Farmers around the country are reporting reduced growth rates with the continued dry period. In the east, growth rates have nose-dived and meal and silage are being fed to buffer grass supplies to help try and meet the autumn targets of an average farm cover of 1,000kg DM/ha.

Met Éireann are forecasting a risk of heavy showers across the country this weekend. If those heavy showers do come, they will be a welcome relief to the dry farms that have been struggling with the weather over a number of weeks now.

In the meantime, to deal with reduced growth rates farmers are feeding concentrates in the parlour and silage out in the ring-feeders in the paddocks.

On the bright side, grass utilisation is excellent for this time of year and cows are grazing down paddocks tight, which will mean excellent quality regrowths when the rain does come.

Heavier farms are really benefitting from this weather and growth rates are still strong on these soils. Farmers with these heavier farms should take this chance to graze their wettest paddocks now, especially ones with strong covers of >2,000kg DM/ha and hold off on the drier ones which can be grazed if conditions change.

Our farmer in south Wexford reports that the signs of drought are becoming obvious now, but it is not really affecting him because he has a low stocking rate.

His average farm cover is 900kg DM/ha (400kg/LU). His growth rate is 45kg DM/ha/day. Cows are producing 18.3kg of milk at 4.14% fat and 4.03% protein (1.49kg MS).

In mid-Clare, our farmer has a strong growth rate of 62kg DM/ha/day and his demand is 42kg DM/ha/day, so he is building grass. His average farm cover is 973kg DM/ha (308kg DM/LU). Cows are entering high pre-grazing covers of 2,200kg DM/ha at the moment. He is feeding 1kg of meal and they are producing milk at 4.21% fat and 3.67% protein.

Our farmer in mid-Kerry has found growth has come back this week to 42kg DM/ha/day, from the 73kg DM/ha/day he got last week. His average farm cover is 1,201kg DM/ha (420Kg DM/LU). His rotation length is on target at 31 days and cows are entering pre-grazing covers of 1,890kg DM/ha. He is also all set for Sunday’s big game.

STEVEN FITZGERALD, farm manager, TEAGASC CURTIN’S RESEARCH FARM

The dry spell is really taking effect here in Fermoy and we are putting more measures in place now to make sure we meet the targets set. We have a growth rate of 44kg DM/ha/day and a demand of 43kg DM/ha/day, even with 3kg of concentrates in the diet. Our average farm cover is 868kg DM/ha (293kg DM/LU), but this should be closer to 1,000kg DM/ha now. To correct this, we will start feeding 5kg of silage per cow as well as 3kg of concentrates. This will help to reduce cow demand down closer to 20kg DM/ha and should allow us to meet our target of 1,000kg DM/ha by 1 October. We finished up spreading chemical nitrogen last week and spread a total of 248kg during the year. Grass quality is excellent, with a dry matter of 20%. The plan now is to hold tight to a rotation length of 35 days, because if we don’t, we will run into shortages later on in the year. As mentioned last week, the reseed is back in the rotation, bringing the stocking rate back to 2.9 LU/ha. We will give the reseeded paddocks another light grazing next week to encourage the grass to tiller. Cows are producing 15.5 litres at 4.97% fat, 4.11% protein (1.45kg MS), 4.56% lactose and 159 SCC.

DONAL PATTON, FARM MANAGER, BALLYHAISE RESEARCH FARM

Growth rates are still going strong, but they’re down a little on last week. This week, we recorded a growth rate of 57kg DM/ha/day and demand is 44kg DM/ha/day. The dry weather is just now becoming noticeable on the drier paddocks. The average farm cover is 930kg DM/ha, which is below this week’s target of 950kg DM/ha, so we have decided to feed 2kg concentrates to help meet targets. Soil temperatures are still quite high at 16°C, which is very good for this time of year. We got the wet paddocks that are usually prone to flooding grazed off last week and now we have gone back to the proper rotation where pre-grazing yields are high at 2,000kg DM/ha. To make sure these covers are grazed down properly, we have the paddocks split up into 12-hour allocations and are grazing them down to 4.2cm. Grass dry matter is 16%. Rotation length is at 36 days and will increase by two to three days per week, up to a maximum of 45 days by next month. Cows are milking 14.75 litres at 4.81% fat, 3.85% protein (1.32kg MS) and 169 SCC. We are planning on scanning cows and heifers this Friday. We will condition-score thin cows and dry off any thin cows together with cows that have dropped off production-wise.

John Payne, Moydow,

Co Longford

Last week, our growth rate was very strong at 77kg DM/ha/day, I will do another grass walk again today and I expect it to still be strong. Our average farm cover was high last week at 1,100kg DM/ha, so we took the decision to cut two more paddocks for baled silage since conditions were good. This brought the AFC back to 950kg DM/ha which is preferable for this time of year, I don’t want cows going into too high covers in October and not grazing them out properly. Cows are entering good pre-grazing yields of 1,800kg DM/ha. We have about 650 bales made from paddocks at home, while the pit silage was made from an outside block. This year we are milking 190 cows and we plan on increasing this number to 240-250 next year. To make sure we have enough grass for all these cows, we have leased more ground, reseeded paddocks and are constantly working on improving soil fertility across the whole farm. This week, we are spreading 2t of lime per acre on paddocks and hopefully next spring we will see a result. The land got lime over 18 months ago. Scanning went well, with just 5% empty and just seven due to calve in May after a 13-week breeding season. Cows are getting 0.5kg concentrates and are milking 15 litres at 4.5% fat, 3.9% protein (1.29kg MS) and 80 SCC.

Seamus Ryan, Knockmore,

Co Carlow

The drought conditions are kicking in here in Carlow. Growth rates have slipped back from last week’s 56kg DM/ha/day to 46kg DM/ha/day this week. We haven’t got any rain in a month now and only for the heavy rain in August we would be in trouble. I have a mixture of land types, with part of my land on a south-facing hill that is 1,000m above sea level, while some land is lower-lying reclaimed bog that has performed very well this year. I have been fortunate here all summer, in that I got rain at the right time to help maintain growth. I got plenty of silage made for the winter and I haven’t had to feed concentrates since 5 June. My average farm cover is 904kg DM/ha (369kg DM/LU). Hopefully, if the rain comes, I will be on track for an AFC of over 1,000kg DM/ha by early October. Cows are stocked at 2.3LU/ha and have to walk 1km to one third of the grazing block. We spread a bag of CAN across the entire grazing block last Saturday, 13 September and this should help boost growth rates when the rain comes. Cows are milking 18.75 litres at 4.66% fat, 3.97% protein (1.66kg MS) and 146 SCC. The heifers are on an out-block and will be scanned when they come back for the winter. They seemed to have performed well over the summer, so hopefully the majority will turn out in calf.