Grassland management: There are significant regional differences in grass supplies on farms. Farms missing out on rain at the weekend or farming on light or sandy soils have seen grass growth rates drop to between 20kg and 30kg DM/ha, or even lower. The greatest issues are on highly-stocked farms in the east and south. Temporary changes to farming practices should be made to ensure performance is not affected in priority stock. Finishing lambs and breeding ewes below optimum condition should be given access to the best quality grass.

If supply and quality is an issue (grass heading out early or stemmy swards), meal supplementation can be temporarily introduced to lambs to maintain high levels of animal performance, or demand can be reduced by taking advantage of a strong cull ewe/store lamb trade. Ewes in good body condition (BCS 3.5+) can be tightened up and used to graze after lambs or temporarily supplemented with hay or silage if grass supplies are particularly tight. Once rain comes, spreading fertilizer will help to boost growth rates and also improve grass quality.

On farms with sufficient grass supplies, management practices should be focused on promoting high quality grass regrowth. Grazing ewes after lambs and grazing down swards to a height of 4cm will promote high quality regrowth. On lowly stocked farms, topping can be used to achieve similar results. Spreading a small volume of fertilizer, even 10 units to 15 units per acre, will also help to maintain grass quality.

Drafting lambs: While processors report lambs generally killing favourably, there are differences in carcase weights achieved from lambs at similar liveweight. Lambs should be assessed on a combination of weight and fat cover. Weaned lambs are generally killing out from 44% to 46%. Lambs lacking flesh can kill anywhere from 1% to 3% lower, depending on fat cover. Also, take into account ewe and wether lambs will also kill-out 1% to 2% higher than ram lambs with young meal-fed lambs or lambs grazing forage crops also killing out at 46% to 47%.

Reseeding: In this week’s Focus supplement, Philip Creighton gives an overview of reseeding currently underway in the Athenry demo flocks. With the cost of reseeding ranging from €250/acre to in excess of €300 /acre it is important that plans are put in place to ensure a good take and establishment of an even sward.

Soil fertility is vital in establishment and the persistency of perennial rye grass. Analysis of soil fertility trends by Teagasc in Johnstown Castle show a sharp fall in soil phosphorus and potassium levels and a reduction in soil pH in recent years. Getting your soil analysed is a small cost in terms of the overall investment, but it can have a huge impact on its success.

Post-emergence weed control and monitoring pest attack are also major risk factors that can threaten the success of a reseed. Undertaking reseeding in the next few weeks, as opposed to delaying it until September, will also increase the chances of a good take, while also offering an opportunity to get one to two grazings in before closing.