Grass growth

PatQfarmer

Is it just my land, or is grass re-growth very slow still?
Granted, I got weanlings out on grass early (end Jan). I have grazed 75% of farm and have had to buffer feed to slow the rotation. There's nothing growing behind them!
How is everyone else doing for growth?

GERMAN ROCKS

i find it very slow aswell. have 2000 gallons of slurry and a half bag of urea put out on all the paddocks the cows have grazed but its doing nothing. grass that hasnt been grazed yet is flying it though almost gone too strong in most fieldsand i have about 60% of the farm grazed.

49801

experience simular here. regrowth very slow. going to half to start buffer feeding :mad: our suckers

whelan1

we not out that long but we walked the farm last week and put cows back in at night, had only been out a few nights... have spread half bag of urea and slurry aswell- not at all helped by the fact i had sheep in over the winter

bob charles

Lads it only just past the paddies day, your biggest problem is that usually the land wouldnt be carrying the amount of animals that are on it as grazing conditions are so good. I wouldnt mind as a lick of the land this day of the year is better than a full belly of silage

PatQfarmer

bob charles wrote: »

Lads it only just past the paddies day, your biggest problem is that usually the land wouldnt be carrying the amount of animals that are on it as grazing conditions are so good. I wouldnt mind as a lick of the land this day of the year is better than a full belly of silage

My father said exactly the same thing to me yesterday (lick of the land). Agreed, I may have gotten carried away, conditions for grazing (obv. not growing!) were so good. Should have slowed them down earlier. That said, much better to have them eating silage outside rather than in a shed!
Ah well, here's hoping that in a fortnight we'll all have too much grass:D

case 5150

re growths slowed down here to, needs fecking sun badly, today is very cloudy, put 2nd round of urea out today, cows on 3kg meal and 3 kg silage as well here, have 60% of farm grazed monday and hope to start 2nd rotation around 7th of april, please please god if your reading this send sun badly

johngalway

Only saving land for ewes yet, but I delayed putting out fert as I thought I'd have too much grass by lambing if I went ahead and manured. All good here so far, how it'll go when there's a few sheep on it is another matter.

HillFarmer

case 5150 wrote: »

re growths slowed down here to, needs fecking sun badly, today is very cloudy, put 2nd round of urea out today, cows on 3kg meal and 3 kg silage as well here, have 60% of farm grazed monday and hope to start 2nd rotation around 7th of april, please please god if your reading this send sun badly

The man above must have heard you, 17 degrees for Saturday!

PMU

growth in our group last week varied between 20 and 30. the average should be nearly 50kgs. going out tomorrow with a bag of urea.2/3 grazed as of today,cover per cow is still too low at 240per lu.using 5 kgs meal to spare the grass

stanflt

this is some of the last few paddocks in first rotation


By stanflt at 2012-03-21




below is regrowth- grazed out 17th january


By stanflt at 2012-03-21

case 5150

great covers stanfit

mattthetrasher

growth rates are about normal if not ahead.pat you should try the spring rotation planner, rules are 1/3 march1st 2/3 paddys day and finish rotation april 4th, or a week earlier if your not to heavily stocked

johngalway

Some nice grass there Stan, making me hungry looking at it

keep going

growth seems ok but the issue here is since i delayed the start of calving i didnt hit the 30 % so i havent alot of ground grazed along time.will try and push back start of second grazing a few days by shifting up the ration from 2kgs to maybe 4-i was making too much money anyway at 2kgs;)

MfMan

PMU wrote: »

growth in our group last week varied between 20 and 30. the average should be nearly 50kgs. going out tomorrow with a bag of urea.2/3 grazed as of today,cover per cow is still too low at 240per lu.using 5 kgs meal to spare the grass

Is it not too dry at present for broadcasting Urea?

blue5000

PatQfarmer wrote: »

Is it just my land, or is grass re-growth very slow still?
Granted, I got weanlings out on grass early (end Jan). I have grazed 75% of farm and have had to buffer feed to slow the rotation. There's nothing growing behind them!
How is everyone else doing for growth?

