It’s time to finish grazing on most farms. The cold weather has really slowed grass growth and any paddock grazed from now on will have little hope of building any cover over the winter.
Growth has slowed to a standstill as shorter days and colder temperatures leave the grass plant short on energy.
It is very important that farmers don’t let average farm cover drop too low as it really reduces grass growth over the winter months. Anyone with a farm cover of 500kg/ha should be finished grazing. The big gains for keeping cows at grass for 2019 are now gone. It is twice as important now to have enough grass for the spring and set your farm up to maximise the grass grown in 2020.
Soil fertility
The best time to take soil samples is over the winter period – ideally at least two months after the 
last application of phosphorus (P), potassium (K) or slurry. Knowing your soil fertility status is the first step to grass management and should be done on every farm regularly.
By identifying and targeting low-pH soils with lime, you will release locked-up P and K in the soil and get a better response to nitrogen spread next year. A fertiliser plan can also be set up to target low index fields for P and K, which will help increase the grass grown, especially in the shoulders of the year.
Analysing 2019
For anyone who has entered a full year worth of data into PastureBase, it’s a good time to look at your annual report. The annual report will give you your total tonnes grown and show you your best-performing and under-performing paddocks. This data is very valuable to anyone looking to identify areas for improvement and increase grass production.
However, it should be looked at alongside your soil sample result to see if soil fertility is holding back under-performing paddocks. After that, reseeding would be the next area I would look at.
Dairy Day
Dairy Day take place next Tuesday 19 November in Punchstown and this week’s farmer profiles Joe, Brendan and Daniel will be there talk about their grazing year and how improved grass management has impacted on their farms.
It’s time to finish grazing on most farms. The cold weather has really slowed grass growth and any paddock grazed from now on will have little hope of building any cover over the winter.
Growth has slowed to a standstill as shorter days and colder temperatures leave the grass plant short on energy.
It is very important that farmers don’t let average farm cover drop too low as it really reduces grass growth over the winter months. Anyone with a farm cover of 500kg/ha should be finished grazing. The big gains for keeping cows at grass for 2019 are now gone. It is twice as important now to have enough grass for the spring and set your farm up to maximise the grass grown in 2020.
Soil fertility
The best time to take soil samples is over the winter period – ideally at least two months after the
last application of phosphorus (P), potassium (K) or slurry. Knowing your soil fertility status is the first step to grass management and should be done on every farm regularly.
By identifying and targeting low-pH soils with lime, you will release locked-up P and K in the soil and get a better response to nitrogen spread next year. A fertiliser plan can also be set up to target low index fields for P and K, which will help increase the grass grown, especially in the shoulders of the year.
Analysing 2019
For anyone who has entered a full year worth of data into PastureBase, it’s a good time to look at your annual report. The annual report will give you your total tonnes grown and show you your best-performing and under-performing paddocks. This data is very valuable to anyone looking to identify areas for improvement and increase grass production.
However, it should be looked at alongside your soil sample result to see if soil fertility is holding back under-performing paddocks. After that, reseeding would be the next area I would look at.
Dairy Day
Dairy Day take place next Tuesday 19 November in Punchstown and this week’s farmer profiles Joe, Brendan and Daniel will be there talk about their grazing year and how improved grass management has impacted on their farms.
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