MESSAGES

• Adjust your March grazing management to ensure adequate grass in second rotation.
• Grass won’t grow without nitrogen (N) – stick with the rules and discount slurry.
• Working 85.5 hours per week – the consequence!
• ‘Great to see the calf pen full of whiteheads’ – use sexed dairy semen!
• Adopt Hertzberg’s motivators to ensure happy, productive staff.
• Bulling heifers are in a key period of management now.

ADJUST MARCH GRASS MANAGEMENT!

• February was a bit of a grazing disaster. A very wet month has resulted in a very low proportion of the milking platform being grazed on most farms. The consequences will make for challenging grazing management for the remainder of the year:
  • The target is to have 30% of the milking platform (MP) grazed by March 1 and 60% grazed by March 17.
  • The amount of grass available in the second rotation will be a serious issue because the length of time from first grazing to ‘would-be’ second grazing will be too short – it needs to be 55-60 days – that’s why those two grazing-date targets are so critical.
  • For every 1% a farm is below the 30% March 1 target, there will be 14kg DM/ha less grass in April over the whole farm. Grazing off old grass stimulates growth; therefore, you grow more grass.
  • The first rotation is likely to end later than usual, thereby reducing the number of grazings in the year and consequently overall yield.
• From now, farmers must be very proactive in achieving target covers on the key dates. The following is standard advice:
  • Every chance you get you must graze larger areas of ground than previously planned.
  • Ground conditions may seem poor but it is only by walking fields yourself will you really know. 
  • The early grazed (February) paddocks need 60 days to recover (this year they will only have less than 50 days).
  • The March paddocks will have 30-35 days before the next grazing and they need that.
• If you have not achieved the March 1 percentages grazed, decide on how you can rectify things? Some or all of the following options must be considered:
  • Graze off light covers so that you can graze some areas faster, because it takes longer to graze high covers.
  • Let cows out full-time. Only feed 1-2kg meal and definitely no silage for a few weeks in early March so as to graze more area.
  • Keep the meal for feeding in late March/early April because there is a strong possibility that grass will be tight in April.
  • Let out dry cows or bulling heifers to bring you to the 60+% target by mid-March – may seem drastic but in some situations, it may be necessary even with the first listed solutions.
• The first rotation should end between April 1-15 (later date on wet farms or northern farms).
• You will not run out of grass if you follow the spring rotation planner.
  • This is a fantastic tool to manage grass in springtime.
  • It’s available on PastureBase or through your adviser.
• As you only give a certain proportion (specific area) of the farm each day regardless of the amount of grass on it, you have to read the signs so as to make the correct decisions:
  • If there is a lot of grass on that area and cows are not grazing it out well, let cows out full-time, reduce the meals – don’t be afraid to only feed 1kg/day.
  • If they are ‘skinning’ the area and look empty or discontented, you must increase the meals or feed some high-quality silage as a last resort for a few days.
• Cows must be brought in off the field after 2-2.5 hours’ grazing.
  • If out longer, even on fine days on dry land, they will be walking around, eating very little and poaching the land – one of the big reasons for poor grass yields.
• Cows, when eating more than 8kg DM/hd/day, should be out twice per day.
  • Plan the day as follows: At 7am, milk and feed 1-2kg meal, let them out for two hours, bring them in at 11.30am-12pm, and leave them in cubicle shed with no feed, milk again at 2pm with 1-2kg meal, leave out on grass from 4-6pm, bring into cubicle shed for the remainder of night with a small amount of silage available.
  • If doing on-off grazing, all cows must be let out at same time (don’t let out directly from milking) otherwise some cows, particularly heifers and shy feeders will not be able to eat enough.
• If we get rain, uncommitted grass-grazing farmers will think grass can’t be grazed until April.
  • After all the rain in mid-February ground conditions will be difficult, therefore, fields with good grass covers dry out fast with a few fine days.
  • Pick the driest field and start now.
  • Alternatively, graze the front of paddocks, off the roadway.
  • Using the spring planner there is a weekly target area to be grazed, this can be achieved by grazing for two hours every day, if weather is fine, or it can be grazed by leaving cows out full-time for three to four fine days per week and not letting them out at all when wet.
• A quick reminder of the important grazing techniques necessary in wet weather.
  • You can’t afford serious poaching (you must do everything to avoid) because it results in soil compaction which results in poor grass yields for the remainder of the year.
  • Feed no silage where you have high grass covers.
  • Go for grass and meals only – adequate grass on its own will sustain 25-27L/cow/day.
  • This puts a ‘sharpness’ to their appetites when they go to grass in the morning at 11am.
  • Grazing from the back of paddocks either using cow walks or walking over the ‘good’ grass is vitally important (a practice not used often enough).
  • Let cows into paddocks through several entrances.
  • Regrowths and grazed ground must be protected at all costs from animals walking back over it.
  • Under no circumstances should you leave animals on paddocks when it is raining as they do nothing more than walking (most Irish farmers ignore this advice).
  • It may come as a surprise but some farmers are on average farm covers (AFCs) of 650kg/ha-850kg/ha. Why? You may ask. Simple. They closed last autumn with very low covers. What to do now to have adequate grass in April?
  • Because grazing stimulates grass to grow it is essential to have 35+% and 65% grazed by March 1 and March 15, respectively.
  • Ok, you will then have to slow down, probably grazing only once per day for two to three hours, feeding 4-5kg meal and silage.
• No question about it, silage ground on milking platform (MP) should be grazed twice on most farms before closing for silage, except very wet or late grass growing farms.
  • The silage yield will only be slightly reduced but this can be made up by delaying cutting by two to three days.
  • But more grass will have grown on a grazed silage field by the end of June than on a non-grazed silage field.
  • First-cut silage quality will be two to three DMD units higher and will be easier to preserve.

