Grass growth

babybrian

So how are people in different parts of the country doing with grass?

Were at 200kg/lu stocked at 3.8lu/ha. Growth is at 52 this week, down from 75 last.
Wedge is a little off with cows supposed to be going into a cover of 2300 tomorrow :eek: Think I might skip that and cut for silage with 3 others early next week. But other than that its even.

Now rain forecast for tue/wed so probably will be another surge of grass with ground temps around 13. Reseeded ground hasnt got any rain in 9 days so I am praying for the stuff but then will it stop

PMU

150kgs,lu.growth 42.just below the line.big spurt of growth next week with the rain.cows milking well,30lts.kamars on today.25units N on 5 paddocks today

whelan1

i am only learning on the grass growth thingy, but i find it fantastic...

bob charles

ah great all you lads are on the Teagasc wavelength:rolleyes:. I find the grass thingy a lot of crap talk. I have just barely enough but completely overstocked at 6lu/ha of grazing beef animals, quality of grass is outstanding and buffer feeding to a high level probably supplying 33% of daily intake with buffer. grass growth is average, waiting to get on with 50kgs N per ha when the rains come, then I will have grass:). Allot of animals are still indoors but not worried as their indoor diet is cheaper than the outside grazing/buffer costs with similar thrive of both, these will get out when 20ha of reseed is back in grazing

locky76

whelan1 wrote: »

i am only learning on the grass growth thingy, but i find it fantastic...

Likewise Whelan,
babybrian/PMU is it difficult to get into the lingo KG grass/LU etc. and the grass growth measurement?
Is it worth doing it for sucklers?
I walk the land once a week with the young fella and estimate how much grazing i have ahead of myself what paddocks i should stop for meadowing etc. but nothing more sientific than that.

babybrian

no its very easy locky76, I thaught myself to do it without any help.. Downloaded the grazing manual from teagasc website http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/moorepark/

I presume it would be handy for suckler farmers too if you want to get to grips with grass surplus and deficits. Of course the secret to all good quality stock is to have lush quality grass for the animals to eat and its cheaper than silage

Birdnuts

If this type of weather keeps going without a significant break(which could well happen looking at the latest models) then pastures on slopes and lighter soils will start to exhibit drought stress!!!

PS: On a related note the lake here in Blessington is nearing its lowest level since the the 70's!!:eek:

sh1tstirrer

Birdnuts wrote: »

If this type of weather keeps going without a significant break(which could well happen looking at the latest models) then pastures on slopes and lighter soils will start to exhibit drought stress!!!

PS: On a related note the lake here in Blessington is nearing its lowest level since the the 70's!!:eek:

Haven't you heard there is rain on the way? I was going to cut grass today for baling on Monday :mad:

thats interesting

bob charles wrote: »

ah great all you lads are on the Teagasc wavelength:rolleyes:. I find the grass thingy a lot of crap talk. I have just barely enough but completely overstocked at 6lu/ha of grazing beef animals, quality of grass is outstanding and buffer feeding to a high level probably supplying 33% of daily intake with buffer. grass growth is average, waiting to get on with 50kgs N per ha when the rains come, then I will have grass:). Allot of animals are still indoors but not worried as their indoor diet is cheaper than the outside grazing/buffer costs with similar thrive of both, these will get out when 20ha of reseed is back in grazing

kinda disagree. While I don't totally take the teagasc line,i think what they advise is near enough on the money. I could not imagine farming any other way other than an emphasis on grass. By a long shot it is substantially cheaper to run a farm on grass, than run it indoors. An focus on grass cuts machinery and labour too.

PMU

locky76 wrote: »

Likewise Whelan,
babybrian/PMU is it difficult to get into the lingo KG grass/LU etc. and the grass growth measurement?
Is it worth doing it for sucklers?
I walk the land once a week with the young fella and estimate how much grazing i have ahead of myself what paddocks i should stop for meadowing etc. but nothing more sientific than that.

