ENVIRONMENTAL MESSAGES FROM JOHNSTOWN CASTLE

• One of the key messages was that farmers (based on the fact that so few turned up to this open day) must show more interest in being informed of this topic.
  • Teagasc had up to 90 informative stands manned by enthusiastic researchers doing innovative work to try and overcome the environmental challenges faced by farmers.
  • Attendance at events conveys support for their efforts, and these events provide an opportunity to learn more and do better.
• It is important to know carbon dynamics.
  • Plants use sunlight, CO₂ and water to produce carbohydrates.
  • Plants exude carbohydrates through their roots and feed soil organisms to obtain nutrients.
  • Fallen leaves, branches, and root mortality add carbon to the soil.
  • Soil organisms decompose the organic matter and release CO₂ through respiration.
  • Clay minerals stick to carbon and protect it inside aggregates.
  • Water and temperature regulate microbial activity.
  • GHGs are responsible for climate change while ammonia emissions pollute air, affect health and biodiversity.
• Quotation: “Agriculture is responsible for circa 37% of Ireland's GHGs.”
  • A friend of mine said this is misleading terminology, so I will rephrase that sentence, based on his recommendation.
• "Food production in Ireland is responsible for circa 37% of Ireland’s GHGs.”
  • From now on, I am going to use ‘food production’ instead of the word ‘agriculture’ because so many non-farmers in Ireland seem to have forgotten what farmers work for – to produce food for everyone else.
  • Some people think farmers exist only to make money/profit. But they are providing a really important service for the public.
  • Nobody thinks that nurses or train drivers work ‘just’ to make money. The nurse cares for patients and the train driver transports the public from A to B. They provide important services and, yes, they get paid for doing so. 
• Now, let me summarise some of the research reasons why food production in Ireland is responsible for GHG emissions and how we are going about reducing it to achieve the 25% sectoral target.
  • Nitrous oxide (N₂O) from fertiliser, manures, and urine accounts for about 30% of primary-food-production emissions.
  • The big challenge is to reduce the reliance on fossil-fuel-derived fertilisers.
  • The remaining 70% comes from slurry management and animals.
    • Managing these is not only good for the environment, but is also profitable for the farmer – that is a fact.
  • It was reported recently in an editorial of the Irish Farmers Journal that carbon measurements in Johnstown Castle showed that carbon sequestration there [on grassland] was six times greater than the international estimate currently used in our GHG calculations. Imagine that. Six times greater!
  • Recent changes to our understanding of the drainage status of our grassland peats has reduced estimated emissions by 5 million (m) tonnes – from 9m tonnes to 3.9m tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (eq.). 
  • That’s what RESEARCH does – establishes the scientific facts!
    • Ireland has 28 flux towers (costing €70,000+ each) spread across the country monitoring farm carbon – the highest density of such towers in Europe.
  • A proposal to rewet 340,000ha of grassland on reclaimed peat soils has ‘stressed’ many farmers but Teagasc found that 200,000ha had already been rewetted and, therefore, were not emitting as much carbon as originally believed.
  • The entire ‘primary-food-production’ sector emitted 8.5m tonnes fewer CO₂ eq. between 2018 and 2023 than had been initially calculated by the Environmental Protection Agency due to better liveweights and daily gains than assumed.
  • Support Teagasc, inform yourself of the science it generates and utilise the advisory expertise they provide free through the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) and the Signpost programmes.
  • Progress is being made but there are a lot more ‘simple’ things to do on farm.
• Teagasc has initiated a 'Better Farming for Water Campaign' which focuses on eight actions to improve both surface water (only 54% of which has a satisfactory/good rating, although this is above the EU average) – and ground water:

1. Reduce purchased N and P surplus per hectare.
2. Ensure soil fertility for lime, P and K are optimum.
3. Ensure fertilisers and organic manures are spread at appropriate times and under appropriate conditions.
4. Have sufficient capacity for slurry and soiled water.
5. Manage and minimise nutrient-loss from farmyards and roadways.
6. Fence off watercourses to prevent animal access.
7. Adopt targeted actions, such as riparian margins, buffer strips, and sediment traps to reduce nutrient and sediment loss to watercourse.
8. Maintain over-winter green cover to reduce nutrient leaching from tillage fields. 

