At two different discussion group meetings last week, the majority of the conversation unsurprisingly centred on managing the ongoing drought.

The two groups were based in Munster and Leinster but member farms covered a wide geographical spread from west-Cork up to mid-Leinster.

The situation on each farm is different at the moment with some farms receiving plenty of rain over the last two weeks and others having got little to no rain since the beginning of July.

As a result, there are essentially three different groups of farms; those who are back growing grass and building cover, those who are green but not growing well and then, there are those worst-affected farms that are crying out for rain.

The following ten questions cropped up in both meetings.

1. When can I start spreading fertiliser?

Farms in the West and Northwest that have gotten plenty of rain over the last month and where growth rates are greater than 40kg DM/ha, can spread fertiliser as normal, going with 25kg/ha of nitrogen per round.

For farms that have gotten smaller amounts of rain in the past three weeks and where grass has greened up but growth rates are low, caution is needed with fertiliser.

Where grass growth is currently between 25kg and 40 kg/day, and SMD is around 50mm, a single application of 20kg N/ha should be planned for this week to boost grass growth over the next month. While the immediate response to nitrogen applied will be lower than under normal conditions, green paddocks will respond to nitrogen. Protected nitrogen products will be stable in the soil when more rain falls in the coming weeks so are a very good option for farms.

On very dry farms that have received minimal rain, with grass growth below 25kg/day and SMD over 75mm, continue to delay nitrogen application as moisture is restricting growth. No fertiliser should be applied in these conditions until a minimum of 10 days after significant rainfall.

2. Should I go with one round or two rounds of nitrogen before the deadline?

Any farms that are growing well, or those farms that are green and growing again can look to go with two applications of nitrogen.

One spread this week and a second spread before the deadline on 15 September. If splitting the applications in two, each application of nitrogen should be no more than 20kg N/ha.

If the farm is still too dry to spread, hold off for one application prior to the deadline. It’s important not to try and compensate for lost applications here. Spreading more big quanities just to get it out would be wasteful and detrimental for water quality.

3. Can I spread lime now?

Now is actually a good time to spread lime. Most farms are on long rotations and this provides a good window of opportunity to catch up on lime applications.

Rain is forecast and lime spread over the coming weeks will be washed in quickly. Recently grazed paddocks should be targeted now as they likely won’t be grazed for at least another month.

Application rates of lime will depend on soil test pH levels. If the pH of paddocks is below 6.3, 2t/acre of lime should be spread.

4. What about P and K?

Potassium (K) is an important nutrient in regulating water movement in the grass plant. As rain arrives, K will therefore play an important role in the coming weeks.

Some farms will also have an allocation of phosphorus (P) left. The benefits of P at this time of year are limited enough.

A compound of N and K could be the best option.

5. I have a lot of slurry on the farm, how should I manage this?

As many farms have been feeding cows in yards over the past month, slurry stores are starting to fill up.

Several farmers have discussed the idea of diluting down this slurry to dirty water. This is another good option to get compound nutrients out but rain is required to do so.

Even dilute slurry can be thick and unless there are a few days of rain, it will lie on the surface of the paddocks.

It’s difficult to put much faith in rain forecasts at the moment so waiting until rain falls is the safest bet.

6. How long should I set my grazing rotation for?

On farms growing normal levels of grass, rotation length should be extended to 30 days in order to build farm cover towards 1,000kg DM/ha by mid-September.

On those farms where growth is still low, rotation length should be between 30 and 40 days.

As rain arrives this is when the handbrake should really come up.

Rotation could be extended further to 50 days meaning cows are grazing just one-fiftieth of the farm each day.

This is the New Zealand approach to dealing with a drought.

The basis for stretching rotation that long is to allow farm cover to build quickly.

The alternative is to keep rotation length around 35 days for the remainder of the year, allocating one-thirty-fifth of the farm each day and feeding the gap in demand with supplement.

Either way, there is likely going to be some additional supplement feed in the diet through to housing.

The advantage of stretching rotation to 50 days for a couple of weeks post-rainfall is that farms will take advantage of potentially better growing conditions in September and early October.

7. Should I be culling cows now?

Any farm that is not growing well and tight on winter feed should be culling empty, high SCC and other problem cows now.

Doing a scan and dropping 10% of the grazing herd will allow cover to build a lot quicker and reduce the amount of supplement feed required in October and November.

If there is silage available, cull cows can be housed, fed on silage and milked once-a-day to put on condition.

If there are any concerns about winter feed reserves, these cows should be sold as soon as possible.

8. Is it better to feed cows inside or outside?

Feeding cows in a paddock had been the best option but with heavy rain now falling in places, paddocks are likely to get dirty quickly and cows are better off eating inside.

As most cows are only getting into eat in the shed or yard for three to four hours before milking, splitting the herd maybe necessary from a feed space point of view.

When feed space is tight, younger animals tend to get bullied, making it difficult to meet their intake requirements.

In that scenario, two groups of cows being rotated will allow all animals to feed. There’s more work involved but younger and lighter cows will benefit.

9. If I’m short on winter feed, what should I do now?

Take a farm that’s essentially been feeding a winter diet over the last six weeks and are now going to be short 20% to 30% of their winter feed requirement.

The first option is to start culling cows that were planned for culling later in the year. The second option is to offload youngstock. This could mean sending heifers to a B and B for the winter or to contract rearers.

Replacing silage with other feeds like native grains, palm kernel or maize is also an option but most farms are already doing this.

If all of these options have been explored and there is still going to be a shortage, it’s time to start looking for silage elsewhere.

There is a lot of silage and hay available in the west and northwest of the country.

Farms should be putting a plan in place now to acquire silage. Good quality hay might also be an option for dry cow feed later in the year.

10. How does my herd performance compare to others?

Despite the current conditions, it seems cows are still milking relatively well on farms. Across both discussion groups, average solids performance was around 1.7kg MS/cow each day.

This is back around 0.1 to 0.2kg MS/day on the same time last year. Year-to-date milk solids production figures are back around 15kg to 20kg/cow.

Last year was a particularly good year however, and compared to the five-year average, production in 2026 is actually running in line.