Reseeding 10% of the farm every year has been key to surviving recent drier summers, Waterford dairy farmer Mike Ahern said at this year's Dairy Day in UL on Saturday.

Frequent pasture renewal has been something the Ballyduff farmer said he has actively had to build into his business over the last number of years.

"This year, it really showed it again. The reseeded fields this year and last year, they're the ones that were still green when everything else was yellow.

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"There's 40 paddocks on the farm and four have to be reseeded every year," the sustainable grassland farmer of the year said.

Stocking rate

However, Teagasc Moorepark's Brendan Horan said that if you're overstocked relative to grass growth, the ability to take out 10% to 15% of paddocks in the middle of summer for reseeding is "non-existent".

Breaking down the feeding requirements for a 525kg cow with 500kg milk solids, Horan said that it equates to about 5.7t of feed for the year.

"A tonne of that is traditionally going in as grass silage during winter during the dry period and then it's a question of how much other supplements are going in.

"If it's a good grass-growing year, you're using 500kg to 700kg of concentrates, so that's 4t of grass or if it's a poor year, you're feeding 1t of concentrates, you're coming back from that 4t to 3.5t - at that level, we're dropping to almost 50% grazed grass in the total animal diet. And that's dicey in terms of the economics," Horan said.

Cost

While the current cost of between €400/ac and €450/ac to reseed is a big cost, not reseeding is an even bigger cost, according to Horan.

"Reseeding is an expense, everyone here knows it. If it means 15% to 20% per year to bring those swards back after significant drought or whatever happens, it's worth it," he said.