The Grass Measuring Thread

Keepgrowing · 03-06-2017 09:36AM

Mooooo wrote: »

Do you use a strip wire when do No 5/6 grazings? Or just keep a bit at the back to settle them for last grazing?

I think you mis understand me.

The paddocks are on their 5/6 th round

Strip wire only used here in spring or when building in back end. We hate break fences and use as little as posdible, very hard to fully feed cows with them

mahoney_j · 03-06-2017 09:54AM

Keepgrowing wrote: »

I think you mis understand me.

The paddocks are on their 5/6 th round

Strip wire only used here in spring or when building in back end. We hate break fences and use as little as posdible, very hard to fully feed cows with them

I'd of said same till we left stans place last year ,12 hour blocks constant and cows def not underfed a man at top of his game tho .
I'm in same boat as u tho strip wires only early and late in year

trixi2011 · 03-06-2017 11:00AM

Cut 5 paddocks last night only 15 days growing all weighing over 2 ton closed what I had planned to bale for 2nd cut silage another 5 paddocks going into grass that was cut for silage 9 days ago. Could do with stocking the mp higher but infrastructure and parlour at maximum as is .

alps · 08-06-2017 01:44PM

Skipped a further 2 paddocks after Mondays cover walk. 4 of 27 paddocks now closed waiting for weather. However had to move cows on to new ground just before lunch, as utilisation is deteriorating very rapidly, very poor over last 3 days.
Reckon we will.have to go back and graze some of the closed ground at this rate.
Would hate to think we could need to employ on/off techniques....horrible thought for week 6 of breeding...

mahoney_j · 08-06-2017 03:00PM

alps wrote: »

Skipped a further 2 paddocks after Mondays cover walk. 4 of 27 paddocks now closed waiting for weather. However had to move cows on to new ground just before lunch, as utilisation is deteriorating very rapidly, very poor over last 3 days.
Reckon we will.have to go back and graze some of the closed ground at this rate.
Would hate to think we could need to employ on/off techniques....horrible thought for week 6 of breeding...

Horrible thought for first week June !!!!,very happy I cut Tuesday and baled yesterday ,parlour washings now going out ,grass flying even though at a cover of 110 per cow ,savage year for grass

rangler1 · 08-06-2017 03:33PM

mahoney_j wrote: »

Horrible thought for first week June !!!!,very happy I cut Tuesday and baled yesterday ,parlour washings now going out ,grass flying even though at a cover of 110 per cow ,savage year for grass

Getting to look very like 2012 when the weather broke on may bank holiday and didn't take up till late spring 2013

Mooooo · 08-06-2017 03:38PM

Looks like drying a bit start of week. Ground soft here.

pedigree 6 · 08-06-2017 04:43PM

rangler1 wrote: »

Getting to look very like 2012 when the weather broke on may bank holiday and didn't take up till late spring 2013

Ah go way would ya.:D

Fortnights time and ye''ll be crying out for rain.

mahoney_j · 08-06-2017 05:03PM

rangler1 wrote: »

Getting to look very like 2012 when the weather broke on may bank holiday and didn't take up till late spring 2013

Not even a close relation of 2012

I said · 08-06-2017 05:10PM

Paddock grazing I've lost control,baling not an option lipp in Glas can't top till 1st of July.
Strip graze?

Mooooo · 08-06-2017 05:36PM

I said wrote: »

Paddock grazing I've lost control,baling not an option lipp in Glas can't top till 1st of July.
Strip graze?

Guess it's all you can do if you can't cut it. Use older stock don't pressure young stock

yewtree · 08-06-2017 05:47PM

mahoney_j wrote: »

rangler1 wrote: »

Getting to look very like 2012 when the weather broke on may bank holiday and didn't take up till late spring 2013

Not even a close relation of 2012

Spot on, lots of high quality feed made in may. And looks like it's drier after Saturday.
Cows on reclaimed bog at the moment and getting away fine.
The long dry spells really help drainage and ground is able to take the water

Waffletraktor · 08-06-2017 05:52PM

Looking at 7 day forecast for ye it's back to low 20's next week after last splash at weekend.

Timmaay · 08-06-2017 08:06PM

36% of the grazing block skipped over for silage at the min, putting the SR at 4cows/ha. Aim is to take half that out as leafy bales next dry spell, defo will have well enough leafy bales then, but could do with some more steamy stuff for the Drys. Should I lob another bag of can on that and wait, or just take the whole lot out if a decent dry spell comes?

mahoney_j · 08-06-2017 08:32PM

Timmaay wrote: »

36% of the grazing block skipped over for silage at the min, putting the SR at 4cows/ha. Aim is to take half that out as leafy bales next dry spell, defo will have well enough leafy bales then, but could do with some more steamy stuff for the Drys. Should I lob another bag of can on that and wait, or just take the whole lot out if a decent dry spell comes?

