Tírlán Farmer Updates 2023

Week of May 19th 

Farmer Focus - Donal Kavanagh

Donal is farming at Carrigeen, Baltinglass on the Wicklow/Kildare border. His milking platform is supported with an outblock that can be zero grazed. After doing a grass walk on Wednesday May 17th Donal can now take out surplus paddocks while 1st cut silage is being made this week. Donal's growth was 101kgs DM/ha and with the surplus taken out cover per cow will drop to 184 per cow and PGY will be back to 1500 kgs DM/ha. Donal is aiming for a high quality first cut for milking cow feed. He has a number of pits and the long narrow one will be filled first.

Slurry is spread back on any of the zero grazed ground at a rate of 3000 gal/acre and then the silage ground will be targeted.

Last week Donal was able to catch up on some small jobs:

• new bank and fence out from an already fenced watercourse to allow for a new hedge
• new paddock entrances to gain better access in wet weather
• spot spraying noxious weeds.

Paddocks are receiving 10-30 kgs N Protected Urea plus S depending on clover content.

Week of May 5th

Comment

This week with the pick up in grass growth alot of the monitor farms are taking the opportunity to reseed, incorporate clover and take out some surplus grass paddocks for bales.

I was with Jack and Larry Kearney, near Rathcormack in Co Cork this week. They had sprayed off 5Ha's on the milking platform, ploughed it last week and on Tuesday it was being levelled and a grass/clover seed mix of 2kgs Aberclyde, 4kgs Glenfield, 4kgs Abergain and 2kgs of Chieftain and Crusader was going in. They also spread 2 tonne of lime per acre before sowing. All was to be rolled and 3 bags of 10-10-20 was to be applied. Jack hopes that this 5Ha's will increase the clover content already present on the milking platform. We scored the paddocks on Tuesday and 14% is a high score with 28% medium and 22% low.

The Kearneys find that the full reseed method is the most successful for them to incorporate clover on the farm. They will start reducing chemical nitrogen on these high and medium paddocks from May onwards. They are feeding 5-6kgs meal as with the reseeding out demand is high and up to this week grass was tight. It is a short term solution for long term gain!

Week of April 21st

Comment

With weather improving alot of decisions regarding surplus grass paddocks being taken out and reseeding plans being put into place this week. For many of the monitor farms growth has allowed them to increase the stocking rate and take paddocks out.

Kevin Murphy

For Kevin Murphy it has meant 5Ha's of paddocks will be taken out for silage. The PGY was above 1700kgsDM/ha and when we did a predicted grass wedge for next week and took these paddocks out the farm still had sufficient grass for the herd for the next 7 days. Kevin has also ear marked a paddock for reseeding, to be sprayed as soon as possible. This will be another 4.5Ha's out from the platform.

Clover Score

We also carried out a clover score on the farm, finding that 44% of the milking platform has clover present. We will re do this excerise in August to monitor clover content on the farm. Kevin is following the cows with fertiliser spreading 30 units of Protected Urea. Breeding will start from the 1st May for cows and heifers. Cows are currently doing 2.27kgs MS/cow on grass and 3kgs meal.

Week of April 7th 

Overall Comment

After 2 weeks of rain, cows on/off grazing things have started to settle down for the monitor farmers. A rise in the protein % has begun now that herds are out grazing day and night. High levels of meal feeding were in as a lot of silage was being fed. This is being reduced this week and most silage has gone from the diet.

Grazing

Most of the group have started the 2nd round, some grazing heavier 1st round covers by night and 1300-1400 2nd round by day. Fertiliser re Pro Urea, 18-6-12 is being spread, 25 units/acre and others have spread 2500 gallons slurry/acre.

Farm Walk

Tom & David Fennelly held a Clover 150 farm walk on their farm on April 7th. 150 farmers got an opportunity to hear speakers on topics of clover nutrient management, best use of the slurry on their farm, reduced N fertiliser, the ability of clover to fix 100-120 kgs N/ha, the importance of best practise on spreading N to improve water quality, the best clover cultivars to use in 2023 and how to incorporate clover into our swards.

Both Tom and David explained the white clover, red clover and multi species swards on their farm and how they are on a journey on how best to work it on their farm and reduce chemical N inputs.

