Drought 2020

Say my name

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

https://twitter.com/ransonnick/status/1268205022237667328?s=21

It’s barely visible, but if you look hard enough you can see the difference...:)

There's a dock on the left.

Reminds me of my own from 2018.
Same management. Grazed days apart too.

endainoz

Say my name wrote: »

There's a dock on the left.

Reminds me of my own from 2018.
Same management. Grazed days apart too.

You should know docks are full of minerals

endainoz

Mooooo wrote: »

Looks like it would suit such a farm alright, what's it like to graze in a wet spring / autumn / summer in heavier ground?
No problem if areas prone to drought look to use those but if some of us are forced to use mixes like that it will mean reseeding more often and cow's housed for longer in the year..... Have said previously the "droughts" I have here may slow growth a bit but it's wet conditions cause more issues not dry. Blanket solutions don't fit either way

Diverse swards help with wet conditions too. Better soil structure will hold together more often and will help against poaching etc. The whole point of a diverse sward would be to reseed LESS often not more. I would agree with you though that blanket solutions won't fit everybody, soil types, conpaction, PH levels all variables to take into account. It all goes back to soil though, all farming does and it's not being focused on enough.

Say my name

endainoz wrote: »

You should know docks are full of minerals

I know. They'll eat them too if theres not much N applied.

Trouble with that tweet and nothing at all to do with Dawg. Is that the paddock on the left doesn't look very diverse and the grazed a couple of days apart could just mean like my pic that the one on the right was just grazed and the stock are about to enter the one on the left.

My pic is copyrighted btw.
But it's available for a fee for fert, bio fert, grass seed or biology companies looking for a photo for brochures.

Mooooo

endainoz wrote: »

Diverse swards help with wet conditions too. Better soil structure will hold together more often and will help against poaching etc. The whole point of a diverse sward would be to reseed LESS often not more. I would agree with you though that blanket solutions won't fit everybody, soil types, conpaction, PH levels all variables to take into account. It all goes back to soil though, all farming does and it's not being focused on enough.

Let them do trials on heavy ground for early and late grazing and see how they do then, along with weed management.

whelan2

Mooooo wrote: »

Let them do trials on heavy ground for early and late grazing and see how they do then, along with weed management.

Ballyhaise have trials for this But they have the herd split into groups, 20 cows going in a damp spot will do feck all damage compared to 150. Crossbred cows like what they have now would be alot lighter than hol cows. A big fanfare that cows were out until a certain date. Sure we could all do that if we only had 20 cows

yosemitesam1

Mooooo wrote: »

Let them do trials on heavy ground for early and late grazing and see how they do then, along with weed management.

Multiple species doesn't have to mean herbs and clover, just other grass species will benefit the soil, make no difference to weed control and could be tailored to suit wet or dry land

jaymla627

endainoz wrote: »

Diverse swards help with wet conditions too. Better soil structure will hold together more often and will help against poaching etc. The whole point of a diverse sward would be to reseed LESS often not more. I would agree with you though that blanket solutions won't fit everybody, soil types, conpaction, PH levels all variables to take into account. It all goes back to soil though, all farming does and it's not being focused on enough.

Will be putting half the grazing block here into maize and triticale next year if 2020 turns into another 2018, maize here is flying it, same cant be said for second cut silage ground, grass is a great job once the man above turns on the sprinkler system when you need it, but if dryer summers become the norm solely relying on it to feed your cows is madness

GrasstoMilk

whelan2 wrote: »

Ballyhaise have trials for this But they have the herd split into groups, 20 cows going in a damp spot will do feck all damage compared to 150. Crossbred cows like what they have now would be alot lighter than hol cows. A big fanfare that cows were out until a certain date. Sure we could all do that if we only had 20 cows

They probably have the same square meters allocated per cow that the 150 would so should be an accurate representation but I hear you. 150 cows going through one gap and up and down the same road is different to 20