Pat it has been cold at nights, so this has slowed re-growths a lot I reckon. Do you use a back fence or are cattle grazing a paddock for a few days till it's grazed off then moved on?

49801

MfMan wrote: »

Is it not too dry at present for broadcasting Urea?

so long as your knees get damp/wet when your saying your prayers at 12 bells its grand for urea;). that is what i was told when i asked at a spring farm walk last year.

PMU

MfMan wrote: »

Is it not too dry at present for broadcasting Urea?

not my land, in the west!

Tipp Man

People taking this early grazing thing a bit too far i reckon

Little point having animals out in Jan but then no grass in March

Muckit

stanflt wrote: »

this is some of the last few paddocks in first rotation

Powerful grass there lad.

What length rotation Stan do you work to at this time of the year? ie to put it in my own 'easy to understand' terms , how long is it from the time the cows eat a paddock until they are back in it again?!

Would they be going into a new paddock every day?

Muckit

Tipp Man wrote: »

People taking this early grazing thing a bit too far i reckon

Little point having animals out in Jan but then no grass in March

I'd agree. It depends on your location, ground and the stock you have. In many areas it's not reality. But the likes of Stanfit is proving that it can be done if all the ducks are in a row

The reverse of what you say Tippman is also true. No point having cattle in eating expensive silage (and possibly meal) and grass growing away outside. Letting them out then too late, grass growth getting ahead of stock and chasing your tail then all summer

Tipp Man

Muckit wrote: »

I'd agree. It depends on your location, ground and the stock you have. In many areas it's not reality. But the likes of Stanfit is proving that it can be done if all the ducks are in a row

The reverse of what you say Tippman is also true. No point having cattle in eating expensive silage (and possibly meal) and grass growing away outside. Letting them out then too late, grass growth getting ahead of stock and chasing your tail then all summer

I could be wrong but isn't Stanfit feeding a cocktail of meal and maize/whoecrop through the diet feeder along with grass??

Either way it seems to me now that dairy farmers are getting a bit like tillage farmers - its a competition to see who's first out with the cows/combine.

Better to keep them in a few days longer but when they go out make sure they stay out - IMO anyway

leg wax

Better to keep them in a few days longer but when they go out make sure they stay out - IMO anyway[/QUOTE]
i work a little diff if its dry enough and theres grass graze it,if its raining and no silage left you cannot put them out then,i would have no problem with bringing cattle back in with bad weather and feed saved silage.

PatQfarmer

blue5000 wrote: »

Pat it has been cold at nights, so this has slowed re-growths a lot I reckon. Do you use a back fence or are cattle grazing a paddock for a few days till it's grazed off then moved on?

Paddocks set up as 2-3 acre size. Temp fence in larger areas. Rested land, which got 1.5 bags/acre 18:6:12 only starting to green up now, 3 weeks later. Stock held in paddock now, feeding more meal along with haylage and hay. At least it's dry! My fault, conditions so good that I let too many out too early. Still, healthier out. It will all grow soon...

PatQfarmer

Tipp Man wrote: »

People taking this early grazing thing a bit too far i reckon

Little point having animals out in Jan but then no grass in March

Learned that this year:o

PMU

I use a spring grass budget .my first rotation wont end until apr 10th, irrespective of grass supply. cows are on grass + 5kgs meal to make the grass last. all the area has got urea, about 70units will be spread by apr 1st. if its wet i will block- graze for 3 hrs and house then ,if its too wet they will be housed fulltime for a few days on silage.

Farmer Pudsey

Tipp Man wrote: »

People taking this early grazing thing a bit too far i reckon

Little point having animals out in Jan but then no grass in March

I'd disagree if you have cattle out since january and run ou of grass so what you are well ahead re house for two weeks or even because the weather is so good put some on a small area with a bale of silage for a week or two you will only get caught one year in three

stanflt

Muckit wrote: »

Powerful grass there lad.

What length rotation Stan do you work to at this time of the year? ie to put it in my own 'easy to understand' terms , how long is it from the time the cows eat a paddock until they are back in it again?!

