Building Grass Cover

freedominacup · 13-09-2016 8:02pm

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

No, finished spreading that load after I got the hose fixed and waited for my daughter to blow out the candles on her cake. The fertiliser ain't going anywhere till the morning:)

The forecast for daylight is fairly good alright.

Buford T. Justice XIX · 13-09-2016 8:10pm

I put the spreader away last Friday after looking at the RTE forecast of constant heavy rain until today.

I wasn't expecting ground to be so dry at this stage and the fert was in the yard. Ah well, I'll be washing it down again at lunch time tomorrow until next January, hopefully.

Keepgrowing · 13-09-2016 8:37pm

freedominacup wrote: »

The forecast for daylight is fairly good alright.

Savage busy here ATM, saving daylight for concrete that's why I'm mowing now

Mooooo · 13-09-2016 8:44pm

Keepgrowing wrote: »

freedominacup wrote: »

The forecast for daylight is fairly good alright.

Savage busy here ATM, saving daylight for concrete that's why I'm mowing now

Fine finish, memories of being the young fella in the fecking bucket floating the concrete, twas awful bother back then to hire out the proper float for the job

Keepgrowing · 13-09-2016 9:02pm

Mooooo wrote: »

Fine finish, memories of being the young fella in the fecking bucket floating the concrete, twas awful bother back then to hire out the proper float for the job

I bought a Bull float when the bust happened. Bought off DungDeal for €160. Makes life easier

visatorro · 13-09-2016 9:03pm

whelan2 wrote: »

Just looked at yr.no 3 dryish days coming will try and get some of it done

I stuffed the pit with 50 acres here last week. Serious water out of it. Only got 24 hours wilt. Was good drying that day. Bales would have been some disaster. Quality wise it's only going to be average at best. You'd wonder would I have been better off grazing it ta feck. Mightnt have grass too early but would be cheap feeding for drys or culls!!

As for weather forecast, contractor was insisting that last week was all good only I made him mow on Tuesday. Only when forecast changed he started to panic
This week was meant to be a wash out. I never organised fert. Feckin disaster really. Worst thing about being part time rooter!!

trixi2011 · 13-09-2016 9:05pm

Measured today
AFC 1050
Great 90
Sr 3,2
1.53 ms cow
Over 20 degrees here today but plenty of rain , thinking of cutting a paddock or 2 for silage as were building to much cover and growth is nearly double demand. Dryish farm but in a very high rainfall area so clearing covers than be hard later on. Àdd to that we have nearly 40%heifers who really don't like heavy covers . What are people thoughts on baling

Mooooo · 13-09-2016 9:19pm

trixi2011 wrote: »

Measured today
AFC 1050
Great 90
Sr 3,2
1.53 ms cow
Over 20 degrees here today but plenty of rain , thinking of cutting a paddock or 2 for silage as were building to much cover and growth is nearly double demand. Dryish farm but in a very high rainfall area so clearing covers than be hard later on. dd to that we have nearly 40%heifers who really don't like heavy covers . What are people thoughts on baling

If you're going to bale do it asap,. Have baled in September and they worked grand but cows at the min are getting thru heavy covers despite ****e weather. I guess the alternative is go to paddocks which have wetter ground and or poor access while manageable leave the easier managed paddocks build the cover

cute geoge · 13-09-2016 9:23pm

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Savage busy here ATM, saving daylight for concrete that's why I'm mowing now

The grooving done on the passageways worked out well ,what was this done by

Keepgrowing · 14-09-2016 6:15am

cute geoge wrote: »

The grooving done on the passageways worked out well ,what was this done by

A small roller. I post s pic when I can

whelan2 · 14-09-2016 5:40pm

All mowed here now, lovely day today

Keepgrowing · 15-09-2016 7:27am

Keepgrowing wrote: »

A small roller. I post s pic when I can

Here it is "groovy cow saver"

freedominacup · 15-09-2016 7:57am

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Here it is "groovy cow saver"

As handy as a button in a shirt.

Mooooo · 15-09-2016 8:34am

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Keepgrowing wrote: »

A small roller. I post s pic when I can

Here it is "groovy cow saver"

There a great job. Got slats with grooves in them and they're not much good. Pity they couldn't run something like that over them.instead

Muckit · 15-09-2016 8:46am

Will the grooves eventually wear down from the dung sitting in them and being scraped every day?

GrasstoMilk · 18-09-2016 8:45am

What DM is grass today?
16?
Hasn't rained in a week

Mooooo · 18-09-2016 9:09am

Only 12 Down here I reckon anyway. Raining again At 4kg ration and tbh on the wet days even with enough grass in the fields I'd say silage wouldn't go astray

Timmaay · 18-09-2016 11:30am

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

What DM is grass today?
16?
Hasn't rained in a week

Cows dropped in milk during the few wet days last week, but back up in yield this week, so I'd say it wouldnt be far off it. Still on 36 or 48hr blocks of grass, no silage and hopefully none until Nov.

freedominacup · 18-09-2016 12:07pm

Timmaay wrote: »

Cows dropped in milk during the few wet days last week, but back up in yield this week, so I'd say it wouldnt be far off it. Still on 36 or 48hr blocks of grass, no silage and hopefully none until Nov.

