As the first round of grazing comes to an end there are 19 cows left to calve in Greenfield Kilkenny, with 328 calved down to date since the start of February.
Last weekend was very wet again with 35mm of rainfall, and to date 250mm (10in) have been recorded since the start of the year. The positive news is that soil temperatures have jumped up considerably in the last few days with 7°C to 8°C recorded regularly.
Effectively the handbrake on grazing has been pulled up very hard for the last ten days and this has allowed farm cover to jump up from 570 to 670kg DM/ha in the last week on average.
Growth rate has jumped to 30kg per day this week, with 60 units of nitrogen spread to date. So far the farm has got 1.5 bags urea/acre and slurry. The hope is to get spreading ASN (nitrogen and sulphur) and 10-10-20 towards the end of the week. All silage ground will get this too. Silage ground will be topped up in 10 to 14 days once it becomes clear what is required.
By Tuesday this week, 85% of farm had been grazed and the cows are grazing the remaining part of the farm for the first time this week. All calved cows are at grass full-time. The rain at the weekend meant the cows came back on to the woodchip stand-off pad at night to prevent poaching. This reduced the area grazed. While on the pad, cows were on bale silage and meal.
On Tuesday this week, feeding silage stopped and meal was reduced to 2kg/cow. The first paddocks in the second rotation have 800 to 1,000kg DM/ha. Stocking rate is 2.73 cows per/ha.
Once-a-day milking
Some thinner cows (30) on condition score (BCS less than 2.75) will remain on once-a-day milking until the start of breeding. Milking cows are now about 18 days from mating start date. All cows were tail-painted at the weekend. Cows that haven’t had tail paint removed and more than 30 days calved will be scanned just before start of breeding.
Milk cheque
The February milk cheque came in at €17,360, with the breakdown of this showing about €11,300 (32c/litre) coming from base supply, €2,100 (@ 41c/l) from the 2014 fixed price scheme, and €2,300 (@ 40c/l) from 2015 fixed payment scheme.
For the 45,000 litres delivered in February (about 3% of annual), this effectively works out on average at 38.5c/l including VAT after deductions and bonuses.
Baled silage premium
Whether on wet or dry land, having two to three quality round bales of silage per cow in the yard is worth its weight in gold for substituting for grazed grass during periods of prolonged wet and cold weather like we have been having for the last number of weeks.
Yes of course premium pit silage is money in the bank, but at the very least for spring-calving herds holding some round bale silage for spring is very worthwhile.
Yes it is more work and cost. We fed some bales at the end of November last autumn but it’s such a good decision to hold some for that mixed grazing period in early spring.
So far to date, about 38.5t of meal has been fed in total this spring. Remember by mid-March there were 280 cows calved so if we divide one by the other its 135kg per cow.
Obviously the earlier calved cows have got more of the meal. For a difficult spring, I think it’s not bad going but quality bales have really allowed farm staff to keep the meal bill down. Installing a second feed face down the other side of the stand-off pad so all cows can eat together really made feeding milking cows much easier. Dry cows were held back from the feed face during the day and fed at night.
Growth rate rose to 30kg per day this week. Milk solids are improving, with the herd averaging about 21 litres at 3.53% protein and 4.75% fat (1.8kg MS/cow). Milking herd is on grazed grass and 2kg of meal per cow. February milk delivered was 45,000 litres at 38c/litre on average.
As the first round of grazing comes to an end there are 19 cows left to calve in Greenfield Kilkenny, with 328 calved down to date since the start of February.
Last weekend was very wet again with 35mm of rainfall, and to date 250mm (10in) have been recorded since the start of the year. The positive news is that soil temperatures have jumped up considerably in the last few days with 7°C to 8°C recorded regularly.
Effectively the handbrake on grazing has been pulled up very hard for the last ten days and this has allowed farm cover to jump up from 570 to 670kg DM/ha in the last week on average.
Growth rate has jumped to 30kg per day this week, with 60 units of nitrogen spread to date. So far the farm has got 1.5 bags urea/acre and slurry. The hope is to get spreading ASN (nitrogen and sulphur) and 10-10-20 towards the end of the week. All silage ground will get this too. Silage ground will be topped up in 10 to 14 days once it becomes clear what is required.
By Tuesday this week, 85% of farm had been grazed and the cows are grazing the remaining part of the farm for the first time this week. All calved cows are at grass full-time. The rain at the weekend meant the cows came back on to the woodchip stand-off pad at night to prevent poaching. This reduced the area grazed. While on the pad, cows were on bale silage and meal.
On Tuesday this week, feeding silage stopped and meal was reduced to 2kg/cow. The first paddocks in the second rotation have 800 to 1,000kg DM/ha. Stocking rate is 2.73 cows per/ha.
Once-a-day milking
Some thinner cows (30) on condition score (BCS less than 2.75) will remain on once-a-day milking until the start of breeding. Milking cows are now about 18 days from mating start date. All cows were tail-painted at the weekend. Cows that haven’t had tail paint removed and more than 30 days calved will be scanned just before start of breeding.
Milk cheque
The February milk cheque came in at €17,360, with the breakdown of this showing about €11,300 (32c/litre) coming from base supply, €2,100 (@ 41c/l) from the 2014 fixed price scheme, and €2,300 (@ 40c/l) from 2015 fixed payment scheme.
For the 45,000 litres delivered in February (about 3% of annual), this effectively works out on average at 38.5c/l including VAT after deductions and bonuses.
Baled silage premium
Whether on wet or dry land, having two to three quality round bales of silage per cow in the yard is worth its weight in gold for substituting for grazed grass during periods of prolonged wet and cold weather like we have been having for the last number of weeks.
Yes of course premium pit silage is money in the bank, but at the very least for spring-calving herds holding some round bale silage for spring is very worthwhile.
Yes it is more work and cost. We fed some bales at the end of November last autumn but it’s such a good decision to hold some for that mixed grazing period in early spring.
So far to date, about 38.5t of meal has been fed in total this spring. Remember by mid-March there were 280 cows calved so if we divide one by the other its 135kg per cow.
Obviously the earlier calved cows have got more of the meal. For a difficult spring, I think it’s not bad going but quality bales have really allowed farm staff to keep the meal bill down. Installing a second feed face down the other side of the stand-off pad so all cows can eat together really made feeding milking cows much easier. Dry cows were held back from the feed face during the day and fed at night.
Growth rate rose to 30kg per day this week. Milk solids are improving, with the herd averaging about 21 litres at 3.53% protein and 4.75% fat (1.8kg MS/cow). Milking herd is on grazed grass and 2kg of meal per cow. February milk delivered was 45,000 litres at 38c/litre on average. 
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