake of this nitrogen, particularly if grass dry matter percentages are low.
Animals might be discontent grazing these paddocks. If they’re leaving grass behind, don’t push them too hard to graze it out. The remaining grass will still be good quality the next time around and there’ll be a better cleanout when it’s not as sour.
There are a couple of weeks of decent growth left. Look to build AFC by reducing the demand by supplementing hard now.Freshly fertilised paddocks that experienced a jump in growth may be difficult to graze out as the grass is sour with high levels of nitrogen. Try to avoid eating the medium covers (1,300kg DM/ha) if possible. These will grow quicker than any other paddocks. Sunday is the last day for nitrogen and phosphorous spreading.Caroline O’Sullivan – Teagasc Curtins, Co Cork
Growth is starting pick up again after a tough couple of months. Cows are getting 6kg of meal in the parlour, 6kg of grass and 6kg of silage.
They’re in by night to eat silage and out by day at grass. They’re going into low covers of about 900kg DM/ha. We’re currently on a 40-day round and keeping the demand low to try and build cover.
We scanned the cows last week; we had 7% empty, which we were very happy with. The cows are in good condition and milking well. We spread half a bag of MOP and half a bag of protected urea per acre in the last few weeks.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.68
Growth (kg/cow) 34
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 639
Yield (l/cow) 17.5
Fat (%) 5.5
Protein (%) 4.25
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.7
Concentrates (kg/cow) 6
John Payne – Moydow, Co Longford
Our farm cover has gotten a big lift over the last week. We started feeding silage last week to reduce demand per cow.
On top of this, we’ve housed all the cull cows, which has significantly dropped overall demand on the block. These cows are being milked once a day on a silage plus concentrate diet.
This reduced the stocking on the platform from 3.17 cows/ha to 2.62 cows/ha. We’ll continue to milk the culls on until they’re fit for the factory. The silage is back out of the milking cows’ diet now, as farm cover is in a good place.
We’ll get out with one more round of nitrogen at 20 units/acre this weekend.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.62
Growth (kg/cow) 79
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 1,026
Yield (l/cow) 18.5
Fat (%) 5.14
Protein (%) 4.02
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.75
Concentrates (kg/cow) 3
Michael Ahern – Ballyduff, Co Waterford
The farm has completely turned around in the last week. The average farm cover is building again after low growth rates for the month of August and into early September. We’re going into covers of 1,150kg DM/ha at the moment, as we’ve nothing higher than this.
The plan for the next 10 days is to keep feeding cows hard and continue to build up to a cover of 900kg DM/ha.
The cows are getting 5kg of meal and 4kg of zero grazed grass from an outblock. The rotation length is currently at 32 days and we’ll look to extend this further as September goes on. All paddocks got a bag/acre of 29-0-14 in the last week.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.19
Growth (kg/cow) 49
Average farm cover (kg/ha) 616
Yield (l/cow) 18
Fat (%) 5.8
Protein (%) 4.2
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.8
Concentrates (kg/cow) 5
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