Grass+ Beef: rainfall making grazing impossible, but soil temperatures rise

Some Biblical levels of rain have fallen in the last week or so, with nearly all weather station recording at least twice the average rainfall for the time of the year. Cork Airport has recorded over 90mm of rain in a single week; four times the normal amount of rain. The weather has very much stalled any hopes of cattle getting out on medium to heavy soil, and only those with some dry paddock that have a grass cover on them have been able to either continue grazing, or let some cattle out for the first time. While it would be better to have more of the platform grazed off and back growing at this point, average farm covers are still conservative enough, so there should be no major panic.

Soil temperatures

While soils are fairly saturated, they have somehow managed to warm up by 2-4°C over the last week or so. Should soils dry out, which they are predicted to with some drier weather on the way, we should see a lift in temperatures and growth rates, which would coincide well with getting some slurry or a small amount of chemical N out on to paddocks to kick growth up another gear.

Jack Spillane, Tipperary Dairy Beef Farm, Co Tipperary

We outwintered 50 heifers on the grazing platform, with a further 20 turned out recently, so our cover is probably a bit on the low side, but it is starting to increase now.

Heifers are on 24-hour breaks, with little damage being done.

A half bag or protected urea/acre was spread on most of the grazing block that didn’t receive any slurry.

With roughly half the farm heavy in nature, which is where the majority of our grass is at the minute, we will hold off turning out more cattle until soil conditions improve. Our 28 acres of Westerwolds, which were sown after spring barley last year, are ready for grazing again, and once this is grazed off, it will go back in to spring barley.

System: Dairy calf to beef

Soil Type: Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha): 554

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day): 5

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day): 3

Niall O’Meara, Killimor, Co Galway

We have one third of the block grazed now, between creep-grazing of the calves over winter and grazing of older stock. All cattle were grazed by day for a week earlier in the month, but there hasn’t really been much of an opportunity since to get them back out. Calves have reverted to creep grazing.

Ground conditions are a little sticky with the volume of rain that has fallen, but with some drier weather promised towards the weekend, I hope to inject some slurry in the drier paddocks grazed off by the calves at a rate of 1,500 gallons/acre. Rainwater was let in to the tank to help dilute it.

I hope to scan the cows and breeding heifers in the coming days, with breeding having started on 15 October.

System: Suckler to weanling

Soil Type: Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha): 467

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day): 3

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day): 5

William Treacy, Hackballscross, Co Louth

I had a batch of dairy-beef bull yearlings ready to go to grass this week, but will hold off for another few days until the weather is kinder.

These continental crosses that were bought in as calves last year will go to grass for three months, before coming back indoors for finishing.

There is a batch of weanling heifers ready to go to grass as well when the weather picks up.

The wind chill factor at the minute isn’t tempting us to let cows and calves out to grass, though we also haven’t as much grass as last year due to a later closing up date.

Despite the rainfall, there definitely is a bit of growth, and I’m seeing a response to slurry spread two weeks ago.

System: Suckler to beef

Soil Type: Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha): 911

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day): 6

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day): 2