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It can be difficult on farms with high stocking rates to strike the balance between having an adequate grass supply ahead of cows while maintaining quality in covers.
Targets for average covers in autumn grazing plans increase with stocking rate and there is a risk of some covers becoming too heavy and not being grazed properly, particularly on heavier soils.
At this stage, many farmers with higher stocking rates will decide not to take any more surplus grass off the platform as the risk of poor regrowth and a grass shortage outweighs the possibility of some covers becoming too strong.
Farms at lower stocking rates with covers building ahead of target could still take out surplus grass, or potentially use the additional grass to reduce concentrate feeding later on.
The heaviest-stocked milking platform on the Dairylink Ireland programme of 3.48 LU/ha is on Charles Clarke’s farm near Bailieborough. Charles is hoping for improved weather to allow strong covers to be cleaned out properly in some paddocks with heavier soils. See more from his farm in our video below.
Ground conditions on project farms in Co Tyrone have been most affected by wet weather, although milking cows remain at grass and only dry cows are housed.
Grazing conditions on the other project farms have not been significantly affected by the weather.
Calving has started on the four autumn-calving herds after a mixture of purchased stock and cows bred to short gestation sires calved down.
The two spring-calving herds plan to scan cows next week. Scanning 30-40 days after breeding has finished will allow problem cows to be identified early and culled.
Charles Clarke Bailieborough Co Cavan
Ground conditions on the farm are holding up well despite quite a bit of rain over the past few weeks and growth rates are very good for the time of year at 79kgDM/day.
With average cover currently at 1,083kgDM/ha, some covers are getting heavy. However, only 1.5ha is above 2,000kgDM/ha and I am reluctant to bale this in case regrowth is poor and autumn grazing plan targets are missed.
At present, I am on course to meet the target average cover of 1,200kgDM/ha at the start of the last grazing rotation in late September.
A target finishing cover of 700-750kgDM/ha is needed to ensure a good grass supply for next spring, with 80-90 cows due to calve by the end of February.
If growth rates continue to hold up, I will take out surplus grass from the grazing platform next week as demand for cows is currently only 50kgDM/ha.
There is still seven acres of grass on an out-farm to cut and bale also.
Scanning
Scanning will take place next week and so far, only five repeats have been seen. Cows were artificially inseminated (AI) for nine weeks and an Angus bull was then put in for three weeks.
There are 45 heifers already scanned.
Overall, 42 heifers were in-calf (93% pregnancy rate), with 35 of these in-calf to AI. At breeding, any heifers not artificially inseminated after six days were injected with prostaglandin and AI lasted for six weeks in total.
The bull was then used to sweep up repeats for another three weeks.
Good cull prices this year and the ability to reduce demand on grass to help build covers could incentivise culling some cows before winter.
Although depending on the results from scanning, with a good number of heifers coming through I should hopefully be able to be particular when selecting cull cows.
Along with usual reasons for culling problem cows, the extra flexibility will allow me to get rid of some older cows that are bigger in size and have lower butterfat and protein.
Fertility is not a problem in this herd, the main aim is to breed for increased milk solids.
Two paddocks were reseeded five weeks ago and the sward has developed well after receiving a bag of nitrogen per acre at the start of last week.
The reseed was sown five weeks ago and recieved nitrogen at the start of last week.
The reseed has some chickweed and docks which are now actively growing and therefore ready for post-emergence spraying. Delaying spraying any longer will mean grass will shelter weeds from spray and subsequent grazing would also be delayed.
One paddock is 3.5 acres in size and was sown with the late-heading tetraploid variety Abergain. The other paddock is 2.5 acres and was sown with Aberchoice, a late heading diploid. White clover was included in both paddocks at a rate of 1kg/acre and has established well.
Varieties were not sown as part of a mix to see how they would perform individually, particularly the more open tetraploid variety.
The paddocks will be grazed by cows in September and are likely to be grazed early next spring as they are relatively dry and close to the yard.
Watch: difficult grazing conditions and autumn planning on Dairylink farms
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