Q: My father and I only run bullocks on the land over the summer months but we would like to begin measuring the grass in order to better utilise it. The thing is we wouldn’t be in a position to buy a plate meter for measuring grass due to its cost. However, I do believe you can use a welly boot marked at intervals to measure grass, I was just wondering how I would go about measuring grass this way (ie, what is the process)?
A: To manage grassland you need to know three things – your field sizes, your stock’s grass requirement and your grass covers.
ADVERTISEMENT
Area
There are smartphone apps that’ll enable you to estimate field and paddock sizes quite easily using satellite images. Make a list of your paddocks and their sizes (in hectares) using these.
Requirement
An animal will eat 2% of its body weight daily – so a 600kg bullock needs 12kg of grass dry matter daily.
Grass cover
To measure the grass itself, take a ruler into the paddock, or mark in the cm intervals on your welly, and estimate the average height of the grass there (in cm). Take four away from the figure and multiply by 250 to give you a kg DM/ha figure. Adjust based on the paddock area to give you total grass in the paddock. Work out your farm’s total grass supply and divide by total daily stock requirement to give ‘grazing days’. At this point in the year you should have 25 days’ worth of grazing if planning to keep cattle out until the end of the season. Manage your grass weekly based on your days ahead figure – check the Irish Farmers Journal in print and online for guidelines.
Register for free to read this story and our free stories.
This content is available to digital subscribers and loyalty code users only. Sign in to your account, use the code or subscribe to get unlimited access.
The reader loyalty code gives you full access to the site from when you enter it until the following Wednesday at 9pm. Find your unique code on the back page of Irish Country Living every week.
CODE ACCEPTED
You have full access to the site until next Wednesday at 9pm.
CODE NOT VALID
Please try again or contact support.
Q: My father and I only run bullocks on the land over the summer months but we would like to begin measuring the grass in order to better utilise it. The thing is we wouldn’t be in a position to buy a plate meter for measuring grass due to its cost. However, I do believe you can use a welly boot marked at intervals to measure grass, I was just wondering how I would go about measuring grass this way (ie, what is the process)?
A: To manage grassland you need to know three things – your field sizes, your stock’s grass requirement and your grass covers.
Area
There are smartphone apps that’ll enable you to estimate field and paddock sizes quite easily using satellite images. Make a list of your paddocks and their sizes (in hectares) using these.
Requirement
An animal will eat 2% of its body weight daily – so a 600kg bullock needs 12kg of grass dry matter daily.
Grass cover
To measure the grass itself, take a ruler into the paddock, or mark in the cm intervals on your welly, and estimate the average height of the grass there (in cm). Take four away from the figure and multiply by 250 to give you a kg DM/ha figure. Adjust based on the paddock area to give you total grass in the paddock. Work out your farm’s total grass supply and divide by total daily stock requirement to give ‘grazing days’. At this point in the year you should have 25 days’ worth of grazing if planning to keep cattle out until the end of the season. Manage your grass weekly based on your days ahead figure – check the Irish Farmers Journal in print and online for guidelines.
If you would like to speak to a member of our team, please call us on 01-4199525.
Link sent to your email address
We have sent an email to your address. Please click on the link in this email to reset your password. If you can't find it in your inbox, please check your spam folder. If you can't find the email, please call us on 01-4199525.
ENTER YOUR LOYALTY CODE:
The reader loyalty code gives you full access to the site from when you enter it until the following Wednesday at 9pm. Find your unique code on the back page of Irish Country Living every week.
SHARING OPTIONS