It’s never a good sign when square balers have been absent on the roads in the month of July, but silage outfits all round have been quiet as close to six weeks of unsettled weather have caused havoc to farmers' summer plans.

July gone has been one of the wettest on record. A large amount of traditional hay meadows that were restricted to 1 July mowing date have yet to be mowed, as has a good deal of second cut grass.

The issue now is that first cut silage was generally light, while second cut crops will be overly fit and lesser quality. Farmers need to complete a fodder budget in order to take necessary action sooner rather than later.

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As a general rule of thumb, animals will require 2% of their body weight as dry matter intake each day e.g. 600kg suckler cow will require 12kg DM silage.

With dry matter of silage extremely variable, it’s best to get silage tested first to assess quality and DM, and then calculate total tonnes of DM available on farm for the winter, followed by the winter feed requirement.

Deficits

Where there are feed deficits, there are options. It is still not too late to sow some brassicas such as rape and kale to outwinter a portion of animals. Forward cattle that are usually finished indoors could be pushed on and finished off grass and concentrates, or empty cows could be culled early.

There may still be an opportunity to take surplus grass out for silage, although this will be minimal. Purchasing fodder is always an option as well, provided it can be bought for reasonable value and quality is good.

Farmers

Ken Gill – Clonbullogue, Co Offaly

Quality of grass is very good, but conditions are becoming tricky. Yearlings are particularly unsettled, and are having to be moved regularly. I’m using the cows to clean up paddocks, and so far they are not doing any worrying damage.

All the grass silage is made for this year, with two fields of red clover silage remaining which should see me through the winter, combined with some brassicas to be grazed. There’s a small amount of dung left to go on the red clover sward post-cutting.

Some paddocks were mown last week as they will be ploughed and a mix of turnips, rape, kale and vetch sown. It’s my first year using vetch, and I’m hoping that the nitrogen fixing ability will allow me to get a spring grazing of the crop.

System Organic beef

Soil Type Mostly dry

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 634

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 44

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 25

Niall O’Meara – Killimor, Co Galway

We harvested 15 acres of second cut silage two weeks ago, with some of this being the red clover sward. The red clover will be cut again in mid-September, with this plus a grass sward to be mown in the next week, ensuring we have ample fodder reserves for the winter.

The red clover will receive a light grazing later in the year with cows and calves.

Silage ground got 1 bag/acre of 0-7-30 as I had no remaining slurry. Autumn born bulls and heifers were weighed at the end of June, with bulls gaining 1.39 kg/day and heifers 0.97kg/day since weaning.

Bulls will be sold over the month of September in the mart. Cows will soon begin calving again, and it’s been difficult to restrict their intake with the wet weather.

System Suckler to weanling

Soil Type Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 777

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 46

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 32

John Hally – Thrive Farm, Co Tipperary

We are running in to some surplus now, with growth nicely ahead of demand. With the wet weather, cattle are grazing out paddocks very quickly, getting a little over two days in paddocks. The farm was spread with 25kg N/acre a few weeks ago, and we will assess to see if we will need a top up in the coming weeks.

Cattle are to be weighed tomorrow (Thursday). We will likely follow previous years and draft steers at 470kg liveweight and heifers at 450kg away from the main bunch and offer 2-3kg of meal at grass.

Cattle were last weighed a couple of months ago and had been performing well, so it will be interesting to see if the drought and recent wet weather has had an effect.

System Dairy calf to beef

Soil Type Free draining

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 788

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 66

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 48