Building Grass Cover

Keepgrowing

What are people doing to build covers?
What Fert are you going with and how much?
What cover will you aim for?

Mooooo

Silage ground back growing so has Sr back to 2.93, have 6 acres stopped for bales and will be drying off autumn calvesrs next week. Will bale for next 2 weeks or put dries around after cows an will start building then. Had been blanket spreading during the summer which has gone against my normal thinking re fertility but have grown a good bit of grass even if it did come in bursts with the weather, so will blanket with a bag of can this week and again before closing. Locked up so overall stocking rate at 2.8. On covers not measuring yet but with half the main grazing block heavy I aim to get them as tight as I can but with a wet backend doesn't always happen. Wil aim to graze drier paddocks and close by the start of November if possible.

mahoney_j

Sr 2.8 and will be for remainder of year
Dropped cover per cow to 180! Last Friday and starting to build from there ,although if this growth keeps up 1 more crop of bales may be taken .since 01/08 spreading I bag of urea ,1/3 farm per week and then one final blanket spread first few days in September of 40 units can .after that about 90 k gallons tower slurry to go out and will spread dung late October .first paddocks closed 01/10'and will stay grazing till farm cover hits 650 in November .after that grazing area closed till 01/02/2017 first cows dried off 01/12 and fully dry by 20/12 .will milk oad in December

Timmaay

Overall SR is 2.8, growth barely staying ahead of demand with a lack of moisture, and it's only the 9th of August yet, we can get heavy droughts well into September around here, but once the rain comes there can be a serious burst of growth late September that tides us over nicely till closing. Despite all the droughts here it's far from the driest of farms and trying to graze heavy covers in a wet autumn is a disaster, so 2bh I'm going to be making no real effort to make a big autumn wedge, certainly not this early.

freedominacup

Sr at 3.3. Looking to make another 1.5 bales per cow of third cut. No plans to build covers at all. Grass just doesn't deliver performance after Sept. Bales/pit ends up going in no matter how much grass is available. We'll plan for thirty day rotation with third cut aftergrass coming back in the end of Sept with another thirty plus in Oct. It looks like we would be able to build but not bothering. Farm blanket spread with around thirty five units of urea last week. Another round of the same as long as there's moisture for it in early Sept plus around 1k gallons/acre of slurry still to apply. Be a bit of a balancing act getting the timing of that application on the money between utilisation of the feet, utilisation of grass and avoiding damaging awards and soils. No point in storing it in order to get max bang for our buck and then flogging it out in the wrong conditions.

trixi2011

Last of surplus bales should be taken off by the end of this week and should be sitting close to 3 sr from then on. Will cull older empties and definite culls in the next few weeks if growth rates plummet. Hope to be out to a 30 day round by the first week in sept and 40 by Oct will feed baled silage to extend if needs be but won't be feeding over kg of meal till full-time housing. Hoping to build cover to around 1000/1100 peak and close up farm at 700 by 10th November . Following cows with a bag of urea and will start spreading lagoon slurry after the cows in sept. Fym will be spread on areas low on Pk as they are closed.

Keepgrowing

522
145
56 growth
59 demand

Farm cover and growth falling so 6 kgs silage and 2 kg nuts in today. Will feed strong till covers start to lift. Fert will be spread ASAP 2*18's going out with 2 more mid Sept

charolais0153

Demand is going to be decreasing all the way through to closing as we dry off cows and sell lambs. We have too much grass ATM but the wedge doesn't show it

freedominacup

Keepgrowing wrote: »

522
145
56 growth
59 demand

Farm cover and growth falling so 6 kgs silage and 2 kg nuts in today. Will feed strong till covers start to lift. Fert will be spread ASAP 2*18's going out with 2 more mid Sept

