Grazing 2021

CloughCasey1

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Grazing conditions are excellant. Cattle cleaning out ground very well. Still on first rotation since turnout over 4 weeks ago. Silage ground cleaned by start of April. Land that got fertlizer in late February really benefited from it. One or two places that were wet had to be stayed out of these did not power ahead like rest of the paddock they were in. May have tp feed a few bales to one bunch that are away from main land bank but the other two bunches have 7-10 day grazing to finish first rotation unless grazing conditions do not hold up. Intend on getting out with fertlizer on ground alreadly grazed this week.

Cattle have done some thrive. A lot have grown. Friesians are coming faster than a lot of the coloured cattle. Its a matter of pushing on magic day cannot be far away. Silage grounds are ready to burst ahead if temperatures raise 3-5 degrees. According to Met Eireann soil temp are just hitting 10C if they rise 2-3 degrees grass will power ahead

Starting on second rotation here. Hoping for first silage mid May and then end of May. Living on the edge of grass in front of them at the minute. I'm giving the older ones a touch of meal to keep them from getting ahead of me. Needed this rain badly to get the ground ready for the warm week coming. Got 2 acres reseeded and grass starting to peek through. Got another 2 acres overseeded that got badly poached mid March before the dry spell kicked in. Both sown with a multi species so we'll see how that takes to the dry ground here. All and all I can't complain as cattle grazing since start of March. Cattle thriving very well. Two below from different ends of the Larrys grading machine. 😉

Bass Reeves

CloughCasey1 wrote: »

Starting on second rotation here. Hoping for first silage mid May and then end of May. Living on the edge of grass in front of them at the minute. I'm giving the older ones a touch of meal to keep them from getting ahead of me. Needed this rain badly to get the ground ready for the warm week coming. Got 2 acres reseeded and grass starting to peek through. Got another 2 acres overseeded that got badly poached mid March before the dry spell kicked in. Both sown with a multi species so we'll see how that takes to the dry ground here. All and all I can't complain as cattle grazing since start of March. Cattle thriving very well. Two below from different ends of the Larrys grading machine. 😉

Friesian should grade on. Shod be an O= at 330/340DW. After that it a matter how long you want to keep him

CloughCasey1

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Friesian should grade on. Shod be an O= at 330/340DW. After that it a matter how long you want to keep him

No panic on him yet. The closer ge gets to 30 mts the taller and heavier he will be.

GrasstoMilk

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Grazing conditions are excellant. Cattle cleaning out ground very well. Still on first rotation since turnout over 4 weeks ago. Silage ground cleaned by start of April. Land that got fertlizer in late February really benefited from it. One or two places that were wet had to be stayed out of these did not power ahead like rest of the paddock they were in. May have tp feed a few bales to one bunch that are away from main land bank but the other two bunches have 7-10 day grazing to finish first rotation unless grazing conditions do not hold up. Intend on getting out with fertlizer on ground alreadly grazed this week.

Cattle have done some thrive. A lot have grown. Friesians are coming faster than a lot of the coloured cattle. Its a matter of pushing on magic day cannot be far away. Silage grounds are ready to burst ahead if temperatures raise 3-5 degrees. According to Met Eireann soil temp are just hitting 10C if they rise 2-3 degrees grass will power ahead

There's no extra warmth in the coming weeks forecast
Silage and grazing ground are very dismal here, a good wet week needed more than heat imo

Bass Reeves

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

There's no extra warmth in the coming weeks forecast
Silage and grazing ground are very dismal here, a good wet week needed more than heat imo

Ground is still moist enough here. We got a lot of rain up to mid February. As well we got a nice bit mid March, even since we got a few mm here and there.

Ground temperatures are still below 10C until they go above 12C you will not get sustained growth. According to my area forecast we are supposed to get 4-6mm tonight. Daytime temp over last few weeks have been 9-10C with an odd warm day. But there has been a cold wind as well.

From Wednesday on temp are supposed to rise to 12-15C with ground frost from Thursday night on. That should push grass growth during the day however as frost should burn off early

Dunedin

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

, a good wet week needed more than heat imo

Do you want to destroy the place altogether. Last Monday did enough harm and it was only one day.

Grueller

Dunedin wrote: »

Do you want to destroy the place altogether. Last Monday did enough harm and it was only one day.

I am in the south east like Grasstomilk. I am now getting it hard to drive a pigtail.

Bass Reeves

Grueller wrote: »

I am in the south east like Grasstomilk. I am now getting it hard to drive a pigtail.

The problem.is if the SE gets an inch of rainy we get 1.5-2 inches. Ground still very moist in places. We need heat only. I will need rain in May but not now.

A wet and windy May fills the barns with corn and hay

memorystick

Bass Reeves wrote: »

The problem.is if the SE gets an inch of rainy we get 1.5-2 inches. Ground still very moist in places. We need heat only. I will need rain in May but not now.

A wet and windy May fills the barns with corn and hay

A wet and windy May fills the bales with water and clay!

endainoz

memorystick wrote: »

A wet and windy May fills the bales with water and clay!

Tell your contactor to stop cutting it so tight then!!

Bass Reeves

memorystick wrote: »

A wet and windy May fills the bales with water and clay!

Na you just wait until the first of June and the Sun shines

Dunedin

Grueller wrote: »

I am in the south east like Grasstomilk. I am now getting it hard to drive a pigtail.

Ah fair enough but that’s a first world problem on the heavy land in the midlands. Still soft enough here in places.

Say my name

Grueller wrote: »

I am in the south east like Grasstomilk. I am now getting it hard to drive a pigtail.

