The high grass growth rates predicted for the last week didn’t come to pass, although growth has definitely picked up in the last few days. Average growth over the past week has been 48kg/day, and 64kg/day is the prediction for the coming week.
Looking towards the May bank holiday weekend, all farmers will be expecting growth rates to far exceed demand and to be fair, I think most farmers will get that wish over the coming week or so.
Higher growth rates bring risks too though. The biggest being that pre-grazing yields go out of hand. From an animal performance point of view this is worse than having too little grass. Anything over 1,500kg DM/ha is considered high and should be avoided.
As covers increase, so does the proportion of stem in the sward and stem doesn’t do much for milk yield or daily liveweight gain.
Aiming to graze covers of 1,300kg to 1,400kg/ha is optimal, but it’s impossible to do if the stocking rate is too high. A maximum stocking rate of in or around four cows or livestock units per hectare is close to optimum over the next six weeks or so. To sustain this, there will have to be chemical nitrogen or clover in the system.
This stocking rate will allow for other land to be closed up for silage or reseeding. To work out the target pre-grazing yield, multiply the stocking rate by the daily demand for grass per cow per day and multiply this by the rotation length.
For example, a farm stocked at four cows/ha with each cow eating 17kg of grass on a 21 day round requires a pre-grazing yield of 1,428kg/ha which is ideal. The same farm stocked at 4.5 cows/ha needs a pre-grazing yield of 1,607kg/ha which is a bit over-cooked. It also requires a growth rate of 76kg/day to sustain itself, which is unsustainable in a reduced nitrogen situation.
Sward watch
Grass growth rates are beginning to improve and most farmers should be in surplus scenarios by next week. Top up silage fields with nitrogen and, if necessary, sulphur next week.Maintain pre-grazing yields at around 1,400kg/ha by not setting stocking rate too high and by skipping over surplus paddocks. Go to 24 or 36 hour breaks if possible. Aidan McCarthy,
Schull, Co Cork
I was surprised at how much grass I had on paper, because I didn’t feel I had that much as I was walking around. We’ve lots of covers at 1,000-1,100kg and we are ready to go but we just need that burst of heat.
All ground for silage at home is closed up. Outside blocks that weren’t grazed will be ready for cutting in about three weeks’ time. We’re following cows with either 24-2.5-10 or 18-6-12 at about 25 units on 26 days of a rotation.
Any ground that got slurry from the umbilical cord this spring is being followed with a half bag of urea. The early slurry on this ground has helped hold colour on this grass.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.89
Growth Rate (kg/day) 48
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 221
Yield (l/ha) 24
Fat % 4.06
Protein% 3.70
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.91
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
Jamie Kealy, Tullow, Co Carlow
Growth rate is dropping if anything at the moment. We’re suffering with the cold, easterly wind. Silage is not in just yet but it was in up until 10 days ago. We are still strip grazing, even though we have 90 units of N out.
The farm is ready to take off if only we could get a drop of rain and some kinder weather. If that happened it would all change in a matter of days.
Cows are now ready to start breeding. We tail painted a month ago and any cow that has tail paint still on them is being scanned and checked. A team of eight high-EBI bulls are picked, with fertility being our main criteria.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.2
Growth Rate (kg/day) 44
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 212
Yield (l/cow) 33.7
Fat % 4.16
Protein% 3.49
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.66
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
Brendan Horan, Teagasc Curtins, Co Cork
Post-grazing residuals have been 4cm for the last few days, and the flush of growth has meant that we skip all pre-grazing covers above 1,500kg to maintain a 23 day rotation for the next three weeks.
Concentrate has been removed and the animals are on 17kg of grass per day with 24 hour allocations. The entire herd is calved and we began breeding this day last week as part of a new breeding trial looking at sexed semen and embryo transfer.
All paddocks received 23 units of protected urea last week, bringing the total spread to date to 97 kg N/ha including slurry. Clover content is ranging from 15-20% in swards this week.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 4
Growth Rate (kg/day) 71
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 183
Yield (l/cow) 23
Fat % 4.99
Protein% 3.69
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.1
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0
Donall Fahy, Grange, Co Meath
Finally grass growth has exceeded demand which brings greater flexibility. We now have 17 days of grass after identifying a number of paddocks to remove as surplus silage. Currently the grazing block is at 2,311kg liveweight/ha.
