Grass Management

NewBeefFarmer

ok, I'm on a roll this morning,

P.S. I farm for wks and i come across a situations and i say to myself, i must put that on boards and see what the lads think. then 3 wks pass and i haven't got around to it.

anyway, the grass year is closing in and I'm asking myself, am i happy with the way i grazed the grass, and i think no.

reason,

if i have ten paddocks, and I graze each one and them move them on, i found that paddock No 1 wont be touched until No2-10 are eaten, which now leaves No 1 very heavy (even if we are talking about after-grass), . . .. so then I move the cattle to No1, but they only seem to eat the top grass, and leave the rest of it lying and bulking its self up. . spongey carpet effect. . . . now, what I found from this is, "it stunts the next growth".

would this be better:
if it takes 2 weeks to graze each paddock, . . then move them on after 1 week, this way, your through No2-10 in half the time and back to No 1.

not enough cattle i don't think is the solution cause even as I stands now I think ill just scrap though, . .

Topping, is another idea, but. . . Im trying to manage grass not get rid of it.

I know its a learning game for me, but its top of the list for 2013 to get it more efficient.

dam it, maybe it is a stocking level issue.. . :pac:

current ratio is 1 Bullock for every 2-3 acres. . . reason(finance,walk first - dont run)

NBF

rancher

NewBeefFarmer wrote: »

ok, I'm on a roll this morning,

P.S. I farm for wks and i come across a situations and i say to myself, i must put that on boards and see what the lads think. then 3 wks pass and i haven't got around to it.

anyway, the grass year is closing in and I'm asking myself, am i happy with the way i grazed the grass, and i think no.

reason,

if i have ten paddocks, and I graze each one and them move them on, i found that paddock No 1 wont be touched until No2-10 are eaten, which now leaves No 1 very heavy (even if we are talking about after-grass), . . .. so then I move the cattle to No1, but they only seem to eat the top grass, and leave the rest of it lying and bulking its self up. . spongey carpet effect. . . . now, what I found from this is, "it stunts the next growth".

would this be better:
if it takes 2 weeks to graze each paddock, . . then move them on after 1 week, this way, your through No2-10 in half the time and back to No 1.

not enough cattle i don't think is the solution cause even as I stands now I think ill just scrap though, . .

Topping, is another idea, but. . . Im trying to manage grass not get rid of it.

I know its a learning game for me, but its top of the list for 2013 to get it more efficient.

dam it, maybe it is a stocking level issue.. . :pac:

current ratio is 1 Bullock for every 2-3 acres. . . reason(finance,walk first - dont run)

NBF

Firstly during may and june,you won't graze it efficiently unless you're back in the first paddock in at most 21 days after been grazed out,
Your stocking rate is obviously wrong, but I wouldn't even hazard a guess at what it should be without knowing land quality/ fertiliser use etc
To do it right you cut approx half for winter feed in june and graze the other half in may and june and then july aug and sept graze the whole place or else buy twice as many cattle in the spring and be prepared to start selling from july on.
Grass grows at about double the rate in may as it does in august so you can't just put a number of cattle out and leave them there for the summer and expect to graze effeciently

Jack C

Seems to me your stocking rate is way too low to keep grass down and quality up. You have to try to graze out paddocks (without overgrazing) as much as conditions will allow.Too late now to take some out for silage. I think you need a few extra head...probably something strong if grass has gone too far. ....either that or a few wooly lawnmowers..baaa.

NewBeefFarmer

you see, i agree. . .

I had fields taken for silage/hay this year, but with the bad weather June July, it wasn't actually cut until late July/Aug. . . and the after grass from this then is minimal been cut so late

grange mac

I have 1 bullock for 3 acres grass...manage fine. what i learned is they have to be strong (400+ kg). During summer had waay too much grass but i strip feed bout 3 acres twice week as dont live on farm and they bare it even eat rushes. Small bullocks will just walk and not eat. There @600kg now so careful with them as they can do damage to ground if left too long. I find wont poach string grass aa it binds the ground but as you say grass q not great but they still eat it...

bbam

grange mac wrote: »

I have 1 bullock for 3 acres grass...manage fine. what i learned is they have to be strong (400+ kg). During summer had waay too much grass but i strip feed bout 3 acres twice week as dont live on farm and they bare it even eat rushes. Small bullocks will just walk and not eat. There @600kg now so careful with them as they can do damage to ground if left too long. I find wont poach string grass aa it binds the ground but as you say grass q not great but they still eat it...

