Grass+: days left at grass limited

Grass growth averaged 28kg DM/day this week. Although growth is still strong for this time of the year, heavy rainfall over the weekend saw cows and cattle around the country housed for a number of days.

Most young stock that have been brought in won’t get out to grass again this year.

On the other hand, a good start to this week and low levels of rain forecast will give farms with high covers of grass a chance to get cows back out to graze for another while.

Getting out to grass

Some farms still have 20% to 30% of the last rotation to graze.

The use of multiple access points, spur roadways, back fences and on/off grazing will help to reduce the number of times cows and cattle travel over grazed ground.

Minimising damage while grazing at this time of the year will allow ground to recover and be suitable for grazing next March.

Staying on target

Extending the days left at grass will require higher levels of supplementation be it silage or meal.

Doing a weekly farm walk and keeping a close eye on the average farm cover (AFC) is very important at this time of year. The AFC will tell you if you can afford to continue grazing without going below the target closing cover.

The target closing cover on 1 December depends on stocking rate and these are listed below in the Swardwatch box.

Allowing the AFC fall below target at this time of the year will have a big impact on grass supply next spring.

If you have a target closing cover of 700kg DM/ha on 1 December, your AFC on 6 November should not be below 500kg DM/ha. In this case, farms with an average farm cover of 500kg DM/ha or less now should be finished grazing.

Swardwatch

Padraig McCarthy – Lixnaw, Co Kerry

The cows were grazing day and night up until 28 October. Due to the high level of rain fall they have been fully housed since 30 October. Ground conditions have become very tricky with a total of 178mm of rain recorded throughout October. To date we have 75% of the farm closed for the winter. If ground conditions improve we will hopefully get the cows back out to graze the remaining 25%. The covers still to be grazed range from 1,500kg DM/ha to 2,400kg DM/ha. During the last 10 days in October we grazed the driest part of the farm. We target an opening cover between 800kg DM/ha-1,000kg DM/ha on these paddocks and the cows can go there first in February.

Richard and Gearoid Hinchion – Macroom, Co Cork

We had 40mm of rain over the weekend which has made ground conditions more challenging. The cows are in by night now and there is about 10-14 days of grass ahead of them before they have to come in full time. Growth has been very good this autumn and covers have been high but graze outs are still very good considering the rain. We have 85% of the farm grazed and closed which is ahead of the autumn rotation planner target. Last Friday we dried of 32 cows which were a mostly first lactation cows with some lighter mature cows. We do selective dry cow treatment and roughly one third of the herd will get a sealer only.

Brian McCracken – Newtownards, Co Down

Cows have been in by night since the end of October. There is 16% of the milking platform still to be grazed. We hope to keep the cows out on grass by day for the next two weeks weather depending. Pre-grazing covers at the minute are between 2,000kg DM/ha and 2,500kg DM/ha. Graze outs have been good this autumn. To date this year we have had just over 500mm of rain, 83mm of that fell in October. We will start to dry off cows in the next couple of weeks and we will have everything dried off by mid-December. The in calf heifer and weanlings are still grazing the silage ground and will be brought in in the next couple of weeks.

Shaun Diver – Tullamore Farm, Co Offaly

All of the cows were housed last week and are being fed hay. The weanling bulls are in a couple of weeks and are on high quality bailed silage and 3kg of a 16.5% protein ration. Only 41 weanling heifers and 19 in-calf heifers are out now. The weanlings are grazing covers between 1,900kg DM/ha and 2,000kg DM/ha. They will be brought in this weekend or early next week. The in-calf heifers will be left out while conditions allow.

Graze-outs had been very good but the rain has made conditions difficult. Every two days they are getting fresh grass and a back fence is used to stop them travelling over ground already grazed. The rams have been running with the ewes for over two weeks and 80% of the ewes have been served.

John Hally – Thrive Demo Farm, Cashel

Ground conditions have gone very sticky and poor. Five bullocks and 13 heifers are going to the factory before the weekend. That will leave us with 50 of the 2020 calves; 41 of those are bullocks and nine heifers.

These will be brought in before the weekend and some will be ready for the factory in a couple of weeks. When we are bringing them in we will clip their backs and tails. The 145 weanlings are still out at grass. These are in three groups and are being fed 1kg/head of a 16% protein nut. Pre-grazing covers are around 1,500kg DM/ha. Up to last weekend, graze-outs were very good but since then they are dirtying the grass before it is all grazed. Weanlings will be housed in a week to 10 days depending on the weather.

Chris McCarthy – Newford Farm, Co Westmeath

The suckler cows, dry cows, in-calf heifers and weanling bulls were all housed last Saturday. A group of maiden heifers are still out and will be left off with the bull next week. When housing, we clip all the tails and backs. The cows are on a mix of silage and straw and will get pre-calver minerals six weeks before they calve. The bulls were weighed before they were housed. They averaged 380kg which is a daily liveweight gain of 1.34kg/day since birth. This is on target as we plan to send all bulls to the factory under 16 months. They are on high-quality first-cut silage and 3kg of an 18% nut. The weanling heifers are sold to the same person every year after weaning. We scanned the cows this year and had a 12% empty rate.