Three poor performing paddocks have been picked for reseeding with high quality tetraploid perennial ryegrass varieties and red clover mixture for silage production. The plan is to silage these paddocks for a number of years, and when the clover is exhausted we will be left with a productive grazing sward.
Despite a late turnout cattle performance is good with Angus and Holstein Friesian steers currently weighing 393kg and 384kg respectively, both with an average dairy gain of 1.3kg/day since turnout.
System Dairy calf-to-beef
Soil type Variable
Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 838
Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 55
Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 48
Oisín Kennedy, Aclare, Co Sligo
We now have 46 of the 57 cows calved since calving started on 1 April. The majority of Stabilisers calve unassisted once they are in the right body condition.
Calves have a low birth weight but grow quickly. The weather has improved greatly over the last 10 days and any cow and calf that can go out are now out. Fertiliser was spread a week ago on the grazing ground and silage ground is also closed at this stage. We have eight acres sprayed off for reseeding with a multispecies sward.
The multispecies that were sown last year performed well over winter and are currently getting a light grazing for the first time this year. It has not received any fertiliser as of yet. The plan is to spread 20 units of N once grazed.
System Suckler to beef and sheep
Soil type Heavy
Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 976
Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 25
Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 18
Shaun Diver, Tullamore Farm, Co Offaly
Breeding started on 16 April and there are now over 27 cows and heifers bulled. I’m using vasectomised bulls with Moocall Heat collars on for heat detection.
The plan is to AI the heifers for three weeks and then let out the Salers stock bull to mop up. The cows will be AI’ed for eight or nine weeks and then the bull might get a fortnight with them.
I concentrate on maternal bulls at the start of breeding to get as many suitable breeding heifers as possible. Curaheen Earp, Tomschoice Lexicon and Curaheen Gunshot are being used a lot.
We’ve identified paddocks with high clover content that will get reduced chemical nitrogen now. It will be interesting to see if they grow as much grass as the other paddocks over the summer.
System Suckler to beef
Soil type Variable
Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 887
Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 62
Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 43
The high grass growth rates predicted for the last week didn’t come to pass, although growth has definitely picked up in the last few days. Average growth over the past week has been 48kg/day, and 64kg/day is the prediction for the coming week.
Looking towards the May bank holiday weekend, all farmers will be expecting growth rates to far exceed demand and to be fair, I think most farmers will get that wish over the coming week or so.
Higher growth rates bring risks too though. The biggest being that pre-grazing yields go out of hand. From an animal performance point of view this is worse than having too little grass. Anything over 1,500kg DM/ha is considered high and should be avoided.
As covers increase, so does the proportion of stem in the sward and stem doesn’t do much for milk yield or daily liveweight gain.
Aiming to graze covers of 1,300kg to 1,400kg/ha is optimal, but it’s impossible to do if the stocking rate is too high. A maximum stocking rate of in or around four cows or livestock units per hectare is close to optimum over the next six weeks or so. To sustain this, there will have to be chemical nitrogen or clover in the system.
This stocking rate will allow for other land to be closed up for silage or reseeding. To work out the target pre-grazing yield, multiply the stocking rate by the daily demand for grass per cow per day and multiply this by the rotation length.
For example, a farm stocked at four cows/ha with each cow eating 17kg of grass on a 21 day round requires a pre-grazing yield of 1,428kg/ha which is ideal. The same farm stocked at 4.5 cows/ha needs a pre-grazing yield of 1,607kg/ha which is a bit over-cooked. It also requires a growth rate of 76kg/day to sustain itself, which is unsustainable in a reduced nitrogen situation.
Sward watch
Grass growth rates are beginning to improve and most farmers should be in surplus scenarios by next week. Top up silage fields with nitrogen and, if necessary, sulphur next week.Maintain pre-grazing yields at around 1,400kg/ha by not setting stocking rate too high and by skipping over surplus paddocks. Go to 24 or 36 hour breaks if possible. Aidan McCarthy,
Schull, Co Cork
I was surprised at how much grass I had on paper, because I didn’t feel I had that much as I was walking around. We’ve lots of covers at 1,000-1,100kg and we are ready to go but we just need that burst of heat.
