The last 10 days of March and the first 10 days of April are what sets farmers apart. Decisions made now will have repercussions for grass growth and milk solids for the next six months.
Where farmers are now can be divided into three categories.
On target
The best place to be now is to have around three-quarters of the farm grazed and be anxious about having enough grass back on the first-grazed paddocks to start the second rotation in early April. What date to start the second round depends on two things:
The cover of grass that you will have on the first grazed paddocks: measure what you have on these paddocks now and add what will grow on them by the time you graze what is left in the first rotation. There should be 1,100kg to 1,200kg on these by the time they are grazed again.The daily demand for grass: farms stocked at 3.5 cows/ha have a daily demand of 53kg/day, presuming cows are eating 17kg and are fed 2kg of meal. This means that you need to grow 53kg/day to prevent the amount of grass on the farm from depleting. Farms stocked at 2.5 cows/ha have a daily demand of 38kg/day. Therefore, higher-stocked farms should plan to start the second rotation later than lower-stocked farms.You don’t need to be growing the demand to start the second rotation. It is OK to eat into the average farm cover, provided that it does not drop below 500kg/ha.
Considering where growth rates are, I would say that farmers stocked at 2.5 cows/ha should be comfortable starting the second rotation on 1 April.
For every 10kg more in demand, delay the start of the second rotation by one week.
Use meal to stretch the round out if needs be, but remember why you are feeding meal – to save grass.
Therefore, daily grass allocations need to decrease on a like-for-like basis if meal feeding increases. Feeding 2kg of meal is sufficient if grass is OK.
Behind target
There are probably a lot more farmers behind target than there are on target. High rainfall over the last fortnight meant that many herds were housed full-time. Many farms have less than 50% of the first rotation grazed by now and have a very high average farm cover. This is a bad position to be in as it is difficult to manage a grass surplus in April.
Good growth rates are actually a help as they will speed up the recovery in the paddocks that have been grazed. I would aim to graze all the lowest covers as quickly as possible. These are easier to graze so cleanout will be better and recovery will be faster than grazing very high covers. Grazing lighter covers also helps to increase the area grazed and get it back in the mix for the second rotation.
The last thing highly stocked farmers want to be doing is closing paddocks for silage in early April
Farms with a lot of grass and not a lot grazed (less than 50%) will have to resign themselves to the fact that they won’t finish the first rotation. The paddocks with the highest covers should be left for silage. Don’t attempt to graze these now as you will make the problem worse.
The last thing highly stocked farmers want to be doing is closing paddocks for silage in early April.
It will put big pressure on the second rotation as that land is out for silage.
Measure the amount of grass you have in the first grazed paddocks and estimate how long it will take for these paddocks to have a cover of between 1,100kg and 1,200kg. If they reach this cover before the cows get to them, you’ll have surplus grass.
Can these high covers be grazed by dry cows or other animals now? Can they be zero-grazed and the grass sold to a neighbour? The priority should be to get the grass off these fields as soon as possible and get it back growing. If you have a big grass surplus, don’t spread fertiliser on the highest covers, but do spread it on the grazed swards.
Meal feeding should be reduced to the minimum needed to cover for cal-mag. Grass may well be tight on these farms in April, so be prepared to feed extra meal then if needs be.
Too wet
Exceptionally high rain over the past three weeks has caused flooding and made grazing impossible on heavier and low-lying land.
There is no alternative but to feed silage and meal in such cases, but keep assessing ground conditions for when an opportunity does arise to get cows back out grazing again.
In the meantime, feed cows the best-quality silage available. There is a huge difference in the feeding value of silage.
The difference between 69% DMD and 75% DMD silage at 4kg of meal is 2.4l of milk worth 80c/cow/day.
Milk protein does not drop because the protein in the diet is low. It drops because the overall energy intake of the cow drops
We know that most silage in Ireland has a DMD in the mid-60s. If cows are inside full-time they will need 5kg or 6kg of 18% crude protein meal. But even this won’t be enough to prevent body condition score loss and a drop in milk protein and yield. Milk protein does not drop because the protein in the diet is low. It drops because the overall energy intake of the cow drops.
Alternative feeds such as maize and beet are available to buy in some places. While there is no doubt that they are high energy feeds and cows milk well off them, there are a few issues with them: Firstly, beet needs to be washed and chopped before it can be fed and cows need to be built up on it slowly.
Secondly, beet and maize don’t store well. Beet will have to be used in the next few weeks or it will go off so there is a risk that you could be feeding beet in two or three weeks’ time just to use it up, while grass quality deteriorates.
If maize is not stored properly, there will be extra spoiling at the pit face and when feeding out. If grass silage is reasonably good then stick with it and meal for a simple system.
The next few weeks are important from a grass quality and milk yield point of view.Farmers that have 70% to 80% of the farm grazed need to watch regrowths and average farm cover carefully.Farmers with a lot of grass and not a lot grazed should keep grazing low covers and be prepared to take out high covers by some other means. Farmers on wet land will have to keep feeding high-quality silage and 5kg to 6kg of high protein meal. Read more
Dairy management: looking after cows in early lactation
Dairy management: health problems, what to feed and managing BCS
The last 10 days of March and the first 10 days of April are what sets farmers apart. Decisions made now will have repercussions for grass growth and milk solids for the next six months.
