Due to the poor grass growing conditions throughout the month of June, grass has failed to reach decent levels to sustain milk production.
As a result of this, extra feed and supplementation has been added to diets across the country in order to maintain milk production and dry matter intake.
June has been a difficult time for farmers as the slow grass growth rates and hindered peak milk supply has added to the cash flow problems on farms.
Grass growth
Stagnant grass growth has seen average rates of 52kg DM/ha/day growing on dairy farms around the country with a demand of 49kg DM/ha/day.
According to PastureBase Ireland, the typical diet around the country consists of 14kg DM of grass, with 4kg of meal and an added 1kg of silage being fed in an effort to hold the rotation at 21 days.
The average farm cover (AFC) across the country was 629kg DM/ha with covers per livestock unit at 185kg DM/ha. The typical pre-grazing yield was 1,380kh DM/ha.
However, 26% of this week’s grass covers recorded a cover/LU of under 150kg DM/LU, which is a concern as cows may not have sufficient grass ahead of them in the rotation.
The goal for this time of the year should be making sure that your cows’ daily intake requirements are being met, ensuring an intake of 18-18.5kg DM/cow.
Only in the last few days, grass growth has improved slightly and it is predicted that in the coming days to increase to 55-65kg DM/ha for the majority of the country which will be warmly welcomed.
When growth eventually improves over the next seven days, it might provide an opportunity to correct the grass quality issues on many farms.
The mid-season targets remain the same, and are as follows:
- An average farm cover of over 600kg DM/ha which equates to 150kg DM/LU;
- A rotation length of 21-25 days;
- A pre-grazing yield of over 1,200kg DM/ha.
Increasing AFC
The recommendation is to bring your grass demand down with the farm grass growth, and keeping a close eye on how regrowths are progressing.
A 25-day grazing rotation should be allocated to the cows, giving them 1/25 of the grazing platform per day as this will allow covers to build back up.
In an ideal world, extending the grazing area for the cows is the best option at this time of the year, but, that is not possible for every farmer, so extra supplementation is the next option.
The introduction of high quality silage of about 3-4kg cow/day in combination with concentrates is recommended, as increasing your concentrates supplementation alone will not be sufficient to increase the rotation length.
Considering the lower-than-average growth rates, a grass walk should be conducted every five days, at least, to be able to identify deficits on time in order to make decisions promptly.