Grazing 2021

morphy87

I have plenty grass at the moment and ground conditions are still very good,hope to leave them out till the end of November

My grass is gone a bit strong if this is not grazed down tight will this effect quality next spring? They are happy away on it and grazing it well so far so hopefully they will skin it,

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118093415#Comment_118093415

It will effect it, the butt will rot, it'll be course and strong and they'll be reluctant to eat it. You'll end up having to force them.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118093452#Comment_118093452

I have about ten acres like that this year. I am strip grazing most of it. Something I am not mad about but I am getting good clean outs so farm. Grass will be a week to ten days later next spring but quality will be ok. As well as I graze silage paddocks in the spring it will sort any issue. There may be 1-2 acres of the ten there is an issue with but most will be ok.

Correct pH is helpful as well.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118093452#Comment_118093452

This was reseeded three years ago and when the cattle were took off this late August I topped it so a nice fresh award would grow back so hopefully this should help,but I wasn’t exspecting growth like this

would it have to very strong to cause this problem? Can’t strip graze and I don’t want to leave it behind me before the cattle are housed

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118093493#Comment_118093493

How would correct ph sort this problem? If possible would you mind uploading a photo of what you are grazing?

would type of weight gain would you be exspecting on good grass this time of year?

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118093968#Comment_118093968

Good pH will help the butt decay as well butt would be slightly sweeter. A run of a chain harrow will help as well next Spring. Nearly all the really heavy stuff is grazed out now, moving into the last few paddocks with slightly lighter covers but will try for photos

Not overly worried about weight gain as it is mostly stores but would to expect definitely 5-600 grams/day

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118093942#Comment_118093942

Why cant you strip graze, is ground condititions not good enough

funkey_monkey

Should you top any paddocks that are too strong now or would you be best waiting until spring to sort them out?

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118095240#Comment_118095240

The problem I'm having is that thegrass is lying down and rotting the butt, if it's not grazed soon it'll all rot.

Land is too wet here to drive on. topping not an option

Getting it well grazed out with sheep but not a pretty sight

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118095097#Comment_118095097

It’s a very big field and it would be very awkward, it’s the only field I can’t strip graze,I had a similar problem last year and it seemed ok in the spring and they skinned it in the spring just worried about quality in the spring time, they are happy in it so it might be ok k

funkey_monkey

We've only a couple of sheep here, not enough to graze down tightly. The grass growth is unreal, but the ground just can't carry them. With the dark nights coming in now I think our cattle will be heading in next week.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118095507#Comment_118095507

You close up very early e ven for a normal year

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118095520#Comment_118095520

Cattle are usually in early - mid October here. Last year we had some out wandering about until mid December, but the bulk of them were in. We've another few fields around the sheds we could move them to, but depending on the weather we might risk them on it for a few days until we can get them in dry.

We are lightly stocked this year so we have sufficient buffer of silage and slurry storage. We all work off the farm here, so although we'd prefer them out, it is handy at this time of year to have them in. This year is has been a bit of an outlier in terms of grass growth late in the season so we have a couple of fields still having strong grass.

_Brian

Heavy rain forced two paddocks closed here for the year that would love to have grazed again, heavy damp ground.

have about two weeks grazing if ground conditions don’t go too bad.

mr.stonewall

Rain here has forced housed over half the stock. Put them in yesterday ahead of last night's rain. Like Brian I have 3 paddocks I would like to graze but ground conditions are very tricky. Hard to see much drying from now on but will graze out with calves. I'm in a high rainfall area that gets between 1100- 1200mm annually. Well behind this year, so I think we will have a good bit of rain to fall over the winter

Just left with bucket fed calves and store heifers out.

Probably will have the heifers housed this coming week. Calves will be probably housed in 10-14 days. They are getting hay out at the moment with their bit of meal. Pull out 5 of the lighter ones and housed them yesterday.

Has been a good year overall for grass, but a bit tricky managing for past 2 months, in a good way

Who2

80% housed here. I’ve a batch of replacements still out and they’ll be left out until Christmas a few light weanlings and a batch of finishing cows that have access to a yard for feeding. It’s comfort more so than wandering around ditches looking for off form animals in the dark. I’ve never had as much grass at this time of year . I’ve 9 acres at the back of one of the sheds kept to creep calves out to in early spring.

Bass Reeves

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Photos above sorry about the finger I'm the way never looked at them until now.

Graze out is poor here at present. Only 12 in the bunch and hard to limit area at start of the paddock. I have had heavier covers than this but have got better graze out on them. This is a slightly heavy paddock as you get further into it.

Last of the photos are if a paddock grazed out about two weeks ago. It was not as heavy as the present one.. It's s paddock that is usually closed for silage. Will be grazed in late March.

morphy87

3rd and 4th photos are the next field I am going to graze next,1st 2nd and last photo is the field they are currently grazing,this field was similar to the one that they are going in to next, they are in this field a week now

Timmaay

Jezzz lads stop depressing me there with your nice photos, my final photo would be pure mud and slop.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118098980#Comment_118098980

You have great grass yourself, are you happy with how they are grazing it? All I am worried about is that quality isn’t reduced in the spring if I don’t graze it tight,I uploaded photos there now

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118099503#Comment_118099503

Believe me it’s not always like this! It’s just an exceptional year

Easten

Still too mild to be housing cattle. The second half of the week is promised dry and by next weekend temperatures are back on the rise to the early teens.

Fields I mob grazed a month ago have a new cover of grass on the again with all the growth

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118099627#Comment_118099627

Yeah after today it’s meant to pick up again for the week,if the weather comes anyway right I should get all of November out hopefully

893bet

Pretty much all gone in today bar the weanlings. Grass mostly gone and ground conditions gone to pot.

Ye are blessed with land like that!

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118099627#Comment_118099627

Do not regraze it you will need that field in March for grazing. I start closing about October 7th I will have 50% of the farm closed by middle of the week. I will concentrate on getting getting some lighter covers grazed out to up closed area.

Easten

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118099701#Comment_118099701

I don't like leaving a cover of grass on fields I'll be closing for silage. I find the frost over the winter makes for a lot of rotten tips and grass through the silage. If you get a hard frost then it goes pure brown and needs to be grazed off before closing for silage.

I think all this regrowth is down to the monsoon like weather we are having now, wet and mild. The wetter and milder it gets the more the grass grows. The other side of it is the feed value, I've put mag buckets out now, some of the calves are still a bit away from weaning but seem to be sucking a lot more in this weathere. I think some of the grass is nothing more than green water so I'm afraid of tetany or grass staggers

older by the day

Often the frost takes that grass before it's fed . I know that's not teagasc advice but if the ground is holding up ok I let's the cattle eat it.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118099767#Comment_118099767

It dose not. The grass changes from being 10-12%DM with water on it to being 25%+DM. It loses its soft green look but the feeding value increases.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118099749#Comment_118099749

Brown tips are 70%+DM, I never have a problem getting cattle to graze down such covers.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118099627#Comment_118099627

All in this morning, they would have drowned standing up this afternoon, exceptional driving rain. Will try them out again if weather is any way reasonable.

Small prataies left in the ridge are a few inches above ground now

Easten

Cracking weather this morning. Hard to believe it's the first week of November, temperatures in the low teens still. I moved cattle back into silage ground that was mob grazed over a month ago. Unreal growth in 4 weeks that I couldn't leave like that for the winter.