All ground for silage at home is closed up. Outside blocks that weren’t grazed will be ready for cutting in about three weeks’ time. We’re following cows with either 24-2.5-10 or 18-6-12 at about 25 units on 26 days of a rotation.
Any ground that got slurry from the umbilical cord this spring is being followed with a half bag of urea. The early slurry on this ground has helped hold colour on this grass.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.89
Growth Rate (kg/day) 48
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 221
Yield (l/ha) 24
Fat % 4.06
Protein% 3.70
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.91
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
Jamie Kealy, Tullow, Co Carlow
Growth rate is dropping if anything at the moment. We’re suffering with the cold, easterly wind. Silage is not in just yet but it was in up until 10 days ago. We are still strip grazing, even though we have 90 units of N out.
The farm is ready to take off if only we could get a drop of rain and some kinder weather. If that happened it would all change in a matter of days.
Cows are now ready to start breeding. We tail painted a month ago and any cow that has tail paint still on them is being scanned and checked. A team of eight high-EBI bulls are picked, with fertility being our main criteria.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.2
Growth Rate (kg/day) 44
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 212
Yield (l/cow) 33.7
Fat % 4.16
Protein% 3.49
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.66
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4
Brendan Horan, Teagasc Curtins, Co Cork
Post-grazing residuals have been 4cm for the last few days, and the flush of growth has meant that we skip all pre-grazing covers above 1,500kg to maintain a 23 day rotation for the next three weeks.
Concentrate has been removed and the animals are on 17kg of grass per day with 24 hour allocations. The entire herd is calved and we began breeding this day last week as part of a new breeding trial looking at sexed semen and embryo transfer.
All paddocks received 23 units of protected urea last week, bringing the total spread to date to 97 kg N/ha including slurry. Clover content is ranging from 15-20% in swards this week.
Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 4
Growth Rate (kg/day) 71
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 183
Yield (l/cow) 23
Fat % 4.99
Protein% 3.69
Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.1
Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 0
Donall Fahy, Grange, Co Meath
Finally grass growth has exceeded demand which brings greater flexibility. We now have 17 days of grass after identifying a number of paddocks to remove as surplus silage. Currently the grazing block is at 2,311kg liveweight/ha.
Three poor performing paddocks have been picked for reseeding with high quality tetraploid perennial ryegrass varieties and red clover mixture for silage production. The plan is to silage these paddocks for a number of years, and when the clover is exhausted we will be left with a productive grazing sward.
Despite a late turnout cattle performance is good with Angus and Holstein Friesian steers currently weighing 393kg and 384kg respectively, both with an average dairy gain of 1.3kg/day since turnout.
System Dairy calf-to-beef
Soil type Variable
Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 838
Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 55
Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 48
Oisín Kennedy, Aclare, Co Sligo
We now have 46 of the 57 cows calved since calving started on 1 April. The majority of Stabilisers calve unassisted once they are in the right body condition.
Calves have a low birth weight but grow quickly. The weather has improved greatly over the last 10 days and any cow and calf that can go out are now out. Fertiliser was spread a week ago on the grazing ground and silage ground is also closed at this stage. We have eight acres sprayed off for reseeding with a multispecies sward.
The multispecies that were sown last year performed well over winter and are currently getting a light grazing for the first time this year. It has not received any fertiliser as of yet. The plan is to spread 20 units of N once grazed.
System Suckler to beef and sheep
Soil type Heavy
Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 976
Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 25
Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 18
Shaun Diver, Tullamore Farm, Co Offaly
Breeding started on 16 April and there are now over 27 cows and heifers bulled. I’m using vasectomised bulls with Moocall Heat collars on for heat detection.
The plan is to AI the heifers for three weeks and then let out the Salers stock bull to mop up. The cows will be AI’ed for eight or nine weeks and then the bull might get a fortnight with them.
I concentrate on maternal bulls at the start of breeding to get as many suitable breeding heifers as possible. Curaheen Earp, Tomschoice Lexicon and Curaheen Gunshot are being used a lot.
We’ve identified paddocks with high clover content that will get reduced chemical nitrogen now. It will be interesting to see if they grow as much grass as the other paddocks over the summer.
System Suckler to beef
Soil type Variable
Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 887
Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 62
Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 43
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