Dairylink: early first cut on Dairylink farms

First-cut silage has been made on some Dairylink Ireland farms over the past week. In general, silage crops are light, but should have top-quality feeding value.

Other farmers who have not cut yet are planning to make a move in the next week or 10 days. Growth has been relatively slow this season to-date and most programme farmers are now aiming to make a smaller than usual crop of good-quality silage for first cut, and then make up for any shortage in bulk with subsequent cuts.

Grass demand is still running ahead of supply for most Dairylink participants and so cows are being buffer-fed to slow down the grazing rotation

There has been much needed rain over the past fortnight, but there is significant local variation in the quantity of rain that individual farms received. Temperatures have also dropped over the past week, which is also holding back growth on some farms.

Grass demand is still running ahead of supply for most Dairylink participants and so cows are being buffer-fed to slow down the grazing rotation.

Regular grass measuring and budgeting allows programme farms to feed the appropriate amount of buffer feed to bring demand in line with grass supply.

Dairylink farmers use computer software programmes, such as AgriNet, to budget grass so they can play about with different amounts of buffer feed in dry matter terms until they get the grass wedge sitting right.

Cows will get lazy and realise it is easier to eat silage at milking than to graze grass covers down correctly

Dairylink adviser Aidan Cushnahan is urging programme farmers to measure and budget grass every five days, or even twice a week at present. Once growth catches up with demand, buffer feeding should be cut back or removed altogether, he recommends.

“Cows will get lazy and realise it is easier to eat silage at milking than to graze grass covers down correctly. This will hit grass quality later in the season. The dry conditions have made it ideal for getting residual covers right,” Aidan said.

There is a variation in grass availability across Dairylink Ireland farms at present. Recent rainfall levels have differed within relatively short distances, so there is no obvious geographic pattern showing who is tight for grass and who is not.

That makes it all the more important for farmers to walk paddocks and make management decisions based on what is happening on their own farm. The usual pattern during a dry time, where farmers in the east are under pressure and farmers in the west are OK, does not seem to be the case at present.

On the silage front, the aim is to mow first-cut in the middle of next week, weather permitting

In the northwest, John Oliver was putting cows into lowish covers of 1,200-1,300kg DM/ha (available cover is total cover minus 1,500kg DM/ha) until early last week. Growth has picked up on his farm in Limavady, Co Derry over the past 10 days and he increased stocking rate by bringing 13 heifers onto the grazing block.

John is also now considering taking a paddock or two out for surplus. On the silage front, the aim is to mow first-cut in the middle of next week, weather permitting.

Dry conditions

James King has had some rain on his farm in Ballymena, Co Antrim, but not as much as needed. Conditions are dry and grass is showing some signs of stress with a yellow tint to it. Cows are getting buffer-fed fourth-cut silage with 2kg/head/day of blend.

First-cut started at the start of this week. “It is a bit lighter than we would like, but we are thinking about later cuts and don’t want to leave third-cut too late,” James said.

He reseeded ground with a minimum tillage earlier this spring

In Dromintee, Co Armagh, James Martin has also started first-cut and at the end of last week, he noted that grass growth had effectively slowed up to a standstill.

He reseeded ground with a minimum tillage earlier this spring. Grass has not appeared on drier ground yet, but it has started to come through the ground on heavier soils.

Richard Marshall in Omagh, Co Tyrone, is buffer feeding cows with silage and 2kg/head/day of blend.

“They definitely don’t refuse it when they come in,” he said.

Again, grass supply and demand are finely balanced at present and the buffer feeding is allowing the ground to slow up and pre-grazing covers to remain on target. Richard put 110ac of first-cut in last Wednesday and another 30ac is to go in this week.

Feed rates

Aside from removing buffer feeding once growth improves, Dairylink adviser Aidan Cushnahan is also encouraging programme farmers to closely monitor concentrate feed rates over the coming weeks.

At present, Dairylink farmers have in-parlour feeders set to deliver maintenance (M) plus 15-16l from forage.

“If growth rates pick up and there is a lot of grass, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be pushing towards M plus 20l from grass,” Aidan said.

“If grass supply improves and ground conditions remain favourable, there will be an opportunity to make more money by lifting milk from forage levels,” he added.

Read more

Dairylink: a beginner’s guide to budgeting grass

Slow grass growth on Dairylink farms