walking the farm weekly and estimating ,you are half way there.its about knowing how much your animals need and having quality and quantity correct.too little and you have to supplement(buffer),too much and you bale.
grass is the cheapest feed we produce,it is also excellent quality.by managing it correctly it is possible to have grass in the diet for 9-10 months of the year on all farms.you just have to reach out and learn a new skill!
bob charles,how much does your grass/buffer diet cost per day?
(crap talk,my a..e)

bob charles

thats interesting wrote: »

kinda disagree. While I don't totally take the teagasc line,i think what they advise is near enough on the money. I could not imagine farming any other way other than an emphasis on grass. By a long shot it is substantially cheaper to run a farm on grass, than run it indoors. An focus on grass cuts machinery and labour too.

but thats not what I was saying. I doubt many are producing as much grass per Ha as we are achieving. But grassland also has quite a large cost and may not be as cheap as some think. Much of the quality of grass produced is of a poor quality. Talking to a neighbour and he was saying he was going into covers of 1800. whereas mine would be something around 1300. On know the responsive gain from my 1300 are at least if not better than his 1800, because his grass isnt fit for a donkey. but sure he is happy out measuring his grass.

thankfully I see teagasc done a U turn when it came to grazing out swards over the last few years (but of course they were right all along). the length of rotations being advocated are much too long IMV. The best grass is the stuff that grows over night. Next I will be saying set stocking is the bee knees which of course its not............. right??

Birdnuts

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Haven't you heard there is rain on the way? I was going to cut grass today for baling on Monday :mad:

- Your behind the curve m8!!, only a small bit in the South with the majority of the country staying dry till the end of the week!!

http://www.xcweather.co.uk/

TUBBY

Birdnuts wrote: »

http://www.xcweather.co.uk/

Brilliant website.

Birdnuts

TUBBY wrote: »

Brilliant website.

Updated every 6 hours too as it follows the GFS model:)

sh1tstirrer

Birdnuts wrote: »

- Your behind the curve m8!!, only a small bit in the South with the majority of the country staying dry till the end of the week!!

http://www.xcweather.co.uk/

Heavy rain in south now

http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/210

Birdnuts

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Heavy rain in south now

http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/210

R U not from Cavan??

whelan1

cant see us getting much rain here in the north east

keep going

down under 160/ cow and thats at2.5 cows/hect.grass just stops here in dry weather,but if we get any rain im on sweet stuff for the year.caught as well as having urea still hard to find opp to spread it and i want to hold off buying can for another bit until price might push down further. is it at 300? rain has just started yipee "im singing in the rain,im singing in the rain, im happy again.

babybrian

could u send some rain up to the midlands please, have grass seed sown about 10 days and nothing popping up yet

sea12

babybrian wrote: »

could u send some rain up to the midlands please, have grass seed sown about 10 days and nothing popping up yet

Think you will get it Wednesday night and Thursday!

dar31

down to 125kg/lu and growth at only 50kg while demand running at 75kg

got a drop a miserable drop of rain midday, didnt even bother to bring the work boots in from the back door, it was that poor, left them out in an sffort to tempt it to spill from the heavens, no luck.

better get a day of it this week or we will be rightly tightened up

any one any opinions on what form of supplementation meal, maize,or graze some silage ground
going by the wedge i have a deficit of 12000 and a daily demand of 4000
3 full days short and probally rising at this rate

keep going

probilly still go with meal because any rain and you will see GR over 100s.you will get out of a situation very fast and silage ground will destroy your pr and boost unwanted BF

PMU

dar ,whats the cover on the silage ground? if it was under 2000 i would go with that for a few days. that or meal ,but go today!

whelan1

dar31 wrote: »

down to 125kg/lu and growth at only 50kg while demand running at 75kg

got a drop a miserable drop of rain midday, didnt even bother to bring the work boots in from the back door, it was that poor, left them out in an sffort to tempt it to spill from the heavens, no luck.

better get a day of it this week or we will be rightly tightened up

any one any opinions on what form of supplementation meal, maize,or graze some silage ground
going by the wedge i have a deficit of 12000 and a daily demand of 4000
3 full days short and probally rising at this rate

at least you got rain , we didnt get a drop at all, we are lucky we have wet/ heavy land that does well in this weather but could still do with rain...grazing the silage ground would be my last option in your case

sea12

I got my field reseeded last night so it can rain now.
The rest of the farm is severally dry. The only thing is when it starts will it stop?

