Last week’s heavy rainfall across most of the country saw a lot of cattle that were at grass, rehoused. Talking to farmers in recent days, it is going to take a few days of good drying before stock return to pasture once again.

However, it is important to keep a close eye on ground conditions over the coming days as things can change rapidly at this time of year. Two or three day days can have a significant impact on ground conditions.

Grass growth

Despite poor conditions, grass growth has been quite reasonable. With temperatures rising in recent days, it is now important to get cattle out grazing so that grass does not get ahead of stock when a real burst of growth does arrive.

On farms where an early cut of silage is required, ground should be closed by early April. This leaves just two weeks to get this ground grazed off prior to closing. Target silage fields with the highest covers for grazing first, in that way if you do not get all the silage ground grazed before closing, at least you will have cleaned off the fields with the most old and dead material.

Donall Fahy and Anthony Mulligan