Issues with sour grasses

joejobrien

Has anyone an issue with sour grass, where cows are very reluctation to eat out paddocks. The paddocks were reseeded last year containing 35% tetraploids and the of balance diploids. No proplems with grazing last year, infact they were hoovering up the grass!!!! However this year we have been noticing that they are a little slower eating out the paddocks during this year and have just come out of it this evening, with alot of grass left and they are still peckish. It was alovely green colour not yellow. Soil fertility is excellent, Lime applied at reseeding and whole farm kept topped up at regular intervals. Does not recieve heavy slurry. Have this proplem with another paddock which was reseeded in 2010. However the sour grass issue was very apparent in the very first grazing. Teagasc advisor had no solution or reason only it is not uncommon immediately after reseeding but it would solve itself by the time the following spring arrived.That came from Moorepark!! It did not . While reseeding is gone this year I am nervous in futher reseeding as my old grass which is perinnal grass is actually sweeter than the new swards. Also milk production drops in line with the paddocks :mad: Any ideas appreciated.

whelan1

lads at group last weekwhere talking about sweet grass fertiliser, some of them swore by it... maybe ask your advisor about it

joejobrien

Have it ordered since last week also spread seacal on the paddocks which is basically lime with trace elements added. That was done over a year ago. Again no good .

bob charles

I would be getting a tissue analysis to see if it shows up anything funny, I have a couple of small areas that animal tend to graze less for some reason. Sweet fertilizer and so on is all smoke and mirrors. there should be no issue with an of the top seed providers of grazing mixtures

joejobrien

At this stage I think ther is no issue with the seed. All approved varities, and supplied by reputable merchants. Actually one of the mixes was generated by Moorepark. When you say tissue samples do you mean getting a full herbage anaylais done?

bob charles

joejobrien wrote: »

At this stage I think ther is no issue with the seed. All approved varities, and supplied by reputable merchants. Actually one of the mixes was generated by Moorepark. When you say tissue samples do you mean getting a full herbage anaylais done?

yip, it may just show up something way out of kilter.

pakalasa

They say that new reseeded grasses are lacking in minerals. I think it has to do with the root system not being fully developed. Basically the roots haven't gone deep enough yet to take up the normal minerals. Maybe this is what is wrong. Maybe the lack of sunshine this year is compounding this problem too, poor formation of sugars.

kennedy138

reseeded 20 acres last year . approx 3 paddocks of 7 acres . half of one paddock dairy cows will not graze tight under any conditons . even put dry cows on had to let them off it roaring . used top 5 grazing mix . its not the seed .has to be something to do with weather.only started when the weather got really wet. been reseeding here for 10 years . first time seeing this .cows normally mad for reseeded ground .big fan of sweetgrass though use it all the time .one day lately ran short , went to co op to get a bag' none there so got a bag of can instead cows dropped 9% in that paddock where can was used . dairy cows tell you quickly if a product is any good .there is no smoke or mirrors in the bulk tank

joejobrien

Thanks Kennedy 138, Thankfully Im not completely alone. Do you use the sweetgrass on every rotation or what? Delivered into yard this evening and spread straight. Will I notice benfits immediately or is it more of alonger term approach (the nitrogen will be working anyway) Funnily we fine urea completely useless after first rotation irrespective of wet/damp conditions.Also got prices for a grass mineral profile today . will send them off tue even. I think its well worth it at this stage to have full information on a mineral profile. Knowledge is power.

bob charles

presume all the sweetgrass is doing is putting Na into the grass leaves making it more palatable. Mg also in sweetgrass is vital for plant and animal development. I usually apply 40kgs/ac kieserite early in the growing season. Grass nutrition is much more than NPK

joejobrien

is 1 application of Kieserite enough for the year or how often would you appy it.

bob charles

joejobrien wrote: »

is 1 application of Kieserite enough for the year or how often would you appy it.

that what I give some of the deficient grassland, I find it really opens the ground and gets the little guys below the surface working. Best to wait off and see what your herbage tests come back as. What price were you quoted for them?

joejobrien

The grass mineral profile is costing e80.000+vat.
The grass quality test is costing e30.00+vat.
The lab is in Cappaquinn.
Is the kieserite n/p/k fertiliser/straight with minerals?
How did you notice the deficient fields?

DMAXMAN

was talking to a guy involved in mineral and vitamin business yesterday and he said that acidosis is rife in milk cows at the moment and he is making mineral licks with sodium bicarbonate(bread soda?) to try counter act this.he also said that mineral deficiency is wide spread in livestock at the moment

blue5000

DMAXMAN wrote: »

was talking to a guy involved in mineral and vitamin business yesterday and he said that acidosis is rife in milk cows at the moment and he is making mineral licks with sodium bicarbonate(bread soda?) to try counter act this.he also said that mineral deficiency is wide spread in livestock at the moment

I'll bet he did, better chance of a sale for him:D

kennedy138

use sweetgrass same as can . a bag or bag and half depending on demand . same price as can . i use urea sparingly find it is very though on the ground takes alot out of it . timac have a urea product called sodi grass which i used and found very good untill this year because it became more expensive than gold