21 October 2024

Variability in grass supplies – Teagasc/Tirlán Future Farmers take action

Monitor farmers engaged in the Teagasc/Tirlán Future Farm Programme have centred their attentions on completing grass and autumn closing budgets over recent weeks. Co-ordinator of the Programme, Sandra Hayes shares details on the actions taken.

Having sufficient supplies of spring grass is a priority for the farmers enrolled in the programme, and the starting point to achieving this is autumn grassland management. As of the week of October 18, the average farm cover on the farms enrolled was 708kg DM/ha, resulting in a cover per livestock unit of 281kg DM/LU.

The 708kg DM/ha average farm cover outlined above is the average of the farmers in the programme, however quite a degree of variability exists across the farms – with average farm cover ranging from 542kg DM/ha to 1,000kg DM/ha. Given this variability, different corrective actions are required at farm level to ensure grass supplies are in fact available to meet the herd’s demand next spring.

The participating farmers are following the Teagasc autumn grazing targets, with many – depending on their requirement for grass next spring – aiming to have >65% of the milking platform closed by November 1.

To adhere to this closing target and to avoid average farm cover dipping further, the Future Farmers are paying close attention to grass growth rates and demand, and are acting to bridge the gap between both with concentrate and silage supplementary feeding. Meal feeding levels have stepped up over recent weeks, climbing by about 1kg/cow/day over the last fortnight, with the average now being 4.3kg/cow/day, and ranging from 3kg/cow/day up to 8kg/cow/day across the farms. Typically, the higher meal feeding rates are in place on farms where one eye is being kept on the silage reserves available on farm for the winter ahead.

Where sufficient supplies are available, a number of participating farmers have begun to supplement with silage, with rates varying between 2kg/cow/day up to 10kg/cow/day – with supplement levels again being linked to grass growth rates, the farm’s own average farm cover and herd demand.

Table 1: Grass performance on the Teagasc/Tirlán Future Farms (week ending October 18).

Drying off plans

As November fast approaches, the Teagasc/Tirlán Future Farmers are starting to plan to select first lactation cows for drying off. To aid in the use of selective dry cow therapy, a round of milk recording has taken place and some herds will do another milk recording in November before the larger number of cows start to be dried off in batches.

Upcoming event

The Teagasc/Tirlán Future Farm Programme will host its final farm walk of 2024 on the Murphy family farm on the 30^th of October in Fiddawn, Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny. On the day, we will discuss the key performance indicators (KPIs) on milk production, breeding, farm finance and grass performance.

There will also be speakers on soil fertility, value of slurry on this farm and the nitrogen surplus and what it is, plus speakers will discuss water quality and what is the water EIP about and how can farmers apply. Tirlan will speak on their Milk Solids Tracker and its benefits.

For more information on the Teagasc/Tirlán Future Farmers and to see regular updates, click here.