Drier parts of the country, particularly in the south-east, may experience grass deficits this week with minimal rainfall forecasted.

Meanwhile farmers in the north-west will be begging for a bit of dry weather, with heavy downpours over the last week leaving some fields saturated.

As it stands, average grass growth is in or around the 75-80kg of dry matter (DM) per hectare mark.

And with demand still sitting in the mid-50s (kg DM/ha), a lot of farms have now slipped into a position of surplus grass once again.

In fact, 54% of PastureBase Ireland recording farms had surplus grass last week, with a mean average farm cover (AFC) of 747kg DM/ha.

This may seem well and good with farmers even eyeing up paddocks to pull from the rotation for surplus bales, but with a high pressure building and minimal rain on the horizon, management must be strict.

We all know how quickly the grass situation can change on farm in a matter of days, so it is important to continue with consistent grass walks ensuring AFC remains in or around the target of 650kg DM/ha.

Surplus and deficit grass

Grass-deficit farms are making up the minority this week, with only 14% of PastureBase recording farms in this situation.

However, with the dry and warm weather looking to continue for the next number of days, a shortage of rainfall could potentially lead to further soil moisture deficits.

According to Met Éireann, soil moisture deficits are already ranging from around 20mm to as high as 50mm over much of Munster and Leinster.

These moisture deficits are expected to increase even further during the week, with some places in the south-east hitting 60mm and ultimately experiencing restricted grass growth.

Farms already in deficits must plan carefully, and consider increasing rations or buffer feeding silage or palm kernel.

These farmers also need to try and hold their average farm cover above 550kg DM/ha (currently mean AFC of 581kg DM/ha).

If growth begins to drop below 50kg DM/ha/day, the rotation length needs to increase to 25 days, dropping pre-grazing yields to 1,250kg DM/ha is acceptable.

Additional stock on the milking platform such as calves or cull cows should be moved to out blocks if possible, or even consider selling cull cows as they are not adding any value to the farm.

Farms with surplus grass should continue to allocate 18-19kg of grass DM and 1-2 kg of meal on a 20-21 day rotation, but they must use grass walks to identify any incoming deficits.

Remember that grass growth is a balancing game as we need to try and keep pre-grazing covers of 1,400kg DM/ha in front of the herd.

If paddocks are gone well beyond 1,500kg DM/ha, they should be taken out for bales.

It is also worth noting that there will be a serious offtake in nutrients from these paddock which must be replaced straight away.

A paddock with a cover of 2,000kg DM/ha that produces roughly 4 bales/ac will need to be replaced with 40 units of nitrogen (N), 6.4 units of phosphorus (P), and 40 units of potassium (K).