With February coming to an end and March just around the corner, weather conditions have continued to disappoint.
While rainfall levels were back in line with average, there has still been no real opportunity for drying and ground is still saturated in a lot of areas.
The spring rotation planner targets for area grazed in the month of February will be missed by most and therefore a readjustment of the plan will be required on many farms.
The drier farms that expected to get 30% of the platform grazed by the start of March but are below this target should now be shifting their focus to middle of March target.
The aim should still be to try and get close to 50% to 60% of the area grazed by St Patrick’s Day.
On heavier farms, the 30% target will be closer to 10 March, with 60% grazed by the last week in March.
If there’s any dry conditions over the coming week, the cows need to go out. By this stage, a large proportion of the herd will be calved by now and there will be a high demand for grass anyway.
Lowering the meal feeding levels and restricting silage intakes will help to boost demand and get through paddocks quicker.
Because there has been very little grazing done, most farms will also still have a lot of lighter covers that would typically be grazed by now under normal circumstances.
These lighter covers will be grazed very quickly with large numbers of cows, so making up area can be done.
The big problem is that, regardless of the amount of grazing done over the next couple of weeks, paddocks will struggle to have enough cover back by early April in time to start the second round.
Therefore, the planned start date for the second rotation may have to be pushed back slightly.
This will be a judgement call closer to the time. For now, focus on getting to grass whenever possible.
Soil temperatures are now at a level that will allow for decent growth. Getting nitrogen out is essential in order to get swards growing. If no nitrogen goes out in February, it will be important to do two rounds of spreading in March.
The taget is to get close to 60 units by the start of April.
Walk the farm and assess where the driest paddocks are. If at all possible, get cows out to these using on/off grazing.Adjust SRP targets if behind. For drier farms with a lot of cows calved, the aim should still be close as possible to 60% by St Patrick’s Day though.Spread nitrogen if ground conditions allow.Kevin Greaney – Birr, Co Offaly
We’ve 50% of the cows calved. Grazing has been slow as ground conditions are poor. We’ve done some on/off grazing but have just 5% of the milking platform grazed.
Cows are going into covers of around 1,000kg DM/ha and grazing them off well enough. When cows are out, we’re allocating 3.5kg of grass for the day grazing and 6.5kg at night.
They are getting 4kg of meal in the parlour and we’re offering high-quality baled silage inside. There’s no fertiliser out yet but when we get a couple of dry days we’ll go out with 25 units of nitrogen.
We spread 27% of the platform with slurry in January and we’ll be hoping to get out with some more soon.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) -
Growth Rate (kg/day) -
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 955
Yield (l/cow) -
Fat % 5.5
Protein% 3.9
Milk Solids (kg/cow) -
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
Caroline O’Sullivan – Teagasc Moorepark, Co Cork
The cows are out day and night, but not full time. They get a full day grazing and after evening milking go out until 8pm and are then brought back in.
There’s no silage being fed anymore as it was causing problems with grazing, but they’re getting 4kg of meal in the parlour. We have 66% of the herd calved, so demand is reasonably high at 21kg DM/ha.
The cows have grazed 17% of the area so far, which is slightly behind target but conditions have been very difficult. Two-thirds of the farm got 23 units of protected urea last week and another 20% has gotten slurry.
We will plan to get the rest of the farm covered in the coming days.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) -
Growth Rate (kg/day) 9
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 818
Yield (l/cow) 22
Fat % 5.6
Protein% 3.67
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.1
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
Donal Ronayne, Claremorris, Co Mayo
We have 55% of the herd calved now, 12 days on from the start of calving. We usually plan to start grazing 20 February but this was delayed due to rain. The new plan is to get the cows out by the weekend as there’s a couple of dry days due.
Our targets are 33% grazed by mid-March, 66% by the end of March and 100% by 14 April. The average farm cover at the moment is good at 1,092kg DM/ha, so we’ll have plenty of grass to get us through.
The whole milking platform has gotten 15 units of protected urea, with the silage ground getting slurry. We’ve had a few cases of milk fever due to high K silage so it’s something we’ll be monitoring tightly.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) -
Growth Rate (kg/day) 1
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 1,092
Yield (l/cow) -
Fat % -
Protein% -
Milk Solids (kg/cow) -
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
With February coming to an end and March just around the corner, weather conditions have continued to disappoint.
