The Grass10 initiative is pushing producers to utilise 10t of grass dry matter per hectare annually and achieve 10 grazings per paddock in a given year.

Against a backdrop of howling wind and rain, attendees saw how David, a former BETTER beef farmer who operates on 42 relatively heavy hectares, was hitting these targets.

In 2012, he was utilising 5.5t of grass per hectare annually – around about what the average beef farmer gets today. His stocking rate then was 1.22LU/ha and he was getting five grazings per paddock.

Fast-forward to 2016 – David utilised over 10t of grass per hectare, achieved 11 grazings in some fields and is running a stocking rate of 2.6LU/ha.

“When they came to me at the start and told me I would be spreading fertiliser in January, putting cattle out in February and carrying twice as many stock, I didn’t believe them,” David said.

“Since 2012, I have made more paddock divisions, put in more drinkers and spread more lime, P and K. The paddocks and drinkers are a big investment – I spent around €2,500 at the time. But it’s done once and done right; it’ll last. The most important thing on a farm is the bottom line and mine has almost doubled since 2012.”

Discipline

David is targeting 60% of the farm grazed by St Patrick’s Day and 100% by the first week in April. At present, there is a healthy supply of grass on the farm. David was disciplined and began closing up paddocks in early October and there have been good growth levels over the winter.

While conditions were miserable on the day, David had already spread slurry and urea and planned to turn cattle – light yearling dairy-cross heifers – out on 10 February.

Teagasc specialists Deidre Hennessy and Alan Dillon encouraged tight grazing on the first rotation and to avoid really heavy grass covers (>10cm) with the younger stock that go out first. The idea of on-off grazing was also floated.

“Grazing tight will ensure pure leaf next time around. Young stock aren’t the best grazers, so put them into lighter covers (6-8cm) when they go out first. Save the heavy ones for when conditions improve and the cows – who’re much better grazers – will be able to clean them out,” said Deirdre.

Get more advice from Deirdre on getting the 2017 grazing seasons started on your farm in our podcast below:

“The research says that when cows are let out, the head goes down for three hours (grazing) and they walk around after that. If things get really wet, consider letting cows out in three-hour allocations. I know it seems like a thing for a dairy farmers to do, but at the end of the day we are all grass farmers and should be managing it the same way. The changing between silage and grass diets won’t be an issue provided it isn’t a long-term thing,” Dillon said.

Part of David’s success can be attributed to the fact that half of the farm has been reseeded since 2012 and perennial ryegrass now dominates his swards. Listen to Dr Deidre Hennessey outline the benefits of perennial ryegrass below.

Listen to "Spring grass advice from Teagasc's Deirdre Hennessy" on Spreaker.

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No shortage of grass on the west coast