The majority of the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER farm participants housed all stock after the heavy rain over the past two weeks.
Most farmers found 2015 to be a mainly good year for grass growth, but not as good as 2014, which was a super year. Farms in the west of the country had mixed reviews, with high volumes of rainfall delaying turnout and, in cases, leading to rehousing on heavy soils.
On average, the BETTER farmers grew over 11t DM/ha of grass. The farms in the southwest grew the most at 13t DM/ha, followed by the farms in the northeast region at 10.9t DM/ha. Farms in the north-west grew slightly less grass at 10.38t DM/ha.
The strong growth rate in the southwest can be attributed to good grass-growing conditions in the important months of April, May and July, where temperatures were, on average, 1oC higher than other regions and rainfall was considerably lower.
The remaining regions found the months of March and April difficult because lower ground temperatures meant regrowth rates were slow. This affected second rotations and farmers really benefited from using their spring rotation planner to manage spring grass efficiently. Farms in the northwest received 47% more rainfall than farmers in the southeast. Most of this extra rain fell in February, March and April, making it more difficult for farmers in that region to turn cattle out to grass. Farmers in this region also had difficult conditions to contend with midsummer, with farms in the region receiving 38% more rain compared to other parts of the country.
It was a different story for farms in southeastern regions, where many farms suffered from moisture deficits from the lack of rainfall and very high daytime temperatures.
All regions benefited from a warm and dry autumn that helped farmers graze out paddocks tight in the final rotations. Silage quality results, on average, were good this year, with the average quality at 72 DMD.
Total average growth in 2015 was 11t DM/ha. High rainfall in the north-west made grazing difficult at times. Silage quality good at 72 DMD.93% of cows scanned in 2015 showed in-calf, up 3% compared to 2014. Donie Ahern
Kilteely, Co Limerick
I have recently received my silage results and was extremely pleased. I achieved 74 and 78 DMD for first-cut silage and baled silage made from paddocks. This will help reduce my winter meal bill and have finishing stock killed earlier.
I am killing stock on a weekly basis at the moment. They had a good year at grass and came in heavier than expected, leading to a shorter finishing period. Bulls are averaging 418kg carcase and heifers 345kg at 20 months. Bulls are fed 12kg of a finishing ration along with 12kg of silage plus 0.6kg of straw. The heifers are fed 8kg of ration along with 10kg of silage and 0.6kg of straw.
I will continue killing until the start of January. Cows are now weaned and are back at grass cleaning out dry paddocks. Scanning went well, with 57 out of 60 spring calvers in-calf. Weaned bulls and heifers are still out at grass and are fed 2kg of a 15% protein ration. They will be housed in the next fortnight once more housing is freed up.
Patrick Drohan
Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford
All cattle are now housed. I had a great year for grass growth, despite growth being slow to get going for the second rotation in April. My stocking rate increased to 2.0 LU/ha on the farm this year and, on average, I grew 10t of grass DM/ha across the whole farm (home block and out-farms) from March until late October.
According to my grass measuring programme (Pasturebase Ireland), my top-performing paddock grew 16.7t DM/ha and my poorest only grew 5.5t DM/ha during the year. I have reseeded about 35% of the farm since joining the BETTER Farm programme and I can see the benefits of the extra grass grown compared to the older swards. The reseeds had better spring and autumn grass growth and faster growth during the grazing season. I also got more grazings off them. I invested in more water drinkers this year and will purchase more in 2016 as they allowed me to set up different-size paddocks and help protect grass re-growths. I started closing paddocks for spring grass in mid-October. With the recent mild weather, I have good covers for getting cattle out to grass early next spring.
Des Beirne
Newtownforbes, Co Longford
Every Monday for the past nine months, I have spent three and a half hours walking my farm and measuring grass. I think it is the most important time I spend on the farm as it has allowed me to manage grass better. We turned out a group of light bulls on 10 February and they remained out. Cows turned out on 17 March and rehoused on 28 March due to heavy rainfall. All stock were turned out from 5 April as grass quantity increased.
Cows were rehoused again in May for 10 days. There was 6ha reseeded from mid-June to 20 August. This has been a huge component on our farm, with 80% of the home farm reseeded in the past three years.
The average grass yield across all the farms until 13 October was 13t DM/ha as the out-farms were closed and stock brought home on this date. However, total growth on the home farm up until 16 November was 16t DM/ha. The top-performing paddock grew 19.9t DM/ha on the home farm and the lowest grew 5.9t DM/ha on a very wet paddock on an out-farm. We intend to soil sample this December and make decisions for 2016 based on that.
Trevor Minion
Ballinteskin, Co. Wicklow
Overall, 2015 was a great year for grass growth and utilisation despite the slow start in the spring. My stocking rate was slightly higher this year and rose from 2.07 LU/ha in 2014 to 2.15 LU/ha in 2015. I do hope to increase it to 2.3 LU/ha.
From early spring, we measured grass growth on the farm each week to help budget grass at turn-out, to control pre-grazing sward height during the summer and to help plan closing paddocks in the back-end. This year, on average, we grew 12t DM/ha across the farm (silage ground and grazing ground) which is an increase of 0.5t DM/ha on 2014. Fertiliser was similar to 2014 so the increase is largely contributed to the weather as we didn’t dry up as much as in 2014.
I have reseeded a large proportion of the farm since joining the programme and I have integrated this with my tillage enterprise by rotating barley fields every one to two years. The reseeds are performing better than the older swards on the farm. Despite the farm growing 12t DM/ha this year, I really think there is more potential on the farm to grow another 2t DM/ha.
