Grass growth averaged 62kg DM/day this week.

This means growth has been ahead of the 10-year average for this time of the year for the seventh week in a row.

While the average growth rates have been steady in the low 60s over these weeks, the arrival of colder mornings and the shorter daylight hours will start to have an effect on growth rates.

The start of October marks the beginning of the last rotation on farms with heavy soils, while dryer farms should start to close paddocks from 10 October. The main focus when closing the farm is to ensure there is high-quality grass available next spring.

The 60:40 planner is a tool used to maximise days at grass in the autumn while also ensuring grass availability in the spring. The target is to have 60% of the farm grazed and closed in early November. The remaining 40% should then be grazed in November.

It is important to remember that the first paddocks closed this autumn will have the heaviest covers next spring. For this reason these paddocks should be the dry, have multiple access points and be close to the parlour.

The high growth rates over the last number of weeks have led to very high covers of grass building on farms. Depending on stocking rate the target peak average farm cover is between 1,000kg DM/ha and 1,200kg DM/ha.

Graze-outs are very important at this time of the year and achieving target residuals can be very difficult on these covers over 2,000kg DM/ha.

While grazing heavy covers using a strip wire on 12-hour allocations will improve graze-outs and reduce waste. Avoiding grazing heavy covers during wet weather will also help.

Swardwatch

  • High growth rates again this week led to high pre-grazing covers on farm.
  • Reintroduce the strip wire to improve utilisation and hit target residuals.
  • Make the most of the current conditions to get slurry, lime and K out as if the weather turns bad this will be difficult to do.
  • Complete an autumn 60:40 planner on PastureBase Ireland and start closing paddocks from early October on heavy soil farm and from 10 October on dry farms.
  • Where AFC has gone over 100kg DM/ha above target, increase demand by reducing supplementation or by bringing young stock back on to the platform.
  • John and Sylvia Powell

    Low levels of rain fall over the last month slowed growth and as a result our AFC is behind target. Last week we began zero grazing grass from an outside block to fill the deficit. The cows are going into covers around 1,600kg DM/ha. We scanned the cows a month ago, eight per cent of the cows were not in calf and ten per cent of the heifers were not in calf after a 12 week breeding season. This year we made an effort to replace some chemical N with slurry. In the spring we spread slurry across the whole platform and delayed the first application of chemical fertiliser until mid-march looking at fertiliser prices now we will aim to make better use of slurry going forward.

  • Stocking Rate (cows/ha): 4.2
  • Growth Rate (Kg/day): 66
  • Average Farm Cover (kg/ha): 740
  • Yield (L/cow/day): 18.3
  • Fat %: 4.48
  • Protein %: 3.9
  • Milk Solids (kg/cow): 1.58
  • Supplement fed (kg/cow/day): 3
  • Sean O'Donnell – Ballina Co Mayo

    Cows are going into covers of 2,200kg DM/ha but by the weekend they will be back to grazing covers around 1,700kg DM/ha. There is a mix of soil types on the farm in Ballina which means we have to be careful not to allow heavy covers to build up on the more peaty soils. In general soil conditions at the minute are very good. We are currently on a 35 day round but will push this to 40 days from the start of October. The target is to have 75-80 per cent of the platform grazed and closed by 1 November with all cows fully housed by 10 November This year we used all AI and there is eight per cent of the cows empty after 10 weeks breeding.

  • Stocking Rate (cows/ha): 3.14
  • Growth Rate (Kg/day): 75
  • Average Farm Cover (kg/ha): 1127
  • Yield (L/cow/day): 17
  • Fat %: 5.30
  • Protein %: 4.10
  • Milk Solids (kg/cow): 1.65
  • Supplement fed (kg/cow/day): 1.8
  • Jerome and Brian Desmond – Ovens, Co Cork

    The stocking rate on the milking platform this year has been running at 4.2 LU/ha. As we are on a very dry farm the dry weather in August had a big impact on our plans to build covers for the autumn. For this reason last week we made the decision to house one third of the herd and zero graze grass from support blocks for these cows. This has reduced our SR to 2.66 LU/ha and as a result demand has dropped to 40kg DM/ha. Pre-grazing covers for the other two thirds of the herd are around 1,900kg DM/ha. We are strip grazing these cows on 12 hour allocations. This week we will vaccinate all of the cows for salmonella. We plan to scan all of the cows in the coming week.

  • Stocking Rate (cows/ha): 2.66
  • Growth Rate (Kg/day): 65
  • Average Farm Cover (kg/ha): 935
  • Yield (L/cow/day): 20.3
  • Fat %: 4.94
  • Protein %: 4.12
  • Milk Solids (kg/cow): 1.89
  • Supplement fed (kg/cow/day): 3.5