Grazing in a Paddock System

Tomjim

What should the height of the grass be when you are finished grazing a paddock out

darragh_haven

Tomjim wrote: »

What should the height of the grass be when you are finished grazing a paddock out

About toe height on your Wellington

Tomjim

top of toe or bottom of toe?

Miname

4 cm, but to achieve that without stunting growth in the animals I'm finding the only option is have a batch of dry cows cleaning out the paddocks to that.

just do it

This will get you going

CloughCasey1

Miname wrote: »

4 cm, but to achieve that without stunting growth in the animals I'm finding the only option is have a batch of dry cows cleaning out the paddocks to that.

How do you mean stunting growth? If they are left too long in the one paddock with a bit of stemmy grass left that they don't fancy and you leave them to clean it and they are not getting enough? Takes good timing. A day or two too long could set them back. I top every third grazing to clean up.

just do it

Hard to achieve good clean out to 4cm starting off. High stock rate in the paddock going into lush grass 10-12cm high for only 24-48hrs will achieve it. But to get to that stage you need topping post grazing, fertiliser, regular rotation

Miname

I'm running sucklers with calved at foot across the paddocks. I don't want slowing down any bit because of a lack of grass one day in every three so they go in for two to three days and I've a batch of autumn Calvers coming tight behind them and they are being made skin it out. The autumn Calvers so far this year have skipped two paddocks at different stages because they haven't cleaned out fully and these are the only two I need to top. The only downside is between the spring and autumn Calvers they are in a paddock for anything from 5-6 days so probably hindering regrowth a fair bit. Hopefully I'll have the numbers up a bit and the stocking balance just right for next year. This is my first year working a proper paddock system and I can't emphasise enough the effect it has on growth and as a bonus the cattle seem to be ten times easier to manage.

Mad4simmental

Miname wrote: »

I'm running sucklers with calved at foot across the paddocks.

I know it changes with growth and calves getting older but what size paddocks to cow/calf numbers are you running roughly? Do you blanket spread fert or are you running behind the cows little and often? Tanx

Miname

Mad4simmental wrote: »

I know it changes with growth and calves getting older but what size paddocks to cow/calf numbers are you running roughly? Do you blanket spread fert or are you running behind the cows little and often? Tanx

Average around 3 acre paddocks with 22 cows with calves and a bull and twenty autumn followers. I blanket spread in the spring with a bag and a half of 25.4.0. But that was a bit of a mistake, I've topped up with a half bag to the acre on a couple of the rotations but I've too much grass as is. I've taken 11 acres out in surplus on top of my usual silage block with another three acres to be taken out in another forthright. I've also surpluses coming of an out farm too so really have to push the stock nos up to make full use of what im at. Its definately a huge change for me and im only starting to see what a lot of the dairy lads were harping on about. My advisor was telling me on three acre paddocks i should be able to carry around 45 at three day rotations in one batch I've a bit of testing of my own to try first though. I'd be sceptical of a lot of the lines they push.

danjoe

Need advice, we have bunch of sucklers due to calve early July, what we have been doing is restricting them on a bare field and getting 1 kg of oats and a dust of soya. But they are losing condition more than I would like. If I give them more grass at this stage I think it will all go to calf.Any suggestions? Thanks

smokey-fitz

danjoe wrote: »

Need advice, we have bunch of sucklers due to calve early July, what we have been doing is restricting them on a bare field and getting 1 kg of oats and a dust of soya. But they are losing condition more than I would like. If I give them more grass at this stage I think it will all go to calf.Any suggestions? Thanks

If you had a paddock close to the bare one, let them in for a couple of hours each day and take them back out. Or if you have some hay or stemmy silage left over put them on that. Hay is great, they wont gain condition on it at this stage.

just do it

The one thing about them losing a bit of condition this time of year is they can gain it again quickly before been housed for the winter. It's all a matter of balance and hard to judge without seeing them. Last suggestion is good if you feel they're losing too much.

