It’s either a famine or a feast depending on what part of the country you find yourself in at the moment. Many farms are booming while others are really struggling.
Land in the west and northwest continues to flourish with strong growth rates. The picture is very different for farms in parts of the southern half of the country where soil moisture deficits are over 50 and growth rates are close to zero in some cases.
For those with high growth rates it’s important to stay focused on what’s important. Keep on top of nitrogen application, following cows with the equivalent of one unit/day.
The target for average farm cover is around 1,000kg/DM/ha on the 1 September. If you’ve surpluses take them out as bales. There’s no use carrying heavy covers into the autumn as wet weather will come and it won’t be possible to graze these out.
For those in a grass deficit, aim to maintain average farm cover where it is. Allocate one-thirtieth of the farm per day to extend the rotation to 30 days. This will mean filling gaps with meal, silage or palm kernel.
Surplus Grass
Where surplus grass is an issue, continue to take out paddocks for silage. You may have more than enough silage at this stage but it’s always better to be looking at it than looking for it.
Advice would be to double wrap these bales and they should store well enough into 2026 and 2027. This should be good quality feed for milking cows and might reduce the reliance on concentrates next spring or autumn.
Swardwatch
On farms with good growth and average farm cover over 1,000kg/DM/ha, look to remove surpluses now and avoid carrying heavy covers into September.Continue to apply nitrogen to non-clover fields at a rate of one unit/day after the cows. Clover swards should only receive parlour washings if necessary. On very dry farms where growth is well back, hold AFC where it is. Allocate one-thirtieth of the farm per day and fill the gaps with supplement. Danny Cremin
Ballygran,
Co Limerick
The farm is in a good place at the moment. We’re growing well and we’ll hit our target of 1,000kg/DM/ha on 1 September.
The plan for this week is to get out with 21 units of protected urea on the milking platform. Cows are going into covers of around 1,700kg/DM/ha, but the swards are very leafy and they’re cleaning them out well.
We are aiming to stretch the rotation out to 25 days by the end of the month. There’s a bit of third cut silage to be made by the end of this week. It’s been an excellent year for silage and we should be in a good place for the winter.
Stocking rate (LU/ha): 3
Growth (kg/ha): 58
Average farm cover (kg/ha): 839
Yield (l/cow): 19
Fat (%): 4.81
Protein (%): 4.01
Milk Solids (kg/cow): 1.73
Concentrates (kg/cow): 2
Caroline
O’Sullivan
Teagasc Curtins
Co Cork
It’s been a difficult few weeks on the farm with growth well back here and no rain. The average farm cover is a long way off the ideal scenario. Cows are getting 6kg of grass, 6kg of silage and 6kg of concentrates.
The level of silage feeding was affecting the cows’ appetites for grass; paddocks weren’t being cleaned out well enough, so we’re only allowing access to baled silage at night now.
This should encourage cows to start cleaning out paddocks during the day. It’s an awkward situation as we need rain to put out more nitrogen but we’re just hoping that comes before the closing date for spreading.
Caroline O' Sullivan, Farm Manager, Curtin's Farm, Moorepark.
Photo: Donal O' Leary
Stocking rate (LU/ha): 2.5
Growth (kg/ha): 8
Average farm cover (kg/ha): 425
Yield (l/cow): 18.5
Fat (%): 5.4
Protein (%): 4
Milk Solids (kg/cow): 1.79
Concentrates (kg/cow): 6
Chris
Catherwood
Newtownards,
Co Down
Chris Catherwood (far right).
It’s been a great year up to this but the farm is beginning to get dry now. Predictions for this week are showing growth rates back at 20kg.
Until now, we would have got rain just in time all year, but this time around there’s no rain forecast for at least a week.
We have plenty of silage made but have been holding off feeding it to prevent the production dropping. We’ll have no choice but to start feeding it in the next week or so.
The cows are in good condition overall; we’ve the final pregnancy scan coming up next week and I’d be expecting empty rates to be in the single figures.
Stocking rate (LU/ha): 2.78
Growth (kg/ha): 36
Average farm cover (kg/ha): 690
Yield (l/cow): 24.25
Fat (%): 4.43
Protein (%): 3.72
Milk Solids (kg/cow): 2.04
Concentrates (kg/cow): 5
It’s either a famine or a feast depending on what part of the country you find yourself in at the moment. Many farms are booming while others are really struggling.
