Have ye the cows out.....?

awaywithyou

guys

was looking at the farmers journal today... and reading bill o'keeffe's diary.. a picture of his cows grazing accompanied the written diary.. the paddock they were in yesterday could be seen in the picture...

does anyone think that the paddock is severely poached...??

i know that if we let out the cows and they did that to a paddock my father would lose his life..!!

RedPeppers

I haven't see the journal yet but no sign of cows out round here, I dread to see the paddocks if we did, land is saturated. I guess some parts will have cows out a few weeks at this stage depending where you are

PMU

not poached, just marked. because they are only on it for a few hours they dont get time to break the surface,what you see there is the clay when all the grass is gone.the backfence keeps them off and allows the grass to grow straight away.grazing the winter growth now allows the fresh grass to come up vigoursly.

dar31

had to have a second look at the picture in the journal, and from the looks of it, the main bit of damage is done where the cows came in and out of the paddock, further up in the field looks grand.

cows out here since the 6th and out by night for the last 10 days, heifers for the bull in April came off the kale and went to grass yesterday.

whelan1

farmers journal, showed there was to be no rain in the northeast for the week- they lie:mad: raining here all night

linebacker52

Been out day and night since 4 feb bulling heifers out since 10 feb

Viewtodiefor

linebacker52 wrote: »

Been out day and night since 4 feb bulling heifers out since 10 feb

Out daily since the 12th feb wish they were All calves to let them all out!

PMU

I am letting out the heifers today,too much grass!(have to have 30% grazed by next fri)

bob charles

I saw the picture and I would not be impressed if my swards resembled that after a grazing. It all will and good saying they have the cows out by if your ground looks like what was shown in the photo you are only cutting off your nose to spite your face as doing such damage to pasture will have serious ramifications for the growing season. On saying that I have a third of our beef herd out fulltime

flatout11

cant hardly walk on it....... the sheep will be getting a good head start!!!!

whelan1

have just walked the farm... highest cover 1100... ground conditions are crap... advisor reckons i should let them out asap:eek: , had sheep in for a while so not alot of grassin some places but the graphs say i have enough cover to go out now.... will wait and see next week

flatout11

whelan1 wrote: »

have just walked the farm... highest cover 1100... ground conditions are crap... advisor reckons i should let them out asap:eek: , had sheep in for a while so not alot of grassin some places but the graphs say i have enough cover to go out now.... will wait and see next week

thats the problem with graphs they dont take account for the cows having 5 mouths

stanflt

out by day since 14th of january- about 800 covers on the grass that was grazed early

cows didnt go out for 2days since(weather) no poaching occuring- farm cover still around 900 with a stocking rate of 3.5 at the moment


cows doing around 33litres a day @ 4.12fat and 3.37protein

rancher

flatout11 wrote: »

cant hardly walk on it....... the sheep will be getting a good head start!!!!

Great saving to have them to grass after lambing, lambing myself at the moment straight to grass, wouldn't like to be putting cattle out though.....so wet

awaywithyou

stanflt wrote: »

out by day since 14th of january- about 800 covers on the grass that was grazed early

cows didnt go out for 2days since(weather) no poaching occuring- farm cover still around 900 with a stocking rate of 3.5 at the moment


cows doing around 33litres a day @ 4.12fat and 3.37protein

great land round your country stanflt.. so no surprise you have them out... have you spread any fertiliser...?

on a side note... i think i've copped where you got your usename!!

stanflt

awaywithyou wrote: »

great land round your country stanflt.. so no surprise you have them out... have you spread any fertiliser...?

on a side note... i think i've copped where you got your usename!!

no fert out yet-not till rotation is down to six weeks

following cows with 5000gal slurry which is about a bag of urea plus all the p&k

Birdnuts

Helped the inlaws with letting the girls out today - the other halfs old man says this is the earliest he has ever attempted this, such has been the astonishingly benign conditions this winter/early spring in North Mayo. Hopefully mother nature won't try and balance things out this side of summer which would mean all the hassel of getting them in again!!:rolleyes:

6480

whelan1 wrote: »

have just walked the farm... highest cover 1100... ground conditions are crap... advisor reckons i should let them out asap:eek: , had sheep in for a while so not alot of grassin some places but the graphs say i have enough cover to go out now.... will wait and see next week

in the same sitiuation as u but i dont like to damage the paddocks too early as it takes longer to dry out the next time round

keep going

yeah out grazing but its tough going.standing the cows in the colllecting yard and then let them out- they tend to eat mad and then lie down which seems to work better than bringing them back into the house.alot of the problem is that we got a wet back end an the ground has never got a chance to dry

blue5000

Yearling heifers out a month now, I back fence religiously. There is one patch badly poached where they were this day 3 weeks ago, I intend to shake grass seed and roll it when it gets warmer.

Springing suckler cows are going out just before they calve. Have about 20% of the grazing area done at this stage. 1 field is a silage field, it got 2000 gals slurry after grazing and if caught for grass I'll graze it again first week of April. Cattle are on grazing area now so it will have longer time to recover before 2nd round starts around 10th April. No bag stuff out yet.

John_F

were out the week before last, not out last week due to conditions.

