Grass growth has improved on farms over the last number of days, with growth rates on the majority of farms now slightly above 50kg dry matter (DM)/ha.
This steady rate is welcome, as farmers look to reduce the amount of supplementary feed being offered to cows.
However, on some farms supplementary feeding of cows may still be required for a numbers of days yet.
Deciding to add supplementary feed into a cow’s diet is usually the easy part. The hard part is knowing when to remove this feed from the diet.
Although grass growth has picked up on farms it is important to ensure there is enough grass ahead of your cows if you are removing the supplementary feed from the diet
Removing this feed too early will only result in having to reintroduce this feed again to cows.
According to Met Éireann, soil moisture deficits are most significant in the eastern part of the country.
So although growth has improved on farms, it is likely that some of the drier farms in the east of the country are still experiencing a grass deficit.
Grass growth
Current growth rates, based on figures from PastureBase Ireland, are 57kg DM/ha in Leinster; 55kg DM/ha in Munster; 56kg DM/ha in Connacht; and 62kg DM/ha in Ulster.
There is a slight reduction expected in growth rates over the coming days; the predicated growth rates, based on PastureBase Ireland, are to be 54kg DM/ha in Leinster; 56kg DM/ha in Munster; 54kg DM/ha in Connacht; and 56kg DM/ha in Ulster.
These figures are slightly ahead of last week’s predicted grass growth rates.
Breeding season
While many farms have been dealing with a grass growth issue, the breeding season has been ongoing on farms.
For many the breeding season is now reaching its conclusion and questions around when to pull the bull need to be answered.
To ensure you have a compact calving pattern you need to remove the bull or stop artificial insemination (AI).
Continuing to AI or leave the bull with the cows will result in cows calving later in the year and outside the ideal calving period.