The dry conditions over the past few days have resulted in a flurry of field work on farms right around the country. In the south, farmers have been focused on getting additional stock out to grass and catching up on field work such as slurry and fertiliser.
In the north and northeast progress is slightly slower, with only farmers on very dry ground being able to get stock out. In many cases turnout has been slow and the farmers are focusing on getting the first fertiliser applied or slurry spread on fields with low grass covers.
Depending on stocking rate, fertiliser is being applied at a rate of 30-40 units N/acre. Where soil P and K index is low, compounds such as 18-6-12 and 10-10-20 are being used.
In an ideal situation, the target should be to have 50-60% of the farm grazed at this stage on dry farms. In practice, most farmers even on dry farms are struggling to have 10-30% grazed at this stage. The target for the coming week is to turn out more stock to grass once ground conditions allow, to catch up on the rotation plan.
Where possible, graze newly reseeded swards first if ground conditions are suitable and apply nitrogen straight after grazing as these will respond best to nitrogen and will have higher DM/ha yields during lower temperatures. After that, grazing light covers next and then moving onto silage ground should allow time for the grazed areas to recover for the second rotation.
In most cases, the start of the second rotation will be delayed from the target dates. With low grass growth so far, there is a possibility that the second rotation may see a tight grass supply if the first is not drawn out slightly. With drier conditions, farmers will now be trying to graze out paddocks as tight as possible to ensure quality regrowth.
More stock being turned out with drier weather.Fertiliser being applied at 30-40 units N/acre.Compound fertilizer being used on fields with low P and K levels.Farmers grazing new reseeds and low covers first then moving on to silage ground.Target pre grazing covers of 8-10cm and post grazing heights of 4-5cm where conditions allow.Billy Gilmore
Co Galway
Farming system Heifer to beef
Land type Dry
Growth rate (kg DM/ha)
Average farm cover (kg DM/ha)
I spread slurry three weeks ago on the drier paddocks. The remainder will be spread on silage ground prior to closing. Severe flooding covered at least 20% of the farm over the past three months. It is receding now but it will take a long time to recover. In addition, due to poor ground conditions I only got to spread fertiliser last week. I cannot remember it ever being this late in spring before I spread fertiliser. Ewes grazed out paddocks over the winter and were housed for lambing. They are being turned out again after lambing in small groups. So far, there are 75 ewes lambed. I have two students helping me at the moment – Bernard Kelly and Sarah Glynn. Their help is much appreciated at this busy time. The replacement heifers have been inseminated with easy-calving Limousin AI sires, HCA and ZAG. They are due to be scanned this week. The lightest group of finishing heifers was turned out on Monday as ground conditions have started to firm up.
Patrick Drohan
Co Waterford
Farming system Suckler to beef/store
Land type Dry
Growth rate (kg DM/ha) 14
Average farm cover (kg DM/ha) 794
Calving is progressing very well here in Kilmacthomas, with 84% of the cows calved since 13 January. I have 10 cows out of the 61 left to calve so hopefully calving will continue to go well. I delayed putting the two stock bulls to the cows by 10 days last year and shortened the breeding season to 12 weeks so it is great to have them so compact. I started turning cows and calves out to grass first, with the first batch going out to sheltered paddocks in early February to make space in the calving shed. I have great grass on the farm and my average farm cover is 794kg DM/ha. I started spreading half a bag of urea/acre on paddocks late last week. Up to this week, I didn’t get to spread any slurry due to the wet, but I spread 2,000 gals/acre on grazed paddocks earlier this week. I have 12 bullocks at grass on an outfarm and I will put the remaining 12 with them before St Patrick’s day. My bullocks weighed 429kg on 18 February and grew at 0.7 kg/day over the winter.
Ger Dinneen
Co Cork
Farming system Suckler to beef
Land type Dry
Growth rate (kg DM/ha) 8
Average farm cover (kg DM/ha) 1,192
I am currently regrazing swards that were grazed lightly early in the spring during the bad weather. There was a heavy butt of grass left after the first rotation and now with weather improving I am grazing down as bare as possible. I spread 30 units of N/acre of urea in early February and I plan to follow up with another 30 units of N/acre of urea in the next week on any paddocks I don’t cover with watery slurry. I have an average farm cover of 1,192kg/ha but growth is very slow. My stocking rate was 1.24 LU/ha and I expect this to increase to over 1.7 LU/ha in the next week. I have only eight cows left to calve out of 55 and should have calving wrapped up in the next few weeks. Once I get all stock out at grass my plan turns to breeding. I found the Angus bull ZLL and the Simmental bull TSO have been performing well for me over the past few years and will continue with them. I am also going to try some Fleckvieh Simmentals to attempt to breed some milk into my herd.
Adam Woods
Derrypatrick Herd
Farming system Suckler to beef
Land type Dry/heavy
Growth rate (kg DM/ha) 6
Average farm cover (kg DM/ha) 970
We have 62 cows calved in Derrypatrick today, Tuesday 15 March. We are two-thirds of the way through calving in just four weeks. Calving started on 13 February. Calving is going well, with a lot of cows calving unassisted. We turned out 27 cows and calves this week. This has taken the pressure off our calving facilities and loose pens and will hopefully lower the disease burden. We closed up some of our more sheltered paddocks early in October with young calves in mind. We keep the cows in small groups for about 10 days and then move them to larger groups of 25. Cows are receiving magnesium through our newly installed water system. All calves will be vaccinated for pneumonia and clostridial disease in the coming weeks. We have 100% of the farm spread with 23 units urea/acre and we also have slurry spread on 40% of the farm. We also turned out our weanling heifers and steers this week to try and get as much of the farm as possible grazed by the first week in April.
