Heavy rain last Sunday and Monday was an unwelcome reminder of how quickly ground conditions can change at this time of year. The forecast for the coming week is looking much better albeit a bit colder initially, but grass growth rates are going to rise sharply over the coming days.

At this stage, farmers should be looking at the cover per livestock unit as the main Key Performance Indicator rather than cover per hectare. The ideal cover is somewhere between 170kg and 200kg per livestock unit.

Those that are higher stocked and have a higher demand will be looking to carry forward that little bit more grass to give breathing room if growth drops or weather worsens again.

If these predicted growths pan out, then almost all farms will be generating surpluses and should be looking at ways to manage pre-grazing yields. Closing paddocks for silage should be the priority, followed by selecting paddocks for reseeding.

Only reseed if you know you can get good grass and clover seeds. I see some popular grass varieties are only available in small quantities at 2kg per acre, which is neither here nor there.

There are plenty of superior varieties available at higher inclusion rates which will likely lead to a better overall pasture than using a small quantity of good varieties with a higher quantity of mediocre varieties.

If closing up a large share of the farm for silage, as is the right thing to do, be conscious that you will need nitrogen (or clover) to grow enough grass on the grazing ground. The advice is to go with 0.8 of a unit of nitrogen per day on grazing ground with no clover present and where the demand for grass is high i.e. stocking rates of four cows/ha.

Sward Watch

  • Growth rates are set to rise considerably over the coming week as soil temperatures are much higher than normal and colder weather unlikely to have much of an impact.
  • Use cover per livestock unit or days ahead as the key determinant of grass availability over the coming months.
  • Target is to have around 10 days of grass ahead of stock if in beef, and to have between 170kg and 200kg of grass per cow on dairy farms.
  • Dairy Farmers

    Philip Ruttle – Rathkeale. Co Limerick

    Our demand is at 50kg/day, so we will hold cows at 4kg of concentrates for the next week at least. Farm cover is just above 500kg/DM/ha but we still have 10 days’ worth of grass ahead of cows at the minute.

    We are expecting growth to come in the next few days. We have two hectares of red clover silage going in this week through reseeding, with 1.7ha stitched in last week with white clover.

    Breeding of cows is starting on Friday, with heifers synchronised to begin breeding on Saturday. Fifteen cows who still had some tail paint after three weeks were scanned, with two of them subsequently receiving metrichecks.

    Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.34

    Growth Rate (kg/day) 39

    Average Farm Cover (kg/LU) 154

    Yield (l/ha) 27.3

    Fat % 3.89

    Protein% 3.61

    Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.1

    Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4

    Brian Doheny – Tullaroan, Co Kilkenny

    Ten percent of the milking platform is getting white clover at 3kg/acre. Silage ground on the out block is closed up after receiving 2,500 gallons slurry and two bags of 38-7-0/acre, with this ground already high in P and K. Most of the milking platform has two rounds of watery slurry (2,500 gallon/acre per round) from topless cubicles and a lagoon, along with a bag of 38-7-0. The weather has been the big feature lately. We’ve a high enough farm here, up to 1,000ft above sea level and we’re very exposed. Two weeks ago, heavy covers that were grazed sat for two weeks post grazing without budging. I’m expecting growth to come this week.

    Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.58

    Growth Rate (kg/day) 38

    Average Farm Cover (kg/LU) 157

    Yield (l/ha) 26.6

    Fat % 4.48

    Protein% 3.53

    Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.2

    Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 4

    Barry Reilly – Teagasc Ballyhaise, Co Cavan

    Twenty five percent of the milking platform has been sprayed off for reseeding. It will be power harrowed and then stitched in with 12kg of grass (Astonenergy, Astonconquerer and Glenfield) and 2kg of white clover (Chieftain and Crusader).

    We’ve also over-sown a paddock 2.4kg/acre with the same white clover varieties. The farm is just after taking off in growth, so we’ve skipped 15% of the platform for silage.

    We can come back to these again if needed as they are only at 1,500-1,600kg of a cover. Sixty units of N per acre has been spread to date.

    We’ll probably start following cows on a 20 day rotation with 16 units/acre of protected urea.

    Stocking Rate (cows/ha) 3.5

    Growth Rate (kg/day) 50

    Average Farm Cover (kg/LU) 204

    Yield (l/cow) 25.5

    Fat % 4.40

    Protein% 3.63

    Milk Solids (kg/cow) 2.1

    Supplement fed (kg/cow/day) 1.5

    Beef Farmers

    Shaun Diver – Tullamore Farm, Co Offaly

    The farm got a lot of rain over the weekend but really it was welcomed on the drier parts of the farm. You could really see the farm transform in the space of 24 hours – it was nearly as good as spreading a bag of nitrogen. I expect to see the grass growth figure to increase significantly next week.

    I stopped supplementation to mature ewes this week but continue to feed ewe lambs. The first lambed ewes are up on the outfarm grazing with the replacement heifers.

    The cows and calves are grazing in two batches and have got good grass ahead of them. Preparation for breeding is in full swing, and with the new shed available for next year we will try to pull calving dates back slightly.

    System Suckler to beef

    Soil type Variable

    Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 842

    Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 24

    Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 25

    Trevor Boland – Dromard,Co Sligo

    Grass growth has kicked on over the last week. You can see the regrowth coming back on anything that has been grazed a few days. The heifers on the outfarm are out a month now and are on the fourth paddock of the second grazing rotation.

    I have replacement heifers, beef heifers and weanling heifers all grazing together while the bulls are all kept at home.

    This block of ground has received a half bag of urea and two bags of 18-6-12 so far this year. Silage ground has been closed, in total 12ha is earmarked for first-cut.

    It received slurry earlier in spring and 80 units/acre of nitrogen. Most of the remainder of my silage requirements will come in the form of surplus bales from the grazing ground.

    System Suckler and beef farm

    Soil type Variable

    Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 559

    Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 49

    Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 39

    Declan Marren –THRIVE Farm, Co Tipperary

    The yearlings are out nearly seven weeks now. Heavy rainfall last weekend has made grazing conditions a little trickier. There was a batch of 55 yearling bullocks grazing together but in future when ground conditions deteriorate they would really be better in two smaller groups.

    The benefit of grazing them together is that we can move through paddocks more quickly and they are getting a fresh paddock every few days.

    Things have dried out again this week but the few paddocks grazed earlier in the week were not cleaned out as well as we would like.

    Growth has improved and is now matching demand. Grass quality is very good with stock currently grazing covers of 1,200kgDM/ha to 1,300kgDM/ha.

    System Dairy calf to beef

    Soil type Mostly dry

    Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 956

    Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 38

    Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 37