The majority of the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER farm participants housed all stock after the heavy rain over the past two weeks.
Most farmers found 2015 to be a mainly good year for grass growth, but not as good as 2014, which was a super year. Farms in the west of the country had mixed reviews, with high volumes of rainfall delaying turnout and, in cases, leading to rehousing on heavy soils.
On average, the BETTER farmers grew over 11t DM/ha of grass. The farms in the southwest grew the most at 13t DM/ha, followed by the farms in the northeast region at 10.9t DM/ha. Farms in the north-west grew slightly less grass at 10.38t DM/ha.
The strong growth rate in the southwest can be attributed to good grass-growing conditions in the important months of April, May and July, where temperatures were, on average, 1oC higher than other regions and rainfall was considerably lower.
The remaining regions found the months of March and April difficult because lower ground temperatures meant regrowth rates were slow. This affected second rotations and farmers really benefited from using their spring rotation planner to manage spring grass efficiently. Farms in the northwest received 47% more rainfall than farmers in the southeast. Most of this extra rain fell in February, March and April, making it more difficult for farmers in that region to turn cattle out to grass. Farmers in this region also had difficult conditions to contend with midsummer, with farms in the region receiving 38% more rain compared to other parts of the country.
It was a different story for farms in southeastern regions, where many farms suffered from moisture deficits from the lack of rainfall and very high daytime temperatures.
All regions benefited from a warm and dry autumn that helped farmers graze out paddocks tight in the final rotations. Silage quality results, on average, were good this year, with the average quality at 72 DMD.
Total average growth in 2015 was 11t DM/ha. High rainfall in the north-west made grazing difficult at times. Silage quality good at 72 DMD.93% of cows scanned in 2015 showed in-calf, up 3% compared to 2014. Donie Ahern
Kilteely, Co Limerick
I have recently received my silage results and was extremely pleased. I achieved 74 and 78 DMD for first-cut silage and baled silage made from paddocks. This will help reduce my winter meal bill and have finishing stock killed earlier.
I am killing stock on a weekly basis at the moment. They had a good year at grass and came in heavier than expected, leading to a shorter finishing period. Bulls are averaging 418kg carcase and heifers 345kg at 20 months. Bulls are fed 12kg of a finishing ration along with 12kg of silage plus 0.6kg of straw. The heifers are fed 8kg of ration along with 10kg of silage and 0.6kg of straw.
I will continue killing until the start of January. Cows are now weaned and are back at grass cleaning out dry paddocks. Scanning went well, with 57 out of 60 spring calvers in-calf. Weaned bulls and heifers are still out at grass and are fed 2kg of a 15% protein ration. They will be housed in the next fortnight once more housing is freed up.
Patrick Drohan
Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford
All cattle are now housed. I had a great year for grass growth, despite growth being slow to get going for the second rotation in April. My stocking rate increased to 2.0 LU/ha on the farm this year and, on average, I grew 10t of grass DM/ha across the whole farm (home block and out-farms) from March until late October.
According to my grass measuring programme (Pasturebase Ireland), my top-performing paddock grew 16.7t DM/ha and my poorest only grew 5.5t DM/ha during the year. I have reseeded about 35% of the farm since joining the BETTER Farm programme and I can see the benefits of the extra grass grown compared to the older swards. The reseeds had better spring and autumn grass growth and faster growth during the grazing season. I also got more grazings off them. I invested in more water drinkers this year and will purchase more in 2016 as they allowed me to set up different-size paddocks and help protect grass re-growths. I started closing paddocks for spring grass in mid-October. With the recent mild weather, I have good covers for getting cattle out to grass early next spring.
Des Beirne
Newtownforbes, Co Longford
Every Monday for the past nine months, I have spent three and a half hours walking my farm and measuring grass. I think it is the most important time I spend on the farm as it has allowed me to manage grass better. We turned out a group of light bulls on 10 February and they remained out. Cows turned out on 17 March and rehoused on 28 March due to heavy rainfall. All stock were turned out from 5 April as grass quantity increased.
Cows were rehoused again in May for 10 days. There was 6ha reseeded from mid-June to 20 August. This has been a huge component on our farm, with 80% of the home farm reseeded in the past three years.
The average grass yield across all the farms until 13 October was 13t DM/ha as the out-farms were closed and stock brought home on this date. However, total growth on the home farm up until 16 November was 16t DM/ha. The top-performing paddock grew 19.9t DM/ha on the home farm and the lowest grew 5.9t DM/ha on a very wet paddock on an out-farm. We intend to soil sample this December and make decisions for 2016 based on that.
Trevor Minion
Ballinteskin, Co. Wicklow
Overall, 2015 was a great year for grass growth and utilisation despite the slow start in the spring. My stocking rate was slightly higher this year and rose from 2.07 LU/ha in 2014 to 2.15 LU/ha in 2015. I do hope to increase it to 2.3 LU/ha.
From early spring, we measured grass growth on the farm each week to help budget grass at turn-out, to control pre-grazing sward height during the summer and to help plan closing paddocks in the back-end. This year, on average, we grew 12t DM/ha across the farm (silage ground and grazing ground) which is an increase of 0.5t DM/ha on 2014. Fertiliser was similar to 2014 so the increase is largely contributed to the weather as we didn’t dry up as much as in 2014.
I have reseeded a large proportion of the farm since joining the programme and I have integrated this with my tillage enterprise by rotating barley fields every one to two years. The reseeds are performing better than the older swards on the farm. Despite the farm growing 12t DM/ha this year, I really think there is more potential on the farm to grow another 2t DM/ha.
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