Last week saw upwards of 70kg DM/ha/day of grass growth and the general consensus is that yield is near on par with last year’s first crop. Speaking with contractors, it is clear that farmers are starting to get restless.

Many had booked in advance, knowing everyone always wants to cut at the same time.

“Yields seem slightly variable, but most are surprised with how much there is. Quality is good and the fine weather to date will mean a lot of work for this weekend and next week,” said Roger Perry, agricultural contractor, Athy, Co Kildare.

“Near on 15% of the first crop is done,” explained John O’Flynn, a contractor from Mallow, Co Cork.

“Yields are good but fierce green, so farmers are tending to leave it down for a day,” O’Flynn added.

Martin Fleming, a contractor from Co Galway, said: “We started mowing Friday, a bit slower coming but around 1,000 bales done now. Yields are near on par with most other years. We’re hitting about seven or eight bales to the acre.”

While yields are good on the ground, what way is the quality?

The Irish Farmers Journal spoke to Martina Harrington of Teagasc in Enniscorthy on the results of the grass tests being done over the last week.

“Last week saw excellent sugars touching on 4.5%. This weekend the sugars dropped, which we think is due to the huge burst of growth at the end of last week, as well as the warmer nights. Sugars started to pick back up again on Tuesday with the warmer day.

“Overall, we aren’t seeing much sign of nitrogen in the grass, even on ground spread with slurry in late March and fertiliser during the first or second week of April. Generally, farmers didn’t seem to use as much nitrogen this year – back to probably 80/90 units.”

The dew in the morning also accumulates to almost a tonne of water per acre, this will lead to a longer drying-out period and is also harder on machinery.

Farmers are advised, for this reason, to cut in the afternoon, if possible, to achieve a higher DM silage with increased sugars.