Rain still isn’t falling where it needs to, unfortunately for farmers worst hit by the drought.

Met Eireann data shows that just 3.4mm of rain fell in Johnstown Castle, 4.5mm in Oak Park and a mere 1.6mm in Roches Point fell over the last week, representing 18%, 28% and 8% of the norm for the time of the year in these respective weather stations.

PastureBase Ireland data shows that in areas such as this, 50% of feed going into dairy cows is in the form of supplementation.

For some farmers, cows are on a full winter diet with no grass in due to the entire farm being burnt up.

Average growth figures over the week hide a lot of info. At a national average of 37kg DM/ha, the situation would appear to be not all that bad, but with Mayo recording a growth of 75kg DM/ha and Wicklow recording just 4kg DM/ha, the variance is huge.

A more mixed weekend is promised, with this continuing into next week, so hopefully some respite will come to these farmers.

The advice regarding fertiliser remains the same – wait until adequate rainfall has fallen and then spread seven to 10 days after. For many farms, it may not be necessary to spread any nitrogen at all, with mineralisation occurring once ground finally gets rainfall.

Nitrates poisoning

There is also significant danger with high nitrates grasses rapidly growing in the form of nitrates poisoning and grass tetany.

Caution needs to be urged that cattle do not gorge themselves on grass when turned into a paddock, with nitrates poisoning particularly prevalent in clover-rich paddocks, with the recent warm weather having suited clover.

A buffer of hay or drier silage will help slow down the rotation, while keeping cattle in check for the above issues.