GRASS WON’T GROW WITHOUT NITROGEN!

• Firstly, it is a waste of money using N to grow grass on farms deficient in lime, potassium (P) or phosphorous (K), and using N at the wrong times. The result is they are not growing as much grass as they need or are capable of growing.
• For 2024, establish your stocking rate (organic nitrogen) and stay within recommended nitrogen limits:
  • At minimum, put on the recommended N quantities by the end of March – 60-70 units/acre including slurry.
  • As many farmers have very little N applied this year, you can see that by March 17 heavily stocked farms should have had 65-70 units/acre applied. If not, you will be short of grass in April.
• Protected urea must be the product of choice all year. Research at Teagasc, Johnstown Castle 2015-2021, has shown:
  • Fields on no N grow 60% less grass.
  • Protected urea grew 13% more grass than urea (except 2018 – a drought year).
  • CAN grew 9% more grass than urea,
• Once per month spreading must be practised because it is the only way you can justify and apply the lower recommended application rates.
  • It works very well.
    • Small reduction in grass yield (less than 3% in May/June).
  • Saves labour, no confusion over which paddocks got N the last day you spread.
  • We must maximise the nutrients in slurry.
  • Slurry must go on soils that are low in P and K – not constantly spread on MP (we will never improve water quality if we keep doing that!)
    • Contractors are now equipped to carry 20-30,000 gallons of slurry and spread on out-farms with the umbilical system at a small extra cost.
    • Spread 2,000-2,500 gallons/acre post-grazing in March and empty tanks in late March/April onto silage ground.
    • This approach will reduce N requirements.
  • Low stocked farms need no bagged N on grazing area when 3,000 gallons slurry per acre is applied in March. Save €€.
  • Silage fields should get 2,500 gallons of slurry and 70 units of protected urea per acres.
  • Allow one week between slurry, first, and N applications.
  • Apply P and K as required based on soil tests.
  • If P and K are low, apply three bags 18:6:12 per acre now on all the grazing area.

WORKING 85+ HOURS PER WEEK:

• Above represents the average hours worked in a recent week by the members of one of my discussion groups.
  • And 25% of them worked more than 100 hours while they averaged less than six hours sleep per night.
  • They averaged three nights (sleeping time) in the yard supervising calving.
  • That’s what you have to do in springtime if you are a dairy farmer!
  • I was telling that to some of my pub friends. Could they believe anyone would have to work so hard in this day and age? No. Madness they thought!
  • The good news is that it will be reducing after the first three weeks and it will be all over after six to seven weeks.
  • They were very interested in why it has to happen and the solutions to its reduction.
  • There are some very organised farmers getting by while working less hours/day/week. How?
  • The biggest problem is not having enough help.
  • And, even if they do, some farmers are completely unable to delegate.
  • Big time wasters are:
    • Sick cows – preventative action is critical so as to avoid ketosis, milk fever, mastitis etc.
    • Sick calves – again, it is all about prevention. Feeding high-quality colostrum, practising high levels of hygiene, having adequate, well-aerated housing, etc.
    • Pathogens in water seems to be an issue.
    • Weather was a huge factor tin February; there is no doubt but that having cows at grass for a few hours per day is a great relief.
    • Genotyping calves has added a bit extra hardship/frustration. Olly O’Gorman, recently at a Zoom session, outlined his ‘lazy man’s approach’ to dealing with the issue: “Like everyone, I send away the calf’s sample for genotyping. I subsequently log into the DAFM website to check when the calf is there with his mother, father and sex identified. I add the date of birth of the calf, press ‘Accept’. And cards are back within three days.”
  • A big worry is the lack of sleep and its effect on the farmers’ health. Family members must look out for those members who are working so hard and step in before something goes wrong. 

“GREAT TO SEE MALE WHITEHEADS IN THE PEN!”

• So said a very progressive dairy farmer of mine today! An amazing statement for a dairy farmer. Is he off his rocker? No!
• Three and a half weeks into calving and he has all his dairy heifer calf requirement and pens full of beef calves, Herefords, Angus and even Charolais.
• He has had many enquiries for his beef stock, which is very reassuring. 
• Having all his dairy replacements born so early means they will be easier reared and achieve target weights mainly from a grass diet. 
• There is only one breeding story from now on: use sexed semen on your best replacement heifers and cows to deliver the required number of dairy replacements.
• Use easy calving, high DBI beef bulls on all other cows and heifers.
• Because it will cost €95, not to mention the cost of synchronisation, to get a dairy sexed semen heifer calf on the ground it is essential not to use sexed semen on in-calf heifers or cows you may be selling next year:
  • Based on this year you won’t get paid for them!
• From now to the start of breeding take the following into account when choosing the most suitable cows:
  • Identify your best cows.
  • Of these, identify cows that did not have: a difficult calving, ketosis, acidosis, milk fever, withheld cleaning, had womb infection, got mastitis, had high SCC or any other health issue. Therefore, from now you must make a record of cows with these issues and not use for sexed semen.
  • They must be aged from one to four lactations and have high fertility genetics.
• Now is the time to order these straws – you will require 2.1 to 2.0 straws per heifer calf required.
• Suggested sexed semen bulls to consider – compiled by one of my discussion groups:
  • The first point to make is that they are equally as good as the non-sexed choices available.
  • I concentrate on B&W bulls but it is so obvious that anyone using Jersey must use sexed semen.
  • FR9259, FR9899 (Hfs), FR9016 (Hfs), FR8637, FR9256, FR8908(Hfs), FR6484 (Hfs), FR9151 (Hfs), FR7926 (Hfs), FR7890 (Hfs), FR8403 (Hfs), FR8244, FR6469, FR8893, FR6547.

APPLYING HERTZBERG’S MOTIVATORS TO FARMING:

• As herds get larger and the requirement for more staff increases on dairy farms, meeting staff’s needs and managing them in a job that now seriously competes with many other ‘quality’ jobs is one of the biggest, if not the biggest challenges, facing dairy farmers today.
• My thanks to a very good farmer – who did a webinar with Lee Astridge from No8HR in New Zealand –who derived great benefit from Hertzberg’s theories (Google it) for bringing this man’s theories on employees’ satisfaction to my attention. It has two dimensions:

Hygiene issues – these decrease an employee’s level of dissatisfaction with the job. They are:

