Reacting to the huge growth rates-to top or leave grass alone?

Western Pomise

Mainly sheep on farm here,in Mayo,like a lot of farms have too much grass this year.Set stocked on a fragmented farm.
Have a lot of grass that has gone well beyond the height that sheep like,also finding that am seeing thistles and nettles in fields where they never were before this year.
One neighbour also said that ‘weeds’ seem to be doing very well this year.....are others seeing this too?

Should I top fields where grass is gone stemmy or is there a danger that if you top too much ground now that you might not get enough of a regrowth to feed stock into backend iykwim.

Be interested in people’s thoughts,would be cleaning off with a disc mower with skids on it.

Dinzee Conlee

Western Pomise wrote: »

Mainly sheep on farm here,in Mayo,like a lot of farms have too much grass this year.Set stocked on a fragmented farm.
Have a lot of grass that has gone well beyond the height that sheep like,also finding that am seeing thistles and nettles in fields where they never were before this year.
One neighbour also said that ‘weeds’ seem to be doing very well this year.....are others seeing this too?

Should I top fields where grass is gone stemmy or is there a danger that if you top too much ground now that you might not get enough of a regrowth to feed stock into backend iykwim.

Be interested in people’s thoughts,would be cleaning off with a disc mower with skids on it.

Ould lad never used to top and used to maintain that what wasn't eaten in the summer would be eaten in the winter... if you weren’t heavy stocked with sheep, there could be some truth in it... feed value wouldn’t be great, but it should hold them for a bit...

I have the same issue, and have no plans to top... we’ll see how it goes

ganmo

we top with a mower with the skids on and i'm happy with it, never had a topper though. Sure you don't even have to top the whole field if you think you don't need to

wrangler

Western Pomise wrote: »

Mainly sheep on farm here,in Mayo,like a lot of farms have too much grass this year.Set stocked on a fragmented farm.
Have a lot of grass that has gone well beyond the height that sheep like,also finding that am seeing thistles and nettles in fields where they never were before this year.
One neighbour also said that ‘weeds’ seem to be doing very well this year.....are others seeing this too?

Should I top fields where grass is gone stemmy or is there a danger that if you top too much ground now that you might not get enough of a regrowth to feed stock into backend iykwim.

Be interested in people’s thoughts,would be cleaning off with a disc mower with skids on it.

That's the reason I decided to overstock, it's very difficult to get thrive on that sort of grass with sheep , it has to be kept short and leafy for sheep, I don't even use skids under the mower. Disadvantage is, as you say, that grass runs out very quick in the winter.
If I don't sell my cull ewes by end of August, my stocking rate will be over 170kgN/ha

_Brian

Top away.
€50 tops allot of ground and the benefit from both better grass and composted toppings would surely outweigh the cost of topping. Helps stem spread of seeded weeds too.

Topping now will still see plenty of growth before winter if your hoping to carry feed on the ground through.

Biscuitus

Topping is one of the most beneficial things you can do this time of year. Growth rates have been crazy this year, of course keep a plan for grazing so you don't run out but look ahead and top fields you want to move into in 3 weeks time. It also helps to top with rain due the next day.

Not topping now will leave you with sky high weeds and stem-y mid quality grass. Top now and you will kill a lot of weeds and have a cover of leafy grass, the growth isn't going to stop anytime soon.

Tileman

I am in same boat here. I always top keeps grass in good conditions for lambs and makes around the house look tidier.
However my topper is broken with old age now. I have a Kuhn mower and a neighbor gave me tipping skids. However not sure how to put them on. Do I replace two of the normal skids or what is the procedure.

Dinzee Conlee

I think i’m in the minority by saying not to top

Ah well...

wrangler

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

I think i’m in the minority by saying not to top

Ah well...

It's too early to be building grass for the winter, if there's long grass now it'll only deteriorate and rot and stop grass growing in September when you would be trying to build a bank of grass.
It was very difficult to manage grass this year and tbh I don't know what the solution is......

Say my name

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

I think i’m in the minority by saying not to top

Ah well...

I'll back you up to a point!

I'm putting on the topper tomorrow to cut thistles. If there were no thistles there I wouldn't be topping.

The longer the grass above ground the longer the roots below ground and the more nutrients available and the less fertiliser needed and more water available.
Regenerative farmers in the U.S. practice take half, leave half when grazing. The more cover you'll leave the greater the soil armour and the greater the protection for soil biology from the Sun and more free fertilizer available for the grass and again less reliance on bag fertilizer. And less reliance on bag fertilizer means a more balanced feed and not high nitrate grass that requires energy to breakdown in the rumen which leads to other ruminant problems including the gut microbiome and thus susceptible to viruses and parasites.
That's a theory anyway.

Dinzee Conlee

wrangler wrote: »

It's too early to be building grass for the winter, if there's long grass now it'll only deteriorate and rot and stop grass growing in September when you would be trying to build a bank of grass.
It was very difficult to manage grass this year and tbh I don't know what the solution is......

Tbh, I don’t own a mower or a topper. I try to keep the stocking rate up, to keep the place under control, but was a bit lower this year...
The sheep have either eaten or walked down the grass, be grand

As I only have hog, quality isn’t as big an issue for me as small lambs...

One thing I have noticed is the amount of clover about this year, the place is white with it... Anyone else seeing the same?

Say my name

wrangler wrote: »

It's too early to be building grass for the winter, if there's long grass now it'll only deteriorate and rot and stop grass growing in September when you would be trying to build a bank of grass.
It was very difficult to manage grass this year and tbh I don't know what the solution is......

Put the fert spreader into hibernation till the grass situation is under control again.

wrangler

Say my name wrote: »

Put the fert spreader into hibernation till the grass situation is under control again.

We've only 40 units N/acre out yet this year, last application (15 units) was first week in May

Western Pomise

Topped anything that was messy looking the other day....can already see nice burst of regrowth coming in spots,naturally will take the weeds and rushes a while to break down but am glad I did it now,had skids on Kuhn mower so didn’t go too tight to the ground.