Cattle wouldn't usually choose to eat rushes and I'd be worried they are hungry at that stage, it would be better if they were eating grass than rushes.

rancher

NewBeefFarmer wrote: »

you see, i agree. . .

I had fields taken for silage/hay this year, but with the bad weather June July, it wasn't actually cut until late July/Aug. . . and the after grass from this then is minimal been cut so late

You're probably doing alright so, can't really judge anything by this year, you got on as well as anyone else

Tipp Man

You are very understocked if you land is anyway half decent at all

if you continue to be understocked (and it does cost money to increase) then you should look at taking some paddocks out for silage in May/June to remove the bulk of the build up

You should also ensure that animals are out early so that they are well on top of the grass before the big spurt of growth in May.

As opposed to using paddocks also you could go down the set stocking route - so you leave all your animals run over all the area (i don't think you have that many so it should be no problem). At your stocking rate you could hold them outside all year round if you ground is dry, try to have smaller stock over the winter - have as little inputs as possible - no fert, no silage, no sheds - only vetinary. You'd make as much if not more as any other system

Timmaay

Do you still need the 16wks storage capacity even if you outwinter the animals all year around?

Muckit

bbam wrote: »

Cattle wouldn't usually choose to eat rushes and I'd be worried they are hungry at that stage, it would be better if they were eating grass than rushes.

Depends if they're soft or bull rushes I suppose. I don't usually have rushy land, but a few soft rushes coming in places this year and they are loving them

grange mac

bbam wrote: »

grange mac wrote: »

I have 1 bullock for 3 acres grass...manage fine. what i learned is they have to be strong (400+ kg). During summer had waay too much grass but i strip feed bout 3 acres twice week as dont live on farm and they bare it even eat rushes. Small bullocks will just walk and not eat. There @600kg now so careful with them as they can do damage to ground if left too long. I find wont poach string grass aa it binds the ground but as you say grass q not great but they still eat it...

Cattle wouldn't usually choose to eat rushes and I'd be worried they are hungry at that stage, it would be better if they were eating grass than rushes.

My bullocks aint hungry...when they do hav 2 that always cross under electric fencer but at mmt they are condtioning fairly well. little do they know whats ahead of them.

ps rushes are only bout foot long and weak....they go for them rather than strong grass.

Farmer Pudsey

I do not know about your land quality NBF however 1 bullock to 3 acres sounds low, especially if they are young cattle (0.6 LU intead of 1LU). It is expensive to get to high numbers especially if you are buying contintal's or herefords bullocks.

Having said that this may be a fall where you can increse numbers without breaking the bank. However you will need adeqaute winter forage. Grass management is a tough game either you have too little or too much it is seldom that you have a happy median.

Fresians are good value at present and are cattle that if you have plenty of grass that do well. If you can handle fresian weanling as bulls they will leave a nice penny as forward store next year (I think)

just do it

Some points come to mind:

• To get the most out of grass paddocks should be grazed for 3 days and then stock moved on. Given this I think you'd be crazy to go to a 2 week rotation, particularly as you're trying to put weight and condition on stock.
• In that 3 days the stock should graze the paddock down tight
• I think you've good land. A mower makes more sense than a topper. That way you can take out the excess as round bales rather than let it get too long. The mower can also be used for topping of course!
• The rotation length varies depending on the time of year from 16-18 days at peak growth to 40 days around now and at turnout
• We should all be doing a weekly farm walk measuring grass and doing our grass budget
• As others have suggested, you're probably understocked. And that is no bad thing when you're starting off. It's much easier deal with the problems associated with understocking than overstocking, especially in a year like this one.

Now bear in mind I'm not putting this into practice! I got the IFJ/ Teagasc/ Better Farm Grassland Management book at the ploughing last year with the intention of following it this year. However that never happened. Given the year that was in it I'm lucky I'm still under-stocked! I've had a look for it on the ifj website but it doesn't seem to be available. However I found the Autumn Grazing guide. The book is the complete collection of these J3 supplements from last year. Putting this book into practice is my first New Year's resolution;)