What's your overall sr? Forget silage area etc. Lus/ha. How many rounds of p&k have you spread? Only one here but silage area on outfarm amounting to around 25% of total acres gets very little slurry. Most bought in p&k concentrated on this ground. 5 bags of 10-10-20 gone on this land so far. All ground got 1.5 of 18-6-12 in June plus over 4k of slurry per year. I'm still figuring out the management of nutrients with higher sr and current regs. Sr heading for 3 overall. Last soil test in early 2015 was ok. Indexes still fairly good, mainly threes and fours but some slippage since we were locked out of local piggery due to not having scope to import. How far off are we with p&k?

charolais0153

Is their a certain amount of p and k that has to be applied each year to maintain indexes or does it depend on how many units of n applied

yewtree

charolais0153 wrote: »

Is their a certain amount of p and k that has to be applied each year to maintain indexes or does it depend on how many units of n applied

Broken down into build up and maintenance need build up when in index 1 and 2. It takes 8units of p/acre and 25units of k/acre to build and move up 1 index above maintenance over a 2/3 year period. Maintenance amounts depend on stocking rate. The higher the stocking rate the greater the off take of nutrients.

Mooooo

Good point made at meeting the other day for lads that have the cash to.do it is p's and k's may never be as cheap as they are now so a good time to spread or even buy forward. I know not many will be in the position to buy forward this year but at least if buying for last few rounds may be worth it. Now it may not go up in price next year but oil has risen a bit since spring so not like they won't use the excuse

Keepgrowing

Mooooo wrote: »

Good point made at meeting the other day for lads that have the cash to.do it is p's and k's may never be as cheap as they are now so a good time to spread or even buy forward. I know not many will be in the position to buy forward this year but at least if buying for last few rounds may be worth it. Now it may not go up in price next year but oil has risen a bit since spring so not like they won't use the excuse

Not too sure about all that.
N is the one that has taken the biggest drop and thus making compounds better value. The P&k elements haven't dropped at the same pace. Some say it's got more to come.
Anyway enough crystal ball but if I were buying forward I wouldn't be buying yet and I'd but over a period of time considering the falling market

Mooooo

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Mooooo wrote: »

Good point made at meeting the other day for lads that have the cash to.do it is p's and k's may never be as cheap as they are now so a good time to spread or even buy forward. I know not many will be in the position to buy forward this year but at least if buying for last few rounds may be worth it. Now it may not go up in price next year but oil has risen a bit since spring so not like they won't use the excuse

Not too sure about all that.
N is the one that has taken the biggest drop and thus making compounds better value. The P&k elements haven't dropped at the same pace. Some say it's got more to come.
Anyway enough crystal ball but if I were buying forward I wouldn't be buying yet and I'd but over a period of time considering the falling market

U may well be right,.18 6 12 was the fert mentioned so would line up with your thinking on cost also.

kevthegaff

Going a round with pasture sward atm, going to do a few paddocks with slurry as can't travel later if weather doesn't permit.. ill go again in September early, considered z grazing grass from rented land( after grass), but let heifers out instead so I can cover home block with slurry. Have to empty tower nxt few weeks as this place is like a ski slope if weather changes. Cows at 18 litres 3,45 4.02 40% first calvers.

kevthegaff

Never z grazed bit friend is getting good results with milk and building covers, you at it j still?

mahoney_j

kevthegaff wrote: »

Never z grazed bit friend is getting good results with milk and building covers, you at it j still?

Nope Kev just 2 weeks late March and will z graze my field of Italian again in late November

yewtree

yewtree wrote: »

Broken down into build up and maintenance need build up when in index 1 and 2. It takes 8units of p/acre and 25units of k/acre to build and move up 1 index above maintenance over a 2/3 year period. Maintenance amounts depend on stocking rate. The higher the stocking rate the greater the off take of nutrients.

Found this on teagasc website bit more detail on maintenance rates https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/animals/dairy/SoilFertility.pdf

Keepgrowing

mahoney_j wrote: »

Nope Kev just 2 weeks late March and will z graze my field of Italian again in late November

Contractor?

