Most of the country is in a good place at the moment, with growth rates up in the last week.
There’s still a band of farms in the south who have been missed by most of the rain and are starting to struggle for grass.
For those whose growth is up, quality is the key consideration. Meal feeding levels should be cut back to under 2kg/cow.
Where paddocks are gone beyond 1,600kg/DM/ha, look to make surplus bales and keep targeting pre-grazing yields of 1,400kg/DM/ha to keep swards leafy.
Reseeds
Most reseeds have started to take off at this stage. Post-emergence spray should be out about a week to ten days before grazing.
Aim to graze these reseeds at <1,000kg/DM/ha for the first round, particularly where clover is in the mix.
Make sure that the grass plant isn’t pulling out of the ground by hand before cows are let in.
Keep on top of these reseeds. This could mean going into these paddocks every two weeks to keep covers below 1,100kg/DM/ha.
To give clover any chance these new swards need to be grazed early, otherwise, the clover will be shaded out and die off.
Clover
Overall, the word on farms is that clover is slow to get going this year. This may be off the back of tough conditions for management last year and ultimately some clover just couldn’t last.
If you’re worried about your growth rates, make sure these clover swards are getting some nitrogen. If the clover is not doing its job, the grass plant is going to suffer.
Keep applying the 10 units of half-rate nitrogen where paddocks are struggling.
Growth rates are flying in most parts of the country. Keep on top of quality by taking out surpluses.Reseeds are starting to take off now after a tough germination period. Graze reseeds at <1,000kg/DM/ha for the first round and keep grazing at low covers for the rest of the year. Forage crops should be in before the end of June if you’re hoping to have a good cover this winter. Caroline O’Sullivan – Teagasc Curtins, Co Cork
Grass quality is good at the moment, but we need rain. We’re only getting small amounts at a time which is in total contrast to the rest of the country. Cows are going into covers of 1,200kg/DM/ha.
We have a few covers marked to come out for surplus bales. These are covers of 1,800kg/DM/ha, but we’re going to hold them for now in case that rain doesn’t come and we need a buffer.
On the grass clover trial, we’re going out with ten units of protected urea on the poor clover paddocks. Anything with good clover content is getting nothing. Clover has been slow to get going this year but we’re starting to see it come.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.86
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 216
Growth (kg/ha) 39
Yield (l/cow) 18
Fat % 4.99
Protein % 3.94
Milk solids (kg) 1.66
Concentrates (kg) 2
Mike Ahern – Ballyduff, Co Waterford
The place is dry at the moment. Growth is still holding in the 60s but we’ll start to see that drop off now if we don’t get a good spell of rain here. Our focus is just on maintaining quality in the swards at the moment.
We’re pre-mowing roughly one paddock a week. Anything more than this is slowing the rotation too much. The covers are low on the paddocks being pre-mowed, but it’s only done in swards where stem is building.
That way milk isn’t affected but we’re correcting any problems. We’re on an 18-day round at the moment so we’re keeping concentrates at 2.5kg with demand at 67kg/DM/ha and growth slightly lower.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.3
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 190
Growth (kg/ha) 62
Yield (l/cow) 21.5
Fat % 4.99
Protein % 3.93
Milk solids (kg) 1.98
Concentrates (kg) 2.5
John Russell – Manorcunningham, Co Donegal
Growth is flying here at the moment. We’ve gotten a good bit of rain over the last week and quality is fairly good. We are heavily stocked so we’re feeding 5kg of meal. After this week’s growth though we’ll be pulling this back.
We’ve 20 units of nitrogen going out after the cows and there are paddocks to come out as surplus bales now in the next few days. We’ve six weeks of breeding done to date and we’re happy with how things have gone.
The Angus stock bull will be going out now this week to mop up. We got the second cut silage in last Friday and it looks to be good quality.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.84
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 216
Growth (kg/ha) 99
Yield (l/cow) 27
Fat % 4.15
Protein % 3.6
Milk solids (kg) 2.16
Concentrates (kg) 5
Most of the country is in a good place at the moment, with growth rates up in the last week.
