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Dairy Reminders For May

Dairy Reminders For May

By Department of Primary Industries - 18th May 2006 - Back to News

Pastures

Long term average ryegrass pasture growth rates for May range from 12 - 20 kg DM/ha/day on dryland dairy farms across Gippsland following favourable rainfall events. The irrigated pastures of the MID are expected to grow to 10 - 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 are estimated to be 12 - 16 days depending on soil moisture, aspect and soil temperatures. Therefore pasture rotations should be around 36 - 48 days to allow ryegrass to reach the 3 leaf stage before grazing.

Control capeweed and other broad leaf weeds with a suitable registered herbicide.

Oversow poor producing paddocks, sacrifice paddocks or any bare areas of your paddocks with a short rotation rye grass. May/June sown perennial pasture mixes will be slow to establish prior to the onset of winter, therefore annual ryegrass is recommended.

Inspect emerging pastures for damage from red legged earthmite, cockchafer or lucerne flea and take action before rather than after the emerging pastures are eaten.

Cows

Develop a feed plan for the herd and get the pasture rotation working for you. Aim to have the current grazing pastures with ryegrass ready to graze at the 3 leaf stage. The farm should have even amounts of paddocks with 1, 2 or 3 leaf stage ryegrass pastures. This can be achieved by lengthening the grazing rotation on the farm while using more supplements to ensure the lactating cows are fully fed.

When drying off your cows consider treatment with 7 in 1 vaccine, worm control and record any veterinary treatments.

Monitor cow condition. Are the cows in the condition score you want them for calving, 4.5 to 5? 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.

It is useful to take a couple of photographs of the herd in the grazing paddock to enable you to compare cow condition score with future years.

Nitrogen Fertiliser usage in Autumn

Applications of 30 - 60 kg nitrogen per hectare in autumn will increase the pasture growth rates. A response of 10 kg of DM pasture is possible for each kg of nitrogen applied resulting in around 13 cents per kilogram of dry matter pasture produced.

Plan ahead and apply nitrogen at least 6 weeks before the feed is required.

Avoid grazing nitrogen boosted pastures for 21 days after application due to possible 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 dominant pastures and watch for nitrate poisoning if capeweed is present in pastures.

Environment

Rabbits are becoming plentiful again, poisoning, harbour destruction and hunting are good options.

The 1080 Bait Management Service hotline number is 1300 10 1080.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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