Grass

The grass picture remains mixed, with some farmers in the east still with low farm grass covers. They continue to supplement to stretch what grass they have in advance of predicted warm weather this coming weekend.

Water supply is crucial in hot weather, and every effort must be made to prioritise access to water. If this means setting up a temporary water trough near the collecting yard for the purposes of providing additional access then do that.

I talked to some farmers in the last week who were letting cows in under trees, small forests or indeed back into sheds to keep them out of the direct heat and sun during the middle of the day.

While our temperatures are not extreme, milkers will be less stressed if in slightly cooler and shaded areas than standing in direct sun with herd comrades.

Breeding

Breeding is coming to an end on many farms.With mid-July breeding you are looking at end of April calving, and maybe slightly longer.

Remember if you have beef bred sires in use they could carry slightly longer and you are into May calving. I was talking to one farmer this week that had a problem with maiden heifers and he was continuing to breed after a third service.

These heifers, even if they go in calf this week, are going to struggle to stay in the system next year when they calve down for the first time while the rest of the herd are at breeding start date.

The advice I gave him was cut the losses, fatten the heifers up, and buy more heifers if needed.

Ballyhaise and Clonmel

The Grassland summer tour and conference takes place next week. This week we had the Ballyhaise Open Day. Cavan and Monaghan aren’t the strongholds of clover in Ireland, but more farmers in the region are considering it.

I was in Monaghan during the week on another job and some of the most productive and commercial farmers in the county fear a stocking rate reduction in the nitrates derogation more than anything else. Many are restricted on land base, have adequate buildings, excellent facilities.

On top of that many in this region are getting hammered with the new banding measure to calculate organic nitrogen per cow, as yield per cow on smaller grazing areas was always a driver.

The double-policy-whammy is forcing farmers to look to a higher yield per cow, which means higher inputs and lower profits, when in fact it is the other direction farmers should be faced.

For many without changes to land base it would mean a straight cut in cow numbers of maybe 20%.

The clear message from Ballyhaise this week on clover was you need Index 3 for phosphorus to consider clover, good soil to seed contact is necessary at sowing and if over-sowing use a higher rate.

Management post sowing is crucial to keep covers low or the exercise could become a waste of time.