grass shortage

vanderbadger

how is everyone else doing for grass, fertilizer out for ages now but poor enough return, have alot of cattle indoors still, ground conditions good but if i let them all out they would clean the place in no time..even though weather has been great its still a bit cold or something

wiggy123

grass ok up around me...still half me animals are in..finish last of silage bales..then out..be middle of next week!
there is growth--but not overly great,cold mornings not helping!
but cattle prob better uut this time of year..cleaner/healtier+will do better!

whelan1

just started on second rotation for milkers good enough grass in front of them can still see the slurry on the ground that was put out ages ago though

wiggy123

see that on alot of farms...signs of slurry..it never was absorbed yet

djmc

Lost some yearlings in the last few weeks to samonala from slurry on grass leaves the joys of farming:rolleyes:
I hate to say it but could do with a small mist of rain the dry weather and cold nights are stunting grass growth.
The only problem in ireland latly when it rains it dosent stop for 3 months
Like the rainy season and then the winter season

wiggy123

it not giving rain for the wkend

reilig

Personally I haven't a lot of grass either, but if the weather got a bit warmer, it would shoot up. Have a few cows and calves out which took the pressure off the silage, but only have enough for the next week or 2 anyway.

Agree that the slurry is still sitting on top, but I believe that the best of it has gone down to the roots of the grass and will work there if ground temps get a little higher. The solid matter of slurry that is on top contains very little nutrients. To be honest its better that the weather has been so dry and that the slurry is still on top. Other years it would have been totally washed away by this time with all the rain.



Some of my meadows have good cover - they got slurry and urea 4 weeks ago, but pasture is still slow.

whelan1

djmc wrote: »

Lost some yearlings in the last few weeks to samonala from slurry on grass leaves the joys of farming:rolleyes:
I hate to say it but could do with a small mist of rain the dry weather and cold nights are stunting grass growth.
The only problem in ireland latly when it rains it dosent stop for 3 months
Like the rainy season and then the winter season

sorry bout your loss how long had the slurry been out when they grazed it?

wiggy123

****,thats a disaster! never know whats in ur slurry

Pharaoh1

I notice a huge difference in old pasture and recently reseeded land. The first of my bought in weanlings went to grass on March 11 and I now have 26 paddock grazing on 19 acres with 4 acres old grass sprayed off for reseeding last Friday. I have plenty of grass at least 12 - 15 days ahead but the only reason is that it has all been reseeded since 2005.

Pig slurry at only 1000 gals/acre was spread on half the land in early Feb with half bag urea in early March and about 3/4 bag pasture sward 10 days ago.
The reseeding was expensive but it makes a huge difference. I would say that those weanlings that went to grass in March have gained 30-40kg already as they were pretty empty going out.

blue5000

Still tight here too, yearlings, calved cows with calves are out, dry cows still on silage, re-growths very slow. Frost at night and N wind not much help. It should pick up next week.

reilig

Pharaoh1 wrote: »

I notice a huge difference in old pasture and recently reseeded land. The first of my bought in weanlings went to grass on March 11 and I now have 26 paddock grazing on 19 acres with 4 acres old grass sprayed off for reseeding last Friday. I have plenty of grass at least 12 - 15 days ahead but the only reason is that it has all been reseeded since 2005.

Pig slurry at only 1000 gals/acre was spread on half the land in early Feb with half bag urea in early March and about 3/4 bag pasture sward 10 days ago.
The reseeding was expensive but it makes a huge difference. I would say that those weanlings that went to grass in March have gained 30-40kg already as they were pretty empty going out.

Reseeding is the business for early grass. I did a few acres in 2006 ans its always the first for grass. It needs less artificial fertilizer and makes better use of slurry than old grass.

Min

Yeah, reseeding is needed on most farms, have fields to reseed, noticed a huge difference between reseeded fields and old pastures, also noticed the reseeded fields absorbed the slurry while I can still see it on the old pasture.
Just goes to show the difference between old and new grass.

At the moment some rain would be more than welcome.

UPCS

What we need is some light rain and a rise in night temperatures and hopefully we will get this in the next week.

doctor evil

Pharaoh1 wrote: »

I notice a huge difference in old pasture and recently reseeded land. The first of my bought in weanlings went to grass on March 11 and I now have 26 paddock grazing on 19 acres with 4 acres old grass sprayed off for reseeding last Friday. I have plenty of grass at least 12 - 15 days ahead but the only reason is that it has all been reseeded since 2005.

Pig slurry at only 1000 gals/acre was spread on half the land in early Feb with half bag urea in early March and about 3/4 bag pasture sward 10 days ago.
The reseeding was expensive but it makes a huge difference. I would say that those weanlings that went to grass in March have gained 30-40kg already as they were pretty empty going out.

What did you do before you sowed the grass seeds, was the drainage ok

We had a bit of rain here tonight.

whelan1

we got rain too , but need more

wiggy123

we need a bit more rain..freshen up teh fields

vanderbadger

the trouble is we will probably get too much of it now

whelan1

we got a hell of a shower yesterday evening thunder and hail :rolleyes:

Pharaoh1

doctor evil wrote: »

What did you do before you sowed the grass seeds, was the drainage ok

We had a bit of rain here tonight.

All the reseeding I did was conventional - burn off, plough and till, sowed with grass sower and rolled. I didn't have much problem with weeds after sowing - no need for spraying. I did both autumn and spring and found spring to be the best.
The land is very good well drained.
Put in a bit of extra clover on a few paddocks - only problem I've had is bloat and am thinking about putting in a treatment system for the water troughs

blue5000

whelan1 wrote: »

we got rain too , but need more

what? more rain, not too much I hope