As predicted last week, the average grass growth rate on dairy farms fell from 60kg/day to 48kg/day.
Rainfall amounts over the weekend were variable and as is often the case, those parts that needed the rain the most avoided it, while other parts that didn’t want rain at all got too much of it.
Looking at the predicted grass growth rate map opposite, all counties along the western seaboard are predicted to grow between 60kg and 70kg per day over the coming weeks, while counties in the south east are predicted to grow half that.
Farmers in these counties are under a lot of pressure for grass and it’s proving to be a very expensive summer in terms of the amount of extra nuts and silage that they are having to feed.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind.
Firstly, cows and cattle are usually content grazing low or stemmy covers during dry weather, but when the rain does come they tend to get very uneasy and very unhappy. Secondly, there will be a bounce in autumn growth on dry farms after the rain comes.
This may not happen for a few weeks yet but it will come and when it does farmers should be in a position to save on feed and fertiliser at that time.
There is more rain forecast for the weekend and beyond into next week. Even though grass growth is lower than normal on most farms, it is still growing and there should be a quick enough recovery.
Fields that are physically burnt up now will take a much longer time to recover though. Elsewhere, as we move into autumn, thoughts will be turning to building up grass covers.
This should be a slow and gradual process during August, aided by the fact that demand should be dropping as more land becomes available. At Tullamore Farm, demand will drop from 48kg/day to 30kg/day over the coming weeks after second cut silage is taken and more lambs are killed.
Second cut silage should be cut as soon as possible, as this land will be required for grazing next month.
Average grass growth rates fell this week as soil moisture deficits continue to bite, particularly in the southeast of the country. Some more rain is forecast for the weekend and beyond, but farms that are very dry now will take a long time to recover – even after the rain comes. Average grass growth is predicted to be between 60kg and 70kg/day all along the western seaboard which is more or less normal for the end of July. There are six weeks left in the open period for spreading fertiliser, which means one or two more applications of fertiliser this year. How much to spread depends on demand for grass.Barry Reilly – Teagasc Ballyhaise, Co Cavan
We’re back grazing our reseeds from spring for the third time now, and we are really pleased with the clover cover in the sward. We got lots of rain over the weekend but thankfully ground conditions are still fine.
The quality of the grass in front of cows is very good at the minute, and we took paddocks out on Wednesday as surplus before the weekend’s rain.
Breeding has finished here with bulls removed after 11 weeks of breeding, with only one or two cows seen in heat since.
To date we’ve spread 87kg N with 7.6t DM/ha of grass grown on average across the farm.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 2.43
Growth Rate (kg/day) 77
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 233
Yield (l/cow) 21
Fat % 4.35
Protein% 3.72
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.74
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0
John and Sylvia Powell – Birr, Co Offaly
We’re running on a very dry farm here and we haven’t received any significant rain for some time now.
Second cut silage will be mowed this week. We would prefer it to be heavier, but it is just turning in to stem now with the drought stress. We have been supplementing cows with meal throughout the summer as we prefer not to feed silage.
Although we are on a high stocking rate we usually avoid feeding meal in the summer months. We’re reseeding a paddock this week as we were unable to do it earlier in the year with the demand for grass.
As our ground is fairly stony, we will be discing and power harrowing.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 4.02
Growth Rate (kg/day) 64
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 75
Yield (l/cow) 22
Fat % 4.36
Protein% 3.76
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.76
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4.5
Denis Finnegan – Coachford, Co Cork
We’re running 320 cows across two blocks here in Coachford. The cover per cow on one of the blocks dipped down to 120kg/cow so we zero-grazed grass off the other block to supplement.
A cheaper option would have been to physically move cows, but we did not wish to stress them that way.
Our red clover sward that we had sowed back in April was mowed again on Tuesday before being baled on Wednesday.
We estimate there was 4t DM/ha on it and it got no nitrogen. We removed bulls after 11 weeks of breeding, with our scans showing an 82% six-week in-calf rate.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.5
Growth Rate (kg/day) 43
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 166
Yield (l/cow) 19.5
Fat % 4.47
Protein% 3.7
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.7
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2
As predicted last week, the average grass growth rate on dairy farms fell from 60kg/day to 48kg/day.
