Grass+ Dairy: taking action amid rapid change in growth rates

Grass growth rates are powering ahead and while the actual rates will differ from region to region and from farm to farm, it’s a call to action for all farmers. Sharp frosts at night in the northern half of the country have tempered growth rates there, while milder conditions in the southern half have seen growth rates go over 70kg/ha/day on some farms.

It’s a call to action, because sitting back and admiring the change in growth could cost farmers a lot of money.

That money will be lost through poor milk yield and thrive in late April and May because covers will be gone too strong.

A worst case scenario will be having to skip over too much of the farm because covers will have gone too strong. This could then lead to a grass shortage if the grazing area gets too small. Fixing that problem may mean having to go back in grazing fields that should be cut for silage.

Look, it’s great to see grass growth rates increase, but the point is it’s going to be hard to manage grass over the next few weeks.

Pre-grazing yields should be in the 1,300kg to 1,400kg range. If they go above that production will suffer. Take out paddocks for long-term silage and reseeding to bring demand to around 60kg to 70kg/day.

Average farm cover per cow should be around the 170 to 180kg/cow range. If it’s still much higher than this, then some paddocks will need to be taken out for short-term silage to be cut in the next few weeks, so as not to have demand set too high.

Swardwatch

Andrew Gardiner, Kilrea, Co Derry

Things are going great and we’re well on top of the spring workload because the weather has been so good. We are getting frosts at night, so that is probably holding back growth rates a bit. We grew 38kg/day last week and are due to start the second rotation by the weekend. Grass will be tight for a while, but I think that’s a good place to be.

Stocking Rate (cows/ha):3

Growth rate (kg/ha/day): 38

Average farm cover (kg/cow):217

Milk yield (l):27.5

Fat (%):4.64

Protein (%):3.77%

Milk solids (kg MS/cow):2.38

Meal (kg):4.8

Eoin McCormack, Teagasc Clonakilty, Co Cork

We grew 50kg/day this week, which is back a bit on last week, but still very good. We’re just starting into the second rotation now and have identified two paddocks for reseeding and we will be taking out paddocks for silage too. We are halfway through spreading the second round of nitrogen, spreading 22 units/acre of urea. We are starting the breeding season on 28 April this year.

Stocking Rate (cows/ha):2.73

Growth rate (kg/ha/day):50

Average farm cover (kg/cow):332

Milk yield (l):24.1

Fat (%):4.54

Protein (%):3.51%

Milk solids (kg MS/cow):2.0

Meal (kg):3

David O’Leary, Castleisland, Co Kerry

Grass has come together in a shot so we’ve had to take out paddocks for silage and reseeding. The plan is to cut some surplus bales at the weekend in order to reduce the farm cover. I’d be wary that if growth reduced we’d be caught with too high a demand. I’ve cut the meal back to 2kg and have magnesium flakes bought, so the plan is to put them in the water and feed a trickle of soya hulls for the summer.

Stocking Rate (cows/ha):3.48

Growth rate (kg/ha/day):51

Average farm cover (kg/cow):247

Milk yield (l):28.3

Fat (%):4.53%

Protein (%):3.65%

Milk solids (kg MS/cow):2.38

Meal (kg):2