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Dairy Reminders For May 2004By news@gippsland - 19th May 2004 - Back to News Pastures
Long term average ryegrass pasture growth rates for May range from 12 to 20 kg DM/ha/day on dryland dairy farms across Gippsland depending on the timing of the autumn rainfall events. The irrigated pastures of the Macalister Irrigation District are expected to grow at 10 to 15 kg DM/ha/day. Higher fertility soils and nitrogen boosted pastures could produce up to double this amount of pasture growth.
Ryegrass leaf appearance rates for mid-May in Gippsland are estimated to be 14 to 16 days depending on soil moisture, aspect and soil temperatures. Therefore, pasture rotations should be around 42 to 48 days to allow ryegrass to reach the 3-leaf stage before grazing.
The long dry summer has opened up gaps in pastures allowing broadleaf weeds to germinate without competition. Control capeweed, erodium, thistles and other broad leaf weeds with a suitable registered herbicide.
Oversow poor producing paddocks and any bare areas of your paddocks with a short rotation rye grass. May/June sown perennial pasture mixes will find it difficult to establish prior to the onset of winter.
Regularly inspect emerging pastures for damage from red legged earthmite, crickets and other insect pests. Take action before rather than after the pastures are eaten.
Cows
Now is the time to make sure there is enough pasture ahead of the cows for winter by developing a feed plan and working towards a pasture wedge to enable the pastures to be growing at their optimum through winter. The top end of the wedge should have ryegrass pasture ready to graze at the 3 leaf stage.
How many bales of hay will you need for the livestock over winter? For example, 2 bales per day for the herd multiply this by 120 days. How many bales are stored on the farm? This quick calculation will help in determining your feed plan and identifying the feed gaps to be filled.
When drying off your cows consider treatment with 7 in 1 vaccine, worm control, record any veterinary treatments and replace any lost ear tags.
Monitor cow condition. Are the cows in the condition score you want them for calving? If not, you may need to adjust the feed you give them when dried off or budget on having more feed for them when they calve.
Nitrogen Fertiliser
Most soils will have adequate soil nitrogen for up to four weeks after the Autumn break, therefore delay on nitrogen applications until that time.
Post grazing applications of 30 to 60 kg of Nitrogen per hectare will give favourable growth responses on rotational grazed, fertile perennial ryegrass pastures.
Applications of nitrogen in autumn will increase the pasture growth rates making it easier to produce a pasture for the winter months. A response of 10 kg of DM pasture is possible for each kg of nitrogen applied.
Plan ahead and apply nitrogen at least six weeks before the feed is required.
Avoid grazing nitrogen boosted pastures for 21 days after application due to elevated nitrate levels in the leaf which may cause nitrate poisoning in livestock.
Capeweed pastures will contain high nitrate levels, therefore do not apply nitrogen to capeweed pastures and watch for nitrate poisoning if capeweed is present in pastures.
May and June applications of nitrogen will be produce more pasture growth than the same application during the cold months of July/August.
Environment
Spear thistles and slender thistles have germinated and are in the rosette stage at present. This is an ideal and economical time to control these troublesome weeds.
This maybe your last chance to empty the dairy effluent pond before the wet winter months, apply the pond water over as large an area as possible to distribute the valuable nutrients and to avoid the possibility of surface run off from the farm.
Calves
Worm control is important when calves are changing from dry summer pasture to fresh green autumn pasture - the change in diet triggers the release of inhibited worm larvae from the stomach wall.
Financial
Are you financially on track? It has been a difficult season so check your budget through to the end of the financial year.
Work out your milk income over feed costs: Add up all grain, hay, and additive costs and subtract them from your net milk income. You can do this calculation with different amounts of feeds and compare, maybe compare the cost of turning out dry cows verses milking the herd for that extra month.
Plan now to handle the reduced cash flow over the dry period.
Safety message.
When loading large hay bales or moving fertiliser 'bulka' bags with the front end loader, keep the tractor on level solid ground and warn any bystanders to stay clear of the work area.
NOTES AVAILABLE ON CD
For those not connected to the Internet, farming and landcare notes are also available on CD.
Primenotes CD delivers more than 5,800 agricultural and natural resource fact sheets from 20 government agencies and non-profit organisations. It is free of commercial interest, is equivalent to more than 21,000 pages of print and is updated regularly.
The CD contains a search engine that locates documents with any word, phrase or numeral. The cost currently is $27.50 (includes GST), plus postage and handling. Orders are being taken for the new edition, which is due in May/June 2004. It is available from the DPI Information Centre in Melbourne on 9637 8325.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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