Watch: managing fodder and kickstarting growth in Tyrone

The recent period of dry weather allowed ground conditions to improve faster than many expected and even allowed stock to get on to ground that had been relatively wet until recently.

Although the arrival of snow has interrupted grazing again, getting some stock to grass for a period in February has taken pressure off limited fodder stocks on farms.

This was the case for the Dairylink Ireland programme farms in Co Tyrone. There is plenty of grass on the two farms, but wet ground conditions were stopping it from being utilised.

However, it was still important for both farmers to get nitrogen on to the grazing platform as soon as conditions allowed, so that growth rates will be boosted as soon as temperatures rise again.

Dairylink adviser Conail Keown states that urea-based nitrogen is the best option for wetter ground and recommends that 70 units per acre should be spread by the end of March.

Many farmers are also keen to get slurry on to ground to help get grass going and to take pressure off slurry storage.

Another requirement to kickstart growth in 2018 is to deal with heavy covers that were too wet to graze off last autumn and were carried over the winter. Getting on to these paddocks is not straightforward, as they are the wetter parts of the farm to begin with.

Young stock can prove useful to getting heavy covers on wetter ground grazed off with limited damage while also reducing demand on fodder stocks.

Trillick, Co Tyrone

With ground conditions improved by last Friday, we started zero grazing all milking cows to help take pressure off silage stocks. There are around 375 silage bales left on the farm and we were using eight bales per day. Fodder is tighter than we would like, but it should see us through.

A fodder budget last autumn showed that silage supplies were limited after stock were housed early and less silage was made last year than planned. Action was then taken early in the winter to reduce demand. Cow numbers were reduced by culling harder than usual to remove cows with high somatic cell counts and any fertility issues.

Grass silage and maize has been purchased from the start of winter and additional concentrates were fed in-parlour and through the wagon to reduce demand on silage.

Since fresh grass has been offered to all milking cows, concentrate feeding through the wagon has reducd by 4kg/cow/day and there has been no impact seen on milk output.

The main grazing block is still fairly wet underfoot, with only two of the drier paddocks suitable for zero grazing. Grass covers are heavy on the farm, especially since grazing last autumn stopped early due to heavy rain.

Young stock were turned out last week and are grazing dry areas of the farm to reduce silage requirements.

Urea has been spread on the grazing block and some slurry has been spread.

However, the heavy grass covers are proving a problem, as they are not suitable for slurry and need to be removed to get the grazing platform growing again.

Dromore, Co Tyrone

Cows started on-off grazing last Thursday and covered around 40 acres in the first five days. Cows wait in the collecting yard after milking and go out to grass at around 11am. They are brought in after lunch and then are out again for a few hours after evening milking.

We have them in two groups, with lower-yielding cows going into slightly heavier covers. Four bales are fed out at night, around half of the fully housed feeding requirement. All the silage is gone before the cows go back out in the morning, so they are going to grass ready to eat.

Average concentrate feeding has reduced from 8kg/cow/day to 5kg/cow/day since grazing started. Cows are being allocated grass at around 8kg DM/cow/day and baled silage at 5kg DM/cow/day.

There is enough silage to see us through the rest of the spring. We want to have around 200 bales left over to feed if conditions get wet or if growth slows up during the summer. This will mean that 2018 silage stocks aren’t being used up early.

The milking platform received half a bag of Superstart (calcium nitrate and urea) fertiliser and some slurry has been spread on ground further from the yard with an umbilical and splash plate. The contractor is due to come back to spread slurry on any of the milking platform that has been grazed so far.

We don’t want to be out at grass for any more than five to 10 days in February because the cows will go through grass too quickly before growth has picked up.

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