Grass growth has finally taken off on Tullamore farm this week, with a growth figure of 64kg/DM/Ha being recorded over the last seven days.

This is up from 10kg/DM/Ha for the previous week. Average farm cover has doubled in the last 10 days to 651kg/DM/Ha.

We have to act fast now to get stock out to meet the current growth and also close up more ground for silage to increase demand on the grazing area.

Twenty-three cows and calves will be turned out tomorrow morning and 45 heifers on a sacrifice paddock will also be turned back to grass.

A further 20 ewes will be turned out, bringing the total number of ewes and lambs at grass to 160, with just10 ewes remaining indoors. Five of which are yet to lamb.

A decision was taken today to close up a further 30 acres that has already been grazed with ewes for silage. This will be fertilised before the weekend and brings the total area closed for silage to 50 acres.

Meal feeding has been pulled back to 1kg/cow, with cows and calves outdoors.

Farm manager Shaun Diver remarked on the difference in growth over the past week saying he "wouldn’t have believed grass could change so much in one week unless he was walking the farm".