what are you doing to strech the grass?

jersey101

As grass on most farms are getting tight what are people doing to extend there grazing???

ATM for me i have no grass for my heifers there on straw,hay and meal i am thinking of opening the brewers and give them a straw brewers mix out in the field. Will this be good enough for them??. The field needs reseeding so it will be fine. All the heifers are at least 15kgs ahead of target so will this do as a short term fix for a month maybe?
The cows are on 5 kg meal and what ever silage they can get for half an hour after milking. There going into 7 acres of Italian next week so that should slow them up. Also going to start using my redstart next week to try slow down the rotation. And cut out the silage if i can. What are your thoughts?

bbam

Nothing so far and the mild week will help stretch it another bit.
If ground conditions hold well throw a bale in a feeder out for a few weeks.

Milked out

Ok on the milking block so far, normally wet ground is driving on with good utilisation, debating whether to throw a bag out on it as few days heavy rain could make it ungrazable again fast enough, very rarely grazed in nov. Will be drying off a few autumn calvers this week so should allow me to build enough grass till the first of em calve in oct. Have spring calving heifers on silage as out farms are under pressure with old grass and extra young stock which I hope to off load soon enough as went clear in herd test, first time clear in a year

mahoney_j

Cows on 3 kg hi energy nut and full time grass.Extremely lucky in that i have loads of grass on milking block and outside block.going with fert tomorrow on first paddocks that will be closed up next month.Grazing 1900 covers at moment and this will rise to 2000 next week .Clean out excellent and milk and solids excellent.23.1 ltrs on todays collection and last solids 4.14 fat 3.73 protein.Average growth this month 55.dry farm here but thankfully not as dry as ye boys in the eas/south east

Sharpshooter82

Break down the neighbours fence :D

jersey101

Sharpshooter82 wrote: »

Break down the neighbours fence :D

its all stubble now

whelan1

jersey101 wrote: »

its all stubble now

plenty round the ditches:D

jersey101

whelan1 wrote: »

plenty round the ditches:D

the heifers aren't too fond of the firs any more

Sharpshooter82

jersey101 wrote: »

its all stubble now

try the other neighbour

jersey101

Sharpshooter82 wrote: »

try the other neighbour

surronded by the cursed stubble

Sharpshooter82

jersey101 wrote: »

surronded by the cursed stubble

well your fooked so :P

6480

thank **** never had as much grass in years , watery slurry worked a treat for the last month , its a full time job keeping it spread after each grazing

reilig

Will have enough grass for as long as ground conditions hold up. After that they're on the slats. Plan to wean the rest of the calves next week and house cows as required after that so that the less damaging weanlings can stay out for longer before sale in November!

bob charles

Have the last of the finishing animals out on grass ready to go in at a moments notice, but until more rain they are alright. Taught they were coming in last week after heavy rain on wednesday as they started standing around the gates waiting for movement, once they start doing this they are better off inside. light animals will be out for some time to come

Im also saying prayers each night which seems to be working:p

Sharpshooter82

bob charles wrote: »

. Taught they were coming in last week after heavy rain on wednesday as they started standing around the gates waiting for movement,

so whos running the farm over there bob

jersey101

bob charles wrote: »

Have the last of the finishing animals out on grass ready to go in at a moments notice, but until more rain they are alright. Taught they were coming in last week after heavy rain on wednesday as they started standing around the gates waiting for movement, once they start doing this they are better off inside. light animals will be out for some time to come

Im also saying prayers each night which seems to be working:p

if it stays dry im going to leave the heifers on this field and just feed them . Field has been brown all year.

Timmaay

My only saving grace is our low stocking rate (overall farm 1.8lu/ha). The only fields growing anything are 3 big silage paddocks which have all been reseeded within 2 yrs, the cows are strip grazing covers of about 8/900 in them at the minute, rest of the farm is less than 400. Cows being fed to yield in the parlour, 3-8kg, the drycows are in a bare enough paddock and being fed straw. I've yet to fully measure the pits, but I know we are going to be short, at a guess we have about 60% of the volume of silage from last year, and maybe 75% in terms of DM. We've stocked up on hay and straw, and will be buying in maize also. Will be an expensive winter, but with a milkprice 10cent/L ahead of this time last year I can't complain about that!

