Looking back, 2019 was a good year for grass in Ireland. At the start of the year, two new courses in grassland management were launched. The Irish Farmers Journal and Teagasc both launched courses in grassland management. Over 70 farmers enrolled in the Irish Farmers Journal 10-day course and 48, or 69%, of these farmers completed more than 25 measurements on PastureBase Ireland over the course of the year. A much higher number, 620, enrolled in Teagasc courses and 190, or 31%, completed more than 25 measurements on PastureBase. Both courses are running again for 2020.

The area that is recording the highest growth rate is east Leinster, covering counties Kildare, Laois, Louth, Meath and Dublin

In terms of grass growth, it was a reasonably good year. The back end of 2018 and the start of 2019 were notable for being exceptionally mild and dry, with the result that most farmers started the grazing year with much more grass than normal. This, combined with exceptional weather in February and late March, meant many herds were able to go out and stay out. While the first two weeks of March were wet, the last two weeks were very warm and dry – some farmers even made it to the beach in March.

Stephen Connolly.

The reasonably good weather continued into the summer and grass growth was good in most parts. Some farms, particularly in the south and east, were beginning to get dry, with growth rates pinched in June and July. However, any soil moisture deficits were short-lived and miniscule compared with the bad drought in 2018.

It wasn’t until autumn that most farmers began to experience problems with the weather and grass utilisation. The west experienced the worst of the August weather. Athenry meteorological station recorded almost 300mm of rain for the month, which is 2.75 times its long-term average. The west didn’t fare any better in September, it being another wet month. Athenry recorded 185mm for September, while Moorepark recorded only 71.5mm.

All of this rain made grazing conditions difficult. Grass growth and grass utilisation decreased, meaning cows went through covers faster. For many farmers in the west, it was a repeat of the good spring and summer of 2017, but very bad back-end to the year. For farmers in the south and east of the country the weather was considerably better and was considered to be normal, as opposed to extraordinary for one reason or another.

Growth rates

Looking at the data from PastureBase Ireland, average grass growth rates on dairy farms that recorded more than 30 measurements was 13.6t/ha. This is 2.6t/ha higher than 2018 (bad drought) but back on 2017 levels of 14.35t/ha.

The reduction in grass growth between the two years can be partially explained by the fact that the two years’ data is not a matched sample and there are considerably more farmers measuring grass and recording covers in PastureBase in 2019, compared with 2017.

There are now 4,000 farmers using PastureBase. However, most of these are inputting fewer than five covers per year, which is pitiful.

Almost 1,200 farmers are measuring and inputting more than 20 covers per year. When you consider that the best farmers record more than 40 measures per year on PastureBase, it’s apparent that there is a huge gulf between farmers who are managing grass and those who are observing grass from the sidelines.

A presentation at the grass management course on a farm in Offaly.

Of the 13.6t/ha grown in 2019, 11.37t/ha was grazed by cows, while 2.23t/ha was cut for silage. The average number of grazings were 7.2 in the year, while the average number of silage cuts were 0.7. This means that if there were 10 paddocks on the farm, seven of them were cut for silage at one point during the year.

There is a big difference in growth rates between the regions. The area that is recording the highest growth rate is east Leinster, covering counties Kildare, Laois, Louth, Meath and Dublin. This region grew an average of 14.28t/ha in 2019. The region with the lowest growth rate was Mayo at 12.55t/ha. Cork, Tipperary, Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny recorded growth rates close to the national average at around 13.6t/ha.

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