Watch: challenging ground conditions hampering grazing at Curtins Farm
Manager at Teagasc’s Moorepark farm, Steven Fitzgerald, has 35 out of 140 cows calved, even though the planned start of calving was not until this Friday.
Steven has the cows out grazing most days using on/off grazing. Cows were out all Thursday night but were only out for three hours this Friday morning. The ground is very soft and the cows are doing some damage, but the clean-out on last night’s section was good. With heavy rain in Fermoy this morning, Steven does not think cows will go out at all this afternoon.
Half of the herd in Curtins Farm is Jersey crossbred. Cows are being allocated 8kg of grass per day and 3kg or 14% meal in the parlour. When they are indoors, they have access to good-quality bale silage ad-lib.
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The farm has a grass cover of 1,077kg/ha and Steven is using the spring rotation planner to allocate grass. A new calf shed is currently being built on the farm. Steven is hoping that it will be completed in a week’s time and ready for the mean calving date on 20 February.
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Steven has the cows out grazing most days using on/off grazing. Cows were out all Thursday night but were only out for three hours this Friday morning. The ground is very soft and the cows are doing some damage, but the clean-out on last night’s section was good. With heavy rain in Fermoy this morning, Steven does not think cows will go out at all this afternoon.
Half of the herd in Curtins Farm is Jersey crossbred. Cows are being allocated 8kg of grass per day and 3kg or 14% meal in the parlour. When they are indoors, they have access to good-quality bale silage ad-lib.
The farm has a grass cover of 1,077kg/ha and Steven is using the spring rotation planner to allocate grass. A new calf shed is currently being built on the farm. Steven is hoping that it will be completed in a week’s time and ready for the mean calving date on 20 February.
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