Timmaay

jaymla627 wrote: »

Will be putting half the grazing block here into maize and triticale next year if 2020 turns into another 2018, maize here is flying it, same cant be said for second cut silage ground, grass is a great job once the man above turns on the sprinkler system when you need it, but if dryer summers become the norm solely relying on it to feed your cows is madness

We get some sort of drought here one in 3yrs on average, and I'll actually agree that maize is a great crop as an insurance against drought, the economics of it blow almost any 2 or 3 cut system out of the water in most years, by now it forms an important part of the winter and shoulders diet for both the milkers and drycows, however in terms of replacement half your grazing block with it, absolutely nuts in my opinion, I'm in the driest part of the country here and I'm still 2wks away from buffering any silage yet, because instead I let the wedge build up and haven't bothered with as much 1st cut as usual off the milking block. 2nd cuts always have been a pure lottery, the way I operate is after the 1st cut everything is back in the rotation, if its a wet June I can expect to have to take out half the farm again in excess paddocks, if its dry like it is now then I won't get any at all. The alternative of lobbing in half maize or triticle would result in me having to up the grassland sr to like 5cows/ha, buffer the whole bloody year around, more slurry, more machinery, more pits, more costs, and almost definitely fookall extra profits at the end of the day for it. Given me the ballbag of having to buffer 12kg of bought in hulls/meal for afew weeks during 2018 anyday over that system!

20silkcut

jaymla627 wrote: »

Will be putting half the grazing block here into maize and triticale next year if 2020 turns into another 2018, maize here is flying it, same cant be said for second cut silage ground, grass is a great job once the man above turns on the sprinkler system when you need it, but if dryer summers become the norm solely relying on it to feed your cows is madness

In fairness you’d have to be ahead of the curve on that one. Grass has always worked for most people in Ireland for hundreds of years. 2018 was the first serious drought in 40 years certainly in my part of the country. Even this one( bad and all as it is ) is not at that level yet.
Funny enough I saw a video of the 2018 drought recorded by a Canadian farmer visiting Ireland and he described the conditions he saw at that time as ideal growing conditions from a Canadian point of view. I suppose centre pivot irrigation farms just need heat and a deep well.
Definitely we need to be smarter about conserving and storing water in this country. We still get a savage amount of rain it just comes all at once.

Gawddawggonnit

I thought that the important message from the tweet was NO nitrogen used on the multi species sward...?
Funny that. It’s all about perspective I suppose.

Must spray off some weeds now, this weather does make you do things that you’d rather not have to do.

Say my name

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

I thought that the important message from the tweet was NO nitrogen used on the multi species sward...?
Funny that. It’s all about perspective I suppose.

Must spray off some weeds now, this weather does make you do things that you’d rather not have to do.

It ain't multispecies though it's all grass species.
And one was just grazed and one is about to be grazed.

Or has Twitter become about thanks and likes too now without fully being truthful.

You posted before you have some multispecies yourself. Throw up a few pics of them with a little history on them. That'd generate genuine interest.

My own non grower experience of ms just from walks is there's an issue of persistency. Some growers can't get species to survive beyond the second year. And cutting and grazing height has a big bearing. With some preferring it just for zero grazing at their preferred height.

Reggie.

Thinking of sowing some multi species in the grazing block this year. See how it goes

SouthWesterly

It's finally raining in North Kerry.
Not very heavy but it's something.

Castlekeeper

_Brian wrote: »

1995 was a savage summer but wasn’t this dry this early. The big bonus in 95 is the dry weather lasted on into October.
I remember maybe 76/77 there was a serious blast of hot dry weather, I remember the fields all around this area in Cavan burnt red, but that may have been overgrazing as this area was much heavier stocked back then.

