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Grass growth remains unchanged at 5kg DM/ha/day this week, but the main talking point on farms will be the welcome spell of dry weather. Farms in the east and south with good grazing infrastructure are beginning to get grass into the diet now. Our BETTER farm programme participants here are letting weanlings to grass, with cows and calves also outdoors in places.
In the west and north of the country, and on very heavy farms elsewhere, this week will be needed before farmers can even think about anything concerning grass. Indeed, driving north to meet the BETTER NI participants last week and to our Save Our Sucklers evening at Carndonagh Mart this week, it’s very evident that a lot of drying still needs to happen in places.
For these farmers, it’s a case of being ready and taking our chance when we get it. If it transpires that this dry spell extends further, be ready to get grass into the diet when the opportunity arises. That means getting fences and water troughs in order now, getting cattle weighed now or giving any necessary vaccinations.
Even if calves can get to grass by day, it is worthwhile provided it is not an ordeal for you to get them in and out. Every extra day at grass now is worth €2.70/head. This demonstrates the importance of good grazing infrastructure – roadways, strategically placed water troughs, multiple access points into paddocks and lots of divisions.
For animals out by day and in at night, offer restricted silage when they come back in. They will be going out hungry and do minimal walking damage. Avoid any covers over 8cm initially – these will be harder to clean off and animals may get unsettled here more easily.
Though night temperatures are still low, the increasing daytime temperatures will act to bring up soil temperatures. The handbrake has come off the fertiliser spreaders in the east and south, with a lot of farmers moving with urea.
Those on mixed ground are telling us that they will go with slurry towards the end of this week. For many, this will be out of necessity as pressure comes on storage. Get slurry on your barest ground and on fields with low indexes for P and K.
Derrypatrick Herd
System suckler to beef
Soil type mixed
Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 914
Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 0
Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 4
Slurry (2,500 gallons/ac) will be spread on low covers that will be grazed in the latter half of the first grazing rotation and urea (23 units/ac) will be spread on the remaining paddocks when ground conditions allow. Current ground conditions are extremely variable across the farm. The east wind and minimum rainfall forecasted for the second half of this week is favourable for drying and may allow some slurry/fertiliser spreading.
Calving commenced on 10 February. All animals due to calve have received their scour vaccine. To date, 20 animals have calved with 20 live calves. Regular cleaning and disinfection of calving pens is being carried out to limit the possibility of calves picking up any infection.
Paddocks close to the farmyard were closed first in October and will be targeted for first grazing with yearlings. Grazing close to the farmyard first will enable us to house stock in the case of heavy rainfall. Conditions can change very quickly and it is important to have a plan in place when they do.
Co Wicklow
System suckler to beef
Soil type free-draining clay
Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 690
Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 6
Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 7
The recent spell of bad weather has left grass growth very slow to kick off. That said, there is still a nice cover of grass presently on the farm. Last week, all of the paddocks with a low covers got a little over 2,000 gallons of slurry per acre and the remaining paddocks got a little over a half a bag of urea to kickstart growth.
Last weekend, I turned out 10 cows with calves at foot to free up space for calving. These cows have access to hi-mag lick buckets and silage as a precaution against grass tetany.
Calving is going OK. I had a few issues at the start but thankfully the last few weeks have been going very well. With the good weather promised, I hope to start turning out lighter stock this weekend. I slaughtered a group of heifers this week and they did very well I also have a group of steers being finished at the moment and they are getting close to slaughter.
Co Roscommon
System suckler to weanling/beef
Soil type free-draining loam
Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 477
Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 0
Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 5
The wet weather has delayed field work but thankfully I have plenty of slurry storage. Although my average farm cover isn’t too high, the fields I’d like to get slurry on have heavy covers of grass on them at the minute and need to be grazed first. Two out-blocks of ground earmarked for lime are skint as sheep have grazed them over the winter.
As soon as weather allows, I’ll be going with lime. I had planned to get it out in the back end of the year but the wet weather hampered that.
Soil fertility is something I hope to concentrate on this year as I’ve increased cow numbers and I’ll need to grow more grass, particularly in the shoulders of the year. Calving has started a bit slower than normal, with cows carrying a little more time than usual. At the minute, freshly calved cows are indoors but as space becomes tight I hope to get them out to sheltered paddocks. I’m very tempted to go with urea but with the extremely cold temperatures forecast next week I think I’ll wait.
Co Cork
System suckler/calf to beef
Soil type relatively dry
Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 562
Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 14
Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 0
I turned out 42 weaning to grass on 3 February. These have remained out by day and come indoors by night. I am strip-grazing paddocks with weanlings but after last Friday night’s rain, a bit of poaching was done and they didn’t go back out. However, ground conditions have improved since.
Today, I am turning out all stock to grass these will be left out by day and again, come in by night. This will reduce the demand on silage significantly.
A small amount of slurry was spread last week at a rate of 2,500 gals/acre on fields which were possible to travel on. This will reduce pressure on slurry storage. I plan to spread the rest of the slurry on fields after they have been grazed as covers are too high there at present. I will also aim to put slurry on low-index fields to improve soil fertility. Last year, I grew 13.9t DM/ha last year and I am aiming for over 15t DM/ha this year.
Calving is going well. I have 29 out of 33 cows calved.
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