No Grass....

cloudroost

This is my first post on this forum and I would appreciate your help....

I am currently part time farming on a small scale (just strarted this year). I keep about 20 cattle (350 -400kg in weight) that I intend to sell at the end of October. (I have silage available but no winter housing at present)

My problem is that my land is very dry (Not generally a problem...) and the grass has stopped growing over the past few weeks due to lack of rain (It is brown in spots at this stage). Due to this, I currently have very little grass available for my cattle. I expect/hope that this will change with the expected rainfall for the weekend...

What would people advise me to do?

My options I believe are:

1) Hold tight and wait for the grass to come. Would it be advisable to feed some meal to the cattle to keep them thriving? Or possibly feed a few bales of silage? Should I spread a few bags of fertilizer to boost growth?

2) Sell all the cattle now. The problem with this option is that I will be left with a lot of grass over the winter.

3) Sell some of the cattle now. The problem here is getting the time to go to the mart.


What are peoples thoughts?

Tipp Man

Yeah we have a bit of a drought in South Tipp as well but it looks like the weekend is going to sort that out. aftergrass from silage is going brown from lack of rain.

If i was you i would give it a few more days - let the rain fall and see if it brings a bit of growth back, if you have spread fert previously then it should respond to the rain

If by the end of next week you haven't seen a response then I'd be thinking of selling a few and trying to keep the rest as long as possible

How much ground do the 20 cattle have?

cjpm

I'd be inclined to suggest that you buy a few bags of meal. If the grass is too tight you'll be chasing your tail for a few weeks while it's building up again. Especially this time of year when it's beginning to slow down anyway.
The meal will slow your rotation down a bit and will put some condition on the animals too.

cloudroost

Thanks Tipp Man,

They have about 20 acres, so plenty of ground....
I haven't spread any fertiliser recently due to lack of rain - Would it be worth spreading a few bags now?

Pharaoh1

I'm in a similar situation to you cloudroost.

30 x 450kg bullocks on 25 acres and the grass not as plentiful as it was say this time last year. Cattle will be sold in late Oct/early Nov.

I have spread 20 bags of 18/6/12 (due to soil tests showing low P/K) and 10 bags of CAN over the last 3 weeks or so to boost grass. Pricey I know, but the farm has really greened the sward thickened up an growth has picked up dramatically. That said I could do with a downpour over the weekend. I have about 20 days ahead now but I would really like to be at 30.

I will introduce meals in the next week or so starting at maybe 1kg a day gradually up to 2kg. It's not a lot but it does slow the grazing rotation a fair bit and also conditions the cattle nicely without leaving them over fat.
I think it is worth the spend. If I get another 50kg on those cattle before sale at approx 2 euro a kg that is an extra 3k in my pocket. The fertiliser cost 605 euro and the meal cost will be approx 900.

I know a lot of Autumn sellers are moving cattle early this year to take advantage of prices - but as you say the downside is being left with a lot of grass which dies over the winter leaving a messy situation for next Spring.

cloudroost

Thanks for the feedback....

I'll get a few bags of fertilizer out asap and hopefully this will boost growth with the forecast rain...

I'll also start feeding some meal (I actually started last night with a 25kg bag for the 20 cattle spread along the ground under an electric fence and they cleaned it up nicely... )

flatout11

cattle are a good trade at the moment - cant last forever so i would cash them or cash half of them now, if the land is dry you could run a few light weanlings on it over the winter or buy a load of store lambs

Tipp Man

Personally i'd be a little hesitant to go running out with the Fert - its late in the year and you might not get the return that you'd want or you might not be able to use all of the return you get.

I suppose you need to decide how long you want to keep the cattle - with prices so good it could be wise to sell a few and keep the rest on longer without the cost of fert - alternatively a bag to the acre should cost you circa 300 euro or 15 quid a bullock. not a huge cost and if you get any kind of response at all it should grow a lot a grass

I suppose the real problem this autum is to decide when to sell the cattle - we have the same problem ourselves:D

JohnBoy

I say hedge.

Sell some now, maybe a small bit of fert as tipp man says, and maybe even a small bit of meal too.

That said, I really havent a clue what I'm talking about.

reilig

I've put out fertilizer in the last 2 weeks and its working well. But we have no drought. Hell no, it was the wettest August around here that I can ever remember. Ground is still very wet - a good week gone by is all that's keeping cattle off the slats!!

Min

reilig wrote: »

I've put out fertilizer in the last 2 weeks and its working well. But we have no drought. Hell no, it was the wettest August around here that I can ever remember. Ground is still very wet - a good week gone by is all that's keeping cattle off the slats!!

For a small country there is a big variation. Overall a fairly dry month and I can see some grass burning up in places here.
Good thing we didn't get a heatwave :pac:

MfMan

Min wrote: »

For a small country there is a big variation. Overall a fairly dry month and I can see some grass burning up in places here.
Good thing we didn't get a heatwave :pac:

Verifies the necessity of the wesht being classified as 'severely disadvantaged'!!!!

cloudroost

I think I'll hedge as TippMan says.....(I don't have the time off at the moment in any case to go to the mart...)

I'll put out a small amount of fertiliser over the weekend and also a small amount of meal to the cattle to keep them going.
If the grass starts to look better in the next couple of weeks I'll hold on otherwise I'll have to sell them.

Thanks to all for their responses..

poor farmer

I would sell some of them straight away maybe 5-6 ,cattle are a good trade, Start feeding meal to the rest 2kg /head/day .Increase level of feed after a forthnight.

Min

MfMan wrote: »

Verifies the necessity of the wesht being classified as 'severely disadvantaged'!!!!

I am in a disadvantaged area, classified as mountain under the disadvantaged area scheme.