Grass growth is extremely slow right across the country, according to advisers.

Business and technology adviser for drystock farmers across Sligo and Leitrim Tom Coll said that he is receiving plenty of phone calls from farmers who are short on grass and are contemplating offloading stock as a result.

“The issue we have is that the ground is only starting to dry now, there’s no growth.

“Ground conditions aren’t great... There was a lot of silage made, and a lot of damage done in places too,” Coll told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Coll said that the advice for sheep farmers is to wean their lambs after 14 weeks, and start to feed them a bit.

“You’d be tightening up the ewes for a fortnight after weaning so that might get farmers over this spell of no growth - 10 days on a paddock would dry them off and they’d have no real grass demand.

“You can prioritise any grass you have then for your lambs and give them your best grass. From 12 weeks on, it’s minimal what the lamb can get from the ewe,” he said.

Dairy

Head of dairy knowledge transfer at Teagasc Joe Patton said that dairy farmers have about 10 weeks now to sort out any issues with forage deficits.

“Growth rates are expected to return to a normal level for the time of year.

“The advice is, if growth rates return, sort out some quality issues, catch up on your fertiliser and exploit the growth, get your rotation length back on track, take the surpluses as they’re coming.

“But, look back and see how much you’re short – most people may have to source extra silage,” he said.

Growth forecast

Growth rates, according to Teagasc figures, are still poor for this time of the year at 56kg and 50kg DM/ha respectively on dairy and drystock farms.

Growth rates for the next seven days are positive with mid 60s predicted for large parts of the country.