Keepgrowing

freedominacup wrote: »

What's your overall sr? Forget silage area etc. Lus/ha. How many rounds of p&k have you spread? Only one here but silage area on outfarm amounting to around 25% of total acres gets very little slurry. Most bought in p&k concentrated on this ground. 5 bags of 10-10-20 gone on this land so far. All ground got 1.5 of 18-6-12 in June plus over 4k of slurry per year. I'm still figuring out the management of nutrients with higher sr and current regs. Sr heading for 3 overall. Last soil test in early 2015 was ok. Indexes still fairly good, mainly threes and fours but some slippage since we were locked out of local piggery due to not having scope to import. How far off are we with p&k?

Lot of stuff there.
Full farm Sr. In 3 on the nose.
Dairy platform is 3.8 and there's no overlap as its purely cows only on this ground. All milkers silage comes from surplus taken here with balance coming from out farm. All young stock are silage do and wintered on outfarm. The silage from out farm is rotated around the farm to reduce P&k off take and supply after grass for weanlings that are in a leader follower system. As an aside these are only getting their second worm treatment today as they never have to graze low. I use the term treatment rather than prevention as I'll only dose when calves show signs of burden. This farm gets slurry with 2.5 bags of 18's in spring. All index 3&4.
The milking platform is a different ball game. It's growing 18 tonnes so P&k off take is massive. Soil index is 10% index 1, 35% index 2, 40% low 3 balance scrapes into low 4. All index 1&2 has gotten 5 bags of 18's to date with 3's getting 2.5. Any index 4 getting none. All milking ground has 6000 gals of slurry gotten in 3 applications in spring. The plan is to apply 2*18's to all milking ground now and again early Sept before closing date.
Soil sample all farm every 2 years with index 1&2 every year but changing to sampling all every year this Jan.
We would also have FYM from 600 bales of straw being applied to the lowest index fields at closing.
Any dry cow silage has been bought on the shank and taken as big cuts. I just felt it was a massive drain on the soil and with Sr. As it is its prudent to take dry cow silage from elsewhere at 10c per kg DM.
Another point on silage taken from our farm I aim for cuts of MAX 5 bales per acre of 40%dm leafy silage. Grow it quick, cut it quick and graze it quick would be my philosophy.
Not sure if that answers all your questions.

blackdog1

Keepgrowing wrote:

What are people doing to build covers? What Fert are you going with and how much? What cover will you aim for?

Silage ground just grazing now. 2nd cut was cut on the 19th of July. Whole crop ground should be back in in 30 days cut Tuesday. Also will feed whole crop buffer to keep cows out longer. Will bare paddocks if weather is good as I'm in winter milk.

mahoney_j

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Contractor?

Fook ya ,couldn't be arsed with the extra work or machine

Keepgrowing

mahoney_j wrote: »

Fook ya ,couldn't be arsed with the extra work or machine

Great arrangement

mahoney_j

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Great arrangement

Local guy started doing it last autumn and in huge demand ,think he is buying a second one .i have 2 neighbours with a zero grazer for own use and you'd be dizzy looking at them up and down the road 7 days a week either cutting grass ,spreading slurry or fertliser

kevthegaff

mahoney_j wrote:

Local guy started doing it last autumn and in huge demand ,think he is buying a second one .i have 2 neighbours with a zero grazer for own use and you'd be dizzy looking at them up and down the road 7 days a week either cutting grass ,spreading slurry or fertliser

