Grass: Many farmers are getting worried about grass growth and grass supply due to the dry conditions. The lack of rain in the forecast is a worry, but what farmers should be doing about this now, if anything, is debatable. Based on the PastureBase data, most farmers are okay for grass for now. Growth rates are exceeding demand on average, although meal feeding rates at 3.5kg/cow/day on average are very high. So based on this data, we are not yet in a grass deficit or mini-drought scenario, at least for the vast majority of the country.
The probability of not getting any rain for the next two weeks is low. That’s not to say that we’re definitely going to get rain, but given that it usually rains every couple of days in Ireland, we should be expecting to get rain soon. If that happens within the next 10 days then things should be fine. If it doesn’t and growth rate falls well below demand, then we’ll have to take action.
What I am cautioning against is the attitude that a drought is inevitable and so we should be hanging on to every blade of grass on the farm and forget about target pre-grazing yield or grass quality.
Extending the round length at this time of year is not good policy from a grass quality point of view. Treat each week as it comes. Right now, there is not a grass deficit, so keep farming as normal.
Breeding: There continues to be insatiable demand for calves of all shapes and sizes. I think at this stage we can assume that 2025 is not going to be a one-hit wonder for calf prices and I would expect similar demand for calves next spring. What I’m going to say next may annoy the beef sector, but should dairy farmers be reassessing their breeding policy in light of the increased demand for calves? The price of Friesian bull calves has more than doubled and there are plenty of buyers for all calves, even Jersey crossbreds. This tells me that the problem all along was with beef prices, not calf quality.
Actions to improve calf quality, such as combining sexed semen with beef AI, are costly in terms of increased AI costs, longer gestation length and harder calvings. The biggest cost is the unseen price of having fewer dairy heifer calves around. Do the sums for the next three weeks of AI; on a 100-cow herd you would expect 90 inseminations in the first three weeks. If we assume 55% hold to first service, that means there are 51 cows to serve in the second three weeks of AI. If 55% of these hold that’s 28 pregnancies. If these are to beef, that’s 28 beef calves for sale at an average price of say €300/head, or €8,400.
If these were instead served with conventional dairy AI, you would have 14 heifer calves worth say €600/head and 14 male dairy calves worth say €200/head. That’s a combined calf value of €11,200. Even if the beef calves make more, I still think the dairy farmer is better off with more dairy heifer calves, as they have more options. It’s highly likely that money won’t buy dairy heifers over the coming years, because they simply won’t be there.
Grass: Many farmers are getting worried about grass growth and grass supply due to the dry conditions. The lack of rain in the forecast is a worry, but what farmers should be doing about this now, if anything, is debatable. Based on the PastureBase data, most farmers are okay for grass for now. Growth rates are exceeding demand on average, although meal feeding rates at 3.5kg/cow/day on average are very high. So based on this data, we are not yet in a grass deficit or mini-drought scenario, at least for the vast majority of the country.
The probability of not getting any rain for the next two weeks is low. That’s not to say that we’re definitely going to get rain, but given that it usually rains every couple of days in Ireland, we should be expecting to get rain soon. If that happens within the next 10 days then things should be fine. If it doesn’t and growth rate falls well below demand, then we’ll have to take action.
What I am cautioning against is the attitude that a drought is inevitable and so we should be hanging on to every blade of grass on the farm and forget about target pre-grazing yield or grass quality.
Extending the round length at this time of year is not good policy from a grass quality point of view. Treat each week as it comes. Right now, there is not a grass deficit, so keep farming as normal.
Breeding: There continues to be insatiable demand for calves of all shapes and sizes. I think at this stage we can assume that 2025 is not going to be a one-hit wonder for calf prices and I would expect similar demand for calves next spring. What I’m going to say next may annoy the beef sector, but should dairy farmers be reassessing their breeding policy in light of the increased demand for calves? The price of Friesian bull calves has more than doubled and there are plenty of buyers for all calves, even Jersey crossbreds. This tells me that the problem all along was with beef prices, not calf quality.
Actions to improve calf quality, such as combining sexed semen with beef AI, are costly in terms of increased AI costs, longer gestation length and harder calvings. The biggest cost is the unseen price of having fewer dairy heifer calves around. Do the sums for the next three weeks of AI; on a 100-cow herd you would expect 90 inseminations in the first three weeks. If we assume 55% hold to first service, that means there are 51 cows to serve in the second three weeks of AI. If 55% of these hold that’s 28 pregnancies. If these are to beef, that’s 28 beef calves for sale at an average price of say €300/head, or €8,400.
If these were instead served with conventional dairy AI, you would have 14 heifer calves worth say €600/head and 14 male dairy calves worth say €200/head. That’s a combined calf value of €11,200. Even if the beef calves make more, I still think the dairy farmer is better off with more dairy heifer calves, as they have more options. It’s highly likely that money won’t buy dairy heifers over the coming years, because they simply won’t be there.
SHARING OPTIONS