The term ‘fools spring’ is often used to describe an early spell of fine weather before ‘second winter’, which we seem to be in the depths of. Heavy rain has had no let up across a lot of the country, which has forced farmers to on-off graze or even to house animals temporarily as they await improved conditions.
Some farmers have been getting out by day, or grazing in three hour bouts after milking, without doing significant damage.
Those who have been getting cows out have said that damage is more superficial, and that good ground is cleaning up well after a shower of rain. The issue some farmers are facing is that their drier paddocks are running out.
Heavy covers are hard to graze out in these conditions, even with sufficient grazing power behind you. Covers below 1,400kg DM/ha will allow for a short residency time in paddocks and likely lead to better clean outs. It’s worth noting that with the wet weather, dry matter of grass has dropped to as low as 13% in some parts, so this should be taken in to account when allocating feed to cows.
Any good silage left in the yard should be targeted towards milking cows. While proteins will take a bit of a hammering when silage goes in to the diet, it can be stemmed by having good quality maize or grass silage going in to cows.
Conditions have gotten a lot milder over the past week which has led to a rise in growth across some parts, although heavy soils which are waterlogged remain cool, with low growth recorded.
Continue on-off grazing as conditions allow. Keep allocations as square as possible and target covers below 1,400kg DM/ha.For on-off grazing, water supply is not necessary for three-hour grazings.Grass dry matter has fallen, so ensure cows are receiving sufficient dry matter. Appetites of early calved cows have returned to normal.Target any good quality silage left in the yard to buffer cows to stem protein drop.Brian Ronayne – Dungourney, Co Cork
Our planned start date for the second rotation is either 7 or 8 April, and we are now roughly 3% behind our target. The first covers we grazed at the beginning of February are growing nicely with 950kg of a cover on them.
Cows have been in and out of housing with the weather the way it has been.
On the days that they are inside we are giving a 50/50 mix of maize/grass silage.
We are splitting the herd, letting half out if conditions are so-so and switching the groups the next time we head to grass.
Any damage done so far is superficial, and after a week you wouldn’t take any heed.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 2.87
Growth Rate (kg/day) 35
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 802
Yield (l/cow) 19.3
Fat % 4.72
Protein% 3.57
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.64
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 5
Jack Keenan – Aughrim, Co Wicklow
Cows are skinning out paddocks well, despite ground being relatively soft. We are grazing covers of 1,200kg at the moment.
We are 66% through the first rotation, so our planned start date for the second rotation has been pushed back five or six days.
Cows are out by day and are then turned out for three hours after the evening milking. We have covers of 900kg on the first paddocks grazed, and you can see them coming on nearly every day.
We got some silage fertiliser out this week, with 45 units/acre N spread in the form of 18-6-12 which we will top up in a few weeks.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 2.9
Growth Rate (kg/day) 21
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 796
Yield (l/cow) 30.5
Fat % 4.38
Protein% 3.2
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.38
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 6
Donal Patton – Teagasc Ballyhaise, Co Cavan
Cows were inside over the weekend, but we have been getting them out this week. Cows have generally been staying out during the day, with some three-hour bouts of grazing after evening milking.
The majority of rainfall has been in the evening and at night, so we are housing cows each night, with 2-3kg of silage offered to cows after the three hour grazing.
We have been getting away ok with grazing as we have been grazing the best of our ground, but this is quickly running out.
We have 53% of the platform grazed, so we should have sufficient grass to bring us to 15 April.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 2
Growth Rate (kg/day) 9
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 784
Yield (l/cow) 21
Fat % 5.08
Protein% 3.3
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.81
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 3
The term ‘fools spring’ is often used to describe an early spell of fine weather before ‘second winter’, which we seem to be in the depths of. Heavy rain has had no let up across a lot of the country, which has forced farmers to on-off graze or even to house animals temporarily as they await improved conditions.
Some farmers have been getting out by day, or grazing in three hour bouts after milking, without doing significant damage.
Those who have been getting cows out have said that damage is more superficial, and that good ground is cleaning up well after a shower of rain. The issue some farmers are facing is that their drier paddocks are running out.
Heavy covers are hard to graze out in these conditions, even with sufficient grazing power behind you. Covers below 1,400kg DM/ha will allow for a short residency time in paddocks and likely lead to better clean outs. It’s worth noting that with the wet weather, dry matter of grass has dropped to as low as 13% in some parts, so this should be taken in to account when allocating feed to cows.
Any good silage left in the yard should be targeted towards milking cows. While proteins will take a bit of a hammering when silage goes in to the diet, it can be stemmed by having good quality maize or grass silage going in to cows.
Conditions have gotten a lot milder over the past week which has led to a rise in growth across some parts, although heavy soils which are waterlogged remain cool, with low growth recorded.
Continue on-off grazing as conditions allow. Keep allocations as square as possible and target covers below 1,400kg DM/ha.For on-off grazing, water supply is not necessary for three-hour grazings.Grass dry matter has fallen, so ensure cows are receiving sufficient dry matter. Appetites of early calved cows have returned to normal.Target any good quality silage left in the yard to buffer cows to stem protein drop.Brian Ronayne – Dungourney, Co Cork
Our planned start date for the second rotation is either 7 or 8 April, and we are now roughly 3% behind our target. The first covers we grazed at the beginning of February are growing nicely with 950kg of a cover on them.
Cows have been in and out of housing with the weather the way it has been.
On the days that they are inside we are giving a 50/50 mix of maize/grass silage.
We are splitting the herd, letting half out if conditions are so-so and switching the groups the next time we head to grass.
Any damage done so far is superficial, and after a week you wouldn’t take any heed.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 2.87
Growth Rate (kg/day) 35
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 802
Yield (l/cow) 19.3
Fat % 4.72
Protein% 3.57
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.64
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 5
Jack Keenan – Aughrim, Co Wicklow
Cows are skinning out paddocks well, despite ground being relatively soft. We are grazing covers of 1,200kg at the moment.
We are 66% through the first rotation, so our planned start date for the second rotation has been pushed back five or six days.
Cows are out by day and are then turned out for three hours after the evening milking. We have covers of 900kg on the first paddocks grazed, and you can see them coming on nearly every day.
We got some silage fertiliser out this week, with 45 units/acre N spread in the form of 18-6-12 which we will top up in a few weeks.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 2.9
Growth Rate (kg/day) 21
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 796
Yield (l/cow) 30.5
Fat % 4.38
Protein% 3.2
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.38
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 6
Donal Patton – Teagasc Ballyhaise, Co Cavan
Cows were inside over the weekend, but we have been getting them out this week. Cows have generally been staying out during the day, with some three-hour bouts of grazing after evening milking.
The majority of rainfall has been in the evening and at night, so we are housing cows each night, with 2-3kg of silage offered to cows after the three hour grazing.
We have been getting away ok with grazing as we have been grazing the best of our ground, but this is quickly running out.
We have 53% of the platform grazed, so we should have sufficient grass to bring us to 15 April.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 2
Growth Rate (kg/day) 9
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 784
Yield (l/cow) 21
Fat % 5.08
Protein% 3.3
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.81
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 3
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