Growth rates took a significant dip over the last week as cold evenings, heavy rain and saturated paddocks all combined to deliver figures below seasonal norm. Growth rates ranged from just over 30kg in the west to over 80kg in the east. Dry weather yesterday (Wednesday) and for the next few days should improve growth as paddocks dry out again.

The range in growth rate is lowest in the west, where grazing conditions are still very wet. We have recorded better figures for those farms in better grazing conditions on the drier farms in the south and east. The current weather forecast suggests more rain will start crossing the country on Sunday.

At this time of the year, growth rates are very specific to the farm they are measured on due to the management imposed on that farm. The issues which affect growth rates now are: (1) reducing the amount of nitrogen spread; (2) reducing the timing of spreading – spreading once per two weeks versus three times per week; (3) not including the short-term silage paddocks in your figures; and (4) completing a round of topping, which can seriously reduce growth rates. So rather than comparison to other farmers, the issue is how does the growth rate stack up for you given the demand for grass you have on your farm?

Thankfully I see less and less topping at farm level and a lot more cutting and baling of strong paddocks, which definitely reduces waste.

Take out surplus paddocks as soon as weather allows and leave lush green grass lying for at least 24 hours to allow it wilt out or otherwise quality and preservation will be a disaster. Farmers are watching the amount of cover per cow to try to keep it slightly less than 150kg/cow during these times of very good growth.

Mid-Kerry reported a growth rate of 47kg per day, which is down by 50% from the 97kg per day he got last week. He still has plenty of grass, with a cover of 957kg (240kg/cow) and he is going into covers of 1,600kg. Milk solids are very good at 2.1kg per day, but he is feeding 4kg of meal. Southwest Wexford measured about 80kg per day and bust in fields preparing for reseeding.

West Clare reported 54kg, down from 85kg per day the previous week. He recorded two inches of rain and ground is in a mess. Milk at 27.4 litres at 3.85% fat and 3.45% protein (2.05kg MS). Will pull back to 2kg of meal.

South Tipperary measured a growth rate of 62kg, the same as the previous week of 60kg per day. He has closed another paddock for silage so his stocking rate is gone to 4.5 cows/ha (190kg/cow). He has missed two weeks of nitrogen because his tractor is out of action. With that high stocking rate, he’d better get it back going soon.

We got a lot of rain last weekend, which really impacted on growth. Air temperatures dropped to 8-10°c during the weekend. Growth rates are back to 59kg/ha and demand is 72kg, so growth is under demand. Because re-growths were slow, we decided to re-introduce meal feeding to cows (4kg per cow) last Saturday. This will help slow grazing down and we will reassess the situation after a week to ten days. There are high temperatures forecast for the weekend, so hopefully that will get grass growing again. With growth less than demand, as expected, average farm cover is 604kg/ha (125kg/cow), down from 695kg last week.

Stocking rate is very high at 4.83 Lu/ha. We are planning on cutting silage on the last week of May, this extra ground will be welcome back in the rotation. We might cut some of the heavy paddocks a week earlier to get these back in the rotation earlier.

Breeding is going well, with 80% of cows bred in 16 days. At this current rate, they will be on target to meet 95% submission rate for 24 days. Cows are milking 27 litres at 4.46% Fat, 3.48% Protein (2.21kg MS) and SCC 117,000 cells per ml.

The weather has been difficult here in Ballyhaise. Over the weekend we had 35mm of rain. Soil temperature is fairly good at 12.5°C. We had to revert back to the strip wire because grazing conditions were so difficult over the weekend. Cows are allocated 12 hour grazings to ensure a good clean-out.

Ground has dried out well over the last few days. Average farm cover is 700kg/ha, or 175kg per cow. Growth is at 76kg/ha and demand is 60kg. Cows are entering covers of 1,600kg and grazing them down to 4.4cm. We already closed 25% of the area for silage and will close more if growth continues to increase. We are spreading 40 units of nitrogen on two thirds of the grazing area to push growth on. We are behind on nitrogen spread with 100kg/ha spread to date. On the breeding side of things, 35% of cows submitted in the first week, all showing good strong heats.

We are topping up tail paint daily and observing at milking. We have 20% of heifers submitted in six days and will estrumate the rest today (day 7). Cows are producing 24.3 litres at 4.2% Fat, 3.39% protein (1.9kg MS) and SCC 117,000 cells per ml. Total Bacterial Count 6,000 cells/ml. Heifers weights are good the Friesan heifers are 348kg, crossbred heifers are 332kg and there are four heifers out of 25 below target.

I cut 7.5 hectares for baled silage on Tuesday. They were heavy paddocks of over 7,000-8,000kg/ha on the grazing platform. It was grazed in February, then it got 40 units of urea and slurry in March and another 30 units of urea in April. It will be tedded out today and tomorrow and baled Friday. Taking these paddocks out has pushed my stocking rate (SR) up to 4.4Lu/ha.

Growth rates are excellent though over the last few weeks (75kg/ha this week), which has helped maintain the high SR. Cows are entering covers of 1,500kg/ha. We blanket-spread urea once a month on the grazing paddocks. We have spread 120 units per acre to date. Since Tuesday this week, we are three weeks into breeding. Submission rate is at 88%. We synchronise the heifers because they are on an out farm. Heifers are observed for eight days, injected on day eight and all are inseminated by day 14. This system works well when heifers are the right weight and cycling.

We put scratch cards on Monday (day 20) to give them another chance at AI. After that, we will introduce a stock bull to clean up. Cows are milking 26 litres at 4.27% Fat, 3.49% Protein (2.08Kg MS) and SCC 95,000 cells per ml.

Like most other farms, growth rate here dropped well back this week from 98kg to 54kg per day. It was caused by a combination of colder and wetter weather and some of the farm is looking a little out of sorts (a bit yellow) at the moment. The dry weather was welcome on Wednesday, even on this normally very dry farm. We were forced to skip over another paddock for surplus bales, but with the wet weather we haven’t any of the 14 hectares cut down yet. I’m hoping the contractor will come this evening (Wednesday). We have another 38 hectares out for first-cut silage, so it means we have 60 hectares for grazing the cows. This leaves stocking rate at 5.1 cows/ha with a farm cover close to 552kg, which means we are tight at around 100kg of grass per cow. We will plug in a few kilos of meal if required or else graze one of the lighter paddocks skipped for bales once it’s cut down. Pre-grazing covers are nice at 1,400kg. Milk protein is holding up, with the last result back at 3.66% and fat at 4.35% (1.9kg of milk solids). The SCC was 152,000 cells/ml and the last TBC was 11. We had a cow with tetany at the weekend. After treatment, she popped up and started grazing, but it shows no system is foolproof when conditions are bad – meal, in the water or dusting. We fed a few kilos and spread sweetened Cal Mag on the nuts last weekend during the bad weather.