Brian Reidy: Grazing late in the year? Time to consider next year
Or It Don’t Looked Cut Of Was Be It Fooled Cut Currently You Pit Or In Even Many Third October? How Made Are You Looks By Bales Feeding Silage September Which The Day It Or How In How
As we head into the last week of November, there is plenty of stock still outside on both beef and dairy farms.
Up until the rain earlier this week and the cold days we are currently having, growth was unprecedented for November. I housed the remainder of the cattle last week, bar the last few to calve as I was beginning breeding.
I brought home maiden heifers from an outside farm and put collars on them as they needed to be on for a week before they could give me heat detection data. There is still a decent amount of grass on paddocks and hopefully it will still be there for stock in the spring.
Last winter, everything was housed at home on average 26 days earlier, so there is a great bonus in silage saved and it takes pressure off slurry storage too.
Are animals performing as you require from November grass and what grass will you have left for the spring? Some are looking at fodder stocks saved for the winter and feel every day extra outside is saving silage. You can’t feed the grass twice so if they eat it now, it will not be there at the other end of the winter!
If your farm is lightly stocked, then you can afford to graze on, as demand will not be too high in the spring. However, if you are going to be heavily stocked at turn-out next spring, you need to consider housing the remaining stock.
Obviously, it is better to get any heavy covers off the paddocks to ensure sward quality next spring. If you are currently grazing silage fields, then that is a different story as next year’s crop will benefit from being grazed tight in the backend of the year.
In fact, those who graze silage ground tightly in November without doing damage rather than grazing it in the spring, tend to produce a crop of excellent quality first cut each year. This is down to being able to take a much earlier cut as the ground will all have been closed off before January.
Some cows and calves are still on grass full time, and it is important cows are being supplemented with magnesium as nights get colder. Most of the animals that remain out grazing are weanlings and unless they are being supplemented with concentrates, they are not achieving growth targets.
This is more of an issue if these are heifers you intend on bulling next spring. They need to be growing well in order to reach maturity and begin cycling well in advance of the breeding season. For bulls or bullocks you intend on selling next spring, any reduced weight-gain now will significantly lower your sale price.
For dairy herds grazing by day, intakes of grass are dropping as swards are very low in dry matter. In this case, it is important to get sufficient dry matter and quality energy intakes when in by night, to maintain performance. Milk price is good, so keeping cows milking will optimise returns for 2024.
How many of you are currently feeding third cut silage in pit or bales which was made in September or even October? Don’t be fooled by how it looks or how it looked the day you cut it. This type of silage is not high feed value.
These silages tend to cause cattle to be excessively lose in their dungs if not supplemented with some long fibre, such as straw. Extra concentrates are required with this silage also to achieve required animal performance.
My advice when feeding this late silage is to filter it through your feeding regime along with better-quality silages. The day of the year you ensile grass has a big influence on the quality of the silage you get to feed out.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some excellent third cuts out there, but only if made in July or early August after two short intervals post first and second cuts.