• A summary of easy wins was switching to protected urea, using low emission slurry spreading (LESS), minimising nutrient loss from farmyards and roadways, fencing off watercourses, and less cutting of hedges.
• For dairy farmers to achieve the 25% target reduction by 2030, it was suggested they continue to focus on the following:
  • Animal productivity – further improvement of herd genetics.
  • Grass production – grow more grass with less N.
  • Better reproductive performance – the national six-week calving rate is too low at 67%.
  • Early compact calving – the calving season is far too long.
  • Reduce percentage crude protein in cows’ diets – easy to achieve!
  • Use protected urea only – negative attitudes must change quickly on this.
  • Decrease the reliance on fertiliser N – farmers are positive on this.
  • Sow white clover – clover can fix between 80-120kg N/ha (65-97 units/acre).
  • Cover slurry tanks, where possible – this is possible with overground steel tanks.
  • Use LESS systems – most dairy farmers have adopted this recommendation to beneficial advantage. 
•  Do not spread fertiliser when:
  • Heavy rain is forecast – consult Met Éireann.
  • Soil temperatures are below 50^oC.
  • Grass growth predictions are low due to drought conditions.
• The key drivers of nutrient-use efficiency are:
  • Use LESS.
  • Use lower levels on N inputs.
  • Apply N in optimum weather conditions.
• Minimise nutrient/sediment loss from open silage pits/concrete yards and animal and machinery routes by:
  • Collecting and moving waste silage to a manure store.
  • Regular sweeping of yards but have adequate capacity for soiled water and slurry to cover the busy calving season.
  • Use a settlement tank and pond and filter discharge through topsoil.
  • Good house/yard keeping.
• Drainage ditches and farm roadways (they contain very high levels of concentrations) pose great risk of N and P entering waterbodies:
  • For ditches, slow the flow, install drops to catch sediment but as P builds up over time, they must be cleaned up regularly.
  • Farm roadways are a big issue:
    • They must camber, 1:25 to the field side, away from watercourses.
    • Concrete beams to direct run-off away from drains.
    • Moving entry points to paddocks/fields away from watercourse to reduce sediment/nutrients entering streams.
• Lime is a fertiliser and where pH is low, 25.30% of applied N is lost.
• Phosphorous – target is Index 3. Increasing P from Index 1 to 2 will increase grass yield by 1.5 tonnes/ha and similarly for every index increase.
• Potassium (K) – target is Index 3. Increasing from Index 1 to 3 will increase grass yield by 2 tonnes DM/ha, while reducing N₂O emissions.
• Nitrogen compounds – use 18:6:12 or 10:10:20 instead of the high N compounds, such as 24s and 27s – this could reduce N₂O emissions by 40%.
• Multi-species add benefit over ryegrasses:
  
  • They gave consistently higher yields from lower N systems.
    • Yielded 2.5 tonnes DM/ha/yr more at 150kg N/ha/yr.
    • Yielded 1.5 tonnes DM/ha/yr more with 150kg N/ha/yr less N used.
• Better overcame the effect of drought:
  • Yielded 2.3 tonnes DM/ha/yr more at 150kg N/ha/yr.
  • Yielded 0.3 tons DM/ha/yr more with 150 kg N/ha/yr less N used.
  • Similar/better animal performance.
  • They had higher yield stability, lower N₂O emissions, and a very low weed biomass.
• Prevent soil compaction:
  • Why?
    • Results in poorer soil structure.
    • Reduces yields by up to 40%.
    • Reduces environmental losses.
    • Improves plant resilience.
    • More carbon storage.
• How to prevent:
  • Maintain soil organic matter.
  • Keep living roots in the soil.
  • Avoid trafficking wet soils with machinery and high stocking rates.
  • Spread the load – larger tyres, lower inflation pressure, increased flexion/very increased flexion (IF/VF) tyres (which can carry 20% and 40% more load respectively at the same pressure as a standard tyre), more wheels, etc.
  • Control traffic:
    • Work at appropriate soil moisture.
    • Reduce the number of passes.
    • Manage headlands (soil compaction tends to be most prevalent in these areas).
    • Consider fixed tramlines (cereals).
• Approaches to alleviation:
  • Identify compaction and its depth.
  • Rest land – reduce traffic, change crops.
  • Switch headland crops from cereals to grassland.
  • Apply organic fertilisers, particularly dung, to problem areas.
  • Subsoiling should be a last resort,
• Advantages of intercrops (growing a cereal + legume crop such as peas, together):
  • Easy to grow.
  • Excellent source of starch and protein.
  • You have a number of harvesting options eg. silage, crimp or full harvest.
  • Protein aid at €250/ha available.
  • Low costs of production, competitive crop against weeds.
  • No N required as legumes fixes enough N.
  • Great biodiversity above and below ground.
  • Species mixes could be oats + peas, or peas + beans, etc.
• Biodiversity – identify what you have, maintain and create new habitats.
  • This piece of advice may be like a red rag to a bull for some of my readers but we can enhance where we live without compromising profit.
  • What are they?
    • Flowering hedgerows.
      • If less intensively managed, they can offer shade to animals, mitigate against flooding, sequester and store carbon, increase crop yield and biodiversity.
      • Aim to have them at least 2.5m high and 1.5m wide.
      • Provide fruit for birds. Recently, I met a farmer’s 11-year old son whose hobby was learning bird species by their songs.   
    • Non-farmed areas.
    • Waterbodies.
    • Trees.
    • Hay meadows.
    • Biodiversity exists below ground too in the form of snails, worms, etc.

