Grazing was put on ice quite literally last week as the “beast from the east” moved in. The vast majority of cattle were housed in the east, southeast and midlands, with any stock remaining outdoors a result of a lack of housing space.

These animals fared largely OK, provided shelter was available. Primal instincts kicked in and farmers told us of how they found animals huddled together for warmth. While the unprecedented conditions led to losses across the country, these were generally cases where the cold conditions were too much for very young, or already weak/sick animals.

Thankfully, there are only two wet days forecast in the east, and one in the west, until the end of next week. No doubt farmers in the west are thankful that conditions are playing out kinder there for a change.

Rising temperatures are going a long way towards shifting the remaining snow in the east of the country and may improve soil temperatures to the extent that we see fertiliser moving again on dry ground that escaped the worst of the snow. We are seeing a lot of slurry moving in western areas that received little or no snow.

Walk your farm in the coming days and assess the damage, if any, after last week. Are concrete drinkers cracked? Are pipes burst? Did the blizzards affect fencing? As conditions improve, we need to be ready to graze – we are now playing catch-up on 2018 in most parts. Keep an eye on the local forecast and as soon as you can travel and there are two dry days promised, go with one bag of urea per acre on parts of the farm that haven’t yet received, or been earmarked for, slurry. Grass needs a kick now.

Grass walk

The Stanley family in Thurles is hosting a farm walk as part of the Grass 10 programme this Friday 9 March. The event starts at 1pm and the farm address is Brittas Castle, Thurles. This walk is a follow-up to their autumn grass walk in 2017. The farm is the largest in the BETTER programme and the Stanleys have completely transformed a 40-acre grazing block in what was one of the standout stories of BETTER farm in 2017.

Gareth McCormack

Co Cavan

System suckler to weanling

Soil type heavy clay

Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 646

Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 0

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 0

Like the majority of the country, we experienced extreme weather over the past week. There was a lot of snowfall in this area and it has again left conditions very wet. As one would be expecting, there has been little or no growth over the past few weeks but hopefully we will see a turn in things soon. There is a nice cover of grass on certain parts of the farm and as soon as conditions allow I hope to get lighter stock out to get grazing kicked off and to save on fodder. To stretch the silage I am giving cows 2kg a day of a maize/barley mix and it is slowing down their silage consumption. Over three-quarters of the cows have now calved at this stage and it has gone fairly well. The cows that are left to calve are being supplemented with pre-calving minerals and 1kg soya bean meal to boost colostrum quality. This year, I am feeding a group of bulls for finishing under 16 months and to date they look to be doing very well.

Dwayne Stanley

Co Tipperary

System suckler to beef

Soil type variable

Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 646

Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 0

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 0

We had to rehouse all our stock for the duration of the snow. Calves that had been out since late January have had an excellent thrive on grass and 1kg of ration. I plan to have them out by the farm walk on 9 March again. Spring cows and calves will be turned out to grass as calves hit the ground from now on.

I haven’t had a chance to spread urea yet due to both focusing on spreading slurry on the driest of the land and also wet conditions preventing me travelling the heavier ground. I am going to spread 40 units per acre this week on all land that hasn’t received slurry. I am currently grazing off some silage fields that received slurry in January with autumn suckler calves that can access cows in shed through a creep gate.

The last section of our newly reseeded 42ac block was paddocked off last week and I am delighted with the results. I had been using temporary reels on half of the block up to now but found the labour element too time-consuming.

Sean Hayes

Co Clare

System suckler to beef

Soil type variable

Farm cover (kg DM/ha) N/A

Demand (kg DM/ha/day) N/A

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) N/A

Storm Emma has come and gone here in Tulla. Thankfully we live to tell the tale, but the bad weather couldn’t have come at a worse time and will most certainly delay turnout dates here. My farm is fragmented so it’s not practical rehousing cows and calves if the weather breaks.

I’ve decided to finish a lot more of my 2017 bull calves under 16 months of age as opposed to squeezing them and running them as bullocks.

Last year’s bullocks did very well and were still killed at 21 months of age but the wet back end hampered my plans and I didn’t get as much grass into them as I’d have liked before the finishing period.

Slurry isn’t an issue as I got a couple of bays out with the umbilical system last month to alleviate the pressure. If ground conditions do improve, I hope to get fertiliser out next week. At the minute, there is still a lot of snow on the ground from drifts which will no doubt soften ground even further once it thaws.

Adam Woods

Tullamore Farm

System beef/sheep

Soil type variable

Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 521

Demand (kg DM/ha/day) N/A

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) N/A

Storm Emma has upset our grazing plans on Tullamore Farm, with 17 cows and calves rehoused last week. They have since been turned back out along with 11 other cows and calves so there are 28 cows and calves out so far. Cows continue to be fed 2kg of meal/daily with added cal-mag as a tetany prevention measure. Hi-mag licks are also in paddocks and cows have access to silage. Cows will be bolused with magnesium boluses once they move to the outfarm. The 59 dairy cross heifers were moved to a sheltered paddock last week during Storm Emma and fed silage and meal. They have since returned to normal grazing and are cleaning out covers. Thirty-five units/acre of urea were spread on 120 acres of the farm on 17 February. The remaining 80 acres will be spread as soon as ground conditions allow. There has been one calf with scour and the test has come back positive for crypto. Calving pens have been cleaned out and bedding has increased. Cows and calves are moving outdoors as quickly as possible.

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Soil temperatures prohibit decent growth