The grazing season

A kind of grazing has started here again
0C2E154D-7F22-4BFA-B826-A2AD8D6C8D4F.jpeg
 
once the first round is finished there,s nothing else for it only put silage back in
Hopefully not, all silage ground grazed and the best part of a fortnight to complete the rest of the first round, can't see much of a silage crop by the 20th may though.
 
once the first round is finished there,s nothing else for it only put silage back in
There is a lot of silage left around the country though, I see a lot of full pits on my travels around here at least.

Not the end of the world to have to feed a bit this year I'd think
 
well to have it, i,d rather be this way than a foot of grass and it too wet to graze it
Absolutely. Cattle are happy out in the cold and stock are looking real well too i think. We have a bunch of yearlings that were on cover crop for the winter and onto grass the past week and I'm very happy with them.

Herd tested today so fingers crossed all is OK on Saturday 🤞
 
There is a lot of silage left around the country though, I see a lot of full pits on my travels around here at least.

Not the end of the world to have to feed a bit this year I'd think
There isn’t a bit left around this side but what’s new I suppose
 
So far so good. Hard to believe there is cattle out here for over 6 weeks, currently stocked at 1500kgs per ha, but into the second round, and there isnt much. Hay out with the cattle, but they havent a whole lot of interest in that either.
 
A question for ye, are you grazing too much ground in March and not enough in February? If you want grass for the second round in early April, then that ground needs to have been grazed and either fertilised or slurried afterwards in February. No point expecting regrowth on paddocks grazed in March for early April 2nd round, it just won't happen regardless of weather.
 
Grazing hasnt started up here yet unless a lad doesnt want to buy silage.quite alot of silage on the move with leftover bales been used
 
Grazing silage ground. Haven't grazed any of Grazing platform yet. No fertiliser out. Plenty of grass
 
We have had plenty of grass growth all winter but once they eat it off, its not regrowing except for the ground that got the slurry which will be grazed for the second time in the next 10 days. Over 50% of stock still housed and that's the way its going to be for the next 2 weeks unless there is a big change in temperatures.
 
A question for ye, are you grazing too much ground in March and not enough in February? If you want grass for the second round in early April, then that ground needs to have been grazed and either fertilised or slurried afterwards in February. No point expecting regrowth on paddocks grazed in March for early April 2nd round, it just won't happen regardless of weather.
Remember a saying from collage/discussion group days of " grass grows grass" no sorry pal fertiliser/slurry will. Have about three days left on 1st round here. All silage ground grazed, all ground fertilised most got slurry. I am in the wetter ground now so think will spread some sul can as it never got any slurry to kick it on again. I held on to cull cows that were milking well to help get through the 1st round quicker these are heading to the mart now. Grass is tipping away now
 
Remember a saying from collage/discussion group days of " grass grows grass" no sorry pal fertiliser/slurry will. Have about three days left on 1st round here. All silage ground grazed, all ground fertilised most got slurry. I am in the wetter ground now so think will spread some sul can as it never got any slurry to kick it on again. I held on to cull cows that were milking well to help get through the 1st round quicker these are heading to the mart now. Grass is tipping away now
Yes, my uncle was complaining to me on Sunday evening about how harsh the weather was (he has a very dry exposed farm) and how poor grass growth was. I queried with him what fertiliser he had spread and when. The answer was no fertiliser had been spread yet and slurry only spread on two fields which had been grazed and, surprise surprise, were growing well again and would be ready to graze again next week.
 
A question for ye, are you grazing too much ground in March and not enough in February? If you want grass for the second round in early April, then that ground needs to have been grazed and either fertilised or slurried afterwards in February. No point expecting regrowth on paddocks grazed in March for early April 2nd round, it just won't happen regardless of weather.
That happened me this year, usually get close to the 30% grazed before the end of February, only 15% this year. The early grazed paddocks are up to 1100 but I still have 20% to get a first graze so I'll be over and back between first and second round for a week or 10 days.
I think many haven't realised that 60 days 20kgs a day is needed to get to a 1200 cover at the start of April. A neighbour leaves off yearling heifers at the start of Feb to get ground coming back in April for the second round.
 
That happened me this year, usually get close to the 30% grazed before the end of February, only 15% this year. The early grazed paddocks are up to 1100 but I still have 20% to get a first graze so I'll be over and back between first and second round for a week or 10 days.
I think many haven't realised that 60 days 20kgs a day is needed to get to a 1200 cover at the start of April. A neighbour leaves off yearling heifers at the start of Feb to get ground coming back in April for the second round.
Exactly correct, and aren't you lucky that you will still have some of the first round for the few days in April. The problem is where you don't get enough grazed in February and then you race around the farm in March and then you are left with nothing all of a shot on April 1st. That seems to have happened to a few around me anyways.
 
Ai man was here today he said the lads who were out early are back feeding silage. He was on a farm yesterday and cows were all standing at the gap bawling to get in
 
Ai man was here today he said the lads who were out early are back feeding silage. He was on a farm yesterday and cows were all standing at the gap bawling to get in
We're lucky here that all the land is in one block so we can access it all without having to even cross a road. There's a lad a few miles from me on bog that has the cows out every day since the start of February and most of those days were twice a day grazing. He's spent big on soil fertility and roadways for access to the whole home section and he's growing some 14t+ of grass a year.

But he still got the cows out every day and has only recently zero grazed some outside ground while waiting for growth to pick up. As long as the cows are being properly fed with enough grass and silage topped up with ration, a few minutes bawling at a gate isn't going to do them much harm, I think?
I'm nearly embarrassed when I'm talking to him, he's so on top of the game. He's some operator on boggy ground.

Did a walk this evening, growth of 29, demand of 37 even with 4 kgs still in but we should be over the hump next week. DM of 17% used which might be a bit on the low side as still on first round so growth might be a bit better than that.
 
we're still giving the cows access to silage if they want it, let them eat it the yard if they want it while waiting to be milked, we finished our first rotation on April 6th and we didn't get cows to grass by night until March 24th, tbf we have a nice bit of grass in front of them but some seem to like picking at the silage while waiting so we'll give them access to it for another while anyway
 
Last edited:
Back
Top