LIME: FIRST STEP TO NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY!

•  Why apply lime?
  • It is a fertiliser and must be applied regularly.
  • Essential elements – N, P, K, S, Ca and Mg – show reduced levels of availability under acid conditions.
  • Lime corrects soil acidity. This facilitates micro-organisms to thrive so that they can break down plant and animal residues which results in more plant growth.
  • There are no restrictions in place for lime use. One trial showed that applying lime to a very low-P, acid soil increased the availability of P from 0.8 parts per million (ppm) to 5.7ppm.
  • Increases earthworm activity, which improves soil structure.
  • Assists the survival of clover-fixing bacteria, thus increasing clover N fixation.
  • Perennial ryegrasses and clover survive the competition from poorer grasses.
  • It improves grass palatability, and hence animal performance.
  • It helps to extend the grazing season at both ends; hence we grow more grass.
• As intensive dairying removes nearly 1 tonne of lime per year, get your farm soil tested immediately and apply lime early this autumn.
  • We are wasting a lot of N and P by farming acidic soils.
• Increase the soil pH to at least 6.3 (6.0 in high molybdenum areas but get a test to confirm).

AUTUMN ANALYSIS

• Silage should now be analysed for feeding value, DM and for minerals.
• Soil testing should be done now – maximise growth by having the basics correct.
• Get a faecal egg count (FEC) done to determine if there are worm eggs or larvae in animal dung samples. 
• Johne’s control – join up now! Talk to your vet.
• Use milk health test results to identify animal health issues and act.
• Milk-record now to identify poor yielders and high SCC cows.

LAST APPLICATIONS OF PRO-UREA!

• Now is the time to take stock of how much N you have used so far this year relative to what you are allowed to use.
  • Overuse will result in penalties, but be sure to use your allowance.
• Farmers stocked at less than 2.24 cows/ha should only apply N once over the next two months.
• Farmers with no clover in sward should apply 17 units/acre in August, decreasing to eight units with 15% clover and none with 20% clover.
• Response is much better in August.
• This N should all be blanket-spread early in month. There is no reduction in grass yield for August-September with blanket-spread N applications.

TARGETS TO EXTEND AUTUMN GRAZING:

• Farmers must rely solely on grass to feed cows, which is a big challenge in autumn as grass growth decreases relative to demand.
• Table 1 outlines target covers (kg/DM) per cow to increase autumn grass.

Table 1: Target grass covers per livestock unit (LU) for the autumn.