Is that valmet j, had to be fixed a good few times. I'd say z grazers don't last long with big hours.. he's doing 8-9 loads some days, going well

freedominacup

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Lot of stuff there.
Full farm Sr. In 3 on the nose.
Dairy platform is 3.8 and there's no overlap as its purely cows only on this ground. All milkers silage comes from surplus taken here with balance coming from out farm. All young stock are silage do and wintered on outfarm. The silage from out farm is rotated around the farm to reduce P&k off take and supply after grass for weanlings that are in a leader follower system. As an aside these are only getting their second worm treatment today as they never have to graze low. I use the term treatment rather than prevention as I'll only dose when calves show signs of burden. This farm gets slurry with 2.5 bags of 18's in spring. All index 3&4.
The milking platform is a different ball game. It's growing 18 tonnes so P&k off take is massive. Soil index is 10% index 1, 35% index 2, 40% low 3 balance scrapes into low 4. All index 1&2 has gotten 5 bags of 18's to date with 3's getting 2.5. Any index 4 getting none. All milking ground has 6000 gals of slurry gotten in 3 applications in spring. The plan is to apply 2*18's to all milking ground now and again early Sept before closing date.
Soil sample all farm every 2 years with index 1&2 every year but changing to sampling all every year this Jan.
We would also have FYM from 600 bales of straw being applied to the lowest index fields at closing.
Any dry cow silage has been bought on the shank and taken as big cuts. I just felt it was a massive drain on the soil and with Sr. As it is its prudent to take dry cow silage from elsewhere at 10c per kg DM.
Another point on silage taken from our farm I aim for cuts of MAX 5 bales per acre of 40%dm leafy silage. Grow it quick, cut it quick and graze it quick would be my philosophy.
Not sure if that answers all your questions.

Thanks for taking the time. By your reckoning I should be looking for three bags of 10-10-20 on next rotation to maintain things. Looks like we'll have to invest in a fert spreader. Been blanket spreading for the past couple of seasons but looks like we need to be more targeted with p&k applications going forward.

cute geoge

If you have a high s.r example of 4 l.u. /h you will be raping the grazing platform of p&k especially if you are one of these moorepark
copycats not feeding any significant ration to milking cows .Would it make more sense to feed good quality bought in rations to these cows rather then reducing index of your grazing land by such intensive grazing

mahoney_j

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Lot of stuff there.
Full farm Sr. In 3 on the nose.
Dairy platform is 3.8 and there's no overlap as its purely cows only on this ground. All milkers silage comes from surplus taken here with balance coming from out farm. All young stock are silage do and wintered on outfarm. The silage from out farm is rotated around the farm to reduce P&k off take and supply after grass for weanlings that are in a leader follower system. As an aside these are only getting their second worm treatment today as they never have to graze low. I use the term treatment rather than prevention as I'll only dose when calves show signs of burden. This farm gets slurry with 2.5 bags of 18's in spring. All index 3&4.
The milking platform is a different ball game. It's growing 18 tonnes so P&k off take is massive. Soil index is 10% index 1, 35% index 2, 40% low 3 balance scrapes into low 4. All index 1&2 has gotten 5 bags of 18's to date with 3's getting 2.5. Any index 4 getting none. All milking ground has 6000 gals of slurry gotten in 3 applications in spring. The plan is to apply 2*18's to all milking ground now and again early Sept before closing date.
Soil sample all farm every 2 years with index 1&2 every year but changing to sampling all every year this Jan.
We would also have FYM from 600 bales of straw being applied to the lowest index fields at closing.
Any dry cow silage has been bought on the shank and taken as big cuts. I just felt it was a massive drain on the soil and with Sr. As it is its prudent to take dry cow silage from elsewhere at 10c per kg DM.
Another point on silage taken from our farm I aim for cuts of MAX 5 bales per acre of 40%dm leafy silage. Grow it quick, cut it quick and graze it quick would be my philosophy.
Not sure if that answers all your questions.

