There’s power in the sun this week as they say, and with temperatures in the high teens and low 20s we should really see growth kick in to gear after lagging behind for much of March and the start of April.

‘Magic day’ as it’s known, is the day when growth exceeds demand, with some of our farmers listed below having achieved this.

This means that surplus grass will start to build from here on in, and managing this will be a challenge to prevent poor quality feed going in front of cattle and correction of sward quality through topping having to be done.

Sticking to the rotation (grazing each paddock in the same order as they were last grazed) will not work from a grassland management point of view, as each paddock will grow at different rates.

If we were to stick to the rotation, then we would end up grazing some paddocks at 800kg DM/ha (too low, energy intake compromised) while others would be at 2,000kg DM/ha (reduced utilisation and energy content).

Target covers no higher than 1,500kg DM/ha, and ideally closer to 1,350-1,400kg DM/ha.

Covers above this should be taken out as surplus silage either at light covers (below 2,500kg DM/ha or 5 bales/acre) or can be cut with first cut silage at a later date.

The only reason for grazing these heavier covers is to fill a gap in the grass wedge i.e. where you have sufficient grass if you graze the heavy covers but will run tight if you skip them.

Farmers

Trevor Boland – Dromard, Co Sligo

Grass growth has really pushed on in the last week or so. We have a share of paddocks with a heavier cover on them that are past grazing at this stage, and they are likely pushing our growth figure so high.

These will be taken out of the rotation now and cut for silage along with the main silage ground in three weeks’ time. This, along with bringing some more stock back on to the grazing platform, should bring our days ahead back to a more manageable level.

Silage ground received slurry earlier in the year and was then spread with three bags/acre of 24-2.5-10 + S. Grazing conditions last week were sticky and we didn’t graze off paddocks as tight, but we are back on track this week.

System Suckler to weanling

Soil Type Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 887

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 106

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 51

William Treacy – Hackballscross, Co Louth

With grass growth picking up, I would imagine we have some paddocks growing over 100kg DM/ha/day. So far, one paddock that had a heavy cover of 2,000kg DM/ha has been earmarked for silage, but I will walk the farm frequently in the next weeks to see if additional paddocks need to be taken out.

With grass supplies so strong, I’ve changed my mind and turned autumn calving cows out with their calves at grass.

Bulls have been turned out with two batches of spring calvers now as well. Overall, stock are very happy and content, and the main aim at the minute is to just keep grass quality high ahead of stock. Some slurry was spread on paddocks last week at 2,000 gallon/acre.

System Suckler to beef

Soil Type Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 927

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 60

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 58

Ken Gill – Clonbollogue, Co Offaly

We got more than enough rain last week. I had planned on turning the autumn calving cows out, but held off with the rain, so they went to grass Monday.

The weanlings and store cattle have been at grass for a few weeks now. With the cows out I am back to a leader-follower system, where weanlings will graze a paddock for one day followed by stores for one day and finally cows for a day.

We have taken out eight paddocks for first-cut silage, and I have been able to avoid eating into these so far.

New grass was sown alongside peas and barley and it has germinated well. Red clover swards weren’t mulched in October, so the plan is to cut these in the next 10 days.

System Organic suckler to beef

Soil Type Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 609

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 41

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 33