Deciding whether to irrigate in early Spring can be a very tricky decision. A (free) shower of rain could suddenly fix the soil moisture level, while a flood irrigation would saturate the soil. Risk management might suggest having a bet each way and flood irrigate only some paddocks. For the fixed … [Read more...]

Paddock 33 is being grazed now and at 62 days rested it has 3.5 leaves regrown at an average leaf appearance rate of 18 days. The grazing rest time has drifted out to 60 days because the current milker stocking rate is simply not high enough yet to eat out the paddocks more quickly. … [Read more...]

The milkers, 65 late lactation adult cows and 30 newly calved 2yr olds, are grazing quite laxly and the dry cows are cleaning up the after the milkers. The advantages of a dry cow clean-up are that the dry cows are being fed, and they can bring the residue down to an ideal level. If not carefully … [Read more...]