The last few weeks have been about as good as we could have asked for in terms of weather and ground conditions, and it’s really paid off across all areas of the farm. From getting the first-cut of silage in under textbook conditions to having one of the best breeding starts I’ve seen here in Abbeyleix, it feels like we’re off to a flyer this year.

We got the first-cut in and covered during what I’d call near-perfect silage weather – dry ground, warm days, and a bit of a breeze to bring it in quickly. Yields were very good, and quality looked excellent going into the pit. The crop was still leafy when cut, which should mean high digestibility and good feed value. It’ll be interesting to see what the analysis comes back with.

Having a good bulk in the pit this early has given me a bit of breathing space. I’ve made the decision to reseed one of the silage blocks now instead of going in for a second cut there. Between that and the reseeding done over the past few years, that will be our three silage blocks reseeded over three years. I’ve found that keeping these fields young is really paying off – the newer swards are more responsive, deliver better quality, and come in cleaner. It might be a cost upfront, but it’s an investment that more than pays for itself in feed value.

Breeding has gone off like clockwork this spring. In the first three weeks, only three cows weren’t served. Two of those were picked up with cysts, and they went on a CIDR programme. The third was a later-calver who just needed a bit more time to cycle. To be honest, I can’t remember a spring where we had such a good run of weather for breeding – dry, mild, and plenty of grass under cows. Cows are more active, and everything just seems to be working in our favour.

It’s the kind of breeding season that gives you confidence going into the second round. We’ll see how conception rates turn out, but going by the weather, I’d say they’ll be well above average this year based on how it started. Milk performance has been steady enough, though there’s been a slight dip in yield recently. We’re back to 26 to 27 litres per cow, which is down a bit from where we were. I was hoping they’d hold up a bit better considering the volume of grass in front of them, but I suspect the dry spell might have taken a bit of the energy out of it. That said, milk solids are holding their ground. Butterfat is at 4.2% and protein at 3.65%, which is decent. Somatic cell count is floating around the 100,000 to 120,000 mark. We did have one cow flare up with mastitis during the week, so that’s being managed now. I went for a walk across the farm last week fully expecting the grass situation to have tightened, given the lack of rain. But I was surprised, pleasantly so, by what I found. Growth came in at 77kg DM/ha, and cover per cow was around 225kg DM/LU. For late May, in a dry spell, that’s not bad going at all. We hadn’t seen any proper rain since the 25 April, and even up to the start of this week, we’d only recorded 14mm. Other parts of the country have had more than double or triple that.

Ground conditions

Despite this, the ground is holding up well, and the swards are doing a great job of staying green and active. The forecast looks more promising now, with rain expected over the next few days. If we get a proper drop, it’ll help kick things on again and set us up nicely heading into June.

With a bit of rain finally on the way, I’m lining up to spread fertiliser for the second-cut. I’ll go with five bags of 19:0:15 per acre, which has worked well for me in the past. I had been hoping to get the slurry spread earlier, but it’s just been too dry the last two weeks since we cut. I didn’t want to chance it when there wasn’t enough moisture in the soil. The plan now is to hold the slurry until after the fertiliser is out and, if conditions stay damp, I’ll go with around 1,500 to 2,000 gallons per acre, if not I will wait until after the second-cut.