The long-awaited rain has arrived and with it, an improvement in grass growth in many parts of the country.
The wetter conditions have been welcomed by most famers, particularly those in the east of the country and those on drier land.
This has led to an improvement in growth rates being experienced on farms, but it is unlikely that supplementary feeding can be removed from cows’ diets just yet.
The introduction of supplementary feeding is the easy part, the difficult part is knowing when to pull this feed.
Feed should continue to be offered to cows until such a time that there has been a steady growth rate and at least 10 days’ feed ahead of the cows.
Rain not welcomed by all
On heavier farms, the lack of rain was almost welcomed, with the drier conditions meaning they had good grazing conditions.
The heavy rain experienced over the last number of days has meant that many of these farms have now had to introduce supplementary feed.
Rain caused two issue on these farms: Stunted growth rates and challenging grazing conditions.
This has resulted in some farmers having to house cows for a short period or return to spring grazing methods such as spur roadways, to protect ground conditions.
Grass growth
Current growth rates, based on figures from PastureBase Ireland, are 53kg dry matter (DM)/ha in Leinster; 47kg DM/ha in Munster; 55kg DM/ha in Connacht; and 62kg DM/ha in Ulster.
There is a slight improvement in growth rates expected over the coming days; the predicated growth rates, based on PastureBase Ireland, are 63kg DM/ha in Leinster; 58kg DM/ha in Munster; 55kg DM/ha in Connacht; and 60kg DM/ha in Ulster.
Lameness
The change in condition can also lead to issues such as lameness. Lameness can have a major impact on cow welfare and production.
Up to one quarter of a dairy herd could be experiencing some form of a lameness issue at any one time.
Monitoring cows at all times of the year is important, but close attention is recommended during changing conditions.