Grass Measuring

bob charles

delaval wrote: »

we did a rudimentary test yesterday came up with 34% ..............that could be =/- 3% but feed is dry and cows love dry feed

I was going to do a test just for interest before it bucketed down.

blue5000

Bit of growth here today:pac:

td5man

PatQfarmer wrote: »

Was told yesterday that DM of grass could be in 30's! So even if there's not too much of it, the feeding is big. That's why animals are so content on what I think is very little. Then again, what do I know:rolleyes:

Mine wouldnt look at the poison i was putting in front of them at night, they were all lying contented in their cubicles. So theyre out night and day now.

delaval

blue5000 wrote: »

Bit of growth here today:pac:

I would say there was more growth today than for the past 6 weeks.
I will not need to feed soya hulls past Sunday. Once growth passes 20 which today was we can start to remove feed.
From next week we will start to remove nuts slowly.
I would suggest that anyone who has 5/more covers >500 could do the same.
We are also going to speed up rotation if this growth continues after monday.

Would anyone care to waager that there'll be balers out by May 1st:cool::cool:

bob charles

delaval wrote: »

Would anyone care to waager that there'll be balers out by May 1st:cool::cool:

Not a chance around these parts. Would need a months growth to catch up where demand should be.

just do it

delaval wrote: »

I would say there was more growth today than for the past 6 weeks.
I will not need to feed soya hulls past Sunday. Once growth passes 20 which today was we can start to remove feed.
From next week we will start to remove nuts slowly.
I would suggest that anyone who has 5/more covers >500 could do the same.
We are also going to speed up rotation if this growth continues after monday.

Would anyone care to waager that there'll be balers out by May 1st:cool::cool:

could you post a picture of grass, I want to show it to the cows :-)

dar31

finished the first round today, starting into covers of 900 tomorrow and falling away fairly sharply after that.
will have to hold them hard for another week then we can start to let the brakes off abit........ once grass keeps growing

measured today and cover have a cover of 94kg/lu or 330kg/ha, cover falls to 73kg/lu if i were to let all stock out. usually like to keep things between 120-140kg so a good bit of grass to find....demand of 19kg a present , so should be able to build some sort of cover over the next week,

growth of 40+ would be nice

just do it

Does anyone have a handy picture guide of grass heights/covers? I remember the journal a few years ago had a welly with the cms marked on the side with white paint.

Kileir

just do it wrote: »

Does anyone have a handy picture guide of grass heights/covers? I remember the journal a few years ago had a welly with the cms marked on the side with white paint.

How about this?

Hugh 2

This year has me stumped only been out measuring 3 times this year .
I just knew there was nothing out there but teagasc man wanted figures .
Last Sunday was beat all most of the farm measured below 4 cm
Only 4 fields gave a reading one paddock was just 1 kg per hectare and the average of these.was just 95 kg.
Farm greening up ok but from a very low base
What a year

Have to include all calves cows are out night and day since calving (bar 2 days and 5 nights ) giving a demand of 50 but a growth of 1.7 ( last Sunday hope for better result tomorrow )

I haven't read all these posts on this thread as I have only came across it tonight .
Regards
Hugh

PatQfarmer

Kileir wrote: »

How about this?

I had the welly marked, but it got a hole and I threw it out
Must mark up the new ones! Thanks.

delaval

Hugh 2 wrote: »

This year has me stumped only been out measuring 3 times this year .
I just knew there was nothing out there but teagasc man wanted figures .
Last Sunday was beat all most of the farm measured below 4 cm
Only 4 fields gave a reading one paddock was just 1 kg per hectare and the average of these.was just 95 kg.
Farm greening up ok but from a very low base
What a year

Have to include all calves cows are out night and day since calving (bar 2 days and 5 nights ) giving a demand of 50 but a growth of 1.7 ( last Sunday hope for better result tomorrow )

I haven't read all these posts on this thread as I have only came across it tonight .
Regards
Hugh

Growth of 1.7?? I think you must be mistaken

dar31

delaval wrote: »

Growth of 1.7?? I think you must be mistaken

some lads are dangerous with a calculator in their hands

Timmaay

delaval wrote: »

Growth of 1.7?? I think you must be mistaken

Yep thats not even measurable? Was out in the lowest, wettest paddock on the farm, which is full of rushes on one side, anyways I left it until the very end of round1 back at the start of the month to graze it, its got some urea and slurry since, I was surprised to see a cover on it today of about 900, so about 35kg/ha average daily growth on it! (ok I'll admit also, that my figures maybe be mistaken, still new enough to this grass measuring!). Anyways, One of the best preforming paddocks on the farm in April I'll fully admit, but shows how things have really turned around last few weeks! I let the cows out on part of it tonight, maybe I should have waited for abit more cover on it but the paddock is dry at the minute so I'll take my chance and graze it now. First time letting the brakes off with grazing the cows at night.

delaval

Timmaay wrote: »

Yep thats not even measurable? Was out in the lowest, wettest paddock on the farm, which is full of rushes on one side, anyways I left it until the very end of round1 back at the start of the month to graze it, its got some urea and slurry since, cover on it today is about 900 so about 35kg/ha average daily growth on it. One of the best preforming paddocks on the farm in April I'll fully admit, but shows how things have really turned around last few weeks! I let the cows out on part of it tonight, maybe I should have waited for abit more cover on it but the paddock is dry at the minute so I'll take my chance and graze it now. First time letting the brakes off with grazing the cows at night.

