Dairy management: keeping pre-grazing yields at the right level

Grazing: It’s going to be tricky to manage grass over the next few weeks. On many farms down south the burst of growth has come, with many reporting growth rates of up to 70kg/day. Sharp frosts have tempered growth rates in the northern half of the country. Colder but showery temperatures are set to move in from next week, so I would expect growth rates to slow down as a result. The situation is that there is too much grass on many farms. That’s not a bad complaint to have, but it is a risk because where there is too much grass, quality tends to suffer. If we were in early May I’d be saying farmers need to be really aggressive and skip over lots of paddocks for long- and short-term silage, but we are still in early April and there is uncertainty in the forecast. I’d be slow to set the demand too high just yet, especially if average farm cover is in or around the target of 180kg or so per cow.

Many farmers are finding themselves with a cover per cow of over 300kg, which is obviously way too much grass. Skipping over large parts of the farm for long-term silage could leave them short of grass if growth drops. Therefore, the best policy could be to cut some paddocks for silage over the next week or so. It’s not ideal, but could be the best way to manage grass, as it will ensure pre-grazing yields are in the 1,300kg to 1,400kg range.

Meal: Many are still feeding 4kg or 5kg of meal per cow, even though high-quality grass is abundant. It makes no sense to be feeding meal costing three or four times the cost of grass, when grass is plentiful. Quality wise, there isn’t much of a difference between spring grass and meal in terms of energy, but the ironic thing is the more meal that is fed now, the lower grass quality becomes. This is because clean-outs suffer when cows are fed too much supplement.

Rather than working hard to graze out well and ensure good-quality regrowths, cows being fed a lot of ration get lazy and prefer to get their feed in the parlour or the shed than work for it out in the field. Meal feeding rates increased massively over the last few years as grass growth rates were poor. Now that grass growth is good, it’s time to hit the reset button.

Milk price is good, so maximise the margin by keeping costs down. If on low feeding rates, additional magnesium can be fed through the water, costing a fraction of what meal costs.

Fertiliser: As a total opposite to this time last year, clover contents are quite good on farms. On pages 32 and 33, we discuss some of the key management rules around clover. After last season many are fed-up with clover, but my view is if its present, we need to use it and we need to mind it.

The advantage in animal performance is well proven, but if it allows a reduction in N use on some paddocks and, therefore, a bit extra N on other paddocks, it will add a lot to overall grass growth on the farm. On paddocks with high clover content now, I would be very comfortable reducing N use from now on.