Dr Dan has some interesting points on early turn out here>
http://www.cows365.ie/?m=diary&o=2012-02-14%2014:44:21

Farmers in the North are intrigued at cows grazing grass in County Cork in early February. I wish they could see the impact of this on the land grazed and body condition score of cows.
Common sense has to pertain with a focus on grass based milk production. The popular farming media maintain a mantra on cows grazing grass night and day with 2kg of ration. How can these cows peak at 30 litres milk production with grazed grass contributing most 10kg DMI at this time of year?
Cows will strive to achieve their genetic potential for milk production by shedding body condition. It is sad to see cows standing on bare ground having strip grazed their daily allowance in a 2 to 3 hour period.
There have to be implications of this type of stress on milk production, reproductive performance and genetic expression. The effect of previous experience on genetic expression is called epigenetics. In my opinion, there may be short term economic gain by cost efficient milk production. However, the “switching on and off of genes” by previous experience has implications in terms of future generations.
The implications of epigenetics in food production systems should not be overlooked. In my opinion, this has been the missing link in explaining many of the observed cases of impaired reproductive performance.

and here>
http://www.cows365.ie/?m=diary&o=2012-02-21%2007:32:21

The lush green covers are very tempting. However, ground conditions are in general not suitable for the tight grazing expected. I pass by dairy farms on a routine basis as I go on my travels. It is obvious for all to see that the cows standing in the soil stained grass aftermath are not in a comfortable environment.

We have to start questioning the impact of grazing pressure early in the grazing season on both epigenetics and the immediate reproductive performance. Previous studies have shown that “experience “can cause genes to be switched “on” or “off” with a consequent impact on performance traits in the next generation. This phenomenon is called epigenetics.

One might argue that turnout to grass might reduce the stress imposed by housing indoors. This is the case for many of the disheveled cows, freshly calved cows, which I have seen grazing spring pastures in the past fortnight.

As a primary food producing industry, we are guardians of the animals under our control. We need to show respect for their basic needs. Unfortunately, the mantra delivered by the media for cost efficient milk production does not lend itself to the optimal “well being” of the cows under our care.

We do not need a prime time expose of the management practices in the New Zealand dairy industry. It should be remembered that over 90% of Irish dairy farmers cannot or do not wish to implement the type of management practices seen in New Zealand.

for me it depends on your cow, if you have a cow that will do 30kg plus of milk, grazed grass and a bit of meal isnt going to do the job, shel milk off her bnack cos she has the potential, and condition score will suffer... poor bulling rates etc etc.

but.. if you have a 'hardy' cow that does not have the potential for high yields - cross breeds etc.. then grazed grass and a bit of meal and shel be grand...

is the cost per litre sold lower on scenario A or B above?... depends on the farm of course

more on 'epigenetics' here> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics although it is a bit mind boggling

stanflt

John_F wrote: »

were out the week before last, not out last week due to conditions.

Dr Dan has some interesting points on early turn out here>
http://www.cows365.ie/?m=diary&o=2012-02-14%2014:44:21




and here>
http://www.cows365.ie/?m=diary&o=2012-02-21%2007:32:21




for me it depends on your cow, if you have a cow that will do 30kg plus of milk, grazed grass and a bit of meal isnt going to do the job, shel milk off her bnack cos she has the potential, and condition score will suffer... poor bulling rates etc etc.

but.. if you have a 'hardy' cow that does not have the potential for high yields - cross breeds etc.. then grazed grass and a bit of meal and shel be grand...

is the cost per litre sold lower on scenario A or B above?... depends on the farm of course

more on 'epigenetics' here> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics although it is a bit mind boggling

even though my cows have been out since the middle of january they will not suffer- i would not allow cows to loss bcs. cows are only out 3-4hours a day getting allocated 6kg/dm grass 6kg/dm silage 3-7kg in parlour depending on yield(feed to yield) 1.5kg dm brewers and 1.5kg soya oh and 5kg/dm maize-

you might ask how can a cow consume 22-24kg/dm per day but with a varied diet intakes are much higher

on a herd average my pta s for milk is 335kg 12.8kg fat 13.1kg prot with 0.00%fat and 0.05%prot

i have found that getting them out to grass has improved submission rates- last year my mean first service days was 84 and mean conception days was 123-this leaves a 417day calving interval which is totally unacceptable. my short term goal is a 390day calving interval with co-op deliveries of 8000+lts per cow and 1.5ton of concentrate per cow

in order to achieve this grass is the answer- my ground will allow it

remember no matter what system you opperate you dont have to follow the new zealand model-however every farmer in this country should adjust the new zealand style to there particular farm and utalize it to their financial gain

sorry for the rant-ps cows are milking very well at 33lt a day

bob charles

stanflt wrote: »

you might ask how can a cow consume 22-24kg/dm per day but with a varied diet intakes are much higher

:pac:

jeff greene

Got to admire Dr Dan’s bravery to speak up. Pretty much a one man army. Of course he has years of hands on experience up and down the country, but I know many who still disregard his advice.

Stanflt, I think cows will have such intakes when offered it after a proper dry cow diet, I shake my head at this on-off grazing, putting cows back into the shed with nothing at the barrier. Total nonsense. That is why you have 33 litres and they get 18 litres. Cows are precarious enough in early lactation without literally starving them. Not even going to get on my soap box about my beloved breed.

Getting back to the OP, unacceptable for me. The main benefit from a few hours out comes from the simple fact they’re out of the shed. Not worth with that rooting.

whelan1

crappy wet, cold morning here... was aiming to get cows out tomorrow, but thankfully theres an extra day in februaury so theres hope yet that i will have my cows out in february for the first time ever:)

whelan1

got my cows out today:D