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Dairy farms grew an extra 0.66t of grass dry matter per hectare (DM/ha) in 2017 compared with 2016.
Average grass growth on dairy farms in 2017 was 14.36t DM/ha compared with 13.7t DM/ha in 2016.
An exceptionally mild spring saw an increase in grass growth of 30% in 2017, up 440kg/ha to 1,463kg compared with 2016.
Summer growth in 2017 was up 850kg compared with 2016 (8.4t vs 7.5t) which is a 10% increase on 2016 levels.
There was also an increase in the number of grazings achieved, with an average of 7.8 grazings in 2017 compared with 7.2 grazings in 2016.
Wet autumn
However, a wet autumn in many parts saw growth rates decline. Autumn growth in 2017 is down 12% (630kg) compared with 2016 (4.6t in 2017 vs 5.2t in 2016).
It is also worth remembering that autumn 2016 was exceptional for grass growth, so some decline in growth rates in 2017 was expected.
The figures are based on farms measuring grass in the Pasturebase and Agrinet online grass measuring programmes.
Commenting on the report, Micheal O’Leary from Teagasc Moorepark said: “It’s good to see an increase in the number of grazings. All these dairy farmers would have recorded 30 measurements on PBI in 2016 and 2017.
“It’s also worth pointing out that the pool of farmers in 2017 in bigger than 2016, with an extra 35 farms recording grass growth rates.”
Merger
Pasturebase and Agrinet have now merged and all existing Agrinet users will be migrating to Pasturebase over the coming days.
Teagasc is planning to hold a series of training days and information meetings in early January.
The purpose of the merger is to bring together all the data on grass growth into one national database in a similar way that livestock data is held in a national database by the ICBF. The database will be managed by Teagasc.
Wettest summer in Donegal for 19 years - Met Éireann
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