Grass growth around the country continues to struggle, with many farmers finding it difficult to build up their average farm cover (AFC) and see out the grazing season on a high.
There is no doubt that it has been a hugely challenging grazing season, but with grass continuing to struggle in the autumn, farmers need to do all they can to ensure a good closing cover and extend the grazing season for as long as possible.
There has been a huge variation in grass growth seen right across the country, as the southern half of the country has only received little rainfall in the last week or so.
On the contrary, the northern half of the country has got an unprecedented amount of rain in the last number of days, which has left the land saturated.
It goes without saying, that there is no advice that suits all farmers in the country, as everyone’s situation is different.
Grass growth
Grass growth rates are well below the usual for this time of the year at 47kg dry matter (DM)/ha on dairy farms, with a demand of 45kg DM/ha.
This poor grass growth has had a knock-on effect on the AFC for most farms, as AFC is well behind target for this time of the year, averaging 742kg DM/ha.
The typical diet across the country at the moment consists of 13.5kg DM grass, with 3.5kg of meal being fed with an average of 1kg of silage being added, according to Pasturebase Ireland.
The average cover/livestock unit (LU) sits at 251kg DM/ha and it is important for farmers to assess where they are in terms of their autumn grazing targets.
For farmers who are stocked at 3.0LU/ha, the target for this time of the year is 250 to 300kg DM/LU, with maintaining a rotation length of 30 days.
Your rotation length must stay at 30 days now in order to utilise fertiliser spread during this rotation, and so farmers must continue to walk the farm as frequently as possible, so they know what lies ahead.
Farmers need to work out their nitrogen (N) allowance and spread N now to get the highest response.
Paddocks being grazed this week that have only one application of fertiliser left should get 30kg N/ha which is about 25 units N/ac.
You can reduce your herd demand by introducing more supplement through silage if possible, as it has the greatest impact on reducing grass intake.
Another way to reduce your herd’s demand is to remove any surplus stock and/or cull animals that need to be culled. If possible, allocate more grazing area to the milking herd to reduce the demand.
Dealing with the wet
Parts of the northern half of the country have received a lot of rain over the last number of days, and it has taken its toll on heavy soil farms, leaving farmers no option but to house the animals.
In difficult conditions like this where the weather is not making your decisions easy, the priority of grazing at the shoulders of the year are to:
- Feed the animal;
- Avoid damage at all costs;
- Achieve the best possible residuals.
In order to maintain strong milk production at this time of the year where grazing is limited, high quality bale silage should be allocated to the milking cows where possible.
The main thing is, in whatever situation you are in, is to keep the cows fed right and keep their milk production up for as long as possible before you worry about grazing targets and covers.