As we move into the second week of October, attention is turning to closing paddocks for the winter. The paddocks grazed between now and 20 October will be the ones grazed in the first half of March next year.

They will have the highest covers on the farm, so they need to be on dry fields and with good access. While they need to be dry, they don’t necessarily need to be the driest fields on the farm either, as these should be reserved for the paddocks closed between 20 October and 1 November.

In an ideal situation these will be the fields grazed in February so they need to be dry and have very good access, as small numbers of cows will be grazing them over the course of the month.

Now, not everyone has the luxury to be able to plan for February turnout, but those that can must. Failure to plan means that the grass won’t be there in February.

Feed and fertiliser will be scarce and expensive next season. So anything that can be done to save money on feed should be looked into.

While extended grazing in the autumn saves money, getting out early in spring both saves and makes money. The ability to capitalise on early spring grazing is one of the main things that sets farmers apart in terms of productivity.

Despite heavy rain over the last week most farmers, even those on heavy land, are happy enough with ground conditions. As time goes on it’ll get more difficult, as land isn’t really draining now and soil saturation levels will increase with every passing week.

Twelve hour breaks will be the order of the day for dairy farmers, while those with sucklers and cattle out grazing will have to move to 24 hour wires.

Avoid grazing very high covers in very wet weather as utilisation will be poor. Move to drier ground and lighter covers if possible. Grass supply is a bit behind target at 882kg DM/ha according to the PastureBase average.

On the flip side grass growth rates of 45kg/ha is brilliant and the warm, muggy weather earlier this week indicates that it’s set to continue.

Sward Watch

  • Grass growth rates are averaging 45kg/ha/day, which is a good bit higher than normal and still above demand on most farms so cover is increasing.
  • From this week, paddocks being grazed now should be grazed for the last time and closed for the winter.
  • Avoid closing paddocks that are particularly wet or have very poor access first, try and keep these for later in the month or next month.
  • The last day for spreading slurry in the south is 7 October, while it is 15 October in Northern Ireland.
  • Farmers

    Bryan Daniels – Kilmoganny, Co Kilkenny

    Cows are receiving 2kg of grass silage at the barrier at milking times. We went in with silage on 2 September and probably should have gone in sooner.

    It is likely our lowest cover for this time of the year over the last 20 years. We’ve sold the empty cows to ease demand.

    We’re currently doing the budget for the autumn, and are hopeful to have some grass in the diet of milking cows up to 10 December. The weather has caused ground to soften, with some surface damage occurring and gaps getting sticky.

    We’re back fencing youngstock and taking every measure to avoid damaging ground.

    Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 2.2

    Growth Rate (kg/day) 78

    Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 803

    Yield (l/cow) 15.4

    Fat % 4.86

    Protein% 4.19

    Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.45

    Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2

    Conor Creedon – Rathmore, Co Kerry

    Farm cover has really improved over the past month. We are feeding 2kg of palm kernel to cows as well as concentrates.

    We’re hoping to keep cows out day and night in October and out by day for three weeks in November.

    We’re currently just finishing the second last round and are aiming to start the last rotation on 10 October. Our target will be a closing cover of 600-620kg on 1 December.

    We close at a lower cover here, as we do not commence calving until 10 February and we also tend to get good growth throughout the winter due to little or no frost.

    Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 4

    Growth Rate (kg/day) 50

    Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 990

    Yield (l/cow) 16

    Fat % 5.3

    Protein% 4.5

    Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.61

    Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 5

    Barry Reilly – Teagasc Ballyhaise

    Our focus now is turning to setting up the farm for next spring’s grazing.

    We started closing up paddocks 10 days ago, and now have 35% of the farm closed for the winter. We have started with the paddocks not sown with clover first, followed by our drier hills with good clover content.

    We will finish the final rotation with last year’s clover reseeds, this year’s reseeds and finally the flood ground.

    Our target will be to close with an average farm cover of 750kg DM/ha on 1 December.

    Ground conditions have disimproved a lot the past few days with heavy rain, with gaps now quite sticky.

    Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 2.3

    Growth Rate (kg/day) 44

    Average Farm Cover (kg/ha) 950

    Yield (l/cow) 16.3

    Fat % 5.17

    Protein% 4.18

    Milk Solids (kg/cow) 1.54

    Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2