While rainfall levels were back in line with average, there has still been no real opportunity for drying and ground is still saturated in a lot of areas.
The spring rotation planner targets for area grazed in the month of February will be missed by most and therefore a readjustment of the plan will be required on many farms.
The drier farms that expected to get 30% of the platform grazed by the start of March but are below this target should now be shifting their focus to middle of March target.
The aim should still be to try and get close to 50% to 60% of the area grazed by St Patrick’s Day.
On heavier farms, the 30% target will be closer to 10 March, with 60% grazed by the last week in March.
If there’s any dry conditions over the coming week, the cows need to go out. By this stage, a large proportion of the herd will be calved by now and there will be a high demand for grass anyway.
Lowering the meal feeding levels and restricting silage intakes will help to boost demand and get through paddocks quicker.
Because there has been very little grazing done, most farms will also still have a lot of lighter covers that would typically be grazed by now under normal circumstances.
These lighter covers will be grazed very quickly with large numbers of cows, so making up area can be done.
The big problem is that, regardless of the amount of grazing done over the next couple of weeks, paddocks will struggle to have enough cover back by early April in time to start the second round.
Therefore, the planned start date for the second rotation may have to be pushed back slightly.
This will be a judgement call closer to the time. For now, focus on getting to grass whenever possible.
Soil temperatures are now at a level that will allow for decent growth. Getting nitrogen out is essential in order to get swards growing. If no nitrogen goes out in February, it will be important to do two rounds of spreading in March.
The taget is to get close to 60 units by the start of April.
Walk the farm and assess where the driest paddocks are. If at all possible, get cows out to these using on/off grazing.Adjust SRP targets if behind. For drier farms with a lot of cows calved, the aim should still be close as possible to 60% by St Patrick’s Day though.Spread nitrogen if ground conditions allow.Kevin Greaney – Birr, Co Offaly
We’ve 50% of the cows calved. Grazing has been slow as ground conditions are poor. We’ve done some on/off grazing but have just 5% of the milking platform grazed.
Cows are going into covers of around 1,000kg DM/ha and grazing them off well enough. When cows are out, we’re allocating 3.5kg of grass for the day grazing and 6.5kg at night.
They are getting 4kg of meal in the parlour and we’re offering high-quality baled silage inside. There’s no fertiliser out yet but when we get a couple of dry days we’ll go out with 25 units of nitrogen.
We spread 27% of the platform with slurry in January and we’ll be hoping to get out with some more soon.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) -
Growth Rate (kg/day) -
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 955
Yield (l/cow) -
Fat % 5.5
Protein% 3.9
Milk Solids (kg/cow) -
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
Caroline O’Sullivan – Teagasc Moorepark, Co Cork
The cows are out day and night, but not full time. They get a full day grazing and after evening milking go out until 8pm and are then brought back in.
There’s no silage being fed anymore as it was causing problems with grazing, but they’re getting 4kg of meal in the parlour. We have 66% of the herd calved, so demand is reasonably high at 21kg DM/ha.
The cows have grazed 17% of the area so far, which is slightly behind target but conditions have been very difficult. Two-thirds of the farm got 23 units of protected urea last week and another 20% has gotten slurry.
We will plan to get the rest of the farm covered in the coming days.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) -
Growth Rate (kg/day) 9
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 818
Yield (l/cow) 22
Fat % 5.6
Protein% 3.67
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.1
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
Donal Ronayne, Claremorris, Co Mayo
We have 55% of the herd calved now, 12 days on from the start of calving. We usually plan to start grazing 20 February but this was delayed due to rain. The new plan is to get the cows out by the weekend as there’s a couple of dry days due.
Our targets are 33% grazed by mid-March, 66% by the end of March and 100% by 14 April. The average farm cover at the moment is good at 1,092kg DM/ha, so we’ll have plenty of grass to get us through.
The whole milking platform has gotten 15 units of protected urea, with the silage ground getting slurry. We’ve had a few cases of milk fever due to high K silage so it’s something we’ll be monitoring tightly.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) -
Growth Rate (kg/day) 1
Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 1,092
Yield (l/cow) -
Fat % -
Protein% -
Milk Solids (kg/cow) -
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
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