With the All-Ireland football and hurling finals and the milk quality award winners decided, all that is left to be chosen in 2020 is the winner of the Grassland Farmer of the Year competition.

The winner of that competition is set to be announced by the Minister for Agriculture on 19 January. However, we do know which county has grown the most grass - Kilkenny.

Topping the charts with an impressive 12.88t DM/ha grown based on the average of all farms recording more than 20 measurements, Kilkenny beats its sporting rival and near neighbour Waterford for the top spot.

At this stage, Waterford must be getting accustomed to being a runner-up.

Next on the list is Cork, followed by Tipperary and then Wexford and Limerick. A county of note in the top third is Sligo, with a very respectable average growth of 12.5t DM/ha.

Of course, where there are winners there must also be losers and the counties with the least amount of grass grown are Clare, Offaly, Wicklow and Donegal. Clare comes out at the bottom of the pile with an average cumulative growth of 11.3t DM/ha.

All of these figures were sourced from the Teagasc grass measurement program called PastureBase and were presented by Michael O’Leary and John Douglas at a recent online seminar.

If interested in learning how to measure grass, the Irish Farmers Journal is taking bookings and expressions of interest for its grass courses. Please call or text Stephen Connolly on 087-669 6490 or fill in this form for a call-back Irish Farmers Journal grass course expressions of interest.