Advice with zero grazing.

[lazy farmer]

Never thought I’d be writing this but desperate times etc. later today we will be starting to zero grazing some away ground using a front mover and a forage wagon. For the milkers

Have had some great advice already but thought I would ask on here as I seem to remember there being some proper professionals on the forum.
thanks in advance
Lazy

 

[sidjon]

Have you had to rehouse yours cow's? Looks like a rerun of 2012 here, flecked up at least one paddock now ( thankfully it near the top of the list of paddocks to reseed) and could be more if the long range weather is a bad as it looks out in t9 mid June

 

[lazy farmer]

Have you had to rehouse yours cow's? Looks like a rerun of 2012 here, flecked up at least one paddock now ( thankfully it near the top of the list of paddocks to reseed) and could be more if the long range weather is a bad as it looks out in t9 mid June

We will rehouse tomorrow

 

[flywheel]

How long have your cattle been out ?

 

[lazy farmer]

How long have your cattle been out ?

Simple question harder answer.
10 days in feb ( not many)
10 days (ish) in March. Most of the herd.
20 days (roughly in April. 90+ %
May 7 so far.

 

[ollie989898]

Is there not some silage somewhere you could buy in?? What has gone wrong, you farm in the garden of Eden for grass growth.

 

[lazy farmer]

Is there not some silage somewhere you could buy in?? What has gone wrong, you farm in the garden of Eden for grass growth.

Farm cover is over 3300
Why would I feed silage ?
What’s gone wrong is the weather and probably poor management. Can’t decide on my level of capability as I too distressed to think objectively.

 

[Bald Rick]

Never thought I’d be writing this but desperate times etc. later today we will be starting to zero grazing some away ground using a front mover and a forage wagon. For the milkers

Have had some great advice already but thought I would ask on here as I seem to remember there being some proper professionals on the forum.
thanks in advance
Lazy

What do you want to know?

 

[lazy farmer]

What do you want to know?

What stops/ creates heating. ?
How long before it heats?.
Chop length?
Anything out of the obvious I’m missing?’

 

[Bald Rick]

What stops/ creates heating. ?
How long before it heats?.
Chop length?
Anything out of the obvious I’m missing?’

Best ZG is when the covers are at 4500 (Irish research suggests that this is worth 2litres/cow over & above covers cut at 3500 .. but it’s a bit subjective)

There is a debate about using a conditioner on the front mower as to whether it causes heating. Our experience suggests that whether you use a conditioner or not , knives on the wagon or not, the key to not heating is to get an even feed out in front of the cows. The ideal would be a conveyor on the wagon but that adds complexity and risk of machine failure.
If you only cut sufficient for 24 hours, you’ll be fine re heating.
Push up regularly as cows do throw the fresh grass around and if the barrier is too low, they will pull a lot through. You can mitigate this a bit by chopping to 6” or so. Any longer and they waste a lot of time chewing too.

We have been very surprised at the savings potential of ZG but we are of course an entirely different system to yours

 

[Wesley]

Long time since we done it, probably 20 years. With a double chop blown into a west high-feeder so can’t tell you about chop length as we couldn't play with it. But Bald Rick covers the basics. No more than a day, no big heaps, keep it moving (pushing it in does this). Very similar to silage in a way, just very exaggerated & happens a lot quicker.

 

[ollie989898]

Farm cover is over 3300
Why would I feed silage ?
What’s gone wrong is the weather and probably poor management. Can’t decide on my level of capability as I too distressed to think objectively.

Oh I see, the way you were wording it I was confused, I thought you must have grass. Why not get the bulk of it cut and put in the pit, be back on it in no time at all?

 

[pappuller]

What stops/ creates heating. ?
How long before it heats?.
Chop length?
Anything out of the obvious I’m missing?’

Enough for 24 hrs max, feed fresh and they will clean up, don't underestimate how much they will eat.you know once you start you may struggle to stop

 

[lazy farmer]

Oh I see, the way you were wording it I was confused, I thought you must have grass. Why not get the bulk of it cut and put in the pit, be back on it in no time at all?

Because it’s saturated

 

[lazy farmer]

Enough for 24 hrs max, feed fresh and they will clean up, don't underestimate how much they will eat.you know once you start you may struggle to stop

It will be coming in whole. Should we allow the cutters in the wagon to chop it before putting it down or just whilst we put it down ?

 

[Scholsey]

Never thought I’d be writing this but desperate times etc. later today we will be starting to zero grazing some away ground using a front mover and a forage wagon. For the milkers

Have had some great advice already but thought I would ask on here as I seem to remember there being some proper professionals on the forum.
thanks in advance
Lazy

Conditioner set light, blades out, work in small lands and don’t over fill her, 2 half loads are better than one monster load.

 

[Andrew_Ni]

Is there not some silage somewhere you could buy in?? What has gone wrong, you farm in the garden of Eden for grass growth.

Spare silage local to me all goes to feed digesters

 

[Scholsey]

Sample from the other day and it’s pretty much mowing grass getting about 8kgDM into them aswell as a maize/grass silage/hay buffer.

 

[Tirglas]

Farm cover is over 3300
Why would I feed silage ?
What’s gone wrong is the weather and probably poor management. Can’t decide on my level of capability as I too distressed to think objectively.

At least your thinking clearly enough to find solutions

 

[ollie989898]

Because it’s saturated

Then it's hardly your management to blame, is it?

Weather has borked everyone's plans, not just yours. Keep smiling, the sun will come out soon enough.