Grass growth has taken a tumble across most of the south and midlands of Ireland over the last few weeks.

Different farms have been affected at different times depending on the soil moisture deficit on the specific farm.

Rainfall has been sporadic and some places have fared better than others. Looking to the north and west, as is usually the case they have got plenty of rain and don’t really want to see any more of it for now.

While many growth restricted areas got rain at the weekend and there is some more forecast for the next few days, whether they got enough remains to be seen as the forecast is for dry weather next week.

Good drying out

It has been very windy over the last week and that has dried out land quickly, undoing most of the good from the recent rains.

The longer this period of low growth rate goes on, the greater the impact in terms of building autumn covers, using feed needed for the winter and buying expensive concentrates.

The reality is that if there isn’t enough grass growing to feed cows then they need other feeds. Strategically, some farmers are looking at selling cull cows early in order to reduce the demand for grass.

For me, I think the trigger point to putting in higher levels of feed is to maintain the average farm cover at around 550kg to 600kg DM/ha. If that is maintained, there will be a faster bounce in grass growth rates after sufficient rain comes.

Where farm cover is at or below this level many farmers are feeding a couple of kilos of silage or zero grazed grass and three or four kilos of meal too.

It's important that when putting in additional feed that 12 hour breaks are used to ensure that cows graze out properly.

In terms of fertiliser, I would continue to spread nitrogen as grass is green and growing, albeit slower than normal in most farms.