Pasturebase Ireland Lessons for Spring grazing management
Transcript of Pasturebase Ireland Lessons for Spring grazing management
Pasturebase Ireland Lessons for Spring grazing
management
Dr. Michael O Donovan
Teagasc Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork
http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/moorepark [email protected]
• Pasturebase Ireland results
• Factors affecting spring grass supply
• Grazing management principles and
impacts
• Spring Nitrogen & spring grass milk
production value
Talk Outline
Grassland Challenge – Improve
Production and utilisation
• 1t/ha increase in grass utilisation is worth €10,000-12,000 to a 40ha farm
• Web based grassland management decision support tool
– Front end
• Grassland data base – back end
• Data capture by farmer
• Core measurement is pre-grazing herbage mass / farm
cover
• Data source for other projects
PastureBase Ireland
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Kg
DM
/day
2015 2014 2013
14.0 – 13.8 - 12.2 t DM/ha
10185
11350
11928
11523
13396
13953
2083
2522
2189
2397
3122
2315
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Year 2013
Year 2014
Year 2015
Top 20 Farms 2013
Top 20 Farms 2014
Top 20 Farms 2015
Grazing DM Silage DM
Pasture Base Ireland Dairy Farms DM Production
• High Soil fertility – Index 3, pH >6.0
• Routine measurement and proactive
management
• Low variation between highest and lowest
paddocks
• Spring grazing
• More grazings per farm
• Reseeding part of management
What are high producing farms doing ?
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15.9
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14.4 14.1
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17.5 13.7
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• Autumn closing date - farmer
• Closing cover - farmer
• Winter grass growth rate - 50% farmer
• Spring nitrogen application- farmer
• Spring grazing management – farmer
• Spring grass growth - 50% farmer
Factors Influencing Spring Grass supply
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Kg
DM
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02-Oct 10-Oct 23-Oct 06-Nov 23-Nov
Every Week delay in closing from October 2nd reduces Spring grass supply by 77kg DM/ha
Spring Pasture Accumulation as influenced
by previous Autumn closing date
913 985
1044
910
734 750
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/09
/201
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Max Average Min
Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) profile from Autumn
2015 to Closing
Spring9%
Summer55%
Autumn36%
Spring growth Variation is 5% to 14% - 0.5t DM/ha to 1.8t
DM/ha
DM Production Proportion by Season
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Farm 9
Farm 1
3
Farm 1
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Farm 1
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Farm 1
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Farm 1
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Farm 8
Farm 1
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Farm 4
Farm 3
Farm 1
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Farm 1
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Farm 1
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Farm 7
Farm 1
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Farm 1
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Farm 5
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K
g
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h
a
Spring Grass Production on Farms 2015
75% of cows calved
Farm cover >800kg DM/ha
Area grazed March 2 (21%) (8 - 46%) (>30%)
Cows allocated 10kg DM – 3kg concentrates
Nitrogen 30 units spread (0 - 60 units/ac) (60)
Slurry 22% of area (0 - 60%) (50%)
Spring Grazing Management - March 2015
Period 1 (Early; 25th Feb- 9th Mar) Period 2 (Late; 19th Mar – 30th Mar)
Treatment Early Mid Late Early Mid Late
Closing date 1st Oct 15th Oct 1st Nov 1st Oct 15th Oct 1st Nov
Days closed 156 142 125 177 163 146
Pre Yield
(kg DM/ha) 2364 1647 1070 2977 2263 831
DMD (g/kg) 800.1 801.6 804.7 768.6 813.5 795.6
Delaying Grazing in Spring - Digestibility effects (Garry et al. 2015)
• Early closed paddocks need to be grazed by mid March
Late grazed sward
Early grazed sward
Early grazed sward
Early Grazing Effects on Sward Characteristics
+ Milk solids
+Grass Growth
+Grass Quality
- Low utilisation
Spring production and its association with
total grazing DM production
y = 5.8342x + 4666.4R² = 0.668
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Spring kg DM/ha
y = 1385.9x + 1811.2
R² = 0.7302
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Number of grazings
Number of grazing achieved and its
association with total grazing DM production
• Immediately after the closed period for fertilizer and slurry application
• Apply 2,500 gals. slurry/ac. to 30% of paddocks (<650 kg DM/ha herbage mass)
• Apply 23 units urea/ ac. to remainder (Urea= 30% cheaper than alternatives/kg N)
• In early March
• Apply 2,500 gals. slurry/ac. to 30% of paddocks
• Apply 40 units urea/ ac. to remainder
• 70-80 units N applied by April 1st
• Weather forecasts to avoid heavy rain and waterlogged soils within 48 hours of nutrient
application to minimise losses and maximise benefits.
• Spring Nitrogen (N) application is essential to boost growth on all paddocks
Average Grass Growth Response of 10 kg DM per 1 kg N applied per ha in Spring
Efficiency of slurry utilisation increased (x6) during February & March
Fertiliser Recommendations – February/March
Indoors Outdoors
Milk yield (kg) 27.3 28.3
Milk fat conc. (%) 4.16 3.86
Milk protein conc. (%) 3.07 3.36
Milk fat yield (g/day) 1124 1094
Milk protein yield (g/day) 832 949
Milk solids yield (kg/day) 1.97 2.04
Spring Grass - Milk Production Effects (Kennedy et al. 2004)
Potential exists to grow more grass -
improvements in grazing management
Framework – 2016 – is different
High spring covers – spring rotation targets
Set farms up for the year – third grazing early May
Wet weather management plan – on/off grazing,
multiple access points, flexible attitude
Spring grass is a crucial feed for the lactating cow
Take home messages
Let 2016 be the Year to use
grass better
Questions ?