Time to release the brakes. Great to see you in the neighbours, this spring not all bad:p:p

PatQfarmer

Measured Sunday after the match (South Tipp):
Growth 23.9kg, AFC 445, 11.3 days ahead. Nothing stopped for silage, but no cows here and will be selling off as the year progresses, so happy enough I'll get what I need later...or sell more stock!
Not matching demand yet, but nearly there...:)

stanflt

Started second round today

PMU

growth 19kgs(10 days)
cover 182 lu
pre grazing covers are still too low at 800kgs so the meal stays in.
heifers back out before breeding starts next monday
stocking rate is low at 2.2 with no silage ground taken out
whats your cover on that stan

Hugh 2

delaval wrote: »

Growth of 1.7?? I think you must be mistaken

Well you know what they say "Grass grows grass"
And I just don't have any
Sunday week 14/4 had 91.7 Kg dm/ha (average farm cover for whole farm)
Sunday last 21/4 down to 91.6 kg dm/ha total cover 3640 (on 40ha)
Cant tell you what the growth was due to pc (with Kingswood program) off for repair
These I can still get off of the iPaq

Cows have been out since calving night and day since calving so they have eaten a lot of grass - they can nearly eat clay at this stage.
trying to stretch the rotation I put the cows into a cover of 1 kg / ha for 3 gratings needless to say it was straw silage and concentrates that is keeping this place on the go.

Hugh 2

dar31 wrote: »

some lads are dangerous with a calculator in their hands

Plate meter and iPaq running Kingswood program

I knew I had flip all grass I just had to gather info for Teagasc guy - at the time they were advocating keeping 7 kgs and I was insisting that I had no 7kgs / day to give to milkers.

Hugh 2

Timmaay wrote: »

Yep thats not even measurable? Was out in the lowest, wettest paddock on the farm, which is full of rushes on one side, anyways I left it until the very end of round1 back at the start of the month to graze it, its got some urea and slurry since, I was surprised to see a cover on it today of about 900, so about 35kg/ha average daily growth on it! (ok I'll admit also, that my figures maybe be mistaken, still new enough to this grass measuring!). Anyways, One of the best preforming paddocks on the farm in April I'll fully admit, but shows how things have really turned around last few weeks! I let the cows out on part of it tonight, maybe I should have waited for abit more cover on it but the paddock is dry at the minute so I'll take my chance and graze it now. First time letting the brakes off with grazing the cows at night.

Yep "Grass grows grass"
I graze the paddocks below the 4 cm and they have spent last week just greening up and not raising above this level as a result only 10 of my 22 plots are showing any grass at all and only
2 of these are showing above 500 and
3 above 200
2 above 100
1 just over 50 and
1 just below that the rest is just a golf course

delaval

Soil temp 11 this am

Blue Holland

Done detailed cut and weighing 2 weeks ago and again yesterday, average growth of 48.5kg. Been up to my eyes with spring sowing last 2 weeks, knew there was good growth but was surprised at level of covers, average farm cover of 1050kg/ha. Should have had milkers off maize week quicker. When working out demand, would using 2% of bodyweight for weanlings be accurate. If so demand is bout 46.

Viewtodiefor

delaval wrote: »

Soil temp 11 this am

I hope ur right it feels like winter round here today!

Hugh 2

Blue Holland wrote: »

Done detailed cut and weighing 2 weeks ago and again yesterday, average growth of 48.5kg. Been up to my eyes with spring sowing last 2 weeks, knew there was good growth but was surprised at level of covers, average farm cover of 1050kg/ha. Should have had milkers off maize week quicker. When working out demand, would using 2% of bodyweight for weanlings be accurate. If so demand is bout 46.

Love to have covers like that .
Mine has gone up from 95kg/ha to 115kg/ha
Growth at 16 and demand @ 50
Things are picking up as 15 of 22 paddocks are showing a reading over 4cms whereas a weeks ago only only 6 of the 22 showed a reading over 4cms

problem is silage is almost out
Glanbia have Maize Silage from uk @ 100 euros delivered is this good valu?

