Grass growth is no longer the primary focus for farm, with a bigger focus now being placed on whether it will be possible to get cows back to grass.
Heavy rain over the last number of weeks has resulted in many being forced to house cows, much earlier then many would have hoped.
The main focus now needs to be seeing whether getting cows back to grass is achievable, and how.
Grass growth
The latest figures from PastureBase Ireland show current growth rates of 44kg of dry matter (DM)/ha for Leinster, 46kg of DM/ha for Munster, 46kg of DM/ha for Connacht and 47kg of DM/ha for Ulster.
The outlook for the days ahead is mixed, with some areas seeing slight increases, and others seeing further significant drops in growth rates.
The predicted growth rates for the coming days are 45kg of DM/ha for Leinster, 40kg of DM/ha for Munster, 35kg of DM/ha for Connacht and 38kg of DM/ha for Ulster.
Grazing management
Although many were forced to house stock after the recent heavy rain, there should be focus on getting cows back to grass.
Grazing off paddocks in the autumn is important to ensure that the farm is set up for the winter months and spring 2024.
But this should not be done at the cost of damaging land.
There may be some areas of the farm that you will not be able to graze, so the focus should be on getting as much of the farm as possible ready.
Use good grazing management such as on/off grazing or other practices that prevent damage but keep grass in the diet.
Target the dry paddocks, which should be your first port of call in the spring. It is important that these paddock are in good order for spring.
When you go to grass in the spring you will likely only have a small number of cows and their intakes will be low.
So grazing heavy covers is not going to be possible, but after a few weeks when you reach the wetter paddocks that you may not have been able to graze this autumn – there should be more cows calved and grazing these paddocks should be a bit easier.
Getting the farm is a perfect position for closing this year is going to be very difficult to achieve, you should focus on getting as much as possible in a good position.