Pre-mowing: The preferred option on a lot of farms this year
Over the last number of weeks, dry weather with plenty of heat in the ground saw a lot of seed go to head quite early, and pre-mowing became a popular measure to correct grass quality.
Pre-mowing is often considered an expensive way of correcting grass quality, as you are burning fuel and possibly impacting on milk protein content of the milk.
However, when grass gets out of your control – which is sometimes inevitable even if you are on the ball when it comes to grassland management – it can be hard to justify taking out every paddock for bales.
The idea of pre-mowing is that you keep the grass in the rotation, encourage the cows to eat all the stem, and maintain optimal residuals to correct the quality for the following rotation.
Many reports from across the country and particularly down the south was that there were plenty of farmer pre-mowing paddocks in the last rotation and – with the rain received in the last 10 days – this decision seemed to work favourably.
Reports from farmers indicate that while your milk protein content gets knocked back a small bit, the option to pre-mow rather than take out bales is often a preferred option when grass growth is finding it difficult to keep up.
When farmers are only above the 160kg of dry matter (DM)/livestock unit (LU) and there is little signs of strong grass growth to come, yet one or two paddocks are too strong and are beginning to stem, pre-mowing can be a great option.
Topping is another option, but the difference between topping and pre-mowing is that topping will lead to grass wastage whereas with pre-mowing, cows are eating the majority of the paddock.
Pre-mowing seems to be more fashionable over the last number of weeks as – due to low moisture in the soil prior to the arrival of rain – the grass plant was under a bit of stress and the seed was beginning to head a bit earlier than usual which is hard to naturally control through grazing.
However, with rain in recent days, there may be less farmers pre-mowing and any surpluses should try to be taken out through surplus bales.
Pre-mowing
The important thing at this time of the year is to maintain pre-grazing yields of 1,400kg DM/ha, and a grazing rotation of about 21-22 days is advised to achieve this when growth rates are about 65-70kg DM/ha/day.
Pre-mowing is where the grass in the paddock is mowed and then cows are allowed in to graze the mowed grass.
This technique can be used on paddocks that have gone too strong or that have a large amount of stem present, although I rather it not used in this vein as you are taking away the cow's freedom of choice.
Pre-mowing should be used in the same way as topping, to correct grass quality and reduce the amount of stem but shouldn't be an excuse to let covers get out of hand.
This method is an expensive way of managing and correcting grass and it also takes away the cows' choice of what grass they eat.
Cows are selective grazers, meaning they will choose to eat the lush, high-quality grass over the stemmy, low-quality grass.
Taking away a cow's freedom of choice will more than likely hinder their milk production, and in particular the protein content of the milk.
Farmers need to be careful that they don't pre-mow too many paddocks in the rotation, so milk solids don't take a huge hit, but aiming for one or two in the rotation should not affect solids production too much as the cows' intake will be increased.
However, it is better than leaving cows into high covers where they will potentially leave 20% of the grass, leading to poor residuals and subsequent growth recoveries.
Pre-mowing can also increase production, providing there is not an overload of stem in the paddock, as it will increase intakes as the grass is readily available to the cow.
This method works well if paddocks have gone too strong and you are looking to ensure that grass doesn't run out while correcting quality and ensuring god residuals are achieved.
However, if grass is plentiful on the farm and there is no fear of running out, mowing and baling the paddock is the ideal option.
