I had a really enjoyable day Irish Grassland Conference in Cork last week. It was great to hear so much positivity in the room despite the gloomy outlook on milk price forecast.

I thought John Roche was excellent and gave us plenty to think about in regard to how we supplement cows at grass. From now on I will not be “feeding meal to cows”, I will be “feeding the grass wedge” when it shows that it is needed.

It is really important to go to a few conferences each year, but it is also very important to implement the messages we get back home on the farm.

Clover

We got a great insight into the clover trial that is happening both in Clonakilty and Moorepark. The results sounded really promising even to a clover skeptic like myself, however when I learnt of losing cows to bloat and the poor spring growth that I am only too familiar with (as I had two paddocks before with lots of clover in them), I will not be in any hurry to plant any.

There seems to be a hint of spring in the air? Well some days there certainly is, with unseasonal daytime temperatures last week of 13°C degrees. I decided it was about time I got out of the yard for a few hours to measure the grass. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the soil temperature was 8.3°C. I am also quite happy with an average farm cover of 700.

Calving

Calving is probably (and hopefully at least) two weeks away. I better use the time left wisely. With the opening of the slurry season today I am busy spreading almost half of the farm with 2,500 gallons/acre, as it has a cover less than 500.

I think I will wait until the end of the month before going out with fertilizer. It looks like urea will be the product of choice this year. I might even use it all year long if it will save a few euro. I also need to get the calving units ready, washed and disinfected, and repair a few gates, which couldn’t be done until now as they were being used to house weanlings, who are getting an extra early turn out to grass on the outside farm.

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