Dairy advice: Dealing with the current low in grass growth rates

Grass growth continues to be stubbornly slow on many farms this year, writes Mark Treacy, Dairy Specialist at Teagasc, who looks at the three important areas of dairy cow intake, maintaining average farm cover and fodder budgeting for the winter ahead.

Recent rain has helped in areas, but more parts of the country are still suffering due to moisture deficits. The situation needs to be carefully assessed on your farm from a number of angles to ensure sufficient feed is being allocated to the herd, farm cover is managed to maximise the chances of a fast recovery when sufficient rain arrives in your area, and finally to assess the impact on winter feed stocks.

Feeding the cow

Dairy cow dry matter intakes should be targeted at around 18.0-18.5kg DM/day. Where grass supply is tight, additional feeds will be required to maintain intake levels. Failure to sufficiently fill the cow’s diet will impact cow performance. A shortfall of 1kg DM in the cow’s diet will lead to a shortfall of between 0.85 and 1.05 UFL, depending on the quality of the feeds, and result in a reduction of about 2L/cow/day in milk production. Determine exactly how much grass you are allocating each cow and fill the gap with other feeds such as concentrates, silage or straights such as soya hulls. It is also important to be realistic about how much of the allocated feed will actually be consumed by the cow if pasture quality is poor.

Average farm cover

Preserving average farm cover (AFC) is vital to ensure a fast recovery in growth rates once sufficient rainfall is received in your area. As well as recovering slower, farms with very low farm covers are at risk of drying out quicker due to the lack of grass cover on the soil. 

Aim to maintain farm cover above 500 to 550kg DM/ha if at all possible. This can only be achieved by matching growth and demand on the farm once the farm cover has fallen to this level. Rotation length should be maintained at between 21 and 25 days. When growth does improve continue to supplement the cow’s diet to keep demand below growth until grass supply recovers to around 180kg DM/cow.

Winter fodder budget

It is very important to complete a winter fodder budget if not done so already. Current poor growth is impacting on the winter feed supplies for a number of reasons. Surplus bales are being fed to bridge the current gap in the feed budget, with second cut silage also being grazed on some farms. There has also been a reduction in the amount of fodder conserved, as there has been few opportunities to take out surplus paddocks and second cut silage crops are growing slower than normal. Where a winter fodder shortfall is identified, act early to make a plan to rectify the situation.

Also read: Budgeting feed for next winter