The east and south of the country are literally bursting with grass this week. Tuesday’s rain showers are releasing fertilizer and driving exceptional growth rates. Farmers who measured on Wednesday (yesterday) are reporting growth rates over 100kg/day.

Paddocks with a cover of 700kg last week are coming in at 1,300kg to 1,400kg this week.

While overall grazing conditions are good, farmers in the west of the country are reporting slower growth rates. The western coast reports slightly higher growth rates, but still not as high as in the east. Heavier farms on which first-round grazing was delayed, are again reporting reduced growth rates.

The range in grass growth rates is dependent on a number of factors: nitrogen, percentage grazed in February, heavy vs dry soil, percentage closed for silage and soil fertility.

The best growth rates are from dry farms that have 70 to 80 units of nitrogen spread per acre, with good P and K, that grazed a good percentage in February and March.

Many of the farmers I was talking to this week are pulling out paddocks for silage now with more confidence. Depending on the growth rate and weather next week, it could be round-baled or go in with first-cut silage.

Don’t let the growth burst impact on the graze out – keep the pressure on to graze out between 3.5cm and 4cm. Some farmers are using the growth rate to get a paddock or two reseeded.

Mid-Kerry has a cover of 1,400kg and measured 71kg of growth. He is stocked at 4.4 cows/ha and will start the second round of grazing this week. He has cut meal back from 3kg to 1.5kg.

He will have to take paddocks out as he has 310kg/cow when 170kg is enough in times like this. Our heavy farm in Mid-Clare reported a farm cover of 698kg (268kg/cow) and a growth rate of 33kg/day and he is only going into paddocks of 1,150kg, stocked at 2.6 cows/ha.

Milk is at 26 litres, at 3.54% protein and 3.71% fat, with feed cut out. The second round started on 16 April. South Tipp reported a growth of 55kg/day to match his demand of 58kg (SR 3.9 cows/ha) with cows out full-time and meal down to 2kg/day for Cal Mag. He will take more paddocks out for silage off the grazing platform.

SW Cork reports grass doing okay, but not exceptionally, with growth of 47 kg/day. They are reseeding a paddock this week. Farm cover is 580kg, stocked at 3.2 cows/ha (180kg/cow). They have 128 milkers on 39ha of grazing with cows on 2kg of meal and 17kg of grass.

STEVEN FITZGERALD, FARM MANAGER, Curtins Farm, Fermoy, Cork

Growth is 70kg/day this week and the farm has really warmed up. We had some rain Tuesday which helped push growth on further. Ground was getting dry but with the rain, and more forecast for the week ahead, conditions should be ideal. The farm cover is 685kg/ha and cover per cow is 160kg. The grazing area has been reduced by 40% for silage. This has pushed stocking rate up to 4.3 Lu/ha. I am happy that we can maintain this stocking rate with our demand at 62kg/day and growth at 70kg. Cows are on 24-hour grazing allocations and are getting a minimum amount of concentrates, 0.2kg/day. We are following cows with 27 units of Sulpha CAN per acre and the paddocks for silage have got 90 units of urea.

Breeding will start this Friday, 25 April. We will scan cows not cycling today (Wednesday) and deal with any issues that need clearing up before breeding commences. In general, cows are happy and in good condition (2.92 BCS), they are on good-quality grass and the weather is kind to them. Cows are milking 23.5 litres (1.92kg MS/day), at 3.44% protein, 4.5% fat and SCC 164,000.

DONAL PATTON, FARM MANAGER, Ballyhaise, Cavan

Growth hasn’t taken off here yet, with the growth rate at just 45kg/day this week. I expect it will improve because soil temperatures are at 12°C. The farm cover is 550kg/ha and the cover per cow is 180kg. I haven’t closed any paddocks for silage yet and I will wait until growth improves. Cows are allocated 15kg of grass and 2kg concentrates per day. They are entering covers of 1,200kg and are grazing them down to 4cm.

Ground conditions are excellent, you might even say a little hard, but the rain this week will change that. Ground that we have earmarked for silage, but not closed yet, has got 40 units of urea – this can be easily topped up if growth improves. We finished calving on 15 April and will start breeding on 1 May. We tail painted cows a month ago and will scan any cow that still has paint intact. We have weaned 25 out of 50 heifer calves. They will remain indoors for another week and are getting 1.5kg meal and hay. When the calves go outdoors we try to keep them on low covers and rotate them to reduce the worm burden. The herd are milking 25.1 litres at 4.27% fat and 3.5% protein (2kg MS/cow/day) and SCC is 205,000. We had a cow with mastitis during the week, our second case of the year.

Alan McCormack

Lacken, Ballina, Co Mayo

We got what you would call a squibble of rain Wednesday morning, but when the weather comes from the east around here we get Wexford and Wicklow type weather – mainly dry. It doesn’t happen too often, but for the last 10 days we’ve had it. While we had some 17°C days we’ve also had some days that still have a cold sting. Growth rates are better inland than by the coast. We measured 45kg today (Wednesday). Our average farm cover is 564kg (133kg/cow). We started grazing the second round grass on 10 April and are going into relatively light covers of around 1,100kg pre-grazing. This is a product of a difficult first round of grazing and thankfully it is dry now or we would be in right trouble. Rain this week will definitely drive on growth rates because fertilizer has been sitting on the ground for the last 10 days. We are still feeding 4kg of meal per cow because there still isn’t enough grass around the farm to take it down further. We started breeding the maiden heifers today and will start cows by the end of the week. We are sending in 25% more milk this week compared with this time last year. Our relatively young herd are milking 23.2kg/cow at 3.54% protein and 4.10% fat (1.8kg MS).

DANNY BERMINGHAM

DOONBEG, WEST CLARE

That drop of rain this morning (Wednesday) should really drive things on around here – we got 5ml. We only measured a growth of 29kg/day up to Tuesday. That leaves us with a farm cover of 634kg (241kg/cow). We are stocked at 2.6 LU/ha which means our demand is 42kg, which is still higher than the growth rate so we are still feeding 4.5kg/cow/day of meal. The cows are milking well at 30.1 litres, at 3.37% protein and 3.62% fat. We have 47% of the first round still to graze. Around here we got little or no grazing in February and March. We grazed by day on 2 April and day and night on 6 April. If growth rates take off I’ll take off the surplus as bales. Last year we took out 320 bales off the grazing platform – it’s all needed around here to build up silage stocks. I’ll be watching the weather every day from now on to make decisions. We spread urea on dry ground in mid-March and have been putting 1,600 gallons of watery slurry per acre after grazing. Silage is made on outside blocks and has been fertilized. I have to say the reseeded ground is growing well, but a lot of the grazing platform is still not reseeded or up to scratch on fertility, so we can’t expect the bumper growth rates. Breeding starts 1 May. We have 98 calved from 104 due to calve.