For many, the last few weeks have been a bit of a balancing act.

Many are trying to keep as much grass in the diet as possible while also attempting to match growth with demand to avoid dropping the average farm cover (AFC) below 550kg DM/ha.

Although surplus grass is not a concern on a lot of farms at the minute, at this time of year things can change very fast.

Quality

As growth begins to increase it is very important to stay on top of grass quality and remove surplus grass as soon as possible.

Maintain a pre-grazing cover of 1,400kg DM/ha in order to maximise cow performance on dairy farms and daily live weight gain on beef farms.

Residuals will also suffer where pre-grazing covers are too high.

Wait for regrowth to improve before reducing supplementation levels.

Moving away from 12-hour grazings as soon as possible means cows are only being restricted every second or third milking. This will be of particular benefit to the younger cows in the herd.

Bloat

A word of caution. Be vigilant for cases of bloat which are on the rise.

With poor growth in recent weeks, some cows are facing into covers around the 1,000kg DM/ha mark. Not only clover but also lush grass can cause bloating.

Bloat usually occurs in the first two to three hours after going into the paddock.

Try to avoid letting hungry cows into full paddocks with low covers/ lush grass, use a strip wire if necessary and if necessary add bloat oils to the water.

Swardwatch

  • Growth rates are set to improve thanks to rain and increased temperatures.
  • Target average farm cover (AFC) between 150kg and 180kg/cow.
  • Target a pre-grazing cover of 1,400kg DM/ha.
  • Continue to achieve residuals of 3.5 to 4cm.
  • Be ready to react to surplus grass when it becomes an issue as growth rates improve.
  • Dairy farms

    Caroline O’Sullivan – Curtins Teagasc Cork

    Growth at 60kg DM/ha is just above the demand of 57kg DM/ha but after the rain and improved temperatures we expect to see a jump in our next grass cover. Pre grazing covers are around 1,350kg DM/ha. We are following cows with 20 units of Nitrogen per acre. Clover is starting to come on and we will adjust down nitrogen applications in the next couple of weeks on clover swards. Tuesday was day 18 of breeding and we had 85% submitted. There is a small number of non cycling cows and late calvers which will be scanned at the end of this week. We recently started feeding an all Irish 11.8% protein ration which is made up of Irish-grown barley wheat and beans.

  • Stocking Rate (cows/ha): 3.35
  • Growth Rate (Kg/day): 60
  • Cover/LU (kg): 159
  • Yield (L/cow/day): 25.5
  • Fat %: 4.58
  • Protein %: 3.77
  • Milk Solids (kg/cow): 2.19
  • Supplement fed (kg/cow/day): 1
  • Simon Breen – Emly, Co Tipperary

    On Tuesday average growth rate had dropped back to 43kg DM/ha having been above 70kgDM/ha for the last few weeks. Cows are currently grazing last year’s reseeds at a cover of 1,200kg DM/ha. After that they will be going back to a paddock I skipped previously. On Saturday I will walk again to assess whether I need to bring more ground back into the rotation. The cows are on a 20 day rotation. I am following the cows 16units of nitrogen per acre on non-clover swards and 10units of nitrogen per acre on clover swards. Breeding began on the 30 April and as of Tuesday (day 12) we had 50% of the cows served. The heifers were on a fixed time AI programme and were all served on 24 April.

  • Stocking Rate (cows/ha): 3.54
  • Growth Rate (Kg/day): 43
  • Cover/LU (kg): 164
  • Yield (L/cow/day): 23.25
  • Fat %: 4.72
  • Protein %: 3.83
  • Milk Solids (kg/cow): 2.0
  • Supplement fed (kg/cow/day): 1.5
  • Nicholas Cooney – Monasterboice, Co Louth

    Growth has been behind demand for the last two weeks. It was beginning to look like we were heading into a drought until the rain arrived. Heavier covers have kicked on with the help of higher temperatures and rain. On the other hand regrowth’s on recently grazed paddocks are still very slow. We increased the feeding rate to three kilos to reduce demand to stop the average farm cover from falling too low. We have 15% of the milking platform closed for silage. Tuesday was day nine of the breeding season and we had 60% of the herd served up to that point. Once growth rates improve I will reseed 10 ha. I plan to use a mix with Abergain Aberchoice and Astonenergy.

  • Stocking Rate (cows/ha): 4.61
  • Growth Rate (Kg/day): 43
  • Cover/LU (kg): 165
  • Yield (L/cow/day): 25.8
  • Fat %: 4.47
  • Protein %: 3.62
  • Milk Solids (kg/cow): 2.15
  • Supplement fed (kg/cow/day): 3