Would they be going into a new paddock every day?

they will be back in about 32days-
new grass every twelve hours

Tipp Man

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

I'd disagree if you have cattle out since january and run ou of grass so what you are well ahead re house for two weeks or even because the weather is so good put some on a small area with a bale of silage for a week or two you will only get caught one year in three

And what does that do for their thrive??

Farmer Pudsey

Tipp Man wrote: »

And what does that do for their thrive??

They will be ahead from the fact that they are out for so many weeks I find that it will not set them back that much and they will overcome this setbsck when they get back to grass if you only get caught one year in three you are well ahead the other years

I always hear the excuse what happen if you have to put them back in there are other things you can do introduce a kg or two of ration, if weather is very good strip graze (I am not overly fond of this). Usually you will not have to put them all in maybe 50% at most.

If you get 2year old cattle out a week early it is equivlent to about 1/3 of a bale of silage a week, 20 cattle 6 bales along with that they thrive better, however there is no point in letting 20 cattle out into a 15 acre field. I find that I am nearly at a 110 day winter for 75% of my cattle

However you will get the excuses 'that will not work on my land' or 'if I have paddocks the silage contractor will not get into the corners or he will want to go into 10-20 acre fields' and I am sorry for saying it but 'And what does that do for their thrive' is just another

It is all about cutting costs there is no point next spring looking for this excuse again if you want to get dry stock out early (late February) next year you have to be closing paddocks in early-mid October and letting them closed, housing in mid November, out late February. If you do not want to make the jump in one go try to house 1 week to 10 days earlier next autaum and go out a week or two earlier in the spring 'a bite in the spring is worth four mouthfuls in November'

Tipp Man

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

They will be ahead from the fact that they are out for so many weeks I find that it will not set them back that much and they will overcome this setbsck when they get back to grass if you only get caught one year in three you are well ahead the other years

I always hear the excuse what happen if you have to put them back in there are other things you can do introduce a kg or two of ration, if weather is very good strip graze (I am not overly fond of this). Usually you will not have to put them all in maybe 50% at most.

If you get 2year old cattle out a week early it is equivlent to about 1/3 of a bale of silage a week, 20 cattle 6 bales along with that they thrive better, however there is no point in letting 20 cattle out into a 15 acre field. I find that I am nearly at a 110 day winter for 75% of my cattle

However you will get the excuses 'that will not work on my land' or 'if I have paddocks the silage contractor will not get into the corners or he will want to go into 10-20 acre fields' and I am sorry for saying it but 'And what does that do for their thrive' is just another

It is all about cutting costs there is no point next spring looking for this excuse again if you want to get dry stock out early (late February) next year you have to be closing paddocks in early-mid October and letting them closed, housing in mid November, out late February. If you do not want to make the jump in one go try to house 1 week to 10 days earlier next autaum and go out a week or two earlier in the spring 'a bite in the spring is worth four mouthfuls in November'

Not sure if you read the original post or not - if not the cattle were out in January. I personally don't class 110 day winters as being particularly short, But i do class Jan as being too early to have cattle especially out. Also you mention being caught 1 year in 3, well this is the first year in 3 that the opportunity to let cattle out so early is there - unless you wanted them grazing snow - realistically it is 1 year in 3 that it is possible and not 2 years in 3

My point is in relation to people putting out cattle/cattle in Jan, it is simply too early - no matter what date in the autumn you stopped. As our neighbours and others in this thread have elluded to - no matter how good the weather is for the time of year you will not get nearly enough growth to replace what is being consumed, even in a good year like this. Realistically their is damn all growth until March - and depending on year how late in March. So if you have polished off all overwintered grass and there is damn all growth then it's either back in again or mess around with silage outdoors - neither of which i think are desirable only in extreme circumstances. We all know that having cattle out as early as possible is desirable and how well they thrive as a result - however it is about having a balance IMO. And i believe that some farmers have lost that balance