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Agriland
18 hours ago
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Pre-mowing: The preferred option on a lot of farms this year
Over the last number of weeks, dry weather with plenty of heat in the ground saw a lot of seed go to head quite early, and pre-mowing became a popular measure to correct grass quality. Pre-mowing is often considered an expensive way of correcting grass quality, as you are burning fuel and possibly impacting on milk protein content of the milk. However, when grass gets out of your control – which is sometimes inevitable even if you are on the ball when it comes to grassland management – it can be hard to justify taking out every paddock for bales. The idea of pre-mowing is that you keep the grass in the rotation, encourage the cows to eat all the stem, and maintain optimal residuals to correct the quality for the following rotation. Many reports from across the country and particularly down the south was that there were plenty of farmer pre-mowing paddocks in the last rotation and – with the rain received in the last 10 days – this decision seemed to work favourably. Reports from farmers indicate that while your milk protein content gets knocked back a small bit, the option to pre-mow rather than take out bales is often a preferred option when grass growth is finding it difficult to keep up. When farmers are only above the 160kg of dry matter (DM)/livestock unit (LU) and there is little signs of strong grass growth to come, yet one or two paddocks are too strong and are beginning to stem, pre-mowing can be a great option. Topping is another option, but the difference between topping and pre-mowing is that topping will lead to grass wastage whereas with pre-mowing, cows are eating the majority of the paddock. Pre-mowing seems to be more fashionable over the last number of weeks as – due to low moisture in the soil prior to the arrival of rain – the grass plant was under a bit of stress and the seed was beginning to head a bit earlier than usual which is hard to naturally control through grazing. However, with rain in recent days, there may be less farmers pre-mowing and any surpluses should try to be taken out through surplus bales. Pre-mowing The important thing at this time of the year is to maintain pre-grazing yields of 1,400kg DM/ha, and a grazing rotation of about 21-22 days is advised to achieve this when growth rates are about 65-70kg DM/ha/day. Pre-mowing is where the grass in the paddock is mowed and then cows are allowed in to graze the mowed grass. This technique can be used on paddocks that have gone too strong or that have a large amount of stem present, although I rather it not used in this vein as you are taking away the cow's freedom of choice. Pre-mowing should be used in the same way as topping, to correct grass quality and reduce the amount of stem but shouldn't be an excuse to let covers get out of hand. This method is an expensive way of managing and correcting grass and it also takes away the cows' choice of what grass they eat. Cows are selective grazers, meaning they will choose to eat the lush, high-quality grass over the stemmy, low-quality grass. Taking away a cow's freedom of choice will more than likely hinder their milk production, and in particular the protein content of the milk. Farmers need to be careful that they don't pre-mow too many paddocks in the rotation, so milk solids don't take a huge hit, but aiming for one or two in the rotation should not affect solids production too much as the cows' intake will be increased. However, it is better than leaving cows into high covers where they will potentially leave 20% of the grass, leading to poor residuals and subsequent growth recoveries. Pre-mowing can also increase production, providing there is not an overload of stem in the paddock, as it will increase intakes as the grass is readily available to the cow. This method works well if paddocks have gone too strong and you are looking to ensure that grass doesn't run out while correcting quality and ensuring god residuals are achieved. However, if grass is plentiful on the farm and there is no fear of running out, mowing and baling the paddock is the ideal option.
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At a recent Teagasc/Dairygold farm walk in Co. Cork, dairy farmer Tim Leader highlighted how he has been staying ahead of grass quality and how he felt his breeding season has gone to date. Tim Leader is milking 157 cows this year alongside his wife Mary, daughter Aoife and two sons, John and Paddy, who are all heavily involved on the farm. Cows are performing well at the moment, producing 28L/cow/day with 3.55% protein and 3.99% fat which equates to 2.16kg milk solids (MS)/cow/day while allocating 15kg of grass dry matter (DM)/cow and 4kg of meal/cow of a 14% crude protein nut. The Leaders' are farming an 87ha farm, which includes ground for silage and out-blocks. The milking platform consists of 52ha, which means the whole farm is stocked at 2.3 livestock unit (LU)/ha and the milking platform 3.1 LU/ha. 