How top Irish dairy farmers produce 16.5t grass per hectare DM/ha
Increasing grass utilisation by one tonne DM/hectare can increase net profit/ha by £189 (€267), a study of Irish dairy farms shows.
In a period of expansion for Irish milk producers, the country’s top performers are producing 16.5t DM/ha. This figure, recorded in 2014, represents an increase of 2.6t DM/ha on 2013 growth.
The effect of increasing grass utilisation on profit was estimated using data from PastureBase Ireland monitor farms and a Teagasc Profit Monitor. PastureBase Ireland is a Teagasc grassland management decision support tool used to capture farm data.
See also: Yields a hecatre key to dairy survival
The farms analysed were stocked at an average of 2.35 cows/ha, produced 404kg milk solids/cow and 950kg MS/ha and utilised 9.6t DM/ha. Yet the average Irish dairy farm only utilises 7.5t of grazed grass per hectare.
The analysis found that increasing grass utilisaton by one tonne/ha increased net profit by £189 (€267)/ha.
Facts about the Irish dairy industry
- There has been a 9% rise in the number of dairy farmers since 2013 taking the total to 15,654
- Milk production by farm has increased by 5% supported by higher yields and a 3% increase in herd size
*These figures are taken from the National Farm Survey 2013
The study, conducted by Michael O’Donovan and John Maher, found that increasing the number of grazings and also targeting early turnout in spring are key to increasing grass utilisation.
For every additional grazing achieved, dry matter production increased by 1,386kg/ha.
“Targeting early turnout and high grass utilisation in March and April can increase the growth capacity of the farm substantially.
“This stimulates spring grass production and increases the number of grazings achieved,’’ the report states.
The study shows it is possible to grow and utilise more grass by focusing on improving farm soil fertility and grazing management, reseeding swards with low perennial ryegrasses, incorporating clover and developing better grazing infrastructure. “This will deliver higher profits in the short, medium and long term,’’ the report concludes.
Higher grass producing dairy farms implement a spring rotation planner, target early nitrogen application and achieve more than eight grazings annually in every paddock.
The farmers also achieve soil index 3 for P and K and react quickly and decisively to a grass surplus or deficit and changeable weather conditions.
Key research findings
- The average Irish dairy farmer utilises 7.5t/DM/ha. The farms analysed utilised 9.6t DM/ha
- For every additional grazing DM increased by 1,386kg/ha
- Increasing grass utilisation by 1t DM/ha can increase net profit by £189/ha
- Higher grass producing farms have a spring grazing rotation, target early nitrogen application and achieve more than eight grazings annually per paddock
- Targeting early turnout, improving soil fertility and re-seeding swards increases grass utilisation
- Improving stocking rates increased grass utilisation
- There is a greater advantage to increase grass DM in the shoulders of the season rather than the summer to displace supplementary feed
- Poor producing farms only grew 0.6t DM/ha compared to 1.8t DM/ha on the top-producing farms
The study also found a strong correlation between spring grass dry matter production and annual grass dry matter production.
PastureBase Ireland data highlights that spring grass dry matter production is 8% of annual production. Meanwhile summer and autumn accounts for 56% and 36% respectively.
The research also showed that from a feed budget perspective, there is a greater advantage from increasing grass DM production in the shoulders of the grazing season than in the summer, because this extra grass displaces supplementary feeds.
Poorly producing grassland farms in the study only grew 0.6t DM/ha from 1 January to 10 April compared with the 1.8t DM/ha produced by the top-producing grassland farms.
Stocking rate is important too. Research data generated by Curtin’s research farm in County Cork in 2014 has shown that increasing stocking rate increases grass utilisation.
Grass utilisation was 10.9, 11.1 and 11.8t DM/ha at 2.5, 2.9 and 3.3 cows/ha.
But Dr Tom O’Dwyer, Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer at Teagasc, says stocking rate alone won’t increase grass utilisation.