• Relationship with peers – it is vital that the farm team works as a team
• Company policy – make your staff aware of your goals/expectations.
• Physical workplace – no doubt staff will, where they have choice, wish to work on attractive farms with good facilities. I know that relief milkers will always want to know many cows are milked and how many units are in the parlour. Who would want to milk 200 cows in a 10-unit parlour?
• Working conditions – staff now want:
• Accommodation provided – it is generally hard to get good accommodation locally in rural communities.
• Good office/canteen on farm to allow ‘personal space’, shower, change and dry clothes etc.
• Salary – good staff are worth a good salary; it is up to you to ‘help’ them overcome any deficiencies.
• Status – if a staff member has manager status treat them as such; if they have herdsman status, treat them as such, and so on. 
• Security – we all need security of tenure and need to feel secure in the fact that our faults will not be shared outside the farm gate.
• Supervision – discrete supervision/overseeing – no cameras or ‘trick-catch-me-out options’ – will have merit in helping staff overcome various challenges.
• Motivators make workers more productive, creative and committed to the job. 
• Achievement – by having to-do lists the employee can see, without the employer saying anything, that they completed a task and achieved something.
• Recognition – the employer must notice when an employee does a task to satisfaction both to the employee himself and, whenever, necessary, in from of his farm peers.
• Responsibility – we must give staff responsibility. 
• Tell them you:
• Rear the calves.
• Milk the cows.
• Measure the grass and upload on PastureBase.
• Do heat detection every day you are working, etc.
• This puts great onus on you, the manager, to train staff.
• If you are someone who won’t share responsibility, don’t employ someone who wants responsibility.
• Advancement – some staff will want to move on after a few years with you, so help him/her accordingly. If the staff member has a good experience on your farm, they will tell one person but if they have a bad experience they will tell five people. However, even though a staff member may appear ‘settled’ everyone wishes to advance him/herself. Therefore, involve them in as many decision-making aspects of the farm as is possible and provide training and recognition (introduce them to farm visitors/experts etc).
• Growth opportunities – with a lot of students working on farms as well as not-so-young, knowledgable farmers will always stimulate the educational side of the employees’ brain – unfortunately many dairy farmers are very deficient on this knowledge-aspect of farming!
• There are 13 ‘hygiene’ and ‘motivators’ factors listed. I challenge you to rate yourself as an employer by scoring each out of five. Therefore, to rate yourself as a great employer you would have to score 65; and if you only score 13, you have a lot to learn/do.

Bits and pieces

• Prevent tetany, because magnesium deficiency results in cow deaths, sub-clinical situations results in milk yield being reduced by over 20% for whole herd:
  • Feed the equivalent of 2oz/cow/day in meal (very convenient system) where meal is being fed. Co-ops should provide this level in 1.5-2kg meal.
  • Feed it through the water either, automatic system or five-gallon drum with a special dispenser.
  • Dust the pastures with magnesium at the rate of 5-6oz/cow/day. This works well and can be done while you are assessing farm cover in the paddock.
  • As calves at grass will thrive as well as those indoors and will have a lot less health problems while being easier to manage, let them out.
  • Why farmers don’t adopt this practice I’ll never understand.
  • Try to have fresh grass for them every three to five days by rotating them round small blocks of grass.
  • Feed hay or straw while at grass, as they need fibre (essential).
  • If the weather is wet and cold, farmers favour letting calves run back into a house but this can be dangerous unless it is well ventilated like a hay barn.
  • All they need outdoors is a dry lie and ground shelter because they spend a lot of time lying down.
  • There are several, cheap outdoor type shelter systems available.
  • Because calves are remaining longer on farms this year and health risks are greater this practice should be adopted.
• Lameness: It must be addressed now because it will adversely affect:
  • Milk yield and peak determines the annual yield.
  • Body condition – cows will lose weight.
  • Submission rates and conception rates – a disaster!
  • The cow’s longevity in the herd.
  • Get the Farm Relief Service to examine your herd.
• Bulling heifers (R2s):
  • Weigh them. They must NOW be 53% of your mature cows’ weight.
  • Let them out to grass soon, feed some meal if under target.
• Mastitis/high SCC:
  • Chronic cows should be culled – they will infect the whole herd
  • Make sure your milking machine and milking routine are up to scratch.
  • Record on ICBF all cases of clinical mastitis.
  • Mastitis adversely affects fertility.
  • Get your vet involved early to sort things out.
• Milk recording is an essential management tool – no excuses, do it:
  • You will know your high SCC cows.
  • You will be able to identify your best cows for breeding to dairy, others for beef AI, and others for culling (should be done now).

Thought for the month

Once the need for training has been established, you must set very clear training objectives and then plan how these are achieved!