The grazing season

The drop of rain has been a big help to grass here but its not growjng over the ditchs either. Aftergrass is very slow about coming back. Will fertiliser that was spread a couple of weeks ago respond now?

Was beginning to wonder was it just here, the rain has helped grass quality anyway on what's coming. A lot of grass here is stressed at the moment.
 
Big jump in grass growth here since Tuesdays 20mm. Quality has improved too. As a novice in the game it's very impressive to see how cows respond so quickly to grass quality. Milk yields are 10% higher this weekend than last. A very valuable 20mm.
 
Big jump in grass growth here since Tuesdays 20mm. Quality has improved too. As a novice in the game it's very impressive to see how cows respond so quickly to grass quality. Milk yields are 10% higher this weekend than last. A very valuable 20mm.

What were you substituting with, during the drought to maintain production?
 
Went to 5kg 16% dairy feed and good silage in the A block (A,B,C grazing system). It wasn't so much the quantity but the poor quality of the grass.
given the price of milk is it financially worth trying to keep supply level when drought occurs, or just take the hit in production. Im assuming the latter, if cows had reached peak production
 
given the price of milk is it financially worth trying to keep supply level when drought occurs, or just take the hit in production. Im assuming the latter, if cows had reached peak production
I'm no expert but when the drought is as short lived as this one I'm sure it's best to take the financial hit of feeding and have them milking strong until grass gets growing again. I've heard it said cows that were well fed for the summer milked exceptionally well during September and October of 2018 after the famous drought broke.
 
growth back to 55 last week meal gone to 4,5 kg ,got 25mm rain on saturday night will try and pull meal at the end of the week again
 
How are you finding the grazing now with the robots?
Getting easier every week. At the beginning once one cow decided to leave a paddock the rest would follow but the herd mentality is more or less broken now and they come and go in ones and twos. Figuring out how much grass to allocate for each grazing is a bit of a trial and error job too but the cows don't be long letting you know when you've made an arse of it.
 
I'm no expert but when the drought is as short lived as this one I'm sure it's best to take the financial hit of feeding and have them milking strong until grass gets growing again. I've heard it said cows that were well fed for the summer milked exceptionally well during September and October of 2018 after the famous drought broke.
Ya definitely. Don't forget you are trying to keep them incalf aswell. There's alot going on with the cow this time of year I think it pays to feed them ina drought or wet time keep stress low. A drop in yeild in may is lost yeild. You will never regain it.
 
Cattle are motoring through grass fast here now. I have a couple of strong paddocks that I was planning on putting in the pit next week but now Im not so sure.
 
Cattle are motoring through grass fast here now. I have a couple of strong paddocks that I was planning on putting in the pit next week but now Im not so sure.
Personally I wouldn't if you don't need it, for beef cattle a strong paddock can slow down the rotation by 2 or 3 days giving all the other paddocks 3 extra days.
 
Grass gone crazy here again. Have about 12ac to pull for bales soon as weather allows me and not pushing cows to graze tight either
 
Personally I wouldn't if you don't need it, for beef cattle a strong paddock can slow down the rotation by 2 or 3 days giving all the other paddocks 3 extra days.

Im buying in grass to cut so the more I can grow the better iywim. Decided to mow out sections of the fields so the best of both worlds. :scratchhead:
 

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Went very short on grass here over the last month. Plenty of growth but with the wet weather they got through rotations twice as fast as earlier in the year. Most of my land is on a hill. My father farms the valley which has some peat soil in it and he had to take out some fields for silage this week because of excess grass. He has had far more growth than me. The dry weather these last few days will hopefully have stabilised things. More meadows coming into grazing rotation this week too which should push rotation to 30 days. Also selling a few cull cows to ease the pressure and meet my 5% reduction for beam. We are still benefitting from the dry spring. Land that got very wet has dried out very fast these last few days. Long may it last.
 
Grass growth is exceptional last 10 days or so with us, but I get what you are saying re the wet weather in some areas speeding up rotations lately. Cattle did little to no thrive in the month of July with us even with the best of grass in front of them from what I could see, most of it ran straight out through them with all the water. Hopefully a good August now can drive things on again.
 
Grass growth is exceptional last 10 days or so with us, but I get what you are saying re the wet weather in some areas speeding up rotations lately. Cattle did little to no thrive in the month of July with us even with the best of grass in front of them from what I could see, most of it ran straight out through them with all the water. Hopefully a good August now can drive things on again.

Fibre % in the grass, is a major downfall of PRG
 
Fibre % in the grass, is a major downfall of PRG
You are correct there Ozzy. I think the dry matter in the grass was just so low due to the incessant rainfall those weeks. That and the fact that they spent half the day sheltering from said rain.
 
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