Grass Measuring

Timmaay

delaval wrote: »

Good work that's that paddock set up for the season

Hmm can't say I managed to graze mine as tight, some of the paddocks have a thick enough matty cover on them that the cows wouldn't graze out. The stuff ya need sheep on to graze down properly (which we don't have the fencing for!). TBH its a result of our low stocking rate over the last few years, but the loss of rented land has pushed us from about 1.80LU/ha up to about 2.5 for this year so I can't see undergrazing being a problem!!!

ellewood

delaval wrote: »

Good work that's that paddock set up for the season

Yea taught the exact same myself - there will be a lovely cover of nice green to the butt grass on it again in a month or so(eventually when temp increases)
Will it get slurry now or fert?

Tipp Man

delaval wrote: »

Good work that's that paddock set up for the season

All grazed about that tight so far

Grass should be good quality now for the year

But have to say I would prefer it not quite as tight, the way growth is athe moment this will be slow coming back

Tipp Man

bob charles wrote: »

agreed, overstocking is a gift at this time of the year when we graze the ass out of it.

100 cows getting an acre for 8 hours

Way toward bob!!!

Tipp Man

ellewood wrote: »

Yea taught the exact same myself - there will be a lovely cover of nice green to the butt grass on it again in a month or so(eventually when temp increases)
Will it get slurry now or fert?

Some got a bit of watery slurry, you can probably see it in a couple of the photos, or maybe it's on the 1's in the photo thread

Either way that slurry was only to bring down the parlour tank. All paddock will get urea, some inch paddocks getting pasture sward instead

Not a massive fan of going out with slurry so close after grazing, conditions just not good enough IMO

delaval

Timmaay wrote: »

Hmm can't say I managed to graze mine as tight, some of the paddocks have a thick enough matty cover on them that the cows wouldn't graze out. The stuff ya need sheep on to graze down properly (which we don't have the fencing for!). TBH its a result of our low stocking rate over the last few years, but the loss of rented land has pushed us from about 1.80LU/ha up to about 2.5 for this year so I can't see undergrazing being a problem!!!

You should pm Whelan she knows a lad with lots of sheep;);););):P:P:P

freedominacup

delaval wrote: »

You should pm Whelan she knows a lad with lots of sheep;);););):P:P:P

You could pm me as well. I know one of those boys and he must be stuck for a bit of grazing as they're starting to die off at this stage. None of the neighbours would co-operate with his planned grazing programme:rolleyes:. It involved him not fencing and allowing the rest of us to provide a bit of an extra run for him. Those jokers from out west not happy with taking the sfp out of our childrens mouths they're trying to rob the grass now as well.

moy83

freedominacup wrote: »

You could pm me as well. I know one of those boys and he must be stuck for a bit of grazing as they're starting to die off at this stage. None of the neighbours would co-operate with his planned grazing programme:rolleyes:. It involved him not fencing and allowing the rest of us to provide a bit of an extra run for him. Those jokers from out west not happy with taking the sfp out of our childrens mouths they're trying to rob the grass now as well.

You wouldnt begrudge us a small bit of that sweet sunkissed grass would you freedom ? Sure we have neither grass nor much SFP here at the minute

freedominacup

moy83 wrote: »

You wouldnt begrudge us a small bit of that sweet sunkissed grass would you freedom ? Sure we have neither grass nor much SFP here at the minute

Not you Moy never. Only prob is there's nothing like enough of it at the mo'.

mf240

Could you not shoot an odd one if he wont keep them out or would that be ott.?

moy83

mf240 wrote: »

Could you not shoot an odd one if he wont keep them out or would that be ott.?

If you do that dont waste him , make sure to throw him in the freezer after

freedominacup

mf240 wrote: »

Could you not shoot an odd one if he wont keep them out or would that be ott.?

I wouldn't be that type but I couldn't speak for all the neighbours:D

6480

we could measure the amount of rain that has fallen in the last 24 hours today

stanflt

6480 wrote: »

we could measure the amount of rain that has fallen in the last 24 hours today

It's freezing here this morning . Great drying with that wind- might put cows out in the morning

Timmaay

Delaval, do ya measure everything regularly, ie all the silage/outfarm fields, or mostly the grazing block? Do you put the whole lot into agrinet and keep track of the full farm for the whole year?

Dampintheattic

Would you lose some value out of slurry, by spreading in this cold spell?
Thinking of spreading this week, but could afford to wait a bit, if the cold was going to rob some of the nutrient value.

bob charles

Dampintheattic wrote: »

Would you lose some value out of slurry, by spreading in this cold spell?
Thinking of spreading this week, but could afford to wait a bit, if the cold was going to rob some of the nutrient value.

spread away, what nutrients will be lost is minimal

blue5000

Not sure, maybe some of the N would be lost, but it is nearly April, I'm planning to spread a bit later this week. If you leave it till after silage is cut there will be no benefit from N in it.

delaval

Dampintheattic wrote: »

Would you lose some value out of slurry, by spreading in this cold spell?
Thinking of spreading this week, but could afford to wait a bit, if the cold was going to rob some of the nutrient value.

