Grass 10 Featured Farmer - Philip & John Tyndall, Co. Wexford
'We got farm cover up to 1050Kg DM/ha at peak. My last walk last week the first week of November showed growth was at 25Kg DM/ha/day, and there was 1300kg DM/ha back on first paddocks closed' Philip Tyndall
Location: Bunclody, Co. Wexford
Enterprise: Dairy
Stocking Rate: 3.6 LU/ha on milking platform
Herd EBI: €169
2021 KgMS/Cow: 556 KgMS/Cow
2021 Annual tonnage: 14.6 T DM/ha
Current Milk Yield/Cow: 14.6L (1.35 KgMS)
Autumn Grazing Management
We have 10 grazings left on wetter ground near the river where water is lying. Cows are in since yesterday, but they were out by day for the last week up until this. I’m hoping I’ll get a break in the weather to get the cows back out, as there is a cover of 2,000 KgDM/ha on these paddocks. If we can’t get the cows to it, we’ll try the in-calf heifers.
Our closing farm cover target for December 1st is 700 KgDM/ha. If we don’t get back out it’ll be well above this as the farm cover is 770 Kg DM/ha. We’ll just have to try our best but don’t want to poach paddocks. The target opening cover in February is 1100 KgDM/ha. Growth over the winter is 5-6 kgDM/ha/day and we have had up to 8 kgDM/ha/day. We have a lot of reseeds and good soil fertility which underpin this.
See picture main picture above with Philip's cover in early November
Diet: 14 KgDM Silage + 4 Kg Meal (6 KgDM Grass if grazing)
Pre-Grazing Yield: 2,000 KgDM/ha
Average Farm Cover (AFC): 770 KgDM/ha
Cover/cow: 195 KgDM/LU
Growth: 25 KgDM/ha/day
Annual Tonnage YTD: 13 T DM/ha (last week October)
2022 Total Chemical N/ha: 211 Kg N/ha
Soil Fertility and Reseeding
We soil sampled everywhere in January but will sample the grazing block again this winter. We went with 80 T lime on the grazing block when the AFC was low before the rain came in September. Our fertiliser plan for 2023 will be based on the last samples This will be done soon so we can order some fertiliser before the spring.
I have one paddock identified for reseeding with grass-clover mix next year, it’s just not doing the tonnage. And there’s two paddocks for oversowing with clover. I think I will put some grass seed in the mix too to freshen up the sward.
Philip is the 2021 Young Grassland Farmer of the Year Winner.