During this time of year, dairy farmers need to do all they can to ensure their cows stay out at grass for as long as possible.
This may be difficult in certain areas of the country, as parts of the northern half of the country have been experiencing torrential rain, causing the land to be saturated and inaccessible in parts.
However, even in these areas, there needs to be an effort to keep cows out at grass for as long as possible this autumn, as it could make the difference in margins come the end of a tight year.
As it is now mid-September, it is important to remember that potentially 20-25% of the total grass growing season remains for 2024.
Some farm set-ups and systems will be unable to stay out for that long, but there needs to be an effort made in maximising the grass growing season by attempting to extend your grazing season.
Extra days at grass
In order to achieve these extra days at grass, farmers must meet their grazing targets for the remainder of the year.
The first target is to build grass supply in order to extend the grazing season into early November, and then to make sure the farm is closed with enough grass supply for the spring of 2025.
Extending the number of days your cows are out at grass will help reduce your feed budget costs, as you won’t be feeding as much concentrates and silage.
This is particularly relevant this year, as the tight growing year has caused a potential fodder deficit this winter, so, extending your grazing season will not only cut costs, it will save on fodder.
Every extra day at grass in the autumn is worth approximately €3/cow/day according to Teagasc, which could be the difference in profit come the end of the year.
The autumn grazing targets for a farm with a stocking rate of 3.0 livestock units (LU)/ha are as follows:
Date Cover/cow
(Kg DM)Average farm cover
(Kg DM/ha)Rotation length September 1 330 990 30 days Mid-September 350 1,050 35 days October 1 370 1,100 40 days
By November 1, 65% of your grazing platform should be closed and be completely in order to achieve an average farm cover (AFC) of 650-800kg DM/ha, depending on your spring demand.
By now, the whole milking platform should be available to all of the milking cows, and any young stock should be moved to out farms if possible in order to maximise the amount of grass available to the cows.
Farmers who do not achieve these targets this autumn can see increased supplement costs of €100/cow and it is the same scenario for farmers who are over stocked.
If AFC is behind target, farmers should supplement with silage or meal to help build covers over the coming days.
Introducing zero-grazed grass is also an option at the moment while grass growth is still present and soil temperatures are still high, however, this has to be done sooner rather than later.