Group meeting - 26 April

• Update of farm activities
  • 52 cows calved.  
  • 220 sheep lambing over March & April – scanning at approx. 200 percent
  • Cows and calves were put back to grass over 5 – 9 April
  • Turnout weight for weanlings ranged from 308 to 370 KG
  • Steers gained 0.5KG/day DLWG on silage only over the winter.
  • Heifers gained 0.28KG/day on silage only. They were wintered at the out farm, feeding on older silage swards.
• Update on soil analysis, benefit of lime and levels of fertiliser applications depending on soil fertility.

• 19 acre block of grass closed off late October for turnout of cows and calves.
• Ground has been reseeded over the past four years.
• The ground is now divided up into six paddocks for rotational grazing.
• ½ bag Urea applied in early March.
• Grass covers are good despite winter and spring conditions with approx. 14 days ahead of stock.
• 17 cows and calves currently grazing the 3^rd paddock, having been put to grass on 9 April.
• Scott Laidlaw from AFBI is monitoring clover plots on farm every two weeks and remarked how well the field has performed this spring.
  • The field has the highest clover content and highest growth rate  of the five clover check farms, despite the highest altitude (550 feet a.s.l)
  • This has been accredited to a young sward and tight grazing autumn before closing and in spring.
• The main topic for the stop was grazing management of grass, maintaining grass quality and a fertiliser plan for the season.

• The field should get another 20 – 25 units of nitrogen over May, applied on each paddock after grazing. No more nitrogen will be applied thereafter.
• This should help the clover content in sward. Last season, clover was hindered by late fertiliser applications.
• Grass growth will be monitored on grazing ground using a plate meter to measure growth and match stocking rate accordingly.
• Field to be grazed tight to an average of 4 cm before moving stock. This will ensure high grass quality and encourage clover tillering.
• If grass gets too strong at any point, the paddock will be closed for baling.

• Cold spring has delayed work by four to five weeks.
• From the last meeting, the field was to be sprayed off and heavily grazed down by sheep, with the stock exposing the soil for direct reseeding
• The field was to be seeded in 2 halves to compare the einbock and guttler seeders.
• Field has been sprayed off five days.
• Soil test showed the field to half a P & K index = 1.
• Half of the field was been aerated by a shakerator and responded well over the winter to the treatment, in comparison with the half that wasn’t aerated.
• A demo was carried out using a grass rake to discuss options for creating a seed bed.
• Various inputs into discussion for the field from ploughing, relieving soil compaction, aerating the full field, powerharrow and discing the field.

• The remainder field should be aerated using the shakerator to relieve any compaction, rather than ploughed.
• The field will be disced and then sowed out in 2 halves to allow comparison between sowing methods using grass stitchers.
• The monitor farmer is keen to get the field back into grazing this summer, so stitching is the best option due to steepness of the field and uncertainty of weather.
• A permanent grass mixture will be sown, consisting of intermediate and late varieties and white clover.

• The field is in grass since early 90’s and continually cut for silage.
• 2 cut system and yields have dropped in the past few years.
• Due to poor fencing, stock rarely graze the ground. As a consequence, the perennial ryegrass content is low, with grasses such as Bent taking over.
• The fencing is being addressed to make better use of the field for stock, as field is reasonably dry.
• The poor winter caused any grass cover to die off, leaving a white mat in place. This was grazed off by young heifers over April.

• The field will be soil tested to determine lime and P & K status.
• It will be slurried and fertilised as per normal when closing for silage.
• After 1^st cut silage, the field will be reseeding with a mixture of perennial ryegrasses to suit both cutting and grazing (diploids and tetraploids).
• 3KG of red clover will also be seeded, along with the standard 1 KG white clover.
• This will ensure that if the red clover does not establish, there will be a good ryegrass and white clover sward in place.
• The options put to the monitor farmer were
  • Spraying with glyphosphate before cutting, then drilling straight after with new grass.
  • Spray and ploughing after silage.
  • Direct drilling after silage.
• It was agreed, that an autumn reseed would be too late for red clover and that after 1^st cut would be a better time.
• The monitor will make the decision based on how the season progresses, grass supplies on farm and weather conditions.