Fertile soils are a key component of good grassland management on dairy farms across the country.
Getting soil fertility correct to maximise grass production throughout the growing season can play a vital role in delivering dairy farm profits.
All farms in the Dairylink Ireland project are in the process of building their soil fertility picture.
A recent review of soil test results throughout Ireland indicates that approximately 90% of grassland soils do not have adequate levels of lime, phosphorus or potassium.
A shortage in one or more of these major nutrients will reduce the grass produced on that land.
A simple soil test costing around £10 (€12) is the starting point to establish the current nutrient status of different soils on the farm.
Research conducted by Teagasc Moorepark has shown that soils at optimal index for P and K can produce an extra 1.5tDM/ha/year over soils that are sub optimal for these nutrients.
This is equivalent to 15% more grass production on many farms across the country, which can represent a significant saving in concentrate costs on farms if this grass is utilised correctly.
All phase one Dairylink farmers soil-sampled individual paddocks annually and were active in addressing deficiencies with pH, phosphorus and potassium.
Coupled with better grassland management, this led to annual grass yields on farms increasing by 25% over three years to 11.7tDM/ha.
Using results from soil samples, phase two project farms will be generating nutrient management plans to address soil fertility issues.
These plans will be specific to each paddock or field.
In general, project farms will be using urea to supply early nitrogen on the grazing area, with compound fertiliser used at various stages throughout the growing season to correct nutrient imbalance after organic manures have been accounted for.
Farmer focus: Richard Marshall, Omagh, Co Tyrone
Getting the herd back on track and building numbers has been a priority on the Marshall farm near Omagh, Co Tyrone.
TB hit the herd in the summer of 2018, taking a combination of milking cows and in-calf heifers over three TB breakdown tests, with 78 animals leaving the farm as reactors.
Richard has been building the herd back up since getting the go-ahead from DAERA to buy stock.
“From a cashflow perspective, TB hit us hard. A lot of our early autumn-calving cows went with TB which really reduced milk sales for September, October and November,” Richard said.
“While costs did fall with these cows out of the system, we had already incurred a lot of fixed costs like contractor charges, fertiliser purchases and farm debt still had to be serviced,” he added.
Richard has taken the TB situation as an opportunity to develop the herd into a production system that suits him and his farm resource, which is a compact autumn-calving herd.
Calving had spread in the herd and stretched from September to April.
Richard has been carefully purchasing replacement stock which fall into the correct calving time frame.
Herd size currently stands at 130 cows, including purchased stock and he still has around 40 cows to calve at this stage.
Sourcing fresh calved cows is difficult at present so stock purchases have been put on hold.
Sexed semen
Richard has 27 heifer calves on the ground currently with a 25 October 2018 average date of birth and these will be targeted for breeding in December this year.
Sexed semen is used extensively on heifers being bred at present.
So far, 16 have been bred using sexed sire Stardust. Another 15 will be ready for breeding in the last week of January.
The breeding plan for the milking herd is to use black and white sires during December, January and February. Any cow served after this will receive Angus or Belgian Blue.
Sexed semen will be used on any cow suitable (no calving issue and good regular heat cycles), with sires used including Stardust, Agronaut, Comment and Mardi Gras.
The objective is to get 50 heifers on the ground in the first three months of calving this year. The heifers bred have been synchronised using a PRID to help with the accuracy of getting sexed semen in at the correct time.
Heat detection has been ramped up on the farm this year.
In the first three weeks of breeding, Richard has served 60 cows out of 75 eligible, and 16 heifers bred from 16 eligible.
On Thursday of last week there had been very few repeat cows so far.
Breeding started on the farm on 22 November and Richard is expecting more repeats this week.
A heat detection system is used on the herd using activity meters on the rear leg. Richard is very pleased with the system, which flags active cows as they come into the parlour.
The pre-breeding work this year also benefited from the heat detection system in identifying non-cycling cows, which then got a vet inspection.
This really can help load the start of the breeding period.
Weekly round-up
Programme farmers are soil-sampling individual paddocks at present.Nutrient management plans will be based on soil analysis results to address soil fertility issues.Omagh farmer Richard Marshall is buying in stock after a recent TB breakdown.He is establishing a more compact autumn-calving profile and using sexed semen on heifers and some cows. Read more
Ten lessons from Dairylink in 2018
Soil sampling and nutrient planning
Fertile soils are a key component of good grassland management on dairy farms across the country.
