David Gannon Galway - Grass 10 Featured Farmer
Wet weather over the weekend forced our hand and we had to house cows fulltime, however we had a great run up to that and apart from a few wet days, we got consistent grass in by day for the first 3 weeks of November. Read David Gannon's update on autumn grass management and clover evaluation
Name: David Gannon
Location: Craughwell, Co. Galway
Enterprise: Milking 153 cows
Stocking Rate: 2.9 LU/Ha on MP
2021 Annual tonnage: 14 T DM/ha
We oversowed and reseeded a number of paddocks with clover so I was concious to keep a lower cover on these over the winter, so I have been grazing these paddocks during early November. The key to the extended autumn grazing was getting the AFC to 1135 Kg DM/Ha in late September which carries me through to mid November.
Average Farm Cover is a little lower than where it normally would be at 630 Kg DM/Ha, but I am confident that this will be over 700 Kg DM/Ha on the 1st December and 950-1000 Kg DM/Ha in early February.
By the weekend I will have about 15% of the herd dried off and will milk once a day for December. The cows are milking 1.2 Kg MS per cow per day currently @ 5.89 Fat and 4.32 Protein.
Diet: 15 KgDM Silage + 3 Kg Meal
Average Farm Cover (AFC): 630 KgDM/ha
Cover/cow: 279 KgDM/LU
Growth: 25 KgDM/ha/day
Annual Tonnage YTD: 14.4 T DM/ha
2022 Total Chemical N/ha: 147 Kg N/ha
Clover Paddock Evaluation
Below is the summary of the clover paddocks, with the N recieved and tonnage grown for 2022. I have been very encouraged by the results from this year and intend to incorporate more clover into my swards in 2023.
| Paddock | Method | N received | Tonnage grown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paddock 4 | Oversow | 159 Kg N/Ha | 14.9 |
| Paddock 31 | Oversow | 160 Kg N/Ha | 15.3 |
| Paddock 33 | Reseed | 102 Kg N/Ha | 15.35 |
| Paddock 34 | Reseed | 99 Kg N/Ha | 11.1 |
| Paddock 35 | Reseed | This year | 7 |
| Average | 147 Kg N/Ha | 14.3 |
Soil Fertility & Farm Roadways
I have put a big focus on improving the K levels on my farm, as its critically important to the long term success of grass clover swards. A number of paddocks received 50 units of K per acre, while some other paddocks that had a lower worm count recieved farm yard manure. I will soil sample the farm again on the 1st week of January. I also will improve some farm roadways by cleaning verges and top dressing in a few areas that take alot of traffic. I will install some astroturf where the cows enter the collecting yard.