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AG News: 10/12/2009

Includes: December Dairy Reminders and Farming Diary

By Department of Primary Industries - 11th December 2009 - Back to News

DECEMBER DAIRY REMINDERS

Pastures/forages

• Ryegrass leaf appearance rate: nine to 20 days per leaf (depending on soil moisture).
• Estimated grazing rotation length: 27 to 60 days (Irrigation to dry conditions).
• Area of farm to graze today: one twenty seventh to one sixtieth of grazing area in 24 hours.
• Recommended pre-grazing decisions: Graze ryegrass at, or near, three leaf stage (note: graze to dominant species).
• Recommended post grazing decision: Graze down to 5 cm pasture height between the clumps, 9 cm within the clumps, and no more than 20 per cent of the area occupied by clumps. If more than 30 per cent of the paddock is clumps, then topping is recommended.
• Seasonal management tasks: Consider nitrogen application to responsive pastures ie those with soil moisture and leafy ryegrass. Hold a rotation on the paddocks, use supplements to avoid overgrazing the pastures and to lengthen rotations. Avoid set stocking.
• Estimated soil temperature: 16 to 18 degrees Celsius.
• Estimated daily evaporation: 9 to 12 mm per day without rainfall.
• Average daily pasture growth rate: 30 to 50 kg DM/Ha/day (average year).

Summer crops

• Now is an ideal time to use your dairy effluent to boost fodder crops. Crops will produce much less if moisture stressed, so apply well before wilting. Do not apply to the emerging seedling stage crops as the possible salt content of dairy effluent may damage the plants. Ideally, get your effluent tested so that you know what rate of nutrients (and salts) you are applying.
• Where soil moisture is adequate 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. Watch for damage from Diamond Back moth or Cabbage White Butterfly caterpillars on brassica crops and Red Legged Earthmite damage on millet, sorghum or maize crops.

Cows

• Pregnancy test cows to identify empty cows so that informed decisions can be made for profitable feed budgeting. This will enable early culling to be done if expensive brought in feed is required to feed the herd over summer and autumn.
• Consider whether extended lactation for late calved cows would be of benefit to your system.
• Balance the diet of your milking herd to ensure that cows have the correct levels of energy, protein and fibre in their diet, as well as the right quantity of feed.
• Cost out your feed purchases on a cents per mega joule basis to find the best value feed.
• To tell if the cows are being well fed or not, monitor herd production from the peak. A decline in milk production of four to seven per cent per month from the peak will indicate that there is adequate feed of good quality being supplied. Pasture height after grazing is another good guide (5 to 6 cm between clumps).

• Read the weekly grain and hay reports on the Dairy Australia website to guide feed purchasing decisions (www.dairyaustralia.com.au)
• Tally up the silage and hay you now have on hand. Match against what you think is needed to get through to next spring. If there is a shortfall then begin exploring some options to purchase more of the quality that you require.

Calves

• As the green feed disappears all weaned calves require a high protein and high energy diet to assist in growth and development. Treat for parasites as required.

Water Issues

• Make sure the catchment drains to your farm dams are cleared of debris to increase the chance of capturing any runoff.
• Monitor dam storages for signs of blue green algae, seek advice if detected. A long term approach is to plant trees to shade the dam surface. This will also reduce evaporation losses. However avoid planning large trees near a constructed dam bank where roots could damage the bank.
• Do a water budget, including irrigation, stock and shed.

Environment

• Spray thistles and other weeds in each paddock as the cows are walking to the shed. The weeds are easier to find in the grazed paddock and after one rotation the job is done. Make a note of paddocks where weeds have already gone to seed as areas requiring control in autumn next year.

Forward Planning for January

• Manage heat stress for your dairy herd by selecting shady paddocks on hot days, installing sprinklers over the yard and maintaining plentiful, clean stock drinking water. See the Cool Cows website for more details: www.coolcows.com.au
• Have a plan for livestock fire-survival ready to go.

FARMING DIARY

PROFITABLE FARMING SYSTEM FORUMS

The Gippsland Dairy Extension Centre is organising a series of field forums to discuss key Project 3030 findings and how farmers are using them within their own farming systems.

The following topic areas will be discussed:

• How did the 3030 ‘Ryegrass Max’ and ‘Complementary Forage’ farmlets at DemoDairy, Terang make such good profits, particularly in a drought year?
• Do alternative forages have a place on your farm?
• How does the host farmer integrate 3030 messages into the farming system?
• How do farmers balance risk and resources in a variable climate?

Dates and venues include:

• Orbost: February 4, 2010 - Joe Connelly, Marlo Road, from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm (with BBQ tea at 6:30 pm).
• Maffra: February 5, 2010 - Lesley Samuel, DPI Maffra Office, from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, followed by a free lunch.
• Poowong: February 8, 2010 - Geoff Warriner, 1515 Drouin-Korumburra Road, from 10:30am to 12:30pm, followed by a free lunch.
• Alberton: February 9, 2010 - Stuart Bland, 199 Meadows Road, from 10:30am to 12:30pm, followed by a free lunch.

To register or for more information, please contact Jason McAinch at DPI Maffra on

(03) 5147 0839; or Frank Mickan at DPI Ellinbank on (03) 5624 2259 or 0427 317 471.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com