Heatwave has burned off grass growth

THE continuing heatwave has burned off grass growth across much of the south and east of the country, with average grass growth dropping below 45kg/ha/day nationally and hitting less than 20kg/ha/day in some areas.

With grass availability tightening on many highly stocked dairy farms, Teagasc have issued guidelines on grazing management. Among the recommendations are:

■ Rotation length must be maintained at 25-27 days approximately. Effectively this means grazing no more than 4pc of the grazing platform daily. Assess the grass available on this area and supplement with forage/concentrate to balance herd demand.

■ If there is larger deficit between growth and demand it will be necessary to temporarily reduce demand further by reducing grazing stocking rate and feeding extra silage.

■ Total silage allocation should be calculated to balance available grass on the paddock daily. Forage should be spread along a long linear distance (1m per cow) to reduce competition and bullying.

■ Areas closed for silage and accessible for grazing with <2200kg DM covers may be grazed as a ‘standing supplement’. Pre-mowing does not confer any advantage in this situation.

■ Overall, if silage swards have surpassed ideal pre-grazing herbage masses and are nearing cutting stage then it is preferable to leave for silage cutting at this stage.

■ Maintain fertiliser N at 25kg per ha after grazing. Risk of losses are low with CAN products, however, if drought conditions persist to >60mm soil moisture deficit, it is advised to delay N until rain is forecast.

■ Autumn calving herds can dry off cows 2-3 weeks early and feed them off the grazing block.

■ Consider offloading problem cows (e.g. high SCC) that are already in line for culling.

■ Once daily milking is an option to manage cows in severe situations, but at this point the preferred option would be to supplement the required feed instead.

■ High-fibre straights can be offered PKE/hulls/pulp at a rate of 3-4 kg per cow.

■ Feed up to 5-6kg of parlour concentrate (16pc protein) per day as part of an overall feed plan. A further 2-3kg of high fibre straights can be fed outof-parlour.