Land in the west and northwest continues to flourish with strong growth rates. The picture is very different for farms in parts of the southern half of the country where soil moisture deficits are over 50 and growth rates are close to zero in some cases.
For those with high growth rates it’s important to stay focused on what’s important. Keep on top of nitrogen application, following cows with the equivalent of one unit/day.
The target for average farm cover is around 1,000kg/DM/ha on the 1 September. If you’ve surpluses take them out as bales. There’s no use carrying heavy covers into the autumn as wet weather will come and it won’t be possible to graze these out.
For those in a grass deficit, aim to maintain average farm cover where it is. Allocate one-thirtieth of the farm per day to extend the rotation to 30 days. This will mean filling gaps with meal, silage or palm kernel.
Surplus Grass
Where surplus grass is an issue, continue to take out paddocks for silage. You may have more than enough silage at this stage but it’s always better to be looking at it than looking for it.
Advice would be to double wrap these bales and they should store well enough into 2026 and 2027. This should be good quality feed for milking cows and might reduce the reliance on concentrates next spring or autumn.
Swardwatch
On farms with good growth and average farm cover over 1,000kg/DM/ha, look to remove surpluses now and avoid carrying heavy covers into September.Continue to apply nitrogen to non-clover fields at a rate of one unit/day after the cows. Clover swards should only receive parlour washings if necessary. On very dry farms where growth is well back, hold AFC where it is. Allocate one-thirtieth of the farm per day and fill the gaps with supplement. Danny Cremin
Ballygran,
Co Limerick
The farm is in a good place at the moment. We’re growing well and we’ll hit our target of 1,000kg/DM/ha on 1 September.
The plan for this week is to get out with 21 units of protected urea on the milking platform. Cows are going into covers of around 1,700kg/DM/ha, but the swards are very leafy and they’re cleaning them out well.
We are aiming to stretch the rotation out to 25 days by the end of the month. There’s a bit of third cut silage to be made by the end of this week. It’s been an excellent year for silage and we should be in a good place for the winter.
Stocking rate (LU/ha): 3
Growth (kg/ha): 58
Average farm cover (kg/ha): 839
Yield (l/cow): 19
Fat (%): 4.81
Protein (%): 4.01
Milk Solids (kg/cow): 1.73
Concentrates (kg/cow): 2
Caroline
O’Sullivan
Teagasc Curtins
Co Cork
It’s been a difficult few weeks on the farm with growth well back here and no rain. The average farm cover is a long way off the ideal scenario. Cows are getting 6kg of grass, 6kg of silage and 6kg of concentrates.
The level of silage feeding was affecting the cows’ appetites for grass; paddocks weren’t being cleaned out well enough, so we’re only allowing access to baled silage at night now.
This should encourage cows to start cleaning out paddocks during the day. It’s an awkward situation as we need rain to put out more nitrogen but we’re just hoping that comes before the closing date for spreading.
Caroline O' Sullivan, Farm Manager, Curtin's Farm, Moorepark.
Photo: Donal O' Leary
Stocking rate (LU/ha): 2.5
Growth (kg/ha): 8
Average farm cover (kg/ha): 425
Yield (l/cow): 18.5
Fat (%): 5.4
Protein (%): 4
Milk Solids (kg/cow): 1.79
Concentrates (kg/cow): 6
Chris
Catherwood
Newtownards,
Co Down
Chris Catherwood (far right).
It’s been a great year up to this but the farm is beginning to get dry now. Predictions for this week are showing growth rates back at 20kg.
Until now, we would have got rain just in time all year, but this time around there’s no rain forecast for at least a week.
We have plenty of silage made but have been holding off feeding it to prevent the production dropping. We’ll have no choice but to start feeding it in the next week or so.
The cows are in good condition overall; we’ve the final pregnancy scan coming up next week and I’d be expecting empty rates to be in the single figures.
Stocking rate (LU/ha): 2.78
Growth (kg/ha): 36
Average farm cover (kg/ha): 690
Yield (l/cow): 24.25
Fat (%): 4.43
Protein (%): 3.72
Milk Solids (kg/cow): 2.04
Concentrates (kg/cow): 5
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