Weather
The weather over the last few days is more typical for the time of year. Cold and wet isn’t good for grass growth but in one sense it might help keep a lid on high growth rates. It’s also a high risk time for grass tetany.
Many of the farms that were growing 60kg and 70kg per day last week are down to 40kg per day this week. As a result some paddocks that were intended to be cut for short term silage have now come back into the grazing mix. There is a best before date on all of paddocks and when grass is growing quickly, it goes off quickly.
The flip side to that is when grass is growing slowly you have no choice but to graze some paddocks that would ideally be cut for silage. Essentially, everything about this time of year is a compromise and nobody will get everything right all of the time.
Based on the forecast and the prospect for growth, I would be inclined to run an average farm cover of closer to 200kg/cow, but be prepared to take action quickly when temperatures warm up again and then go back to a 170kg to 180kg per cow target for May. On fertiliser, depending on allowances I would be inclined to go with 20 to 30 units/acre of N along with a source of sulphur, potash and phosphorus if there is an allowance.
Breeding
Most farmers will have started or be about to start breeding inside the next three weeks. There are still plenty of good sexed semen bulls available and lots of options when it comes to conventional AI.
We have some analysis on stock numbers in this week's paper, particularly numbers of heifer calves on the ground and heifers that calved for the first time this year.
Both are well back on normal and the worry is if that trend continues we won’t have enough replacements coming through. North America and north west Europe are ahead of us in that regard where heifers are very scarce and very expensive and the industry can’t grow because the stock just isn’t there.
Breeding too many cows to beef is the wrong thing to do if it means being short of replacements, particularly in light of the risk of TB and bluetongue.
If using sexed semen, for every two straws used there should be one heifer calf. If using conventional semen, for every 3.6 straws used on cows there should be one heifer calf. Most herds should be aiming to have 25% dairy heifers in next years’ calf crop.
Reseeding
The wet weather has called off reseeding work over the last few days but it is still relatively early in the year for grass seeds. However, between spraying off and allowing enough time for the old sward to fully die back and then cultivating it takes at least three weeks. Most farmers in the east and south would prefer to get them in by early May to avoid the risk of drought with later sown crops.
There appears to be bigger interest in reseeding this year and the importance of spending a bit of time picking good grass and clover varieties. Too many mixtures contain some good varieties that are high on the pasture profit index, but have mediocre varieties in the mix too.
SHARING OPTIONS