Time to review your winter feed situation
With PastureBase Ireland showing a 1.2t DM/ha reduction in total grass growth for the first six months of the year when compared to the previous five-year average, the Teagasc Grass10 team is advising farmers to complete a fodder budget to review their winter feed situation.
The first half of 2024 will be remembered for both poor grass growth rates and poor grass quality, meaning that most farms are 15-20% back on growth rate for the year to date. Given this, the Grass10 team recommends the completion of a fodder budget through PastureBase Ireland now, especially on farms that have been feeding silage over the past 3-4 weeks.
Tips on completing a fodder budget through PastureBase Ireland are contained within the below video:
Figure 1: PastureBase Ireland Grass Growth Curve 2020-2024
Grass growth and maintaining/increasing average farm cover
As part of its weekly newsletter, the Grass10 team reports there has been a slight improvement in grass availability on Irish farms over the past seven days. Growth rates for the week up until Tuesday, July 3, were 56kg DM/ha/day on dairy farms and 50kg DM/ha/day on drystock farms measuring through PastureBase Ireland. At the same time, grass demand on dairy farms was 49kg DM/ha/day, reduced somewhat by the introduction of concentrate (4kg/head/day) and silage (1kg/head/day) supplementation. The above mentioned improvement in grass availability is presented in the form of cover per livestock unit (cover/LU) of <150kg DM/LU, which has improved from 26% of farms to 16% of farms.
In terms of grass growth predictions for the week ahead, the Grass10 reports some positivity, with growth rates predicted in the mid 60kg DM/ha/day mark for large parts of the country, and it is advising farmers to continue to walk their farms and to reduce supplement when cover/LU is greater than 200kg DM/LU.
Mid-season targets:
- Farm cover >600kg DM/ha (170kg DM/LU) on dairy farms or 12-15 days ahead on drystock farms;
- Rotation length: 21-25 days;
- Pre-grazing yield: >1,200 kg DM/ha.
Correcting grass quality as we move into July
The Grass10 team also shared the following advice to correct grass quality:
- Grass quality is a challenge on many farms with a lot of stem/seed heads present in grazing swards;
- Paddocks will need corrective action this rotation in order to provide quality pasture for the remainder of the grazing season;
- If no surplus are appearing on farm, this may need to be done with a mower post grazing or removed as surplus bales if the farm has surplus grass.
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