Rainfall amounts over the weekend were variable and as is often the case, those parts that needed the rain the most avoided it, while other parts that didn’t want rain at all got too much of it.
Looking at the predicted grass growth rate map opposite, all counties along the western seaboard are predicted to grow between 60kg and 70kg per day over the coming weeks, while counties in the south east are predicted to grow half that.
Farmers in these counties are under a lot of pressure for grass and it’s proving to be a very expensive summer in terms of the amount of extra nuts and silage that they are having to feed.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind.
Firstly, cows and cattle are usually content grazing low or stemmy covers during dry weather, but when the rain does come they tend to get very uneasy and very unhappy. Secondly, there will be a bounce in autumn growth on dry farms after the rain comes.
This may not happen for a few weeks yet but it will come and when it does farmers should be in a position to save on feed and fertiliser at that time.
There is more rain forecast for the weekend and beyond into next week. Even though grass growth is lower than normal on most farms, it is still growing and there should be a quick enough recovery.
Fields that are physically burnt up now will take a much longer time to recover though. Elsewhere, as we move into autumn, thoughts will be turning to building up grass covers.
This should be a slow and gradual process during August, aided by the fact that demand should be dropping as more land becomes available. At Tullamore Farm, demand will drop from 48kg/day to 30kg/day over the coming weeks after second cut silage is taken and more lambs are killed.
Second cut silage should be cut as soon as possible, as this land will be required for grazing next month.
Average grass growth rates fell this week as soil moisture deficits continue to bite, particularly in the southeast of the country. Some more rain is forecast for the weekend and beyond, but farms that are very dry now will take a long time to recover – even after the rain comes. Average grass growth is predicted to be between 60kg and 70kg/day all along the western seaboard which is more or less normal for the end of July. There are six weeks left in the open period for spreading fertiliser, which means one or two more applications of fertiliser this year. How much to spread depends on demand for grass.Barry Reilly – Teagasc Ballyhaise, Co Cavan
We’re back grazing our reseeds from spring for the third time now, and we are really pleased with the clover cover in the sward. We got lots of rain over the weekend but thankfully ground conditions are still fine.
The quality of the grass in front of cows is very good at the minute, and we took paddocks out on Wednesday as surplus before the weekend’s rain.
Breeding has finished here with bulls removed after 11 weeks of breeding, with only one or two cows seen in heat since.
To date we’ve spread 87kg N with 7.6t DM/ha of grass grown on average across the farm.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 2.43
Growth Rate (kg/day) 77
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 233
Yield (l/cow) 21
Fat % 4.35
Protein% 3.72
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.74
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0
John and Sylvia Powell – Birr, Co Offaly
We’re running on a very dry farm here and we haven’t received any significant rain for some time now.
Second cut silage will be mowed this week. We would prefer it to be heavier, but it is just turning in to stem now with the drought stress. We have been supplementing cows with meal throughout the summer as we prefer not to feed silage.
Although we are on a high stocking rate we usually avoid feeding meal in the summer months. We’re reseeding a paddock this week as we were unable to do it earlier in the year with the demand for grass.
As our ground is fairly stony, we will be discing and power harrowing.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 4.02
Growth Rate (kg/day) 64
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 75
Yield (l/cow) 22
Fat % 4.36
Protein% 3.76
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.76
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4.5
Denis Finnegan – Coachford, Co Cork
We’re running 320 cows across two blocks here in Coachford. The cover per cow on one of the blocks dipped down to 120kg/cow so we zero-grazed grass off the other block to supplement.
A cheaper option would have been to physically move cows, but we did not wish to stress them that way.
Our red clover sward that we had sowed back in April was mowed again on Tuesday before being baled on Wednesday.
We estimate there was 4t DM/ha on it and it got no nitrogen. We removed bulls after 11 weeks of breeding, with our scans showing an 82% six-week in-calf rate.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.5
Growth Rate (kg/day) 43
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 166
Yield (l/cow) 19.5
Fat % 4.47
Protein% 3.7
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.7
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2
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