All things Dairy

Jdunn55 · May 16, 2022

Beef farmer said:
Same here.

When will you shut up for 5 weeks?

I go for a minimum of 4 weeks between grazing on it anyway so an extra week isn't the end of the world, it works best if you graze every 4 weeks until mid June so heading dates for ryegrass should have passed, then shut it up for an extra week on the next rotation and then after that graze it as often as you like. The herbs and clovers are happy as long as there is a bit of a rest between being eaten

Beef farmer · May 16, 2022

Jdunn55 said:
I go for a minimum of 4 weeks between grazing on it anyway so an extra week isn't the end of the world, it works best if you graze every 4 weeks until mid June so heading dates for ryegrass should have passed, then shut it up for an extra week on the next rotation and then after that graze it as often as you like. The herbs and clovers are happy as long as there is a bit of a rest between being eaten

I believe you.

crashbox · May 16, 2022

Holsteinfriesian90 said:
Will hungry cows milk?

Fair point. With recent rain hopeful we'll have enough grub this year.

Light flick for second cut I think, unless it has clover in which case it gets zero. Potash to go on with well rotted FYM after.

som farmer · May 16, 2022

Beef farmer said:
I believe you.

some of the 'results' one hears, seem to good to be true.
we have a lot of clover, used less fert, and massive yields, is it due to the clover ? or not, we don't really know, love it to be right, time will tell.
But we do leave longer residuals, and a good 4 week rotation, simply because we have found out, the hard way, that's best for us, til this last welcome rain, rye grass regrowth had slowed right down, herbs, clover and 'dry' grasses, kept going.

Barmyfarmer · May 16, 2022

som farmer said:
some of the 'results' one hears, seem to good to be true.
we have a lot of clover, used less fert, and massive yields, is it due to the clover ? or not, we don't really know, love it to be right, time will tell.
But we do leave longer residuals, and a good 4 week rotation, simply because we have found out, the hard way, that's best for us, til this last welcome rain, rye grass regrowth had slowed right down, herbs, clover and 'dry' grasses, kept going.

Mega yields here on significantly less fert than normal, I don't have a single piece of clover on the farm so it isn't because of clover.
I'd say it's 100% weather related

lazy farmer · May 16, 2022

som farmer said:
some of the 'results' one hears, seem to good to be true.
we have a lot of clover, used less fert, and massive yields, is it due to the clover ? or not, we don't really know, love it to be right, time will tell.
But we do leave longer residuals, and a good 4 week rotation, simply because we have found out, the hard way, that's best for us, til this last welcome rain, rye grass regrowth had slowed right down, herbs, clover and 'dry' grasses, kept going.

It’s not the clover

Beef farmer · May 16, 2022

som farmer said:
some of the 'results' one hears, seem to good to be true.
we have a lot of clover, used less fert, and massive yields, is it due to the clover ? or not, we don't really know, love it to be right, time will tell.
But we do leave longer residuals, and a good 4 week rotation, simply because we have found out, the hard way, that's best for us, til this last welcome rain, rye grass regrowth had slowed right down, herbs, clover and 'dry' grasses, kept going.

The 5 weeks is a stipulation to get the grant.

Weve spread 18 units of N this year up untill 3 days ago. Got loads of grass.

Princess Pooper · May 16, 2022

crashbox said:
Seeing those photos of silage going in, how much fert have people banged on for 2nd cut?

Struggling with figures here...

RB209 suggests for an extra 2t DM/ha you need 50kgN/ha, or 200kg/ha of 25% AN.
@ £650/t that is £130, or £65 per extra tonne DM. Plus application, harvest costs, etc. Is it worth it?

We never put much on for 2nd cut as clover really kicks in and also lack of rainfall usually restricts growth.

frederick · May 16, 2022

Beef farmer said:
The 5 weeks is a stipulation to get the grant.

Weve spread 18 units of N this year up untill 3 days ago. Got loads of grass.

But how much slurry N have you applied

Beef farmer · May 16, 2022

frederick said:
But how much slurry N have you applied

3000 gallons twice. Once in jan and once in April.
It's looking hungry now we've had rain, but will jump this wk

frederick · May 16, 2022

Beef farmer said:
3000 gallons twice. Once in jan and once in April.
It's looking hungry now we've had rain, but will jump this wk

That's why I think your application of N now is well worthwhile
You could wwell have had nearly 90 units available from slurry fert and carryover from last year's drought mineralisation and reduced winter leaching.
That's the real reason everyone is cutting back and getting good yields it's not because the N isn't needed anymore.
If they are relying on it keeping going without the bag I think they are likely in for an unpleasant shock in 3 weeks time.
But I might be wrong.