• Grass build-up starts in August:
  • In the south, on August 10.
  • In the north, on August 15.
• The following possible ways of building up grass, or a combination, should be applied:
  • Reduce stocking rates on milking platform by taking away calves or cattle, selling cull cows, drying off very poor yielders. Stock cows at 2.9 cows/ha for grazing – a little higher this year!
  • Reduce second-cut silage plan, particularly if you have enough pit silage.
  • Introduce meals (expensive option) but will be necessary at high stocking rates. A budget will tell you when to start but early rather than too late. An alternative to meal is to feed high-quality round bales and this is the preferred option.
  • Apply more N – but stay within your limits – in August as you get a better response than in September.
  • Graze out pastures well (3.5cm-4cm) as there is a temptation to leave too much after each grazing in August. 
  • Set up a third-cut-graze bank of grass.
  • Protect regrowth by not having cattle or cull cows grazing after cows or spending more than 24 hours in each paddock.
• It’s a very good idea to set up this third-cut-graze because:
  • It brings into the grazing rotation a bank of high-quality grass for grazing in September.
  • Allows you use 2-3,000 gallons (16-24 units N) of slurry per acre on it at closing.
  • Allows you put on 55-65 units of N (discount the slurry N) to cover the six-week closed-up period and the extra N will grow extra grass which will feed 10-12 cows for one extra day for every acre closed up.
  • The way you do it is to set aside 10-15% of the farm for this purpose by stocking the cows at 2.9-3 cows/ha for grazing.
  • These fields should be topped or very well grazed-out (skinned) leaving no butt, apply the slurry plus 25-35 units of N per acre and leave for six weeks and it should result in extending the grazing rotation by 10-12 days in mid-September.
  • An interval of three to five days should be allowed between spreading slurry and applying nitrogen, so as to avoid losses of N by denitrification.
  • If grazing grass is tight during this period, some of this area can be grazed.
  • However, at low stocking rates (2.2 cows/ha or less) because the demand will be low, 40-45kg DM/day, it will not be necessary to do any of the above to build up grass. It will happen naturally.

SCAN NOW AND REVIEW 2024 BREEDING MANAGEMENT

• I think there is a great need to scan all cows and heifers in August (32 days after AI/bull removal) to confirm pregnancy.
  • Where grass/silage is scarce, ‘empty cows’ should be culled now.
  • While it is fresh in your mind, you will be able to analyse the 2024 breeding season.
• Replacement weight targets should alert you to action (check with the contract rearer):
  • Calves (R1s) should now be 30% of their mature weight (at six months). That means 150kg, 165kg or 180kg for animals whose mature weights of dam are 500kg, 550kg or 600kg, respectively.
  • For the same mature weights, in-calf heifers (R2s) should be 350kg, 385kg and 420kg at 18 months old (now, August 1) or 70% of mature weight.
  • Any R1s or R2s under these weights now must be separated out for special attention. That is, preferential grass or some meal in the diet. 
    • For R1s, the response is four to one, which is the best response of the year.
• To establish the mature weight of your herd, cows should be weighed in June/July but do it now to get a rough idea. On the ICBF EBI page, you will see the maintenance figure for your herd and that will give you a pretty accurate mature weight for your herd as follows:

•  Breeding heifers should get their first treatment for leptospirosis at end of August and the second one in mid-September with all the cows.
• They should get their first injection for salmonella at end of August and again the second one with all the cows in mid-September. I consider the leptospirosis and salmonella vaccinations essential for every dairy herd.
• Try to keep the R2s in a fly-free area to avoid mastitis infection.
  • Where the risk is high, use pour-ons, impregnated fly tags, Stockholm tar or teat spray.
• Farmers who have calves with a contract rearer should make absolutely certain that they are on target weights. The only way to do this is to have them weighed independently or be there yourself.
  • Any contract rearer not providing regular heifer weights is not serious about the job.

BITS AND PIECES

• Take a holiday. I put the onus on partners to encourage farmers to take two weeks off – they, generally, won’t do so. 
• Mentally it has been a very tough year.
  • Insist on a family holiday so that they can enjoy time with their children.
  • On holidays, turn the mobile off so that you remove yourself from farm life and enjoy a relaxed frame of mind.
• This is a good month to do maintenance work around the farm.
  • More family is available.
  • Compile a list of one-person jobs and two-person jobs.
• While not the best time to reseed, if done in early August, you should seriously consider reseeding damaged, under-performing fields.
  • Seriously consider multi-species, red clover and white clover if ploughing.
• Meal feeding: If stocking rate is low, you should not be feeding more than 1-2kg of meal (12% P) to cows.
  • Small R1s should get preferential quality grass and 1-2kg of meal.
• Lameness: Deal with it by getting an expert to look over the cows’ locomotion, and lift feet.
• Winter feed: Again, establish if you have enough to feed the planned stock numbers,
  • Consult last month’s notes for your options.

Quote of the month

 “Control your own destiny, or someone else will.” 

Jack Welch