Grass growth: Pinch continues to be felt

Despite the recent rainfall, farms on drier land types are continuing to feel the pinch of suppressed grass growth.

Soil moisture deficits have been, and still are quite significant in some areas.

The extended spell of good weather has been challenging for farmers, with reduced growth rates meaning that winter fodder supplies had to be used in some cases.

Lucky for most, ample amounts of silage were made earlier this year, but after the second cut has been harvested it may be no harm to complete another fodder budget.

Most farmers now need rain, especially as they begin to build autumn covers for grazing in the backend.

This may result in farmers having to move cull cows on sooner than they had planned, or reduce the stocking rate on the milking platform in another way.

One such was is moving any youngstock on the platform to silage ground or introducing the silage ground back into the rotation.

Grass growth

Current growth rates, based on figures from PastureBase Ireland, are 46kg dry matter (DM)/ha in Leinster; 51kg DM/ha in Munster; 59kg DM/ha in Connacht; and 54kg DM/ha in Ulster.

There is a slight improvement in growth rates expected over the coming days. The predicated growth rates, again from PastureBase Ireland, are 52kg DM/ha in Leinster; 57kg DM/ha in Munster; 59kg DM/ha in Connacht; and 59kg DM/ha in Ulster.

Although a slight improvement is expected, the boosted growth rate is not going to change the situation on the majority of farms that much.

Clover swards

What has been brought to attention during this period of reduced growth rates and drought-like conditions is clover swards.

Paddocks with a high clover content have not appeared to be as affected by the lack of rain and have continued to grow at a steady rate.

This, alongside decreased chemical nitrogen use and improved milk solids output/cow, is another plus for legume plants.

Autumn covers

The stocking rate on a farm will determine the targets for building grass covers for the autumn period.

A farm that is stocked with 3.0 livestock units (LU)/ha by September 1, should be aiming for an average farm cover of 990kg dry matter (DM)/ha.

On a farm with a lower stocking rate of 2.5 LU/ha, the target is an average farm cover of 750kg of DM/ha by September 1.