Next spring will be interesting, We have a large number calving down in Feb/March, so having grass for them will be vital. By now I can't see much being carried over the winter, I can only hope we get another mild winter, and a continuous bit of growth. Any sort of late spring next year, and we'll be flatout buying in feed!

yellow50HX

Plenty of grass at the mo, nice cover after coming on the fields cut for silage last week already. Going to delay the 1st weaning until next week. Going to leave them out on the grass for as gone as I can. Going to try to keep the 2nd round of weaning if the spring calves for another month if it stays relatively dry then I can leave them out till November. We managed to keep cows out till December a few years ago. Need to make sure I have enough for next spring too though

mahoney_j

jersey101 wrote: »

surronded by the cursed stubble

Cursed stubble beside milking block=potential oppertunity:)

jersey101

mahoney_j wrote: »

Cursed stubble beside milking block=potential oppertunity:)

the father reckons ill be 70 before i get a look at it. Thats alot of years ha

delaval

jersey101 wrote: »

the father reckons ill be 70 before i get a look at it. Thats alot of years ha

My old man told me the same. You'd be very surprised how things change quickly.

jersey101

delaval wrote: »

My old man told me the same. You'd be very surprised how things change quickly.

i know what ye mean. One field sits right on the yard and the main roadway goes right beside it. 40ac in the field.
Ah i aint to bothered with it at the moment ive more important things to do. Id hate if it came up in the morning because i couldn't afford it. 10yr time would be nice

milkprofit

Also going to start using my redstart next week

can u post pics and details when sown etc

jersey101

milkprofit wrote: »

Also going to start using my redstart next week

can u post pics and details when sown etc

will do have it all up tomorrow. Its a really nice looking crop very rich green. Idealy im supposed to leave it another 3 weeks but i cant help.

mahoney_j

Aghh what's this redstart stuff yer on about lads??

jersey101

mahoney_j wrote: »

Aghh what's this redstart stuff yer on about lads??

hybrid cross between rape and kale. Mine is at my knees and it has another 3weeks growing left in it.

mahoney_j

jersey101 wrote: »

hybrid cross between rape and kale. Mine is at my knees and it has another 3weeks growing left in it.

Interesting,is it a dry cow feed or can milking cows graze it??and is it like kale or rape .grow it and graze it once and that's it?

jersey101

mahoney_j wrote: »

Interesting,is it a dry cow feed or can milking cows graze it??and is it like kale or rape .grow it and graze it once and that's it?

i had planned to graze the wither milking cows on it but plans change. Cant give them too much or you will taint the milk but its good stuff to make milk. If you graze it right and dont tramp it its supposed to grow back.

blue5000

Could you cut, bale and wrap some of the redstart. Cut it about 5 or 6 inches high and let it grow again for later in the year?

delaval

jersey101 wrote: »

i had planned to graze the wither milking cows on it but plans change. Cant give them too much or you will taint the milk but its good stuff to make milk. If you graze it right and dont tramp it its supposed to grow back.

What kind of dm/ha and what cost?

Sam Kade

I built up a bank of grass during August early Sept, should have enough until mid December. Of course I have the advantage of a low stocking rate and reasonably dry land.

Busted Flat.

Sharpshooter82 wrote: »

Break down the neighbours fence :D

Make smaller joints,

jersey101

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Crop sown 21st august (during drought)
Cost for seed ad fert - €105ac
Spread 4kgs of seed per acre and 3 bags of 10-10-20.
it should yield 10.5t/DM per hectare but I am going to weigh mine on Thursday to see what it really is.
I have 1.6 HA sown so if I have 16.8t/DM and feed say 5kgs per head for 60 cows average over the period it should last for 55 days. but I will know better when I measure it. For it to re-grow I need to leave a decent bit of stem and spread 30-40kg N/ha

Timmaay

That seems like a huge yield in just 1 month jersey, especially during a drought! Whats the feed value of it like, and protein content etc?

jersey101

It really only took off a month and a half ago. Protein can be anywhere from 15 - 24%

moy83

Can you spread in with the spinner or is it drilled in jersey ?
How much does the seed cost ? Thanks

jersey101

I ploughed it, harrowed it and spread it with the spinner makes it cheaper. its hard to Remember tbh i think it was 120 yoyo for the 15kgs. Bout 30 an acre i think

6480

moy83 wrote: »

Can you spread in with the spinner or is it drilled in jersey ?
How much does the seed cost ? Thanks

looks to be a good crop would it be a pitty to be grazing it this soon , what is it roughly costing you to grow

jersey101

6480 wrote: »

looks to be a good crop would it be a pitty to be grazing it this soon , what is it roughly costing you to grow

nothing i can do i need to keep the yeild up. Reckon 175 an acre all in

keep going

You know if you mind it whenyou are grazing redstart it will grow again for the spring

jersey101

keep going wrote: »

You know if you mind it whenyou are grazing redstart it will grow again for the spring

not being rude but did you read my post with the pictures in it?

Sam Kade

jersey101 wrote: »

It really only took off a month and a half ago. Protein can be anywhere from 15 - 24%

Something wrong here, was it actually planted 21st July?

jersey101

Sam Kade wrote: »

Something wrong here, was it actually planted 21st July?

ye sown on the 21st july

6480

would you need a good dry winter to get the most grazing out of the crop

jersey101

6480 wrote: »

would you need a good dry winter to get the most grazing out of the crop

ull never get a good dry winter here. Was talking to a lad to who sowed 12 acres of kale in index one soil last year, spread pig slurry on it and put lots of p and k on at sowing time and lads couldn't believe the grass that came off this field this year and he said the bullocks were up to there knees on mud during the winter