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Dairy Reminders For August

Dairy Reminders For August

By Deaprtment of Primary Industries - 28th August 2006 - Back to News

Pastures

Ryegrass leaf appearance rate: 15 days per leaf.

Estimated grazing rotation length: 45 days (but will reduce soon).

Recommended pre grazing decision: Graze ryegrass at 3 leaf stage.

Recommended post grazing decision: Graze down to 5cm pasture height.

Estimated soil temperature: 7-8 degrees Celsius.

Estimated daily evaporation: 2-3mm per day without rainfall.

Average pasture growth rate: 15-20kg DM/HA/day.

Poor drainage on some paddocks has reduced the pasture growth. Maintenance on drains would be useful on wet paddocks.

Springing Cows

Restrict the pasture intake of cows pre calving, feed ad lib hay and a lead feed ration if required.

Avoid grazing dry cows on paddocks with high levels of potassium or paddocks used for dairy effluent disposal.

Clean down the calving pad regularly and add fresh rice hulls. Some farmers are finding fine well draining sand has proven worthwhile on the calving pad, as it is difficult for bacteria to survive on the sand.

Keep calving pads dry and ensure good drainage of the site.

Heifers

Yearling heifers will require good quality hay plus quality pasture to maintain 0.6 kg daily live weight gain during August and to have them cycling ready for mating at 15 months of age.

It is important to have a vet check on the bulls you intend to run with your heifers. Some bulls may be infertile while others have hoof and structural problems which prevent successful mating. You can’t afford empty heifers or late calving heifers next season.

Bobby Calves

All bobby calves must have an NLIS ear tag and National Vendor Declaration (NVD) completed for each batch of calves sold.

Irrigation water management

Undertake maintenance on the centre pivot or spray irrigation system.

Drainage is important to get pastures growing early in the spring. Ensure all channels are clean to allow free movement of water.

Keep a close watch on soil moisture and irrigate if required (especially spray systems), as early irrigations can improve pasture production for the next three months.

If you get a few dry days, it is a good opportunity to empty the irrigation water re-use dam onto a dry well draining paddock. This will allow storage capacity in the re-use system to capture water and nutrient run-off when spring rainfall events occur.

Environment

Tree planting time - spray tree site spots and get the tubed trees in the ground.

Call the 1080 hotline (1300 10 1080) to book in for fox control advice and purchase of fox baits if foxes are causing problems in the calving paddocks this year.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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