A rapid recovery in grass growth in recent weeks has resulted in a significant improvement in the national fodder supply situation, the National Fodder and Food Security Committee (NFFSC) has heard.

A meeting of the committee chaired by Mike Magan today (Friday, October 16) heard that, on average, 71% dairy and drystock farms are on target for adequate winter fodder supplies.

A further 17.5% of farms are close to having adequate winter feed conserved.

However, there are 5% of farms with severe winter feed deficits and a further 6% at risk of significant shortages.

Dr Joe Patton, head of Dairy Knowledge at Teagasc, told the meeting that this is broadly in line with previous years of normal grass growth.

The findings were based on around 430 winter fodder budgets completed by Teagasc for drystock and dairy clients nationwide.

The data was collected on farms in early October after most grass silage and maize crop harvests were completed.

The NFFSC heard that the south-east of the country still has greatest proportion of farms in the high-risk categories.

Farmers in this region reported heavier usage of supplementary feeding during July and August due to the impact of the drought.

Fodder

Dr Patton said that grass growth recovery plus contingency measures have led to marked improvements.

6.2% of dairy farms and 3.6% of drystock farms now have shortages of less than 20%, while 63% of dairy farms and 76% of drystock farms report adequate or surplus feed stocks.

Overall, there is a weighted average forage surplus of 3 to 5% nationally.

Although this remains below the target of 120%, the meeting heard this represents a marked improvement since August.

Dr Patton said it is vital that farms with very severe fodder shortages take action now to balance supply and demand heading into winter.

"In addition, our survey shows that about 1 in 5 farms are in a marginal deficit of 5-10%.

"While this is a quite manageable deficit, we encourage these farmers to complete a fodder budget and keep numbers updated as the winter progresses, so that small deficits can be eradicated early," he said.

Grass

Michael O'Donovan, head of grassland science at Teagasc, said there had been “very significant grass growth” since the previous NFFSC meeting in August.

The latest data from Pasture Base Ireland shows that on average 11.3kg of dry matter(DM) per hectare has been grown on farms to date.

This figure is on par with the 5-year average and down 716kg on the 10-year average.

This year's figure is back by 735kg on 2025 levels, which O'Donovan said was “a very good grass growing year”.

“When we were in the middle of August, we would have thought that the recovery was going to be slow.

"But when you see a grass growth curve of 65kg DM/ha for the middle of September, there's been a phenomenal response nationally, but also on individual farms," he said.

Current grass growth is approximately 49kg DM/ha on dairy farms and 37 kg DM/ha/day on drystock farms this week.

O'Donovan said grass supply on farms is likely at an all-time high for this period, with pre-grazing yields of approximately 2,200 kg DM/ha.

Based on current predicted growth rates, it is expected that an average in excess of 12.5kg DM/ha of grass will be grown on farms this year, which would be above 2024 levels.

O’Donovan said farmers "have made excellent use of higher-than-average grass growth rates to replenish feed stocks with third cuts of silage, and importantly also to build grass covers for autumn grazing".

"Autumn grass supply is high on both dairy and drystock farms, which is encouraging.

"It is important that autumn grass is well utilised before closing for the winter.

"We would also like to encourage farmers to re-evaluate their fodder budgets in PastureBase Ireland in the coming weeks and make sure to update the fodder budget with the extra fodder conserved in the past month," he said.

Tom Curran, head of advisory services in Teagasc, added that there has been a "very significant improvement" in supply of conserved forage on farms.

"The recovery has been driven largely by strong grass growth through September into October.

"Challenges do remain on a proportion of drystock and dairy farms, and it is clear that immediate actions to improve supply or reduce demand will be essential on these farms.

"A number of options are available to farmers and our Teagasc advisers are happy to help farmers with these decisions," he said.