With grazing conditions close to perfect for the time of year, farmers up and down the country who have grass have been using the opportunity to get priority stock out grazing and begin to set their farm up for the coming grazing season.

I've often heard it said that these farmers are lucky to have early grass, are lucky to have a dry farm and are lucky to be able to get their stock out. The reality of the situation, however, is that luck has very little to do with it and it's more often than not down to good planning and a flexible attitude.

Grass

There is one indisputable fact in Irish livestock farming and that is that grass is the number one driver of profit. So why the slow uptake of this very simple technology? To be honest, this is a question that I struggle to comprehend. Imagine a salesman walks into a yard and he is selling a simple cheap technology that, if implemented correctly, has the potential to completely transform your business.

It's a no brainer, the farmer should jump at it. Yet this is exactly what Teagasc is selling when it presents reports and research about good grassland management practices and while some farmers have embraced it, the majority have refused to see its benefits. Grass measuring doesn't have a flashy brochure, a promise of increased milk yield per cow or a hire purchase agreement but what it does have is the potential to deliver an increase in profit for the farmer.

With the ending of milk quotas this April we are going to see a massive increase in the amount of sales companies targeting dairy farmers with their wares. When approached by the man in the shiny suit farmers need to keep two questions in the back of their mind.

  • Will this increase my profit margin?

  • Have there claims been backed up by independent Irish research?

    • More often than not the answer is no, on both accounts. Going forward it will be the simple things that will deliver for Irish farmers: fencing, reseeding, building soil fertility and improving grazing infrastructure, to name just a few.

    In the future I believe there is massive potential for increased profits for Irish farmers the key is holding onto it.