Great post on your milk platform Sr ,is that it now or do u think u could push another bit ??.currently at 2.6 but now I have farm purring (fully reseeded and mostly index3/4 )I think I could push up to 4 maby a tad higher .plan was 3.5/3.6 but reevaluating now .goid dry farm with grazing season early February to early December

Keepgrowing

mahoney_j wrote: »

Great post on your milk platform Sr ,is that it now or do u think u could push another bit ??.currently at 2.6 but now I have farm purring (fully reseeded and mostly index3/4 )I think I could push up to 4 maby a tad higher .plan was 3.5/3.6 but reevaluating now .goid dry farm with grazing season early February to early December

Not finished yet
Target is 2100 kg Ms sold off farm. Not sure if cows will do 500 kg at this Sr. as high sr can lead to reduction of kgs. I'll be disappointed with less than 2000. If I can't hit 2000 I'll drop back sr.
Going to 4.2 next year as I'm confident farm can grow 18 tonne consistently. Measure every week with every paddock cut and weighed. 10 yrs measuring info here so on top of grass growing but some learning on management of same. Grass is easy grow but converting it without waste can be tricky, that's my experience anyway.
I've loads of in calf heifers and couldn't sell for less than €1800. Not a hope of that money so they'll be calved and milked as its the most profitable option.
If I could get more Winter contract it would make things cushey

Keepgrowing

freedominacup wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time. By your reckoning I should be looking for three bags of 10-10-20 on next rotation to maintain things. Looks like we'll have to invest in a fert spreader. Been blanket spreading for the past couple of seasons but looks like we need to be more targeted with p&k applications going forward.

Far be it from me to make recommendations for anyone. All I can say is get acquainted intimately with one soil and feed it. Tis expensive stuff. Some lads mind their phones better than their soil

Keepgrowing

cute geoge wrote: »

If you have a high s.r example of 4 l.u. /h you will be raping the grazing platform of p&k especially if you are one of these moorepark
copycats not feeding any significant ration to milking cows .Would it make more sense to feed good quality bought in rations to these cows rather then reducing index of your grazing land by such intensive grazing

Moorpark copycat, lol. There's no way to carry 4 cows without supplement. Simple as that.
It takes work and attention to detail to run hi Sr. systems

Keepgrowing

How are covers recovering since the rain?
Growth up from 35 to 70's here as of last Sunday.
At 720 AFC grew well this week so removed silage last Monday. Need to take cover again to reassess

degetme

840afc
336kgdm/lu.
don't know weather to buy more fert. Half tone of cut sward left in yard

Buford T. Justice XIX

degetme wrote: »

840afc
336kgdm/lu.
don't know weather to buy more fert. Half tone of cut sward left in yard

The response to fert round here is excellent atm. This round is getting a bag of pasture sward/acre and the last of the fert will go out at 1/3 to 1/2 bag/acre.

To me, it's a no-brainer to spread if growth rates are good and you have the fert quota left.

Keepgrowing

degetme wrote: »

840afc
336kgdm/lu.
don't know weather to buy more fert. Half tone of cut sward left in yard

A few variables.
1 is your land and roadways fit to carry cows in hi covers if it's wet in Oct/nov?

2 What growth are you getting?

3 How long since last Fert?

4 Have you the sr to control and manage high covers?

Personally I'd imagine Fert is a no brainer. Get out some P&k woth N

freedominacup

Keepgrowing wrote: »

A few variables.
1 is your land and roadways fit to carry cows in hi covers if it's wet in Oct/nov?

2 What growth are you getting?

3 How long since last Fert?

4 Have you the sr to control and manage high covers?

Personally I'd imagine Fert is a no brainer. Get out some P&k woth N

A couple of questions. Building covers seems to have become the conventional wisdom over the past twenty years. My main question is why? How much extra grass is it giving? How much extra production? What's the difference between a rotation that puts the cows in each paddock in each month Sept, Oct, Nov and two rotations between now and closing? I have built covers in the recent past when sr was lighter and grazed on youngstock esp into Dec.

The past two weekends have really brought home the importance of sun/sugars to me. We were struggling to keep things lit with the rain and consequential impacts on intakes overall and esp of sugar last weekend. This weekend dry and warm plenty of sunshine they're bursting esp in the morning's. I'm really starting to question the feed value of these banks of grass for milk production. I think they could be a bit like a diet of rabbit for a human. It'll keep you full but you'll eventually die of starvation/malnutrition.