Anyway we gave up wintering cattle years ago so it doesn't really matter to us

Pharaoh1

Surely this is where the budgeting comes in and you should only let out the appropriate numbers and be a bit cautious. The only reason for rehousing cattle should be the weather not that they run out of grass.
My first batch (of bought in cattle) went out on 5th Feb and another bunch in mid Feb.
To be honest I didn't know whether to put out more or hold off or what to do.
My advisor came out end of Feb, measured the grass at avg cover of 900kg/ha and worked out conservatively that I had 55 days grazing ahead (assuming no growth in March - incorrect as it turned out of course)
This was obviously too much grass so another batch were turned out to reduce the days ahead to around 30.
Seriously thinking about properly measuring the grass this year as even though I know my own land well I find myself being a bit too much on the cautious/pessimistic side.

whelan1

walked farm today, growth of 18kg per day , up from 7kg 10 days ago, going to keep them in at night till the end of the week, then its all systems go

PatQfarmer

Pharaoh1 wrote: »

Surely this is where the budgeting comes in and you should only let out the appropriate numbers and be a bit cautious. The only reason for rehousing cattle should be the weather not that they run out of grass.
My first batch (of bought in cattle) went out on 5th Feb and another bunch in mid Feb.
To be honest I didn't know whether to put out more or hold off or what to do.
My advisor came out end of Feb, measured the grass at avg cover of 900kg/ha and worked out conservatively that I had 55 days grazing ahead (assuming no growth in March - incorrect as it turned out of course)
This was obviously too much grass so another batch were turned out to reduce the days ahead to around 30.
Seriously thinking about properly measuring the grass this year as even though I know my own land well I find myself being a bit too much on the cautious/pessimistic side.

Me too. May invest in one of them plate-meter thingies.
Are many of ye using them?

PatQfarmer

Walked the land(again!) this morning and growth looks back on track. Buffer feeding ended, although the young stock still getting meal once a day outside. Enough grass left to get me to Apr3rd/4th for start of 2nd rotation. Paddock on which we buffer-fed was harrowed and manured Sunday, so should be ok when they come back to it...if current growth rates hold up.
Cattle thriving though, still much healthier out than in, especially given the current weather:)

Tipp Man

PatQfarmer wrote: »

Walked the land(again!) this morning and growth looks back on track. Buffer feeding ended, although the young stock still getting meal once a day outside. Enough grass left to get me to Apr3rd/4th for start of 2nd rotation. Paddock on which we buffer-fed was harrowed and manured Sunday, so should be ok when they come back to it...if current growth rates hold up.
Cattle thriving though, still much healthier out than in, especially given the current weather:)

Your flying so Pat - with the weather like it is grass should be growing well now

You'll be posting on here in April asking what to do with spare grass;)

PatQfarmer

Tipp Man wrote: »

Your flying so Pat - with the weather like it is grass should be growing well now

You'll be posting on here in April asking what to do with spare grass;)

There's always a mouth for the spare grass...and if not, a mower.
Just about to buy 20 more calves, if we can finalise the price:(, so stocking rate will be up again in a few weeks.
Seriously thinking about the grass measurement. Are you doing it...scientifically, like?

Tipp Man

PatQfarmer wrote: »

There's always a mouth for the spare grass...and if not, a mower.
Just about to buy 20 more calves, if we can finalise the price:(, so stocking rate will be up again in a few weeks.
Seriously thinking about the grass measurement. Are you doing it...scientifically, like?

No scientific measurement here I'm afraid - but we are constantly walking the paddocks and fields to see what we have - I suppose experience has taught us exactly what we use and what we need

Nobody gets it right all the time either whether they measure or not - grass growth patterns and weather change dramatically and no 2 years are ever the same.

Farmer Pudsey

Panic over for the moment it looks like that this will not be the one in three I have a problem. Like I said before even if it was you would not have to put them all in. Dry stock are not like dairying as a dairy farmer only lets the cows to grass that calf also he has the option to let cows out at night only or to buffer feed so for a dry stock man a 100-110 day winter is an ok result, he also is trying to let the heavy cattle out first ( or at least I do so that they will finish early) which can do damage if you are not careful and also can they eat grass for the first 2 weeks.

The last two years were the severest winters in forty years and even at that last year was the only one that I did not have any cattle out in february the previous year I did. You just have to gauge your grass and

6480

april can be the worst month of the year it can test the best grazing land