Improved grassland management on NI sheep farms can deliver an additional £165 per hectare, AFBI researcher Dr Debbie McConnell told a National Sheep Association (NSA) webinar on Wednesday 8 July.

McConnell said that the average commercial dairy farm in NI is currently growing 7.5t of dry matter per hectare (tDM/ha), with beef and sheep farms averaging 4.1 tDM/ha.

“Data from our research plots over the past 20 years show we can pretty consistently produce in excess of 11tDM/ha, and in our best years we are producing 15tDM/ha. There is huge scope to improve yields on commercial farms,” McConnell said.

The more we utilise grass, the better off we will be financially

Focusing on sheep enterprises, McConnell presented figures which suggested every extra 1tDM/ha in utilised grass yield can support a 19.6% increase in stocking rate and a 24% increase in liveweight gain per hectare.

“That roughly equates to an extra £165/ha in terms of gross margin. The more we utilise grass, the better off we will be financially,” she explained.

Listeners to the webinar were told that addressing deficiencies in soil fertility, reseeding old swards, grazing sheep in a rotational system and budgeting grass through weekly measuring can help improve yields on sheep farms.

However, growing more grass does not necessarily require significant increases in fertiliser applications. McConnell said that sheep farming participants on the GrassCheck project typically apply 100kg of nitrogen per hectare each year, which is equivalent to around three bags of CAN per acre.

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Extra £165/ha from grass on sheep farms

A small increase in grass yield on sheep farms can result in an extra £165/ha of gross margins, AFBI research has found