There has been no shortage of grass on Dairylink Ireland farms this spring and ground conditions have been ideal for most of the grazing season so far.
Phase two programme farmers are still getting to grips with grass measuring, as most only started weekly grass walks when they joined Dairylink towards the end of the 2018 growing season.
With plenty of grass on grazing blocks, programme farmers are being encouraged to identify how much surplus grass there actually is and what paddocks need to be skipped over for silage.
During a visit to Richard Marshall’s farm last week, CAFRE dairy adviser Aidan Cushnahan highlighted that decisions taken now will be a key factor influencing the quality and quantity of grass later in the season.
Grass covers and growth rates can change quickly at this time of the year, so Dairylink farmers are walking grazing blocks and measuring covers more than once a week at present. Most farmers want to capitalise on grazing later in the season as more cows enter later lactation, so it is important to put in the effort to budget grass now.
Aidan also pointed out that there is an opportunity to get more from grazed grass now by reducing concentrate feed rates. A simple calculation can be to work out how many litres over maintenance requirements are being delivered from forage.
A concentrate feed rate of 0.45kg/litre is usually assumed and is subtracted from yields. For example, Richard Marshall’s low-yielding group is currently averaging 23 litres from 3kg concentrate, so maintenance plus 16.3 litres is coming from forage.
There should be scope to increase this over the coming days without a hit on yields. Getting the confidence to get more production from grazing usually comes from being able to make informed decisions based on measurement.
Weekly round-up
The milking herd is split in two groups at present on Richard Marshall’s farm, located near Omagh, Co Tyrone. A batch of 35 early lactation cows are housed full-time and are averaging around 38 litres/cow/day. This group is on a total mixed ration (TMR) made up of 7.5kg blend, 1kg straw nuts and silage, with additional concentrates fed in the parlour in a feed-to-yield system.
Most of this group is still to be scanned and more cows will be turned out to grass next week once they are confirmed in calf. Richard plans to let the whole herd out to grass in mid-May. The lower-yielding group of 85 cows has been out by day and night on the Marshall farm since 21 April. The first 40 cows got to grass in late-February this year, which is the earliest that Richard has ever had cows out grazing.
Key steps
This stemmed from dry conditions in early spring, but also from Richard carrying adequate covers over the winter, getting urea out early and identifying a batch of later-lactation cows that were suitable for grazing. All cows had to be rehoused for two weeks following wet weather during March, but conditions have remained favourable since then.
Including grazed grass and silage in the TMR, the lower-yielding group was producing around 13 litres from forage
When we visited last Thursday, the lower-yielding group had been out full-time for four days and Richard was still feeding them a TMR at evening milking, made up of 1.5kg blend, 1kg straw nuts and 6kg to 7kg silage.
Cows in this group were, on average, getting an additional 3kg of concentrates through in-parlour feeders.
Including grazed grass and silage in the TMR, the lower-yielding group was producing around 13 litres from forage. There is no shortage of grass on the Marshall farm, so the buffer feed has since been removed, meaning 16 litres is now coming from forage.
Litres
CAFRE dairy adviser Aidan Cushnahan states that getting 18 litres from grass is an achievable target at present and this will rise to 20 litres by mid-May. Richard moved to a high digestible fibre (HDF) concentrate as cows transitioned off TMR to help avoid a fall in butterfat levels and to lower substitution rates at grass.
Getting more from grass is a key aim that Richard wants to achieve in the Dairylink Ireland project. This will come down to improving grassland management skills through making decisions based on information, such as grass measuring.
There were 35 acres reseeded on the Marshall farm last autumn and this was grazed with sheep over the winter
He has also been developing grazing infrastructure by opening extra access points into paddocks to limit damage around gaps when ground conditions are sticky, and he has installed additional drinkers to give more flexibility when allocating grass.
Between silage ground and surplus grass on the milking platform, Richard estimates that there will be around 130 acres for first cut. There were 35 acres reseeded on the Marshall farm last autumn and this was grazed with sheep over the winter. Most of the reseeded ground has heavy covers at present and will likely be cut early for bales within the next week.