The recent improvement in weather conditions was very much welcomed and with a further week of dry conditions forecasted, from a grassland management point of view, it helps to address some of the weaknesses of the grazing year to date.
It is ideal weather for grazing. There is now excuse for not getting paddocks grazed out even from high covers - paddocks must be grazed to <4.5cm – you will not get a better chance to clean out the paddocks before the end of grazing this year. Try to get those with poorest sward quality grazed this week if not already done so – even if you must skip ahead to get to them. Current rotation length should be circa 35 days and planning to extend to 40 days by late September.
Grass growth rates have improved on the previous week, albeit not as high as expected, ranging from 50 to 70kgDM/ha/day. The sunny weather has also brought clear skies at night with corresponding low night temperatures. Soil temperatures are more influenced by night time temperatures than daytime temperatures – therefore there has been little change in the past week – even today in the Fermoy region of North Cork, 9am soil temperature remains low at 13.9 degrees.
From a Autumn budgeting point of view, if you were behind target hopefully you are now hitting target . However if you were on target before this dry spell, then it is likely that you are now ahead of target. If the latter is the case then this may cause problems if you are lightly stocked and will continue to build cover through September with low demand to eat through the heavy covers on the farm. Is cutting bales an option at this stage of the year? The concern is that re-growth of a cut paddock will be slow. This will be the case if the base of the sward is yellow or white after cutting and/or if the grass species is dominated by non-perennial ryegrass varieties. However, the consequence of grazing through heavy covers on the farm for an extended period of time will also restrict light to the base of the sward leaving it yellow and white, slowing down re-growth. On the other hand, perennial ryegrass swards which are green & leafy at the base will recover quickly with little suppression of growth. So, the answer is not entirely obvious but will be dependent on the individual farm. In my opinion, maximum farm cover at any time is 1200 kgDM/ha – preferably only at balance date. Above this, the surplus should be removed by extra stock or cutting an area for bales.
The fertiliser deadline is upon us. Final applications (30-40 units N/ac) should now be in place and light applications of slurry should be the norm from now until mid-October at least. Hold off on these slurry applications until just before the weather is to break. Slurry application in these high temperatures is a waste of time as most of the nitrogen will be lost to the atmosphere.
I believe that this week is also the last chance saloon for reseeding in 2009. While Spring reseeding is preferable, this time of the year is the best time to kill off and reseed a scutch infested sward. At this time of the year, scutch grass is beginning to store reserves in its roots in preparation for the Winter period. If sprayed it will also take in the spray into its roots ensuring an effective kill of not just the green material but of the roots also.
It is a misconception that the grazing year begins in Spring - the grazing cycle does not begin in Spring, it begins now! Make sure you have a clear Autumn grassland management plan in place that compliments your Spring grazing targets - don't leave it to chance. Our newest recruit to the grazing musketeer consultancy service - Brian Costello, is filling his diary for the coming months and Spring 2010. Brian will service dairy farmers in the North West and North East regions tailoring grazing management plans unique to each individual farm. If you are from these regions and wish to avail of this service, contact Brian directly on 086 2329460. Enquiries from all other areas of Ireland please contact Noel on 086 8360285.