“You can’t just put twice as many cows on an area and expect the grass to respond, you need to look at underlying factors like soil fertility. Correct the soil fertility and gradually increase stocking rate, levering it up and down according to how the grass responds,’’ advises Dr O’Dwyer.
Case study: Eddie O’Donnell, County Tipperary
Spring calving dairy farmer Eddie O’Donnell grows 17t DM/ha on the family farm in County Tipperary, and utilises between 80-85% of that.
“Growing more grass definitely makes you more profitable, but it’s not just about growing grass. If you don’t have the right calving rate to make use of the grass on the shoulders of the season you can’t utilise that grass,’’ says Eddie, who farms with his wife, Fiona, and parents, Denis and Nora.
This spring 83% of the 300-cow herd calved within six weeks.
The family runs the herd on two milking platforms. Two-thirds are milked on the home farm, which has lease land attached, and the remaining 100 cows are run on a leased outlying farm nine kilometres away.
The family also runs two other outlying farms, one owned and the other leased, and they use these for rearing the 110 youngstock. Some silage for the milking herd is also produced on this land. The outlying farms produced 13.5t DM/ha in 2014.
Optimum soil fertility and the growing grass varieties to match their system and climate are at the crux of the O’Donnell’s strategy for growing more grass, while their grazing system and stocking rate are central to utilising that grass.
Re-seeding and soil testing
In the last seven years, most of the land they farm has been reseeded with perennial ryegrass and cultivars.
A large proportion of the land reseeded in the past three years has being sown to monocultures as part of a Moorepark research trial.
Seed mixtures were used in the past with a mix of 40% diploid and 60% tetraploid cultivars.
The policy is to reseed at least 15% every year to maintain productive, high-quality swards. “We have been pushing for grass growth,’’ Eddie explains.
“The soil indexes on the home farm are 3s and 4s and the outlying farms are increasing all the time. We look after the soil by soil testing every second year and following the recommendations.’’
Recent research has shown that soils with P index 3 will grow approximately 1.5t DM/ha per year more than soils with P index 1.
“We don’t take silage from the home farm as such so we are not removing much P and K. Youngstock on the outlying farms are brought back to the home farm to graze so that we can cut silage from that offlying land.’’
Around 250kg of manufactured nitrogen is applied annually, between 15 January and 15 September, while slurry is spread on grazing ground, especially in the spring.
The O’Donnells set the target of opening the farm at an average cover of 850-900kg DM/ha (UK cover of 2,400kg DM/ha) and close the farm at an average cover of 700-720kg DM/ha (UK 2,220kg DM/ha) to achieve this.
Cows are turned out to grass, day and night, from 1 February, after they have calved, and are at grass until the end of November.
The herd, a mix of Jersey cross Holstein Friesian and New Zealand Friesian, is grazed on a rotation with the first rotation completed by 1 April. From 1 April to 25 August cows graze in a 16-18 day rotation.
From 20 August, rotation length is increased and peak farm grass cover of 1,100kg DM/ha (UK cover 2,600kg DM/ha) is achieved on 1 October.
The O’Donnells set a target of grazing 65% by 5 November and commence closing on 12 October to achieve this.
The stocking rate on the grazing platforms are 2.6 livestock units/ha and 2.5 across the whole farm.
During wet conditions, the cows are turned out to grass for around three hours after the morning and evening milkings and then housed for the remainder of the day.
Eddie, a member of the Blackwater Discussion Group, walks the farm weekly to measure grass covers.
His driver is to have between 160-180kg of grass cover per cow during the main grazing season, which means cows go into optimum grass covers throughout this period.
The farm produces 1,180kg solids/ha annually with milk sold to the Dairygold Co-operative and Kerry Group, but Eddie aims to increase this and is targeting 1,450kg solids/ha by fine-tuning the system further.
The farm is entirely under grass, apart from a crop of 2.5ha of kale, which is grown as winter grazing for youngstock.
With his base milk price currently 27 cents/litre Eddie says grazing crossbred cows on the right quality grass is adding a few extra cent to the base price. “This is all needed in this current climate of low milk prices,” he says.