Agriland recently visited the Hanbidges' dairy farm in Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow for one of the Teagasc Grass10 spring grazing farm walks.

Alan, Linda, and Gordon Hanbidge are milking 130 Montbeliarde cows in a split calving system.

The farm calved about 40% of the herd in autumn, and have kicked off calving for the further 60% here in the spring.

The Hanbidges hosted a crowd during the week for the grass walk, addressing how they are aiming to get cows out during the week coming.

Teagasc advisers Paul Keogh and Anne-Marie Kearney also spoke on the best management practices for getting cows out in challenging conditions.

Spring grazing

Despite the huge amount of rain that has fallen over the last month, the Hanbidge farm still plans on getting cows out this week as the weather is promised to dry up ever so slightly.

However, they did admit that their land is exceptionally dry in comparison to some of the other attendees on the day, who are dealing with much wetter paddocks.

The Hanbidges have already got slurry out using an umbilical system, and Gordon hopes to get early nitrogen in the next window of dry weather.

Linda admitted that the farm is lacking slightly in terms of infrastructure for spring grazing.

While the paddocks and road networks themselves are set up brilliantly, field access is slightly limited, which is not ideal in regard to damage control at this time of the year.

Damage control

Damage control was one of the main topics on the day. The Hanbidge farm may be dry, but a lot of attendees are in a different situation.

If the week ahead does bring a few dry days, farmers will be hoping to get cows out even if it is only for an hour or two to get some grass into the diet, especially considering dry matter is nudging beyond 15% in a lot of places.

Farmers should leave cows in the yard for an hour post-milking and let them out to pasture hungry, using methods such as back fencing depending on the herd and paddock.

For example, if you are letting out 50 calved cows into a paddock with a cover of 1,200kg/DM and hoping to get 6kg of grass into them, the allocation would be as follows;

50 cows multiplied by 6kg grass = 300kg DM required

1,200kg/DM in paddock divided by 300kg/DM required = 4 grazings

Being flexible and knowing your allocations will help you graze grass efficiently in challenging conditions like these.

Farmers should try to let cows in the furthest away gap and bring them out a separate gap closer to the parlour to prevent poaching.

Back latches were also suggested as a suitable option for on-off grazing to to prevent cows gathering at the gap.

The advisers said water availability should not be too much of a concern when you are only grazing for an hour or two, as long as there is adequate water when they come back in.

They also stressed to farmers not to roll paddocks, saying 'the cows will do the rolling for you'.

Despite the conditions, once paddocks begin to dry, getting cows out is crucial.

The advisers reminded farmers that each day at grass is worth €4.17/cow, which adds up to €2,919 a week if 100 cows are out at grass.

Getting cows out may seem like a simpler task than spreading fertiliser and slurry, giving the current state of most pastures.

However, farmers were reminded of the impact early nitrogen has on grassland once they can get out.

Half a bag/ac will cost you about €14.25, but it will grow the feeding equivalent of one high quality bale of silage, which costs approximately €50.