This week I was to go to the southwest for our grass course meetings our Limerick and Kerry groups.

The courses were postponed due to COVID-19. However, we kept in touch with participants over the phone and these were some of the queries on the ground.

The dry weather this week has seen a lot of farmers in west of Ireland and on heavier soils get stock out to graze for the first time this year.

The plan for these farmers was to start grazing some of the lower covers first, to adjust stock back to eating grass and to get ground graze and growing back for the second rotation.

Heavy covers not an option

As stock will generally do a lot of walking around when first turned out, heavy covers weren’t an option.

Heavy cover are also starting to die off at the butt and, as a result, regrowths will be a lot slower - another reason not to start off your grazing season in these covers.

Regrowths need to be maximised on every farm now. A lot of these farms have plenty of grass around, but we need to be a step ahead and be thinking about the next rotation.

The days are getting long, so plants are getting more daylight

Grass needs four things to grow - light, soil temperature, moisture and fertiliser. The days are getting long, so plants are getting more daylight, the soil is getting warmer and there’s certainly no shortage of moisture around, so we all need to ensure that the fertiliser is out to maximise growth rates.

Thirty to 40 units of nitrogen (N) should be going out now to kick-start the grazing season for anyone who hasn’t gone with fertiliser yet. If you went in late January or early February it’s time to go again.

Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) or compound fertilisers can be spread. But a close eye needs to be kept on the forecast as P is subject to run-off.

Products such as 18:6:12 are good to go with now, as the P and K will stimulate grass growth and encourage more root activity. Spreading 18:6:12 on ground that was damaged in its last grazing is also said to help the paddock recover.

Good graze-out

A number of dairy farmers back Limerick side have 60% of their milking platform grazed and were wondering how best to achieve a good graze-out on heavy covers of 2,200kg-plus.

Reducing concentrates fed in the parlour to encourage the cows to clean these paddocks out may not be the best option.

These swards are starting to die back and will have less energy value than fresher grass and pulling concentrates and forcing cows to eat down these covers can hit production.

The dry weather is giving farmers an excellent chance to graze these and I would maintain the concentrate level and focus more on trying to get the allocation of grass right.