Heavy rain over the last week in the north and west has made ground conditions challenging on some farms. It’s always amazing how quickly conditions on heavier soils can change after rain.
Belmullet and Ballyhaise have got more than twice their normal rainfall in the last week. It’s a different story for those on drier soils, some of whom are hoping for more rain to keep grass growth up for another few weeks.
Where ground is challenging, a strip wire will help to minimise damage and maximise utilisation. I see some farmers reaching for the strip wires just because covers have got strong.
In this case, the strip wire is the wrong tool to go for – it should be the mower. OK, using the strip wire will force cows to eat those high covers down but is that really what you want?
High covers are terrible from a grass quality point of view and will result in lower liveweight gain and/or milk yield. Ideally, cows and cattle will get between 36 hours in a paddock before moving on.
This means that they will get two good feeds and then work hard to clean out the paddock before getting another good feed at the next grazing.
The risk with strip wires, aside from making them graze down into a paddock that should be taken for silage is that the stock will always be under pressure.
This is particularly the case for younger or smaller animals in the herd who have to compete with larger and more dominant animals for grass.
You’d often see timid cows getting pucked about by older cows when on 12 hour breaks, whereas if they had a larger area that wouldn’t happen. Milk yield and protein percent is usually better when the strip wire is put away.
To sum up, strip wires aren’t a solution to high covers, silage is.
Grass growth rates continue to defy expectations, so farmers need to always be on the lookout for covers that are gone too strong. Ideally, average farm cover should be between 160kg and 180kg per cow, or eight to ten days of grass ahead of stock.
Some farmers deliberately went lower than this over the last few weeks as growth was way higher than demand, but I think sticking to this target range would be prudent from now on.
Sward Watch
Where ground conditions allow, you should put away strip wires and let cows and cattle stay for 24 to 36 hours in each paddock. Grass growth rates continue to be much higher than grass demand so surplus grass is still developing and farmers should continue to skip over paddocks for reseeding. There will be a small window of opportunity to get silage cut over the weekend. If demand is high take this opportunity to reduce it.Jack Keenan – Aughrim, Co Wicklow
We harvested first cut silage last weekend and it averaged 9.5 tonnes DM/ha. This has now been spread with slurry at a rate of 3,000 gallon to the acre and will receive 45 units of cut sward for second cut.
We are following cows with 18 units of CAN at the moment, on a 20-day round. We have about 10% of the milking platform earmarked for baling at the weekend, which will hopefully help us to get our pre-grazing cover under control.
We have two 2.2ha paddocks which were reseeded a month ago and sown with a 6-species mix. It got a top dressing of 10 units of CAN today (Tuesday) and is filling in well.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.53
Growth Rate (kg/day) 82
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 189
Yield (l/cow) 30.5
Fat % 3.96
Protein% 3.45
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.26
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 3
David O’Leary – Castleisland, Co Kerry
We have 15% of the milking platform sprayed off for reseeding before we cut and bale at the weekend. We will then disc and power harrow, with the plan being to sow Aston Energy and Nashato here.
We reseeded ground at the end of April which was sown with 2kg of red clover, 2kg of white clover and Aston Energy. Some of the silage ground will be reseeded with red clover as part of the red clover silage measure.
Cows are being followed with 18 units of N, with last year’s clover paddocks being skipped this round and receiving slurry instead. Silage ground has received 80 units of N in the form of 2,000 gallons/acre of slurry using LESS and chemical N.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.66
Growth Rate (kg/day) 73
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 172
Yield (l/cow) 27
Fat % 4.15
Protein% 3.55
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.08
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2
Brendan Horan – Teagasc Curtins, Co Cork
Our farm cover is tight due to a delay in silage harvesting, with all silage stocks coming off the milking platform. We’ve had to graze high covers as a result which has hit our protein, but we only have two heavy paddocks ahead before we’re back to 1,200kg paddocks.
Some lighter paddocks were mown on Saturday and picked up on Sunday, with the hope being to mow the rest of these surplus paddocks before the weekend.
We have spread 100kg of N/ha to date for this clover trial, so no further N will be spread until late August.
Breeding is going well, with high submission rates, low activity and generally good body condition.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.8
Growth Rate (kg/day) 56
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 148
Yield (l/cow) 21
Fat % 4.67
Protein% 3.55
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.8
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0
Heavy rain over the last week in the north and west has made ground conditions challenging on some farms. It’s always amazing how quickly conditions on heavier soils can change after rain.
