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The key focus at the grazing management stand was on the closing the gap between the average farmer and the top-performing grassland farmers.
This was broken down into areas for improvement. The top farmers were producing 8t DM/ha more grass than the average farmer. This was down to a longer grazing season, higher soil fertility, better grazing infrastructure and a higher number of grass walks done over the year.
More grazing in the shoulders of the year was an area in which big increases in grass grown can be achieved on farms too.
Increased utilisation was also a factor driving grass growth as well as having a self-sufficient farm stocked at 2.8cows/ha and utilising 13t DM/ha should be the target for farms.
The grazing demo showed a paddock at the ideal height for grazing of 1,500kg DM/ha and then the graze-out on the same field, which was less than 4cm residual.
The quality of grass in these fields and the high percentage of utilisation was clearly evident. Covers of 1,000kg DM/ha were also on show and although quality of grass on these paddocks was obviously very high, grazing them would not be ideal.
The fibre content in these swards would be lower and paddock grazing of these covers was said to lead to a drop in butter fat production and cows could become very loose.
Also, regrowths would be slower to come back, grazing covers of 1,000kg DM/ha or less as the energy reserve in the root would be lower at this growth stage. This would lead to farmers grazing covers as low as 1,000kg DM/ha putting them in a tail spin and leaving them short grass. Paddocks at covers of over the 1,000kg DM/ha are also recording the highest growths on the farm as they have the highest leaf cover. So watching these paddocks closely over the coming days was said to be essential in managing grass quality.
Also on show was a paddock at a cover 3,200kg DM/ha. It was identified as being very stemmy and not suitable for grazing. As part of the demo, the paddock was shown grazed and baled. The grazed field had a cover of 550kg DM/ha on it and was going to very poor quality for the next round of grazing. The baled paddock had a cover of 100kg DM/ha back on it and was all top quality leafy grass. Clearly there was only one option to be taken for field with high covers and that was baling them.
SHARING OPTIONS: