Lower yielding, dry spring encourages grass season extension
Lighter first and second cuts, along with slow maize germination in some parts of the Midlands, means farmers should be looking to push grass growth for later cuts to fill clamps this season, but quality should still be a high priority.
With warm weather set to continue for the foreseeable future, extending the grass season should allow farmers to supplement early season deficits and ensure clamps are well stocked. Tom Wells, a Midlands-based nutrition agronomist at Origin Soil Nutrition, says this could mean investing in tailored nutrition now to ensure quality and yield are maintained in any later cuts.
“Many farmers will be concerned about lower than expected clamp levels following early cuts, and, although the quality may be high, achieving the required ‘belly fill’ to maintain milk production will now be a priority. Grass may require additional inputs to extend the growing period and avoid swards becoming stemmy and unpalatable in the later season. Heavy overnight dews can provide 0.5mm of moisture to begin dissolving granules when there is little rain in the forecast, so applying fertiliser will have an impact on grass.”
Farmers could focus on improving later season grass palatability by applying sodium ahead of any further planned cuts. Sodium helps regulate the potassium to magnesium and potassium to sodium ratio. This alleviates drought stress and reduces the risk of hypomagnesaemia, due to plants potassium uptake increasing during a drought.
Independent trial data from Bangor University showed the use of sodium, alongside nitrogen, delivered an improved intake (kg DM/cow/day) of 18.6%, while increasing milk yield by an average of 9.3%, and reducing the somatic cell count, contributing to improving overall animal health. Tom explains further.
“Applying sodium to grass, at 10kg/ha, is like us putting salt on our food to improve the taste. Sodium will increase palatability and allows later grass cuts to be higher quality, avoiding crops becoming fibrous and stemmy. Aiming for additional cuts of quality grass later this season will help ease concerns of forage shortages this winter.”
He went on to say farmers should be wary of relying on bumper maize harvests to supplement reduced grass yields as the lack of rain following drilling has stunted crops in many areas, raising concerns about feed shortages. Maize is not only required for yield but the additional energy can improve milk production when fed alongside grass silage.