I'm sure my arguments are full of holes so feel free to put me straight.

Edit;btw I have a bag and a half per acre of 18-6-12 ordered for this week so not going housing stock or turning our backs on grass anytime soon.

danjoe

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Lot of stuff there.
Full farm Sr. In 3 on the nose.
Dairy platform is 3.8 and there's no overlap as its purely cows only on this ground. All milkers silage comes from surplus taken here with balance coming from out farm. All young stock are silage do and wintered on outfarm. The silage from out farm is rotated around the farm to reduce P&k off take and supply after grass for weanlings that are in a leader follower system. As an aside these are only getting their second worm treatment today as they never have to graze low. I use the term treatment rather than prevention as I'll only dose when calves show signs of burden. This farm gets slurry with 2.5 bags of 18's in spring. All index 3&4.
The milking platform is a different ball game. It's growing 18 tonnes so P&k off take is massive. Soil index is 10% index 1, 35% index 2, 40% low 3 balance scrapes into low 4. All index 1&2 has gotten 5 bags of 18's to date with 3's getting 2.5. Any index 4 getting none. All milking ground has 6000 gals of slurry gotten in 3 applications in spring. The plan is to apply 2*18's to all milking ground now and again early Sept before closing date.
Soil sample all farm every 2 years with index 1&2 every year but changing to sampling all every year this Jan.
We would also have FYM from 600 bales of straw being applied to the lowest index fields at closing.
Any dry cow silage has been bought on the shank and taken as big cuts. I just felt it was a massive drain on the soil and with Sr. As it is its prudent to take dry cow silage from elsewhere at 10c per kg DM.
Another point on silage taken from our farm I aim for cuts of MAX 5 bales per acre of 40%dm leafy silage. Grow it quick, cut it quick and graze it quick would be my philosophy.
Not sure if that answers all your questions.

Does that mean that you would spread 7 bags of 18.6.12 + 6000 gallons on index1 and 2's ? per year

Timmaay

Thought growth was going to slow down more as we are still lacking abit of moisture, however after doing a quick walk this evening we are heading back towards excess (decent few paddocks pushing over 1000). Which is impressive considering we are carrying about 10extra cows and all the incalf heifers this back end (I managed to get grazing for them from Aug to Oct last year). It certainly gives me the confidence to add another 10cows onto the system next year which will take us to about 3.1lu/ha overall.

Keepgrowing

danjoe wrote: »

Does that mean that you would spread 7 bags of 18.6.12 + 6000 gallons on index1 and 2's ? per year

Yes

danjoe

I thought I was doing well spreading half that amount, im obviously not putting enough in to help bring up my land up to index 3 or 4

Keepgrowing

danjoe wrote: »

I thought I was doing well spreading half that amount, im obviously not putting enough in to help bring up my land up to index 3 or 4

My goal isn't index 4 as its in achievable. Prepared to allow 4 drop to mid 3 and get 1&2's to 3.

18/6/12 is sub €300 so is my Fert of choice at that level. It's like the alcoholic says "I didn't drink enough whiskey when it was cheap"

yewtree

Farm cover up to 900 here, cover/lu 300 so pretty much on target, didn't have any shortage of rain this year so grew very well in August.
Ground conditions were a bigger issue. Bottom 1/3 of farm was starting to get very wet. If the whole farm was of the same soil type would have been considering housing last week at night. Walked a few of lower paddocks this morning and they are drying out well so hopefully we get a dry September.
Cows on 1.5 kg meal at the moment usually increase feeding rate in sept I find it helps with BCS. I have a lot of high quality bales and was considering leaving feed as it is until housing and using bales to stretch grass. Anyone plan to change feeding regime this backend considering price?