The dry conditions over the past few days have resulted in a flurry of field work on farms right around the country. In the south, farmers have been focused on getting additional stock out to grass and catching up on field work such as slurry and fertiliser.
In the north and northeast progress is slightly slower, with only farmers on very dry ground being able to get stock out. In many cases turnout has been slow and the farmers are focusing on getting the first fertiliser applied or slurry spread on fields with low grass covers.
Depending on stocking rate, fertiliser is being applied at a rate of 30-40 units N/acre. Where soil P and K index is low, compounds such as 18-6-12 and 10-10-20 are being used.
In an ideal situation, the target should be to have 50-60% of the farm grazed at this stage on dry farms. In practice, most farmers even on dry farms are struggling to have 10-30% grazed at this stage. The target for the coming week is to turn out more stock to grass once ground conditions allow, to catch up on the rotation plan.
Where possible, graze newly reseeded swards first if ground conditions are suitable and apply nitrogen straight after grazing as these will respond best to nitrogen and will have higher DM/ha yields during lower temperatures. After that, grazing light covers next and then moving onto silage ground should allow time for the grazed areas to recover for the second rotation.
In most cases, the start of the second rotation will be delayed from the target dates. With low grass growth so far, there is a possibility that the second rotation may see a tight grass supply if the first is not drawn out slightly. With drier conditions, farmers will now be trying to graze out paddocks as tight as possible to ensure quality regrowth.
More stock being turned out with drier weather.Fertiliser being applied at 30-40 units N/acre.Compound fertilizer being used on fields with low P and K levels.Farmers grazing new reseeds and low covers first then moving on to silage ground.Target pre grazing covers of 8-10cm and post grazing heights of 4-5cm where conditions allow.Billy Gilmore
Co Galway
Farming system Heifer to beef
Land type Dry
Growth rate (kg DM/ha)
Average farm cover (kg DM/ha)
I spread slurry three weeks ago on the drier paddocks. The remainder will be spread on silage ground prior to closing. Severe flooding covered at least 20% of the farm over the past three months. It is receding now but it will take a long time to recover. In addition, due to poor ground conditions I only got to spread fertiliser last week. I cannot remember it ever being this late in spring before I spread fertiliser. Ewes grazed out paddocks over the winter and were housed for lambing. They are being turned out again after lambing in small groups. So far, there are 75 ewes lambed. I have two students helping me at the moment – Bernard Kelly and Sarah Glynn. Their help is much appreciated at this busy time. The replacement heifers have been inseminated with easy-calving Limousin AI sires, HCA and ZAG. They are due to be scanned this week. The lightest group of finishing heifers was turned out on Monday as ground conditions have started to firm up.
Patrick Drohan
Co Waterford
Farming system Suckler to beef/store
Land type Dry
Growth rate (kg DM/ha) 14
Average farm cover (kg DM/ha) 794
Calving is progressing very well here in Kilmacthomas, with 84% of the cows calved since 13 January. I have 10 cows out of the 61 left to calve so hopefully calving will continue to go well. I delayed putting the two stock bulls to the cows by 10 days last year and shortened the breeding season to 12 weeks so it is great to have them so compact. I started turning cows and calves out to grass first, with the first batch going out to sheltered paddocks in early February to make space in the calving shed. I have great grass on the farm and my average farm cover is 794kg DM/ha. I started spreading half a bag of urea/acre on paddocks late last week. Up to this week, I didn’t get to spread any slurry due to the wet, but I spread 2,000 gals/acre on grazed paddocks earlier this week. I have 12 bullocks at grass on an outfarm and I will put the remaining 12 with them before St Patrick’s day. My bullocks weighed 429kg on 18 February and grew at 0.7 kg/day over the winter.
Ger Dinneen
Co Cork
Farming system Suckler to beef
Land type Dry
Growth rate (kg DM/ha) 8
Average farm cover (kg DM/ha) 1,192
I am currently regrazing swards that were grazed lightly early in the spring during the bad weather. There was a heavy butt of grass left after the first rotation and now with weather improving I am grazing down as bare as possible. I spread 30 units of N/acre of urea in early February and I plan to follow up with another 30 units of N/acre of urea in the next week on any paddocks I don’t cover with watery slurry. I have an average farm cover of 1,192kg/ha but growth is very slow. My stocking rate was 1.24 LU/ha and I expect this to increase to over 1.7 LU/ha in the next week. I have only eight cows left to calve out of 55 and should have calving wrapped up in the next few weeks. Once I get all stock out at grass my plan turns to breeding. I found the Angus bull ZLL and the Simmental bull TSO have been performing well for me over the past few years and will continue with them. I am also going to try some Fleckvieh Simmentals to attempt to breed some milk into my herd.
Adam Woods
Derrypatrick Herd
Farming system Suckler to beef
Land type Dry/heavy
Growth rate (kg DM/ha) 6
Average farm cover (kg DM/ha) 970
We have 62 cows calved in Derrypatrick today, Tuesday 15 March. We are two-thirds of the way through calving in just four weeks. Calving started on 13 February. Calving is going well, with a lot of cows calving unassisted. We turned out 27 cows and calves this week. This has taken the pressure off our calving facilities and loose pens and will hopefully lower the disease burden. We closed up some of our more sheltered paddocks early in October with young calves in mind. We keep the cows in small groups for about 10 days and then move them to larger groups of 25. Cows are receiving magnesium through our newly installed water system. All calves will be vaccinated for pneumonia and clostridial disease in the coming weeks. We have 100% of the farm spread with 23 units urea/acre and we also have slurry spread on 40% of the farm. We also turned out our weanling heifers and steers this week to try and get as much of the farm as possible grazed by the first week in April.
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