The grazing season

Way too much grass here. Did bales last week. Heavy farm. Loves this weather. Cows at 4.2 bf 3.79 pr 21 litres just grass and 3kg 15% nut. Autumn calvers just starting now
 
Young lad was showing me a photo of this time last year of our jeep bogged to the axle in a cow paddock. Cows were in at night at the end of September last year
 
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Here we go again. Growth rates have dropped off savage in the last week as we go into drought once more. We built lots of grass during August but that'll start to disappear if we don't get rain shortly. Silage going back in tomorrow. With just 417mm of rain this year so far, there's very little moisture in the soil.
We had 157.2mm for aug there.
806.6 this year to the end of August.bar may it has been a great year for us.
If these summer drought trends continue for you would you not consider alot of autumn calving as you are out late and out early in spring. You be able to produce it alot cheaper than most and as the pressure would be coming on the milking block mid summer you would be drying off and lowering demand.thats what we would be at here only for very opposite reasons
 
We had 157.2mm for aug there.
806.6 this year to the end of August.bar may it has been a great year for us.
If these summer drought trends continue for you would you not consider alot of autumn calving as you are out late and out early in spring. You be able to produce it alot cheaper than most and as the pressure would be coming on the milking block mid summer you would be drying off and lowering demand.thats what we would be at here only for very opposite reasons
It's hard to know, it would probably make sense if every summer was like 2018 but while this summer was frustrating it won't have cost a fortune. Id say a half bale of silage and less than a tonne of dairy nuts will be the extent of the supplementation for the full lactation for each cow this year. We don't have cubicles either and Autumn calving would clash with sowing crops here so I'd say we'll stick at what we're at and try a bit harder at praying for rain.
 
We had 157.2mm for aug there.
806.6 this year to the end of August.bar may it has been a great year for us.
If these summer drought trends continue for you would you not consider alot of autumn calving as you are out late and out early in spring. You be able to produce it alot cheaper than most and as the pressure would be coming on the milking block mid summer you would be drying off and lowering demand.thats what we would be at here only for very opposite reasons
Any farm running a stocking rate of 3.5 needs a growth of 50 every day, no farm will do that day in day out from may-august, these slow growth periods are just pinch points which will allways happen on dry land every year no different to a few wet weeks in your part of the country.
Jumping into autumn calving based on feeding a few bales here and there would be madness. There are no new full autumn calving bonuses to be got either so not a hope would it every pay.
 
Any farm running a stocking rate of 3.5 needs a growth of 50 every day, no farm will do that day in day out from may-august, these slow growth periods are just pinch points which will allways happen on dry land every year no different to a few wet weeks in your part of the country.
Jumping into autumn calving based on feeding a few bales here and there would be madness. There are no new full autumn calving bonuses to be got either so not a hope would it every pay.hbe
There seem to be the same constant people annoyed about the weather and growth rates, instead of noticing the elephant is on their own farm
 
You'd want to be horsing out the nitrogen to keep those lads fed anyway.
You need some of this for your elephant.
iu.jpeg
 
There seem to be the same constant people annoyed about the weather and growth rates, instead of noticing the elephant is on their own farm
For the record, im not annoyed about growth rates, and I'm certainly not annoyed about weather after such an easy harvest. Sun is shining, cows are milking very well and bringing the diet feeder for a drive around the paddocks (not feeding any elephants) each morning brings a bit of diversity to the day.
 
For the record, im not annoyed about growth rates, and I'm certainly not annoyed about weather after such an easy harvest. Sun is shining, cows are milking very well and bringing the diet feeder for a drive around the paddocks (not feeding any elephants) each morning brings a bit of diversity to the day.
Sorry, It wasnt aimed at anyone on here so apologies if it came across that way, but it seems to be rampant on twitter, they seem to be completely oblivious that allot of their hardship is of their own making by running too high a stocking rate, or not having the knowhow on running high stocking rates. I have zero issue buffer feeding during anytime of the year and will give anything to have a dry, hot summer. Any year you only have one weather event, it should be easily manageable for a farm, its when you get 2 weather events like 2018, its tough on finances.
 
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Apart from 2 weeks of some sun and heat this summer I feel has been relatively a cold one. We have escaped well when we parked up the feeder it has stayed parked up. But that soon to change as fresh cows come back in.
 
Apart from 2 weeks of some sun and heat this summer I feel has been relatively a cold one. We have escaped well when we parked up the feeder it has stayed parked up. But that soon to change as fresh cows come back in.
hasnt been too far off normal where im farming, 15 April to 15th May colder than normal, but dry which was everything, and a few good weeks in June, July, and August. I will happily take it
 
hasnt been too far off normal where im farming, 15 April to 15th May colder than normal, but dry which was everything, and a few good weeks in June, July, and August. I will happily take it
Like it hasn't been a overly hard summer. Grass took along time to get going we were getting alot of grass frost up to early may. Last week was cold again was back looking for the short sleeve jacket again. But in saying that there was a bumper silage cut, and grain yeilds and maize looks to be going to be a serious crop too. I'd take it again too.
 
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