The past few days has seen a flurry of activity on farms across the country.

Where ground conditions have been dry, the focus has been on applying slurry to grazed silage ground or to fields with low grass covers. The main focus has been on trying to get grazing back on track.

Getting additional stock out to grass has been a major focus for most farmers. With growth rates running behind previous years, re-growths are very slow, especially on old swards. As a result, some farmers on dry farms are focusing on extending the first rotation by a week or so by avoiding turning out too much stock to grass to try to ensure there is enough grass in the second rotation.

Those on heavy farms are challenged by the opposite problem as they try to turnout additional stock to graze out silage ground so that slurry can be applied prior to closing.

Most farmers have gotten the chance to spread fertiliser on grazing ground in the past week. Where P and K indices are low, compounds have been used, and where P and K indices are optimum, urea is being applied. Depending on the stocking rate, the target application rate has been between 23 units N/acre and 35 units N/acre.

The more pressing issue is the return of heavy rain over the coming days. While ground is drying well, this will affect grazing.

During periods of heavy rain, those on heavy land should consider on-off grazing or using hard core areas or roadway to move cattle off fields during heavy rain. Housing may also be required temporarily.

Those on dry ground will probably manage by not forcing cattle to graze out to 4-5cm and moving cattle on more quickly.

Donie Ahern

Co Limerick

Farming system Suckler to beef

Land type Dry

Growth rate (kg Dm/Ha) 727

Average farm cover (kg Dm/ha) 5

We are putting in a roadway and water troughs on a new leased farm. Eight acres are sprayed off for reseeding and we hope to reseed early next month once lime is applied. Thirty yearling heifers have gone to the contract-rearing farm. We will take these back in July for finishing. On the home block, we have 70 yearling bulls out grazing along with 10 autumn weanlings grazing by day. Cows and calves are grazing off silage fields and we aim to have these closed up before 10 April. I have over 30% of my land grazed. Ground conditions have improved but this weekend’s forecast rain will set things back and growth is still poor. I have covered most of the land on the outfarm with either a bag of 27-2.5-5 or a half bag of urea. Any of the bare fields grazed last in the winter got 2,000gals/acre of slurry while any grazed earlier in the spring received 1,500gals/acre. Once silage ground is closed it will receive 3,000gals/acre of slurry along with 80 units of N in the form of urea.

Joe Murray,

Co Roscommon

Farming system Suckler to weanling

Land type Very heavy/dry

Growth rate (kg Dm/Ha) 24

Average farm cover (kg Dm/ha) 550

I turned out 33 cows with calves to grass last week. They have a few paddocks grazed out already. Due to heavy rainfall that is forecast over the weekend I re-housed the cows as I don’t want to do any damage. This will also allow average farm cover to build. All calving is complete at the moment. Slurry was spread last week at a rate of 2,000 gallons/acre. All the grazing ground was spread with one bag of CAN per acre. I had eight weanling heifers turned out earlier in the spring at an average weight of 400kg. They are grazing out the heavier covers at the moment. The average growth rate was 24kg/day with one of the outfarm boasting the highest growth rate of 31kg/day. The good ground conditions over the past week have allowed the heifers and cows to graze out the heavier covers tight which will help ensure quality grass for the next rotation.

David Mitchell,

Co Monaghan

Farming system Suckler to beef

Land type Heavy

Growth rate (kg Dm/Ha) -

Average farm cover (kg Dm/ha) -

Calving is progressing very well, with 24 calved out of 33. The spring-calving cows and calves are still housed, with the calves having access to a straw lie-back area. I took advantage of the dry weather last week and turned out my strongest autumn-calved cows and calves to paddocks close to my main farmyard. Their calves were creep grazing during the day before being let out full-time last week. It is forecast is to be very wet later this week so I may have to move them to a sacrifice paddock to try and keep them out as space is tight in the sheds. I also turned out my yearling heifers and bullocks. The bullocks averaged 449kg while the heifers averaged 409kg, which is 20-30kg heavier than last year’s batch due to the earlier turnout last year. I spread 2,500gals/acre of diluted slurry this week on a field I reseeded last September, and another silage field. Both were grazed with sheep. I will try spreading half bag of urea/ac on some of the grazing ground this week to help growth.

Adam Woods

Derrypatrick, Teagasc, Grange

Farming system Suckler to beef

Land type Heavy

Growth rate (kg Dm/Ha) 9

Average farm cover (kg Dm/ha) 935

We had 75 cows calved in Derrypatrick by Wednesday 23 March. We have been availing of the good weather and turning out cattle all last week. We have 52 cows and calves, 45 weanling heifers and 24 weanling steers out grazing. We are behind target in regards to the percentage of the farm grazed with 28% grazed by 20 March. We had a target of 40% grazed by this date but with a good number of stock out we should hit this target by 27 March. Average farm cover is 935kg DM/ha and our growth rate over the past week was 9kg DM/ha/day. Soil temperatures are at 6.5°C. We had spread all the farm in late February with 23 units urea/acre and we spread another 30 units urea/acre this week. We are aiming to close silage fields on 1 April and we are grazing these fields as tight as possible (4cm). With ground conditions excellent, we are achieving a residual of 4cm on all paddocks at the moment.