Magic day?

blue5000

Anybody want to guess when the magic day will be this year?

For the uniniated it is when grass growth matches demand on the farm, realistically it is when silage ground can be taken out of the grazing rotation.

My guess is 1st of May, maybe:pac:

It has been the coldest march since 1961, always my worst month of the year.

Tipp Man

Yeah ours will be May 1st alright

May 1st 2014

If the weather doesn't pick up rapidly then it will be a very serious problem

whelan1

lovely day here now, no fecking breeze to freeze you, sun out cows lying up;)... magic day is along way off though

bob charles

Wont ever have a magic day here this year, yard is filling up instead of the usual filtering out onto grass.

Tipp Man

bob charles wrote: »

Wont ever have a magic day here this year, yard is filling up instead of the usual filtering out onto grass.

There are going to be very serious problems if the weather doesn't change farily quickly

Stopping silage ground for starters

moy83

Maybe this year magic day can be described as the day when grass " starts growing " as opposed to meeting demands on the farm .
It will be late here anyhow because at the weekend Im going letting out a few more and letting them skin the silage ground for few weeks

redzerologhlen

The day I decide I have had enough of this sh1te weather and start walking the cows to the mart in Ennis On a serious note though I think we will be well into May here.

mf240

Are you better off not to skin off silage ground. If there is very little on it will grazing it not mean that you wont have silage to cut till god knows when,

Farmer Pudsey

Magic day is when you grow more grass than yours require for your cattle. In an ideal world your would let your cattle out and have all the farm grazed and start a rotation on magic day. However it varies ever year.

I expect to have all silage ground closed by the middle of next week. Rotation will be tight but if weather picks up next week and ground temperatures rise I expect that every thing will be ok. 65% of stock have been out since March 8th these were mostly 2yold Friesian bullocks.. I have not put out most of the yearlings yet. Expect to have the rest out early next week as rotation is a bit tight and I am giving priority to finishing cattle as I will squeeze yearling bulls for the first time in years.

Reseeded ground is saving me big time as well as early housing last October. Will try to hit all the farm with 25 units od urea nitrogen next Saturday if projected weather will not change as rain forecast for Sunday/Monday.

bogman_bass

a much more important milestone http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Tit_Monday

td5man

mf240 wrote: »

Are you better off not to skin off silage ground. If there is very little on it will grazing it not mean that you wont have silage to cut till god knows when,

I'm not going to graze my silage ground, walked it yesterday and theres less grass on it than there was a few weeks ago

freedominacup

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Magic day is when you grow more grass than yours require for your cattle.

But not nessecarily the day that surpluses start to appear. If as most of us are your covers are below what they should be it will be a while after magic day when surpluses appear. I think if the weather stays fine guys will need to start chasing grass a bit to make sure too many paddocks don't get too strong for grazing.

whelan1

td5man wrote: »

I'm not going to graze my silage ground, walked it yesterday and theres less grass on it than there was a few weeks ago

putting slurry out on mine now, sheep fairly grazed that too:rolleyes:

keep going

whelan1 wrote: »

putting slurry out on mine now, sheep fairly grazed that too:rolleyes:

risking getting murdred here but im struggling to get mine grazed off.:P

ootbitb

keep going wrote: »

risking getting murdred here but im struggling to get mine grazed off.:P

location, location, location

td5man

keep going wrote: »

risking getting murdred here but im struggling to get mine grazed off.:P

Do you need a few cows

td5man

whelan1 wrote: »

putting slurry out on mine now, sheep fairly grazed that too:rolleyes:

I see a field here that got slurry 6 weeks ago and its stuck to the grass still.

MT is full of joy again this morning!!!!

Farmer Pudsey

keep going wrote: »

risking getting murdred here but im struggling to get mine grazed off.:P

ootbitb wrote: »

location, location, location

I be inclined to think more like managment no mattere how good your location you stll have to grow it

ootbitb

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

I be inclined to think more like managment no mattere how good your location you stll have to grow it

Indeed, but try growing it at average temps of circa 3 deg and even keep going might struggle.

bbam

So are we expecting some growing weather next week??

I have some fertilizer in the yard and was thinking of spreading on Saturday to have it on the ground for next week..

Viewtodiefor

bbam wrote: »

So are we expecting some growing weather next week??

I have some fertilizer in the yard and was thinking of spreading on Saturday to have it on the ground for next week..

Heavy rain forecast for Sunday and Tuesday . I'd love to get it out but going to hold tough a few days see what pans out

Maybe someone else has different idea?

whelan1

yes its very expensive to be putting out to be washed away.... learnt that last year

Viewtodiefor

whelan1 wrote: »

yes its very expensive to be putting out to be washed away.... learnt that last year

Sure is I'm going wit slurry on some off silage ground instead tomorrow hopefully

grazeaway

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Sure is I'm going wit slurry on some off silage ground instead tomorrow hopefully

got some dung from the pens to put out, might try to get that out on a field i grazed before the weather turned.

Viewtodiefor

grazeaway wrote: »

got some dung from the pens to put out, might try to get that out on a field i grazed before the weather turned.

Anyone have cows out both night and day? I have them out day and in nights at present but I'm fairy near letting them out nights also, damn cold nights still though!

Timmaay

keep going wrote: »

risking getting murdred here but im struggling to get mine grazed off.:P

Ground conditions, or lack of stock? If its a lack of stock what will you do when the main grass wedge comes?

kevthegaff

went with urea today, i have hilly ground so its unsafe to go next week if its slippy, just chanced 1/2 a bag, ill go again in 2 weeks(blanket spreading)!

delaval

keep going wrote: »

risking getting murdred here but im struggling to get mine grazed off.:P

Are all your cattle outside?

keep going

Timmaay wrote: »

Ground conditions, or lack of stock? If its a lack of stock what will you do when the main grass wedge comes?

i have the ground away from the house used for heifers and silage and have been grazing yearlings since the 10 feb, have a number of blocks and want to graze all ground before closing as i didnt last year and never again.as soon as its grazed closed for 1 or 2 cuts and grazed in the autumn.wouldnt be overstocked (around 2.2 but pushing up every year from now on).if i was to give 2 reasons for having grass 1 reseeding really showing this year and 2 graze quickly in small blocks and protect regrowth and i suppose farming by the coast is a big advantage for early grass but then theres plenty bare fields around here too.all calved cows have been out day night since calving but it has helped this year that i am a bad farmer who still has 20% of his cows to calve

TEAT SQUEEZER

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Anyone have cows out both night and day? I have them out day and in nights at present but I'm fairy near letting them out nights also, damn cold nights still though!

yeah out day and night... have noted the cows camp out against the sheltered ditch alot so its gonna be unpalatable in round 2.. thats only disadvantage though, less work ,more milk, cleaner cows..

delaval

TEAT SQUEEZER wrote: »

yeah out day and night... have noted the cows camp out against the sheltered ditch alot so its gonna be unpalatable in round 2.. thats only disadvantage though, less work ,more milk, cleaner cows..

Stay away from those ditches with next round of fert

TEAT SQUEEZER

delaval wrote: »

Stay away from those ditches with next round of fert

whole farm got 40 units CAN past few days......... done my bit its up to the man above ....lowly stocked over all farm but need to build silage stock hence the 40 units..

delaval

TEAT SQUEEZER wrote: »

whole farm got 40 units CAN past few days......... done my bit its up to the man above ....lowly stocked over all farm but need to build silage stock hence the 40 units..

Dead right with 40 imo. I am going with 1 bag urea on all index1, 3 cut sward for silage and 2 cut sward index 2 grazing. i really hope a bit of mildness is coming, grass disappearing:(:(:(