Spread away the only nutriant you'll lose will be N all other unaffected

delaval

Timmaay wrote: »

Delaval, do ya measure everything regularly, ie all the silage/outfarm fields, or mostly the grazing block? Do you put the whole lot into agrinet and keep track of the full farm for the whole year?

At the moment we have no silage ground all grazed and only think of silage when surplus begins to appear.We do not measure the outfarm. Regarding input e would input silage yield into agrinet as it really is grazing ground. We measure cow ground weekly and maybe 3 times a fortnight in very fast growth

td5man

delaval wrote: »

At the moment we have no silage ground all grazed and only think of silage when surplus begins to appear.We do not measure the outfarm. Regarding input e would input silage yield into agrinet as it really is grazing ground. We measure cow ground weekly and maybe 3 times a fortnight in very fast growth

What sort of covers do you take out for silage

delaval

td5man wrote: »

What sort of covers do you take out for silage

>1500

Timmaay

Did a walk today, and fired the figures into agrinet, average farm cover of 520kg/ha, down from 550 3weeks ago, but at least a growth of 12kg/day, which can be seen with the fields greening up! Cows still in by night and budgeting out the final few ungrazed paddocks, Assuming the wet weather doesn't hinder ground conditions again, Round 2 will probably start on April 1st, going into paddocks abit low on grass, but no other choice! Fingers crossed for a burst of growth soon!

Actually one question I have, should I be putting a cover of 250, or 0 for a grazed out paddock? Using 250 for most at the minute, that would certainly change my AFC figure!

PatQfarmer

Timmaay wrote: »

Did a walk today, and fired the figures into agrinet, average farm cover of 520kg/ha, down from 550 3weeks ago, but at least a growth of 12kg/wk, which can be seen with the fields greening up! Cows still in by night and budgeting out the final few ungrazed paddocks, Assuming the wet weather doesn't hinder ground conditions again, Round 2 will probably start on April 1st, going into paddocks abit low on grass, but no other choice! Fingers crossed for a burst of growth soon!

Actually one question I have, should I be putting a cover of 250, or 0 for a grazed out paddock? Using 250 for most at the minute, that would certainly change my AFC figure!

I'm using 250 atm for the grazed out paddocks. Some are tighter, some not. I haven't measured that, just estimated. A tight graze would be c. 250.
My AFC is 574 and 60% grazed on SRP. Some poor paddocks ahead! Everything came back in and stayed in before rain last weekend. Will let out again when a bit warmer as oldest is 18months.

delaval

Timmaay wrote: »

Did a walk today, and fired the figures into agrinet, average farm cover of 520kg/ha, down from 550 3weeks ago, but at least a growth of 12kg/day, which can be seen with the fields greening up! Cows still in by night and budgeting out the final few ungrazed paddocks, Assuming the wet weather doesn't hinder ground conditions again, Round 2 will probably start on April 1st, going into paddocks abit low on grass, but no other choice! Fingers crossed for a burst of growth soon!

Actually one question I have, should I be putting a cover of 250, or 0 for a grazed out paddock? Using 250 for most at the minute, that would certainly change my AFC figure!

We use 150 as grazed but it actually makes no difference. What is your cover per cow?

PMU

if it is well grazed the post-grazing cover should be between 50 and 100kgs. 250 sounds like a lot

td5man

Aldi have a cordless grass shear coming in on 1Apr would be perfect for anyone cutting and weighing €24.99.

dar31

PMU wrote: »

if it is well grazed the post-grazing cover should be between 50 and 100kgs. 250 sounds like a lot

id use the same, usually 50kgs for a well skint paddock.

only use plate meter for measuring residuals, and a lot of the time i was getting readings of -100 or around abouts, 2.5 cm, over grazing or just good to the bone?

Timmaay

delaval wrote: »

We use 150 as grazed but it actually makes no difference. What is your cover per cow?

Just over 300. If I fire in a cover of 50 instead of 250 for the few paddocks recently grazed out, this drops to 270. That is 67 milkers, and about 20weinlings/maidens, the drycows, some of the bigger maidens and incalf heifers are still inside. Anyways, from a quick read up that's a fairly comfortable cover per cow?

PMU

timmay,is that 270 per ha, or per cow.

Timmaay

Yep 270ish per lu grazing at the minute, so that is excluding the dry cows, incalf heifers and some of the bigger maiden heifers which are all still inside. I probably should be including them in the figures, having said that a good few of the drycows will not be calving until May/June, so will probably be kept housed, or certainly until all the silage is gone!

td5man

Had to spread washing water this evening and was surprised how the grass has greened up lately

freedominacup

td5man wrote: »

Had to spread washing water this evening and was surprised how the grass has greened up lately

There's going to be a serious flush of grass if we ever get a bit of kind weather.

whelan1

freedominacup wrote: »

There's going to be a serious flush of grass if we ever get a bit of kind weather.

yup. everyone will be in the same boat as me, but they didnt have sheep in:D

td5man

whelan1 wrote: »

yup. everyone will be in the same boat as me, but they didnt have sheep in:D

Think of the extra high quality grass youll have because of the sheep and no weeds.