In the pit · May 16, 2022

5 weeks between grazings sounds a disaster
Growth 70 today *35 days=.2450 growth + 1500 base = 3950 cover
Bit different to going in at 2800 and coming out at 1500
Few rounds of that and you’ll be grazing sh!t and then base cover will be over 2000 and half a ton of grass to the hectare will be feeding the worms

crashbox · May 16, 2022

frederick said:
That's why I think your application of N now is well worthwhile
You could wwell have had nearly 90 units available from slurry fert and carryover from last year's drought mineralisation and reduced winter leaching.
That's the real reason everyone is cutting back and getting good yields it's not because the N isn't needed anymore.
If they are relying on it keeping going without the bag I think they are likely in for an unpleasant shock in 3 weeks time.
But I might be wrong.

Sounds plausible, but that would perhaps put pay to the Soil Nitrogen Supply status calculations, and nitrogen leaching estimates that are used to justify regulation inhibiting high readily available nitrogen organic fertilisers.

In the pit said:
5 weeks between grazings sounds a disaster
Growth 70 today *35 days=.2450 growth + 1500 base = 3950 cover
Bit different to going in at 2800 and coming out at 1500
Few rounds of that and you’ll be grazing sh!t and then base cover will be over 2000 and half a ton of grass to the hectare will be feeding the worms

Not if you cut and bale it...

vantage · May 16, 2022

In the pit said:
5 weeks between grazings sounds a disaster
Growth 70 today *35 days=.2450 growth + 1500 base = 3950 cover
Bit different to going in at 2800 and coming out at 1500
Few rounds of that and you’ll be grazing sh!t and then base cover will be over 2000 and half a ton of grass to the hectare will be feeding the worms

The cover will be far higher than that, that 70 growth will be over all your block, the five week interval will be in excess of 100 , maybe it just grows more slowly?

vantage · May 16, 2022

crashbox said:
Sounds plausible, but that would perhaps put pay to the Soil Nitrogen Supply status calculations, and nitrogen leaching estimates that are used to justify regulation inhibiting high readily available nitrogen organic fertilisers.

Not if you cut and bale it...

Good move.

Jdunn55 · May 16, 2022

In the pit said:
5 weeks between grazings sounds a disaster
Growth 70 today *35 days=.2450 growth + 1500 base = 3950 cover
Bit different to going in at 2800 and coming out at 1500
Few rounds of that and you’ll be grazing sh!t and then base cover will be over 2000 and half a ton of grass to the hectare will be feeding the worms

Only have to do that once between the first of May and 31st July

You could graze it every 10 days for the rest of the year if you really wanted to

4 weeks is the sweet spot with it. Its slower to recover than ryegrass but once it gets going it will outcompete ryegrass growth so after 4 weeks you end up with the same amount cover as straight ryegrass + fertiliser after 4 weeks

Edit: in the spring you can go slightly quicker with it (21ish days) but once the clovers and herbs wake up in April the round needs slowing down to keep them alive

O'Reilly · May 16, 2022

In the pit said:
5 weeks between grazings sounds a disaster
Growth 70 today *35 days=.2450 growth + 1500 base = 3950 cover
Bit different to going in at 2800 and coming out at 1500
Few rounds of that and you’ll be grazing sh!t and then base cover will be over 2000 and half a ton of grass to the hectare will be feeding the worms

You should never feed worms, what have they ever done for us?

lazy farmer · May 16, 2022

In the pit said:
5 weeks between grazings sounds a disaster
Growth 70 today *35 days=.2450 growth + 1500 base = 3950 cover
Bit different to going in at 2800 and coming out at 1500
Few rounds of that and you’ll be grazing sh!t and then base cover will be over 2000 and half a ton of grass to the hectare will be feeding the worms

I’ve made a career out of doing the above.

Beef farmer · May 16, 2022

lazy farmer said:
I’ve made a career out of doing the above.

Grazing 3950s or 2800s
2800s don't work here, we graze 3300+ because if the looming drought we built covers to hold more feed on farm, now its rained we need to correct that, plenty of 4000 covers to chop off. If it hadn't rained, those 4000 covers would have still been decent feed for some fat autumns

lazy farmer · May 16, 2022

Beef farmer said:
Grazing 3950s or 2800s
2800s don't work here, we graze 3300+ because if the looming drought we built covers to hold more feed on farm, now its rained we need to correct that, plenty of 4000 covers to chop off. If it hadn't rained, those 4000 covers would have still been decent feed for some fat autumns

Grazed a 4200 over the weekend.

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