Average grass growth over the country is hovering in the high-50s (kg DM/ha/day).

This is more or less what one would expect for this time of year, with the long-term average at around 58kg/day for the past week.

Shorter days

The reduction in daylight hours is really beginning to become more noticeable now.

The mornings are darker and the evenings are closing in faster.

Over the next few weeks, we will see a more sharpened reduction in grass growth rates and by October, growth rates will fall off to around 30kg/day.

All of this means that the time available to build up grass covers is reducing.

grass will still be a part of the cow’s diet

By building up grass covers now, it means there will be grass on the farm for the cows to eat into when growth reduces.

This means that grass will still be a part of the cow’s diet, even after growth rates are less than demand.

Outlook

The weather data from Met Éireann gives a good indication for the outlook of grass growth.

I always like to look at the present as well as the forecast.

There are tables on the website showing average conditions for the previous seven days and how they interact with long-term averages.

Air temperatures this week are about 0.5° lower than normal, while soil temperatures are between 0.5° and 2° higher than normal.

The fact that soil temperatures are higher than normal is a good sign and bodes well for grass growth rates for the coming week.

This is particularly so given the reasonably good growth rates expected for this week.

As for average farm cover, at this stage in the year, farmers should be at around 1,000kg/ha or 300kg/cow of an average farm cover.

Peak cover should be reached in mid- to late-September at 1,200kg/ha.

Read more

Challenging weather conditions in the west

Super summer helps 2019 cash surplus