Grass 10 Featured Farmer: Joe and Michael Murphy
Joe and Michael Murphy milk spring-calving cows on free-draining land in Bennettsbridge, Co. Kilkenny. They provided an update on their grazing management in this week’s edition of the Grass 10 newsletter.
They have 15 cows calved so far and have turned the cows out due to the excellent grazing conditions. They have some slurry applied on low covers and heifer ground and will spread 23 units/ac of nitrogen (N) on the remaining paddocks on the milking platform.
Farm details:
- Stocking rate: 2.84LU/ha on milking platform;
- Milk solids: 540kg/cow in 2022;
- Farm walks completed in 2020: 39;
- 2022 meal fed per cow: 956kg;
- Herd EBI: €187;
- Annual Tonnage: 11t DM/Ha.
First rotation grazing management
"Cows have been out now since Saturday, January 28th. Ground conditions are excellent. We have 15 calved so it is still early days. I am hoping to have 40% of the milking platform grazed by the March 1st. I have a spring rotation planner and grass budget completed and will update with grazing. Cows are getting two allocations of grass per day and I’m hoping to turn out full-time by the weekend."
- Pre-grazing yield: 750-1,100kg DM/ha;
- Method of grazing: on-off;
- Next paddocks to graze: 800kg DM/ha, to get paddocks cleaned out well;
- Average Farm Cover (AFC): 1,174kg DM/ha;
- Growth: 6kg DM/ha/day;
- Diet: Cows are being allocated 10kg DM grass, 3.5kg meal and 2kg of silage.
First rotation and slurry
"I have 2,500gallons/ac of slurry spread on low covers (<600kg DM/ha) on the milking block and also on the heifer block, with trailing shoe method. I will follow cows later in February with slurry after grazing. I will travel with 23 units/ac of N on the remainder of the platform this week. Ground is in excellent condition."
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