Grass at a reasonable level of utilisation (75%) costs about 7.5c/kg utilisable dry matter (DM) compared with first and second cut grass silage at 16.5c/kg and 18.2c/kg utilisable DM.Grazed grass is the highest quality feed on the farm in spring, better than silage and equivalent to concentrates. Based on these figures, it is important to increase the grass proportion in the diet of the beef animal.
Grass at a reasonable level of utilisation (75%) costs about 7.5c/kg utilisable dry matter (DM) compared with first and second cut grass silage at 16.5c/kg and 18.2c/kg utilisable DM.
Grazed grass is the highest quality feed on the farm in spring, better than silage and equivalent to concentrates. Based on these figures, it is important to increase the grass proportion in the diet of the beef animal.
The key period to target is spring for two reasons:
More expensive feeds such as grass silage and concentrate can be displaced by grazed grass. Early spring grazing increases grass quality in second, third, etc, grazing rotations. Therefore, it should be used as much as possible in the freshly calved suckler cow or animal’s diet. During the early grazing season (February or March), a balance must be found between feeding the animal adequately, to sustain high animal performance, and conditioning the sward for the late spring/summer grazing season.
In the first rotation, the key is to graze paddocks out to 3.5 to 4cm and set up paddocks for following rotations. By doing this, grass digestibility can be increased by four units in May and June.
Across the country, the average grazing season length is 220 days.
Obstacles
Two of the main obstacles to achieving more days at grass, especially in early spring, are poor soil conditions and periods of high rainfall. If animals stay in the paddock, treading damage caused on heavier soils or during periods of heavy rainfall can result in reduced growth rates (up to 20% lower) during subsequent grazing rotations.
Allowing animals access to pasture for a few hours per day (on/off grazing) has been shown to maintain high levels of performance when compared with grass silage based diets and may be a strategy that can be implemented to extend grazing season length. Traditionally, fattening diets have been focused on high grass silage combined with concentrates. With core prices envisaged to stay strong, beef farmers need to focus on producing more carcase output from pasture.
Animal performance increases, of both finishing and store cattle, from early turnout are substantial. Research work has shown that animals turned out early to grass have 6% (+23kg) higher carcase weight than animals turned out later in spring. This could equate to close to €60 to €70/head.
Output
The increase in animal output can be gained with good grazing management and earlier turnout. Not only is grass a lower cost feed, but the slurry generated is reduced with a longer grazing season.
Achieving an extra day at grass for the suckler cow is worth on average €1.50/cow/day. It is clear that major efficiency gains can be made with early turnout.
The goal with spring grazing is to ensure that priority stock have first access to grass, ie the stock that will make most economic use of the available pasture and reduce their days to finish.
Unlike a dairy farm, a beef farm has the opportunity to turn out stock in smaller numbers. This can be advantageous in targeting high grass utilisation.
This article is an excerpt from 'Grazing Guide', which was published jointly by the Irish Farmers Journal and Teagasc.
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