The largely dry week we have experienced has helped farmers in the northern part of the country to catch up on work delayed by the previous wet weather. Growth rates in the northern half of the country remain low and farmers here are finding it hard to build up grass covers.

In those areas that experienced high levels of rainfall during August, cows have only recently returned to grass. Weaning was carried out earlier than normal to allow cows to be housed and for calves to remain grazing outside. Farms in the north are currently spreading up to 30 units of N/acre to build covers and extend the grazing rotation.

The southern half of the country remains relatively dry, with good utilisation of heavy covers being achieved. The last of the strong paddocks are currently being taken out as baled silage and the intention is to follow up with 30 units of N/acre.

Spraying of early autumn reseeds with post-emergent sprays continues.

Weaning of early spring-calving herds on southern farms is also still taking place. The intention will be to, hopefully, keep these animals out at grass later into the autumn as they will cause less poaching than dry cows.

Forward stores and finishing bulls are being housed on farms at the moment, with the intention of an early winter finish. Energy levels in grass decline substantially in September and stock will benefit from an early finish with a high-energy diet of good-quality silage plus ration. Delaying the housing of these types of animals will result in a slower finish and grass reserves being eaten at a quicker rate.

The added bonus of housing is that it can result in lower levels of labour, due to meal being fed in the yard rather than hauling ration to the fields daily.

Silage quality is currently being assessed on farms to establish what level of meal feeding, if any, various types of stock will need this winter. By and large, results so far have been better than last year.

Des Beirne

Co Longford

Farming system Suckler to beef

Land type Heavy and dry

Growth rate (kg DM/Ha) 76

Grass demand (kg DM/ha) –

Growth has been very strong here and covers are heavy. I am ready to graze some paddocks I reseeded in late June for the second time, with a cover of almost 2,000kg/ha. I reseeded another four acres just over two weeks ago. The average growth this week is 76kg DM/ha, which ranged from 60-105kg DM/ha. I spread a light cover of FYM on paddocks that were under-performing in mid-June and this has them back up to speed. I blanket-spread the farm and outfarms with one bag of CAN over the past 10 days to build covers. During the last period of heavy rain, I moved some cows and calves from an outfarm back home as grass covers were heavy. Weanlings have received their first round of vaccinations. I plan to wean some at the end of the month. I killed 16 bulls last week, which reached their target carcase weight of 400kg. Currently, there are 19 heifers being finished (gaining 1.75kg/day) and 45 bulls (gaining 2.3kg/day).

Patrick Drohan

Co Waterford

Farming system Suckler to beef

Land type Dry

Growth rate (kg DM/Ha) 38

Grass demand (kg DM/ha) 32

Grass growth has slowed down over the last few weeks, but with the dry conditions cattle are cleaning out paddocks very tightly. I recorded a growth rate of 38kg DM/ha/day last week. My average farm cover is 761kg DM/ha and current demand is 32kg DM/ha/day. My pre-grazing covers are 10-11cm (1,500-1,750kg DM/ha), so utilisation is very good. I am starting to extend my rotation length to 30 days to try build covers for October. I sold my beef heifers recently and they averaged 466kg liveweight. I reseeded a 6.5-acre field on 27 August. Following burn-off with glyphosate, I ploughed, tilled and sowed it with a one-pass drill. I spread three bags/acre of 10-10-20 fertiliser and 3t/acre of ground limestone. I sowed it at a rate of 16kg/acre. I was lucky that it got rain after sowing and the emergence looks good. I spread my last round of nitrogen at a rate of 30-35 units N/acre after each grazing.

John O’Connor

Kildalton College

Farming system Suckler to beef

Land type Dry

Growth rate (kg DM/Ha) 49

Grass demand (kg DM/ha) 46

The suckler cows were scanned in the past 10 days, with 52 out of 55 in calf. For replacement heifers, 12 out of the 14 scanned in calf. The three barren cows were slaughtered and made on average €1,416 for 384kg carcases, grading from O+ to R- and from 3- to 4– fat cover. The two empty heifers will be fattened and sold. The preparation for weaning is under way. Calves are creep-grazing ahead of the cows and starting to eat meal. They were weighted on 13 August. Male calves had grown 1.16kg/day and weighed on average at 262kg. The heifers had put on 1.09kg/day and weighted 255/kg. We applied 0.75 bags of CAN in the last week of August and this has helped maintain grass growth rates at 49kg DM/ha and average farm cover at 988kg DM/ha. The two reseeded paddocks have good emergence of young grass and will possibly get a light grazing with sheep in October before being closed up for the winter.

Donal Scully

Co Tipperary

Farming system Suckler to beef

Land type Mainly dry

Growth rate (kg DM/Ha) 52

Grass demand (kg DM/ha) 34

My growth rate is currently 52kg/day and demand is 34kg. My average farm cover is holding steady at 1,030kg DM/ha. I am still at a relatively high stocking rate of 2.69 LU/ha, despite housing all my finishing bulls. I am spreading 30 units of CAN over the next week as my final round of fertiliser for the year. I have 26 days of grass ahead and plan to increase this to over 30 in the next two weeks. I have six cows left to calve and hope to be finished in the next week or two. I will aim to close up paddocks from 15 October on to ensure I have enough grass for early turnout. I am currently feeding my finishing bulls 9kg of ration along with ad-lib silage and straw. They will be slaughtered in November under 16 months. I am weighing them regularly and they are on target. I am currently in the middle of breeding my heifers. They will all be served once with AI and an Angus stock bull will be used to clean up after that.