Catch crops

It is worth assessing winter feed budgets now to anticipate a potential fodder deficit. If a deficit in supplies is predicted, all options to fill the void should be considered. The prolonged dry weather may have had a lot of bad consequences this year for crop growth, be it grass or cereals, especially in the south and east of the country. However, ground conditions are excellent for sowing catch crops on recently harvested cereal ground. The past number of years, sowing such crops has been difficult because cereal crop harvests were later or protracted due to challenging harvesting conditions or ground was too wet to establish the catch crop. Conditions are very different this year.

A lot of tillage farmers in GLAS are required to grow catch crops for the scheme. Up to 25,000ha have been sown in the past. Tillage farmers with suitable catch crops may be open to entering into a deal to graze them off – it’s all about initiating the conversation now to secure supply.

Ground fenced for sheep will work best but temporary fencing can also work. Some sheep farmers may opt to grow a crop themselves, especially for finishing lambs. If planning on growing a crop, the earlier you do so, the better. For grazing crops, high-yield species are best and can grow in excess of 5t DM/ha.

Good seedbed preparation is essential for the typically small seeds to establish in the soil. Likewise, good soil fertility is crucial, otherwise crop performance could be disappointing. Soil tests should be taken into account but typically three bags of 10-10-20 per acre at sowing is sufficient with the balance of nitrogen applied post-establishment.

Sowing method comes down to preference. Direct drilling and one-pass systems work well where there is not much trash from the previous crop. Disc or tine harrows and fertiliser spreaders can be used to sow crops too. Once sowed, it should be rolled in to leave a firm seedbed. Typical establishment costs including seed, fertiliser and machinery expenses range from €90 to €110/acre.

Reseeding

This week’s Focus centres on reseeding. The dry weather forecast for the weekend offers ideal conditions for carrying out a reseeding job. Before buying seed, take some time choosing the best varieties to use. The recommended grass variety list (published north and south) should be the starting point. These varieties have been tried and tested in Irish conditions and have predicted performance. Selection of grass varieties will have to take account of heading date and cultivar choice. In general, diploid varieties should make up about 60% to 70% of the grass seed mix, balanced with 30% to 40% tetraploid varieties.

It is best not to have a range in heading dates of more than seven days. This will ensure grass quality and ease of management. Adopting this approach will generally mean selecting a mix containing some late-heading intermediate varieties and late-heading varieties.

Late-heading varieties head in the first half of June, are characterised by high tiller densities, exhibit good ground cover, and are well suited to long-term grazing pastures. Late varieties produce good-quality silage cuts in early June and late July, and are leafy in mid-summer. While their spring growth may not be as good as for intermediates they are more suited to long-term sheep-grazing systems.