The last seven days have offered little letup in the weather, with cold and wet conditions prevalent on most days.

The western seaboard has borne the brunt of this, with accumulated rainfall levels for the first two weeks in March exceeding 90mm in some parts. That’s more than what fell in the whole month of February.

Cold has also been a factor and mean air temperatures are also below average for this time of the year. Consequently, grass growth has stalled, with little or no change from last week’s 13kg DM/ha/day.

Unfortunately, Met Éireann is forecasting little change to these conditions, at least this side of St Patrick’s Day. Precipitation totals are expected to remain well above average with two or three times the weekly average for March in most areas but possibly up to four times in some eastern areas.

All of this means that any re-housing of cattle which was carried out last week looks set to be a little more permanent than was initially hoped.

Still outdoors

However, despite the poor conditions, many farmers are having success with keeping stock outdoors. As highlighted last week, this success is being achieved through a combination of small groups, good grass covers, frequent moving and shelter.

In a lot of cases, sheds are now starting to fill up quickly with newborn calves. It might get to the stage where these need to be turned out. If doing so, use the fields with the best shelter and let animals out in the morning time to get settled before nightfall.

Depending on what way you planned your spring grazing, silage ground may not yet be grazed – but the time for doing so is coming close.

Grazing

For those taking up silage in the first week of April, have a think about how long it will take to get silage ground grazed off and work backwards to when grazing needs to commence. This may also offer a grazing opportunity for stock that remain out.

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Grass+: grazing a challenge as rainfall increases