We are now facing into a key period in terms of grass growth and maintaining both supply and quality on farms. Over the spring, grass growth was lagging behind where it should have been. Combined with higher rainfall, this created issues even for those on dry farms. However, the past two weeks have seen grass growth improve dramatically. With it, grass covers have increased also.

Donal Scully is a part-time farmer who runs a suckler-to-beef enterprise on his farm. In addition to finishing his own male progeny as bulls under 16 months of age, he also buys in heifers and bulls for finishing. The farm is very dry in nature, which means that he can target an early turnout and a long grazing season.

The farm itself is just 29.86ha in total. Donal runs a herd of 40 suckler cows, finishing all stock and buying in more to bring to beef.

In addition, there are currently another 20 in-calf heifers on the farm and more Angus-cross heifers have been bought in. In total, there are over 160 cattle grazing the 29.86ha block.

Running such a high stocking rate puts huge demand on grass growth on the farm, particularly in the spring when growth rates are low and stock is turned out to grass. The farm is stocked at over 3LU/ha this year.

Last year, Donal bought in approximately 160 bales of silage, of which there are about 80 left over. The plan this year will be to do the same or secure additional land for silage-making.

Managing grass demand

Donal has spent a lot of time tweaking the system to reduce the labour input, while at the same time maximising output.

Last year, there were 42 calvings on the farm, 12 of which were heifers. With over 50 eligible to calve this year between cows and heifers, the stocking rate will be pushed to the limit.

However, Donal may sell some in-calf heifers prior to calving to avoid increasing the workload at calving further.

Figure 1 shows the calving spread for the herd last year. Calving started in July and ended in September. In August alone, 64% of the herd calved, showing how tight the calving spread is.

The fact that the farm is autumn-calving is helpful in terms of grass demand. Although the requirement to make very good-quality silage is important, it means that during the months of May and June, most cows are dry, allowing them to be restricted or used to graze out swards after priority stock.

When cows calve, this coincides with bulls being housed for finishing, which eases pressure on grass demand.

Growing grass for 7LU/ha

Grass growth over the past three weeks on the farm has been very high and swards are responding well to the fertiliser which was applied.

Silage ground is now closed, which has resulted in a stocking rate of 6.98LU/ha on the grazing area. Based on an average allowance of 12.5kg DM/LU/day across all the grazing stock, grass demand is currently running at 87kg DM/ha.

Last week, grass growth was very good at 114kg DM/ha across the grazing platform. The farm cover is currently 180kg DM/LU, which is on target at this stage of the year.

Pre-grazing covers are currently high due to strong growth in recent weeks. The focus will be on managing grass covers and reducing the pre-grazing cover as the rotation speeds up.

Donal is currently starting his third rotation with most groups of stock. There are currently five groups being managed on the grazing block, including two groups of bulls, cows and calves, and two groups of heifers.

Grass is being allocated on a two- to three-day basis. With dry conditions, utilisation is quite high and fields are being cleaned out to 4cm.

In terms of fertiliser usage, the grazing ground has been given about 70 units of N/acre to date, but more will be applied in the coming weeks to keep grass growth as high as possible.

Grass wedge

Figure 2 shows the most recent grass wedge on Donal’s farm. There are five fields currently being grazed. These are all subdivided with temporary electric fences.

The current rotation length is 25 days, which will be reduced to under 20 days in the next few weeks.

There are a good number of fields with high grass covers of over 2,000kg DM/ha on them (13cm+). Growth has been slower this year than the previous year. However, stem will start to build up in paddocks with heavy grass covers in the coming weeks.

There are currently about 16ha (39.5 acres) being used in the grazing platform – the remaining 13.8ha are unavailable for grazing due to silage and reseeding.

Although there are high grass covers on the farm at the moment, with a reducing rotation length, Donal is planning on grazing out these covers before grass quality is an issue.

For most farmers with a lower stocking rate, having strong covers ahead at this stage would be an issue.

Grazing targets for May

May is a crucial month in terms of managing grass. A grass shortage is a thing of the past and with higher temperatures, grass growth rates have skyrocketed in the past week.

The current focus should be on ensuring that grass quality does not suffer in the coming weeks.

For those who closed silage ground late or where silage yields look like they will be significantly back on last year, maybe now is the time for targeting paddocks with strong grass covers to remove as surpluses.

Table 1 shows the target pre-grazing covers and rotation lengths for the summer months. With grass growths increasing, if you are short of silage ground or if the yield is back, then don’t ease up on fertiliser application in the coming weeks and target taking out additional ground as surplus bales where possible.

However, despite strong grass growth, you should ensure that days ahead does not fall below 14 at any stage.

Taking out grass surpluses quickly will ensure that they rejoin the rotation.

Where you are allowing paddocks to bulk up prior to cutting, keep a close eye on the grass wedge to avoid a shortfall in the interim.

Adviser comment

While Donal’s stocking rate is excessively high at 7LU/ha, he is managing to stay ahead of demand as he is moving stock on a daily basis, allowing regrowth, and has most of his farm reseeded.

As he won’t be able to maintain this stocking rate for the year, he plans to take on additional rented land for cutting silage and rearing extra stock.

The challenge here will be to achieve the same level of overall performance on the additional land as he has on his own land.

A solid farm plan and continuous updating of cashflow budgets are required for this expansion.

While Donal has been one of the highest performers on the BETTER farm programme over the years, most of this is attributed to his top-class grassland management and high output.

Continuing to focus on this will lead to him maintaining performance.

Alan Dillon, programme manager