The last week has been pretty dire weather wise, with

It’s important to draw the line between what is acceptable and what is not acceptable damage. The reward for getting cows out is high, but in this weather the risk of damage is high also.

February seems to have flown by. Most will have missed their target of grazing 30% of the farm.

With a lot of grass around and excellent re-growths it is safe to say that most farms should be in a position to drive on grazing when ground conditions do improve.

The weather forecast for the weekend isn’t great, with a continuation of the current weather pattern.

Remember the tools that are available to us, on/off grazing, back fencing, walking cows in single file and not grazing when it is raining.

Shane Leane

Teagasc Curtins,

Co Cork

Stocking rate (cows/ha) 2.96

Growth rate (kg/day) 22

Average farm cover (kg/ha) 978

Yield (l/cow/day) 21.2

Fat % 5.17

Protein % 3.58

Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.91

Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 2

The weather has been poor enough over the past week, but we are still out grazing fulltime.

Some damage is being done but it’s minimal. If it rains heavily at night I will bring them in, but so far I’ve only had to bring them in five times this spring.

Cows are grazing a cover of 1,700kg. We have 28% of the farm grazed and 77% of the herd calved. We spread slurry on 20% of the farm last week. The plan is to spread 40 units/acre of urea across the farm at the end of next week, weather permitting.

Aidan Lawless

Johnstown Castle,

Co Wexford

Stocking rate (cows/ha) 2.9

Growth rate (kg/day) 25

Average farm cover (kg/ha) 996

Yield (l/cow/day) 26.7

Fat % 4.18

Protein % 3.42

Milk solids (kg/cow) 2.09

Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 7m 7s

We have 25% of the area for the autumn cows grazed. We got about 8% grazed in January when conditions were good. Since then it has been more challenging but we are managing to get grass into the cows most days. The trick is to not give them too much silage at night so they are ready to graze come morning. We are allocating roughly 7kg of grass and 7kg of meal and they get about 7kg of silage at night. Hopefully the silage and meal will reduce if the weather improves and we get more grass into the cows.

Jim White

Mullinahone,

Co Tipperary

Stocking rate (cows/ha) 2.6

Growth rate (kg/day) 14

Average farm cover (kg/ha) 1,089

Yield (l/cow/day) 21.4

Fat % 4.80

Protein % 3.61

Milk solids (kg/cow) 1.85

Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 3

Grazing has been a challenge here over the past week but we are sticking with it. If the day is fine they stay out all day but I bring them in at about 8pm regardless. It gives me peace of mind and speeds things up in the morning. They don’t get silage when they come in. Grazing was tough over the weekend and we left some grass behind, but damage was avoided. I allocate extra grass if the weather is wet. While the residual rises it does help to avoid damage. Having a high grass cover is the key. I have 30% of the farm grazed.

Michael Crowley

Skibbereen,

Co Cork

Stocking rate (cows/ha) 3.5

Growth rate (kg/day) -

Average farm cover (kg/ha) 1,078

Yield (l/cow/day) -

Fat % 4.90

Protein % 3.9

Milk solids (kg/cow) -

Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 3

Grazing is very hit and miss here, we’re juggling between fields, taking bits and pieces where we can. Clean-out isn’t as good as I’d like, but I’m not too worried once we can get them to grass. Tuesday was a good day and they cleaned out well, but yesterday (Wednesday) was very wet again. Cows don’t get silage when they come in. We have about 12% of the farm grazed, but we did start calving later than normal so my 30% target is by 7 March. I plan to spread one bag per acre of urea across the farm next week. It got 25 units in late January.