I'm back feeding some silage now to drag it out a bit. Two ring feeders in a paddock.
Same paddock where the cows were fed in 2018 drought.
Those patches where the feeders were then are still evident today with darker carbon rich soil and greener stronger grass.
Feeders are in a different place of course now to spread the benefits. Cows in that paddock at night eating silage from a few years ago.
On my third round heading for fourth quick enough so needed to slow it down.

All springs, drains have dried up.

Did a drive around yesterday and grass is not growing back on lots in the area.
Even saw silage gone off a field and slurry spread in grasstomilks general area. The specialist silage swards and those with the fert and slurry out early are the only one's I see with a reasonable cover.

Grueller

Say my name wrote: »

I'm back feeding some silage now to drag it out a bit. Two ring feeders in a paddock.
Same paddock where the cows were fed in 2018 drought.
Those patches where the feeders were then are still evident today with darker carbon rich soil and greener stronger grass.
Feeders are in a different place of course now to spread the benefits. Cows in that paddock at night eating silage from a few years ago.
On my third round heading for fourth quick enough so needed to slow it down.

All springs, drains have dried up.

Did a drive around yesterday and grass is not growing back on lots in the area.
Even saw silage gone off a field and slurry spread in grasstomilks general area. The specialist silage swards and those with the fert and slurry out early are the only one's I see with a reasonable cover.

I have 6 acres of 1500 covers on an out block a mile away from the yard. Just off the phone from the contractor to zero graze in a load tomorrow.

Mooooo

Hard to drive pigtails here too but it's the height of fecking stones lol. Getting a bit of drizzle/ light rain the last few days, will help the fert kick into gear. Slurry lads had to avoid bits of wet ground last week all the same. Had growth of 36 last week, getting thru the second round now but covers of 1400 down lines up so grass is just right still on 5kgs ration as well. Closed 2/3 of what would normally be silage ground which got the slurry, will see about the other third as the week goes on.

Bass Reeves

Just moved the two big bunches of cattle. Paddocks they went into looked heavy from a distance. However grass is heavy around last year's dungpads but very little grass on the rest of it. Grass is ready to burst. Black tips indicate that there is Urea in the grass but ground temp too.loe to push growth on.

No problem pushing pigtails into ground. For some was able to do it by hand alone.

memorystick

Are many lads feeding bales?
Just a like would do. No need to comment.

Grueller

memorystick wrote: »

Are many lads feeding bales?
Just a like would do. No need to comment.

Pit silage but same thing

green daries

Grueller wrote: »

Pit silage but same thing

Buffer for the foreseeable according to Mt's forecast

Say my name

green daries wrote: »

Buffer for the foreseeable according to Mt's forecast

You'd notice there today now any regrowths don't have that burnt frost look.
It feels kinder today too.
If we get a little bit milder it looks there's enough of moisture still in the ground to keep things going. (Well here anyway).
We're not done for yet..

RedPeppers

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

There's no extra warmth in the coming weeks forecast
Silage and grazing ground are very dismal here, a good wet week needed more than heat imo

I’ll swap ya. It’s pelting down here just as things were drying up. I’d rather be feeding bales out in the paddocks than feeding them inside. Growth on our heavy ground would never be an issue even in a drought it’s the wet stiff that’s kills us here cows fairly left their mark today after all the rain

whelan2

Lost a cow with tetany yesterday. I didn't think it was as cold as the previous days

GrasstoMilk

Say my name wrote: »

I'm back feeding some silage now to drag it out a bit. Two ring feeders in a paddock.
Same paddock where the cows were fed in 2018 drought.
Those patches where the feeders were then are still evident today with darker carbon rich soil and greener stronger grass.
Feeders are in a different place of course now to spread the benefits. Cows in that paddock at night eating silage from a few years ago.
On my third round heading for fourth quick enough so needed to slow it down.

All springs, drains have dried up.

Did a drive around yesterday and grass is not growing back on lots in the area.
Even saw silage gone off a field and slurry spread in grasstomilks general area. The specialist silage swards and those with the fert and slurry out early are the only one's I see with a reasonable cover.

Thats some field to grow grass, in there 7 or 8 years now and gets cut 4 times and maybe a zero grazing or 2

Danzy

whelan2 wrote: »

Lost a cow with tetany yesterday. I didn't think it was as cold as the previous days

Had a ewe with it today, think I got her in time.

whelan2

Danzy wrote: »

Had a ewe with it today, think I got her in time.

My one was brain damaged

MIKEKC

Danzy wrote: »

Had a ewe with it today, think I got her in time.

One last week here, first time I ever got one in time, despite frequent checking. From my experience with cows they stand a good chance of getting it again

memorystick

MIKEKC wrote: »

One last week here, first time I ever got one in time, despite frequent checking. From my experience with cows they stand a good chance of getting it again

Agreed 100%. When I has sucklers I used to put sweet tooth into a trough and let them eat as much as they’d want. I noticed that some never took it s as and others always took it. Also noticed that they’d use more at this time of year than in the middle of summer. It might seem dear but it was the best way.
I used to always leave 2 bottles of Mg and a pipe with needle in a tin box at the gate. Ah be with the days!

Genghis Cant

Grass dead tight here. I move the heifers every 2 days to a new paddock. Shur the change of view might take their mind off the lack of grass

Bass Reeves

Genghis Cant wrote: »

Grass dead tight here. I move the heifers every 2 days to a new paddock. Shur the change of view might take their mind off the lack of grass

It's time to slow down the rotation. It takes grass to throw grass. If you have a high dry paddock throw a round bale in a feeder or even throw them back onto not the shed.8-10 days could name a huge difference

I says

Grass growth at a snails pace. I’ve all stock out and have notice a major difference this year. Grazing ground that got slurry last October is flying with grass growth. And the grazing ground that didn’t looks like I’ve sheep grazing it.