94 was nearly better than 95 in my memory, both much later than this. The only two years I grew Maize, I decided I'd rode my luck enough and true enough wed a fair few miserable years after that.
84 was a savage summer too, but again later to dry, and again followed by some horrible wet summers, bales floating and being dumped in ditches.
76 was comparable to 18, only lasted longer , afaik things didn't get going til October,
silage made in mid late November!

SouthWesterly

2mm of rain this, morning in North Kerry so far. It's a start:)

Bass Reeves

As s matter of interest how much rain do lads think we need before we could spread Urea. I have spread nothing on the silage ground but I am tempted to go with a bag of urea/acre. It will be getting slurry as well

Neddyusa

Bass Reeves wrote: »

As s matter of interest how much rain do lads think we need before we could spread Urea. I have spread nothing on the silage ground but I am tempted to go with a bag of urea/acre. It will be getting slurry as well

Does it have to be urea?
If soil is very dry you'd want 20mm first and then more rain forecast for after

Dunedin

Bass Reeves wrote: »

As s matter of interest how much rain do lads think we need before we could spread Urea. I have spread nothing on the silage ground but I am tempted to go with a bag of urea/acre. It will be getting slurry as well

Definitely wouldn’t be considering urea in this weather. You’d be a long time kneeling before you’d have a damp knee!!!!

Reggie.

Dunedin wrote: »

Definitely wouldn’t be considering urea in this weather. You’d be a long time kneeling before you’d have a damp knee!!!!

Just after discing some land there. The DUST

Danzy

Qtr inch in North Cork in last 24 hours.

Savage deluge as far as this year is concerned and very welcome.

Robson99

Bass Reeves wrote: »

As s matter of interest how much rain do lads think we need before we could spread Urea. I have spread nothing on the silage ground but I am tempted to go with a bag of urea/acre. It will be getting slurry as well

Same boat as you Bass. Have Urea in the yard but think I will leave it there and get a ton of Sulfa Can instead.
Better safe than sorry

Mooooo

Nothing down here rain wise as of yet, a bit of mist for 10 mins maybe. 're the urea of you're after or getting rain and the day isn't sunny I'd spread away. Could do it in the evening if you have time. Prob better on ground with a bit of cover

greenfield21

Are you all talking about protected urea now, I think alot of people say urea when it's protected urea they are actually using.

Castlekeeper

Blowing misty rain all day here, places are dripping, silage baled on tuesday and hay baled yesterday.
It's gas the way any slowdown in growth due to a bit of dry weather is called a drought.
In my mind drought is where you've to shoot the cattle because there's no water to drink, and it's borderline insulting to those who've gone through that the way some go on about it in this country.

patsy_mccabe

What about lads that are mad for liquor and say they have a 'touch of the drought'.

forgottenhills

Castlekeeper wrote: »

Blowing misty rain all day here, places are dripping, silage baled on tuesday and hay baled yesterday.
It's gas the way any slowdown in growth due to a bit of dry weather is called a drought.
In my mind drought is where you've to shoot the cattle because there's no water to drink, and it's borderline insulting to those who've gone through that the way some go on about it in this country.

What about a thread retitle to "Rain not too plenty since early 2020"?

Say my name

Or the environmentals who said we were in a drought on the first of April and draining the Shannon of water to give to the milking cows?
All because the dairy cows caused the climate change.

Bass Reeves

Castlekeeper wrote: »

Blowing misty rain all day here, places are dripping, silage baled on tuesday and hay baled yesterday.
It's gas the way any slowdown in growth due to a bit of dry weather is called a drought.
In my mind drought is where you've to shoot the cattle because there's no water to drink, and it's borderline insulting to those who've gone through that the way some go on about it in this country.

No matter if it was dry for 8 months it's unlikely that we have to shoot cattle because if lack of water. It's seldom the issue in other countries either. It is always possible to drill well, build lagoons or lakes or divert streams or rivers to get water to cattle. In front starvation is the big killer usually. Lack of growth is the signing growth. As well because we are stocked at higher levels than other countries we just suffer from it on a different way.