It’s been a whirlwind year for grassland management.
Spring 2026 saw a delayed turn-out, with feed supplies dwindled to nothing.
After this, we saw baking hot weather, which saw grass growth rocket, then plateau in June, before dipping into the single digits for many farms come July.
Thankfully, the back end of the year brought enough growth with it to get these farms worst affected by the 2026 drought back on track.
Excellent weather has lead to excellent grazing conditions for the last three weeks, allowing farmers to continue grazing well into November.
For many of these farms though, good grazing conditions or not, it is time to pull the plug on grazing for 2026.
Sixty percent of dairy farms are sitting on a farm cover below 700kg, with these farms having an average farm cover of 563kg DM/ha.
Target closing cover for 1 December should be between 750kg and 800kg DM/ha, with winter growth bringing this into an opening cover of circa 1,000kg DM/ha.
With growth now in the single digits, a farm with an average cover of 563kg DM/ha will struggle to hit targets.
Saving grass and money
Grass in spring is worth €3.30/cow for dairy farmers in the form of reduce silage and meal feeding, but also has the benefit of increased milk yield and proteins and reduced labour.
There is little merit in eating into spring covers now in the autumn when their real value is in spring.
Pasturebase Ireland figures showed growth rates earlier in the week of 2kg DM/ha on average, while demand was sitting at 33kg DM/ha.
The other 40% of farmers who are sitting at covers above 700kg DM/ha on average need to be cautious, with predicted growth figures now in the single digits for most farms.
Heavy supplementation in the form of housing cows by night will suffice for some, but others may have to turn cows in full-time to avoid rapidly lowering farm cover.
