From rain to results: Managing grass and breeding in Bandon
I used all artificial insemination this year. I did not use any stock bull. We will finish our breeding around July 20. Repeats have quietened down.
We got a good few repeats around week six of breeding, everything has settled down since then. There is bull running with the heifers at the moment. These heifers were also synchronised. I have not scanned anything yet.
I walked the farm on Wednesday. I have one paddock at 1,500kg DM/ha and one paddock at 1,650kg DM/ha. I am going to skip these two paddocks in the hope that I can bale them next week.
My cover per livestock unit is at 150. This is a bit low so if I run tight in grass, I will be able to go back and graze my two heaviest paddocks instead of baling them. This is not ideal, but it may be my only option if I do run tight on grass.
With the rain at the end of June, I am confident that growth rates will be high for the next few days and my cover per livestock unit will increase. My demand at the moment is 62kg DM/ha/day and growth is at 70kg DM/ha/day.
To date, I have not done any pre-mowing or topping of paddocks. As I said, I took out five paddocks for first-cut silage, I like to take out paddocks for bales when there is a surplus of grass on farm.
Sometimes this can lead to me being tight on grass for a few days, but I find I have better quality of grass for the cows to graze compared to pre-mowing or topping.
Our re-seeds are in six weeks now. They are coming up to the right stage now for spraying.
They had excellent germination, and I top-dressed them with 25 units of nitrogen about a week ago.
I hope to spray these fields as soon as possible, once the weather permits. I will be spraying these fields with Clovermax to protect the red clover in the swards.
I signed up to the Farming for Water EIP through my Carbery ASSAP advisor. I am signed up to complete a nitrogen surplus plan and I will get my slurry tested. I am applying for a nitrates derogation.
All drains and rivers are fenced back 1.5 metres to keep cows and run-off away from watercourses. I have all my water troughs kept over 20 metres away from water courses.
All gutters and run-off in the yard is kept to a minimum to try and keep clean water and dirty water separate.
I'm hoping to get along to Carbery's Milk Quality and Sustainability farm walk on Glenn Forde's farm on Friday, July 25.
Dermot and Linda Walsh are farming in Lislevane, Bandon, with their children Tadgh, Aoife, Maebh, and Eoin. They milk 84 cows and supply Barryroe Co-op.
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