Miname

Use them to clean out behind another group if your running another batch. Otherwise work out their requirements and strip graze them with less than they need. It's a just as bad a job leaving them too hungry.

farawaygrass

Say you are running a batch of yearlings, then cow and calves and followed by sheep to clean out-how tight do ye graze? I'm very tight for grass at the moment, all year really, and wondering am I letting the sheep graze it too tight. They are grazing it bare basically as is

Username John

farawaygrass wrote: »

Say you are running a batch of yearlings, then cow and calves and followed by sheep to clean out-how tight do ye graze? I'm very tight for grass at the moment, all year really, and wondering am I letting the sheep graze it too tight. They are grazing it bare basically as is

I dunno if you were at the Sheep thing in Athenry at the weekend, but it showed what the optimum height was when taking sheep out of the paddock.

For me - the recommended height (4cm) was way higher than I would normally put them out at. I was grazing the paddocks much too bare (thinking I was doing a great job)

Miname

farawaygrass wrote: »

Say you are running a batch of yearlings, then cow and calves and followed by sheep to clean out-how tight do ye graze? I'm very tight for grass at the moment, all year really, and wondering am I letting the sheep graze it too tight. They are grazing it bare basically as is

ID say your problem is they are too long grazing out the one paddock. In my extremely limited knowledge I've been told in and out in three days, I'm presuming between all yours are there over a week at least so they are probably knocking regrowth on a constant basis.

Odelay

Remember an old man telling me, "you need grass to grow grass", I took from that if it's grazed too short there won't be enough photosynthesis on the area of short leaf to energise the growth. Makes sence to me.

farawaygrass

Username John wrote: »

I dunno if you were at the Sheep thing in Athenry at the weekend, but it showed what the optimum height was when taking sheep out of the paddock.

For me - the recommended height (4cm) was way higher than I would normally put them out at. I was grazing the paddocks much too bare (thinking I was doing a great job)

Exactly the same as myself. At 4cm I would have that that was the time to let sheep in.
Miname-that's what the man giving the talk in Athenry said too, 3 days grazing and 3 weeks recovery. I think you could be right about my problem, it is a week to ten days Rotation. But I was trying to let the next field grow more grass, especially this year. Maybe I should have giving bale of silage?
He also made a good point that some farmers have too many grazing groups. He said why not run sheep with cows, maybe lambs with yearlings. Makes sense I suppose

Toplink

I enjoy reading these threads. Trying to learn as much as possible.

The home farm at the moment has no proper paddock system. A combination of Dad working off the farm for the past 20 years and myself working away from home in the past 10 years has led to very few improvements being made.

Water and electricity would be the main restrictions however I think its time we made some form of improvements in this area.

I am going to apply for TAM2 and build a shed close to the middle of the main block of land. Do any of you know if there would be grant funding paid towards getting an ESB connection and sinking a well? there is no mains water supply.

just do it

Miname wrote: »

ID say your problem is they are too long grazing out the one paddock. In my extremely limited knowledge I've been told in and out in three days, I'm presuming between all yours are there over a week at least so they are probably knocking regrowth on a constant basis.

Odelay wrote: »

Remember an old man telling me, "you need grass to grow grass", I took from that if it's grazed too short there won't be enough photosynthesis on the area of short leaf to energise the growth. Makes sence to me.

'tis a combination of the two. 4cm is in order to leave enough green plant for photosynthesis (1 leaf if I recall correctly). This time of year regrowth starts as quick as 2 days from being grazed and this fresh regrowth is the tastiest grass. So if there in for any longer than 3-4 days they've grazed the regrowth before it's even had a chance.

danjoe

just do it wrote: »

The one thing about them losing a bit of condition this time of year is they can gain it again quickly before been housed for the winter. It's all a matter of balance and hard to judge without seeing them. Last suggestion is good if you feel they're losing too much.

Yes they are in good condition,I suppose I'm being cautious in that last year we had them in calf heifers scanned to calf in July and didn't calf til Aug meaning that they were on bare ground for 3 months and were too thin calving down,it took til this spring to get them back into good condition and that was after feeding them Dairy nuts all year

ganmo

Username John wrote: »

I dunno if you were at the Sheep thing in Athenry at the weekend, but it showed what the optimum height was when taking sheep out of the paddock.

For me - the recommended height (4cm) was way higher than I would normally put them out at. I was grazing the paddocks much too bare (thinking I was doing a great job)

the problem we run into is some patches grazed bare and others untouched, fields are prob too big/groups are too small