Farms need to act with the future in mind

Farms will need to be forward thinking when it comes to making decisions around grass this week.

If the farm has a heavier soil type and has gotten plenty of rain in the last two weeks, continue as normal targeting a farm cover between 160kg and 180kg/cow, taking out surpluses as necessary.

Where the farm is freer-draining and where soil moisture deficits might be slightly higher, it’ll be important to throw caution to the wind over the coming week.

There’s very little rain in the forecast for the next two weeks, and certain parts of the country like Carlow, Kilkenny and south Kildare are already very dry, with soil moisture deficits as high as 50mm, according to Met Eireann.

Growth has dropped back slightly but could continue to drop if these farms get no rain. Taking out surpluses or topping paddocks in this situation could leave the farm under serious pressure in two weeks’ time, as that ground will be slow to recover and growth will take a hit.

Instead, grazing some of the heavier covers where quality is not too far gone might push the farm cover slightly higher towards 200kg/cow and slow down the rotation length.

It’s not the ideal scenario and grass quality might suffer somewhat as a result, but the alternative is going too far and having to feed silage and extra meal in ten days’ time.

Should rain come in the meantime and growth continue as is, the farm can look to take out surpluses then with the peace of mind that farm cover hasn’t dropped too low.

If grazing heavier covers, milk will inevitably take a small hit. To mitigate against this, grazing paddocks with a heavier cover by day and a nicer quality cover by night is a good option.

Fertiliser

Farms should be continuing to spread between 0.8-1 units per day of nitrogen following cows to maintain growth where it is.

Clover paddocks should be down to half-rate nitrogen or no nitrogen at all by this stage.

Any ground that’s been reseeded in the last four to six weeks will need to be post-emergence sprayed over the coming week or so.

The best guide for deciding when to spray is when weeds are around the size of a two-euro coin.

Reseeds that have already been grazed will need to be grazed again at a cover less than 1,200kg DM/ha for the best chance of success.

Aidan Lawless – Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford

In the month of June, we got a total of 107mm of rain and this has kept the farm growing well. Growth was over 80kg in recent weeks but was just down slightly this week. After more rain in the last few days though,

I wouldn’t be expecting another drop. Cover per cow is higher than we’d like, so we’ll take a number of paddocks out as bales. There will be a round of nitrogen going out this week at a rate of 20kg/ha. Any of the high clover paddocks will be skipped or will get half rate.

The autumn cows are dropping back well in milk now. Some of them are up to 265 days in milk, so we’ll be starting to dry off by the end of the month.

Stocking rate (LU/ha) 4.2

Growth (kg/ha) 70

Average farm cover (kg/cow) 200

Yield (l/cow) 19

Fat (%) 4.6

Protein (%) 3.9

Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.65

Concentrates (kg/cow) 2

Eoin Corrigan – Trim, Co Meath

Grass quality has been a struggle as growth has just been so good on the farm in recent weeks. We have a lot of reseeds done with aggressive tetraploids in the last few years and these are starting to go to seed at lighter covers of 600kg to 700kg DM/ha. Even the paddocks that were baled a few weeks back are starting to lose quality again.

To manage it we’re topping every second paddock, and by next week we’ll be going back into lush covers again. Aside from grass quality though, I’d say this has been our best ever year for growing grass. To date, we’ve grown 8.1t DM/ha. This date last year, we had grown 7.5t DM/ha.

Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.7

Growth (kg/ha) 66

Average farm cover (kg/cow) 168

Yield (l/cow) 24

Fat (%) 4.79

Protein (%) 3.88

Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.13

Concentrates (kg/cow) 3

Gareth Shortt – Omagh, Co Tyrone

Grass is running tight at the moment on the farm but it’s not as bad as it was a few weeks ago. During the wet weather two weeks ago we were getting cold by night and growth plummeted.

We briefly had to feed silage and go heavy with the meal, but with the good weather last week growth is OK again. We had been topping paddocks to manage quality and this has probably stopped growth getting much higher than where it is currently. The cows are getting 6kg of meal to keep demand down, and we’ve reseeded ground coming back in next week which should take some pressure off. The cows are being followed with 15 units/acre of nitrogen.

Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.45

Growth (kg/ha) 60

Average farm cover (kg/cow) 135

Yield (l/cow) 24.75

Fat (%) 4.48

Protein (%) 3.60

Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.06

Concentrates (kg/cow) 6

Derek O’Donoghue – Salesian College, Co Limerick

We have a lot of cattle on farm at the minute owing to having held all of our calves and much of our yearlings with us, having been locked up with TB.

Thankfully we have now gone through two clear skin tests. This year’s calves are in grazing groups of 70, with all the older calves now on grass and 2kg of concentrates/head/day. Our youngest calves are still receiving straw at grass. All calves were offered straw at turn out, and we have found this works really well for preventing summer scour.

Second cut silage is probably about two weeks away. We have been blanket spreading the farm with 20-22 units/N in the form of protected urea on a monthly basis. Lambs are weaned and we will be completing a draft soon, with any cull ewes to be drafted at the same time.

System Dairy calf to beef

Soil Type Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 1,159

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 53

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 48

Trevor Boland – Dromard, Co Sligo

We have cattle in three different batches, with beef heifers and weanling heifers grazing on an out farm. Autumn calving cows and bull weanlings each have their own separate groups as well.

Cows are being made to graze out swards tight. Bull weanlings are on 3kg concentrates/head/day, with a plan to begin selling these on in six weeks. Beef heifers are on a grass only diet.

First cut silage was later than planned, being harvested in the second week of June, with some top-quality bales taken out as surplus before this, to be targeted at autumn calving cows when housed later in the year.

I have sufficient silage now for the winter period. A fair amount of correction on paddocks was done between mowing out as surplus and topping. Grazing ground has been spread lately with two bags 18-6-12/acre.

System Suckler to weanling

Soil Type Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 823

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 80

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 47

Jack Spilllane – Tipperary Farm, Co Tipperary

All calves are weaned, with 440 having been purchased this year. We have been bringing up numbers every year, having taken on extra ground last year as well.

The last of the calves were turned out last week, with the protocol being to feed ad lib for a week post-turn out before going down to 1.5kg/head/day.

Second-cut was harvested last Tuesday. We had a very heavy second cut that was taken off ground not cut previously, with a burst of growth since it had been closed up. Between all, we have 500 surplus bales made to-date.

We have eased back on fertiliser in our paddocks with clover in them. Our second-cut silage ground and some grazing ground was spread last week with a bag/acre of 10-10-20 spread, with all slurry now having been utilised.

System Dairy calf to beef

Soil Type Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 549

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 79

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 33