Last week saw high growth rates for mid-August and as a result grass is in good supply around the country.
However, with the high growth rate being experienced, it is important not to build covers too high too early.
The average farm cover (AFC) on farms should not exceed 1,000kg/ha before 1 September and for farms stocked at 2.5 LU/ha or lower, 750kg/ha should be the target for 1 September. Surplus grass needs to be removed immediately.
Temporary fencing must come back into play when covers exceed the grazing height of 1,500kg/ha in poor weather conditions. The aim is to minimise trampling of grass and help maximise utilisation.
Allocation should still be greater than what is required for that particular grazing for at least two out of every three grazing. This will ensure that production isn’t affected.
Grazing infrastructure
Now is the time to get grazing infrastructure in place to maximise days at grass this autumn and the coming spring.
Focus on the driest fields on your farm, as these are the paddocks you will try to graze in wet conditions. These paddocks should meet the following criteria:
A minimum of two entrances/exit points. Long narrow paddocks that have three or more grazings may need more access points. The maximum depth of a paddock from a roadway should be 250m. If this is exceeded, you may need to consider introducing a spur roadway to minimise damage in wet weather.Water access in these paddocks should be set up with on-off grazing in mind. Ideally a paddock with three grazings would have a water trough in the front third and back third of the field.Teagasc Curtins Farm, Co Cork
Some 50ml of rain has fallen here over the past two days, and with more to come, it is starting to make grazing the most recently reseeded paddocks more difficult as cows are starting to dirty the grass. Some of the cows are starting to get loose from all the new swards. Cows were weighed (average 535kg) and BCS (3.02) this week. The weather has put a stop to the last piece of reseeding that we are doing. Hopefully it will dry up next week. Cattle are grazing covers of 1,200-1,400kg at the moment.
Currow, Co Kerry
The weekend saw 54ml of rainfall so grazing is getting more difficult. We moved from 36hr to 12hr grazing blocks and upped the meal from 1.6kg to 4.8kg/day. The 12hr allocations have worked well as cows are cleaning out paddocks. New land was taken on this year leaving the farm with lower stock levels, so our grass cover is a bit high. The new land is low in P and K which will be addressed as soon as possible but I do expect growth to slow down well coming into the autumn because of this. The main target when building grass is not to let any covers go above 2,000kg/ha.
Kells, Co Kilkenny
There is lots of grass around with a growth rate of a 100kg/day the last two weeks. We have 12.5ac out for reseeding at the moment. Pre-grazing yields have started to go past 1,500kg/ha and with the rain graze-outs were beginning to suffer so the reel of wire and stakes are back out. If the weather was dry we would target pre-mowing one or two paddocks just to reset them and ensure all grass being carried into the winter will be good quality. We are highly stocked on the milking platform and will zero-graze grass from an outblock to build grass and stretch the grazing season. The plan is to maintain pre-grazing yields at around 1,500kg as long as possible.
Last week saw high growth rates for mid-August and as a result grass is in good supply around the country.
However, with the high growth rate being experienced, it is important not to build covers too high too early.
The average farm cover (AFC) on farms should not exceed 1,000kg/ha before 1 September and for farms stocked at 2.5 LU/ha or lower, 750kg/ha should be the target for 1 September. Surplus grass needs to be removed immediately.
Temporary fencing must come back into play when covers exceed the grazing height of 1,500kg/ha in poor weather conditions. The aim is to minimise trampling of grass and help maximise utilisation.
Allocation should still be greater than what is required for that particular grazing for at least two out of every three grazing. This will ensure that production isn’t affected.
Grazing infrastructure
Now is the time to get grazing infrastructure in place to maximise days at grass this autumn and the coming spring.
Focus on the driest fields on your farm, as these are the paddocks you will try to graze in wet conditions. These paddocks should meet the following criteria:
A minimum of two entrances/exit points. Long narrow paddocks that have three or more grazings may need more access points. The maximum depth of a paddock from a roadway should be 250m. If this is exceeded, you may need to consider introducing a spur roadway to minimise damage in wet weather.Water access in these paddocks should be set up with on-off grazing in mind. Ideally a paddock with three grazings would have a water trough in the front third and back third of the field.Teagasc Curtins Farm, Co Cork
Some 50ml of rain has fallen here over the past two days, and with more to come, it is starting to make grazing the most recently reseeded paddocks more difficult as cows are starting to dirty the grass. Some of the cows are starting to get loose from all the new swards. Cows were weighed (average 535kg) and BCS (3.02) this week. The weather has put a stop to the last piece of reseeding that we are doing. Hopefully it will dry up next week. Cattle are grazing covers of 1,200-1,400kg at the moment.
Currow, Co Kerry
The weekend saw 54ml of rainfall so grazing is getting more difficult. We moved from 36hr to 12hr grazing blocks and upped the meal from 1.6kg to 4.8kg/day. The 12hr allocations have worked well as cows are cleaning out paddocks. New land was taken on this year leaving the farm with lower stock levels, so our grass cover is a bit high. The new land is low in P and K which will be addressed as soon as possible but I do expect growth to slow down well coming into the autumn because of this. The main target when building grass is not to let any covers go above 2,000kg/ha.
Kells, Co Kilkenny
There is lots of grass around with a growth rate of a 100kg/day the last two weeks. We have 12.5ac out for reseeding at the moment. Pre-grazing yields have started to go past 1,500kg/ha and with the rain graze-outs were beginning to suffer so the reel of wire and stakes are back out. If the weather was dry we would target pre-mowing one or two paddocks just to reset them and ensure all grass being carried into the winter will be good quality. We are highly stocked on the milking platform and will zero-graze grass from an outblock to build grass and stretch the grazing season. The plan is to maintain pre-grazing yields at around 1,500kg as long as possible.
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