After another week of good weather, farmers in the south and in the east of the country are already starting to see a drop in growth rates and, with no rain forecast for at least another 10 days, the fears of drought are starting to come to mind.

According to Met Éireann, the criteria for a drought in Ireland is 15 consecutive days without rain. We’re nearly at that stage and farmers need to start prepping accordingly.

It’s important to point out that drought is not a concern for farmers in parts of the west, northwest and some midland areas. These farms are in a very different situation, with plenty of moisture and strong growth rates.

Management for these farms will be about keeping on top of quality by taking out surpluses, keeping demand up and aiming for an average farm cover of 170kg/cow.

For those farmers who are concerned about the lack of soil moisture, the first port of call should be to walk the farm and get an understanding of where average farm cover is currently.

Average farm cover will be more important than cover per cow in a dry spell.

If average farm cover drops below 550kg DM/ha, the farm will struggle to grow enough regardless of the cover per cow, and cows will be going into very light pre-grazing yields and getting through them too quickly.

To manage a low cover, extend rotation length to around 25 days and fill the gap in demand with supplement feed, as necessary. This will allow the farm to make use of the growth that’s still there to build up covers for later in the round.

Fertiliser

Speaking on this week’s Inside Dairy Podcast, John Maher of the Teagasc Grass10 team suggests only fertilising for the few days ahead. Once growth drops below 30kg/day, the benefit of spreading nitrogen is limited.

By only spreading enough for the next few days, the farm is not wasting nitrogen.

Potassium (K) is also a good fertiliser in times of drought as it helps the plant to regulate water movement and tolerate more stress.

Getting K out on low index soils over the next week will be of benefit should the dry weather continue.

Swardwatch

  • Farms on free-draining soils could be heading for drought conditions.
  • Assess farm cover and take actions now if cover is low.
  • Extending rotation length to 25 days and supplementing to fill the gap in demand is a good option.
  • Use K fertiliser and only spread nitrogen for the few days ahead of cows.

    • Farmers

    Richard Starrett – Lifford, Co Donegal

    The farm went through a mixed couple of weeks with a lot of rain, then it got very warm and dry, and back to rain again. Grass went a little yellow and quality wasn’t great but things have settled now. We should see growth lift into the 70s this week and cows are going into nice covers of 1,300kg DM/ha.

    We had been feeding 4.5kg of meal since the very warm weather two weeks ago as milk yield dropped by 2l/cow, but we’re cutting this back again gradually and should be feeding 2kg by the end of this week.

    The last of the second-cut silage is also finished this week. In terms of fertiliser, we’re following cows with 20 units of nitrogen/acre.

    Average farm cover (kg/ha) 555

    Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3

    Growth (kg/ha) 60

    Yield (l/cow) 22

    Fat (%) 4.45

    Protein (%) 3.94

    Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.9

    Concentrates (kg/cow) 3.25

    Gearoid Hinchion – Crookstown, Co Cork

    Looking at the figures, you’d say we’re in a good place in terms of grass, but the farm has started to get very dry. The paddocks ahead of cows are growing well, but those that were grazed in the last week are struggling now.

    Any ground that was cut for first-cut silage is still growing fairly well. The after-grass seems to have that kick in it compared to other paddocks where there’s a bit of stem. The cows have been getting 1kg of meal for over two weeks, but unless we get rain we’ll be upping this next week to reduce demand.

    Breeding is finishing up here next week and looking at the non-return rates on IBCF, it looks like it has gone very well for us.

    Average farm cover (kg/ha) 710

    Stocking rate (LU/ha) 183

    Growth (kg/ha) 71

    Yield (l/cow) 19

    Fat (%) 4.48

    Protein (%) 3.65

    Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.6

    Concentrates (kg/cow) 1

    Gerry McGuire – Horse and Jockey, Co Tipperary

    The farm is starting to get dry this week. Any paddocks recently grazed are struggling to grow. We’re lucky that we have a mix of some shallower free-draining soils and then some deeper soils, so we’re still able to grow grass on those deeper soils.

    Otherwise, the farm would be burning up. Cover is high at 220kg/cow as we decided not to take out three or four paddocks when there was no rain in the forecast.

    We extended rotation length to 25 days and cows are going into heavier covers of 1,700kg DM/ha, but this is the trade-off in order to have grass in the coming weeks. We’ve also stopped spreading nitrogen now on any drier paddocks.

    Average farm cover (kg/ha) 723

    Stocking rate (LU/ha) 3.29

    Growth (kg/ha) 77

    Yield (l/cow) 21

    Fat (%) 4.75

    Protein (%) 3.77

    Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.8

    Concentrates (kg/cow) 1.5