Finally, there seems to be a bit of power in the sun, which is kicking on growth on farms. Nearly all farms will have an opening round of fertiliser, if not two, spread and from here on out, it will be about following stock and adding some P and K into the mix to where it is required. With April comes the heat cycle before breeding. Ensuring high-quality grass, and plenty of it, is going in to suckler cows is essential ahead of breeding. It is also worth mentioning that cows will be at full intake capacity now where they have calved in early Febraury, so allocation of grass should take this in to account.
Finally, there seems to be a bit of power in the sun, which is kicking on growth on farms. Nearly all farms will have an opening round of fertiliser, if not two, spread and from here on out, it will be about following stock and adding some P and K into the mix to where it is required.
With April comes the heat cycle before breeding. Ensuring high-quality grass, and plenty of it, is going in to suckler cows is essential ahead of breeding. It is also worth mentioning that cows will be at full intake capacity now where they have calved in early Febraury, so allocation of grass should take this in to account.
Silage and reseeding
Silage ground can be soon spread for first cut, where the target cutting date is mid to late May. A word of caution must be taken where slurry is going out on ground at the minute using LESS, as the cold breeze and sunshine can easily lead to caking of slurry, which can be brought up by mowers and rakes and in to the bale come silage time.
With regards to spring reseeding, ground is in excellent order, so it is an ideal time to get poor performing paddocks sprayed off and seeded. Use a high PPI mix that works well for your farm, and ensure P, K and lime requirements are met
Stephen Frend, Newford Herd, Co Roscommon
All stock is at grass now, bar two cows left to calve. We will begin the second rotation next week, with silage ground closed up around the same time. All silage ground has been grazed at least once, and we will be doing a second grazing of some of the silage covers of 1,200kg DM/ha. A bag of protected urea/acre has been spread across two splits to date, along with nearly all the grazing fields receiving slurry. We will be following cows with fertiliser from now on.
System :Suckler to beef
Soil Type:Variable
Farm cover (kg/DM/ha):752
Growth (kg/DM/ha/day):25
Demand (kg/DM/ha/day):23
Shaun Diver, Tullamore Farm, Co Offaly
The farm is tight enough on grass at the minute, with that cold breeze keeping growth on the low side, so we still have some stock in. More cows and calves will be turned out his week to bring the total to 50 pairs, alongside the maiden heifers and 200 ewes with lambs.
To date, 30 units N/acre has been spread across the whole farm. Meanwhile, 10.5 acres of spring barley are currently being tilled and will be sown this week.
System :Suckler to weanling/sheep
Soil Type:Variable
Farm cover (kg/DM/ha):620
Growth (kg/DM/ha/day):18
Demand (kg/DM/ha/day):16
Martin Woods, Teagasc Kildalton, Co Kilkenny
Early grazing has cleaned off silage fields; 2,000-2,500 gallons/acre of slurry was applied via LESS on grazing ground, along with 46% protected urea across February and into March. Recently, 38% Pro Urea + sulphur was applied to high index soils with Super P (16%) and muriate of potash added where the indices are low. We have the first of two fields grazed, sprayed off and ready to be reseeded, with more white clover incorporation planned.
System:Suckler to beef
Soil Type:Free draining
Farm cover (kg/DM/ha):903
Growth (kg/DM/ha/day):21
Demand (kg/DM/ha/day):14
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