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Teagasc/Dairygold Joint Programme adviser, Nora O'Donovan highlighted that grass towards the start of May came under a bit of pressure with the dry spell, which left paddocks heading out and going to stem earlier than usual. This strain on grass after a spell of quality growth meant that Leader was taking out a paddock for bales every week, as five paddocks altogether were cut and baled, achieving around three bales/ac on each paddock. A paddock with a cover of about 1,500kg DM/ha that was cut for bales about 23 days ago However, this corrective action was reduced about a fortnight ago, when grass growth slowed down completely and Leader turned to correcting quality through pre-mowing. He highlighted that he prefers pre-mowing to topping, as he feels that he is not losing out on regrowths and that the paddock recovery is quicker. Leader did warn however that he does not pre-mow paddocks to make cows eat high covers with a lot of stem but rather uses this method in the same vein as topping, to correct quality prior to cows grazing. He mentioned that any paddocks that have not been pre-mowed or cut for bales will be targeted in the next round for some sort of corrective action, preferably cut for bales when grass growth improves. The stocking rate on the milking platform has dropped as a bit of silage ground is back in the rotation and calves are moved off farm which Leader believes will allow him to correct quality through cutting surpluses for bales in the next rotation. Clover and reseed The farm has a clover incorporation of about 22% and the Leaders are reseeding year-on-year, with about 1.5-2kg of clover in each mix. The Co. Cork farmer is constantly learning how to manage the clover swards. He said a certain paddock had a lovely clover content last year but it was left with a heavy cover over the winter and then grazed in poor conditions, which impacted the clover content severely. He aims to leave high clover content paddocks with light covers over the winter by grazing them late in autumn and to graze them in good conditions from now on. Clover inclusion on a fresh reseed Leader also said that he will spread chemical N as usual on these paddocks in the spring and start decreasing N applications from May onwards. 'That's the ideal,' he added. He reseeded a paddock this year on April 11 , which is now only a few days away off its first grazing, currently with a cover of about 650kg DM/ha. The field was sprayed off on April 1 , then ploughed and power harrowed before farmyard manure was spread on it. The paddock was then sown on April 11 and received 2.5 bags/ac of 10-10-20 and lime. It was then sprayed with a post-emergence spray of ProClova, which has proved successful at killing off the docks though a few thistles persist in the sward. A look at the freshly reseeded paddock At the farm walk, Teagasc dairy specialist, Stuart Childs highlighted that there are no products on the market that are effective at killing thistles without killing the clover plant, and said that grazing it down to let the sward tiller should suffocate out the thistle. Leader hopes to get cows into the field over the next few days. He was advised to just give the grass a pull test beforehand so the whole plant is not pulled during grazing. He intends to top it up with 20 units of N after grazing. Breeding The Leaders are five weeks into the breeding season now, and the farmer achieved a 90% submission rate on his cows over 23 days. He got about 14 non-bulling cows scanned for any issues, which led him to synchronise a few of them. Leader used a team of eight dairy bulls and five beef bulls, in which the best cows based off milk recording data received a dairy straw and the rest recieved a beef straw. The dairy bull teams weighted average had an economic breeding index (EBI) of €334 with 0.34% fat and 0.22% protein adding up to 32.7kg of milk solids. The team of bulls averaged €10 in the health sub-index, which is a focus for Leader this year as he mentioned that tuberculosis (TB) is a serious problem in his area. The Leaders cows out grazing The beef straws used on the farm have over a €100 beef sub-index within the Dairy Beef Index and are all Angus bulls, as Leader sets his calving difficulty and then tries to maximise the carcass weight. The herd has an Economic Breeding Index (EBI) of €244 and has a maintenance sub-index of €13, meaning the cows on average weigh about 575kg. The main emphasis for Leader is to focus on percentages and kg of milk solids, as he does not want to go big on milk due to the nitrates banding and aims to have a 19% replacement rate. The cows normally produce about 515kg of milk solids through about 6,000L of milk on a normal year. Last year, they produced 476kg MS/cow with 15.77L/cow/day at 4.36% fat and 3.65% protein. This reduced performance was put down to the bad weather and reduced grass growth. Leader said he grew 11t of grass last year, which was well back on his usual 12-12.5t of grass DM/ha and fed 1,330kg of meal/cow, which is above his aim of 1,000kg of meal/cow/year. Leader talking about how the breeding season is progressing 30 heifers on the farm were synchronised a few days into the breeding season and Leader noted that there has not been much activity since, as two bulls have been put in with them to mop up any repeats. Heat detection is done through tail paint and analysing the paint as cows come in for milking. Artificial insemination (AI) is due to finish up shortly, as stock bulls will run with the herd of cows for the rest of breeding. Leader will continue to AI cows for about a week after the bulls were let out, to give the bulls time to settle in and so they experience no lull in calving next March. The Leaders achieved an 80% six-week calving rate this year, with a 371 day calving interval, highlighting the farmers' efficiency in getting cows back in calf.
