last May. What a difference it makes to our farming! All farms are availing of the good spell to catch

up on slurry spreading & of course spring fertiliser applications. Urea is the most economical choice

at this time of year. At current prices, Urea costs €1.03 per Kg N whereas CAN type products work-

out at €1.30 per Kg N.

The majority of spring-calving dairy herds, in Ireland at any rate, are out grazing for the past 2 weeks.

Why should we try to get grass into the cow’s diet as early as February? Well, the message from

Moorepark Research Station in Ireland is very clear. For each extra day at grass in the spring, farm

profit increased by €2.70/cow. That is not a misprint – €2.70 more profit per cow per day for every

extra day at grass. To put this in context, a farmer with 100 cows, who plans for and achieves in

getting a modest ten extra days of grazing into his cows this spring, will have a direct profit increase

of €2700. Are your cows out grazing? If not, why not?

At this stage (early March), 33% of the grazing platform should have been grazed already. This

portion of the grazing area will then have a long growing period of 40-70 days to provide super

quality leafy grass on which to commence the 2nd rotation in April. Aim to have 66% grazed by

March 17th-20th. Ration out the final 33% of the grazing area to feed the herd until the start of the 2nd

rotation. The date on which one starts the 2nd rotation will be determined by the grass growing ability

of the farm (drainage, soil fertility, grass species etc) & farm stocking rate, but typically should be

between April 5th-15th.

Many farms don’t have enough cows calved to create the grazing pressure required to meet

the grazing area targets outlined above. The simple solution to this is to turnout dry cows &/or

youngstock to speed up the rotation. These animals can graze areas of the farm where grazing

infrastructure for milking cows is poor or dormant brown grass paddocks that may have been hard

to manage during the wet Autumn. Removing this old material in an aggressive manner early in the

spring will allow light down to the growing point of the grass plant, stimulate tillering and get more

of the farm in a growing state to provide a wedge of excellent quality grass for the 2nd rotation. Many

farmers are too conservative in February & March. They struggle with grass quality for most of the

year as a result. The penalty for this conservative approach has never been greater due to high feed

costs. Fortune will always favour the brave, so avail of the super grazing conditions that now prevail

and get moving around the farm. The silage & other supplements saved now can be fed in late March

or early April if a temporary grass deficit is looming at that stage.

The best indicator of profit on a grass based Dairy farm is the tonnes of grass being utilised per

hectare. The most profitable grass farmers use this figure to determine their stocking rate, thereby

minimising their usage of bought in feed. This insulates their businesses from feed price volatility.

Do you know how many tonnes of grass you are either growing or utilising? Do you know what your

best performing paddock is? What about the worst one? I believe that grass measurement & analysis

of the data accumulated are the most important tasks on a dairy farm. The payback for this activity is

huge. How else will you know whether you are stocked appropriately? You must be able to quantify

& control your feed supply. I will return to this topic in more detail in later articles.

This piece is a Smart Farm Apps farmers perspective…more to come!

Great to see farming recognised in this way…Should be a great night,,,

Check the shortlist out here and wish us luck!

Check out the post here

On May 24th last week, we headed out on a farm walk with one tester based in Currow, County Kerry, Ireland. Fantastic day, great to see the app in action and delivering great results!

It was only a short walk as you can see in the Field Manager page screen-grab. Just under half of the grazing platform was taken out for first cut silage as the farmer was feeling the pressure of being over stocked and was anxious to see current growth rates continue. This would then enable him to get the silage in the clamp and bring the rest of the farm back into the rotation.

Check out the screengrabs on our Facebook/Google+ pages to see the key elements of the app including the grass wedge graph. All vital data can be exported in Excel and integrated into 3rd party software.

Overall, feedback has been excellent from all testers. We have made tweaks and updates based on informed feedback and the app should be on sale worldwide from June 25th or slightly earlier!

Factors that stood out from all farmer feedback were: Mobility – enter data while you walk (Simple!), no pen and paper needed in the rain, export ALL data with ease, archives always available for quick comparisons, instantly identify fields ready for baling from the wedge graph.

Pro Grass Rotation delivers a grass management package in your pocket. A simple solution, no hardware needed except your smart phone! Launching soon!

See more pics and screengrabs via the links below… 

Facebook - Farm Walk, Currow, County Kerry, Ireland. May 24th 2012.

Google+ - Farm Walk, Currow, County Kerry, Ireland. May 24th 2012.

Check out more info 

Buy Now and get 33% intro discount