Grass growth around the country continues to vary greatly, with pressure mounting in the south-east while grass grows in the north-west.

There is no doubt that it has been a hugely challenging grazing season, with farmers now worried for the winter ahead as fodder runs low.

According to Teagasc, there is an average of 4 months' feed in Leinster, 4.2 months for Munster, and 4.4 months for Connacht and Ulster.

Some of the counties that were hit the hardest with drought - such as Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois and Kildare - have an average of 3.6 months.

With land completely burnt in these areas, most farms will face into another month of feeding valuable winter fodder, bringing their total resources closer to 2.6 months.

Ideally, a comfortable volume of winter fodder for the south-east would be five months' worth of feed, while the north-west has being making a shift towards seven months of feed in recent years.

That means pressure is on winter fodder nationwide, with Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) president, Denis Drennan highlighting action needs to be taken now.

Grass growth

As for this week's grass growth, PastureBase Ireland recorded an average growth rate of 37kg dry matter (DM)/ha on dairy farms, with a matching demand of 37kg DM/ha.

According to PasturBase, growth is sitting at 29kg DM/ha in Munster, 25kg DM/ha in Leinster, and 48kg DM/ha in Connacht and Leinster.

However, many of the farms worst affected by the drought have reported that they are not currently logging data into PastureBase as there is virtually no grass to record.

The average nationwide diet is sitting at 10kg of grass, 5kg of meal, and 4kg of silage, although once again, the worst-hit farms have no grass in the diet, while other farms in grass growing areas have no silage in the diet.

The average nationwide cover/livestock unit (LU) sits at 166kg DM/ha, with an average farm cover (AFC) of 527kg DM/ha.

According to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federations (ICBF) milk recording data, milk production is now setting at 20.8kg of milk per cow/day.

With 4.27% fat and 3.61% protein, average solids are at 1.63kg.