Growth really has taken off, with the combination of rainfall last week and heat this week pushing grass growth up a gear.

Magic day has happened, with Pasturebase Ireland showing that growth is at 55kg DM/ha, while demand is at 52kg DM/ha for dairy farmers measuring grass.

While this sounds marginal, there will be varying levels of growth and demand from farm to farm, with some farmers growing over 30kg DM/ha over demand, with further increased growth set to kick in this week.

It's important to get out and walk paddocks to assess the grass situation. Some will surprise you with how much is in them; these are usually paddocks with a dense, thick sward, while others will have less than expected.

Not only is it good for managing grass allocation, ensuring cattle are not over or underfed, but it also allows you to plan out what to do with surplus grass. At this point of the year, it’s advisable to walk the farm twice weekly.

Surplus grass

The question comes up each year with regard to surplus grass and what to do with it.

Some farmers will argue that baling out paddocks is too much work and too costly for the return on it or that the volume of bales they would be making from surplus is unattractive to a contractor to come and make.

These are valid points to an extent, but the hidden element here is not the quality silage that is being made now for winter feeding (albeit small volumes), but keeping grazed grass right in front of stock.

Yes, topping will correct poor-quality covers and mow out dung pats, but if you find yourself topping stemmy grass in a few weeks’ time, then stock were likely turned out to a paddock that was too strong to start with.

Not every paddock is mowable and by all means is this not a recommendation to not top, but limit topping where at all possible in favour of taking out some surplus bales.

Regarding the issue with having too few bales or having to take out surplus too frequently, a way around this is to lock up one or more paddocks for ‘long-term silage’ - ie allowing these to continue to grow and harvest alongside the first-cut crop.

Doing this will artificially raise your stocking rate, shorten the rotation and make management easier.

How much or how little to take out will be farm specific. If pressure did come on and you found you had taken out too much or growth dropped dramatically, then one or a portion of one paddock could be strip grazed to fill the gap.