2015 has seen a very stark contrast in grass growth rates between different areas of the country. While in most parts there were ideal grazing conditions throughout the year, in some areas severe difficulties were encountered.

In terms of grass growth rates, wet conditions in the west resulted in the lowest grass growth rates, while higher soil temperatures have boosted growth rates in the southwest. Tables 1 and 2 show the rainfall and soil temperature data from different areas of the country. As seen in Table 1, the level of rainfall recorded was highest in the northwest of the country.

The spring of 2015 was, for the most part, wettest in the north and southwest of the country, while the northeast and southeast had rainfall in Spring, similar to last year.

May was a particularly wet month in the north-west, which saw the re-housing of stock on many farms. Heavy farms in the Southeast of the country at the same time experienced difficulties during this period also.

While June gave some respite across the countries, allowing opportunities to farmers to produce good-quality silage, July saw fewer windows for those in the north-west. August was a washout compared to the rest of the country, again resulting in the need to supplement or re-house some livestock.

In some cases, calves were weaned early and cows remained housed to cope with the adverse conditions. In contrast, the majority of the rest of the country saw reasonable grazing conditions combined with some period of heavy rainfall, which reduced grass utilisation during some periods.

Table 2 details the soil temperatures in the various areas compared to last year. There’s a clear trend of lower temperatures in areas where the highest rainfall occurred and lower mean soil temperatures during the wettest months.

Average soil temperatures at 10cm depth were almost 2oC lower in the north-west than the southwest, this is one of the main contributing factors to lower grass growth rates. What is surprising from the figures is that soil temperatures in the north-east and south-east were lower than in the southwest on average so far this year.

Bumper grass growth year for the southwest

Analysis of Teagasc Pasture Base figures from spring till mid-October has shown that the southwest of the country has had a bumper grass growth year in comparison to the rest of the country.

When this is compared with Met Eireann data, this corresponds to slightly higher soil temperatures and lower rainfall through summer months than normal. Figure 1. Details the grass growth figures taken on programme farms around the country throughout the year. When the details were analysed in summer for the first half of the year, average grass growth rates in the west were lagging well behind average. However, through June, grass growth rates in the north-west recovered but dipped again in July and August with heavy rainfall.

The growth pattern in the northeast and the southeast during the year were quite similar; however, slightly cooler conditions at certain stages impacted grass growth in the north-east more than the south-east of the country.

A difficult year for those on heavy land

While grass growth improved substantially across the farms in the north-west, those on the heaviest ground continued to suffer from relatively low grass growth rates, difficult grazing conditions and had to resort to housing of stock at several stages during the grazing season. This, combined with early weaning in some areas, has had a negative impact on weaning weights on some farms.

The difficult grazing conditions observed in the north-west during the summer and autumn months were pointing towards an early autumn. However, a dry October right across the country helped in terms of grass growth and grazing conditions, allowing farmers right across the country to clean out paddocks well prior to closing.

Southwest grows most grass in 2015

As said earlier, the warmer soil temperatures and relatively good grazing conditions resulted in very strong grass growth rates right across farms in the southwest of the country.

Analysis of the Teagasc Pasture Base system shows that the participating farmers in the southwest of the country grew slightly over 12t/ha of grass DM on average from spring to mid-October, the next highest production of grass occurred in the south-east of the country, where the farmers in that area grew slightly over 10t/ha of grass DM on average in the same period.

The figures show that the north-east experienced slightly more difficult growing conditions and grew just over 9.5t/ha of grass DM on average. The difficult growing conditions in the west of the country resulted in 20% less grass grown last spring compared to the same period in 2014. However, an increase in grass growth rates in June helped to bolster total yields. The farmers in the north-west grew an average of just over 9t/ha of grass DM from spring to mid-October.

Across all farms in the programme, the average grass production was almost 10.5tDm/ha up to mid October. While many farmers still have a lot further to push the systems, the average grass production across the group is significantly higher than the average farmer.

However, between farmers there were large variations in the volume of grass grown: lower grass growth is associated with farms that are lowly stocked, while the farms with the highest stocking rates are growing the most grass. In practice, this is down to more consistent fertiliser inputs, greater levels of reseeding and better soil fertility.

Where farms are lowly stocked, reseeding may not always be a necessity. We have seen that the biggest rises in grass growth through the programme have come from the combination of improving soil fertility and the implementation of a rotational grazing system.

Reseeding has been most beneficial to farmers with higher stocking rates, allowing them to raise grass growth further, particularly in the shoulders of the year. The use of both the spring and autumn rotation planners have been instrumental in managing grass supply in the shoulders, along with allowing farmers to utilise grass better in the spring, allowing them to achieve a longer grazing season and improved weight gains.

Bumper grass growth year for the southeast

We analyse grass growth rates and trends throughout 2015 and look at what has been achieved at farm level.