It’s been a very up and down year on the grazing front, going from dry to wet and ample grass to a scarcity.

Be it a customisation of farmers to some wetter springs and the possibility of drought, one thing I have to highlight from the first half of the year is the can-do attitude of farmers; not once had I a farmer bemoaning the weather conditions or the poor growth.

Sure, they weren’t pleased when they had to house cows again in March and April, or when they had to go in with silage in June that might have only been baled a fortnight previous, but it was still largely positive all through spring and early summer.

Review

Now that we've entered July, it’s a good time to review the grass year so far.

Through Pasturebase Ireland, you can see what the farm has grown so far and the level of nutrients used to grow this grass and compare it with the same period last year.

So far, I’ve seen anywhere between 5t and 8.5t DM/ha of average farm tonnage recorded on farms.

While older pastures generally show their poorer growth at the shoulders of the year, the growth to date will still be a good indicator of how a paddock is set to perform for the entire year.

Seed in the ground

There is still time to get seed into the ground for most farms, although the week ahead wouldn’t be conducive to spraying or field work with between two and four times the normal rainfall for this time of the year forecast.

There shouldn’t be a major rush to get fields sprayed off and reseeded just because they are performing poorly. Remember, only 20% of land is optimum for P, K and pH.

These will not only limit growth on older paddocks, but reseeding poor-fertility soils will see good performance for the first two to three years, but a drop-off thereafter as the ryegrasses will struggle to remain with sub-optimal fertility.

The first step should always be to correct fertility, then reseed with high index grasses, clovers or multi-species mixes.