Ours are on 24 today but back on 12s all week. They were very unsettled on 24-36. Since they got fresh every grazing they've settled down a lot.

Timmaay · 18-09-2016 2:01pm

freedominacup wrote: »

Ours are on 24 today but back on 12s all week. They were very unsettled on 24-36. Since they got fresh every grazing they've settled down a lot.

Why unsettled? Only issue I've had is with the 3 grazing only paddocks that were reseeded all together 3yrs ago, there is some variety in that mix that the cows jsut will not clean out. But otherwise the biggest problem I have is getting the cows to bother going back to the paddock after milking ha, they are lazy especially when full on the 1st 24hrs of the 36/48block.

freedominacup · 18-09-2016 6:40pm

Timmaay wrote: »

Why unsettled?

Because they can be a right shower of cnuts when they want to be.

GrasstoMilk · 21-09-2016 10:15am

Reseed I did 5 weeks ago this friday is ready to go.
Cover of 700

Timmaay · 21-09-2016 10:42am

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Reseed I did 5 weeks ago this friday is ready to go.
Cover of 700

The one autumn I didn't bother with a reseed, we are swimming with grass ha!

Keepgrowing · 21-09-2016 3:03pm

Gr 77
AFC 900
High enough
Might open a few wraps next week

yewtree · 21-09-2016 4:57pm

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Gr 77
AFC 900
High enough
Might open a few wraps next week[/quote

Fantastic growth your demand must be high? with that growth I would have thought AFC would be higher
Talking to the lads doing grass demo yesterday in ploughing they mentioned that lads on dried farms in the east had very high afc covers.
I was 890afc last week the wetter paddocks on farm not growing well at the moment

charolais0153 · 21-09-2016 5:05pm

Do you spray a reeseed for weeds before or after grazing

Keepgrowing · 21-09-2016 5:09pm

charolais0153 wrote: »

Do you spray a reeseed for weeds before or after grazing

Before

Keepgrowing · 21-09-2016 5:13pm

yewtree wrote: »

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Gr 77
AFC 900
High enough
Might open a few wraps next week[/quote

Fantastic growth your demand must be high? with that growth I would have thought AFC would be higher
Talking to the lads doing grass demo yesterday in ploughing they mentioned that lads on dried farms in the east had very high afc covers.
I was 890afc last week the wetter paddocks on farm not growing well at the moment

That's cut and weighed so it's bang on. If eyeballing it would be 1100 I'd say. With plate it could be very high

RightTurnClyde · 21-09-2016 5:46pm

charolais0153 wrote: »

Do you spray a reeseed for weeds before or after grazing

Depends on time of year. For spring/summer before with (Undersown)but for anything after mid August reseed I'm getting a better/cleaner response with Pastor when growth kicks in in Spring

GrasstoMilk · 21-09-2016 8:11pm

Sprayed reseed last week.
Neighbour who reseeded land beside heifer block approached me last week to see if I wanted some land of his. Freshly reseeded.

Only because how well we had looked after the farm since we got it.
20% increase in farm area. How bad

Dawggone · 21-09-2016 10:53pm

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Sprayed reseed last week.
Neighbour who reseeded land beside heifer block approached me last week to see if I wanted some land of his. Freshly reseeded.

Only because how well we had looked after the farm since we got it.
20% increase in farm area. How bad

Legend.

leoch · 22-09-2016 9:25am

is it too late to spread fertiliser or would it keep in the small bags till the spring if kept in a dry shed

freedominacup · 22-09-2016 9:42am

leoch wrote: »

is it too late to spread fertiliser or would it keep in the small bags till the spring if kept in a dry shed

Closing date for fert application was 15th of Sept.

Mooooo · 22-09-2016 9:42am

leoch wrote: »

is it too late to spread fertiliser or would it keep in the small bags till the spring if kept in a dry shed

Legally the closing date was sept 15. All that can be spread now is k and lime. If you keep it dry it should hold till spring

mahoney_j · 22-09-2016 12:06pm

Mooooo wrote: »

Legally the closing date was sept 15. All that can be spread now is k and lime. If you keep it dry it should hold till spring

Seen lots of gran lime and k been spread around this week ......

Timmaay · 22-09-2016 4:37pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Seen lots of gran lime and k been spread around this week ......

