Average grass growth rate this week is 55kg/day which is still about 10kg below normal for the time of year. Soil moisture deficits in parts of Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Laois, Kilkenny and Carlow are suppressing growth rates in these areas. Time is running out now, with daylight hours decreasing and nights becoming colder, getting very high growth rates will be less likely. The way I see it, we will probably get higher than normal growth rates into October and November. Maybe 10kg/day more than normal which will allow for later grazing and still hit target opening farm cover.

The target average farm cover this week for farms stocked at three cows/ha is about 1,000kg/ha. If farm cover is well above this, look at taking out a paddock or two for bales and see what effect this will have on average farm cover if the cover on these fields is zero. You shouldn’t take out the paddock if average farm cover goes lower than target, unless you reckon growth rate is going to be higher than normal for the next week. Tinker around with the wedge before making the decision. The last thing you want to do is take out too much ground now.

On farms that are struggling to build grass, extra supplement will need to be fed. Palm kernel seems to be in good supply once again. This is high in fibre and can be fed ad lib so it’s a good option – probably the closest thing to silage in a meal.

On fertiliser, while the temptation is to spread heavy, on a lot of farms that are only coming out of drought, there is no shortage of nitrogen in the ground. Some fields are soured by nitrogen, this week there was a case of nitrate poisoning in a heifer. Therefore, it’s probably better to judge fertiliser on a case by case basis. If the field looks hungry spread 30 units/acre, if not then hold off.

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Nutrients needed after heavy growth