The rain earlier this week was a big help to many farmers around the country who were supplementing cows and cattle in order to reduce demand and stop the average farm cover (AFC) falling too low.
The cold, dry weather over the last month had a big effect on grazed ground and regrowths have been poor.
In some areas, rainfall was low and there is very little rain forecast over the next seven days.
It is very important not to let AFC fall below 550kg DM/ha or you risk running into a grass shortage.
Dairy cows grazing in the sun near Lisheen, Skibbereen, Co Cork, with pink tail paint.
During our grassland management courses this week, we discussed how the poor regrowths had caused a hole to form in the grass wedge.
Many of the farmers participating in the course had opted to bring back in ground that had been stopped for silage in order to bridge the gap.
If this is not possible, continue to supplement with concentrates or high-quality silage and keep rotation length between 25 and 30 days.
In future, reduce the supplementation in line with increasing growth rates.
It is very important to do a grass walk every five to seven days. This will allow you to get an up-to-date growth rate for your farm and monitor grass availability.
Cover per livestock unit (C/LU) should be around 170kg DM/LU and on beef farms there should be 15 days of grass ahead.
The rain earlier this week was a big help to many farmers around the country who were supplementing cows and cattle in order to reduce demand and stop the average farm cover (AFC) falling too low.
The cold, dry weather over the last month had a big effect on grazed ground and regrowths have been poor.
In some areas, rainfall was low and there is very little rain forecast over the next seven days.
It is very important not to let AFC fall below 550kg DM/ha or you risk running into a grass shortage.
Dairy cows grazing in the sun near Lisheen, Skibbereen, Co Cork, with pink tail paint.
During our grassland management courses this week, we discussed how the poor regrowths had caused a hole to form in the grass wedge.
Many of the farmers participating in the course had opted to bring back in ground that had been stopped for silage in order to bridge the gap.
If this is not possible, continue to supplement with concentrates or high-quality silage and keep rotation length between 25 and 30 days.
In future, reduce the supplementation in line with increasing growth rates.
It is very important to do a grass walk every five to seven days. This will allow you to get an up-to-date growth rate for your farm and monitor grass availability.
Cover per livestock unit (C/LU) should be around 170kg DM/LU and on beef farms there should be 15 days of grass ahead.
SHARING OPTIONS