Week of March 24th 

Comment

Tricky grazing situation

Well the last 2 weeks have been tricky when it came to grazing. What has worked well for the monitor farmers is on - off grazing. Once cows have been milked they have no access to silage and are held in the yard/shed if possible before being let out to graze. Good access to paddocks when weather is wet and windy is vital. Cows having multi access points can reduce poaching.

John Ryan 

I was on farm with John Ryan in Gortnahoe, Co Tipperary,  on Thursday March 23rd and I could see how on off grazing was working. John allocated enough grass for the 2-3 hour period and then cows came back into the cubicle shed. Cows had access to silage in the shed and he is feeding 5kgs meal in the parlour. It is an awkward time but with a little bit of work in allocating grass it does work. Another device that is useful for on off grazing is a back latch or one that you can open gaps with your mobile phone. As they say every little helps!

Clover150 Farm Walk

Tom and David Fennelly in Portarlington, Co Laois R32 YA21 will be hosting one of the Clover 150 farm walks on the 6th April at 11am. All are very welcome to attend. We will be covering clover establishment & management, fertiliser strategies to maintain clover and pasture production and a focus on how this works in improving water quality. Get details of all Grass10 / Clover150 farm walks here

Week of March 10th 

Comment

Apart from the last 2 days of snow/rain we have had a great 2 weeks weather. With an average of 50% grazed, all are heading to having 66% grazed by St Patricks Day. In some cases heifers will graze part of the milking platform to increase % grazed.

Managing grazing 

At this stage it is as important to look at paddocks grazed in early Feb as well as what is ahead to graze. The cover on these 1st paddocks grazed will allow you to plan to speed up or slow down the rotation. It is also important to do a farm walk & see where the AFC is. You must ensure not to let the cover drop below 500 kgs DM/ha. If this happens it takes the farm longer to recover & extra supplementary feed will be required.

Kevin Murphy 

I was with Kevin Murphy just outside of Gorey & he has 85% calved plus 59% grazed. The farm on the day was receiving 2500 gallons/acre of slurry on grazed ground via the umbilical system. This was being done by local contractors which allowed Kevin more time for cows & calves and to get a grass walk completed.

It was great to see a cover of over 700kgs DM/ha on the 1st paddocks grazed. Kevin will walk again in a week or so and see how much grass he will have for the 2nd rotation for end of March/early April. Ground is grazed, sufficient nutrients for this time of year is applied so just the weather conditions will dictate how things go.

Week of February 27th

Overall Comment

All monitor farmers will have 30-40% of milking platform grazed by end of February

The monitor farms are making great headway with getting on average 33% of the milking platform grazed over the month of February. All will have 30-40% grazed by end of February. This is important as it is this grass regrowth that will be available to the cows in early April. This ground has received 16-20 units of Protected Urea or 2000/2500 gallons of slurry per acre initially.

As paddocks are being grazed off, the farms have the opportunity to follow up with fertiliser or slurry. Targeted paddocks for grazing has been:

• wet ground
• last years new reseeds
• ones with a large % of clover.

It is also a great chance to graze out heavy covers to allow light back into the base of the sward, get NPK applied ready for the next round.

On our farm visits this last 2 weeks we have been joined by Tirlán ASSAP advisor TJ Phelan who has assessed the dirty water from yards and seen how the farms have put works into place to reduce this waste water. It is a good time of year to re assess this as the yard is at its busiest and its easier to see where the most pressure is coming from. Keeping the front of the silage pit clean is a great help.

Things getting done this week involves booking the 1st milk recording and the Fennelly's are hosting a group of Ag Science secondary school students to their farm.

Week of February 13th

Overall Comment

Pretty much a textbook start to Calving 2023! There was a great drying out of ground at the start of Feruary which meant excellent grazing conditions for calved cows. Opening AFC for the group is behind the target of 950-1000kgs DM/ha but spring grass budgets/rotations are in practise. Most of the group are aiming for 30% grazed particularly in these good conditions. It has also meant that ground has received anything from 2000/2500 gallons slurry per acre via LESS or the umbilical system on lower covers of 700kgs DM/ha or less.

Ground that has not received slurry has got 16-20 units Protected Urea on most farms in the last week. Soil temperatures are above 7 degrees and a response in growth is being seen in grazed out padocks from last week. Many of the group are milking OAD for anything from a week to month of February which is great to help out with the heavy workload at present. Two of the herds had a few cases of milk fever and an adjustments to minerals has helped with this issue.