Grazing 2025

Aly Daly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123415904#Comment_123415904

I bought some continental stores this spring who when let out went completely crazy despite our usual quiet handling & escaped an extremely well fenced field causing me unbelievable stress in retrieving the mad whooers,very strange as they were very quiet in the shed prior to being turned out,I resold them in a different mart a few days later & got on very well price wise,turn them out with a few quite lads & have a shake of meal in a trough if they are still acting the fool get rid of them,regarding there castration I have no idea why anyone would castrate a store as this should be done no later than 7 months.

limo_100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123416078#Comment_123416078

There hand reared stock from last year there not wild there just hyper is a better word for them but I don't think they ever seen a fence before and that's where the issue is so not sure how long they will take to understand how it works but Id say after today they will become fast learners. I was thinking of letting a cow out with them but not sure that be a good thing or they just spend the whole time chasing her around trying to ride her

Aly Daly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123416092#Comment_123416092

If you let them in the gate & have a narrow strip fenced across to the far ditch & a bit of meal this can be great way to keep cattle from going mad altogether in a big field if this is practical,after a few minutes open up the srip considerably for overnight & take it down altogether in the morning,I'd say you are right about the cow they would probably torment her,I would try & turnout new arrivals with a few quiet residents.

endainoz

Soil moisture defecits heading for between 25 and 40 ml on most soils by the end of this week, growth rates will be impacted if they haven't begun already. It's a very awkward time of year for it to happen too coming into the first cut silage season for many.

Hard Knocks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123419383#Comment_123419383

have noticed the wet spots starting to dry

Conversations 3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123419383#Comment_123419383

Will lads have to cut early if the grass starts to stress?

endainoz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123420384#Comment_123420384

Yeah that's the question, would it be worth leaving it a few weeks to bulk up a bit and hope for a later second cut or cut the usual time and have a smaller harvest but higher quality. Not really sure what I'd do in that position, but probably would leave it bulk up a bit but I'm not cutting that early anyway so it wouldn't affect me.

Conversations 3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123420460#Comment_123420460

Depends what's being fed I'd say, some lads want quality and others want quantity.

I was always aiming for around the 12th of May weather dependent, so mine is just about ready to go.

Dozer1

with the cold night last night fields that had good cover look alot poorer today, it's taking alot of balancing to keep grass ahead of stock at the moment, lads on wetter ground must be in good shape

endainoz

Had a fine drop of rain with thunderstorms passing through in North Clare earlier today, with the way the forecast looks it might be the only bit we get for a while.

Kevhog1988

Out of interest what sort of rotation are you guys running at?. Is 30 days rest optimum?.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123485695#Comment_123485695

At presit might be as high as that to allow covers to be good enough for grazing. Tain will drive on growth so rotations will shorten. Had a bunch of yearling following one finishing bunch and had a bunch of stores in a paddock with silage and two kgs to get covers goid enough for finishing bunch. Priorising finishing cattle to get some of them slaughtered

Kevhog1988

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123485710#Comment_123485710

What level of cover do you take them out?. am i best to skin it or leave a bit and move on?. Finding when i graze it tight it struggles a little bit but drought may have affected it too. (Sheep not cows)

Dunedin

don’t skin it- takes grass to grow grass.

endainoz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123486116#Comment_123486116

As Dunedin said above definitely don't skin, the shorter the plant the longer it will take to grow back. Skinned grass puts more pressure on the root to bring up minerals and stalls regrowth. I work with 8 paddocks, with a 4 - 5 day per paddock rotation.

In a perfect world all my paddocks would be the same size but obviously they aren't, so a couple of smaller paddocks won't last longer than three days and the bigger paddocks might go to 5 or 6 days but no longer than that. By day 5 or 6 some grasses will already be beginning to regrow. Aim for a minimum of 25 day rest but ideally it should be 30+.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123486862#Comment_123486862

What about when it comes to topping, how low would you go?

Dunedin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123488515#Comment_123488515

5cm is the recommended height. Topping gives an even cut whereas cattle if left grazing won’t graze around dung paths but will skin the areas in between.