Teagasc has launched its Grass10 Campaign to promote sustainable grassland excellence for Irish livestock.
The campaign was unveiled by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed at the Teagasc Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre in Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork.
Grass10 is a four year campaign which aims to increase grass utilisation on Irish livestock farms.
Its objective is to increase the number of grazings per paddock to 10 and the amount of grass utilised to 10t grass dry matter per hectare.
The new campaign incorporates the roll-out and promotion of the re-launched PastureBase Ireland online grassland database.
Livestock farmers can use this platform to record their grass covers as well as monitor their performance in relation to the Grass10 targets of the number of rotations and grass utilised.
- New grassland training modules for farmers and students.
- A network of grassland demonstration farms.
- Improved grassland advice underpinned by PastureBase Ireland.
- A revamped grassland website.
- A Grassland Farmer of the Year competition.
Pictured in Moorepark at the launch of the Teagasc Grass10 Campaign are Michael Creed T.D., Minister for Agriculture, Noreen Lacey, AIB, Professor Gerry Boyle, Director Teagasc, Liam Woulfe, Grassland Agro and Hugh Ryan, FBD. Photo O’Gorman Photography.
Part of the ‘Sustainable Year of Grassland’ initiative
The Teagasc Grass10 Campaign is an important part of the Department’s ‘Sustainable Year of Grassland’ initiative, Minister Creed said.
“Grass based production systems are at the heart of our efficient dairy, beef and sheep sector, and recognised and valued by our international customers as a sustainable system,” he said.
Meanwhile, there are four pillars to the Grass10 campaign namely, soil fertility, sward composition and reseeding, grassland management and grazing infrastructure, Teagasc Director, Professor Gerry Boyle, said.
Livestock farmers who want to get the most from grassland will have to address all four areas and this campaign aims to provide the technical knowledge and required skills to all farmers to achieve that.
“The roll-out of the new PastureBase Ireland website is a key component of this campaign as it will allow our advisors to provide improved advice and decision making support to livestock farmers,” he said.
Furthermore, Head of the Teagasc Animal and Grassland, Research and Innovation programme Professor Pat Dillon thanked all the Grass10 partners as well as revealing the campaign team is not yet complete.
“We are currently looking to recruit a Grass10 Campaign Manager and recruit two advisors to complete the campaign team, while we will also be fully leveraging other resources within Teagasc.”