GERMAN ROCKS

sea12 wrote: »

I got my field reseeded last night so it can rain now.
The rest of the farm is severally dry. The only thing is when it starts will it stop?

christmas. it will all turn into ice then and we will get severe dry frosty nights.

dar31

done the farm walk yesterday, knew we were short a bit of grass, but looks a bit worse when you put a number on it... cover/lu 88kg.
all spring calvers have been put on to 3kg meal for the last 5 days, autumn, calvers are getting nout. straw on offer as they leave parlor, most of them take a bite and move on. growth the last few days running 70-100 depending on paddock covers building again, thank the lord for rain.
a lot of paddocks at 500 - 600kg, will have fun managing these in a week or so

PMU

whats your growth rate for the last week?

dar31

Growth for the week up to 1st may was 18kg/ha.
Not quite what ya want this time of year.

johngalway

sea12 wrote: »

I got my field reseeded last night so it can rain now.
The rest of the farm is severally dry. The only thing is when it starts will it stop?

Weather is supposed to become more stable late next week. That's a long time in weather terms though, so we'll see if it happens.

sh1tstirrer

dar31 wrote: »

Growth for the week up to 1st may was 18kg/ha.
Not quite what ya want this time of year.

How do you estimate what grass will grow next week for your budget? I presume you use the yearly average but when growth slows that would be way off the average.

stanflt

growth of 120per day on the wedge:) happy days as i cut 1/3 of grazing block for silage last wed

babybrian

growth last week was only 30 but rain has come and ground is warm so happy days

currently on 150kg/lu but not too worried about going in with extra feed because growth will surely be 70+ this week.

keep going

just wondering does any one measure grass like i do.i just look at how long it took to graze out the last paddock and if its longer than a 21 day rotation i start thinking in terms of speeding up and if its shorter think in terms of slowing down.allowing for weather forcast.example21hectares means 1 aday so if their out of a 2 hectare paddock in less than 2 days looking tight if its 2.5 days might need to take out paddock/feed. i find cows are the best judge of grass cover.i find my place dosent like rotations less than 21 days

Pharaoh1

keep going wrote: »

just wondering does any one measure grass like i do.i just look at how long it took to graze out the last paddock and if its longer than a 21 day rotation i start thinking in terms of speeding up and if its shorter think in terms of slowing down.allowing for weather forcast.example21hectares means 1 aday so if their out of a 2 hectare paddock in less than 2 days looking tight if its 2.5 days might need to take out paddock/feed. i find cows are the best judge of grass cover.i find my place dosent like rotations less than 21 days

Yes I'm using much the same system (for drystock) Had a walk around this morning and estimate about 14 days grazing ahead. This is probably ok for me as I'm on all reseeded ground. Still I might spread a few bags later in the week to keep things ticking over. Have a couple of light paddocks closed off for cutting in early June that I could graze if needed.
Here in the midlands we've had very little rain - I was splitting a paddock this morning and nearly impossible to get those plastic electric fence posts into the ground.
All the same it has been a great March/April for weight gain and cleaning out paddocks.
I've been threatening to do proper grass measuring for a while but am wondering would it improve the management that much.

Min

Could really do with some rain, the ground is hard here, we only got very small amounts of rain which didn't do much as it then was either windy and dried it off quickly or it simply didn't rain enough.

Anyone else wanting more rain for grass growth?

vanderbadger

Min wrote: »

Could really do with some rain, the ground is hard here, we only got very small amounts of rain which didn't do much as it then was either windy and dried it off quickly or it simply didn't rain enough.

Anyone else wanting more rain for grass growth?

not rain but could badly do with some heat..jeez fierce cold , nothing growing down our way

reilig

We've enough rain. Ground has got wet and you could see light poaching on high traffic areas earlier this week. Very little growth either on ground that has been eaten.

I suppose it could be worse - other years we were often only letting cattle out on may 20th.

linebacker52

growth was 63 for last week have had very little rain but still have plenty of grass ahead of the cows cover l.u is 197 and farm cover is 743 stocked at 3.7 cows/ha. rain is forecast for saturday so hopefully growth will increase next week.

Pharaoh1

Min wrote: »

Could really do with some rain, the ground is hard here, we only got very small amounts of rain which didn't do much as it then was either windy and dried it off quickly or it simply didn't rain enough.

Anyone else wanting more rain for grass growth?

