Producing more grass, extending the grazing window with more days at grass, improving soil fertility and optimising stocking rate are all linked to maximising output from land.

The dry weather conditions have provided a perfect opportunity to focus on land improvement work.

Some project farms are moving on drainage work and also improving access to paddocks.

This work may seem unnecessary at the moment, but it is when conditions are less than ideal that these investments will benefit the business.

If we can increase grass output by 20% to 30% with a land improvement or drainage project, then it will not only enable higher yields, but also extend the grazing window.

Yes, these investments can be significant in terms of their financial cost, but the increased output and reduced year-on-year variability will always outweigh the cost.

Case study

Charles Clarke, Co Cavan

Charles recently completed a drainage project on a sloping heavy paddock across the road from the farmyard. The field, which has been gravel- tunnelled, was the wettest on the farm, always the last to get cows into in spring and the first to close up in the autumn.

Grass growth data on AgriNet suggested it has been underperforming, with an average of 7.5t DM/ha grown over the past three years.

A good bit of the Clarke farm has been gravel mole drained over the past 30 years and it has made a difference in terms of grass growth and trafficability on this area.

Charles has a plan to chip away with a small area of drainage each year on the grazing block.

The herd is spring-calving, so getting out in early spring is important. The drainage project will help with this.

Charles also resurfaced his existing farm lane this year (pictured right) and has plans to lay an additional 200m of lane on the farm to help with grazing management throughout the year.

Stocking rate on the grazing block is 3.5 cows/ha, rising to 3.9 cows/ha when reseeding area is out and silage area is out during the 2018 season.

Grass seed used in the new reseed was Abergain, Aberchoice, Astonenergy and Abermagic.

“We had this paddock earmarked for reseeding this year and with the ideal dry conditions, we made the decision to do a full drainage job on it,” he said.

What can be expected?

On average, the Clarke farm grew 11.5t DM/ha in 2017. Soil fertility has improved on this farm with a focused attention to soil pH and phosphorus.

The soil potassium status is generally good on this farm and has been since the start of the project.

Grass measurement on the paddocks in question averaged 7.5t DM/ha over the past three years. So let’s assume an additional 4t DM/ha is grown on this area. For Charles, this is €800/ha from additional grass on the farm.

The drainage project will allow more grazing days in both paddocks. Let’s assume an additional fortnight – one week in early spring and one week in late autumn. So 14 days at €2.70/cow/day works out at €4,300 for Charles (the figure is based on Moorepark research suggesting €2.70/cow/day additional profit for business).

A total of €4,300 in additional grazing days, plus €2,560 additional grass growth over the area drained, means the total benefit is €6,860 in year one for the Clarke farm.