How to increase forage resilience

• Keep surplus stocks for winter

• Factor in risks to be shockproof

• Ensure feed strategy is timely

Forage should be top of the list for livestock farmers wanting to build resilience to insulate against shocks caused by climate change.

A dry spring and record-breaking June heat have again focused attention on the need for livestock systems to cope with extreme weather. Temperatures hit 33°C on 12 June – amid an ongoing challenge to grass production this season.

Farmers should prioritise robustness in their systems by matching stocking rates to production capacity and building buffers into winter forage budgets, says Mary McEvoy, technical director for grass specialists Germinal.

“We are more likely to experience summer droughts and wetter, milder autumns and winters. Homegrown protein will become increasingly important. It’s essential we factor these risks into our planning to help farms cope with the unexpected.”

Requirements

Based on a grassland utilisation of 85%, a dairy cow requires 5 tonnes of dry matter per hectare per year of grass and silage – on top of concentrates, says Dr McEvoy.

“Therefore, a farm producing 10.5t dry matter/ha can sustainably carry 1.7 cows/ha. To increase stocking rates to 2.1 cows/ha, the farm must produce over 14t DM/ha to meet demand and avoid excessive reliance on external inputs.”

Increasing stocking rates places a greater dependence on artificial nitrogen unless legumes are incorporated into grassland to fix nitrogen naturally, says Dr McEvoy, who also stresses the importance of timely winter feed planning.

A two-month surplus will help buffer against unpredictable weather. “Winter feed budgets must be calculated after second cut. If there’s a deficit, you still have time to plan for a third cut. The later you leave it, the fewer options you’ll have to address shortages.”

Red clover and multi-species

Dr McEvoy encourages farmers to utilise clover to maximise homegrown forage production and reduce emissions to help lessen the effects of climate change. Growing red clover with grass can help lower nitrogen requirements while producing high-quality forage, she says.

Research suggests red clover and grass can yield up to 15t DM/ha without fertiliser. But performance varies significantly by variety with AberClaret outperforming the lowest-yielding red clover variety by almost 4t DM/ha.

To enhance resilience, Dr McEvoy also recommended sowing white clover or multi-species leys on part of the grazing platform.

Trials at Germinal Horizon in Wiltshire revealed a grass-white clover mix or a six-species mix (two herbs, two legumes, and grasses) both significantly outperformed grass-only and more complex multispecies mixes.

Different species

Perennial ryegrass yielded 8.9t of dry matter per hectare on average over the four years. The addition of clover improved this to 11t DM/ha, while using a multi-species and herb mix produced 11.1t DM/ha, on average.

“The incorporation of different species contributes to growth at different stages of the year. Perennial ryegrass does well in the spring but slows down in challenging conditions compared to other species.”

Germinal sales manager William Fleming suggests farmers should have 20% of the grazing platform sown to multispecies leys with the rest made up of clover and perennial ryegrass. Mr Fleming offered guidance on selecting resilient species.

“While multispecies swards can be more difficult to manage, around 20% offers a good buffer when maintaining high-quality grass and clover swards on the rest of the platform.”

Control docks to get best from silage

Dry spring sees docks thrive

Dock populations are thriving this summer following the driest spring in over a century – and reducing silage palatability unless controlled.

Deep rooting ability allows docks to reach moisture – outcompeting grass in a way which can significantly reduce silage quality and nutrient value, says Dave Gurney, field technical manager for Corteva Agriscience.

“Effective dock management strategy is essential to maintain the productivity, palatability, and feed value of silage crops and of course to stop an existing presence getting worse each year.”

A 10% infestation of docks will lead to a 10% reduction in grass dry matter yield, says Mr Gurney – a direct correlation which will affect productivity and the bottom line in terms of enterprise profitability.

How to assess

A simple way to assess dock population is to count the number of docks in an area of 5m x 7m. If there are 10 plants, then the population is 10%, and so on. It’s a good idea to check five positions across a field in a W-shape and take the average result.

Spraying a selective herbicide with good translocation properties to ensure effective root kill is a recommended course of action, but it is important to understand the best practice guidelines which will help achieve optimal effects.

“The timing of herbicide application is crucial,” says Mr Gurney.

“You want to see active growth and have docks which are ideally dinner plate size or less. If docks are hammered by dock beetle, ravaged by ramularia discase or have started to produce a flowering stem then control is less than what it should be.”

Little foliage

Drier weather so far has caused docks to produce very little foliage and even the smallest of plants are going into the seed production growth stage, which will greatly reduce the amount of chemical translocated into the plant roots.

“A spray between silage cuts is an ideal application time. Following rain across most of the country, docks are re-emerging after cutting.”

With a typical cutting interval of around five weeks, a fast-acting herbicide is needed. It takes around three weeks for docks to grow to a suitable stage. This then leaves just two weeks for the chemical to be applied and for it to translocate to the roots of the docks.

Typically, silage fields contain straight grass, without clover, so new fast-acting selective herbicide, ProGrass will resonate. It has been launched this year and comes with a short cutting interval of just seven days, making it ideal for use between silage cuts.

Undesirable weeds

“ProGrass offers excellent translocation properties, works quickly and, apart from controlling docks, also tackles other undesirable weeds such as buttercups, dandelions and nettles.

“ProClova XL is another new selective herbicide for this year, and is clover-safe. If white or red clover are present then this is your best option. It has an impressive weed spectrum which includes docks, buttercups, dandelions, hogweed and cow parsley.”

ProClova XL is not as fast acting as ProGrass and requires a 21-day cutting interval following spraying. It favours warmer conditions where target weeds show active growth prior to seed heads being produced, says Mr Gurney.

“We have written Best Practice Guides for ProGrass and ProClova XL. These give guidance on how to achieve the best level of weed control.

“These are available via the Corteva website, and also via a new QR code on the product labels too.”