Where farmers are now can be divided into three categories.
On target
The best place to be now is to have around three-quarters of the farm grazed and be anxious about having enough grass back on the first-grazed paddocks to start the second rotation in early April. What date to start the second round depends on two things:
The cover of grass that you will have on the first grazed paddocks: measure what you have on these paddocks now and add what will grow on them by the time you graze what is left in the first rotation. There should be 1,100kg to 1,200kg on these by the time they are grazed again.The daily demand for grass: farms stocked at 3.5 cows/ha have a daily demand of 53kg/day, presuming cows are eating 17kg and are fed 2kg of meal. This means that you need to grow 53kg/day to prevent the amount of grass on the farm from depleting. Farms stocked at 2.5 cows/ha have a daily demand of 38kg/day. Therefore, higher-stocked farms should plan to start the second rotation later than lower-stocked farms.You don’t need to be growing the demand to start the second rotation. It is OK to eat into the average farm cover, provided that it does not drop below 500kg/ha.
Considering where growth rates are, I would say that farmers stocked at 2.5 cows/ha should be comfortable starting the second rotation on 1 April.
For every 10kg more in demand, delay the start of the second rotation by one week.
Use meal to stretch the round out if needs be, but remember why you are feeding meal – to save grass.
Therefore, daily grass allocations need to decrease on a like-for-like basis if meal feeding increases. Feeding 2kg of meal is sufficient if grass is OK.
Behind target
There are probably a lot more farmers behind target than there are on target. High rainfall over the last fortnight meant that many herds were housed full-time. Many farms have less than 50% of the first rotation grazed by now and have a very high average farm cover. This is a bad position to be in as it is difficult to manage a grass surplus in April.
Good growth rates are actually a help as they will speed up the recovery in the paddocks that have been grazed. I would aim to graze all the lowest covers as quickly as possible. These are easier to graze so cleanout will be better and recovery will be faster than grazing very high covers. Grazing lighter covers also helps to increase the area grazed and get it back in the mix for the second rotation.
The last thing highly stocked farmers want to be doing is closing paddocks for silage in early April
Farms with a lot of grass and not a lot grazed (less than 50%) will have to resign themselves to the fact that they won’t finish the first rotation. The paddocks with the highest covers should be left for silage. Don’t attempt to graze these now as you will make the problem worse.
The last thing highly stocked farmers want to be doing is closing paddocks for silage in early April.
It will put big pressure on the second rotation as that land is out for silage.
Measure the amount of grass you have in the first grazed paddocks and estimate how long it will take for these paddocks to have a cover of between 1,100kg and 1,200kg. If they reach this cover before the cows get to them, you’ll have surplus grass.
Can these high covers be grazed by dry cows or other animals now? Can they be zero-grazed and the grass sold to a neighbour? The priority should be to get the grass off these fields as soon as possible and get it back growing. If you have a big grass surplus, don’t spread fertiliser on the highest covers, but do spread it on the grazed swards.
Meal feeding should be reduced to the minimum needed to cover for cal-mag. Grass may well be tight on these farms in April, so be prepared to feed extra meal then if needs be.
Too wet
Exceptionally high rain over the past three weeks has caused flooding and made grazing impossible on heavier and low-lying land.
There is no alternative but to feed silage and meal in such cases, but keep assessing ground conditions for when an opportunity does arise to get cows back out grazing again.
In the meantime, feed cows the best-quality silage available. There is a huge difference in the feeding value of silage.
The difference between 69% DMD and 75% DMD silage at 4kg of meal is 2.4l of milk worth 80c/cow/day.
Milk protein does not drop because the protein in the diet is low. It drops because the overall energy intake of the cow drops
We know that most silage in Ireland has a DMD in the mid-60s. If cows are inside full-time they will need 5kg or 6kg of 18% crude protein meal. But even this won’t be enough to prevent body condition score loss and a drop in milk protein and yield. Milk protein does not drop because the protein in the diet is low. It drops because the overall energy intake of the cow drops.
Alternative feeds such as maize and beet are available to buy in some places. While there is no doubt that they are high energy feeds and cows milk well off them, there are a few issues with them: Firstly, beet needs to be washed and chopped before it can be fed and cows need to be built up on it slowly.
Secondly, beet and maize don’t store well. Beet will have to be used in the next few weeks or it will go off so there is a risk that you could be feeding beet in two or three weeks’ time just to use it up, while grass quality deteriorates.
If maize is not stored properly, there will be extra spoiling at the pit face and when feeding out. If grass silage is reasonably good then stick with it and meal for a simple system.
The next few weeks are important from a grass quality and milk yield point of view.Farmers that have 70% to 80% of the farm grazed need to watch regrowths and average farm cover carefully.Farmers with a lot of grass and not a lot grazed should keep grazing low covers and be prepared to take out high covers by some other means. Farmers on wet land will have to keep feeding high-quality silage and 5kg to 6kg of high protein meal. Read more
Dairy management: looking after cows in early lactation
Dairy management: health problems, what to feed and managing BCS
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