It’s been a tough month for farms around the country, particularly those in the east and the south. The continuing drought is impacting everything that’s happening on farms, not least the plan for autumn reseeding.
It feels premature to be asking farmers in areas of the country who are suffering from dry conditions to start planning a reseed, however, rain will eventually come and when it does, the burst of growth will provide a window of opportunity to get a couple of the older and underperforming grasses out and new swards in.
If anything, the drought has served to highlight the importance of having reseeded ground.
For many, it was those paddocks reseeded in the past 12 to 18 months that kept growing and stayed green, while everything else withered away.
On heavier farms in the west of the country, it’s time to move on autumn reseeds.
The rain over the last week was timely and in order to get a grazing or two before closing paddocks, the reseeds need to go in as soon as possible.
On page 48, I discuss some key steps farms should follow as they start reseeding over the next couple of weeks.
On page 49, Brendan Horan discusses post-sowing weed management and on pages 45-46, we see some of the results from Teagasc’s latest research results on a range of ryegrass and white clover trials.
On the theme of drought, Brendan Horan discusses how one farmer is using stubble turnips to navigate feed deficits on page 44 and on pages 42 and 43, Aidan Brennan gives his overview on the waning popularity of multispecies swards in recent times.
SHARING OPTIONS