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There has been plenty of grass on David Brady’s farm this spring, but ground conditions have been touch-and-go for the start of the 2018 grazing season.
His spring-calving herd first got to grass on 20 February and were on/off grazing twice a day until Storm Emma struck at the end of the month. Cows got back out again for a few days, but had to go inside full-time last week.
Although temperatures were low last weekend, drier conditions allowed ground to soak and cows got back on/off grazing again on Tuesday.
Just 15% of the milking platform has been grazed so far, as cows are going into heavier covers and are offered silage at night. Average farm cover was high in mid-February at almost 1,000kg DM/ha and David estimates that current average farm cover is around 800kg DM/ha.
Covers
There were some paddocks that were too wet to graze last autumn and some heavier covers had to be carried over the winter. David is now focusing on getting cows to graze off these covers as soon as possible.
The first chemical fertiliser of the year was spread on Tuesday, with the milking platform getting a bag of urea per acre. Any paddocks that have been grazed by cows this spring have also received slurry at around 3,000 gallon/acre.
There has been a lot of investment in drainage and grazing infrastructure on the farm in recent years and David says that he sees benefits when conditions are wet. “Paddocks that have been gravel-moled tend to dry out that bit quicker and we can get cows on to them if the grass is there,” he said.
More ground has been earmarked for draining and reseeding this year on the farm. Over the winter, David has been cleaning out drains and resurfacing laneways with material from a gravel pit on the farm.
Fodder
“Milking cows are getting first-cut silage when they are in and there is some second-cut left over too. I will be fine for fodder for a few weeks, but hopefully grazing will get started properly now if ground gets a chance to dry out,” David said.
An extra 1kg of meal was fed out from last week to offset the impact of cows going in and out. Yields have held up well at 25 litres, but butterfat and protein dropped back from 5.01% and 3.42% to 4.61% and 3.17% respectively after cows were housed last week.
Calving started on 7 February and around 80% of the 100-cow herd has calved down in the first six weeks. David has expanded the herd this year to increase stocking rate from 2.0 LU/ha to 2.5 LU/ha. There are additional homebred replacement heifers joining the herd this year and eight heifers were also bought in to lift cow numbers.
There are 30 dairy heifer calves in the shed and the remaining cows that are left to calve are in calf to the Angus stock bull. David plans to rear all dairy-bred heifers and any surplus heifers could be sold off or else more culling of older cows could take place.
Maiden heifers
There has been no young stock put to grass yet and all heifers were vaccinated for leptospirosis and BVD last week. David weighed the heifers when they were through the crush, with 25 of them averaging 320kg.
“They are a fairly uniform group and there is only one heifer below 300kg. Lighter heifers were grouped separately at the start of the winter for extra feeding and have caught up with the rest. The target breeding weight is 330kg to 340kg, so they are well on target with 12 weeks to go,” David said.
Dairylink farm walks
Three of the farm businesses that have been participating in the Dairylink Ireland programme over the past three years will host farm walks in April.
Kevin McGrade will host the first event on his farm at Aghnamoe Road, Dromore, Co Tyrone, on Tuesday 10 April. Bill Brown has a farm walk at Killaughey Road South, Millisle, Co Down, on Thursday 12 April and Charles Clarke’s farm walk is on Thursday 19 April at Crocknahattina, Bailieborough, Co Cavan.
The events will focus on four key areas:
Breeding the optimal cow for each farm system.
Heifer rearing for 24-month-old calving.
Developing farm infrastructure and soil fertility.
Business planning for profitable milk production.
All events run from 11am to 1pm, are open to the public and are free to attend.
There has been plenty of grass on David Brady’s farm this spring, but ground conditions have been touch-and-go for the start of the 2018 grazing season.
His spring-calving herd first got to grass on 20 February and were on/off grazing twice a day until Storm Emma struck at the end of the month. Cows got back out again for a few days, but had to go inside full-time last week.
Although temperatures were low last weekend, drier conditions allowed ground to soak and cows got back on/off grazing again on Tuesday.
Just 15% of the milking platform has been grazed so far, as cows are going into heavier covers and are offered silage at night. Average farm cover was high in mid-February at almost 1,000kg DM/ha and David estimates that current average farm cover is around 800kg DM/ha.
Covers
There were some paddocks that were too wet to graze last autumn and some heavier covers had to be carried over the winter. David is now focusing on getting cows to graze off these covers as soon as possible.
The first chemical fertiliser of the year was spread on Tuesday, with the milking platform getting a bag of urea per acre. Any paddocks that have been grazed by cows this spring have also received slurry at around 3,000 gallon/acre.
There has been a lot of investment in drainage and grazing infrastructure on the farm in recent years and David says that he sees benefits when conditions are wet. “Paddocks that have been gravel-moled tend to dry out that bit quicker and we can get cows on to them if the grass is there,” he said.
More ground has been earmarked for draining and reseeding this year on the farm. Over the winter, David has been cleaning out drains and resurfacing laneways with material from a gravel pit on the farm.
Fodder
“Milking cows are getting first-cut silage when they are in and there is some second-cut left over too. I will be fine for fodder for a few weeks, but hopefully grazing will get started properly now if ground gets a chance to dry out,” David said.
An extra 1kg of meal was fed out from last week to offset the impact of cows going in and out. Yields have held up well at 25 litres, but butterfat and protein dropped back from 5.01% and 3.42% to 4.61% and 3.17% respectively after cows were housed last week.
Calving started on 7 February and around 80% of the 100-cow herd has calved down in the first six weeks. David has expanded the herd this year to increase stocking rate from 2.0 LU/ha to 2.5 LU/ha. There are additional homebred replacement heifers joining the herd this year and eight heifers were also bought in to lift cow numbers.
There are 30 dairy heifer calves in the shed and the remaining cows that are left to calve are in calf to the Angus stock bull. David plans to rear all dairy-bred heifers and any surplus heifers could be sold off or else more culling of older cows could take place.
Maiden heifers
There has been no young stock put to grass yet and all heifers were vaccinated for leptospirosis and BVD last week. David weighed the heifers when they were through the crush, with 25 of them averaging 320kg.
“They are a fairly uniform group and there is only one heifer below 300kg. Lighter heifers were grouped separately at the start of the winter for extra feeding and have caught up with the rest. The target breeding weight is 330kg to 340kg, so they are well on target with 12 weeks to go,” David said.
Dairylink farm walks
Three of the farm businesses that have been participating in the Dairylink Ireland programme over the past three years will host farm walks in April.
Kevin McGrade will host the first event on his farm at Aghnamoe Road, Dromore, Co Tyrone, on Tuesday 10 April. Bill Brown has a farm walk at Killaughey Road South, Millisle, Co Down, on Thursday 12 April and Charles Clarke’s farm walk is on Thursday 19 April at Crocknahattina, Bailieborough, Co Cavan.
The events will focus on four key areas:
Breeding the optimal cow for each farm system.
Heifer rearing for 24-month-old calving.
Developing farm infrastructure and soil fertility.
Business planning for profitable milk production.
All events run from 11am to 1pm, are open to the public and are free to attend.
Hopefully there won’t be any major ratings change in the little Limousin heifer that was born this month as she’s growing bigger by the day, along with her character.
Adam Woods has the latest tips and advice for drystock farms in this week’s Beef Management.
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