Getting soil fertility correct to maximise grass production throughout the growing season can play a vital role in delivering dairy farm profits.
All farms in the Dairylink Ireland project are in the process of building their soil fertility picture.
A recent review of soil test results throughout Ireland indicates that approximately 90% of grassland soils do not have adequate levels of lime, phosphorus or potassium.
A shortage in one or more of these major nutrients will reduce the grass produced on that land.
A simple soil test costing around £10 (€12) is the starting point to establish the current nutrient status of different soils on the farm.
Research conducted by Teagasc Moorepark has shown that soils at optimal index for P and K can produce an extra 1.5tDM/ha/year over soils that are sub optimal for these nutrients.
This is equivalent to 15% more grass production on many farms across the country, which can represent a significant saving in concentrate costs on farms if this grass is utilised correctly.
All phase one Dairylink farmers soil-sampled individual paddocks annually and were active in addressing deficiencies with pH, phosphorus and potassium.
Coupled with better grassland management, this led to annual grass yields on farms increasing by 25% over three years to 11.7tDM/ha.
Using results from soil samples, phase two project farms will be generating nutrient management plans to address soil fertility issues.
These plans will be specific to each paddock or field.
In general, project farms will be using urea to supply early nitrogen on the grazing area, with compound fertiliser used at various stages throughout the growing season to correct nutrient imbalance after organic manures have been accounted for.
Farmer focus: Richard Marshall, Omagh, Co Tyrone
Getting the herd back on track and building numbers has been a priority on the Marshall farm near Omagh, Co Tyrone.
TB hit the herd in the summer of 2018, taking a combination of milking cows and in-calf heifers over three TB breakdown tests, with 78 animals leaving the farm as reactors.
Richard has been building the herd back up since getting the go-ahead from DAERA to buy stock.
“From a cashflow perspective, TB hit us hard. A lot of our early autumn-calving cows went with TB which really reduced milk sales for September, October and November,” Richard said.
“While costs did fall with these cows out of the system, we had already incurred a lot of fixed costs like contractor charges, fertiliser purchases and farm debt still had to be serviced,” he added.
Richard has taken the TB situation as an opportunity to develop the herd into a production system that suits him and his farm resource, which is a compact autumn-calving herd.
Calving had spread in the herd and stretched from September to April.
Richard has been carefully purchasing replacement stock which fall into the correct calving time frame.
Herd size currently stands at 130 cows, including purchased stock and he still has around 40 cows to calve at this stage.
Sourcing fresh calved cows is difficult at present so stock purchases have been put on hold.
Sexed semen
Richard has 27 heifer calves on the ground currently with a 25 October 2018 average date of birth and these will be targeted for breeding in December this year.
Sexed semen is used extensively on heifers being bred at present.
So far, 16 have been bred using sexed sire Stardust. Another 15 will be ready for breeding in the last week of January.
The breeding plan for the milking herd is to use black and white sires during December, January and February. Any cow served after this will receive Angus or Belgian Blue.
Sexed semen will be used on any cow suitable (no calving issue and good regular heat cycles), with sires used including Stardust, Agronaut, Comment and Mardi Gras.
The objective is to get 50 heifers on the ground in the first three months of calving this year. The heifers bred have been synchronised using a PRID to help with the accuracy of getting sexed semen in at the correct time.
Heat detection has been ramped up on the farm this year.
In the first three weeks of breeding, Richard has served 60 cows out of 75 eligible, and 16 heifers bred from 16 eligible.
On Thursday of last week there had been very few repeat cows so far.
Breeding started on the farm on 22 November and Richard is expecting more repeats this week.
A heat detection system is used on the herd using activity meters on the rear leg. Richard is very pleased with the system, which flags active cows as they come into the parlour.
The pre-breeding work this year also benefited from the heat detection system in identifying non-cycling cows, which then got a vet inspection.
This really can help load the start of the breeding period.
Weekly round-up
Programme farmers are soil-sampling individual paddocks at present.Nutrient management plans will be based on soil analysis results to address soil fertility issues.Omagh farmer Richard Marshall is buying in stock after a recent TB breakdown.He is establishing a more compact autumn-calving profile and using sexed semen on heifers and some cows. Read more
Ten lessons from Dairylink in 2018
Soil sampling and nutrient planning
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