Average grass growth this week was 90kg/day, down slightly on last week but still a very high growth rate.
Grass is very hard to manage. While a growth of 90kg/day is average across and within farms, fields with grass covers of greater than 1,000kg/ha are probably growing closer to 150kg/day still.
It remains to be seen what effect the widespread heavy rain will have on growth rates, but for the moment grass growth continues to bomb on.
Farmers who have skipped over paddocks for silage will be anxious to get them cut and back growing leafy grass again soon. Finding a time to cut is difficult as the weather is so changeable. Depending on how high demand has been set, a decision to cut may need to be made one way or the other. A stocking rate of over five cows/ha is not sustainable as growth rates are not going to remain at or above 90kg/ha for long more. At this stage, I would be a lot more comfortable at a stocking rate of 4.2 cows/ha. This requires a growth rate of 71kg/day. It all depends on how you think your farm will respond to the weather. Heavy rain on wetter farms will suppress growth and utilisation will drop, so round length will speed up – a double whammy. Dry and humid weather on free draining soils will keep growth up.
Best policy is to continue to walk the farm twice a week and make decisions based on what you see. Average farm cover per cow should be around 150 to 180kg. Try and avoid very high stocking rates as these require high pre-grazing yields to sustain round length at 20 to 21 days.
Keep in mind that topping or mowing a high proportion of the farm will reduce growth rates.
Teagasc Curtins Farm
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.95
Growth rate (kg/day) 74
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 167
Yield (l/cow/day) 20.9
Fat % 4.70
Protein % 3.59
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.78
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0.2
The after-grass from the silage is not yet back in the rotation so stocking rate is still high. Cows are grazing covers of 1,300kg to 1,500kg but some of these are from the first lot of silage cut and the cows are moving through the lush covers fast. We got over an inch of rain last weekend. We have three paddocks waiting to be cut for silage. The plan is to take them out over the weekend, weather permitting. We spread slurry at a rate of 2,500 gallons/acre on the silage ground. Bulls are now out having done six weeks of AI.
Teagasc Ballyhaise
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.06
Growth rate (kg/day) 89
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 155
Yield (l/cow/day) 22.9
Fat % 4.30
Protein % 3.51
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.84
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 1
We did get a good bit of rain over the last week but it is not affecting grazing conditions. The after-grass is now back in the rotation, so demand has decreased. Pre-grazing yield has dropped to 1,300kg/ha and the next few paddocks are lighter again but I think we’re in a good position as I don’t see growth rate dropping much soon. No paddocks were skipped this week. We are four weeks into the breeding season and we got 94% submitted in three weeks. None of the cows not served came in this week so we are going to get them scanned.
Dromina, Co Cork
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 4.27
Growth rate (kg/day) 75
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 181
Yield (l/cow/day) 25.25
Fat % 4.30
Protein % 3.59
Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.05
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0.5
We got 1.25in of rain since the start of the month and there’s more rain to come. We moved the herd to drier ground on Monday to prevent any damage, but generally ground is holding up very well. We hope to cut first-cut next week, which will reduce demand. Cows are on half a kilo of meal but we feed them 2kg on the very wet days to cover for grass tetany. I’ve noticed in the last few days that grass is going pale, particularly between the dung pads. We are spreading 30 units/acre of protected urea with sulphur after every grazing.
Craughwell, Co Galway
Stocking rate (cows/ha) 2.59
Growth rate (kg/day) 62
Average farm cover (kg/cow) 156
Yield (l/cow/day) 22.5
Fat % 4.20
Protein % 3.65
Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.84
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 1.8
It’s been an excellent year so far. We are running a low stocking rate this year. I find it a little harder to manage grass than when I was at a higher stocking rate. I’d rather not have high growth rates because I don’t want too much surplus grass. Demand is low but I’ll be taking out more silage next week probably. The plan is to cut every paddock for silage once this summer. We spread 23 units of urea/acre last week across the whole farm. Growth rate dropped a bit this week after we cut a lot of area for bales but we grew 140kg/day the week before.