PatQfarmer

Measured Sunday (6 day measurement), Sth Tipperary.
Astounded with growth! Really good for the heart walking the farm:)
Growth 62.3kg, AFC 579.:D
On the road to recovery...it seems!
Will get to stop a paddock for silage shortly if this keeps up.

rancher

delaval wrote: »

Soil temp 11 this am

You must be very south of me, it's only 8 here...some difference

stanflt

Growth of 60 here last week. Cows milking very well at 32litres 4.1 fat and 3.38prot

Prot down 0.1 on this time last year due to silage still being fed. Fat up 0.4 hay in Tmr this summer

Hugh 2

rancher wrote: »

You must be very south of me, it's only 8 here...some difference

I told a few people that soul temperature was 11 but nobody believed me .
I must get a thermometer and start checking for myself.

delaval

Hugh 2 wrote: »

I told a few people that soul temperature was 11 but nobody believed me .
I must get a thermometer and start checking for myself.

That was last Monday North Kk. I will check in an hour or so and post

delaval

Soil temp 9.8 now

leg wax

after reading this thread today i went out to take temp and found it quite hard to push probe into soil deep enough so all the probe was in soil but got there, 11.4 at 2 o'clock.but the cold was still in the wind.:(

delaval

Measured this afternoon
Afc 614
C/cow 168
SR 3.64
Growth 49
4 days left in second round. Best covers on first of round 3 are 900 but with 50 growth would expect 1200 by the time they get there. Cows going into 1300 covers. Our demand is 62 so will keep 4kgs in for next few days and reduce to zero if growth continues, or keep some in and increase s.r. to take a bit more silage. We will decide over the next few weeks.

All ground has gotten 100 units of N and 4000 gls slurry at this stage

Timmaay

That SR seems very high at 3.64! Are you excluding some fields that are closed off for silage?

Managed to build back up the afc to 712 ourselves, with a cover/LU of 280. 40 acres for a 1st cut closed off and covers of at least 900 in most of them, but that 40 acres is considerably less than our normal 72acres 1st cut (some of which was on rented land), so I'll probably close off another 12acres as I'd say I'll get away without it no problem once this growth continues.

delaval

Timmaay wrote: »

That SR seems very high at 3.64! Are you excluding some fields that are closed off for silage?

Managed to build back up the afc to 712 ourselves, with a cover/LU of 280. 40 acres for a 1st cut closed off and covers of at least 900 in most of them, but that 40 acres is considerably less than our normal 72acres 1st cut (some of which was on rented land), so I'll probably close off another 12acres as I'd say I'll get away without it no problem once this growth continues.

20% closed of cow block closed and 30% of total farm closed. When and if growth takes off we have in the past pushed sr on milking block to 5 for a few weeks to try and squeeze a bit more silage out of system. Sr on whole farm is 3.2.

I don't think we will get enough silage this year even with surplus bales. I am considering purchasing Heston squares of wheaten straw to stretch silage as meadows re going to be London this year.

6480

will straw not be at a high price too this harvest as i have seen alot of people feed straw this winter that never did before

delaval

6480 wrote: »

will straw not be at a high price too this harvest as i have seen alot of people feed straw this winter that never did before[/QUOTE
Loads of tillage around here. We buy fair bit of barley straw already and our contractor charge a fair price whatever the market is like. I her it said round here that crops will be shorter and thus less straw. We'll have to wait and see.

mf240

Anyone considering continuing to feed meals and closing extra land for silage when growth comes.

6480

delaval wrote: »

6480 wrote: »

will straw not be at a high price too this harvest as i have seen alot of people feed straw this winter that never did before[/QUOTE
Loads of tillage around here. We buy fair bit of barley straw already and our contractor charge a fair price whatever the market is like. I her it said round here that crops will be shorter and thus less straw. We'll have to wait and see.

your location is a big help for getting straw

bob charles

stanflt wrote: »

hay in Tmr this summer

As I have said, there is no cheaper way of increasing BF

delaval

Soil temp at 8am 7.8

6480

is the holy weather taking up from friday

freedominacup

delaval wrote: »

Soil temp at 8am 7.8

Had ye frost?

kowtow

delaval wrote: »

Soil temp at 8am 7.8

What was the air temp? Was 5 or 6 in Cork a few minutes ago - and was certainly a fair bit lower during the night - clear and still, almost frosty at 3am.

Soil temps seem to hold up much better with longer days - more time to accumulate what warmth there is..

delaval

Clear morning slight grass frost. No idea of air temp but no sleeveless

td5man

Soil temp 7.3 here @ 10 today

bob charles

guys as far as I know soil temperature is measured either 4" or 6" down as the top few inches would be up and down throughout the day

Hugh 2

bob charles wrote: »

guys as far as I know soil temperature is measured either 4" or 6" down as the top few inches would be up and down throughout the day

Where do yea get these soil thermometers?
Thanks

Dampintheattic

I'm measuring grass for the first time ever. Despite investing in a good magnifying glass, I still can't find any of the stuff:(.

PMU

soil temp at 11.00am 11 degrees at 4" deep. got the thermometer in lidl last year for 5euro
measured grass growth at 32 for last week.soon to be able to close silage ground.