Milder conditions forecast from the weekend onwards will be welcomed by all, and should result in a burst of grass growth.

Where fertiliser has been spread in recent weeks, it is more than likely still there and will be ready to go once conditions allow.

If there has been little or no fertiliser spread over the past few weeks, now is the time to get out with 25 to 30 units to push things on once again.

Grazing conditions have been excellent in most areas of the country over the last few weeks which means that graze-outs have been really good.

This means that the quality if the grass coming ahead of stock will be excellent. Try to maintain this quality in the next rotation by entering the correct grass covers – no stronger than 1500kgDM/ha. This will really benefit live weight gain in stock over the coming weeks as stem begins to appear in swards.

Brian Geraghty

Dysart, Co Roscommon

Things had been getting dry here up to the weekend but heavy rain since Monday has sorted that. We now have enough moisture and just need some heat. Growth is exceeding demand at this point but the silage ground has not been taken out of the rotation as of yet. I plan to top-up silage ground with nitrogen once I am confident I don’t need it for grazing.

The yearling Angus heifers are doing well at grass they were weighed two weeks ago and averaged 366kg having done 1.1kg/day since turnout.

Elsewhere the contract rearing heifers have just been bred using fixed time AI last weekend and the bulls have since gone out to mop up any repeats.

  • System: Dairy calf to beef
  • Soil type: Predominantly dry
  • Farm cover (kg DM/ha): 780
  • Growth (kg DM/ha/day): 38
  • Demand (kg DM/ha/day): 29
  • Shaun Diver

    Tullamore farm, Co Offaly

    Grass growth still lags behind demand slightly but it has improved in the past week or 10 days. We have had a lot of rain since the weekend so any moisture deficits have now been corrected. It looks like we will return to milder conditions from the weekend.

    I have 60 acres of first cut silage closed off, more than in recent years and I thought 10 days ago I would have to go in and graze some of it but I am confident now that we will be fine.

    Grass quality in front of stock is excellent they are entering covers of between 1100kgDM/ha and 1300kgDM/ha. Dry matter has been high in the sward and graze-outs have been excellent so overall we really can’t complain.

  • System: Suckler to beef
  • Soil type: Variable
  • Farm cover (kg DM/ha): 724
  • Growth (kg DM/ha/day): 43
  • Demand (kg DM/ha/day): 46
  • Willie Treacy

    Hackballscross, Co Louth

    It has been strange weather, really dry for a long period and cold to go along with it. We have even had showers of hailstones over the last couple of days. There has been about 20mm of rain since Monday which was badly needed.

    In saying this, growth has been doing quite well considering the conditions. I have been fertilising paddocks ahead of grazing so that there is sufficient moisture for the fertiliser to get into the ground which has worked well.

    The autumn calves are being weaned at the moment. The cows are in full-time and the calves are coming in from a paddock around the yard to suck every second day as we wean them gradually. This really reduces the stress on the calf.

  • System: Suckler to beef
  • Soil type: Free draining
  • Farm cover (kg DM/ha): 638
  • Growth (kg DM/ha/day): 51
  • Demand (kg DM/ha/day): 58