Take it all out soon as ,yourcland is drought prone so leaving it.bulk up could come back to bite u fairly quick

yosemitesam1 · 09-06-2017 08:24AM

I said wrote: »

Paddock grazing I've lost control,baling not an option lipp in Glas can't top till 1st of July.
Strip graze?

Pack them in tight and move as close to daily as you can, aim for probably only 50-60% utilisation depending on how strong it's gone.
Call it mob grazing if you want to be trendy!

freedominacup · 09-06-2017 11:00AM

Timmaay wrote: »

36% of the grazing block skipped over for silage at the min, putting the SR at 4cows/ha. Aim is to take half that out as leafy bales next dry spell, defo will have well enough leafy bales then, but could do with some more steamy stuff for the Drys. Should I lob another bag of can on that and wait, or just take the whole lot out if a decent dry spell comes?

Why set out to make bad silage. It's of no benefit. Paddock bales are iffy enough anyway besides making poorer quality on purpose.

PMU · 09-06-2017 02:04PM

freedominacup wrote: »

Why set out to make bad silage. It's of no benefit. Paddock bales are iffy enough anyway besides making poorer quality on purpose.

its about taking the grass out to allow the paddock to grow grazing, not the quality of the silage

freedominacup · 09-06-2017 03:26PM

PMU wrote: »

its about taking the grass out to allow the paddock to grow grazing, not the quality of the silage

Yes you're right. Tom was considering leaving some paddocks grow on for a while to take a big cut of bulky stuff.

ted_182 · 13-06-2017 10:47PM

Just an observation but...
Ive recently heard a good few farmers say cows are dropping in milk, i have seen it with my own too, the reason? Drop in intakes, why? Cows here would be on an all you can eat offering with more often than not having their cleanout grazing every fouth time(ie a 48hr allocation of grass)but when they come into that fourth/fifth rotation then there is quiet abit of waste around dungpaths etc which imv is leading to a drop in intakes, i just wanted to get yer thoughts on this. Dare i say the t word but should we look at topping a percent of the farm in mid may to have better quality in swards in june? They way i see it is, growth starts to take off and while a fella might get say 20 30 40 whatever percent of the farm baled as surplus(which is without doubt by and far the best way of having quality grass on said paddocks in subsecent rounds) it could be end of june or even july, if even, that quality can be rectified on the rest of the farm which as i say imv is having a knock on effect on milk production. Topping seems to be the work of the devil nowadays but could it be done in a pro avtive way earlier in the year ie certain percentage after second round and certain percent after third round( done early when swards are still fairly clean so as to minimise actual waste.) Thoughts and experiences?

yewtree · 13-06-2017 11:03PM

I try to be really aggressive taking bales to get as much of the ground cut as possible, even with that there are also a few paddocks that get away. I prefer to premow over topping as you dont hit regrowths as much and your not wasting feed. the disadvantage is your making cows eat a % of rubbish.
I dont think topping a few paddocks is the end of the world and is probably needed on most farms.
The topping we carried out years ago with side mounted toppers after 2-3 rotations was nonsense as we wasted feed and didnt even clean out swards properly and we weren't cutting low enough. i think a lot of the criticisms of topping comes from that.

Timmaay · 13-06-2017 11:06PM

Ah here, top away the fook. Anything that hasn't been mowed has been topped, and a few paddocks have been topped twice because of weeds. Yep you do knock back regrowth topping moreso than mowing, but when growth rates are well in excess of demand then why should that matter.

I'll admit the cows not Milking as well as hoped at the min, peaking at 25l, usually hit 26 or 27l, protein back around 3.4, when it should be 3.5 consistently now. Bf has stayed above 4 however, would drop back to 3.6 some yrs after the fresh flush of grass. Only thing I can think of is grass has been slightly ahead of me most the last month, due to me not taking out enough paddocks (threat of a drought in early may, then wet as fook since), so pgc more like 1800 rather than 1400.

freedominacup · 13-06-2017 11:15PM

ted_182 wrote: »

