Farmers should reserve between one and two bales of high quality silage per cow for spring time, Donal Patton from Teagasc, Ballyhaise told last week’s dairy conference.

When the going gets tough for grass in spring, the most important thing is to feed the cow correctly, Patton argued.

“Obviously 2024 was a very difficult spring for most of us.

“Normally towards the end of March/early April we’re growing 30kg per day, we’re out full-time, we’re usually doing a pretty good job in terms of residuals, feeding around 4kg of meal,with 60% grazed and 700kg DM/ha of a farm cover.”

What happened in a lot of cases in 2024, according to Patton, was that farmers who were used to being out full-time from the start and were only out by day or not out at all that they weren’t feeding the cow properly or adjusting their concentrate level adequately.

“The reserve of high-quality feed, we’re talking about 75 DMD silage with good high protein - it’s a bale per cow to two bales per cow depending on your soil type.

“On some difficult farms it may even be more than that,” Patton said.

Limerick dairy farmer Michael Carroll who spoke on the day said that he keeps all his surplus bales for spring.

“It’s so important in terms of fats and proteins to start high and keep them high for the rest of the year,” Carroll said.