The fodder situation has grown more serious over the weekend as heavy rain forced many cattle back into sheds. With each passing day, hundreds more farmers are getting into trouble regarding fodder around the country.

Cold temperatures are impeding grass growth, so even on farms where grazing is possible, there is very little material available as the bulk that carried over the winter has been eaten by now. It is the perfect storm for a fodder shortage.

Talk to your neighbours; there is nothing wrong with asking for help. One farmer told me that his neighbour called him as a last straw to look for fodder – he was ashamed. However, there is no doubt that the shoe will be on the other foot at some point down the line and he will be the one helping others.

Average growth for week one of April from 2015 to 2017 was 38kg DM/ha/day. We are currently hovering at 8kg/day. Indeed, a figure of 38kg DM/ha/day would equate to more than even a moderately-stocked drystock farm requires in a day to build grass supply.

The day on which a farm grows more grass that it eats (growth/ha > demand/ha) is deemed the magic day. Typically, we aim to be starting our second rotation of a farm around the same time as a magic day. It looks like it will be mid- to late-April before we reach this day now, so the advice is not to be starting a second round until then. When we begin our second round we should also be looking to have an average farm cover that’s 10 times our daily demand (10 days ahead).

Lots of farm covers will be running below this at present. If cattle are out, offering silage or meals to grazing animals will help to stretch out supply. Every farmer at this stage will also be looking at when they can next get fertiliser out. As soon as a break from the rain comes, we should be moving where we can travel. Temperatures are beginning to rise and we can go when we have 48 hours with no, or a small amount, of rain forecast. Some farmers have queried about spreading urea on land that cattle are soon to graze. There is no issue provided we are not in the midst of breeding – urea is fed in many finishing diets as a protein boost.

Sean Hayes

Co Clare

System suckler to beef

Soil type highly variable

Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 407

Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 5

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 1

The heavy rain on Monday night hampered any plans of letting out more cows and calves. I’ve 13 cows and calves already gone to an outfarm. Surprisingly, the calves are quite content in the damp weather but unfortunately cows were beginning to do damage. I’ve moved them to a rougher piece of ground and they will stay there until conditions improve. Up until the wet weather, grazing had been going fairly well and any heavy covers were clipped off. Regrowths are non-existent and paddocks very bare.

Silage ground has been closed for the past 10 days so hopefully temperatures will rise and grass will start moving. Thankfully, I’ve enough fodder to see me out until the end of the month but I’m eager to get cows out to grass as my breeding season is well under way.

Beef bulls are thriving well and they have a further 50 days of feeding ahead of them before I’ll start drafting. It’ll be the first time I’ll have cattle to sell in May/June so cashflow is improving slightly.

Cathal Breen

Co Wexford

System suckler to beef

Soil type heavy clay

Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 708

Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 0

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 6

Growth has been very slow this year but despite this there is a good cover of grass on the farm. I got yearlings out for a few days back in February but they had to be rehoused and have not got back out since. The continuous wet weather has left ground saturated and it will take a while to dry up some places when the weather does improve.

Most of the cows have calved at this stage and thankfully it has gone very well. Sheds are starting to get crowded with all the stock and there were a few slight issues with a bit of scour in a few calves but thankfully it seems to have cleared up.

Silage is starting to get scarce now but thankfully I have a fair bit of hay still left so I should be OK. Cows are also being supplemented with 3kg of barley as a fodder stretcher and to keep them in good condition. I have 10 steers on ad-lib meal and straw and they are almost fit for slaughter.

Dwayne Stanley

Co Tipperary

System suckler to beef

Soil type variable

Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 395

Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 17

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 10

We have gotten a lot of rain here since the weekend and the place is very wet. I have 56 dairy beef yearlings out on a 40-acre block that we paddocked last year beside the yard. It is very slow to come back and farm cover is all the while diminishing there.

They’re going in to light covers and I’m moving them every day. They seem content enough so I haven’t gone in with meal. We are OK for a fortnight from a fodder point of view. There’s around 100 bales there and parts of two pits.

We’ve sent out over 50 bales to neighbours but I think the rest will have to stay here now, just in case. There are eight of 66 left to calve. We’ve lost six of our own animals and three dairy calves through a combination of still births, losing one of a set of twins, the cold snap and crypto. All in all it’s not too bad given the numbers here but we can always improve in future.

Harry Lalor

Co Laois

System suckler to beef

Soil type 90% dry, 10% heavy

Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 500

Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 15

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 10

Conditions are horrendous here at the moment. I have fodder for two weeks at a push but at that I’ll be eating in to bales that I need for finishing cattle during the summer.

There are 56 cows and calves out on three paddocks that are my driest and I’m bringing them hay. They’re doing a small bit of damage around ring feeders when the rain comes but they’re sacrifice paddocks at this stage. The hardest part of the weather here at the moment is keeping an eye on calves for chills.

There are less than 30 left to calve. March was a very busy month for us, which wasn’t ideal. I’d say we had 11 calves in 30 hours on Saint Patrick’s day. We suffered some losses, but they were from cows that have given problems before so I’m going to cull hard this year. There are a good few heifers coming through so it won’t hit us too hard. Our heifer calvings went very well – our best ever. There are three of them left.

Read more

Battling the elements at LIC walk in Mayo

In the pits: how will farmers restore silage stocks?

Dairy management notes for this week