Average grass growth this week is 61kg per day, which is nearly 30kg above normal for the time of year. But these are average growth rates and there is a big regional variation, with heavy land in the west and north struggling to grow as the land is so waterlogged.

But for the most part, growth rates are exceptional, and average farm covers have caught up to the target peak without much effort. Average farm covers should be at around 1,200kg/ha now, or a little bit less depending on stocking rate and how suitable your farm is for extended grazing.

If you don’t have these covers now, you definitely won’t get to the target cover, as growth rates are bound to tail off soon.

Daylight hour utilisation

Daylight hours are decreasing sharply, and soil temperatures are dropping.

The big challenge now is utilisation. With such high covers on farms, getting these grazed will be a challenge on some of the heavier farms. The key is to use the tools available.

Strip wires are a necessity. Allocate grass in 12-hour segments and back fence after grazing. When ground conditions get too wet, move to lighter covers that will be easier to graze.

It’s still a bit early to be closing paddocks, but it’s no harm to be thinking about it. Ideally start closing paddocks from 10 October.

Those with a really high demand in spring, or very poor winter/spring growth characteristics will start to close sooner.

Remember: the first closed paddocks will have high covers on them next spring, so you want to make sure they are on dry fields with good access points.

The focus should always be on achieving good residuals, but this is extra important now. The rotation should be as slow as possible to carry as much grass into next month.

Shane Leane

Teagasc Curtins,

Co Cork

Stocking rate (cows/ha) 2.96

Growth rate (kg/day) 43

Average farm cover (kg/ha) 1,037

Yield (l/cow/day) 15

Fat % 5.47

Protein % 4.13

Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.48

Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2

Growth rate has dropped a good bit this week. We seem to have hit a stalemate, with many paddocks just sitting there. However, we’re happy with the farm cover, as it is more or less on target. The challenge now is to keep it, so we started feeding 2kg/cow of meal on Monday. Demand is now 44kg/day. Grass quality and clean-out is good. We scanned last week and empty rate after 11 weeks of breeding was 11%, which I am happy about. Six-week in-calf rate was 74%. We did AI for six weeks and then cleaned up with stock bulls.

Donal Patton

Teagasc Ballyhaise,

Co Cavan

Stocking rate (cows/ha) 2.78

Growth rate (kg/day) 54

Average farm cover (kg/ha) 1,108

Yield (l/cow/day) 13.8

Fat % 5.04

Protein % 3.95

Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.28

Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 1

Average farm cover is more or less where we want it to be, so I am happy enough.

The few dry days during the week gave us the opportunity to graze a few of the wet paddocks. They did a reasonably good job grazing them.

With a return to rain in the forecast we’ll probably graze these by day and go to drier paddocks at night.

We don’t want to let covers get too high on the wet paddocks. We did the final scan this week and got 10% empty, which is fairly good. Six-week in-calf rate is 75%.

Paddy O’Gorman

Clonmel,

Co Tipperary

Stocking rate (cows/ha) 2.55

Growth rate (kg/day) 76

Average farm cover (kg/ha) 1,211

Yield (l/cow/day) 16.8

Fat % 4.44

Protein % 3.91

Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.45

Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2

Grass has been jumping out of the ground for the past few weeks. My farm cover is a bit on the high side, and I was thinking about taking out a paddock for silage, but I decided against it. I think cutting a paddock now will make it grow nothing for the rest of the year.

Ground conditions are holding up very well, so it is making it easier to graze out the higher covers. I am happy with clean-outs. All the paddocks on the farm have been cut for silage at least once, some twice, so grass quality is reasonably good.

Ger O’Dwyer

Gurteen College,

Co Tipperary

Stocking rate (cows/ha) 2.1

Growth rate (kg/day) 38

Average farm cover (kg/ha) 973

Yield (l/cow/day) 20

Fat % 4.57

Protein % 3.77

Milk solids (kg/cow) –

Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2

We spread a half bag/acre of urea before the closing date for fertiliser spreading, so this should drive on growth for a while. Cows are on 2kg of meal to reduce demand. Cows are grazing covers of 1,500 and quality is good. We are in the middle of autumn calving with 41% of the herd having calved in the first 17 days. This is our last year of autumn calving. We scanned the spring-calving herd last week. After 12 weeks of breeding we had 6% empty and 76% are due to calve in the first six weeks, so I am happy enough with these results.

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Grass+: Growth good but feed value week