By Teagasc’s Seán Cummins and James Fitzgerald
Grass growth rates have now moved into surplus territory on the majority of the Teagasc Green Acres participants’ farms.
Where possible, farmers are starting to take out surplus paddocks to keep quality grass ahead of cattle and to provide a quality feedstuff in the shoulders of the year. If the first rotation has not been completed at this stage, it may be worth considering taking ungrazed paddocks out as bales.
However, not all paddocks are suitable for cutting due to terrain or scheme involvements and, if this is the case, prioritise these areas for grazing; thus allowing you to take out more suitable paddocks as surpluses.
If in a position of surplus and bales have been removed, remember to replenish off-takes of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in the form of artificial or chemical fertiliser.
Generally speaking, an application rate of 2,000-2,500 gallons/ac of ‘thick’ cattle slurry will suffice in this regard.
The yearling cattle have settled into grazing really well following a later-than-hoped turnout. The levels of rainfall we got here during February and March made letting out cattle impossible, but that is something that can happen in this area and when farming land that is that bit heavier in nature.
The yearling bulls are out grazing three weeks now in groups of 30 on three different blocks. They are being joined by the oldest of this year’s calf crop, as they now are being weaned and turned out, but – as ever – with the bull system I run, the demand for grass during the early part of the year is not that high.
What I am focusing on at the moment is trying to maximise the quality of the grass that my cattle are grazing. This involves getting the whole farm cleaned off as fast as possible and spreading fertiliser to make sure that what grows back is as leafy as possible.
At the moment, I’m spreading a bag of 18-6-12 following grazing. When I’m finished this round of fertiliser, I will have spread 40 units of nitrogen (N)/ac on the grazing ground.
I have started cutting and baling paddocks that I know I won’t be able to graze soon as a means of catching up with grass. There will be another four or five paddocks that I will do this with between now and when I harvest the first-cut silage in mid-May.
These paddocks will get a light coat of slurry after cutting to replace the P and K that the silage takes out of the ground. Although I’m only expecting three or four bales/ac, this should be very good silage which I will feed to the first of my finishing bulls later in the summer.
An average growth rate of 75.6kg DM/ha/day was recorded over the three separate blocks over the past seven days.
Grass growth rates have responded well after last weekend’s rain and the farm has now entered a surplus position with 22 days grass ahead of stock.
Ideally, we’d like to be taking out surplus bales off any of the heavier covers; but they tend to be occurring on parts of the farm designated as Low Input Permanent Pasture under GLAS [Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme].
To resolve this, we’re grazing these areas hard with larger numbers of stock to make inroads and to get them cleared as quickly as possible to maintain quality in the next rotation.
By doing this, we’ll be freeing up some of the ground closer to the yard – and not in the GLAS scheme – to take as surplus bales. If conditions come right and growth rates continue to remain strong, some of these paddocks may even be included with the first-cut pit silage in mid-May.
The majority of non-GLAS grazing ground has now received 64 units of nitrogen/ac, with 18 of these units coming in the form of 18-6-12.
