Farmer Focus: Cold summer has suited weeds in spring crops
Jonathan Hughes © Tim Scrivener With the start of calving creeping up on us – less than a month away – preparations are under way for the busy period in a block-calving year.
There will be increased pressure this year in the early stages after better fertility results compared with last breeding season.
We expect 88% of heifers and 75% of cows to be calved in the first six weeks of our 12-week block.
See also: Feeding hay as standing crop reduces milk fever on Devon farm
About the author
Small things such as setting up calf pens and having bales ready in each pen are all time savers when things get busy.
The early calving group of dry cows has been mixed with the R2 (in-calf) heifers and all are strip grazing standing hay, which was left to head after first cut silage.
This is not only easier from a management perspective, but will also reduce stress on newly calved heifers when they join the milking herd.
Three weeks pre-calving, dry cows and in-calf heifers will come back to the grazing platform to calve down on standing hay, as well as having 3kg dry matter/head of wholecrop and 1kg/head soya at the feed barrier.
Grazing dry cows on standing hay can be a good way to rejuvenate a sward, as the dense stocking rate supplies nutrients and treads in seeds shedded from the plants.
Of course, this is all good until heavy rainstorms cause excessive poaching.
Establishment of spring crops this year has been gruelling, whether on a conventional or organic system.
Weed burden has certainly been tough in our fodder beet and maize crops, which are naturally open in early growth stages due to their row crop nature.
A somewhat cooler May and June has slowed the speed of growth to out-compete weeds, particularly on the heavier soils, where they have suffered the most.
Even with inter-row hoeing, the weed burden has just been overpowering. It is likely about 15ha that will have to be written off.
Although drilled later, this spring the wholecrop has performed much better, yielding around 22t/ha.
This outcome seems to be the reverse of last season.
In 2023, the wholecrop was poor. I suppose there is a benefit to growing a variety of crops and the added complication it brings, particularly when accounting for the risk associated with them.