Mooooo

Well if you need to stretch grass silage would have a higher substitution rate than ration. However if grass is plentiful it is this time of year in which the greater response ones from it. Our own group discussing it lads had reduced ration in the last number of weeks and are putting it in from now on to get the response and keep bcs

yewtree

Mooooo wrote: »

Well if you need to stretch grass silage would have a higher substitution rate than ration. However if grass is plentiful it is this time of year in which the greater response ones from it. Our own group discussing it lads had reduced ration in the last number of weeks and are putting it in from now on to get the response and keep bcs

No doubt easier build and stretch grass with bales, I hav always got a good reponse to the extra feed in terms of improved BCS. don't want to end up feeding meal to dry cows to put condition on that was lost the past two months of grazing

Muckit

Is the 'power' gone out of grass now? Dairy lads are ye feeding more meal to keep levels up?

Not v scientific but I'm noticing cattle cleaning out well but not contented and getting through grass quicker than expected.

Mooooo

Because grass is gone past its reproductive stage it has less energy in it from here on out, as well as weather causing it to have lower dm cattle are eating more but getting less out of it. Good quality silage or another forage like whole crop or maize or high energy meal would be a good addition to grass this time of year. From the beef point of view its harder to supplement alright and the grass this time of year is also part of the reason it's advised that finishing cattle still on autumn grass can be difficult along with weather affecting consistency of the diet. If stock are in rel small groups if they had access to a bale in a round feeder or to the shed or may keep them.more content

mahoney_j

I think this summer as a whole whilst growthy was no where near as good as last year quality wise ,lack of sun and grass whilst looking good just didn't have the same punch in it bar the few sunny spells we had .

Keepgrowing

freedominacup wrote: »

A couple of questions. Building covers seems to have become the conventional wisdom over the past twenty years. My main question is why? How much extra grass is it giving? How much extra production? What's the difference between a rotation that puts the cows in each paddock in each month Sept, Oct, Nov and two rotations between now and closing? I have built covers in the recent past when sr was lighter and grazed on youngstock esp into Dec.

The past two weekends have really brought home the importance of sun/sugars to me. We were struggling to keep things lit with the rain and consequential impacts on intakes overall and esp of sugar last weekend. This weekend dry and warm plenty of sunshine they're bursting esp in the morning's. I'm really starting to question the feed value of these banks of grass for milk production. I think they could be a bit like a diet of rabbit for a human. It'll keep you full but you'll eventually die of starvation/malnutrition.

I'm sure my arguments are full of holes so feel free to put me straight.

Edit;btw I have a bag and a half per acre of 18-6-12 ordered for this week so not going housing stock or turning our backs on grass anytime soon.

You've summed up my position exactly. My target cover is 1200 by mid Sept. In order to achieve this is need to feed silage now something I'm not prepared to do. My reasoning is that I end up munching through middeling quality grass.

I'd have no bother if I was stocked lower and drying off for 6 weeks with some cows dried Christmas week and not calving till April.

As we've got a winter contract we operate a policy of milking to 6-8 weeks pre calving. This date is decided by BCS.

The only target we aim for is our closing cover of 750. That and Bcs are non negotiable.

freedominacup

Keepgrowing wrote: »

You've summed up my position exactly. My target cover is 1200 by mid Sept. In order to achieve this is need to feed silage now something I'm not prepared to do. My reasoning is that I end up munching through middeling quality grass.

I'd have no bother if I was stocked lower and drying off for 6 weeks with some cows dried Christmas week and not calving till April.

As we've got a winter contract we operate a policy of milking to 6-8 weeks pre calving. This date is decided by BCS.

The only target we aim for is our closing cover of 750. That and Bcs are non negotiable.

Target cover. Pre grazing or average across the farm?

Keepgrowing

freedominacup wrote: »

Target cover. Pre grazing or average across the farm?

AFC

freedominacup

Keepgrowing wrote: »

AFC

You'll have some fairly big covers at that stage won't you? Pre grazing heading for 2k?