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Ag News

By Department of Primary Industries - 23rd November 2006 - Back to News

DAIRY REMINDERS FOR NOVEMBER

Pastures

• Apply nitrogen to responsive pastures if you receive a December rainfall event.
• Graze silage regrowth when the vegetative ryegrass tillers are at the three leaf stage. 
• Hold a rotation on the paddocks, do not overgraze the pastures and avoid set stocking paddocks or leaving gates open.

Summer Crops

• If irrigation or dairy effluent is available, apply early to give the crop an early boost, this will give better results than trying to revive already moisture stressed crops. Do not apply to emerging seedling stage crops as the possible salt content of dairy effluent may damage the plants.
• Irrigation on hot summer days may also cause leaf scald.
• Summer fodder crops such as turnips will respond to an application of 110 kg of urea per hectare, this is about 50 units of nitrogen per hectare.
• Monitor insect damage, correctly identify the pest and seek the correct control options from your chemical supplier.

Cows

• Canola grain crops have been frost damaged in some regions, allowing an opportunity to harvest these crops for canola hay. If purchasing canola hay please request a copy of the feed test result and the date of cutting, as the later cut crops are generally stalkier and of variable energy and protein content.
• This is a good year to sell the late calving cows, empties, low producers, kicker’s, poor temperament in the shed and high cell count cows.
• Cost out your feed purchases on a cents per mega joule basis to find the best value feed. See article with work sheet in this issue.

Calves

• Drier conditions are a predisposing factor in the risk of clostridial diseases, so it is time for the weaned calves to receive a second 7 in 1 vaccination; it builds their immunity against the Clostridial diseases and Leptospirosis.
• As the green feed disappears all weaned calves aged from three months onwards require a high protein diet to assist in growth and development. Don’t forget about them!

Water Issues

• Clean out catchment drains to your farm dams to increase the chances of capturing any run off from the odd thunderstorm.
• Recycle dairy wastewater back for yard washing.
• Harvest water from streams or springs while they still have adequate flow, this can be done by pumping into a header tank or storage dam.
• Monitor ball valves on stock troughs regularly.
• Monitor dam storages for signs of blue green algae, seek advice if detected.

Report Locusts

• Plague locusts have recently been detected in the Swifts Creek area. Farmers are urged to inspect their properties, report sightings and spray any hoppers. To report locust activity, contact the Locust Hotline on 1300 135 559. Further information is available on the DPI website www.dpi.vic.gov.au or from the DPI Customer Service Centre 136 186.

Environmental

• As the dry conditions persist be pro-active in fencing off erosion prone areas such as dry dusty embankments, springs and stream banks.
• Spray the thistles and other weeds earlier as the moisture stressed plants may set seed earlier than normal.
• Be ready for the bringing in of any unusual weeds with purchased hay or silage by restricting where these feeds are fed. This will allow easier control of these weeds when they germinate with the drought breaking rains.

EXTENDING PASTURE GROWTH WITH EFFLUENT

All dairy farmers have a source of water and nutrients in their dairy effluent. Now is the ideal time, with over 90% of dairy farmers now having storage capability, to utilise this valuable resource.

In a normal year, there are several options available where dairy effluent can help to extend or kick-start the growing period for our pastures and crops.

This year the options will be limited, but dairy effluent could be used to extend the spring growing period on a small area of pasture or revive a fodder crop sown earlier in the spring given the lower than average rainfall.

If using effluent water on a fodder crop, then avoid pumping during the hot part of the day as this may cause scalding of the plants. Allow 21 days before grazing to reduce animal health issues and do not graze young stock on dairy effluent treated areas.

The other option is to use it in autumn (provided you have the storage capacity) to get the autumn season off to a good start. If you have any storage left in the pond, it maybe useful for yard washing as well as saving other valuable water.

Current soil moisture levels can help influence the decision. Information from the irrigation district tells us it takes less water to grow grass if soil moisture is still available.

When soil moisture is limiting, growing pasture can take up to three times as much water to achieve equivalent growth rates as the same area with pre-existing soil moisture. Therefore, if you plan to use effluent water on pasture, select a paddock that still has soil moisture and is green and growing, otherwise it maybe better to find another use for the water. .

There are valuable nutrients in the pond and after testing over 600 effluent ponds in Gippsland, DPI has a good database of the nutrient content of different storage system types and over what area you need to spread the effluent to get the best result.

If current soil tests are available, you can better target the nutrients to achieve maximum benefit.

If the pond is crusted with weed growth, options are still available, but there’s just not as many.

The DPI Gippsland Nutrient Extension Team is available to help you make decisions relating to dairy effluent use as well as getting maximum benefit in times that are less than desirable.

The team can be contacted on Tel: 5624 2222. Please leave your name, a telephone number and a preferred contact time to eliminate unnecessary delays.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com