PMU

sheep and cows dont mix,not enough grass for the cows in april. (I asken a beef farmer recently did he have sheep."Yes ,but there not my own",turns out he caught a neighbour throwing a ewe over a gap!)

kowtow

whelan1 wrote: »

yup. everyone will be in the same boat as me, but they didnt have sheep in:D

We didn't have Sheep in, but someone stole our 2nd cut silage crop (long story).. so cattle were out till December and early January.

We've so little grass we could chop the lot and pop it in a freezer bag to weigh it.

Viewtodiefor

kowtow wrote: »

We didn't have Sheep in, but someone stole our 2nd cut silage crop (long story).. so cattle were out till December and early January.

We've so little grass we could chop the lot and pop it in a freezer bag to weigh it.

Grass growth here has picked up immensely just did a walk there and I should have enough for cows out full time from today. Soil temp up also at 10deg so should get good response from fert I spread last week! Have half a pit of silage left thinking I might sell it seen as there is such demand out there!

whelan1

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Grass growth here has picked up immensely just did a walk there and I should have enough for cows out full time from today. Soil temp up also at 10deg so should get good response from fert I spread last week! Have half a pit of silage left thinking I might sell it seen as there is such demand out there!

what part of the country are you in... we where over at outfarm this morning, theres 70 acres there and any other year at this time of year we would have cattle out not a chance this year...no growth at all, even where got slurry a month ago is at a standstill:eek:

delaval

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Grass growth here has picked up immensely just did a walk there and I should have enough for cows out full time from today. Soil temp up also at 10deg so should get good response from fert I spread last week! Have half a pit of silage left thinking I might sell it seen as there is such demand out there!

Is that under trampoline in lawn????

Viewtodiefor

whelan1 wrote: »

what part of the country are you in... we where over at outfarm this morning, theres 70 acres there and any other year at this time of year we would have cattle out not a chance this year...no growth at all, even where got slurry a month ago is at a standstill:eek:

The sunny southeast whelan where the clouds are grey and the temp with wind chill is minus 4!! At the minute! Just thought I'd throw that out there seen as the day we have! !!!!!!

Viewtodiefor

delaval wrote: »

Is that under trampoline in lawn????

No in the living room in d potted plant! Lol

whelan1

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

The sunny southeast whelan where the clouds are grey and the temp with wind chill is minus 4!! At the minute! Just thought I'd throw that out there seen as the day we have! !!!!!!

:D i think i am slowly losing my sense of humour.... my mother is from wexford so i know ye are not much better off than us on the weather front

Viewtodiefor

whelan1 wrote: »

:D i think i am slowly losing my sense of humour.... my mother is from wexford so i know ye are not much better off than us on the weather front

Growing here but real slow!!!!!

Timmaay

We had two very sunny and warm days sat/sun here, pity I don't have anything to measure the solid temps with (have to get something, any bog standard thermometer will do I take it?), Fields all greened up, but not much cover yet. Today different story, some windchill, we survived with a milking parlour exposed to the east for years, usually only afew days a year the cold really hits ya, but this year different story, I may do something with it this summer!

whelan1

did you let your cows out last night?

Timmaay

Nay didn't bother, had them in the shed and fed when my dad asked me why they weren't out, and was in a rush myself anyways! Have a nice closed in paddock to put them in tonight, with abit of cover on it to keep them happy. Will let them eat silage until 8/9, open the gate to the paddock then. Maybe they wont want to go out :eek: will get the greatest TOLD YA SO from the boss if that happens :P

delaval

Timmaay wrote: »

Nay didn't bother, had them in the shed and fed when my dad asked me why they weren't out, and was in a rush myself anyways! Have a nice closed in paddock to put them in tonight, with abit of cover on it to keep them happy. Will let them eat silage until 8/9, open the gate to the paddock then. Maybe they wont want to go out :eek: will get the greatest TOLD YA SO from the boss if that happens

:P

Tim let out before silage then leave gap open. Regular meat thermometer will do about €15

delaval

Did a cover do not know why, habit at this stage.
Afc 470
/Lu 192
Growth 10 If we stay at 9kgs grass, 6kgs nuts and 2kg hulls at a pre-graze cover of 762 e are ok for 30 days

If we go to 12 kgs grass and 5 kg nuts/hulls we would need pre-graze cover of 983/ha to get 30 days

Surly be growth in 30 days, will there?

clarecowboy

kowtow wrote: »

We didn't have Sheep in, but someone stole our 2nd cut silage crop (long story).. so cattle were out till December and early January.

We've so little grass we could chop the lot and pop it in a freezer bag to weigh it.

How in the name of god did someone manage to steal your 2nd cut silage crop??