Walking through Sean Hayes’ farm in Tulla, Co Clare, at the third BETTER farm autumn walk reassured my gut feeling that despite a lot of wishful thinking from farmers as to what they may be able to achieve from grazing this autumn, it is important to acknowledge the time of the year that we are facing into. As we walked through gaps and gateways beginning to get muddy, locals were quick to point out rain has been constant for the last two weeks. The main concern in western parts is getting heavy covers grazed before ground deteriorates. While this may not yet be an issue in the east and south, these counties will too begin to feel the effects of colder nights and shorter days. Adequate autumn planning is now required.

This weekend will mark the mid-point of September, a key date on the autumn grazing calendar. It is now that farm cover needs to be at its maximum. For every LU/ha, the target farm cover is 450kg DM/ha – that’s 1,125kg DM/ha on a farm stocked at 2.5LU/ha. Where growth has been good for the last month, this target should be exceeded by now. However, some parts have been struggling to post high growth rates and are subsequently failing to reach this magic number. On a positive, growth is still at 52kg DM/ha/day, meaning there has been no drop-off in the last seven days. This should help to continue building grass. Fertiliser is still also an option. Ground temperatures are still relatively high at 14°C to 15°C and a good response should still be seen from blanket dressing the farm with a bag/acre of CAN over the next week.

I would recommend extreme caution when thinking about taking out heavy covers for bales. Cattle are notoriously quick at wiping out covers at this time of year and, so far, this year appears to be no different. Be certain that your grass cover is sufficient to hold cattle out until your target housing date before you take out the mower. Strip-grazing one or two heavy paddocks will allow others (them) to bulk up. It will all be needed.

Grass+: growth rate stagnant at 55kg/day

Grass+ beef: planning time as peak cover looms

On beef farms across the country, it is important to acknowledge the time of the year we are facing into and manage grass accordingly, writes Matthew Halpin.