Can your farm produce more grass in 2016 than it did in 2015?
For the vast majority of beef farmers, the answer to this question is most definitely yes, and it has nothing to do with the weather.
Teagasc grassland management specialist Michael O’Donovan addresses farmers at a Moorepark open day. Photo O’Gorman Photography
Results from the National Farm Survey show that the average suckler beef farmer utilises just 5.5 tonnes of grass dry matter each year, when there is the potential on many beef farms to grow and use almost double this figure.
Remember, growing more grass is the same as increasing your farm size.
There are four key ways that will ensure that more grass will be grown on all farms:
(i)
having the correct phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and lime status;
(ii)
having a rotational grazing system;
(iii)
reseeding poor performing swards; and,
(iv)
applying more nitrogen.
Try to match the type of cattle and the group size to suit ground conditions and grass supplies
Soils that are low in P and K or in need of lime cannot grow anywhere near the amount of grass that they have the potential to grow.
Seven out of 10 fields on beef farms need lime, which is one of the least expensive elements to get right and, when corrected, releases locked-up N, P and K in soils.
Where only the lime status on a farm is corrected, grass growth can increase by an average of 1.0t of dry matter per hectare in the year.
Nitrogen (N) fertiliser prices are back by €30-40/tonne, while phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are back in the region of €15-20/tonne, compared to 2015.
The market indicates a lot of price variability at present, depending on available stock and location.
Given such volatility, it may be a good time to just purchase what you are going to use.
In many places, ground is still very wet, but the mild winter has seen soil temperatures hold up well, and ground that has been rested since early October has in excess of 1,000kg DM/ha (8-10cm).
Use electric wire to control grazing on heavy covers to prevent covers from being trampled
In March, the target should be to get out 20- 30 units of N as soon as ground conditions allow.
You can use straight urea or CAN, if your P and K levels are adequate, but you would be better to use a compound NPK fertiliser if indexes are low. Try breaking the farm up into:
* heavier covers (8-10cm), which can be grazed with light stock as soon as ground conditions allow, without receiving fertiliser. Once grazed out, you can apply 1,500-2,000 gallons of slurry/acre followed by 20 units of N.
* intermediate covers (6-8cm) that will not be grazed for three to four weeks are ideal for 20-25 units of N.
* light covers (4-6cm), which would benefit from up to 2,000 gallons slurry/acre.
Get 20-30 units of N out followed by 20 units of N, 10 days to a fortnight later.
Keep an eye on soil temperatures and the weather forecast before applying fertiliser.
For those of you lucky enough to be able to get stock out in February/March, and using the spring rotation planner, try to stick to the planner guidelines of 40% grazed by March 17 and 100% by April 10, on a dry farm after early February turnout, and 40% grazed by March 31 and 100% by April 20, on a heavy soil farm.
(Source – Irish Examiner – Teagasc – 10/03/2016)
Clover has been abandoned by many farmers.
Nationwide Rollout For Teagasc Clover Trials
Clover trials are due to be rolled out on up to eight commercial dairy farms around the country over the coming months, as Teagasc look to replicate the increased profits generated by the plant on research farms over the last three years.
Grazing cows on swards with an average of 30pc clover content at Clonakilty increased sales after costs by €160 per cow.
Clover had been abandoned by many farmers because of its lack of persistence, but Teagasc researchers have shown that it can increase pasture output and cow intake, even in situations where up to 250kg/ha of nitrogen was being applied.
Separate experiments in Moorepark and Clonakilty have shown an increase in milk solids per cow of 40kg and 58kg, respectively, from cows grazing clover swards versus non-clover swards.
Where cattle have caused surface damage in the first grazing, it is important to give this grazing area extra time to recover
The increased milk solids and higher profit does come with larger management challenges, especially reduced spring grass availability and higher risk of bloat.
While clover does not over-winter as well as grass, resulting in an additional silage requirement in the spring, researchers believe the additional 1-2tDM/ha of growth during the rest of the year more than compensates for the slow start.
Bloat
Dr Michael Egan, who has been working on the research in Moorepark, said that cow mortality from bloat was not an issue, averaging 1pc over the past four years.
“You must use bloat oil in the water, but there’s more to it than that,” he said.
“Over the years we’ve realised that you can’t keep switching cows from clover-rich swards to grass-rich swards, and you shouldn’t turn out hungry cows into damp pasture with more than 50pc clover in it.
“There are simple ways to ensure this, such as using a break-fence to curtail the amount of clover available during the first two hours of grazing,” he said.
Dr Egan made reference to the Greenfield farm in Kilkenny where clover inclusion levels were 15-20pc lower, resulting in zero incidences of bloat.
Careful management of under-grazed paddocks is essential to prevent long-term damage
He believes that it is possible to convert an entire grazing platform over to clover within three years without increasing reseeding above 10pc per year.
“Obviously the area that you are reseeding should be planted with clover seed at 0.5-1kg, but it is also possible to stitch in clover into existing pasture at about 1-1.5kg/ac.
“Farmers can also exclude silage ground from clover reseeding because we have found that clover does not suit silage ground,” he said.
Despite the requirement for better levels of soil fertility and management, the grass specialist believes that the 150kg/ha of nitrogen that a clover sward can fix from the atmosphere will produce not just an extra 1tDM/ha per year, but also herbage that is more palatable.
This will result in an extra 85-90kg/ha of milk solids.
In Clonakilty, where pastures had additional clover, researchers calculated that it added nearly 2tDM/ha to annual output.
The next stage in the verification process is to see if the same results in the Moorepark study can be repeated on commercial farms with a range of soil types and management systems, stated Dr Egan.
Control the size of the grazing area to small allocations in the spring. Moving cattle quickly on to the next paddock prevents the sward from becoming damaged
Adam Woods in the beef farm at Teagasc Grange said a water system to administer bloat was being installed with the possibility of clover trials.
(Source – Irish Independent – Indo Farming – Darragh Mc Cullough – 09/03/2016)
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