We report on the latest results from the on-farm grass variety evaluations. The results from the first four years show that there is a big variation in the performance of grass varieties out on farms. When looking at the three most important traits – grass growth, grass quality and number of grazings – only about half of the 11 varieties performed to acceptable levels in all three areas. Having results from on-farm performance is a real step forward.

Despite all the time and work in getting a variety approved and on a recommended list, half of them still performed poorly on farms. While plant breeders need to wake up to the importance of the new on-farm traits, farmers should only be using the best varieties too. While there are differences between the ploidy groups, in general, tetraploids are outperforming diploids in all the important areas. We are at the point where tetraploids should be considered on all soil types, and tetraploids plus clover on all relatively dry soils for that added turbo boost.

'A reseed has to work twice as hard' – but farmers can help

Ideal conditions for land improvement in Tyrone

Dairy management: breeding

Dairy management: caring for calves

Dairy management: grass varieties

Now that a lot of farms are approaching, or gone past, the three week stage of breeding, the number of cows bulling per day should decline sharply.