There’s still a band of farms in the south who have been missed by most of the rain and are starting to struggle for grass.
For those whose growth is up, quality is the key consideration. Meal feeding levels should be cut back to under 2kg/cow.
Where paddocks are gone beyond 1,600kg/DM/ha, look to make surplus bales and keep targeting pre-grazing yields of 1,400kg/DM/ha to keep swards leafy.
Reseeds
Most reseeds have started to take off at this stage. Post-emergence spray should be out about a week to ten days before grazing.
Aim to graze these reseeds at <1,000kg/DM/ha for the first round, particularly where clover is in the mix.
Make sure that the grass plant isn’t pulling out of the ground by hand before cows are let in.
Keep on top of these reseeds. This could mean going into these paddocks every two weeks to keep covers below 1,100kg/DM/ha.
To give clover any chance these new swards need to be grazed early, otherwise, the clover will be shaded out and die off.
Clover
Overall, the word on farms is that clover is slow to get going this year. This may be off the back of tough conditions for management last year and ultimately some clover just couldn’t last.
If you’re worried about your growth rates, make sure these clover swards are getting some nitrogen. If the clover is not doing its job, the grass plant is going to suffer.
Keep applying the 10 units of half-rate nitrogen where paddocks are struggling.
Growth rates are flying in most parts of the country. Keep on top of quality by taking out surpluses.Reseeds are starting to take off now after a tough germination period. Graze reseeds at <1,000kg/DM/ha for the first round and keep grazing at low covers for the rest of the year. Forage crops should be in before the end of June if you’re hoping to have a good cover this winter. Caroline O’Sullivan – Teagasc Curtins, Co Cork
Grass quality is good at the moment, but we need rain. We’re only getting small amounts at a time which is in total contrast to the rest of the country. Cows are going into covers of 1,200kg/DM/ha.
We have a few covers marked to come out for surplus bales. These are covers of 1,800kg/DM/ha, but we’re going to hold them for now in case that rain doesn’t come and we need a buffer.
On the grass clover trial, we’re going out with ten units of protected urea on the poor clover paddocks. Anything with good clover content is getting nothing. Clover has been slow to get going this year but we’re starting to see it come.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 2.86
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 216
Growth (kg/ha) 39
Yield (l/cow) 18
Fat % 4.99
Protein % 3.94
Milk solids (kg) 1.66
Concentrates (kg) 2
Mike Ahern – Ballyduff, Co Waterford
The place is dry at the moment. Growth is still holding in the 60s but we’ll start to see that drop off now if we don’t get a good spell of rain here. Our focus is just on maintaining quality in the swards at the moment.
We’re pre-mowing roughly one paddock a week. Anything more than this is slowing the rotation too much. The covers are low on the paddocks being pre-mowed, but it’s only done in swards where stem is building.
That way milk isn’t affected but we’re correcting any problems. We’re on an 18-day round at the moment so we’re keeping concentrates at 2.5kg with demand at 67kg/DM/ha and growth slightly lower.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.3
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 190
Growth (kg/ha) 62
Yield (l/cow) 21.5
Fat % 4.99
Protein % 3.93
Milk solids (kg) 1.98
Concentrates (kg) 2.5
John Russell – Manorcunningham, Co Donegal
Growth is flying here at the moment. We’ve gotten a good bit of rain over the last week and quality is fairly good. We are heavily stocked so we’re feeding 5kg of meal. After this week’s growth though we’ll be pulling this back.
We’ve 20 units of nitrogen going out after the cows and there are paddocks to come out as surplus bales now in the next few days. We’ve six weeks of breeding done to date and we’re happy with how things have gone.
The Angus stock bull will be going out now this week to mop up. We got the second cut silage in last Friday and it looks to be good quality.
Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.84
Average Farm Cover (kg/cow) 216
Growth (kg/ha) 99
Yield (l/cow) 27
Fat % 4.15
Protein % 3.6
Milk solids (kg) 2.16
Concentrates (kg) 5
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: