Premowing

keep going

A couple thoughts on premowing, using it at the moment to slow rotation and clean up ground but I could see it doing alot of wreck to rotation in normal circumstances. The stuff im mowing mows green and the cows then make it yellower but they seem content on it.i am short of grass but by doing this I can get to next weekend and then there is some after grass available but this morning I looked around and I mayavoid that.wisdom suggests im doing the wrong thing but I ll take a chance anyway as I expect big growths this week.it seems to work best in ground that almost dosent need topping but does . See others premowing to yellow base which I think is not right thing to do and bales should be taken instead

Deepsouthwest

keep going wrote: »

A couple thoughts on premowing, using it at the moment to slow rotation and clean up ground but I could see it doing alot of wreck to rotation in normal circumstances. The stuff im mowing mows green and the cows then make it yellower but they seem content on it.i am short of grass but by doing this I can get to next weekend and then there is some after grass available but this morning I looked around and I mayavoid that.wisdom suggests im doing the wrong thing but I ll take a chance anyway as I expect big growths this week.it seems to work best in ground that almost dosent need topping but does . See others premowing to yellow base which I think is not right thing to do and bales should be taken instead

Not a fan of pre-mowing here, but some real top farmers in my dg do a nice bit every yr. My biggest issue is its another job, and unnecessary burning of diesel. Why do u see it doing wreck to ur rotation in normal circumstances? What's ur alternative in ur situation? Has it any effect on milk solids yet?

keep going

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Not a fan of pre-mowing here, but some real top farmers in my dg do a nice bit every yr. My biggest issue is its another job, and unnecessary burning of diesel. Why do u see it doing wreck to ur rotation in normal circumstances? What's ur alternative in ur situation? Has it any effect on milk solids
Its doing two things for me , its slowing down rotation but they are also getting 3 kilos of soya hulls as I was at 17 or 18 days and it is tidying up paddocks for me . For meat the mmoment it is more or less replacing silage.if you were at 21 or 22 days sher all you would end up with is every thing going strong ahead of you so its not a tool to be used all the time.currently at 3.55 p down from low 3.6s and bf of 3.90 up as I was getting very low bf around 3.6 or 3.7.with thebest will in the world its very hard to keep grass in good shape with out a lick of something

Deepsouthwest

keep going wrote: »

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Not a fan of pre-mowing here, but some real top farmers in my dg do a nice bit every yr. My biggest issue is its another job, and unnecessary burning of diesel. Why do u see it doing wreck to ur rotation in normal circumstances? What's ur alternative in ur situation? Has it any effect on milk solids
Its doing two things for me , its slowing down rotation but they are also getting 3 kilos of soya hulls as I was at 17 or 18 days and it is tidying up paddocks for me . For meat the mmoment it is more or less replacing silage.if you were at 21 or 22 days sher all you would end up with is every thing going strong ahead of you so its not a tool to be used all the time.currently at 3.55 p down from low 3.6s and bf of 3.90 up as I was getting very low bf around 3.6 or 3.7.with thebest will in the world its very hard to keep grass in good shape with out a lick of something

So it looks like if u take out the diesel and time cost out of it, there doesn't appear to be any downside. V respectable solids at that. I just don't want to start pre-mowing!!

keep going

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

keep going wrote: »

So it looks like if u take out the diesel and time cost out of it, there doesn't appear to be any downside. V respectable solids at that. I just don't want to start pre-mowing!!

And I dont want to start baling!!

frazzledhome

We've premowed 20% of the farm. It wouldn't be standard practice here by any means.

We got so dry that taking out paddocks wouldn't have been wise. Intakes are massive. There's no way could a full round of premow be done as they'd eat it so quick and end up with no grass for next round.

Another being premown for tonight. We hate it feels like topping without the cow shyte

mahoney_j

frazzledhome wrote: »

We've premowed 20% of the farm. It wouldn't be standard practice here by any means.

We got so dry that taking out paddocks wouldn't have been wise. Intakes are massive. There's no way could a full round of premow be done as they'd eat it so quick and end up with no grass for next round.

Another being premown for tonight. We hate it feels like topping without the cow shyte

Do u find a bounce in yields /solids as what there eating would be very high in dm in current conditions

frazzledhome

mahoney_j wrote: »

Do u find a bounce in yields /solids as what there eating would be very high in dm in current conditions

We noticed slight litre lift with no solid lift. Tbf wouldn't be on it day after day to draw any conclusions

Sam Kade

frazzledhome wrote: »

We've premowed 20% of the farm. It wouldn't be standard practice here by any means.

We got so dry that taking out paddocks wouldn't have been wise. Intakes are massive. There's no way could a full round of premow be done as they'd eat it so quick and end up with no grass for next round.

Another being premown for tonight. We hate it feels like topping without the cow shyte

Does it work in the rain?

just do it

Different scenario. I used it to tidy up grazing ground that is being converted into paddocks and getting used to proper rotation grazing. It did a great job to get that ground going. Sucklers licked it all up as opposed to selectively grazing what they want. I like the fact it's topping without the sh*t. In time the ground will be reseeded though, don't have time for it

ellewood

just do it wrote: »

Different scenario. I used it to tidy up grazing ground that is being converted into paddocks and getting used to proper rotation grazing. It did a great job to get that ground going. Sucklers licked it all up as opposed to selectively grazing what they want. I like the fact it's topping without the sh*t. In time the ground will be reseeded though, don't have time for it

Have done it last few days with the end of a paddock that should have baled the next 1 after was baled at 6 bales/acre so cover wasn't too strong - good way to get clean paddock but by jezus the heifers that were on it gave out stink every day they just didn't want to eat it once cut - cut fresh each day for em but made no difference

freedominacup

ellewood wrote: »

Have done it last few days with the end of a paddock that should have baled the next 1 after was baled at 6 bales/acre so cover wasn't too strong - good way to get clean paddock but by jezus the heifers that were on it gave out stink every day they just didn't want to eat it once cut - cut fresh each day for em but made no difference

Heifers can be right fcuking divas. They get used to all the molly coddling as calves. First bite at everything, a taste of meal a lot of the time all their needs catered to for twelve months and then suddenly they're out in the big bad world having to graze out paddocks and they lose it. Our girls have been pi$$ed off since Patrick's day and show no signs of accepting their lot.

frazzledhome

freedominacup wrote: »

Heifers can be right fcuking divas. They get used to all the molly coddling as calves. First bite at everything, a taste of meal a lot of the time all their needs catered to for twelve months and then suddenly they're out in the big bad world having to graze out paddocks and they lose it. Our girls have been pi$$ed off since Patrick's day and show no signs of accepting their lot.

Lol brilliant

Divas too true

mf240

Pre mowed one small paddock that they never eat properly and they wolfed it out of it .

I baled one paddock and mowed the rest of them after grazing. Have lovely grass everywhere now and all for the sake of a few gallons of diesel.


Biggest thing that beats me is all silage ground is away from home so have no silage ground to graze in spring or aftergrass coming back in during summer.

Stocked at 3.2 this year which means feeding silage from oct to mid/late april every year.

jaymla627

freedominacup wrote: »

Heifers can be right fcuking divas. They get used to all the molly coddling as calves. First bite at everything, a taste of meal a lot of the time all their needs catered to for twelve months and then suddenly they're out in the big bad world having to graze out paddocks and they lose it. Our girls have been pi$$ed off since Patrick's day and show no signs of accepting their lot.

My heart was broke with last year's heifers, was strip grazing with fresh allocations every 24 hours, absolute balls with heifers roaming/roaring everytime they seen you and wet weather break outs where a major issue....
Changed approach this year, basically set stocking them and moving every two weeks dosent be a peep out of them except when grass gets really tight and their thriving away

orm0nd

Sam Kade wrote: »

Does it work in the rain?

works best with sunshine

just do it

freedominacup wrote: »

Heifers can be right fcuking divas. They get used to all the molly coddling as calves. First bite at everything, a taste of meal a lot of the time all their needs catered to for twelve months and then suddenly they're out in the big bad world having to graze out paddocks and they lose it. Our girls have been pi$$ed off since Patrick's day and show no signs of accepting their lot.

Post of the week freedom

ellewood

jaymla627 wrote: »

My heart was broke with last year's heifers, was strip grazing with fresh allocations every 24 hours, absolute balls with heifers roaming/roaring everytime they seen you and wet weather break outs where a major issue....
Changed approach this year, basically set stocking them and moving every two weeks dosent be a peep out of them except when grass gets really tight and their thriving away

HA When these went out first I was giving them a paddock for a day and a half and moving them after 1 day but still weren't happy - I even gave a while changing them twice a day but still no joy
Give them 3 day allocation now and there happy out

vincenzolorenzo

Can anyone give me a quick dummies guide to what pre-mowing is? I haven't come across this idea before!

freedominacup

vincenzolorenzo wrote: »

Can anyone give me a quick dummies guide to what pre-mowing is? I haven't come across this idea before!

Did you get yesterday's findo? If you did the dairy column had a premowing 101. Pros/cons and alternatives. If not basically it's mowing grass you might believe will need to be topped before stock goes in rather than afterwards. Haven't done it here since the nineties not rushing to get the mower on now either.

Muckit

https://youtu.be/fxjfXllSVBo

Nothing new but came across this video ony
YouTube. Thought in light of the recent zero grazing tread this could be a good half way house. High DM intakes would be the big plus. But does this all go out the window when it rains?

C0N0R

Muckit wrote: »

https://youtu.be/fxjfXllSVBo

Nothing new but came across this video ony
YouTube. Thought in light of the recent zero grazing tread this could be a good half way house. High DM intakes would be the big plus. But does this all go out the window when it rains?

Seen that video before, some amount of work involved! They said if I recall it doesn't make a difference rain or sun. If you did the same amount of fence moving and don't pre mow you will probably push intakes as well.