Two bags of "gran lime" still to go out here, just grazing off the paddocks. Kept a bag over the winter afew yrs back, in what I thought was a dry spot of the shed, I was horribly hungover when going to spread it the following spring ha, had it over the hopper, started cutting the bag, was all one lump, in my hungover state I decided to keep on cutting the bag, then of course bang, the whole lot comes down and smashes the fiberglass hopper...

Mooooo · 22-09-2016 5:07pm

Timmaay wrote: »

mahoney_j wrote: »

Seen lots of gran lime and k been spread around this week ......

Two bags of "gran lime" still to go out here, just grazing off the paddocks. Kept a bag over the winter afew yrs back, in what I thought was a dry spot of the shed, I was horribly hungover when going to spread it the following spring ha, had it over the hopper, started cutting the bag, was all one lump, in my hungover state I decided to keep on cutting the bag, then of course bang, the whole lot comes down and smashes the fiberglass hopper...

Lucky it didn't catch you on the way down. Found a knive from a baler in one of the silage bales, good edge on it will weld it onto a bit of pipe for opening the big bags.

Sam Kade · 22-09-2016 5:23pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Seen lots of gran lime and k been spread around this week ......

Is that the stuff that magically turns into gran lime while being spread and after spreading

FeelTheBern · 22-09-2016 7:38pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Mooooo wrote: »

Legally the closing date was sept 15. All that can be spread now is k and lime. If you keep it dry it should hold till spring

Seen lots of gran lime and k been spread around this week ......

Have a paddock near the sheds that I'd like to have bit of early grass on for few cows/calves in Feb if dry. Won't have it grazed for another two weeks though - old pasture . Would there be any point putting some ""gran lime"" on it after grazing or better off wait till Jan?

Mooooo · 22-09-2016 7:44pm

I'd say if it was new grass you may get some return but with old pasture you may be as well off waiting till Jan. If closing after grazing in two weeks and a coat of slurry there should be a bit of cover there in spring.

Timmaay · 22-09-2016 10:13pm

Mooooo wrote: »

Lucky it didn't catch you on the way down. Found a knive from a baler in one of the silage bales, good edge on it will weld it onto a bit of pipe for opening the big bags.

The contractor uses a properly sharp slash hook, works perfect.

blue5000 · 23-09-2016 12:57pm

MOD NOTE; Posters just try to be aware that what you post on here is in the public eye, it's not only farmers who read what's on here.

Waffletraktor · 23-09-2016 4:24pm

Timmaay wrote: »

The contractor uses a properly sharp slash hook, works perfect.

Have had a bag break on the loop and drop in the spreader as a block and lumps over the years. A combine knife section with the tip sharpened on a light 4-5ft piece of pipe keeps you out of the way, keep it in the hopper on a catch.

feckin day gone again!! · 24-09-2016 2:31am

Totally agree with roads and access points, they help alot. Met station's dont have weather stations everywhere and when you're looking at flashes of water on limestone land in September it's not good...

GrasstoMilk · 24-09-2016 4:52pm

Grass cover is mental here atm.
Cows not able to get through it.

Option is to bring home in calf heifers
Increase farm demand by 8kg's per day to 50
Gr is still in 60s
Calves would have lots of grass in outfarm to keep them till mid dec with a kg/day

Or bring him calves and leave heifers in outfarm.

I'm a bit cautios that in calf heifers might fly through my grass too much and I'll end up bring fully house by 1st nov

Never wrestle with pigs · 24-09-2016 5:59pm

Love to get to nov 1st

Timmaay · 24-09-2016 6:32pm

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Grass cover is mental here atm.
Cows not able to get through it.

Option is to bring home in calf heifers
Increase farm demand by 8kg's per day to 50
Gr is still in 60s
Calves would have lots of grass in outfarm to keep them till mid dec with a kg/day

Or bring him calves and leave heifers in outfarm.

I'm a bit cautios that in calf heifers might fly through my grass too much and I'll end up bring fully house by 1st nov

Same problem here but the heifers are in already ha! Pregraze covers gone over 2k, all I can think of doing is use the incalfs who are in very good bcs to clean out from the cows, I gotta be carefully there not to damage too much if the weather stays like this. Them 2 bags of "gran lime" still to go out and compound my problems further ha!

whelan2 · 24-09-2016 6:37pm

If the weather came right, would ye bale the heavy covers?

GrasstoMilk · 24-09-2016 6:47pm

whelan2 wrote: »

If the weather came right, would ye bale the heavy covers?

Won't be baling yard bursting with silage Highest 2k. Just so many of them. Have the demand just matter of working it right smto keep them out

trixi2011 · 24-09-2016 7:04pm

loads of grass here going in to 2t + cover at the moment and condition is falling off my heifer herd with these heavy covers and long walks. Can only feed max 2kg in the parlour so went in with baled silage to try and fill them. the last 2 backends had us spoiled, could do with a few dry days at this stage.

Building Grass Cover

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