Just an observation but...
Ive recently heard a good few farmers say cows are dropping in milk, i have seen it with my own too, the reason? Drop in intakes, why? Cows here would be on an all you can eat offering with more often than not having their cleanout grazing every fouth time(ie a 48hr allocation of grass)but when they come into that fourth/fifth rotation then there is quiet abit of waste around dungpaths etc which imv is leading to a drop in intakes, i just wanted to get yer thoughts on this. Dare i say the t word but should we look at topping a percent of the farm in mid may to have better quality in swards in june? They way i see it is, growth starts to take off and while a fella might get say 20 30 40 whatever percent of the farm baled as surplus(which is without doubt by and far the best way of having quality grass on said paddocks in subsecent rounds) it could be end of june or even july, if even, that quality can be rectified on the rest of the farm which as i say imv is having a knock on effect on milk production. Topping seems to be the work of the devil nowadays but could it be done in a pro avtive way earlier in the year ie certain percentage after second round and certain percent after third round( done early when swards are still fairly clean so as to minimise actual waste.) Thoughts and experiences?

I think the key is flexibility and not expecting anything to run the same way year to year at this time. Two years ago we were baling in late Apr, then first cut around the 10th of May with more bales in the latter half of May. Loads of aftergrass coming in stages. This year like yourself looking back at it a bit of judicious topping earlier might have left us in better order over the past ten days. Bad weather since the first of Jun hasn't helped but we've stopped the rot now and are starting to get a bit of a lift. We did top a few paddocks a fortnight ago and just back into them now with aftergrass from baled paddocks to come next. You have to play heads up football all the time and react to what is actually happening rather than what you think/have been told should be happening. Every time you don't you get caught. We did and it was disheartening there for a week or so.

pedigree 6 · 13-06-2017 11:24PM

There is another simple answer. The cows are going back in milk production because they're going in calf. It happens every year at this time of year.
(Well if you're spring calving).

Don't put your cows incalf.;):D

newholland mad · 13-06-2017 11:44PM

Know nothing about dairying but drove up through tipp and kilkenny and almost every dairy herd i passed were grazing meadows most of which I'd say was only grazed once this year. This stuff would be poor silage never mind grazing

Mooooo · 13-06-2017 11:51PM

newholland mad wrote: »

Know nothing about dairying but drove up through tipp and kilkenny and almost every dairy herd i passed were grazing meadows most of which I'd say was only grazed once this year. This stuff would be poor silage never mind grazing

Ah shir them lads up there don't know how to do grass at all

Keepgrowing · 14-06-2017 07:59AM

ted_182 wrote: »

Just an observation but...
Ive recently heard a good few farmers say cows are dropping in milk, i have seen it with my own too, the reason? Drop in intakes, why? Cows here would be on an all you can eat offering with more often than not having their cleanout grazing every fouth time(ie a 48hr allocation of grass)but when they come into that fourth/fifth rotation then there is quiet abit of waste around dungpaths etc which imv is leading to a drop in intakes, i just wanted to get yer thoughts on this. Dare i say the t word but should we look at topping a percent of the farm in mid may to have better quality in swards in june? They way i see it is, growth starts to take off and while a fella might get say 20 30 40 whatever percent of the farm baled as surplus(which is without doubt by and far the best way of having quality grass on said paddocks in subsecent rounds) it could be end of june or even july, if even, that quality can be rectified on the rest of the farm which as i say imv is having a knock on effect on milk production. Topping seems to be the work of the devil nowadays but could it be done in a pro avtive way earlier in the year ie certain percentage after second round and certain percent after third round( done early when swards are still fairly clean so as to minimise actual waste.) Thoughts and experiences?

We've aggressively taken out bales and are topping some paddocks 30% this round. I can't see what's wrong with maintaining pasture quality.

All paddocks need a mower before mid June every year be it topping or silage, it's just the nature of grass and it's in built program to reproduce

Timmaay · 20-06-2017 01:17PM

Anyone else's growth gone to sh1t with all this lovely weather and a lack of ehhh hmmm moisture...

yewtree · 20-06-2017 01:25PM

Was always told there is a dip in growth after grass heads out, id say growth is around 60 at the moment here, well back on 100+ we were getting a couple of weeks ago.
we had an nice bit of rain here last week so moisture wouldn't be an issue here yet.

Buford T. Justice XIX · 20-06-2017 02:23PM

yewtree wrote: »

Was always told there is a dip in growth after grass heads out, id say growth is around 60 at the moment here, well back on 100+ we were getting a couple of weeks ago.
we had an nice bit of rain here last week so moisture wouldn't be an issue here yet.

Growth is good here atm but could really do with a drop of moisture to kick it on again.

The Grass Measuring Thread

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