Definitely need a bit more rain to boost growth but also want to bale a few paddocks next week so need a couple of dryish days as well.
Poorer growth rates mean i need to take out these paddocks sooner than planned and get them back in the rotation or I will run out in a few weeks time.
Rang the contractor this morning and looks like he has plenty of clients for next week.

whelan1

2 of my neighbours mowed down their silage today - they would have drier ground than me- and its bucketing now:o

Birdnuts

Min wrote: »

Could really do with some rain, the ground is hard here, we only got very small amounts of rain which didn't do much as it then was either windy and dried it off quickly or it simply didn't rain enough.

Anyone else wanting more rain for grass growth?

Same here - the constant, blustry, cold wind doesn't help either:(

whelan1

if the grass would grow at the same rate as the thistles and nettles we would be laughing

keep going

just wondering whats happening now around the country.on my place grass is just not moving.i ve been stocked at 2.6 cows/hec since first week in april and havent been able to take anything out (normally would expect to hit 3 to 3.5 for some period). this gives a growth rate of 45 over a 10 week period when normally you expect around 70 the wind is killing it and all crops are struggling,beet,arable silage,kale and grass seeds.this year it seems if you farm on top of a hill you screwed where is the fella in the valley dosent know what you are talking about

Min

keep going wrote: »

just wondering whats happening now around the country.on my place grass is just not moving.i ve been stocked at 2.6 cows/hec since first week in april and havent been able to take anything out (normally would expect to hit 3 to 3.5 for some period). this gives a growth rate of 45 over a 10 week period when normally you expect around 70 the wind is killing it and all crops are struggling,beet,arable silage,kale and grass seeds.this year it seems if you farm on top of a hill you screwed where is the fella in the valley dosent know what you are talking about

Same here, the rain is a relief but a lot of damage has been done by the drought conditions and wind from earlier.

Tora Bora

Here in clare, it must be the worst year for grass growth I ever experienced. Wet, cold windy May, after hard dry April. June wet, windy and brutal cold for time of year. Zero regrowth after grazing. Old ley grazed off 25 days ago, like a golf course. Got bag CAN to acre. Even reseeded ground, struggling to recover. That's my story at least. Not overstocked thank God.

Tipp Man

Have 47 acres reseeded, 22 of it was down for 3 weeks without rain and although emerged it was sluggish enough, luckily the rain during the week helped it alot. Bag of N and a post emergence spray the jobs for next week

The other 25 acres is an inch so much more mosture in the soil. Only down a week but grass starting to peek through. Don't need anymore rain as the river lifted 3 feet yesterday afternoon, it must have rained a hell of a lot up the county. A flood now would be a disaster for them

A couple of bright, hot and sunny days would be just what the doctor ordered

PMU

growth 49,demand 57, sr 3.1. good swards are growing ok,older ones are very poor.I will take out 3 paddocks for reseeding when growth improves. pat

bob charles

Desperate here with me, out topping short term leys last even which are yellow, leaves are all purple (P uptake crap) even leys that had slurry applied only a month ago. No amount of fert or liquid will change what we have here only the man above. Were after 50 days of constant hard wind with today being a day owed to winter. Its going to cost big time. currently using about 4t of buffer feed to keep animals full that are on bare fields. One good note is animals are really thriving and thankfully taking no notice of the wind where they have decent shade.

Muckit

Tora Bora wrote: »

Here in clare, it must be the worst year for grass growth I ever experienced. Wet, cold windy May, after hard dry April. June wet, windy and brutal cold for time of year. Zero regrowth after grazing. Old ley grazed off 25 days ago, like a golf course. Got bag CAN to acre. Even reseeded ground, struggling to recover. That's my story at least. Not overstocked thank God.

ridiculously poor growth rates here too.

Temp need to increase.... you listening up there... :rolleyes:

Pharaoh1

Here in the midlands I'd say I'm averaging about 40-45 kg growth as well.
This is on all recently reseeded ground with soil test done in Feb and slurry/fert applied as recommended. So even with everything in order it is still very poor although admittedly land is fairly dry.
Normally be swamped with grass at this time of year but at least i can graze good and tight and the topper when used is leaving very little behind.
Land has that hungry look but am wondering if more fert is worth it.