On Tuesday, Billy was a host farmer for the latest in a series of Teagasc grass walks.

Grass is the foundation of Billy’s enterprise and he is currently in the middle of closing his grazing ground for the winter.

Autumn management targets

There are a number of important targets for autumn grassland management:

  • Farm average grass cover should peak in mid-September (around 1,150 kg DM/ha on a farm stocked at 2.5LU).
  • Closing up of paddocks should begin in the first week of October.
  • 60% of the farm should be closed by 1 November.
  • Closing cover should be around 600kg DM/ha.

    • Hitting these figures will ensure a long grazing season, facilitating grass in the diet, both late in the back end and early in the spring.

    Grass in the shoulders – the figures

    Teagasc specialists Alan Dillon and Karen Dukelow presented some stark figures on grazing in the shoulders of the year.

    Each additional day at grass was worth an extra €1.80 to the farmer in the autumn and €2.70 in the spring.

    Karen Dukelow urged the crowd to think about investing in grass growth and utilisation before anything else on the farm.

    “If there’s money to spare this year, buy reels, troughs and fences – not jeeps. As beef farmers, our margins are tight – grass is our secret weapon. But we need to get better at growing and eating it.”

    Billy Glasheen is one of our Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER farmers. At the beginning of the programme four years ago, soil tests were taken and the switch to a paddock system begun.

    Lime and pH

    The crowd were told how trying to grow grass with insufficient lime was like trying to drive with the handbrake on.

    Billy’s soil pH (lime) was down at 5.8 – the target is 6.2-6.4. He spread 3t of lime per acre initially and 1t in 2016. His soil pH is now at 6.2.

    Correcting his soil pH has allowed Billy to grow a whopping 15t of grass DM/ha annually – over twice the production of the average beef farm. Implementing a paddock system with a short grazing period and frequent movements has allowed Billy to ramp up his stock numbers and eat all of this extra grass.

    “This year will be a relatively decent year for us because of what’s being done inside these walls. Beef price is frustrating this year, but by focusing on grass I can tip the balance in my favour – keeping as much of it in the diet as I can, keeping its quality good and pushing every hectare I have,” Billy said.

    Read more

    Watch: grazing 60% of a heavy farm by late October in Co Kildare

    Getting your soil pH right ‘won’t break the bank’