SPRING GRASS - 2006

It never ceases to amaze how one spring season differs to another and the old adage is still applicable in so much as it will always be farmers versus the weather. Just when there was a need to bring some relief from the silage pit with an early turnout the grass simply refused to grow and the exchange of grass silage has gone on for a long time. At one point in the middle of April we were sure we all wondered when the growing season was going to burst into life, well by the time your reading this item it will have certainly changed for the good and mother nature is once again on the move.

The grass is different this year and we don't mean that it has changed colour to blue or yellow, it is different in nature as a result of a cold first three months of this year, there has been little carry over of winter growth upon grazing pastures and that which is growing at present is the best of spring grass that can be grown. This has very much shown in evidence when turning out those low yielding cows, they have responded and flushed up with milk with the responding comment amongst many that they are milking off their heads.

It is always good to feel the flow of a lot of low cost milk coming from grass at this time of the year and so it should, as this is usually the time of year when it presents the best performance value. It certainly wants getting after where ground conditions permit and the intention must be to maximise intakes and extract as many litres as possible. However, have you walked your early grazing pasture to examine how productive they are likely to be this time, there has been some winter kill which we have not seen for a year or two and the leatherjackets have had a productive winter.

A detailed examination of your grass is a must this season as some grazing pastures are less than 70% productive with little depth in the bottom of the sward for the dairy cow to obtain a decent bite size of grass. If we put this in the context of trying to obtain 20 litres from grazed grass then the true value could be worth considerably less than this targeted figure.

We at GP Feeds certainly wish to play our part to help you to maintain the health status of your dairy herd with our quality products for quality production, the energy status of your dairy cow at grass is all important and that is why at this time of the year we do promote strongly our complimentary fat supplements as we do understand the importance of taking measures to maintain good butterfat quality at this time of the year.