We started zero grazing here in Abbeyleix last week, rather than trying to bale the third cut.

We also reduced meal feeding in the parlour to 2kg per cow, as there is still plenty of grass available.

Pre-grazing covers are averaging around 2,000kg DM/ha, with average farm cover (AFC) at approximately 1,000kg DM/ha.

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We are continuing to work on 24-hour grazing breaks, and graze-outs have been excellent.

Cleaning out paddocks well is important at this stage of the year to maintain grass quality and set the farm up for next spring.

Milk

Milk yield has dropped back to 16 litres per cow per day, but milk solids remain strong. At the last collection, fat was 5.53% and protein was 4.33%.

With cows producing that level of solids, I am happy enough with how things are going, provided we continue to manage grass supplies carefully.

We completed milk recording a few weeks ago, and the results showed that 10 cows had an SCC above one million. We have since treated all of those cows with antibiotic tubes, and thankfully SCC has dropped below 150,000. It had been running above 200,000 for the previous few collections, so it was an issue that needed attention.

SCC

While the improvement is encouraging, SCC will need to be monitored closely. At this stage of the season, there is little benefit in carrying cows that are contributing disproportionately to the SCC problem.

The results will help us decide which cows are worth milking and which might be better off dried off for the remainder of the year.

I also got more than 60% of the grazing platform sprayed for docks over the last few weeks. They seemed to thrive this year, probably helped by the difficult conditions throughout the summer.

I had not sprayed for docks in a number of years, but they had reached the stage at which they were taking up too much space in some paddocks.

Hopefully, we will see a good response from the spraying. There is little point investing in growing grass if weeds are taking up a significant proportion of the available area. It is a job that had been put on the long finger for too long, but it was time to get on top of it.

TB testing

We also had a clear TB test two weeks ago, which was a great relief.

We currently have 12 weanling heifers for sale, and hopefully they will find new a home shortly. They are a good bunch, with both their dams and grand dams having produced over 600kg of milk solids last year.

So there is plenty of breeding behind them, and they should be of interest to anyone looking to add quality replacements to their herd.

The bulls and in-calf heifers are also doing well at grass. They are grazing covers above 2,000kg DM/ha and cleaning out paddocks well.

We are moving them every four to five days, and strong re growths should allow us to get another grazing out of the blocks before the end of the season.

Roadway

Another job completed this week was the installation of a new cow roadway. It removes two right-angle turns from the cows’ route to the parlour from one side of the grazing platform.

It is a long walk back to the yard from these paddocks, and the sharp turns were definitely not helping cow flow.

We probably will not get much use out of the new roadway until next spring, but hopefully it will make bringing cows in for milking easier and improve cow flow.