Belmullet and Ballyhaise have got more than twice their normal rainfall in the last week. It’s a different story for those on drier soils, some of whom are hoping for more rain to keep grass growth up for another few weeks.
Where ground is challenging, a strip wire will help to minimise damage and maximise utilisation. I see some farmers reaching for the strip wires just because covers have got strong.
In this case, the strip wire is the wrong tool to go for – it should be the mower. OK, using the strip wire will force cows to eat those high covers down but is that really what you want?
High covers are terrible from a grass quality point of view and will result in lower liveweight gain and/or milk yield. Ideally, cows and cattle will get between 36 hours in a paddock before moving on.
This means that they will get two good feeds and then work hard to clean out the paddock before getting another good feed at the next grazing.
The risk with strip wires, aside from making them graze down into a paddock that should be taken for silage is that the stock will always be under pressure.
This is particularly the case for younger or smaller animals in the herd who have to compete with larger and more dominant animals for grass.
You’d often see timid cows getting pucked about by older cows when on 12 hour breaks, whereas if they had a larger area that wouldn’t happen. Milk yield and protein percent is usually better when the strip wire is put away.
To sum up, strip wires aren’t a solution to high covers, silage is.
Grass growth rates continue to defy expectations, so farmers need to always be on the lookout for covers that are gone too strong. Ideally, average farm cover should be between 160kg and 180kg per cow, or eight to ten days of grass ahead of stock.
Some farmers deliberately went lower than this over the last few weeks as growth was way higher than demand, but I think sticking to this target range would be prudent from now on.
Sward Watch
Where ground conditions allow, you should put away strip wires and let cows and cattle stay for 24 to 36 hours in each paddock. Grass growth rates continue to be much higher than grass demand so surplus grass is still developing and farmers should continue to skip over paddocks for reseeding. There will be a small window of opportunity to get silage cut over the weekend. If demand is high take this opportunity to reduce it.Jack Keenan – Aughrim, Co Wicklow
We harvested first cut silage last weekend and it averaged 9.5 tonnes DM/ha. This has now been spread with slurry at a rate of 3,000 gallon to the acre and will receive 45 units of cut sward for second cut.
We are following cows with 18 units of CAN at the moment, on a 20-day round. We have about 10% of the milking platform earmarked for baling at the weekend, which will hopefully help us to get our pre-grazing cover under control.
We have two 2.2ha paddocks which were reseeded a month ago and sown with a 6-species mix. It got a top dressing of 10 units of CAN today (Tuesday) and is filling in well.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.53
Growth Rate (kg/day) 82
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 189
Yield (l/cow) 30.5
Fat % 3.96
Protein% 3.45
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.26
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 3
David O’Leary – Castleisland, Co Kerry
We have 15% of the milking platform sprayed off for reseeding before we cut and bale at the weekend. We will then disc and power harrow, with the plan being to sow Aston Energy and Nashato here.
We reseeded ground at the end of April which was sown with 2kg of red clover, 2kg of white clover and Aston Energy. Some of the silage ground will be reseeded with red clover as part of the red clover silage measure.
Cows are being followed with 18 units of N, with last year’s clover paddocks being skipped this round and receiving slurry instead. Silage ground has received 80 units of N in the form of 2,000 gallons/acre of slurry using LESS and chemical N.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.66
Growth Rate (kg/day) 73
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 172
Yield (l/cow) 27
Fat % 4.15
Protein% 3.55
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.08
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2
Brendan Horan – Teagasc Curtins, Co Cork
Our farm cover is tight due to a delay in silage harvesting, with all silage stocks coming off the milking platform. We’ve had to graze high covers as a result which has hit our protein, but we only have two heavy paddocks ahead before we’re back to 1,200kg paddocks.
Some lighter paddocks were mown on Saturday and picked up on Sunday, with the hope being to mow the rest of these surplus paddocks before the weekend.
We have spread 100kg of N/ha to date for this clover trial, so no further N will be spread until late August.
Breeding is going well, with high submission rates, low activity and generally good body condition.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.8
Growth Rate (kg/day) 56
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 148
Yield (l/cow) 21
Fat % 4.67
Protein% 3.55
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.8
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0
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